Your....

Another Year Older....And Wiser Too!!

Happy Birthday to YOU!!!!!

Happy 47th!!! I love you~

Well I think I have finally turned the corner with this foot!

I have been completely crutchless for 2 days now and I'm not feeling too bad.

I was getting alittle worried because I have a meeting I have to be at in Boston this weekend and I will be going by myself and I was just really out of sorts trying to figure out how I was going to manage the airports and luggage with crutches.

But today things are looking up

and I think I will survive and will be able to leave the crutches at home! YEAH!

We have an excursion planned to Salam, Mass. (as in witches) so that should be fun

given that its Halloween weekend....

we will just have to see how tired and sore I am after the airport excursion.

We had planned originally to go on from there to our incentive trip to Bermuda but unfortunately Rich can not get off work this next week because he has to train all of his employees on a new billing system.

So we were pretty bummed about that but whataya gonna do right?

So instead I will have my second surgery next Thursday!

now that sounds like a whole lot more fun then Bermuda!!!

NOT

Looky......

What I bought myself for Mothers day...LOL

don't know if it was for last Mothers day or this years Mothers day??

but I needed an excuse to buy it!!

HERE is where I found it.....

Thank you "thevintagepearl.com" I love it!!!

Class Pictures...

Sawyer Came home from school today and, with a big grin on his face, he handed me his class pictures....I looked, I found him....and I laughed hysterically!!!

Click on the picture to enlarge it..the kid next to him is just as funny!

MAN! I love this kid!!!!

One Crutch....

Well this has been a slower then expected process...I am now down to one crutch most of the time but sometimes I over do it and have to take on the second for half a day or so. Its starting to feel like it will never be normal again....I know it will but I'm about out of patients. It just does not seem like it will be possible that my left foot will feel good enough to have the other surgery done in 2 1/2 weeks but he assures me it will. I told Rich, its kind of like when you paint your house. You should always paint the back first, otherwise after you paint the front you just don't feel like painting the back. I should have had the foot done that was NOT bothering me first. Otherwise, by this stage in the game you are really trying to talk yourself out of fixing the second foot!

Reality.....

Funny little story....

Those of you who know Quade will understand why this is ...well....good?!?!

This Morning Quade was in the tub, and he "passed gas" and he started to laugh (as boys do) and he looked over at the dog and said

AHHHHHHHHHHHH PEPPER!

Then he looked at me and said....PEPPER FARTED!

so.... I guess all is right with the world when Quade blames it on the dog

The Verdict is in....

The Jury deliberated for a little over an hour.....

and.....

they picked...

choice #1

WE WIN!!

they decided that the plaintiff had NOTHING (we talked to some of them after)

he was able to prove nothing so they unanimously decided that we won the case!

Before we started we really did not expect this verdict.

We expected them to find in his favor and award him a small amount

but after everything was presented it was very obvious that it would take alot for the jury to believe him.

But you just never know

what they are thinking

soooo folks...

that's the end of the story...

for us...

a happy ending!

thanks for tuning in

moral of the story.....

don't try to take advantage of the system

and if you do....

HIRE an ATTORNEY!

and more important then anything else....

THIS

is why you want to have insurance!

Alittle more Information.....

I thought I would go ahead and throw you all a bone.....

In other words, some additional facts

One thing that happened in the middle of the trial was that any claims for medical expenses were thrown out because the plaintiff never asked the jury for anything. He never once brought up the amount he was asking for nor did he ever break down his out of pocket expenses. So once he rested my attorney brought this up and asked that they be thrown out, which the judge did. He barely, just once mentioned that he was out of work for 10 weeks, at $10 per hour, 40 hours a week. But no totals of how much he was asking for in lost wadges. So by the skin of his teeth he did not get that thrown out as well. But he was not being truthful as he had not worked 40 hours a week in years...in fact he did not have any Tax returns that showed that he ever made more then $10,000 a year. Thus, its a good idea to have an attorney rather then try to represent yourself. But i guess since he represented himself several years ago in a DUI case and got off he figured he might as well give it a try again.

He complained that he could no longer ride his motorcycle, thus the lack of enjoyment of life. But he could in fact drive his car, as I was able to testify too because I saw him driving his car. Is it not just as dangerous for yourself and the public if you are driving a car if you get dizzy spells as it is if your driving a motorcycle? hummm maybe not?

He asked the officer if he thought I had been drinking.....this was nice to let me in on his thinking before he got me on the stand. It was nice to be able to say to my attorney, when HE asked the question...that I had not been drinking, nor had I ever had alcohol in my life!

It was also nice to be able to say NO I WAS NOT on my cell phone at the time of the accident. Another line of his thinking that he tipped us off to in his pre trial documents. It was nice to be able to have alittle time to think about that and be sure that I was not prior to taking the stand and having that be a surprise question. And also in recalling that I was not on my cell phone I was able to recall that I had in fact picked up the phone and called 911.

It was pretty sad that even his doctors would not confirm that the injuries were caused by the accident. Especially when he had originally told his doctor that he had been hit from the side at 38 miles per hour....and the doctor had then, based on that information, formed the opinion that his AC separation was caused by the accident. hummmmmm 38 miles per hour vs 3-5 miles her hour??? REALLY? When the doctor was given the facts he was able to say that NO a 3-5 mph accident would not cause an AC separation of the shoulder.

His medical history also showed that he had shoulder problems prior to the accident.

His medical records also showed that he had sever ear infections as a child, worked as an airplane mechanic for 8 years and had extreme exposure to loud noises. His doctor testified that these things were probably the cause for his tinnitus (ringing in the ears ) and that a whiplash injury does not cause tinnitus.

At one point he mentioned that there was $7000 in damage done to the car I hit, when in fact there was only $2400 in damages done ( I know, because my insurance agent was there for the whole trial and he told us that they only paid out $2400 in damages) The plaintiff kept trying to say that this was a serious accident with extensive damage to the car. The pictures and the officers testimony said otherwise. He said he felt a sever jolt from the accident and asked me on the stand if I felt a sever jolt and was honestly befuddled when I said NO.... this was true for two reasons. 1. It WAS a minor accident and 2. I was in a huge suburban and he was in a little Nissan.

He also stated that after the accident he no longer worked for the company that he worked for prior to the accident. We had records/evidence that he did work for the same company for 2 more years! What was he thinking???

This was ALLLLL SOOOO BAZAAR! I have heard of people taking advantage of the system but I'm here to testify that they REALLY DO exist!

so.... still wondering what the verdict was???

ok...Here's the scoop!

First off, I will start by saying that I have a new appreciation for Handicapped individuals who are on crutches all day everyday, all of their lives. My muscles are SOOO sore....two days in and out of the Holbrook court house, lunch breaks, bathrooms breaks etc have exhausted me beyond measure and that is just physically because of the crutches....mentally, I'm doubly exhausted!

I have not really mentioned to anyone that this was going on....don't know why, just haven't!
it all started 3+ years ago on July 18, 2006

I was on my way home from dropping Austin off at work. I came to the light at white mountain blvd and porter mountain road. I was the third car on the inside/left lane heading west toward show low. I sat at the light for a very short period of time and then the first vehicle in my lane, a black truck went through the intersection, then the car in front of me started to go forward and so I assumed the traffic was moving so I started to move forward as well. I was going 3-5 mph. Then the car in front of me applied their breaks and at the same time I realized the light was still red (Yes, the truck in front came to a stop and then took off through the red light) so I immediately applied my breaks. My car has anti lock breaks and does not stop on a dime. It seemed like my car was stopping slowly but I was applying the breaks hard and that is when my car came into contact with the car in front of me.
Emergency worker arrived quickly and got us off the main road.
Typical fender bender....some damage to the back end of the car I hit, No damages to my car at all. No apparent injury's.
this was the end of it.........or so I thought!
2 years almost to the day (and just days before the end of the statute of limitations).....I got a phone call from my insurance agency. At first i did not even know what he was talking about....it had been 2 years after all and I had not heard a word! But slowly it all came back to me. He let me know that they had settled quickly with the driver. But the passenger in the car in front of me had not accepted any offer that had been made. Apparently he had some injuries. So he let me know that they were getting their attorneys involved and they would be calling me. Oh this sounds fun! NOT!
So long story short.....This man, CLAIMED that he was seriously injured in the accident and would not settle because he did not think the offers made were proper compensation for all of his injuries (Shoulder separation, Tinnitus, vertigo) and for his loss of enjoyment of life (said he could no longer ride his motorcycle because of the dizziness he felt regularly because of the accident)
so.....after a full year and a half of back and forth, gathering evidence, depositions, interviews with doctors, piles and piles of papers, etc....there was a final offer of $10,000 from my insurance company. But he would accept nothing less then $60,000. So he decided to take it to trial and he would be representing himself. (Not really a smart idea, just in case you have ever thought about doing that! LOL)
So we spent the last two days in court. Neither Rich nor I have ever done anything like this so we found it very interesting actually. The first day was ironing out stuff with the judge, jury selection, opening statements and Mr Johnson calling himself as the first witness.
that was a full 11 hour day. (Tiff, It was Judge Lamb)
On day two I was extremely nervous because I knew I would have to testify. If you know me, even slightly, you know how much I HATE to get up and talk in front of people....it is my biggest fear! So my stomach was in knots from the minute I woke up. We got into court, had to go over more stuff with the judge, called in the jury finally and got started. First Mr Johnson took the stand again and then the testimony of one of the Doctors, then Testimony of the Plaintiffs employer, cross examination mixed in there, of each by our attorney and then the Plaintiff rested. Then it was our turn. First our attorney called the officer. By then It was only 11 so I was pretty sure I was going on now.......but NO the judge decided to break for lunch!!! so I had to be nervous for another hour and a half! ghezzzz louise this was so scary!!!! finally we got back to the court house, a long trek on my crutches, and I went in for one of my many many bathroom breaks and while I was there, alone....I decided this was a good time for a little prayer to ask for help calming my nerves. I went back to the court room, sat down, got myself together and my nervousness went away. For the first time all day....it was gone! And it never came back! I love my Heavenly Father!!
So I went on the stand, answered all the question (this took about 45 minutes)and then we rested...
Closing statements were made and off the jury went to deliberate.

Would they find in my favor? My Attorney did not think they would find in my favor completely as I did, admittedly cause the accident (although he argued that I was not entirely at fault because of the movement of the vehicles in front of me) Although this trial was not about weather i caused the accident but more so...did I cause the injuries?

Would they find in his favor? He made it very clear, many times that he has no money, Sympathy votes? He seems to have life altering conditions, were they caused by the accident?

The Jury had the option of:
1. finding in our favor
2. Finding in his favor, and if they did so, deciding how much he would get.
3. Deciding if I was entirely at fault and if not how much of a percentage was I at fault which would indicate how much of a percent of the total amount would come out of my pocket (actually my insurance companies pocket, THANK HEAVENS)

hummmmm what will they decide......

tune in tomorrow for how things turned out.......

I have.....

a lonnnnng story to tell you.....
Maybe tomorrow when I have recovered from today.....

Here is a teaser.......

Nie Nie Followers.....

She's going to be on Oprah TOMORROW!

Doctor's Report.....

10 more days...... :(

Happy 21st Birthday Austin....

Our Second baby was born on October 2nd 1988

He Weighed in at 7lbs 8oz and was

22 INCHES LONG

(that is why I can STILL to this day tell you exactly which one of my ribs his feet were in for the last month that he was my womb mate!)

Can you tell he was born in the 80s?

What a sweet sweet boy he was then.......



And still is today!!!!



This will be the last of our birth story installments for the year!


This one I'm a little fuzzy on for some reason...
I think after 21 years my memory is fading.

I remember the day you were born was a Sunday
Granny and Papa had just come to pick up Brittnee and take her to the mountains for the week because we knew you would be making your appearance soon as your due date was October 3rd
So once Brittnee was gone with Granny and Papa
Daddy and I decided to take in a movie....
Young Guns had just come out and so that was the movie we decided on.
When we got to the theater they told us that the air conditioning was out but if we wanted to go in and if it got to hot we could come back out and get our money back. So we decided to give it a try. We had not been there very long when I started having contractions. After about 30 minutes of contractions that were 5 minutes apart from the start, we decided we better head to the hospital. So we left the movie (we did ask for our money back LOL) and went home quickly to get our hospital bag and headed to the hospital.
Our Labor was pretty typical but the one thing I do remember was that there was a football game on TV. I was getting prepped for my epidural and just before the doc put the needle in, while I was hunched over and having contractions. The doctor said to hold on a minute...........apparently something exciting happened in the game and everyone in the room was watching the game! WOW thanks guys....
Maybe that is why Austin loves football so much??
Anyway...the rest of our labor and delivery was pretty uneventful.
after 8 hours of labor we had our baby boy
AUSTIN JORDAN JONES

Hummmmm.....

DO YOU...

SEE ANY....
Resemblance between....This baby.....

And....

This baby????

(No Babies were harmed in the making of this experiment!)

Top three photos are of Brynlee

Bottom Photo is Brittnee