Danville: Stripped Down

It's 5:30 in the freaking morning, and I have this blog rushing around in my head. I know I won't be able to get back to sleep until I let it all out.

Many of you know that I grew up in Danville, California. Many people called it a bubble, and it was. Much different from the "bubble" that is Provo, UT; Danville was a bubble that seemed to let in all things beautiful. My childhood was idyllic in nearly every sense of the word. I spent most of my life in one ward that was split, so I was surrounded by many of the same people. There were about 13 girls that were my age, and we became incredibly close friends. Elementary school was "perfect". I attended a brand new school, I rode my bike there with a close friend who lived down the street, and I had one of the most influential and loving teachers I've ever known there. In fact, any penchant that I may or may not have for writing, I attribute to Mrs. Ware.

In Danville, I spent many hours of my adolescence at the Village Theatre, doing over a dozen plays with Terry Rucker, and a few with Pam Greenan. It was there that I learned the freedom of expression. It was there that I basked in the glow of post-show admiration, as my friends and always my family showered me with flowers. I don't think my parents ever missed one show I was in.

In Danville, I attended High School. So many of my fondest memories were centered there. After "begging" my 8th grade choir teacher, the infamous Mr. K, to let me be a soprano, I learned so much, and developed probably one of the greatest talents I've ever been blessed with- my ability to sing. I was dealt one of my harshest blows at San Ramon: not being put into Advanced Drama- because the new jerk teacher even admitted that he knew I would stay around for another year, so he needed to dole out the slot to some people who wouldn't be so patient. Joke's on him. If I had been in Advanced Drama, then I wouldn't have been able to be in both Treble Clef and Concert Choir. Looking back, Mr. Perryman's greediness is one of my greatest blessings, because as a Jr, it was required to be in both of those choir classes to even be considered for Chamber Singers. My time in Chamber Singers and as a part of the choir Presidency are some of my most treasured moments. Letting my singing ability lapse is without doubt, my GREATEST regret. I can only pray that one day, after hiding it under the proverbial "bushel" for so long, I might be allowed to restore it.

I lived at 170 Westwich St for nearly 16 years. It was at that house I watched my older brother and sisters come and go from college, and then go permanently to be with their spouses. It was at that house I watched my parents become grandparents, and I fell into a roll I adored: aunt. I remember checking and rechecking the windows on Sunday afternoons- waiting for my siblings to drive up and spend the day with us. 170 Westwich was the center of many firsts. I fell in love at that house for the first time. I had my heart absolutely thrashed for the REAL first time on the phone in my bedroom. I had many lemonade stands at that house. Many sleepovers, and late-night conversations solidified my deep bond with my best friend at that house. So many friends gathered in safety at that house. I returned there eagerly from college- I spent the last night before my wedding at that house. So many home-cooked meals were made at that house, and a family REALLY loved each other at that house.

Almost 2 years ago, that house and that town betrayed me. I don't know exactly why I'm writing this post. Maybe for closure? Maybe to get out into words why a little bit of my heart hurts every time I hear Danville mentioned? For various reasons- it seemed that so many of the people that I had grown up relying upon turned on my family. All it took were a few paragraphs in a newspaper. Could that really be what destroys almost 17 years of friendship? The figurative "scissors" that clip the ties that bind truly were hard at work over a 6 month period, and in that time, I was hurt more than I ever thought possible. In some ways, one of Jason and I's biggest mistake was deciding to live in San Ramon; where I had front-row tickets to an awful downward spiral- one that my siblings were lucky enough to miss.

That house fell apart. Literally and figuratively. I didn't get the last "fairy-tale" walk through. As I sat with my dad alone, shoving the last remainders of so many years of memories into the back of my Explorer, I couldn't do the final walk. I couldn't risk going through a house that had done so much good, but in the end, torn so much apart. I fear I might harbor feelings of resentment towards that house for the rest of my life. I fear, that when it becomes time for me to take Hazen and my other children to the place that formed their mother, much of the magic will be gone.

The good thing? That house, try as it might, and that town- as apathetic as they were- didn't tear apart the family that learned to love each other. It might have given us no choice but to leave, but the bonds that were formed there still stand strong and true, 800 miles away.

Hazen's First Surgery!

Finally, after waiting for 3 months to get into him, Hazen had his appointment with the ENT yesterday. Dr. Robbins was fabulous, taking one look at Hazen's medical history, and then taking a brief look at his CURRENT ear infection, and scheduled him for surgery the following day!

We were scheduled to get to the hospital at 6:45 am. As someone who normally doesn't get up until 8-(Hazen knows that he will be perfectly fine if I ignore him and allow him to play in bed until then), I was afraid that I would be totally tired in the morning. Well, when it was 5:40, and I was wide awake, I knew that my slight anxiety to the upcoming event would keep me from being tired at all.

We got to the hospital, and Hazen was up and ready to play! There were other babies there, being pansy's in their carriers- but not Hazen! He was squirrely as ever, and enjoying playing pick-a-boo with us, and generally being cute.


The took us back to the room, and gave Daddy a mask so he wouldn't freak out by that. It was kind of unnecessary, but fun to take pictures of, nonetheless.

They gave Hazen a hospital gown, which was so cute. I love partially naked babies. In fact, the more nakey, the better. Maybe I should cut the backs off of all of his clothes, so I can see his cute little back!

A Dr came in, and checked out Hazen. He finished checking out Hazen, and I told him to check him out again so I could take a picture. He looked at me, smiled, and said, "Oh, you're one of those moms." So funny!
They gave Hazen one of those face mask things that they were going to put on his face while they put him out. It tasted like cherry, and he punctured the little plastic bag part before dropping it on the floor. They offered to EVEN let us take it home. Um, no thanks!

They took the boy away, and less than 1/2 hour later, brought him back to us. Really pissed.
He pretty much screamed for 45 minutes. He never does that. In fact, in the car ride home, all he could do was whimper, and look really wasted. Poor baby. He's attempting to take a nap right now. He hasn't quite fallen asleep yet, but I know when he does he'll feel much better!!

Tomorrow....finally!

Tomorrow, this little darling has his consultation with the ENT for his messed up ears. The real reason I wanted to post was just to assure you all that he's still cute.

He looked real cute today. I forgot to take a picture. I might have to dress him in the same outfit again.

Jason only has 7 more days of POST. We couldn't be any happier! Soon, he will return to working only 3 or 4 days a week. This is great, but I'm slightly nervous about the mutiny that this will wreak upon our schedule.

I don't know how excited he will be with my telling everyone this, but we could use prayers, so I'll inform you all! Jason tested for the Salt Lake City Fire Department about 3 weeks ago. He was there will about 1500 of his closest friends. We just got a letter from the FD informing him that he is among the top 167 people that tested. He gets to go on to the next round of testing on June 11. If he passes that, then he gets to take the physical test, which he's actually already passed! So, say your little prayers that he does well. Even if it doesn't pan out, we're still so excited for him, because this is the first time he's ever tested, and he did really well. What a stud I married!

Dia Domestica!

Ok, I totally poached it. That was Heather's idea, but we can both use it. Right, right?????

Heather and I are trying to becoming like unto the FLDS women, and we are spending a lot of time making things from scratch. This week's project? Bread.

First things we needed? Two cute boys. Check.




Next? Fresh, homemade smoothies to get our Domestic juices flowing. Check!

Pictures of the entire creative process, showing just how cute we are....




Hello??? Where are you???



Right. Must have been having too much fun to take pictures.

Picture of nasty, greasy me, 2 days later with a 1/2 eaten loaf of bread? Check.


Seriously. Those baby hairs are out of control!

Wicka-WHAT?

Dear Hair,

I know that you go in stages of growing, falling out, and then regrowing, but seriously???



NO, seriously??


Must we have my baby hairs making their debut at the same time? It makes life slightly more difficult for me.


Sincerely,

The Girl with the Whiggity Whack Hair

Picture of the Week

Don't 'cha wish your Mama was Cute like Mine??

The other day, Heather, Jason, and I were downstairs watching "Juno" and we had left all of our kids upstairs. We finished watching, errr, we felt guilty, so we went upstairs. We searched the house, and no one was anywhere to be found. So, we looked out at the backyard, and found this adorable scene:




Grandma was sitting on a blanket feeding all 4 of the Grandkids pound cake and ice cream. It was so cute! Max would crawl across the blanket to steal any and everyone's cake, and Hazen would smile at anyone until they would feed him. So cute! Our kids are so lucky to have such a great grandma! It's really cool, because in the past few weeks, Hazen has REALLY started to identify with Grandma and lights up when she enters the room. Love you mama!

Thinking Real Seriously.....

I am mad. I love blogging, and I love making new friends via blog; Diane, AnneMarie, Andrea, Jessica.....etc...the list goes on and on.

However, this has been a very "rough" week for my blog. It is my blog. Not your blog. I'm not freaking sharing. People randomly googling me, getting up in my action is pissing me off. I don't want to go private. It's a pain in the butt, and I'm too lazy, however, it's something that is getting more and more within the realm of possibility.

If I have one more person "nit-picking" what I say, heaven freaking help me. I would swear, but I know my nieces and nephews read my blog, so I can't. For the record, it would be bad.

I just got another comment saying that something I said "irked them". Freak, I can't even find out who you are because your profile doesn't link to anything. I am not here, blogging, to piss people off. I am not here, blogging, to listen to how my f'ing parenting styles are the bane of society. I am here, blogging, because it's fun to keep in contact with people. I am here, blogging, because I'm trying to DO WHAT WE ARE TOLD TO DO AND KEEP A RECORD OF OUR FAMILY HISTORY. Eff. Yeah. I went there again.

I have so many positive things to blog about, but I feel like I'm a flipping teacher trying to get her class in order. If it can't be that way, then I'm going to have to be all cliquey on you for a while, and choose who gets to be up in my bidness.


Ug. I'm so annoyed.

NICU Reunion 2008

On Saturday, we had the opportunity to attend the Utah Valley NICU Reunion. It was something that I had been looking forward to for weeks. We went, and they had quite the set-up. They pretty much had all the Cotton Candy you could eat, which is good enough for me. I will tell you that the single sloppy joe, served with a whole lotta nothing could have been improved upon. I'm not writing to tell you about the food though....

This reunion was something I can't quite explain. It seems like it's been a lifetime since Hazen was there. In the walls of that Hospital, I went through my own personal hell, but also realized how much Heavenly Father hears our prayers.

This is Lindsey and her little boy, Jacob. Lindsey and Jason actually grew up together in Livermore. We didn't actually see her in the NICU until a few days before she was going home, but Jacob is adorable!!! I guess he's rolling like crazy. I am a firm believer that those with older siblings are much more inclined to roll like maniacs. Seeing that I traditionally don't attack Hazen on the ground, he's a little lazy. I'm sad that I didn't get a good up-close picture of Jacob, because he's to die for!!
This is Annie. She is the Occupational Therapist, and really adored Hazen. She didn't have too much interaction with him when he was actually in the hospital, because for the most part, he was too sick, but since coming home, she has been such a great advocate for him getting the follow-up care that he needs.

This is Dr. Gerday. Seeing him really was the most bittersweet. He was the Dr that sat me down and told me that I had a horribly sick baby that most likely was going to have long-term brain damage. Although Hazen wasn't really "performing" like I would have liked him to (It was hotter than Hades in there), I was so grateful to be able to present a healthy, beautiful, happy boy to him. I told him, "See, there ARE other sides to the horror stories. Isn't it a beautiful thing?"

This is Charlene. Uhh...I actually don't know her last name. She was a heaven-send. I don't know if she's like this for all of her patients, but she took such incredible care of Hazen AND me. She was his Nurse Practitioner, and seemed to take a special liking to my sweet HAL. Charlene would make sure to call me at least once every day. She would take special time out to sit with me at his bedside, and never seemed too busy for my questions. I'll never forget one Sunday afternoon while I sat at his bedside, she sat with me for over an hour discussion the situation. She calmly and honestly told me what things I didn't need to worry about....and what things I DID need to worry about. When Hazen got transferred to Primary's, I called her one day in tears, and she gave me some words of wisdom. When she found out who we were planning on having as a pediatrician, she pulled me aside (totally against the rules!!), and told me that since she cared so much about Hazen, I needed to have him see a different Dr. This has turned out to be such a blessing. Charlene is the one who discharged Hazen- I'm so sad I didn't get a picture of them that day. She was so shocked at how much he's grown. I love and respect Charlene more than I'll ever really be able to express.

I don't know if we'll have to re-live the experience of having a sick baby. I hope not- but you never know. I do know, that we were so blessed to have such capable, caring, and wonderful staff see our little angel through the first rough days of his life. There was nothing that would make me happier than walking into the unit, and seeing a nurse lovingly nuzzle and hold my baby. It made me feel so much better knowing that while I COULDN'T be there 24/7, I didn't NEED to be. Thank you Utah Valley.

Wow.

32 comments in just over 24 hours. I am famous.

I've realized from some of the comments that I've received that I need to so some clarifying. The fact that I have to clarify on my own blog sometimes makes me want to pull my hair out.

-Anonymous, you have yet to remark on this. Feel dumb from the verbal backlash? I would too. You insinuate that you know me. I have an idea who you might be, and if it is, indeed you, I'm horribly disappointed. If I said something to offend you, I wish that you would have had the courage to say it to my face. I wouldn't have needed to tell you to grow a pair. No one likes that.

-As far as me being too much of a coward to look my "close friends" in the face and tell them that I don't respect their decision for home-birth or not vaccinating, I think you've taken it a little far. Let it be known, that I think that home-births are irresponsible. This is probably because I've HAD the experiences that I have. If Hazen would have had everything go completely normal, it probably wouldn't phase me one bit. As far as vaccinations, yes, I do have a problem with not vaccinating your child. When your actions put MY child at risk for something (Measles, Mumps, Rubella, etc) that he wouldn't otherwise have to deal with, yeah, I get annoying.

-I invite any of you to refer back to the original post from April, entitled, "I've been thinking. Again." This was written at a time where people who deviated from the "norm" (which is fine, so lay off), were up in my action about my parenting choices. Being that my blog IS.MY.JOURNAL., I chose to remember my experiences, and how I felt about these issues at this time in my life. If you actually read this blog, you'll see very clearly, that I stated that there were multiple times (belly sleeping, breastfeeding, and circumcising) where we either deviated from the norm (sleep him on belly, and didn't breastfeed), or did the "norm", and I clearly stated that it was awful (circ.)

-It makes me mad that you are twisting my words around. It makes me even more mad that you're telling me how I feel, or how I went about things, when clearly, you don't know jack. I couldn't agree with Mindy more, when she said, "Just because you read my blog, doesn't mean you know me" You don't know me. I wish wish wish that you would come out of the closet, and let me know who you are, not so I could ream you- I already did that, but so you could see me, having the courage to tell people like you, that I don't have room in my life for you.

-Am I sitting at home stewing about this? No. I have a lot of beautiful in my life. (minus the rain today, that kind of sucks.) I don't need to dwell on this, and I'm only angry because I feel like people aren't LISTENING to what I'm trying to say. That ticks me off.

-Yes, anonymous is very much entitled to their own opinion. I would have had much more respect for you a- had you not been so disrespectful on my blog (don't wear dirty shoes in my house), and b-come out with who you are. Just don't TELL me what my opinion is- especially when you have portions of it wrong.

-Ok. I don't know if you're a member of my church or not, but I have no clue on earth how you decided to make my blog the proud winner of "judgmental, non-Christlike Blog of the Year". Weird. If I have not made it very evident in my writing how deeply grateful I am for the beautiful blessings in my life, then I need to do some re-evaluating.

-I think I've said all I need to say. I've loved all of the conversation this post has generated. Yes, we are all entitled to our opinion. I've owned up to mine-now it's your turn.

Dear Anonymous: Grow a Pair

Today, I found THIS little doozy of a comment on a blog from like, a month and a half ago. Please, read, and then we will discuss:

Wow, do you all realize how hypocritical you're being? Honestly. I don't have kids, so maybe it's easier for me to be objective about this, but think through these things people.

"God wouldn't have invented the epidural if he didn't want me to get one." Do I even need to comment on this? Come on. God made people. People made epidurals. God made people that are sociopaths. Does that mean He wanted that man to kill the kid next door? No. He wants us to make our own decisions, while consulting Him. Did you consult Him about the epidural? If you really strove to know if God wanted you to have one, great, but does that mean He wants everyone to have one? No. People get to make their own decisions, including the people who didn't get an epidural.

"in a hospital (where a baby SHOULD be born!)...psycos."

"Another, psyco." "It is OK that people do things differently" First of all, learn to spell. Second of all, do you even SEE what it is you're writing? If you really believed it was OK for people to do things differently wouldn't you not be calling them psychos? You didn't say, "They were yelling at me that I was killing my child by not vaccinating them," that might be considered a psycho. You called anyone who doesn't vaccinate a psycho. If you don't want other people to tell you what to do with your child do you have the right to tell them what to do with theirs?

If you found out a good friend had her baby at home would you think she was a psycho, even if she didn't push it on you and you heard from someone else? If you found out a good friend didn't vaccinate her 4 year old, would you call her crazy and refuse to respect her decision?

It doesn't sound like most of you are respecting people's "crazy habits." So please don't profess to be some kind of a tolerant saint.

"I think it's great when people have there own opinions and then don't try to convince others that they have they only correct way of doing things." No, you think it's great when people have YOUR opinion.

You say it's great that people researched these things out. Does that mean you didn't? I understand that these things aren't for everyone, or even the majority, but does that make them wrong? Does that make them right?

"judgmental people tick me off." So....you're not being judgmental then?

Many of you are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm sure many of you have 'bible-bashed' before. You strongly believe in your religion and want to share it with others. People who believe in not circumcising or not having an epidural or not vaccinating or whatever don't want you to choose their way because they're narcissistic. They truly believe what they're doing is right and would feel guilty if they didn't at least share what they believe (like you with your religion). Many of them just can't control their emotions as we all know things pertaining to birth and raising children are highly emotional and personal.

One more thing, there ARE people who read this blog that do many of the things you are all blaspheming. Do you not care about the feelings of your friends? Just because we have the internet now people think they can let loose and say whatever they want and it doesn't matter because it's not face to face. Would you say these things to someones face? If not, save it for a real journal. If you have a hard time writing in a real journal, type it up.

Yes, anonymous, I told you to grow a pair. If you don't have the guts to tell me these things to my face, then don't waste my time. Congrats, you are the first lame "grumpy comment" I've ever received on my blog.

I do believe, that many of the things you ranted at me about are from comments made about this post. Don't come at me because of it- we are all entitled to our own opinions, and because some were stated in a way that you don't agree with, don't kill the messenger....

HOWEVER, there were a few things that you wrote in direct correspondence to my own words, and I will respond to those. You obviously know very little about me. You started off by stating that you don't have kids of your own. Exactly. Pipe down for a few years until you can be more objective about some of these things. I clearly stated that things didn't go how I thought they would, and this is my keeping record of some of the experiences I've had. Yeah, I did pray to Him about my entire labor, namely that I would have a healthy one, and neither I or my baby would be at serious risk for death. Obviously, that wasn't in His plan. Am I bitter? Not even a little- I learned so much, about myself, my Father in Heaven, and the sanctity of life.

I don't know who you are, but I will say this much: if we are friends, and you had the audacity to challenge me for my views on home birth, we are done. How dare you tell me that my feelings on these topics aren't well thought out, after what my little family has been through. I say I don't judge, well, sometimes I do. I'm judging you, for being a close-minded little prick. Who do you think you are to get on someone's case for doing the best they could in the horrific situation they were placed in. Life needs to give you a slice of humble pie, little buddy, because I'm positive you wouldn't be so aghast that I've formed very strong opinions after the year we've had. I live with proof of a living miracle, and I will do anything to protect it. Telling me to not blog my feelings? Bite me.

**PS- Those spelling mistakes were not mine. Don't be messing with my spelling, yo.

I'm a working woman again....

Kind of. So, I've been almost distraught because of the stress that the current economy is giving me. Gas prices- way up. Price of food- way up. I feel like I'm doing my part, because I really don't drive that much, plus I coupon clip, and on average save at least 45-60% of my weekly grocery trip. We're also trying to cut down on when we eat out (trying for only once every other week....we'll see....), and doing everything that we can to conserve. For the first time in our married life, we are in a financial situation where we don't STRESS out because we don't have enough money. However...we don't have so much extra that we can put aside money to save for a house, develop a really good food storage supply, and save some for a rainy day.

Enter my dilemma. I feel like I should be making some money to contribute. But I KNOW that it's my job to raise my sweet baby, and be a great wife to my hard working hubby. WHAT DO I DO? Well, Heidi, you've inspired me. I've started Mystery Shopping.

This is Hazen eating a Chocolate-covered Strawberry at a unnamed Provo location, which, incidentally FAILED miserably on their form that I had to fill out.


Ok, he didn't really eat it, but was really stoked that we let him squish this in his hands, suck on it, and then slam it on the table. He's so cute.

I did my first job last Thursday. They all require me to go to Provo, for the most part, so I try to do 2-3 a day, so as to conserve on gas money. Some just make me go into an establishment, ask a few questions, then fill out a small write-up. The compensation varies, but by the end of this week, I will have made over $250, and received 3 free meals. Not bad, huh?

What a blessing.

She is my hero!

Yesterday, my sister finished her first Triathlon. Go to her site and tell her how amazing she is.

She seriously is. She's my best buddy, and I pretty much cried the whole time because I was so proud of her....



mememememe. there i go again.

Sometimes he stresses me out

So, as you will see in a post or two, Hazen is doing so well. We really have cause to count our blessings. However, for posterity sake, I do need to record something we're dealing with right now. Hazen has a Developmentalist that comes out to the house once a month- she's really nice, but doesn't really do anything. Whatever. He also goes to Physical Therapy, and just got "down-graded" to only needing to go every 6 weeks. This is a huge improvement from once a week! He is progressing so well, and obviously, he's a happy little baby.

I was starting to get worried, because up until like, Monday of this last week, he wasn't able to bear weight whatsoever on his legs. He should be doing this. We had his 9 month well-baby check up though, and the doctor said that he had the strength, but standing is a learned behavior, and he just hasn't learned it. I kid you not, he has learned how to stand in about 3 days, and is doing so well. He has such a fighting spirit, and I love him more than life itself.
Why does he stress me out, you ask? Well, also at this check-up, I was talking to the Dr. about a little shaky thing he does with his hands. Being that it's only on his left hand, that makes it worse than if it was on both hands. When he's going to reach for a toy, he gets really shaky, and sometimes when he's holding a toy, it's super bad. It's way worse when he's tired, and I just knew it wasn't quite "normal". So, because we've been warned that there might be some neurological problems, we're going to see a Neurologist. The earliest we could get in is June 30th. (Yay, you'll get to come too, Ashley!) I pray for that day that we get the "green light", and everything is ok, but we are all too aware that that day might never come. So, in the meantime, please pray that it's something that sweet HAL grows out of, and is just caused by his rapid growth. Aren't we crazy about him???

Best Moms in Town

For Mother's Day, I got an amazing Baby Food Cookbook! I saw it in Williams-Sonoma, and I fell in love. Three weeks later, it was mine!

Heather and I spent most of yesterday, and some of this morning making homemade baby food for our boys! Not only is it so much more healthy, but the boys are already starting to eat us out of house and home- and they're not even a year old! We tested the foods out on the boys, and they seemed to be pretty happy about it!


It was hilarious- Heather would plop huge spoonfuls of food, and Max would go at it. Later, Hazen had little bits of every food all over his mouth. They are so cute! Just to make sure that the food was acceptable, we had to test it out on each other!




When all was said and done, we made Peas with Parsley, Asparagus, Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, Squash, Carrots with Parsley, Cherries with Banana, Blueberries, Applesauce, and Whipped Cauliflower.


All in all, I think it was a huge success. I paid $26 for all of my ingredients, and that I still have to make the Lamb that I bought. Seeing as we were paying about $15/week for baby food, I think not only is this a really economical choice, but it feels good to be feeding the boys pure, healthy food that we made ourselves.

I'm a Mom!

I now officially have 4 days a year to claim as "my own". Birthday, Anniversary, Valentine's Day, and Mother's Day. My first Mother's Day was amazing! I had my whole family (almost) here, and life was great. We only went to Sacrament Meeting, which was great, because we were fed and napped by 2. Perfect! Jason and Hazen were as sweet as can be, and they gave me Roses, A Gift card, and a Baby Food Cookbook I've been wanting. Exactly what I was hoping for!!! We took pictures after church:


For dinner, we had Prime Rib, Twice-Baked Potatoes, Rolls, Asparagus, and Salad. It was awesome! We figured that RJ probably ate at least a pound in meat. Jason better watch his back, because RJ might give him a run for his money size-wise one day!! I was too busy having fun to take pictures.

We took naps, and then enjoyed the evening outside. Afterwards, I made Chocolate Chip Cookies, and we had "Papa Nachos" in honor of Papa. They were rad. I don't think I'll ever be hungry again.


I am grateful for my Mama. She has done so much for me and our entire family. She's a good mama, and she has taught me how to be one, too. She also loves my little boy so much, and he loves her!

I am also so grateful for my sweet husband, and perfect baby. Without them, I wouldn't be a Mother. In my 9 months of actually being a mother, I have learned so much, and grown so much. I never knew it was possible to love like I love my sweet baby. He brings me so much joy, and makes my life so full. There is nothing I would rather be doing with my life than raising a son.

What a Wonderful Weekend!!!

This weekend has been high up on my anticipation list for a long time! The whole family (minus Heidi, who had been here the weekend before), came into town, and we had a PARTY! We ate so much, that I have literally been eating baby food today to try to detox.

Friday, we all congregated and picked everyone up, and then went straight to Hire's for Hamburgers!




After our "wild ride" through Murray, we finally arrived at Hire's and ate their hamburgers. I enjoyed it, but I prefer the Downtown Salt Lake location. Probably due to the nostalgia I enjoy whenever I'm there. Rob, Heather, and everyone and their dog enjoyed making fun of the stroller mark on my boob. I guess since Heidi wasn't here to tease, they had to make tease someone. Anything for you guys.


Friday night, we had dinner, and just hung out. I think it was safe to say that everyone was really exhausted!!

Saturday morning, I went to Kneader's with Rob, Rachel, their family, and Heather's family. Jason took a test for the Salt Lake Fire Department. There were around 1500-2000 people there, so....we'll see. It was a great experience for him though. I was really proud, because he was one of TWO guys who was wearing a tie. SERIOUSLY?? Saturday afternoon, we went to J-Dawg's. It really redeemed itself. What was the best was the cute boys. I hope no one kidnaps them because of their cuteness.


Saturday night, we ate dinner, and then all walked down to Heather's house. It's only a mile and half, but it took over an hour. We fed horses and enjoyed one another. I stinking love my family.

One of the highlights of the weekend? Heather and I actually got a picture together. We really DO love each other!!

Mother's Day will be featured in the next post. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.