Sabrina's Wedding

On June 24, my good friend, Sabrina married a wonderful guy, Tim. We were invited to the sealing in Manti, but I had to work, so we weren't able to make it. Of course we didn't miss the chance to attend the reception the next day with Wade and Jenny. Sabrina is beautiful, and she looked absolutely gorgeous at the wedding! I'm so glad she found someone like Tim. He treats her like a queen, and that's exactly what she deserves. He has two little girls, and she's going to be such a wonderful stepmom to them. She's always so cute with Hazen, and he has quite the crush on her because she's so pretty! It was fun to be able to dress up and have a nice little night out with Wade and Jenny. We love you Sab!

Welcome to Sandy Fire, Jason!

Jason has worked for Pleasant Grove Fire for almost 4 years now. It's been a great experience, but we decided that it was time for him to begin testing for other departments to see if he could gain even more. So, he tested for Sandy fire, and was accepted onto their Volunteer department! This is especially exciting because they only hire their full time guys from the volunteer list. The department had a really nice program a few weeks ago to swear in the new guys. It was really neat, and helped us feel like part of the team. In the 4 hours that Jason went on his ride along there, he went on 3 calls, so I know he's going to be super busy and it's going to be a great experience! It's also fun because they transport to IMC now and again, so perhaps ONE DAY he might have to transport an aneurysm to me in Thoracic. Ok, that's a long shot, but that's the ONLY way we ever see the paramedics in our unit. :)

Jason will work at least 24 hours a month in Sandy, and has several training opportunities each month as well. I think it's going to be a really great fit for our family. Now if we could only find a way to teleport ourselves from Utah County to Salt Lake County to do without the commute....

Hazen enjoyed most of the swearing in ceremony. Well, until he realized that Daddy would be getting a "shiny badge", and Hazen wouldn't. It's 3 weeks later and I'm still hearing about how much he wants a shiny badge like Dad's! Can't wait for the fun stories I'll hear from Jason about all he does at Sandy.

Lady Danville Visits again!

As you know, we're Lady Danville groupies. Anytime that they come into town, I'm first on the list to go see them. Currently, they're touring with Jack's Mannequin, and to all of their SLC fans, there was no concert scheduled for Utah. So, being the wonderful group of people that they are, they made it a priority to at least drive through Salt Lake and stop to have a little picnic/acoustic jam session in a park. It was so neat! There were at least 100 people there, and everyone just loved and adored them. They really are so incredibly talented.

Hazen was so excited to see the singers of his very favorite song, and he was really interested in playing frisbee with everyone. I can't wait until Lady Danville comes and does an actual concert again, and I know it's just a matter of time until they are headlining their own shows!

Summer Water Fight

We pretty much had the longest, most awful winter ever. It wasn't necessarily colder or stormier than other winters in the past, but we had zero spring, and it went on FOREVER. I'm talking well into June, people. When the temperature finally tipped the scales at a whopping 75 degrees, we whipped out the shorts and t-shirts, and started going to the pool whenever possible. One of the last days of May there was a peek of nice weather, and when I was at work, the grandkids and grandma decided to have a water fight. This involved many sprinklers, changing the direction of the heads, and hoses, and the kids had a BLAST! I am so happy that Hazen has such fun grandparents that are willing to get messy and have fun at a moment's notice. He talked about the water fight for weeks!

Like Son, Like Father?

Jason's parents were here for a day a few weeks ago, and they were able to attend the PG Fireman's Breakfast. One of the things that Jason really wanted was to see his dad dress up in his turnouts. It was so fun to see how giddy Jason was about the whole ordeal!

He Showers!

Anyone who knows Hazen know that he has a lot of really wonderful, strong qualities. They also know that bravery is not among them. He really is darling, but truth be told, the kid is a LITTLE bit of a wuss. Up until very recently, taking showers fell under the category of things that made him nervous. One day though, I brought him in with me, and he LOVED IT. In fact, he loved it so much that he decided that he wanted to stay in there while I got ready for the day. When we were in Disneyland, the kid wanted to shower like 4 times a day. I can't say I really blame him because it was so cold, but the showers are NOT short. I'm just glad that my little buddy is getting braver and bigger in certain aspects of life. As long as he stays my baby forever, I don't really care what he does. :)

NICU Reunion 2011

So, unfortunately, we missed last year's NICU reunion, so we made a special plan to go this year. Instead of having it at the hospital like they have in years past, they held it at a park not too far away. The weather was lovely, which was nice, because Utah pretty much had a 9 month winter. When we pulled up, it was a huge ordeal! There were bounce houses, and tons of tents set up with games and prizes, so they definitely went out of their way to make things nice. The disappointing thing? The lack of NICU staff that were present. Now, I don't mean to sound rude, but if I'm going to go hang out somewhere for the afternoon, I'm not going to see other families who have had preemie babies, I want to see the wonderful people who made my little darling the healthy little buddy he is today. So, I was bummed because we didn't see one nurse or Dr that we know.

However, as I'm apt to do, it was a great opportunity for me to reflect on my little boy who has overcome so many odds. There is literally not a day that goes by when I don't stop and stare at him and seriously marvel at how grateful I am to have him. I love my Hazen more than anything in the entire planet, and I would and will do anything for him forever. I hope he has even a smidgen of understanding of how much I love him, because if he does, then he will realize that I truly believe he can be, do and accomplish anything he sets his mind to. It's been so much fun watching him grow up so much the past few months. He's such a big boy, and I can't believe how much time has flown. In only a few months, my baby will be 4! I always ask him if he will stay my little tiny baby forever, to which he responds, "No, I not. I'm bigger and bigger. But not big like Daddy. But I still wub you, Mom".

Hazen boy, you keep on growing bigger and bigger. And you better not ever get big like Daddy, or else it will be awfully hard to hold you. Mama loves you big much, bigger than the ocean, and bigger than all the trees. And of course, bigger than all the giraffes at the zoo.