Life is so Precious

On Tuesday we discovered that some of Hardy's good friends baby got sick over the weekend and had to be rushed to the hospital. He is now fighting for his life with Pneumoccocal Meningitis. They have a blog they are using to keep everyone informed on his condition and I find myself checking back a dozen times a day hoping the latest post will have some good news.

It's stuff like this that really help you put life into perspective and makes you appreciate all we've been blessed with. Things can change so quickly, and yet it's amazing what you can survive when you have good family and friends.

Please pray for sweet little Charlie Cooper. http://www.charliecooperjackjack.blogspot.com/

The twins have arrived!

My older sister Heather had her twins on Wednesday afternoon! They are absolutely beautiful and we are so excited to have them here safe and sound and healthy as can be. Somehow Heather managed to hang on until 38 weeks (what a trooper!) and Breydon came out a whoping 7 lbs. 6 oz and Bethany was 5 lbs. 12 oz. That sure is a lot of baby. (Bethany is on the left, Breydon on the right.)

These babies truly are a miracle and the answer to many, many prayers. I'm headed up to Washington to visit at the end of February and can't wait to meet the little darlings. So exciting!

Congratulations Heather, Todd and Brienna! Let the fun begin :)

Movie Review

To celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and because we had the day off and the laundry was already done, Hardy and I decided to go to a movie yesterday afternoon. We hardly ever go to movies so it was a nice treat.

Our movie choice was "Juno", and and excellent choice it was. We both really enjoyed it and it spurred quite a bit of conversation after the movie. The story line is about a 16 year old girl who gets pregnant and decides to give the baby up for adoption. While a plot like that could come off as a bit cliche, instead it was brilliant. It's a very interesting, uplifting, and real look at the struggles of teen pregnancy, as well as the struggle of the adopting family and their desire to have a family. I have an 8 year old niece who is adopted so it hit home extra hard. I laughed a lot and cried a quite few times, and I think it even managed to get a tear or two out of Hardy.

Two thumbs up.

Volunteer Banquet

Last night was the South Jordan City Annual Volunteer Banquet where we honored all of the men and women who volunteer their time and energy to serving the City. We had a nice catered dinner at the Community Center with entertainment by at Professional Card manipulator and a magician. Both were highly entertaining and the night we a big success.

Melinda, my new employee, did a great job helping with the preparations and the Powers that Be seemed to think it was a success as well. We had about 170 in attendance and gave each person a beautiful silver keychain with the City logo engraved on it. People really seemed to like that. The only snafoo of the evening was the fact that we let the Mayor and City Council talk. We literally couldn't get them to stop. Note for next year - as well intentioned as they are, they will not be on the agenda.

New Employee and the Capitol

Sorry Gwen. I've been slacking at keeping my site updated. I'll try to do better :)

My new employee, Melinda, started work two weeks ago, and yes, she's still here. She's finally getting settled in and relaxing a little and I think she's a good fit for the position. One of her good qualities is that she's very efficient and hard working, which I appreciate, but part of me wants to remind her that she works for government now, so chill out a little. There's no need to work as fast as we can to finish a project at 4:45 that we could slow down and get done at 5:00, because I really don't want to pick up a new project with 15 minutes left in the day. I'm having a bit of a hard time letting some of my projects go that have always been my responsibility but should now belong to her. It's an adjustment, but we're getting there.

Last week I volunteered Melinda and I to help with the Volunteer Coordination Center for the re-opening of the Utah State Capitol. It was a good opportunity for us to practice volunteer management at a big event. The Capitol renovations are beautiful and just being up there made me nostalgic for my days as a lobbyist and intern. I don't miss the hard granite floors that make your legs ache, but I do miss the energy and the awe for the process that I feel when I'm there. Democracy is not perfect, but it's pretty incredible. I have a feeling I'll work up there again someday.