The Wedding Singer

Last night Hardy took me to dinner and a show for my birthday. It was great to have a real date and enjoy some time with my dear husband. We purchased season tickets to the Capitol Theater this year and last night was our first show, "The Wedding Singer." We were both excited since we love the movie. I was expecting lots of great costumes and 80's music which are what make the movie so great. For those who may in the future have the opportunity to see this show...it has neither great costumes nor fun 80's music and is only loosely based on the movie. So, it was fun to get out, but not what we expected and somewhat of a disapointment. Not bad, just not what we were expecting.

On a good note, we ran into my Visiting Teaching partner on the shuttle ride back to our car and were able to set up a time to go do visits.

A "Not Me" Thursday

This morning I didn't cave in to Jack's incessant pounding on the front door and finally take him outside to get the newspaper only to discover on my return that the front door had locked behind us. No, I wouldn't do that, not today because today of all days my house is locked up tight, even tighter than usual. With Hardy out of town I made sure all the windows were locked and even the door to the garage was bolted shut so Jack and I would stay nice and safe from the serial killers I was watching on TV last night as I was going to bed. Nope, I would never lock me and my child outside...without shoes...around lunch time...while Hardy has the only other key to the house with him in Georgia and doesn't get home until very late tonight. That would just be silly. It would leave me knocking helpless and barefoot on doors at empty neighbor's houses until someone finally happened to drive by and let me use their cell phone to call a locksmith who charged way too much to spend 10 seconds picking my lock. Nope, no me. I would never do that.

Needless to say, this afternoon's "To Do" list includes getting several copies of our house key made to give to people and hide strategically so this doesn't happen again. All I can say is thankgoodness I wasn't in my pajamas, and thankgoodness I brought Jack out with me. Could have been worse.

The Disney Decision

Ok - the "yea's" have it. While part of me thinks it would be really fun to just go with Hardy, I think you all are right. Jack's coming to Disneyland!

How can we say no when Aunt Gwen has offered to come hang out with us? That definitely seals the deal. Thanks Gwen! We can't wait.

In the meantime, Jack and I will continue to practice our Mickey Mouse Clubhouse "hot dog" dance.

Your thoughts, please

So, it appears that this December we may have the opportunity to go to Disneyland as a bonus from Hardy's work. The question is, do we bring Jack?

My first inclination was we should totally leave him home. He's too young to get the magic and won't remember it anyway, we'll spend half our time going back to the hotel for naps and won't be able to go on any of the big rides together, and it would be fun to Hardy and I to have a trip alone.

Then I realized that would mean I would be away from Jack for 4 whole days and I decided that just might break my heart and he should definitely come with us. Plus, how can we go to Disneyland and not take our kid?

Those of you who have been to Disneyland with a toddler, what do you suggest? Bring him or leave him home?

Timber!

Hardy and I are learning all about what it means to be home owners. In the approximately 5 weeks we've lived in our new house we have had two tree blow over. The first casualty was one in the back that we were planning to take out anyway. But then yesterday's crazy winds brought down this huge limb from our big beautiful tree out front. My dad is bringing out his chainsaw this morning and we are hoping the tree won't look totally lopedsided and have to come out.

The joys of home ownership.

Em's Healthy Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies

My little sister made these cookies the other day and they were so tasty. I was so delighted when she then revealed how healthy they are. Plus they are a great way to use up some of my zucchini tht is growing in abundance. I just had to share. Enjoy!

Em's Healthy Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies

1 egg, beaten
½ c butter, softened
½ c brown sugar
1/3 c honey
1 T vanilla
1 c white flour
1 c whole wheat flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 c finely shredded zucchini
12 oz chocolate chips

Combine first 5 ingredients in small bowl. Combine flour through nutmeg in large bowl then blend in other mixture. Add zucchini and chocolate chips and mix well. Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Kiddie Pool Fun

We just love having a back yard so we can invite friends and cousins over to play!

One More Week

We are getting so excited for our new house!

Getting Closer

Hardy and I are a little bit giddy with anticipation about the new house. Yesterday we went and bought new couches for the great room and an oh, so comfy leather sectional for the basement. I've been eyeing new appliances at Home Depot that I can't wait to get my hands on. And I even got Hardy an edger for Father's Day (he found it already so the cat's out of the bag.) It's so fun to finally be purchasing these things that we have been saving up for when we got a new house.

We are set to close on Tuesday, July 7 so we can start moving in after 5:00 p.m. on the 8th at which time we may just go over and wander around, dancing for joy. We're also crossing our fingers that the nice couple who came to look at our place a few times this past week decides to rent from us. They should let us know later this week.

It all seems to be falling into place so much better than it did last year. Let's hope it continues that way.

A House!

It's finally happening! Hardy and I are buying a house, and it's just perfect. All the things we said we wanted in a house, this house has. It is located in South Jordan in a great neighborhood. I met some of the neighbors today when we were out there for the inspection and they all said it is a wonderful area and they never plan to leave. That's always good to hear.

It has lovely curb appeal and a good yard.

A nice big basement family room.

STORAGE SPACE! I think this is my favorite room in the house.

A decent little kitchen that I think can be great with a few updates.

A great room next to the kitchen with new carpet.

And a super swing set.

The house is even equiped with an outdoor drinking fountain. So handy!

It's so cute. I am VERY excited!

Plaid Shorts and Silly Sounds & Poop!

Oh, how Jack and Hardy love summer and being able to wear their matching blue plaid golf shorts.

And below I just thought I'd post some of his lastest silly sounds. What a funny boy.

Oh, and Jack officially initiated us into parenthood this morning when he full on pooped in the tub. Hardy was watching him and nearly died. Then we pulled him out and put him on a towel while we cleaned up and he pooped on the towel a few mintues later. It was really gross poop too. We wound up just throwing away the towel and the washcloth I used to clean out the tub. They were old and not even worth washing out. Hardy just rushed them straight to the dumpster. Ooh, yuck!

Season Finale thoughts

Lost Are you serious? They are going to leave us with that for a year? Bah!!!

American Idol - how could they kick off Danny? He was our guy. (His wife died from a CHD so we love that he loved a special heart). Fine, I guess Adam.

Dancing with the stars - Gille is pretty darn sexy, and boy can he shake that booty.

ANTM Yes, I watch it. Hardy thinks it's shameful, but I think it's funny. My vote is on Teyona (hmm...unless she got kicked off this week. I haven't watched this weeks episode yet.)

Biggest Loser - I haven't watched it at all this season but caught the very end of the finale. I can't even fathom losing more than 50% of your body weight. That's crazy. Pretty cool.

Those are my thoughts.

Bah! The hydrogen bomb! Seriously!

Midnight Shootout

Okay...so there wasn't any shooting, but there were guns drawn and the very loud definite threat of shooting.

Last night I got up around midnight with Jack and as I crawled back into bed I heard some strange sounds out our bedroom window. From our room you can see the parking lot behind the nearby Smith's Market and there were a couple of police cars with their lights on. They had a beam shining on the roof of the Smith's, their guns drawn and they were yelling at a guy who was climbing around. I don't know if he was stealing, on drugs, or what, but they sure were not happy he was up there. A minute later 5 more cop cars zoomed in, surrounded the building, and several noisy police dogs jumped out, ready to chase the guy down. It was quite the little man hunt. Eventually the guy climbed off the roof and they threw him to the ground, hand-cuffed him and hauled him away. Yikes! Such excitement.

Pics

I've been trying to improve my photo taking and editing skills lately, so I practiced on Jack and my niece and nephew during our adventures this week. I think they turned out pretty cute. It also helps that the subjects were stinking adorable.

Wicked Good

Saw it. Loved it. Thought Glinda totally stole the show.

Thanks for a lovely date Hardy!

Taking the girls back!

After 8 1/2 months of pumping, I have finally decided to reclaim my boobs.

As of last week Jack finally has no problem drinking formula so I was contemplating making the switch, but last Friday he made my decision easy when he completely rejected a freshly pumped bottle in lieu of a the formula. Of course I later recalled that I has eaten onion rings earlier for lunch so that probably was the reason Jack rejected my milk, but at the time it made me sad thinking I'd spent all this time and energy pumping for the past 250 days and he prefers the canned stuff.

I am glad that I have made it this long, and I committed to giving him the good stuff through RSV season to hopefully keep him just a little more healthy, but I am thrilled to finally reap some feeding advantages. I look forward to the day when my bottle washing load is cut in half, I don't have to bring my pump and a cooler if Jack and I are leaving the house for more than 3 hours, and I can sleep through the night when it's Hardy's turn to get up with the baby.

By my calculation I have pumped:
37 weeks x 7 days in a week = 259 days
259 days x every 3-6 hours = approximately 1500 pumpings
1500 pumpings x 10-15 mintues each time = ~18,000 minutes = 300 hours

That's 300 hours of making silly noises and faces at my baby to try and keep him from crying while I'm attached to a machine and can't come pick him up.

Ya, it's time.

Now I just have to endure the pain while I dry up. Hardy is very sympathetic, but also can't help but laugh at me as I'm stuffing cabbage leaves down my shirt to ease the pain. I had no answer for him when he asked, "Who thought of that?" I don't know, but it seems to help. My very supportive husband is almost as excited as I am for the very expensive trip I'm going to take to Victoria Secret to refit my soon to be non-inflatible chest. And how nice it will be to wear button-up shirts again. Ah, it's the little things that bring such happiness.

Rolling Over

Idaho Fun

Jack and I went to Idaho this weekend to visit my sister Erin while Hardy was in Vegas at the Mountain West basketball tournament. My parents and my little sister Emily and her kids also came. We had so much fun. My sisters and I laughed at how much our husbands would have hated this trip, being all couped up together with lots of crazy kids running all over the place and no actual plans to do anything. And on the flip side, none of us had any interest in doing what our husbands were doing (one bro-in-law was also in Vegas, and the other took the boy scouts ice fishing), so it was a great weekend for all of us.

Thursday night after we got all the kids to bed, Erin talked Emily and I into coming to a karaoke party her friend was having while Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids. I haven't done karaoke since college. It was pretty entertaining though. The 3 of us did a rousing rendition of "You Light Up My Life," one of our favorites that we used to sing together on our Grandma Schick's old player piano.

The rest of the time we really just talked and entertained kids, but that was the best part. The only thing that would have made it better is if our other sister Heather could have joined us. (We missed you!) I am so grateful for my family and the good people that they are.

Semi-Finals

Well, the Titans won their game Thursday to make it to the Semi-Finals this afternoon, but unfortunately that's where their quest for the State Championship ended. Jack was very proud of his dad and the team and can't wait until he's bigger and can be the water boy.

Great season Titans!

Titans Win Game One!

The Titans had their first game in the State basketball tournament today. They were ahead most of the game and thankfully pulled out a victory over Orem High in the end. It was way too close for comfort though.

I swear I get ulcers at those games, and Hardy...well, I have no doubt that he's lost years of his life from the stress of coaching. Good thing we both love it. And Jack, well, he slept through the 4th quarter so apparently he wasn't too worried.

Next game is Thursday night against Timpview. Our fingers are crossed for another victory.

Go Oly!

Region Champs!

Friday night Hardy's basketball team got to cheer, cut down the nets and celebrate as the Region 6 Champions. Then they went back into the locker room and sprayed sparkling cider all over each other and acted like they just won the World Series. Boys are funny. Jack was sad that we couldn't stick around for the festivities, but it was way past his bedtime. Someday though I'm sure he will join his dad in coming home sticky and happy.

They have won every year that we have been married, and I think all but 1 year since Hardy started coaching at Olympus. They had a great season this year and he has really enjoyed working with the boys. They have 1 more game this Tuesday, and then the State Tournament begins next week. Our fingers are crossed that they do well and go all the way.

Facebook

I just don't get it. What is the craze these days about Facebook?

I must be missing something because everyone seems to love it and spend lots of time on it, but I seriously don't get it. When people send me an invitation to be added as a friend, I am happy to oblige, but then what? I don't learn anything about anyone from ther profile. Instead now I'm in the know every time some random person I went to high school with complains that they can't decide what to fix for dinner. It's so weird.

Plus people keep trying to send me "requests" that I don't understand either. What am I supposed to do with a Little Green Patch or a butterfly? No offense to those who have sent them to me, I just don't know what to do with them so I have a strict "no request" acceptance policy. They just feel too much like spam or a chain letter and I don't like feeling obligated to pass them on.

And then the real kicker is when people I know start using it to contact me. That's great for people I haven't seen in a while, but when good friends act like they fogot my email address so they have to use facebook to find me, again, that's just weird.

Maybe I'm just using it wrong, but as it stands I just don't get it. I mean seriously...get a blog. :)

The Good Old Days

Last night my family and I went to the dress rehearsal of the Woods Cross High School production of Beauty and the Beast. Hardy and I took Jack, and my sister brought her kids, and my parents came along to watch the kids faces. They were still working out a few technical bugs so they had to go over a few scenes a few extra times, and Jack barely made it past "Be Our Guest" before he was ready to go, but it was fun to be there. We've been such recluses I forgot how much I enjoy getting out and seeing a show.


Watching the director yell orders at everyone sure did take me back to my high school days when I used to be in the musicals. They were so fun. While Hardy was busy bonding with the basketball team during his high school days, I was more of a choir and AP geek. He totally makes fun of me about it now and rolls his eyes at drama people, but I roll my eyes at his jocks and cheerleaders so it all comes out even in the end. ;)

Here's me and my friend Charity in our costumes for "Once Upon a Matress."

This was me as Chava in my Stake production of Fiddler on the Roof. (On the right) Check out that long, nasty fake hair. Luckily it didn't hurt my chances with the fellas as my character got to run away with the hottest guy in the show at the end. Good times.

It's all Relative

It's funny how being at the hospital can mess with your head.


As I sit here next to Jack's bed watching him recover, I look around the PICU and can't help but feel a little bit guilty that he's doing so well. There are so many kids in here who are sick and struggling and I am absolutely amazed every time Jack hits a milestone without any set backs. Why are we so lucky while others can't seem to catch a break?

Then I go out in the real world. In the hospital Jack is the big, healthy strong one, but in the real world he's sick. It's very strange to transition back and forth between these two very different realities.

Dairy Queen

We had a funny nurse yesterday (Torrey) taking care of Jack after he came out of surgery. She was very impressed with how fat and happy Jack is and said he is one of the biggest kids she has ever seen come in for his Glenn. When I told her he eats plain breastmilk now she was even more impressed and started calling me the Dairy Queen. I thought that was extra funny because I think my body has been coping with the stress of being at the hospital by over producing. I seriously could feed the whole PICU these days. It's ridiculous, especially since Jack isn't eating at the moment.

Pondering going private

I think after Jack's next surgery I am going to take my blog private.

I will leave Jack's site open to the public as I want other heart families to be able to read his journey and find hope and encouragement and people we know to be able to check in on his progress, but it's probably best if I post the more personal stuff on a private site, just to be on the safe side.

If you would like to be included, (and everyone is welcome) please send me your email either in a post or email SBAimee@yahoo.com and I will add you when I decide it's time to make the change in the next few weeks.