Catching Up

I have been seriously slacking on this blog of mine… A few friends and family of mine have started new blogs and it made me realize how much I enjoy reading blogs and also putting my together for those of you that still follow it I promise to you that are left that I will keep up on this. It will be much easier to keep up on now that the weather is getting colder and I will be spending more time inside….

here is a few pictures to show you what we have been up to this wonder Summer of 2010

Taylor is saying the Pledge of Allegiance, while the rest of us are singing The National Anthem at our first Real Soccer game. We have never been to a professional soccer game. It was so much fun and I plan on going to more next year. Thank you Webers for taking us to our first game.

Cody and I were able to go see some incredible bands this summer at Usana Amphitheater with some even better friends. Kings of Leon is an incredible band and I cannot wait to see them again. 311 was amazing as always. I cannot believe I have been going to see them in concert for 10 years now. WOW where has the time gone?!

 

 

This year was so much fun for outdoor activities. We did lots of camping and boating. Taylor loves nothing more than to be out side playing in the dirt. Camping is a perfect fit for her. She can get as dirty as she wants and run wild all day long.

the only challenge was using the bathroom in the great outdoors…Cody is such a genius!! He dug a hole in the ground stuck two rail road ties over it and sat her training potty lid right on top. She thought she was the coolest girl in the world. It was so nice to not have her peeing all over me and herself all weekend. It was just too bad he came up with this the last camping trip of the year. Better late than never though!!

We were able to take Taylor to Lagoon twice this summer. She has never been before so it was so much fun to watch her play all morning at Lagoon A Beach and float the lazy river, then run from ride to ride (sometimes two and three times) asking to ride this one “PLLLEEEEAAASSSEE”.

Pretty sure that Papa Rex had as much fun as Taylor did that day !

 

The annual Coalville Demolition Derby. For the last three years we have been going and spending the afternoon at Echo with Cody’s Grandparents and family, eating good food and catching up with everyone. We then head to the “Crash ‘em up derby” as Taylor calls it. We always have such a good time. How can you beat incredible mullet watching and cars pulverizing each other?

Last but not least…Cody’s birthday party was a Luau themed party…

what better food to have than smoked pork shoulder at a Luau party…

Well you need a smoker to make that right, so here is Cody’s birthday/finishing his Electrical Journeyman schooling. Susan, Rex and I went in on this incredible smoker/grill/oven. Better known as the Big Green Egg. He has never smoked before, but he has always wanted to learn. He loves this thing, he cooks on this thing more than I cook inside!! He has finally found something that can keep his attention during the off season (snow skiing of course).

Cody, Taylor and I have had such a great summer together. I cannot wait until next year

Memorial Weekend 2010

 

This year we spend Memorial Weekend up at Cherry Creek( right by the Sand Dunes). This was the perfect place for this group of people to camp. The two 4 year old had just received their own dirt bikes for Christmas!! You should have seen these boys riding around and around and around our campsite! They were cruising around trying to go off pre-made jumps and anything that looked more fun than the normal circle they made. Taylor finally decided that she wasn’t afraid anymore and took a solo ride.

Needless to say she did a great job, with Mom stressing out rite by her side, never letting go of the handle bars. She loved it. Up until this weekend she was a little fearful of 4-wheelers but those two cute boys, both being her “boyfriend” made her changed her scaredy cat ways :]

Meet Marley. She is the absolute cutest puppy we have ever laid our eyes on. She is only a couple of months old and has SOOOO much personality. This picture is how she spent most of the weekend. She has her own chair which the kids know not to touch. She sits in this chair sleeps in this chair and anything else she wants to do in this chair. SHE LOVES THIS CHAIR!!

  

Taylor and sand are like Oreos and Milk. You can not have Oreos with out a glass of milk and you cannot have sand with out my kid COVERED in it :] 

Well we were there for three days and Cody was fully mobile for 1.5 days. half-way through our trip, there was little accident. Nobody was critically injured. The handle bars were a little bent and Cody’s foot was sore for a week or so but nothing major. Thank goodness.

  The pictures above are of  “snake and lizard hunting” in other words just another reason to go on a ride.

 

We had such a great weekend with some really great people. I hope to do it again soon!!

First Day of Preschool

My little Poser.  Well the inevitable has happened. She is growing up!!!

This year has been so eventful so far, with her milestones. January She turned 3. February she finally peed in the potty and was officially potty trained. March she went skiing for the first time. April Dad turned her crib into a “big girl bed”. May she started PRESCHOOOL.

If the backpack didn’t give it away this is her doing a little dance on the front porch because she was soooo excited to finally go to “school”. I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I wanted because she kept telling me “MOM we have to go, we are going to be late!!” I'm sure that she has heard that out of my mouth  before.

After many weeks of searching for the right place to take my precious baby girl, I finally found the perfect place for us. It is an all day Preschool in Murray She loves it.

I thought for certain there would be a little hesitation from her when I would leave that first day. Boy was I wrong!!! She was doing her little dance again and asking me to leave. The teachers were giggling and telling me how cute she was, like I didn't know that ;)

So as I left my eyes were the ones filling with tears, but I said  to my self “you cannot cry if SHE is not crying!” The only tears that were shed were when she saw that I was there to pick her up!! Once again the teacher, Ms. Heather, started giggling again. I asked her if this was normal and of course she let me know that this is QUITE the opposite of what she has seen in the past.

She has been three weeks now and she is still enjoying it. I cannot believe how fast time has gone by and how much she has grown!!!

Lupus Walk 2010

 

 

As most of you know. My great friend Shalyse has been living with Lupus for the past 13 years. She has gone through more procedures and surgery than anybody I know personally. Long before Shalyse and I had even met she had endured a crazy procedure called Pericaridocentesis( click here to learn what this is) she also had her gallbladder removed all by the age of 17. When her and I first met she was doing Monthly Chemo-therapy treatments, we were 17. If you have ever known anybody that has had to endure this horrific therapy, you know that the side effects are not the least bit friendly. Chemo couldnt hold her down, Shalyse managed to slide through her senior year with amazing grades and she wasn’t taking the usual easy courses that most Seniors take. She lived her life as though she was healthy as her peers, and nothing stopped this girl. She is such an amazing person. This was the beginning of how much strength I would see from this teenager. When Shalyse and I first met I was in complete shock about how many pills she had to remember to take on a daily basis. Im not talking one or two, three times a day. One time we counted and she was taking almost 30 a day!! Can you imagine?? I could barely remember to get myself out of bed and go to school, let a lone keep track of all of those meds.

When were were 20ish her health started declining. She knew it was coming, her proteins in her urine has been getting higher for a while now. She ended up in the hospital in complete Renal Failure. Her Kidneys had given up they lost the battle to Lupus :(

Next on the agenda, Dialysis. Wow, that was such a change in lifestyle for her and everyone that surrounded her. Dialysis is time consuming, three times a week for four hours a day. It may not seem like a long time but it was. The very strict diet that she had to follow. We were all together so much that we all had to follow that same diet, lol. You learn to like things without salt. Pretty sure Ms. Dash was her best friend. That was the only thing she could use to get flavor in her food. She had to read every ingredient, ask so many questions when we would try to go out to a restaurant. The constant questions about her central line, that was fun though making up stories to tell people. “I was shot” was my personal favorite. She had such a great companion in her sister Tish, she was there constantly for her big sister. She was nurse Tish and took such great care of her during all of this. Shalyse is one lucky girl.

The good thing about dialysis is that it didnt last as long for Shalyse as so many other people that we saw there. She was healthy enough for a transplant!!! So we all went down to the hospital to get checked out. BINGO Dad was a match. We did it, we found her a living donor that was the best possible match and we did it SO fast. What an amazing sacrifice that he made to give life to his daughter, again :)

January 15th 2004

Not only is that my beautiful Mom’s birthday but also the day that Tom began living the rest of his life with only 1 kidney and Shalyse started living her life with 3. I was living in Moab at the time so I got up and started the 4 hour drive to see the Lopez family at the hospital. I was pulled over for speeding, but when I told the officer that I was headed to SLC to see my best friend who was  receiving a kidney transplant he let me off with a warning. Thanks officer.

Tom was out first healthy and a little lighter. Shalyse came out a while later obviously and her body handled it great. So now with a new kidney came more pills lots of more pills and very strict time constraints. There is so much testing that goes on in the beginning to make sure the prograf is at the right dose for her body to not reject the second chance at life.

Rejection happened twice in the first year or so, but she has been doing great and living life to the fullest with her extra kidney. I am so grateful to have such an amazing woman in my life. Shalyse is beautiful, funny, smart, resilient, giving, caring, and most of all the best friend a girl could ever ask for. In the 10 years Shalyse has been in my life she has taught me so much. I would have to write a whole different post to tell you all of the things this young woman has taught me about life, by just living her life. I love her so very much and that is why it was so important for me to join the Lupus walk with Shalyse and her family this year( and many  more years to come). I was able to make a donation page and had so many generous friends and family donate to help find the cure and other research to keep my friend and many others here with us for as long as possible.

THANK YOU to all of you who donated to such a wonderful cause.

below are a few pictures from our day at the park to support Lupus.

  

Check out the greeter in the background he was hilarious

 

The long line of supports and survivors

 

Taylor getting ready to show her support for Aunt Sha

 

This was just one of four Utah Cyber Sluts. click on the link to see what amazing things they do to help our Charities and other events like this one

   

Our Team. Shalyse, Tish Jazylynn, Tom, Toni, Debbie, Sheena, Taylor and Alyssa.

 

Sha and I. Yes it was freezing and raining while we were walking but it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day.

 

The walker that had Lupus were given these butterflies

 

 

Our Team Tie dying our Lupus shirts

 

Taylor showing off her purple lupus butterfly

Even Big Buddha from fox 13 was there showing his support

March 2010

Taylor and I went to our first Disney on ice this year. She had such a blast dressing up as Tinkerbell especially since Tinker was the highlight of the show. I was quite impressed with the show. I thought it would be cheesy, but it was so cute.

Granny still enjoys being a kid!!!

Coloring Easter eggs was fun She had such a blast. She colored one two different colors and then when she was finished she held it up and said "yook mom I got skills" in her cute little Taylor voice. I just love her.

Cody has been skiing since he was three so he thought he would teach Taylor. She was really into it, until she got on the slope. She went a total of two times and was finished. So Mom had to drive up and get her so the rest of the family could enjoy the beautiful spring day. Good thing mom likes to stay home :]

There are lots of birthdays in our family in the month of March, but Taylor's favorite birthday party was her cute friend Korben's birthday. She loves Jumping Jacks and she loves Korben. This child is fearless, she was going down the biggest slide head first and knocking older kids down. She is hilarious!!

February 2010

The month of February was a short one but a busy one.
My Granny and I took Taylor to the Safe Kids Fair, she had so much fun. She has a thing for firemen. Every time she sees one she has to go say hi and thank you so driving the fire truck was such a huge deal for her, she talked about it for days lol.
She doesnt like "police-cops" as much she is a little afraid of them, which I cannot under stand why but, firemen are usually better looking anyways lol.

they had face painting there and she was wearing a giraffe dress with giraffe print tights on, so I thought it was fitting that she chose to have a pink giraffe on her face

Taylor had a sick spell for a few weeks. She is a rather healthy child, which I am SO grateful for, but she visited the Doctor three times in a week and a half which was more than she saw him for the entire year of 2009. She had a sinus infection, which lead to a viral lung infection and bacterial lung infection as well. She had to have one breathing treatment which she hated every minute of but was a completely different child after that. Thank you for modern day medicine. I think her being sick was harder on daddy and I than it was on her.

February means Valentines Day. This year in replace of real flowers Cody bought me this delish fruit arrangement, it was so good and pretty too. I want these instead of flowers from now on!! This year I surprised Cody with a fully decorated hotel room downtown and a night just to us. We dont get out very much so it was fun to walk around downtown and enjoy bar hopping. We aren't much of club folks so we found all of the small dive bars and had so much fun. I want to do it again!!

So i just added these photos because it was such a fun night out with friends watching the fight and drinking PBRs :]