Family!!

LOVE THIS! PHOTO DUMP! My mom, brother and sister came out to visit us from Wisconsin. Meg and Scott came out for EFY (a totally AWESOME experience!) and grandma got to hang out with Danger all week! These are pictures are from my iPhone all week.

Danger and uncle Scott hanging out on the stairs! It's just awesome that they were wearing the same color!

Meg and Scott were playing video games. Danger wanted to play, so they handed him a controller that was unplugged.

Danger got stung by a wasp : 3 times! He cried for 5 minutes then decided it was time eat. My tough little man!

Bandit LOVED the attention! Scott played with him!

3 generations! That little monkey guy LOVED having his Grandma around!

We went to the flag raising ceremony at church on the 4th. Danger ate a ton of watermelon!

Danger helped Grandma push the wagon up the hill on the way home.

Just helping!

We went up to the hill by our house to watch fireworks. Danger had a glowstick. Grandma had her Danger!

Grandma was exhausted from chasing Danger all week. Scott was exhausted from chasing Utah girls all week.

I love my family. Walking to church on Sunday.

Danger wouldn't sit still during church, so momma started hiding his animal crackers!

Grandma and Danger snuggling at church.

Grandma wrestling that boy!

Danger LOVED having his grandma to hang out all week. It really was so nice to have my family visiting! Meg and Scott LOVED EFY and I am so excited that they went.

Mom's Day

So yesterday was Mother's Day.

Shark and Danger made it a great day! They both got me flowers and Shark bought me pizza and Sprite and took me to our park. It was a great day!

Then we went over to Shark's parent's house where this happened :

 

 Yeah.

So I had a great Mother's Day and then I had a panic attack.

It all turned out alright in the end. Shark is safe and sound. :) And really happy.

I love being a mom and am so happy I have my little man. He is such a blessing and an amazing little person. He is such a wonderful spirit, such a curious little friend. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a mom, for this job and role I've taken on. Some days are hard, but in the end, when my little man is smiling and laughing, I feel great. I enjoy wiggling my fingers at him as he runs away from me, smiling and giggling uncontrollably. I love him! And I am thankful for Shark, for the amazing man he is, the amazing man he'll raise my son to be.

I am thankful for my perspective on the mother I am, and want to be. I thankful that I don't always feel a need to be just like "that" mom. I am thankful for my husband, who understands who I am. I am so very blessed.

Here's my little man and what we've been up to in the past weeks.

love hate

Ok I've started to realize things are different here in Utah than they are in Wisconsin. I have found some things I absolutely love. There are also a few things I hate.

LOVE:

- Arctic Circle. Oh my goodness! You can get a freaking awesome little burger (with lettuce on it) for 79¢! I love it!

- over-the-top shakes. That ones a new one. I love them, although I cant seem to ever finish them.

- My husband. Yup.

- Fry sauce. The magical mixture that everyone says is just ketchup and Mayo but I know there's more to it.

- The mountains. Yeah sure Wisconsin has rolling hills, but Utah has mountains and they are wonderful.

- Drive-in movies. Sure, we never can seem to find the right kind of radio but drive-in movies are still way awesome. They are so much fun.

- Love Sac/Cuddle Cushion. Just a giant bean bag or some are filled with bits of memory foam. And by giant I mean just barely fits in the bed of Shark's Chevy. (Awesome at drive-ins.)

- Snowboarding. I know I got the snowboard while in Wisconsin but I never used it out there cuz I worked swing shift (it sucked) but once I moved out here, and met Shark, he taught me how and I love it.

- Going to General Conference. Sure I watched it on Tv, but going in person is so amazing. I absolutely love it, it is so awesome and so wonderful, just a beautiful expierence.

- I love being closer to everything, like grocery stores, gas stations, the library, the bank, church, the Temple. No more driving for an hour to get to church (we can walk across the street), or the grocery store (we're smack in the middle of 2 of them, same with gas stations.) Everything is so much closer, I love it.

- Grandma Sycamore's Bread. It's awesome. I'm not sure if it's just an "out west" thing, I never looked for it in WI. But it is so soft and wonderful. I love it. And I love that I found an outlet bakery that sells it for $1! Yup! No more $4 a loaf for this mama.

HATE

-Traffic. In Wisconsin there are 2 seasons, football and construction. And it is common knowledge, a rule, a law, everybody knows an follows it : in the construction zone you slow down. You slow WAY freaking down. So, it's totally new to me that apparently in Utah, drivers hold no regard for construction zones and therefore, do not drive the speed limit, at all. Yup traffic sucks.


Ok, so basically, it's just traffic I hate...

Ooh, and I hate that I didn't buy that industrial size double pack of Ranch from CostCo last month... I kept telling myself, "We don't use ranch that much, I shouldn't buy that cuz we won't really use it." HA! Then I bought a 4 pack of pepperoni pizzas and a 3-bottle-pack of buffalo wing sauce from BW3. What was I thinking not buying the ranch?!

Hindsight is always 20/20.

St Pats and Fam

So I have had a St Patricks Day door decoration in my TO DO box for 3 years. Seriously. I had Shark make letters out of wire hangers, to spell LUCKY ME. Well, I finally found all the pieces got around to it.

It now hangs on my door for all to see just how dang LUCKY I am!

Also, where I hung up my decor to get pics, I found someone had a bit of RAGE to get out.

So my mom was here for a visit for Danger's Blessing. {In my church, we bless our babies around 3 months old, we give them a name, one they are known on the records of our church as (same as the one we call them by), and we bless them with things for this life. It's a very neat experience.}

She showed me that my youngest sibling is now a giant.

My almost graduated sister is a cute cheerleader.

And apparently laughs when other are feeling tortured...

And my youngest sister is awesome at making snowmen.

I was never that awesome at it, and I'm pretty awesome at making snowmen. ;)

Alright, and here are some pics of Danger with Grandma!

 Great Grandma got Danger a Peek-a-boo bear, usually he's surpised every time the bear moves, this time he was just staring that bear down!

We went for a walk today. Shark found a little pond on his way to school. We walked there, me, Danger, Shark and bandit. It was nice walk. It was lots of fun!

Love to all ♥

This old house

So we bought a house last year. I love my house, I really do. But sometimes I do not. We bought it short sale, so everything was AS IS.
That means we shouldn't have been surprised when pipes froze and burst last winter. Or when the water heater started leaking. Or when the tub upstairs stopped draining. Or when the dishwasher died. Nor should we be surprised that the hot and cold water are switched in every faucet in the house except the original upstairs bathroom. Yeah. {when I go to other houses, I have to stop and think which is hot and which is cold!}

All of the windows are single pane and very drafty. I'm hoping the windows are going to be one of the first major renovations we do, when we start doing renovations. Yeah, windows or AC of some kind. We got a used swamp cooler we can install this next spring.
Most the appliances came with the house: stove, dishwasher, fridge. And we were given a used washer and dryer when we lived in CO (thanks Chris & Jess!!) and when the dishwasher died it took us a while to get another one. One of Shark's coworkers got a new dishwasher so Shark asked for his old one. I love having a dishwasher, I don't care where we end up as long as we have a dishwasher I'll be just fine.

One thing we realized we didn't have was a microwave. The apartment we lived in right when we got married had one in it, and so did the house we rented in CO. So I went to the DI (thrift store) and got this baby.

Oh yeah. No buttons, no clock. We went old school with the turn dial. It doesn't "ding" when your food is done but it does have a light. And it really is tiny. (I put a pint size jar of jam next to it. At least I think it's a pint...) We love it.
So this little story got started because the power went out last night. The only indicator was our alarm clock. No clock on the microwave or stove to blink at me while I fixed Mancub's bottle. Only our alarm clock. I love our "simple" life.
I know how blessed we are and I am so very grateful for it. We're blessed with family who has helped us on emergencies and has provided for us. I am so very grateful for the home we live in and I'm grateful for the opportunity to make it ours. I'm excited to raise our family here.

PS: there was (still is) a raging wind storm last night. Our windows have been howling all night. Shark was driving home and semis were tipped over, branches everywhere. He passed a store that had it's windows blown out. They eventually shut down the highway to semis. It's been really windy, kinda scary windy. Everyone be safe today.

Here are my sleepy boys.
Love love love and happy December!

Bountiful Baskets

Alright, for those of you who know me : you know I am NOT an early riser. Not a morning person. I'd love to just sleep until noon every day! (sigh) But alas, that is not possible.

It certainly wasn't possible this morning! We've been talking to people at church about a food co-op program called Bountiful Baskets. Well, I figured I'd take a look.

I registered and then ordered my first share of fruits and veggies. The pick up time was 7:00 AM this morning. It wasn't very far to go to my "team site" - there are lots to pick from depending on how far you want to drive I guess.

So my alarm went off at 6:30, I got up, put my contacts in, and hopped in my truck. I took the red truck, we're trying to sell it, and who better to sell it to then people who are food co-op, right? (Ok, my thinking was, these are frugal people, if they need a vehicle, they aren't going to be buy it new, so might as well drive that once, in case one of them is looking for a new little red truck!)

I waited in line, got my 1 basket of fruit and my 1 basket of veggies and loaded into my laundry basket then into my truck. I started on my way home.

I get home with my heavy basket of produce and I called Shark upstairs to see me bounty! It really is a ton!

Then he says, "I drive that truck all over, for hours a day and not one person ever calls. But you put a pretty girl in a truck with a for sale sign, and bam! The phone starts ringing!" Apparently, on my way to the co-op, some one called him (it's his number on the truck!) to ask him about the truck.

Next time, I'll have to remember who people would be calling! Anyways, this Bountiful Baskets thing seems pretty awesome. I'm excited to do it. I don't think we'll do it each week, because we don't eat tons and tons of fruit and veggies. (Maybe once we have the Little Man and he starts eating foods and stuff, we'll do it every week...) But I think for now, every other week, maybe. I mean, $15 a week for awesome produce is NOT bad at all!

Go to BountifulBaskets.org to find a site in your area and to learn about more!! It's not just a Utah thing, they've got this program all over. It doesn't hurt to take a look!!

Love to those who are eating good in the neighborhood! ♥

Hospital-ness

Ok so today is Friday. I've been in the hospital since Wednesday after my OB appointment and after my cardiologist appointment. They admitted me right after my appointment. I have an atrial flutter they're worried will result in a clot which is NOT a good thing in any situation.

They have started me on a blood thinner called Heparin, which is totally safe for baby and me. They've also got me taking a heart rate regulator called Sotalol, also safe for baby and me. My heart rate has already dropped back to a safe and normal level, all of us are happy about that.

Yesterday they did an ultrasound thru my throat. They sprayed my throat with Lidocaine {tastes how cleaners smell} and that's all I remember from that. They tell me I had to swallow the ultrasound camera and they tell me I got really really funny. I got back up to my room and was perfectly fine. I felt good the anestesia wore off right away. No clot was found so they started me on the sotalol.

So far it's been kinda boring. Which is good, we don't want anything exciting to happen while I'm here. The heart flutter is exciting enough. I've been watching tv for a few days just having the doctors watch me. Also there is nothing good on around noon. Trust me.

Sharkhas been hear with me at nights, which is an awesome thing. He has been an amazing and wonderful. I love him so much and I couldn't do this without him.

Now for some awesomeness: how about baby pictures?

Love to all who have been thinking about us.

back in the swing

So lately I've just felt unsettled. Not restless but not settled. Nothing in particular. I think I felt that way because we weren't really sure where we'd be next month or next year. Yeah I know a year is a ways away but it's still one of those useless things I worry about.

I knew we were safe at Steve & Heather's but we were still unsure of our future. Of what would happen in the next 2 months. For a while there we were pretty unsure of getting the house or not. {People have said there is a calm in my voice they haven't heard in a while.} it seems like we have a direction to go now. It's comforting to know there is a place we can call OURS. (Although, I would like to add, living with family has been wonderful, we really didn't have to worry about much, just washing our clothes pretty much.) Steve & Heather have been wonderful and amazing to let us live there, thank you so so SO much!

Pretty soon Shark and I will be getting off work around the same time now. Which will be nice, cuz then we can sit down and eat dinner together, although it'll be around 8:30pm, at least we'll have dinner together. I'm even in the process of making up a Meal Plan. I know some ladies have a weekly meal plan, I'm hoping to plan mine for 2 weeks, and then go shopping with a big list every 2 weeks. I'm also hoping to stock up and use what I've got. We'll have to see....

Shark and I are no where NEAR being unpacked. But that's one of those things that will take time. Right now, I'm trying to find my dishes. I found most of the food we had packed away. We've also got all of our clothes. I just need Shark to fix the hanger-bars in our closets so I can start hanging it all up! I've also got to find some more shelves and dressers, garage sales here I come. Part of me wishes I had a week with no work just to get the house organized. (Which reminds me, I need to find our alarm clock!)

Also in other news regarding food and my to-do list : I have decided I need to start canning food. That being said, I need to pick up one of those "Canning Starter Kits" from Wal-mart, they've got them there for $10 or something, and it comes with everything I need to can. I'll share in a bit what exactly I'll be canning.... :)

I guess, it really hasn't sunk in yet, or something. Shark and I are still ready to run. I talked to him this morning about it. He said, it feels like we're just waiting for what's happening next. Like waiting for the good times to stop, waiting for the punchline, the devastating disaster to strike, because it feels too good to be true. But really, we're where we're "supposed to be" by the views of "The Others" - we're married, we have a hosue, we both have jobs, we're both mid-20's. I'm just excited to have a place that is officially ours. A place to make ours. A place for our family.

Love to all who haven't let the good times stop. ♥

any other day

Yeah right! So my awesome SIL Heather and I cleaned the whole house. Ok, so she vacuumed, and steam cleaned the carpets, and washed the walls and mopped the floor.... I painted and patched holes in the walls. Like I said, she's freaking awesome!! I just put on a 3rd coat of paint on the wall in our room. :) I'm hoping to post pictures after this weekend when we get most of the stuff moved in and into place. Or it will just be pictures of a green wall and a blue wall.... So, we'll wait until we get most of our stuff in place. But we signed the papers last Tuesday, and funded and recorded it on Friday. Heather and I went to start cleaning on Wednesday, but I didn't start painting until Friday. Until I knew it was for sure ours. We're pretty excited to have our own place. I'm pretty excited to start unpacking. It'll be like Christmas, some of those boxes contain mysteries, I have no idea what is in them, or what I have!

Things at work have been way crazy, as we prepare for Christmas, yes already. We started setting up last week, and already have a few trees decorated. I love Christmas, but I feel I'm already sick of looking at decorations. I'm just glad I'm not interested in buying things for my tree. We've had our blue/black/silver tree for 2  years now, and I'm pretty content with that. Buying red or green glittery ornaments would throw it all off. And I do have enough Christmas decorations that I am NOT interested in buying those either. Halloween on the other hand is a totally different monster itself. I love Halloween, and I would buy everything they have for the holiday, if Shark would let me. But he does not, so I do not. I did buy some decorations, but after buying from the Trading Post and from the Dollar Tree, I've said no more. So I don't buy any more Halloween stuff, but that doesn't stop me from making them!!

Speaking of Christmas, I think I've got a pretty good plan on what I'm going to be doing for presents this year. If I could just get the boys' presents figured out... Why do I always struggle with the boys' presents? Probably because I can't make them a purse or a wallet... Yeah that could be it. But I think I have most of the gifts figured out. Now just to act on my ideas and get started! :) I'm just all around excited about Christmas and gifts, not just receiving them (although I am considering mailing a box to my new address, first to see my new address with our name on it, and secondly because I LOVE GETTING MAIL!) but also giving them. I love seeing the look on people's faces as they open a gift specially for them. It's pretty awesome. But enough about Christmas : HALLOWEEN!! I'm pretty excited about our costume this year. Once I get it all done, I'll post pictures! Yeah!!

I absolutely love my husband. He went hunting this past weekend in Nebraska. Him, Steve and his friend Pickup went, so that left Heather and I as Deer-Widows. So we cleaned my house (without boys or dogs trampling over everything, including the baby) and then we hung out at Denny's late night, like way late, so late, the baby didn't fuss or cry or anything, just blinked at us as she chewed on a celery stick. Then the boys almost got stuck in WY, apparently there was a brush-fire that closed down the highway... If it's not snow and wind, it might as well be fire, right? But they got home just fine, apparently the fire was in the morning, and now one cared to turn off the sign telling drivers I-80 was closed... :)

We're hoping to start moving in some of our stuff over the week, and moving most of it on Saturday. Although, Saturday at 4:30 is a Relief Society activity in my new ward, and I want to go to that. :) We've called enough poeple to come help us, that it shouldn't take very long at all. So excited!!

Love to all who have long-lost stuff they never knew they had until they found it in a box in the garage! (I love YOU ice cream maker!)  ♥

Park, Plates & Stars

So yesterday after work, I took Bandit to the Dog Park. (I brought water this time, but he is a snob when it comes to bowls and water...) Basically all he did was run and run and run and he laid down to drink his water. He's pretty funny. One lady commented on how he prances, yeah he came like that. Nothing I can do about it. I told her, The vet told me I'd have a show dog if he could just keep his tongue in his mouth... They have tons of tennis balls at the park, and I would just walk around with the Chuck-it (still the best toy ever!) and pick up random tennis balls and then throw them for him and any other dog out there. He loves to run, that's his favorite!!

We registered the silver truck today. It didn't cost near as much as either of us were thinking it would! Which is totally a relief, you know, since we're trying to buy a house and all.... Plus, we finally got a Z!! (great for playing the Alphabet game on long trips....) I'm not going to take a picture of the plates, cuz then you can FIND me!! :) LOL! But I am excited to finally have Utah plates, no more crazy "tourist" stares! I really do know where I'm going!!

Last night after Shark got off work (he fogged until around 12:30am) I really wanted to go check out the Perseids Meteor Shower going on this week. I love shooting stars, and thing I remember about my childhood, is we'd go visit Grandpa Doyle's and Grandma Arlene's house and someone (that part I don't remember!) would take us up to this hill by the airport, right up by the spinning air traffic tower, and we'd park in this little church/cemetary parking lot and watch the meteor showers! Well, I wanted to go see the meteor shower this week, and last night was the night! Shark was dead tired, so pretty much I drove out west, just west of the City, and we parked by a little pond and laid down on one of the millions of blankets we always have in the truck, and watched the shooting stars! My awesome phone came with the Google SkyMap app, which Shark and I both agree, it is pretty sure the coolest app ever! When I hold my phone up the night sky, it'll show which constellations I'm looking at, where the horizon line is, which direction I'm looking at (or holding my phone towards) and the screen is very motion sensitive, if I hold my phone south, it shows what's in the southern sky. Last night I held my phone more northern, and it showed my Orion (that one's not hard to find, the dude has 3 stars in a row as his belt!). Although there might have been a glitch last night, I'd point it to the eastern sky and it showed the SUN well above the horizon line, which I know for a fact was FALSE! The meteor shower was great, we didn't see butt-loads of shooting stars, but we saw some pretty cool ones. We both saw one where the trail lasted for so long! It was pretty fun!

It was so nice to just sit and relax with Shark. And love stuff like meteor showers, and fun stuff like that. I really am a nerd. Oh, and if you're a nerd too, there's more info about the Perseids Meteor shower. It's still going on, but the peak was last night. It should go on until Saturday night or so. :) Enjoy!

Love to all who are nerds too... ♥

BIG things!

So, the past month has been crazy! We had Heritage Days {I still feel like I'm dead from that}, and then we started football at the City {sometimes you just need people to chill out and get out of the football shed!}, and then Shark and I flew to the Wisco for my sister's wedding! I have lots of pictures from that [ok, mostly landscapes from the plane window because I always forgot my camera when I was out and about]. At the end of last month/beginning of this month, Shark and I put an offer down on a house. The house was up for a short sale, so we knew it would take a long time {ignore where it says SHORT and it's lying!}. But I got a call yesterday morning, the bank excepted our offer! Shark and I went to put the earnest money down today, and signed the last of the papers! The closing date is September 10th!! We're so very excited to be in our own place, and to in our own house is just awesome! So, you can bet that once I get time {HA!} I'll be working on making our house cute, and I'll be posting about it! When our realtor called me, I started jumping on the bed, and I swear I didn't sit down for about an hour! I called everybody!! It's hard to change from "It's probably not going to happen" to "Yes it's ours!!" We tried really hard to NOT get our hopes up, {I read on the internet, that short sales don't go thru very often...} and so, I had to make sure that we looked at other houses and didn't start decorating {ok, that last part is just me, I had to not decorate the house!!} because it's so easy to get wrapped up and start thinking the house was ours already. Case in point : we drove by the house one day, and I was completely shocked to find people in it!! It was empty 2 days before when we went to go look at it! How could they sell our house out from under us?! I called the real estate office, and they said the seller rented it out on a month to month basis, and the renters knew the house was offered on, and they were ready to move at the drop of a hat. So I had to chill out! It wasn't ours! The seller could still do whatever he wanted to it...BUT now that we've signed papers and pretty much got the house, I'm thinking of where my griddle is going to go, which table to put up in the dining room, where to put our bed! I'm so very excited!! We both are. Shark and I have been smiling, and whenever I get to thinking about OUR HOUSE, a big grin comes to my face. We just keep repeating, We have a house! We have a house!!

Now, to test out the ward, and get ready to make yet another move!! {Good thing most of our stuff is still in boxes from Colorado!!}

Love to all who have good things happen to them, and even bad things that turn out to be good things. ♥

Homerun derby and stars

So today, I shopped. I bought lots of stuff, but most of it was on sale, and I even got some on clearance, like 95% off!! Sweet! Shark works at the mosquito abatement in Davis county, and when he worked there 2 years ago, he was partners with Joel. Well, if you know Shark at all, you know that he is a fan of nicknames, and everyone he knows has a nickname. Well, Joel's nickname is Naked Joel. (Naked Joel was partners with a girl after he was partners with Shark, and Shark dubbed her the Mrs. It's funny cuz Naked Joel and the Mrs got married about a year ago, it's cute!) Well, Naked Joel has been calling Shark and telling him we need to get together and have a double date. Tonight is the night! A homerun derby, and then a campfire at the Uinta property. (Shark's grandma owns property up in Uinta, right on the river, no house is built there yet, but every year or so, she threatens to sell her house in Cali, and move out here to Utah. I'm hoping she builds a big house.)

We can add 6 movies to our list. I bought Thumbelina (the exact one we used to watch when we went to my grandma's, when I was little!), Waitress (with Someone Like You), The Ant Bully, Troy (2 DVD edition!) and Robots. All were in the $5 bin at WalMart, the double Feature was $10! I was so excited when I saw these!

We tied in the Homerun Derby, and then we went and got our TV, and headed out to the property for a campfire. (I went to Kent's last week, and was browsing, and found these GIANT campfire marshmallows {really, that's what they're called} and we brought those.)

After our campfire, and Naked Joel and the Mrs went home, I wanted to stay out and look at the stars. So we hooked up the TV and put in Stardust, and watched part of it. I say part of it, because Shark started snoring before Tristan came back to find Evane gone! {when the unicorn broke the chain!} So, we packed it up and went home. It's fine with me, I knew he would fall asleep anyways, but I wanted to cuddle outside on the loveSac, it was way nice out tonight. I love my husband, he is so giving, and usually goes along with anyything I ask. ♥

POTD for 6.5.10 is : the giant marshmallows, next to a soda can, for comparison.

Love to all who love creative dates, and cuddling with their spouse!

Temple

Today, Shark woke up at the butt-crack of dawn, not unusual, just odd cuz today is Friday, he doesn't work at the abatement on Fridays.... But him and Steve were going to go fishing. Shark came home around 7:30 cuz the gate was closed on his fishing place... So we slept in until around 9:30 when we both jumped out of bed (ok, rolled out of bed) to get ready to go the temple. {Goal #12 : Go to the Temple at least once per month} and we made it to the Bountiful temple. There were all kinds of weddings going on today, which is always nice to go see... It reminds me of our day. ♥

Here's a picture of the Bountiful temple, I took this snapshot while standing in the middle of the road, and with my phone. And the flowers lining the "driveway" were absolutely gorgeous. There were 2 kinds I loved, tulips that looked like venus-fly-traps (they looked like they had teeth) <--- POTD.

And some red and white tulips.

POTD for 5.21.10 is : Temple flowers!! Look how awesome these are!

So far so good! Today has been a great day! I was a scorekeeper and supervisor for boys baseball tonight. The frist 2 games went off without a hitch, we had some coach come up and ask when we would cancel once it started to rain. I told him what I knew : We only cancel due to lightning and a dangerous infield. If there is NO lightning, then we continue playing until the infield becomes too slick and unsafe for the kids. We got about half way thru the 3rd game when the infield became too slick, so we postponed the end of that one. Shark came over to see me and his mom after work.

Love to all who love beautiful things ♥

Fish Fry!

Today there was a fish fry for the City's fishing club. I went to help out with that, and the food was great! It had been raining off and on all day, but there was a break in the rain long enough to get the grill going and to deep fry some catfish.

Some ducks are the park. As soon as we set up the food, these ducks charged the table, they know what food is, and they know they get fed if they come around.

POTD for 5.18.10 is : a Pelican and a Crane at the pond! (these pics were taking with my phone!)

Love to all who love getting out!!

you and your heart

Cause you and your heart Shouldn't feel so far apart.

Yesterday I had a cardiologist appointment, and I was kind of worried, just a little. The doctor bunped up my meeting with him to before my echo, and then he cancelled my echo all together! I was like, Oh no! What did he see onthe stuff from Colorado?! But when I met with him, he said he had all the info from CO, and that no repeats tests were needed. He was forthright, and honest and blunt. It was new to have a doctor like that, I'm used to pediatricians, who sugar coat everything, and never tell you how bad it really is. {Example: When I went in for the OHS this last time, I had NO idea they were concerned about the scartissue!!}This guy just laid it out! He said that younger is better for having kids, underlying heart disease or no, and that in the margin of risk : there are 4 groups, Small, Medium, Large, and That's the most stupid idea I've ever heard. {Doctor's words exactly} and that I am between Small and Medium Risk. But that every pregnancy is a small risk, healthy woman or not so healthy. So yayayay!! That will be our "project" for this summer... ;)

When I had to the open heart surgery, the doctors were saying that eventually I would need a pacemaker. But not like NOW, it would be more around early 30's or so. This doctor said 50% of Adult Congenital Heart Disease patients need a pacemaker. The "pulse" muscles will eventually slow down, and then a pacemaker is needed. There are signs in the EKG and the echo that tell that I am in the 50% that would need a pacemaker. But we already knew about the pacemaker. It was all just alot to handle, infomation overload.

Well, since I was down in Salt Lake to go to the hospital, just East of the temple, I stopped by the temple to walk around. As I was driving to temple, Jack Johnson's new song came on the radio : You and Your heart. I cranked it and sang it outloud! I love that song. Amid all the construction, the temple was still gorgeous. There was a young couple getting married (I know I have no ROOM to call other couples YOUNG, cuz this couple actually looked older than Shark and I!!) and I did the whole flashback thing, thinking back to when Shark and I got married at that very same temple. Thinking back to how I felt {it was even so real, that I started to get a little woozy from the heat!! It was warm outside, but I was prepared this time, I brought a bottle of water!! Booyah!} and how much I love him. I wrote down what I was thinking about all the info the doc just gave me, and I felt a complete calm come over me. I may not have the struggles of temptations that others have, but this heart stuff is my trial in life, that is what I will be dealing with for my whole life. I am so grateful to my husband, who has been standing strong next to me for all of this. He is absolutely amazing, and wonderful. I was handpicked for my, and I for him. And I think back to the miracles that brought us together. I am so thankful that I was ready to meet him when I did, and that I was where I was and when I needed to be. I found this quote, that fits perfectly : It's nothing short of a miracle when you find the one you're looking for.

Ooh - So when I was at work, I was thinking that I should write a book, and what it should be called. I was tinking and thinking, and came up with a bunch of ideas but this one sounds so dang good!! It's now the name of Etsy store, as soon as it's up - VERY SOON!! But it's going to be called Fingerprints on my Heart. I ♥ it!!! Shark likes it too. {Really, so many doctor's have touched my heart, literally.....}

Today I have a video : it's that awesome song.. if it works.... PS: Don't forget to pause the music on my blog if you want to play the video!!!

You And Your Heart lyrics

Love to all who have hearts♥

April Blizzard

Check out the SNOW!!

And that, my friends, is Spring Break in Utah.

♥- all you snow bunnies