We Wish You A Merry Christmas

                                 And a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Happy Birthday Tymon!

4th and 25th of July

Oh Hey there!  It's sure been awhile.  It might take all month to catch up on the summer happenings, but here is a snapshot from the 4th and 25th ;) of July!

The fourth of July was a lot of fun!  It is tradition that we go to the Murray Fourth of July parade and so we did. This is Ty with his cousin Abi.  They are best buds.  They both really enjoyed the parade.  I was sad that I could not run in the race due to my surgery but it was fun watching the runners and watching the parade. 

That weekend we went on a hike up Big Cottonwood Cannon.  Here we are in our summer clothes with snow behind us.  The fun part about all of this was that we had to manuever our stroller over this snow in flip flops.  Let's just say we were sliding all of the place and Ty was screaming.  Only in Utah can you have such beautiful weather and snow in July.  The hike was really fun, Ty watched the ducks and watched people fish.

We also went to the West Jordan Fair.  Ty rode a horse and was not to fond of it at all.  However Ty loves trucks so seeing all these trucks made his day.  The Truck behind us is the one that transports all of those scary carnival rides to and from.  Sorry Ty you won't be going on those anyday soon, if you ever get to go on them. 

We also went to the Murray Fun Days that afternoon.  Ty loved watching the magician and playing in the bounce house.  But I'd have to say his favorite part was eating popcorn as you can see in the picture above.  We had a fun time with Jp, Steph and Abi. 

On the morning of the 25th my sister-in-law Kim, and my cousin, Tara all ran the Desert News 10k.  It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I had people to run it with.  Later that day we went boating with my family.  Ty was not happy about being in the boat at first but he warmed up real quick and started loving swimming!

Later that night we went to Butlerville days.  Ty was a chicken and refused to go in any of the bounce houses even though he loved them on the Fourth of July.  We sat in the rain and waited for the fireworks to start.

Ty really didn't care about the rain because he was eating cotton candy.  We decided we had had enough of the rain and were going to go watch fireworks in our car.

As we began to walk to our car the fireworks started so we sat on the curb and watched them.  Ty loved them and it was the best firework show I have seen in a very long time!

A boy and his dog.

Through the hard times...

I have been having mixed feelings about writing about what I am going through.


At first I just wanted to keep it secret and inside and then I realized that I needed to write it down for myself more than anyone else, but if this does help someone else that is good as well.

What has helped me the most is recognizing that other people have gone through similar things and have still gone on to have healthy pregnancies. That I’m not the only one that has or will ever face this.

On Tuesday I went into my doctor for a checkup. We knew that for the past week something was not right and I had been having increased pain and bleeding. In Thursday I was in the ER due to sharp pain and other symptoms. I had the mentality that “I’m strong I’ve ran long distances I can take this pain.” And the increasing hope that everything would be ok. My doctor decided at that point to see if my body would naturally progress things, which sounded like the best option for me as well.

On Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. I had my fourth ultrasound (in a week) and was told I was going in for emergency surgery. It was all a blur after that. I remember the Ultrasound lady putting her arm around me and walking me to the surgery nurse.

Next thing I remember is laying on the operating room table in a white scary room with a bunch of people in scrubs and caps surrounding me. The nurses, anesthesiologist and doctors at the Riverton hospital were so wonderful. I remember crying and crying and everyone coming to talk to me and comfort me. Before the moment I was laying on the operating room table I knew that this pregnancy was not right, but I had never cried or let my emotions show. This past week in my primary class I taught them about The Ten Lepers and Compassion. I know now this lesson was for me more than it was for them, as I have felt its teaching in my life this week more than ever. I know I was not alone on the operating table and I felt the presence of my savior comforting me and strengthening me. The nurses and especially the surgery assistants were the most compassionate people and I am so thankful for that.

When I woke up I felt nauseas and confused. I looked down at my three incisions. The nurse explained to me that my right fallopian tube was removed but my ovary was able to be saved. My tube had been shredded by the pregnancy and I had some internal bleeding, which in some cases can be life threatening. Everything happened so fast it was hard to process all that had happened. I heard the nurse talking to Joe on the phone and he was at Wal-Mart getting me some comfy clothes and my prescriptions. The nurse thought it was hilarious he would go to Wal-Mart to get me clothes and mentioned, “I can’t wait to see what he chooses.” We got a good laugh out of his large red’s men shirt and capri’s from Wally World. Joe said he got the shirt so he could wear it again afterwards (how thoughtful).

The doctor explained to Joe that I had to be on bed rest for a week which is so hard for me. I can’t even lift Ty and at the moment it is a struggle to even walk up and down the stairs. Definitely no running for quite a while. I don’t know why I had an ectopic pregnancy. I don’t know what caused it or if I will have another one. I did not know the risks or how serious it was. I am thankful for good doctors who do the right thing to help their patients. I am thankful that sometime soon I won’t be in so much pain, physically or emotionally and most of all I am hopeful that sometime I may be able to have another healthy pregnancy. I know that God works in mysterious ways. I would not choose for this to happen to anyone but God has a reason. If I have learned anything from this its that I won’t take my life for granted anymore, its in the precious moments of life you learn how precious life really is.

I have been blessed

Recently my friends (the ones who we did the 5k for) were able to adopt their precious little angel into their family. I am so happy for them.

Is she not adorable? I still really need to blog about the 5k because it was amazing.  But as a sidenote seeing them with her now is so great.  Knowing all those steps people took during the 5k was for this little girl and now she has a forever family. (Watch for a 5k post I am so behind).

If you would like to read about their journey go here: www.kareensjourneyhome.blogspot.com


With the sunshine, flowers blooming and baby ducklings I had a new burst of energy and happiness this morning. On my run this morning I kept thinking how blessed I am.  I know I've written posts like this before but I can't say it enough, how important it is for me to remember to be thankful and to have gratitude for the good things in our life because sometimes the bad can seem to take over.

Like this morning.  I found a recipe on someones blog (Thanks Rachel) and I never EVER make anything sweet, number one because I don't really enjoy eating sweets (I know I am crazy) and number two because then I just think about how many miles I'll have to run to work off that dumb cookie!  Well I decided to try to make these cookies.  They turned out A DISASTER.  First of all I used the wrong kind of mix (I used brownie instead of cake) and they where one flat burnt piece of grossness ;). If someone could properly make these cookies and deliever them to my house I'd be so happy :)

While I sat there mad that I went to the store at 7 a.m. to surprise Joe with these when he woke up, wasted time and money on them and they turned out like this, I began grumpily scrubbing all the dishes I used to whip these up.

I thought about something.  These cookies don't matter.  I laughed at myself,  for how upset I got about burning the cookies.  What matters is that we have gratitude in our hearts for the things that do go right.  For the important things. 

That's when these pictures come in.

What matters is that we try to love unconditonally.  Everyone.

 What matters is that we put a smile on our face and go on.

 What matters is how we treat those we care about the most.

 What matters is that we are thankful everyday.

Because burnt cookies in the end really don't matter.

Ty at a year and a half

My not so little baby is now a year and a half.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone, it seems like yesterday I was up with you every few hours.

Here are some of my favorite things about you:

1.  You love your dog.  When you wake up in the morning you ask "Black deease."  No mommy, no daddy its just the dog.  You love to jump, lay on him drive your cars all over him.  One time I loaded you up in the car the only way you would stop yelling "Blacks deese deese" was when I put him in the back of the car.  Your dog is super protective of you.  He will growl when anyone gets closer to you then he likes (if he doesn't know them).  On a side note you do love your cat as well, however she only comes out for Dad and is still too fast for you to catch.

2.  You love cars.  Big, small does not matter.  If it has wheels you could not be happier.  Right now your favorite is an orange truck which you cart around the house.  You run your cars down your race track and all over the house.  You know a car says "vroom, vroom, and beep beep."  You often request Mommy to make these sound effects when we are driving. You love Nascar (I know your grandpa is so proud) and Daddy has promised to take you to Monster trucks.

3.  You love your Uncles.  Now don't get me wrong you think your Aunts are pretty cool too, but your Uncles throw you up in the air, wrestle with you and of course play cars with you.  You get so excited when you see them.

4.  Your favorite foods include: chex and pub mix (don't ask me why you love this salty yucky treat but you do).  We buy it by the case at Costco and whenever you see it in the cupboard you do a little dance for it!  You like strawberries and almost any cereal.  I can't forget your newest word, "Meat" to which you LOVE, especially beef jerky, pork and hamburger. 

5.  Your most common words include, "out" (for outside), up, deese (when you say please you think you can get anything you want and if we don't give it to you fast enough you repeat it over and over...deese, deese, deese).  You can say other words including: water, milk, off, ball, basket, duck, dog, ball, whoah, hi, I love you, Ab, blue, foot, eye, teeth, hair. We are working on Thank You, but I guess you'll decide when you are ready to say it.  You had it at 11 months but decided to abandon it because apparently deese works for everything.  You also say todos (you learned this one from Handy Manny).

6.  You love the water.  Whenever we go running on the parkway you point to that high river the entire time and say water, duck, water.  You swim in the bathtub, you could stay in there for hours if we let you.  You are taking swimming lessons this Summer.

7.  You love to read books.  Your favorites include "Handy Manny School for Tools" and "Go Dog Go."  These are your absolute favorites and we read them over and over. 

8.  Sometimes you are too smart for your own good.  If we had something on the table you wanted you would just climb up on the chairs to get onto the table.  You know how to stop the water in the tub from draining out and you know how to get whatever you want from your Daddy (what a sucker, ok its your mommy too)!

9.  You are my little running buddy.  We make a compromise for 5 miles in your jogging stroller you can watch half an hour of Mickey Mouse.  You love answering Mickey's Questions!

Mickey: Do you see any hats we can where for our party?
Tymon: "nu uh" "nu uh"

10.  You love Candy.  You aquired this love from your Grammy who loves chocolate.  Your favorite includes any type of sucker, M&M's or Jelly Beans.  If someone is eating Candy you are their best friend.  You have never really loved fruit besides strawberries but you do love veggies which makes your mommy proud.  Your favorites are brocolli, carrots and corn.

11.  If its on Disney Channel you love it.  You also love to watch Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Cars. Sometimes mommy loves disney channel.  It helps you calm down and eat your lunch. :)

12.  You love the Zoo.  You get so excited when we pull up.  You love looking at the monkeys and the elephants.  You love to go on the train , you sit all by yourself and clap.  You like the Merry-Go-Round as well just not as much as the train.  You don't like it when we exit the zoo and get in the car this makes you quite upset.

13.  You have all your teeth but two.  Please come in fast teeth.  You love your teeth brushed (apparently we have a really good flavor of toothpaste).  You have the routine down when we ask you to say ahhh you open right up.

14.  You would play outside all day if we let you.  You don't care if its snowing outside you want to be out there discovering the world.  I have a feeling we will be outside a lot this summer probably in the backyard, while you play, mom will be weeding, and weeding some more.  Fun ;) not!

15.  You are the love of our lives.  We love you and we wouldn't trade you for the world.  You love your mommy and daddy and we think the world of you.  Happy Year and a Half Ty Ty Ty.

The Magical Foam Roller

I love to run.  I hate to be sore.  At the running expo I saw a foam roller and they wanted $20.00 FOR IT!!

I'm cheap and a bargain hunter so when I came across this in the target bins, I was in heaven a foam roller (really a kids squirt gun that does the trick) for $1.00

The middle part turns so it works perfect!


Good Bye sore muscles HELLO happy running muscles!!

Here are some pictures from the past race, the Salt Lake Half Marathon!

Also, any runners here is a link for the foam roller info:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--13796-0,00.html

Happy Easter

RUN FOR KAREEN!! April 30th 1:00p.m.

Guess what?  Always wanted to do a 5k for a cause?  Here is your chance!  This is a WALK/RUN so please come and support this wonderful family!  There will even be a small raffle afterwards!

Not to mention, its not early in the morning!

Here is the attached flyer please message me if you have any questions and PASS THIS ALONG!!

Click on the picture BELOW, to enlarge the flyer!

Pony Ride Anyone?

NCAA Brackets...Just for fun

This is the first year I have even filled out a bracket.  I love the NBA and college basketball during March Madness is taking a close second.  Just for fun here is a little video of someone who loves Basketball just as much as I do.  (Don't miss his pump fake).

Catching Up

Ty and I cannot wait for warm weather. The cold does not discourage us from going to the zoo but it makes it a lot less fun. Ty gets quite upset that the Merry Go Round is not open and that he has to be all bundled up.

Ty is getting so big! He only needs four more teeth to come in and then he has all of them! I can't believe my 5lb little guy is this big. Ty can say a number of words when he chooses. Some of his favorites include: Shoot it, plez (deese), book, more, candy, blacky, daisy, touch it, ball, daddy, mama, gammy woof, Abs(for his cousin), Todos (learned this from Handy Manny), teeth, hands, eye, up, out.

Ty is a very very active little guy. He does not like to be confined anywhere. Church is pretty much a nightmare, unless he has his Handy Manny tools to fix everything in sight, including the man's bald head in front of us (whoops). Ty still loves Basketball and can't wait to play outside on the big hoop. Ty loves Mickey Mouse and going down the slide. He also loves to dance.

Ty is a very happy baby. He is easy going and so much fun. However if he does not want to do something he lets you know. (See Below).

Needless to say the first haircut did not go very well.

This is the I built for Ty. He loved it especially when he could play in there with his cousin and his Doggie. He was in Heaven. Ty loves cars and climbing on anything, he is a typical boy!

Oh how time flies.

A Glass Half Full

 

I've been thinking a lot about this picture lately. Is the glass Half Full or Half Empty? I've made a more consistent effort in my life to make sure I keep looking at a half full glass.

Recently this cute little mister has been sick (pretty much non-stop). From running noses, coughs, refusing to eat and throwing up, we have dealt with it all in the past little while.

However My glass is still half full. Why? Because I have him to cuddle with all day to wipe his nose, and hold him while he sleeps. Watching the news, reading stories on the internet, listening to trials my friends are going through I realize that indeed I am so blessed.

                                                              I dumped out my half empty glass.


You didn't think I could go a whole blog post without talking about running so here it is.
So in relation to this I'm only doing half of the full marathon I planned to run on my birthday. At first when I switched I was so down on myself thinking my glass was half empty.  See previous blog post.
But I realized something. My glass is half full, I'm half way to reaching a full and its ok if I don't do it right now. (Perhaps in the fall when I can train outside all summer and don't
Have to do over 16 miles on the treadmill).  Because another half is still another huge accomplishment.


I want to be a positive person. I want people to want to talk to me because I make their day better not worse. I refuse to look at anything in life as being half empty. (Whether it is work, exercise,
money, or being a parent).


Why: Cause my glass is half full! How bout yours?

Yellowstone

We took a trip to Yellowstone with Joe's Family over President's Day Weekend.  It was so much fun.  This was my first time to West Yellowstone and I loved it.  We started off the weekend by taking a snow cat into Yellowstone and riding on the bus all day.  We visited the Hot Pots and Old Faithful.  We saw Bison, Elk and three bald eagles.  It was so much fun to be with the family!  The next day we went snow mobiling.  This was also my first time and it was a lot of fun.  We also enjoyed (or I should say I very much enjoyed) watching all-star weekend all weekend long.  We visted the bear and the wolf exhitibt.  I am excited for the trip we are planning this spring/summer to go try and spot some bears.