Tulip Festival

This week Jack and I went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point on Monday (with friends) and Tuesday (with family).

The highlights were:
- Feeding the fish (I should have brought more quarters. He could have stayed for hours)
- Digging in the dirt, usually not disturbing the flowers...too much
- Splashing in the water

He played so hard that he fell asleep both days before we even got to the car to go home. I didn't get very many great photos because if you could look close you would see a HUGE bruise on his forehead from running head first into the wall right before we left the first day, hence the baseball cap. Plus he's really into running these days, and definitely not in to posing so I have lots of pics of the back of his baseball cap streaking by. At least I got a few cute ones.

Heart Moms

Saturday afternoon I had the priveledge of attending the Intermountain Healing Hearts "Heart Mom Luncheon" at Gardner Village. It was such a great event. How wonderful to sit in a room filled with amazing women who have endured and continue to endure so much. I was reunited with friends who I met in the hospital as we sat by the sides of our sick children. These women who inspired me and helped me stay strong on sugery days and answered my frantic questions, who showed me the ropes in the pump room, who cheered the day we were sent home, and who taught me to trust in the Lord's plan. I embraced friends whose little ones have lost their battle with CHD and who inspire me with their faith and courage and example as they have found peace and happiness after such great loss. I made new friendships with women who I have only known through their blogs as I have followed and prayed for their children and feel like they are close friends despite this being our first meeting. And I met a new friend who is expecting a little boy with HLHS this summer which brought back so many memories of two summers ago and how scared we were of what the future would bring.

We were blessed to hear from Margaret Cardall, Paul Cardall's mother, a woman I have wished to meet and speak with ever since I started following Paul's story. What a pioneer she was as a heart mom. Her "Heart Mom" battle for her child may have begun a few year earlier than most of the rest of us in attendance, but her fear and love and strength to take things one day at a time were the same as every women there. When she told how she panicked the first time Paul slept through the night, worried that he had passed away, the whole room nodded in complete understanding. But her faith and hope carried her though each incident. Then Paul inspired us with his beautiful music, looking healthy and full of life with his new heart. It was great.

I feel so blessed to be part of such an amazing sisterhood of Heart Moms. Thank you IHH for bringing us all together.

Farm Country

Last night we went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point for Family Home Evening. Oh my word. Jack was in heaven. He was really excited to find a sheep and enjoyed looking at the animals. Then the real fun happened when he got to go on a pony ride. I thought he might get nervous but instead he was in HEAVEN. He would gently pat the horses head held on real tight. Good thing we got two tickets with our admission so he could go again. He was so sad when it was time to go. The good news is that we got a membership so we can go again as much as we want.

He also really dug the sucker he got when we made his bunny ears and got his face painted.

Nursery, Blocks, and a Sunny Day

With all this fabulous sunshine and RSV creeping lower and lower on the charts, we are finally out of quarantine and took Jack to church for the first time since November (Hardy and I have been trading off each week since then). He wasn't too sure about nursery at first and I was sure that I would be stuck there the whole time, but soon his buddy Jenna arrived, and eventually there were about 11 kids running all over the place playing with toys and he completely forgot I was even there, so I snuck out. It was so nice to go to Relief Society again! I even missed attending Sunday School. And Jack had a great time without me. One of the women in nursery said he would occasionally notice I was gone and be sad for a minute, but was easily distracted and then was fine. When I saw him after class he ran up to me with a big smile talking excitedly about "bubbles" and his shirt was all wet so I could tell he had a good time. Hurray!

After church went had dinner at my parents, then went to visit Hardy's dad where Jack and grandpa built fabulous towers out of blocks. The first tower he built all by himself was great big and he was so proud, but once it got too tall it tipped over. The look of shock and utter horror on his face was priceless. I so wish I would have had my camera. He was devastated the way only a 1 year old can be. That's when grandpa jumped in to help and soon he was proudly building and knocking them all over. He had such fun.

Today we took advantage of the perfect weather and went to the park for a picnic with our friends.

Jack's shorts kept falling off which made me laugh. They are even size 12 months. Poor kid needs to get some junk in his trunk.

Here's Jack and his girlfriends at the park. We LOVE spring!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. Jack got a morning Easter Egg hunt in the basement at home, but by evening the snow had melted so we got to do an outdoor hunt at Grandma's house.

He was too busy eating chocolate to give me any smiles for the camera. Good thing the Easter Bunny was smart at our house and only put a few M&M's in each egg or he would have been totally sugared up. He kept asking for "More chocate pleeeeease!"

In addition to a few treats and an illustrated Book of Mormon Stories book, Jack got these manly sunglasses. He thinks he's pretty darn cool.

All that plus a great LDS General Conference where we were spiritually fed and uplifted. And to top it off, Miracle Mason got a new heart on Sunday which added extra thought and meaning as we contemplated the true meaning of Easter, Christ's resurrection and what that means to his donors family. It was a good weekend.