Memorial Weekend

This Memorial Weekend Jack and I went to my parents cabin in Heber City while Hardy was off coaching at a basketball tournament in Reno. My sister was there with her 5 kids so Jack was in heaven following all his cousins around, learning lots of new tricks.

We had a marshmallow gun fight, which Jack wasn't too sure about until he discovered we were shooting marshmallows. He spent the rest of the time filling his mouth with ammo and asking for more.

He was in absolute awe when he discovered that Grandpa is really Handy Manny in disguise and Jack got to "help" build a new stair railing.

Jack loved feeding the "skirrels" (squirrels) and "mitmunks" (chipmunks).

We went on lots of rides on the four wheelers. Jack loved it and would refuse to get off once the ride was over, staying to push the buttons and pretend he was driving.

What began as dipping his fingers in a little puddle...

Soon turned into standing in a deeper puddle...

Which became sitting in a big, wet, deep puddle.

He was so wet we had to strip him down so his pants could dry before we rode the four wheelers home. Look at those cute chicken legs. :)

We came home from the cabin on Monday and Jack was very excited about all the flags that were out for the holiday.

Monday evening Jack and I went over to our neighborhood BBQ where Jack had a grand time with his buddies.

Lately

Just a few things we've been up to lately.

- We went sliding at the park with daddy.
- Jack's found plenty of trouble to get into.

- We went to the Dinosaur Museum where we played with crazy blocks,

and splashed in the dirt and water.

- We went to the Renaissance Festival thanks to HopeKids and got to watch real live jousting.

Jack was inspired and found a stick to poke at things the rest of our visit.

He LOVED the guinea pigs.

He did NOT love Captain Jack Sparrow (unlike his cousin Josh).

- And today we went to the Children's Garden at Thanksgiving Point where we got to hang out in a bear cave

and play in a caterpiller (among other things).

We also had the IHH Family picnic last Saturday (I totally forgot to take a single picture while I was there, but luckily I asked some of the young women who volunteered to help us to take some pics so hopefully I'll get some from them.) I was in charge so I've been stressing out about it all week (saying lots of prayers about the weather, people showing up and having enough food), but it was a great success. It is such a wonderful support group for families with Heart kids and is a great reminder that we're not alone in this battle. I met an awesome 8 year old girl with HLHS who is so smart and cute and completly normal and a total inspiration to me about what I hope the future holds for Jack. We had about 150+ people this year and it was lots of fun. Thanks to everyone who came.

Twenty!

kind of...

We still have a few gaps to fill, but what a smart boy!

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.

A Trip for Two

Could I be any worse at blogging lately? It's not that we aren't doing anything, I'm just not in the mood to document it. Very unlike me. Maybe if it would stop snowing I'd get a little more excited to pull out my camera.

Last weekend Hardy and I took out first vacation without Jack and went to Las Vegas. Hardy kept asking me (before we left) if I was going to cry when we left the little fella. I wondered that myself until we dropped him off at Grandma's and I sprinteed to the car and was totally fine the rest of the trip. It was so nice to go out at night and eat my dinner all by myself and while it was still warm. We stayed out late each night and slept in each morning. Hardy golfed, I went to the spa, and we held hands everywhere we went. We saw "Blue Man Group" and "Jersey Boys" and I read a good long book. We went on the roller coaster in Primm and got $20.00 Lucky jeans at the outlets. It was great on all accounts.

The only bad part is that Jack is now getting back at me for leaving and will not leave my side. He wails if I walk into another room and close the door. He's even been waking up at night and refuses to go back to sleep unless he's snuggled happily between Hardy and I. And while I enjoy snuggling with my little man, it's really hard to sleep, plus his diaper leaked the other night and he totally wet our bed so I spent all day yesterday laundering bedding. Stinker.

But I must admit that I did miss him and I'm glad to be home. Vegas is a weird town. Fun for a few days, but not reality. I'll take my quiet little life in South Jordan with Jack and Hardy over the bling of Vegas any day.

Idaho Falls Fun

Lat weekend Hardy was away so my mom, Jack and I drove to Idaho Falls to visit my sister Erin. We hardly did anything at all but had a fabulous time.

Jack and his cousin Alex (who is just a couple of months older) had the best time together.

Bathing is so much fun with buddies.

Funny story on the way to Idaho. About halfway there Jack started grunting and pushing and I knew we'd need a stop in the near future to change his diaper. We stopped in Malad, but when I changed him he was clean. So again, just outside of Pocatello he starts pushing and grunting and working very hard, but nothing is happening. Soon he's crying and clearly suffering so I pulled over in Pocatello and got him out of the car. He laid his tear stained cheeks on my shoulder and said "stuck!" Oh dear, yes it is. Darn poop. I let him walk around in the parking lot for a few minutes and finally he managed to get "unstuck" and after a change we were on our way. Kind of gross, I know, but I thought it was prety funny.

A New "Do" and a "Choo Choo"

My baby turned 19 months old today. He's hardly even a baby anymore. Nope. Just a crazy, funny, naughty little boy. Here are just a few things he's up to lately:

1. His vocabulary has exploded in the last month or two. He can give you nearly every animal sound and is starting to name all the animals now too. When he sits down to work on a project he says "all wight" (all right), and when you're leaving he gives a big wave, blows kisses and says "See ya!" He loves to go "side" (outside) and go down the "wee" (the slide). He knows that beverages come in three forms: milk, water, and "Coke." He loves to play with the "mote" (remote) and the "phone" and climb on "shairs" (chairs). He will repeat just about anything except Grandma and Grandpa. He absolutely refuses even though I keep trying to tell him those are the most important people to suck up to. He cracks me up every day with some new word he's picked up. I just love getting a tiny glimpse into his silly little head.

2. His favorite shows are "Manny" (Handy Manny) and "Hot dog" (Mickey Mouse Club House) and each morning as soon as he wakes up he emphatically requests a "show" meaning one of these two.

3. He LOVES Elmo, Cookie Monster and Zoe from his Sesame Street books. For Valentine's Day I got him a new sippy cup with these 3 characters on it and he could hardly drink he was so excited.

4. His favorite activities are turning light switches on and off, prank calling people from my cell phone, plugging in and unplugging anything in an outlet, and banging on the computer. As a result he is usually banned from from almost every room in the house at some point during the day.

5. He is an excellent helper and loves to pull out the broom and sweep the kitchen or help dig in the garden. I even had to buy him his own gardening tools so he would stop stealing mine. He also loves to stand on the stool in the kictchen and watch/help me cook.

Yesterday Jack his first real haircut. He hated it and sobbed the whole time. Poor Erica (my next door neighbor) cut as fast as she could and offered to stop because he was so upset, but I told her to carry on and eventually got him to help me with the animal sounds for Old McDonald, giving a "woof, woof" here through his tears.

But the end result turned out very handsome. I think he looks so grown up.

Then today, fabulous Erica who cut Jack's hair called and said they were cleaning out their basement of things her boys are no longer using and would we like a train table for Jack? Umm...Heck ya! He was in heaven when he got up from his nap.

Then he found the screwdriver I used to tighten up a few screws and had even more fun pretending he was Handy Manny!

What a good day.

Multi-tasking

Sucking on his binky while brushing his teeth. Good skills Jack.