Giddy Grows and grows

For the past two years I have taken a picture of my baby boy on the same (or close to the same) day each month. When the alarm when off mid day I did my best to put him in the chair covered by the blanket my best friend made him and took a picture. Some times he was playing with a toy, sometimes he was grumpy, messy faced, covered in bug bites, usually his hair was messed up and his hands were dirty. He was often uncooperative but somehow I managed a picture every month. I even went through a period where I considered changing out the backdrop due to sad life events but I am glad I decided not to.

I could have made it a lot of stress or cost by getting him all handsome and taking him somewhere to get his picture taken or even setting up the perfect lighting at home etc, but I function on "get it done" and I am so glad I didn't let things get in the way of taking a simple picture each month.

I have compiled some of the shots as they are and a version of his sweet face close up, which is fun to look at in order and see the change.

 

I should have done it with all my kids. I think I was too stressed about making them look perfect for a picture that I let that excuse get in the way. Shame on me.

24  months. Holy wow. 2 years of my life with this boy. This amazing spirited miracle. I could write a big ode to him, but you still wouldn't get how special he is, how witty and coy, how full of expression and how smart. And that's okay. Someday some special girl will be his lucky wife and she'll know all about it.

One day after we passed the 1 year mark Gary asked me how long are you going to do that? (speaking of taking a monthly picture).
I don't know. Maybe till that day when he moves out... :)

Gary and Giddy's birthday's are a day apart so we celebrated them the same day with their own personalized cake. No one else appreciates carrot cake so Gary got his little square and Giddy got a lego cake. Nothing too fancy but full of love.

Giddy's Renal Adventures: part 1

In life we want things to be cut and dry and quick easy answers, but we all know it is rarely like that, in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: life is a journey, not a destination.

Our youngest son gave our family and many that know him an extra journey of faith the last week of January.

I include his story here, because I want it journal-ed and because there are so many people that were praying for him and thinking about him and their faith, service, and concern has been such a blessing to our family. Much of it comes from notes I took in the moment and so my apologies if tense changes etc are odd. I have to do it in installments or 1) it's too long 2) life is like that 3) otherwise it won't get done at all.


Gideon is a big boy. Always has been. He's a sight to behold with broad shoulders, wispy blond hair and icy blue eyes. He's tall for his age and well filled out. He loves to eat and has 7 teeth and loves to gnaw at things. So a rotund baby belly would be expected and he certainly had it. We hear comments often about what a big healthy boy he is, but the best thing about Gideon is that he is Giddy. His nickname is very fitting as he is a very sweet smiley boy.

About Christmas time I started to wonder about the fact that he had taken to spitting up again. It was in sneaky burps but it smelled like vomit and he hadn't been spitting up for a few months. There were a lot of factors so I discounted it at first because he never seemed bothered, he'd cut a tooth so we'd pin the spit up burps on that and then he was eating more table food, then more vitamin d milk would get the blame, then over eating.

The first week of January I kept him out of a few activities because I couldn't tell if he was sick or what. But since he was happy as ever I would just go around the house cleaning up quarter size or more stinky spit ups.

Sunday the 23rd of Jan I was in another room listening to Gary change Giddy's diaper and commenting on what a big boy and big belly he had. He has commented this very often lately. So I felt the need to investigate a bit when I was getting Giddy ready for bed. With more careful scrutiny, as I tried to secure his diaper I noticed he was fatter on one side than the other. I started poking around his belly. It was soft and bouncy on his left side, on his right it was firm and solid. I tried to sort out the lump and gauged what I could feel to be at least the size of my fist. I got very concerned. I zipped up his jammie's and went downstairs where the family was waiting for FaceTime with grandparents, scripture reading and prayers.


Gary was at the computer lining up bills for the week. I said, "I think something is wrong with Giddy. His belly is really hard on the right side." Gary of course, thought he was fine, (I can't blame him, if i had just allocated all out money to necessary expenses I would think he didn't need to see a doc at the beginning of the deductible year too) he's just a big boy. He's probably just constipated. I said I wanted to take him to the pediatrician. "It's not supposed to be hard. It's not squishy like on his side. It's a whole handful. That's huge! Besides constipation usually happens in the descending colon."

So the poor boy was given a suppository. He pooped. There was still a hard lump. Poor Gary was upset because as he said, "You are usually right and this is really bad timing. We were getting on a plane next Tuesday. They are non refundable flights. That's a LOT of money. I hate it when you are right about stuff like this."

I got into the first apt I could with the first doctor I could Monday. The appointment happened to be at 2:10 and I was watching a friend's daughter. While Waiting for 2 pm to circle around we melted down crayons pieces and made some cards with the thin layer of melted wax. (I have blurred out our friend's beautiful face because I don't have permission to show her.)

Then lunch and loading up. The kids were good at the doctor's I did try to find someone to drop off at least Zurich with but no one answered. So I took the four of them. "Ju-la" (as Nev calls her) helped by pushing the stroller. I'm glad I had our friend with us that day because having someone else to care for actually helped keep me calm and focused on normalcy.

I do think it was one of the shortest doctor visits I have ever had. I explained my reason for bringing him in. The doc felt it and said, we need to do a CT scan. She left to schedule it and sent in Giddy's doctor who felt it and concurred and tried to console me when I said, "It's a tumor huh?" And then thinking about Gary's comments before, bad timing and we can't afford a ct scan. One ct scan is the tip of the iceberg folks, and I knew that. You could tell by the doctors, this was serious.

The scan was set up for the next day first thing in the morning. I arranged for someone to watch the kids. I had asked Gary's help in sheeting Zurich's bed and then wondered what was taking so long for him to join us for scriptures. He was laying on Zurich's bed breaking his heart. "I have always coped by accepting the worst case scenario but I can't this time. I can't accept not having Giddy."

Early the next morning Gary and I headed with our Giddy to the children's hospital an hour away. We were scheduled for 8am and were there at 7:39 but didn't have the actual CT till 10 am.


He was given the dye and drank it (easily since he had been fasting and not eaten anything yet) and then we waited 45 minutes for it to move to where it needed to be. We both went back while they hooked up an IV. To try and calm him down they turned on some colored lights.


Gary stayed with them while they did the actual scan. Then back in the waiting room while they read the ct. He came out with all his bug bites looking like blood blisters. We were not supposed to leave until our referring doctor called us but when it was time instead of talking to her at the desk in the waiting room they invited us back to the room where they keep the toys and snuggles for bad news. It was bad news.

When the phone rang I let Gary talk to the pediatrician. He asked pertinent questions I wouldn't have had the mind to.

Diagnosis: Wilms Tumor, Kidney Cancer.

They said the C word about my baby. My mind resisted, my heart resisted, my prayers began.

When Gary got off the phone and confirmed pieces I had overheard I cuddled my sweet baby and broke my heart. "My baby, my baby" we went through periods of disbelief and devastation, numbness and worry. Chances were good he would live but he'd be in the hospital probably have to have chemo etc. Thinking of all the possible implications was too much and that's where numbness would rescue us for a few moments. I threw out, maybe it wasn't cancer at all: maybe it was just a freaky tumor like my two separate tumor sites had been.

"Why not me? Why my baby?" Gary asked
"Because he's strong."

I remember assuring Gary at one point, that this wasn't some punishment from God, but just part of our mortal existence. Just something that is part of it. And it was specifically part of Giddy's, something that he had the strength to deal with.

(It would be interesting here to see why we chose the name we did for Gideon. If I get that typed up and posted I will link it here. )

We cried and looked up Wilms on the Internet. The prognosis is very positive. We waited for the oncologist for more thorough explanation. Gary tried to give him a priesthood blessing but he was too wiggly. I said a prayer and he quieted immediately listening to me and stared up at the lights after the prayer he dropped off to sleep. Gary was able to use the anointing and give him a Priesthood blessing. This of course gave us some comfort and new thoughts.

We called Gary's parents, & my sister, I couldn't get a hold of my parents. There were no pictures taken in this room. As Gary said, "I don't ever want to see that room again." However, I don't think we will be able to get it out of our minds.

The oncologist Sutphin and his resident came in and talked to us while I held sleeping Giddy. Sutphin confirmed the diagnosis Wilms cancer: of the kidney. For sure surgery with a ten day hospital stay after surgery. Pathology will be done at time of surgery. He thinks it is stage one or two cancer, with a very positive prognosis. We were told that they would remove the right kidney as the tumor is involved in the kidney.

We were ready to get the surgery done that day and get things started, but more tests needed to be done to see if it affected anywhere else. They said that he would be admitted that day and that they were already working to clear out a room for him. There are possibilities that it can affect / spread to lungs. Some of the tests will help rule that out.

At least 6 months of chemo after surgery if tumor weighs too much. Too much was anything over 550 grams.

He will have 1 kidney. He should be fine with just one. He won't be able to take certain medications. (Motrin) Be careful with contact sports. Sutphin then mused over Gary being a baseball fan, probably the hat. :) Like Giddy would still be able to swing a bat. 15% chance of re-occurrence. Nope. Gary doesn’t play baseball. (Later we were talking about why this was his guess, and I said, it was probably because baseball players aren’t usually known for their physique. Can you say foot in the mouth?) I asked could it be just a freaky weird tumor like the two I have had and not be cancer. No. But we did then discuss the kinds of tumors I had. (Each time I have had a tumor discovered there was the talk of it being cancer and testing but it was never really a scary reality.) But he thought that Giddy’s was only stage 1 or two which meant a very favorable outcome. We talked about 6 months of chemo and a 90% chance of survival. He’ll live, he’ll be okay. At this point Gary got up and hugged the doctor.

We remained in the bad news room for quite some time waiting for things to be worked out, or maybe just for us to calm down. Then we waited for a room to be admitted to for at least a half hour in the registration office.

When we were brought up to the 4th floor they gave us a tour. It really hit us when we were in the family room and we saw the box of donated hats. That said cancer to Gary and me more tangibly, more track switching.

Giddy's stats were taken and we settled in trying out his robot crib and Giddy sliding around on the floor purposefully in his gown.
When Giddy was admitted he weighed 23.1lbs and was 30 1/2 inches tall.

Secret loves

I recently commented on Facebook that

I secretly really like the postal system.

Now that the secret is out I'd like to elaborate.

Back in the days of my childhood I patronized our local library quite often.

I was one of those lucky kids who had a library card. Who participated in Summer Reading Programs and even took some of the kids I baby sat to the Library.

I also really love public libraries.

Summers were spent with a sunny walk to the library for some new literature and a nearby convenience store called Island Market for candy. I'd take the loot home and put out the picnic blanket on the lawn, or climb up in the apple tree and read and snack away... ya, I know we're not supposed to eat and read.... Ladies, you are also not supposed to take books in the bubble bath, but I know you do. ;)

One book I remember was about mail. (You are welcome to send me a copy of this book.) called the Jolly Postman. This book incorporates famous fairy tales as well in a humorous way. But it wasn't your regular old book. No, it was awesome! It was like you were a nosy (and criminal) postman who read all the mail. As I remember it there were envelopes of all types on the pages and letters that were folded up tucked inside. Postcards too. The book had all sorts of cool die cutting.

I also really like stuffing envelopes.

One summer I had a job working with my sister at Embroidery.com and they needed someone to send out coupon mailers to the customers. It was the dreaded job that no one seemed to want to do, so when I was presented with the job, I was T-H-R-L-L-E-D. Stickers, folding, hand addressing, stuffing envelopes, seriously, what isn't fun about that?

The very idea of mail is magical, you put a piece of paper in an envelope.

Add a special sticker

and a little bit of spit

and a wave of the magic red flag off it goes

and can make it to wherever you addressed it faster

than you could get there on your own.

Those envelopes hold cards, love, gifts, sentiments, gum, dollar bills, stickers, drawings, pictures, pretty things and all manner of written word. When you find something addressed to you in that box you feel all sorts of special. Hey, add parcel post and the excitement is quadrupled!

So why do I love the postal system? Because it is magical.

Batman

Tonight we attended a dinner and silent auction to raise money for the young women in our ward to attend Girl's camp.

Gary found this:


And said he was buying it for Zurich but we know the truth!

as a side note, Nev ate her dinner on his shirt...

I donated some Tatties and bid on a few items too, some pretties and services.

Afterward we took the kids to a cute little candy shop so they could pick out a treat for taking a nap this afternoon. I saw these, and was nostalgic and a little shocked.

I didn't think they could sell these anymore. I did not, of course, direct the kids' attention to them but pointed them out to Gary.

The kids of course got those ridiculously large lollipops that will sit on the counter for the next week till the kids forget about them enough that I can throw the sticky remains away. Gary and I had agreed before hand that we wouldn't let them get a candy that would sit on the counter for the next week... for some reason that went out the window when we went in the door of the shop.
Lesson learned... maybe.

What's your flavor baby?

Every pregnancy is different.
Surprise, surprise
Here is something fun I have experienced with my pregnancies:
Each child's resulting personality can be connected, attributed, compared with what I craved most often while pregnant with them.

I'll return to that here in a minute, first let me show you what Gary got for me last time he was in Florida.

Ya folks, I ain't baking with it. It sits in my fridge and I take a swig of it as needed like a stowaway bottle of whiskey.

So what child is what? If you don't know them personally go ahead and try to figure out the food/ personality connection on your own. It may not make any sense to anyone but me. It's not a scientifically tested theory after all. :)

Olea: tortilla chips and salsa

Zurich: peanut butter and honey sandwiches

Genève: tomato sandwiches

And this baby boy: key lime juice

....hmmm what does that mean for his personality?

Who knows really? I'm just trying to make the little bottle I have last till Gary (hopefully) brings home another one from his next trip.

My two princesses

Olea and Genève
and for historical purposes:

Olea 2005 Halloween (16 months) Genève 2010 Halloween (18 months)

I made the dress for Olea, didn't use a pattern, it worked anyway.

I was glad it could get some use again. It was hard to get off Nev, she didn't want it off... and she fits it much tighter than Olea did.

These two girls are so different in every way and what an interesting life it makes. They are both so precious to me and I learn so much from and because of them both.

my first 5k

Once upon a time I was a track star in High School. I started as a freshman and was varsity every year and qualified for the state meet every year. My senior year I actually even placed at State. Pretty awesome for someone like me and considering that I had been diagnosed with Asthma. Oh Asthma would have been nice, then I could have built up endurance like everyone told me I should be able to do. However, unbeknownst to everyone at the time I had a tumor growing in my throat, it was the real problem, blocking off my airway, no amount of asthma drugs was going to fix that.

So every year I ran it got harder and harder for me. After High School I took a college class that required us to run a mile 5x a week. Folks, I couldn't do it. I'm not a wuss, I knew when I was getting close to a RED asthma attack and quite frankly I couldn't afford to have one of those on the school track and wait for someone to come get me. Nor could I pay for an ER visit. It just wasn't prudent. So I remember calling my mother and telling her how I felt. I remember her telling me to run as much as I could and then walk the rest and call it good.

After Gary and I got married we did a few biopsies and the like on my thyroid with the tumors we could see. I was still having trouble and it didn't make sense that no matter what I did or how I used my inhalers I still couldn't go on a bike ride etc. I was also experiencing issues that I couldn't breathe when I turned my head to the side or got short of breath while eating, and I don't eat fast. So we fought for a referral to an Endocrinologist. The Doc we were seeing didn't want to refer us because he figured he could handle Thyroid issues just fine. Well, I was done being a guinea pig. The Endo got right down to business after waiting 3 months for our first visit in March of 2005. We took tests, checked for cancer and when the biopsy came back inconclusive but she could see I had plenty of tumors and cysts and a wicked history she recommended a total Thyroidectomy on June 10, 2005. Dr. Douglas Lichti was the surgeon and can I say, after 3 surgeries with 3 different surgeons (for other reasons) he is my favorite surgeon. His work was amazing and he has the best bedside manner.
My almost 1 year old Olea, me, my mother, who had a partial thyroidectomy and Surgery Monkey.

Folks, I can breathe. Gary and I both agree that surgery was one of the best things we have done, it's helped with my fritzed Thyroid and my "asthma." I know can build up endurance and do stuff like a normal humanoid. It's pretty dang awesome.

YA, I've had the thought, dang, I could have been so awesome if I didn't have that huge tumor in my throat!

So this year a friend invited me to go running with her doing the couch to 5k program. I had already been running about a mile off and on and figured it would be good to have company. By Sept 17th we had completed the program one way or another with our various schedules. We ran it using time as our measure and not distance so the last run I had calculated we ran 4.7k. I figured 5 wasn't that far off so I paid and signed up for a local 5k raising money for an elementary school library. It would have been nice to have someone to run with but the girls I run with were all off on other things that day. So I ran alone. Grandma got up early (thanks to Olea) and helped the kids make signs.
My little cheering squad

The starting line

The run with my cheering squad (Gary mans the camera)

Gary says, "there's DeeDee doing a fun run... ya, I agree, it's crazy, but good for her, and I will go eat a doughnut."

The end

This is no big deal for most people, I know. But for me it is. My time isn't anything to brag about, but I did it.

I did it 5 months pregnant. I wasn't the first, and I wasn't the last.

On wind, being a child and being a parent

Last night while laying in bed listening to the wind smack my windows and rattle the stove vent I recalled being a child, while my own children were sleeping soundly through it. I loved lightening storms and thunder, but wind scared me. This is probably due in part to the fact that when I was about 7 or 8 I was actually picked up off the ground by wind. That is a very helpless feeling. It might also be because of the movie The Wizard of Oz.

In any case I had all sorts of childish fears going through my head. The windows smashing in, our house being picked up, our house being torn apart and the babies being in the part that was ripped from our room and so on. And it brought to mind when I'd have nightmares as a child and going to my parent's room, being to afraid to wake them or the door would be locked. I would lay on the floor in front of their door, sometimes falling asleep, sometimes quietly whimpering or I was too cold and would eventually go back to bed. But It made me wonder if my parents ever tripped over me in the morning. None of my other siblings were ever at their door when I was, so I assume this was mine and mine alone. At this rate of imagination I was never going to be calm enough to sleep.

So when Zurich comes in our room and Gary groggily pulls him into bed with us I am still alert enough to notice that the little guy has a fever. I take him to his bed and grope for tylenol in the dark.

When this boy gets a fever, he gets it bad and he pukes. No fail. So shortly after administering Tylenol and trying to get him to eat a cracker he vomits. Then again after I had cast aside the affected sheets and pillows. Gary heard it and replaced bedding while I gave more Tylenol, changed jammies and soothed my little guy. Then I sat with him and waited in the dark, again listening to the torrential winds as I waited for his fever to go down. Finally at 2:45 I headed back to my bed to sleep.

How much will my children remember? Already how much do they remember? Gary often asks Olea things like if she remembers when she first visited Zurich, or the first time she went skiing or if she remembers the other places we used to live. For the most part she already doesn't.

My Family Tree

When you want it done right...
you decide to do it yourself...

and mess up the first time

and then share it when you get it right

The idea was that the 8-10 year old Activity Day girls could color it as they filled it in. We're doing Family History and Ancestor stories this next week.
The poem came from the Friend Magazine.

Family Tree

blogging

I had a thought a few weeks back about how I don't blog the way some other people blog.
That's okay.

I didn't do a lengthy I love my Dad post on Father's day because I doubt he reads my blog...or tribute to holidays... etc.

When I first started blogging I thought I had to do those things... but it's my blog and if I choose to mainly blog about food, or pictures, or my kids, or my medical mishaps, or crafties or a smattering of all the above, I can and I do.

I am a perpetual journal-er. I blame this on my mom and her "Tablet" and my bad memory. However, my forms of journaling are varied and inconsistent. The thing I have been most consistent on is my children's journals and my husband and my anniversary book. Since I forget things easily esp the fun things we all say and the day to day laughs I have to keep my own "tablet" of sorts and then compile them in some form or another. In order to keep up on these things I use postits, blogging, scraps of paper that pile up on my computer desk and drive Gary crazy and my palm z22 (behind the times I know, but it works). I like blogging for the multimedia ability and also find I really like the comments.

My mom suggested I really try to keep up on enjoying my Zurich and keep up on his journal in light of the fact that he and Genève are so close together. Her suggestion comes from having two of my siblings close together and the eldest being a boy as well and she just wanted me to enjoy this age of my boy... and it's been lovely. I have been trying to do this, and keep up on Olea's journal as well. It's time, time always TIME. But I think I have managed pretty well. And I am grateful for my mother's suggestion.

I keep health records quite dilligently on myself and my children. (I can rarely get Gary to go to the doctor). Growth charts, when we went to the doc, what they were sick with, allergic to, and when their teeth come in etc. I use a Baby your Baby Health Keepsake (free here for Utah residents) to do this.

I currently keep a hand written journal in a book I made. (book binding is so exciting... hmm that sounds lame, but it really is a cool feeling to not just keep a journal but a journal in a book that you made from scratch).

I don't scrapbook but I do try to organize my pictures and label it to some degree of recognition, currently I think I have found a good system for me for labeling and printing and enjoying pictures.

... and none of it is totally complete, times I have guessed on when a tooth came in or totally forgotten to record something worthy of note etc.

After all this... I conclude with this thought, my grandparents among others in their generation have written personal histories. And it makes me think... have I been keeping a good enough journal (in all its different forms) to compile my own life history when the time comes? What records will I find the most useful?

Third Person

I'm not talking about adding a third child to our "collection."

that's what the nurse called it as he cleaned off Genève after she was born
I'm talking about talking in the third person.
When I was in elementary school I had a music teacher and about 5 months into the year I was still wondering,
Who is Mrs. Bagley and when is she going to be here?
Mrs. Bagley was referring to herself in the third person.
Mrs. Bagley wants you to sing it like this. That will make Mrs. Bagley so happy. etc.
So when I figured that out...
I thought it was really dumb that anyone would refer to themselves in the third person.
It was so confusing.
Yet
here I am
a mother
confusing my child
by referring to myself in the third person.
I don't always do it, but I find myself doing it enough to annoy my third self.

This one is for Katie...

...and posterity, because she commented and told me to get a pic of my baby belly before
it was too late... and I realized I haven't really taken any this whole pregnancy.
Thanks for the reminder Katie. :)
Enjoy, me and all my fatisha (that's a nice way to say pregnant lady... and still use the word fat,
for some reason I like to use on myself, but don't worry, I don't think I'm fat).

Picture Tag

Do I always have to break the rules?
These are the rules...
*Go to the document settings/my pictures on your computer
*Choose your 6th file
*Choose your 6th picture
*Blog about it
*Tag 6 more people!
but it doesn't work for me since I have Windows Vista (I'm so cool. I know. Whatever.)
So I had to go about this a little differently but the effect is basically the same.
I was tagged by Marci.
Funny thing, this was taken March 2nd 2008. So close to a year ago. It was an attempt at a family picture. Using the timer on our camera. It worked pretty well. It is fitting since we are looking toward our #3 baby and I just shipped my two babies off to Idaho with their Grandparents for a week of Fabulous Fun. Neither of them had any problems saying goodbye. Zurich got up this morning patted his suit case and grabbed the handle (too heavy so he abandoned it). They were both ready to go. Olea has been counting down the days. In the past year we've all had hair cuts. ok, Gary has had more than I like to keep track of and Olea and I had at least two. Zurich had one. Zurich can crawl, walk, run, jump etc. and Olea can almost tie her shoes. She almost knows how to draw all her ABCs and numbers. Gary and I still don't know how to get to bed before 11pm. We've all made a font from our handwriting, except Zurich.

And for the tag, if you've done it before... and don't want to do the same picture, don't. Do the seventh of the seventh folder or something, break the rules. Enjoy.
I tag Camie, Angie, Janell, Aimee, Gina, Erin/Stan(whoever is in charge of the blog these days).

Tuesday Tell All-Back to school

This year Olea starts a neighborhood preschool. 5 kids. 5 moms and we all take turns teaching for the week. Olea is very excited for "friends preschool."

Growing up we didn't really have the big deal over buying school clothes because we didn't really have a lot of excess for frilly new clothes we got what we needed and made do. I don't remember feeling all that deprived but I know sometimes I wished I had a week's worth of new outfits rather than just one or two days. I know I generally didn't wear something new the first day. I figured everyone would be so concerned with their new clothes they wouldn't notice if I had new ones or not. I was generally right. School was just the end of the summer. What I liked the most was new mechanical pencils and a binder full of clean paper. I love office supplies, good thing I get such a kick out of them because that was the new things I got in highest quantity. :)

Olea starts "friends preschool" next week.

Memory Lane

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! (Coretta or Gary)

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

EVERYBODY PLAY! (which means I tag everyone) I want to see what memories you have!!

Tuesday Tell All - Shaping Up

I started walking with my neighbor at her invitation, it lasted a week. Well with her, she has since broken her foot and so I have been on my own since that first week. It's been over a month but I'm sticking to it and proud of it. When I go alone I like it when Olea rides her scooter rather than choosing to ride in the stroller because I have to keep up a good pace or run to keep up with her which means I am getting my heart rate up. Otherwise walking on your own keeping up a pace is hard I think. I used to do track in high school so I feel like a looser now because just walking is a big achievement. :) I have some excuses though, which I think are pretty good. I have asthma which was only partly to blame for my drop off in exercise. When we found out the real reason in 2005 and had my thyroid removed I was suddenly able to manage my asthma like a real asthmatic, the large tumors on my thyroid were blocking my airway thus making it hard to breath, swallow etc. No amount of medicine seemed to be doing the trick, becuase it just wasn't making it past the tumor. But by then I hadn't done regular heart rate exercise for 4 years. (I'd done weight training, which is super fun and I love but not the same). It's taken a lot of will power for me with two kids to figure out a time to go and stick with it esp. when I have to convince my 4 year old that this is something we HAVE to do. So now I am working on building up my endurance which everyone kept telling me I needed to do before the tumor was removed and they all though I was just being a wuss because it just got worse and worse as the tumor got larger and larger. I'm no wuss. (I could go off on a tirade her about how super I am, but I'll save you all). Ah the kind of track star I could have been had I not had a huge tumor blocking my air way. Alas. ;) And when the basement is done and we move the weight set back inside we can begin that again too.

Promises, Promises

Sauerkraut soup from Aunt Joyce

4 1/2c. water
4 med. potatoes peeled & cubed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb. sausage (Dixee uses hot dogs or polish hot dogs)
1 can (16oz) sauerkraut un-drained
1 med. onion chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbls. fresh dill weed OR 1 tsp. Dried
1/2 tsp. caraway seed
1 cup sour cream to 1 Tbls flour
Bring water, potatoes & salt to boil Cook until tender. Add sauerkraut, onion, garlic, dill & caraway. Bring to boil In sm bowl, combine flour & sour cream. Gradually stir about 1 c. of hot mixture into sour cream mixture. Return all to saucepan. Blend well. Heat through but do not boil.Season to taste with salt & pepper. Add a few tsp of sugar for less tart flavor. Enjoy

I promised I would post it. Look at me keeping my promises. I also finally found this picture that my husband had asked for. It is Olea around Easter time when she was about ten months old. She is on the back lawn at my parent's house, she is watching Gary I think.
He fell in love with this picture when paired with a poem I wrote. It was first featured (wow that sounds special) in one of our anniversary books.
Our anniversary book is a mini book I make every year for our anniversary that has the past year's memories in it. Some sort of article, poetry, funny things unique to our relationship, dumb things we have said, year in review (things we did, places we went, large items we purchased). Documentation of what we did for the previous year's anniversary etc. Each year is themed appropriately to that past year, like one year it looked like medical bills since we raked up quite a bit or blue prints since we bought our house etc. They all belong in a clam shell box, (green thing on the left) to keep them nice. And what happens when you fill up the box at 10 years? I have to divorce him, I guess. No, of course I make a new clam shell box to put our next 10 years in etc. etc. We just celebrated our 5th anniversary in April. They look pretty plain but they are full of laughs, sentiments and memories.

Tuesday Tell All: Taste

this is a biased post
This last weekend my parents were down for Olea's birthday and my mom left some Sauerkraut soup for us. For those who don't know, my father is German. I grew up with all sorts of fantastic things to try. I have been craving the soup and of course only have store bought sauerkraut to make it with (my dad made it growing up) so it just can't be as good, plus I didn't have the recipe so she came at just the right time bearing just the right gift... for me. :) Generally I wouldn't think this up as being my favorite taste, I'd probably put peanut butter, margarine, lemon pepper, or wheat bread. (go ahead, laugh your taste-buds off), but since I was totally craving it to the point where I went and bought all the ingredients I could remember and hoped to get the recipe... still waiting.
When I do get the recipe I will post it for all those adventurous peoples out there. It's good, I promise ( I can hear you repeating my peanut butter, margarine, lemon pepper, or wheat bread list and shaking your head, yes I can hear this well, wait that's a lie... I can't hear that well, but in my imagination I can; so watch out).

I don't have a picture, because I scarfed the stuff so fast... but you can imagine a kraut colored soup, with polish sausage slices, dill, potatoes. ok you probably can't imagine. It tastes good. the end.

Tuesday Tell All: Smell

I think my favorite smell is the smell of fresh baked wheat bread. This was a weekly if not twice week smell in the home I grew up in. I have since continued the tradition of baking bread. I lapsed for a while after we got married and I was doing the mixing and kneading by hand since my carpal tunnel acted up, but then we got my beloved Bosch Mixer. I had a Kitchen Aid but it just didn't cut it. I love the smell, I love the taste and it goes with any meal. I love wheat bread. In fact I have been more sleepy than hungry lately due to staying up late helping Gary do the mudding on the basement and so I have not baked bread. We have been out for a week and I am severely missing it. Olea likes to help too. Olea helps Oma knead some dough.
Here is a visual of a batch Olea helped me put faces on. We do this on occasion. This one is Olea and Daddy breads. This is not a proud batch, it's kinda lopsided but I didn't knead it like I usually do. But it tasted just fine and it's cute.

Tuesday Tell All: Graduation

I'll talk about my college graduation, cause that's most recent. I graduated from BYU with a Bachelor in Fine Arts. My associates degree is from BYU-Idaho it is technically a degree in Science because they weren't giving associates degrees in Graphic Design at the time. Though that's a more accurate description of my degree. I missed the festivities of my Associates degree Graduation because I was getting married to Gary. I graduated in August 2005 after taking a semester off for having our little Olea and not taking a semester off after having a major surgery. Somehow with my memory and such impaired by a total thyroidectomy I managed to pass Statistics and my other courses in time to graduate and walk with Gary (who graduated in April). Gary's parents came down and my mom and little brother. Right after graduation we got down to business to move from the armpit that is Provo to Orem. We were pretty serious about getting out of Provo as soon as we were graduated. We moved to a nice duplex that we really enjoyed. Those who could stuck around and helped us move. My sister watched kids while Gary's parents helped us move stuff in. We lived there till last year when we bought our house. It was a busy day but we got all that we wanted accomplished. We were finally free of BYU. :) For all of you out there who LOVE BYU, good for you. We just don't so much. Looking at these pictures, Gosh, I was skinny after that surgery.