1.31.2008

Funny Tour Guide Experience

Today on my tour...I had some really bright children. And some very boring mothers...
I got to the sugar stop, most of you know what I'm talking about, the big 2,500 lb. bags of sugar...and this was the dialogue that followed between me and my group:
Me-"All right, this bag right here, is full of a very special ingredient that helps us make our candy taste nice and sweet! Can anyone maybe guess what ingredient it is?"
At this point I receive completely blank stares from EVERYONE, including the moms.
So I ask,
"Do you guys know what an ingredient is?"
All the little pre-schoolers shake their heads to tell me no. And so I explain that an ingredient is something we put in our candy. I then give them examples. My examples, are SUGAR, (which I emphasize) salt, chocolate, and different syrups.
So I ask again, "can anyone guess what's inside this big bag behind me?"
A little boy pops his arm up and shouts "sugar!".
"Good Job! This bag does have -"
In the middle of my sentence a little girl throws her arm in the air, so I point to her and she exclaims "Salt!"
I respond, "No, this bag has sugar in it sweetie"
"Salt!"
"Ok, salt is ingredient, good job."
I move on to the next room, chuckling to myself.
As we get to the Taffy Kitchen there is white, yellow and pink taffy coming off of the cooling wheels, so further into my talking about the room, I ask if anyone can guess what flavors we're making today. I point to the white, and ask if anyone has any guesses.
Three little kids yell "sugar!"
"No, a flavor. A flavor is like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry...Can you guess what flavors we're making today?"
Again, the little kids in unison all yell "sugar!"
So I say nevermind, and I tell them that the white taffy is vanilla. I then ask if they can guess what flavor the pink taffy is, at which point the kids all yell "vanilla!!"
This cracked me up so bad. I decided to stop asking them any questions and just keep going.
the kids were like this pretty much the whole tour. Deer in the headlights children who had no idea what they were talking about. The funny thing was that the moms were completely expressionless. They didn't think it was funny at all!!! If my kid was that obvlivious/silly, I would think it was hysterical. But not these moms. They were all business.

Anyway...the tour just cracked me up...plus I hadn't posted in a while. So I thought I'd share!

1.18.2008

F.Y.I.

Just so you knows...I put in some new links that go to info about HLHS...I know some of you were curious about different aspects of the surgeries and what she'd go through...so...i am posting some links for people to look at that will hopefully answer some of the questions we all have. :)

1.07.2008

Families are Forever

I wanted to write this sooner, but, I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to express my feelings accurately. Hopefully, giving myself yesterday to think about it more will make my thoughts a bit more clear now.
My sister-in law Misty got married just 2 weeks before Topher and I, and very soon afterwards, she became pregnant. Misty had wanted a baby so bad and had pretty much begun trying immediately after they were married. She got pregnant about a month and a half after they got married, and was looking forward to her new baby more than anything.
Her pregnancy had been very very hard, not on the baby, but on her. She was constantly sick, to the extreme. She was always tired, uncomfortable, and sick. But, something really neat is that I NEVER heard her complain. She was always happy and willing to give me a smile, even if she had just returned from the bathroom to throw up.
Her pregnancy, aside from her being sick, had otherwise been completely normal. Healthy baby, healthy mommy. Only thing possibly unique, was that her baby was a big one. Her little baby was growing so fast!
For those of you who don't know Misty, she has a very little frame, so for her to be carrying this rapidly growing little baby, she looked like she might break in half from the weight at about 6 months!
Anyway, further in the pregnancy Misty found out she was having a little boy. And they have since named little boy Helaman.
Because of how fast Helaman was growing, Misty's Dr. decided it would be best if they induced Misty about 2 weeks ahead of her due date. Her due date was January 28th, so they planned on inducing her either on January 8th if she was dilated, or if not, then for sure inducing her no later than the 15th of January.
But her plans were cut short this past Thursday night, when she stopped feeling the baby move. Having heard that this may be a sign of going into labor shortly, she didn't worry too much. The next day, on Friday night, she began to go into labor. She waited through most of the night, counting contractions and measuring the time inbetween and then Saturday morning she went into the hospital.
As soon as they hooked her up to the monitor they knew that baby Helaman had died. There was no heart beat and no movement.
Misty then continued to go into labor and ended up enduring 27 hours of hard labor, 18 of which were without an epidural.
Little Helaman was born at 2:20 a.m. on Sunday morning at a big and healthy 8 pounds. They determined that the cause of death was the umbilical cord. It had twisted on itself, cutting off all the blood going to Helaman. There was nothing at all Misty could have possibly done to cause or prevent what happened to him. It was just one of those random horrors that you never expect. I've been told Helaman was an absolutely beautiful baby. Warm brown skin, long dark brown hair, with Jose's ears and Jose's nose.
My heart breaks when I think about Misty and Jose and what they must be going through and will continue to go through. I can't imagine the pain that she must be feeling when she thinks that, at least in this life, she'll never be able to hear him say "mommy" or take his first steps. I wish more than anything in this world that there was something, anything I could do to take away her pain. But, sadly there isn't anything any person can do to bring back what she has lost. But, thinking on it more and more, my shock and sadness for Misty has slowly been turning into a gratitutde and love for Heavenly Father and Our Savior, and their plan for us.
No one could do anything more for Misty than what Heavenly Father and Jesus have done for her. They've given Misty, and all the other families out there who have lost loved ones, the blessing of knowing that if we live up to the covenants we have made, that we will be with our families forever. Whether we are able to enjoy their company for a lifetime, or not even for a moment, they are our family for eternity. Misty will get to raise little Helaman from birth on in the Millennium. And although that doesn't take away the pain that she is definitely feeling, I am so grateful that that blessing is there for her to look forward to one day.
I am so grateful for the gospel and that Heavenly Father loves me enough to offer me this blessing as well. I am so grateful that no matter what happens in this life, no matter the lives we lose and friendships that are cut short, I will see my family again. They are my family forever and only Heavenly Father and my Savior could make that possible.
I am so grateful to live in a church that promises eternal families. I want to live my life in a way that these blessings will always be available to me.
My prayers and thoughts are with Misty and Jose and I know that they'll be with baby Helaman again.
I know this was sort of a testimony/journal entry. But I felt that I wanted/needed to get it off my chest, and so I thought I would share my testimony with my family at the same time.
I Love you guys!

1.06.2008

Be Amazed...

Yes, I know, Its amazing, I'm posting another blog. And it hasn't even lapsed a month since the last one! Wow.
Topher just took these pictures last week and I thought I'd post them. Emi look!! I'm getting a belly!! (Em always makes fun of me for pretending to look pregnant when I just look fat...) But I think I actually look legitimately pregnant here!
Also, I had to show off the fact that I was wearing my new dress, purchased in Vegas





This would be my darling husband, showing off his belly. He thinks he has a pooch belly cuz he's gained 20 pounds since we got married. Ha ha. Funny thing is...7 of those pounds have been gained since I got pregnant. He must be trying to make me feel better about my weight gain.









I just wanted to show off my cute new hair! I got it cut and highlighted last week. Topher really really really wants me to let my "natural" color come in. But what really is "natural"? I mean, technically my natural color last year was bright blonde. Does it really matter that because I'm aging and pregnant my 'natural' color happens to be a poopy blonde/brown mess color now?! I think that is beside the point. So...highlights was inbetween what I wanted and what Topher wanted. And of course...he really likes it now and doesn't want me to change it. silly husband.





Topher got a hair-cut too...you probably can't tell. But, to clue you in, he looks darn attractive.

1.05.2008

Highlights of Christmas


Our front room on Christmas morning was beautiful. Topher almost peed his pants when he saw his new mountain board. And I had to laugh when I saw all of the interestingly wrapped presents. He calls it creative stitch wrapping...(meaning he used four pieces of wrapping paper to wrap one present).





Our Stockings were both jam packed full...his was because he had a lot of socks...those take up lots of space. :) Mine was because there were over 20 acrylic stamps...and he wrapped each individual one!







This was our front room after everything was opened. I got an awesome new scrapbook tote...and Topher left his mountain board in the middle of the room so he could jump on it every time he walked by.









I of course went to work filling my new scrapbook supply holder. It was so much fun to de-junk my crummy back pack and put it all into little compartments and pockets!




Next came Christmas with Dad. We went to his house around 6 p.m. and Christmas day and opened presents with them. It was a lot of fun of course and Rachel was adorable as usual.





Here's topher getting his practice with little girls. He's going to be such an adorable daddy.







In case you can't tell, that's Dacia tearing up when she opens the present from me. Yeah, I know how to push her emotional buttons.


And yes ladies and gentlemen, this is Rachel's new smile. "How you doin' foo?"


The day after Christmas we also had presents and such with Mum and Sam down in Orem. This was also a ton of fun and it was so wonderful to see Mom, but alas, Topher was too busy experimenting with our new camera...and so none of the pictures really turned out all that great. There is one of Mom where she looks completely tipsy and is doing 'raise the roof' motions...I'll have to post that one some other time when Mom is least expecting a humiliating photo...hehe.

So after our fun Christmas with Mum and Sam, Dac & I and our spouses headed down to Vegas for Christmas fun with E and her boys.




Topher is of course the best uncle ever, please don't be alarmed by his creepy humongous smile...it just so happens he is always happy...to an extreme level. Jaxon was in no way harmed by him in this photo...





The boys of course got rottenly spoiled and made a disaster of Emily's front room. But it was so much fun to seem them get so excited and play with all their new toys...the fun of course disappeared when they began fighting over EVERYTHING.




Topher's favorite thing to take pictures of since we got the camera has definitely been Caden. He took over 50 pictures just of Caden. Of course half of them are bad lighting or a silly face...but here are some of the ones I couldn't resist. Isn't he adorable?!!! I have the cutest nephews ever. (Alan and Jen, you may want to hide Aaron when Topher comes over next...He probably won't enjoy the hour long photo-op session...)

Before we left, I bribed the boys into sitting down for a photo. Funny thing is...I think they forgot and never actually got their treats. But I got some awesome pictures!

All in all, Christmas was a ton of fun. I loved being able to spend Christmas Eve and Morning just with my husband. It was wonderful and so much fun to be together. And I loved being able to find time for everyone else in the family so I could enjoy christmas with everyone. I will admit I feel I was slightly jipped by my Christmas with alan and Jen...but that's ok. Jen's mum and dad were there...so I hope I'll get more Alan and Jen time next year...

Christmas was definitely not the same this year since we never did a big Johnson get together. I will admit that is always going to be one of my favorite things...to be with my WHOLE family all at once. But, then again, we did get to do that for Thanksgiving, so I can't be too disappointed.

I love my family so much and am so grateful for the time they give me! They're the bestest family ever!