Home Sweet Home

So the last two weeks I've been in Utah visiting family and friends. It was so much fun. It was so great to see everyone, especially my parents after this whole cancer business (my mom is doing great, bytheway. Thanks for asking.) and my sister's brand-new baby boy. Besides having so much fun there was a specific reason why I was not really enthused about coming back yet. However, I have to say after getting back to my little home, it felt sooo good. I wasn't anticipating that. But it was a pleasant surprise, indeed. Needless to say, I completely enjoyed myself as I put Ryder to bed in his crib, drove my car, took a hot bath in my tiny, but very loved, bathtub and then sat on my couch with my cozy throw, some popcorn and dark chocolate m&m's to catch up on some missed shows.

With that said, I'm back to blogging. I don't blog much or at all while I'm visiting family because that time is very precious to me. But here are some highlights of our trip: (I foolishly forgot my camera, so until those photos from the "will you email me one of those" cameras come in, you'll have to settle for the two photos of the Ryder-man we took while messing with my dad's new i-phone.)

Phil had to leave for a training on Sunday the 16th so Ryder and I took off ourselves to Utah on St. Patty's day. Terrified he was going to get pinched on his first St. Patrick's day, Ryder strongly requested I put him in his most green outfit. We arrived in Utah late that evening.

A little nervous about that whole pinching business:

(we love doing Ryder's do in a mohawk, but as you can see it has taken its toll after a long day)

During our first few days, my sister came down with Gracie and Jared and let me tell you, we played like crazy! There was sidewalk chalk writing with a picnic, multiple games or horsey, cook, camp and car. Whew, if you feel a little envious of our fun...it's probably with good reason. I have to hand it to my mom. Even while in the recovery stages of cancer, she has got to be one of the most fun Nanas I have ever seen. She put both Autumn and I to shame in the creative department. But lets give credit where credit is due. I did come up with 'camp'...well, actually, I guess Gracie gave me the idea when we were walking up the stairs to change Ryder's diaper and she informed me we were 'hiking a mountain'.

On Saturday, Phil flew in from Utah from his trainings and joined us just in time for some Easter festivities. These included a delicious dinner, an Easter egg hunt all topped off with some strawberry shortcake. Phil, Ryder and I just chilled with my parents the rest of the week while visiting, eating delicious food and at one point introducing my parents to our Wii that Phil brought along where I do recall my mom beating me in tennis. I think both my parents did, actually. Hmm. One day my mom and I got to have, what I think is becoming our annual date, where Phil watched Ryder and my mom and I went to Logan for some lunch and browsing shops. My mom showed me the coolest toy store ever. (More on this informative tidbit for parents everywhere, later.)

Ryder Ridin'

Phil and I spent our last couple of days with his grandparents in Ogden where we continued to have more great visiting, chilling, eating and Wii playing. I must give a special thanks to my college roommates and bestest friends for going out of their way to visit me while we were there. You three are some of my most favorite people and only wish we could have hung out a little longer.

Thanks again for everyone who was a part of making this trip so wonderful. We love you and can't wait to see you again!

Notes

So I've been out for awhile, as you can see and although I am still currently detained, I just have to write a quicky because I miss blogging so much. Plus, while I've been away, I've had so many post ideas, but know the second I get back into the routine of things, will forget every idea I had, so for more personal knowledge than anything, here is a list of things I hope to be blogging about in the near future. 1. Flying (on an airplane)...my mind is a whirling dervish every time I go to the airport in wonderment at our worlds' flight system. Perhaps boring to you, rather interesting to me. 2. Date with mom and coolest toy store ever 3. Brief roomate reunion 4. BB&B 5. Blogging, in itself 6. I'm already forgetting my ideas...ahh! 7. Weird dream 8. General Conference 9. nuts, I'm done...my brain is empty, empty as can be W/B/S ("Will blog soon". Not to be confused with the common elementry acronym of "Write Back Soon". No you do not need to write me back soon.)

Phone Home!

I'm a worry wart. It's true. I learned a long time ago to keep this problemo in check with help from my Heavenly Father and Savior and my faith in them. However, I know myself well enough to know the strength I've worked hard to gain to fight this weakness would be tried when I had children. I was right. It makes sense, really. I've worked it out with just myself, but some definite re-grouping is required when you introduce someone into your care whom you love way more than yourself. I look at parents with all their children happy, healthy, fully grown and starting families of their own and the only word I can think of to describe it is 'miraculous'. When I'm foolish enough to begin dwelling on the innumerable possible tragedies that could befall my sweet boy or future children, I begin pulling out the methods that work (for me) to combat these negative, depressing and completely unproductive thoughts. Well, last night I had some unwelcome thoughts going on (which is when I thought of this post) and before drawing on my usual tactics, it was easier to steer my thoughts toward a different route: problem solving mode...prevention. It's silly, I know but I was surprised by the amount of comfort it gave me when I thought of this and after doing a little research, found exactly what I was looking for. Ryder will have one the second he knows how to use it :)

The Verizon Migo! Basically it's a cell phone for kids. There only allotted 4 numbers to call (mom's cell phone, home, dad's cell phone, etc.) plus an emergency button. This is my favorite part. It has a tracking device, so you always know where you child is! And if you pay a little extra, the parent can set boundaries and any time your child leaves the designated boundaries, it sends you a text message! All it needs is a little carabeener clip with a string to hook onto his jeans and put into his pocket so he doesn't lose it and an abductor wouldn't notice he had it.



With that said, I know phone won't solve my problems. And I also know my little family has a variety of trials waiting for us and I know through our Savior, Jesus Christ we'll be fine...better than fine. We'll be molded into what He wants us to be. But I do still have this little thing I always need to stay on top of and hey, if a cell phone helps me sleep better at night, then this cell phone they shall have :)

A Little Selfish Perhaps...

So I go out to run errands for about an hour. As I pull into our parking lot I notice a rather large and red fire truck sitting in front of my building accompanied with a police car. A sight NO one likes to come home to. Panic strikes. I immediately began thinking of a flat iron I possibly could have left on or a candle I forgot to blow out. I couldn't seem to park my car for the life of me and consequently almost hit the fire truck. I get out, grab Ryder, leaving my groceries in the car and quickly walk over to one of the firemen:

Me: May I ask what's wrong?
Fireman: Oh, someone's not feeling well over in that building (not my building)
Me: Oh good, so nothing is wrong with that building (my building)?
Fireman: Nope [smile]
Me: Thanks, this isn't really the type of thing one likes to come home to. [I walk away]

It's about when I get to my front door that I realize what I complete jerk I was. Well, good, as long as nothing was wrong with me. If I were that fireman, I'd have a really low opinion of me. This goes to show that I have absolutely NO relationship with my neighbors. I need to work on that and well, a charitable attitude in general.

I need to go. My groceries are still in my car.

If Only I Weren't So Lame...

So I'm a little frustrated because even though, I'm mostly better, I still have a very annoying cough and a meager amount of energy. I wake up, play with Ryder and clean my house and it's about all I can do to get from Ryder's nap time to nap time. This makes me feel lamo. So if I weren't feeling so lame, this is what I would do: -Get back to running. I was doing so good (well, in my head, I was doing so good). -Blog more. -Care about plucking my eyebrows and other unsightly facial hairs. -Go to Costco and get Ryder 101 Dalmations while it's still out of "The Disney Vault" (or maybe more for me). I'm still very mad at myself for missing Cinderella. -Exchange a hat I bought at Target. I realized I got a color I can't wear with anything. -Take my 40% off coupon to JoAnn's to buy fabric for a new sewing project. -Stop eating this rather large bag of m&m's -Buy Ryder some sweet shoes for our trip to Utah. I feel he is old enough now that shoes should start becoming a necessity on longer outings. -Color my hair -Go on a thorough grocery run to Winco -Work harder on my callings -Write some long over due 'Thank You' cards. I know a lot of nice people. -Purchase some organization items for my bedroom. (I need to stop writing things that involve the words "buy" and "purchase") -Read more All right, so maybe some stuff like reading more and writing thank you cards I can do now. No excuses there. Oooo, this list has been fun to write and has made me excited to get back to normal. An optimistic attitude can't hurt anything. Well, I better go drink some fluids. Later Skaters.

Here's to Good Health

When I was 1 yr old I got ammonia, or that's what I told everyone until I was like ten and learned it was actually called pneumonia. Well, at 24 I got hit with that dang pneumonia bug again (I'm sure my parents would agree a little less traumatic this time around) and the reason I'm so very behind on my blogs. So for journal entries sake, here is a recap of the happenings of our lives from the last couple of weeks.

Phil's 27th Birthday!
Right before I got sick, I was able to pull of a rather cool shin-dig with just a few high-profile guests (Ryder & myself):


Ryder Started Solids!
...just kidding. We started him on rice cereal, not blatant apple slices. Sheesh. He was so excited to finally be entrusted with mommy and daddy food!

I DID get my hair cut!
You all are probably like, finally! Now she can quit talking about her stupid hair. Anyhow, here it is and I love it. It's very fun so far. I didn't include a profile photo because that would mean I would have to post a photo of the side of my face and I'm not willing to do that, but it actually goes pretty short in the back in an A-line.

A little bit of Ryder
Some more photos of the babe: