When It Rains

I was thinking about the past year or so today after getting like 5 medical related bills and such in the mail.  And holy crow has it been a silly year for us.  I think the saying goes, "when it rains, it pours".  Between June 2011 and June 2012 we had the following medical fun to pay for.

- The birth of James and everything that goes with that (hospital, doctor, anesthesia, circumcision, etc.).

- I had my Gallbladder removed.  Was supposed to be outpatient, I stayed the night and had an Endoscopy the next day.

- Jameson had to get surgery for his toenails.  While not major, still painful and kind of expensive.  Also, they took forever to heal because of the next thing...

- Jameson got on Accutane and went to the dermo A LOT.

- James had his surgery to make him a 'real boy'

And I'm so glad that year is over.  Sometimes I'm amazed at how the Lord is blessing us.  We're having plenty of trials, but plenty of blessings too.  We had some financial assistance from the hospitals, which helped some.  All of us or now in proper working order, which is fabulous.  And we were blessed to have enough to pay for it, which really is a miracle.  But we should have it all paid off by the end of year.  And now I just pray that we are done with this for a long while, cause my savings account could use some lovin'.

James 1st Visit to the Zoo!

Last week Jamo's sister came into to town with her boyfriend Oscar.  So on Saturday we went with them and Mike and Tracy's family to the St. Louis Zoo.  And did you know, that if if you go the first hour the zoo is open that you can get into things for free.  I mean, it's free to get into the zoo, which is awesome, but some of the attractions cost moneys.  So for the first hour you can do the children's petting zoo, Caribbean Cove (stingrays and sharks), and the carousal for free.

So before the summer ended, I wanted to go see the Stingrays.  I didn't get a chance the last couple of years and I've wanted to since they brought the stingrays.  It's pretty cool, they have this little shallow water area the stingrays swim around in circles and you can put your hand it and touch the tops of them.  Although I think the guy next to us must have been grabbing their tails or something cause they hated that dude and would splash like mad.  James and I got pretty wet.  They also have sharks swimming around, you can't touch those though.  And when your done you come out smelling all fishy and covered in salt water.  It's pretty much fantastic.  Also, James loved splashing in the water and trying to attack the stingrays.

The Zoo also has this new sealion exibit.  We've had Sea Lions for years, but they got an upgrade and it's pretty much awesome.  They're exibit is larger and you can now walk through it, in an under water tunnel to watch the seals go by.  It was super awesome!  Of course, since it's new, we had to wait like half an hour to walk through the tunnel, but it was so worth it.  Also, it was cool under and this weather has been so stinkin' hot this summer.  James thought it was cool anyway.

 

So I do believe that our first Zoo adventure with James was a success.  Next time we go, he's going to see the penguins.  I love that exhibit.  And maybe if he's not a wienie about animals we'll take him to the petting zoo.

James' 1st Birthday

My boy turned 1 a month ago.  So I figure I should post some of those photos from the festivities.  It was fun times with family.  And James of course, is spoiled, and we love him.

Birthday breakfast... Banana Pancakes!

Birthday presents he opened on his actual birthday.

We got little cupcakes for his birthday, since would be having a big cake at the party with friends and family.  This is the red velvet cupcake, we also had mini smores cupcakes.

James Sock Monkey cakes.  Sandy did a super awesome job!

The boys hanging out at the party.

Food.  We had a grilled cheese buffet.  And I loved it.

Hanging out at the party.

Some of his many sock monkeys.

He wore is long enought to take this photo.

Me making my grilled cheese.  I think mac n cheese and sloppy joe was involved in this one.

Sandy eating soup, yum.

Balloon fight, as usual.

Unwrapping presesnts!

More presents.  That's a swim diaper, ps.

Cake time.

Eating of his cake.  It was funny to watch.  He's was such a dainty boy.  Probably one of the only time when food is involved.

So Happy Birthday to my dearest not so baby James!

My Life Will Be Here Now

Some days you just have to close your Facebook account.  I'm over it for now.

So any and all life events, photos, and general us-ness will be found here.

Also feel free to txt or call.


Cute baby photo now? Ok.

 

Every time I pull out the camera he tries to eat it.

I can't even describe how cute he is when he's sad.

TT Day 2

Day 2: Bike 5 Miles

I think that biking is going to be my favorite event.  I haven't tried the swimming yet, that comes tomorrow, but this biking thing I can do.  There was a point around mile two that I kind of wanted to die, but by mile 4 I felt really good.  I'm glad this program that I'm doing isn't making me run everyday.  So today went a lot better than yesterday I think.  And all my muscles are properly sore.  I think I'm going to need to stretch a lot more, and find some good stretches for muscles I didn't even know existed.  I'm also thankful that this thing is easing me into it.  I tend to way overdo things on my own, and so it's nice to set a limit to it.  Of course, in a few weeks when I'm biking 15 miles and running for an hour I might feel different.  But for now, totally good.

As far as life goes?  I'm in one of those phases where I want to buy a house, SO bad.  Silly thing is we just signed a year lease for this place.  So we're stuck here for another year.  It's probably a good thing, but totally annoying.  It would probably be good to pay off the car first or something.  Or when Jamo gets that promotion at work.  Sigh.  Patience.  And stuff.

Also, I hate grocery shopping.

Triathlon Training (TT) Day 1

Day 1 - Run 15 minutes

So I waited another week to start.  Something about my son having surgery and recovering.  But he's doing good.  He also was teething the past few days, which added to the fun around this place.  But today, it was time.  And so I went to a local park here that has a loop that is 1 mile around.   I made it around precisely once.  And wanted to die.  And that was with walking the last half maybe?  I will add in my defense, that there are some huge hills in that park.  Also, I had already walked the loop once with Jill this morning.  Then I came home, died up three flights of stairs, and stretched.  And now I can't walk.

Consensus of the day: I'm SO out of shape.

And for those of you here to look at my cute baby, here you go...

In Which the Chubby Girl Decides to Do a Triathlon

So a silly thing happened while we were on vacation (maybe a post soon about that?).  I decided to do a triathlon.  Now I have never in my life considered such a thing.  And I really had no idea what it entailed.  Luckily for me, there are beginner or short ones called Sprint Triathlons.  And also lucky for me, they have training schedules for beginners on the internet.  And so tomorrow I embark on my journey that is my first triathlon.  I think I have one picked out.  And for some stupid reason, probably because it's Lake St. Louis, it costs like twice as much as the others.  But it isn't on the sabbath, like the one the weekend before, that has better mileages and is half the cost.  The things we do to stay true and faithful.  But it will give me another week to train?  That's a bonus.  Cause this girl is going to need all the training I can get.  I am completely, utterly and not even funnily (ha, that's a real word) out of shape.  So I've told myself to do this to help me get back on that right track.  Sometimes, after you have a baby, it's hard.  And I'd like to be in semi-decent shape before I have another one.  Or if nothing else, the same shape I was in before I had my dearest James.  My poor ligaments might never be the same.  But alas, this idea!  More of this silliness might be posted here.  Someone's got to keep me accountable?  I can do this?  I should really go to bed.

Kansas city

We went to Kansas City in April I believe to go see the Kansas City temple open  house.  And of course, to see Julie.  We hadn't been out that way since James was born.  And it was kind of a trial run for the bigger trip we just took to Utah and Idaho.  But we had good times.  And here are pictures from that weekend.

Driving (or maybe just waiting for Julie to get home)

Two beggers begging for food.  I think James won the cheerio battle here.

Adorable.  That's all.

Oh the ipod fun we have.  Between the camwow and that silly talking monkey, we could have entertained ourselves all weekend.  We did leave her house at some point.

We went to this park Sunday afternoon.  It was a beautiful day!

 

  

 

 

It was a real pretty temple

KC Temple

Orchiopexy

I know I wrote about it before, but today was the big day.  James had orchiopexy surgery, which is just fancy talk saying he had his testicles brought down to where they should be.  And guess what?  He's now a fully operational boy!  And the boy took it like a champ.

We got a call last night changing the time of his surgery from 12:20 pm to 7:30 am.  Let me tell you, it's been confirmed that I am NOT a morning person.  But it ended up being better so James didn't have to wait hours and hours without eating.  He was getting cranky by the time they actually came to get him and bring him back to surgery.  Luckily, there was a pretty nurse named Sheri that he went willingly with.  He's kind of a huge flirt, my little man.

He was gone for about 2 hours.  And then they let me go into the recovery room.  Poor boy was just crying and crying.  He drank some apple juice, though the nipple was too small on the bottle and he got mad and chucked it.  We went back to his room and he just laid on me all tired like.  Poor kid was so tired.  They discharged us fairly quickly, which was great.  I can sit just as easily at home, and more comfortably.

So a couple hour nap and more cuddles took up the afternoon.  Monsters, Inc. was watched.  And eating started up again.  Kid wouldn't eat the pineapple!  I never thought he was refuse pineapple.  All he wanted to eat was cottage cheese?  Silly baby.  I might have to go buy more tomorrow.  But playing commenced, after being asleep all day, until bedtime.  And now we wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us.  Thankfully, Jameson is working from home tomorrow.  Poor kid.

But here are some photos of him looking ridiculously cute in his hospital outfit.  They were huge!  And adorable!  And I wish I had more of them.

Dear mamamama,

 Dear mamamama,

i;       nxxxxnnnnnvvvv vv    , ,,,,                           bn  xz '              m.molk;,;mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm     ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, mmmmmmmmm   vc ♦☺┬

Dear Sheri,

The message above was brought to you by James, your son who loves you oh so much because you're such an awesome mom and you love him. I love you and I hope you enjoy your first annual Mother's Day.

Also, enjoy these wonderful videos featuring your son.

Love,

James and Jamo

p.s.: I have no idea how James was able to put in a diamond, emoticon, and a weird looking T. He started playing with the number pad at the end and I think that's how he did it.

On Testimonies

Here's the thing.

Throughout my life there have been ups and downs. Highest of highs, lowest of lows.  There's been times where I have questioned the very existence of God and times when I could feel Him guiding my life.

But where does all this up and down leave a 26 year old girl, who is a wife, who is a mother, who still has no idea what she wants to do with her life?  For some time it seems like I've been gliding on this wave of... complacency?  In the back of my mind, I knew what I believed.  Still that seed of doubt pops up out of no where.  Not big, hardly perceptible.  And then I'm trying to reconcile life with what I believe, and what I do.

But then the trials hit.  The times when you have to decide what you are going to do, what you are going to stand up for.  And for me, this is the time when I feel my testimony of Christ, of belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the most.  These are the times I know without any doubt that what I believe is true.

I believe Christ bled for us in Gethsemane.

I believe He died on the cross and rose the 3rd day, so that we might all live again

I believe Christ is our Savior and without him all would be lost.

I believe that Joseph Smith Jr. truly saw God the Father and Jesus.  That he restored the true church of Christ to the earth again.

I believe in modern revelations from modern day prophets.

I believe that the Holy Ghost can guide you through your life through baptism and the confirming power of the priesthood.

I believe that the family is sacred and a part of God's plan for his children.  And no matter how the world may attack this fundamental unit, that it is the center of all things great and small.

I believe in the love God and Christ have for all people.  And that we need to love our fellow man as well.  There may be differences, there may be disagreements, but there should ALWAYS be love.


I believe in that great plan of salvation and am so grateful everyday for the knowledge of knowing where I came from, why I'm here, and where I'm going.


I believe in not only having faith, but in acting upon it, by giving loving charity.


And knowing these things leaves one little room to do nothing.  Sometimes I feel like we are afraid to stand for what's right and we hide our beliefs when others are being thrown at us in every directions.  It's okay to believe what you believe.  It's okay to voice your opinion.  It's like that saying, 'All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.'

Now is not the time to forget what we believe.
Now is not the time to become complacent.
Now is not the time for sitting idly by
Now is not the time to be afraid of what other will think or say.

Now is the time to DO, come what may.

Eve 6 @ Fubar

Does your family have a band they all love?  Cause mine does.  Eve 6.  We've been listening to them since they first came out with their hit song Inside Out.  Although, that may be their most famous song, it is in no way their best song.  When Jamo and I were first married, well, one year after, we went to go see Eve 6 in Kansas City for our anniversary.  Summer of 2010, Eve 6 came to my hometown for the 4th of July festival.  And this year, they came to Fubar.  So Jameson, my sister Holly, and my niece Emily trucked it down to downtown to this little dive of a bar that has a two rooms for bands to play in.  And I got to say, it was great.  We might have been def for the next two days from the crazy loudness of it all.  Who knew so much noise could fit in so little a room.  So it was packed with actual Eve 6 fans who could all sing along at the top of their lungs (and it didn't matter cause no one could hear you anyway).  And it was fantastic.  It's been a while since I've been to a rock concert.  It was full of all the crazy fun I forgot about.  It was like I was 19 again, just for an evening.

 

 

 

 After the concert we made a late night run to the Taco Bell in which Holly bought EVERYTHING on the menu.  And it was delicious.  And in case you were wondering, Eve 6 just release a new album about a week ago.  So go and listen.  And I have officially seen Eve 6 more time in concert than any other band, 3 times.  They were tied with the love of my life, Breaking Ben (marry me Ben?), but those fools need to go on tour again.  Oh but the Eve 6 was good.