a thing or two about a thing or two

Oh man what is it about this picture that makes me want to squeeze something. This is so stinkin cute to me, I just can't stand it.

We did a few fun things this summer amidst all the work (yard work that is). We went to bear lake with Logan's family. Of course it was terrible weather but we still managed to have fun. We played on the beach, i nthe water and

went to a show at the Pickleville Playhouse.

Here we are at Canyon View Park feeding the ducks. Of course Jace has no fear and wants ot just get in the water with the ducks.

This summer has been so busy and has flow by. I can't believe that it is October already. We have been working really hard to get our backyard done and it is looking pretty good. He sprayed Hydroseed a little over a week ago and are just hoping that it will grow. If not we will just do it again in the spring. We did go to Bear Lake and have just enjoyed family.

Oh my, so much to tell.

Our little family went to Miami, Arizona a couple weeks ago to see my nephew Tyler Graduate from high school. I know you can't see him, but he is there. He graduated with honors, 6th in his class. So proud of you Ty.

So many things happened during our short trip. The night after the graduation Jace woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. He covered himself, his bed, our bed and me. Oh man, as soon as he threw up I wanted to go home so bad. It is such an awful feeling to be sick...away from home. He continued to throw up throughout the next day. He acted okay but threw up when he ate pretty much anything. Despite him being sick we all went for a ride the next day out to Roosavelt Lake (near Miami). We all got out and explored. The boys found a big lizard that we though was a Gila Monster (turned out to be just a lizard resembling a Gila Monster).

Sunday we woke up and I decided to go to church with my family. I left Jace with Logan and told him to try feeding him a bottle of milk because he had held down water all night. He did and after a while he threw that up. He was acting really weak and delirious. I came home from church early and decided to try feeding him some applesauce. He ate it right up and perked up a little. I took him outside to see how he would act and he got down and walked around a little. He then bumped into a chair and started crying. I picked him up and he calmed right down and rested his head on my shoulder, then started to twitch. I couldn't figure out if he was teasing with me so I pulled him back and his eyes were twitching and rolling into his head. HE WAS HAVING A SEIZURE! I freaked, running inside yelling...something (I don't remember). Logan took him from me and we ran outside to take him to the hospital (which was close enough to see from my brothers house) and there were no cars there. After about a minute of seizing he just went completely limp. I went to call 911 and when they answered and asked me where I was I had no idea what my brothers address was. In the meantime my brother Brayden was driving up the long driveway and Logan ran to him and told him to get him to the hospital and to come back for me. By the time I arrived at the hospital he was still out of it lying on the hospital bed. I can't even describe the fear I felt. I was so afraid and felt so helpless, not really knowing what had just happened and if he was okay. I kept seeing Jace's eyes in my mind, which was a terrible sight. It is hard to describe what it looks like because it seems to be more than just twitching eyes, it's almost as if the spirit leaves the body it just looked like Jace wasn't there anymore which was the scariest part. Any way at the hospital they ran a bunch of tests and everything came back normal so they decided to send us down to Mesa to a hospital that had a big pediatric unit. So Jace and I took out first ambulance (and most expensive) ride to Banner Desert Hospital. In the meantime Jace had woke up and acted little like himself. He really didn't like the IV or any of the other things they did to him (can't blame him). We had to just sit around and wait till the next day so he could get other tests done and see some of the specialist.

They let us take Jace for a walk the next morning and they had all of these cool little courtyards for kids. The one we are in above had a big frog statue and stone mushrooms everywhere. He thought the ride was pretty fun and really enjoyed going outside. They had another courtyard that had a big train set and a little city. The kids could push a button to make the train go while the kids just watch. It was a pretty neat hospital.

That afternoon they came in to do an EEG (measuring brain activity). This was quite a chore, they wrapped him up in a sheet to hold his arms down and had Logan had to hold him down while the tech stuck like 30+ wires to his head and wrapped his head. I'll tell ya, Jace is a strong little guy, it was hard to hold him down. After all the torture we got him to go to sleep during the test so they could see the transition from wake to sleep. He did very well after the initial torture. Every single test they did came back normal.

So the conclusion...

The Neurologist said that 1 in 20 children will have a siezure and half of those will never have another. Often times they never know the exact cause of the seizure. We suspect that it had something to do with throwing up for a day and a half, mild dehydration, electrolytes being out of whack or something like that.

Boy, what a scare.

We were released just in time to get Logan to the airport. I then went to Tucson to see my brother Justin and his family. There we were able to have some fun. Jace was acting great and the weather was beautiful. We went to a friends pool and played. Jace wasn't too fond of getting in the water but did enjoy throwing a ball in the water and making his big brothers throw it back to him.

I will say that I have had better vacations. I was glad to see my family and to see Tyler graduate but I was so glad to be home.

Tulip Festival

At work every quarter we do a team building. This is where we hang out together outside of work. In the past we have done things like shopped, went to movies, boondocks, a picnic up the canyon, etc. This time I thought it would be fun to go to Thanksgiving Point to see the tulip festival. It was beautiful! Walking through the gardens was very peaceful and calming. Everyone should go.

The OUT Program team currently consists of Val (above in the middle) and myself. Linz (in the green) was a member of our staff and still comes around. We tried to get as many of our old staff members to go with us, but it was last minute and it ended up just being the four of us (Jack is shown below). We had a great time.

Val is the Program Manager (my boss) and he is the program. He is the most amazing teacher/counselor I have ever known. He has saved and changed so many lives through his work and has been a great influence in mine as well. I have worked with him now for almost 5 years and feel so lucky to have him as a boss, and blessed to have him as a friend.

Linz came to work for the program about 3 years ago and stayed with us for a year and a half. It didn't take long for us to become good friends. Having Linz to work with made my job so much fun, it didn't feel like work. She really grew to love working there and sometimes comes back to the jail just to hang out. I really do miss working with her but am very grateful that we have stayed close friends.

I had Linz take a picture of me so I could prove that I was really there. You know how it goes, the person taking the pictures is never in any of the pictures.

Jack is Lindsay's year and a half old baby. In the gift shop before we went to the gardens I convinced Linz to buy him a GIANT powder sucker and he ate that thing the entire time in the gardens...and was an angel. He was so cute and so fun to take pictures of.

Easter

Justis and Tage were at their dads this weekend so Logan and I just took it easy.

We hid candy Sunday afternoon and Jace found some.
Balloons are his favorite. Seriously, the cheap stuff is the best.
Jace and his daddy

The Wooden Rocking Horse

So when Logan was a baby his Grandma Leila bought him this rocking horse (originally Bare wood). She stained it and painted eyes on it and put a mop head on the tail. Logan loved this rocking horse and so has every boy after him. We finally brought it to our house for Jace and he loves it. It is so cute to see him play on it,
even
more so because of it's history. Logan was very close with his Grandma and she passed away when he was a teenager so this horse has a lot of sentimental value to him.

Hats

Sooooo
freakin'
cute!!!

Jace hates hats and will only wear them for a second unless it is really cold. When we get them on him we are really excited. Here he forgot that he had a hat on after taking a walk on a cold day.

BEEP BEEP

We got a new car! I guess I should say, new to us (it's a 2006). My old car was wearing out and we figured we needed to get a new car that had more seating so someday we can have another boy (we all know that is what it would be). So we have been looking for a while now, and narrowed it down to the Acura MDX (mostly because that is what I wanted). I am so excited, I love it. Logan's favorite feature is the navigation system, mine is everything especially the ease of getting Jace in and out.

My boys!

Logan and Tage pretending like they are asleep. Are you buying it?

It's hard to get pictures of Justis because he either won't look at me or he pulls this funny face trying to hide his smile.
Here is our Harley. Do you wonder if he can see? Since this picture I cut the dogs hair and cut poor Harleys ear. I took quite a chunk out of it with the clippers. I felt so bad.

Here is our beloved Oliver, laying on his favorite toy, a stuffed (now headless) green monkey.

My Jacester being 'oh so cute'.

Look at that face, his eyes just blow my mind.

Logan is home for the month and has been able to spend a lot of time with Jace. They have had tons of fun. Logan plays hard, so Jace has been pretty busy. He is so funny, I think I could watch him all day and be totally entertained (Jace that is). Some of his latest are... We have a doggie door that he is totally facinated with. He watches the dogs go in and out, which makes him curious. We have caught him putting everything out the door. Things like the remote, his blanket, shoes, keys, pretty much anything he can fit through the door. One day Logan caught 'him' trying to get through it. One of his other favorite things is to throw everything down the stairs. Our stairs are a mess. It is just so fun for him to watch everything bounce down to the bottom. We have given up on bringing everything back up. His recent funny is, he has figured out how to turn the tv off. So when he does it he turnes...looks directly at you... and points his finger at you (in a strict way). When Logan says no to Jace that is what he does. So Jace has it all figured out... he knows that he will hear "no" when he turns off the tv so he just does the actions that go with it. It is all very amusing.

Science Project

Tage did the, oh so original 'VOLCANO' this year for the science fair. It was pretty fun. Of course we waited till it was too late to do some of the really cool projects. Maybe next year (I say that every year).

It tun out pretty cool. I had never seen the volcano project done so it was fun for me too. We tried a couple different concoctions.

Playin with photoshop

Oh my gosh, I am so in love with my baby.

The eyes, the tongue, the personality...everything.

I really do think that there is nothing better than being a mom. It has been so hard for me to work full time but it has made me appreciate every minute I have with my kids. Hopefully someday I will be able to stay home more (I guess that would be the positive of being laid off ;))

It is so fun to see Jace love Justis and Tage. He follows Justis around all the time, I think sometimes it gets on his nerves. He is great with Jace. He loves him to death and Jace returns all the love and then some. It has been so fun to have a baby after all these years.

Fun for me and for Justis and Tage.

My baby's ONE

Jace turned ONE on January 15th. I can't believe it has been a year. I am excited but a little sad at the same time. We have all had so much fun with Jace. He has definitely added something amazing to our family. He is such a busy little boy, I think busier than my other boys. He has been walking for over 2 months and is now running. He dances to music, which he loves to do and is hilarious to watch. He says lot of things, my favorites are mama (of course), Dad(which he usually says with conviction), Justis, and Tage.

We celebrated his birthday on Sunday the 18th. Family came over and we had dinner and cake and ice cream. Jace had a lot of fun with all the people here and with his new toys. He doesn't so much play with them but he does enjoy throwing the ones that fit through the railing down the stairs.



Jace Really did like his cake much (can you tell by the look on his face?). He is a pretty picky eater and cake must not be his thing. We tried two different cakes and he didn't like either of them. He did do okay with vanilla ice cream.

Looking at the burning candles on cake. He wanted to touch the fire.


Jace opening presents