Melting in Moab

This past weekend Kirk and I had a GREAT time in Moab with some of our greatest friends. It was peaceful, relaxing, and full of great conversation and lots of laughs.

We enjoyed great scenery, great food and great company. And great weather...it was only 100 degrees! Despite the heat and the bugs it brought with it, we thouroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Arches National Park


Hiking above our campsite


Delicate Arch




Thanks to the "zoom" lense on our camera, it looks like we hiked to it....can you see Kirk under it? :)


Balanced Rock








We also went river rafting on the Colorado River. It was my first time and it was a blast. We still need to develop the water camera, but you can see some awesome pics of it here (we are #'s 67-71, 152-155 and 158-160):

http://www.moabactionshots.com/find_photo2.php?cat=R&src=&lce=346&month=06&day=28&year=2008&pm=&roll=&start_pic=67

Thanks mom and dad for taking great care of Livvy!

We came back renewed and ready to dive in again to this game we call life!

Congratulation Carlye!

My little sister got engaged over the weekend, Yipeeee!

Congratulations Carlye, we are so excited for the big day!

I cannot believe that you are "old" enough to be married! But Jacob is a lucky man, even if you do wear earrings while camping! HEHE!

Love you!

1/2 way

Halfway through the year, and what have I accomplished? This year has flown by already and there are only 6 months left!


Looking forward to:

Wearing my "skinny" jeans again- almost there! One more size to go!

Finding a new house- found it! We just need to move in it now!

Decorating my new house- mmmm...does gutting the whole house and re-doing it count as decorating?

Playing with Livvy more-I am still so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a stay at home mom! Being with Livvy and watching her grow is such a joy.

Watching Livvy devour her cake on her first birthday- and devour it she did! It was adorable. I cannot believe my little girl is one!

Watching Livvy crawl/walk and learn many other new things-these two milestones are definitely unforgettable ones among all the many things that Livvy has learned to do in the last year. They have also changed our lives in so many ways....watch out house, here Livvy comes! Another fun thing I have loved watching her learn is sign language. This makes things so much easier since she can tell me what she wants. I also love to listen to her chatter, which is non-stop most days, and point to things she wants with a grunt.

Family vacations-we have been on three so far and they have all been a blast: Florida (twice), Little America-Salt Lake, and Moab....two more to go.

Bowling with Kirk- ummmmm....still trying to find time to do this between school, work and the house. Hoping that once the house is done our league can begin?

Prioritizing better-doing much better at this, but not quite there. I try to sit down at the beginning of each week and plan each day. Its helping, but still needs to be refined.

Scrapbooking, Scrapbooking and more Scrapbooking- YES! I am moving mountains in my scrapbook and loving every minute of it!

Visits from the crew in Idaho and Virginia-the Idaho crew have come once, but we would love to see them much, much more.

Winning the Thompson family "Biggest Loser" contest!- I have been in first place for most of the time, but I haven't seen the results in a couple of weeks and very well could have been knocked out of my spot; but so far I have lost 25 of my 28 pound goal! 3 more pounds to go. Yipeee! (and then 10 more :))

Warm, Sunny Days- LOVE SUMMER! Even in Mesquite at 115 degrees!

A tan- after Mesquite and Moab, I finally have somewhat of a tan, I'm hoping that Bearlake can top it off.

More family time- with the house, we have really had to PLAN and make time for our family to be together, but I think its going pretty well. Of course for me, I could always spend more time with Kirk.....soon, real soon!

More Date nights with Kirk- same as above! One of my recent favorite "date" nights with Kirk was watching "24" and eating Taco Bell late at night :)

Being three steps ahead instead of three steps behind (o.k., I would settle for one step ahead :))-I'm afraid this will never change, even though I feel more organized, it always seems I could do things a little better and faster, be more organized and get a little more done.



Cheers to the second half of 2008, may it be as great as it has been thus far!

Surgery...again?

I woke up with the worst pain last Saturday night around 2 am....by 4 am I had to wake Kirk up, I had had enough! After eating a little snack and taking my ulcer medicine, the pain was not subsiding and I was out of ideas to get rid of it.

Kirk tried to convince me to go to the ER but I was convinced that they would only tell me it was gas and send me home. After hum hawing around for a little bit, Kirk finally suggested a blessing and then a decision. Not 2 seconds after my blessing, Kirk told me to get my shoes and get in the car. He knew it was necessary for us to go. So off we went to St. Marks Hospital not knowing that we would be there awhile.

Livvy was quite tired but was an angel in the ER; she spent most of the time asleep on Kirk's shoulder and the rest of the time entertaining the nurses and doctors with her crusty/grin. After two shots of moraphine and then a triple concentrated dose of pain killer, the pain finally subsided and I was able to relax. The doctor suspected my gallbladder and they immediately set about drawing blood and running tests. (What happened to having an ulcer? I guess we have been treating the wrong thing for the last year!? ) When Kirk and I were told that surgery was probably on the docket for the day, we called my parents to come and get Livvy.

The ultrasound tech arrived at 8 a.m. and after a few minutes of taking pictures, she confirmed that my gallbladder was diseased and full of stones. We scheduled surgery for that morning and they whisked me away. Saying goodbye to your loved ones at the OR door is definitely a humbling experience. I have done it 3 times in the 6 years that Kirk and I have been married, and each time I kiss him goodbye, I pray that God will give me one more chance to make him happy. For me, its definitely emotional.

Well, everything obvioulsy turned out well, and I am healing nicely. My gallbladder was "pretty gross" (the exact words from the doctor's mouth) and contained 6 stones and another one in the duct attempting to leave. They caught it just in time. Gallstones are not supossed to leave the gallbladder like kidney stones and if they do, they can cause major problems in the liver and the pancreas.

I have been staying at my parents house for the last week and have been able to recover pretty quickly. When the nurse told me no lifting for 4-6 weeks I said "seriously, what about my one year old?" She said to not lift Livvy for at least a week and then after that to take it easy. So, my parents and all of my family members have been fabulous to pitch in and make sure someone is here with Livvy and me at all times. You take for granted not even being able to lift your daughter up to the changing table or high chair, and even worse, not being able to comfort her when needed. I feel so guilty everytime Livvy looks at me with those gorgeous blue eyes as if to say "Mama, hold me, I need a love or I miss our snuggle time." At first my mom would try and set her on my lap so I could hold her for a bit, but she was too wiggly and would press on my stomach. I think she is sensing that she needs to be calm when she is on my lap now and so we have some great sunggle sessions while watching a few minutes of Raffi :)

So.....chao to my work-out regiment, taking care of Livvy on my own and helping Kirk with the house, and hello to 4-6 weeks of making myself relax and heal. I swear that each time I have a good thing going, a wrench is thrown my way. I was really quite down and frustrated with everything after surgery on Sunday, sometimes I feel like it never ends. But, I heard this quote on the radio a couple of days ago on my way to the doctor, its one of my favorites and tends to be my moto lately (well, ok, its been my moto for most of my life) :

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the

courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

So...I've relinquished to the fact that this is one of those things that falls into the "cannot change" category and I will need to make the best of it. I could be happy that I have something to force me to rest and relax, but because that is so against my nature, I'm not. But since I'm forced to do it, and now off pain meds and a little more coherent, don't be shocked to read quite a few posts that I have started and never finished. One thing has not changed and probably never will, I MUST get something done while I "take it easy". :)

Need A Babysitter?

No thanks, have one! His name is Raffi. He is a little older than you would expect a babysitter to be, he sings, plays the guitar, and even pulls a funny every once in awhile. And the most important thing: Livvy loves him!

Kirk began playing Raffi videos off of YouTube a few months ago while holding Livvy in his lap and singing along at the top of his lungs. Believe it or not, Livvy loves every minute of it. She now currently dances along, claps her hands or taps her legs to the beat. Its too cute.

Well, I discovered that since this is the only thing that holds her attention for more than 30 seconds, that I could use it to my advantage and actually get something done while Raffi played (note: this is against everything I swore I would be as a mom...perch your kid in front of a tv/computer so you could accomplish something? NEVER! {Boy, was I naive})

The thing I use it for the most is to shower! Please! I need a shower at least every other day! :) One of the clips is exactly 8 minutes and 19 seconds long. So, poof! put Livvy in her saucer (contain her), turn on the clip and jump in the shower. If I'm fast, I can shower, shave legs, and get dressed in that time. Then, I am ready to turn on the next clip that is five minutes and 5 seconds long in order to put on my makeup and do my hair. (Now you know why I look the way I do.....13 minutes and 24 seconds flat, at least its something:))

A couple of weeks ago I got smart and looked on ebay for an actual video of Raffi! Success! It finally came today....don't worry, there are a few songs on it that Livvy doesn't know because its 45 minutes long and I'm not sure she enjoyed it as much. Hopefully, she will learn to like them as much as the others. Just think, a babysitter for 45 minutes.....oh the things I could do......

Out of Pictures?

When does this happen? Never!

I went to scrapbook the other night and discovered that I am out of pictures! Don't worry, not literally "out of pictures" meaning I am caught up, that would be too great, but I am out of pictures that I have printed from the masses on my computer. Ahhhh! My goal of scrapbooking 2 pages per night has come to an abrupt end and I'm actually missing it.

I am currently on Costco's website trying to upload as many pictures as I possible can....their website has been down for about a week while they updated their photo center, which after a few hours of trying to use it, I would say they did unsuccessfully!

Help! I NEED these pics......

Why not upload them to Walmart's website you ask? It's a long story, don't ask!