Day 1 in the Crescent City, was great, mostly. I woke up still tired, my eyes burning, but got on my way. There is a little grocery store next door to the hotel, thats more like a glorified convenient store, over priced and all. Bought some breakfast then jumped on the street trolley to get to the conference center. I didnt really know where I was going, so I ended up getting off too early and walking a bunch. Let me tell you, 10 blocks in heals, not a good idea. By the time I got there, I had wicked blisters on multiple locations on each foot. A couple of bandaids and I was good to go, although they still killed! At least they werent getting worse. Well, needless to say, I walked many, many more blocks today and was much less productive because of it. But, I had a good excuse to try all the vendors products! Found some good new stuff even.
I also ate some dynamite food. Shrimp gumbo for lunch was AMAZING!! So yummy. Then Thai flavored bone-in ribs for dinner. Awwwhhh. My mouth waters just thinking about them. I am having a wonderful time.
Other than the blisters and lots of walking it's been fun. Even when I wondered off on a slower street that smelled like urine and weed, that was still a fun adventure! Well, I learned some stuff, and saw some colleagues. Tomorrow is a BYU alumni reunion and more fun education! I will be purchasing new shoes and walking much less, eating more good food, etc. As for now... SLEEP!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Six weeks ago our BYU married student ward was dissolved and we began attending our new, traditional family ward, which we have been happily avoiding for the past, well almost 6 years. And today, was our last Sunday in the ward. I am going to my conference next week and then we fly to Alaska! Yeah!!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Happy 1st birthday Tolson!!
Yesterday was my little man's 1st birthday! HOOORRAYY!
We had a wonderful, yet long day.
It started off with Azilyn crawling in my bed before 6am only to toss and turn for 20 minutes. Finally she got up and said, very indignantly, "I'm going to my own bed!" 'Yeah' I thought, 'I can go back to sleep!' Well, she made it half way down the hall and came running back in, "Mom, we have to go see the hot air balloons! C'mon, get up." 'Oh, man!' I thought. I was almost in the clear and she remembered. Hot air balloon festival started at 6:30am. And... we went. Azilyn woke up Tolson. (Happy Birthday) He wasnt very happy. Luckily, he's pretty forgiving and was good to go once I picked him up and snuggled him for a minute. Here are a few pictures.
We even rode in a balloon! Good thing it was tethered to the ground, cuz I'm not gunna lie, it kinda freaked me out. I'm a bit scared of heights. The only pictures of us in the balloon, however, are on some other lady's camera. She's suppose to email them to me, but I dont know if that will ever happen.
Anyway, after that we barely escaped an hour of bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway and took an alternate route to Tolson's Dr. appt, still arriving abt 45 minutes late, oops. He is a healthy boy, with only some minor eczema, 29in (25%, his biggest % yet!) and 19.5lbs (only 6% - I blame this one on Danny. So does the doctor). Four shots and a sad boy later, we were off for lunch and naps, which also went well. Three hours later we had happy, hungry kids who got to go swimming and eat specialty cupcakes from The Sweet Tooth Fairy. Tolson dove into the box of cupcakes to get the one with the most frosting and then he devoured it! It was great. Here's a video of some of the action.
We got home pretty late and we all hit the pillow snoring! Long days make for good sleep. Good day!
Here's a few things about our little rolley Tolley Tolson:
Thumb sucker (right). Dimples. Cuddly. Mama's boy. My sweet boy. Gorilla crawler. Loves sister. Loves playing and giggling with Azilyn. Open mouth kisses (occasionally). Walks holding hands, both hands. LOVES balls. Throws well. Toy cars. Pots and pans. Blocks. Balloons. Opens/Closes doors. Attempts to say the following regularly - Mama, Azilyn, get up, what's that, that, milk (sign), yes, all done, book, see ya. Points. Waves. Claps. Shakes head. Misses Daddy, Da da da. Towhead. Straight hair. Chill little man.
We love you Tolson!
We had a wonderful, yet long day.
It started off with Azilyn crawling in my bed before 6am only to toss and turn for 20 minutes. Finally she got up and said, very indignantly, "I'm going to my own bed!" 'Yeah' I thought, 'I can go back to sleep!' Well, she made it half way down the hall and came running back in, "Mom, we have to go see the hot air balloons! C'mon, get up." 'Oh, man!' I thought. I was almost in the clear and she remembered. Hot air balloon festival started at 6:30am. And... we went. Azilyn woke up Tolson. (Happy Birthday) He wasnt very happy. Luckily, he's pretty forgiving and was good to go once I picked him up and snuggled him for a minute. Here are a few pictures.
We even rode in a balloon! Good thing it was tethered to the ground, cuz I'm not gunna lie, it kinda freaked me out. I'm a bit scared of heights. The only pictures of us in the balloon, however, are on some other lady's camera. She's suppose to email them to me, but I dont know if that will ever happen.
Anyway, after that we barely escaped an hour of bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway and took an alternate route to Tolson's Dr. appt, still arriving abt 45 minutes late, oops. He is a healthy boy, with only some minor eczema, 29in (25%, his biggest % yet!) and 19.5lbs (only 6% - I blame this one on Danny. So does the doctor). Four shots and a sad boy later, we were off for lunch and naps, which also went well. Three hours later we had happy, hungry kids who got to go swimming and eat specialty cupcakes from The Sweet Tooth Fairy. Tolson dove into the box of cupcakes to get the one with the most frosting and then he devoured it! It was great. Here's a video of some of the action.
We got home pretty late and we all hit the pillow snoring! Long days make for good sleep. Good day!
Here's a few things about our little rolley Tolley Tolson:
Thumb sucker (right). Dimples. Cuddly. Mama's boy. My sweet boy. Gorilla crawler. Loves sister. Loves playing and giggling with Azilyn. Open mouth kisses (occasionally). Walks holding hands, both hands. LOVES balls. Throws well. Toy cars. Pots and pans. Blocks. Balloons. Opens/Closes doors. Attempts to say the following regularly - Mama, Azilyn, get up, what's that, that, milk (sign), yes, all done, book, see ya. Points. Waves. Claps. Shakes head. Misses Daddy, Da da da. Towhead. Straight hair. Chill little man.
We love you Tolson!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Even the long days pass too quickly
Well, it's been a long, wet spring, but I'm finally DONE with work! I made it through my first year of athletic training. I'm glad to be done, yet somewhat sad to see it go since I wont be going back next year. Danny finally figured out how to get me to Alaska, so that's where we'll be. We move in August. Crazy, huh!
Danny actually left for Alaska May 9th. It has been a VERY difficult three weeks. Azilyn absolutely adores Danny and he has never really been away from him, not to mention Mom being away at work half the day too. She has developed quite the attitude. She is quite sassy and disobedient. I'm guessing that part of it is the age, but hoping that once we reunite with Papi, she will cool her jets and stop trying to make me certifiable.
Tolson is doing okay. He is more clingy, but his calm demeanor makes his 'missing Daddy' a little less apparent. Though, every time he hears Danny's voice, he turns toward it and says, "Da, Da, Da." It's so cute, and makes me tear up every time. Danny recorded some stories and lullabies for the kids before he left. Azilyn listens to them all the time, but there have been several nights I try to put Tolson down for bed and he fights and crys (which is totally out of character) until he gets to listen to Papi's voice and make sure Azilyn is okay too. He has always loved Azilyn and gets worried when she cries, but now that Danny is gone, he often looks to her for reassurance and comfort. He has to be sure all is well with her before he goes to bed. Kisses and all. He's in the open mouth kissing stage. I love it! I love those little slobbers. He is so affectionate and loves to snuggle. He is standing up on his own and loves to walk holding your hands, both of them, but is still too chicken to attempt steps. You can tell he often thinks about it though.
I look forward to getting my house clean now that work is done, and not looking forward to packing stuff. And I hope to get some sewing in and lots of time with my family here before the kids and I fly out at the end of June. With my conference the week before, we dont have much time left.
I feel very torn about leaving Utah right now. I miss Danny incredibly and want our little family to be together again SOON, but it kills me to think of being so far away from all my family, especially my mom and grandma, since I know grandmas time is short and my mom is having such a tough time with everything. Both my mom and Trevor have threatened to steal Azilyn. Oh, how I hate taking her away from her favorite person! Azilyn and my mom are nearly inseparable. I feel like I'll be leaving my mom all alone. :`(
But Azilyn is super excited to see her dad...and the moose, and the bear, and the eagles, and the big mountain of ice... She list everything in Alaska she's excited to see. She can be so cute when she's not being a pill! We made her a countdown calendar to mark off the days to Papi. Oh I love my family and am so glad we can all live together in heaven, never to be separated again! But for now, we have each other a short while.
Danny actually left for Alaska May 9th. It has been a VERY difficult three weeks. Azilyn absolutely adores Danny and he has never really been away from him, not to mention Mom being away at work half the day too. She has developed quite the attitude. She is quite sassy and disobedient. I'm guessing that part of it is the age, but hoping that once we reunite with Papi, she will cool her jets and stop trying to make me certifiable.
Tolson is doing okay. He is more clingy, but his calm demeanor makes his 'missing Daddy' a little less apparent. Though, every time he hears Danny's voice, he turns toward it and says, "Da, Da, Da." It's so cute, and makes me tear up every time. Danny recorded some stories and lullabies for the kids before he left. Azilyn listens to them all the time, but there have been several nights I try to put Tolson down for bed and he fights and crys (which is totally out of character) until he gets to listen to Papi's voice and make sure Azilyn is okay too. He has always loved Azilyn and gets worried when she cries, but now that Danny is gone, he often looks to her for reassurance and comfort. He has to be sure all is well with her before he goes to bed. Kisses and all. He's in the open mouth kissing stage. I love it! I love those little slobbers. He is so affectionate and loves to snuggle. He is standing up on his own and loves to walk holding your hands, both of them, but is still too chicken to attempt steps. You can tell he often thinks about it though.
I look forward to getting my house clean now that work is done, and not looking forward to packing stuff. And I hope to get some sewing in and lots of time with my family here before the kids and I fly out at the end of June. With my conference the week before, we dont have much time left.
I feel very torn about leaving Utah right now. I miss Danny incredibly and want our little family to be together again SOON, but it kills me to think of being so far away from all my family, especially my mom and grandma, since I know grandmas time is short and my mom is having such a tough time with everything. Both my mom and Trevor have threatened to steal Azilyn. Oh, how I hate taking her away from her favorite person! Azilyn and my mom are nearly inseparable. I feel like I'll be leaving my mom all alone. :`(
But Azilyn is super excited to see her dad...and the moose, and the bear, and the eagles, and the big mountain of ice... She list everything in Alaska she's excited to see. She can be so cute when she's not being a pill! We made her a countdown calendar to mark off the days to Papi. Oh I love my family and am so glad we can all live together in heaven, never to be separated again! But for now, we have each other a short while.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Last Day!!!
Today is my last day of work. Well, technically yesterday was, but I have to go in to finish up paperwork, clean up and put things away.
I've been sporadically telling the kids that I wont be here next year. It makes me a little sad to leave, for the kids at least, but I'm pleased when I get reactions of sadness and objection from my athletes. It tells me how much I truly am appreciated.
I have really enjoyed this Spring season. Everything was way more laid back. I had lots of athletes in for maintenance issues (stretching and massage type) rather than lots of injuries. It was also nice to be outside, even though nearly every game was in the cold wind, rain or even snow! All the athletes were very warm and personable. I made a lot of friends. I will especially miss the softball girls, most of which will be back next year. They were especially sad to see me go. Baseball too. I spent a lot of time with them working their sore arms from throwing. A pitcher's throw is very un-natural and they get all messed up if not taken care of. Maybe next year they will be a little less moody (their coach was kind of moody and set everybody off). Cute kids though. I was able to travel with them to a St. George tournament and just had a lot of fun!
Soccer made it to the State championship game. They played last night at Rio Tinto stadium. It was fun to be at a pro stadium, but they lost. :( Sad day. They battled hard the whole game, but especially the 2nd half. Kids who would normally cramp from dehydration were hydrated, but still cramping from sheer exhaustion! Poor guys! Better luck next year Bruins.
I've been sporadically telling the kids that I wont be here next year. It makes me a little sad to leave, for the kids at least, but I'm pleased when I get reactions of sadness and objection from my athletes. It tells me how much I truly am appreciated.
I have really enjoyed this Spring season. Everything was way more laid back. I had lots of athletes in for maintenance issues (stretching and massage type) rather than lots of injuries. It was also nice to be outside, even though nearly every game was in the cold wind, rain or even snow! All the athletes were very warm and personable. I made a lot of friends. I will especially miss the softball girls, most of which will be back next year. They were especially sad to see me go. Baseball too. I spent a lot of time with them working their sore arms from throwing. A pitcher's throw is very un-natural and they get all messed up if not taken care of. Maybe next year they will be a little less moody (their coach was kind of moody and set everybody off). Cute kids though. I was able to travel with them to a St. George tournament and just had a lot of fun!
Soccer made it to the State championship game. They played last night at Rio Tinto stadium. It was fun to be at a pro stadium, but they lost. :( Sad day. They battled hard the whole game, but especially the 2nd half. Kids who would normally cramp from dehydration were hydrated, but still cramping from sheer exhaustion! Poor guys! Better luck next year Bruins.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Happy Birthday to me! :)
Didn't do anything special today. Just another day at work, but Danny sent me flowers! Yeah. Mom came over yesterday with cake. German Chocolate, yum! One of my athletes was suppose to make me his famous brownies, but just gave me a great bear hug instead. I thought that was okay. Good gift from a goofy, teddy bear, 200lb lineman. Funny kid.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Here comes Spring!
Well, Lots of news from our neck of the woods.
First off, Winter sports are almost over!!! (Spring try-out are next week!)
We had 5 wrestlers make it to state and they all chocked in the first round. Our biggest chance for a state title ended when our kid tore his hami a week and a half before state. That kid gain like 14lbs in a week - wrestler, and emotional eater. Note a good combo! I was glad to see wrestling done. We hosted 2 big weekend tournaments and I was about ready to throw-up on wrestling. Also because we had A LOT of injuries in wrestling this year. Mostly minor, naggers, but a few biggies. One of my state kids decided, after agonizing through his only state match, that he would finally go to the doc - ER actually. I had been telling him to go get his back checked out for a possible fracture for like 5 weeks! So he went to the ER and what did he have??? Scoliosis. Yeah, gay! Okay, so there was a pinched nerve or two with tons of inflammation that was causing the symptoms, but still, crazy! I did have a wrestler at one of our tournaments who did break his neck though. Got 2nd opinion from his athletic trainer, who sent him to insticare, who took xrays, who missed it! Scary, huh!? Another doc saw the xrays and caught it, thank goodness. Yeah, he got surgery. Anyway...
Girls basketball went to state, yea!! The won their first game even though they played horrible. It was close, worrisome. Then they played defending state champs tonight (Springville) and lost, by one point. So sad! So they are done. It was a really fun game to watch since I knew most of the Springville girls from when I was interning there. They were all freshman then. Crazy. It makes me feel a little old. No good injuries to report there. Just a couple concussions.
Then there is boys basketball. Ugh! What a nightmare. Head coach must be friends with the football coach, cuz they are both, disrespectful, immature, AH's. We had two concussions in bbb and coach caused trouble with both of them. Long story short, he doesn't trust that I know what I'm doing, so he wants all the boys to see a doc over me and has deterred them from coming to me, deliberately undermining my expertise all the way along. We had a game yesterday and I seriously wanted to punch him when he wouldn't let me take care of an injury. Rahhr! But, they only have 1 game left, prob'ly. Season is done, but they play a game Sat to see if they go to state, which I'm guessing they wont. They're only so-so.
Next comes Spring! Hoorah! Fresh-cut grass, sunshine and warmth. Yes! Oh, and baseball, softball, boys soccer, track, boys tennis and girls golf. Wahoo. (Then I will have made it through my first, incredible stressful, year of training!) Not to mention summer is after that.
ON the homefront...
On a better note all together there is lots going on at home too! Danny is in his last semester of undergrad! Yeah. Well, kind of. He is actually planning to do, um, well, something. He hasnt really made up his mind, but he is looking into a safety program thats really like a minor. That will be another year or so. Otherwise, he would be doing pre-reqs for a masters in safety engineering. He hasnt figured out the best option yet. I say LETS GET ON WITH IT! He really drives me crazy. Oh, and speaking of feeling old, Dannys birthday was yesterday. He turned 31!
Tolson is a busy boy. He is rolling all over the place. Everywhere he wants to go he rolls, so you find himat opposite ends of a room within minutes, only to find hime in the next corners of that room minutes later. He's funny. Maybe this is why he has the nick name, Rolley Tolley. Check out the attached video of his greatest motivation yet. The Balloon. He has started to push up on his hands and knees and rock, but hasnt quite figured out the crawl yet. He'll get up on his hands and knees, then fall down, scooting backward in the process. He's so cute.
Oh, and he cut his first tooth last Wednesday! He's been so sad. We've all been sick with a nasty cold, and he's teething. Poor guy. It's the first time he's been really sad and clingy. He's such a good boy.
Azilyn is...well, I think we spoil her. She is really good at manipulative "faker" tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants. But she's been really "helpful" lately too. She really does try to help, but it usually ends up in a mess. Then she is sincerely apologetic, so I cant get mad at her for just trying to help. It's cute, but all very frustrating. I love that curly mop though. She is taking ASL lessons with a deaf girl at the high school, so she is around the training room more often and all the kids just adore she and Tolson both. I love it. Though its hard to concentrate when they're there. Her lessons are going well, but she is only two, so her attention span is pretty limited. Tutor is trying to figure out what to teach her cuz she really knows a lot of noun vocabulary. She's doing pretty well. Now if we could just get her hair to grow back!
Well, I dont get much done outside of work. Azilyn's quilt is on hold again. Too stressed about work stuff to work on it. Maybe when school is out! :)
Well, love ya'll! Sorry for the novel, but that's what happens when you dont blog for so long. Oh, we got family picture again. I will have to try and post it up here. Now to go rest my weary head and try to shake this nasty bug!
First off, Winter sports are almost over!!! (Spring try-out are next week!)
We had 5 wrestlers make it to state and they all chocked in the first round. Our biggest chance for a state title ended when our kid tore his hami a week and a half before state. That kid gain like 14lbs in a week - wrestler, and emotional eater. Note a good combo! I was glad to see wrestling done. We hosted 2 big weekend tournaments and I was about ready to throw-up on wrestling. Also because we had A LOT of injuries in wrestling this year. Mostly minor, naggers, but a few biggies. One of my state kids decided, after agonizing through his only state match, that he would finally go to the doc - ER actually. I had been telling him to go get his back checked out for a possible fracture for like 5 weeks! So he went to the ER and what did he have??? Scoliosis. Yeah, gay! Okay, so there was a pinched nerve or two with tons of inflammation that was causing the symptoms, but still, crazy! I did have a wrestler at one of our tournaments who did break his neck though. Got 2nd opinion from his athletic trainer, who sent him to insticare, who took xrays, who missed it! Scary, huh!? Another doc saw the xrays and caught it, thank goodness. Yeah, he got surgery. Anyway...
Girls basketball went to state, yea!! The won their first game even though they played horrible. It was close, worrisome. Then they played defending state champs tonight (Springville) and lost, by one point. So sad! So they are done. It was a really fun game to watch since I knew most of the Springville girls from when I was interning there. They were all freshman then. Crazy. It makes me feel a little old. No good injuries to report there. Just a couple concussions.
Then there is boys basketball. Ugh! What a nightmare. Head coach must be friends with the football coach, cuz they are both, disrespectful, immature, AH's. We had two concussions in bbb and coach caused trouble with both of them. Long story short, he doesn't trust that I know what I'm doing, so he wants all the boys to see a doc over me and has deterred them from coming to me, deliberately undermining my expertise all the way along. We had a game yesterday and I seriously wanted to punch him when he wouldn't let me take care of an injury. Rahhr! But, they only have 1 game left, prob'ly. Season is done, but they play a game Sat to see if they go to state, which I'm guessing they wont. They're only so-so.
Next comes Spring! Hoorah! Fresh-cut grass, sunshine and warmth. Yes! Oh, and baseball, softball, boys soccer, track, boys tennis and girls golf. Wahoo. (Then I will have made it through my first, incredible stressful, year of training!) Not to mention summer is after that.
ON the homefront...
On a better note all together there is lots going on at home too! Danny is in his last semester of undergrad! Yeah. Well, kind of. He is actually planning to do, um, well, something. He hasnt really made up his mind, but he is looking into a safety program thats really like a minor. That will be another year or so. Otherwise, he would be doing pre-reqs for a masters in safety engineering. He hasnt figured out the best option yet. I say LETS GET ON WITH IT! He really drives me crazy. Oh, and speaking of feeling old, Dannys birthday was yesterday. He turned 31!
Tolson is a busy boy. He is rolling all over the place. Everywhere he wants to go he rolls, so you find himat opposite ends of a room within minutes, only to find hime in the next corners of that room minutes later. He's funny. Maybe this is why he has the nick name, Rolley Tolley. Check out the attached video of his greatest motivation yet. The Balloon. He has started to push up on his hands and knees and rock, but hasnt quite figured out the crawl yet. He'll get up on his hands and knees, then fall down, scooting backward in the process. He's so cute.
Oh, and he cut his first tooth last Wednesday! He's been so sad. We've all been sick with a nasty cold, and he's teething. Poor guy. It's the first time he's been really sad and clingy. He's such a good boy.
Azilyn is...well, I think we spoil her. She is really good at manipulative "faker" tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants. But she's been really "helpful" lately too. She really does try to help, but it usually ends up in a mess. Then she is sincerely apologetic, so I cant get mad at her for just trying to help. It's cute, but all very frustrating. I love that curly mop though. She is taking ASL lessons with a deaf girl at the high school, so she is around the training room more often and all the kids just adore she and Tolson both. I love it. Though its hard to concentrate when they're there. Her lessons are going well, but she is only two, so her attention span is pretty limited. Tutor is trying to figure out what to teach her cuz she really knows a lot of noun vocabulary. She's doing pretty well. Now if we could just get her hair to grow back!
Well, I dont get much done outside of work. Azilyn's quilt is on hold again. Too stressed about work stuff to work on it. Maybe when school is out! :)
Well, love ya'll! Sorry for the novel, but that's what happens when you dont blog for so long. Oh, we got family picture again. I will have to try and post it up here. Now to go rest my weary head and try to shake this nasty bug!
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