My New Friend and the Fair

I narrowed my camera problem down to the lens. So I borrowed my dad's so I could take advantage of this 5 day old subject.




He and I are like this (crossed fingers). There was an instant connection the moment we met, which happened to be the same moment he entered this world.



He is so precious!

The evening following this session was spent in near perfection with Dan and the kids at the State Fair.









Dan's work was generous enough to get us free admissions, a catered dinner, and 20 tickets each.





And one thing I love about Dan is, that in situations like this, where he normally has such a strong hold on his wallet, he just lets loose. "The fair only comes once a year!" So there was ice cream, games, extra tickets, stuffed animals, all for the thrill of seeing the kids have the time of their lives. And it worked!




Luke was fearless and wanted to ride every ride he saw. Ava really wanted a stuffed animal. And Max was just happy to be there, especially for the treats.





I didn't take my camera with a borrowed lens, so all I have to document our adventure are my really terrible phone pics and one photo booth strip.

This series is evidence that:

We indeed have three children, even if you can't see their faces.

They all have nice hair.

Speaking of hair, Dan could really use a trim.

Photo booths are not meant for 5 people.

We were having a great time!




The night rolled in and we rolled out, bellies stuffed, hearts happy, tantrum free, and completely exhausted.

Because haven't you heard

boots are all the rage this season?




Cause they are.




A must have for any wardrobe.




And as you may also know, messy faces are always in style.




At least around these parts.

Weekend Recap

Participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure: check

Buy Luke some new shoes: check

Assist in the delivery of a friend's baby at her unplanned home birth: check

I can tell you that I didn't do any "racing" at the race, rather I walked in a group of thousands of thousands of thousands of people in support for finding a cure for breast cancer.


It took us nearly an hour and half to walk 3 miles just due to the sheer number of participants. But to show support for our friend and wonderful bishop's wife, recently diagnosed, it was a worthwhile morning.

And Luke's shoes. That was good. First store we walked into, first pair we picked up, try them on, they fit, bam! Done!

But obviously the most exciting part of the weekend came as I received a call at 11:51pm on Saturday night. It was my friend, J, with whom I had previously arranged to take care of her two year old when she went into labor. That call was only a warning really, as her contractions had barely started. A few minutes later, her husband called asking me to come on over so I could sleep there while they went to the birthing center. So I did.

I'm not sure what time that was, probably about 12:15 am, because I was groggy and had a slight headache but figured as long as I could just get there and hit the sack again, I would sleep it off. I drove there on autopilot. I didn't see J when I arrived but her husband, S, showed me where I could sleep and promised to bring me some pillows as there were none on the bed. But he never returned. I figured they had much more important things to worry about and went ahead and laid down and started to doze off. Sleep was not coming easily however and soon I was hearing J's pain all the way across the house.

I said a few prayers for her then, as I knew she had been nervous about the delivery. And I kept thinking, "Why are they still here?" Soon the cries were louder, closer together. I've had a few kids myself now, one without medication, and those sounds were quite familiar to me. And they were not the sounds of early labor. They were the sounds of transition.

I laid in the bed wondering how or if I should let them know that they had "waited it out" at home long enough. From the sounds of it, I knew they'd never make it to the birthing center 30 minutes away, but if they hurried they might make it to the hospital here in town.

Just as those thoughts crossed my mind, I heard my name screamed from across the house. I tore out of bed and down the hall. As I entered the bedroom I could hear S say, "She's crowning". He was on speaker phone with 911.

I rounded the corner into the bathroom as a million and one thoughts filled my head. But it was also at the moment that my brain ceased to function in it's usual way and adrenaline took over.

The baby was clearly on it's way. S told me, "You take J and I'll get the baby!" So I did. I took J under her arms and laid her down there on the floor and held her and tried to talk her through it. I have no idea what I said. The rest of the birth was surreal and crazy and unbelievable.

There were a few moments there, when my heart truly stopped. It was so scary. It was so amazing. It was so crazy. Little Baby Boy was born at 1:38 am. We tied off the umbilical cord with a shoe lace as instructed by the 911 operator.

I'd say it was approximately 6-7 minutes after the birth that the paramedics showed up. And that felt like the longest minutes of my life. And show up, they did! 3 fire trucks and no less than 12 firefighter/EMT guys. They filled up the house. I talked with the midwife over the phone and let her know they were opting not to be taken to the hospital.

J's first labor took nearly 20 hours, so the fact that from start to finish, this one was just over an hour and half, surprised everyone involved.

I spent the next few hours at J's side. She didn't want me to go too far because I think she needed a little estrogen in that room full of men. They didn't want to leave her until the midwife arrived, and since she had to drive from her own home (far away) to the birthing center (far away in one direction) to retrieve "the kit" and then to J's house (other direction), we had a lot of time there together. They finally sent one truck back to the station, about 6 fireman remained in the living room and two waited in the room with S, J, the baby, and me.

It was kind of funny, because not long ago I took Max on a tour of the fire station, and then as we sat on the floor of the bathroom under these crazy circumstances, after things calmed down a little, I looked around and realized I've seen these guys before.

I looked at the one guy, and I said, "Hey! I have a picture of you with my son on the fire truck!"



It took about 2 hours for the midwife to arrive and I left shortly after and got home about 3:45am. I shook Dan awake and tried to tell him everything, but I knew he wasn't getting it. I think it took me nearly an hour to fall asleep, despite my exhaustion.

J did so well. It still feels so surreal to me, so I can't imagine how it feels to her. I do know that I have replayed the events of that night in my mind over and over. And those same words still come to mind, crazy, scary, wonderful.

There are a bazillion "what if's" and I'm not sure I would like to do that again, but I am glad I was there. I got to witness a miracle first hand. And I feel a love for my friend and her little family in a way and to a degree that I wouldn't have otherwise.

It definitely wasn't in the plans but I must say it was the best/craziest/most surreal/awesomest/scariest part of the weekend.

Some Things I Know

When you go around thinking your solidly potty trained child never has "accidents" (of the pee variety), they will.

When you really need to eat your feelings and you reach your hand into the bag of chocolate chips only to discover it's empty, licking Nutella straight off a knife will definitely work.

Room mom meetings are not my favorite.

Heavenly Father can still hear the prayers of a child despite the fact that his siblings are absolutely bawling and crying because one tackled the other and bonked his head, causing the Daddy to jokingly declare he'd "throw him out the window" which would lead to the other child to scream and cry in absolute horror.

New running shoes are really exciting. (Crossing my fingers that my knee will cooperate)

Grandmas are great to have around.

The difference, for me, between a day and a day, is being alone for a minimum of 30 minutes.
And for that one, I've got my eye on tomorrow.

For the Love of the Game

When we got married, Dan planned to be a broadcaster. More specifically, a sports broadcaster. Even more specifically, he wanted to be a sports radio broadcaster.

I thought he looked more like a weatherman, but maybe that's just me.

BYU's communication program really had him working through their system which was much more TV focused than radio. So he wrote news stories, filmed and edited video that he shot, and put together his own packages for his classes, and he also wrote for the University newspaper, the Daily Universe. His senior year he was an anchor on the BYU News. I actually never watched him because I was always in class and those were in the prehistoric days before DVR. Looking back now I don't know why I never timed the old VCR; what I wouldn't give to have some of that footage. The snippets that have manged to stay on our computer are pretty fun to watch. He was actually super good and had it not been for the "small market"/ $18, 000 per year salary required to get started, he could be working in the news biz today, I'm sure.

But like I said before, he was really only in it for the sports. When we got married he was more than just a BYU fan (though he will always tell you that is where is heart is and always will be). But he loved sports. He was current on most of them, and could talk at length about anything sports related.

He landed an internship at the Sports Radio station in Salt Lake. My favorite story about that time was when he fell asleep one early morning and accidentally aired the New York City traffic he was supposed to be covering up with commercials during the Don Imas show. He was also there for every Jazz Girl interview. It became a joke between us, actually. I teased that Sports Radio was all about beer and women. He would disagree. But on more than one occasion, I would ask who was on the show that day and he would have to answer with, another Jazz girl.

Sometime during those months I think he concluded that maybe this wasn't the path for him after all. Which is a really great feeling for someone about to graduate. Of course, shortly afterwards, he decided on graduate school and all is well.

So this was all just a very long introduction for the idea that as the time has gone by, Dan's sports love and knowledge has waned and faded for most things and it's as if he has channeled all that extra energy into his already bloated love for BYU sports, specifically football. It's pretty intense, which is also a pretty accurate word to describe the feelings that have been felt here at our house this season.

But even with the ups and downs, BYU football has taken us to some places we never would have gone otherwise.

Our first stop was Austin. And I guess it is inaccurate to say we never would have gone there, because it's definitely been on the list, but this got us going.

I talked our old buddies, the Princes, into meeting us there. Hooray! We rented a little duplex, which was definitely not the Hilton, but it did provide us a place to sleep and eat and allowed Jill and I to stay up past a reasonable hour and talk into the wee hours of the night.

We saw some of the local sights, Barton Springs, where I thought we would witness the death of this unconcerned duck:



He was fine, just like he knew he would be.





Everything about this picture makes me smile,


We rode the train at Zilker park,







And we walked and ate lunch on South Congress.
Austin is known for being "weird" and quirky which should seem like a perfect fit for me, but I must be honest and say that walking around in our BYU shirts definitely made us stand out. And while some people were very kind, I can't say that I didn't sense some hostility in the air and I don't think it was about football.


That evening the guys headed out for the game while Jill and I played babysitter.




We went back to the park and even managed to see the bats fly off of the bridge at dusk. The parking and walking was a little hairy and the kids were so tired and crazy we nearly lost them down the hill, but at least we can say we saw it.




These are perfect "whale pictures" which is a name my parents came up with many years ago when they picked up their whale watching pictures from the developer. Each picture showed a small dark object way off on the horizon. Not nearly as exciting as seeing the whale in person. But go ahead click on this picture, and you, too, can see a tiny dark fleck in the sky and know that you are seeing a bat.


Or don't. Cause like I said, it's way less exciting than seeing it in person.

The Princes ended up having to leave that night after a heartbreaking 1 point loss, so that Lee could be put in the bishopric the next morning. We woke up pretty tired and grouchy ourselves and instead of staying to see the sights a little more as planned, we packed it up and headed home first thing.

And yes, it would be safe to say that if we had won, the day and the mood would have been very different.

Next up, How I Risked My Life for BYU Football.

General Conference

We took a slightly different approach with conference this time. By the end of the weekend, I had seen more of conference than I have seen at one time in the last five years. It could be because of our new strategies or it could just be that the kids are getting older. Either way, I don't really care because it all worked out for the best.

We decided on one dedicated session (Sunday morning) where we expected the kids to be present. We wouldn't fight for all day, just a couple of hours. We had our usual big breakfast and then we set up our tent just like in the days of King Benjamin and the kids colored their little packets and watched from in there.

I'd say it was mostly successful. Ava made it through the whole time with minimal whining and the boys only spent the last half hour in the backyard playing.

I decided that instead of taking notes on each speaker or writing down my favorite ideas, I would instead just write the impressions I had while I listened. I really liked it because at the end of the time I had a nice little list of things I wanted to do better or remember.


1. Seriously cutback on my phone/internet/computer usage. It's gotten pretty bad and a huge time suck for me. I realized that I would need to come up with a replacement activity much like someone quitting smoking. I wanted to still be by my kids like they want, while they do their thing and still be productive (as if "pinning"counts as productive!). Brace yourself cause I'm about to get crazy right here, I came up with: Actually playing what they are playing (how novel, I know) or get out the knitting needles and books. I would much rather my kids store away the image of me doing those things instead of me glued to to my phone. I don't know how to pearl, but man can I knit. I've already got a scarf done!

2. Be more tender with the kids.

3. Teach the kids the Book of Mormon. We do this already to some extent, but I really felt that I need to put more emphasis on it, spend more of our Family Home Evenings learning the stories, have more of a focus on it and the principles it teaches in everyday life and conversation.

4. Pray more specifically and especially, more specifically for my children. Seek out the little things that they need that I should be providing.

So, I wasted no time getting started. Monday morning I put down my phone. I found that I had plenty of things to keep me busy. I only got the shakes once, but I stayed strong.

Monday night, we acted out the story of Samuel the Lamanite.

It's early in the game but I think the rest is coming along nicely too.

How amazing is it to be able to hear the words of inspired people, who in turn can inspire me to do better for myself and those I care about? Lucky, lucky, I tell you what.