New York......

Mike took me to New York last week. It was such a great trip! We had a great bike ride came home showered up and headed to the airport. We got to NYC late that night. I was up bright and early the next day looking for adventure. Actually I had a friend that was going to be in the city that day. I got a map and headed off to find her. She was at the Regis and Kelly show, with a friend. I found my way up to the ABC studios where they record. It is right by the temple. That was way cool. When I got to the door the funniest thing happened. A lady from my old ward in Mesa came walking out of the show. It was just funny to run into somebody I knew so randomly!

I met up with my friend we had an amazing lunch in a very nice restaurant. In a place they film a TV show that I don't watch:-) I felt bad because I hadn't dressed nice,  I was in jeans and t-shirt (We were just going to meet for "coffee" but decided to do lunch)because I was going to walk all over NY.

I had such a great time with these ladies.

 Then they headed home and I headed out to explore. I went to Central Park and ran across these dog walkers. The dogs were all very nice and there were a few breeds of dogs I had never seen before.

 We stayed in the garment district. It was so great there were so many different stores, I couldn't take them all in!

 We laughed about the size of our room with the other guys who were there with Mike. But the truth is we weren't in the room very much and when we were it was very cozy!

 We went out on the subway for dinner in Soho. The places that we went on the subway were safe, and the people were nice.

 I love all of the little crazy restaurants in the city. This was a  macaroni bar, you could have mac and cheese with anything you could imagine
                                              I hit a big lego store, this was the monthly lego display.

 I went to FAO Shwartz it was humongous and I spent a couple of hours looking around at all of the fun stuff.

 I love the muppets, and they had a muppet section. You could design your own muppet!

 I had an amazing lunch, white spinach pizza! I of course could only eat half of it. But it was so good. Then I had a guy come and sit with me, it's sort of family style seating there. He looked back at a table full of girls. I told him he should have sat there. He looked at me smiled and said, I am very happy to be sitting here with you. So I figured he was gay or not into 20 something girls:-)

 As I walked around our hotel I found all these cool shops way to many to take pictures of but fun to visit! This is a wall of zippers.

 This was one of many stores of trims, buttons, zippers, appliques, and all kinds of things.

 Spandex World, there was also a Spandex House, and a silk house.

 This is a window display of one of the shops, the owner was one of those close talkers, he really invaded my personal space!:-)

 Polyester House that one made me snicker because I pictured leisure suits in the 70's!

 This was a rhinestone display, there was also a shop of all sizes of tassels, huge fabric stores that said 20 swatch limit a day after that .25 a piece. This district was swarming with fashion students. I fit right in with all those young kids!hahaha They also had a little book store full of  books about the clothing styles of the different centuries, biographies, designs, plays, and all of the artist stuff you could imagine. It was so full of people it was amazing. 
   
 Mike took me to a super fun place for dinner. He had been there before. The wait stuff are all wanna be Broadway stars so they sing and entertain you while you eat.

 This isn't a great picture of Mike but the food was sooooo good there. It was a fun night.

 On our walk back to the hotel we stopped in the middle of Time Square and got a picture of ourselves on this huge billboard. We are  kind of down on the right hand side. It was a rainy night which made it very pretty with all of the bright lights of Broadway reflecting on the streets. We were up at 3:15 AM to meet our car at 4:00 to get to the airport. We rode home in first class, but I slept most of the way, so I didn't enjoy it to it's fullest capacity!

 It it was a great trip, I really enjoy Mikes company. I loved that I ran into the Manhattan Temple, while I was just walking around. Life is good! 

My 1 year anniversary!

I was very happy and enjoying life. I was very healthy, no problems at all. I have an amazing husband, and great children, and the most awesome grandbabies. I had friends, I did fun things, and went to fun places. I ate anything I wanted and didn't feel guilty. Life was good. But 5 years ago I was reading the obituaries and noticed a "greatest papa in the world" obituary. Then it hit me clear as anything that Mike and I would pass in our 50's. But I have seen many people who watch their weight and are miserable. It dictates their entire lives, moods, and enjoyment. I didn't want any part of that misery. I enjoyed my food, loved to cook, and enjoyed finding new and exciting foods. So I felt like, if I had to be as miserable as the other people it wasn't worth loosing the weight, it just seemed like a sad, yucky life style. Then last year my knees started hurting, and I got high blood pressure. I knew it was time to do something.  So I looked into surgical help.  Mike went along for the ride. Months, appointments, evaluations, and ton's of paperwork later I had my surgery. It has been one of the best things I have ever done.  I do have to say that I feel like Heavenly Father really lead me to do this, because I would never ever consider it in the past! Here I was 1 month before the surgery.

 This was the day of my surgery. It's funny because I have had so many feeling and emotions the week leading up to my surgery anniversary.  It was quite a wild ride for me. I had a very difficult time at first, but now I see it was a big blessing in my life.

This was 2 or 3 weeks after our surgery.

                                            This was about 2 months after out surgery.

                                                               this was 6 months later.

                                                            This is 9 months later.

                                                         This is me a year later.

I have learned a lot, been through a lot, and I am even more happy than I was before. I was prepared to have to take care of and baby Mike. But Mike did amazing, he had no problems what so ever. But he kicked in and took such good care of me. He was loving and protective of me. Also I do live in a house full of guys. My boys stepped up and took excellent care of me. They would sit with me and watch over me, bring me anything I needed or wanted, and would give me lot's of affection. They would tell me how great I looked and be supportive. I've always been very close to my kids, they are all compassionate, and loving kids. Kids that their Mother and Father can be proud of. Erin was always willing to drop everything and run down to help me, or bring the babies over to cheer me up. It was a good thing for me and my family. Despite all of my sickness and hospital stays I came out of it a better person. I only struggled for 2 months, 2 long months! But when I got better I had a whole new outlook at life. I had experienced people being kind and loving. Total strangers concerned and kind to me. Ward members who were so supportive and encouraging. I felt like Scrooge on Christmas morning when my problems cleared up. I loved life and everybody in it.

I have been able to exercise, I started riding my bike in June and I have ridden 1,100 this year. That was awesome for me. I have had to learn to accept a compliment. That was surprisingly hard for me. I have had people pay attention to me now. Where before if I was out shopping or something. I was just kind of invisible. I had never noticed people staring at me, like some obese people experience. I have learned how to change some behaviors, and I still cook I just give a lot of stuff away. I can still eat yummy foods but not so often or so much. I exercise to be able to do that:-) And just before my midlife crises might have happened, I find myself married to a new man! I have never known Mike to be as thin as he is now. He had a little Dr. Pepper belly on him when we met:-)

Life is so good, and very happy, and I learned how loved I am this past year!

Happy Anniversary to me! 

My Babies......

First off a cute Issy story. You need to understand that Issy can't pronounce her "L's" she pronounces them "y", I yike that, I yove you. It's way cute. Erin called me, and as soon as I answered, Issy started crying. She had fallen in her chair somehow. Erin ask her "Princess what happened?" Issy said crying,
"I hurt my yittle ear!" She is to cute sometimes! In the picture below she is covering her mouth up because she tasted something she didn't like. Her dad was cutting up green onion. She went up and ask him if she could have a bite. He said, "sure but I don't think you will like it." It went into her mouth she chewed once and it came right back out. Then she had her mouth covered up. I said, why are you covering your mouth. She said, because I tasted that! And pointed to the onion. She doesn't have grandmas love of onions yet:-)

On to sweet little Elizabeth. She is a very special little baby, unique in her personality, very loving and snugly, and always excited to see me!
She even cries for me when I walk away. But since she was born she would never stand up. I would try to get her to stand in my lap or on the floor, she would work out her little ab muscles and hold her legs straight out like she was sitting. She didn't start crawling until she was 13 months old. I think she was just not in a hurry to grow up. But finally the doctor was concerned that she wasn't walking. So they set her up with a therapist. I was there when he came to evaluate her. He played lot's of little games with her to see if she would follow what he did, stacking blocks, putting pieces in a puzzle, pulling a string to get to the toy at the other end. He said over and over how smart she was. He said, some baby's just have a sensory thing and don't want to put pressure on their feet. It seemed like she fit right in to that explanation. She also doesn't say enough words for a baby her age.  He said, when she started walking, it would open up her vocabulary
immensely. She is receiving therapy twice a month to learn how to walk. She walks a little but, she is scared and overly cautious. On top of that she is tiny, she is in the 5th percentile in her size. So she seems to little to worry about the things she's not doing yet! It has been fun to watch her progress.


                       Elizabeth not liking the sticky grass!

Elizabeth giving little sweet sugars to her papa!

It's so hard to be a princess sometimes!

Big sister is helping:-)

                                              Walking

     

                   Grandma dropping in one morning for loves!

Busy times......

A cute story I missed by not blogging this summer. I took this very large zucchini to Erin's house. When Issy saw it she said, "That's a big pickle grandma." I said, "it sure is Issy!" :-)  Then I thought how fun it would be to have a pickle that big!

One of the reasons we decided to move to Utah, was that we would have company come and visit us. We were right. We have had many friends come and stay with us and we love it. Well my dear friend Kim took time out of her visit with her kids to come and hang out with me.

We had a great time. We shopped, ate, and talked it was a fun time. Then we met her kiddo's for dinner. Her girl's are such great girls, they are beautiful and funny, I love being with them. (Their husbands are pretty great too:-)

After talking all night we had to hit the hay. We had to run Chris to the clinic, then drive to the airport. I got her for a day and a night and loved it. Plus she made me the most awesome flower pin, I'm wearing it in this goodbye picture at the airport.

                                                         
After we saw Kim off, Chris and I went to visit the girls. They were great, but Elizabeth melted my heart. We got to the house and they were all hanging out in the playroom. So we decided we should go back up. Grandma had been driving in the car all morning and had to use the facilities. When Erin tried to take Elizabeth up stairs she started crying pretty hard, she wanted grandma! I got her and she put her little arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulders. I love how snugly she is!

Issy was busy cooking for us. When Erin ask us if we were hungry for lunch yet. Issy said I will cook for you!

Issy kept Uncle Chris busy drawing pitcures and writing names. She wanted everybody's name written out. She is to fun!

Elizabeth in the mean time loves playing with phones. She was talking to Grandma on the phone.

We left the girls and ran a million errands. We went and got Chris' hair cut, shopped for a little party I'm having, and got some yarn for me to try a serious crochet project.

Then we came home and got out the fall decorations, and ended up completely decorating the house for Halloween. Kim influenced me greatly on that. She had her girls houses so cute with Halloween stuff. Then we went to some of the super fun shops and they were all full of Halloween stuff, so I just went for it! It was a long, busy, fun day.

This morning I got up and went to the doctor. I had a lump on my neck, I thought it was a scar from my neck surgery a few years back. But the doc told me that it was a cyst and he could take it out. I was super happy because since I've lost the weight it has really become visible.

Then he cut my neck and pulled it out, just in a special room in his offices.  It was a harmless water filled stitch cyst, I ended up with 4 stitches. Now I have a second scar on my neck, but hopefully it will go away.

 It does hurt, I'm surprised how much it hurts. But I am still thrilled to have it gone!

Goals.......

So I have been so terrible about keeping up my blog this summer. I have missed recording a lot of fun things. Last Sunday I had to teach Relief Society, I had to pray and decide what to teach on. Well it came to me as clear as anything... goals. Our church bases you in goals as a child. The teenage kids programs are all about goals. But I haven't been a teenager for ..hummmmm.... a few years. So I got completely away from setting them. I have set goals over the years, but not the right way. You have to write them down! I have done this for a week and I have done very well with them. One of those goals was to get back to my blog, so here I am!

Today we had the same church meeting as everybody in 2 counties. I thought that was cool about a half a million people were all at church listening to the same message at the same time. It was a good feeling.


Then we went on an impromptu picnic with some neighbor families. It was a gorgeous day in a gorgeous canyon!

The kids played.... Nathan joined in.

 It has been unseasonably cool here for about 2 weeks. The trees are starting to show a little color.

This is how you get a teenager to look into the camera.

And this is him normal! BTW now all of Mikes boys are taller than their dad! (Nathan by an inch)

Labor Day......

So on Labor Day we had a date with the babies!

We took them to our favorite pizza place.

Then were ate yummy food. Well mostly us and Elizabeth... Issy was having to much fun coloring!

Elizabeth learned to eat with a big fork!

Then Issy decided to take some pictures herself.

She took the camera and aimed it at Grandpa but..... it was backwards so she took it of herself!

Then she realized her mistake and got a great shot of him.

Then we moved on to the movies.

We had to wait a little while so we sat at a table and visited with the girls.

Issy got a Fawn plush fairy doll at Disneyland. It got stolen, so when Erin went to the lost and found they gave her a baby Pluto puppy. they said "Fawn had to go but left Issy this Pluto puppy." Issy loves the puppy and takes it everywhere! Here she is with it.
 

They did great through the movie.

 

It was a very cute movie and we all enjoyed it.

Issy had ask for icecream we told her after the movie. She wanted sprinkles too!
 

Elizabeth enjoyed her icecream also. she would just hold her mouth open for forever to get a bite:-)
 

She was happy when she got her bite!
 

Then their parents came around and we all watched a movie and had dinner together. A very nice Labor Day!