FIRST OF ALL

OK first of all I was in the hospital today for nine hours waiting, with absolutely nothing to do. So I was reading every one's blogs and could not comment on any of them. That's right, for whatever reason blogger has been keeping me from leaving comments on every one's posts. It's frustrating when you type a big long comment and then it won't post. I get really mad. So sorry that I cannot comment on anything you all are sharing. ANYWAY Kody was supposed to go into surgery at 9:00 am this morning. He got up at 6:00 and went and played basketball. Came home and showered, then we got in the car and headed to St. George. We got there on time and they prepped him for surgery, started his IV, got him dressed, etc. At about 9:30 Kody said he saw the doctor coming. Then a nurse came and said there was a patient in the ER with chest pain and the doctor would be back when that was taken care of. After 4 hours of waiting for him to come back we were getting a little impatient. Kody suggested I go get lunch and come back. He obviously couldn't eat and was starving but no reason why I have to suffer. So I got in the car, made some phone calls, and headed up the road. Of course as I'm driving the phone rings and they are ready to take him back and need me to come back to the hospital. (The doctor likes the family to wait in recovery in case he needs to talk to them) The nurse, Derek, said to get something to eat and bring it back. So I ran into Durango's, got my food and headed back. I then watched 16 and Pregnant and Made on MTV until they brought Kody out of surgery. He did really well. They switched the old pacemaker with the new, and left the leads that are attached to the heart alone. It went fine and well. Then we waited for another 4 hours while he recovered until they would let me take him home. It was a long day but worth every minute to make sure the device keeping my husband alive is working properly. Thanks to everyone that sent messages. We love ya'll! Oh Oh Oh I almost forgot. In the middle of all that my principal called and offered me a Kindergarten position at my school. I've been in first grade for 5 years and am now going to give Kindergarten a try. We'll see how I do!

More Heart Surgery

So right this very second I am sitting in the hospital with Kody. We are waiting for the doc to come and get him. He is getting a new pacemaker today. His battery is running low on the one he has now. The surgery should be smooth and I will take him home later today if all goes well. He should have gone back by now but the doc had to go to the ER, so we are just waiting. This is the third heart surgery for our family in 8 years. This is the least stressful one but it is still surgery on someone I love. I will let everyone know how it goes later. TTFN

Taya Ju Turns 2

Happy Day! Birthday Girl

the balloons

the cake

the mama

the cousin and brother (PS her cousin is only a few months older. Can you say TALL)

the entourage

More entourage

Blowing out the candle

sampling a delicious funfetti cupcake made by the mama

opening presents with some helpers

Tal said the cake was too pretty for just one person to cut. So we did it wedding style while Kody rolled his eyes in the background. He was just jealous.

After the present opening and cake eating we walked to the park so the kids could run around. This park is only a few steps away from my house.

So June 8th rolled around again. . . And Mataya turned 2! What a fast couple of years. We love our baby girl more than anything -except our baby boy. We love both our babies OK. Anyway, so my friend that taught second grade at my school last year (Kristi Godfrey) made the cake. It was amazing! I made cup cakes which were also mighty tasty. We had a small family gathering to celebrate her big day. She got so spoiled as usual. My sister gave her a little stroller to push her baby dolls around in and she LOVES IT! Whoa don't mess with a girl and her stroller. If McKoy even looks at it she gets mad and pushes it where she can enjoy it all to herself. I took her to the Doc yesterday which was a week after she turned 2 and here are her stats:

Weight 19 pounds 14 oz 0 percentile

Height 33.5 inches 41st percentile (applause for this please)

Head Circumference 44.5 2nd percentile (applause for this one too. First time on the charts for head)

She has gained 6 pounds since she turned one! Isn't that amazing! She looks so great! Everyone that sees her agrees she looks fine and is just going to be petite. What she lacks in body mass she makes up for in sass. She is seriously so funny! We love her guts to death. She isn't mean to other kids really. I think she is kind of scared of them but she is seriously mean to her brother. She will stomp a foot and slap the ground if he makes her mad. She doesn't talk a whole bunch but she can say Ba Ba No! She calls McKoy Baba. We don't know why but he responds, so she just keeps doing it. He loves her so much. He told me our next baby should be a girl so she can be just like Mataya. Too cute! Mataya loves being outside. McKoy got a little Cadillac Escalade when he turned 2 which Mataya loves to ride around in. She can't reach the pedal so McKoy drives and she rides until the battery dies. She also loves to ride bikes. She has a little seat on the back of my bike that was McKoy's but now she sits in it. She will go in the garage and cry by my bike until I take her for a ride. I love riding my bike so it works out well for both of us. She loves eating popsickles in the shower and playing with her princesses in there too. At bed time I'll say it is time for bed and she will say, "Dada Hide!" Then she and Kody will hide from me under a blanket so she doesn't have to go to bed. We have a little quote in her bedroom that reads "My finger may be tiny, but I can still wrap my daddy around it." When I see Kody play princesses or hide and seek, or jump on the tramp with her (that's right we got a new one) I melt. It's too cute. We thank our lucky stars we were blessed with our little peanut. Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!! (yes I know she can't read, but it felt like an appropriate way to end this post.)

Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me

Yes it's sideways and I don't know how to fix it Hot chicky babes

Waiting for the show to start

That's Chelsea in case you can't tell

Ok so I have been slacking with this blog lately. I have started many posts but my computer or blogger or something has really been fighting with me over it. I will be posting my girls bday pictures soon. It is taking hours to upload stuff so I will cross my fingers.

So check me out!!! I went to Chelsea and it was so fun! Kim and I left the day after school got out (oh yeah, I'm too cool for school again) Saturday morning we drove to Viva Las Vegas. We went shopping at the mall. Kim is pregnant and so she probably didn't have as much as fun as I did but who cares, I took her to Chelsea. JK Ok so then we met up with our cousin Talia and her cousin Aleisha. We went to Aleisha's house and got gorgeous. Tal did our hair and we changed into uncomfortable shoes so we could live it up at Chelsea. We drove to Caesar's Palace (and no Caesar didn't actually live there)(name that movie?) to eat and see the show. We were too slow to eat somewhere nice because everywhere had a huge wait and we didn't want to be late. So Kim and I ate something quick while Tal and Aleisha tried to get their ticket fiasco figured out. Kim and I went into Chelsea and had to leave Tal and Aleisha outside. That's why they aren't in any of our pics. They made us throw away our drinks to go in. But as soon as we walked through the door they were selling drinks for the show! What the heck?! Dang Vegas trying to make a buck! The line was too long and we didn't want to be late so we made our way to our seats thirsty. The show was so fun. Brad Wollack was first. He was funny and awkward just like on TV. Next was Heather McDonald who is so quirky and weird. I love it! But Josh Wolf was the best. He was so dang funny I was afraid Kim was going to go into labor right there in the Colosseum. If she did I told her she would have to get a taxi to the hospital and I would check on her after the show. I wasn't going to let her baby ruin my night at Chelsea! So Chelsea was last and was as mean and sarcastic as ever. It was great. A guy on the front row fell asleep so she picked up her drink and threw it on him. Then she made fun of him throughout her routine. It was way fun. After the show we walked around for a bit and found out Tal and Aleisha got into the show during Heather's performance. We stayed the night and came home the next day. Good times! PS I forgot my camera at Chelsea so we used Kim's which totally sucks and takes blurry pictures. Just bear with them.

At least it didn't cost us anything 'cause Santa brought it

( The house in the background it Steve and Martene's. Ours is on the other side of theirs. )

A few weeks ago it was so so so so so so so windy. I know it's always windy but this was EXTREME wind. It was a Sunday night. Kody was having a mouth sore problem and had to wake up every hour to gargle his meds so he was sleeping upstairs. Koy was sleeping with me in my bed. I swear I woke up every hour because the wind was SO loud. One time it was so loud I got up to look in our backyard to make sure our tramp was still there. It was tied safely to the fence and a cinder block in the backyard. It was moving because of the wind but just shaking and stuff. So at about 4:00 am McKoy wakes me up to inform me that he peed in my bed. He was laying on top of the covers because he gets hot. I had folded the comforter down because it is new (otherwise I would have been too lazy). But he did pee through 3 quilts, the sheets, and my feather mattress cover. It didn't get on the main mattress luckily. I don't know why he did it because he has been so good for months. He used to wear a pull up at night because he had accidents but he hasn't had an accident in so long that we stopped buying them. So I got up and changed his jammies, changed all the bedding etc. and tried to go back to sleep before my alarm went off at 6:30. Finally after what seemed like forever, I fell asleep just to be woke back up by my alarm. It was still dark outside when I peeked out my bathroom window to discover my trampoline was gone. Totally gone. The whole thing with the net around it gone. Nothing left but a snapped rope. I ran upstairs and woke Kody up. He got in the truck to go looking for it. He found it in an empty lot on the other side of our neighbors house, Steve and Martene. The wind was still blowing so hard that when Kody got back and told me he found it, I asked him if we could secure it down so it didn't blow any farther. He simply said, "That thing isn't going anywhere." The wind snapped the ropes and blew it OVER our side fence that we share with Steve and Martene, ACROSS their backyard, through the fence on the other side of their house and landed in a crumpled heap. It reminded me of a spider when it dies and curls up its legs. I was so sad. I even cried. I know it's stupid but I really liked that thing and I hadn't gotten much sleep. I was worried McKoy was going to cry but he just said, "At least it didn't cost us anything 'cause Santa brought it." On my way to work I passed three neighbors that still had their tramps in their yards. I was so mad. Not because theirs didn't get wrecked but because WE TIED OURS DOWN. Kody had talked to his friend Bill Batty about digging a hole to put our tramp in. He text Kody that day when he heard what had happened. He asked if we still needed him to come and dig that hole. I know it's funny now but come on, that's a bad morning. Oh, and our other friend told us about a place in town that buys scrap metal so Kody took our tramp in and got...$5! Yep, five bucks! That five dollars will go toward fixing Steve and Martene's fence. I am feeling much better about the whole thing but I am still sad when I look in our backyard and see an empty place with a snapped rope tied to the fence.

I have an announcement!

No I'm not pregnant. Why does everyone always think an announcement means you're pregnant? I am........... GOING TO CHELSEA HANDLER IN VEGAS!!! My husband surprised me with tickets. One for me and a friend of my choice. So let the butt kissing begin. Ok I already invited my sister but I will still accept butt kissing. You never know, she might get put on bed rest or something. So sometimes when Kody hunts too much he will surprise me with something so I don't leave him. JK But I can get pretty witchy with a capital B when I have had enough. Well I had had enough! So he surprised me with tickets to see Chelsea Handler's show in Vegas. She will also have her peeps Heather McDonald, Josh Wolf, and Brad Wollack at the show. I am way excited and so is Kim. She is pretty pregnant and will be even bigger in May when we are going. But she claims she won't be on bed rest or anything so she still wants to come. Kody will tend the kids of course and have the house sparkling clean when I get home. (right Kod?) It will be the time of our lives I tell you. That was me quoting Junie B. Jones. I know Junie B. and Chelsea shouldn't go together in the same post, but who cares? Anyway, I can't wait and am so excited! Thanks husband, I sure love ya!

Facebook

So this week was SEP week. At our house that means watch out for mom! She is a little grouchy during this time of year. Monday and Tuesday were my long days so we went to dinner at Chilis on Monday and Tuesday Kody cooked. I visited with all of my parents except 1. That parent will likely do a phone interview on Monday. Anyway, despite this busy week I decided to join Facebook. I am constantly out of the loop because people assume I know what is going on in their lives because they put it on Facebook. Also my Aunt's dog has a Facebook account and I didn't want Chuck the dog being cooler than me. So after Kody joined I wanted to spy on people through his account but he wouldn't let me. He says it's not spying if people put it on the internet for others to read. And he "claims" he just wants to find people from his mission but I am certain he likes spying too. But he wouldn't share with me so I joined myself. And guess what?... I don't actually think it's that cool and I don't really get it. I thought I would be addicted to it and want to be on it all the time. But because I don't really get it, I am kind of mad at it. Kody made fun of me when I asked him for help and said I was like Jeanette. So I refuse to include him in my facebook exploring. I thought it would be like a blog I guess, and it's not. So there. I joined and probably won't put anything on it because I don't know how and probably won't read any messages left there, because I don't know how. Bye.

Kenzie Lately

Koy played junior Jazz basketball. He was super cute and even scored a basket a few times. He is really a sweet little guy and isn't aggressive at all. He has never scored in soccer, didn't like wrestling, sometimes liked T-ball, sometimes didn't. So after his first basketball experience he told me he thinks basketball is his sport. He is so cute and I love his guts. This pic is of Koy at his last game. The coach is my cousin Breylin Blackner. He is a junior and plays for Cedar.

More pics with Coach B Finally enough hair for pigtails. Yay Taya Ju!

And when the pigtails come out we have quite the crazy hair. Kim turned 30. Sucka! PS Kim found out she is having a girl! PSS Sorry about making fun of Kim's thirtiness. Tal's probably mad because she is 30 too. I'm just thirteen going on thiry so I can make fun for a few more years. In Your Face SUCKAS!

Kody and I on Valentine's weekend. It was a total blast going to dinner with our friends and then playing games until late at night or early morning I guess I should say. PS I've been staying up so late lately. And no I don't mean 9:30. I mean I think on our Valentine's date night we went to bed at like 2:30 am. Kody had to be in Vegas on Valentine's day. One of his clients put him in a suite at the Venetian. I really really really wanted to go with him but I teach first grade, and Valentine's day is huge in first grade. Plus it was my student teachers' last day and I couldn't take it off. So he had to go alone and text me pics all night of his room with stairs and 3 flat screen TV's. AAAAHHHHHGGGGG! I am still mad I couldn't go.

So things are kind of boring around here. I swear it's the weather. We can't really do anything when it is so cold. I have some sort of body temperature malfunction that keeps me freezing most of the time. I wear slipper socks with my shoes which can get pretty squishy. My sister Kim hates it and thinks it's gross but I don't care. I have to be warm. So anyway, without being able to do anything outside it's been kind of boring lately. More TV and Nintendo than usual. Yes I said Nintendo. I have a tiny addiction to the old school Mario on the Wii. I haven't mentioned it earlier for fear of judgement from my friends. Kody downloaded the old games onto our Wii for me and it's been a bit out of control ever since. For the record I totally ROCK at Super Mario Brothers and have since I was 7. Kim is pretty good but still not as good as me. I play Mario 1, 2, and 3 and if you think you can beat me I say BRING IT! I am SERIOUSLY good and it's really hard to share with McKoy because if you are as good as me it is torture to watch other less experienced people try to play. Which is basically everyone. So anyway, that's about all I have been doing lately.

Warrior Mom

Talia and Maddox

This is my cousin Talia. When I was born I was brought home from the hospital to a house that was directly across the street from Talia's. Our mom's are sisters and best friends. We grew up together on that street. All of us cousin's playing all day long together. When I was 6 years old, Talia's brother who is my age, and I would come home from morning Kindergarten together on the bus. Then Talia's dad would watch us until our mom's came home from work. Tal is two years older than me. She is the same age as my older sister Kim. Tal, Kim and I were best friends. When my family moved to Vancouver, BC in 1988 I was devastated. We would spend our summers in Utah with Talia and her family. One summer Talia's brothers went up to Canada with my family, and Kim and I came to Cedar to stay with Talia. Even though Kim and Tal were the same age, Kim was sometimes too mature for our games. Tal and I did some seriously funny things. We had so much fun. In 1992 we moved back to Cedar City. We moved in with my grandparents because my parents were separated. We spent all day with Tal's family and went to my grandma's to sleep. She and my sister were my BEST friends. We were in Dance Magic together and our dance group was going to Hawaii to dance at the Pro Bowl. Our parents were getting divorced so Kim and I couldn't afford to go. Talia's grandpa on her dad's side said he would pay for her to go, but she chose not to because Kim and I couldn't. Sometimes when I couldn't talk to Kim about stuff, Talia was there. Talia went to high school at Cedar High but when I got there as a freshman Canyon View was built and Talia lived in their boundaries. She chose to go to CV for her junior and senior year while Kim and I went to Cedar High. Even though she was at the other school we remained best friends. We were all cheerleaders Kim, Tal, and I and when Cedar played CV we would cheer against each other during the game and then run over and hug when it was over. Talia and I worked together at Brad's Food Hut for 4 years. It was seriously some of the most fun times of my life. When Talia and Kim graduated Cedar and Canyon View went on a joint senior trip together. They went on a cruise to Mexico. During the summer of 2001 I served as maid of honor at 3 weddings. First my sister Kim's, then my friend Natalie Davis', then Talia's. When I got married Kim and Tal were both my maid of honors. I married a Smith and Talia married a Smith. (However, Kody would like me to say our husbands are not related) Talia's husband had big plans to become a master of the universe and so he took her away to live first in Sacramento, then Phoenix. She lived far away but we always kept in touch. I was the first out of the three of us to get pregnant. It was weird that I was the youngest and going to be a mom first. It wasn't that I didn't give them plenty of time. They had both been married for three years and I had been married for two. They had enough time to have a baby but they were smart and had waited. Anyway, Kim ended up having the first baby and then me. It was weird to have a baby before Tal. You know how you always picture the oldest going first. Tal is actually the oldest out of all three of us. Her bday is 3 months before Kim's. So when I was 10 months pregnant Talia found out she was going to have a baby. We all had boys! Talia gave birth to Kobe in Phoenix on Kim's birthday! Of course he was a beautiful baby. Have you seen his mother? Talia would go on to have two more kids in the next two years. First she had Maddox (a boy) when Kobe was 19 months old. Then she had Jaxyn (a girl) when Maddox was 15 months and Kobe wasn't even 3! Yes, three kids under the age of three!

But let me back track a bit.

When Kobe was almost two, Tal and her mom were watching Oprah. Jenny McCarthy was on TV talking about her son who had autism. Tal started thinking about Kobe and noticing he had some of the same tendencies that Jenny's son had displayed. For the full story click here. So after taking Kobe to the doctor Talia was forced to face the answer she was afraid of -AUTISM. At first when I found out Kobe was autistic I immediately thought how is Talia going to handle this. This is so huge and so much is still unknown about autism. And if you know Tal then you know that she isn't exactly the most organized/domestic/mature type to handle a situation like this. But Tal attacked the autism diagnosis at full speed. She was like a mom going into battle. A warrior mother willing to fight anyone or anything that got in her way of helping her son. She read everything she could get her hands on about autism. She got Kobe enrolled in therapy as soon as she could. She took him to many doctors for many opinions. She had him participate in medical studies. She fed him a special diet which included her making most to all of his meals from scratch. She collected his poop and mailed it to whoever needed it to study the effects different things had on him. She converted a room in her house into his therapy room so he could receive services always. She missed many family things because Kobe had class, or therapy, or a doctors appointment. She had to Kobe proof everything so he was kept safe in the house. She has dedicated her life to helping her son. But don't worry not only does she have Kobe. Remember she had two other kids all within 3 years. While she was living in Phoenix her husband went back to school to get his masters degree. So of course she was on her own most of the time while her husband worked and went to school. She couldn't really take the kids many places because Kobe requires one on one attention himself. It is a full time job taking care of a child with special needs. I get exhausted just watching her do it. So after being married for 9 years, living away from her family for at least 7 years, taking care of her kids mostly by herself, her husband comes home and says he wants out. By OUT I mean excused from the duties of being a real man and taking care of his family he helped create. By OUT I mean not having to honor the promises and convenants he made to be a husband. By OUT I mean becoming a total @#$% head and moving several states away and leaving his family behind. (Sorry but some people protect the ones they love by ranting about someone they don't particularly care for on the internet.) But if you're wondering how Tal is handling this new situation I'll tell you. Just like she handled Kobe's diagnosis. She is a fighter. She is fighting for all her kids now. Fighting for them to be as happy as possible while putting her needs aside. If you read her blog you would know that she isn't letting this stop her from doing what she needs to do for her family. She is going down a new road that isn't exactly what she thought her life would be. She is still managing to have fun like running into 50 cent in Vegas or getting mistaken for a Kardashian. I'm sure it sucks to be gorgeous and talented and skinny and have darling kids. But for her it's just a walk in the park. She takes it day by day but I know she will come out on top. (Hey Tal, I love your guts!)

New Years Eve Pics

Two hot chicky babes. (Talia's shirt reminds me of a dalmation. Ruff!) Just being sexy. . .OK Dorky. Just being dorky.

Playing Left Right Center

Hanging out at the food counter

My sister in law Steph won Left Right Center and got all the $. It was so long ago that I can't even remember how much it was.

We had our annual New Year's Eve party at our house. This is the 4th year in a row that we have hosted it. We play bingo and left right center. Before the party we went to eat at Ninja. My personal favorite. When I take my first bite of their food I literally close my eyes and savor the taste. It's just dang good. ANYWAY then we had our peeps over for games. It's kind of an expensive party because Kody likes to make things interesting(aka gamble). Bingo has a $20 buy in and left right center is $3 a person. For a total of $46 if you come as a couple. (You can also come if you're a spinster.) So I didn't win any money all night. But it was fun. We laughed, we cried, we hurled. OK we didn't hurl but that line was from Wayne's World. I actually quoted Wayne's World at the party and confused Steph's dad who also happens to be named Wayne. Back to the party. Our friends left at about 1:00am. I was exhausted. I usually go to bed at 8:30-9:00ish. But all in all it was a good time had by all.