So Proud of Myself

My Brother-in-law is the CEO of Kodiak Mountain Stone. We are always excited when we get new shirts (these latest ones are my favourite). He sent 2 for Dave and I, and 2 for the girls. Unfortunately the 'Child's Small' was huge for my 1 and 2 year olds, I don't think they would have fit for a quite a few years.

I'm not much of a seamstress, but I wanted to see if there was a way to make the shirts fit my girls. I looked on-line and I found a way.

Here is the before and after. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Mags rockin' her new KMS shirt

For all your stone needs visit www.kodiakmountain.com

5K For An Amazing Family

The Teemants are absolutely wonderful. Amy is one of my best friends here in Provo, and it breaks my heart that they are having to go through this trial in their lives right now.

This is Their Story:

In August of this year, Leo Teemant had a lot to celebrate. He and his wife, Amy, had just welcomed a new baby to their family of four, and Leo, having returned to school after working for several years, had graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in economics and mathematics from Brigham Young University. Life seemed full of possibilities. Amidst all those possibilities, news of cancer was like lightning from a blue sky. Just one week after graduation and while searching for employment, Leo received a diagnosis of stage IV melanoma, a cancer known for its resistance to treatment. The average life expectancy with this diagnosis is nine months.

This is not the Teemants’ first brush with cancer. Just after Leo and Amy became engaged in 2002, Leo was diagnosed with stage III melanoma. Treatment was successful, and Leo made a full recovery. Now, with a more threatening diagnosis and so much to live for, Leo will need all the help he can get. The diagnosis and treatments are impeding Leo’s job search so that leaves them with a costly and inadequate insurance situation. Leo qualifies for several treatments and is currently doing chemotherapy. He is also pursuing options still in the clinical trial stage.

The Teemants don’t have to struggle alone. You can help. Proceeds from the Five to Fight Cancer 5K on November 13 will go to support their battle against cancer. We hope you will consider registering for the race, or sponsoring someone else who will participate. Donations are greatly appreciated. On behalf of Leo, Amy, and their family... thank you.

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I know that almost everyone that reads my blog are friends and family in Canada, but if you have any Utah connections, please pass this information on. The 5K is going to be a fun event and we really want to get the word out.

Please visit the website at www.fivetofightcancer.com

Graduation

August 2010 - Dave and Leo Graduated on the same day.

Photo Shoot

My friend Kylie from Secondstar Photography took some really cute pictures of the girls this morning. She is going to do some touch ups on them, but I am too excited wait. Here are a few of my favourites.

The Grotto

I had a couple of friends tell me about a fun little hike for kids up Payson Canyon and I wanted to take the girls. Yesterday was such a gorgeous day, so we packed a lunch and went on a little Sunday afternoon drive and hike. We had a wonderful time and the girls loved it.

I told Maggie to 'smile', so she showed me the sign for smile.

'wook at dis wock'

The girls and I at the start of the trail.

I packed Chloe so Dave could do some geo-caching and chase Maggie.

Happy Hikers.

It was a beautiful day for a hike. Our Trail was covered in all different coloured leaves.

Maggie wanted to sit on every log and climb up every rock.

Self portrait of Chloe and I.

Like I said...climbing every rock.

My Cute little Hiker.

Playing drums on the log.

The trail...it was so pretty.

My attempt at a self portrait of the 3 of us, didn't work so well.

There were lots of fun bridges to cross. Maggie was a little nervous, but did pretty good.

Someone had flattened the top of this log to make a bench....Maggie was very impressed.

Me and the girlies.

We made it to the falls and grotto.

(I'm really not that much taller than Dave)

Playing in the Water. It was FREEZING, but Maggie and Chloe didn't mind at all.

Chloe especially loved all the rocks and dirt she could put in her mouth.

This girl LOVES water!

We had a great time. We will definitely be going there again.

Pictures

Here are some of my favourite recent pictures of the girls.

She falls asleep like this all the time....I think it's the cutest

Santa Coco

Watching Dora on 'Mommy's little computer' with cousin Sophie.

She let me braid her hair. It looked so cute.

Colouring with Daddy. Notice how Maggie has her sunglasses on her head just like Dave. She puts them up there all the time.

When things are too quiet at my house. Thank goodness for washable markers.

Our First E.R. Visit

Maggie swallowed an eye-screw and we survived our first official visit to the E.R.

We moved into a new apartment last month and 2 weeks ago I decided that it was time to get the place decorated. I have a tray with different nails and screws in it that I had sitting on the table. Of course Maggie wanted to 'help'. She got a little eye-screw and was pretending it was a key, going around to all the doors and 'unlocking' them. I figured this was fairly innocent and safe, so I let her play with it....little did I know.
As I was hanging a picture I looked over and saw Maggie put the 'key' in her mouth. Just as I said 'Maggie, spit that out', there was a little choke and it was gone....oh great. Since we had just moved recently we still had no phone set up and since I have a frugal husband we don't have a cell phone. I ran upstairs and asked the upstairs neighbor if I could use her phone. I called my Dr.'s office hoping that they would say 'ahhh, no big deal, it will pass,' but instead I got, 'take her to the E.R. NOW.'....oh great.
Of course it was a Thursday and Dave has the car in Salt Lake ALL day on Thursdays (we're talking 7am - 8pm). My head was spinning trying to figure out how to get to the hospital with no car and no car seats. My neighbor had to leave so she couldn't help, but asked if I could just take Maggie to Utah Valley Hospital. In my flustered state I forgot that we had moved only about 4 blocks from the hospital....yes, yes, I could walk over there....duh. I loaded up the girls in the stroller and off we went.
Everyone in the E.R. was so nice and helpful. They even gave my girls little dollies to have and entertain them. We were there for about 3 hours and both of the girls were so good. Chloe had been grumpy and miserable all morning with 6 teeth coming in all at once, but she was an absolute angel. I know I was being blessed and watched over.
They did an x-ray of Maggie's abdomen to make sure that the screw had made it into her stomach and hadn't gotten caught up anywhere on the way. Sure enough it was sitting at the bottom of her stomach right where they wanted it to be. They sent me home with instructions to come back in 2 days for another x-ray to make sure it had passed, but the next day I spotted a little gold in her diaper. I washed it up so she can keep her souvenir.

Hanging out in the waiting room.

I grabbed the DVD player on the way out the door...so glad I did.

Waiting for x-rays with her new dolly.

Such a good girl. She spent most of the time just sitting in the stroller.

Getting sleepy. It was a long afternoon.

Hospital bands and eye-screws....so much fun.

I didn't really know if Maggie understood much of what was going on, but the other day we were watching Bolt and at the end of the movie they have to take Bolt and Penny to the hospital. Maggie said 'has to go to the hospital....go see the fishies', (I had totally forgotten they they had an aquarium in the waiting room)...then she looked at me really sheepishly and said 'I swawoed da key'....I guess it did make an impression.