Father's Day

Little behind on my posts :) The annual Springspree celebration was on Father's Day weekend this year, so we went to the park and looked at the booths and saw an amazing bike show. I never knew I liked that kind of thing, but it was pretty neat! We walked over to the lake to cool off and let Preston walk in the water. We also got a picture of Brandon and Preston in the same spot that my dad was holding me 38 years ago on Father's Day. Very enjoyable day spent with my 2 favorite boys ♥

Happy Birthday to ME!

I celebrated another birthday yesterday - didn't I just do that last year?! I started the day off by going to the gym and then coming home and cleaning the bathroom. Luckily my day got more fun by going out to dinner at one of my favorite local restaurants and then going to the Penny Arcade. Preston had fun riding the kiddie rides and I had fun beating Brandon in a game of CSI pinball (by 4 million points!).

Mother's Day

My 2nd Mother's Day was full of fun. I got to sleep in (one of the best gifts EVER!) and woke up to a wonderful homemade breakfast. I had flowers and a sweet, sappy card waiting for me on the table. I made rose-shaped bath fizzies for all my mommy friends (thanks Pinterest!) and we hand delivered all of those and then spent the afternoon at the outside arcade on the West side of town. It has been unusually warm here lately, but one this one day, we actually got rain and it was COLD!! It was even cold for me and I'm never cold! We bundled Preston up in 2 coats, a hat and my gloves and put him on the kiddie rides. He had a good time, and I enjoyed being with my family. We went out to dinner and had a yummy dessert - a Pizookie trio. It's like a cookie baked in a deep dish pizza pan, topped with ice cream and other sugary goodness. What's not to like?! We got the Red Velvet Cake, Triple Chocolate, and Cookies and Cream. The last one was my favorite which is odd because I loathe Oreos! We came home and I enjoyed a warm bath using my homemade fizzies and had a glass of wine (or 4) - a gift from my FIL. Perfect end to a perfect day :)

Lavender Rose bath fizzies

Love this picture of my 2 guys

Driving the tow truck (he's man enough to sit in a pink truck!)

Kissing the Incredible Hulk

Riding the grasshopper - look at how brave mama is!!  I am terrified of real 'hoppers but this one was ok.

Chilling on the hammock-swing

Pizookie trio

Kissing mama

Thank you Preston for picking me to be your mama!! I love you!

Preston is 18 months old today!!

My little pumpkin is 18 months old today! He is such an energetic boy and is always on the move.  We are so happy to have this little sweetie in our lives.

He recently took his 3rd airplane ride - we flew to Iowa for 2 weeks to visit family. He was the center of attention the entire time! Whenever my cousins came over, they would immediately whisk him away. They were like mother hens playing with him and feeding him. They did a great job and it gave me some much enjoyed free time and he was eating up all the attention. Someone asked me if he was walking yet because he was always being carried around - LOL!! While we were there, we celebrated my Grandma's 89th birthday and had 35 people at the house for Easter dinner! There was an egg hunt outside and Preston got his own Easter basket which was almost as big as he is! We went down to the Mississippi River so Preston could touch the water. We went back later that night so we could see the bridge lit up. It changes colors several times every minute and is really pretty. A big storm moved in during our last weekend and the tornado sirens went off. That was pretty scary! Luckily all we got was rain and strong winds. Other than that one storm, the weather was beautiful and we had a great visit.

Guitar card

Needed to make a thank you card for my uncle who is a huge guitar nut. He plays the electric bass and I'm not even sure if that's what this is - LOL!! I searched through clip art pictures and this is the one I liked best. I'm sure it's close enough that he'll enjoy it. I printed it on card stock, cut it out and added some gloss. Haven't stamped in awhile and it was fun to play in my craft room.

Ice sculptures

We went out of town to see the annual ice sculpture festival in Cripple Creek, CO a few months ago (man, time flies by!!). It's always so neat to see what can be created out of blocks of ice and how intricate they make the designs. This years theme was 'A Military Salute Carved In Ice'. There were some amazing tributes to our service members. The Vietnam Wall was our favorite.








Can't wait to go back next year!!

Valentine Rose

I received a beautiful bouquet of roses on Valentine's Day from my wonderful hubby ♥ I love taking pictures of flowers, especially when they're mine :)

Grandpa and Preston

When my dad was moved out of ICU, we were able to take Preston into the hospital so he could see his Grandpa. I dressed him in a Harley outfit which was a big hit. Preston was a little shy at first - I love the picture of them both screaming! But once he saw Grandpa's soda, they were friends.

Dad's classroom

While we were visiting my dad, we got a chance to go see his classroom at the college. He teaches Criminal Justice and just recently had a mural painted on his 30 foot wall. The artist even painted him in the picture (in the beret just to the right of the dress). I've seen pictures of it, but it was pretty cool to see in person - it's huge!

*The close-up includes my Uncle Scott.

Dad's home

My dad went home Monday night after we flew back home. Things are running smoothly and he's hoping to go back to work tomorrow.



We got a chance to meet the medics at the college who saved my dad's life. Neal (left) was first on scene and started CPR. Scott (right) used the AED. This was the first time either of them had used these procedures on a real person. They were quick and did everything right. I made them a cheesy card and taped 2 rolls of Lifesavers candy on the front - one for each of them. They loved it and said they were going to frame it - lol!! They were super nice guys and I'm so glad we got a chance to meet them and thank them in person.

Angiogram today

Dad is having an angiogram today to check his heart. Another Uncle flew in last night. Dad doesn't know he's here. We'll all go to the hospital together and surprise him.

Hoping to get some answers as to what caused his heart attack last week.

Superbowl party at the hospital!!

It's Superbowl Sunday!! I don't watch the game (or any football), but my Uncle is going to the hospital to watch the game with my dad - they are both excited.

My dad was moved out of ICU last night and into the cardiac unit. He's doing extremely well!! They're running a bunch of heart tests tomorrow to try to get some answers as to why this all happened and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. He's improving every day. The hospital won't let Preston upstairs so the nurse is going to bring my dad downstairs in a wheelchair so he can finally see his grandson. That's going to be wonderful! I brought a Harley outfit to put him in which I know will be a big hit :)

Teeth, Jello and a chair

Things with my dad are improving! All the tubes came out of his mouth so we can understand him a lot better when he talks. He wears full dentures and was able to put his teeth in last night. I fed him a gourmet dinner of Cherry Jello and Chocolate Pudding - he loved both. The nurses got him out of bed and he walked to a chair and sat upright for awhile. He still has no short term memory, but his long term memory is fine. He knows that he had a heart attack, but doesn't remember anything. I told him he was brought to the hospital on a Harley - that made him laugh :)

He may be moved out of ICU today which would be a huge step forward!

Dad update

We made it to Phoenix Tuesday night. Dad was still unresponsive and in an induced coma. We went to see him yesterday and he was conscious!! He opened his eyes and smiled at me. He was even able to squeeze my hand. It's confirmed that he had a heart attack, but thanks to the quick response of the people who were around him, things are looking pretty good! They're hoping to take out the breathing tube today and then he'll be able to talk. I'm sure we're in for an earful!

Support needed

My dad collapsed at work today and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. He's been unresponsive ever since. The dr. called tonight and said we should get there as soon as possible so we're planning on flying out in a few hours.

This was all very sudden and we are all shaken up.

Rides at the Penny Arcade

Our town has a fun penny arcade on the west side. It has a mix of super old games and brand new ones. Some of the games are still only a nickel. My dad used to take me there when I would come up and visit him for the weekend. We'd race each other in the horse derby and challenge each other on our favorite pinball machine. Some of the games are in buildings and some are outside by the river. We decided to take Preston there to ride some of the kiddie rides - he wasn't too sure of most of them, but he didn't seem scared. His favorites were the space shuttle and the firetruck. We had a blast and plan to go back when the weather is warmer. They had a TON of rides - here's pictures of a few of the ones he rode:

Electric Safari at the Zoo

We took Preston to the zoo for the first time right after Christmas. They decorate the zoo with animated animals displays and lots and lots of lights. It's beautiful to see and we usually go every year. It was so much different to go as a family of 3. I was more excited about his reaction and loved watching him take it all in. For the first 30 minutes, he just stared at everything and didn't make a noise - very unlike him!! It was a wonderful night and not too cold which made the experience even better.

Preston got to ride his first carousel. He wasn't too sure of it at first, but I think he enjoyed it. This was our first time on it too - it went fast!! His favorites were seeing the giraffes and the stinky, loud hippos. We all had a good time and I can't wait to take him back to see all the other animals.

Christmas 2011

We all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas. It was pretty low key this year - not a lot of gifts or stress and lots of time spent with family eating way too much food. Santa was very good to Preston though. He had fun opening gifts and ripping the paper into confetti sized pieces. His favorite present was a plush rocking horse. He figured out quickly that if you press the ear, the horse makes galloping noises.

He's started doing a lot of new things lately. He does a 'happy dance' after he takes a bite of food. I didn't teach him that, but it's really cute! He's also learning how to dance. Right now, it's just a foot stomp, but he's got rhythm. Out of the blue, he started twirling around in circles. He spins really fast and will get dizzy and fall down. He knows where his nose is and instead of pointing to it, he'll inhale and exhale quickly. If you ask him to do 'muscles', he'll squeeze his hands and flex his arms - and he has a muscleman face to go with it. He's such a ham! And he just started saying 'hi'. It's usually when he sees one of our kitties. He'll wave and give a high pitched 'hi'!!

Happy New Year!