Giving credit where it is deserved....

Thursday night Andy had to attend the intern/resident graduation for the programs at his hospital. He was not planning on attending because he worked at 7a-7p and the dinner started at 7, but he was very encouraged by the ladies in the GME office, so he called me last minute and told me we needed a baby sitter. Finally at about 8 pm they started the whole program, which at the end consists of giving out awards. At this point Marin was tired and had enough so Andy took her out the door to walk her around and kill time. Just then the woman who presents the "Patience with Patients" award stood up. I had this gut feeling that Andy needed to be in the room and I started to panic and I was scanning the room trying to find him. Just then she announced his name as the recipient of the award! About 30 seconds later Andy comes into the room, Marin in arms, red in the face and in complete shock. He could not believe that he won this award, mainly because he won this same one last year!!!! It truly was an honor for him.

About 10 minutes later Dr. Below stood up to present the "Outstand Resident" award. Again, Andy had stepped out to play with Marin and to pass the time, when Dr. Brill said "well folks, tonight is going to be the Andy show as he is the recipient of this award as well". Again, I am panicking and trying to find him, and again, he walks in, Marin in his arms, with an Andy look of shock and trying not to laugh and say "REALLY" out loud.

I think what gets me about the whole thing is that Andy did not believe that he would receive an award that night, let alone two, let alone one that he had gotten before. There was no doubt in my mind that he would get an award. Andy is the hardest worker I know, never, I repeat never, taking a day off work sick, or requesting extra time, let alone, anytime off. In fact next week is the first vacation we are taking alone as a family is many years. He is so friendly and great with his patients. He is a great doctor and a very smart man.

I personally felt so lucky to be sitting next to him that night, it was hard to contain my kisses and hugs when he came back down to sit next to me.

Andy, I am so proud of you and the amazing doctor you are. I hope you have a great final year as Chief, I know you are going to do awesome!! Love you.

The Peanut is popping....

So the other day Andy and I were talking in the living room, (which that in itself should be a blog post, us together in a room communicating, HELLO!) when Marin crawled from his side of the room to mine. That is normal, she has been getting around quite well doing her mermaid crawl as I call it, but the shocker was that she pulled herself up on her toy. I saw her do it and I saw her playing with her toy, but it didn't hit me until Andy stopped talking and asked me if I realized what had happened. For some reason in my mind he had stood her up, even though I saw her do it herself.

Anyway, Marin is getting so big, everyday she is doing more and more, babbling more, going up and down the stairs more, demanding me to hold her more, and I just can't believe it. She is 10 months now and the thoughts of her first birthday party are occasionally crossing my mind.









Oh man, she is a cutie.

Feeling like me again....

So I am going to take some time here to talk about me for a bit. For the past few months I have been on a journey to find myself again, to exercise, and to lose weight.

Being pregnant with Marin was a surprise and something I was not prepared for. I was also so sick and therefore did a lot of laying around, in turn gaining a ton of weight. I am not going to get specific with numbers here, but towards the end of my pregnancy with her I know I hit the 220's, and after that I stopped wanting to know, it was too depressing. After I had her I gave myself the time to heal, to adjust to having four children and often time doing that by myself. But eventually there comes a time where enough is enough. I realized that Andy's schedule was never going to accommodate my need for exercise and I had to do something for me or I was going to fade into a "fat depression" as I like to call it.

So I did one of the hardest things I have ever done, I walked through the doors of a Weight Watchers. Wow, I said it, I joined Weight Watchers. There is not much to say about the program except for that I love it and through the knowledge I have learned there and with the support of some great friends and Andy and even my kids I am no longer in the 190's. I have officially lost just over 20 pounds and am about 12 from my goal weight.

It is an amazing feeling to be able to fit old clothes that have been packed away in the basement for years and to be active again. Weight Watchers had a national 5K race day, you could either walk it or run it, and being that I have done a few of those in the past I knew I could do it if I just tried. It was shocking the first week of being on the treadmill, how just one minute of jogging was hard! But 6 weeks later I did it, I ran (yes, tho whole time) a 5k!! My pal Hillary, who has been through this whole thing with me, also did the race. We paced each other well and together we finished it.

I could go on forever about all the things I am learning about myself, food, other people's issue with food, exercise, etc., but really what it comes down to is that I AM DOING IT. I am no longer complaining to Andy about being fat, I am doing something about it. The other day I went for a run and did 4 miles, my next goal is a 5 miile run on the 4th of July....let their be fireworks under my shoes baby, it's on.


Us gals that ran the race.


Me and my pal Hillary.



On another note, the race I did also did a 1 mile fun run for kids. Porter was all for doing that so I signed him, just like I do for all the things he wants to try. I was nervous for him, I knew he had no ida how long 1 mile was. But he did it, he ran the whole thing and finished in 9 minutes!!! He is amazing.


Here I thought he was going to walk to me and say he was done, but instead he was coming to give Carlee a high five. Also please notice the sweet Utah Ute wrist bands he got from his unlce Mike for his birthday.


The big finish.


Jp and Porter with their medals.

Cousins....

Last week something amazing happened, Andy's oldest sister Aubrey drove here to OH with her four kids!! I honestly did not think it would happen, but sure enough, I was wrong. Lauren also came because she is done teaching and off for the summer, which helped out with the driving, and bonus we got to see her too!

I am disappointed in myself when I say that I did not take pictures pretty much the entire time they were here, but that should say a lot about how much fun we had. We took them to Malley's, twice, we went to the beach, we went to the pool, we ate at Buffalo Wild Wings, we watched movies, Preston, Luke, and Porter organized and re-built Lego's while Madison, Carlee, Abby, and Tessa played with their American Girl dolls. I got to workout with La La which was awesome and she taught me some new arm moves with weights, I went running with Aubrey twice which was so fun even though she is faster than me and suggests that we run to Malley's! Andy was able to hang with us a bunch too and hit the pool. Oh, the pool, that reminds me.....

we have this handheld fan (that Marin happened to steal from the Disney store) that Andy was using and putting next to every ones ear to make them think it was a bee. Of course he told Carlee to do it to Lauren. So La jumped up and started to throw Carlee into the pool. As La La was throwing Carlee into the pool, Andy walked over and pushed her into the pool, then Aubrey walked up and pushed Andy into the pool!! It was so funny and I haven't laughed that hard in a laugh time.

I can't say enough about how much fun we had and how much it means that Aubrey would make that trek with her kids, but we made some great memories and I got to spend time with her that I never have before. Love you Aubs, Tyler kids, and Lauren for coming.

And here are the only pictures I have of the trip....


Tessa with a normal smile.


Carlee, Abby (who was not looking on purpose!), and Tessa, there is my stinker.


Water fights are so fun.

A Dream is a Wish....

Carlee has been working for months on her dance for the big recital and it is finally done and over, and she rocked it. The dance world is so different from anything I ever have experienced, it's the hair, shoes, tutu's, makeup, curls, costumes, glitter, etc. I am not used to that, but I think we did okay and Carlee looked so cute.


Here she is before the show.




The backstage chaos and hanging with her friends.


Post show with her friend Adalynn.


The family


Porter is always taking care of Marin.


Me and my Carlee girl.


Daddy and his little girl. She was so proud of her trophy.


A kiss for Dad to say thanks for the flowers. She is always asking for the flowers at Costco when we are there.


This is the only video I have of the dance

New Month.....New Life

So June is here already, which also means new month, and a new rotation for Andy. This is his final rotation for his 3rd year of residency and he is doing something that he has waited a long time to do.....LIFE FLIGHT. Yeah that's right, he is a Life Flight doc this month, and yeah, it really is cool. The kids and I had a chance to go out to the airport and see him and the helicopter, there was a whole entire 12 hour shift where Andy did not fly and he quickly earned the nickname "white cloud".


I love this picture and how the kids just lined up to see the helicopter, they were in such awe.


Tessa was the first to see inside.


Porter was so in his element and ready for a flight. He immediately gave me this pose, straight from Top Gun (I love that movie)


Car is my happy girl and the helmet looks like it is so heavy on her.


Mom's turn. I could not believe how big it is inside the chopper, although I guess it has to be being that it can fit the flight nurse, patient, family member, the doc, plus equipment.


The kids were so interested in his gear.


If you look on the door on the right you can see three latches, those latches are the only things that keep the helicopter closed!!




A plane that took off when we were there. It was so hot this day, I feel like you can see the humidity in the picture.


He feels so tough and cool, but you know what, he really is and I love him so much.