Updates on Jon

For anyone interested in how my brother-in-law, Jon is doing you can get my sister's updates here: www.suzyg.com. I don't know any new information as of this morning but they could really use prayers right now.

Strawberry Days

This was our first year going to Strawberry Days and we loved it! The strawberries and cream are to die for, so yummy! I work right across the street from where the carnival was set up so the doctor that I work for bought us all strawberries and cream during work. It was so good that I wanted the boys to have some too. Parley was three days post-op when we went and he couldn't walk yet so we carted him around in his little cousins wagon. All the people running the games wanted to know all about his surgery, which I think made him feel special, and they "helped" him win a lot of the games. And even when he didn't win they still gave him the bigger prizes. I think next year we'll check out the rodeo.

Surgery

Parley had surgery on June 20th, 2012 to correct his crooked toes. He was born with crooked toes and we were happy to leave them as they were but they started to create problems with Parley's feet and the muscles that surround his shin bones. We decided that surgery to correct the toes would be better than a lifetime of leg pain. Parley was really nervous but he did awesome! He is three days post-op and still has a lot of pain but he's doing great. Slowly but surely he is getting better.

It's All Gone

Wow, it's been a really long time since I've even looked at my blog. I signed up for a Google+ account and when I did it took all my pictures from my blog and put them on my Google+ account... only it copied like 50 of every picture so I deleted all of the copies and when I did it deleted the pictures off of my blog. :( As hard as I've tried, I cannot get the pictures back, they're gone. I didn't want to delete my blog and start over because I still want the memories of what was written. So, we move forward from here. There's no way I can catch up on everything that has happened in the last year so I'll just hit the highlights.

• Parley turned 11 in February and is about to start his last year of elementary school.
• Ethan turns 8 in 11 days and will be baptized on August 4th.
• I graduated from college and I'm working for a dermatologist. I love my job!
• I got sicker than I've ever been for about 4 months and I learned a lot from such a hard trial. I'm getting better and I'm pretty much over talking about it so I'll just leave it at that.

That's pretty much the last year in a nutshell. Not a lot to tell because most days feel like Groundhog Day but we plug along and get by. I'll elaborate more in posts to come and hopefully give some more love to my blog since life is calming down a little.

I don't like change.

Some things in my life are changing and I'm hoping that when we come out on the other side we can say that it was for the best. Two weeks from now I will be saying good-bye to college life for awhile. I was trying so hard to keep going until I finished but with the circumstances being what they are right now I have to move on.

I can't really say what's going on exactly because it concerns someone else and I don't really want to deal with the fallout that would most likely come if I blabbed everything on here so I'll just say that a big chunk of our income can no longer be counted on. Read between the lines if you want.

I'm trying to get on full time at the hospital close to my house. It has great benefits and I would work 4 days on and 10 days off which would be amazing for our family. I would be able to work and keep up with the kids and housework. Cross your fingers and maybe say a prayer that this works out for us cause we're about to jump in head first. :)

Parley

I don't think any child could come as close to perfect as Parley is. Don't get me wrong, that preteen attitude does make its appearance now and again, but for the most part Parley is wonderful. Parley is quiet and thoughtful. He has an innocent little spirit and little kids absolutely LOVE him!

The other day I went to the boys school because he wasn't feeling well and we were walking to the office to get him some Tylenol. There was a group of kids walking down the hall and they were all calling out Parley's name and trying to get his attention. I asked him if the kids were in his class and he said no. I love that he doesn't feel like he has to be loud and obnoxious to have friends.

Parley always stands up for what's right and tells the neighbor kids that if they are going to use bad words around him or do bad things then they need to go home. I'm proud of his strength of character.

Parley is teaching me about being brave. Parley has anxiety when it comes to trying anything new. He has a natural talent for sports and especially baseball. I've been trying to convince him to play ball for a few years now and he has wanted nothing to do with it... until this spring. I signed him up for baseball but he was really nervous because they hold tryouts for his age group. He had to get up in front of almost a hundred kids and their parents and show them what he was made of. He did great and told me that he didn't even notice all the people, he was just excited to play. His coach told me that he was a first draft pick and his team is the Colorado Rockies. I know, perfect right? He is so excited to get his purple jersey.

I'm so grateful for what my kids are teaching me. They have such opposite personalities and I love that about them. It's fun to see how they handle similar situations in their own ways.

Ethan

I've been thinking lately about how lucky I am to have the kids that I have. I know that they were meant for me. Ethan is a one-of-a-kind kid. There is no one on this Earth like Ethan. Ethan is ALWAYS happy. So happy in fact that it can be kind of frustrating to discipline him. Nothing gets him down and I absolutely love that innocence about him. Morning is just about the only time I might catch him in a bad mood but even then he is usually the one bounding out of bed trying to wake everyone else up so he doesn't have to be alone.

Ethan must be entertained 24/7. He hates to be alone. If I'm not paying attention to Ethan and he has nothing else to do he will be in my face until I have no choice but to pay attention to him. He is definitely my little social butterfly (which has gotten him in trouble a time or two in school).

Ethan's positive attitude has lifted my spirits so many times when I start to get burnt out. He'll do something silly or I'll just see him playing quietly on the floor and it makes me smile. Ethan has definitely taught me a thing or two about how to handle hard things with a positive attitude. I'm very lucky to be his mom!

Valentine's Day

I will be spending it alone. Well, if you consider waiting on strangers alone. Which I do because I would rather be spending it with my honey and my kids and not at work. Hopefully people make it worth my while and tip me well (ha!).

Now I'm off to vandalize my sweetie's car with window paint. If we can't be together today at least I can get his attention by obnoxiously ruining his new wax job.