Oklahoma Trip

During my mom's spring break about a week ago, Jet and I were able to go to Oklahoma for a little visit. Really my parents wanted to see Jet and if he could have flown there by himself he would have, but I had to come along :). It was such a fun visit, for us both. I was needing a change of scenery and I love being able to share my little boy with the rest of my family. They have so much fun with him. When we got there my parents wanted to take Jet to Chuck e Cheese and he had a blast. He loved any of the games that required throwing a ball. He was a little scared of Chuck e Cheese himself, but got up and danced with him and a entire group of little kids. The next day we went to the zoo. He loved the zoo too and the sea lion show. His favorite part was the petting zoo part where he hugged it out with the goats. We took a bike ride around the lake there and had dinner with the missionaries. He loved watching his uncle Freddy drive his RC car around the yard. He loved being able to go outside in the backyard and he also loved the dog Marley. We went to the regular park and the dog park while we were there and loved the dog park. I am so glad he is not afraid of animals or dogs. He has heard dog barks from inside the womb and sometimes I think he thinks he is a dog with the way he chased after and followed the dogs at the park. Sunday we went to church and he had a great time in nursery, and Monday we headed back to Utah. We are grateful for Grandma and Grandpa Richard for making the trip possible! It is so fun to watch my parents be grandparents, how much they love Jet and I get a glimpse of how they were when I was that young.

Scariness

Well our first trip to the emergency room as parents was a scary one. Hopefully someone out there will be better prepared after reading this. So a couple of weeks ago Jet was sick. He mainly just had a fever. I didn't think it was a huge deal so I decided to keep an eye on him and I gave him some acetaminophen. He was real lethargic and sleepy all day long. That evening I went to the grocery store to get some things and left Jet home with James. They were resting on our bed. James heard me come home and came down to help me bring the groceries up. When we came up the stairs, we looked over on our bed and Jet was convulsing. His body was tense and shaking. I ran over to him tried to snap him out of it by calling his name and he wouldn't look at me or respond. I said to James, 'we gotta go'. I scooped him up, ran down to the car and we raced to the instacare. The instacare was closed so we raced up to the emergency room in Provo. During the car ride, I was just praying to God that Jet would be ok. I was trying my hardest to stay calm, but I could not bear the thought of something terrible happening to my little boy. Before we had gotten in the car to get to the emergency room, his seizure had stopped, but he was unresponsive to me. He could not keep his eyes open and he was so limp. He breathing was off too. By the time we got to the emergency room, he had snapped out of his stupor and was awake. We checked in and the nurses and doctors told us he had had a febrile seizure. They said it is fairly common in young children and infants. It happens when a fever spikes and the nervous system has a 'short', the body reboots by having a seizure. It made me feel a little better knowing that, but it was still a scary thing. They basically gave us ibprofen for him and sent us home. They said it could happen again if he has a fever and there is nothing you can really do about it, just make him comfortable during the seizure and they usually want to sleep afterwards. If the seizure lasts more than 5 min, to take him to the emergency room. I am grateful to know that now, but I still don't want it to happen again. I love my little boy so much. In those scary moments, I would have done anything to help him. He has been doing so much better since.

Love Sweet Love

We had a fun Valentine's this year. I just love any excuse to celebrate love! We had a fun dinner together with Martinelli's, homemade heart-shaped pizza and heart-shaped jello. James got me a new cookbook, and we also went to the ward Valentine dinner Saturday night. Here are some pics of our celebration of our love.

Talking!

Jet has started to talk, at least say a few words, maybe only intelligible by James and me, but it is a start. It is so fun to watch him try to say new words. I am sure one day I won't be able to get him to stop, but for now I am enjoying his progress. Here is a little video of his vocabulary. Obviously he knows a lot more than he can say, but here are some of his first words.

I just can't live without....

Well, I could live without a treadmill, but I can't live without exercise of some form. Usually running is how I get my exercise in, but with Utah winters, getting dark outside before 5pm, and me having to be home from 9am to 6pm everyday, it was getting so difficult to get out and run. I was dying. No joke, it is like I could feel myself falling out of shape. If I don't exercise for like 2 weeks, I get antsy real bad. Don't get me wrong I am not some exercise maniac, nor do I even do it to lose weight. I do it because I feel so good afterwards and I don't feel so bad when I decide to snack on cookie dough :). So we finally got ourselves a treadmill, a used one. I knew I would use it because I already had the habit of running. What else is nice that you can watch tv and run at the same time. I mean if you are already watching TV why not throw a jog in while you're at it. Anyways, I love having it!

Crafting

So I have become a naptime crafter. During the day when things are slow, I turn on my sewing machine and find something cute to make. Usually it is something baby related, something that Jet would use or wear. My favorite thing lately is making baby booties. They are easy to make and turn out pretty cute. I made some slippers for Jet out of the same pattern and they work well around the house. I found this microsuede upholstery fabric I like to use because it is fairly non-slip and durable. Just some pics of my latest projects. Let me know if you want any of these made for you, I actually enjoy making them.

Christmas in Oregon

Thursday December 22^nd, Jet and I picked up James from his work in downtown SLC. To save on parking we parked in the lot next to his work and took the bus to the airport. The flight to Oregon was smooth, but stopping in Reno made the trip longer. James had the experience of changing a diaper in the world’s smallest bathroom aboard the plane. We arrived in Portland and were greeted by James’ parents who took us to his brother Nate’s house to stay the night. We picked up some groceries at Safeway the next morning and James got Amanda one of her favorites gourmet hot chocolate from Starbucks. We pack up and left to go to the cabin in Gates.

We stayed 3 nights at the cabin and had a great time and every member of James’ immediate family was there: Virgil, Annette, Nathan, Maile, Grant, Gavin, Gage, Greyson, Hannah, Allan, Jonathan, Timothy, James, Amanda, Jet, Martin, David, and Whitney. 18 of us in all. We had so much fun together watching movies, making gingerbread houses, a Christmas program, having a billiard tournament, and eating lots of good food. We also put on a special Christmas program with carols, testimony and a skit for the children. On Christmas day, James’ mom Annette made fantastic belgium waffles and later that day we took Christmas dinner made by Maile and Whitney to the church where Grandpa Don Hurst is a pastor. We took a four generation picture of Grandma Ruth Hurst, Virgil, James and Jet. After dinner we sat in the chapel and sang Christmas Carols. James favored us with a few Polish Christmas Carols. He thought we wouldn’t know if he couldn’t remember the words, but he got caught and it was a pretty good laugh.

After the cabin we went and visited James’ boyhood friend Tyler in Salem. We spend the rest of the day visiting and watching movies with David and Whitney and stayed the night there. Since we had a car (thank you Annette and Virgil), we decided to visit Amanda’s grandparents on the coast in Waldport. They were so gracious to let us come on short notice and we had a great time catching up and visiting.

We made our way back from the coast on Thursday and had lunch in Monmouth at J’s dinner on 99W with Hannah, Annette, Martin, David and Whitney and a special needs client Nathan. After lunch we made a stop at the Independence airpark where James immediately fell in love with the idea of a fly-in community. He would like to live there someday to be able to taxi an airplane from his house to the runway. We then went to Goodwill with Annette, Martin, and Tyler even showed up. We found some books, a toy phone for Jet, and some Vans shoes for Jet. That evening James played basketball in Monmouth with his brothers David and Martin. We stayed that night with David and Whitney.

As our trip was coming to a close we made our way back up to Hubbard to visit more with Nate and Maile. They invited us to go to OMSI with them and it was a blast. Jet loved the toddler room and enjoyed playing in the water pools, and with the balls. After OMSI we caught up with my brother Ted and went out to eat at Old Chicago for pizza. We went back to Hubbard to celebrate our nephew Gavin’s 9^th birthday. Jet had such a fun time playing with his cousins and they enjoyed him too. Our last day of the trip was spent getting ready to leave. James drove down 99E and took a trip down memory lane passing Gervais High School, friends’ houses, Brooks Elementary and Lakeside Drive to pick up his mom in Dallas. They came and picked Jet and I up in Hubbard and we left just in time to catch our flight to Utah to celebrate the New Year.

It was a whirlwind vacation! It was so wonderful to see everyone and we are grateful for the hospitality and love shown to us by our family. Here’s to an even better 2012! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!