Happy Pioneer Day!

We survived the Bountiful Parade---all of us! No tears. No injuries. Lots of VERY sticky hands and faces. An overabundance of salt water taffy. It was an all around successful outing!

 

 

Dreams DO come true!

Okay, I'll admit that Spencer's job does occassionally have some perks. Last night, however was the crowning jewel of them all. At about 4:30pm he randomly called home to ask if there was anyway we could get a sitter and go to the American Idols concert. I started jumping up and down like a spaz, screaming "No Way! Are you serious?!?" and I admit I was so pumped I actually got chills. (As an aside, I haven't experienced this much excitement since my best friend Amy and I scored tickets to the Oprah Show several years ago.) Anyway, to make a long story much, much shorter: several people on the tour, including two of the Idols, needed to be seen by a doctor and Spencer ended up being the lucky guy they contacted. So, Cort and Macy went with him a few hours before the concert and got to hang out back stage with all the Idols while Spencer did his thing. They got to meet each one, got some autographs and got their picture taken with David Archuleta. I showed up at concert time, got to park just outside the service entrance where I met Spencer at the back door of the E-Center with the tour manager who threw back stage passes on us and escorted us to our 2ND ROW!!! seats. I was sitting right next to David Archuleta's Mom and Dad. It was incredible! We all had such a blast and it was an incredible show. Cort and I were wild and crazy fans--jumping up and down, waving, clapping, singing along. I think I humiliated Spencer but I was loving it! Cort kept saying: "Mom and Dad, I just don't think I can ever thank you enough for bringing me!" Afterward, the tour manager took us back stage again into a small hallway where we waited while Spencer had to see another one of the Idols who had a minor injury. We stood in the hallway and chatted with Kristy Lee Cook, Syesha, Jason Castro, Carly, David Arhculeta, Brooke White and then David Cook! AWESOME! We took tons of pictures and were just in heaven. What a night!

SWEET FREEDOM!! (kind of)

After six long, long weeks Caleb's cast came off this week on his THIRD BIRTHDAY! In my ignorance, I pictured him shedding all that fiberglass and coming bursting out of the clinic doors running and ready to jump into summer full swing. Unfortunately, this is far from how things went down. After we got that nasty cast removed he cried and cried and spent his birthday in excruciating pain (major stiffness and soreness!) and on strong pain killers. Needless to say, all celebrating was postponed. Since then, each day we see very minor improvement but he is still not really anywhere close to standing, let alone walking. We spend a few hours each day at the pool in the water which is the only place I can get him to really kick and try to move his legs. Sigh. I guess this is all very typical of the recovery associated with this kind of an injury but we're just anxious to have a walking, running little boy back! Maybe by August?!? We tease that it's a race around our house to see who will be walking first: Caleb? Jake? or Emmy? So far, Emmy is in the lead!

Home Improvements??

(To my favorite gal in South Dakota: this post's just for you!)

I think these are home "improvements" but improvements is a very subjective term. Regardless, here's what I've been up to the past few months on our house:

1/2 BATHROOM BEFORE




1/2 BATHROOM AFTER




LIVING ROOM AND FRONT ENTRY BEFORE




LIVING ROOM AND FRONT ENTRY AFTER