Bowling Banquet

Last Wednesday was the last night of my bowling league.  I was super sad about it because I really enjoyed it, and being unemployed, it gave me something to get out and do.  I started out the season doing fairly well for never really bowling before. I started with a 10lb. ball and soon enough I got my own ball, and jumped up to a 12 lb. My average was going up a little bit every single week, when most people usually stay about the same.  I didn't know the 3 other people on my team at all, but we quickly became good buddies and we always had a good time when we got together.
Last night we had our banquet with everybody, at the Timbermine....holy yumminess.  We had fried mushrooms for our appetizer, now I don't usually like mushrooms, but these were pretty darn delicious, and I wouldn't complain if I had to eat them again. There was so much food, I'm pretty sure I should have unbuttoned my pants about half way through the meal.  I got the prime rib, and I'm pretty sure it came from heaven, I ate all of it, I said to heck with the baked potato and went to town on the meat...which I devoured completely.  Then they brought out cheesecake, I'm pretty sure they were trying to make me explode.
We had a few awards, and surprisingly, I got "Most Improved" for the Women!

My average went up 12.15 points throughout the season! My highest score was a 183 :)  I was pretty darn excited, and it made it even better that I got $25 out of it.  Also, when we bowled, if you didn't open (get a strike or spare) in the 5th frame, you had to put a dime in the pot...I'm pretty sure our team contributed the most, there was a total of about $130 from everybody...but they did a drawing, and I won $10 from that!

I'm really going miss it, I did sign up to be with my team again, "Split Happens" (I picked the name, with a little help from friends) for next season, in the mean time, I'm going to have to keep up my practicing so that we can win 1st place next time!  We came really close this year, like 2nd place, which is exciting because its really the first time that anybody on my team has joined a league before.

SOOO, if anybody feels like going bowling, call me up! I'm always ready to go!

 

*peace out girl scout*

Just a Day

Yesterday I got to spend the day with my favorite 5 year old, Chloe.  I picked her up from Preschool, we did her homework, and got right to the usual tea party.  Always consists of "chotlick" milk (chocolate milk), and some sort of food.  This time around she wanted music playing while we drank so a big thanks to Pandora's Disney channel for providing some tunes.

We watched The Lion King, and while we did that, I sewed up some holes in her beloved tiger pillow pet.  She showed and explained to me how to thread the needle, which requires that you "lick the thwead" and make a face like this:


Lion King was very entertaining, and I may or may not have taken a short nap during the movie...
But I did wake up when the movie was over and the "Lion Wrestling" began. I don't know about you but, the best way to get woken up from a nap is by having your guts jumped on, and being growled at.

If you can tell, at the foot of the bed on the posts, are her socks.  Those were the wrestling trophies.

We watched Lion King 1 1/2 and had some snacks and did some more wrestling.  I seriously love spending time with this little girl, she is so much fun, always entertaining, and always saying things that are absolutely hilarious. For instance, we were at her house once and she wanted to play house with me.  She wanted to be the baby, and she said I could be the mom, and that my husband was dead...story of my life kid.

Also got free tickets to the Jazz game through my ward last night, this is about the 3rd game I've been to this season! Woot!

Life is grand :)

 

*peace out girl scout*



Polar Bear Plunge

I know it's been awhile since I posted. Thought I'd get a fun one up before I go back and try to fill in the gaps of the past 3 months.
So on March 8th, our ward had a bowling party.  It was a ton of fun and we had a pretty good turnout.  I was bowling with some friends, Cherie, Ashton and Kij.  It was proposed that if we all broke 100 we would "do something crazy" so I asked what the "crazy" thing was.  Ashton said, "We are going to jump in the river!"
We all broke 100, and after a few more games of bowling, around 10 o'clock, we all left. We had talked to more people about going with us and we thought there would be a decent group going for the plunge.  After we had all gotten into our swimming suits and then bundled up on top of that, we met up in the high school parking lot.
It was less than 30 degrees outside and there was a freezing rain coming down.  There was a whopping 7 people there, only 4 of us were prepped to do this crazy act.
We ran to the river, just in our swimming suits with towels wrapped around our shoulders.  We slid down the muddy bank, right down by the river and the non-jumpers held our warm clothing and towels.
It. Was. FREEZING.
Cherie, Kij, Ashton and I stood there, very hesitant to actually go through with it.
I made the first move and waded in very quickly, up to my waist, dipped down up to my chin and ran out.  The rest of them made the plunge soon after I went but I didn't see them because I was focusing on the fact that I couldn't feel my body and I needed to focus on actually breathing again.  I slipped and fell on the rocks attempting to get out, both kneecaps pretty bruised and scraped...I didn't feel it until later. 
The four of us ran back to the car, I don't know how I was able to stay vertical considering I couldn't feel my legs at all.  After the run back, we posed for a few pics and then realized we weren't that cold anymore.
It was an AWESOME experience, I am so glad I was brave enough to go through with it!  So now when I'm old, I can say "Oh hey, remember that time we jumped in the river in freezing temperatures?"  Yeah, it was amazing :)

Cherie, Ashton, Kij, and ME :)

Family Emergency

To put it simply, my grandpa almost died on the day before Thanksgiving.  He ended up in the hospital down in St. George, UT after a few days of being sick and not getting better.  My grandma had to call the ambulance to come get him and when they took him into the hospital, they showed that he had a UTI, his kidneys had shut down, and his heart had gone into afib.  They were doing what they could to get his kidneys working, and trying to figure out what was going on.  He complained of having a pain in his back that just would not go away so the nurse ordered an MRI.
I think the MRI came back on Wednesday and it showed his back was full of a rare, and very dangerous infection, the nurse said she had never seen anything like it.
They life-flighted him in a jet from St. George, up to Salt Lake to the University Hospital immediately.  My whole family was at the hospital immediately, waiting for my grandparents to arrive.  While the doctor talked to my grandma about what he was going to have to do, my family got to visit with my grandpa.  At this point, he was closer to death than anything, and looking back, I think they did this beceause they weren't sure if he was going to make it.
They took him into surgery, where they cut his back open from the base of his neck, down almost 18 inches.  They started out with a smaller incision but when they got it open, pus and gunk started to spill out everywhere so they had to make it bigger.
The surgery was about 5 hours or so I think.  My family sent my grandma home because she had been by his side for days and she was exhausted, and they all sat and waited.
He came out of surgery and the doctors explained that this was going to be a long road to recovery.  He was going to be on a breathing tube for at least a few days, and in the ICU for a while.
Only 10 hours after surgery, they took him off the breathing tube, and just last night(Nov.23) they moved him out of ICU.
Our family has seen a miracle.
It still is going to be a long road of healing.  He will be in the hospital for a while longer and then he will be moved to my Uncle Gary's nursing home facility where he will stay for 6 weeks while they administer antibiotics through an IV.
I know I am right where I'm supposed to be right now, in Michigan with my other grandpa, but I feel like I am always in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I feel so incredibly far away from the rest of my family right now, but I know that when I get home, they will really need my help as they all return back to work.
You might ask, Where in the world did this horribly rare infection come from? I asked the same question.  Turns out, about 1 1/2 months ago, my grandpa stubbed his toe and it lifted the nail off of his toe.  I told him he should go to the doctor to get it taken care of.  He said, it would be fine, if it got worse, he would go in a few days.  A week later he finally got it checked out, surprise surprise, it was infected.  The doctor gave him an antibiotic, told him to soak it in Epsom salt a few times a day and sent him on his way.  The infection cleared up, no big deal.  Problem? part of the infection got into his blood stream and settled in the weakest part of his body, his back. (He has had 2 back surgeries in his life, so apparently that makes it the weakest part) So for a month, it has been building and building until finally it attempted to shut down his organs, one at a time.
Right now, he is in A LOT of pain.  He doesn't get to sleep very much because of the pain.  Someone from my family is there 24/7.  While he was in ICU, he complained that there were ants crawling all over the walls of the room. (side-effect of the pain meds)
We know he is getting back to normal because #1 he has started harassing everyone like normal #2 the ants are gone.
Moral of the story? Listen to HEATHER! Nobody did when I said there was something burning in the house, next thing you know, fire in the oven. "Go to the doctor", if he would have listened, he would have been able to enjoy the turkey he hates for Thanksgiving.  He has been harrassing me and grossing me out with his nasty toenail ever since it fell off.
Everybody has warned him that when I get home, he's gonna get it, and he will, right after I hug him and tell him to never scare me to death like that again, or I'll kill him.
Not very many people knew what was going on because everybody has been in such happy moods around the holidays and I didn't wanna bring my emergency into it but my family appreciates all of the prayers that have been offered, they truely have worked and have been a big blessing.  My grandpa is a strong man and he will get through this, we all will make it through this.  It has brought us all much closer together and there's no better time to do it than the holiday season.
*peace out girl scout*

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was a little different than normal.  Its been just over a month since my grandmother passed away and there hasn't been a day that has gone by that I haven't thought about her.  I wondered how this holiday would be without her around and it was actually just lovely and relaxing.
My grandpa drove up to my Aunt Julie's house and we went over to my Uncle Matts', sister Liz's house.  There were 11 people, 5 giant dogs (Sue, these dogs are only slightly smaller than yours, now imagine the madness of having 5!), and 1 cat.
The dinner was absolutely delicious!  We had 2 turkeys, one smoked, and the other roasted.  The stuffing was wonderful, we had yummy brussel sprouts, garlic mashed potatoes, and gravy.  We had THE BEST sweet potatoes I've ever had, and the best maple cranberry sauce.  We started out with a yummy curry and apple soup (I know there was something else in it but I can't remember, but it was good).  It was such a relaxing day and we didn't even have to bring anything, we just showed up.  We had so many pies to choose from, including a sour cream pie, which I tried, and it was wonderful, my grandpa said it was similar to a mincemeat pie (not that I would know since that name doesn't sound pleasant).
After dinner, there was some dancing in the living room...and then we all went outside onto the very large, covered patio where they started a fire in the fire pit and we sat by the warmth while the rain came down.  It was a super chilly night but there is something so comforting about being next to a fire.  It was a fabulous Thanksgiving filled with wonderful people.

The next day my grandpa took me to a U of M Women's Basketball game.  He has season tickets so we thought it would be fun to go.  We saw some of my grandmother's friends there and visited with them for a brief moment.  U of M were playing against Harvard and they were both pretty good teams, but in the end, we won! 72-61
The whole time we were there, I could not stop thinking about my grandma.  She was a True Blue fan through and through and went to as many sporting events as she could.  When they sang the fight song I got a little teary eyed, I will always remember her singing the fight song and pumping her fist up into the air, cheering the teams on :)
*peace out girl scout*

Justin Bieber

I flew out to Michigan on Monday, November 19 to be here for Thanksgiving.  There also happened to be a Justin Bieber concert that my Aunt Julie and Uncle Matt had bought tickets to for my cousin Olive.  Since I've spent so much time out here recently, we had talked about going together and wearing matching outfits and everything.  Our dreams came true and I finally got a ticket to be here. The concert was on Wednesday evening and we had to drive into Auburn Hills which is almost in Detroit.
The kids only had a half day of school so I drove to their house on Tuesday evening so that I could be with them for a few days.  Wednesday felt like the longest day EVER!
Olive got home from school and then we picked up Buzz from school and basically we just listened to music and played around for a the rest of the afternoon, counting down the hours until the concert started.


Bieber Bound in our matching purple jackets :)

When my aunt got home from work, Olive and I were dressed and ready to blast out of there! I felt like a teenager again.  We made a CD earlier that day filled with only Justin Bieber songs and we cranked up the volume and (carefully) cruised out of town.  It took us nearly an hour to get there and we knew we were close when the traffic came to a dead stop.  We followed a Party Bus that had a poster on the rear that said "Bieber Bound" and we knew we couldn't get lost if we stuck close to it.
We parked the car and literally ran to the building, we were seriously so excited.  We used the restroom (which took awhile considering the concert arena was basically all female) and rushed to our seats.  We had a pretty decent view of the stage but still pretty far away, but we didn't care, we were at a Justin FREAKING Bieber concert!  I'm pretty sure I did act like a teenager again.  It reminded me of my very first concert, which was Aaron Carter.

Aaron Carter, such good memories :)
 

view from our seats

The opener for the concert was Carly Rae Jepsen and she sounded great!  We weren't for sure if she would make it because we had heard that she had been sick earlier that week and hadn't performed but she got better just for us!  Then finally, the long awaited moment.  OUR boy Justin finally came out on stage!  He sang, all the girls screamed and sang right along with him (me included).  It was such a fun night! We laughed, we screamed, we sang, we danced, and a lot of girls actually cried (Olive included).  It was so fun to be able to let loose and just sing as loud as you wanted and dance and scream.  By the end of the night, Olive and I barely had any voices left, and our ears were ringing a lot.  We stuck around afterwards and waited in line for about 45 minutes to get our t-shirts, don't worry, we have matching ones :)


What a cutie patootie!

I have to admit, I really do like Justin Bieber and his songs.  I know that I am 23 years old and I get a lot of crap for liking him but I don't really care.  He is a cute guy and he has catchy tunes, so sue me!  A lot of people say he is terrible and isn't really talented at all and it kind of infuriates me.  During his concert, he played the guitar, drums, piano, sang and danced.  If that's not talented then I don't know what is.  It was a night I will remember for the rest of my life.  I absolutely loved being able to be with my cousin.  She is now getting to an age where we are starting to have things in common and we can talk about practically anything and I love, love, LOVE it.

We safely made it back to Grand Blanc (where she lives) and we decided ice cream was the perfect cure for our hoarse voices so we stopped at the grocery store where we got Hot Pockets and Ben&Jerry's and we danced Gangnam Style through the isles of the store because it was midnight, and nobody was really around, and because we wanted to!

This is one of my favorite pictures, all smiles. Good memories :)

 

*peace out girl scout*





Adventures in Babysitting

Today I’ve been babysitting Chloe.   She is always fun to have around and I love being able to spend some time with her.  My uncle dropped her off at about 8:45, she is wearing her purple dress with a tutu, her Rapunzel yarn braid, and a gold crown and a pink flower in her hair, what a kid.  This girl is funny.  She walked in and started singing “Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut just now” If you don’t know this song, just ask me, because I know it now that she sang it about 5 times in a row. 

We turned on some cartoons and just watched the TV for a little while when she informed me she was hungry.  This time she told me in a nicer way than she did last week when I babysat her and she said, “Um, usually my babysitters feed me”

I offered cereal, oatmeal, a banana.  What did she want at almost 9am? Her “favorite noodles” A.K.A. Ramen.  So we finished watching PB&J Otter (one of my old favorites) and then we made Ramen.  Before I let her have her noodles, I made her do the noodle dance ;) Here's a link if you don't know what the noodle dance is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhJKKbI7fMo

We spent most of the morning singing songs from Dora the Explorer, and dancing to other Disney songs that came on Pandora.

We (me) made cookies. She said it was harder than she thought it would be and gave up after making one ball of dough.  She sure participated in the eating though.

For lunch she wanted a Honey and Jam sandwich for lunch…I was hesitant to give the child that much sugar but I figured she’s going to lose all her teeth anyway, and I would be giving her back to her mother soon so I went ahead and became the favorite cousin and gave her the sandwich she wanted.

5 year olds are so fun :)

*peace out girl scout*