Ethan's Run

This past Saturday was Ethan's run!! We had SO much fun, and so many amazing people came out to run for such a GREAT cause! This was my first 10k, and let me tell you, it was kind of hard! I wanted to quit at mile 2, but I think that was because I knew that mile 2-3 1/2 was a pretty big hill that I had to go up. YUCK!! :) But, my good friend, Shelley, helped me through and we DID IT! Luckily, the weather held off until 10:30 (after the awards were given out) and then it RAINED!! The morning was beautiful, though, so the run went pretty well. It was really fun!!

I loved afterwards getting to meet LOTS of new heart moms. Actually, I felt like I already knew most of them because I read their blogs, but it was great to actually meet them in person!!

Here are TON of photos!
Here is my Mom. She made cotton candy to sell. SO FUN!! Thanks, Mom!

Here is Shelley and I before the race. We look pretty excited, huh?? See the mountain behind us? We ran behind it and up a mountain behind it. IT was HUGE!!

These are SOME of my friends that came. They did the 1mile fun run, then they cheered us on the last little bit and helped us finish! The red and white balloons was the finish line. Thanks, everyone for coming! You guys are the BEST!

Here is Shelley (at the front with a determined look on her face) and me (Bright blue pants) sprinting to the end. We were so glad it was OVER!!

This is my cousin, Sheryl. She came to do the race and finised SO WELL! She was 4th in her division! She also proudly wore Jakey pictures on her back! Thanks, Sheryl for coming.

Here are more of my friends:

Me, Shelley, Debbie (10k), Donelle, and Chrissy

Here is the awards ceremony. I loved how Heidi had all of the heart kids, or siblings of heart kids come up. SO CUTE!! Made me cry...

Here is Heidi A, Me, and Heidi S.

THis was one of the moms I had never met. This is Owens mom. Heidi and I felt like she and Owen are celebrities! Haha! We did get to meet Owen as well. I wanted to kiss him, but I don't know how he or his mom would have felt about that! :) Thanks for meeting us, Andrea! (by the way, the blanket she is holding will be one of the jakey's blankies for this year! It is a dalmation print with red on the back! SO CUTE!! Owen doesn't go to St. Joes, but he definitely deserves one!!)

Me and my sisters, Denise and Julie. De stayed back to take care of the kids and did the 1 mile (SHe is 4 1/2 months pregnant) and Julie did the 10k with me!

Heidi, Nicole (one of our favorite nurses, and GREAT friend) and me.

THis is Melody, Scarlett's mom. I finally got to meet Scarlett in person. She is absolutely adorable!! (My Lexi is in front of us. She was ready to go because it was getting COLD!!)

Heidi will do this again next year, so START TRAINING!! Thanks to everyone who came!!

February updates!!

So, our friends have been wanting to go hiking, so Feb 6th we finally got a chance to go! We went to the base of the Superstition Mountains and did a trail called the Treasure Trail. It was about 2.5 miles, and the kids did GREAT!! It is a fun hike, and a beautiful view from the top of the trail! It really only goes to the base of the Superstition Mountains, but still, very fun!

I love this photo of kids striking a pose! This was the top of the trail. Check out that background!

Now the kids want to do more hiking! sounds good to me!

This past weekend (President's Day) I took the kiddos up to my parents cabin in Pinetop to play in the snow. There was still TONS of snow! at least 2 feet!! It was getting a bit icy because it was getting warm, but we had SO much fun playing in the snow! Payton went snowboarding with my Dad up at Sunrise, then Maddie learned how on the hill outside our cabin, and then Lexi tried as well. Yes, this is Lexi snowboarding. She LOVED it! Watch out, Shawn White, Lexi is coming after you!

I have video and will try to upload it.

We also had a blast sledding down the hill. Here is Payton and Lexi,

Me and Lexi

Me and Lexi, and Lexi and her cousin, Michael. Buddies!

Lexi LOVED sledding...Check out her face! Cousin Addy is behind her!

Me and My sisters. The kids had so much fun hanging out and playing!

It was warm enough that the kids would go out to play in the snow for 2-3 hours at a time! It was GREAT! Thanks for the fun trip, gals!

January Catch-up!

Hi everyone,

I really need to update. Based on my blog, it seems like I have been sad for more than a week! Sorry!! I haven't been sad, at least, not consistently!! I will post some "happy" blog posts now. :) Just an update; last Tuesday was pretty good. Tyler and I went to the Temple, then I took the kids to the cemetary and we let off balloons, , cleaned off Jake's grave, visited some other heart baby graves, Grandpa Dennison's grave, and my grandparents graves, and then we had dinner, scouts, and bed and I went running. Kind of like a normal day, but I didn't cry, which was a pleasant surprise. Thank you to everyone who sent cards, texts, e-mails, phone calls, gifts (thanks, Heidi) and the beautiful flowers that were delivered (Thank you Netso, Skylee and Sunnee)! Everyone was so sweet and really made me feel loved. Thank you!! Thank you!!

I have lots to update on, so good luck following along!! :)

We had a fun birthday party for Jake on Jan 23rd. Maddie and Payton and Lexi set our couch up with all of Jakey's books. Soo cute! So many great friends and family came. We had crafts for the kids, an amazing birthday cake (thanks Tanisha!) and great food! Thank you so much to everyone that came. We felt SO loved!

For Christmas, we got the kids plane tickets to Disneyland, so on Jan 25-26th we Flew over to Disneyland for 2 days, then flew back! It was the kids first time on a plane, and we had a BLAST!!

Disneyland was SO SLOW, and even though it rained the second half of the last day, we had a SO MUCH FUN!!! Our longest wait was 10 minutes (on Indiana Jones, and that was because it takes 10minutes to actually get ON the ride!) We got to meet Mickey (we walked right up to him, because it was so slow), Minnie, Tinkerbell (again, no wait), Goofy played "follow the leader" with the kids and Alice, the Mad Hatter and the Queen stopped to chit chat with the kids! WOW!!

We, of course, saw Jakey's stone. Hi Jake!

It was cute, because when we flew out, the kids made sure to "buckle" up their animals. So cute!

Well, that is my January Update. Hope you made it to the end! Sorry, it was long! I will post more about Feb VERY soon, so check back! :)

Almost1 year.....

This past week has been very emotional. These past 19 days have been really emotional. It is now 11:30pm, and I do not want to go to bed. I went running tonight and didn't want to stop. Time seems to stand still while I am running, and I knew if I stopped, I would have to come home and go to bed and that would bring tomorrow even sooner. I ran farther than I should have. I then wandered around the kitchen, watched some tv, took a shower until there wasn't anymore hot water, and now I am on the computer. I really don't want to go to bed. I think the fear of my emotions tomorrow is too scary to deal with. I don't want to go all day looking at the clock remembering what was going on at that exact moment 1 year ago. Come to think of it, last year at this time, Tyler and I stayed up ALL night long. We didn't sleep at all. I think we both knew what was coming and we figured we could sleep later, but we didn't want to miss 1 minute with our baby. See...I am already reliving it. I can't imagine how it will be tomorrow.

Honestly, I think last Wednesday was even harder, and I think if I could make it through last Wednesday, tomorrow should be a piece of cake...I hope. You see, last Wed was the 1 year anniversary of Jake's catheterization. This was the procedure that went horribly wrong causing him to be on life support, until he couldn't get off of it. I actually wrote a post last week about it, but once I looked at it, it was WAY too long to post, and I think I really just needed to get it out. No one else would want to read it. But, I'm glad it's out. It took me about 4 hours to write. It was really long. I have it saved, and I will put it in Jake's book.

Anyways, Jake died that day and we were blessed to have him come back to us for 6 more days. That was our gift from Heavenly Father. Having him for just a bit longer. He really should have died that day, but I firmly believe he asked Heavenly Father to let him come back to us for just a short time. It would have been devastating to have had him die that day. He was a perfect looking baby. So, I'm hoping last Wed was the hardest day.

I'm not sure how tomorrow will go. Tyler and I don't want to make a huge deal of it. It's not really a day we want to re-live. The one thing I am looking forward to is going to the temple with Tyler. We are going to do sealings. (Sealings are what happens when you get married in the Temple. We believe you are "Sealed" for Time and All Eternity. FOREVER, as long as you live righteously. You receive amazing blessings. It is a beautiful feeling.) I think it is the PERFECT way to honor Jake, and remember him, and remember our promises we made when we were married; that as long as we live the best we can, and stay close to the Lord, our family WILL be together forever, and I WILL see my baby again, and raise him. I am SO grateful to KNOW that. It is what gets me up in the morning. That is what I am looking forward to.
I will let you know how tomorrow goes. For now, I think I am going to watch some tv, read a book, maybe wander around the house. I really should be productive and clean the bathrooms!! :) At least I would get things done! hmmm....

Come JOIN me!!

Hi Everyone!!

In just a couple of weeks is Ethan's Run!! Ethan was one of Jake's little buddies (At least, I know they were before they were born, and now that they are both in Heaven. They never met here on earth). Ethan was born just 2 weeks after Jake passed away, and had the same heart condition Jake had. Ethan passed away at 6 months old, and now his amazing mom, Heidi, has put together a run to benefit the heart unit up at St Joes. There is a 10k and a 2 mile fun run. If you don't want to do either of the runs, you can always just come and get a pancake breakfast, have fun, and donate to Ethan's run. Go to Heidi's blog to see his story.

This run is Feb 20th and will be GREAT! I am planning on doing the 10k-it will be my FIRST EVER!! I am very excited. Come join me!! It is only $20 for the 10k-YOU CAN DO IT!!

GO HERE to register.

See ya there!