What a wonderful musical summer and harvest

It has truly been a wonderful summer. In the month of July we got to go see two amazing concerts at Red Butte Gardens. This is my new favorite concert venue. You can bring your own food and drink, which is huge! People brought full on picnics. So we did the same. We were able to eat the foods we love and drink the drinks we want at a fraction of the cost. First we saw Barenaked Ladies.



They were a lot of fun, although the opening act Kris Allen sucked. I am a fan of the idea of not having an opening act.

The following night we had the opportunity to see Lyle Lovett and his Large Band.



We saw Lyle Lovett last year at an acoustic show with John Hiatt. That is where we discovered that we really love Lyle Lovett. He has a great sense of humor and is fantastic on stage. When we saw he was playing at Red Butte we knew we had to go. It was even better than we had hoped. There was no opening band, just them. The music was great and I cannot wait to see him again.

My garden has also been a success this year. I have tried a few things I haven't tried in the past and have been pretty successful. I just discovered a pumpkin on the vine this morning! I planted brussell sprouts, green peppers, green beans, cucumbers, jalepenos, zuchinni, tomatoes, arugula, summer squash, and pumpkin. This was my harvest just today.



It has been a hot summer, probably more so because of my built in space heater. I am ready for Fall. All of my favorite things happen in the fall...changing leaves, pumpkins, Halloween, cooler weather, and this Fall will be extra special because we will get to meet our Lil' Cluff.

It's a....GIRL!

We are so excited, we found out at the beginning of July that we are having a girl! Dennis was hoping that it was a boy, but I think that is because his daughters are teens. He was needing a little testosterone. But now that he knows it's a girl, he is excited. He cannot wait to teach her to fish and take her to BYU football games. She is going to be a total Daddy's girl, I just know it. We were also very happy to see that she is growing just fine. She seems to be perfectly healthy. I am now at 28 weeks and officially into my 3rd trimester. In just a few short months she will be here. I cannot believe it! But we cannot wait to meet our Lil' Cluff.

Marlene is 14!

Marlene is here to visit for six weeks. She arrived the night before her 14th birthday. We had planned for the family to come over and have a BBQ and celebrate her birthday. We all had a great time. She got lots of art supplies, a Twilight bag, gift cards, and contacts. What more could a girl ask for?? Now we just get to enjoy the next six weeks. I think it will be a busy summer. Only one more week until we find out what we are having!!

Exciting News!

First, I want to start off and say that I am soooo happy I was finally able to figure out how to get the auto music to stop playing on that slideshow. I love Green Day as much as the next guy, but man it was annoying! So, I apologize for that. Second, I am attempting AGAIN to start contributing to my blog regularly. If for no one else, I need to do this for myself. It is a journal or sorts and there are many things that happen that I want to remember. And now for the excuse....the last 6 months of my life have been all consuming. Which leads me to our exciting news...

WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!

Yes, can you believe it?!? Dennis and I are very excited. Our new arrival is due November 12, 2010. We will find out July 1st if it is a boy or a girl. I have a gut feeling, so we will see if Mother does always know best.

The first trimester was rough. I was very nauseous and vomited regularly. I have now started gaining weight, which is good. The other rough part is the utter exhaustion that you feel 24 hours a day. I would come home at lunch and eat really quickly just so I could take a 10 min nap. Then there were the headaches. Those would have been bearable if I was allowed to take something other than this sugar pill some people call Tylenol. But all of the bad stuff aside, I am feeling better every day. And I would not trade it for the world. Because the result is so worth it.

Now for the fun stuff. Although we have not had our 20 week ultrasound yet, we do have some pictures of our little one. I am really excited for the new one because it is the first ultrasound where our baby will look more like a baby.

Here is Lil' Cluff at 5 days. You may notice that there are two. Well, I don't actually know which one is "the one". So take your pick. Does it amaze anyone else that a human being starts from this?!



Here is Lil' Cluff at Week 6. This was the first time we heard the heartbeat on ultrasound which in the pregnancy world is a huge deal. Once you hear heartbeat on ultrasound it lowers your chance of miscarriage to less than 5%.



And last, this is Lil' Cluff at 8 + 5 which is code for 8 Weeks + 5 Days. This was a well being check due to a little issue. But all was well.



Well, that is it for now! I really am going to try harder.

What are you thankful for??

This year for Thanksgiving we had a smaller group and we went around and had everyone say what they were thankful for. This is what everyone had to say.

We had a wonderful time. Thank you Tasha and family for making this Thanksgiving special.

Sinus Surgery

Anyone who knows me knows that I have crappy sinuses. I get sinus infections at least every 2 months, often more than that. I had sinus surgery 10 years ago and went for a very long time without a sinus infection. But the last 5 years have been horrible. They have come back with a vengeance. I finally got to the point where I felt like I could not take another antibiotic. I met with an ENT, Dr. Riddle and he did a CT and said the infection was bad so they put me on a very strong antibiotic. After 4 weeks they did another CT and he said the infection was much worse. They wanted to get me scheduled for a sinus surgery right away. So I immediately had to stop taking Ibuprofen and Aspirin and could only take Tylenol. Tylenol is great for headaches and as far as I am concerned sucks for everything else. After a few additional weeks of pain (since I still had the infection) it was time for the surgery. So October 20, 2009 I had my final sinus surgery. I asked Dr. Riddle why I had to have it a second time. He said that some doctors open it up just enough. He is aggressive and said that most likely I will not have to have another one. So this is what they did.

I had an endoscopic procedure where they opened up the following sinuses:

Frontal sinuses (in the forehead)

Maxillary sinuses (behind the cheek bones)

Ethmoid sinuses (between the eyes)

Sphenoid sinuses (behind the eyes)

They also cleaned out some of the infection.

My nurse who got me all ready was awesome. She thought Dennis was pretty amusing. They gave me a ton of medication and an IV. The doctor was behind so we had to wait for quite some time. This is how I looked before the procedure.



The gown was really cool! There is a hookup in it where they can pump warm or cool air right into your gown...awesome. I remember the anesthesiologist giving me half a dose of some "calming medicine" (that is what he called it). Dennis was waiting for me to be weird but I was fine. Once they took me back for the surgery he gave me the other half and the rest was history. I don't remember anything after that except waking up. This is what I looked like AFTER the procedure. I was not even aware Dennis took this.



They want you to eat something so they can give you pain meds. So what do they give me....crackers! I don't know if you have ever slept with your mouth open but your mouth gets dry, very very dry. I nearly choked on the crackers. So I asked Dennis for pudding and he was very kind and fed it to me. Oh! And they gave me Diet Coke...yum. The doctor said the surgery went well although a little longer than expected. He said it was very good we did the surgery since the infection was pretty severe.

The next few days recovering were pretty miserable. Mostly because I could not breathe through my nose and my mouth was so dry that I could not eat solid food. I lived on soup and milkshakes. But honestly, who doesn't like a chocolate milkshake for breakfast?!

A week and half post surgery I am feeling much better. I am doing 4 sinus rinses a day. I have 2 nasal sprays, an antibiotic and am only taking Ibuprofen for pain. And in a week...I can blow my nose gently! Keep in mind I haven't blown my nose in almost 2 weeks. It is killing me! But I am grateful I was able to have the surgery, that I have an amazing husband who took care of me during recovery, a mom who got me milkshakes and anything else I needed, and a ward member who brought me amazing potato soup. I look forward to amazing, clear, infection free sinuses!

Fall is here

It's here. The time of year I look forward to most. The weather is getting cooler, the leaves are changing, school is in session, and pretty soon the leaves will start to fall. Although Autumn is my favorite time of year I do not love the snow that follows. Not only is it beautiful outside, but my favorite holidays are coming up...Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Dennis Birthday. This time of year I torture Dennis and make him go with me for a drive up the canyon. We typically do the Alpine Loop, since we have an annual pass. This year seems to be especially colorful perhaps because of all the moisture we got in the spring. Here are a few pics from our drive.