It's April!! No joke!!!

This month has been very trying and difficult for me personally. I feel stretched in most places that have no more room, and like everyone I know is having more trying times than me. As I contemplate my life today, I try to keep in mind some words that stand out to me from conference.

"We are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our kindness—be they family members, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us. Sometimes we feel that we are weak and lack the strength to rescue others, but the Lord reminds us, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40)."
Though my life's curve balls seem large to me, I hope that I am strong enough to always be the Lord's helping hands. I hope that I can make others curve balls not seem so large to them.

March Madness

With change comes much stress! David started his new job on March 1st. Right from the start David realized how different it was going from a small company to a very large corporate company. He is excited to use the gym, trainers, cafeteria with free food, and free weekly massages. Among this excitement, he has really started to enjoy working with his new boss. Not only has he noted his high level of intelligence for his work and personal finances, but he seems extremely friendly. He has already played a game of soccer with him and took him out with the team to The Pie Pizzeria! Many may think that's not awe inspiring, but to us it's fantastic.

All aspects of David's job are a complete dream (except the 40 minute commute). However, the other area's of our life have been flipped upside down. Let's talk about our huge plan to have him graduate this fall. Well, he is currently attending the Orem campus and his job is in SLC. So he has an hour in rush hour traffic to drive from the north valley to the south valley. Headaches all around. Not only because of the gas cost, but because now we really don't have time to catch up on our day or see each other period for that matter. We both leave for work at 7:30am and he doesn't get home from school til 10:30pm. My weeks seem so much longer and harder. Then we find out, to transfer him to the SLC campus as hoped, he will be in school till next March awaiting the classes he needs to roll around. Not likely going to happen so Orem is going to have to work.

Pain......No.....Gain
David had a root canal on Monday. Talk about stress! He began feeling extreme pain on Saturday night. He took a ton of meds and no relief came. Sunday I went to the store and got some Orajel and after an hour that didn't help either. He finally called and spoke with his Dad and Sarah. Sarah wrote a prescription for some pain pills and an antibiotics in case of infection. That night he was still in a lot of pain and started throwing up every couple hours. Monday morning we scheduled an appointment for 10am. He threw up twice on his way over. Once there, the team was ready to go and got him right in. He was numbed up and they started drilling. I held his hand while I watched them do this insane procedure. Holy heck I hope I never have to do that. Anyway, while I was paying attention to David, our little nut was sneaking into my purse and stealing GUM! I had a brand new pack. Once David was about done, I finally headed into work for a half day. I got all the way into Provo and was 30 seconds from the daycare when Dallen starts vomiting! I pull my rear mirror down and see him throw up about 6 pieces of gum along with his breakfast. I turned the car around and drove home. I felt completely hopeless, trying to take care of my boys and figure out work. I was so frustrated with myself. Once I got home we all went up to our bed and while the boys zonked, I finished what work I needed to for the day. It was so sad how much pain David endured. Man you should see my house, what a friggin mess!

Jiggin' Shindig
Two and a half months has flown by fast, and the St. Patrick's Day Parade is on Saturday!! We are in the parade at 10am and on stage for the Siamsa at 11am. I am nervous and excited to get to perform. I know it will be great day. I just checked the weather and it will be snowing with a chance of rain! I just love Utah weather in the spring.

Month of Love

A month of achievement and enjoyment. We started a few weeks ago thinking, and planning for this years goals. We didn't realize how quickly change would be upon us.


As I continue dancing again, I have been surprised how much I missed it and how much a part of my life it truly used to be. I am glad I am able to be a part of a good spirited team and have a supporting family behind me. I am excited to see where this path will take me.

Dallen has been growing like a weed and learning at least 5 new words a day. He amazes me with how sweet and innocent he is one minute and how quickly he can change into a mischievious little sprout! (Right now he is running around in a white Sunday shirt, a diaper, black Sunday shoes and a napkin on his head!) I love him so much and am proud of him. I am also grateful he has continued to grow stronger and seems to get sick less and less. We had a small hick up this month, but throughout the winter he was kept from harsh illness.


Now for some great news....David was offered a generous position with Usana in SLC!! We are so excited that he was able to receive this position. It will help further his career with the applicable experience he needs. We were getting a little worried with his graduation in sight, that having little to no experience would hinder him. But, with faith and prayers, we were blessed to find a position that will keep us here in Utah for a few years yet to come. Because of this change David will need to transfer to the Salt Lake campus for school. This will be a big change in our day to day.

I am anxious to jump into March with the new job, new campus, many birthdays and St. Patrick's day! I hope we continue to grow and achieve our goals together this next month.

January 2010

Wow here we are at the end of January and I wonder....where the heck did the month go?!

It was just a few weeks ago we said goodbye to Arielle, Sophie, Mom and Marc. Air and Soph moved to Oregon to pursue new horizons in school and life. Although we are coping with this change, we miss them all very much. Not a day goes by that Dallen doesn't ask to go see Sofee and Aweal. As for Mom and Marc, they are now both in Cali enjoying the sun. Huge changes to get used to, but I am excited for all of them to engage in their new chapters of life.

I feel this new year will hold much change for our family. I am still working with Channel Solutions full time, while Dallen attends daycare a block away. Meanwhile, David is still with NetDocuments and has stepped up at school from part time to full time. Attending every night of the week except the weekends. This is difficult as we most days don't see each other from 6am til after 10pm. This is all in hopes that staying on track will land him graduating this October. I am so proud of his accomplishments with his education. Over the last 2 years he has continuously been in school without stopping for even a semester. Not only has David continued to hold down a full time job, complete hours a day of homework, fit in time for his family, hold a calling in the church, start his own hockey group, and many other things, he has maintained a 3.90 GPA or higher, and been recognized on the Dean's List multiple times. This may sound easy to some, but for me, I am amazed and honored to be married to such a committed man.

This month I have been working with Marshall at my Dad's house. We have been cleaning and upgrading it to help it sell. We need it to go!! We have almost accomplished what we set out to do. As a few more items need to be checked off, I am getting anxious to see if the changes will attract more or less of a crowd.

Marshall and I have also gone back to Irish Dancing. Needless to say we love being back!! It is hard to leave something for so long and get back into it, but I am so glad we are doing it. After a month of attending classes receiving many aches, pains and sores, I am feeling better each week. Getting back into shape and feeling more energetic. Hopefully we can keep it up!

This month was filled to the brim with birthdays! Among them, Sophie turned 19, and David turned 26! We all had a lot of fun at David's party last weekend. He started out the day with a hockey game with the guys, though it didn't last long as the ice was more like slush, they had a great time. We then did cake and a movie with munchies at the house. David wanted to watch 2012, I am going to say it was interesting and leave it at that....:) Not too sure I would recommend it to anyone as I was trying not to laugh during their dramatic points. After the movie David and I enjoyed an evening together while Steve and Sarah took Dallen to a real hockey game. We went shopping for some new clothes for David including a new suit jacket for $24!!! We also went out to eat at Tucanos, mmmmmm love their food. All in all, in was a great day and David raved at how it was the best birthday ever. Thank you to all who helped to give him an awesome birthday.

Summer Wrap Up

I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted!! I will share some details from this summer for those (I have no idea who) who haven't heard.

~Home Sweet Home~
We started off back in May thinking we might be able to find our way into a new house. All those who have bought a house, specifically their first house, know how absolutely trying and difficult it is. This was our second attempt since being married almost 4 years ago. Well after saving nearly 9 grand in 3 months, (thanks to the help of our tax return) beating out 30 other realtors on our specific home and packing to leave our condo of 4 months for a total of 11 moves since December 2005, we finally on July 25th moved into our first house in Lehi. I am so proud of us!!

~Heart Wrenching Moments~
While planning for our home, we came upon the scariest moments as parents thus far. In June Dallen became somewhat ill. At first I noticed he had a low grade fever and was tempermental. Usuall signs for a normal cold or bug from the daycare. After 2 days of him getting worse and throwing up a couple times, I rushed to the Dr.'s office. His normal Dr wasn't available so he was seen by another. I explained I thought something was wrong with him, I was told he had a certain illness where spots collect on the throat and he would be fine by the weekend. I was given no medicine and felt I was not listened to. Over the next 2 days I watched Dallen as we went into the weekend. He became so lethargic I would have to wake him up to eat. I would take him out of his crib and he would lye down on the floor too tired to even move. After a blessing, we took him to see his regular Dr. after again expaining the details, it seemed she had no idea what was going on. She sent us to UV Hospital where blood and sinus tests were done. I was called with results that his blood plateletes were high. We were then sent the next morning to do another set of tests. With a confirming high count, we were then sent to the ER at primary childrens, with the conclusion that he may have Kawasaki Disease. After 6 hours in the ER doing x-rays, blood tests and urine tests, they admitted us to the hospital with another conclusions of the disease. For those who don't know it is an auto-immune disease that causes anurisms in the heart leading to severe heart trauma. We spent days in the hospital waiting on this test and that test and it just seemed as though they didn't know what was wrong with him. They administered IVIG which is all the healthy antibodies from plasma donations (about 10,000 to be exact) to clean out his body of all the inflamation occuring. They discharged us after 5 days and an echocardiogram. After the weekend we still noticed he was struggling with eating and had a fever. Monday he was readmitted to Primary's where we stayed another week while they did more tests and concluded it was atypical Kawasaki as his symptoms were off a bit from what the disease should have caused. They administered IVIG again and two more echo's. His heart showed no trauma. They will want to see him next year and in his teens to make sure there was no underlying trauma. This was by far the worst experience I have ever been through. Working from the hospital, sleeping in chairs, not knowing if our child would come out of this damaged from the state he was in before. Well here we are almost 2 months later and Dallen acts and plays like a normal happy child. The only after effects are the medical bills of which maxed out our insurance for the year! :) I am happy to pay the small fee for my sons healthy life.

~Smithfest 2009~
Smithfest this year was so much fun! We started off with pizza and birthday cake. Everyone received their totally cool smithfest shirts as well. The 3 of us got to share a condo with Steve, Sarah, Richard, Ryan, Amy, Val, McKinley, Denise, Emily, Addy, and Stephen. Wow it was a full house! We didn't spend too much time and the condo because everyday was filled with activities and fun. We had pool days, a lake day with boating and tanning on the beach, hiking, we went to the Hill Air Force base to tour, and was amazed by what we got to see. We had a Lagoon day in which me, Richard and the Parker kids got stuck on the Samurai!! The family talent night was great, David and I Irish Dance, I actually got him to wear a Kilt! It was awesome! All in all with only a week to fit everything in we had a great family vacation.

So We Begin

We finally started a blog! You would think with how much David and I work in the technical industry, we would have done this a long time ago. So, I will try to keep as much up to date as possible. Today is New Years Eve, so we wish everyone a Happy New Year!