April

We have had a pretty full month so far.  Cody's birthday was on the 8th and we had a fun yet chill bday for him.  It's funny cause I had been so excited for his bday coming up that I bought all the gifts in March and was so anxious for him to see his presents, but then when it came I was like,...oh yeah, I got that for him.  We opened presents right when he got home from work.  If  I had to use one word to sum up his presents it would be: GAMES.  We are officially "gamers" the rarer/more off the beaten path the better.  I mean, we still like the generic/classic games, but there's a lot of cool stuff out there.  He got Smallword, 7 wonders, a couple of expansion packs, The resistance, Gloom (a hilarious card game where your goal is to have the worst things happen to your family and then have them die while you put happy events on your opponents' families.)  I know it sounds dark but it's funny dark like.... "you were mocked by midgets" or pursued by poodles etc.  Anywho, he also got a shirt that he wanted, catching fire, star trek into darkness, and these cool bluetooth wireless speakers to mount out on the patio.  Then we went out to Malawi's Pizza for dinner.  Then it was back home for cheesecake.  It was a great day.

Later that night, however, was not so great.  I woke up around 2 with an ear ache.  I've had a lingering cold for the past few weeks but never really had a lot of runny nose/sinus issues-I guess it was all going to my ears without me realizing it cause it hit hard and fast.  I got a blessing from Code, took some tylenol and laid on a heating pad.  At 8 I went to a dr's office in Springville-they saw me within a half hour of me showing up without an appointment, and sure enough said the right ear (the one that was hurting) was really bad/pulsing/red and that it might rupture, and that the left ear (which felt fine to me) also had a lot of fluid-who knew.  So I got my antibiotics and crossed my fingers that my right ear would calm down.  I've had an eardrum rupture before and it's not fun.  I mean, it doesn't hurt anymore when it happens but then you're deaf for weeks.  Code stayed home that day to let me rest/recover.  I was feeling better and my right ear had some draining etc and I didn't see any blood etc so I figured it didn't rupture-but my hearing is still pretty muffled in that ear so who knows, hopefully it drains/clears out soon.  The next night my left ear started hurting/feeling pressure randomly, even though I was taking my meds and sure enough it ruptured that night.  That wasn't fun.  Ironically I can hear better out of my left ear that ruptured than my right ear, go figure.  So I'm basically at 40% with the whole hearing thing.  Basically if you're within 5 feet of me and talking I can hear/make it out, but if you're further/or talking really low, no dice.  I love having tiny delicate ears- NOT!

Other than that it's been a fun week tho.  Today we had our easter party with some friends.  We had an egg hunt and played some games: bean bag toss, bowling, egg toss, and balancing eggs on spoons etc.  It was tons of fun, I only wish it wasn't so windy.  Of course it's beautiful ALL week and ALL of today except for an hour before the party it starts raining/crazy wind etc.  So half of my decorations blew away.  Meh.  That'll teach me to care about that stuff.  The kids had a blast and found the eggs SO fast, yeah it lasted about 15 min.  The kids also loved Riley-he was inside most of the time but he made a few appearances.  I tried to get more pics but my battery died :/

First, here's some pics of Riley.  I've discovered that it's 10X worse trying to take a pic of a dog vs a kid.

code's bday:

Our Easter Party!

Ruby was SO excited, she ran up with her bucket ready to go, it was so cute.  We also had the Robbins there and the Becks (all friends from college).  Here are some of the decorations/at least the ones that didn't blow away:

The hunt begins!

Jake wasn't really interested, found one and then was good.

We grilled some burgers/dogs and all the boys hung out under our play structure and it was so cute watching them play with rocks and share chips with each other etc.  Usually Jake kinda plays parallel to kids so it was extra fun seeing him hang out with the guys.

Games!  We did a bunny hop race along with an egg toss and egg on a spoon race

Aaaand that's where my camera died-sad I know.  But it was tons of fun and I'm glad we could do it!  I'll be out of town next weekend so we're kinda making this weekend our easter weekend.  hopefully my ears will heal quickly and I'll be done with colds etc.

It's the little things

This month has been interesting.  There have been many things that I technically could complain about but quite honestly I find myself happy.

The dog continues to get better at house training and generally we're down to 1 accident a day or so and usually that's because I was remiss/forgot to give him a second chance to go before leaving him for a bit etc.  He's a great puppy.  He's def a puppy tho haha.  He gnaws on EVERYTHING, including us, but I know this stage won't last forever.  I love watching Jake laugh at Riley as he gets all riled up when they play together.  It's really cute, and I love the extra teaching moments I get with Jake just because Riley's around.  How to be "nice and gentle", and how to deal with frustration etc.  It's fun to watch Jake's world get a little bit larger as he interacts with another member of the family.
This past weekend I got this funny lil bug that only seemed to last for a day, well, at least the worst of the symptoms only lasted for a day, but I have this nagging cough that's left over.  Last night I woke up in the middle of the night with an ear ache.  I grew up with TONS of ear infections.  Even had those lil tube things inserted which helped.  I hadn't really had any real issues with my ears since, except for a random bout of ear infections in college that only lasted a month or so.  My ear started to ache and then within less than 24 hrs, before I got to a doctor, my ear drum ruptured.  Yeah, not a cool feeling.  Then two weeks later the same thing happened to my other ear but I got to the dr in time with that one.  After that I didn't have any more issues.  Anywho, after waking up late last night I was worried that it would escalate quickly like before.  After a blessing from Code and some tylenol I managed to get back to sleep.  At 8 I went to a dr's office here in Springville who were open to walk ins and was seen in less than an hour.  A short while later I was at the Walgreens getting my prescription.  I'm grateful for modern medicine and that this happened on spring break-prolly why they weren't that busy, and that Cody was willing to stay home from work today to watch Jake and Riley so I could finally get some rest.
I'm just feeling very grateful.  I love my life and everyone who is in it, and in a weird way I'm just so grateful for these moments cause it makes "feeling better/healthy" feel that much greater when you know what it's like not have it.  I feel like the only thing worse than being sick/having struggles, is never having any hardships/sickness and taking it all for granted/not giving it a second thought.  I'd rather be struggling but aware and grateful for my blessings/tender mercies.

P.S. just watched "Magic Beyond Words: The J.K. Rowling Story"  on Amazon prime.  I was skeptical at first since it's all acted out/recreated- normally I'd rather watch interviews/real documentaries etc, but it was REALLY good and cool to see her journey.  I'd heard about it of course- poor single mom etc but I highly recommend it!

Dear blog,

were we a lil crazy in running out and getting a dog?  Yes.  Yes we were.  though we did lots of research leading up to getting our dog, we found the dog and called/bought it within a day of seeing the ad on KSL and a week later we have a dog.  It's amazing how different a lil dog can make your daily routine.  But let's face it, my routine was too easy, I needed a wrench thrown in the works-it's what keeps me sharp.

In all honesty it's not that bad.  He's adorable and better yet, I haven't itched once/had a reaction to him since he came here and I'm all up on him rubbing my face in his hair when I pick him up and everything (IT'S SO SOFT and DOESNT REALLY SMELL!).

It's just, I SUCK at transitions.  Once I get passed that I'm golden/nothing really ruffles me, but transitions are my weakness.  I let one lil change, CHANGE EVERYTHING in my mind, when really it shouldn't, but I let it.  For example, I feel pressure to entertain the dog.  While yes it's important to play with him and let him have exercise, I am not a flippin' cruise director.  Why do I put this unnecessary pressure on myself??  The dog is. a. DOG for crying out loud.  It's happy to be around us period.  It doesn't think, "I'm bored, man this lady is a dead beat" etc.  Plus, potty training-which is going ok- is stressful cause I expect that it should magically be done by now (day 4)  I know I know, stop laughing at me.  At least he's stopped crying when we put him in his crate-has accepted it/doesn't really whine at night etc.
breathe, just breathe.

But I don't regret getting him-he's wonderful, and it's times like these when I'm really grateful I have Cody, who has the perfect calm perspective and reminds me: he's just a dog, you still have to live your life-he'll be there when you get back.