09.26.08
At about 11 pm Shawn got a call on his cell phone from Nic's girlfriend Jessika (yes, they are back together...). She was crying and said that she was worried about Nic, that he was talking about suicide. I went to his house to see what was up. On the way there, I was in shock that suicide would ever even enter Nic's mind. I just couldn't believe it, it's so NOT Nic. I guess there are a lot of parents out there that feel this way after their child kills themselves but seriously, I just couldn't believe it. While driving there I called him on his cell phone and he answered. He was sobbing so hard I had a hard time understanding him. I finally got the story out of him:
He was at the animal hospital, Piston had died. When he got home that night and went to feed Piston, he started hacking and eventually fell over and quit breathing. Nic tried to get anything that might be in his mouth out and then gave him CPR. He got him breathing again and rushed him to the animal hospital near his house. I seriously can't believe he did CPR on a dog and it worked.
At the hospital, they put him on a breathing machine and ran tests, did x-rays. Turns out Piston was born with a very small trachea. Bulldogs are known for having breathing problems but Piston was worse than normal. He'd already had a couple of problems with it and that Nic had taken him to the vet for. Unfortunately this time he didn't make it. They might of been able to get him breathing again on his own but it would of just kept happening especially the bigger he got. The vet said even if we spent more money and possibly saved him now, within the next month or so Nic would probably come home and find him dead. Nic was devastated. He loved that puppy so much. Almost $700 later and Nic has no puppy... The money's worth it if you still have a pet. Sigh...
Justin was camping with friends and had hurry back to say goodbye to Piston. Hannah came too. It was so hard to watch my sweet, giant son wracked with grief. Before we said our final goodbyes, Hannah and I ran to Wal Mart to get a couple of kits for Nic and Justin to each get an imprint of Piston's paws. The kits came with a frame that has the imprint on one side and a picture on the other. I'm glad they thought of this and I'm especially glad that Wal Mart is open all night and had them.
Unfortunately, we don't have very many pictures of Piston and they ones we do have aren't very good. On Sunday (9/28/08) Nic was going to bring Piston over and I was going to take a bunch of pictures of them. I'm so sad we didn't get that opportunity.
Oh, and Nic WASN'T suicidal, I knew he wouldn't be. It was hard to understand him and when he was telling Jessika on the phone what was going on, she heard died/dead and thought he was talking about suicide. She knew he'd been stressed about school and work and must of thought it was bad enough that he would think that was a way out. She even called the cops she was so scared for him. Unfortunately explaining to the cops wasn't something he needed to deal with right then but they quickly saw the misunderstanding and left. Poor Jessika...she was so worried about him. I appreciate that she is willing to let us know when she thinks something isn't right. I'm just glad she was mistaken.
Monday, September 29, 2008
[Forever in Our Hearts]
Friday, September 26, 2008
[Body Worlds 3]
09.24.08
I was able to get free tickets to Body Worlds 3 from work. The did had preview showings for UUHC employees plus one guest. I was nervous that it would be gross and that I wouldn't like it. It definitely wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was pretty interesting but I thought there would be more to it. It was VERY crowded and sometimes hard to see the exhibits. I was a little disappointed but I'm glad I went.
[So You Think You Can Dance]
09.23.08
YAY! The day is finally here! The So You Think You Can Dance performance! Two years ago Stacia, Hannah and I went to Denver to see the performance with Dom. This year we invited all the girls in the family to come. We were hoping to have a big 'Girls Night Out' but some couldn't make it. It ended up being me, Hannah, Stacia, my Mom and Stacia's mom. We all went to dinner before hand at La Puente. It was pretty good!
Hannah, Mom, Stacia's Mom, Stacia, Me
The performance was a lot of fun and of course the dances were AWESOME! It was also awesome that there were 4 people that are from Utah...pretty cool! Hopefully they will tour here again next year so we can make this a tradition!
Me and Hannah (my youngest sister)
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
[Scrapbook Expo]
I had no intention of going to the scrapbook expo this year. I'm trying to save money and the expo just isn't what it used to be. It was weird though because it's the first time I haven't gone in YEARS! I had a few friends ask if I was going and they were SHOCKED when I said I wasn't! Heck, I was shocked myself!
I was messing around on the computer at home and saw the class kit I got for my friend Sunni at the Lisa Bearnson Adventures class we both signed up for. She couldn't make it so I got hers for her. She lives in Midway so it isn't like I could just run it over to her. I called her to see how she wanted to get it and she was at the expo with our friend Melanie (I met them both at the LB Adventures and we hit it off right off the bat! They are AWESOME!). So I went down to the expo to give Sunni her kit. There was only 2 hours left and I was really surprised that they were still checking wrist bands to get in. There was NO WAY I was going to pay $12 to get for 2 hours...NO WAY! Sunni said she got some pretty good deals so she showed me what she got and then they went in to get me some stuff. They are so nice! I did really good and spent under $10. YAY!
Then we sat in the lobby for about an hour just talking. It was so good to get to know them better. I wish we lived closer so we could get together. They are hosting a scrap day on October 4 and invited me but that is the weekend I'll be in Denver. BUMMER! Hopefully they will do something like this again SOON and invite me!
Sunni and I also found out that our husbands work for the same company! How crazy is that?? Now I will know someone at the company parties! Shawn said he knows who her husband is but doesn't 'know' him. John (Sunni's hubby) works in the Heber office and Shawn works in the American Fork office. They haven't been to any of the company parties we have but hopefully we will all go to the future ones!
It was good to see new friends again, thanks Sunni and Melanie!
[Birthday Dinner]
Halloween gifts I gave the girls:
[Taste of Home]
09.09.08
My friend Elaine got tickets to the Taste of Home Cooking Show at Thanksgiving Point. She got me a ticket for my birthday...how nice is that? We went with Megan (Elaine's daughter) and Richelle. It was pretty fun and will be fun to try out the recipes featured. Apparently in the past there are a lot more vendor booths and free give-a-ways but it was still fun. They had quite a few door prizes but of course I didn't win...I never do!
One of the vendors was a freezer meal planning program so Richelle and I bought a package and will share the software and we each got a book. It will be interesting to use this program. I have wanted to do something like this for quite some time but just haven't actually done in on my own. I did the My Girlfriend's Kitchen for a while and like it but doing it all on my own will be cheaper. Now I just have to make room in my freezer!
[Get Away]
Shawn and I went to Park City for a couple of days. We went to a mexican resturant called Nacho Mamas. Shawn got enchiladas (of course!) and they were AWESOME! I got a chili verde smothered burrito and it was awful! I would totally go back there because Shawn's enchiladas were so good but that is the only thing I'd get!
We also went to the Alpine Slide. There are several different activities there so we got the day pass. Unfortunately we got there in the late afternoon and didn't get as much for our money but we still did quite a bit and had a lot of fun. Our favorite was the Alpine Coaster...way fun!
Alpine Coaster
Zipline
It was a nice get away and we had a lot of fun together!
Monday, September 15, 2008
[WICKED Awesome!!]
09.13.08
Joey and Stacia took their kids to Lagoon today. They thought they might have Melanie's boys while Melanie and Aaron went house hunting but Melanie ended up coming too. Anyway, Stacia BEGGED me to go to help with the kids (without me or Melanie, there would of been Joey, Stacia and 6 kids all under the ag
e of 8), and they were given tickets for Christmas and gave me one so...I went! Tianna also came with Shaylee, Tianna's two little sisters and her stepsister.
Stacia and Tianna took the first 'shift' of having the little ones (Hadley, Logan and Shaylee) while Joey and I took Noah and Tianna's sisters on the bigger rides (Melanie and her boys came later). After a couple of hours Joey and I took a turn with the little ones. Truthfully we were kinda dreading it but knew we needed to take our turn. It ended up being a lot of fun! There were even some rides that Hadley was able to go on...she LOVED it!!
I LOVE this picture of Shaylee and Logan! They are so CUTE!
The last ride we went on was Wicked. It's a new ride at Lagoon and most of us hadn't been on it before. (Except Melanie and her kids...they have season passes). This was the only ride I really cared about riding because I hadn't been on it and it looked so FUN/SCARY! It was getting late and the line was SO long...I was very nervous that they were going to shut it down before we got to go on it. The line went surprisingly fast (guess we shouldn't have been too surprized seems how the ride itself is like 15 seconds long!) and we were up there in no tim
e. They have a new child pass off so parents can each ride the ride separately while one is with the kid. This way you don't have to wait in line twice. Because we were all together and some of the kids couldn't/didn't want to ride Wicked, we took advantage of the pass off. I went in the first group and let me tell you, this ride is AWESOME!! I seriously LOVED it and wish that we would of went on it earlier so I could do it over and over! There ended up being an extra seat after the pass off so I got to go again!! YAY!My other favorite rides of the day:
- Re-entry
- Rattlesnake rapids
What a fun, fun day!
Monday, September 8, 2008
[ANNIVERSARY!]
09.08.08
Our anniversary (18 years!!) didn't turn out like we would of hoped. Shawn had a deadline moved up at work and didn't leave until 11 pm! So I took a drive to American Fork and got take out for us (Panda Express). Nice anniversary dinner, eh? Hey, you work with what you can and at least we got to spend a little time together celebrating us! Love you sugah!
[HIGH SCHOOL/JR HIGH GET TOGETHER]
09.06.08
Kerry and I have been friends for years...since elementary school. A couple of years after high school, she moved to Arizona for college. She got her degree in Mass Communications and when into the news anchor field. Because of her field, she moved several different places. In March, she decided to get out of the news business and come back to Salt Lake. YAY! Since she has been back, we have been spending time together and it's been great! I've missed her and I'm so glad she is back in town!
Kerry has been working for a company doing PR and marketing. Part of her job is to man their booth at Expos. At one of the recent ones, she ran into some girls (Lorna and Pam) that we went to junior high school with. They went to a different high school then we did and I don't remember really seeing them after that. Lorna and Pam ended up planning a BBQ and invited us to it. It was SO fun to see them after all these years! There were also people there from our high school that I haven't seen in forever. I wish that some more people would of made it...maybe next time! I really hope that we do something like this again soon.
Pam Okumura, Lorna Burrell - party hosts; Pam's cute daughter behind
Lisa Walker, Ryan Lowther
[BAPTISM]
09.06.08
My sister Melanie's twins were baptised today. Joey performed the ordinations. It was a nice service and good to see everyone. Terry and his family were there too but will be leaving on the 7th to go back to Seattle. It is Terry's oldest daughter's birthday...Happy 12th birthday Brynn!