Pinch me...am I dreaming?

Ok so here is the story of me and this dang good lookin man :-) So the week of my surgery back in September my cousin Jenny's husband Kempton told Grant (his friend and old college buddy from the Dorms) that he should request me as a friend on facebook. Well as you can imagine I was completely out of it being all drugged up on pain pills that I did not check my email or get on facebook for almost a whole week and when I did it was very briefly and I really don't remember anything I did or said. Anyway a few weeks later when I was more coherent I get a message from Kempton saying "what's up with all the rejection girl I'm trying to hook a cousin up?" Then I realize that I have a friend request from Grant which of course I accepted and after that we started chatting a little back and forth on facebook and then the more we chatted the more I realized just how much I wanted to get to know him even more, so we then exchanged numbers and started talking on the phone. I talked to Jenny and Kempton one night and they told me that they were flying out here from Florida for Thanksgiving and that they wanted to bring Grant to Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandma's for us to meet. Well after talking to Grant a few times on the phone, we decided we didn't want to wait clear til then to meet so he asked me out and we went on our first date a few weeks ago. We then hung out both Saturday and Sunday night of this past weekend and well he is coming to Thanksgiving dinner in just a few days of course where he will meet quite a bit of the fam :-)

I can't even begin to describe what I am feeling right now... I do feel like I am in some sort of a dream. Can this really be a reality for me? But I can say this I seriously cannot stop smiling right now... I am oh so happy to be dating this wonderful man, who is so amazing! He has been through such a lot in his life and well he is just so positive and happy and such a great example. I feel so lucky just to be around him and we just get a long so well. We have so much in common and we can talk to each other so easily! I seriously feel like I have known him forever! Anyway what more can I say except for life is good and I am oh so thankful this year for friendships and new beginnings!

A whole new me...

Well here it is... I know most of you are going to be shocked that I am finally back to blogging again. So many of you have asked when I am going to get back to it again and well the wait is finally over... I am officially back now and well as for my lack of absence, let's just blame it on my recovery, shall we :-)

Speaking of which seeing as how the last thing I posted was the morning of my surgery (which was now over two months ago) I should at least post something about how it went, eh? I have talked to most of you and you already know but to those of you who don't ... it went so amazingly well! No complications or weird happenings (which is so good for me) and well such a huge difference! It is seriously the best thing I've ever done in my whole life and I would do it again in a heart beat. It has totally made me feel so much better not only physically but emotionally...I have never been more self confident as I have become in the last two months. It is amazing the difference that it makes in my self-esteem and to not have my back and neck and shoulders hurt anymore, ya oh so worth all the pain, trauma and expensive of it all! I took some before pictures of me in my scrubs the night before the surgery and well I will post the before and afters to show the difference but not for a few more months. It can actually take up to six months before all the swelling goes away completely so I will wait until then for the final pictures but ya my dream has finally become a reality and it really is amazing the huge difference it has made in my life!

The Time Has Come...

Well here it is 3AM and I've found it impossible to sleep so I figure I might as well get up and do something instead of just laying there in my bed worrying and anticipating any longer! It seems crazy to me that over a month ago now that I posted about having my dream come true of getting a reduction done and now here in just a few short hours that dream will soon become a reality! After so many years of wishing, wanting and hoping...this is really going to happen...well it seems so surreal to me right now, I can't quite grasp the concept really! Ha Ha that will change very soon when I'm lying there in pain, then it will become real very quickly I'm sure...but whatever pain I might feel no matter how bad it is I know it will be oh so worth it! Not only physically but emotionally, it will make such a huge difference in my life! I just want to say thanks to all my family and friends, you have been so supportive, especially these past couple of months, listening to me talk nonstop about this...for all your encouraging words, and for helping to make this possible for me!

I'm sure I will be pretty non-coherent for most of today so to all of you that would like to know how it went my mom will have my cell phone and she said she will be happy to answer it and let you know how I am doing. The surgery they said will take around 4 1/2 hours so they anticipate I will be back in the recovery room sometime between noon and one... well this is it then, wish me luck!!!

May continued... Memorial Day Weekend

Well I celebrated Memorial Day Weekend a little different this year... entertaining three children or I guess I should say them entertaining me is more like it! :-) Dr. Blake and his wife Misty had a wedding to go to that weekend in California so they asked me to come stay with the kids which was super fun but holy cow was I tired come Monday evening! So here's a little shout out to all you Mothers out there...you are AMAZING! I mean I knew you all were already but well doing something like this really puts it in perspective. I think what was hard was going from being single one day to being mother of three the next...even if it was just for a weekend! :-)

Love this kid! He makes me laugh so much...within the first few hours I was there I came into the kitchen to find Dylan sitting on the counter and when I was asked him what he was doing this was his reply, "me dipping me trackers in me nemonade"

We did lots of fun things that weekend first being we went to see Night At The Museum, which was good until the last half an hour when both Whitney and Dylan wanted to sit on my lap but not at the same time so they kept both climbing up and both pushing each other off...ya that was a long half an hour and don't ask me how the movie ended cause I have absolutely no idea :-)

After the movie we went to McDonalds for dinner, a little playtime on the playground and yes ice cream cones, which I discovered Dylan likes to eat with his hands. My Aunt Sherrie took my cousins Sam and Brandon to the movie too so we all just hung out together. The kids all had such a good time playing together, which was super nice!

I so love the look on his face! He is doing some serious contemplating while eating this cone!


Looks like they forgot to put the ice cream in your cone Court, too bad :-)

We then went over to Sam and Brandon's house and played outside on their swing set til almost dark. The kids were super good for me that first night (I was a little worried they'd be missing their mom and dad too much) I think I wore them out though cause they all fell asleep watching a movie and I just carried them straight to bed.

The next day was Sunday and well I just have to say that getting three other people ready for church besides yourself and making it to 9:00 church on time is quite the adventure when your not used to it. We made it though and the kids had a fun time going to primary with me. It was really cute when we were leaving and driving home Whitney said to me, "Tami did you know you do the exact same things at your church as we do at ours, we sing all those songs too"


So Memorial day itself I took the kids over to Thanksgiving Point Gardens (again putting my season pass to good use) where we met up with Caroline, my friend and fellow co-worker, and her husband Dan. We all had such a great time walking around the gardens, taking pictures and rolling down hills :-)

I love how Dylan scrunches up his face when he says "cheese". Feeding the fish was the biggest hit...they were so excited to do that. I think Dylan could have stayed and did that all afternoon and been perfectly happy!



These next three pictures turned out super cute of the kids... I made them climb in between all the tulips to get a really good picture for their mom and dad. They were good sports for me and put up with all the picture taking. I later surprised Misty by printing out 8x10's of them and put them in frames, which are now proudly displayed in their home. It gives me a little smile every time I see them and think to myself I took those cute pictures :-)

COURTNEY

So yes the sun was in her eyes but she totally smiled like this on purpose...we took several shots but well as I'm coming to learn more and more these days, "sometimes ya just got to go with it" a truth that I'm sure all you mothers out there already know :-)


WHITNEY



Ya absolutely adorable!

DYLAN

There is that classic "cheese" face again

Caroline and the girls taking a break while I was taking Dylan's picture... it was really warm that day and we did a lot of walking!



We posed by the fountain in the Secret Garden but again the sun shining in our eyeballs well all but me that is... at the end of our walk Caroline was a super good sport and rolled down the huge hill with the kids not once but three times...she is my hero! Dan and I just sat at the top laughing at all of them! Good times!




After we left the gardens I took the kids to my family barbecue at my Grandma's, which they had such a great time, eating good food, playing with my cousins and my brother's dog Izzy, and then playing a good ole' game of baseball.

So that was my memorable memorial day weekend... I had a wonderful time although like I said I was a little wiped out that Tuesday morning at work the next day, sorry Dr. Blake :-)

A Little More Catch Up...

Now let's see where was I on my little rewind blogging posts? Oh yes I remember now... the Month of MAY! Well as they say April showers bring May flowers and that is definitely the truth! :-)

I decided that I would make great use of my Thanksgiving Point season pass that I purchased and took another trip to the gardens that first week in May, with my friend Toni and her little boy James


So I took this picture of myself with my cast on which turned out surprisingly well considering and yes for those of you that didn't hear about that story, that was another event of May this year. I broke my right wrist by falling on it while doing pushups (who does that, seriously?) I thought that after breaking a bone it was suppose to grow back stronger not weaker but ya I fractured it right next to where I broke it nine years ago... crazy!

Toni and James

We also took James to the animal farm at Thanksgiving Point too... it was a super fun HOT HOT DAY in MAY. One of the few since it rained rained rained most of the time, we were beginning to think we lived in Seattle this summer!

A Good Month for a Wedding... my cousin Anthony (Britanie's brother for those of you who don't know) got married May 1st to a beautiful girl who we are happy to have as part of our family. They had their reception at a greenhouse in Orem called the Sun River Garderns which I thought was such a great place...

Anthony and his wife

Cindi and her nephew Tavin. My cousin David and his wife Nicole flew out from Chicago for the wedding

I had to take a picture of this cause I thought it was so cool. They had these on the refreshment tables, it was a block of ice that they made into a vase and had the flowers in and all lit up... so pretty!

And last but not least a picture of my brother...sporting his kilt for the occasion!

A present for myself...

Well its official... after much hoping and wishing for years and years, my dream of having a reduction is finally coming true! I went and scheduled the surgery date today for September 16th, just a little over five weeks away and I cannot even begin to express how excited I am (well not for the surgery itself, that sounds a little weird but you know for the end results) and how grateful that my insurance is going to pay almost half of it. I know it's not going to be pleasant for a little while after ( but I figure if I survived kidney stones I can do this) and I feel bad missing work for a week or so but I know already that this will be one of the best decisions that I've ever made in my life. Most of you that know me well, whether you've known me for years and years or just a little while, you know how self-conscious I am and always have been about this...so like I said this is a huge present for myself. I can hardly imagine what it will be like to not have my back, neck and shoulders hurting constantly, to not have permanent indentions and sores where my bra straps rub trying to hold up the weight (speaking of weight its got to make a difference there too...I swear these things weigh ten pounds each :-) to not have to buy bigger sizes of shirts because they are too tight there and to not have to pin the button down shirts where it gaps open there, to not have people make comments or stare at them while I'm working (yes this has had happened several times) to be able to stand up straight instead of purposely hunching over all the time, and well basically to be able to look in the mirror and not be absolutely disgusted! It's funny how we always want we don't have...I've had several people tell me how lucky I am to be so well endowed and in turn I have always been so jealous of everyone who goes bra shopping in the "B" department :-) So ya I am super excited at this point, not so much nervous, but I'm sure that will change closer to time...I have to say it will be weird for me after all the surgeries I've had to actually be going in their willingly and not in pain- ha ha. I may need to be reminded of this and all I said here come say Sept 17th when I'm laying in the recliner at home wondering why I wanted to go through the pain of it all? :-) Well anyway I just want to say thanks to everyone for their encouragment and support and for all the pep talks that have been given and will need to be given in the next few months... til I'm a new happy confident woman!

Birthday Celebration...

I had such a good birthday this year...celebrating with family and friends. I had a lot of people come over for dinner and cupcakes and a lot of friends and loved ones that I know wish they could have come but weren't able to make it. I am very blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life who have influenced me in so many ways! Thank you to all of you for your friendship, for caring about me and making me feel so loved!

Here are just a few pictures of the big day, my friend Rach and I

My brother, Mike and sister-in-law Alicia and no I didn't call them and tell them they had to wear black :-)

My dear friend and old roommate Emily

My friend and coworker at Dr. Blake's office, Caroline

My friend Vickie (whom I used to work with at my old office) and Sarah and her kids, Darryanne, Jesalynne, Mckenanne and Porter Clasby. They are all growing up so fast! Darryanne and Jesalynne used to come over and play with me and my roommates at our apartment when they were just little girls and now they are almost taller than me... CRAZY!