Update...

So, thanks to all of you who have been calling. I so appreciate the treats (read: evil pie from my neighbor!) and the meals that have been brought by. Flowers have been lovely as well. I also so very appreciate you sweethearts who have been sitting with me or soon will. Ian is nervous about me being by myself (I think it is overkill, but he is the boss right now) and he feels much better having someone here if there is a repeat of Tuesday. Scary.

I have started taking an anti-seizure medication that I will continue for the next month. My tongue is pretty sore making it difficult to speak, but I am grateful that it didn't get bitten off altogether. Thanks to some pretty smart folks at work, they fought against my She-Ra strength and kept me on the ground during the seizure so that I wasn't hurt more than I was. Big thanks to you all too. 

I have been sleeping a lot...hopefully that will help things. The dr. says there is a 70% chance I will have another in the next year, so that scares me a little bit. We are still trying to get an appointment with a neurologist to figure out what is going on. The CT scan came back fine, so I guess that is positive.  Anyhow, as we get updates, I will post here.

Have a great evening!

Wii are so very sore today!

I really should change my background so it is a bit more fallish....

This weekend we took the plunge and bought a Wii. We were going to do it for Christmas, but I just couldn't wait!

Well...it is a blast. I have to admit, I kicked hubby's tushie at boxing...I have the sore arms today to prove it. Better that lifting weights I think. Jack loves the tennis and bowling and none of us can figure out baseball. Jack had a blast creating Miis (little people that are your avatars) that looked like family...and some did not. His "Grandpa Brad" avatar is spot on; including Nonni's glasses that he always wears!

Jack also attended Nonni's annual Halloween Party. Horse rides, enough sugar to put a kid in a coma, pizza, games, crafts, and some quality play time with his cousins. What's not to love? He had a blast and He was SO happy when I painted a mask (like the ones the Incredibles wear) on his face to go along with the Batman costume. He was not too excited when I tried to wash it off before bed.

Papaw and Mamaw were out this weekend as well (thanks for showing us the ropes with the games...Mamaw rocks with the bowling!) They stayed with us, which Jackson always loves. That kid has been blessed with 3 sets of off the charts grandparents. He loves them and they all seem to love him right back.

Halloween is this weekend. Ian and I are still without costumes. Any suggestions?

From Sadie's website

This is a reprint from my sister in law, Tiffany, from Sadie's blog:

"I saw this on a lil' guy's website recently (www.caringbridge.org/visit/gunnergillespie). It took me all of a minute tops to do. A lot of you out there probably saw this program on TV. Cancer is just all-around awful, so any funding for any cancer is huge. Yet childhood cancer is so extremely under-funded in general, let alone for DIPG's. (And sadly, today little Gunner passed on to Heaven from this awful monster... please take a moment to do this, for Gunner, for Sadie, and all of our little DIPG kids).I am asking all of you to put your sadness at this horrible disease into action. Many of you probably heard about Stand Up To Cancer which aired on all three networks about a month ago. Well, there is a group of 20 people who are now deciding what areas of cancer research to spend the $100 MILLION that was raised. Here's what you can do. Go to http://www.standup2cancer.org/ scroll down to the bottom, at the very bottom left side is the "contact us" link. Click there, then under the "Topic of Your Inquiry" area, select "Request SU2C funding" in the drop down menu. In the comments, ask for funding for childhood cancers such as DIPG because of their lack of funding and extremely low survival rate. It only takes a minute and you will be helping show support of Gunner and all these other children with the same tumor. "

I went online and sent the request. It was easy to do and will hopefully be an important step in getting more funding for research for these brave kids who are fighting such a nasty disease.

Pampered Chef

Okay...I am going to bend one of my rules about home parties. It is high time we have a little soiree for the girls, so I am going to have myself a little Pampered Chef get-together! It will be Thursday, November 6 @ 7. If you are interested in coming and hanging out with some fun girls, please call me or comment on the blog so I can get you an invite out. I know that financial times are tough for many of us, so don't feel like you have to buy anything. Just come, have some food, and hang out. It should be a good time! (plus I will be making Sher's fave...the warm apple cider thing that doesn't have a name.)

Tagged!

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. The Office
2. Life
3. The Biggest Loser
4. Good Eats
5. Heroes
6. uh...
7. um....
8. uh....

8 Favorite Restaurants: (In no particular order)
1. Sette Bello
2. Caputo's
3. Costa Vida/Cafe Rio (they are the same thing anyway, right?)
4. Z'Tejas
5. ARctic Circle (for lime rickeys)
6. Jason's Deli
7.
8.

8 Things That Happened Today:
1. Called clients back
2. Emailed a couple friends
3. Updated my blog
4. brushed my teeth
5. fell asleep in the car on the way into work (no...I wasn't driving!!)
6. ate a luna bar
7. received a couple gifts on my desk since I was out of the office yesterday
8. kissed my hubby and son

8 Things I am Looking Forward To:
1. Being pregnant...someday
2. Weekend!
3. Scrapbooking this weekend
4. Dinner and Mom's on Friday
5. birthday lunch with the girls today
6. Twilight in just a few weeks
7. Halloween!
8. Seeing my boys after work today

8 Things on My Wish List:
1. another baby
2. better financial markets
3. Hot date with my sexy hubby
4. More time with Jackson before he grows up
5. to have another half marathon in my future
6. more time to scrapbook and be crafty
7. everyone in my family to be healthy (dang that cancer!!!)
8. of course...WORLD PEACE (thanks beauty pageant, er, scholarship program contestants!)

8 People I'm Tagging:
1. Suzanne
2. Kristina
3. Lynnette
4. Big Dave
5. Tiffany
6. Nicole
7. Sherilyn
8. Megan

What a great gift!

Look at this little gem on IGN from yesterday. Can I say best birthday gift ever?

Twilight Sequel Buzz
Summit reportedly prepping follow-up.
by Jim Vejvoda

October 14, 2008 - Twilight is still over a month away from release, but there's reportedly movement already under way on the sequel to the screen adaptation of the Stephenie Meyer bestseller.According to Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily, "Summit Entertainment's CEO Rob Friedman is already readying a Twilight sequel." Finke cites Twilight's pre-release success -- from the pre-orders for its forthcoming soundtrack to the new trailer's views at MySpace -- as all the reason that Summit needs to justify starting development on a sequel before the first film is even released.As Finke points out, Twilight's $37 million budget and relatively low P&A costs versus its passionate built-in audience make it an inexpensive blockbuster in the making and a no-brainer franchise starter.The second book in Meyer's Twilight series is New Moon. Meyer's official site has the following synopsis: "For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella could ever have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning..."

What a Weekend!!!

Believe it or not, you all, I am still kickin'! After the worst week in the market, I am still ALIVE!! Yippee! Definitely hoping that this week we see some improvement.

To make up for the poopy (a highly technical financial term) week, we had a fantastic weekend! Here is the rundown:

Friday after leaving work, we had a little family date and headed out to Cornbelly's for some corn maze fun. What a blast we had...excepting the fact that it was freakin' cold and I wasn't all too prepared for the seemingly subzero temps and wind. We ran through the maze (Jack led the way) and ventured into the belly of "the creature." Although the creature wasn't technically haunted, Jack did not like it one bit. He spent the rest of the evening saying how badly he hated the creature. We also decided to jump on these "pillows" that they have there. They are a cross between a trampoline and those big inflatable slide things. There were some big kids (teenagers) jumping on there and I was worried about Jack jumping on there with them. Turns out that was worry wasted. He got right in there with them and bounced all over the place and loved every second of it. I tried to hang in there, but shoes were not allowed and I was not wearing socks, so the aforementioned freezing temps kept my time limited. I would jump until I was within an inch of frostbite, then hop off to thaw, then I was back out there again! Cornbelly's will surely be part of our Halloween traditions in the years to come.

Saturday we spent chilling at home. Ian worked in the yard winterizing things and I worked on Halloween party invitations for my mom. My mom and I also spend some time visiting craft open houses. (Thanks again, Liza, for the window! Can't wait!) That evening, Jackson headed off to Nonna and Grandpa Ralph's and Ian and I met up with some friends, Jon and Sherilyn, for a trip to the Haunted Village @ the This is the Place Monument. For those who love a good haunted house, I highly recommend!! The trip is through the streets and houses of the Deseret Village. I would venture to say that this is more of an adult spin on haunted houses as they lose the Freddy Krugers and Chainsaw guys that mark the haunted houses of my youth and replace them with creepy ghosts following you around and the headless horseman. Very cool. At one point, I had to potty (another technical term) pretty badly and was laughing so hard, I turned to the dead pioneer woman following us moaning about her dead husband and asked if I could use her outhouse. She whispered, "there is a bathroom by the petting zoo." Those ghosts were not only extrememly frightening, but quite helpful too.

Earlier in the evening, we had a discussion around the afterlife and wondered if there wasn't enough to do in the hereafter to keep spirits busy enough that they didn't have time to haunt places. One of the hosts told us that those that haunt were "Union Ghosts" and thereby had lots of time on their hands. Funny guy!

Sunday, we headed out to church. Thanks, Andria, for an amazing lesson on growing our faith. I agree wholeheartedly that sometimes all we can do is decide we are going to believe. And our merciful God, who knows the intentions of our hearts, says that is okay and will make up the rest. It was a lesson I needed to hear at this point in my life when life sometimes can be overwhelming. I am reminding myself each day of the words of President Monson to find joy in the journey. Takes a whole lotta faith to do that!

Sunday evening, we had my mom over for dinner. What a nice way to finish off the weekend. We just relaxed to prepare for the coming week....let's make this week a great one!!!

Find Joy in the Journey

Wow...Conference this weekend was just simple wonderful!! I feel like my spiritual cup was overflowing and I can't wait to get the Ensign with all the talks so I may more fully digest.

A couple talks really stood out to me, but I would like to focus for just a moment on President Monson's closing remarks from the Sunday morning session. His exortation to find joy in our journey really spoke to my heart. We all have challenges in life and as I face some of my own, I found peace in his challenge to find joy even in the difficult times in life. This is something I really struggle with at times. It is easy to lose sight of those simple joys when the tempest rages.

I thought that I could focus on this over the next 6 months with a gratitude journal. I started one in April after the suggestion during conference and it made me much more aware of the gentle blessings of Heavenly Father. I guess when life gives you a good kick in the teeth, time to thank the Lord for not letting life bloody your lip. And at least you get to have a good up close look at life's great new boots...dang!!

So here we go again! Oh...and check out this site for a good laugh! www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com

Go UTES!!

Just a shout out to my Utes. They played spectacularly last night! Beating the team that just beat the #1 ranked USC! (Wow...sound like I really follow football, eh?) The game was great, but to be honest, mid third quarter, I turned to Ian and said, "I am kinda over this....can we go?" He nodded, "Sure honey" as he only mildly feigned agreement. Well, I am glad for his foot dragging (and a Diet Coke.) I learned lots of stuff by asking Ian questions at completely inappropriate times....what is a two point conversion? What happens during overtime? Do they really grab a soccer guy to be the kicker? Why does everyone hate the kicker? All these questions were posed during key moments during big plays in the game and sadly, my sweet husband missed several key moments as he was explaining to me what a 2 minute drill was.

He says he loves it when I go to the games with him...I think what he really means is that he likes me to go because that means he gets to go too.

So, all, I hope I am not the only one out there that bugs their significant other during sporting events. What do you do that drives your spouse nuts?

Fingerspelling hasn't ever been so much fun!

So..it has been awhile since I have written. As many of you know, I work as an investment advisor during the day and the past 3 weeks of markets have been unbelieveable. Needlesstosay (but I will anyway...sorry Mr. Gentry...my 10th grade english teacher) I have had little time to do anything other than eat, sleep, and return phone calls from my clients.

Last night, we had a bit of a treat. Ian, Jack, and I have begun sign language classes with the always delightful Denise Ivory. What a fantastic job she does!!! Tiffany, Sadie, and Olivia joined us. It was a fun filled hour and Denise has a great teaching sensibility about her. Patience and fun are both requirements in a good teacher and Denise has it in spades. We all got our signing name and learned to spell our names by fingerspelling. We worked on the alphabet and some very basic signs. What a fun night it was.