Hadley's Newest Love... Standing

I Knew I Would Get Use Out of My Old Walkman Someday...

What a cool dude, listening to his AM/FM radio, and cassette player!! Who needs an ipod?

General Conference Weekend

We had a fantastic conference weekend spent with my family. The weekend went way to fast, but we had a lot of fun, ate a ton of good food, and were given a great spiritual boost from General Conference.

All of us enjoyed playing with LEGOS! Matt, thought he was pretty clever creating a Utah sign. I should have made a BYU one, oh well, next year.

We were really excited when a good friend from Alabama, Lisa Schloemer drop in for a surprise visit! We really enjoyed spending some time with her!

Boston also got to pick a pumpkin from Grandma and Grandpa's Pumpkin Patch!! He was so excited with the one he chose! Boston, Logan, and Mason thought it was fun to sit on all the pumpkins in the wheelbarrow. Even Hadley joined in for a picture!

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Their cute shirts they got from the grandparents glowed in the dark. The boys spent lots of time shutting themselves in the bathroom
(the darkest room in the house) to see the eyes on the shirts glow!

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It was a wonderful weekend. The easy part of listening to conference is over. Now comes the hard part. Actually applying what we learned. One theme that really stuck out to me was LOVE. We need to feel God's love for us more and we need to show our love more, especially to family.

Jazz Season is HERE!

We went to the first Jazz game for the 09-10 season last night! I always enjoy going to see them play, and especially when they win!
Boston's favorite part is riding the train down to the game!

I was so sad I forgot my camera to capture Hadley's first Jazz game, I guess these cell phone pics will have to do!

Hadley Scared!

I had to post this video, because at the beginning Hadley has her beautiful blue eyes opened really BIG, which she does often. When she does this, Boston always says "Hadley Scared!"

A few other Boston moments to share;
At the grocery store today, we past the wedding cakes, and Boston said "Look Mom, there is the robots!"

I am so lucky I have Boston to remind my of things like when we are leaving the house and he says "Did you get your purse?" or "Ya got the keys Mom?"

Boston is ALWAYS making me laugh.

Sweater Weather!

Holy Cow it has gotten cold, but that's ok, I am excited for sweater weather!

Micha and Stephanie's Wedding

Last Saturday my cousin Micha got married. It was fun to see my Aunt Wendy again as they live in Maryland.
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I helped my Mom do the luncheon and it turned out great... I always learn a lot from watching my Mom. She is so talented. I wish I would have had my camera to share some pictures of it.

Boston took this picture of Hadley, and although she isn't smiling, I just love the dress and hat, so I had to share!

Jenn and the Kids

Jeremy's sister Jenn moved in with us a few weeks ago, and we have LOVED having her here! Both Boston and Hadley just adore her!

Boston and Jenn in their Red Sox's hats

This is a really bad quality video because of the lighting, but I just love how Jenn can make Hadley laugh!

General Conference Ideas

For lots of great ways to help kids, teens, and adults learn and have fun while watching General Conference this weekend click HERE
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Find the First Presidency Puzzle HERE

My Idea Of A Perfect Night

Just imagine a beautiful canyon full of vibrant fall colors, great friends, a fire, and roasting hot dogs and smores... now that is my idea of a perfect night! Even the rain didn't stop us from having a good time!
It was so fun to have Amy and Kolby come along for the adventure! Boston keeps asking when we are going to go fishing, hiking, or camping again with Amy and Kolby??

Boston found two uses for the hot dog roasters. 1st it was his fishing pole,

and then he used it to burn marshmallows. He had no interest in eating them, just burning them.

The bag of marshmallows had melted together so after we were done, Kolby decided to roast the biggest marshmallow ever! (The rest of the bag!)

We had such a great time! I love being in the mountains!

That's What Friends Are For

My friend Emily is so busy. She is a master's student at BYU, is training for a 1/2 marathon, works at her internship, plays on a soccer team, and hardly has time for homework. Yet, she made time for me yesterday. She rescued me from my bad day and we headed up to Bridal Veil Falls. The fresh air was definitely needed, the falls were beautiful, the walk invigorating, and I couldn't have asked for better company! Now that's what friends are for.

The Race

At the beginning of August I convinced my walking buddy that we should run a 5K. So we began training. At first, it was REALLY rough. Neither of us could run very far. Neither of us have ever been runners, or have ever had a desire to be one. But we persisted, and slowly but surely we have been getting better.

Yesterday was our big day. We finished our 3.2 miles in 36 minutes and 22 seconds! I know that is not a fast time, but considering the first time we did the route it took us 50 minutes, I would say that we have improved quite dramatically. So I would declare that we were victorious!

I had 5 cheerleaders there at the finish line! Jeremy, Boston, Hadley, and to my surprise my parents came to support me. I can't believe that after 24 years they still come and support me in everything I do. No matter how small or silly it may be!

It was really neat to prove to myself that I could do something I never thought possible. It was fun to set a goal, work towards it, and do it! Now I can't wait for the next 5K to see how I can improve my time!

Bloggy Blog Update

I am way behind in my posts... so here it goes!

My Mom made these super cute capes for all her grandson's! On one side it is a Superman cape, and on the other it has the first letter of their name. So for Boston he has a letter B, for Super Boston! Boston LOVES his new cape and wants to wear it everyday!

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Like Mother, Like Son. We LOVE chocolate!
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When I realized it was September, I had a panic attack. There were so many fun things I was going to do! So we hurried and blew bubbles, and had a swimming party with his buddy Porter. Hopefully we will be able to squeeze a couple more fun summer things in before it starts to snow!
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I loves this little girl more and more each day! She smiles all the time, giggles, and now she can now roll from her stomach to her back!
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Boston is SO CUTE with Hadley (Most of the time). I constantly find them playing together.
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Last but not least, on Sept. 4th it was the 16th anniversary of my baptism. It was the best decision I ever made to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My friends Joy and Tricia were also baptized that day.

This year, the anniversary was more special because Tricia got married that day.(Tricia is wearing the white shirt.) It was so fun to catch up with old friends at her open house. Congratulations Tricia and Adam!!

Finding Hope- A Special 9/11 Message

I been thinking a lot about all the many people affected by 9/11, especially the Wahlstrom family who lost their Mom and Sister that day. I think it is always good to reflect back to 9/11 and remember how fragile life really is.

Another Great Mormon Message
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkWc_EKLs4E

2 More Day's Until Our Blog Is Going Private

As an anniversary present to Jeremy, I will be making RFamily blog private on Sept 12th. I hope I won't lose my readers by doing this! So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, either leave a comment with your email address, or send me your email address to blog2Bprivate@gmail.com

Thank you all for reading my blog. It is a fun hobby, and I love getting comments and hearing from you!

Let The Games Begin!

Jeremy and I took a break from our remodeling Chaos to have a little fun. We made these sugar cookies for Jeremy to take to work today, to celebrate the start of football season! We thought it would be funny since almost all his co-workers are BYU fans. (which I am as well.)

A Few of My Favorite Boston Sayings

"It's just not possible."

"Hey Baby. What's goin' on?" (When talking to Hadley)

"I'm Bob." (Apparently he has two identities.)

He is one funny 2 year old.

Smile

Smile. You never know whose day you just might change for the better.

Farm Fun

My Mom and I decided to venture out and enjoy the Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point since they were offering 2 dollar tuesdays. I think EVERYONE decided to do the same thing! Although it was packed with people, we still had a lot of fun! The worst part was when Boston decided that the animal feed looked like a great snack! YUCK!

A Neat Story

This story is about my friends daughter and son. It was in the Standard Examiner, and I just had to share it.

Sister gives kidney, is crowned pageant winner
RUTH MALANStandard-Examiner correspondent

FRUIT HEIGHTS -- There was no doubt in Mallory Wahlstrom's mind that she should be the one to donate a kidney to her older brother, Andy Wahlstrom.

On Aug. 7, doctors performed the transplant. Eight days later, the 20-year-old Mallory was crowned Miss Kaysville-Fruit Heights.

Her platform for the pageant? The importance of organ donation.

Now a sign welcoming the "Kidney Kids" home hangs on the front door of the Wahlstrom home. It has been less than two weeks since the siblings underwent surgery, but they are both active and doing amazingly well.

"It has been a long year for me, but it has a good ending," said Andy, a 30-year-old marathon runner and Davis High world and U.S. history teacher.

In January of this year, his kidneys began to fail. Then in April, they did fail.
"It happened so slowly I forgot what it felt like to feel normal," Andy said.

Eventually he began kidney dialysis, which he describes as "a way to keep people in end stage kidney failure alive. It is not a way of living; life expectancy is cut in half."
For four hours every other day, he was attached to the dialysis machine. The family knew Andy needed to have a kidney transplant.

"Norm and I wanted to be matches," said Andy's mother, Margaret. "We were broken-hearted we couldn't."

Norm has the wrong blood type and Margaret is diabetic.

Although Andy has six siblings, including an older brother with the same blood type, Mallory felt strongly that she must be the donor. She was attending college in Arizona at the time.

Her prayer

"It was hard for me to be away," said Mallory, so she began doing research on renal failure and kidney transplants. Then she prayed about her brother and became determined to donate a kidney.

"I prayed about it for months. I knew I was going to be the donor, I didn't know my blood type or anything," Mallory said. "My dad didn't want me to be tested. He thought my older brother should be. I was the last in line. I wanted him to take me seriously."

So Mallory went to Ogden Regional Medical Center, where her dad is a pathologist, and had her blood typed.

There are 12 antigens in the blood. If six of the main ones match, doctors consider it a perfect match. Mallory and Andy matched in all 12, said Margaret.

"The doctor said he had never seen it before," Mallory said. "I knew they would tell me I was a match, but I was a perfect match, so I was really excited.

"I walked into my dad's office to tell him I had the right type. It took a while to get him on board."

As soon as she got the results she called Andy, who was getting dialysis at the time. Both began crying after hearing the good news.

"I am blessed to have a sister notice my sickness and want to help," Andy said.

The pageant
As Mallory was beginning her path towards donating a kidney, her sister, Mary Ann, suggested she compete in the Miss Kaysville-Fruit Heights scholarship pageant.
"I had never put much thought into it, but I went to the orientation meeting to appease my sister," Mallory said. "After one workshop I was sold -- it was so much fun."

But her hopes of being in the pageant were almost dashed when the surgery was performed just a week before the pageant.

Andy woke up after the surgery feeling like a changed man. "I woke up in ICU and I already felt better. It is like I am alive again," Andy said.

But Mallory's experience wasn't quite the same. There were complications and a nest of tiny blood vessels were accidentally cut. After the laproscopic surgery came an open surgery and more to recover from. Everything seemed to go wrong. Her airway collapsed.

"When a girl from the pageant came to see me in ICU on Sunday, I told her there was no way I could do it," Mallory said. "I have never experienced such pain, but it was such a small price to pay."

Mallory and her brother shared a hospital room after the procedure.
"One night I couldn't sleep and I was nauseated and afraid to throw up," said Mallory. But she stumbled to the sink and began to vomit. "Andy got out of bed and I could hear him pulling the IV cart. He put his arms around me with a pillow in front of me and held me. He was so weak. ... He was taking care of me."

Her platform
On Thursday night Mallory was still throwing up. Friday morning, she felt she could eat something and keep it down, so she went to the pageant dress rehearsal.
"She wanted to do it to promote her platform," said Andy.

During the competition, Mallory tried to stand up straight and not show the pain she was in. She had practiced her talent number on the harp at home and felt she could do it on stage, but having the weight of the harp against her body was more difficult than she had anticipated. In spite of it, she won the talent trophy along with interview, evening wear, platform and Miss Congeniality.

At the age of 16, Mallory had marked "undecided" on the organ donor question on her driver's license application. "It freaked me out," she said. Now she knows the importance of organ donation and wants to teach others about it.

"It is not just marking 'yes' on your license. More people need to realize the need is so great for living donors," she said, adding that a living kidney has a life expectancy that is twice as long as a cadaver kidney. "The biggest reason people don't become donors is education. There is an option for living donors."

Mallory is working with Intermountain Donor Services to educate people on transplants. Her first official appearance as Miss Kaysville-Fruit Heights will be this weekend, where she will help at a fundraiser for a child who needs a kidney transplant.

This week Andy is getting his classroom ready for the beginning of school, although he will need to wear a mask in the classroom because of his weakened immune system.

"I never thought my position could make a difference. I never saw this in my future," Mallory said.