Copper and IKEA

Today we had a great "mabencher".  

Aiden's cousins, Breanna (left) and Jessica (right) came and we went to IKEA.  The girls had never been there and we had a fun lunch at the IKEA restaurant and looked at dishes, plants, lighting, and all the orange furniture.  Aiden had not had a nap to this point, and we hit 3pm with still no sleep.

Then we went to the Bingham Copper Mine.  Wow!  That is a giant hole.  It was really busy - probably for three reasons: #1) it is a holiday weekend  #2)it is summer and kiddos are out of school    #3) free entrance this weekend.  Oh, well.  The museum was packed and we were not really able to see much of anything.

See the cutest little lump of coal that you ever did see?  He is on the right.

Even in the copper museum, Breanna managed to find a baseball mitt.  Mom loves baseball and Breanna loves softball.

The great big giant hole.  See the little tiny, tiny tiny, ants? Those are huge, huge, huge tractors.  That gives a little perspective of how big this huge hole is.

So much fun. 

Okay, don't judge me.  It was so hot and windy.  No makeup.  tired.  Oh, but I love this baby!  So much.  So very much.

And as of 5pm, no nap.  This is a tired "Nonkey"

One Year Ago

One year ago today.

One year ago, I started this blog while I was sitting at Primary Children's Hospital with Aiden.  It was a way for me to inform my family of his care, but it has grown into so much more than that.  It has been a place for me to vent, to explain, and to share our lives.  It is a very scary notion - putting your life out there for people to read.  The pictures of dirty house, dirty child, no makeup - all laid bare for the world.

One year ago, I feared that I would lose my Aiden - he was only three small weeks old and was not even six pounds.  We still had the tenuous relationship that all new parents have - I loved him more than I could imagine, but I didn't really know him yet. He went to the hospital on July 19th with an inguinal hernia that required emergency surgery.  The next day, he was not doing well. I was blessed to have good doctors who realized quickly that the hernia repair was not all that was going on in his little fragile body.  When they re-entered that little body, they found so much infection that they were surprised he was alive.  His appendix had burst - when?  They didn't know.  Was it related to the hernia?  Did it happen days before?  They had no way of knowing.

I think of all the miraculous things that have happened to our little family during this year.  One year ago, my family was moving me out of my too-small, too-scary apartment while I was at the hospital.  Other family members were at the camping trip that was to be Aiden's first vacation.  Since last year, we have had surgeries, swine flu (or Pig Pox as Uncle Chris calls it), RSV, rashes, vomiting, and bangs and bruises.  But, what a year!  I have not looked back once since my little man was brought into this world.  I didn't end up working the job I thought I would work - living in the place I thought I would live - but I didn't know that I would sacrifice anything to spend just one more minute and have one more kiss with my little angel.

My family has come to love little man and understand why God chose this time and this family to send one of his most precious spirits.  Here's to another great year with sweet Aiden.

Then...

Now...

For the Love...

I want to say thanks to my mother for giving me the gift of music.  

And the opportunity to pass it along to the love of my life.

I love music and can not imagine my life without a way to musically express myself.

Aiden choses to express himself... with his feet.

Ah, well.  He will be playing Rachmaninoff soon enough with his fingers.  Why not try the toes?

Mom of the Year award!

See the scar on his nose?!!

I am the worst Mom ever. My little man was "helping" Mom do the dishes last night and had an injury.

Who'da thought that Aiden could crawl into the dishwasher? First of all, the dishwasher was empty. Second, Aiden has never crawled up on ANYTHING before.

Well, he pulled the roller rack backward and rolled backward himself and... WHOOP!! Off onto the floor!

Uncle Dave said that this is why guys shouldn't do dishes. They get injured.

Mmmhmmm... Tater better not use that excuse.

Churches and Trains

No church schedule is great with a one-year-old.  All of them screw up a nap at one point or another.  But there are some benefits.

  There comes a point that Aiden just gets worked up.   So much so, that he can not get out of his crankiness without a total change of scenery.  It doesn't happen very often... maybe once every six weeks or so.  Well, this morning was one of those mornings.  So, I popped him in the car and we drove at about 7am.  I tried to think of a Sunday activity we could do and still make it back to church.  Then I remembered that this weekend, all the State and Federal parks were free admission, so we headed to a place I had never been - Promontory Point.  When we hit North Ogden, Aiden finally fell asleep (after waking up at 4am...) and I put in my Ipod and we drove and drove and drove until we got the park.  We made it home in time for church, but a fun, free, tantrum-free morning was needed so much.  I am glad we were able to do this today.

Here comes the ol' 119

Aiden loved the train and the very, very loud whistle

Love this picture.  Love this baby.

It was hot and dusty, but he LOVED it.  He was so happy to climb on the trains, crawl in the rocks, and pulling the whistle on the train.

Because there was no one else there, the conductor let Aiden pull the whistle and ring the bell.  What a treasured memory for Mom.