One Year Ago!

Next week is Gavin's first birthday and I'm remembering how different things were one year ago. One year ago today (Friday) was my last day of work before taking maternity leave. I wish I could take the summer off again but that's not really an option this year. :)

So many things were different one year ago:

*I had cankles and the only shoes I could get on my gigantic, swollen feet were flip flops

*My joints ached every time I moved

*I was getting about the same amount of sleep I am now because I had to get up and go to the bathroom at least once or twice every night

*My ribs felt like they were going to break from all the kicking

*I could actually sit and watch TV for more than two minutes

*Going to the grocery store or mall or any other public place was much easier - however, I didn't enjoy all the stares I got when I was out in public

*I had no idea how much love I could feel for such a small person

As much as I enjoyed my life before I had a baby I can't imagine my life without him now. The lack of sleep, frustrations and stressful times are all worth it. Our little man has been such a blessing in our lives and I can't believe an entire year has passed. I love watching him grow and change every day and I can't wait for the many years to come.

St. George

We were able to head to St. George for a few days last weekend. Unfortunately the weather was not great but we still had a lot of fun.

We played tennis...

Went to the pool....

Went out to dinner.....

And had fun goofing around.

It was nice to hang out with family and it was fun to get away. And yes, Gavin is feeling much better and he is back to his goofy self.

Not such a fun holiday

Unfortunately our Memorial Day weekend was not the greatest. We went to our cabin on Saturday which was nice and relaxing but Gavin has been sick all weekend. He started having flu symptoms on Thursday and hasn't really seemed to feel better since then.

All weekend we laid around and didn't do much. I enjoyed having a cuddly baby for a few days but he wasn't eating or drinking much so on Monday we decided to call the doctor. Since it was a holiday he advised us to head to the hospital so they could check him for dehydration.

While I'm glad we went to the hospital it was not fun. We sat in the waiting room for two hours and then we were there an additional five hours while multiple nurses, doctors, med students, etc. came in to check on Baby G. We decided to stay and give him an I.V. since he was dehydrated.

We were there a total of seven hours; not a great way to spend a holiday. Unfortunately Gavin is still not feeling great but hopefully he will start to recover in the next few days. NO FUN!

Scum Dog

My family took Hendrix to Scum Dog for the first time this weekend. She absolutely loved swimming!

Unfortunately I was the victim of her getting too excited and jumping up with muddy paws.

She is a really sweet dog. She is a little crazy and out of control at times but she is definitely entertaining.

Gavin loves all dogs but he especially loves Hendrix. They are best buds which is appropriate since they both joined the Russon family during the same week last June.

For those of you wondering, yes Apache is still alive. He is very old and slow to move around but he is still with us. He was not too thrilled when Hendrix joined the family but he has learned to tolerate her. :)

Weekend in St. George

We were lucky enough to spend the weekend in St. George. It was so nice and relaxing and I can't wait to go back in a couple weeks!

Gavin absolutely loved the pool. He is a little fish.

I feel so lucky to be the mom of this little boy and I don't need a special holiday to remind me of that. Gavin is so blessed to be surrounded by so many awesome women in his life. Thank you to his wonderful great-grandmothers, amazing grandmothers, and spectacular aunts!

Springtime

Don't you love Springtime?

Upset - to say the least!

I need to vent and since this blog is sort of like a journal of our lives I'm going to do it here. I can't believe that horrible people are able to get away with doing horrible things. The world feels very unfair right now and there is nothing we can do about it.

A little bit of background: after the Sugar Bowl the cheer coach at the U of U quit and the woman who coaches the dance team took over. She was only supposed to be a temporary fix but she ended up coaching the cheerleaders through the remainder of basketball season. This woman was always very rude and critical of the cheerleaders. She told them they were fat, they were not good enough and they had bad attitudes. All of that coming from a woman who has never been a cheerleader and doesn't know how hard it is to tumble and be thrown in the air.

A few weeks ago tryouts were held for the new cheer team. Only three girls from this years team decided to tryout: Elise, her roommate and one more girl. I watched all three days of tryouts because I wanted to see how all the girls looked. The three returning girls of course stood out because they have been doing this all year long and they knew the routines. To make a long story short this woman cut Elise and her roommate from the team. She also put girls on the team who didn't fulfill all the requirements and who fell multiple times during their tryout.

Needless to say we are livid. This woman did not base the tryout on talent; for whatever reason she has never liked these girls so she removed them from the team. The only returning girl who made the team is married to the assistant coach; doesn't that seem strange? We have gone through every avenue to fight this but no one in the athletics department will listen, or seems to care. It doesn't look there is anything we can do to get these girls back on the team and I can't believe this woman is going to get away with what she has done.

I can't believe this has happened. These girls have dedicated their lives to the university for the past year and now they have been treated like garbage. They are beautiful and talented and they have every right to be on that team. I never thought I would be ashamed and embarassed by the university I love, but that's exactly how I feel. The thought of cheering for the University of Utah right now is very hard and I never thought I would say that.

More bills!

Our debt has just increased because Jesse has been accepted to Graduate School at the U! He will be doing the Master of Public Administration Executive Program starting this fall.

I know, I know; we didn't need any more reasons to be connected to the University of Utah but we are very excited. If all goes according to plan he will go to school Friday nights and Saturdays, every other weekend. This is going to be tough during football season but sacrifices must be made!

Weekend

It's been a while since our Saturday was occupied with Utah sports, but this Saturday definitely was. We spent the morning at the MUSS flag football game, then the Red vs. White Spring Football game. It felt so good to be back in Rice-Eccles Stadium!

James played in the MUSS game. He even got to stay on the field and play in the alumni game with some old Utah players. He was loving life!

Marcus came down on the field with me and loved it.

Elise doing what she does best.

That night we went to Utah vs. byu baseball game. I have never been to a Utah baseball game; it was really fun. Sadly they lost in the last inning but we still had a good time.

On Sunday we walked to the park. Gavin LOVED going down the slide. Check out that hair blowing in the wind!

Happy Easter!

I'm so glad the weather was good for Easter Sunday because it was so fun seeing everyone in their brand new outfits.

I love my families!

And yes, as you can see, I decided to remain a brunette.