Tick Warning! Very important. Please read!

I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it
myself a couple times unintentionally but this one is real, and it's very important.

TICK WARNING!

If someone comes to your door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up,

DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!!

They only want to see you naked.

I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

A little late...

I know that it is late, but I still want to dedicate a post to two very important people in my life. My dad and my husband. :)

My dad is so amazing. It is kind of hard for me to think of all the things he does, and not start to get a little teary. I think that most girls think that their dads are evil while they are growing up. Up intil about my sophomore year, I sure did. But looking back, I have realized just how much he cared about me and loved me.

I can't even begin to list all of the things he has done for me, but I do want to share one thing that he did that I will forever hold in my heart. I bet he doesn't even remember it, but it meant the world to me.

I made the mistake of running track my junior year... what a joke! I wasn't very good, and I had horrible shin splints. I always felt bad about my running because my older sister was so fast and so amazing. At one of our meets in Kemmerer I was forced into running the 2 mile. Are you kidding me? My legs hurt so bad. I knew there was no chance of getting anywhere close to even a decent time.

Well, I was running my race. I was in so much pain. I think a couple of people had even lapped me. I felt horrible. Not even my teammates or coaches were cheering me on. As I ran past the bleachers about the fifth time I heard, "Come on Melanie! You are doing great! Keep Going!" It was my dad. He made it to the meet in the middle of my race. When no one else was there to care, he came. I almost stopped running and turned around to look at him. After that I knew I could finish.

Even now when I am running up the last hill before I get to my house, I think of my dad cheering me on.

He is still like that today. He is there when we need him the most. He is an amazing guy. I am so thankful for my dad. I love him so very, VERY much. :)

P.S. My dad is also the best grandpa in the world. (He had an amazing trainer... his dad, of course!) I just wanted to clear that up in case anyone else thought their dad was the best grandpa...

And for my next victim... My husband, Matthew, is the best! He is such an amazing man. I am so lucky to be married to him. He is such a great father. Parker loves him so much. We are truly blessed to have such an awesome man in our lives. I never have to worry when I leave the two of them together. My house might look like it has exploded when I get home, but Parker is still in one piece and he is safe and happy. :)

I always catch Matt peaking on on Parker while he is sleeping. He just stands there staring and smiling. My favorite thing is when Matt puts him to bed and I go in to check on them and they are both asleep in the rocking chair snuggling. It is just so precious.

I love my little family so much! I am so lucky to have such an amazing hubby. He is the best! :D

Busy, busy, busy!

This last couple of weeks have been crazy. I guess that I will just start things in the order that they happened. Leslie had her little man, Tucker Jackson Howe, on May 23. :) I got up early the next morning and headed down to visit. The second I got on the interstate I began having problems. The brakes on the Trailblazer have been locking up and as it turns out, that is a BAD thing to have happen while the car is in drive with your foot on the gas. I had to take the first exit and turn around. Luckily Matt got it fixed (I love my honey! He is so good with cars, and if he doesn't know how to fix it he learns.) and I was able to make it down for a quick visit a few days later. Tucker is so cute and seems so tiny! It is hard to believe that my little man was that small just one year ago. Here are a few pics.

My mom bought them matching outfits, but neither of them were feeling too photogenic.

Good thing Tucker had on his shades... Mommy tried to burn the house down! :)

Can you believe the difference a year makes?

While up in Boise we received news that my grandpa had passed away. I was so, so sad. But I know that it is a blessing because he was suffering so much. He has been in a nursing home for the past few months. I know that he missed Grandma so much and he is happy to finally be home.

Saturday the 30th was PURE CRAZINESS!

My sister-in-law Carrie and I decided to compete in a triathlon up in Rigby, Idaho. (Would you believe we BOTH forgot our cameras?) I had so much fun! We started out in the Lake for about a 1/2 mile swim. I have to say that it is extremely disorienting to swim and not see be able to see what is up ahead or lane lines when you look down. For this reason it took me quite awhile to be brave enough to put my head in the water. I finally did though, and once I got the hang of it, it wasn't too bad. Next was our 13 mile bike ride! I must say that the special padded bike shorts were well worth the $30 investment... We finished off with a 3.1 mile run. I know that doing all of this back-to-back sounds crazy, but it was a blast! I am looking forward to doing more, hopefully this summer. :) My ultimate goal (I know it wasn't a lofty one) was to finish in under 2 hours. I beat it! I clocked in at 1:48.37. Wow!

After our triathlon we had to hurry home to get ready for Kobe's baptism, Conner's baby blessing, and Heidi and Zach's wedding... We both made it on time and were all cleaned up and presentable. (I don't think anyone would have been impressed if we would have shown up smelling 'lake-fresh' with our numbers pinned on us and written on our arms and legs.) It was a very touching day. Anthony baptised Kobe and Tyler and Matthew both gave talks. What a special day for Kobe. Heidi and Zach both looked very nice. The advice their bishop gave them was amazing and their vows were beautiful.

After all of this we all headed out to George and LaRae's house for a BBQ. The food was yummy and the weather even cooperated. The storm passed us by and we were all able to stay outside and enjoy the day.

It was also Parker's 1st birthday!!! By the time we got to his cake he was pretty tired, so he didn't go to crazy with it, but he was still really cute. I cannot believe that my baby is already 1! This year has been amazing and it has goon by so fast. I love being a mommy. I love my family so much. Matt and I have been blessed with the most beautiful little baby. We really do have it all. Just in case you can't tell, his little cake was a puppy... it was made out of two cupcakes and 15 pounds of frosting. :)
Sunday morning Matt and I headed to Washington for Grandpa's funeral on Monday. It was a very long drive, but Parker really was such a good little boy. Grandpa's funeral was so good. Uncle Scott gave the life sketch and Uncle Tom and Kelly gave talks. It was so nice to learn things about my Grandpa and to hear some stories that I had forgotten about. A few members of the Navy were waiting at the cemetery when we arrived. The service they performed was amazing. My aunt Chandra was right. It felt sacred. These three men had never even met Grandpa, and yet they had so much respect and love for our family. It is something that I will never forget.
While in Washington, Parker came down with a HORRIBLE case of the stomach flu. My poor little man was so sick. I am so thankful for my parents. They were staying in the room next door to us. They came right over when I called them at 3 in the morning and my dad helped Matt give Parker a blessing. Thanks, Mom and Dad! I love you. It took about a week, but Parker finally started feeling better and he is good-as-new.

Well, I guess that is about it. Life is crazy, but what's new?

My Sweet Grandpa Jackson

Grandpa passed away early this morning. In a sense I am so very sad, but I also have been crying tears of joy. Grandma left almost seven years ago, and I know he has missed her so very much. He has been wanting to go home for a long time. These last few months he has not been doing well and I have been so sad to think of him suffering. My last memories of him were last August when I went to visit him with my family. I didn't want to go because it was such a long drive with my baby. I am so glad that I did. Grandpa was so cute with Parker. He loved him so much. He kept asking to hold him and told me what a good job making him I had done. I am so thankful for the man that he was and for the boy he has raised to be my father. I love you, Grandpa J. Thank you for all the mule rides to the 'Grand Canyon' and for all of the stories and laughter you shared with us. Thank you for letting us destroy your garden so we could make a roadside 'Grandpa's Garden' stand. Thank you for the millions of toot-sie rolls you pulled out of our ears. Thank you for all the memories you left for us to cherish. Love, Sally :)

Goodbye to a Horrible Week!

Well, I really am glad to see the end of this week...
Monday - Our GrandAm dashboard went out. Apparently Nathan's Explorer sent a back charge when Matthew jump started it for him.
Tuesday - A visit from Mother Nature.... I guess it is better than the alternative though.
Wednesday - No comment!!!
Thursday - BeefCake (a.k.a. our walking food storage) ran away. We did locate him and his brother Dinna at about 9p.m. It was too dark to catch them.... They are black.
Friday - Went to catch BeefCake and he ran onto the Fort Hall Indian Reservation's sacred burial grounds. We can go there if we don't mind being arrested.... The Fish and Game talked to the Tribal committee and on Monday we can PURCHASE a permit, and with their assistance we can go try to locate BeefCake and Dinna. If and when we catch them they are going straight to the auction and finding a new home. Hopefully we will be able to find another suitable 'food storage' that will stay in It's pasture. Also, our Trailblazer decided to have issues.... So far the tally is up to $300+ and they still don't know what is going on.
Did I mention we have been paying our tithing? Good thing! I hate to think of what would happen if we weren't!
Yeah, I'm glad this week is over!

My mom....

.... is the best mom in the whole world! I want to tell you a little bit about her. She has taught me so much. When I had Parker, she was there. She hurried down while I was in labor and held my hand through delivery. (Matt was down 'in all the action.') I was probably squeezing her hand so tight that she was loosing feeling in it.

After he was born she stayed at my house for awhile and taught me so much. How to feed him, bathe him, change diapers, dress him.... everything! And most of all, she let me sleep! I am sure I could have figured all of this out on my own, but it was so special for me to have her there to help me. :) She has even driven down to babysit for me because I couldn't find a sitter and had to work.

My mom taught through example. She sacrificed so much for us when we were growing up. We didn't have a new, flashy car or a huge amazing home, but she never complained. She drove that blue Aerostar stick shift van for YEARS! Our house was always decorated cute and clean. She did without so much so that we could do the things we wanted to do. She came to our track meets, swim meets, volleyball games, basketball games, cheer competitions, everything. (And I'm going to level with you. I'm not a very good athlete, so it couldn't have been fun to watch me sit on the bench.) She was right there cheering us on and telling us we did great. She is the best mom ever!

Everything I've learned about how to be a mom, she taught me. I love her so much. And someday (YEARS from now) when I'm a grandma and know just what to do, I will know it is because of my wonderful mom who showed me how it's done.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you.

Trip to Denver...

So Matt and I did it.... We went on a trip.... and LEFT Parker with Grandma and Grandpa. I was pretty sure that I would have a meltdown, but somehow I made it through. Matt had some union meetings in Denver that he had to go to and really wanted me to come so my awesome mom offered, no DEMANDED, to take care of Parker for us. I really didn't want to leave him and I really missed him a ton, but we did do some fun things that we wouldn't have been able to do if we had taken him.

We left Tuesday night and drove to Evanston and stayed with my parents. Wednesday morning we got up and made the long and painful drive across Wyoming on I-80. Talk about a thrill a minute! We must've seen at least 500 windmills. (Can you tell I can hardly contain my excitement?) Oh, and a word to the wise... YAHOO MAPS ARE A BAD IDEA! They tell you to do things like 'turn left on a local road...' Or then there is the time that it directed Matt to the airport instead of hotel where his meetings were being held...Just don't use them. We seem to have a hard time learning that lesson, but every time I use one they have an error.

The first night we were there we went to the Denver - New Orleans playoff game. We had awesome seats way back in row 5 of the ground level. (It was fun to be so close.) We had a great time, but it was hard to get too excited over teams that we didn't really care about. We decided that if (more like when) the Jazz get eliminated we will root for Denver.

Our next night we went to the temple. Just so you know, it is kind of hard to find and tucked away in a neighborhood. I am willing to bet that if we had asked for directions 99% of the people wouldn't have even know it was there. It has been a really long time since we were able to go, so it was nice to go. Who knew that the cafeteria would be serving steaks? Matt said that it was pretty good. I opted to go the lighter route with a chef salad and dressing on the side.... and the BIGGEST piece of chocolate cake they had. Haha! You know that it is big when I can barely eat half of it! :)

Our last night there we went to the Rockies - Dodger baseball game. Our seats were not as good as they were for the basketball game, but we were behind home plate, so we had an awesome view. I'll be honest. I HATE watching baseball on TV but it was actually really fun to be at the game. Maybe when we go to San Fransico in July we will have to try to catch a Giant's game. If for nothing else it will be a really good excuse to eat another giant hot dog! :)

I was hoping to be able to explore Denver while Matt was in his meetings, but we were about a 10 minute drive from his meetings and an 25ish minute drive from downtown. He ended up taking the car with him during the day and I stayed at the hotel. It was actually fine because I fell victim to the nastiest cold I have ever had. He did take me to a mall on one of his lunch breaks and picked me up after he was done with meetings. You would think I would have gone crazy, right? Not so much. I spent 3 hours walking around the mall and ended up spending $100 in JCPenny. I could have done that in Pocatello. After the mall I walked over the the Sketchers outlet and got shoes for me, Parker and Matt. Another word to the wise - don't wear brand new flats if you are going to be walking 1/2 mile to and from the baseball game. You might end up with 5 new blisters! Thankfully they have first aid centers set up at the game and were willing to share a million band-aids with me. If not, I wouldn't have made it back to the car! Matt did inform me that his new shoes were EXTREMELY comfy and that he didn't have any problems wearing them for that big walk to and from the game... What a sweetie!

I was so excited to try Parker's new shoes on him. When I got home last night I put on his right shoe only to realize the other shoe was also a right shoe in a bigger size. Isn't it their job to check them? Maybe I should have, but they checked all the other boxes! I called the outlet and they were like 'Oh! We were wondering where the other shoe was...' They told me they would send it, so HOPEFULLY they will. The shoes are cute, but I don't think they are worth another 9 hour one way drive!

Well, that is all for our big trip to Denver. If we ever go back I definitely want to see more of actual Denver.