George's Blessing

George was blessed by his daddy on May 2nd. It was a busy weekend because Daddy had just graduated the day before. Glen's sisters and dad were able to come and be a part of the festivities along with my parents and Caitie, my sister, and Dayton, my brother, and their families. Glen's sister Marie made Georgie a beautiful crocheted blanket and booties to go with his outift. George got to meet his cousins on Glen's side as well as his little cousin Gus who is just 3 weeks older than him. Gus is Dayton's youngest. It was such a nice blessing and I know it will prove to be a great help to little Georgie throughout his life. Thank you Glen for being worthy to give our son a name and a blessing and thanks to all who came and all who helped with the reception afterward!

Mother's Day

Unfortunately, my first Mother's Day was a little overshadowed by Nana's passing. This was completely okay with me. But the good part about it is all of my mom's kids were able to come to the funeral and were with her on Mother's Day. My mom deserves the best! She is so wonderful! She supports us in all that we do. She never forced me to do anything I didn't want to when I was a kid, such as ballet, teeball, softball., etc. I would promise to take something seriously and after a month or two, I would get sick of it and want to quit. She tried to pursuade me to stick to it, but never forced me to stay. I love my mommy and she will always be my mommy no matter how old I get or mature I seem to be... She was a single mom for quite some time and did not receive the child support she was due but she somehow still had dinner on the table and a smile on her face. She makes me feel loved and wanted when I am feeling it the least. When most mormon moms are planning weddings, she was helping me plan for a mission. And although she was praying for a stateside mission, she faithfully sent me off to a foreign country far away from her. Not only did she write me every week, after 18 months, she packed up her things and came down to pick me up with my Dad. She trekked around the backcountry and endured several catcalls and bravely ate anything we gave her without telling her what it was :).We planned my wedding together and she let me choose most everything and told me it would be taken care of. I guess that is more a tribute to my patient father, but it was still awesome and she made me feel like it was no big deal. She came and helped with everything around the house for a week before George was born and a week and a half after he graced us with his presence. She never tried to force any ideas on me, and let me have my pipedreams as to how I was going to raise the perfect child (which I still have, by the way). She is my best friend and I love her now more than ever. Thank you, Mom, for all you have and will do for me and my little family!

On a fun sidenote, as I was looking for pictures, I found this little gem:

This is me greeting Glen at the airport when I got home from Argentina....

Kay Jean Allen

Late last night, my wonderful Nana, Kay Jean, passed away. She is my father's mother. It was not something anyone was prepared for, except maybe Nana herself. She was doing quite well but fell and broke her hip on Sunday night. She was rushed to the hospital where they took her off of her blood thinning medication to prep her for surgery. Unfortunately, this caused her to have a stroke. The stroke caused bleeding and swelling in her brain and she passed away peacefully surrounded by family after a little over a day of this.

Kay Jean was and is an exceptional woman. She was classy and elegant. While sweet and spiritual, she could also pull out a one-liner like you wouldn't believe. She would say the funniest things about sex, and what made it funnier was seeing my dad's face. She never failed to give me a smile and hug when I saw her. I had lost both of my grandma's by the time my mom married my dad so it was with great joy that I accepted Kay Jean as my Nana. She raised seven children of her own and adopted another, Ronnie, when Ronnie was close to adulthood. She had 80 great-grandchildren (George is number 80). She has a very loving relationship with my granddad and it was hilarious to see them interact. Oh, how patient she was with him! She never had a negative thing to say about the choices I made. She always made me feel special and more importantly, loved. She accepted my rowdy brothers and laughed at their inappropriate jokes. She served many missions with my Granddad and, of course, loved the people she served. She never turned down a game of hand and foot and always claimed to have won the last game she played. The saddest part for me is that George will grow up having never met his wonderful Nana Kay.

She had been in pain for many years. Her first pain free days were in the hospital on pain management drugs. We are glad she is now pain free and happy in Spirit Paradise. She is probably over talking to those who didn't have the chance to know the Gospel in this life, helping them to develop a love of the Truth.

Thank you Nana for the wonderful example that you were. We love and miss you!

Vote 4 George!

Go here: http://0-3potw.blogspot.com/ and vote for the cutest baby pic, which, in my opinion is George of course!

One month

My sweet boy is one-month old today! He is getting so cute and makes the cutest faces. I have a much better video of him smiling so I thought I would attach it here even though I already posted one. Try not to cry when you see how cute he is. I don't know his stats since he hasn't been to the doctor in a while. But he is getting older and cuter. He has the same sleep schedule as always. I hope he starts to sleep through the night within the next few weeks. Today he got to go to Dad's graduation and he was so good! He slept through the whole thing. He also got to meet a lot of his cousins and a few aunts on Glen's side. Tomorrow is his blessing and he will get to meet a few cousins on my side. Including little Gus who is only 3 weeks older than him. We can't wait! I also can't wait for the homemade cheesecakes Glen has been working on.... Mmmmm....

Glen Graduated!!!

My amazing husband graduated from SUU today! He was the outstanding graduate for the music department so he got to play the piano as part of the festivities. He did a great job! He played this duet with his organ professor, Dr. Gliadkovsky. Here is a video of his piece.

Smiles

He is just like his mom. He smiles and smiles until the camera turns on. Please ignore the annoying woman speaking baby talk. Man, she drives me nuts!

Ode to Glen

A lot of women say, "I have the best husband ever!" but you know deep down they don't really believe it or they just happened to have a really good day that day. I truly do have the best husband ever. Even when I am upset about something, I know it is my fault and recognize that I still have the best husband ever. He cooks and cleans. He makes sure I always have what I need. Anytime he walks by me sitting on the couch, he asks if there is anything he can get me. Every night I wake up to feed the baby and he does his best to stay awake the whole time. Then, after I feed George, I hand him off to Glen to put him to sleep and I go right back into dreamland. He's talented and cultured. He doesn't do those things that normal husbands do that bug their wives such as: pass gas, leave the toilet seat up, watch sports, have a "guys night", raise his voice, etc. He is perfectly content to spend time with his family. We have the most fun when we are together. He lets me watch my shows even though he hates them. I almost always have control of the remote. He takes care of the dog I forced him to accept upon marrying me. This is especially important since his care has taken a backseat for me since George came to be. He does dishes and changes diapers whenever asked. When I was pregnant, and still today, anytime I said I wanted something (ex. ice cream, bananas, chips, etc) he grabbed the car keys and said he'd be right back. I always stop him because I don't want to spend the money on things like ice cream, but he is still always willing to fulfill any request. Glen was an amazing coach during labor and delivery. He held my hand and breathed with me. He encouraged me. He stayed strong. (until I got the epidural and he had to leave the room for a bit) He is wonderful with George. I love to see the way he looks at his little boy. I can't wait to see their relationship grow and develop.

Glen has truly never yelled at me. I am a mess most of the time and say and do some ridiculous things but Glen doesn't get after me. He just apologizes for whatever it is I think he did. He is a righteous priesthood holder. He has never said a swear word and puts up with my occasional slip. He is extremely passionate about his interests. He spends hours developing his talents. He is good at whatever he pursues. He doesn't just learn to do something or learn about something he masters it. In a time when jobs are scarce, he received a full-time job offer before even graduating. He likes my family most of the time and puts up with their idiosyncrasies. Best of all, my family likes him. Even my opinionated father that rarely admits to liking any of the decisions his children make, has openly admitted his acceptance of Glen. And not only does he accept Glen but he LIKES him.

Also, Glen is cute (I would say sexy but he would just blush), tall and lets me cuddle him whenever I want. Oh, and he smells good. All the time. It's a good life and I don't deserve it. Thank you Glen for all you do! You are the best husband ever! I love you more everyday!