park city

This weekend we headed up to Park City with a some Goldman Sachs workers from Philly and Boston. They are in town for 2 weeks of training and John's been able to entertain and show them around Utah. Of course we had to make our traditional stop to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a Carmel apple and white chocolate covered pretzel. Eleanor also enjoyed some good icecream!

island park & yellowstone

Last week we did a little trip up to Island Park and Yellowstone to visit Theron, Amanda and Ty. On our way up to Island Park we made a pit stop in Back foot to visit my grandparents. It was fun visiting with G&G Wolfley. Eleanor needed to get some of her energy out after the 3 hour car ride. She enjoyed some ice cream, crawling and showing off her puppy dog After we got to Island Park, Theron and Amanda took us to Big Springs to feed the birds and see the HUGE trout. The mosquito were HORRIBLE...just ask Theron.One of the many geyser is Yellowstone. They are so interesting, but man they do stink! It has been years since both John and I had seen Old Faithful. It's funny how things seem so much larger when you are small. I remember Old Faithful being SOOO big. I still thought it was impressive, just a bit smaller then remembered.
It was fun having Eleanor and Ty play together. They were having such a good time playing in the cooler.

movie, croquet and tinfoil dinners...

I think we may have started a new tradition....or at least I would like to. This year John and I had a little get together with some of our neighbors on the night before the 4th. We thought it would be fun to play a little bit of croquet, make tin foil dinners and watch a movie outdoors. It was so much fun! I must admit, the movie (chosen by the men of course, Indiana Jones, got a little too long) so me and a few of the girls ended up inside talking for most of the movie. I didn't mind, John and I had just watched all 3 Indiana Jones, so I was well caught up! I'm afraid we may have smoked out our neighbors with our fire pit. I swear the neighborhood smelt like smoke all the next day.

John was pretty proud of his "surround sound theater". He insisted on bring out a few of his "Bose" speakers to make sure we could all hear okay. I'm sure the neighbors behind us loved hearing the theme to Indiana Jones all night!

We are having another bbq this sunday and are hoping to do the movie thing again. I LOVe summer and spending time outside!

I absolutely LOVE the 4th of July! Every year I look forward to celebrating this great holiday. I just can't believe how fast it creeped up this year. We had such a fun day. I was a little disappointed we didn't make it to an early morning breakfast. Our city doesn't do one but we found out our friend's city does, so next year we'll have to hit it! So, instead of an early morning breakfast we all slept in pretty late. We were all so tired from

the party we had the night

before. I'm normally not

much for sleeping in, but

every now and then it's great.

Once we got rolling we did a

little yard work and let Eleanor play in the sprinklers. We had to get use out of the 4th of July bikini Mimi gave her. ~thanks mom!

After yard work we ran a few errands around town. We are starting our basement this next week and needed a few supplies. (I'm so anxious to get it done. Every since Eleanor came around, we have no room! Funny how that happens!)

Every year (well 2 out of the 3 we have lived here) our neighborhood puts on a bbq. It's actually quite nice. Both years they've had a huge screen with a movie playing and this year the Riverton Symphony performed 1812 Overture with live cannons. We weren't able to stay for the entire performance because we had a few friends and family over to light some fireworks and then watch the Thanksgiving Point fireworks from our little park. This year John and I bought the largest package of fireworks we could find!! We actually started about a week before the 4th lighting some each night in hopes of getting Eleanor used to them.....but no such luck. She was not liking them! I think she liked the light and colors...just not the sound. She did MUCH better with the Thanksgiving Point ones. She even fell sleep. I'm sure because we couldn't hear them too much. But we had a great time with Jay & Scott, and Tiffany, Paul and his family.

Again, I LOVE the 4th of July and I was a little sad to see it end. One nice thing about living in Utah (ok, so maybe there is more then just ONE nice thing) is we kind of get to celebrate all of July. I'm hoping this year we get to go to the SLC parade. I love it!

I didn't want to have an overload of photos...but you can always check the rest out on our smugmug page.

cowboy wanna be...

no, we aren't cowboys by ANY means....but we do enjoy our local rodeo each year. This was our third year going and I actually really enjoy it. This year we went with my mom, Tiffany and Paul, Jay and Scott, Troy & his girlfriend and our nephew Mike. Next year I'm going to have to get John and I some cowboy attire so we fit in with the rest of Lehi. Eleanor had the approciate clothing excpet for the boots. It was impossible to find baby cowboy boots. Maybe next year....

les miserables

Six months ago John had bought us tickets to go see les miserables for our anniversary. He didn't know at the time... but our good friend, Kim Stinger, her daughter got the roll as Cosette. When we found out Kenzie would be Cosette we bought two extra tickets for my parents. Unfortunately my dad wasn't able to make it, but my mom invited Jaime. It was Jaime's first time seeing Les Mis and she LOVED it! The performance was great!!! I'd seen it a few times before and thought this production was comparable to Broadway. Kenzie did such an amazing job as Cosette! She was so cute! We got to go down and see her afterwards. It was fun seeing her interacting with all the performers. You could tell they all loved her! It was such a fun night!

mini vacation...

no, we did not go to love...but we will be on our next trip to vegas. my parents went and they LOVED it.

we actually had a little mini vacation over the weekend. we flew to vegas early saturday morning to meet up with my parents. they were in vegas shooting a commercial for my dads law firm and we all thought it would be fun to meet up. it was a super short trip...but well worth it! we got to spend the morning and afternoon with my mom and dad. they were staying at the mirage so we walked all around the hotel and ventured out to the pool. we then made it over to the wynn for a nice sunday buffet...aka john's heaven! the food was good and of course my parents got a kick out of watching john enjoy all the food. eleanor had a great time walking around with grandpa and loved all the lights and sounds in the casinos.

after we took my dad to the airport john, mom, eleanor and myself all headed down to st. george to see my fair lady at the tuacahn theater. it was a really fun show...but it was HOT! we actually ran into our friends matt and lyndsay at the play. i'd like to go back to see another show.

sunday morning we woke up and took eleanor down to the pool. she got the cutest bikini from mimi and we had to break it in. i've never seen a baby love water as much as eleanor!!!

trip to the er

Yesterday morning Eleanor was playing with John on our bed and she fell off. She was sitting in the middle of the bed and in just a split second had pushed off John and was on the ground. She hit our night stand and the bed frame on the way down. She didn't cry too much but got a few good bumps, bruises and scrapes. We of course called the Doctors office and they told us to keep an eye on here and watch for certain symptoms. During the day she just wasn't herself. She took 4 naps (mind you, she normally takes 1 if I'm lucky!) wouldn't crawl much and the most noticeable thing was she didn't talk at all yesterday. Normally this kid has something to say 24/7!

When we got home from the art festival I noticed she was really warm. I took her temp and she was at 103. We called the nurse at our pediatrician's office and they said we might want to take her into the ER. So, we got to the ER at 11pm and by 12 we had seen the Doctor and found out that Eleanor had an ear infection but that she also wanted to do a CAT Scan. I was a little shocked to hear she had an ear infection. We tried keeping Eleanor asleep for the CT, but unfortunately she woke up when we had to take her earnings out. I wish they could have just left them in and had her sleeping for the CT. She screamed and screamed. Even with her being strapped down and both John and I holding her down, she was able to move around a bit. They said the CT wasn't perfect but they couldn't see any bleeding on broken bones...thank goodness!

It was a little bit of a scary experience but we are so GLAD she just had an ear infection and nothing more. This morning she seems to be doing pretty good. Nothing some antibiotics and a little rest can't cure....

salt lake city art festival

Every year Goldman Sachs has their employees participate in "Community Team Works". They have quite a few different events employees can choose to volunteer at. This year John choose the Art Festival. Goldman Sachs paired up with Discovery Gateway http://www.childmuseum.org/ to help kids make funky sunglasses. We all had a pretty good time. Eleanor and I walked around all the booths and spent a few hours in the SLC library. I LOVE the children's section of this library! They have a GREAT selection of books and a lot of fun activities for kids.

ron cozzen

As most of you know, a little over three years ago my mom got a liver transplant. It was such an experience! After the surgery the Doctors said her liver would have only lasted a few more weeks. We all feel so blessed that she was able to get a new liver and be living such a healthy life!!

This week I went up to Ron Cozzen's funeral. Ron is the husband to Jaime Cozzen and step-father of Marty Rubisun, my mom's donor. I had never met Jaime or her family, but felt an immediate connection. (If it weren't for Jaime, Marty's organs would not have been donated.)Jaime introduced to me everyone as "Julie, LouDawns daughter" and they all knew exactly who LouDawn was. You could tell this family really loved my mom! I'm so glad my mom called and had me go to the funeral. It was an experience I won't forget.

rainy day photo shoot...

its raining outside, johns sleeping and we are bored...

dear eleanor...june 2007

june 1, 2007

• went swimming with evan and lori and jay and zack


• you LOVE swimming. only problem is you don't like me holding you. you also like dunking your head under the water and yelling at all the kids.


• your fifth tooth went back down. i'm hoping it comes up soon and with less pain then the first time


• tried tomatoes for the first time and enjoyed them. you now think you have to eat what everyone else is


• went with mom to a girls night out and had fun playing with lori's dog marley. still not quite sure where your love for dogs come from. you love any dog and you are always trying to put either the tail or paw in your mouth

june 2, 2007

• you had fun playing with the new hose toy mimi bought you. the water was a little cold, but you still enjoyed playing.


• we went to a bbq for dad's work and you were the hit! you wore your little straw cowboy hat. you let everyone hold and play with you all afternoon.


• you and mom took a nap at dad's work while he got a few things done before taking off for a week


• mimi called to talk to you today and you actually kissed the phone. very rarely do you give kisses. in fact, you get so upset when anyone gives you a kiss. you grunt and pull yourself back

june 3, 2007

• you made mom and dad only go to one hour of church. your not to found of sitting for more then one hour and you get so cranky that it's just easier to come home.


• you actually let tiffany hall hold you. she is our neighbor and adores you...only problem is you never let her hold you. but today, you let her hold you for most of the evening.


• you had your taste of pasta salad and once again you loved it. to this day we haven't found a food you don't love. keep that up!!

june 4, 2007

• you went with mom and dad to the hospital for dad's surgery. we were actually really good at the hospital. i thought about leaving you at tiffany hunt's house but I didn't know how long the surgery would be and you still won't take a bottle.


• when you saw dad in the recovery room you wanted him to hold you right away. you gave him a hug and then started playing with his IV.


• when we got home from the hospital you stayed in bed with dad most of the day. you didn't want to leave his side. you made dad's day!!

june 5, 2007

• mom has confused you. you now believe one of your stuff animals is a dog. i actually thought it was a dog at first and made a few barking noises with it. you of course took the stuff animal and cuddled and kissed it all day long! later that day i realized it's actually a cat. but you still think its a dog and it's probably the closes thing you'll have to a real dog. so enjoy!


• your friend evan came over. you two play pretty good together. he of course is bigger and more mobile then you, but you don't seem to mind. he actually made him start crying a few times. you get so excited with other kids and you start yelling and talking to them. poor evan got so scared when you started yelling at him. it's pretty funny hearing your loud noises. i'm afraid you are going to be quite the motor mouth!


• you still LOVE the gilmore girl's theme song. every time it comes on you stop what you are doing and look for the tv. you then move your hands in the air and stare at the tv the entire song. once its over you continue doing what it was you were doing before. I think its funny, but your dad thinks it's a sign we watch too much gilmore girls


• zack also came over last night and you played with his trucks.


• once again you had a new food and loved it. this time...pizza! you got so upset every time i took a bite. you're quite the eater!!

june 6, 2007

• you crawled and I mean more then just two or three "crawls"!! Today you were all over the place!! Wow, I'm afraid you are going to be getting into everything and my days of being able to leave you in the room with a few toys are OVER!
• you had your first strawberry shake and whats new??? you loved it.
• you had so much energy today and could not hold still during a short photo shoot.
• you can say mom and dad and you know what they mean.

june 7, 2007

• spent all day home with mom and dad.
• i noticed that you keep your feet crossed behind you when you crawl. Your feet are crossed when you sit and sleep...so that makes sense why you keep your feet crossed when you crawl.
• you still aren't taking naps and it drives me nuts!! most babies your age are taking at least 2 naps, but not you. you are so afraid you'll miss something.
• i love it when you play by yourself. you are so cute! you talk to all your toys and get so excited.
• today you crawled to the tote with all your toys and pulled out pretty much everything.

june 8, 2007

• you had your first experience choking! Dad had a cup of ice water and asked me and Rob Hall if it was okay if you had ice. I wasn't sure but Rob said yeah it should be fine. Not long after you put the ice in your mouth you were choking. We were freaking! Dad passed you to me and I held and patted your back. You never actually coughed up the ice. I'm so glad it was just ice and that we were there to help you. I felt so bad for you. You looked so scared!
• you LOVE your spider man toy. when i picked you up at the day care you had a spider man toy in your hand. i just thought it was "yours". When I got home I realized "your" toy was home and you had picked up another spider man. I get a kick out of how much you love spider man!!
• you are now crawling ALL over the house. you follow me around the house.
• you are getting really good at pulling yourself you. today i was taking a little nap on the couch while you were playing with your toys and woke up with your cute little face right next to mine. you had pulled yourself up and was playing with my face. you always play with either mine or dads face when you want us to wake up.

knee surgery #3

Yes, that's right. John had to get his third surgery on his left knee. We are becoming pros at this! We had to be to the hospital at 6 am. This surgery wasn't too long, just about an hour. The Dr. did a scope and was able to clean out a lot of scar tissue and repair a tear in his lateral meniscus. The Dr. hopes this will allow John's knee to go from a "6" to about an "8" knee. Lets just hope!!!

Eleanor was so excited to see John in the recovery room. She wanted him to hold her right away and she kept playing with his IV. I'm afraid we have a daddy's girl in the making.


I'm not sure if John is having too much fun, but Eleanor and I are enjoying having him home with us. We've made a few trips to the local hollywood and have done a lot of catching up on the gilmore girls (don't let John fool you, he loves it!). We've been spoiled by friends and family with great dinners and yummy treats. John should be back to work next Wednesday...but we'll see.