Please Help US!!!

Wow, blogger changed some things. Anyway, not what this is about!!

Ok, this is probably getting old if you are my friend on FB. But still, only about 40 of my total 303 friends have thus far voted. So, I figure I'm going to keep bugging everyone until we have enough votes to get us in the top 200!!

So here it is, there is a charity group on Facebook, through Chase (yes the credit card company). They are willing to give away $5,000,000 (yes that's 5 million) total to 200 charities to split up. AND Chromosome 18 Registry and Research Society is in the running. We just need your votes!! Right now, we're at a steady 143 votes, and the bottom on the top 200 is at 271. But, I am hopeful, because yesterday afternoon, we were at a steady 83, and I've been working my butt off, and now we've almost doubled what we had in one day! So, if we keep it up, we'll be in good shape!

I don't have to tell many of you how important the research that Chromosome 18 does. Most of you know that it's what helped us find out we needed to put Emarie on growth hormone, and what specialists to see. As well as many things to look out for in the future. But, what some of you may not know is that the research they do, does not only help the kids with Chromosome 18 disorders, but, it can also help research with Down's Syndrome, autism, metabolic disorders, anxiety, depression, and the list goes on and on! 

Here is what I posted on the Chase Giving wall for Chromosome 18:

We would have been completely lost when our daughter was diagnosed with 18q deletion syndrome, had it not been for the Chromosome 18 Research and Registry Society. Not only did it provide us with an answer to what our daughter's condition entailed, but they gave us hope, where we had never found any before. They also connected us with a whole other network of families that could relate and give advice.

You have no idea what this organization means to my family. Please help them continue on the legacy that they are providing. They are completely non-profit and work solely off of contributions, and this would help tremendously, so please vote!!

So, now that I have all of your attention, here's where you can go to vote, and please, please do!!!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!!

By the way, I think you have to be on facebook to vote. But, if you don't have one, you can just make a profile to vote, and then delete it ; )

Thank you all!!

A fully loaded Father's Day weekend!!

We did a lot this past weekend..........

After about two weeks of relentless searching, and sweltering hot, lot hopping........we bought a car on Saturday! Just for ME!!

And isn't it just the cutest?? I absolutely love it!! BTW so does Emarie! And good thing it's such a girlie color, so I won't have to worry about anyone else driving it ;)

That night (Saturday) is when I made Steve's Father's day dinner, since we would be going to about 3 different dinners on the actual day.

In the process of slicing some potatoes with our wonderful slicer for my Potato, bacon and cheese torte, I managed to slice off a portion of my middle finger on my right hand. Now, if Steve tells you this story, he will say that I was not using the guard and that is why this happened. Well, I'm not going to lie, this is true. However, the potatoes were too big to fit in the guard at first, so what I was doing, was cutting them down a little bit, and then putting them safely in the guard. This system worked perfectly, that is, until the third potato. What I failed to think about, was that if I just cut the potatoes in half in the first place, then this whole fiasco could have been avoided! *Sigh* ah well, live and learn, right??!! Anyway, those of you that know me, know that I don't like blood, so it's better not to look. But, I took comfort in knowing that it didn't really hurt, so it probably wasn't that bad as I was running it under cold water, and I told Steve that I had mostly just cut my fingernail, no worries! Steve however, DID look, and DID think it required medical attention. I still thought I was fine, and just bandaged it up so that I could finish dinner. However, the dang thing wouldn't quit bleeding, so I had to go to the IC to get it taken care of.

I will spare you on the real pictures of the actual wound, I still don't like looking at it!

But, here's what it looked like after they bandaged it all up

And even though I was supposed to keep this bandage on for at least 48 hours, that thing didn't last more than a day, because it was hella annoying! As you could probably figure from the size!

Anyway, I got home late, and we enjoyed my perfect dinner after that! And to answer, I'm sure, all of your questions: NO, I do not believe we ate that piece of my finger! In fact, I'm pretty sure it was washed down the sink!

"D" for "Dad" you know?

And I gave Steve his other present that night (after midnight, of course!)

I know what you're thinking, "What kind of a gift is a garbage can??" Well, I'll tell you that this guy has wanted a can like this for a while now! And I got great deal, two for the price of one! Can't beat that! And that little one will look oh so cute in one of the bathrooms, right??!

Ok, now onto the honoring of the father's in our life! That's what this whole day is about right??

What can I say? This girl and her dad are like two peas in a pod! Steve is an excellent dad. There is really no one better suited to be sweet little Emarie's dad than him. I thought moms already had it in them to know exactly what to do for their children. Well, not this mom, it was completely the dad in our situation! Steve has unknowingly taught me so much of what I needed to know to be Emarie's mom. I can't even begin to describe. He's taught me patience, and acceptance. As well as, the ability to deal with things that life is always throwing our way. None of it has been easy, especially for me. But, I've learned from him, that I can handle it, because he does, and so well. This guy will probably never know all that he has taught me. Except for maybe the obvious things like, how to make Em's bag, and how to give Em her shot correctly, as well as a plethora of other things that I probably could take all night in telling you! But, I won't, I will just end here, and say that this guy is the BEST dad I've ever had the pleasure to watch! Thank you so much for doing the best job possible with our little girl! Emarie and I love you, and hope you had a great Father's Day, because you deserve the BEST!!

Happy Father's Day as well to Emarie's 3 grandfathers! You each are amazing with her! As well, as Emarie's 4 great-grandfather's, you don't know how lucky I feel that Emarie gets to know the wonderful grandfathers that Steve and I grew up with! You all are so wonderful, and we feel so blessed to have you a part of our sweet little girl's life!!

Happy Father's Day!! Love the Peters'!

Worthen/Wilde family reunion in Moab!

Emarie and I went on a spur-of-the-moment vacation down to Moab for a family reunion for my grandma Wilde's (Worthen) side of the family. We had a lot of fun even though it mostly rained.

But, enjoy some pictures!

Em in front of our "Cabin" if you can call it that, I called it the treehouse without a tree!

The inside......and yeah, that's it! Once Em's crib was up, you couldn't even walk around anymore!

Chit-chatting while trying to avoid the rain

Bob, Gma Wilde, Debbie, Mitchell, Noah

So happy!! Just loved the attention from EVERYONE!!

Emarie, Jen and Gpa Wilde

Gpa Mitch pushing Em to the festivities that night, followed closely by uncle Connor

They had a talent show the first night, followed by an auction

Here's my cousin Craig showing off his auctioneering skills

Each family was supposed to bring things to auction off to help pay for the food and activities

My grandma's hand-knitted headbands and hats were a huge hit! As well as aunt Debbie's homemade Oreo cookies and Jen's delicious carmel popcorn that Craig jokingly stated was fat free, sugar free and calorie free when auctioning it off. Sadly, someone believed him on that too!

Aunt Debbie helping some little girls model for us!

Our family ended up buying most of my grandma's stuff, Em also got a red one like this. I also bought one of my grandma's handmade one of a kind quilts for my cousin who's expecting a little boy. If you've ever seen any of Em's NICU pictures, she's rarely in her crib without the pink one my grandma made her! So I just had to buy the blue version for the next little boy being born!!

And her handmade, knitted one of a kind Grandma Wilde hat!

I think I might have to think about not asking her to smile when I take a picture anymore, since this is the result I get when I do! She's still cute as can be though!

Connor, Em and Grandpa Mitch on the hike to Delicate Arch

Mitchell carried her most of the way up, and I carried her down, that was a big help to me!!

Noah, Bob, Deb, Craig, Sadie, Connor, Mitchell, Em and Me (Jen was taking the picture, I'll have to try and get the one that the nice man took with her camera with all of us)

Notice the "Geeky" family reunion shirts that say "Wilde Worthens"! They couldn't get one small enough for Em, so I have to give props to Steve's mom for embroidering one for her the night before we left. Again, her talent for that is amazing!! Sadie seems to have ditched hers, slacker!

Can't believe I have never been to this gorgeous place before, that I only live a mere 3 hours away from!

That's the big group of New York students, about 80 of them, that were bugging us the entire time, mostly about getting out of their pictures.

An hour and a half hike was SO worth it!

Craig, Connor, me and Em enjoying this vast wonder of the world!

Who's afraid of heights?? Not us!!! Especially not Em, she was amazing me with how far she was leaning back to see the top of the arch!

So freaking cool!

No explanation really, just one of those pictures you just HAVE to take!

Just a "Wilde" group chillin! Some more afraid of heights than others ;-) Notice Noah was missing at this point, he wouldn't go any further!

Why yes I did climb all the way up there with my 20 lbs girl strapped to me! Ain't nothing to it!

Here's a closer look at the shirt my mother-in-law did for Em. She does wonderful, quality, quick work for a fair price! Let me know if you want her info for sewing, embroidery, quilting etc.!

And a few final scenery pictures, because who doesn't love those??

This one was on a stop on our detour to Ferran to see where my Grandma grew up

So amazing!!

We did have a great time hanging out with my Wilde family!! And yes, that joke got really old when growing up with the name myself!! But, I'm so glad I finally got to see one of the things that the state I live in is truly famous for! And the best part? I got to share with some great family members, and my favorite little girl in the whole world!!

The sights, sounds, and feel of summer!! And working out!!

Here are a few of my favorite things about running in warmer weather, and the tell-tale signs that summer is here!

The air is warmer, therefore easier on my lungs, thus not affecting my asthma as much. It makes me feel like I can go longer and faster! Plus the air is cleaner, no more of that inversion crap that was making life difficult when I wanted to run!

There are more people out, which is bad, and good. Bad, because I have more of an audience. Good, because I feel safer.

It's stays lighter later, which is great because I don't always get out as early as I would like, and helps me feel safer as well.

There's not much of a breeze to cool me down, but I guess this good because I sweat more, so I'm burning off more.

However, there are sprinklers on everywhere, which I don't mind a bit, because they help when there's no breeze!!

There's always a hint of barbeque smell or campfire, which I LOVE!!

There are the sounds of crickets everywhere, which I also LOVE!!

I love running in warmer weather!!

Ok, now, due to popular demand, here's my workout routine for the week:

I run 2-3 times a week (it would be more, but I'm doing Zumba now too). I'm actually pretty amazed at how well I'm doing too. I really had no intention in setting a speed/time goal, even though I was pretty fast when I ran in high school. I first noticed that I was getting faster after I had made a custom playlist for running. I timed it perfectly with the average time it had been taking me, with the perfect motivating songs and toward the end, some great cool down songs, selected from a few of my favorites from David Gray and Nora Jones. Well, after only a few times using it, one night I never even made it to my cool down songs, which meant I had already shaved off a good 8 minutes from my total time! So, I actually decided to put it to the test, and decided I would need to use my Nike app on my iTouch. First, I needed to figure out how it worked, so thanks to Jenny Howe, I got right to work on getting a sensor (Sports Authority, $19.99), and then since I don't use Nike running shoes, I also had to purchase a pouch for the sensor (MacMall online, about $10 with shipping). I put it to the test, and found out that I'm running just under a 6 1/2 minute mile, which is pretty dang close to what I ran in high school!! I was pretty amazed with myself!! Sadly though, this has made me really want that high school time back, and my fastest time was about 5:56.........Wish me luck!! Oh, and I'm up to about 7 miles right now!

Zumba is twice a week, and I can't even tell you how much fun it is!! I may not be great at it, but that doesn't matter, because I have a blast doing it, and I know I'm reaping the benefits!! I go to the Provo Rec because I get in free, the benefit of being a Provo District employee. I get to bring a guest too, so if anyone ever wants to come with me, just let me know!

On my off days (that is off from cardio, which would be running and Zumba), I do Pilates. I'm doing an ab workout and a bun and thigh. These are NOT EASY!! It requires a lot of strength, balance and stamina! But, I'm getting great results, and am sooo close to a six-pack!!

Now, I am pretty dedicated to my workout routine, but if only I could be as dedicated to eating right, then I would be unstoppable!! But sadly, I love food too much, and all the wrong kinds of food. So, for now, I'm just going to stick to trying to work off all the bad calories I consume, but maybe someday..........I'll have more self control! Wishful thinking, right??

The Randomness Rundown of this Week!

So, I'm sure you're all dying to know how my little sweetheart is doing. And as of today, we have now been more than 36 hours free of vomiting and diarrhea. And, I really hope I didn't just jinx it!! But, I love that this little girl almost always has a huge smile on her face, despite what's going on! And how she can manage to now find anything to play peek-a-boo with!!

Emarie and my mom at my mom's retirement party

So, due to the craziness of the last week, I did not get everything done that I wanted to, to start off my newly free time. So, I've been working my little tail off to accomplish a lot today. And, I did, or so I think. But, we'll get to all that in a moment.

First, I wanted to say that I got to go to my beautiful cousin Alexis's wedding last night. Alexis and I have grown up together, and are only a mere two months apart. I am SO excited that she married such a wonderful man, one Jonathan Holt, who treats her very well, and just, (cheesy, I know, but it's true) completes her! Alexis could not have made a more beautiful bride, and both she and the groom were positively glowing all night ( I hope to have more pictures for you all to see later!).

Sadly, Em was still not well enough to go, so she and Steve stayed home. Because of this, I rode up with my mom and two brothers, and it was nice to be with them, we don't do that very often. The whole highlight of the evening (sarcastic) was when we left at just after 11 pm from Oakley (which is right near Park City) and decided to go the Salt Lake route, since we thought it would be faster. Well, we thought wrong! Since, maybe some of you know this, but we didn't, I15 is doing nightly lane closures. And this is not just one or two lanes, but it's all the lanes, save for one. And in four different spots to boot! Needless to say, what should have taken only an hour, took about 3! But, I had to laugh when my brother Bryan (who was driving) said, "This was the worst decision I have made all year, to go this way!!" I laughed and replied, "Well, if this was your worst decision all year, then I think you're in pretty good shape!" I really love hanging out with my family, we always have a good time!

Now on to my projects today!

1. I cleaned the kitchen spotless! This one was with help from Steve.

2. I organized and completely cleaned the laundry room, which may not be a big deal to some, but since this is my dog, Macy's domain, it can get pretty nasty!

3. I also gave Macy a really good bath, much to her dismay. Although, she may act like she doesn't like it, I think she really does, since she gets so much attention in the process. I also bought her a new bed, and threw the old one (that was looking pretty sad) in the garbage.

I know Mace doesn't get a lot of attention on this blog, but we really like her, and she is a really good dog!

4. I finally finished up the rest of my laundry "mountain" from the past weeks incidences. I will just say, that I had to pretreat and soak just about everything in Emarie's room, as well as about half of her clothing. I had to use bleach, when I hardly ever use that! All this was necessary because of the bloody vomit and horrible diarrhea! And Em was dressed in a diaper, garbage sack and towel at one point during the day on Thursday, because she ran out of everything! But, now everything is clean again!!

5. I also did pilates and ran 7 miles today! And might I add, that I am getting pretty close to the six pack that I've been striving for! People keep asking how it's possible after having a baby. All I know, is that it's a lot easier to get it back, if you had one before, which I did.

6. I also managed to get to the store before 5, only to realize that I didn't have my purse because of last night's events, and turn around and go back home!

7. I did go back though, and I completed getting Steve a Father's Day gift. And no, I won't say what it is right now, you'll just have to wait and see (it's not really that exciting anyway). But, I will tell you that he already has one present, because I needed to make sure that he liked it before the 30 days were up that we could return it. And that was a new Fossil wrist watch, like this one.

8. I finally managed to plant my slowly dying Iris, that was given to me by the PTA at the end of the year. And while I was at it, I pulled some weeds, and cut down the dead tulips and mums. I also came up with the wondering question as to how the disgusting weeds seem to thrive so readily in the less than nurturing soil of my garden, when my flowers can't seem to??

So that's it!!

Oh, and I must always remember, that any day can be made better with a little David Gray playing in the background! He's also really nice to run to!!