I don't know how many of you still have Heidi's email, or hear from her, but I just got an email from her and I thought I'd pass on the sad news for any who didn't hear. She had a baby girl in May, and apparently she died this past week. Heidi had mentioned months ago that her pregnancy was difficult and she was on bed rest because of risk of pre-term labor. She said it was probably their last kid because her pregnancy with Kaden was just as hard and she was on bed rest with him too. But it seemed like Isabel must have been born premature--she was a little over one pound, I think. And I think she must have been in NICU since she was born.
Here's what she wrote:
Our sweet little princess returned to her heavenly father due to an infection. She was a perfect little angel. The infection hit so quickly her sweet little body didn't have time to respond to medication. I talked with the nurses at 6:00 and she had just finished her bottle and was doing fine. Ed got there are 9:00 and her breathing had started to slow the nurses and doctors did everything possible, when we arrived her heart had not been beating and she wasn't breathing for almost 2 hours, at 1:30 am she had returned to her heavenly father. She had doubled her birth weight when she passed on she was 3 lb 7 oz.
Clearfield- Isabel entered this world on May 31st and returned to her Heavenly Father on July 25th 2007 . She over came many challenges in her short life. She was born at 1 lb 8oz and quickly learned to breathe and use a bottle on her own. She touched the lives of so many people and her sweet spirit will always be remembered. She loved people, especially her big brother she always smiled and held on to his finger when he came to visit her each day. Isabel was called back to her Heavenly Father due to an infection.
Sad stuff. Anyway, I just thought I'd pass on the news.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Wanna hear/see something gross?
Ok, so I had a softball game yesterday and had to slide at 3rd base. I was safe, but the silly intramural umpire didn't know what the heck she was doing, and called me out. Anyways, this is what happened. Ironically, before the game, I had a discussion with Mike's little sister Lisa about how sliding wasn't worth it and if you had to slide you shouldn't have gone to that base anyways.So at church today I was giving Cameron a drink and felt something drip onto my foot. I just figured that he had splurped water on me as he so often does. I ignored it and minutes later Shannon had to go to the potty. So I took her and then she wanted a drink. But before I pushed the drinking fountain button I felt another drip onto my foot. I looked down this time and, much to my disgust, there was all this yellow drippy pussy stuff leaking down my leg. I quickly went back into the bathroom and discretely cleaned it up without Shannon noticing. If she would have noticed I would have had to answer questions about why Mommy had a yucky leg. Ew.
Funny video
So, if you have about 3 minutes to kill, check out this video. I thought it was pretty funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4vDClhnJjs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4vDClhnJjs
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Moving adventures
So, this weekend was quite a bit more of a weekend than we had anticipated.
The cops came out that night (Thursday) (after waiting for 3+ hours), and took fingerprints and stuff. Then we had to wait for the insurance agent to come check out the damage before we could start cleaning up. Because we found it before closing, it was still the responsibility of the last owners' homeowners insurance. So we waited all day Friday, and finally that night she made it out, and we started cleaning after she was done. It only took a few hours to clean up, thanks to the help of my parents and brother and sister-in-law and Jacob. I worked for a little while, but got a bit too hot anywhere except the living room where we had fans going (the AC wasn't working either). Besides the heat, I was kind of dead from all the packing and stress of the day, and not having gotten a nap or slept well the night before, along with the baby sucking all my energy, so I was pretty much good for nothing. But those guys did a good job and got everything cleaned up so we could move Sat. morning.
The moving went fine and actually was pretty quick. I recommend never living on the 3rd floor, however, unless you really love the exercise. I got winded every time I'd go back upstairs, so I ended up supervising more than moving (besides that my tummy got in the way of carrying boxes). Now we're mostly unpacked. Here's some pictures with our stuff scattered around, but most of the junk from the punk kids cleaned up. We'll have to get someone in to fix the broken window, and the holes they punched in the drywall, then we'll get to have the rooms repainted. Of course the one room that has a funky paint job is the only one the kids left alone, so it's the only one the insurance isn't covering to repaint. We might repaint it anyway, as long as the rest of the stuff is getting done. And we'll go get some new doors since they destroyed all but 2 of them (luckily one that they left in tact was to the toilet room). So here are pictures of mid-unpacking. Most of it ias actually unpacked now. We just haven't unpacked the books yet, because we decided to wait until the painting is done so we don't have to try to move a full bookcase.
So that's the story of our move. We're hoping the repairs will go quickly. Whenever it's all done I'll put some updated pictures on here so you can check it out.
Here's a little picture of how moving into our new home went. About 2 hours before we were supposed to officially close on the house, our realtor called and said our house had been vandalized. Apparently some kids have been going around the area (which is one of the safest places in all of Tucson with no--almost no--crime) breaking into houses that are for sale and vacant and having a party there and trashing the place. So here's some pictures of what they did.
The cops came out that night (Thursday) (after waiting for 3+ hours), and took fingerprints and stuff. Then we had to wait for the insurance agent to come check out the damage before we could start cleaning up. Because we found it before closing, it was still the responsibility of the last owners' homeowners insurance. So we waited all day Friday, and finally that night she made it out, and we started cleaning after she was done. It only took a few hours to clean up, thanks to the help of my parents and brother and sister-in-law and Jacob. I worked for a little while, but got a bit too hot anywhere except the living room where we had fans going (the AC wasn't working either). Besides the heat, I was kind of dead from all the packing and stress of the day, and not having gotten a nap or slept well the night before, along with the baby sucking all my energy, so I was pretty much good for nothing. But those guys did a good job and got everything cleaned up so we could move Sat. morning.
The moving went fine and actually was pretty quick. I recommend never living on the 3rd floor, however, unless you really love the exercise. I got winded every time I'd go back upstairs, so I ended up supervising more than moving (besides that my tummy got in the way of carrying boxes). Now we're mostly unpacked. Here's some pictures with our stuff scattered around, but most of the junk from the punk kids cleaned up. We'll have to get someone in to fix the broken window, and the holes they punched in the drywall, then we'll get to have the rooms repainted. Of course the one room that has a funky paint job is the only one the kids left alone, so it's the only one the insurance isn't covering to repaint. We might repaint it anyway, as long as the rest of the stuff is getting done. And we'll go get some new doors since they destroyed all but 2 of them (luckily one that they left in tact was to the toilet room). So here are pictures of mid-unpacking. Most of it ias actually unpacked now. We just haven't unpacked the books yet, because we decided to wait until the painting is done so we don't have to try to move a full bookcase.
So that's the story of our move. We're hoping the repairs will go quickly. Whenever it's all done I'll put some updated pictures on here so you can check it out.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
I want you to know this is a huge sacrifice...
Yep... its true. I got my Harry Potter book today and it is sitting on the coffee table dogeared at page 48. I care more about writing to you kids than reading my Harry Potter. I hope you now feel the warm fuzzy glow in your hearts.Anyways... heres an update on me.
This month we moved back to Provo for Mike to finish writing his dissertation. Then we will be done. It's about time. So now I shall bring you up to date on what is going on with us. Shannon is now 3 and potty trained. I won't post right now in this blog about potty training... such gruesome tales are not for the faint of heart. I will just say, that now, one of the first questions that Shannon likes to ask those who are tending her is "Are you good at wiping bottoms?" She has also perfected the "crazy eye." I hate it. She can cross one eye at a time. And she can do both eyes. Such a talented child. She likes hanging out with my sister Amy and one of her friends, Kasey. Kasey and Mike's little sister Lisa have taught Shannon the art of the "silent laugh, silent cry, and silent scream." To be quite honest... they really look pretty much the same. I'll have to have Mike take pictures of all three and see if you can tell which is which. We'll have a contest!!
Cameron is fat. Like Colette, but not really. He is just fat because he is a baby that eats lots. Colette is fat because she has a baby inside of her that eats lots. I just gave him his first haircut. He had this faux-hawk/receding hairline/bald spots combo going on that just wasn't working, so I decided to even things out. He was remarkably good and only tried to grab the clippers about 3 times. His new thing is screeching for things that he wants. I am not too happy with this new habit. For example, when I am getting his food ready for him, he will look from me to the food and screech. Then, when I start feeding him, if I am too slow between bites, or if I dare get distracted by anything else, he will screech again. He has been a bit slow with his physical milestones, much like Shannon was. He started rolling over at the beginning of this month, and he is just about 9 months old. For the most part though, he is just a happy easy going little guy with lots of teeth. I don't really like his teeth. He likes to bite things... anything really, tables, spoons, me, books, fingers, balls, Shannon, measuring tapes, me, kleenex, kidneys, power cords (just kidding... I was just seeing if you were paying attention, or if you've nodded off to sleep yet), and me.
As for myself, I really enjoyed my time in New Mexico. There were things I didn't like of course, but there were also a lot of things that I did like. I loved the ward that we had there and made a bunch of good friends. I loved it when Colette and George came to visit us. I don't know how Shannon figured out that Jacob's real name was George, but I'm glad to know his true identity now. I loved the mountains there and the spicy food. MMmmmmm. Green chiles HAVE to be from New Mexico to be awesome... unless Grandpa Ozaki grows them, of course. It is interesting to be back in Wymount but I've really been enjoying playing softball, although I have realized that I am woefully out of shape and need to get running to lose some weight. It is ironic that the same flab that helps me hit the ball far also slows me down as I run around the bases. Never fear though, the jogging stroller has arrived, and Shannon will now throw a fit if I don't go running in the morning... trust me, its great motivation to go!This is getting long but I am almost done with the update! Mike recently had an interview in Connecticut. Yes, there is a possibility that we could be East Coasters. I don't really like the East coast, but I will admit, I've never given it a fair chance. I've always loved the open spaces and desert that abounds in the West. We'll see what happens and I'll keep ya posted!!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Chicago Adventures
Thanks Stephanie for getting this Crown 9er blog going. I'm really excited about keeping in touch with everybody. For the most part I'm going to post on this site the same things I do for our website. If you want to catch up or read about Jason's veterinary adventures please visit
Last weekend my parents and I drove down to the Great Lakes Naval Base for Rachel's Boot Camp graduation. Conveniently, the nationwide training center is only an hour and a quarter drive from my home. Her ceremony was Friday morning; highlights involved the parade of states and watching the recruits as they stood for an hour. Later, Rachel told us that the sailor next to her fell asleep standing up and collapsed forward on the recruit in front of him. All of the recruits were not allowed to move, so even though Rachel saw it happening she couldn't stop it and the recruit who was landed on had to simply stand and bear the weight. My mom was the one with the camera, while she didn't catch this action, she taped Rachel swaying back and forth unintentionally as she tried not to lock her knees. Apparently this is such a common problem at graduations that they assign a couple of recruits to quietly walk among the ranks and wake up sleepy recruits or fix locked knees.
Following the graduation we went to Gurnee Mills, a local shopping Mecca for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. My dad then returned so he could work that evening with all of the lucky inmates at the jail. The rest of the weekend my mom, Rachel and I explored northern Illinois.
Saturday we visited the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. This place rocked! It was a beautiful and huge building. They have an extensive collection with a fascinating display of anemone and coral throughout. I was super impressed with how clean all of the aquariums were and how well put together the ecosystems were duplicated for appearance and information. We spent a good six hours looking at and learning. We also really enjoyed a special exhibit with lizards from all over the world. They had a Komodo Lizard there that was a 120 pounds. We learned these "dragons" can eat 80% of their body weight in one sitting, I figured that to be 95 pounds in one sitting for the adult male there! My favorite displays were probably the whales and the Caribbean Reef tank. (The Amazon section was also fascinating with the poison arrow frogs and bird tarantulas.)
Through careful detective work we were able to find a decent place to park in downtown Chicago and manage to drive there and back without any problems. We also learned how to use the free Trolley, but only after walking several miles up and down Michigan Ave. Rachel was dead set on finding the Cheesecake Factory which was at the opposite end of Downtown then the Aquarium. Several blisters later, we finally found it and enjoyed a delicious dinner. We then quickly marched the miles back to the car in order to get her in before her liberty expired. Part of the rules for her first liberty from base involved that she be limited to a 50 mile radius and she had to remain in uniform at all times. Considering she had to keep her all white uniform spotless, this limited some of the activities we could do. It was also key that she make it back to her barracks no later than her curfew, as you can imagine, this made me a bit nervous as the driver but all worked out well.
Sunday Rachel had to clean her ship so my Mom and I went to the chapel on base to have church with the recruits. They had an LDS branch there with a lot of people really committed to serving the recruits. They did everything from allowing them to write messages to be phoned to loved ones to providing the postage for letters. (Recruits do not have phone privilages of their own.) During boot camp, church is one of those few moments where you can relax; this seems to a rare opportunity to write letters and get a break from your division. Following church we met with Rachel and went to the Illinois State Beach Park. My mom and I had packed a picnic lunch the night before so we spent the day walking along trails, taking a nap on the beach of Lake Michigan and getting severely sun burnt. (This had something to do with the inability to really plan the weekend and not knowing sunscreen would be a good thing to bring.) We then sent Rachel back to the base where she will be awaiting her "A" school. This is the term used to describe the school that sailors will go to receive their specific training, in Rachel's case, to become a medical corpsman which is also at the same base by opposite side as the recruit training station. This is a big change in her training considering she will now have the opportunity to call us and have more time on her own. As you can tell from the pictures, we are very proud of her and fully support the decision that she has made to serve her country and further develop her character.
Now that Rachel has weekend time available we hope to be able to work out some more explorations of Wisconsin and Illinois so we'll have to keep you updated as the adventures continue.
Last weekend my parents and I drove down to the Great Lakes Naval Base for Rachel's Boot Camp graduation. Conveniently, the nationwide training center is only an hour and a quarter drive from my home. Her ceremony was Friday morning; highlights involved the parade of states and watching the recruits as they stood for an hour. Later, Rachel told us that the sailor next to her fell asleep standing up and collapsed forward on the recruit in front of him. All of the recruits were not allowed to move, so even though Rachel saw it happening she couldn't stop it and the recruit who was landed on had to simply stand and bear the weight. My mom was the one with the camera, while she didn't catch this action, she taped Rachel swaying back and forth unintentionally as she tried not to lock her knees. Apparently this is such a common problem at graduations that they assign a couple of recruits to quietly walk among the ranks and wake up sleepy recruits or fix locked knees.
Following the graduation we went to Gurnee Mills, a local shopping Mecca for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. My dad then returned so he could work that evening with all of the lucky inmates at the jail. The rest of the weekend my mom, Rachel and I explored northern Illinois.
Saturday we visited the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. This place rocked! It was a beautiful and huge building. They have an extensive collection with a fascinating display of anemone and coral throughout. I was super impressed with how clean all of the aquariums were and how well put together the ecosystems were duplicated for appearance and information. We spent a good six hours looking at and learning. We also really enjoyed a special exhibit with lizards from all over the world. They had a Komodo Lizard there that was a 120 pounds. We learned these "dragons" can eat 80% of their body weight in one sitting, I figured that to be 95 pounds in one sitting for the adult male there! My favorite displays were probably the whales and the Caribbean Reef tank. (The Amazon section was also fascinating with the poison arrow frogs and bird tarantulas.)
Through careful detective work we were able to find a decent place to park in downtown Chicago and manage to drive there and back without any problems. We also learned how to use the free Trolley, but only after walking several miles up and down Michigan Ave. Rachel was dead set on finding the Cheesecake Factory which was at the opposite end of Downtown then the Aquarium. Several blisters later, we finally found it and enjoyed a delicious dinner. We then quickly marched the miles back to the car in order to get her in before her liberty expired. Part of the rules for her first liberty from base involved that she be limited to a 50 mile radius and she had to remain in uniform at all times. Considering she had to keep her all white uniform spotless, this limited some of the activities we could do. It was also key that she make it back to her barracks no later than her curfew, as you can imagine, this made me a bit nervous as the driver but all worked out well.
Sunday Rachel had to clean her ship so my Mom and I went to the chapel on base to have church with the recruits. They had an LDS branch there with a lot of people really committed to serving the recruits. They did everything from allowing them to write messages to be phoned to loved ones to providing the postage for letters. (Recruits do not have phone privilages of their own.) During boot camp, church is one of those few moments where you can relax; this seems to a rare opportunity to write letters and get a break from your division. Following church we met with Rachel and went to the Illinois State Beach Park. My mom and I had packed a picnic lunch the night before so we spent the day walking along trails, taking a nap on the beach of Lake Michigan and getting severely sun burnt. (This had something to do with the inability to really plan the weekend and not knowing sunscreen would be a good thing to bring.) We then sent Rachel back to the base where she will be awaiting her "A" school. This is the term used to describe the school that sailors will go to receive their specific training, in Rachel's case, to become a medical corpsman which is also at the same base by opposite side as the recruit training station. This is a big change in her training considering she will now have the opportunity to call us and have more time on her own. As you can tell from the pictures, we are very proud of her and fully support the decision that she has made to serve her country and further develop her character.
Now that Rachel has weekend time available we hope to be able to work out some more explorations of Wisconsin and Illinois so we'll have to keep you updated as the adventures continue.
I got an A!!
Ok so I'll just go ahead and talk about myself some more - Woohoo!
I probably have some fun pictures to post later too...
So I'm still working at the University of Texas and going on my 4th year...wait maybe 5th - o no I'm losing track of time! Yikes! The job is a job but I do enjoy working on campus, I love the campus feeling even though it's nothing like our old beloved campus, believe me. I'm also enrolled in a Master's Program - Master of Public Administration (MPA) to be exact. Now I know you are all wondering what that means and what I'm going to do with it. These are all very good questions to which I don't really have an answer. The MPA is basically the public sector version of the MBA so I'll be prepared to boss people around in federal and state agencies - something I'm sure I'll be excellent at - ha! Anyway my first session just finished up a few weeks ago and I got myself a big fat 'A'! I was pretty excited about that considering I honestly had no idea what I was going to get - freaky feeling. While going back to school as been really exciting I had forgotten how hard and annoying school can be sometimes. Staying up all night to write a paper is really not my favorite thing to do!
Anyway, other than that things are pretty much the same. My lil twin brothers are about to get their driver's license which freaks me out every time I think about it. My mom is still dating a Jew (which is weird for a whole lot of reasons) and I'm still single in the singles ward...but there are a lot of fun people to hang out with down here so it's be good times.
I recently moved into a house and have a new roomie...she's 6'4" so can you imagine the looks we get together!?! It's pretty hilarious. She is such good times and we pretty much have fun everyday - slumber party all the time!
O and on the funnier side...I totally write the advice column for our ward newsletter. It's anonymous and called 'Ask Red'. When we gave it that name I thought for sure people would know it was me right away but they don't - it cracks me up all the time. Anyway people submit questions about anything and once a week I answer one in the newsletter. I must say I'm pretty dang funny sometimes - ha - but seriously it's been a lot of fun. I'll try to remember to send you some of the better samples.
Well that's pretty much it and I better get back to work. I hope ya'll jump right in with more stories. I can't wait!
Later,
Steph
I probably have some fun pictures to post later too...
So I'm still working at the University of Texas and going on my 4th year...wait maybe 5th - o no I'm losing track of time! Yikes! The job is a job but I do enjoy working on campus, I love the campus feeling even though it's nothing like our old beloved campus, believe me. I'm also enrolled in a Master's Program - Master of Public Administration (MPA) to be exact. Now I know you are all wondering what that means and what I'm going to do with it. These are all very good questions to which I don't really have an answer. The MPA is basically the public sector version of the MBA so I'll be prepared to boss people around in federal and state agencies - something I'm sure I'll be excellent at - ha! Anyway my first session just finished up a few weeks ago and I got myself a big fat 'A'! I was pretty excited about that considering I honestly had no idea what I was going to get - freaky feeling. While going back to school as been really exciting I had forgotten how hard and annoying school can be sometimes. Staying up all night to write a paper is really not my favorite thing to do!
Anyway, other than that things are pretty much the same. My lil twin brothers are about to get their driver's license which freaks me out every time I think about it. My mom is still dating a Jew (which is weird for a whole lot of reasons) and I'm still single in the singles ward...but there are a lot of fun people to hang out with down here so it's be good times.
I recently moved into a house and have a new roomie...she's 6'4" so can you imagine the looks we get together!?! It's pretty hilarious. She is such good times and we pretty much have fun everyday - slumber party all the time!
O and on the funnier side...I totally write the advice column for our ward newsletter. It's anonymous and called 'Ask Red'. When we gave it that name I thought for sure people would know it was me right away but they don't - it cracks me up all the time. Anyway people submit questions about anything and once a week I answer one in the newsletter. I must say I'm pretty dang funny sometimes - ha - but seriously it's been a lot of fun. I'll try to remember to send you some of the better samples.
Well that's pretty much it and I better get back to work. I hope ya'll jump right in with more stories. I can't wait!
Later,
Steph
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Updates....
So, where's the updates? What are you guys up to these days. I think you all got my update--I'm getting fatter with a girl due in Nov. and we're moving this weekend. Woohoo! We're kind of ready...halfway packed, but we're working on it. We just spent at least a half hour this morning signing our lives away-so many papers to sign.
Anyway, so lets hear what's going on with y'all.
Anyway, so lets hear what's going on with y'all.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Remember when...
We all jumped in the botany pond and it was freezing and gross!!!
Hey buddies!
I figured it was about time we find a way to keep in touch better! I want to know what's going on in your lives and I really want to see some pics!!
So tell me...what's new with you?
Steph
Hey buddies!
I figured it was about time we find a way to keep in touch better! I want to know what's going on in your lives and I really want to see some pics!!
So tell me...what's new with you?
Steph
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