Join our team!

I can't believe that it has been almost nine years since I got diagnosed with diabetes. A lot has happened and a lot has changed over the past decade, but I am still here! I am so grateful for wonderful family, friends and doctors who have been and continue to be such an inspiration to me! They truly have kept me going! It is a daily battle, but when I look at Garrett, and how hard I worked to get him here healthy, I know I can do anything! My sweet grandma who just turned 89 a few weeks ago is someone else that makes an impact on my life daily! She has been through so much and fought for her life after the doctors told her she wouldn't make it to see her kids grown after she got diagnosed over 50 years ago! If she can make it to 89.....SO CAN I!!! Also, I have a great doctor who is so encouraging that he even gave me a gold star at my last doctor's visit for working so hard to improve my blood sugars over the last couple of months! Yes, he gave me a gold star sticker that I wore on my forehead home! I know it sounds silly, but I think it was very thoughtful of him! I put my gold star sticker on my fridge to help remind me of all my hard work and to not give up and to keep working toward being the healthiest I can be! Last, but certainly not least, I just "ran" my first 5K last weekend! My goal was not to stop the whole time and I made it and didn't even come in last place!!! A good friend who also has diabetes was there at the finish line cheering me on and screaming, "diabetics rule!" After all these years of making up excuses that I couldn't exercise because of my diabetes, I did it! I got over those excuses and showed myself that I can do it! It's not easy to exercise with diabetes, but I have pushed myself over the last six months or so and I can definitely see positive changes in many aspects of my life!



For the past two years, we have joined with thousands of others to "Step-Out and Fight Diabetes." This year the Diabetes Walk is at "This is the Place" state park on September 26th. The walk starts at 10 am and ends at the Hogle Zoo. If you can join our team and walk with us....great! If not, you can show your support by donating to the ADA by clicking here or on this link below (you may need to copy and paste it into your web browser)! Our Team is called the "Dancing Diabetics" and hope to raise $150.00 ! There are only nine days left for this fundraiser, so help our team reach or goal! WE are a third of the way there! Hope to hear from you all soon!

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/StepOut/StepOut530058010?px=4373344&pg=personal&fr_id=6502&et=rqMk-Jq9FjwUNrIuGt6zow..&s_tafId=264057

Cousins!

Cousins are great! We have had fun seeing the Lewis cousins a few times over the past few weeks while they have been here visiting! They made a surprise arrival and we are so glad that they did! It is sure hard having them live so far away and hope that they are able to move closer soon! We are keeping our fingers crossed that the job prospects that they have will bring them closer so that we can see them more! Garrett sure has fun watching Ty and Mara run around and have fun and he tries oh so hard to keep up with them!! He also is fascinated by little Caleb and says, "baby" and points to him when he is around! We sure do love you guys and hope that we can hang out again before you go back home! It sure makes time with the Lewis family more exciting when there are here!

What a precious picture of the kids and their grandma and grandpa!

Dirty boy!

Garrett is sure a master at getting dirty these days! I have started using bleach to get the stains out of his onesies, doing more laundry, taking more baths and have been trying to let him enjoy it and not freak out when he makes a mess! Take these photos for example.....enjoying the great outdoors by covering himself head to toe in DIRT!!! It was pretty cute to watch and we were trying to play a game so we didn't mind too much that he was entertaining himself with the brown stuff! It was literally was like he was taking a bath in the dirt! He even tried a handful of it and didn't think it tasted so great! You gotta love the snot running down his nose that made for some great dirt boogers! I just couldn't resist documenting this moment, knowing that it won't be the last!


exfoliating my legs! ..................... do I have something on my face?



yummy! ............................................ but I am sure cute!

Here is one of Garrett enjoying the attention he got with his hat tricks from his cousins, aunts, and grandparents! Silly kid!

Super Baby!

My mom found this awesome dress-up and let us borrow it! I thought Garrett looked "super" cute in it. I don't know if we'll be using it for Halloween, but thought I would share the cute photo and list some reasons why I think that Garrett is a super baby!

• He is a champ at walking now....it is too dang cute to watch with his potbelly, his cowboy like stance, and hands swinging as he picks up his speed!
• He takes a nice long afternoon nap that lets me relax a little.
• He loves it when we sing songs and he does the actions to them like: the eensy weensy spider, if you're happy and you know it, popcorn popping, five little monkeys, and he joins in on some of the words too!
  
• He is OBSESSED with mice! More specifically, he is obsessed with the book "A Mouse About the House" where there is a small mouse that you put through the holes of each page as it is running away from a cat and trying to find food!
• He LOVES sharks! We got a pass to the Living Planet Aquarium and he really enjoys watching all the fish and animals there. He is constantly saying 'sharks' all day long especially when he eats his shark fruit snacks, watches Finding Nemo, or plays by our fish tank!
• He loves soccer balls and is getting good at catching them and it is cute to watch him try and kick them.
• He is a daddy's boy! He follows Colin around and wants to do whatever his dad is doing. It is cute to watch their special bond that they have. Also, it is adorable when he hangs on Colin's leg and looks up with his hands in the air and says, "daddy, daddy, hol me hol me"!
  
• He is a big boy! We are trying to break him from the binky and so every morning he says "bye binky" and leaves it in his crib!

We sure love our little Super Hero!

Cherry Hill

I could have included some of these pictures on the "summer lovin'" post, but I thought it needed its own because it is so special! Oh how I love Cherry Hill! What a fun place to spend time with my family! 18 years ago we lived there...yes, lived there! We were without a home after leasing a house for three years and didn't have a place to go. So, we packed up our stuff, put it in a storage shed, borrowed my Aunt and Uncle's trailer and headed to Cherry Hill. I was only 10, but I still have great memories of my summer days there. Swimming, playing at the park, climbing cherry trees, eating cherries, playing skee ball at the arcades, getting prizes with my tickets, getting icecream, playing mini-golf, sleeping on the ground in a tent with three of my siblings the entire summer....GOOD TIMES!! Well, we try and go every year now since those beautiful days of summer in 1991! It is great to have our spouses and kids join us too and I know this will be a tradition for many more years to come! This year was especially fun because Garrett took his first ride down the big waterslide! He held on tight to Colin, but seemed to enjoy it! We can hardly wait until next year to go again and see how much more fun Garrett can have!

The whole gang! (minus Logan who had two three more weeks of his mission!)


The kiddie slide with daddy


Cousin Lindsay holding on tight!


Chillin and waiting for some lunch!

All the cousins enjoying the kiddie pool!


Garrett loved being able to walk and crawl around in the water! He did get a few good drinks in too!


Waving to mommy at the lazy river!

Colin and my brothers enjoying Cardiac Canyon!


The before shot at the big water slides. After almost 20 years since we lived there, they finally "updated" the water slides with a castle theme...complete with dragon spikes, lights, and fog!!! Way to go!


The after shot at the bottom of the water slide with daddy!

Summer Lovin'....happened sooo fast!

Yes, I used a line from the song in the musical, "Grease" for the title! I think it describes perfectly how I feel right now! It truly has been a great summer and I can't believe it is almost over! In a few short weeks we will celebrate Labor Day which unofficially marks the end of summer! I don't want it to end. In fact, I feel like it has just started! It has gone by fast...hence the lack of blog posts lately. So, here is my attempt to do an update on our adventures in the past month! WARNING....LOTS OF PHOTOS! :)

Enjoying our fire up Millcreek Canyon


Garrett loves hot dogs!

Garrett eating a "bip".
He has started demanding things in whole meaning no breaking off pieces for "baby bites"!


Beautiful sunset at Daybreak Lake after our bike ride around it.


Mommy and son waiting for the parade to start.


The fourth of July ROCKS!! He enjoyed playing with the rocks more than watching the parade. Gotta love that hot, red, tired face!


Garrett's first merry-go-round!


So cute to see the excitement on his face riding in his red car!


Garrett's new monkey chair for camping...thanks Grandma!


Cheesy grin...so cute!

Just splashing in the freezing water!


Hiking at Silver Lake


Cute boy enjoying a break after a long ride up the mountain!


Are you sticking your tongue out at your mother?! :)


Enjoying a drink from his baby nalgene bottle! Thanks Aunt Chelsie!


The Bee's game on the 24th
Hard to believe that in the whole ballpark that we had the entire row to ourselves...everyone must have known that this little one was NOT going to sit still for one minute, but instead wanted space to walk and climb around on everything!

We must have bribed him with candy for this smile, because he was not a happy camper!
The only time he sat on our laps was for fruit snacks and then during the fireworks after the game. We did go to watch some baseball, but it was more of a wrestling match for us!


There is a splash park not too far away that has been fun for Garrett! Best part...it is free!


I was impressed at how brave he was just walking right through the water and he didn't seem to mind getting wet!


Last but certainly not least...nothing says summer like

CORN ON THE COB!!!!!

AND

WATERMELON!!!

There were just too many cute photos to post just one! I know they will bring a smile to your face and if you are like me...you'll watch this slideshow more than once!

Father's Day Photos

There is no better way to celebrate being a father than to remember how wonderful it is to be a father. Trish surprised me this year by getting photos taken of her and Garrett so that I could remember how great it really is.

Garrett hasn't always been the most smiley boy when it comes to taking pictures, but he did great this time. The pictures turned out adorable and I've got them at work so that I can see my wife and son all day while I'm away. Here are a few:

Nothing cuter than wife and baby both smiling. Love it.

This pictures captures the moment of Garrett's stage of life.
This was his favorite thing to do and he just loves his new found mobility.

Our cute little buddy looking so handsome in his Hawaiian shirt.

I never imagined that being a father would be this great. To come home from work and hear his excited little voice, to see him learn new things, to watch him copy-cat our actions for nursery rhymes, it all just melts my heart. He is such a fun kid to play with and read stories to. I just love being his dad. Thanks Trish, for being his mom and for making being a father so fun.