the swimming machine

i am seriously addicted to watching michael phelps swim.  it is incredible to watch such an amazing athlete just waste everyone else in the pool.  i'm sure i will go through some sort of withdrawl when the olympics are over.  until then, go michael.

lovely abbi

In March, at the age of thirty, my friend, Abbigail Israelsen became suddenly ill and on a ventilator fighting for her life for 18 days. She was in the hospital for 21 days, but thankfully she survived. It has been a long and emotional recovery that continues everyday.

She has joined the ARDS Foundation team to attend a fund raising walk on Sept. 21, 2008. For every donation that is made over $40, Abbi will give the donor an original drawing created specifically for them.  The drawings will be done on 100% cotton rag paper with pen, pencil, and ink.  You will receive your drawing in the mail by mid October, 2008.

After donating towards the Hike for Lung Health, email Abbi (abbiisraelsen@yahoo.com) with three words that she will use to inspire a drawing as a thank you gift.

The drawings will be shown at the Anton Art Center for a special fund raising exhibition Sept. 12-Oct. 3, 2008. All proceeds made from the exhibition will be donated for ARDS research.

If you would like to read more about Abbi's journey through ARDS visit her website.  

If you would like to see some of her work (including a beautiful drawing she did for me) visit http://drawingforards.blogspot.com

 

happy birthday desmond

early birthday celebration

  

  

desmond is about to turn the big one tomorrow and since his big day fell on a weekday we decided to celebrate on saturday.  we had a fun day together.  he loved the wrapping paper, bows and balloons.  hated the cupcake.  the frosting totally freaked him out.

missing my fam

i am having one of those majorly missing my family days.  they are all in utah for the summer but me and it is really bumming me out.  i know a lot of you can relate to the feeling.  

cheerios

we hit a milestone this past week.  desmond will now pick food up off of his highchair tray and put it into his mouth.  he had been eating everything else (dust bunnies in particular) for some time but he finally figured out that food tastes better, although he still goes for the occasional carpet fuzz.  

little friend

desmond loves to crawl all around the house holding on to this little finger puppet frog.  cracks me up. 

memory lane

so this is the latest tag going around the blog sites.  i thought it would be fun.  here are the rules:

1.  as a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and i had together.  it doesn't matter if you knew me a  little or a lot, anything you remember.  

2.  next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory.  

look close, tooth number one has arrived

after months of what has seemed like teething the d-man finally has a tooth.  i guess he won't have to wear baby dentures after all.  

  

week in utah

this past week, over the fourth of july, we went to utah to visit our families.  it was a rare occasion where all of our siblings on both sides were able to be there and we had a great time catching up with everyone.  here are a few (or a lot) of pictures of the trip.

desmond and his adoring grandmas and grandpas (he adored them too)

 

 

time in the pool

grandma and grandpa brown had a kiddie pool at their house and desmond loved it.  he would stay in until he was a baby prune and had a 500 pound diaper.  my little niece stella also had her first swimming experience.  this was my first time meeting her, she is a doll.

  

my mothers work of art

my mom had just finished painting a mural in the playroom of a show home and we were able to go and sneak a peek at it.  the theme was "it's a small world." it was amazing.  the woman is incredibly talented.

 

 

ty & holly's

one of the nights while we were there we went over to ty and holly's house in the avenues.  it is a great place, we had wonderful food and great conversation. we had a nice time being with adults for the evening (we had free babysitters!!!!)

 

 

the 4th of july

on the fourth jeremy's parents invited everyone up to their house for a BBQ and to watch the fireworks from their deck.  it was great to get everyone together from both sides of the family.  i wish we could get together like that more often.  

 

family pictures

the browns

the lemmons

our little fam

fireworks

 

 

adams canyon

jeremy, his dad, brother and nephew went on a hike up adams canyon.  it is a beautiful hike right behind my in-laws house.