Pleased to Meet Grandma

As of May 27, 2009, the earths population is estimated by the United States Bureau to be 6,782,536,522. And out of that 6,782, 536,522 there lives in Provo Utah, a widow, who is my Grandmother. Elizabeth Josephine Smith. She is 83 years young, has stunning skin, and a beautiful mind for her age. My Bryce, Smith, and I have dinner with her every Monday. Why do we visit her every Monday? Because it is Family Home Evening. A night to drop everything and hang out completely in the present with your loved ones. My Bryce and I started this tradition early in marriage and it continues today. When I was younger I thought my Grandma was crazy. I have a fond memory of her visiting our family when we lived in Quincy California, which is all pine trees, hills and meadows. Beautiful. It was easy to visit nature, just step out your door and go hiking, you were in nature anywhere you turned. I was probably 7 years old when she decided to take her grandchilren for a little nature hike; as we hiked a long the sunlit trails of the forrest my Grandma stopped, faced a large pine tree, looked up at the majesty of height and beauty, took a deep breath, smiled, opened her arms, and HUGGED THE TREE. Then she said,"Come and hug the tree with me girls. Feel the love." I will never forget that experience. Later on in life when I heard the label "Tree Hugger" I always referred back to that experience with my grandma. I love her and she has been through a lot, her family has been through a lot. When I go to her house on Mondays, I try to leave all of that behind and just be there in the moment with her. Let her talk, let her repent out loud, let her. I believe People need People, No man is an island, no man stands alone. I need her as well, I have come to love my Mondays with her and I look forward to them every week. So out of the 6 billion something people that live in this world, I have found there is someway to find someone that you can learn more about and love more than you ever thought possible. That person for me is my Grandma Smith. What a surprise to find out how much I care for her. I love you Grandma Smith.

Pleased to Meet Smith

Here is a Story about
a boy named Smith...
Yes, his first name is Smith and his last name is Taylor, not the other way around. I have had to explain that to many Doctors since little Smithy was born. It starts out with me saying,"Hi I am here for an appointment for Smith Taylor" then they say, "Okay, you can fill this paper work out for Taylor and sign right here." I then say, "No, his first name is Smith," then they say,"Oh, ha ha, I bet you get that all the time!"... then I think,"NO, my friends and family don't call him anything but his first name, "all the time" would imply everyday, but the only time he does have his name messed up is at the doctors, thank you." Okay, that was rude, receptionists are usually very nice and I really think it is FUNNY, that they get his name wrong, no hard feelings, promise. He has a different,distinct, and fun name, just like him, different, distinct, and fun. Smith's birthday is May 9, 2008, that makes him a little over a year now and he still has not rolled over,grabbed for anything, or learned to sit up on his own. He has a rare muscle disorder called Hypotonia, which disables him to use his muscles like most babies learn to do at a much younger age. He has about 10 different therepists working with him every month. Here is a list of some of them.

Paul- Occupational therapist
Kelly- Pysical Therapist
Dr.Sara Winters- Developmental Specialist
Holly- Vision Specialist
Michelle- Speech/language therapist
Dr.Glade- Pediatrition
Dr. forgot his name- Neuroligist

They are all amazing and I have grown a deep appreciation for them.
Last week, Smith had an M.R.I, in which they had to sedate him. Where was this nice little trip to?
PRIMARY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, in Salt Lake City, what an amazing place, there are Pictures painted on the ceiling and walls by children. It eases the pain to see such fun and energetic artwork by thousands of children. I looked up at the cieling in the M.R.I room and there was a painting of a little girl under a rainbow. The girl who painted the picture was maybe 4 years old. Even though the pictures are supposed to ease tension for the children recieving such tramatic procedures, I pictured my self as that little stick figure with a triangle dress standing underneath the rainbow while Little Smith was sedated and put into the large tubular machine to take pictures of his little brain. It is hard to see your baby laying in an odd shaped device with machinery all around. But I knew he was in good hands. I love him, he is my baby, sent to me, from God, from heaven, straight from heaven.

My Life, My Love, My Man

This is my first post.... okay, I think I will have to start with my marriage to my Bryce. I love him. He is my hero in every way. I told my Bryce that, "marriage is when life truly started for me, everything before that just made me the person I am for you." And I really do believe that. I love all my friends and family that helped me become the person I am, and they all continue to help me everyday. I think I am going to start my blog with a very dear memory I had with my Bryce about 11 months into our marriage in August of 2007.....
We were at Macaroni Grill...... on date night, I LOVE DATE NIGHT!!!, and my Bryce had just gotten back from a "mini-tour" with his band. In all our 11 months of marriage my Bryce and I had never spent one night away from each other, and my Bryce had been gone for 11 days... which seemed like an eternity to me. So we were devouring each other at the dinner table, little kisses, loud laughs, my head resting on his shoulder, smiling, smiling, smiling, talking, talking, talking, holding hands and eating delicious bread and olive oil. I remember looking at him and thinking how it was possible for me to get along with someone PERFECTLY and have so much fun doing it. After we were done with our meal we were still talking, talking, talking when the waiter squeezed in between us and managed to plop down in front of us a delicious apple desert with two spoons. My Bryce said,"oh, we didn't order this...." Then the waiter leaned in and said in a quiet voice,"I am not supposed to tell you this but a couple here ordered this for you and paid for your meal..." as he walked off I was in shock. My Bryce immediately stood up and scoped the the crowd of people in the restaurant to maybe see if he knew the giver, but no luck, everyone seemed oblivious. My Bryce just shook his head in disbelief and looked at me and kissed me on the forehead then we both smiled and enjoyed our delicious dessert. Now, I don't know why this anonymous couple decided to pay for our meal, maybe it is a tradition of theirs, or maybe they just felt like it, but I like to think it was for a reason.... the reason being LOVE. I could see an older couple, looking at us from their seat, and going back to their early years of marriage, with FULL hearts, wide eyes, young, in love with out a care in the world on a random Friday night. I'd like to think they were touched by our simple love scene and overwhelmed with gratitude for all the years they have had, and decided to "Treat us" on our little night out.

Little did we know that same month the greatest surprise of our lives happened, we found out we were going to have a baby!......and the story begins........