The Boys' Bravery - Austin, Aaron, & Jakey

A little over a week ago my brothers Austin and Aaron were in a very scary car accident and could have very easily died. Not in the way that people throw that out there for exaggeration, but in all reality.

Once school got out, they got in our family's Yukon XL and left for baseball practice. It was a four-way intersection and they were stopped at the red light. When the light turned green, they started into the intersection when they noticed a school bus running the red light and heading right for them. In order to avoid a crash with a bus (full of kids no less!), Austin got out of the way and the Yukon rolled three times and landed on its side. Austin and Aaron were smart and safe enough to have their seat belts on, so they stayed strapped in. They don't remember how they got out of the car, but it is incredibly touching to hear what they do remember.

A man pumping gas at the 7-11 on the corner saw the whole thing happen and ran to the scene, along with another older couple going for a walk. Both of them told the police what they saw and told my mom that her sons were heroes. It's just disappointing that some of the attention-hogging, drama-filled negative kids at their school make up their own stories.

Miraculously, they only have bruised ribs and cuts and stitches from the broken glass. I can only imagine how scary it was and how shaken up they still must be. Even after all that, though, and a long night at the hospital, I love this picture of them sharing a bed in their hospital gowns. I'm so excited to have my baby boy this summer and I hope my next baby is a boy as well so they can be buddies like these two cute boys.

The car is no more, but it served its purpose and was a great family SUV for 12 years. It's had a lot of problems the last couple of years and had been out of commission for the last couple of months. My mom kept saying that they should just get rid of it but my dad kept holding on to it, saying "it'll protect the kids," since Austin is mostly the one who drives it now. And he was right. It did protect them.

Now on a smaller scale in comparison, Jakey got his first cut a couple days ago and it made me so sad. We were down at the dog park in our apartment complex like we do everyday, but today this stupid dog attacked Jake and pinned him and cut his face right above is left eye. Sometimes dogs playing looks rough and aggressive and I hate it. But the way I knew it wasn't playing was because the stupid dog was growling and Jakey was crying. So I got him out of there and we went on a walk. We ended up running into an older lady visiting her son and she had an old golden retriever. The dogs played for a little bit while we talked and she reassured me that dogs are tougher than we think and golden retrievers are the most loving and loyal dogs ever, so that made me feel better. But just seeing the cut on his face makes me sad. And mad. You mess with my pup and Mama Bear comes out!! Consider yourself warned...

Blaine gave him a bath and then put neosporin on it. When I first tried to take a picture, I forgot to take off the flash and wound up with this silly one:

Then 2 days later we were out in the dog park and this little yapper dog kept annoying Jake. He was barking and obnoxious and kept jumping up to try and bite Jake's ear or his side. Jakey kept trying to walk away but this dumb dog kept messing with him and so finally Jake put him in his place and just pinned him and barked back. The stupid owner was on the phone and wasn't paying attention to anything but freaked out a little when he noticed that, but I was like, "Hey man- your dog started it." Jake's just like his mama: we don't like annoying, rude, attention seeking pains in our sides. And he handled it just the way my parents taught us and just the way we'll teach our kids: Never throw the first punch, but once they do, you finish it.

He is the sweetest puppy and we love him so much. Its been very cold and snowy and rainy lately-- I even had snow days on Monday and Tuesday, for a total of 8 this school year. So I was able to stay home and be with him, but we mostly stayed inside because of the weather. Yesterday was sunny though, so I let him play outside and wrestle with some other dogs, but the snow was so melty and the ground was so muddy and his hair is so long and thick that he was the messiest he's ever been! Blaine was at school, so I had to wash him by myself and it took 45 MINUTES!!!! But oh well. He's clean now.

Blaine has had a lot of tests lately and still has 4 more to go between now and next Wednesday. So that makes him busy and stressed, but he's getting good grades and is hanging in there. He even took me to IHOP yesterday for National Pancake Day so we could enjoy a free short stack :) One night he was studying at our apartment clubhouse so it could be more quiet with less distractions, so me and Jakey braved the snow long enough to go walk over there and pick him up and escort him home. I was bundled, but Blaine and Jake took off running for home. Jake was running next to Blaine but this picture is when he had just jumped down

oh and Jake's also lost most if not all of his baby teeth. Here are the one's we've found :)

So my sweet brothers are safe, Jakey's cut is healing, Blaine's working hard for us, and my baby boy is growing and well... And theres an update on my boys :)

PS- since it's just going to be me and boys for a while, I'm pretty sure I NEED this sweater if anyone wants to track it down and buy it for my baby shower ;)

McLoud Pom - final update or not??

A couple weeks ago our basketball team hosted a Court of Dreams tournament at the Chesapeake Arena where the Oklahoma City Thunder play. It was fun to get out of school for that and cool to be on the Thunder court (you know, with my coaches' pass).  It started as an incredibly stressful day, but thanks to my relentlessness and awesomeness, it turned out ok.

The buses were going to drop us off and then head back to McLoud, but one was going to come back and pick up the people not staying for the Thunder vs. Hawks game later that night. The morning of the event, however, I get a call saying that because of the after school routes, a bus wouldn't be available to come pick us up until 5:00. That would have meant that I would have to babysit a bunch of teenagers downtown in the cold with nowhere to go for 2-3 hours--which would've been especially frustrating since I live in downtown OKC!

So after a couple hours of disappointing phone calls and rejected plans, I had no choice but to give up. But once we got on the bus and I talked to my cheer and pom kids directly, I figured out that there was in fact a way for this to work out! So the bus dropped me off at the bus barn and I drove the 12-passenger van over to the Thunder arena--that way I could take home the kids that weren't staying for the game as soon as our high school game was down. Disaster #1=avoided.

Disaster #2= Our game starts and I'm sitting on the bench on the court when the Thunder marketing/sound guy comes up and says he didn't receive a CD for our halftime performance. So I just told him that its on an iPod and we only need an aux cord since I was told by my AD that that would be fine. Come to find out though, THEY COULD ONLY USE A CD!!!! So smart head coach me thought about it and then realized, "Our dance is to 'Applause' by Lady Gaga and I KNOW the Thunder sound people have it because I remember them playing it during pre-game!" So I went over and talked to the guy again and was able to smoothly cruise past disaster #2.

I don't think anyone knew or truly internalized how stressful of a day that was for me or how we could have been stranded there for hours after never even getting to perform, but I felt pretty good about my work. I don't get paid enough... :)

Our season is over now, so on to whether or not this will be the final pom update: I told the superintendent that I did not want to teach so I could stay home with my sweet baby boy, but I hadn't decided if I wanted to continue coaching or not since it is more flexible and at least a tiny bit of income next year. But he told me that if I wanted to keep coaching that I would have to teach part-time... Which is still a no-go. So in my mind, I've been thinking that I'll be completely done with everything for a while until my kids are older. But then...

I got a phone call yesterday from the Orange Bowl. Yes, the Orange Bowl... big football game... Miami... She said that someone had recommended me and my team to perform in their halftime performance at the upcoming Orange Bowl on December 31st. How exciting and what a memorable and unique experience. Plus- I'm from Miami! I've been to the Orange Bowl! The original stadium AND the actual game! My dad has been on the Orange Bowl Committee (complete with orange blazer and everything)! In fact, my dad met Blaine for the first time when he and the director of the Orange Bowl Committee flew out to Salt Lake for the Utah-TCU game.

So now I don't know... I have a week to think about it and decide whether I want to stay on for this big event or just bow out like I was planning. Here are my thoughts:

- My commute will be an hour each way with my baby boy

- Even If I want to stay, I don't know if they'd let me because the superintendent said I'd have to teach part time to still coach, which I won't do. But maybe he'll let me do what I want and only be a coach if he thinks this is a good opportunity for our school and dance program. And maybe if he can't find anyone else to replace me next year

- Most of the girls on my team had never done it before, so I don't want to waste the time and money if they won't be ready for it. But maybe next year's time would be more experienced...?

- Yes, it would be memorable and unique, but would it be worth it? I'd get a tiny bit of money for the whole season. Hopefully that'd cover my gas and I'd at least break even...

Here are the uniforms I've ordered for next year though, so either way, they'll look good. There's a picture of the style out of the catalog and then a mock up of it with our school colors that I'm pretty excited about... Maybe I should keep one as a souvenir :)

And a post is not complete without an update on my perfect puppy Jakey... So handsome, he should be a model

And, finally, I'm almost 21 weeks and over the halfway point of my pregnancy! We are still so excited and still so grateful! The only foods I love are the usual still - steak, sweet potatoes, milk, eggs, avocados, and the ONLY sweets I like are...

This is what halfway to due date looks like:

It's a... BOY!!!!!

I'm almost half way through and must get better at taking pictures. Something you never expected to hear from me, huh? Well even on the days that I feel like I look really good, my face always looks hideous in pictures. So here's my tummy at 18.5 weeks... minus my face.

Valentines Day was extremely busy for us. One of our cars has been giving us problems off and on lately, so we've had to carpool. It's been fun in that we get to wake up together and drive for a little bit together like old times at BYU, but it's also stressful when you're pressed for time.

Blaine's sister Erin was visiting for the long weekend (which was really just a regular weekend for us since our snow days took away our free President's Day), so we dropped him off at his school and then Erin came to school with me on Friday and got to see my day in action. She even got to witness the "bird assembly" where we watched a rat run directly into a wall.

Immediately after school, Erin and I hurried to pick up Blaine and then hurried over to the doctor for my special ultrasound to find out if our baby is a boy or a girl. Good thing we rushed because we only waited in the waiting room for over an hour with some sketchy characters. Blaine only slept an hour and a half the night before and had just got done taking his test, so he was kind of cranky. I was stressed because I had to hurry back to McLoud after my appointment for our last basketball game of the season, so I was not the happiest either. But when the nurse finally came to bring us back to the room, Blaine had just told Erin about one of my embarrassing stories so we were all laughing hysterically, so all of that put together is kind of a funny memory of the big reveal day.

So the nurse did the ultrasound of all of the body parts and pointed out the hands and feet and spine and we found out that HE'S A BOY!!!! Blaine and I had both thought it would be a girl, so we were definitely surprised but definitely excited. It feels more real now to know he's a boy so I can better plan nursery decorations, clothes, names, etc. We have our for sure girl name, but boys names were a little trickier for us to agree on. We bounced around ideas all weekend but finally feel confident in our top 3 choices. Well, my top 3 that Blaine likes as well. He said he'll love them no matter what so I can name our kids whatever I want :) But I really do feel strongly that the winner is in our current top 3. In fact, I wouldn't mind if we had 3 sons and used all the names!

Look at that cute reveal picture? I LOVE IT! I had been thinking about fun ideas to announce whether the babys a boy or girl and I'm happy with the way it turned out. There is a lake around here with a 9 mile path around it and fishing piers and sailboat docks, so Sunday afternoon we went over there and got this picture with the water in the background. It was really windy, so I was scared his little baby shoes were going to blow away. Also, that Jake was going to eat them. What you can't see in this picture is that Blaine has Jake in like a choke hold so he would sit there and take the picture real quick. We never would have been able to take the picture on our own, so we were lucky to have Erin there to take it for us. Can you tell anything else from this picture? Like... Jake being all wet?

Well Blaine let him go swimming in the lake for the first time ever. First he waded in on the boat ramp and loved splashing in the water. Then he jumped in deeper water and doggie paddled. It was a warm day, but the Oklahoma wind always makes it chillier. He eventually dried, though. 

The weather has been very nice lately after those horribly cold days, so this was a great Sunday activity! We played fetch and let Jake chase us - so long as he didn't catch us and get us all wet.

While Erin was here, we also went to our first OU basketball game and saw the world record holder for tallest unicycle. It was actually pretty impressive. Before the game we went to Bricktown for some dinner at Fuzzy's.

We also went to the zoo for the first time (even though its 5 minutes from our house) which was especially exciting since it was a warm day and Erin had only been to the zoo like once in her life. Our favorite animal to see was the mommy gorilla with the tiny baby on her back. None of our pictures turned out very good, but it was the sweetest thing. 

After the zoo, we went to a local BBQ hole in the wall right by our apartment. Because BBQ is on my list of unappetizing food these days, I did not join in, but Blaine and Erin split "The Roughneck," which is 2 pounds of meat and 3 big sides which is supposed to feed 4. 

Look at this cute picture... only went to Walmart several times for these Blue Bell Ice Cream buddies.

And as usual, her are some fun update pictures on Jakey.

 Sleepy post-bath picture

 And of course, nightly kisses for Blaine

One night I put him in one of my zip ups and he was so cute, but he just wanted to eat it.

And a dental school update picture of Blaine from his friend's instagram :) He actually knew this guy at BYU, too, which is fun!