DeShazer Land

Imagination Movers!

2011-03-15T17:13:00.001-06:00

We took the boys to see Disney's Imagination Movers last friday...it's actually a kid show that I like to watch with them. It's way cute. The boys were so excited, and Caleb's excitement lasted through the whole show. Bryce, true to form, got bored halfway through and just wanted me to buy him some food. I was pleased with the show and we all had a fun time!

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Firsts...

2011-02-15T14:03:00.003-07:00

First blog (by me) of the year...
First day of really great weather...
First loose tooth!

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Shameless Self Promotion

2011-02-11T14:00:00.002-07:00

Jon-Michael here. I've started my own music oriented blog. If you are interested, you can get to it below:

http://fluidtransmissions.blogspot.com/

Feel free to check it out and tell all your friends!

Day 5/Extraction-Part 2

2010-11-03T21:02:00.004-06:00

And so begins the final chapter in my peripheral blood stem cell donation saga. I know you all have been dying to hear the rest of the story. Well, actually, maybe you have been, but I just remember where we left off, which is terribly exciting.

As a reminder, it was about 10am, I was just starting a movie, but I desperately had to go to the bathroom. I've got to add a disclaimer before we begin: I'm just trying to describe my whole experience as accurately as possible, so I hope this isn't weird to read. Not that I think it's that bad, other wise I would definitely not be sharing this!

Anyway, I was warned before the whole process that I would likely have to use the bathroom, because who can hold it for 5 plus hours? All the nurses were very sweet and told me not to worry about it, because everyone has to go during the extraction. It really wouldn't have been so awkward, but you can't just get up and go into the handy private bathroom and be hooked to the machine at the same time. For one thing, the tubes aren't long enough, plus I couldn't move very easily on my own. It's amazing how much you use your arms (yes, I know, duh!) but I really take full movement for granted. I couldn't even scoot up in my bed without help. And they didn't want me to anyway, because it could cause too many problems.

So the solution to not being able to go the toilet, is to bring one to me! Yeah, you bet I was excited! It was just a little backless chair with a hole in it. It had a bucket attached to it for obvious reasons. I suppose to make it easier to clean, etc, they put another removable bucket over the other one, just under the seat. I wasn't too stressed about it, because I'd rather use the potty chair than wet the bed, plus, I learned to lighten up after giving birth twice. Of course I prefer modesty, but when it comes to medical situations, you just go with it. I had been reclined in bed for over 2 hours, and without the use of my right arm, it was a slow process to turn and scoot off the left side of the bed. And I had to be careful to keep my right arm straight the whole time too. I felt very clumsy as I tried to pull down my sweat pants, since I could only use my left arm...seriously, try it sometime, not easy. But I finally got it, and was all set.

I think sometimes I just don't worry enough about certain things. I didn't think this would be a big deal at all, in spite of the fact that I have naturally low blood pressure, and some of my blood was currently circulating through a machine, rather than flowing through my body. Perhaps you can see where this is going. Almost as soon as I sat down, I started feeling light-headed. I knew immediately, having vast experience with this feeling, that I was headed for a blackout. So the two nurses came right back over to support me. (They were trying to give me a tiny bit of privacy by moving to the other side of the room.) I had to put my head between my knees, as best I could, but despite my best efforts, I did blackout for a second. If you have never passed out, it's a sensation that's pretty unique. I could tell that I was literally only out for a split-second, but it's exhausting. Well, when you don't have enough blood flow to your head, I guess that's a logical side effect. They put a pillow on my lap, and I just remember trying to keep my head down, but supported with the pillow, without smothering myself. And I was yawning uncontrollably.

At this point the nurses just wanted me to pee and get back in bed! I know it's silly as a grown woman, but I still have a bit of stage-fright when it comes to using the bathroom around other people, and then when you add trying not to fall on my head, it was hard to relax! I had to just force something out of my bladder, anything, to relieve the urge to go so I could get through the rest of the morning without going through that again. The whole experience was pretty frantic, and I had at least 4 nurses in there at one point. The sad thing was that I couldn't even wipe myself since I was so woozy and and flushed and tingly. I get really hot when I pass out, and actually sometimes that's the cause. So they took my socks off, at my request, and ended up taking my sweat pants off when I was getting back into bed to keep me cool. I had to get in bed and be laying down before I could be modest and pull my pants back up, but what are you going to do? The head nurse took off my sweat pants, and told me I could just leave my "uh...shorts on." I would have laughed if there was someone else there to share the joke.

I was told I looked horribly pale, no surprise, and they reclined my head even more in bed. Once I was laying down, I felt much better, but my hands were very tingly. That's a side effect that the calcium alleviates, so I got another push. This time I was either so flushed to begin with that I didn't notice, or I got it a lot slower, because I didn't have any more hot flashes. I got to eat some crushed ice and that was really refreshing. For the rest of the time, I had a blood pressure cuff on my ankle to monitor my condition. It didn't take long for me to feel better, but it took a while for my pressure to go up. My blood pressure is usually around 115 over 90, but it was 93 over something (can't remember!) right after I got back into bed. It eventually went up to 135 over something else...and then normalized by the time I was finished.

I'm happy to report that the rest of day was fairly uneventful. After the delays with pressure in my return line and that whole bathroom incident, my end time was pushed back a bit. I should have been able to walk out of the hospital at 1:30, but that's when the cycle was completely finished. At 10:30, when things settled down, I was able to watch the almost 3 of the 4 hours of the movie I brought. It was a really fun movie and it really helped pass the time.

I have to admit that I was counting the minutes for the last hour or so. Not because I was bored or anything like that, but the fact that I had a short bathroom experience previously made me anxious to relieve myself! Also, my right arm was getting kind of achy. I'm sure some of it had to do with the fact that it was straight for five and a half hours, but obviously a lot had to do with having a large needle in my elbow.

When 1:30pm finally rolled around, and the machine stopped, the first thing to do was remove the needle. Yea! But I still had to wait for the blood to finish it's course through the machine and return in my left arm before I could be all unhooked. Now I know the bone aches are uncomfortable and sometimes painful, but that was nothing to the pain I experienced when I had to bend my right arm to stem the flow of blood when the needle was removed! I know it sounds crazy, but my arm was so stiff that I couldn't move it on my own, and the nurse had to do it for me...ouchy! Once the blood flow had slowed down enough, she wrapped it up, and that arm was done.

But I still had to go to the bathroom too, and worse than before. But there was no way I was trying the chair again...disaster. It took probably 5 or 10 more minutes for all my blood to return to my body and for the nurse to heat seal the return line so it could be cut. While that was wrapping up, they took a few more vials of blood to test again to make sure I was ok to leave. After that was done, the nurse let me go to the bathroom with the return line still dangling from my arm so I wouldn't have to wait any longer than necessary.

The other pain that ranks in the top two worst of the whole experience was when the nurse took the plastic tape off my arm that was right over the return line. It was a really sticky plastic sheet that kept everything in place, not that hardly-sticky medical tape. Because I was able to move my left arm a little bit, the return line had to be completely secure so it wouldn't come out. Pulling that off hurt worse than getting stuck with the needles. I'm actually surprised that those things hurt the most because they were secondary to the actual procedure. I got that arm wrapped up and I was all done!

Even with my stiff arm, I was able to put my pants and shoes and socks all by myself. I felt like such a big girl! I ordered lunch right before I was finished, so it arrived while I was waiting for Jon-Michael to show up to take me home. I also had to wait for the results of my most recent blood tests.

Ok, now for the cool part. Pictures! I actually don't have that many since I couldn't take them myself. The nurse was really sweet to take them, but I didn't want to make her take fifty of them like I would have. So this is a close up of the machine that separated my blood. The red bag on the right contains my stem cells. The next one contains some of my plasma, which the patient also needs. I'm not sure why, but I don't know all the medical details! The clear bag with the blue writing contained a saline drip that was included in my return line. I'm not sure what the other bag is, but I'd be willing to bet it contained the anticoagulant that kept my blood from clotting. You can see from all the tubing that my blood had to travel pretty far to get from one arm to the other. I'm seriously amazed at the medical technology that allows such a crazy thing like this to happen.
And here is another charming picture of me in bed. It was close to 1:30 when all these pictures were taken, and I had some awesome bed head. It didn't help that I had cold washcloths on my forehead and neck for a while to cool me off after I passed out because my hair dried all funny. I guess it's good that how I look doesn't affect the stem cells! The bottom portion of the machine is where the blood spins around and is separated. I think that would have been cool to look at, but it was obviously all closed up.

Patty came back and met me to pick up the stem cells and plasma because she was on a deadline! She ran an ice-filled cooler containing the bags down to a special courier who sent them on their way. She told me that I would go home, take a nap, eat a good dinner, and have a good nights sleep. And I did! And by Tuesday morning, I felt great. I was still a tiny bit tired, but that's how I feel every morning. :) My elbow was, and still is a bit stiff, but much, much better than Monday afternoon. I just can't hyper-extend my right arm, but it's getting better all the time. I have a bit of bruising in my right elbow, and at my two blown veins. You can tell where the needle was inside my arm, because I have a bruise following my vein about an inch and half up my arm. Before I left the hospital, my red cell count was the same as when I was admitted, and my platelet level was a little low, but that was completely normal. So really I'd say I'm completely recovered.

Patty called me yesterday and again today to make sure I was feeling ok, and to give me some updates. The cells arrived at their destination, which is good! She told me that I could get an update on my patient as soon as 30 to 45 days, but more likely 45 days. Sometimes, though, it's hard to get updates on international patients, so I could potentially be waiting for months. It's really out of our control, but hopefully I'll hear sooner rather than later.

At this point, I've done all I can do. And I hope it's enough. But if not, I hope my patient's family can feel the same peace mine has experienced. I feel like this has really come full circle for me, and it's a real blessing. It's so hard when you feel like there is nothing you can do for someone you love, and this is the best thing I think I can do for someone else in that situation. My sister told me that the family is probably so grateful to me, and I know it seems silly, but I didn't even think of that. Honestly, I'm just as grateful that I've been able to serve someone else. I testify that the words of the Savior in Matthew 16:25 are true. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Not that I've given up anything that I will ever miss. My health and life expectancy will not ever be affected by this experience, but my spirit forever will. The opportunity to serve gives us the chance to understand how much love our Savior has for us. My love for this man that I will probably never meet is such that I don't even know how to express it. I can't help but cry as I type this because I don't know how else to express my emotions. I'm so grateful to have had this opportunity, and still wish I could do more. Though the physical experience wasn't necessarily pleasant, the spiritual experience is overwhelming. I would do this again and again and again, purely for selfish reasons! I feel so blessed, and it has been so rewarding to work with such wonderful people in the Colorado Marrow Donor Program and everyone else at the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center and Presbyterian/St Luke Hospital. I'm a bit sad that this is over, but still full of gratitude to share this, hopefully, life-saving part of myself with someone else.

Thank you to all of you who have read this. It makes me feel so good to know that you have enjoyed the journey with me. I love reading your comments, and though I don't deserve all your praise, it does make me feel really good! The thing that makes this so much more rewarding is to hear that someone else has joined the registry. Really, besides documenting this experience for myself, I hope that I can inspire another to be willing to possibly save someone else's life. I promise it will be one of the best decisions you will ever make.

Day 5/Extraction-Part 1

2010-11-02T22:02:00.002-06:00

I'm already anticipating that this will be a forever long post, because the last few days have been nearly novel-length, and they were just about my injections! Wow, it's crazy for me to think that this is really all over. But we'll get to all of that later, let's rewind back to yesterday morning.

I had to be at the hospital at 6:45am to get the whole process started. That meant that the rest of my family had to be ready to leave with me at 6:25am because I was getting dropped off at the hospital. I could have gone all by myself, but I knew this would be a bit tough on my body, so I thought it was best to be driven home. Jon-Michael and I got up and got ready, and got Caleb ready-poor kid was pretty tired, but excited to go to the before school program, so that got him going. Bryce spent the night at my parents house. Built in babysitter, plus he didn't have to get up early.

I met Patty, the CMDP director, in the hospital lobby and we went up to the infusion center of P/SL. It was the same place I had been getting all of my injections, plus, it was just down the hall from where my father-in-law spent his last few months.

The infusion center is basically a bunch of curtained rooms, and two private rooms with beds for stem cell extraction. Apparently, most of the extractions done there are by patients donating to themselves. Obviously, only in certain circumstances is that feasible, but I found that very interesting. Cases like mine are less frequent, maybe once a month. I got settled in my private room, which had a tv and dvd player, a private bathroom, a bed, and a bunch of machines.

I got settled in and things got started right away. I had to sign a few more consent forms, answer more questions about how I was feeling, and get my final set of filgrastim injections. But by then, the effects were last thing on my mind. By the time I started feeling the anticipated irritation in my stomach, my blood was already moving out of my body.

The first thing my nurse did, after the other stuff, was check out my veins to determine where blood would come out and go back in. My best looking vein is in my right arm. I already knew that, but I was hoping they could figure out a way to use my left arm, since I'm right handed. Oh well. So the return line needed to be somewhere in my left arm and they did that first. My nurse started with a vein just above my left wrist. It wasn't meant to be, because my vein immediately blew. I knew that wasn't going to kill me, but the nurse seemed a bit stressed about it, mostly because she had to pull the needle out right away, and stop the bleeding, and she couldn't reach everything she needed. Fortunately another nurse came in and was able to help out. So she tried one in my hand. Same result. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm prone to fainting. It's kind of embarrassing, but I think a lot of it is mental. So I'm sitting here, listening to my nurse be frustrated that she blew two of my veins, after two exceptionally painful sticks, and by some miracle, I'm able to remain calm, and more importantly, conscious. (I don't watch them stick me, because yuck!) But after that, I can look at it. It was actually interesting to see everything that was being done, once the needle parts were over.

I didn't really know what it meant when she said she "blew the vein," so I asked! Beware, if you get queasy...although I'm sure I've already made you sick if that's the case! Apparently, it's when the needle tears the vein instead of just poking in it. The thought makes me shudder, and I've still got small bruises as reminders. Since it was turning out to be difficult to stick me, the supervisor came in and did the return line in my elbow. It was significantly less painful, and she said, "That went in like butter!" Kind of an icky visual as it regards a needle going in my body, but I can see why she said that, being on the receiving end. I had to get a bunch of vials of blood taken from there to check various levels in my blood, and for some other things I don't know about...but there were 7 or 8 of them. Then I had to get the big important extraction needle in my right arm. The first nurse did that one, and it went in just fine, thank goodness. Once everything was placed and taped down, they turned on the machine. 8am on the dot.

I learned that I personally have approximately 4,749 ml of blood in my body. (Calculated based on my height and weight.) Since I'm not an expert in metric, I had to look at it in familiar terms. That's about two and a half two liter bottles, like pop bottles. Does that seem like a lot of blood, or not very much? Can't decide...weird to think about though. The nurses were great about explaining things. They don't get healthy donors in there very often, and the sick ones apparently aren't as interested in the whole process. I told them I have been blogging about it, so I think they were being extra helpful. My nurse told me that my entire supply of blood would have to be cycled through the machine 4 times. Apparently the machine isn't 100% efficient, so it would take more than once through the machine to glean all the peripheral blood stem cells needed from my blood.

Somewhere between all the needles and the explaining, I got to order breakfast. I've heard the breakfast burritos are good...it's true! And I got some fruit and milk. Things were running really smoothly, and my nurse was making various adjustments to the machine as it got going, so I was happy to just watch and answer questions while I waited for my breakfast. Another interesting tid bit is that white blood cells are actually white! After extracting my blood the machine spins it to separate it. The red cells are the heaviest, then the white, then platelets and plasma. I think. Maybe the last two are reversed. (Haha...it was still too early for me when the nurse told me all of this!) Anyway, the stem cells are in with the white cells, so that is what is routed to the collection bag. The rest is routed back into my body. You could see that in the collection bag...it was white (yellowish) liquid! The nurse told me that they take some of the red cells too, just to make sure they are getting the entire level of white and stem cells. So the end product looked all red.

At 8:30 or so, another nurse came in to give me a calcium push (a syringe injected into my return line). They give patients calcium to offset the effects of a drug donors are given during the extraction to prevent clotting. I was watching her and she would push a little into my return line, and then let my blood pressure fill it with blood and then she would push more in, and then let some blood back into the syringe, and so forth. I didn't question what she was doing, because I figured there was some purpose to that, besides, I suddenly felt very hot. It was like a hot flash, and I could feel it all the way down in my feet. It was the most bizarre feeling, because it came on so quickly. As she was injecting the calcium, she said she lets it dilute quite a bit with my blood because if you do it too fast, the patient start getting hot flashes! Well, I knew exactly what she was talking about! It went away after a minute or so, and I was fine. Then she set up a calcium drip in my return line for the remainder of the procedure.

Well, that calcium drip started a whole new round of problems. Besides separating my blood, the machine monitors the pressure and speed that the blood leaves and returns to my body. After the calcium drip was set up, the pressure in my return line was too high. I don't know how or why that happened, and apparently neither did the nurses! Apparently, medicine is as much an art form as it is a science. So removed the calcium drip. While nurses were switching dials and adjusting the return line in my arm and all sorts of other things I didn't really understand, my breakfast arrived. Since we couldn't risk it getting cold and my "usable" left arm was being worked on, I got spoon fed my breakfast. It's really quite funny. The nurse who did that was really sweet and we managed to not spill a single drop on me, in spite of my reclined position.

The only way to stop the high pressure in my return line was to turn down the speed on the machine. That was a potential problem, because if I didn't have a high enough amount of stem cells, it would take too long to get them all out of my body. We were on a deadline to get the stem cells out the door and on airplane to where ever my patient was. One of the tubes of blood that was taken earlier was to check the amount of stem cells in my blood. The nurses decided to wait for that result and see if my levels were high enough. If not, they would have to find another vein to put the return line. You can imagine how thrilled I was. But the nurses were equally concerned because my other two good options were not options anymore. They decided they would try higher up on my wrist vein (which was still tender a couple inches up the vein from the initial stick) if they needed to move the return line. Fortunately, the results came back and I had a good saturation of stem cells in my blood, so they could leave the machine at a slightly lower level and not stick me again!

It was 9:30am or so by the time everything slowed back down. I was left to relax, or watch tv or whatever I wanted at that point. I brought the BBC America version of Emma which was 4 hours long. It was the perfect time to watch it! I had a nurse put it in for me, and then she left to attend to other things. Unfortunately, after the lengthy previews were over, the dvd just stayed at the main menu! And I didn't have a remote for the dvd player! I didn't want to be obnoxious and yell, and I didn't think that warranted pushing the "call nurse" button, so I just laid there and watch the main menu screen. Unfortunately, it wasn't that interesting, but it has charming music. By the time the nurse finally came back in around 10 am, I had to go the bathroom, so we decided to do that first, and then start the movie.

As that experience was an adventure in and of itself, and this is so long that no one has probably read to this point anyway, I'll continue the story tomorrow. But if the bathroom experience doesn't make you want to keep reading, or if I haven't made everyone ill with my descriptions, I'll have a couple more pictures tomorrow! (And I have to save something interesting for tomorrow because most of the rest of the time I was just watching the movie...which is awesome, by the way!) Until then, thanks so much for reading my blog. I'm glad I can share this amazing experience with you.

Day 5/Extraction Preview

2010-11-01T19:48:00.003-06:00

I'm pretty tired today, which seems funny because I've literally been in bed all day long. So I'm going to give you all the details tomorrow. But here's a picture so you can get an idea of what it was like for me! I was nearly finished when this picture was taken, so I'm definitely not looking my best. You can see the return line there in my left arm, but my right arm, where the blood was drawn, is covered up. That is the machine I was hooked up to. As I said, I'm feeling tired and my arm where the blood was drawn (which had to remain straight for 5 and a half hours) is a bit stiff, other than that, I feel pretty good! And it was a success!

Day 4

2010-10-31T20:58:00.004-06:00

Today has almost been the best day yet, considering the circumstances. I scheduled my injections for 9:30 am every day. I really could schedule them for any time I wanted, but I chose that time because I could still get to my church meetings, which start at 10:20. Plus, it's not too early or too late. Things went so smoothly at the hospital, I could tell it was a Sunday. Meaning there must have been some divine intervention. I actually got to church 10 minutes early (which never happens!) and Jon-Michael pulled up with the kids at the exact same time! Hmm, it could be that I'm the reason we're barely on-time/late every week...ok, it's just true.

The nurse, a new one yet again, was super nice today. She did a great job with my injections, and she even told me in so many words that my stomach looked good for having two kids. Well that just made my day! (Even though it's not true...I'm not blind to the changes pregnancies force on my body.) It was still nice to hear though. She warmed up my shots and did them slowly enough that it felt just fine. And she was very pleasant to visit with. Actually, three of the four nurses I've seen have complimented me on something! I got a few comments on jewelry, and I got another one on my shoes today. I think the nurses are all just super nice. Although, the nice-but-not nurse from Day 2 didn't compliment me at all....but I'm not bitter about it or anything. Ha!

So I was expecting hard core pain today, especially after yesterday afternoon. From Day 2 to Day 3, the frequency and intensity of achiness (is that word?) was pretty significant, and I expected it to be the same from Day 3 to 4. Yet it was not. Hallelujah! First of all, even though I did have the anticipated stomach pain right after the injections, it felt like nothing compared to the other days. And I was not looking forward to dealing with the discomfort as I sat for 3 hours through church. I figured it was one of those tender mercies that, for the most part, I was completely unaffected during church. I did have a couple of flare-ups, but I could totally handle it.

I did notice aches in more places, like my knee (only one so far) and my one shin, well actually, just my whole left leg. But not all at the same time. My hips and lower back still hurt, but today it was more reminiscent of menstrual cramps. Seriously, if that's the worst of it, bring it on. I mean, I get that every month, and I haven't died yet. The only thing that was worse from last night and today is my hip sockets. Sometimes when I'm about to stand up, it feels like they're out of place, which of course, they're not, but I have to sit back down and brace myself to actually stand up. It's a very strange feeling. But it's fleeting. Honestly, I kept waiting all day for this killer pain to set in, but it wasn't even as bad as yesterday. Or maybe I'm just used to it now. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, my lower back is mildly uncomfortable, and I just felt something in my left femur. I really doubt that the pain is lessening, so it must not have been that bad to begin with because I can mostly ignore it now. How's that for a selling point? It hurts less the longer you do it!

Ok, that's not completely fair to say. I feel really lucky to feel as well as I do. I talked to the director today and I was pleased to report how good I felt. She's been keeping tabs on me since I started receiving the injections, which is really nice. And I've been told countless times that if the pain became unbearable, I could call her or the hospital and get a prescription for something stronger. It must feel worse for some people, because Tylenol, which I generally find ineffective, has worked fine. Part of the daily questions I'm asked for the study are about various, and sometimes rare, symptoms. I have no rashes, no nausea, I'm sleeping great, my appetite is normal, my digestive system is functional, no vomiting, no bruising...I think those are all the weird things they ask me. Like I said, I feel great, considering.

Yesterday a friend of my commented that she wouldn't be able to be a donor because of her health, which made me wonder what sort of health restrictions they have. I mean, I have been taking an anti-depressant for, let's see, 12 years now, and they had zero problems with that. Plus, I'm a bit anemic and have low blood pressure. (Maybe that explains all those fainting spells...and if you haven't heard of any, I'll dedicate a post to those stories in the future!) Anyway, I was going to ask the nurse about that today, and I forgot, being so flattered because I have such a nice looking stomach and all. I figured they would have something on the website, and they do! Here's the link: http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Med_Guidelines_Join/index.html

I have determined by reading through it that most people are probably eligible. Of course, there are no guarantees that you'll ever get contacted. Some people never get contacted. Recently I watched the movie "Seven Pounds." (If you haven't seen it, and want to, skip to the next paragraph, because I don't want to spoil it with what it made me think of!) Because I was already in the middle of this process, donations were on my mind and I totally figured out the movie not to far into it. Maybe I'm not that clever, but I never figure out movies, so I was impressed with myself. Because of what I know, it also made the movie completely unrealistic in a lot of ways, though I did enjoy the story. I thought a lot about what I'm willing to give. I think it's really easy to forget that people are dying every day because they never get a compatible donor for whatever it is they need. A lot of donations require someone to die, so (with the exception of this movie) getting a match is out of anyone's control. I just remembered I saw the end of "John Q" on tv a while ago, and that had a different, but related story. From what I saw, John Q took some doctors and nurses hostage and wanted them to transplant his heart into his son's body because a suitable match couldn't be found. Of course, that's not how it works, you don't kill yourself to save someone else.

My thoughts are directed to the Savior. He sacrificed himself to save another. You, in fact. It's not at all likely that I will ever be in a position where I have to choose my life or someone else's. But would I do it? For someone I don't know? For someone I do know? For someone I love? For my own child? But, really, would it matter who they are? I think of the scripture in John 15:13. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Please don't misunderstand me. I don't mean to compare myself to the Savior in any way. Really, it's worse to have the stomach flu than what I've experienced thus far. I can think of lots physical pains that are worse than this whole ordeal. Not to mention emotional or mental or spiritual pain. These are just thoughts that come to my mind as I contemplate the significance of sacrifice and what that really means. I don't feel like I'm sacrificing, because 24 hours from now, I'll be almost completely back to normal. My body will be able to recover lost cells with a few weeks, if it even takes that long. I haven't had to change anything over the last few days, except for the time I've spent. (I'm even getting reimbursed for the miles I'm driving!!) I feel like I'm gaining a lot more than I'm giving up. It's almost like it's a bonus that someone could live because of what I'm doing. It's so easy. I'm so glad I've been able to experience this.

And tomorrow is the big day. I have plans to read and watch movies in bed and sweats. I'm positive I could name 10 people right this second who love that! It's a pretty sweet gig. Plus I get to order whatever I want from the hospital cafeteria! (Hey, it's free, and someone else made it...sounds great!) I can't wait!

Day 3

2010-10-30T21:50:00.002-06:00

And so it begins. Actually, last night I had my first "achy bone" pain. It was fairly mild, and it was in my ribs. It initially reminded me of how my chest feels when I've run too hard when I'm out of shape. Probably none of you have experienced that...but anyway, it was different than I expected. I was expecting constant increasing pain and my bones to feel swollen or something. It's not really like that at all.

This morning's injections were better than yesterday. Probably the best day yet. Again, because I was prepared, and the nurse warmed up the filgrastim and dispensed it slowly. (Thank goodness!) And she was really efficient. I was in a hurry today because I had some plans this morning, and I didn't want to be late. She was really nice and very accommodating. Unfortunately, I think she only works on Saturdays, because I would love to have her be my nurse again!

Each nurse deliberately places the injections in a different place each time. So now I've got this fun little collection of tiny red spots and/or bruises around my stomach within a few inches of my belly button. And I've still got a total of four more shots to go! Maybe I'll see if they connect into a cool design when it's all over.

Actually this process of donating peripheral blood stem cells and receiving filgrastim injections is part of an ongoing study to determine the effectiveness and long-term side effects versus a bone marrow transplant. It's been going on for over 10 years and the side effects are well documented, so I'm not concerned about being a "test subject." But as a result, I've been answering a lot of questions about if I'm experiencing pain, where, and its severity. This morning I rated all the pain as mild, when I felt it. It was mostly few and far between. And after my injections today, I would bump up the rating to moderate. Mostly. But it's hard to determine what would be called "severe."

Since I first felt the "achy" feeling last night, I've been trying to figure out a good way to describe it. It's not easy, because it's not like anything I've really felt before. Last night, it was more surprising than anything else, because I wasn't expecting that sort of sensation. It's a kind of dull pulsing feeling, mostly lasting for one or two seconds. Today, it moved down to my lower back and hips and continued in my ribs and sternum. It's starting to last longer, like five seconds or more, and definitely more intense. In spite of my whining here, I'm trying to be tough, but sometimes I can't help but wince because it comes on so suddenly and stronger than before. It feels like something should trigger it, like moving funny hurts when you pull a muscle, but it's not like that. Sometimes it hurts when I sit down, whereas I think it should be more uncomfortable to stand. This morning I walked to the garbage can and threw something away, and that started a major flare-up in my ribs. Perhaps it's not at all related to what I'm doing and just arbitrary, because I can't really figure it out. Even though I'm sure it will get worse tomorrow, I only have one more day to feel it. I've been told that the relief is almost immediate upon starting the extraction, which will be bright and early on Monday morning.

This has actually been a testimony building experience for me. Jon-Michael and I decided to think about having another baby after Bryce turned 2, which was in June. We began talking about it, and prayed about in July. I got an immediate and emphatic no! I was surprised, because I don't usually receive such direct answers to my prayers. After a few weeks I questioned that answer because I felt like it was a righteous desire. But as I reflected back, I knew I received a clear answer. It obviously wasn't the right time.

And not long afterward, I received the phone call that I was a possible match. After I answered the extensive health questionnaire, I received a call to clarify a few of my answers. I knew one in particular could be a problem...it was the one about whether or not we planned to get pregnant in the next 6 months. (It is extremely unsafe to receive filgrastim injections while pregnant, and they did multiple blood tests over the course of my preparation to verify that I was not pregnant before I received them.) We had originally hoped to be pregnant within six months, even if I had to wait a month, since it wasn't meant to be in July. But we discussed it and decided that if I was selected as a donor, then we would wait. But patience has never been my strong suit. After I began the process to find out if I was a good match for the patient, I wasn't confident that I would be a donor. The odds were not that great. So, doubting Heather that I am, prayed about it again. Well, I got my answer, and it was again, no.

Obviously, I was selected. Even without my patience and faith, things worked out as they were supposed to. Even though I'm sure I'm not able to share it as eloquently as I experienced it, I felt very blessed to be a part of this. It is just another testament to me that our Father in Heaven knows us. As individuals. He is as concerned for this man who will be the recipient of my stem cells, as He is for me and my desire to continue my family. Of course it's possible that there would be another person out there who would be a match for this man, but it's possible that there's not. And even if there is, it may be that they are not in a position to donate at this time. I really don't know the likelihood of all of that, but if I was selected as a match for this man, and we don't even live on the same continent, I feel like it's significant that I was in a position to donate. Not because of me. I'm not anyone special. But our Heavenly Father wants this man to be a recipient, and He made sure that someone was able to be a donor. I'm grateful to be part of that, something bigger than myself. I was given an informational video before the process started, and a woman said that she would do it again in a second. I haven't even finished everything, and I know I feel the same way.

Day 2

2010-10-29T13:13:00.002-06:00

Today was better and worse than yesterday. Although the better wasn't that much better and the worse wasn't that much worse, so I can't complain too much. I went to get my injections this morning feeling much more prepared. I actually had to wait a while for them to get to me, and I'm glad I didn't have to do that yesterday. I think it would have just stressed me out.

I had a new nurse helping me today. She was very pleasant, but not nice. Well, that's not fair to say. I guess I just had an exceptional nurse yesterday. They both explained a lot of things to me as they prepared me for my injections. Yesterday, I was told that they heat up the filgrastim, because if not, it has a bit of a kick going in, and I didn't want that. After experiencing it yesterday, I agreed. Also, they inject it very slowly so it doesn't hurt as much. And, like I said yesterday, it wasn't too bad. Actually the worst part of getting the shot itself was how long it took, just because when you breathe or laugh or talk, you can feel the needle because your stomach moves when you do those things. (Or maybe it's just me because of that redundant tissue...) It's hard to hold perfectly still and still make small talk with the nurse. :)

Today the nurse was, as I said, very pleasant, but apparently she didn't heat up the filgrastim, and she injected it fairly quickly...definitely faster than yesterday! The first shot wasn't too bad, similar to yesterday, but I could tell she was doing it more quickly. But the second one hurt, and I knew what the other nurse meant when she referred to it having a "kick." It was nice to have it over quickly, but I think that made it start hurting more quickly that the day before.

Today I was prepared and I took my Tylenol before I got there to try to curb the stomach pain I knew I would have. I believe it helped, but since I knew I wasn't going to die from it, I think I was also a little more mentally prepared for it. I didn't experience any of the anxiety I had yesterday when it started to hurt, and I feel like the pain subsided much more quickly as well.

Both of the nurses, as well as the CMDP director, who came with me yesterday, told me that I would probably start experiencing the bone pain on Day 3. I'm glad it will be the weekend so Jon-Michael will be around if I really start to feel crumby. My nurse today told me that it would start in my long bones, and my flat bones, like my forehead. Apparently flat bones have a lot of marrow. That could explain the headaches, which I had originally chalked up to stress, because I'm not used to having Caleb home all day. (Yea for fall break...mostly!) Actually I'm sure it's a little bit of both.

It's interesting because my fall break was a little different than I originally anticipated. Two weeks ago today my sister Allie had a baby, and 4 days earlier than that, my sister-in-law Danielle had a baby, so we planned to visit both of them during fall break. (It was frustrating to realize I couldn't just up and leave like I could before because of school, but I'm still grateful for Caleb being academically occupied for half of every day!) The plan was to leave last Friday morning and return on the following Wednesday, because my injections started on Thursday. I was really looking forward to meeting two sweet new baby boys and seeing their families. On Friday morning I got up and said my morning prayers, and instantly felt like I shouldn't go to Utah. Long story short, I didn't go. I was very disappointed, but the more I thought about it, the better I felt. I really don't know why I wasn't supposed to go. Maybe it had something to do with me being able to being a donor. That is definitely a worthwhile reason to stay home. Especially because it is literally a matter of life and death.

In the mean time, Tylenol isn't terribly effective on my headaches, but it's the best I can do right now, so I can't wait for the achy bones to start...I'm sure I'll have an even whinier post tomorrow!

Day 1

2010-10-28T14:24:00.005-06:00

Many life changing adventures start with a phone call. Such is the case with me. In late July I got a call from the Colorado Marrow Donor Program because I was tagged as a possible bone marrow match for a patient. I had forgotten that I joined the registry...8 years ago. Although, I remembered it then; I almost passed out when they drew my blood because they totally had to fish around in my arm to find the vein to get the sample...ugh. I donate blood on a regular basis (or as much as I can in between pregnancies and nursing, which means not as much in recent years) so it was not a big deal to me to join the registry when they came to my office at the City of Arvada years ago.

A search specialist with the CMDP called me initially. She asked if I remembered joining and if I was still interested in being on the registry. Well, who says no to the opportunity to save someone's life? Although, sad to say, people do. Using the blood sample I provided when I initially joined the registry, I came up as a possible match. After confirming my continued interest, I had to go through some additional steps. I had to fill out a (very!) complete health history online and answer a lot of questions over the phone. Once that was finished, I had to go into a Bonfils Blood Center to get some blood samples drawn to find out if I was a good match. Apparently only 8%, or 1 in 12, people who are initially contacted are a close enough match to be a donor. It was a little sad for me to find that out, because I was excited at the prospect of being able to participate.

This was not only a unique experience, but one very dear to my heart, and that of my family. My father-in-law, Mike DeShazer, was the recipient of a similar donation about a year ago for his leukemia, a blood cancer. His sister was the donor. In terms of family, there is a 1 in 4 chance that a sibling will be a good enough match. If his brother or sister was not a match, the next step would be to check his parents and children, which had 1 in 8 chance of being a good match. His mother passed away, and his father is old enough for it to be too risky. I said to him that it was good thing he had 8 children! We had a good laugh about that.

Many of you know, he passed away in February. As a family, and personally, we feel a lot of peace about it. In this way, I'm so grateful to have the chance to help someone else.

I had to wait almost 7 weeks to find out whether or not I was good match. On September 23, I got a call from the director of the CMDP and she told me the news. I still had to go through more blood tests and a complete physical and more health history. (Many thanks to all my friends who watched my kids during all these appointments!!)

Not long afterward, I received a call from a doctor at the CMDP and he told me all the details. My patient is a 41 year-old man with acute leukemia. (I later found out that he is also an international patient...I have no idea where, but still!) I would be donating not bone marrow, but peripheral blood stem cells. I was familiar with this procedure as it was exactly what my father-in-law received. It involves removing these cells, which are produced in the bone marrow, from my blood. I must say, it was nice to know I wouldn't have to (though I would have!) go under the knife for a marrow donation, which I have heard is extremely painful.

This procedure is less involved, and, to me, seems similar to dialysis. I will have the blood taken out one arm, then it will be fed through a machine to remove the stem cells, and put back in the other arm. The only problem is that enough of these stems cells do not exist naturally in the blood. I needed to get five days worth of shots to stimulate my body to force stem cells into my blood stream before my extraction. And with that freakishly long preface, today is Day 1 of injections.

As I was reviewing the information I had been given, I began to feel slightly terrified by all of this. (Although, again, I should just be grateful I'm not donating the actual bone marrow!) It's not receiving the shots themselves, which can be given in the arm, leg, or stomach, but the side-effects. The most common, and expected, is bone pain. My aunt-in-law, Krsten, who was the donor for her brother, told me that it felt like having a balloon blown up in your bones, like they were expanding. The CMDP director told me I would feel like I had arthritis in all my bones. There are other possible symptoms, but this bone pain is what I'm not looking forward to.

Of course, this would not keep me from donating. Prior to my Day 1, my patient started a lethal round of chemotherapy. It would essentially kill all his diseased bone marrow. My donation would provide him cells so he could create new bone marrow and new cancer-free blood. If I backed out now, he would almost certainly die.

Jon-Michael gave me a priesthood blessing to help me get past my minor insecurities. I felt good as I went to Presbyterian/St. Lukes Hospital this morning to receive my first set of injections. I got them in my stomach...the thought makes me feel ill...because it would hurt less there because "women tend to have more redundant tissue there." (Meaning fat.) Haha...well, receiving the injections really didn't hurt any more than any other shot. (So I guess my redundant tissue did the trick!) It was a tiny needle, like a flu shot. So I left, still feeling good. It only took 20 minutes to really start hurting. And it wasn't in my bones yet, just at both the injection sites. It was like the filgrastim just sat there in my stomach and then finally decided to spread. It was very uncomfortable, and I started to feel some anxiety because I was driving, and I didn't want it to get worse. Fortunately, the pain subsided within the next half hour, and I have felt fine since then.

Even though this is just the beginning of the procedure, which will happen on Monday (November 1), this has been such a rewarding experience. Every person I've met has been so nice and many have told me how great they think it is that I am doing this. I don't think it's great that I'm doing it, because I know any of you would do the same given the chance. It's also been particularly rewarding because I've met a lot of the hospital staff that knew Mike while he was in the hospital. One nurse today told me how much she liked him and thought it was neat that he played his guitar at the hospital all the time. I almost started crying when we were talking about it today. I hope I can help someone else's husband or father or brother or son. I know what a difference it can make. I've got a link to the National Marrow Registry Program here on my blog. It's called Be the Match. You could be a life-saving match for someone too.

Which Ward?

2010-10-19T16:17:00.004-06:00

The boys and I are driving to Utah this weekend to visit family and meet a couple new babies! We won't be attending our ward (Heather Ridge Ward) because we'll be gone on Sunday. Caleb and I were talking about where we will be staying.

Me: We're staying at Allie's house. (My sister)

Caleb: Does she have a church there?

Me: Yes.

Caleb: Do you know what her church is called? Actually I think it's called the Allie Ridge Ward.

What a little turkey!

And here are some pictures of my kids, since I haven't posted any in a while!

Caleb being his cute self.

Bryce, who is equally adorable.

Caleb at swimming lessons...he really enjoyed spitting water out of the pool.

Caleb and Brandon, who were in my group on a kindergarten field trip to the Rocky Mountain Pumpkin Ranch!

And Caleb racing Lydia...who do you think will win?

Say What?

2010-09-29T13:02:00.002-06:00

Mommy: What does a duck say?

Bryce: Wack, wack, wack.

Mommy: Good! What does a dog say?

Bryce: Ruff, ruff.

Mommy: Good job. What does a cow say?

Bryce: Mooooo.

Mommy: Very good! What does a horse say?

Bryce: Gee-yup horsie!

Shocking!

2010-09-09T15:22:00.002-06:00

Caleb (counting until he gets to my age): "...28, 29, 30."

Me: "That's how old I am. And next month, I'll turn 31."

Caleb (eyes wide with astonishment): "What the heck in the world!?"

I couldn't have put it better myself!

Playing House

2010-08-31T19:04:00.003-06:00

Ok, I'll admit, I have spanked Caleb before. I'm not proud of it. I actually try to avoid it because it's not necessarily effective, but I'm not a perfect parent. So I shouldn't be surprised when this translates into Caleb's behavior. Caleb and Bryce were playing trains at my parents' house and Bryce did something Caleb didn't like. So Caleb stood up and smacked him on the bum. My mom went over to talk to him and the conversation went like this.

Grandma: "You're not supposed to spank Bryce. Are you the mom?"
Caleb: "We were playing house!"

First Day of School

2010-08-25T19:02:00.003-06:00

I know everyone goes through this, so it's not a big deal to anyone but my little family, but we finally have a kid in school! Caleb started kindergarten today and it was very exciting. He was so excited to get up and go to school, and I was excited for him to embark on this new adventure, as well as have 3 Caleb-free hours a day! Caleb could hardly sit still for me to take pictures this morning before we walked to his school. He just wanted to go! He got a haircut last night and chose a new Lego shirt to wear. Everything about the experience was very thrilling to him. This has been an exciting experience for Bryce too, so he needed to be part of the pictures, of course. Caleb couldn't wait to walk to school. He thought it was great when there was another boy walking to the school from our neighborhood. He was in fourth or fifth grade, but that didn't stop Caleb from trying to make friends! Caleb just walked with him and talked his ear off until the boy left to meet a friend at another house. Yesterday, at Caleb's screening, he met a boy who he immediately hit it off with. It turns out they are in the same class and Caleb was so excited. They stuck together the whole time and even came out of the classroom together. It looks like they'll have a lot of fun together. He still wants to go back tomorrow, and I hope he always does.

At least he's creative....

2010-07-28T18:41:00.003-06:00

I decided to hop in the shower while Bryce was taking a nap yesterday, and I left Caleb having a "beach party" downstairs. When I got out, I could see that he didn't use the blankets and other props he got out for said party, so I called out to Caleb to make sure he was ok. He said he was, but that Horsie (stuffed animal friend) hurt his ankle on his way down the stairs and couldn't walk. Well that was fine with me as long as Caleb was ok. I came down a few minutes later to find him drawing on the seat of one of his folding chairs. I have been trying not to get mad about stuff like that, but it really irks me when my kids needlessly ruin stuff. (We have drawing paper everywhere.) And then I saw what he was doing...

Can you figure out what he was doing from the pictures? It's actually pretty darn cute. Horsie broke his legs, as you can see from the very detailed "x-ray" Caleb drew on his chair. Well, a broken leg or two is nothing a little masking tape can't fix.

I've been informed that Horsie is better today and "his legs just put back together themselves." Well, that's a relief. I would hate to think he drew on a chair for nothing.

Summer fun!

2010-07-21T13:06:00.003-06:00

We have spent a lot of time at parks and swimming and the like this summer. It's been really fun and the kids have loved it. (Me too, because it means I get to socialize with the other moms!) Maria had a brilliant idea to bring little spray bottles for the kids to play with...it keeps them (and us) cool, without getting soaked. A big hit with Bryce!

I just love this face....it is so totally Bryce!
These 3 have had such fun together. I love that they're all friends! And such cute little bums!
Bryce has discovered the slide this summer, and he loves it!
Caleb has become brave this summer, and loves all variety of water activities. I'm so glad I don't have to get wet with him anymore!
Bryce won't go in by himself yet because he's still not quite sure about getting splashed on...though he'll do it to himself! He loved the Westland Splash Park. Even in his clothes. Not that I'm surprised by that part.

Good Day!

2010-07-18T23:34:00.006-06:00

Well, today (almost yesterday, since I'm posting so late!) wasn't a perfect day, but it was a good day. In the most vain, trivial, self-centered sense. Today, I felt like I looked good. You know that feeling? It doesn't happen every day, for sure, but today was one of those days. And I know this sounds braggy, and I don't know why I feel the need to blog about this, but oh well. I felt like my make-up looked good, (thanks to my sister Jocie for the tips, and Costco for the makeup. Yes, Costco!) and my hair looked good, (thanks Jocie again for the haircut!) and my clothes looked good (thanks Kohl's for having a super clearance!) and it just made me feel good. It's not the best I ever looked or whatever, and it's not like anyone else noticed or anything (which doesn't really bother me at all, since I felt good about it) but I just felt put together, and it was nice. And I totally cleaned my house top to bottom yesterday, so maybe it's that sense of accomplishment that really makes me feel good, but it was just an overall pleasant feeling. Even after a rough day with the boys, and a challenge getting them in bed tonight (they usually go down really nicely...) and they screamed like we were murdering them, with the windows open of course, at the end the day, I'll still classify it as good because I looked good. (I know I'm such a nerd.) Thanks for indulging me in this very all-about-me post! I'll get back to blogging about my kids, because I know you all love to read about how talented/adorable/perfect they are! ;)

The perfect bridge...

2010-07-16T08:00:00.001-06:00

My kids have a set of wooden trains to play with at my parents' house because they spend a lot of time there, and trains are always a favorite! One Saturday afternoon, I came into the living room to find Caleb busy constructing an elaborate track...right across my sleeping dad's lap! I guess he decided to take a break from working around the house, and didn't notice or mind that Caleb had included him in his set up. It was hilarious. So, of course, I had to take pictures...

My kids always have fun with Grandpa, even if he's not really participating!

Grandparents are great!

2010-07-14T11:59:00.004-06:00

Especially great-grandparents! In May (yes, I'm just now blogging about it...) I went to Utah and took the boys to see my grandparents in Bountiful. It's always so much fun for everyone because of all the fun things my grandparents have at their house. Not least of which is my grandpa's train room! I enjoyed it as a child (though not nearly as much as my kids) so it's really fun for me to see my kids love visiting too!
I can't tell you how much time my siblings, cousins and I spent drawing on this giant chalkboard in the basement. My grandma has countless pictures, and now she can add a few more!
The swing set was added after I was little kid, but my siblings and kiddos sure loved it. Bryce was just as happy as could be on that swing!
Caleb had a blast on the slide. It's set up right next to a tree, so Grandpa catches kids on the way down to avoid getting accidentally scraped up.
We did several other things I didn't get pictures of, including playing with trucks, coloring, and Play-Doh! After dinner, we had to take pose for pictures for Grandma! (That's why she's not in it!)
Caleb did manage to snag one of her, and it's the only one from the trip, so I'm glad!
On the drive back to Lehi to my sister's house, my kids crashed. It was such a fun day and one I hope to be able to repeat soon!
So cute.

Why I'm not a bachelor anymore (as if you needed me to explain)

2010-05-19T18:13:00.000-06:00

Heather and the kids have been gone to Utah since Friday and aren't returning until this upcoming Sunday night. This is the longest I've been home alone in years. Here are some advantages to being home alone, and some disadvantages

Advantages

The ability to come and go when I please. I forgot how much I loved this kind of flexibility!
The ability to watch whatever show or movie whenever I want on TV
I don't have to be the least bit quiet late at night
I have completed many fix it projects around the house that have sat untouched for months and years, and I did it all in a matter of a couple of days.
The kitchen is really easy to clean when all you have to load is a bowl and spoon once a day.
I have the entire bed to myself, although this isn't always an advantage (see disadvantages below).
No children's bed-time routine (That gives me at least 30-45 more minutes every night)

Disadvantages

No one to talk to outside of work.
Driving to my parents' house can get expensive when driving 30 miles one way on a nightly basis. Sorry family in Arvada. It's nothing personal!
Cold cereal, scrambled eggs and turkey Sandwiches 3 meals a day can get a little boring. I may switch to Mac and Cheese in the coming days. I don't know how I lived off cases of Ramen for weeks at a time when I was 20.
Sleeping alone. I have grown accustomed to falling asleep with someone next to me. This is probably the toughest part. I don't sleep as well because I get cold and admittedly I really like my wife.
The days draaaaaaaaaaaaaag on! I was hoping today was Thursday and not Wednesday.
I hear weird noises in the house at night that I don't hear when my family is there. Overly paranoid? I hope not.
I find myself watching A LOT more TV than I used to. ESPN's Sportcenter or 'Man vs. Food' have been watched a lot more than usual, especially at weird hours of the night.
No one is there to wake me up when I fall asleep in front of the TV. Fortunately, this has only happened a couple of times and for not very long.

Well, there you have it. The thing I miss most is being close to my wife and children. Even though there are days when my kids drive me crazy, being away from them reminds me how much I love them and really do care about them. The same goes for my wife. Heather is so fun to talk to, she understands me, supports me and treats me like I'm a special guy. You can't get that in any other relationship. It's easy to be in love with such a beautiful woman who takes such good care of you.

I have considered going to a movie or eating dinner somewhere by myself, I've never done it before. What do you all recommend?

Am I in a Commercial?

2010-04-26T21:24:00.003-06:00

As I was watching tv with my hubby, I saw a charming commercial that reminded me of a real-life, horribly ridiculous experience I had a few weeks ago.

Jodie and I were making a without-the-kids-because-we-could trip to Wal-Mart on a normal evening. We got some necessary and, of course, unnecessary items, and took our haul to the check out lane. I was actually surprised how many people were there at 9pm, and, apparently so were the cashiers because there were not enough of them. We ended up in a long line and Jodie started making small talk about the wait with a young woman behind us. She was of indeterminate age, but she had braces and an immature wardrobe. To set the stage fully, I really feel the need to include the entire dialogue with said person.

Teeny-Bopper-Dressed-Braces-Girl: "We NEVER let the lines get this long at the store I work at."
Jodie: "Oh, where do you work?"
TBDBG: "Babies R Us"
J: "That's great." (We were both thinking, no kidding the lines never get this long...Babies R Us is never that busy!)
TBDBG: "What kind of sippy cups do you have there?" (One of the necessary items were sippies for Bryn.)
J: "Um, not sure, just whatever brand they had back there."
(And now I won't bore you with the details of this portion of the conversation. Suffice it to say, TBDBG was very knowledgeable about sippies and the best kind, which Jodie most certainly didn't have and, coincidentally, are only carried at Babies R Us.)
J: "Well, ok, I think I'll try this one out though and see how it works."
TBDBG: So, are you two sisters or something?" (This was just funny and we were both flattered! We told her we weren't.)
TBDBG: (Turning to me) "So do you have kids?"
Me: Yeah, I have two little boys. Do you have any kids? (She was just so knowledgeable about necessary items, it made me wonder how she raised her kids.)
TBDBG: "Oh no, I'm waiting until I'm married. I mean, I've got the guy figured out, but I'm still waiting."
J: "Oh, are you engaged?"
TBDBG: "No, but he gave me a promise ring." (She holds up her hand to show us her ring, which was sweet: yellow gold with a blue stone.)
TBDBG: (dead serious) "He went to Jared!"

I just started laughing! I seriously couldn't help it. I have never heard anyone actually say that! Jodie, with much more control over her emotions, just smiled and said, "Oh...that's great!" It was hilarious.

We could not get through the line fast enough then. As soon as we got out the doors, we busted up laughing! We had to run to the car because we were afraid TBDBG would walk out and hear us more than enjoying a joke at her expense.

Now I have one to check off my list: appear in a commercial.

Well, close enough.

Easter Eggs...and more...are Yummy!

2010-04-21T21:58:00.003-06:00

We had a lot of fun dyeing Easter eggs this year. The kiddos loved coloring on the eggs and all the other fun elements, like wrapping rubber bands and adding stickers and mixing colors and everything. Bryce just kept trying (unsuccessfully) to drink the dye...doesn't it look like juice or something? Yuck.
Things took a turn for the worst when Caleb spilled the red dye. Fortunately, it was contained on the deliberately placed table cloth. Plus we had 3 egg dyeing kits (I forgot that I bought some last year!) so I just opened one of the little packets that had a red tablet to refill our red dye. Caleb was thrilled to still have red.

All of a sudden, Bryce is bawling his eyes out. Apparently, though it looks like candy, egg dyeing tablets do NOT taste like candy! He managed to grab the blue tablet and chew it up! His entire mouth was dark blue! And like the cruel mom I am, I withheld giving him a drink until we could get a picture!
He gratefully accepted a glass of water, and back-washed blue every time he took a drink...so funny! Grandma gave Bryce an animal cracker to help get rid of the yucky taste. He stopped crying to take a bite and when he took it out of his mouth, he looked at it...it was green...and he said, "Uh-oh!"
In spite of the drama, Caleb's eggs turned out adorable, and he had a blast.
Bryce was eventually happy too, and the blue mostly disappeared out of his mouth by bedtime.
It did take another day and half to get all the dye out of his system...but he seemed none the worse for it! I hope he has now learned his lesson, but I'm not holding my breath. Happy Easter!

I'm Still Here...

2010-04-18T19:45:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone, just a quick post to let all of my loyal readers of my deeply entertaining blog (ha!) know that I haven't died, because of course that's what you would assume since I haven't blogged in months. I've actually got some really fun posts coming up, like "Is Easter egg dye edible?" and "Caleb's favorite birthday present was from an infomercial!"

In the mean time, here is a quick update:

Bryce's favorite things right now are bubbles, meticulously copying Caleb's every move, and naming everything in sight. He has a shoe fetish as well...he wears everything from Caleb's flip flops to Jon-Michael's basketball shoes to my high heels.

Caleb just turned 5 and can't wait to start "real" school. (Because joy school doesn't count.) We continue to be pleasantly overwhelmed with the amount of paper he goes through because he draws every day.

Heather is forever on a quest for the perfect book, although some recent favorites include The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner and Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. She thinks she can grow green things and has been watering dirt on the back patio for over a week in the hope that the seeds there will grow.

Jon-Michael is deliberately punishing himself by playing basketball at 5:30 am a couple days a week, which is good, because his body is really starting to show his age at the recently attained age of 32. (Ha ha!)

As you can tell, we are just full of fun lately, but stay tuned for actual posts in the near future!

Craig Ferguson...in the flesh!

2010-01-11T13:01:00.003-07:00

As an avid reader, I've signed up to get emails about local book signings. It's been great because I've been able to see a couple authors I never would have seen otherwise! Most recently I found out that Craig Ferguson, host of The Late, Late Show, was coming to town for his "memoirs." I haven't read it, and I suspect it will have a bit of language...but how often do you get to see a famous tv star! Jon-Michael and I occasionally watch his show when we're up that late, and he is very funny. We went with Jon-Michael's mother and sister, who, along with their husbands, are fans!
We didn't get very good seats; we sat in the very last row, in fact. I'm just grateful we got seats in the same room...many people couldn't fit and had to sit in an overflow area where they could only hear him. Here's a good idea of how far away we were:
Craig read a bit from the preface of his book and then answered questions. As you can imagine, he was very entertaining. We laughed our heads off! One of the things I like about him is that he's so unpretentious. On the other end of the spectrum, he said not to make him a role model, but he won't promise not to disappoint.
We spent about 3 hours at The Tattered Cover downtown, all in all. We had to wait in line to get tickets to get a book signed. Then we had to wait for another hour for him to come speak. He answered questions for about 45 minutes, and then we had to wait another hour or so to actually get our books signed. We got tickets in the 220's so we had to wait for at least that many people to go before us. We had a good time though, and have officially autographed merchandise!

Haircuts! oh, and Happy Thanksgiving...

2009-12-02T14:41:00.008-07:00

So Bryce finally got his first haircut! Here is a good shot of his curls from October when we went to the Denver Aquarium. They were so cute, but when you get the ward's resident mullet-wearer complimenting Bryce's hair style, it's time for a change. So on Thanksgiving, I took advantage of my two stylist sisters being in town! My sister Jocelyn cut Bryce's hair.

Bryce was pretty good about it...once we gave him a sucker. Then he pretty much didn't care what we did to him!

He also got a washcloth so he could wash his hands and face whenever he wanted. He likes being a big boy.

I'm not sure what this face is, but it's so cute and it makes me laugh!

Almost finished!

But Bryce wasn't the only one who got a haircut! I get sick of my hair style every so often, and since I have two sisters and a sister-in-law who are stylists, I pretty much get it cut whenever I want! For illustration purposes, here is my hair a couple of weeks ago with my girls Leah and Tricia. I was totally ready for a change...so that's what I did!

I know the lighting isn't great, but if you can't tell...it's short! And I love it! For some reason, I don't have a picture to post of my sister Allie, who cut my hair...well, I do, but I don't think she'd want me to post it! ;) Thanks for the haircuts Allie and Jocie!

We had a really fun Thanksgiving at my parents' house with my two sisters and their hubbys and my brother in from out of town. We don't all get to be together as often as we'd like, so it was a great time. And I'm grateful for more things than I'm willing to type up right now, but know that I am grateful.

And here's a funny little video of a few things that I'm grateful for...it shows Caleb trying to do push-ups (hilarious!) and you can get a good look at Bryce's finished haircut. Enjoy!

Snow Day!

2009-10-29T13:51:00.007-06:00

Caleb loves playing in the snow, but I admit, I don't take him out very often. It's cold and wet...neither of which are favorites in my book! But with Jon-Michael home and a fantastic amount of snow, we couldn't deny him that.

Here are all the boys before we went outside...and it took at least as long to get ready as to play out there! It was so funny to see Bryce all bundled like that. It was truly adorable, and his first experience actually playing in the snow. He was 9 months old the last time we took him out, but he couldn't walk yet, so he couldn't even do anything.
Caleb took full advantage and dove right in as soon as we got outside!
Bryce was a little more tentative, but was happy to watch at the beginning. It was cracking me up because you couldn't tell he if was smiling or crying because of that big scarf around his face...but he was smiling in this picture.
Jon-Michael did a lot of shoveling. Fortunately the snow was pretty dry and it was easy to shovel. Bryce liked following him around because he didn't have to walk in snow where ever Jon-Michael shoveled.
Caleb found all sorts of dinosaur bones and teeth and eggs in the snow...he's obviously into that lately...
Bryce would get so mad every time he had to touch the ground, and I don't blame him because he had such a hard time getting back up!
We don't get as much snow in our entry walk way because it's sheltered pretty well, but it was deep enough for Caleb!
After a while, Bryce just retreated to the garage and sat in the wagon where it was nice and snow-free!
We had fun climbing around in the snow, and yes, even I did! I think we're all happy to sit inside with hot cocoa and just look outside for a little while though now!

St. George!

2009-09-12T13:51:00.005-06:00

We spent the week before Labor Day in Utah, and a good part of it in St. George for a McNeill Family Reunion! It's the first time we've all gone somewhere together since before Jocelyn or Allie got married. (Translation: over 4 years...) We spent 4 nights in a great condo a couple of my mom's sisters own and it was so much fun! Nine adults and two kids...all in a 3 bedroom condo. Well, we know we love each other now that we've done that! Besides swimming, we spent a ton of time eating...

L to R: Heather (and I'm not pregnant, even though I know it totally looks like it in that picture!), Jon-Michael, Mom, Dad, Brett
Caleb is actually in there sleeping on Jon-Michael's lap.

We couldn't all fit at one table without waiting forever, so we were in two booths across from each other. L to R: Jocelyn, Scott, Jonathan, Allie, and you can actually see Bryce sleeping on Allie's lap! We wore them out so they wouldn't give us any trouble at dinner! Of course that's not true, but we couldn't wake them up for anything! All that swimming and running around really just drained them.

Caleb took over the camera, as always, and here are some pictures showing what a great time we were having! (And a good illustration of each person's character, as you will see...)

Bryce being cute...
Brett being happy...

Jon-Michael being goofy...

Allie and Jonathan being confused...

Jocelyn being...well, I'm not sure what...

Scott being funny...

...and Caleb just being himself!

We had so much fun we miss everyone already!

Trip to the Museum

2009-09-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I hadn't taken Caleb since I was pregnant with Bryce, and they loved it! We will definitely be going back.

Bryce had the most fun in the play area (because he was in the stroller every where else!) The girls volunteering there thought it was hilarious that Bryce would just throw balls and chase them around the room...under chairs, through adults' legs, around toys...and then grab it and throw it again! He was just happy to play fetch with himself!

Caleb was the most excited to see the dinosaurs, of course...why else would we go? It cracked me up because he kept talking about how everything there was dead. It didn't seem to bother him, so I guess he has a healthy understanding of death, because he's pretty mellow about it for a 4 year old.

The highlight was seeing the "rex" head. Because that's Rex from Night at the Museum. For some reason it didn't bother Caleb that he didn't have a body! But he wouldn't stand right in front of it...even if it is dead, I guess there's still the possibility of getting chomped...

Caleb's other favorite place was the Space Odyssey. He spent forever dressed up as an astronaut picking up moon rocks and launching the shuttle with other kids there. He was just making friends with every one there and had a blast.

So if anyone wants to go to the museum, we will definitely go with you again!

Ward Campout!

2009-08-24T09:11:00.003-06:00

Last weekend we went on ward camp out! We're not really campers, so we always borrow stuff from my parents, but this was the second one this summer. Caleb's hooked now, and we've had a lot of fun. But I still have minimum requirements...like running water and bathrooms...I know that's not officially roughing it, but that's about as outdoorsy as you're going to find me!

Friday evening we had fun roasting marshmallows...as you can, see Caleb loved that. But mostly just the eating the marshmallows part! Bryce mostly just ate graham crackers, but he was perfectly happy with that too!

Caleb had a lot of fun with a few of his friends, Lydia and Cora. Cora was so good about posing for me, and Caleb loved the picture, so he did his own version of it!

And here's a picture of Bryce working on his walk...he is such a little stinker...I haven't been able to catch him walking on video because he refuses to do it as soon as I get out the camera! He's been walking for a few weeks, but getting braver, so one of these days I actually have proof!

We had a lot of fun making new friends with people in the ward at the camp out. It's definitely something we'll have to do again.

Famous Artwork

2009-08-07T14:32:00.006-06:00

Perhaps this artwork isn't famous yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be one day. I continue to marvel at my kids development (except for Bryce's lack of walking...but he'll get a big blog entry when that happens!) especially with Caleb because it's new for me too. I know my kids aren't necessarily smarter or more advanced than other kids (well, I do kind of think that, what self respecting parent wouldn't?) but I'm just proud of them and want to showcase their talents. So here are some of Caleb's more amusing and impressive drawings as of late.

This is a picture of a slide at Water World. (We went there a couple of weeks ago.) The slide starts at the top right and lands in the tiny roundish pool at the bottom. I guess he spent as much time looking at the maps as we did!

Caleb spends an inordinate amount of time drawing trains. This picture is extra cute I think. It's Toby the tram engine from Thomas.

This next picture is of a pirate ship. Did you notice the skull and crossbones on the flag? And the pirate has a patch over his eye! The pirate ship is carrying a "vacuum train" of all things, (shocker right?) but I love the ship floating under the moon. And the random arrow.

I love this one because he copied it. This is a penguin cupcake family. I just got the book "Hello Cupcake," which has a ton of fabulous and relatively easy cupcake decorating ideas. Caleb decided to draw the picture on the back. I am so impressed with how well he copied the picture! (I included the front cover of the book in case you want to get it...it's so fun!)

This last one made Jon-Michael and me laugh the hardest. This is a creative version of some musical instruments...Trumpets? Tubas? But at the bottom is a picture of a flute, being played by none other than Homer Simpson.

This is the kind of thing I love about being a parent.

Caleb the Photographer

2009-07-22T15:42:00.004-06:00

I was having a discussion with my dad last night about what kind of professions my kids might enter based on what we currently know of their personalities. Caleb has always been into things that involved fine motor skills, and he's very creative. I was uploading pictures and I found a slew of pics that Caleb took. It actually happens frequently that I look at the camera and think, "Where did all these pictures come from?" And it's Caleb's doing. So today, I'm going to predict that Caleb will be a photographer, if these pics are any indication...

This is only a tiny selection, but as you can see, he likes all types: abstract, portraits, still life, and himself. It's quite a range, and obviously he's extremely talented...we'll see where that takes us. (Note: As I'm typing this, he's managed to turn on my cell phone camera and is taking pictures of his toys.)

Sleeping...I mean Swimming...at the pool!

2009-07-04T12:38:00.008-06:00

We go swimming nearly everyday...and it has been fabulous. So much so that Bryce has already established a nap routine involving the pool.

Step 1: Get drowsy and slump over in the turtle floatie.

Step 2: Let Mom pull your legs out so you're reclining comfortably, while still sleeping.

Step 3: Get carried out of the pool and sleep in the floatie with a towel for an hour or so.

This system seems to work pretty well because it happens almost every time we go to the pool! And this is particularly amazing since he sleeps in his crib and in the car seat...and that's about it. It's nice so I can play with Caleb too. (Obviously Bryce requires a lot of attention at the pool.) Caleb is coming to love swimming too, and is getting much more comfortable with the water. But he's not quite as brave as all the girls he swims with... (He's the one with the blue swim shirt and round floatie, and notice he's still got his nose plugged...)

All in all we're having a great time, and Jon-Michael is getting jealous because he's always had a darker skin that me...but not now because he has to work and pay for all the fun we have! What can I say? I'm spoiled and I love my life!

Bryce is 1!

2009-06-23T22:20:00.006-06:00

I can't believe my baby is one! I know I've said it before, but Bryce's first year went WAY faster than Caleb's first year. I'm pretty sure we just brought Bryce home from the hospital last week or so. But to prove (to me) that it really has been an entire year, here are pictures of Bryce celebrating every month of his entire life!

June 2008

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 21, 2009

Still can't believe it...but I do know I have the happiest (and cutest!) one year-old ever! Happy Birthday to our little Brycie Boy!

Preschool Graduation...

2009-06-11T10:45:00.005-06:00

I've never really felt compelled to blog, but all my friends are doing it...so I guess I'm just giving in to peer pressure. I'm perfectly happy to read everyone elses blogs, which I do daily, and I'm sure you all are dying to hear what I have to say about our family. So, lucky you...here we are!

The most recent exciting family event (if you can call it an event) is our preschool graduation. And it wasn't so much a graduation as it was a party signifying the end of school. And it wasn't so much a school as it was a bunch of moms alternating teaching the kids a letter of the alphabet and giving the other moms a two-hour break once a week. Well, that's not fair at all...it has been fabulous. Caleb has learned so much this last year, and I have loved the opportunity it's given him to be social and learn in a more structured environment.

I know I'm not the only mom in the world with such a "smart" child, but I have been thrilled with his progress. He knows all the letters of the alphabet, upper and lower case, mostly knows 1-20 (he's got the teens in the wrong order sometimes), he can write all the letters and recognizes the sounds the make. We're starting to sound out words, mostly just the first letter, but I know it's a great start on the road to reading. And Caleb has another whole year of "preschool," so I know he'll be ready for kindergarten. I just hope all my friends want to keep doing this when Bryce is old enough.

Yesterday we had our party at my house. It was pretty low-key, but the kids had fun making graduation caps and tassels. The graduation part consisted of them all standing together so we could take pictures. And then we went swimming! Now that's a summer kick-off party!

I have been so impressed with all the moms involved (Lindee, Maria, and Leah...you guys do so much better than I do, but thanks for letting me part of it anyway!) and the kids. They are so smart and so cute. Even though I know them because they're all Caleb's friends and kids in our primary, it has been fun to get to know their cute little personalities.

Congrats kiddos!
Back row (l to r): Dillon, Caleb, Dallin
Front row (l to r): Emery, Kylie, Lydia

A long overdue post

2009-06-02T15:18:00.003-06:00

Things are good in the world of DeShazer Land. Here's an update:

Bryce will be 1 in the next couple of weeks. He's crawling and getting into all sorts of stuff, especially the toilet. He also learned to crawl up the stairs a couple of weeks ago. That's fine except he hasn't figured out the going downstairs part. We put a gate at the bottom of the stairs to prevent him from continually going up and getting stuck up there. He has a most unique way of expressing excitement. When he's excited, he takes little yet loud gasps. He's excited about 90% of the time about something, so we here him doing that all day. I think it's adorable. He's incredibly ticklish and out eats his 4 year-old brother. Often we end up feeding him Caleb's leftovers. He loves Cheerios and underneath his seat in our dining room, you can always find roughly 40-50 little Cheerios lying on the floor around him. We use our vacuum to clean it up daily.

Caleb is getting taller and taller by the day. He's taller than most kids his age and taller than those 1-2 years older than him in many cases. He's the worlds most picky eater and is testing his limits with Heather and I on a daily basis. He has decided he no longer wants to sleep in his bed at night, so he sneaks in with us on a nightly basis. We've had to wake up and put him back to bed numerous times. We're hoping he stops doing it in the near future, he's a major bed hog. Despite his growing pains, he's been as funny as ever. He's surprising us every day with some new expression or idea. He loves playing with his Legos and watching Pixar movies with me. I even got him watching some of the NBA playoffs with me a few times. He loves cuddling with me.

One such instance was a few weeks ago. Caleb was sitting with me watching the basketball game and Heather called for him to do something. He rather nonchalantly exclaimed while sprawled out on my lap, "I can't Mom, I'm watching the bassetball game with Dad." It was pretty funny. Unfortunately I can't think of other funny phrases. But he tells me on a daily basis that I'm his best friend. It is easily the highest compliment one can receive from their child.

Heather is keeping herself busy as Primary President and looking after our kids. With my long days at the office and out at night meeting with clients for my business, we don't get a lot of alone time. Recently we teamed up with friends at church to trade babysitting duties. There are about 5 families involved so we only have to babysit 1 every 5 weeks. We're going on a date for the second time in as many weeks for the first time since we became parents 4 years ago. We're both very excited at this possibility.

Anyway, that's the deal in the family right now. I will be better this summer about keeping this thing up to date.

Here's what I'm talking about (See Previous Post)

2009-04-07T11:44:00.004-06:00

Here's a perfect example of someone who is taking this Jay Cutler trade too seriously. Here's the original article

""I don't understand why he'd go to a press conference wearing a hoodie," Mendelsberg said of McDaniels. "Jay Cutler showed up at his press conference (in Chicago) looking nice. He looked like he had a makeover - nice suit, nice tie, nice haircut. He even laughed. I'd never seen him laugh. It's like he had a new lease on life."

He doesn't feel the same about his beloved Broncos.

"I'm so bummed. What do I tell my kids? We don't have a quarterback; we don't have a defense," Mendelsberg said. "This did nothing to ease my mind.""

Ease your mind?! What are you going to tell your kids?!?!?! Did you get laid off? Did you cheat on your wife? Did you put the family dog to sleep and not tell anyone? Those are things that warrant, "What do I tell my kids?" Not "We don't have a quarterback!" I can see it already, his children turn into delinquents getting involved with drugs, stealing cars and eventually more heinous crimes. Finally after an 8 hour stand-off with police at Broncos Headquarters and turning the gun on himself after a rampage, the man once known by his father Ken Mendelsberg as "Little Joey" says in his suicide note, warped with the drying of many tears that fell as he was writing, "Dad said WE didn't have a quarterback!"

Secondly, who cares if Josh McDaniels wears a hoody!? He could show up looking like Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror Picture Show for all I care, as long as Super Bowl rings show up on his freshly manicured black nails.

Watch the following video, and replace Star Trek fan's with Broncos fans. William Shatner says it perfectly. I'm done.

SNL Get A Life

Jay Cutler Traded! My Life has Come to an End!

2009-04-02T22:05:00.005-06:00

This whole Jay Cutler being traded has been quite amusing. Being a guy and a Bronco fan, I was tired of this whole drama as many of you were. The good thing is, it's over, but what I find amusing is how some people are really taking this trade personally!

Now for the voice of reason. I'm a huge fan of the Broncos, of the NFL, and sports in general. I have spent many Sunday afternoon's over the years enjoying the game with my brother Dylan or my father-in-law Russ. But one thing remains true. The success of my favorite team in no way should affect my mood or personality or how I treat other people! I have talked to people who's lives have literally come to an end because Jay Cutler is no longer a Bronco. I find it humorous.

Don't get me wrong. I was this way once. It was me sitting on the couch with tears running down my face at age 9 as Doug Williams of the Washington Redskins destroyed the Broncos for 5 touchdowns in the second quarter of Super Bowl XXII. Fortunately for me, my parents gave me added perspective and told me it doesn't matter in the long term and it's just a game. Those words hurt as I heard them, but they were right.

The Broncos are a great team to follow, but they do not affect how my life is from day to day. I don't wake up on Monday mornings after a Bronco loss feeling depressed about my life because my football team got crushed by the Chargers again. Let the players who get paid to do this feel that way. My life is much more interesting than the team I follow. In fact, if it isn't, I will do something about it so it is! Jerry Seinfeld put it best. He said with all the trades and personnel changes teams make over the years, we ultimately are rooting for clothes. Keep it in perspective people. If the Broncos with 11 games next year, this will all be an afterthought anyway. I hope this makes sense.

One last note, do a Google image search for Kyle Orton. about half of those pictures of him on there are of the embarrassing "MySpace" variety, usually with a cold one in his hand and a drunk girl in the other.

My $0.02 on Barack Obama

2009-01-22T20:25:00.006-07:00

President Barack Obama. Sounds strange doesn't it? I am okay with this however. 3-18 months ago, I wasn't a fan, and for the longest time, I couldn't figure out why. At first he came across to me as very pretentious, attempting to become the Second Coming of Martin Luther King, Jr., with his need for large crowds and flowery words. It bothered me even more as he proclaimed the evil in the world as the Bush Administration (the easy target for everything that goes wrong in people's lives). Stuff like that has never set well with me.

I was working in Downtown Denver during the Democratic National Convention, and saw the 16th Street Mall turn into Las Vegas Boulevard overnight. I saw the once unlikely presidential candidate become an icon of epic proportions. I couldn't imagine this type of lunacy for Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter. It was surreal! It was this type of maniacal devotion that drove me crazy during the election. I felt as if millions were buying more into hype than in reality. He was becoming the Sanjaya Malakar of the 2008 Election, (except Obama won his contest).

As a result, it had little to do with his policies (even though I didn't vote for him because of it), but more because of the red carpet treatment he was receiving by our nation suffering from a severe Obama crush. Because of this, it has overshadowed in some ways the fact that he is our nation's first African-American President, and that he is actually a good guy. I didn't even come close to feeling that way about our last Democratic president, where scandal seemed to follow him from the minute he took the oath of office. Let's remember, when people voted for change back in November it wasn't just change from President Bush, but from Bill Clinton, who was impeached for his behavior while serving in the White House.

I really feel Obama has our nation's best interests in mind. Although I don't agree with him on specific issues, I am confident he will think of the needs of our nation as a whole before mindlessly peddling the agenda of his political party (give it up Republicans, we lost).

I find it ironic, that the man he so mercilessly attacked during his campaign (George W. Bush) ended up being his ally and friend during the transition process. Obama is now the 5th living member of a very exclusive fraternity of men who have led this nation. As the media spent the last 9 years trying uncork the "conspiracy" behind the "axis of evil" known as President Bush, I am sure the last 90 days Obama has learned a whole new appreciation for the office of the President. Fortunately, I don't imagine the media will be as fierce against him as they were with W.

It's my sincere hope that if change is his agenda, the thing he will help change most is the partisan barrier between Americans. He won't succeed as a President if acts strictly as a Democrat. He's an American before anything else. Americans have proven these last several years we still care about our country and feel strongly about it. Let's use that energy to unite our nation and support him and pray for his well being, even though he wasn't the guy everyone voted for.

A lame beginning of the year post

2009-01-13T22:16:00.003-07:00

I have nothing profound to say to begin the year with, but this. I've been sick the last 3 days. My throat has been beyond sore. It feels like I'm swallowing lava rocks every time I swallow. The last few nights have been a nightmare trying to sleep as I endure fevers and cold sweats. I stayed home from work yesterday, which I never do. Although it was fun to sit around and watch all the bonus material found on my UHF Special Edition DVD, I wanted to die, unless I downed 3 ibuprofen and waited the 15-20 minutes for the pills to work their magic.

Fortunately, neither of my children have contracted this and neither has Heather. I hope they don't. I was one who rarely missed work due to illness and have had 62 and 96 hours of vacation time when I left my last two jobs. But since I became a parent, I get very sick at least once a year (I can't imagine why). Since it's the first month of the year, I'm hoping that's it for 2009 and nasty illnesses. I don't mean to complain, but I am sure you all can relate. Isn't the internet great?

Goodbye to Our Cats

2008-12-19T19:15:00.006-07:00

This past Saturday we ended a long lasting and unfortunately declining relationship with our two cats, Max and Marzipan. Although being cat owners early on was fun, the addition of children and the responsibilities associated with parenthood caused our priorities to change dramatically. It was surprisingly one of the more difficult things I have had to do recently, even though we mutually decided on it.

For those who know us, know my long going rivalry with these feisty felines. I butted heads with Heather early on when we were married only a year and the desire for cats came into Heather's consciousness. But it was me who after we picked up Marzipan on a Saturday afternoon in March of 2003 that suggested we get another. I do admit a moment of weakness on my part. I thought it would be good for brothers to be together and keep themselves occupied when we were away. They were adorable kittens and Heather and I enjoyed them. However, the honeymoon for me didn't last long and only a year later, there were many days wishing we didn't have them.

Max eats ribbon, string and those plastic rings you tear off the milk jug and later throws them up. He used to come into our room at night and eat Heather's silver jewelry and throw that up as well. Marzipan licked photographs and plastic bags like he was a coke junkie needing his next fix. He would over eat and then throw up his dinner 15 minutes later (and regurgitate if you know what I mean, if we didn't catch him). They both had their front claws, and as a result tore up two couches, my DJ equipment cases, carpets galore. They shed so much we couldn't allow them on our furniture. At times they snuck into our bed at night while we were sleeping. Sometimes as I was attempting to cuddle up next to Heather, I found a warm furball curled up in between us. I cut that off as soon as it started. They drove me crazy to no end, but it was me crying in the Minivan pulling away from the Denver Dumb Friends League on Quebec.

Heather was just as tired of them as I was. However, it took her a much longer period of time to feel this way. It was likely my vocal disdain for the cats that likely helped her want to keep the cats as long as we did. We decided mutually to say goodbye last Saturday. They were nearly out of food, and with all the changes to our home in the coming months I went ahead and took care of it.

We let the cats upstairs and I put them in their carrier. Caleb was playing with Max. Which means he was carrying him under the cats front legs and Max was tolerating the punishment. I put him in first, and found Marzipan nearby. The goodbye after nearly 6 years was pretty brief. They had no idea how much there lives were going to change. Caleb said goodbye like I was taking them with me to run errands, having no idea he was saying goodbye for the last time.

I loaded them in the car with a mostly filled bucket of cat litter. As I drove away, Max started to cry. He has never liked riding in the car and this time was no different. His cry is so strange sounding, he literally sounds like a little child when he cries.

As I walked in to the intake facility, the girl at the desk asked me some questions, entered in some information to the computer, and I filled out some paper work for each of the cats. As I filled out the paperwork, Max was taken out by a careworker and was carried away. Marzipan was right behind him. I didn't formally say goodbye to either of them, and I felt bad about it.

That afternoon a somber mood filled our house. Neither of us felt comfortable discussing the issue the entire day. We went to a Christmas party that night and upon our return, Caleb asked where the cats were. I nearly lost it. I choked back the tears and explained to Caleb they were at a new home. It has been weird coming home to a completely empty house, when Heather's away.

It's been nearly a week now, and my much more rational side has set in. My second thoughts of whether I had done the right thing subsided and looking back I feel like we made the right choice for them. I hope they find a new home, I understand the reality is they may not, at least in mortality. We couldn't provide a happy home for them anymore, and we gave them a chance at a better life whether it's in this one or the next.

Mark and Ben, it's now okay for you to come over to our house.

More to be Grateful for

2008-11-25T10:55:00.004-07:00

In my attempt to be grateful via the blogosphere, I would like to take the time to express my gratitude to my wife. Aside from being very beautiful in every sense of the word, she has endured a lot with me. I know I frustrate her on a consistent basis, and perhaps another woman would have given up long ago, but I am grateful for her patience and unconditional love toward me.

Marriage is a funny thing. I have had friends over the years who have been to afraid to take the plunge when opportunity presents itself. Reasons for doing so usually are one of the following. They are either (a) concerned the person they are with isn't "the one" or (b) are stuck in an existing relationship and are too afraid to end it. For those who are unsure about whether they have met the right person, take this into account. Do you like being around her/him, is she/he living a good life and what kind of mother/father will she/he be? There is no way to look into a crystal ball and determine whether the person you have married or will marry is the right one. If you are waiting for a sign from the Heavens, it likely won't happen either. Sometimes (this is how it was for me), you have to take a leap of faith. I knew Heather for years prior, but only as an acquaintance. From the time we went on our first date, to the time we decided to get married it was about 2 weeks. We hardly knew each other, but we knew we were doing the right thing. Not because we could see our lives 5-10-20 years forward, but because we both acted on a spiritual impression. The only way something like that will work is through faith. I am thankful Heather had the faith in me to entrust her life to me.

To the other folks who are just drifting along and not happy in a relationship, you can always end it and move on. If you want to find the right person to spend your life with, be the type of person you would want to marry. That can work for good or bad. Once again, you need to have faith and trust that things will happen as they should. The only thing you can change about your situation is YOU. Work on yourself. You will find a capacity for growth and development for the better that will stay with you for your life and beyond. You will crave it like your favorite dish.

I know I went on a bit of a tangent, but I am attempting to make a point here. Had I not had the faith in the unknown over 7 years ago and get married to Heather, I never would have known so much joy. I am grateful for following on an impression and staying committed to that impression. My life has been blessed in so many ways because of my close relationship with my wife. I have learned so many things about myself, and helped me gain a capacity for compassion for others. Adding children to the equation has expounded on that too. I'm a better man because of her, and I hope that she is a better woman because of me. That's what marriage to the right person does for you.

Gratitude for Many Things

2008-11-23T19:57:00.003-07:00

This week is Thanksgiving, also known as "Black Friday Eve." The poor holiday gets no respect. The very moment the lights have gone out on our jack-o-lanterns and our children have gorged themselves on their last piece of candy, the retail industry begins flooding the airwaves with Christmas themed commercials in an attempt to cash in on the festivity of the 25th of December. Although Christmas is certainly a bigger deal than Thanksgiving, it has easily overshadowed it.

Thanksgiving is a great time of year to reflect on the blessings we have received, and even though we have a four-day weekend in the works that we all look forward to, this is a significant day to be grateful. In that spirit, I am going to take the time to express gratitude for many things we have received as family in the last year.

Definitely the highlight of all blessings we have received this year is the increase in size to our family. Bryce has been such a sweet addition to our family. He has come a long way from being in the infant ICU at Lutheran Hospital to the large and in charge 5 month-old living in our home today. He is so even tempered, easily pleased and has the cutest laugh. I can't rave enough about the joy of fatherhood, and it gets even better with every new addition to our family. Like many of you who read this, having more children can always be a challenge, but the joy of having kids and the opportunity to be selfless and considerate that being a parent forces you to be is such a blessing. If you don't have children and are capable, please don't be afraid of it. It will bless you in many ways and teach you true joy and happiness.

I am also thankful for financial success. I don't mean to dive too deeply into this, but I am grateful that my parents taught me the value and blessings available to those who pay a full tithe and are generous in our offerings. I took the advice of a former bishop and decided this year to double my fast offering contributions. We have been blessed with funds that would have never would have come our way had we not decided to be generous in this regard.

I am grateful despite economic turmoil, our family is fed, we have a roof over our head that we aren't losing anytime soon, and we have reliable transportation. I heard a quote one time that said, "I complained that I had no shoes, until I met a man that had no feet."

My plan is, and with any luck, to add to this list throughout the week.

A Tribute to the Corolla

2008-11-20T19:04:00.005-07:00

I would like to take the time to pay tribute, a eulogy if you will, to my dearly departed 1990 Toyota Corolla that I have called my own for the last 9 years. Yesterday the car was donated and towed away from my garage. Even though I am sad to see the car go, I am glad it happened. It couldn't start anymore, the headlight was missing, the stereo was stolen out of the car for the 3rd time, and it was embarrassing to drive this thing around after a while. It was my first car, and my only car for quite some time. Here are some stories I've had with this vehicle.

I found the car in a Rocky Mountain News ad in January 2000, only a couple of months after my return to Colorado from California. The car was purchased with a whopping 75,114 miles on it. I bought it from a retired car salesman who sold cars from his home for people who were too busy to do it on there own. Coincidentally (not ironically), the man who I bought it from lived literally 5 minutes from where I live now off Havana and Iliff for $4200.

I drove this car to Utah a couple of months after I bought it to my mission reunion. I still remember Dylan and I listening to the Beatles while driving down I-70 at 1 am in the middle of Utah.

In September of 2000, myself and a number of close friends went to see Moby at Red Rocks. On my way back out of the parking lot, my car ran out of gas. We were bailed out by a nice guy in a tow truck who happened to carry an extra couple of gallons in his truck. I spent the entire trip home listening to Mike Bonnstetter, Dylan, DANIELLE and Dan Hamblin teased me relentlessly. It was amusing to me, so I did my best Geoff impression from High School. I stopped the car, put it into park and declared, "That's it! I'm walking home!" Mike and Dylan absolutely lost it!

I took this car on my first date with Heather, and a few weeks later when we decided we were going to get married, that decision was made in that car. When we were married in August of the next year, my car was decorated and covered in shaving cream and shoe polish on the windshield indicating "Just Married."

I drove this car all the way through my 5 years of college, in snowy weather, in sunny weather, during the day, in the evening after work. When I finished college, I drove it across town to Aurora while I worked at Horan & McConaty.

The car endured over $3,000 worth of repairs in 9 years of ownership. I had the brakes replaced twice, had the interior dashboard replaced after the car stereo was stolen in 2002 from the parking lot of my apartment. I replaced the muffler twice, the battery twice. I lost the headlight on the passenger side driving from Colorado Springs 4 years ago, and was pulled over a total of 6 times by well meaning police officers who noticed I had a head light out (twice in one night about two years ago). It was our dependable, reliable mode of transportation while the starter, wiring and alternator on the 1998 Corolla went out on in during 2007.

I received a total of two speeding tickets while driving the car. Once while driving home from school clocked at 48 in a 35 about 2 blocks away from my parents house. I was pulled over a second time in Idaho doing 80 in a 55 with Heather in the car on our way back from Rexburg to Provo.

By the time it was said and done, the car had endured neary 95,000 more miles with me driving it. I knew things weren't going well when I started driving it a couple of months ago and after all of it's faithful travels, it started sputtering along, idling terribly, and getting horrible gas mileage. I knew we couldn't keep it going. A week later we bought our minivan. Even though I am glad to not be driving the car anymore, a small part of me rode out on that tow truck yesterday as I donated it to Radio 1190. Nearly a third of my life was spent in that car and with all the problems I had with it, it still started, it still ran without complaints, and functioned normally when it probably shouldn't have. It was a great worthwile investment, and I will miss that little car.

So there it is, a salute to the once low mileage compact car turned hoopty. If any of you have memories of my car, feel free to comment on it below!

Heather's a Year Older, and other October Randomness

2008-10-20T14:35:00.007-06:00

Last week Heather turned 29 (for the first time we are saying). Both of us decided that the new minivan was an early present of sorts, so we went to a nice place for dinner Wednesday night. We went to The Melting Pot, also known as Fondue Heaven (in my humble opinion). We dined on a 4 course fondue meal, including cheese fondue, tasty salads, an assortment of "marbled meats," topped off with chocolate fondue at the end. It was delicious! I could easily go back there in a heart beat. I strongly recommend this delightful restaurant if you are especially looking to go romantic, it has all the finest qualities of such a restaurant; mood lighting with candles, private booths, valet parking, etc. Hopefully Heather enjoyed herself. I know I did.

Friday night, Heather was hosting a baby shower at the house, so I took the opportunity to head to Arvada and see my dad at the hospital. On the way, we (Caleb and I) stopped by at Sam's Club to purchase cat litter. As we were finishing the purchase, Caleb headed over to the food court and asked the lady for pizza. I waddled over there with a 40 lb tub of litter and sat it down at a table, and then headed over to get pizza for Caleb and I. Caleb was hilarious. As we were eating our pizza, he noticed the cat litter sitting on the other side of the table on the bench. Puzzled and excited all at the same time, he asked me "Is the cat litter going to have pizza too!?" All I could do was laugh. He is such a funny kid!

My dad is doing much better. He started chemotherapy over the weekend for the fourth time. I took Caleb to Heather's parents' house while I hung out at Lutheran with my mom and dad. We had a really good time. Mom brought Thai food for she and Dad, who had been craving the delightful ethnic food for several months. I got there around 7:30, and before I knew it, it was 10:30 and we were still talking. My mom read and told stories to Dad and I about growing up with her Mom and Dad, reading emails swapped with her sister Helen, who always has a great way of describing her childhood. I grabbed Caleb and didn't get back home until about 11:45. I promptly went to sleep.

The last few Saturday mornings have been spent playing football at a nearby park with several guys from our ward's elders quorum. It's a great way to get a workout and Saturday morning was beautiful. I played reasonably well for being a 'picnic' athlete. Every week I don't feel as sore as I do the week before. Maybe this means I am getting into some sort of shape!

That afternoon, we took Caleb and Bryce to a Halloween party at the Thomas's house. Caleb came dressed as a dinosaur. Bryce, in typical hand-me-down fashion, wore Caleb's monkey costume from three years ago. They were both cute and enjoyed their time there.

Sunday was a busy one for Heather. It started about 5:30 am when Bryce woke up to eat. Heather wrapped up around 6. Realizing that going back to bed would cause her to oversleep she stayed up and got ready for church. She is the primary president, and the ward's annual Primary program was that day. She had been laboring for weeks in preparation and was a little stressed about it. Even though it was easily her 3rd or 4th program in her 2 ventures as president, it didn't make it any less stressful. I got the kids and myself ready for church.

We arrived right at 9 am, as Heather left earlier to prepare. Caleb, Bryce and I sat in the overflow. Caleb was a slight handful but was good for the most part. Bryce had a nice blowout, which seems to occur often when I am in charge and Heather isn't. He must be saving up for me. So I spent several minutes of sacrament meeting in the bathroom. Caleb had to go as well. It was an entertaining experience to say the least.

Heather was in a bind and asked me to teach the 5 year old's in primary. The class at 10 kids who were all wound up from a busy day in church. It went better than expected, but man I was beat. My weariness was supersceded by Heather, who had been up much earlier and had the whole primary program to worry about.

Anyway, that's it for me.

Edward Cullen the Doll vs. Vanilla Ice the Doll

2008-10-13T10:59:00.012-06:00

In our high demand for crappy merchandise society, there never seems to be an end to companies willing to cash in on the current craze. In 1990, it was Vanilla Ice. In 2008, it's Twilight and Edward Cullen. For those vigilant shoppers who want to make an informed decision as to what doll to purchase for their 10 year-old son circa 1990, or their 30 year-old wife circa 2008, here is a stat by stat comparison as to which doll is the better buy.

Edward Cullen Doll:
Description: 7 inches of hunky vampire goodness. The plastic embodiment of actor Robert Pattinson.

Included Clothes: Quality stitched recreation of outfit found in the upcoming movie.

Features: Has the ability to swoon young and old ladies alike with his ice cold stare. His hands are in perfect position to caress the hair of any 6 1/4" teenage girl doll within in arms reach; Hair is immobilized to prevent his mane from being altered to look like our next contestant. Has perfect complexion and lipstick left over from Bella (it's her color, can't you tell?) He's scary to look at, afraid for your neck's safety and he's a DOLL!

Downside: I am sure there will be several women disappointed with the fact that you cannot change his outfit. That hairdo? You couldn't go to Homecoming looking like that! (Soon to be released: Edward Cullen, Prom Date Edition). He isn't ice cold to the veins and his hardened exterior is actually because he's plastic, not a buff studly vampire. That outfit is going to look as dated as the Iceman's below in 19 years. His lack of overall mobility will not allow him to be fitted into the Barbie Ferrari, without scuffing his paint job.

Vanilla Ice Doll:
Description: 7 inches of to-the-extreme, rob a mic like a vandal prowess! The plastic embodiment of Robert Van Winkle, all the way from Miami (or is it Dallas?) otherwise known as Vanilla ICE (Yo Vanilla, kick it one time BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!)!

Included Clothes: Some super fruity 2 piece that makes him look like the opening act at a Las Vegas gay bar.

Features: With the ability to light up a stage and jump like a candle, Vanilla Ice is sure to mesmerize you with his unique dancing style and stone cold rhymin'! his arms are made of rubber, allowing him to bend and groove like his clean cut pal Ken; parachute pants can actually provide resistance and a safe landing if he's thrown out of a Cessna; contains the slickest aerodynamic hairdo known in the free world according to NASA; information on joining the Vanilla Ice fan club contained INSIDE; "ICE ICE BABY" printed on the box for clueless parents who don't know Vanilla Ice by name.

Downside: That microphone doesn't really work. He needs a plastic clip on the side of the microphone in order to hold it. Shoulder pads have been known to put out the eyes of eager children; coat does NOT double as reflective outfit when directing traffic at night. Although clothes are changeable, Ken's clothes look really baggy, and Ken's wardrobe is in serious need of updating.

In conclusion, I can't exactly tell you who has the upper hand. The Vanilla Ice doll has not been in production since 1991, and Edward Cullen isn't out until January 2009. Which is the better choice? Who would you choose? Please comment below.

Proud members of the Minivan Parents' Society

2008-10-07T09:23:00.006-06:00

When Heather and I were married over 7 years ago, I made the ignorant statement that I would NEVER own a minivan. There was such a negative stigma attached to someone "cool" like me owning a minivan. Now that I've grown up and don't really care what people think, my tune has changed.

For those who know, we've owned both a 1998 & 1990 Toyota Corolla. Both have well over 100k miles on them and have been good cars. Unfortunately, having two car seats in the back now and an ever growing family have caused us to look elsewhere.

We found a great deal on an absolutely pristine quality 2003 Honda Odyssey. It has half the miles of our 98 Corolla, leather interior, DVD player, built in iPod player/controller, clear bra front, sparkling clean interior and 4 snow tires. It was too good to pass up as we made the purchase this past Wednesday.

It gets amazing gas mileage when compared to its SUV counterparts in today's $3.50/gallon for gas society. It rides very smoothly and we all have room! I can't begin to tell you how frustrating it was to put Bryce's carrier in the middle back seat and still had to move the front seats up in order to fit them in. Or how I developed a move similar to a lumberjack hoisting a log to get his car seat in and out of the car, or Caleb kicking us in the back from his car seat. It makes me want to drive on a long trip to really test it out.

Enjoy Your Flight . . . . You Too!

2008-09-22T10:15:00.007-06:00

If there was an award for the world's biggest goofball, I think it would be a rather redundant award because Brian Regan would win it every year. I know I can be goofy sometimes, but I don't hold a candle to this guy.

I know that most of you heard of him at some point in recent months or years. My first exposure to the guy was in the summer of 1992, while I wasted away my summer between 8th and 9th grade sitting on the couch watching the new (at the time) Comedy Central network that we just started getting. Brian was the host of a show called Short Attention Span Theater, an hour long show devoted to showing clips of some of the hottest stand up comedians in the country. I got my first exposure to the likes of Ellen Degeneres, Ray Romano, Rondell Sheridan and many others. Brian was a goofy host, but I completely forgot about it until recently when I read his bio.

My sister-in-law Jocelyn turned the family on to him in 2005 during our family trip to Nauvoo. Since then we have become evangelists for his unique combination of goofy and clean humor. Naturally he was a huge success in Utah, but now his repeated visits to David Letterman and other programs have helped his success. My parents' became big fans, purchasing all of his DVD's and CD's. When my dad came out of his coma, he entertained himself to Brian's DVD perfomances to liven his spirits while undergoing cancer treatment. I find people all over who know about this guy now. It's quite refreshing when considering that so much of stand-up comedy these days is excessively low-brow and vulgar. My hat goes off to you Brian!

September in the Air

2008-09-15T09:04:00.005-06:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. We have had a consistent influx of family visiting over the last several weeks. Andrea and Timon left a week ago to go home to Louisiana for the first time in months, and three days later, Mark and Danielle were driving out here for the weekend. Mix in our trip to Nebraska 2 weeks ago, Stefan coming home from his mission the week before and Geoff and Jessie a couple of weeks before that, you get an idea of what our summer has been.

Now that school has started for most kids, and fall is unofficially here, things are starting to settle down a little and the visits will undoubtedly subside until Christmas.

On Friday, Heather and I did something we had not really done since Bryce was born, and that was go on a date. We have coordinated with some friends in our ward to trade weekends watching each other's children while the other goes on a date. This week was our turn and we spent the evening at Dave and Busters. We had a good time. We won a grand total of 257 tickets which we traded in for a little toy for Caleb.

Saturday was a busy morning for me. I had an appointment to meet with a client at 9:30. I almost overslept, but got up in time and arrived on time. Heather took Caleb to a birthday party that afternoon while I watched Bryce. That evening, Heather had a Twilight Mom's get together at a nearby Chili's while I took the kids over to the Ward Chili Cook-Off. Heather made a raspberry cream pie that won an award for her culinary skills. We then piled into the car up to Arvada to see Mark and Danielle and all 4 of their little kids. Rosaline, pictured above, was literally half Bryce's size considering they are only a few weeks apart, that is nothing short of amazing. Her casts on her legs were overwhelmingly cute according to everyone who saw her. We didn't arrive there until nearly 9 pm, which meant we left even later (11:30) than usual. We were exhausted and didn't get to bed until long after midnight.

Sunday after church, I watched an intense Bronco game, and headed over to my parents' house for dinner. We signed Rosaline's cast like we were all kids again. Dylan signed "Word Up!" I signed, "Have a great Summer!" and Mom appropriately signed "Break a Leg!" We had a great time.

Most of the evening Mom, Danielle and Chris were visiting my Dad who begins another round of chemotherapy this morning. We're hoping it's not as bad as it has been the last couple times for him. That has easily got to be one of life's worst experiences and I can't imagine how tough that must be for him.

4 Nights in Stromsburg

2008-09-02T13:16:00.003-06:00

About this time a week ago, I was seriously needing a mini-vacation to recharge the batteries. I don't take enough time off, and when I do, it's for brief spurts. This weekend was obviously Labor Day, and I just had to take that Friday before off. So that's what I did.

With the Democratic National Convention in town, I was a little overwhelmed with people. Protesters, delegates, police, and starstruck tourists filled the streets of Downtown Denver. It was like walking the strip in Las Vegas. After 3 days of it, I was grateful to be leaving our fair city for the Midwest. Heather's sister Allie and her husband Jonathan have been living in Stromsburg, NE since early May as Jonathan has been working doing a paid internship for a company out there. Being in the middle of nowhere, nobody had visited them until we did, so it was to our pleasure to leave as Barack Obama tried to be either the (a) second coming of Jesus, or (b) the second coming of Martin Luther King, Jr., two positions he will never fulfill.

View Larger Map A View of Main St, in Stromsburg.

The drive through Colorado was pretty. There were tons of wildflowers blossoming across the plains giving the ground a look of gold for as far the eye could see. We got into Nebraska about the time the sun went down. That was long! I was driving into a see of darkness with only the mile markers to inform me where we were going and how far we had to travel. I drove on I-80 for 250 miles before we arrived at the exit, where we continued for another 20+ miles until we arrived at their house at around 1:30 am Central time.

We arrived at their house in Stromsburg, a quaint little place in a small town of about 1200 people. No traffic lights, one gas station. We had to go to the library to access the internet, and had absolutely NO cell coverage of any kind there. It was weird to be so disconnected, but it was nice at the same time.

Friday was a lazy day as we all recovered from a long drive into town. Heather caught up with Allie and we all hung out at the house enjoying each other's company and being admittedly lazy.

My idea of a vacation is to relax and vegetate a little, and we succeeded at that. We didn't leave the house until nearly 2 pm that afternoon to go to the library and check our email at one of the computers there. I had to get caught up on a couple of business related issues and feel connected to the outside world, even if it was for only a couple of minutes. Allie and Jonathan searched for places in Omaha to visit when we went there the next day. We settled on a couple of ideas that Caleb would absolutely love.

Allie works at the only Salon in town which is a couple of blocks away. The woman who owns the salon, Melissa, invited us over to dinner on Friday night. She's about Heather's and my age. Her husband Zane works as a farmer somewhere nearby. They were really nice. Melissa was really cute with Caleb and they had a beautiful house. We stayed pretty late quoting Brian Regan jokes and eating cookies. Coincidentally, Brian Regan was appearing on David Letterman that night, so we watched his performance when we got home. It was all new material I haven't heard, and it was funny as usual!

Saturday morning, I did a rare thing and slept past 10 am. Granted, I was in a different timezone, but it was still amazing to sleep in so late. We all piled into our little cars and drove to the Corner Cafe, a small diner in town. We ordered tons of food for a meager price. Each plate came covered in our choice of fries, curly fries or tater tots. It was funny walking in and having all the locals stare at us while we ordered. We definitely stood out, but it was great. Caleb even ate his grilled cheese sandwich.

After lunch and a stop at the gas station, we were off to Omaha to Tiny Town Village. It was a cute little place for kids. Caleb had the time of his life. There was a train ride every thirty minutes and an area for playing in the water with hoses. They had a customized School bus that kids could climb into and play in, as well as a couple of fire trucks. We took plenty of video and pictures of the excursion. The man who owned the place was so kind and cute with the kids, and he would drive the train, complete with stories and tricks up his sleeve to entertain the kids. It was pretty fun for him. I am glad we were able to go.

After 3 hours in Tiny Town, Caleb tagged along as we all went to the outlet stores across the street. I bought shirts for church and Allie and Jonathan bought a bunch of clothes for him as well at Van Heusen. Heather had to feed Bryce shortly thereafter and Caleb and I used the time to use the restroom. On our way back he discovered a toy store that was closed, but in the display window was a train set that he couldn't keep his eyes off of. I let him look at it for several minutes, but we eventually had to go. Despite my efforts to coax him into walking back to the car, he wouldn't leave. Finally, I picked him up and walked away. He threw a huge tantrum and frantically tried to get out of my hands to the train set in the window. I felt bad for him. Until that point, he had been really sweet and was a lot of fun. I think he was tired and was missing interacting with other small children.

That night we went to Rosey's, a small gift shop/ice cream parlor. We had shakes and Banana splits. Caleb had an ice cream cone that kept melting and required me helping him. It was really good though. Allie, Jonathan and I all got a chocolate flavor milkshake. As I ate it, I could swear there was coffee in it. Allie and Jonathan agreed later on because they had the same taste. I am certain there was considering none of us went to bed until after 1 am. Jonathan, Allie and I tore it up on Guitar Hero III and then talked for two more hours.

Sunday morning we went to church in Columbus, about 40 minutes away. The ward building was small, with the chapel also doubling as a Relief Society room. The ward was really friendly. I was exhausted during the last block and looked like a bobble head as I tried to stay awake. It was really hard. The A/C in the room was blowing right on my eyes, drying them out, so I had to keep them closed.

Caleb absolutely loved nursery. It was the first time I can say he didn't want to leave when I came to get him. He was playing with 4 other boys his age in the nursery and they were running laps around a table in the room. It was his first time really playing with peers in a few days, and he liked it.

Sunday afternoon was a lazy one. I was able to take nap for a while on the couch, and that was really refreshing. Allie, Heather and Jonathan made a yummy Sunday meal of chicken and pasta. We played some more Guitar Hero III after dinner and waited for our stomachs to settle enough to eat crepes, courtesy of Jonathan.

Monday morning we left Stromsburg. It was a wonderful visit. Allie and Jonathan are likely not live there more than a few more weeks, making the possibility of a return minimal. It was a great weekend, a great moment for our family. It was such a wonderful contrast to the busy-ness of our hustle and bustle city.

Summer is almost gone!

2008-08-26T13:47:00.006-06:00

Summer is nearly gone. It's really quite amazing how fast time travels the older you get. Bryce (pictured at left) turned 9 weeks old on Saturday, eclipsing his 2 month old birthday. He's growing larger and in charger every day. He is so big now we had move him out of the bassinet in our room to a crib with his brother on Saturday.

Heather received as a gift a bunch of crib items (mobile, skirt, bumper) for Bryce's new sleeping quarters. We brushed the dust off of the crib that Caleb slept in until about 18 months ago and assembled it. We had to purchase a second mattress because Caleb is still using the old one.

We also have plans of putting crown molding in the kid's room and needed to paint closer to the ceiling to cover all the old white paint. Being 6' 5", I was assigned that duty. A couple of hours later, Caleb had his first roommate. He was excited about it for sure.

Saturday afternoon, we received an email from my mother, indicating that my younger brother Stefan, who was serving in Columbus, Ohio on his mission, will be coming home on Sunday. He had been dealing with some major depression issues while serving out there, so the stake president and the mission president decided it was best for him to come home and see how he does in a few months to see if he wants to go back. I sure hope he decides to go back. A mission is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you won't get back. It would be good for him to finish strong.

Sunday was a great day. I enjoyed church a lot. Caleb has a bag with all his coloring books, stencils and markers to keep him occupied during sacrament meeting. Well, I forgot it as we were heading out the door on Sunday morning. I had nothing to keep him entertained with except my cell phone. He discovered the picture taking feature pretty quickly and would look through the screen to see around him. He decided to take some pictures along the way. Here are a few selections.

I don't know what his deal was with the last one, but it made me think of my nephew Liam and his camera escapades.

Sunday afternoon, we went over to the hospital to visit with my dad. It was the first time I've seen him without tubes and devices plugged into him in months. He sound completely normal, his hair is growing back, and he is gaining use of his hands again. He is supposed to leave for a long-term care facility sometime this week. There is a possibility he could be staying at a place near St Luke's that is much closer to my house than Wheat Ridge. If that is the case, I will have to take on more of the support load in visiting my Dad. He is doing well emotionally as well. We had a nice chat with him and visited for over an hour. Caleb was initially scared of him but warmed up and even gave him a hug before he left. While we were there, a picture of my dad from my cousin's wedding was on the wall. Caleb would point to it exclaiming, "It's you Poppy! It's you!" My dad thought that was really cute.

We visited Heather's parents' house for dinner afterward. Caleb and I played dump trucks in the sand pile by Grandpa's shed. Caleb had a great time. Bryce was his usual self, eating and sleeping. He is getting cuter every day (as if the picture above wasn't enough of an indication).

Anyway, pretty good weekend. This next weekend, we are traveling to Nebraska to visit Allie and Jonathan for Labor Day weekend. I am ecstatic to be leaving the state for a few days. I think I need a trip like this about every year. We will be leaving Thursday afternoon and coming home on Monday. Allie is excited as well. I have never spent more than a day in the state, so it will be interesting spending the whole weekend there. I'm looking forward to it.

An update

2008-08-19T08:12:00.002-06:00

It's update time again, seeing as how I didn't update the blog last week. Things are doing fantastic in DeShazer Land! Bryce turned 8 weeks old over the weekend, Heather is doing well, Caleb is as spazz as usual, and I'm busy but very productive and successful.

Last week, I went on a DJ gig with Ben Harris to Silverthorne. In the spirit of other DJ's who have been posting gig logs over the last year or so, I decided to do the same. Those videos can be found at my new YouTube Channel . So I love the camera, is that so wrong?

My Dad is doing significantly better these days. He's recovered from his latest round of chemotherapy and actually went outside for the first time in months on Sunday. He is continuing his rehabilitation and we all hope for his recovery and return home in the next few months.

Danielle gave birth to a little girl on Friday night. Mother and baby are doing very well.

That's all I have to say for now. See you next week.

An Anniversary Post

2008-08-05T08:21:00.008-06:00

Inspired by a similar post by my sister Danielle, I am now going to take the time to share with everyone a little FYI about Heather and I and our marriage. I will use the same questions found in Danielle's post and do my best to answer them in a creative fashion, making everyone chuckle to themselves in a light-hearted fashion.

1. How did we meet? We met in 1982 in a play group for preschool aged children in our ward in Arvada. I saw her playing with finger paints and knew then she would be the one for me. No actually I vaguely remember that play group, I was older than all the other kids including Geoff. I don't remember Heather being there.

My more significant memory of Heather was in High School. She was in my brother's seminary class and she was a sophomore at Arvada West when I was a senior. I always had a thing for tall long haired brunettes, and she certainly had an admirer in me. However, I didn't give it much more thought than that. Her best friend Stacy Masek (now Eaton), was in an english class with me, and I can remember seeing her waiting for Stacy after class. She was a hotty, in fact so much that I figured she was out of my league and she was only a sophomore anyway.

I remember Heather's Dad the most during these years. Russ was serving in the Stake High Council over Seminary and I remember having chats with him on numerous occasions as well as him subsituting for my class on a number of occasions.

Nothing really materialized until after my mission. My first memory of Heather was the Sunday before Christmas in 1999. Dylan and I went to the singles ward for Sacrament Meeting. I remember seeing Heather sitting a few rows behind me and was surprised to see her there. I figured she would have been married or near married by then, considering her natural beauty, personality and that she was going to BYU in Provo.

Heather went back to school and returned in the summer only to notice me and how much I had changed since I returned from my mission. Apparently, she had this enormous crush on me the whole summer and was afraid to talk to me. I started talking to her and the rest as they say, is history.

2. What was your ice breaker? For me I was genuinely interested in her, but I would have to say it was a youth conference that Heather was in charge of and the singles ward was assisting in. I remember having a chat with her for several minutes outside the Alkire building after eyeing her for nearly 3 months.

3. First Date/What did we do? December 22, 2000. We went with a bunch of singles ward friends on a group date to Dave and Busters at the Westminster Promenade. Heather and I played phone tag for almost a week before I finally asked her out. I knew it was different because I found myself wanting to take her out again after that first day, and I felt indifferent about other girls I had been on a date with previously.

4. Who kissed who first? I can take credit for this one. It was 4 days after our first date on her parents' driveway. We were freezing cold and I had kissed her on the cheek the previous night. She knew it was coming as much as I knew I was going to do it.

5. Who asked who to marry? This was all Heather. I think we had been together not even a week and she knew we were going to be married. She kept dropping hints before finally she asked me one night before I left her house whether I had given it thought. I told her I needed some time, thinking she would go to school and I would evaluate my situation with her. Her thinking was before she left for school. She asked me the next night if I had thought about it, and we decided then to get married, January 3, 2001. It caught me off guard at first, but I knew I made the right decision.

6. What do I love about her most/physical feature. Without a doubt, I married up in this category. Heather has some amazing eyes. They always caught my attention. I always have liked tall girls too for obvious reasons, and Heather has some really nice legs. I love it when she wears high heels. She has beautiful soft skin and a gorgeous smile.

7. What do I love about her most/personality. I think she's a great listener and problem solver. She has a great sense of humor and has a goofy side to her that comes out once in a while. She's incredibly compassionate as a mother and friend. She's incredibly loyal to people and keeps friendships with people from her early childhood to this day. She is also a great leader in her church responsibilities and is very dependable.

8. Wedding Date and Where? August 3, 2001. Denver, Colorado Temple.

9. How many lovely babies do we have? We have two boys. Caleb is 3 and Bryce is 6 weeks old.

10. Do we love each other more/less than when we were first married? When I think of all the unpleasantness that is associated with me and my personality and that despite that she is still around, I think we love each other more. It's certainly different than 7 years ago. We aren't as hands on affectionate as we were then, but we understand each other and know what each other is thinking, which definitely comes with time. It's a shame that so many people don't stick it out after the white hot flames of the newness of marriage die down, because it's the time after that that really shows the depth of a quality relationship. She knows all my secrets, and still puts up with me. It's pretty amazing.

The Twilight Phenomenon and Edward vs Me

2008-07-29T11:53:00.012-06:00

Every Wednesday night, I spend a couple of hours playing basketball at a nearby Stake Center in Denver. I get pretty beat up as I am getting older (30 now). I play smarter, but it takes me a little longer to recuperate than it did 3 years ago. Last night I came home close to 11. Heather had just watched our latest Netflix release received in the mail that day. The movie was "Penelope," a movie that she had heard good things about. Before I could ask her how the movie was, she turns on the DVD player and shows me a 3 minute clip that was on the DVD about the upcoming Stephenie Meyer novel turned movie "Twilight." She was so excited I she could hardly handle it. I asked her if she was aware that this was on the DVD. I should have known the answer, but she certainly knew and it was part of the reason she rented the movie in the first place.

I have never seen a healthy obsession from her like this EVER. When we first started dating nearly 8 years ago, I think it was safe to say that she was very obsessed with me (which is a really nice feeling by the way). When she gave birth to Caleb, she was very obsessed with him and taking care of him and committed to being a great mother (which she is by the way). Even with our youngest born not quite 6 weeks ago, it's her primary focus. However, I think the Twilight phenomena that has sweeped our household has taken the cake as her most insane obsession!

It was April of last year when Heather's sister Jocelyn told her about these books. I remember Heather's first reading and not more than 50 pages into the novel. She would pause and absolutely rave about the book, calling her sister in pure excitement. Within a week she had read the two books and anxiously awaited the release of "Eclipse." She found her kindred spirits online and began posting to forums devoted to Stephenie Meyer's books. One in particular that was set up for fans of Twilight who were also mother's (as a way of differentiating themselves from the more juvenile crowds at other sites). Heather found members who were here in Denver and has met with them at least two different times for an opportunity to hang out and be obsessed together.

The book releases for both "Eclipse" and "The Host" (Mrs. Meyer's first non-Twilight Novel) were the only times in the last year that Heather has voluntarily gotten up before 6 am to arrive at Barnes and Noble to purchase her copy of the new book, and for all of her friends that have become fans as a result of her evangelical preaching of the gospel of Stephenie Meyer.

Heather has met Stephenie Meyer twice at two different book signings in the last year. She gets together with other Twilight-ites and makes creative t-shirts, complete with quotes, funny phrases and creative designs. They proudly wear these shirts to the signings, to show their undying devotion.

What is great about this for the husbands of the Twilight-ites? Whenever we feel the need to go to Broncos' Training camp at 8:30 on a Saturday with my fellow broncomaniacs morning adorned in orange and blue, I don't look so bizarre to my wife anymore. Besides her excursions out with the ladies gives me a chance to do fun stuff with the kids and bond. That's a pretty sweet deal in and of itself.

Edward Cullen vs Jon-Michael DeShazer

The real question is this. If Heather had to choose between Edward Cullen or me, who would she choose? I think she would choose me for the following reasons, all things being equal and our children out of the equation. We will rank each other on the following areas, looks, kissing, cuddling ability and personality.

Kissing. Edward Cullen's lips are a hot commodity in a figurative sense, but a cold commodity in a literal sense. Making out with Edward would be like eating a raw steak that has been sitting in the fridge for 6 hours: Cold, a little too juicy and in serious need of 20 minutes on a barbecue grill.

I would win this battle also in the very critical necking department. My overall thirst for blood would not override my gentleness in kissing Heather's neck. I don't even like hickies, let alone break skin (Oops! categorize this in the TMI department)! Lastly, kissing me won't cause Heather to have a sudden thirst for the blood of humans; maybe a glass of water and a little air considering I take her breath away, but not blood!

Looks. As if this wasn't obvious already, but I am way better looking than Edward. First of all, Heather only goes for tall guys. I don't know exactly tall Edward is, but assuming that only a handful of people I know are taller than 6'5" I think it's safe to say I'm taller. Heather turned down shorter guys all the time before me.

Secondly, I don't have a blood-thirsty, disturbed and demonic look in my eyes all the time. Can you imagine getting family pictures with Edward?

Heather's Mom: "Honey, what's the matter with Edward? Was he sick that day? His skin is kind of pail and he looks like he wants to kill someone."
Heather: "Mom, he always has that look. Besides, I think the camera lense is a little defective. Edward dropped it in a fit of rage as Transylvania's soccer team was eliminated from the Olympics on TV."

Cuddling Ability. I win this competition hands down. Here's an example. It's the middle of winter, 5 degrees outside, and 12 inches of snow and ice on the streets. Heather climbs into bed with numb feet from the frosty temperatures of our main floor with the electric blanket turned on. Edward climbs into bed with her to catch some shut eye. She rolls away from him to be spooned and to have a place to put her cold feet on him. Suddenly, a chill runs through her bones realizing she's touching the legs of a vampire who's body temperature is -20 degrees farenheit. She immediately pushes him away and proceeds to sleep with the blanket turned up to '11.' Watching movies would be out of the question, unless you like to cuddle frozen dead guys.

Personality. Admit it ladies, when it comes to finding the right guy you don't want some emotional recluse who distances himself from human contact because he doesn't want to fall in love and turn you into a vampire. Any woman who wishes their husband or boyfriend were more like Edward forgets the baggage that he comes with.

Can you imagine 10 years from now, Edward and Bella happily undead and married living in Louisville, CO with 3 little Eddie Munsters scurrying on the living room floor trying to bite the cat, telling you how they met?
Bella: "It was really quite romantic, I had just moved to Washington to live with my Dad, and he was this creep in my science class who was also a total jerk sometimes. But somehow I was captivated by him and wanted to get through his cold exterior and find the man inside. Fortunately, he saved me from a potential car accident and we've been happy ever since, except for that whole leaving me part in between and fighting werewolves."

Simply put, women go for the guys with a little stability in their lives. I am by no means the most charming person on the earth, but before there was Edward, there was me, and if he and I were to play basketball against each other, I would kick his butt. So there, undeniable proof and evidence why I am much more charming and that this infatuation with a fictional vampire could never replace me. Oh and there that whole he's not real and I am part of the equation that I never factored in. Sweet . . . . . .

Where on Earth did July Go?

2008-07-28T13:23:00.004-06:00

July has come and gone already? Is it just me or does getting older accelerate the space-time continuum ? Another Monday is here and I am updating you all on another week in DeShazer history.

Like many of you, family visiting is always a huge part of summers. It seems for every person that visits, another comes a week later. And when you aren't being visited, you are doing some visiting yourself. This past week, my Dad's sister Krsten was in town after visiting Utah for the weekend. It was great to see her and fun to talk about all the crazy stuff I did to her as a teenager when I lived with her during the summer of 1994 as a goofy 16 year old. It's almost frightening to think was almost half a lifetime ago. We went to Papa's house for the get together. When we arrived Papa was about ready to leave for the airport to pick up Krsten. He had dinner in the oven heating up, and about 17 notes with explicit instructions on how to get dinner ready. Since he wasn't expecting anyone to arrive before he left, he proceeded to explain to me each of these notes. He went so far as to even explain how to use the satellite radio tuner to change it to a station of my personal preference. It was amusing. He is easily one of the most well-intentioned human beings I have ever met. As the time for Krsten's arrival approached, he left in a panic in hopes that he explained everything to me properly and that he would arrive at the airport in time. It was cute to say the least.

We had a nice dinner and visit with everyone, and it was nice talking to everyone about Dad's condition and their experiences visiting with him since he came out of his coma 2 weeks ago.

Heather and the boys were gone from Tuesday through Thursday. We had plans of seeing Allie and Jonathan in Nebraska over the weekend but they fell through. Annie called up Heather and asked her if she wanted to travel to Utah with her. Annie was heading out there for her grandfather's funeral. Heather jumped at the opportunity and was out the door at 7 am Tuesday morning.

My week while she was gone was productive and busy. I have nothing major to report other than that. I was glad to know she would be back by Thursday so I put my head down and worked on stuff while she was gone. Before I knew it, it was Thursday evening and I was up to Golden to pick up my family at Heather's parents' house. She had a brief but enjoyable visit.

Friday was a quiet. For some reason, I can't for the life of me remember what we did! I will change that as soon as I talk to Heather and ask.

Saturday morning, Dylan, Christian, Walker, Matt Anderson and I went to Dove Valley to watch Broncos training camp. This was the second time Dylan and I did this as we are hoping to start an annual tradition of a pilgrimage to Broncos Headquarters. We watch a lot of practice drills and Brandon Marshall came onto the sideline where we were. He has been in the news a bunch this off-season with some trouble with the law and a laceration in his forearm. Dylan blurted out to Brandon after an endzone drill "How are you feeling Brandon?" to which Marshall replied "I feel good." I spent the rest of the day hearing from Dylan how he and Brandon Marshall became friends (all tongue and cheek I promise). It was funny. There were a fraction of the people that were there last year. Matt and I took a bunch of pictures and had a great time. The sun wasn't as bad this time as last year, and we all stayed cool in the partly cloudy conditions.

After our visit to training camp, we all headed up to the Hospital to give dad a blessing. Dad is starting chemotherapy either today or tomorrow and wanted the extra spiritual support during this ordeal. We had a great visit with Dad and despite his circumstances has been very happy and pleased to see his family on such a regular basis.

Heather and I decided to head over to her parents' house that afternoon. Russ and I played the Wii for a few hours, distracting him enough to overcook the cheeseburgers he threw on the grill. I would like to say for the record that I beat him on Wii golf. We played a full 9 holes and I finished 1 under par and he finished 1 over par. It was a dramatic comeback by your's truly. I was down two strokes heading into the 7 hole. Russ thought he would try to be a little creative and go for the homerun ball on a sharp dog leg right to get it on the green on a par 4. He hit the ball out of bounds, costing him a stroke and then ended up triple bogeying the hole. I birdied the last two holes and pulled off the comeback. Now if I could only translate this into my real golf game! It was fun to look like I knew what I was doing on a golf course.

Sunday was another full day in A-Town (also known as Arvada). We spent a short time at the Harris' and then over to my family's house for Andrea's birthday party. My nephew Brendan was without a nap during our visit and was so sensitive. He would come to Andrea every few minutes absolutely balling. It was hilarious. He has a big mouth for a little guy, so big that when he opens it up his eyes disappear, much like an Anime cartoon character. More specifically, I was thinking of Spritle from Speed Racer (I couldn't find one of Spritle crying on Google Image Search unfortunately). We had cake and ate dinner. Dylan, Holly and Aspen attended as well and we had a great time together.

Whew! All done with this one. Have a great week.

A Wild Weekend

2008-07-21T07:25:00.002-06:00

Today is Bryce's 1 month birthday. I know it's not a birthday to celebrate necessarily, but man does the time go by fast! He has been going through a growth spurt these last few days. He will eat, fall asleep, and then wake up 15 minutes later, absolutely starving again. Heather and I knew he needed more food. Last night, he scarfed down 6 ounces of formula and didn't wake up once until I got up for work this morning. For all intents and purposes, he slept through the night.

Friday night, we went up to Arvada. Heather and her mom went to JCPenney to get pictures taken of Bryce and Caleb together. They then headed up to Arvada, and I met them up there. I had some business to take care of for an appointment I had the next morning, and then it was off to Ben and Annie's house for dinner. I was DJing a wedding reception the next afternoon, and was using Ben's equipment, so we needed to set up at the Quail Building the night before. It ended up being a pretty busy night. Heather and I headed home with the kids around 11pm.

Little did we know until the next morning, that Marzipan, our master escape artist of a cat snuck out last night and was caught in a rain storm. Fortunately, he was brought inside by our next door neighbor and kept dry and fed through the night. I was so bummed. This was my one chance to get rid of one of our cats and he came back! :)

Saturday was absolutely insane. I put in a full day of work and even saw my dad. It started around 10 am as I drove up to Arvada for an appointment with one of my clients. I finished there around 11:30 and headed over to the Quail building to DJ that wedding reception I set up for the night before.

Ben helped me out tremendously with the set up. I used my Macbook with some sweet DJ software and a 40 GB firewire hard drive full of music. The set up the night before literally took 15 minutes. It was pretty easy. I got there about an hour before the reception and met the parents of the bride.

The whole deal went very smoothly until about 45 minutes into the reception. The bride was not feeling well and literally had to sit out of the reception for nearly an hour. The reception went an hour over the original planned time and they ended up scrapping the garter and bouquet toss. I packed up my stuff and started to head to the car.

The equipment was more than I was used to. 4 speakers, a power amp rack, a mixing console, a box of speaker cables and a table to load the stuff onto. I opened the trunk of my car to find our baby stroller inside. I managed to get everything in, but I had to push the seat up all the way. I loaded the table and 4 speakers into the back seat, the power amp, laptop, and stroller into the shotgun seat, and the DJ mixing console and speaker cables into the trunk. My little 4 cylinder wonder got me safely to the Harris' house in 102 degree temperatures.

Lastly, before I went home, I stopped by the hospital to see my Dad who was awake and talking for the first time in nearly two months. We had an unforgettable visit. It was great to know how much he loved and appreciated me and the rest of my family. It's been a rocky ride for him the last several weeks and we are thanking the Lord for his blessings in allowing my dad to stay here with us a little longer. His recovery has made enormous strides, but he still has a ways to go. But we will be there for him.

Shane Wood Please contact me!

2008-07-16T17:44:00.004-06:00

Shane Wood of West Valley City, Utah, you posted a message on my blog this week. Unfortunately, you left no way of contacting you. I would sincerely love to get in touch again, and not in that creepy McClellan sort of way. Please shoot me an email. I will gladly reply.

My car on Google Maps

2008-07-16T07:51:00.004-06:00

Heather thinks I am a complete nerd for even thinking about this but here it goes. I was driving to the I-25 and Broadway Park-and-Ride a few weeks ago to go to my contract position downtown. While in my travels, I passed a purple Chevy Cobalt (pictured at right) with a Google Maps logo on the side and a camera mounted to the roof. It was a car driving through town aggregating pictures for Google Maps Street View. Feeling incredibly nerdy, I waited a few weeks and looked it up to see if my car was in there. Sure enough it was! It's certainly blurry, but you can tell it's my car. Little did I know I had been following the car for a few miles on the freeway, I am directly behind the car for several miles. So now that I have told you this amazing story, here is the link for your inquisitive minds.

Click Here!

Bryce is off Oxygen! And some other ramblings for a Tuesday

2008-07-15T11:46:00.006-06:00

We lost one un-welcomed "kid" this week in our family. It was the 36'' 20 lb, green painted steel child that was eternally tethered to our newborn son as his lungs figured out how to breathe well in our thin Colorado air. No funeral service is needed. He was heavy and not the least bit cute. The doctors this weekend said it was okay to remove the oxygen tank from our little guy Bryce. Heather and I were ecstatic. I think Caleb did a jig in the living room when we pulled it off. It's great to feel like you have a normal kid again. I hated telling people he had oxygen because they would get concerned for his condition and it wasn't serious. People tend to forget that we live in a high, dry climate that is not conducive to developing lungs. He was probably okay 3 days after we took him home, but it took a while for Apria to get a respiratory therapist to our house.

On Friday, we as a family decided to see WALL-E. Caleb has been pretty good at the theater the last few times and we all wanted to see this movie. Caleb would spend an inordinate amount of time at my laptop every day asking to watch WALL-E movies on it in the days preceding our trip to the theater. He was referring to the movie trailers that you can stream online. We stopped by and grabbed some fast food on the way to the theater.

As we arrived, I parked the car and ate my food while Heather and Bryce went in. Caleb had fallen asleep in the car, which gave me enough time to eat. Heather called me and told me that the movie wasn't 5 buck club eligible, even though it said so in the email. She argued that it was and eventually the girl at the counter gave Heather a student discount. Well when I came in, they charged me full price and charged Caleb as an adult (that sounds funny)! So I went to the manager and got his price reduced. The movie was about ready to start or otherwise I would have brought up the whole 5 buck club thing as well.

The movie was AMAZING! Probably one of my favorite Pixar movies of all time. It was different, but so unique. It had a really great story that caused me to get choked up at several moments. It was a fun movie for Caleb too. Heather really enjoyed it as well, but not as much as I did. If you haven't seen this movie, you need to. It was probably my favorite movie of the year.

So I sent my complaint into Kerasotes on Saturday morning, explaining the situation to them. They replied with free movies passes for all the hassle. That made me feel better about the whole ordeal.

Sunday night was fun. We went to Heather's parents house for a little dinner and relaxation. They are planning on building a house up north toward 88th and Indiana. They showed us the lot and described the plans for the house. It sounds like it will be a great place. The view from their lot was really nice as well.

Yesterday I had the honor of a jury summons. I got out of work around 11:30 and headed over to the Arapahoe County court room. I didn't get selected and was home after a 3 hour wait. I am so glad that doesn't happen all the time.

Last night we went to Olive Garden with the rest of the family. Mom received a nice gift card from some friends in her ward and she took us out. I brought the video camera and recorded a video that we are going to give to Dad in the near future. Everyone had wonderful and insightful comments to tell Dad. I was a little sarcastic when I said that, because there were some strange things that came out of some of my family members. We had a good time and I as pleasantly filled.

The Heat of Summer

2008-07-07T21:29:00.007-06:00

It's one of the funniest things I have observed about human nature. This week our dear city is supposed to reach record high's in temperatures. Yet, I hear the same people who complained about below zero temperatures complain about sunny and warm weather. I suppose there is one thing that never changes; pessimists are always right.

This week was a little more normal. Bryce is growing in leaps and bounds. After being born at 9 pounds, he lost 6 ounces his first 2 days and left the hospital at 8 pounds, 10 ounces. Heather brought him in for his weekly visit to the pediatrician this past Wednesday, only to find out that he weighed in at 10 pounds, 4 ounces. In 9 days, he gained more than 1 1/2 pounds! He's doing quite well. He still is wearing oxygen, but without the necessary equipment to test his oxygen levels, we haven't been able to see if he needs it still or not. I think he's okay. I look forward to not lugging around that oxygen tank everywhere.

Thursday we went to the movie theater to see Kung Fu Panda. I thought it was very funny. Caleb had a great time. Heather bought two HUGE jugs of soda and lemonade to wash down our garbage bag full of popcorn. Caleb kept drinking and drinking. Unfortunately, we had to make an emergency run to the bathroom with less than 10 minutes in the movie. I literally held him and ran back into the theater so we wouldn't miss any more of the movie. He thought that was hilarious. He among several other small children in the theater made us all laugh with his boisterous laughter. The best was at the very end of the movie as the credits began rolling on the screen he declared as loudly as possible, "Again! Again! Again!" indicating his desire to see the movie as if it was at home on DVD.

Friday was a fun day. Caleb and I went to the Hudson building for pancakes and a 4th of July celebration. At right is a picture of Caleb actually eating his food. I was so surprised, I had to take a picture.

We went to my parents' house that afternoon and the off to the Stenger complex for fireworks. I attempted to take some pictures of the fireworks, but what was more amusing was Ben Harris getting tackled by Sam, Deeny, and Caleb for about 30 minutes. Ben and Annie decided to join us to see us and have our kids run around together. Brendan and Lilian were there as well and were thoroughly enjoying the large field and were tempted to leave on many occasions. Brendan took off during the fireworks display and Walker retrieved him about 200 feet away.

The worst part of the trip? Easily the drive back. The fireworks display ended around 9:45. We had to walk back to the car, and load everyone in. We left about 10:15. We didn't get onto the freeway until 10:45 and didn't get home until 11:15 pm.

It was a long day, but easily a fun one. Caleb was so excited to see fireworks and was a delight to see his reaction to each colorful explosion.

After the last couple of weeks, we literally vegetated on Saturday and Sunday. It was nice to rest and relax after the baby's birth and the crazy holiday weekend.

July is already here

2008-07-01T07:43:00.004-06:00

It is Tuesday. It has been ten days since we became the parents of another new baby in the family. Bryce is doing wonderfully. It is now time to give you a recap on my previous week since I last posted.

Heather and I spent the entire weekend at the hospital. Monday was the longest day. Heather was done and was released early in the day. Unfortunately, Bryce had some testing to do still. His oxygen levels were dropping periodically when he slept. Even though he was 99% okay when it came to his breathing, there was a tinge of uncertainty in the nurses. We had a choice, either leave him in the hospital for another day or take him home with a tank of oxygen. We chose the latter. As a result, we are carrying our baby boy and a tank of oxygen everywhere. Brett and Jocelyn came into town for the weekend to see the new bundle of joy. Heather really appreciated their visit.

I took Tuesday off as well before returning to work on Wednesday. It was nice to sleep in a little and relax after a busy weekend. Our ward hooked us up big time with dinners for the next week. It was so nice having leftovers in the fridge. With our little family, dinner rarely has leftovers, but this has not been the case this week. I have been treated to a cornucopia of delectable casseroles, entrees, salads and desserts this week. My waistline thanks you.

Bryce is easily the best alarm I have come across. Almost like clockwork, he wakes up between 4:30 and 5 am for a feeding. The problem is, this is about an hour before I get up. I should probably just get up and start my day early, but I stay in bed. Heather feeds him, but having the light on and all the activity in the room, I find myself taking a great deal of time to fall asleep again. Even though I went to bed at a decent hour, I still feel as though I had about two hours of sleep the night before.

All in all, being a father for the second time is absolutely wonderful. There is something so special about having a small newborn child in the home. It's wonderful to come home after a long day to my ecstatic son Caleb tackling me as I walk in the door, and to be able to hold Bryce and take care of him for a little while. It's one of the things I look forward to most on a daily basis.

Next on the list of things that happened in the last week. My dad is getting slightly better. His body is and has been cancer free for several weeks now. Unfortunately, a severe case of bacterial pneumonia has entered his lungs. The doctors are trying to evaluate what antibiotic to use. Fortunately, he's been able to wake up a little and even talk to my mother a time or two. It's been great for my mom to talk to her husband for the first time since May. We have been praying for him in hopes that he will recover to full health soon.

This has been incredibly difficult on my mother despite her stoic exterior. It is frustrating for her to be at church on a given Sunday over the last few weeks to have someone come to her and in an innocent attempt to express their support and concern for Dad, talk about how awful it is that he's going through this and in a way, say the wrong things to my mother. The best way of supporting her and anyone else in a stressful or traumatic episode of their life is to focus on the positive and be encouraging.

Things are great. Our family has been brought closer together than ever before, and have felt the assurance that my dad time hasn't come. This has taught us to be patient. I keep having these dreams that he's out of the hospital and okay. Hopefully that is a sign of things to come.

It's a Boy!

2008-06-21T05:23:00.015-06:00

It's been approximately one hour since the newest member of the DeShazer family came into the world. Bryce Russell DeShazer was born at 4:15 am this morning. Heather was AMAZING!
Here's how our memorable night began.

6:15 pm: Heather's craving spicy food. Apparently this helps encourage contractions. She's been dilated 50% for two days now, and we haven't successfully induced her pregnancy up to this point. Denise has been over all day helping clean the house and re-arrange pictures and make our house look like the Taj Mahal on a budget. The place looks great. Off to Lowe's we go to get a stud finder to hang a mirror in our living room.

6:30 pm: Mmmm . . . Taco Salad at Qdoba. I know it's a Chipotle rip-off, but if Chipotle sold something other than just enormous burritos, I would frequent that joint more often. Heather buys a burrito the size of my Toyota with habanero pepper sauce on it. We pick up one for Denise as well, that was so large, they had to double wrap it. I go out to my car and pick up a dolly to tow these things in. I hope the suspension on my car can handle the extra weight. And, how ironic I'm the only guy and the one ordering the salad. As we get into the car, my blackberry belt clip breaks. This is the third one that has broken on me since I got it. Ugh.

7:30 pm: The mirror is hung in the living room and we've eaten our dinner. Half of the two burritos are still not eaten. They break the shelves in the fridge as we put them in there. Okay enough big burrito jokes for one evening.

8:00 pm: Just on a hunch, Caleb goes to Grandma's (Denise) house while we try to initiate the birthing process. Heather and I go on a walk alone for the first time in years around our housing development. No new contractions quite yet. Heather listens to my ramblings about work, business and just being a complete nerd.

9:45 pm: We start getting ready for bed, hoping the contractions will start sometime early in the morning. Heather is on the phone with Annie, and then it happens. Contractions begin. We grab our stuff and jump into the car. I wanted to use my blackberry to send text messages, but I can't remember where I put it in the car! Oh well, there are more important things to worry about. Heather is soothed to the sounds of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden and Radiohead on XM Radio as we head up to Wheat Ridge.

10:15 pm: Heather and I are frantically calling everyone to tell them we're on our way to the hospital. This is the one time I'm hoping I get pulled over by a police officer. I have always wanted a wife in labor in the driver seat to get out of a speeding ticket and get a free police escort down I-70. No such luck.

10:45 pm: We arrive at Lutheran Medical Center. I drop Heather off at the front door and leave. Just kidding! What kind of father and husband would I be if I did that? I actually did drop her off though. I had to park the car and bring our bags of toiletries, cameras, my laptop, and everything else we needed for the delivery. I have everything in my arms and begin the 1/2 mile journey from our parking spot to the delivery room. It was like walking in the casinos in vegas to go to a convention, only to find you literally have to walk halfway across the the world through the casino floor to get to the convention hall.

11:15 pm: I finally arrive to the delivery room. Heather is doing well. She's dilated 7 centimeters and still no broken water. She's comfortable and handling these contractions really well. The nurses are surprised she hasn't used any painkillers. Then, as I am getting stuff organized, I hear, "Honey, did you grab the toiletry bag?" D'oh! I didn't. I couldn't find it in the car. However, I turn around and make the incredible journey to the car to get that bag. The journey almost required me to camp out halfway into the parking lot, but it was late already and Heather needed her stuff, so I sucked it up and journeyed into the night.

11:30 pm: I return with the toiletry bag and my missing blackberry that fell in the back seat of the car. Happy day! We are anxiously awaiting Heather's water to break. I amuse myself with clips from Saturday Night Live on my laptop while Heather and Denise chat.

12:00 am: I've been up since 6 am this morning, so I drift off to sleep. I have a pillow that I rest my head on.

1:00 am: I wake up with my head leaned over to the left all the way. No new progress yet, but man is my neck sore!

3:00 am: I wake up with my head leaned over to the right all the way. I seriously can't move my head for at least 15 seconds. I finally lift it up. Heather gets checked by the nurses. She's fully dilated but her water hasn't broken yet. We decide to expidite the process. We walk around the floor of the hospital. Heather gets a contraction and uses a side rail to hold onto while she squats. We're hoping for a good push here.

3:45 am: She's tired of this whole water not breaking business. She calls the nurse who comes in and get's the job done. Immediately some more intense contractions kick in. She goes almost immediately from a 7 to a 10 and she feels the urge to push. Doctor Besch to the rescue!

4:15 am: After three really brief yet solid pushes, We have ourselves a baby. She did it without the use of a single drug. No epidural, no topical anisthetic and no novacaine shots. Bryce has a HUGE head and enormous shoulders, and he isn't breathing. The umbilical cord was tight around his neck. I cut the cord and the nurses immediately give the boy oxygen. He starts to make a little noise within a few seconds. Within a few minutes he begins breathing on his own. His face is bruised and battered. They weigh him on a scale. 9 pounds even. 9 pounds! almost a pound bigger than his big brother was.

5:00 am: I meet with the doctors as they check his glucose levels. They put a dome over his head filled with oxygen to help him breath better. He starts to wimper and really cry for the first time! Then he starts to pull off the dome from his head. Did I mention that this dome is weighted so he can't move it? This is no ordinary child however. This is a 45 minute old NFL linebacker! I hold the dome over his head while the doctors prick his heel to test his glucose levels. Most baby's cry when their heel is pricked, not my junior Dick Butkus! I could almost hear him say to the nurse, "I had a cord wrapped around my neck, and a bruised face from being born, do you think I would cry over a pricked heel?!" I imagined him already mercilessly beating up his 3 year-old brother when we bring him home.

5:15 am: I tell Heather and Denise of the great news. I begin sending out text messages to all my friends and family. I'm so wired I can't sleep anymore. Heather on the other hand looks exhausted.

All in all, it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. When that child comes into the world, you can't help but get a little teary eyed, and feel incredibly grateful. My wife is the most amazing woman in the world. I am so proud of her. No meds, and not even a peep when she pushed. The nurses were shocked. Heather used her hypno birthing techniques and she flourished. For those expectant mother's out there, I highly recommend this method. Anyway, it's nearly breakfast time, and I'm tired. More to come.

Happy Belated Father's Day!

2008-06-16T08:27:00.004-06:00

Okay, so this was a crazy weekend. It was one of those where you don't really feel like you were able to relax at all. It was great however. I can't complain.

Friday was an insane day. I've been contracting for a Natural Gas company for the last 12 months, and Friday we had to move about 30 users' computers into new cubicles. The last two times we did this, we weren't able to start until after 2pm, making for a long day that would end late Friday night, and required us to come in on the weekend. Fortunately, we were able to start earlier, and we were finally done by 6 pm. My day was far from over, however.

I was doing a PA gig for a WFG event the next day. As a result I had to set up the night before and make sure everything was working. But before that I needed equipment. I drove home, grabbed my gear, put it in the car, drove to Arvada, picked up my Dad's speakers, drove to Ben's house, grabbed some long speaker cable, and drove to the Hotel in Westminster. I got there around 8:15. I set the equipment up successfully and got back to Ben and Annie's house around 10:15. I ate dinner finally and hung out until about midnight.

Heather, Caleb and I got home around 12:45 and I went to sleep. 5 hours later, I was up and on my way back to the hotel for the event at 6:45. Things went very smoothly and it was a great deal of fun. I ended up needing only my dad's speakers, which worked very well. There was a group of people in the next conference room that complained to us numerous times about the noise we were generating. It was amusing. The hotel had to move them to a different location in the hotel after 2 hours of whining to us.

We wrapped up right at 4 pm. I was out of there by 4:15, which was a record for me cleaning up after a gig. I drove to the Harris' again, and then over to my parents' to drop off all the stuff I borrowed.

Heather had a grand old time at her baby shower over the weekend at Maria Adams' house. She received several items that register high on the cuteness scale. Her due date is a whole 8 days away. I can't believe how fast time goes by during a pregnancy. I am sure she feels differently.

Father's Day was pretty cool, literally. Russ and I watched the US Open this weekend while I froze under an A/C vent blowing directly on me. It was weird because it was in the 90's outside during this time. Gift's were fantastic. Heather spent a little cash and bought me an iPod Nano! Holy crap! I was not expecting that! It was nice. I was watching "The Simpsons" on it it within minutes. It was quite nice really.

It was fun, it was busy, and I was tired. But it was a good weekend.

An update for you all!

2008-06-10T07:41:00.002-06:00

With someone who is familiar with my family's situation, they know about the absolutely hectic couple of months the DeShazer family has been working through for the last several weeks. So with that in mind, let me begin.

May was the month that my brother Geoff would be getting married. It was moved up from August originally as scheduling and impatience no doubt caught up to him and his fiance Jessie. Things were going according to plan when my Dad started getting sick. To sum it up, my father was diagnosed with type 2 Leukemia. Most people have enough stress in their lives dealing with the preparations for a wedding, but to have your spouse in the ICU with Leukemia as well has to be a very difficult situation for my mother to be in. Oh did I mention she is a Relief Society President in her ward? So naturally, she was pulled in all sorts of directions. We all pitched in in as many ways as possible. I contributed a DVD of slideshows I made on my new Macbook laptop. Andrea, Dylan and Holly helped in many ways as well.

The wedding was a lot of fun. I have never in my life seen Geoff so happy. Jessie is a great match for him, as I am sure he is for her as well. Jessie has a wonderful family and we are excited to have her as a part of the family. The wedding went off smoothly. I was a witness for the ceremony and signed off on the marriage certificate. I didn't think I would be doing that for at least another 20 years. For lunch, Papa treated everyone to Olive Garden. I entertained the crowd by sticking 4-5" long tooth picks in my mouth and nose.

Friends of Geoff that came were Marie Giles and Andy Brown. It was great seeing such good friends. It had been 2 1/2 years since I saw Marie and at least a year since I saw Andy. Due to the small numbers at the sealing, it was good to have them able to attend.

The reception went smoothly for the most part. It was at Papa's house. About 20 minutes before the reception, my mom could not find her shoes as she was getting ready. I frantically searched for them. Unfortunately they didn't turn up until I looked in her van one more time. I lifted up one of the seats that was put down to allow people to get out of the back seat. I found them and couldn't find her anywhere. Apparently she went to Kohl's to get a different pair and get Geoff another tie, because he left his at home. So I frantically drove over there in Dylan's new Nissan Sentra he purchased earlier that week. I got there and ran laps around the store in my suit. After about 6 trips and 10 minutes, I found mom walking out of the store. I told her and she was glad.

At the reception the Harris's came to help. Annie helped with food serving while Ben manned the background music. Dad's band sang (minus Dad of course). I even joined them on "Lonesome Road." It's a rare moment when you see me up there singing, but I knew the bass part and Dad wasn't there to sing it so I jumped in.

Even though Dad wasn't there and as difficult as that was, the wedding went very well. It was a great memory that I won't soon forget.

Now as for my immediate family, Heather is expecting baby #2 in 2 weeks. It's amazing how fast 9 months goes by. She's at that stage where 2 weeks can't come soon enough. She is quite uncomfortable most of the time. We got the bassinet set up and pulled out all of the baby clothes. Heather suspects he's going to be bigger than Caleb. For the record our baby's name will be Bryce Russell DeShazer. Although we had some challenges with names on this one, it wasn't like with Caleb. We've been happy with this name for over a month now, so it appears that won't be changing. Heather said she will have the baby after her baby shower this Saturday. Let's see if that happens! :)

Allie's married, and I'm worn out from a busy weekend in Utah

2008-04-28T14:12:00.006-06:00

It's Monday, and I somehow feel like I didn't get a 3 day weekend, but my schedule says differently. It's because most of it was spent out of state. Allie, my sister-in-law, was married over the weekend in the Salt Lake Temple. Before I get into more details about that, the actual weekend started 2 days before.

I took the Light Rail from 9 Mile Station on Thursday, so Heather could pick me up directly from work and not have to worry about my car getting broken into at the light rail station while we were gone (as if there was anything left in there to begin with). My day at work went pretty smooth, and I waited for Heather late that afternoon to begin our journey.

Caleb slept for the first couple of hours on our trip. I was riding shotgun until we got to Glenwood Springs. Heather's 7 months pregnant and was feeling hot the entire trip. As we were driving through the mountains of Vail, CO and the temperature dipped into the low 30s, I was starting to get chilly while Heather had the air blowing, so I turned on the heater ever so slightly. Apparently, slightly was too much, because Heather was too hot, and we went back and forth on the temperature for a good 30 minutes. It was amusing. I couldn't imagine being in her shoes and feeling like that all the time.

I took over on the trip at Glenwood Springs. We stopped at Grizzly Creek, home of many whitewater rafting trips as a teenager on the Colorado River. Caleb was infatuated with a large diesel train across the river rolling by. He's so cute when he wakes up from naps nowadays. Just as pleasant as ever.

Stopped by in Grand Junction for dinner. Wendy's was the destination. We drove down Horizon Drive to see if there was any park we could sit in. We found a local church that had a mowed lawn. The wind was really cold and we didn't realize that until we got out of the car and started freezing.

Caleb was watching movies and we got through both Toy Story Movies in this trip. We got into Provo around 12 am. Russ and Denise had been there all week, Denise working on pre-wedding finishing touches and Russ laboring to finish the house Joce, Scott, and Brett bought with them back in February. The carpet and hardwood floors were in place in the basement as the bathrooms were closer to be complete. What a long day. It's good to be in bed!

Friday I spent the majority of the day with Geoff. I finally got to meet his fiancee Jessie. She's awesome! I am so excited to get to know her over the next several years. I honestly have never seen Geoff in love like this. It's a great thing when you can find the right person. Geoff and I hung out the University Mall that morning. I saw the infamous Randy Voss at the mall and did my best to avoid him. Fortunately I was successful, but of all places you would run into the guy. He happened to be Utah the same weekend I was!

I also took the time to visit an Apple Computer store called Simply Mac. I found out they have a store in Colorado Springs. It looks like I'll be making a visit down there this week some time. I am in desperate need to replace this old Sony Lappy that I've been lugging around for a couple years.

Heather, Russ, Scott, Joce, and myself hustled to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in American Fork. We got there 10 minutes before the beginning of the session. Denise was this close to having a heart attack. The traffic on I-15 was incredibly slow as people had to stop and see why highway patrol officers were pulling people over. Gotta love curiosity slowdown!

The session went well and we found ourselves on the end of our first full day. Allie stayed with us in the house the night before. We all got up early that morning to drop Caleb off at Danielle's house and then back up the freeway to SLC for the wedding breakfast. We got to see the majority of the McNeill and Gibb families. Allie and Heather's grandfather Boyd Gibb and his wife Joann were able to make it as well. The sealing was at 2:20 so after the breakfast we spent some time and Chris and Dave Bradford's beautiful house in East Salt Lake.

We got back in time for the sealing and then it was pictures and we were on our way back to Spanish Fork for the second time that day to pick up Caleb. Apparently, he did a couple of numbers in his pants while Danielle was watching him. She took it in stride, and was really good about watching him. We greatly appreciated it.

Allie's reception went very smoothly. Caleb, Scott and I spent the majority of the evening hanging out as Joce and Heather stood in line for the reception. Caleb was kind of grouchy until he got tons of punch and wedding cake in his system. I visited with nearly every member of Heather's extended family, in spite of Caleb wanting to run all over the Reception house. Allie and Jonathan got a ride on a horse and buggy, and Heather, Caleb and I did as well. We left around 10 that night and went to bed around 1 am.

Sunday morning rolled around, and we got our stuff together and headed out that morning around 11. Heather and I had some nice conversations as Caleb slept through most of the drive to Grand Junction. Then it was 3 hours of movies until he fell asleep again. He is really good on these long drives. I feel bad for the guy sometimes because he's strapped in there with nothing to do.

Overall we had a great trip. I'm very happy for Allie and that she found the love of her life in Jonathan. He's a great complement to her in terms of their personalities and is an honorable person. See you soon for the next blog post.

To the Guy or Guys that stole my stereo at the Park and Ride Yesterday

2008-03-20T15:56:00.000-06:00

You know who you are. Sometime yesterday afternoon, while I was toiling away making an honest living for my family in Downtown Denver, there you were, outside my 1990 Toyota Corolla at the I-25 and Broadway Park and Ride with a slim jim, anxiously breaking into my car for a $50 stereo from Wal-Mart.

As a victim of your selfish and heartless act, I am grateful for a couple of things. You didn't break any windows to get into my car, nor did you smash my dashboard into a plastic crater and you left the wiring harnesses intact, unlike the last two guys that broke into my car in years past. Your skill at theft shows me you must do this for a living, and have been for a long time.

I don't understand why you stole my totally non-descript stereo, so cheap in fact, that I had to super glue the polished front on when 95 degree summer days melted the glue three years ago. This stereo is so cheap, that it doesn't continue where the CD left off when I turn the car back on. Man, you are a sucker! There are 50 used Kenwood stereos on this website that do more that for only $20! I couldn't wait to replace that thing!

However, despite your skill, I'm surprised you didn't take my iPod FM transmitter, I really appreciate that. Those things are over-priced, and that was invaluable to me, considering I don't really listen to CD's anymore. I also thank you for not stealing my 3 year old son's car seat and stroller in the back seat and trunk respectively, which are much more valuable than that stereo you stole. If you were a father, you would have known that. My guess is you either (a) don't have kids, or (b) have slept with so many women that children bearing your drug ridden and STD infested DNA are living all over the metro area and you have no idea they exist.

Lastly, I want to thank you for making this a defining moment in my life. In 20 years, I will be telling this story to thousands of people, whose lives I have been able to lift and inspire, while you will be rotting in jail for armed robbery, drug possession, and/or sexual assault. Or you may be lucky and be dead altogether. It's a shame your life is in such disarray that my stereo was important enough to steal from my car. There were Audi's BMW's and Mercedes-Benz's in that parking lot with lug nuts worth more than the car I drive everyday. But you chose my car. I expect to see that Lennox Sound stereo posted on Craig's List, complete with my wife's Josh Groban CD inside, and my Skull Candy headphones that I got as a Christmas present in December. I will be eagerly awaiting your post!

YouTube Playlist of every cool song from High School (1993-1997)

2008-02-25T11:21:00.002-07:00

For your viewing pleasure, I have compiled a list of exceptionally cool music videos and songs from when I was in high school and created a YouTube playlist of them. Enjoy!

President Hinckley Passes Away at 97

2008-01-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

President Hinckley passed away in his home last night at 97 due to causes incident with age. The details of his funeral have not been released yet. This is my opportunity however, to share a thought or two about this wonderful human being.

If there was anyone who was a great example of working hard and giving it all he had to the very end it was him. A friend told me not too long ago about a speech he heard him give to a group of BYU monetary contributors. He said, "My tank is running on empty, but I have the pedal pushed to the floor until the very end."

Thinking of his loss saddens me in a way. For the members of the church from my generation he was very much like David O. McKay to my parent's generation. He was in the First Presidency for 26 years, and literally was the only one healthy enough to attend general conference for many years. He was a man we were proud of as a church, who stood up and defended our church, and welcomed any and all questions from the outside media. During his time, our church's temples doubled in population, and he traveled more than any other leader throughout the world to be with the saints in far reaching places such as Zimbabwe, The Phillipines, and Hong Kong. To the 13 million church members who knew this wonderful human being, he was a friend to all.

I had the privilege of hearing him speak in person twice. First was a trip he made to Denver while in High School during my senior year. He taught us the importance and value of being great in all we do. He later would share the same talk to the entire church 4 years later in a CES fireside. The second time I heard him speak was at the University of Denver. It was the first time I had seen him in a secular situation. It was great because we were able to applaud him during his speech, something we don't do during church meetings. He was also interviewed by one of the deans at DU. He was a kind, funny, and sweet man.

All in all, I am happy for him. He was married to his wife for nearly 70 years when she passed away in 2004. I am sure the celebration must be sweet as he is reunited on the other side with family, friends, and other people he spent his life serving. For that alone, I am so excited.

That being said, I also look forward to Thomas S. Monson's opportunity to serve as President. He was a dear close friend of President Hinckley and will undoubtedly continue the legacy that was forged by previous Church Presidents.

Here's a great video I found on YouTube that is sure to bring tears to your eyes.

Another Christmas has come and gone

2007-12-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

As much as I enjoy this time of year, I am as glad to see it go for another 11 months too. With the 12 inches of snow the metro area received yesterday, driving to everyone's house made me realize I need to have Christmas at my place next year.

Caleb won the award for most obsessed over a single present this year. I bought him the Thomas and Friends Cranky playset. Cranky is a character on the show that loads the trains in the shipyard. Caleb had built his own version of Cranky from his blocks for the last several weeks, and so I knew buying this for him would be the answer. He played with it for several hours yesterday, clinging to it tightly as we left the McNeill's and headed over to Papa's house. Separating him from this toy was like taking a baby gorilla from his mother. All I can say is, I'm glad he enjoyed it so much. But I think I've created a monster.

Allie and Geoff likely spent their last Christmas's as single folk, as the future's for both with their respective love interests looks very promising. It reminded me of when Heather and I started dating, which was during the holiday season. I spent the entire Christmas Eve evening at Nana and Papa's house thinking about Heather.

I surprised Heather more this year than I had at any other gift giving time in our relationship's history. To make matters even better, I have the documented proof. Other than the night I proposed to Heather with ring in hand, I can't think of another time she was more excited. I got my hands on an iPod Nano for really cheap from a friend I work with. She was absolutely ecstatic! I haven't received a kiss like that since before she found out she was pregnant. It was one of those moments where all the hassle of the holidays was worth the reaction she gave.

I got some presents too. Since I didn't really ask for anything other than a laptop, and since I knew that wasn't going to happen, I had no idea what to expect. But I was happy with everyone's thoughtfulness. Heather got me a golf bag for my clubs that I got last year, as well as a sport coat. For the most part, everything I got was practical. I also scored in the movie department. The biggest was The Simpsons Movie. I look forward to watching that again. I also received The Karate Kid, Miracle on 34th Street, and Superman Returns. Plenty of movie watching ahead.

We opened presents at Heather's parents, and via webcam had Joce and Scott in attendance as we opened our presents to each other. It was pretty cool. It made the distance that they were apart not seem so far away.

All in all, I enjoyed our holiday. With the insanity of the day, it made me long to come back to work after a 4 day hiatus. At least there I could relax a little.

Christmas Tree finally up!

2007-12-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

The car battery nearly died on us on the way home. The further we traveled, the dimmer the lights got, and the lower the power on the car. I turned off the headlights as we pulled into our complex to get over the speed bumps. It was amusing. I took the car into Checker and they confirmed it was the batter and not the alternator (thank goodness). $70 later, the card was running lickety split.

Heather and I spent a couple of hours after I replaced the battery on the car finishing the tree. We started over a week ago, and had a challenge finding a string of lights that worked. Now it's up in all its glory. Caleb was actually saying 'cheese' when I took that picture if you couldn't tell. it turned out well, don't you think?

Christmas is only 17 days away. We're about ready to leave for our Ward Christmas party. See you later!

Baghdad Much Safer as Refugees Return Home

2007-12-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Reason 2,468 why I distrust the majority of the national media in the USA. Things are much better in Iraq according to this BBC video about thousands of refugees returning home from neighboring nations. Another article about this is here. As many as a thousand refugees return to Iraq per day as the war-torn nation settles down after years of conflict.

The thing that obviously infuriates me is were it not for a European news service, information like this would not have even been mentioned by the likes of CNN, Fox News, or anyone else.

Whether or not you agree with the methods or decisions of the Bush administration the last 7 years, the truth is things are much better in Iraq than they have been in 50 years. Free democratic elections are a reality, security on the streets have increased tremendously. Fewer American and British forces are having to police the streets of Iraq as citizens have taken over operations and helped Iraqi police snuff out insurgents from their neighborhoods. Families that have stayed during the war have reported areas they live as being "100%" safer than even 6 months ago. What are we seeing here? We're seeing a nation establish independence and stability in a fraction of the time that even our great nation took to maintain. There are still hurdles to overcome, but when all you heard about today in the news is about erased CIA interrogation tapes, it's nice to hear some good news.

Piotr's Cartoon Voice Impressions

2007-11-28T08:25:00.001-07:00

This guy has become a favorite of mine and my family whom I showed his impression videos to back in the summer. Piotr has released another video, this time of cartoon voices. Some of these are spot on. Enjoy!

Quote of the week

2007-11-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the absolute best quotes I have heard about success. Enjoy!

"I am your constant companion. I am either your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.

I will either push you upward or I will drag you down to failure.

I am completely at your command. Half the things you do, you would be just as well turning them over to me. I will do them quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed. You must either be firm, show me exactly what you want and how you want something done, and I will take after it. And after a few lessons, I will do it automatically, I am the servant of all great people.

Alas, I am the defeatist of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine although I work at the precision of a machine, plus the intelligence of a man. You may either run me for profit, or run me for ruin.

Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. Who am I?

I am your habits."

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

So it's Friday and not Thanksgiving anymore, but I think this whole weekend is a time to celebrate. Didn't the Pilgrims and Native Americans eat and celebrate for 3 days anyway? Isn't it astounding how a holiday that is in place to celebrate the right to worship how, where, and what we choose, has become synonymous with eating lots of food, watching football, and priming for Black Friday Christmas shopping deals?

Excuse me while I get on my soapbox for a moment. I took time yesterday and this past week to think about what I'm grateful for. Particularly, I am grateful for my challenges and adversities over the last 18 months. Through my faith and my family and just learning to believe in myself, I have overcome many things and feel like I've grown up in leaps and bounds. We've received many blessings as well and we are anxiously looking forward to a great 2008.

Broncos vs. Titans Report

2007-11-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

It's not very often I go to sporting events, let alone twice in a week's time. My brother Dylan called me yesterday afternoon to invite me to the Broncos vs. Titans on Monday Night Football. It was my first regular season Broncos game and only the second game I have ever attended. We had pretty good seats. We were behind the north goal post about 30 rows from the field.

The crowd was a raucous one compared to the Nuggets game I went to on Wednesday. I realized very quickly why. Nearly everyone is drunk BEFORE the game! I was walking from the light rail station to Invesco Field and saw tons of tailgaiters and several people swigging down brews before they got into the stadium, because they weren't allowed to bring them in.

Despite the obvious atrocities of drunk driving and the poor decision making that accompanies alcohol consumption, you have to like that everyone is your friend. Every time Denver scored, you would hi-five the 15 people sitting around you, and they were your best friends. These were season tickets, and Dylan's friend Jeff goes to every game. So did the 15 people around us. As a result, it was a family reunion every time they got together. You don't get that at other games like you do with the Broncos.

The Broncos won 34-20. Jay Cutler and Vince Young, two of the 3 top quarterbacks of the 2006 NFL draft squared off. Jay Cutler didn't throw for as many yards, but he had the better game of the two players. I had a good time, my throat is a little sore, but it was worth it.

Let's see if I can get another free ticket to another sporting event. Two in a week, I'm on a roll.

Sick Caleb

2007-11-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

Caleb climbed into bed with me around 2 am this morning. After 4 times of waking up because he was nearly throwing up, he finally did around 6 am. Heather fell asleep on the couch so it was me that was with him last night. Heather stayed home from church while he topped the fever meter at over 101 degrees. Hopefully it's not contagious, and hopefully he will recover soon.

Nugget's Game Report

2007-11-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

Heather and I had a great time at the Nuggets game. Truthfully, I think I had the better time of the two. Anyway, I got there a little early (um 4:30 to be exact). I took the liberty of walking around the Pepsi Center until Heather arrived at the Light Rail station at Pepsi Center. The first time I walked by the Trailblazers bus had just pulled in. I walked further and I walked past Julie Browman. It was funny, she didn't even make any eye contact with me. I wouldn't either, if I was a svelte female walking alone and some 6' 5" stranger tries to say hi. I didn't say a word, but it was amusing. The lady who holds up the "we love (Player's Name)" signs was on the street waiting for the team to arrive. I talked with her for a minute. She was nice but I'm sure she was thinking, "who the heck is this guy?" Round two around Pepsi Center. A $300k + Mercedes Benz pulls up into the team's parking lot. Based on from what I hear about Marcus Camby's nice ride, I assume it's him pulling in. The windows are tinted and I wasn't going to gawk as he got out of his car. I will just assume it was either him, AI, or Carmelo pulling up.

As the game starts, I notice there is virtually no one in the upper deck of the arena. I know we are playing Portland tonight, but holy crap, this arena would sell out every time AI came to town as a Sixer! People don't realize how good we have it in Denver. Anyway, two drunk early-twenty somethings are sitting in front of me in the first half, and they were completely obnoxious. Every other word an F-word, they smelled funny (like stale beer, or perhaps fresh beer I can't tell the difference), and were downright stupid. Then there was the guy in row 17 yelling "Blake sucks!" every time former Nugget Steve Blake touched the ball. I would understand completely if that was Nick Van Exel. But picking on Steve Blake is like trying to publicly humiliate your Grandpa. You look stupid trying to do it. Alcohol has an interesting effect on people.

Anyway we had a good time, the Nuggets played well, and they won 110-93. That makes me 4-1 the last few years of going to Nuggets games. Here's a picture of Allen Iverson and Brandon Roy that I took during the 3rd quarter.

The ride home was a chilly one, and we had to stand on a crowded light rail train. I hope to get back a couple more times this year.

The first of many posts to come!

2007-11-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

This is the first of hopefully many blogs about DeShazer family in Aurora! Today was a busy day for the family. Heather and I had talks in our ward today. Heather's parents attended and kept Caleb occupied while we spoke. Heather and I were a little stressed as we prepared up until late this morning, making us a little late to church.

Heather and I are going to the Nuggets game on Wednesday night against the Portland Trailblazers. I won the tickets by being the lucky caller to a radio promotion as I was listening to the Nuggets season opener. I will post pictures and all the details on Wednesday!