the years ....

my mom passed away thursday september 1oth, peacefully and comfortably after all her loved ones had said their goodbyes.  after nearly a ten year battle with alzheimers, she decided her fight was done. i know now she is in a better place, but having her completely gone is still hard and will take some time to fully understand why. she was an amazing woman and i am so blessed to have her as a mother. i love her more than she will ever know and admire her integrity and strength. i just wanted to thank everyone for their love, support and prayers. for information about her services you can e-mail me at ekh7slc@yahoo.com

my family (i'm the new one)

MR. and MRS.

So our BIG day came .... and went .... way too fast! Now i don't know what to do with myself! These photos came from my fabulous photographers blog, i loved them so much i had to share them ALL! Thank you to everyone for your LOVE and SUPPORT, we couldn't do it without you!

Love, Tad and Em

Shhhhhh.....

This is Ali (Em's sister-in-law to be).  I happened to take a few pics of Tad and Em the other night and I thought I would post a few.  Em doesn't know that I have hijacked her computer........ but she left it here sitting on the counter so I guess I'll post a few pics for your viewing pleasure.  Hee Hee.....

Tad is such a rockstar!

              and then i (emily) went on and deleted the hideous pictures of me ... sorry ali!

somebody pinch me .....

6 weeks .... and i will be MARRIED! After eight long years of dating and eleven long months of an engagement, our time is quickly approaching! We are anxious, nervous, and excited so if anyone has marriage advice they would like to share ... we're all ears! 

Overdue Update ...

Sorry for the delay! Thank you everyone for all your love and support you all sent, it really means a lot. So it has been a little over two weeks since my Mom's incident and lets just say ... she is a true fighter and sticking around for something, which we love! During the hospital stay, after my family made the decision to not do the breathing tube she came back fighting like a champ! We thought along with the doctors, that the neumonia would take her from us but she kicked that bugger to the curb. After several hours of fighting her to keep the oxygen mask on, several hours of physical therapy, and an ok from both the surgeon and the Respiratory doctors they discharged her on Saturday afternoon. She is now back at her facility confined to her bed and a wheelchair, which is brutally hard to see because really the only thing she had left before her fall was her mobility. They do have her doing physical therapy twice a day so she does get a chance to stand and walk but just briefly. My Dad and i took her to her two week check on Monday and the doctor says the new hip looks great, so that's uplifting! One night after a long day at the hospital, i was overly exhausted and emotional and just completely lost my composure. After venting to Tad, wondering why, "whoever is in charge of my Mom's existents her on earth is the most selfish person i know" he made me realize that there must be something here that she is staying around for?? Don't get me wrong, i love my Mom more than anyone and i can only look up to her for the battles she has had to face, but it is hard to watch, and I think we all know she would be better off in heaven. So if you were wondering my opinion, there you have it, not to be such a 'debbie downer'. But really, thank you everyone for keeping my family in your prayers and to all the visitors and people who helped out my family that week, we couldn't do it without you! If anything changes i will post more but for now everything is going smoothly!

Lets just say it has been a long three days ... on Monday my Mom's facility called my Dad and let him know that my Mom had possibly broken her hip, the ambulance had just picked her up, and that we needed to meet them at Intermountain Medical Center. My Dad and i met the paramedics there who had her strapped down to the bed so she would not move her body and to physically help them out .... she for some odd reason is an extremely strong 100 pound women! After setting her up to all kind of machines, the doctor wanted to do a second round of x-rays. I was the lucky one who got to join her for that and hold her arms down so she wouldn't yank out her IV's, something she does often! After the results came back and a brief moment of me passing out ... don't ask ... she has a fractured femur and the ball/joint that connects your femur to your hip had been detached from her hip socket. Four hours later they checked us into her room and told us the orthopedic surgeon would be there around five to talk surgery, 8:00 came around and so did the doctor, a little late but worth the wait! Gave us an awesome illustration of what her hip looked like and what he was going to make it look like ... a Hemiarthroplasity???? aka: hip replacement. So to make a two day event short and sweet, they took her in for surgery on Tuesday at three, finished at five, the surgeon said it went great, that she responded well to the anesthesia, the new hip looked great and strong and that she would be out of recovery around six and back to room 701 ... !! As 7:30 rolled around and no sign of my Mom we chatted with the nurses who told us to go grab some dinner and by then she would hopefully be out of recovery. Well when we got back from the fabulous cafeteria, and that is not a joke, it really is way good, all of our belongings were gone. Again, went to the nurses desk, they informed us that our Mom was one the fourth floor, Respiratory ICU. We freaked, went straight to the fourth floor were they informed us that during her recovery she had stopped breathing so they had to put her breathing tube back in AND that she now had developed pneumonia in both her lungs. The ICU doc talked a little to us about her condition, wether we would continue on with the breathing tube given her situation, or if we as a family want her to stop fighting this forever long battle and just let the pneumonia run its course. Which of course is what we chose. She deserves to be happy and healthy. My family and I have had plenty of time to mentally prepare for something like this and will be okay if she does decide to give up, she has fought long enough. So now its Wednesday around three and i am well into my third 12 hour day, I am overly exhausted and bored so i thought i would give an update to those who read this. So thats it for now, i will keep posting with any new news.

third times the charm ... and then panic set in!

Its freakin' official ... i am a LICENSED cosmetologist! In February of 2007 i started my 'hair school' apprenticeship with one of my very best friends Lanna, thanks to her none of this would have been possible. Two years later, a fabulous job at an AVEDA salon, an awesome group of girls, a successful practical state board (passed the first time), THREE attempts and THREE HUNDRED dollars later .... i PASSED my written state boards! hallelujah!!! (is that how you spell that?) I seriously can not even begin to explain the amount of relief lifted off my shoulders, i feel like i can actually breathe without this enormous cloud hanging over my head 24/7. The first TWO attempts I thought i was safe to take the exam WITHOUT any studying ... well had i of studied i would have saved myself, well my Dad 200 dollars! So on Monday i sat my butt down for a good ten hours, with a break of course ... my own tour of the new and fabulous Nordstrom, four more hours of studying on Tuesday morning and ... it payed off!!! Who knew, studying really does work! So after two long days and a family dinner celebration i was ready to hit the sack. Thats when the drama began ... for those of you who don't know, my Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimers a little over nine years ago and put in a home three years ago. Anyway, last night my mom went missing from her facility. The nurses called us after almost forty minutes of her begin gone, they explained they had checked all three floors, under beds, in closets, cabinets, showers, everywhere and they had done it three times, they contacted the police and then us. My family and I headed straight there around nine and did the same thing, checked EVERYWHERE over and over. By now my aunts were there, Tad's family and about 12 cop cars along with K9 dogs, we contacted the media who put out an Endangered Persons Alert on FOX a little after eleven, so almost three hours and no signs of my Mom. I think thats when panic started to settle in. For the next few hours everyone was in their cars driving around looking for her, remind you she had on a black jacket, jeans and no shoes, not to mention she weighs a little under 100 pounds, so the thought of her being outside alone was terrifying. She has no clue who she is, where she belongs, where to go, how to get help, nothing. So now that this post is miles long, i will wrap up quickly. The K9 dogs and officers found her ... on her floor in Barbara's room, room 248, between two beds, behind a recliner, shoved to the side of a night stand, a drape over her, curled up in a ball, sound asleep! i love you dearly mama but thanks for the scare! i guess she just wanted to have a little slumber party with Barbara! So there you have it a day that started out great, got a little scary, but ended great! i now have my license and still have my mom, what more could i need?! 

My time has finally come ....

My STAR sighting has finally come ... and gone! So Courtnie and i went down to do a little shopping at the Gateway on Thursday, we found a parking spot in front of Anthropologie so we made that our first stop! And its a dang good thing we did! After a few minutes inside and several things to try on we realized that JESSICA SIMPSON was shopping along with us the whole time! Not only is it my first star struck moment but it made it even better that it was her, i love her, and FYI .... she is NOT by any means FAT, in fact she is TINY! Do not pay any attention to the tabloids, it was that outfit that made her look bad! Maybe it was because Courtnie practically yelled "Em, i think thats Jessica Simpson" or maybe because i wouldn't stop staring but her bodyguards were not very fond of us, they had their eye on us like we were syko star stockers ... who me? never. Later we found out she is in town to open for Rascal Flatts! So there you have it, my first official star sighting! 

Chubby Babies, and Bath Time ...

Happy Birthday Rueben! On Wednesday Tad's cousins' baby turned one and we celebrated with a PARTY! After Rueben demolished his birthday cake it was bath time and Myka wanted to join in on the fun! They were so stinkin' cute in there together, Rueben kept pushing the faucet over to share with Myka not realizing that each time he pushed it over it would hit her on the forehead, so funny! I know i posted ALL the pictures i took that evening, but Courtnie did not have her camera so i took the pictures. I have no clue how to e-mail them to her so i posted all of them and figured she could get them off here. I am sure no one will mind the amount of pictures posted because they are ALL SO CUTE!!! I know that i am not married yet and that in itself will be life changing ... but Myka makes me baby hungry ... YIKES!