Gavin James Bailey

Sunday morning I was trying to get my primary lesson together for my little Sunbeams when I got a call from my Mom. This was a call that changed many things. She told me that my cousin Lindsay and Jason Bailey's little son Gavin had returned to his Heavenly Father at just over 13 weeks of life. He had some health struggles since birth and was moved from his Las Vegas hospital to Primary Children's here in SLC. Because of this move AJ and I had the chance to see him the weekend of Monica's shower. He had a sweet and peaceful spirit about him.

Cindy, Lindsay's mom, would send out email updates daily to let family and friends know how Gavin was doing. These were special to me and I always felt Heavenly Father's hand in things and His love when I read them.

AJ and I went to a Memorial Service the Bailey's had for him yesterday evening. They displayed big beautiful pictures of Gavin, some of his toys and clothing, and a little video slide show playing. It was good to meet with family and talk about this little one. He truly was a gift for the Baileys and all those around him. I was only an observer but I feel impacted by him. I feel awakened to the wonders God gives to us. I am thankful for his short but very meaningful life.

Here are a couple pictures that I stole from Lindsay's blog.

Twilight Poll #2

Don't forget to take my newest vampire poll! Who's it gunna be? Edward or Jake?

Vacuum: A Success Story

I've never understood why the word vacuum is spelled with two U's. It seems like it's more in need of two C's. It's the same with the words desert and dessert. Desert should mean goodies and treats because of the way the first E is pronounced.

Anyway, more about vacuums. On Wednesday last week I decided to vacuum. I knew that my heater vents were notorious for spewing dirt when the heat is on and I also knew I had Bounce dryer sheets I could use to thwart the dirt upchuck. So I set out to filter my bedroom vent and vacuum any dirt that managed to be blown out. I attended to this vent first because I had left it unfiltered last winter. I had supposed it wouldn't need it since it was only under the bed.
(Looking back I see that my though process didn't really make sense).

When I pushed the bed out of the way I found a sandbox. Ok, so it wasn't a foot deep like a real sand box, but it was probably 1/4 inch thick in a 4 foot by 2 foot rectangle just under the head of my bed. Ugh! No wonder I had a cold for several months last year always while the heat was on.
So I made that vacuum work hard. The problem was, it kept overheating on me. Every time I would use it in the past 6 months, it would overheat. I would have to do speed vacuuming. I think I must have looked like June Cleaver in fast forward.

Well, this time when I used my vacuum on my sand box was no different. There was so much dust, I think the vacuum was more successful in blowing it into the air than sucking it up. I had to give up the fight for a time because I had a book club meeting. But I quickly resumed my battle once home again.

This time I was determined to get to the root of why the vacuum kept overheating. I went to the source of all guidance: the Bissell Vacuum Manual. It didn't take long to find the bright yellow folded insert in the manual booklet. On the back of the electric insert I discovered that there are actually 3 filters on my vacuum! Ding! Once I figured out how to access them I cleaned them all thoroughly. These filters are the sponge kind that you can rinse and reuse. They, like my bedroom floor were completely saturated with dust! There was a whole layer to scrape off before I could even rinse them.

Now, I am proud to say my vacuum sucks! It is now powerfully luring yucky dirt things into it's non-bagged interior.

Family Things and Monica's Shower

Saturday day on 10/13/2007 was a busy day! Like I posted, I went to AJ's 5K dash. Then we drove up to Primary Children's Hospital and saw Gavin Bailey for the 1st time. He is so sweet and I loved to play with his hair. He wiggled his little lags quite a bit!

Then we went out to eat at Lizta's Pizza with my Mom, AJ, Erika, Marcus, Olivia, Monica, John, Cindy, Lindsay, and Jason! My mom and Cindy used to eat at Lizta's Pizza all growing up. We also got to drink some Hire's root beer.

Next we got to stop at Wasatch Memorial Lawn cemetery to visit my Grandma Marie's grave site. I only have one memory of visiting the cemetery a long time ago and I wanted to visit it again while I lived in Utah. I took a video on my camera so that I could find it more easily the next time I visit.

After this visit we went to Target to get ready for Monica's shower! She had a camping theme! Erika and I went in on some camping gear and got the veggies needed for the food. We hurriedly went back to Erika's to wrap the presents and prepare the food. At the shower we had haystacks which seemed more like Chicken over Rice plus more. It was really good. There was also so great punch my aunt Chris made. Someone made this "pumpkin dessert" It was like pumpkin pie and something else put together. It was yummy!

My Mays cousins! Claire and Ali.

After the shower, we came back to Erika's and Olivia had a bath. Mommy combed her hair into a fo-hawk! What a sweetheart! I am as proud as an aunt could be!

5K Run

Saturday morning Oct 13, 2007 AJ and his friend Dallan ran a 5K sponsored by an accounting firm called Delloite. As has been the case with the last 5 Saturdays it was cloudy and drizzly. So, I stood under the awning as they grabbed head and wrist bands and bright green t-shirts. They got to start out in front. And they came in together around 25 mins 55 secs.

AJ and Dallan arriving at the meet.

Look at what hot green men we are.

This is my game face!

Whew! We did it!

Milk Chocolate Lava Cake

Since our anticipation for Lava Cake on the cruise was disappointed (it wasn't on any of the dessert menus) I had an idea. I was in Smith's grocery shopping and I saw it. A Duncan Hines Lava Cake mix. It was $4.00. I got it for my mom declaring to my husband, "I will surprise her, I promise I won't tell her what it is until she comes!" After purchasing the coveted item I immediately called and told her I had a surprise and I would tell her what it was...until I got a stern look from AJ. "You promised!" He reminded. That was back in early September. I had to wait until Friday, Oct 12, 2007! But I did not tell her.

She and my Grandparents drove here from Las Vegas. My mom dropped them off with my aunt Julia and then picked up my aunt Cindy and Erika, Marcus, and Olivia. We went out to eat in Orem and came back to my apartment after where I presented her with the prize! Then we made the prize and ate it. Except for, I forgot to make it all pretty with powdered sugar like the picture showed. It's my only regret.

Mom trying her little cake.

AJ playing songs to Olivia

Our little party

Snoozing and Staplers

Today really hasn’t been the most successful day so far. It started off by me waking up at 9:25am and wondering what happened to my alarm. It went off at 8am and I pushed the snooze that never came. Next, while in the office talking to Maria and Marianna, I stapled my finger. I don’t know why. This particular stapler does not latch closed, as I have come to find out, so I was trying to latch it when I felt a staple being driven into my finger. Not to worry, it barely pierced my skin.

Anyway, the point of this is that I had to leave the office late because I came in late, (which is always a punishment but is never on the forefront of my groggy mind as I fumble for the snooze button in the not-so-early morning). I will be using a non-snooze alarm from now on and I will be in the office by 8:30am. This is my goal!

The Toilet Series Notification

While you may have predicted the following to be related to the bathroom, you were mistaken. The "Toilet Series" aka the "Twilight Series" was mistaken for such by my friend Maria. One day while mulling over the wonders known only to Vampires and Werewolves with my co-workers, my friend Maria incredulously asked, "Toilet? You're reading a book called Toilet?" Ha!

Today I bought all three books for my very own. I partly did it so Erika can hurry up and read the 2nd book. She was number 613 on the library waiting list for crying out loud!

But what this blog entry is really about is that all you who are into the series you better hurry up and finish book 2 "New Moon" (hmmm that title would take on a whole new meaning if the series really were called the Toilet Series). I am going to put a little poll on my blog but it is no use doing it before anyone's read the first 2 books. Hmmm that gives me an idea. I will put a pre-poll on to see how many people read the series.

Ok guys look out for my poll and take it!

Families Rock!

A couple weekends ago AJ and I went up to Logan, UT with my parents-in-law Karma and Steve and my brother-in-law Steve Jr and his soon-to-be wife Kate. Every year in September we celebrate the life of Karma's father by visiting the temple.

I noticed the scenery as we travelled from Centerville, UT to Logan. The leaves in the canyon were really pretty. I think my favorite phase of leaf changing is when there is still green. Then you have the contrast of green and red and it is just more intense.

Since I have many pictures of my side of the family (we're big into visual documentation) I made sure to bring my camera. I love my family! I think I might be biased but I think I have the best family in ever!

Take a gander at a portion of my best family!

From left to right: Kate, Steve Jr., Karma, Steve, Granny Ella, AJ, and Jessica.

Karma and Steve! The best in-laws ever!

Kate and Steve Jr. Awe! How cute!

You already know these ones!

All of us at a favorite Chinese restaraunt in Centerville, UT.