Chopped Champion Wannabe

I cut my finger last week.

 It was right before Aidan's bedtime. Jayze was at the store buying an ingredient we needed for our masterpiece dinner. I kept glancing at the clock, confident that I could get the halfway cut-up carrots in the oven before Aidan had a complete meltdown and before Jayze got back.

Most of the carrots were cut up (I was in the process of making roasted carrots - I'm kind of addicted to them now), and I was on the second to last carrot when it happened. Since I was in a race against the clock, my mind flashed back to the show Chopped. When Jayze and I can't settle on a movie, we resort to watching Chopped on Hulu. Although "resort" isn't the best word because we're kind of addicted to that, too.

Anyway, I'll spare you the details of Chopped (look it up on Hulu, it's pretty good) and get back to my almost cut finger. 

 Like I was saying writing, I was right in the middle of chopping a carrot when Chopped flashed in my mind. I thought, Some of those chefs cut veggies up super fast. I wonder if I could chop them up that fast!

Tongue sticking out, I began cutting with renewed, fast energy. I cut two or three slices of the carrot and then one slice of my finger.

Ouch.

I dropped the knife on the counter, stared in shock at the blood-red blood rushing out of my ring finger, and rushed to the sink and turned on the faucet. Water washed over my finger, but the blood kept coming. Of course, I thought, this had to happen when Jayze is gone.

I grabbed the kitchen towel hanging from the oven door handle and pressed it to my finger to staunch the bleeding (against all my hygiene instincts regarding kitchen towels and blood). Praying Aidan would be okay playing on the floor until Jayze got back, I ran to the bedroom, grabbed a handful of bandaids, ran back to the living room where Aidan was, told him everything was okay (he had no idea anything was wrong, I was more comforting myself than him), and awkwardly bandaged my finger with one hand, hoping not to get blood everywhere. 

Noticing that my hands were shaking, I grabbed my phone and called Jayze. 

"Hi, honey! How's it going?"

"Heyyyy, I cut my finger..." *sniff sniff, trying to be strong

"Oh no! How bad?"

"I don't know..." I said *still sniffing, "It was bleeding pretty bad..." (Why am I crying over a cut finger? Finger, really?)

"Do you think it needs stitches?"

"I don't know...when are you coming home?"

Jayze had just arrived at the store. Go figure.

I hung up the phone with Jayze's promise to hurry back home. 

Aidan, unconcerned, kept playing with his toy. I bravely swallowed my shock, clenched my jaw, and determined to change his diaper and put him to bed whether or not my finger hurt. 

When Jayze got home, we had a mini conference of Should We Go to the ER or Should We Just Make Do With Bandaids and a lot of DON'T TOUCH MY FINGER! *insert hyperventilating. In the end, I called my mom, sent her a blurry picture of my finger, received reassurances from her, and made do with bandaids. After checking it in the morning, I was glad we didn't go to the ER.  Things always seem worse when blood is involved, but looking at it the next morning, it wasn't much of a cut.

But by golly, my finger hurt, and I realized over the next few days how much I used my temporary useless finger. It was a lesson to be grateful for ALL of my fingers. None of them are useless.

In short, while cutting veggies, leave the fast chopping to the Chopped Champions.

Warning: Graphic material below (not really)

Married Student Retreat

For a Mother's Day gift, Jayze bought us tickets for the Married Student Retreat hosted by BYU-Idaho. We had been wanting to go since our first year of marriage, and I'm glad we FINALLY got to go! Thanks, hon!

Our friends from our old ward were sweet enough to watch Aidan overnight. It was a huge milestone for us (mostly me) leaving Aidan overnight, but we knew he safe and happy in their home.

We left campus around 5:00 p.m. and traveled to Badger Creek (an extension of campus) with nine other couples. Jayze and I had never been there before, and I was curious to see what it was like. It was about 45 minutes outside of Rexburg. When we arrived, I was surprised by how clean it was. Here we were out in the wilderness, where I'm sure hundreds of people have stayed, and everything was well-kept.

Each couple bunked in their own individual cabin. Ours was called "Chief Joseph."

Jayze and I got settled, and then we hiked back to the main cabin for devotional and dinner. Before devotional, each couple introduced themselves. As couple after couple introduced themselves, Jayze and I thought we were going to be the "senior" couples. Most couples had been married a year or less. Then the last couple introduced said they had been married five years. Despite the fact that most couples had been married a shorter time than us, we got along great with pretty much all of them. It was a great group to hang out with for two days. 

That night Jayze and I explored Badger Creek. I had been craving to go hiking for awhile, so it was nice to be out in nature. The fresh scent of wet dirt, different kinds of trees, and the night air was just what I needed. We ended up on the "Scenic Outlook" and saw some horses. I think this made Jayze's night. There were all kinds of different horses chomping away at the grass, taking no notice of two people watching them. The sky and horses were a beautiful and peaceful sight.

In heaven

Night sky

Our cabin was full of bunk beds. We still slept by each other (crowded, but warm). I didn't get the best sleep, but it was wayyyy better than sleeping in a tent. "Chief Joseph" even had a heater (which practically saved my life that night - I get cold way too easily). 

Breakfast was bright and early at 7:30 the next morning. After breakfast came the married couples activities. We went through three of them - all of which were surprising, uplifting, and encouraging.

The first activity was slack lining. It was definitely a new experience for us. Each couple went separately. When it was Jayze's and my turn, we each climbed on separate sides of the slack line, leaned forward, grasped hands dance-style, and moved horizontally across trying not to lose balance. As we communicated (eh, sound familiar?), we got further and further across until we eventually lost balance. I was pretty proud of how far we were able to get. 

The next activity was the "mine field," a.k.a. rocks acting as mines. 

There were three scenarios: 1) trying to guide my husband across the field by yelling across an 8-foot stretch of nature; 2) Jayze guided me across, but he got to stand in front and across from me; and 3) I blindfolded and guided Jayze a second time, but got to touch and stand by him the entire way across.

It was an adventure for sure. Obviously the first one = unsuccessful. The last two = successful.

Our last activity was the hardest and also took the longest. I could not have done it without my belayer and Jayze. 

Observe:

We had to climb this 50-ft high ladder of death. 

Thankfully we didn't die.

 

We did it! 

After that, we cleaned our cabin, ate some lunch, and drove away. We learned a lot from our little weekend getaway and hope to implement our learning in our every day life. It was a great Mother's Day gift.

And can I just say that it was wonderful coming home to Aidan.

Aidan is 8 months

Aidan turned 8 months old on May 25. Time is going by so fast. Sometimes I don't think he has grown at all, but then I look at his newborn pictures and he looks and acts so differently now. This month he is going to be as old outside of me as he was inside of me!

Firsts:

• Finally introduced him to fruits. He ate bananas for the first time in Arizona. My mom mashed one up, and Aidan loved it. 
• First time standing by the couch (I put him there, he hasn't tried to pull himself up on things yet). 
• Being really sick. I didn't realize how blessed I had been to have such a healthy baby until he was sick for the first time.
• Eating in a booster seat (makes my life so much easier).
• Going to a concert (his Uncle Noah's). 
• Going bowling! He didn't seem to mind tagging along on date night.
• First time swinging in the park.
• Eating out at a sit-down restaurant (went to Denny's on our trip home from AZ). 
• Sleeping on his tummy. Freaked me out the first time I looked at the video monitor and saw he had rolled over from his back to his tummy in his sleep. But I figured it's not a big deal since he can roll over and sit up by himself. He'll do it from time to time now, silly kiddo. 

Goin' to the doctor, playing while sick, and watching Ice Age for about 10 minutes before getting bored. Having a sick baby is not just physically, but emotionally hard. It was heartbreaking seeing Aidan lethargic and not himself.

Left to right, top to bottom: new booster seat, standing, bowling, concert, swing, eating out.

He LOVES:

• Watching me vacuum, until it gets too close to him...
• Standing while holding my hands.
• Walking around the living room with mom.
• Blankets, blankets, blankets.
• Books - mostly eating them.
• Being tossed in the air.
• Talking, talking, talking.
• Socializing/attention.
• I watch two babies only a week apart in age from Aidan during the week, and Aidan loves playing with them.
• Observing other people/things.
• Being outside.
• Looking over and around things.
• Peek-a-boo.
• Spoons and balls.
• Being tickled.
• Mirrors.
• Eating EVERYTHING.
• Music.
• Pinwheels.
• Having air blown in his face.

He is getting closer to crawling. Has three teeth (two on bottom and one on top). I think he is teething again. He drools a lot and runs his tongue across his gums. Can say "nose." (Ok, jk on the last one). :) Getting more used to loud noises. No interest in movies. Has done two loooooong road trips.

I'm loving being a stay-at-home mom. It gets lonely, tiring, and tedious, but Aidan's life is more consistent and I love getting to spend so much time with him. It's hard finding things to do all day with a baby, but I think this time is my time for learning, figuring out a schedule for myself and Aidan, and doing the best I can.

Love you my baby boy.