Adventures with a big balloon. . .

I guess you could call this a public service announcement of sorts... I'm not sure why, but with Justin in my life, STRANGE things are always just around the corner. A prime example of this strangeness factor occurred on Monday at the Willey Honda dealership in Bountiful. I was on my lunch break at work and had just picked Justin up from his summer camp day care. I have been seriously toying around with the idea of getting a new car, so we stopped in at the Honda dealership to have them give me a value of my 1999 civic (for sale if anyone is interested...). While I was waiting for this value one of the other salesmen saw that Justin was getting restless and offered him a balloon. Now this was one of the big car dealer balloons, you know the type. Justin, of course, immediately started to suck the helium out of the balloon to make his voice sound funny. He was walking around the dealership screeching, "HELLO" over and over again in this high mousy voice. I asked him to go outside with the balloon if the was going to do that, so he did. The showroom I was in was surrounded with full length windows so I could easily see Justin and his balloon. All of a sudden he was walking while sucking the balloon and I could see his eyes roll back in his head and he walked straight into a stucco wall at full speed and then fell directly back on the concrete hitting his head. Then I heard this blood curdling screaming. I ran out side to see exactly what happened. There was blood on the wall from where his face hit and his face was bleeding from all of the cuts and scrapes on his forehead, nose, lip, and his mouth from where his teeth bit through his bottom lip. He also had an enormous goose egg on the back of his head from hitting the concrete. Justin had passed out from sucking in too much helium. I too had been a fan of sucking on balloons when I was a kid too... so really didn't see the danger in it when he was playing with this one balloon... boy was I wrong. I have since researched at length the effects of helium on the brain to find some scary information. Apparently sucking helium is in essence the same as asphyxiating yourself because the brain isn't getting any oxygen. This can lead to strokes and possibly death. SO SCARY!!! Justin has learned a very valuable lesson and is telling everyone he knows what happened to him so that they too can know the dangers of sucking on a helium balloon. Moral of my little story... DON'T SUCK ON BALLOONS FULL OF HELIUM!!! Check out this link for more information... http://www.kidzworld.com/article/505-did-donald-duck-inhale-helium

August 2008... so far...

So far August has been INSANE. We went to visit Katie and Per up in Pocatello one weekend. It was so much fun to visit their cute little house! We spent that Saturday at Lave Hot Springs. I'd never been before so I was expecting greatness... it was great, but mostly it was the same as Cottonwood Heights swimming pool. Ashton had a great time floating in his whale floaty and Justin spent the entire day jumping off of the platforms. I thought I'd have a heart attack when he decided to jump off of the 3rd (TOP) platform!! He's such a nut!!

Justin was also baptised... finally... I say 'finally' because he turned 8 back in February but this was the first stake baptism we were able to attend due to the craziness of our life. My brother Stefan baptized Justin and my dad confirmed him. It was a really special day for our family. The primary had a special towel made for Justin with his baptism date on it.

Saturday afternoon was spent at my 10 year high school reunion. I know, I'm an old fart!! It was really great to catch up with old friends and see people with their growing families. I'm really lucky to have such great friends!

Today we went to the ZOO. It was Ashton's first trip to the zoo. I'm not sure how exciting he found it, but Justin and I had a great time!! Our favorite part was the bird show. It was a nice "last hurrah" before Justin starts back at Wasatch Peak Academy this Thursday.

Last but not least... FOOTBALL. Oh my gosh!!! is all I can say about football. My Justin is 8 years old and has started his first year of Bountiful Braves Gremlins Football. I'm used to baseball which usually involves maybe one practice a week and a couple of short games... Football is a different beast. Justin practices 5 days a week, two hours a day. He's not supposed to miss any practices or games. Basically my life goes like this... Don't sleep much because baby thinks sleeping is silly, get out of bed, get all 3 of my boys ready (Mark included), get both boys to different day cares, go to work, get off work, pick up Ashton, take Justin to football for TWO HOURS, come home, make dinner, go to bed, don't sleep... and then REPEAT!! My only saving grace is knowing that Justin is an amazing athlete and someday hopefully all of this sporting will at least bring him free college if not more. GO BRAVES!!

Ashton is 1/2!!!

I can't believe my little man is 1/2!! I know it seems strange to bake a cake when your child is only turning 1/2...and can't eat cake... but hey, any reason for a party... right?!?! It was a great day to celebrate because the Mueller Park Junior High fireworks were going on. It was Ashton's first experience with fireworks and he was mesmerized! So cute!! Time sure does fly. It seems like yesterday that I was a walking blimp waiting to meet my little bug. I really am so lucky to have such a wonderful baby. He is the most mild mannered, happy, loving baby. It's truly intoxicating to be around him. Every day when Mark and I wake up he's smiling and pinching our noses telling us all sorts of stories. Whenever big brother Justin is around, you're sure to find a huge smile on Ashton's face. We're so happy he's in our family!

Strange things are afoot at the Hurst-Stewart home...

Our weekend was supposed to be filled with fun family activities and lots of relaxation...

Saturday we went to Liberty Park to see the Animal Planet Expo. That was a lot of fun, saw a lot of cool things. Then we walked around the pond, rode some rides, played in the fountain... oh, and found out that those dungeons and dragon guys who fight each other with sticks really do exist...WEIRD!!

Sunday was supposed to be a fabulous day of nothingness...until Justin barreled through the door crying because he had handcuffs stuck on his wrist. Of course our first thought was that these were toy handcuffs and easily removable... WRONG. We soon found out that these were bonafide real handcuffs that Justin and his friend TJ found at TJ's house. TJ claims he got them from his cousin and told Justin that they didn't have a key for it before Justin decided to try them on for size (good one Just). We live next door to a SLC police officer, but of course he was still at church. We decided to drive to the fire station for help. The firemen got a kick out of it but said they didn't have a key and had to call the police to come help. The police finally showed up at the fire station and also seemed to get a kick out of the hand cuff fiasco. After a couple of tries with different keys, Justin was free. I'm sure the policeman was thinking, "hmmmm... nice... wonder where he got these... hmmmm....".

Aren't weekends the BEST?!?!

Family Pictures 2008

My mom thought it would be a good idea to take some family pictures before my brother Dan and his wife Emily and their son Andersen moved to Erie PA tomorrow for medical school. It's always so funny how you take 100 + pictures but only like 5 really sort of turn out. I think these ones are cute!!











My little family (Marianne, Mark, Ashton, and Justin)













My little family again (Mark of course forgot to take his sunglasses off)













My sister Katie and her husband Per (Nic) and their dog Maddie













The whole family (Marianne, Mark, Ashton, Justin, Holly, Scott, Dan, Emily, Andersen, Stefan, Sam, Katie, Per)













My brother Dan and his wife Emily and their son Andersen














My Boys: Justin and Ashton