The Nicest Uncle In The World

That would be James. He's Matthew's little brother and as long as I have known him he's been the sweetest, gentlest guy. I feel very fortunate to have him for Andy because I have no siblings myself which means no uncles or aunts for Andrew on my side. James is more than enough though! He braved taking Andrew to The Aquarium. I say braved because Andrew was teething and screaming and crying pretty much the whole morning. I think he had a really good time though. When they came home Andy was sporting a shark backpack and had a little plastic starfish in his hand. See what I mean about sweet? Uncle James had spoiled him at the gift shop. Afterwards we went to Skippers to eat. Sadly, Skippers went out of business near us so I'm glad we went on a whim. James got a great picture of Andy on his phone, check it out...

Smiling for Uncle James' cell phone. How freaking cute is that?

Thanks Uncle James! You're the best!!!

Rendezvous at Fort Bridger

For Labor Day weekend I wanted to get out of the house. Matthew and I had a TON of homework and we needed to clean so we really should have stayed home but I HAD to get out of the house. Sometimes staying home with Andy all day long can make me a little stir-crazy for adventure and it's not like I'm living in Europe anymore so I got to take it where I can find it!

My dad really wanted to go to the Mountain Man Rendezvous in Fort Bridger. Come on, he has a little boy to play indian with now, of course he wanted to go! All I have to say is thank goodness for portable DVD players. Whoever created them is a genius. I'm not sure how the 2 hour drive would have been for Andy without it.

Matthew had never been to the rendezvous before so we were looking forward to showing him what it was like. Andy completely loved it there. Indians + Mountain Men + Andy= FUN! We ate Navajo Tacos while watching the Native dancers. My mom made Andy his own little Indian hat, it was pretty cute.

I made the mistake of suggesting that we buy Andy a tomahawk. It was absolutely adorable when his dad came walking up with him on his shoulders and Andrew was holding his prized tomahawk, but things quickly got out of hand. Stupidly, I taught Andy how to use it. He started banging it on Matthew's head but he really wasn't banging too hard. Then Nana invited him to try it on her head and ***WHACK!!!!******* He NAILED her in the head!!! Sorry about that Nana. If it makes her feel any better a few days later he woke me up in the morning by whacking me on the head pretty hard. Out with the tomahawk... Next year we'll suit him up like an Indian and MAYBE he can bring it. Maybe we'll even make it a family tradition and camp there. It was a really good time...

Welcome To The Planet, Little Man!

I just have to brag.... I'm aunt again for the second time!!! Unfortunately, the sweet little guy lives pretty far away from me so I can't be there to meet him but he is in my prayers and I am looking forward to the day I can hold that sweet little boy!

So, Anna and Tyler (who is Matthew's twin) I want to say CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Welcome to the world

Adam Jurel Tingey

We love you so much,
Aunt Amber and Uncle Matthew

Call Me Crazy...

But I've decided to go back to college. I'm about half way to a bachelors degree and at some point I'd like to be done with school. Poor Matthew has been putting along for the last 7 years. He's always had a full-time job and now we have added a kid into the mix. He's going to be done at SLCC in one year and then for the moment he's thinking he will transfer to the University of Utah to seek a degree in finance and credit. I'm really proud of how hard he's worked. Honestly, he's worked his hind end off. He has a high stress job (collection manager at a credit union) which keeps him busy but we recognize how incredibly lucky we are that he has a job in this economy- actually, ironically enough this economy is job security for him. As far as myself goes, I have a full time stay at home mommy job. The kind that is 168 hours a week- not 40. The pay sucks, well it doesn't exist, but the benefits are greater than any job I know of. I can't thank God enough for letting us have the money for me to stay home, I look at it as a blessing. I love being with Andrew every moment of the day but school is going to be a nice break for me. I've enrolled in some more relaxing classes (electives) watercolor and intro to reading contemporary culture. My reading class is going to be taught by someone I grew up knowing. She was my church leader when I was 11 and then become the Young Women's leader while I was in the program. She's a really neat lady and I jumped at the chance to take a class from her. It's crazy that college sounds fun to me now, perhaps I'll change my mind in 3 months but for now I'm very excited. Matthew on the hand, well the poor guy just keeps plugging along whether he's happy about it or not. Usually not. That's why he's my hero.

Some Pictures Are Too Priceless Not To Post...

This was last summer. My dad had ankle surgery. Andy and my dad have a connection that was completely made in heaven. I'm an only child, and a girl, so Andy really is my dad's first little boy. He's crazy about that kid, and you can see in the picture Andy is just as crazy about him. Andy brings a lot of people joy because I think they see in him strength in adversity and just a ball full of happiness. He's conquered hospitals. Such a good little sport no matter what happens. I wanted to share Andy's love that day with my dad and I don't think anything else would have been more healing...




And Speaking of Andy and his grandpa; here's another precious picture of them. Of course, Andy will always think he's on a first name basis with Santa and we will leave it that way rather than telling him it's good old 'Bumpa'. I sort of wonder if Andy knew, what kid doesn't scream and cry but instead smile for a picture with Santa? Like I say, he's a happy guy. Sometimes life is pure joy.

An Inconvenient Drama Queen

So, if you read the blog you know that a big happening in my life is my son's heart. At the beginning I wanted NO ONE to know about the complications. I hid it from my in-laws, and every family member. I would have hid it from my parents but my mother was with me at the cardiology appointment when they diagnosed Andrew. Funny thing is, I truly did not believe that the doctors were going to tell me anything is wrong. All I knew was that he had a heart murmur. NICU nurses told me he may have to take medications when he goes to the dentist. Big frickin deal. I have a murmur, my grandma has a murmur (both of them are innocent murmurs) and the dentist already tortures you- so what's the difference if he slips a little drugs into you at the same time? I've never been more wrong in my life.

Andrew was not diagnosed in utero. He hid his heart every time we tried to look at him. I remember the doctors words hitting me like unexpected shrapnel in a unknown war zone. WHAT!?!?! Surgery? Aorta? What's that? You need to cut his heart open? What are you talking about? Are we on the same planet, no- universe? I left Primary Children's Hospital completely comatose and angry. This wasn't in the plan. We had just got out of the NICU. I was sick and tired of the worry and tiredness. To have a doctor tell me that this would last the rest of my son's life was unacceptable. I didn't want to believe it and I didn't want to hear people's thoughts or opinions on it. So that's why we told no one for a few months. That was a bad plan because when my in-laws found out they were furious we had kept it from them.

If you know about the little boy whose pillow of feathers burst open and he tried to collect all the feathers but there were just too many of them spread all over the place, then you will understand my situation. One person finds out and they tell one person who tells another and so forth- it wasn't information I could control, people were going to know about his heart defect whether or not I wanted them to. So for the past 17 months or so I have grieved publicly. I grieve because this wasn't in the plan. Because I am scared shitless. I grieve because we don't know what the future holds. I grieve because I don't want to see my little boy in pain. I'm open about my feelings and I share them on my blog and even once in testimony meeting to point out how meaningful eternal familes are to me.

I have noticed that this is hard for some people. You don't know what to say to me. You are sick of hearing about hearts. You may not even understand the gravity of the situation therefore you don't understand why I think about it so often. I don't mean to be sad as an inconvenience to you or to make you think I am a drama queen. I talk about it because I am processing this. This is my own road to walk down and I've got to do it the only way I know how. So, I know that I may look obsessed or dramatic with all my references to the situation, but please bear with me. I am going through the experience the best way I know how.

One of my favorite scriptures was after Lazarus died, his family was grief stricken and cried out. Jesus knew that he was going to raise Lazarus and he could have told the family and quickly have turned the situation around but I believe he wanted them to experience their feelings and have love and validation. So, Jesus wept. I realize that I often bring up the topic of my son, but please bear with me and let me process. I could use every ounce of understanding you have, and know that for certain I don't do this to create drama. I'm just in the process of figuring out a way to cope and to give Andrew the best possible life he can have, because if one thing is certain about the future; I want him to enjoy it.

Needing A Change

I think it's time for my blog to evolve a bit. Right now it's really just a giant scrapbook to entertain grandparent's and those hard up for entertainment, because let's face it- my life is fascinating to me but you can only look at so many family/vacation/silly pictures. I've decided to put more substance of my thoughts into my blog. I'm not doing it because I want my blog to be more entertaining, I just want a place to collect my thoughts and to work out things that are floating around in my mind. I'm not inclined to make my blog private yet, we'll see how things work out. I am, however, going to do away with email notifications that I have updated the blog. For some reason that stifles me. Sometimes I don't say the things that I am thinking because I know it will be sent out in mass alert to those on my email list, and sometimes it's really nothing important. I don't want to bombard people with my ramblings. So that means for those of you who are on my list now, you are going to have to start checking for updates. I still will include pictures of Andy because I think he is the world's cutest thing, so you're going to have to deal with that. He's a part of my life just as much as my thoughts are and I am very vain and like to show him off. Anyway, here's to writing, getting it out of my head and onto my blog.

It's Summer; Let The Good Times Roll!!!

Here is an onslaught of pictures of what we have been doing this summer. It's been an eventful one and Andy is a happy guy no matter where I drag him.

Can you tell I love this kid? Exhibit A: Crushing hug.

Walking around at 'Cecret' Lake near Snowbird, enjoying all the wildflowers.

He's a wobbler.

Nana packs Andy around now that she can walk.

In the world of Andrew you eat a banana like it's corn on the cob, including the peel.

Swimming at Snowbird with Bumpa makes Andy happy.

Nana, Andy and Mr. Squirrel getting a group shot.

Panning for gemstones at Snowbird. Andy thought this was another opportunity to go

swimming. Forget the gems.

Roasting marshmallows at the cabin. Grandpa, put me down! I want to play with the fire.

Pops and Andy at the cabin. Can you believe these guys are only exactly 80 years apart?

Pops is a kid at heart.

Andy getting his weekly wagon ride. That wagon was one of the best purchases ever made. Bumpa packs Andy everywhere.

At the Dinosaur museum. Looking mighty fine in our explorer hat.

I wouldn't get too close Andy, you probably look like shrimp scampi to him.

I dumped Andy in the pool naked; cool off a little. I'd do the same if I could.

My cute little man. Loving the pool and balls.

Sporting the cape. Andy, you will always be my superhero.

One more superhero to throw in the mix; Matthew!

Here we are at color me mine, I love making a mess and paying someone else to clean it up.

Andy did a good job painting hearts for mothers day. The mom's loved them.