13th Anniversary

I had big plans when we were married that we would do something really special for each anniversary. For starters, I wanted to visit a new temple that we had never attended before each year. We have been blessed to visit many different temples over the years, but very few of those visits have occurred near our anniversary. Sadly, I do not remember how we celebrated a few of our anniversaries, so this year, I decided we would do something memorable. It wasn't anything too exotic or extravagant, but hopefully I will always remember it!

Since our 13th anniversary was on a Sunday, we celebrated Saturday night by doing sealings at the Dallas temple to remind us of the sacred covenants we made at our sealing 13 years prior in the Salt Lake Temple. We did this last year, too, and on several other of our anniversaries.  The restaurant we wanted to go to, Wolfgang Puck's 560, a space-needle-like spinning orb overlooking downtown Dallas, didn't have any reservations available, so we opted for a movie. Blah. :)

560 in the distance, through all the traffic.

 Luckily, an opening came available the following Thursday evening during Restaurant Week, when a less expensive 3 course menu is available for $35 per person (since a meal usually costs about $100 per person here).

Getting closer

Almost there!

Here. It's named 560 because the building is 560 feet tall. Wow!!

 560 features gourmet Asian cuisine, which is definitely not our favorite, but we were here for the views and experience, which were fantastic! The food was great, but I am glad we did not pay the regular prices. It was much spicier and cooled off much too quickly for my general taste.

 This is the view of Dealey Plaza from above. JFK was shot around the area between the black and white cars driving on the left diagonal road. The square brick building in the upper center of the photo is the Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly fired from the 6th story upper right window. The train tracks on the bottom left of the photo are where witnesses reported hearing additional shots. The Grassy Knoll is the top strip of grass and trees. Pretty cool view from here!

 Our appetizers included curried lamb samosas, shrimp and lobster spring rolls, and a surprisingly delicious sushi roll that was our favorite part of the meal--and we don't even like sushi! I forgot to photograph our main courses, but Corey had a filet mignon and I had spicy shrimp with pasta. We also had a disappointing $8 side dish of the most bland asparagus I have ever tasted. At least it wasn't soggy, but a waste of money and room in my tummy! The cuisine was okay, not phenomenal.The views of the city, were, however!

 Our dessert consisted of three miniature concoctions: A sorbet soaking in sake, which I just barely googled and verified that it is indeed an alcoholic beverage-Corey assured me at the time that it was NOT, though we both agreed it tasted funny, as did the wasabi and many other parts of the meal that night. He was totally trying to get me wasted. Good thing it was only a tablespoon or two. No wonder I felt a little queasy afterward! The Chocolate Decadence on the right was okay- too cocoa-tasting for me. We didn't know what the one in the middle was, but it was the winner! Carameley, creme-brulee-ish delight- totally hit the spot!

 Even though our dinner began at 6:30, we were able to see the beginning of the sunset over this crazy new bridge.

I am glad we did something out of the ordinary for our anniversary this year. I am hoping for an exotic trip to Europe or something within the next few years, but for now I'm satisfied with our evening spent dining and spinning atop Dallas! I am so grateful for my amazing, handsome husband, Corey. He is the perfect fit for me. He is an example of patience, selflessness, gentleness, and kindness, which I adore. I feel so very blessed to have the opportunity to spend eternity with this man!

Zach's First Stitches

Zach runs at least 50-200 laps around our coffee table every day, depending on how much we are home. Honestly, it is akin to the center of the universe that his little body orbits each day. He has all kinds of games he plays around it, most of them "chase"-like and harmless enough. I don't know exactly what he was doing yesterday, but it involved a large beach ball and high velocity. Both Corey and I kind of caught a glimpse of him ricocheting off the top/edge of said coffee table and immediately screaming out in pain. I had to lay Zoey down quickly and went and grabbed him and snuggled him up to take a closer look. 

  He had split his chin about 3/4 of an inch straight across. It bled for a couple of minutes, but wasn't too gruesome. I was hopeful that the laceration could be fixed with butterfly bandages and/or glue. I just hate the railroad track appearance that stitches leave, and really wanted to avoid them at all costs. However, Corey's first remark was that it needed stitches. I called my brother, Nick, a 4th year medical student that has done several rotations that allowed him to do stitches, including a recent ER stint, and also consulted our friend that is a 2nd year Oral Surgery resident. They were kind of split on what to do also, though Nick couldn't really see the damage. We headed to Walmart to see if the Steri-strip bandages would work well, which they did not seem to be doing, and opted to head to my office so I could do the stitches. (Our health insurance is less than stellar, and I'm sure a Sunday ER visit would be at least several hundred dollars. That's at least what I would charge, anyways!;)) 

 That little bit of yellowish bubbly stuff inside the cut is adipose (fat) tissue- meaning it needed stitches . Oh yeah, and check out those eyelashes! Those are from Corey.;)

 I was a little nervous about the procedure--mostly about exactly what materials to use and how to best minimize scarring. I've done hundreds if not thousands of stitches in the mouth, but no one is worried about esthetics in there (although I am pretty neurotic about them looking just right!). We really don't receive much if any training in dental school regarding stitching outside the mouth, but it is the same concept and procedure, for the most part. Once we got home, I started researching the internet and YouTube to see if I had done the right thing, and was relieved to read from a surgery textbook that "any gaping wound, even if small, and especially on the face, should receive stitches to minimize scarring."  Also, there was a YouTube video of a child with an identical wound and the ER doc used the exact same procedure I had, which was reassuring (5 interrupted sutures). I did learn that as long as bleeding isn't an issue, it is fine to wait 8-24 hours for stitches, if it is a clean wound. I always thought it was pretty emergent.

 Zach was a champ through the whole thing. After the initial crash, he only cried a little with some of the anesthetic injection. He was a little wiggly for me, and Zoey was trying to climb up my leg during the suturing, but it turned out well. I gave him his own surgical gloves to wear.

 When we remove them, I'll see if I'm happy about the polypropylene suture material I used. I am not familiar with it, but it said "Plastic Surgery" on the label, so I chose it over the more familiar sutures I have used intraorally. Thankfully, the wound is just under the chin, so I am hoping the scar will not be highly visible. It was a pretty quick procedure and I was pretty pleased with the final outcome. We'll see how it heals now. The area really didn't even swell or bruise, so hopefully it won't hurt or scar badly. I'll count myself lucky that these are the first stitches our family has experienced, and hope they might be our last! 

 Pretty tough looking, right?!

 On a lighter note, here is a photo of Zach without tears in his eyes. It's funny that all the previous pictures look so sad, because he honestly wasn't that way the whole time. I even had him laughing that the cut made it look like he had two mouths! We went to The Cheesecake Factory last week for National Cheesecake Day, when all their cheesecake is half price. That way you can try all the cheesecake that you wouldn't normally want to gamble $7-8 on if you don't like it. Zach was downing the cheesecake like a son I could really be proud of!! He was seriously so cute on our cheesecake date.

Zach is such a darling boy, and I am so very, very grateful that this accident wasn't more serious than it was. I feel blessed that I was able to fix it basically for free also, thanks to my generous boss who let me use the office and supplies. I truly feel like God is watching out for us and angels are protecting my family from some of the blows that could be much more damaging. I know life can't always be so thickly padded, but I am grateful for the watchful care I know we receive daily in the form of good health and safety, both physical and spiritual, in a sharp-cornered world.

Trip to Idaho and Utah in July

We had a great summer vacation travelling to Idaho and Utah to visit friends and family. Here are some photos of the fun we had:

 Grandma Nettie with Zach and Bono

 My bestest friends from way back when got together with our offspring and spent the day together in beautiful Jackson Hole. I adore these amazing women! Look how beautiful they all are!!

 This is how I felt also after our 4am wake-up call for a 6am flight the day before, followed by 6+ hours of driving. It took us about 3 days to catch up on sleep!

 Grandpa playing baseball with the boys. How sweet is that?! Zach was loving it!

 My Zoe-buggy. I could just eat her up!!

 Most of the Wilhelmsen cousins. Zach was in heaven with all the cousins he got to spend time with on our trip. It makes life here seem so boring!

 The classic IF Zoo water fountain photo.

 Zoey helping Dad put together the trampoline at Nana and Papa's. Both kids were huge fans.

 Zach and Michael- 6 days apart.

 Cute girls

 After visiting in IF a few days, we headed to our big Malan Reunion in Albion, Idaho. I will post about that later, but it was awesome to be with that side of the family after a long absence!

Zoey lost her bottle privileges on this trip after poking the nipple out and spilling the contents everywhere. It was time. Zach never did that.  

 These sweet "banana peel" bikes were the hit of the party! Lots and lots of fun!

 The whole Alexander clan. It has been 5 years (and 7 new grandchildren) since our last family picture! (We have a professional shot that will be coming soon!)

 What a beautiful family Nick and Meadow have!

 Grandma Malan with a huge slew of great-grandchildren!

 4 generations. 

 Love these awesome sisters of mine. Women of steel!

 Grammy Alexander gifted me this stunning heirloom she crafted by hand in the late 60s/early 70s. I am honored to have it and will treasure it forever! She is truly a talented and generous woman. 

 A bunch of the Alexander cousins.

 Zoey has such a strong musical inclination already- I hope to introduce her to some type of musical training before too long.

 Chillin' with Uncle Mike!

And a girl's night out with the sisters- scalp treatments at Paul Mitchell Academy.

I am barely recovering from the late nights, midnight wakings, and early mornings that come with travelling with little ones. We had a wonderful time, but I am ready for a vacation with just my husband. We have been wanting to sleep in- just a couple of days- for a few years now... ;)