Heart4Ash (Skwig)

I had been thinking about doing another half marathon for a while, but haven't really been training. Tried to convince Steve to run one with me, but he was a no go. The longest I have ran for was 7 miles down in St George, so I thought what the heck I will run the Famous Idaho Potato Half Marathon. After signing up for the race, which was a week ago today I got a stomach bug right before the race. Didn't know if I would have the energy to be able to run that far, but if you know me I will always try even if I fail. To get my head ready for the race I decided to change the word "race" to "run." When I hear the word race I automatically think I have to compete. That was the first thing that had to be changed. The second thing I decided was not to choose someone who was running the race about my speed that was ahead of me and try to beat them. And lastly, I was thinking I was likely to get a PR due to the course was basically all downhill. Once the "run...

On Tuesday this past week I was at work doing my usual stuff and one of the front desk ladies told me that there was a man on the phone wanting to speak to me about a procedure that I had that I posted on my blog. At first I didn't want to speak to this guy and secondly, how in the crap did he know that I worked where I worked. I decided to put my thoughts aside and take the call and see what procedure it was that he wanted to know more about. The gentleman's name was James and he wanted to know about "Gus" my LVAD. I asked him if he had watched my video about Gus on YouTube. He said, "I have twice." He explained to me about his heart condition and how it is affecting his life. I explained to him that I knew exactly how he felt. He told me about how hard it is for him to take out the trash and other simple things that he struggles getting done due to his heart condition. I explained to James that the LVAD is amazing, but yes, it has its downs too. I told him...

I had my annual exam this past week, but before my annual exam I flew to St. George to meet Boggs Irvin Gardner aka BIG. He is a little nugget. It is amazing how precious he is and his faces are priceless. All you mom's out there ya'll  are incredible. My sister in law, Kate showed me all what you guys do. That is work, but, what a gift it is to love so much you would do anything . It was so great to visit and spending time with my in laws. BIG showing off his biceps Irvin American Gothic Kate & I being  goofs On Easter Sunday I took the shuttle to Salt Lake to spend some time with my family and for my annual exams. On the way up I listened to the past General Priesthood session and what a reminder it was to remember what Jesus did for each in every one of us. Being around all of my family over the Easter weekend was something special I never really realized how much I have missed everyone in my family and Steve's family. On Monday after Ea...

Went to the temple twice and what an amazing feeling it was to go to the Lord's house. I am so grateful for a temple that is less than 15 minutes away. The first time I went, I got off work early and I was debating to go. My gut feeling was telling me to go so I went. The second time I promised my co-worker Jeanie that I would go because her daughter was going through the temple for the first time. Watching her daughter throughout the session made me think of when I went through the temple for the first time, in that moment I never really thought about the impact of my decision. All I wanted to do was to married Steve and live happily ever after. During the session I felt the warmth of the Lord's love running through me. The first weekend in April we had conference  and heard the words of the prophet and the apostles. Elder Ronald A. Rasband talked about being a first responder to the Holy Ghost or your gut feeling and to pray to the Lord saying that we are ready to respond,...

On March 15th I celebrated my 2 years with my donor's heart and on March 25th my husband and I celebrate our 6th year anniversary. And that isn't all ... Steve's sister had her baby boy on March 23rd. The week of my 2nd year with my donor's heart, I thought about her family and her all week long. I am so very grateful that my donor said yes to being a donor and for all the doctors, nurses and everyone who came and visited me when I was in the hospital. It is crazy to think how far I have come without all of the love and care that I continue to feel each in everyday I doubt I would be where I am at today. Thank you for all your kindness and thoughts. There are no words to express how thankful I feel, so thanks for keeping me smiling :) Steve and I ran 5 miles at a St. Patricks fun run  Me being me, of course When Steve's sister, Kate had her baby, Boggs Irvin Gardner aka BIG. I took the poor me train at first because of what happened a few weeks a...

I know I have been slacking on my posts. I have decided that I am planning on posting on Sunday, but just once or twice a month. FYI. Thanks again to all my followers! Our surrogate gave me a call 2 weeks ago and told me that she had another seizure. I explained to her that I glad that she is okay. We discussed about how it happened and how she had no warnings before the seizure happened. The neurologist that she went to see gave her some anti-seizure medication that she is taking now. With our surrogate on the medication the neurologist suggested not to do the surrogacy. After we hung up the phone, my heart sunk. I thought to myself, I am never going to be a mother. My emotions were going crazy. I was at work when our surrogate called me and Jeanie, the front desk receptionist, asked me how I was doing? I told her I was fine. Jeanie knew something wasn't right. We chatted about what just happened and my thoughts on the whole surrogacy process. At the end of our conversation she ...

Emotional roller coaster is the best way to describe how I have been feeling lately. At the beginning of our surrogacy process I thought to myself all I have to do is check off all these steps to get ourselves a baby. I never thought about if something went wrong. We all have lives and we all know that our lives, sometimes take us in a direction that we don't really agree with. Our surrogate had an incident and the doctors say the she had a seizure. She got a second option and that doctor told her that she was in a gray area, so he is treating it like a seizure. Her cousin has had the similar incidents and it got worse when her cousin had children. Our surrogate and I have had some good heart to heart conversations. In the end, I told her that her health is the most important to be able to continue to be a mother to her two beautiful kids and her husband. She is devastated about the news, but we all continue to have happy spirits about her being able to give the gift of mothe...