Lydia Kay Everson

From Lydia's CaringBridge Website...

"Lydia Kay died this afternoon a little after she was taken off of ECMO. She was held close by her mom and died in her father's arms. She was a fighter and all of the prayers and love that was sent her way sustained her and her parents. Please continue to pray for Julie and Russ, who love and will miss their beautiful daughter."

For those of you that don't know, Lydia's mom, Julie and I were roommates in college. I copied the above text because I didn't want to write anything myself. What the hell do you say?

Yesterday was Lydia's one month birthday.

Friday Funny

Sad, but I'm always up for a good math joke.

Family Fun Fair

Friday night we went to the local elementary school that Katie is set to attend next year. It was your typical elementary school - had that smell that seems to infest every school. The school was having a Family Fun Fair to raise money for their PTO. There were a LOT of kids everywhere, but Katie (and Will) got to play some games and win some prizes. I assume Katie will be riding the bus again next year.

The funny thing is that there is an elementary school MUCH closer to our house, and THAT'S the one I always thought she'd be going to. But, because of boundary lines that are drawn she'll be going to this one instead.

On Saturday I went to visit my friend, Julie and her baby who is still in the hospital. The doctors have found a problem with her lungs and the arteries that connect to the heart. So far they haven't been able to offer much in the way of a solution so everyone is playing the waiting game and praying for a miracle. She also had to have another surgery Monday night to stop some bleeding in her abdomen. She's such a beautiful baby girl! I've put a link on the right of our blog. Feel free to check in on her status, and leave any words of encouragement.

I seem to only have pictures of Will at the moment, so...

Will and his football. He's all boy...

Ok, well maybe not ALL boy...

"I said I'm pretty dang it!"

Friday Funny

Here is a link to a little Christmas dance. Click here. I know it isn't Christmas yet, but bear with me. I promise - it's worth it.

There may be more of these coming up...be careful or you may just star in one yourself.

A quick link...

Please note that I have placed a new link on the right hand side of the blog. My friend Julie who had her baby a few weeks ago still needs lots of thoughts and prayers. Things are frustrating right now for the family. This link will take you to a website devoted to their little girl, Lydia and will keep you posted on how they are doing.

Happy Birthday to me....

Today's shout out goes to myself. :)

Katie has been talking about my birthday for the past 3 weeks - almost every day. So this morning John announces that it's my birthday and both kids were like, "whatever." :)

John's mom, Mary sent me a card yesterday. I read it at the dinner table. It said, "Have a good day - make sure John does something nice for you."

Katie piped up. "Like paint your fingernails?"

After we got done laughing it was decided that I should probably take care of my own fingernails.

Friday Funny

This would have made a lot more sense to post last week....but I forgot, OK!

Football in Dallas

John was gone this past weekend. His friend, Scot, had gotten Dallas Cowboy tickets and wanted John to go with him. He just didn't get enough of Texas when we were down there last month.

So, EARLY Saturday morning John left for the airport. Katie was VERY upset that he didn't wake her up to say good-bye, but she talked to him on the phone and that made it better. The Cowboys won the game, and John was back in Minnesota around noon on Monday. They seemed to have had a good time. :)

The new Cowboy's stadium - first season here.

As you can see - the seats were pretty good!

The stadium's giant tv screen - showing, of course, the cheerleaders.

I asked John about the cheerleaders - did he like them?

He said they were creepy. (Good answer) They all had GIANT smiles on their face that never changed.

A quick shout out...

Happy Birthday today to my big brother, Jeff!

Girl's Night Out

Last Thursday night Katie and I went to see Miley Cyrus in concert. I had bought tickets back in the spring and got incredible seats. We were in the FRONT ROW, on the side of the arena. Basically we were about 8-9 rows back from the actual stage.


Katie and I enjoyed a hot dog before the show, and had a good time people watching as thousands of little girls strutted by in their best rockstar outfit. (Katie and I were pretty low-key. She wore her Hannah Montana t-shirt and jeans...but some of the little girls were ALL glitzed out.)


Miley's brother's band, Metro Station opened for her. I had only heard one song of theirs, and it seemed harmless enough. WRONG! What a HORRIBLE choice for her opening act. They were completely inappropriate. Their lyrics went on about 'taking girls' clothes off' and 'getting high' and 'smoking cigarette after cigarette' and on and on. And that brother of hers was THE most annoying front man I've ever seen. After a few songs Katie and I started to make our way out to the hallways to walk around for a bit, but by then, they were done. In the bathroom after their show all the moms had PLENTY to say about what a horrible band they were.



Soon enough Miley came out and all was better. Katie had a great time dancing and singing along. We wished she would have played more of her 'old' songs, but I think she was kind of over them. Once the first song started Katie and I stood up and got all excited. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder, "Could you sit down please, my daughter can't see." I kind of stared at this mother who felt she needed me to sit down 30 seconds into the first song. As I started to sit, the mother next to me said "You shouldn't have to sit if you don't want to. The concert just started!" Then she turned back to the woman behind us and said "Honey, if you wanted your kids to see, you should have bought them better seats!" SOOOO, not wanting a rumble to break out...I sat down for part of the show...and stood up for some pictures and like 1 song. That's ok - I had a better view of Katie that way. The price you pay for front row seats.... :)

There was a lot of hair flying...it was hard to get a picture.

Originally, this is where I thought our seats were (which was fine), but then an usher moved us to the correct seats about 15 feet closer.

And for those of you interested...here are some quick videos.



P.S. Sarah - they even did a Michael Jackson tribute with Thriller...I thought of you. :)

This is a video of Katie dancing - she got even more into it at times than it shows here, but it's cute to see her dancing. Hope it isn't too dark...