Week in Review

So what has the Thomas family been up to lately?  Enough that I'm having a hard time keeping up with our blog.

Here are some photos and recaps of the past week or more...

Exotics at Redmond Town Center

This is a long story, which I won't bore you with.  But for the past three Saturdays in a row, I have spent my mornings at Exotics@RTC - which is a car group that brings their fancy schmancy cars to show off to the public.

Last Saturday was Ferarri day and so Preston really enjoyed that - as he thought they were all Lightning McQueens. :)

So the real story behind all of this is I've been looking for fancy cars to show in my upcoming music video for  Illumination.  It started with me asking around within friends on Facebook, to then posting on some local car clubs forums, to then meeting the founder of Exotics at RTC.  He has been more than helpful in aiding my film crew and I to find the right car(s) for the video.

I have to say its a bit weird having people email me offering their vintage Ferarri's, BMW's and more. One person even said we could just use it for a few days and just replace the gas.  

The founder at Exotics told me though to spend some time looking around at the cars and to pick ones out I was interested in, and he would talk to the owners. I have come to learn that many of the car owners used to be in the music business, and like to help out with projects like this. And usually their cars just sit in a garage, so for them to get the chance to show it off - well they are all over that.

I have say my personal favorite is the Audi R8. I have always been a huge fan of the Audi and this one just blows my mind and gets my heart racing.  I guess the engine is a Lamborghini engine. Crazy right?

Anyway, it's looking like our two cars will be a Rolls Royce Ghost (was the Phantom, but that one was recently sold), and a McLaren.  The McLaren is owned by a hiphop artist you might be familiar with whom, in the mid-90s, released a one-hit wonder that started out with "Oh, my, gosh Becky, look at her butt.  It's like one of those rap guys' girlfriends...."  He attends Exotics every Saturday and is very much involved in the community there.

Since our budget is so low for my music video, having a nice car will up the visual value and make it look expensive.  There are also some other very cool things in the video that I'm really excited about.  A lot of good people coming together and offering their time to help with the video because for some reason they all believe in my music. ;)  Which is kinda nice.  We'll be filming in mid-September.

Sickies

We've all sort of battled some down days lately.  When we got back from Lake Powell, Taylor was sick for several days....

Will was scheduled to run the White Water 50 Mile race this past Saturday, but he injured his calf/ankle muscles and has been limping around most of the week. He is pretty bummed about not being able to race, but is hoping he is all better in time for a make-up race next weekend.

I am sad that he didn't get to do his race, but I think maybe the timing worked out well because early Saturday morning I had to go to the ER (2nd time in the past month) for severe stomach pains.  The last time this happened, Will drove me and we had to wake up the boys and they never went back to sleep - we're talking like 2 a.m.  So the next day was brutal on everyone.  

But this time I pulled myself together and drove myself to the ER which was so stinking hard!  I just wanted to throw up the entire way there. I drove super duper slow.  I finally did make it though, and eventually got some pain killers and anti-nausea medicine.  My bloodwork, once again, didn't show anything wrong with me. But they told me to come back in later that morning for an ultrasound. So I did....

This is your gallbladder.  And this is your gallbladder on stones.

I learned that my gall bladder has stones, and not only just that, but had a thickened lining - which meant inflamation, aka infection.  

(a very real depiction of me in the ER yesterday morning)

And so given that there is infection, I will most likely have to get it removed.  

I'm really not so happy about having to lose one of my organs. If it were just gallstones, I guess surgery wouldn't be mandatory, but since it's infected...well....it's kinda serious.  So tomorrow I am meeting with a specialist to get more testing done (right now I'm battling the pain with some percoset).  and most likely Tuesday I will have surgery.

My parents are meeting me at the hospital tomorrow to take the boys back up to their house until Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, and then I think the Relief Society from our ward is going to try to put together some help for the rest of the week. or at least I hope. I hear it is a quick recovery, but it would be great to have some help with the boys.

Having Fun

Aside from having sickies and injuries and diseases, we have been enjoying our summer :)

The boys and I have taken many walks to the parks and played...

Speaking of which I'm still baffled that I have any sort of diseased organ still - I really try to eat healthy and I work my rear off at the gym. In fact the day I went into the ER I had done a super tough workout at the gym and have the sore muscles to prove it. :(

Anyway, also, got my new CD booklets....

There were some typos in the original booklets, which I'm totally embarrassed about.  The world probably wonders if I can count properly. :) In my own defense, when I originally proofed the artwork, the way these booklets are assembled - they do not appear page-by-page in order. And so I didn't even notice that the numbers on the tracks were off.

Anyway. An expensive mistake, but all fixed now.

I also went hiking with a girl from my ward - which was nice. Will was all over that!  I think it's one of those "attractive" features he finds in me - haha - which I just never really do without him.  So the fact that I went hiking with another girlfriend on my own accord - he was super impressed~!

Thomas the Train was in town, and so we took the boys to go look at him. But we did not pay the $20 per ticket to go inside, but I'm sure they would have loved that. As you can see, they requested to wear their Thomas tshirts and bring their Thomas toys. Taylor is ecstatic. :) 

 Well I think that's about it!

Aside from not getting any more work done on our house this summer like we'd hoped to, we're keeping plenty busy. I keep teasing Will that I'm going to send out an email to all of our friends that says we're having a "Barn Raising Party - Bring your hammer!" to finish our house. :) haha he wasn't too crazy about that (but secretly I think he was).