Big Budah’s blog: Reconnecting with family, celebrating marriage and continuing health transformations

What Busy-ness? 

This month has me spreading myself as thin as possible with so many extracurricular activities outside my normal schedule.

First, congrats to some newlyweds: my daughter Jordyn and her husband Nathan. What a fun and special day for them. As fun as it was to get away from work, it still takes a lot to organize and put together a family retreat with 30 people (most of them are little kids), but it was worth it to enjoy Bear Lake.

I almost forgot high school football and basketball season is in full swing, with offseason workouts and regular season games.

Change for the Better

I started working with Total Health and Fitness in Draper and Centerville by utilizing their philosophy of nutrition, exercise and accountability—and my trainer Katie Potter is killing me (in a good way). My goal is to get down to 280 pounds by the time my daughter Jaelyn gets home from her mission in December.

Another change in our little family is my oldest son Kingslee being moved by the story of a co-worker’s husband needing a kidney, and offering to give one of his kidneys to help.

Speaking of change, I was able to rub shoulders with some former pro athletes playing in the Onset Financial Gives Golf Tournament to raise money for the Primary Children’s Hospital. Thank you to Wally Joyner, John Buck, Chad Lewis for your example.

Gratitude 

I am extremely grateful for the health, strength and energy. I have to be able to fulfill all of my commitments and obligations while still being able to find time to spend with my family.

I know that without the life-saving procedure from BMI Utah with Dr. Cottam and Richards and with assistance from the Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, I probably would not be here today, let alone have the capability of keeping up with such a crazy schedule.

Thank you all of you for your kind words and “atta boys” that keep me going, especially my wife, and her example in her own weight loss journey.

Wedding, Wedding!!​​

Our daughter Jordyn’s wedding went off without a hitch. It was beautiful, fun and exhausting all at the same time. It was absolutely wonderful to have so many family and friends there to support our family and to show their love for my oldest daughter.

I have never seen her smile so big! She looked beautiful and the happiest that I have ever seen her. The wedding reception was fun; we danced all night long and had some amazing food. My least favorite part is the picture taking because it is frustrating and so hard to get everyone to stay still long enough to get good pictures, but we made it work.

Thank you to all of our family and friends for helping to make this wedding a success in every way possible. I was finally able to wear a beautiful dress that I felt amazing in. I was wearing a size 10 dress: Yay!

This is a huge improvement from two years ago when my son got married. I was wearing a size 22 dress and I wasn’t happy with how I looked in the pictures. I still have a way to go, but I am looking forward to more weddings in the future where I am able to feel accomplished.

Families Are Forever

​We went right from the wedding to Bear Lake the next day. It was a much-needed vacation, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

We attended my husband’s family reunion that we have had for the past 11 years. We had fun playing cards, listening to music, hanging out at the lake, eating yummy food, and having a good time with family.

I love the reunion, and my entire family looks forward to it every year. This year we had a beautiful house to sleep in rather than tents, which was amazing. Now I will never go back to a tent.

The time spent with my nieces and nephews is priceless to me and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. We are connected as a family and I know that the bonds we have built has a lot to do with the connections that we make during this week together.

Joy with Pain

​This month has been full of wonderful joy with my daughter’s wedding, my family reunion, and some pain with the passing of my uncle.

With the death of my uncle came pain because of the shock of how it happened and the timing. My uncle Del Ray was a loving and amazing human being, who would greet any and everyone with a huge hug and a kiss. He was so helpful to my family over the years by paying for my two oldest children’s LDS missions without us even asking for any help.

Del Ray used to say that paying for my kids LDS missions is his ticket to heaven, which I love so much. I know that we are not the only ones that he helped in his life. His funeral was a wonderful tribute to the love and kindness that he shared with everyone. I will miss him dearly. I love you, uncle Del Ray.

Kingslee Donates a Kidney

​The last thing I wanted to share with you this month is that my oldest son Kingslee has decided to donate one of his healthy kidneys to a co-worker’s husband, who has been on a kidney transplant list for more than 18 years.

Kingslee overheard his co-worker talking one day at work about how her husband’s health continues to get worse every day, and after hearing this, my son automatically wanted to help.

He began being tested back in February to determine if he would be a match, and found out about a month ago that everything was good to go! His surgery is scheduled for September 4.

To be honest, as a mom I am torn with how I feel about this. I am beyond proud of the selfless act that my son is about to undergo but I am also extremely nervous for him because there is always a possibility for complications.

I know that the love and support from our family and friends will bring me comfort. If you are able to offer any support to Kingslee and his wife Brittney while he is recovering and out of work, we have set up a GoFundMe account for him.

Thank you in advance with any love and support that you are able to give to my dear son and his family.