She was so excited to show us what she has been working on every Monday after school.

She even suggested one of the numbers, Popular, from the musical Wicked.

Here’s a video from the school performance.

And here’s a link to the video on YouTube.

We had walked past a neighbor’s home around the block. The kids saw their horses and begged to go in. Since they were out and had previously invited us to drop by to let the kids pet the horses, they neighborly invited us in.

I said I’d stay on the sidewalk with our dog, Tank, while the kids saw the horses, but they insisted Tank and I also come in. I kept Tank on his leash for five minutes or so until they again insisted I let him roam around the fenced yard.

I was hesitant to let Tank roam freely because they had a small poodle-like dog and a black lab and I just wasn’t sure what might happen.

Sure enough, about five minutes later Tank came running over to us with a bloody ear. The black lab and he were going at it on the other side of the garage and their dog got the best of Tank.

About a one-inch chunk of Tank’s right ear was hanging loose with blood dripping everywhere.

So, our Mother’s Day afternoon was spent rushing Tank to the emergency veterinarian and paying $430 for him to be knocked out and sewed up.

At least we got to squeeze our Mother’s Day roast and potatoes dinner in between the time we dropped him off at the vet and the time we had to go pick him up with his newly stitched up ear and plastic cone around his neck so he couldn’t scratch his ear.

The cone comes off on Wednesday. At least that’s what we’re planning, but who knows.

And the neighbor did come over and graciously offered to pay for the vet bill. We split it with him.

That morning the kids and I surprised Vickey with four tickets to the Fourth of July Stadium of Fire concert by Carrie Underwood at BYU’s football stadium.

So between the concert and fireworks tickets and the vet bill, Mother’s Day this year became our most expensive ever.

But that’s okay. Vickey’s worth it. And despite his crazy personality, Tank is too.

For a while the kids were really beside themselves watching Tank bleed all over all of us and himself. Eliana asked if we were going to have to put him down. It took several times of Vickey explaining the vet would have to put him to sleep temporarily to stitch him up but that Tank would not die.

Ellie cried many times that afternoon. She’s an expert crier.

Dominic was concerned, you could tell, but I didn’t see him crying.

Then again I was pretty much focused on tending to Tank.

Gordon was a great help as well. He applied pressure to Tank’s ear until we were able to get it bandaged up and get the dog to the vet.

It was a crazy Mother’s Day.

Vickey had him at the dentist in November/December for an exam and then an appointment to fill some cavities. But Dominic wouldn’t sit still for the dental work. Even with Novocain and laughing gas, he couldn’t stand the drill.

And who can blame him? I think being a dental patient is an unnatural experience. (No offense, dentist friends.)

Since Vickey’s teaching junior high school, the job of taking Dominic to the dental office to be knocked out and worked on fell upon me.

The anesthesiologist had me hold Dominic’s legs and arms while he gave him a shot in his hip. A nurse also distracted him with a jar full of toys. But once the shot happened Dominic started screaming and trying to hit and kick all of us. That kid sure doesn’t have a very high threshold for pain.

Within just a couple minutes Dominic fell asleep and was carried into the dental chair where his work is being done as I type. He has seven cavities that are being filled. I think he inherited his mother’s teeth, or at least oral bacteria.

All this to preserve baby teeth? Good grief!

And, although we have insurance through Vickey’s employer, we’re still out of pocket a heafty sum for this little procedure. Health care is certainly expensive.

So, back to the title of my post: What to do while your kid’s unconscious?

It is weird, as a parent, knowing your child is unconscious. It’s the first time since we’ve had kids that either of them has been totally unconscious.

Dominic was kind of in and out when he broke his left femur, but even when they put a cast on him he wasn’t knocked out with anesthesia. And yes, that experience was far more traumatic for me as I was there trying to console him while he was in so much pain. Then I had to deal with the police and social workers in Henderson who assumed, incorrectly I’ll add, we were guilty of child abuse. That was quite an ordeal (which you can read about here if you’re interested).

Rather than fret and worry, which I’ll leave to Vickey, I brought my work with me and have been very productive while they’re working on Dominic’s teeth.

In fact, I just took a call from a new client to make arrangements to begin our work together. Good. Now we can pay for Dominic’s dental work!

I’m sure the rest of my day will be spent caring for a sleepy, perhaps grumpy four year-old. Won’t that be fun?

And since he’s been fasting since last night at 10 a.m., I’m certain he’s going to want to eat something, a lot of something, at some point today.

Shortly after we arrived today, the pediatric dentist’s 7 a.m. patient was carried out by her father, still pretty sound asleep. It’ll be interesting to see how sleepy Dominic is after the procedure.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

I didn’t.

Yesterday I had a business meeting in West Valley City and on my way back to the office a motorcycle police officer pulled me over.

He said I was speeding and that the speed limit was 35 miles per hour.

I told him I thought I was only a couple miles per hour over the limit which the sign said was 40 mph.

He told me I was wrong, that it was 35 mph and I was going 45.

I told him I wasn’t interested in arguing with him about it.

A few minutes later he came back to my vehicle and said he was going to give me a break and not give me a moving violation that would count against my driving record and insurance. He said he would just give me a $55 ticket for driving with a cracked windshield.

Then he asked when I moved — which he knew because the address I gave him for my home was different from the address on my driver’s license.

When I told him we moved in October he said he could give me another $55 ticket for not updating my address with the DMV within 10 days of moving. But he “wasn’t trying to be mean,” so he didn’t ticket me for that also. But he told me I need to take care of it.

So, I learned two things about driving in Utah:

1. You can get a ticket for a cracked windshield, and
2. You can get a ticket if you don’t update your address with the DMV within 10 days.

Who knew?

About 30 minutes after returning to my office my phone rang. It was the police officer. He called to apologize because he realized after our conversation that the speed limit was indeed 40 miles per hour on that street. He said they changed the speed limit there last week and he didn’t realize it.

So, kudos to him for being man enough to admit he was wrong.

But how lame is it that I got a ticket for a cracked windshield?

So, my truck is at the glass shop today, getting a new windshield.

Want to place any bets on how long it is before I have another chip and crack in my windshield? My guess: it won’t be too long.

Our skiing crew: me, Joni, Melissa, Vinny, Angie and Brian.

While my entire family was together for Christmas this year in Salt Lake, the siblings and spouses took a day to hit the Park City slopes.

This was probably one of the best Christmas gifts from our parents. They spent the entire day, from sun up to sun down, taking care of their grandchildren, all seven of them.

We bought a set of tickets from Costco for Park City Mountain Resort and enjoyed skiing from about 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; with some time in the early afternoon set aside for eating at the cafeteria (I haven’t been so hungry for a long time).

Here we are waiting for our first ride up the lift.

My sister-in-law’s sister, Joni, also joined us. And Vickey took care of all of us by watching our stuff and reserving a lunch table for us. She spent the day in the lodge reading a book. She also stole away and went to downtown Park City to check out her brother’s oil paintings at the Coda Gallery.

My brother-in-law, Vinny, is for all intents and purposes a professional skier. I don’t know that he has actually earned money skiing, but I know he’s been on skis since he was two or three and that he is the most talented skier I personally know.

Up the mountain we go!

In fact, he’s in the process of building a machine to make homemade skis. Sounds crazy, I know. But he and my sister do live in Vermont and those vermonsters, as we affectionately call them, do have strange ways.

Vinny was great at giving us pointers and helping us down the mountain. I was surprised he hung with us the whole day instead of doing his own thing. But he did go skiing several other times during their weeklong visit to Salt Lake City, so I think he still enjoyed some quality alone time on the slopes.

Melissa and Brian at lunch.

This was only the second or third time I’ve been skiing in my entire life. And I think the last time was about fifteen years ago with Angie and Vinny in upstate New York.

Vinny coached me to better control my speed and not go kamikaze down the mountain.

Happily, we all made it okay with just a few sore muscles as a result of our day at the ski resort.

Vinny and Angie at lunch.

Getting home was a bit hairy since it was snowing. Once we were down the mountain it took us almost 90 minutes to make a regularly 40 minute drive across the Salt Lake valley to my brother’s home in South Jordan to get our kids and bring them back home.

But driving that night was nothing like it was for Vinny coming down the mountain last night. It took him a couple hours to get back to the Salt Lake valley from Park City. They flew back home this morning so I’m sure he’s plenty tired after all the skiing and traveling.

Me, Angie and Brian after turning in our skis. Melissa jumped in at the last minute and is peeking over my left shoulder.

It was great spending the week with my parents and siblings and their families!

Thanks again, Ang, for the ski day. I had a blast!

On our way home after a day of skiing. Joni, me, Vinny, Angie, Melissa and Brian.

Highlights

Eliana and me, just before her baptism on Oct. 10, 2009

We were so proud of Eliana on October 10 when she was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both sets of grandparents, some aunts, uncles, cousins and good friends joined us in Bountiful for her special day.

Also in October we enjoyed Pete’s Aunt Sarah’s 80th birthday celebration in Richfield, Utah. It was fun to make the trip there again, to Pete’s mom’s hometown, and reconnect with aunts and uncles.

The end of September we packed up and moved out of the Bountiful rental home where we were living for the past year. We loved the neighborhood and made many good friends there. In fact, we received so much support from members of our ward in Bountiful who helped us pack and move, and many very good friends took time out of their schedules to help us on moving weekend. We love and appreciate you all!

We’re living now with Vickey’s parents in Holladay in a couple of their spare rooms and will begin looking for a new place once the school year is over. We’re so grateful for the Snow’s hospitality and generosity.

Eliana’s still going to school in Bountiful. Since she changed schools last year, we let her choose this year whether or not she wanted to stay in her Bountiful school or transfer to the school by her grandparent’s home. For now, we’re all commuting from Holladay to Bountiful, Vickey and Pete to work, Eliana to second grade, and Dominic to daycare.

We traveled with Pete’s brother, Brian, and his family to West Yellowstone for a couple days in August before school started. It was a whirlwind trip but left lasting impressions of beautiful Yellowstone, Old Faithful and sulfur scented geysers galore.

Family trip to Yellowstone National Park, August 2009

We always enjoy spending time at the Snow’s Strawberry Reservoir cabin near Heber City, Utah. We made it there as often as possible this summer and enjoyed our favorite new cabin tradition — popcorn, snacks and movies projected on a white Queen sheet hung up on a cabin wall.

It’s great living in Utah so close to family and friends. The kids get to play with their cousins pretty frequently and we occasionally get to see many more extended family members. We enjoyed a summer camping outing with the Coglianese family, something we’ve always enjoyed doing together, and we enjoyed spring break in St. George visiting family and friends, including Eliana’s best friend from Henderson, Olympia.

Gordon & Murriel Snow celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary

A highlight for Vickey’s family was her parent’s 50th wedding anniversary where the whole Snow family gathered at the cabin to celebrate with Gordon and Murriel. We played games and even had a build-your-own-boat-and-race-it contest. Charley’s vessel was the most seaworthy, by far.

Our family’s big accomplishment this summer was a large garden. (See some photos on Flickr.) Vickey took charge of a couple rows of vegetables, herbs and fruits in the community garden that neighbored our Bountiful rental home. We enjoyed every kind of fresh fruit you can imagine, including my favorite, raspberries, in quantities that were greater than we could consume.

Our first-ever gardening efforts were very productive. We still have frozen apricot and raspberry jam to show for it. At Halloween the kids even got to carve pumpkins that they grew themselves. The whole gardening thing is something we couldn’t have experienced like we did in Henderson’s desert climate. Of course, shoveling snow last winter off a sloped 40-yard driveway was no walk in the Henderson water park.

Photo of Vickey Codella, October 2009

Vickey

Vickey returned to her profession of teaching special education in January of this year, this time at a junior high school in Bountiful. She taught for about 10 years before Eliana was born, then took some time off to have and raise children, and is now back in the ranks of the country’s most needed profession.

This summer Vickey began a one-year online Master’s Degree program with National University based in California. And this fall she was asked to be the special education department chair at her school. Vickey’s plate is very full.

Me / Pete

Photo of me, Pete Codella, October 2009

My public relations and marketing firm has now been relocated three times in two years. I’m a pro at moving furniture and boxes. I’m happy to be sharing space with one of my clients, working out of an office in Woods Cross, just a mile or so away from Vickey’s work.

This year I began doing some presenting for Ragan Communications, a corporate communications training firm out of Chicago. I enjoy speaking, presenting and training professional communicators on the benefits of utilizing an online newsroom and social media for marketing purposes. My NewsCactus online newsroom software continues to evolve and gain traction in the public relations world.

This year I co-authored an e-book called Integrated Marketing in the Digital World. Me and my co-author are in the process of compiling an expanded manuscript slated for printing in the fall of 2010.

This summer I developed a new online course for the University of California, Irvine Extension called Using Social Media as a Tool for Public Relations. I taught the course this October and am scheduled to teach it again in the spring. I was also asked to be a member of UCI’s advisory board for its Public Relations 2.0 Certificate program.

My professional volunteer commitment this year was to the Social Media Club. I’m one of six founding members of the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City and served this year as the chapter’s president (AKA program director). The Salt Lake chapter made history this year by launching the world’s first Social Media Club sponsored awards program recognizing excellence in social media tools and strategies. I chaired that effort, known as the Utah Social Media Awards.

Eliana Codella in her baptism dress made by Grandma Codella

Eliana

This year Eliana has taken up piano lessons and is also taking an after school dance class each week. She enjoys music and is frequently found pretending to be a Metropolitan Opera soprano. She’s in second grade and doing exceptionally well in her school work. According to her teacher, Ellie’s a good, helpful student and often looks out for her fellow students.

Dominic

Since Vickey’s back in the work force, Dominic spends his days in daycare. The first part of the year he went to a great family’s home in West Bountiful. Since school started this fall he’s been attending the Woods Cross High School daycare where he romps and plays with a dozen or so kids, learns his alphabet letters, flirts with the high school girls and does tons of fun activities. And yes, there is adult supervision there as well.

Dominic loves Mario Kart on the Wii. In fact, he loves any electronic game. But just to help give him some diversity we took him to swimming lessons at the Holladay recreation center this fall. He and Eliana both love swimming.

Dominic Codella, taken October 2009

Conclusion

So, if you’ve made it this far in our annual update, thanks for reading!

At least with the investment of a handful of minutes, you can’t claim we haven’t kept you in the loop this year.

At this season the symbols of Christmas remind us of the birth of our Savior. We express gratitude and love for the gifts of salvation and exaltation.

We wish you an especially peaceful and joyful Christmas and holiday season.

Happy New Year from our family to yours!

~Pete, Vickey, Eliana and Dominic Codella

The center pages are ours, titled La Mia Famiglia, Past Present & Future — The Codella Family.

My friend is the editor for La Voce and asked us in October if we would be willing to be the featured family for the paper’s Thanksgiving issue. It sounded like a fun honor.

So we gathered some photos with the help of my mom and Aunt Betty, submitted them with captions, and are the proud recipients of a center spread in the newspaper.

Below are some images of the newspaper pages and here’s a link to view a PDF of the two pages.

La Mia Famiglia - the Codella family

La Mia Famiglia - the Codella family

Aunt Sarah, celebrating her 80th birthday, pictured here with her granddaughter, Maria

The week after Ellie’s baptism we found ourselves at my Aunt Sarah’s 80th birthday party in Richfield.

It has been years since we made it to my mom’s old stomping grounds in Richfield. It was nice to pay the little old town a visit.

We spent the day there, along with my folks who were visiting from New York and Brian and his family.

There was an open house at the Richfield Senior Center. I managed to lock our van keys in the vehicle at the end of the event so we had to hang around for another hour or so to get the keys retrieved by a tow truck service with their fancy unlocking equipment.

All of us stopped in Provo for dinner at Outback Steakhouse and had to wait way too long on a Saturday night for our meal. By the time we got home we were exhausted.

But it was fun to visit with family and be there supporting Sarah and her family to celebrate her most impressive milestone. I hope I don’t live to be 80. Just sayin.

Our family - those of us in Utah and able to attend Sarah's birthday celebration.

My mom with her siblings and their spouses.

My mom with her siter Julia and brother Russ.

We picked apples in Sarah's back yard. Here I am on a ladder, up in the tree.

Grandma Codella directing the apple picking.

Dominic thoroughly enjoying apple picking.

Eliana in the apple orchard.

Grandpa Codella enjoying a freshly picked apple.

Eliana on Oct. 10, 2009 with her cake following her baptism.

It’s been almost a month now since Eliana was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I’ve got a handful of photos and some thoughts I’d like to share about the event.

Although we have moved out of the rental home in Bountiful, we choose to hold Ellie’s baptism in the stake and ward we’ve been attending for the past year. That way many of our family friends were able to attend and support Eliana.

In addition to ward members and friends, we had both sets of grandparents, my brother and his family and Vickey’s soon-to-be sister-in-law. We also welcomed friends from Henderson, the Nelsons, and the Coglianese family who were also our friends in Henderson but now live in Utah Valley.

We gathered at the stake center around 4:30 for pictures. The program began at 5 p.m.

I’m happy to report that the curse of the double baptism ended with Eliana (both my dad and I were baptized twice because the first time we weren’t completely submerged).

I’m also happy to report that I remembered the wording to the baptism ordinance. I expected the words to be in the font with us, but they weren’t (they were at my brother’s son’s baptism; guess it depends on how new your church building is).

When Eliana was confirmed we were blessed with such a strong spirit. It was a memorable confirmation and father’s blessing. And it was my privilege to perform the two ordinances for Eliana. She was very much looking forward to her baptism and we’re very proud of her for wanting to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and take upon herself his name.

Being Christian is a lifelong pursuit that’s not fully understood at age eight, but at least she understands the importance of making and keeping promises with Heavenly Father, and of striving to lead a kind existence, helping those who stand in need and comforting others in times of grief or sadness.

It was good to have a baptism in our family. It’s been a long time since my mission and close, first-hand experience with baptism.

I’m proud of you, Eliana, for deciding to be baptized and become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Our family: me, Eliana, Dominic and Vickey

me and Eliana just before her baptism

Eliana and Dominic with Grandpa and Grandma Codella

Eliana and Dominic with their cousins, Carter, Luke and AJ

Eliana with her best friend, Olympia

Eliana and Dominic with the Coglianese and Nelson kids

Eliana with Penelope and Olypmia

Eliana and Dominic

Those of you who have known me since the 80s know I’m a diehard Whitney fan.

My message to Whitney:
I used to look to you.

Unfortunately, her great talent as gone largely unused for decades.

Fortunately, she’s managed to pull herself together enough to release a new album.

You can certainly hear the mature Whitney voice — a bit deeper, a bit tired and scratchy, but still rich, powerful and pleasingly soulful. Thanks to the advancements in recording technology — editing, auto tuning and such — she sounds pretty good for what I’ve heard she’s been through.

I have my favorites: I Didn’t Know My Own Strength (although I like the version I was emailed a few weeks back better than the version on the album), I Look to You, and Like I Never Left (with Akon). She even does a pretty good job with the standard, A Song For You. I like the slow intro and up-tempo treatment. But I think Elliot Yamin’s version is even better.

The album photography is impressive. Whitney looks good. But who wouldn’t with that kind of money and support system behind them?

As far as R&B albums go, it’s contemporary. It’s also safe; nothing too trendy, or out there.

Whitney’s in a different position now: too young to be a gracefully aging diva and too old to compete with fresh new, young talent.

Despite all the personal baggage she’s sporting, I’ll likely always enjoy listening to her recordings. I’d be surprised if I was impressed with a live performance, but I wouldn’t want to miss out on the possibility if the opportunity presented itself.

I Look To You will be on my iPod and enjoyed along with a couple hundred other Whitney recordings. So thanks, Whitney, for 11 more new tracks to add variety to my Whitney Houston collection.