Falling into Winter

Joseph and I went out in the snow one recent morning. He had the best time and proved to me that a stick is still the best toy. =)

Here is Anna enjoying our huge piles of leaves. We could not believe how many leaves fell in our yard! What a beautiful time of year. Over way too soon.

Look who was in the hospital

Our little Eryn (5yrs) was in the hospital this week. She has been struggling for a long time with bladder problems and things have escalated recently. After constant daytime wetting, painful urination and a constantly overfilled bladder, we took her in again to see her urologist. About four weeks ago we started the first of a handful of tests to see why her bladder can't seem to empty. Through those tests we found out that her kidney's were not looking good.

So. . . the night before a urology appointment (Tuesday night) we found that she was having very bloody stool. We were concerned and called an on-call urologist and he thought we should wait until our regular appointment the following day. That morning the dr. decided it would be best to hold off on our regular appointment and send her directly to the emergency room. There in the ER we stayed the entire day running various tests and watching her bladder empty with a catheter (in large amounts). They almost sent her home twice, but luckily we didn't go before we found out that she was having high blood pressure, anemia and she was also beginning to become dehydrated from the loss of all of that fluid. We saw a kidney specialist there who was very concerned and believed that she might have kidney disease. So it was decided to place her in the hospital to help resolve her kidney issues.

After two days of keeping her bladder emptied her blood pressure went down, her blood levels improved and she seemed to feel better all around. The kidney specialist was very pleased and seems slightly more hopeful about her possible chronic kidney problems. We still have not resolved her bloody stool and have a long way to go dealing with her bladder problems, but we feel grateful to be finally getting the help and attention that Eryn has really needed for quite some time.

I am trying not to feel totally overwhelmed by the number of dr. appts I have to go to this month. Life is crazy for our family, but the blessings are all around us. Eryn received a priesthood blessing in the hospital that we feel really helped her health improve. And we have such a loving and supportive family and ward around us to support and help. I hope that this wasn't too much information. =)

Halloween 2009

Halloween was really nice this year. The weather was cold, but not bad. We got together with Emily's family, Becca and my parents. I decided to close up my house and give out treats at Emily's. She was giving out full-size candy bars!!! Needless to say, my little smarties were the backups. =) It is really nice to live close to family, it makes every holiday more special.


Lily struggles with swallowing textured foods, but one of the things she can eat well are puffy cheetos!! So that was her halloween treat.

Lily was a chicken for her first Halloween. She is pictured here with one of our favorite people. This sister in our relief society takes Lily once a week to give me a break. She was definitely inspired to offer me this service because it has been invaluable to me. Her support has given me an opportunity to focus on my other children and to do other things I normally could not do with Lily. Right now I use the time to volunteer in Eryn's class.

I also appreciate the loving support and care she gives to Lily. Lily loves her and gets very excited when we walk up to her door. What a great blessing!


Emily's kids were all Star Wars characters. Don't you love the Princess Leia hair?? The two-year olds especially loved the trick-or-treating. They started to run from door to door once they caught on to the whole candy thing. =)


This is the best pic of Anna's costume. We worked pretty hard to put it all together. I got the idea for this "Asian Princess" from familyfun.com. The hair is made of panty hose and bubble wrap.

Welcome Fall

Autumn has arrived and I am loving the changing colors all around us. Joel and I took the kids along with Aunt Becca for a drive around the Alpine Loop to see all of the pretty leaves. We ended the drive at Sundance and decided to take the ski lift for a fun ride and a better view of the beautiful setting. I think that this is going to be my favorite season. I do reserve the right to change my mind, though after all of the leaves fall off of the 11 trees around our house. =)



Becca and Anna rode on another bench in front of us.

Rolling Over is Hard Work!

I just wanted to post this video along with the one in the previous post. It shows how hard she has had to work to be able to roll over with out the help of her legs. It is so cute how proud she is of herself at the end of this clip. Enjoy.

Lily Rolls Over

Lily got her foot brace removed in the beginning of August. Now she just has to wear it at night. As soon as the brace came off she started to roll over from her stomach to her back. We have been working with her in physical therapy on rolling over for quite a while. So we are so proud of her big milestone. She amazes us all with her happy nature and her strength.

Summer Visitors

These are some of Betsy's girls sandwiched in the middle of my kids. They are gorgeous. Below is Elli, Betsy's oldest, holding Lily. Elli loved holding her and spending time with her.


We had a lot of fun this summer with visiting family. Early in the summer my brother Mike and his family came. I don't think I took any pictures of that visit. Joel's cousin Mikki''s family came as well. Then Joel's parents came on their way to and from Scotland. We love having them and always wish that they could stay longer. Hawaii feels very far away for parents/grandparents to be. Finally at the end of the summer we had Betsy's family. She has five girls, so it was just one big girl party. It is great to be living in a place with space for visitors. We hope to have more in the future!

A New Niece

She already looks so different from this picture. But isn't she adorable?


It was like 3am in this picture and the pic was taken after the cream was put in her eyes. So she is a little shiny looking. =)

I got to witness the birth of my new niece (born to Emily) this summer. My mom and I felt so blessed to be a part of this event which was extremely peaceful and sweet. We look forward to getting to know this cute little girl. We are also very pleased that Lily will have a girl cousin so close in age.

First Day of School

The girls are back in school as of a few weeks ago. Anna is in 2nd grade and Eryn is my kindergartener. Both are loving school so far and doing well.

Before sending Eryn off to kindergarten I took the opportunity to take her out on a little date. It was such a great experience being one-on-one with my 2nd child with no distractions. We bought some school clothes and a backpack. Then we went out to dinner. Now every time we pass Chilli's restaurant she reminds me that we went there together and that she loves that place. I need to take more opportunities to be one-on-one with my kids. It is always memorable and worthwhile.

Lily

This is an unusual moment with her shoes and brace off. She wears that thing all day long and only gets to take it off for bath time. I thought I would post this to show how great her feet look. They are nice and flat and positioned very well. She gets to stop wearing the brace all day at the end of the month. We are looking forward to it, although we have really gotten used to dealing with it.


Lily has finally started trying some baby food. She loves it all so far. She is sitting in her little bumbo chair up to the table here. I just love how only her nose and up are showing. Such a cutie.


Always hanging out with her brother and sisters close by for entertainment and fun. That boppy pillow has turned out to be a great tool for physical therapy and just for a comfortable way to elevate her head a little.


This Bumbo chair is going to be her good friend for a while, I think. It really supports her upper body very well, so that she can sit upright and enjoy that position for quite a while. Hopefully when she is older she will be strong enough to sit up on her own with her hands as help to prop her up.

Dr. visits have finally slowed down and we are just enjoying our little girl. She is a happy, patient, sweet soul.

Happy 4th of July!

The kids participated in a kids parade as part of our 4th of July celebration. They were so thrilled to be in a real parade and had a good time. Joel was probably the only Hawaii representation in his red white and blue aloha wear. But I guess he had to represent. =)

Eryn Graduates and turns 5!

Eryn is 5 years old! She had such a happy birthday. We did a puppy party (because she has been obsessed for over a year now with dogs and dalmations). She insisted on having a dalmation cake and dog pinata. The party got rained out, so we did it all in-doors. But she really enjoyed herself. Only I felt a little extra stress with so many kids inside and watching a pinata get knocked around in my basement.

Eryn adds so much to our family. She has a very giving, sweet nature and is such a joy to us.



Eryn successfully finished her little preschool at the end of May. This preschool was such a blessing to Eryn and to our family. In Hawaii we talked about putting her into a preschool, but I was not comfortable with it being every day and the price was soooo high! There really weren't a lot of good choices. So when we moved here we were thrilled to have so many options in price, level of schooling and days and times. She just went two days a week for two hours. It was just enough for her to get a little experience and confidence as well as socialization. Kindergarten is only half day here, so it was a great prep for the next step which will be 3 hours five days a week.

Lily's Doing Well

Lily got her last set of casts removed about three weeks ago. We decided to really sign them up, since we didn't on her other casts. She looks funny in this picture because she was half crying. Anyway, I wanted to do a little dance when her last casts came off in celebration. Dr. says her feet look great.
Now Lily is on to the phase where she wears a brace attached to special shoes. The brace and shoes keep her feet in a good position and hopefully her feet will not be tempted to turn back into their original club foot position. She gets to wear this contraption for three months all day long and then will only need to wear it at nap and bedtime until she is three. I can't believe I am actually getting used to it, but I am. The shoes had quite the dramatic start, though. She immediately got sores and blisters on her feet because they did not fit right. Then her feet swelled up really bad. I was very upset about it and felt semi-responsible for not asking more questions when I thought they didn't fit properly. Anyway, luckily it all worked out over a period of about two weeks once we got the new shoes. Otherwise she is growing really well and enjoying life.

Mother's Day

I had a very nice Mother's Day. Joel and Andy bought Emily and me leis (straight from Hawaii) to wear to church. It was a very nice surprise and we both loved it. We would have given one to our mom, but she can't take the smell because of allergies. Anyway, I loved the opportunity to go to Anna's class for Mom's and Muffins just before Mother's Day as well. She and I rarely get to have one on one time. So it was a great little chunk of time for both of us to just be together.

Motherhood is a unique and special role. I love my mom and have a great deal of respect for her for all that she did for me and my siblings. She was a great role model in so many ways and I hope to be as good a mom as she was (and is). Motherhood has been a great spiritual education for me. I am learning so much about the gospel and myself on a very deep level. I love each of my children very much and find a great deal of Joy in watching them learn and grow. Being a mom is hard in so many ways. But I truly do not want to be doing anything else.

Lily's Room

Before . . .

Joel and Andy working on the room.


After. Isn't it beautiful? I wish I could say that I did any of the work, but Joel, Andy, Emily and my dad did it all.

Our New House

We have been in our house for about a month now and we are loving it! We never thought we would ever live in something so spacious and beautiful. It is a rambler with a basement. The main level has three bedrooms a small living room, a bathroom, and a great room (kitchen/dining/family room). The basement has a large family room area with a kitchenette, three bedrooms and a bathroom. The backyard is nice and wide with lots of trees and play equipment in the corner which the kids love. We are finally starting to feel settled now that furniture is in place and two major projects are done (finishing Joel's office and fixing Lily's room). This picture was taken the day we moved in, but now the sun is shining, the grass is green and there are leaves on the trees. Coming from the small two bedroom, one bathroom apartment we lived in in Hawaii, we feel totally blessed.

Going Back in Time

Our little Joseph turned two on St. Patrick's Day. Even though it is long past, I wanted to post pictures anyway. He brings us so much joy and laughter. We just love having him in our family. Joseph is a very tender-hearted boy. He forgives quickly, shares well, LOVES his dad like crazy, wants to push every button in his reach, loves any kind of computer or electronic device, loves music, obsesses about his pascifiers and talks up a storm. One of the cutest things he says is "Lily-la-lou". This is his little nick name for Lily. We love you Joseph and Happy belated Birthday!

Easter 2009

A little late, but here are a few Easter photos. Our family Easter tradition is to search for Easter baskets (hidden by the Easter Bunny). The kids really enjoy finding where their baskets are hidden and then laughing about how funny the hiding spot was. Anna found hers in her backpack this year and Eryn's was up on a ledge in the shower. Joseph didn't get the whole searching business, but maybe next year he'll be more into it. He sure loved the candy, though. =)

A Wicked Weekend

My sisters all came together here in Utah for a girls' weekend just before Easter. It was so nice to be all together and without kids distracting us (not that we don't love our kids). The main event was to attend the musical Wicked. I loved the whole experience and even got teary-eyed at a few parts. What great music and creative story-telling! Attending the temple was also very special. It is not very often we all get to be together in such a quiet, beautiful place. I was especially emotional since I hadn't been to the temple since before Lily was born. I love my sisters. They are not just my sisters, they are my friends! (Mike we missed you).