Carter's Baby Blessing

We had Carter's baby blessing a few weeks ago.  We weren't sure Papa would be able to make it out of bed to bless him but with the help of everyone, he made it. Back: Eldon, Micheal, Jared, Anthony Front: Papa and Carter

Left to right: Micheal, Tonya, Jared, Heidi, Carter, Chrisenda

Back Row: Alex and Jayla

2nd row: Bella, Blake, Emma, Derek, Gavin, Bailey  Front Row: Jovie and Colin 

Back Row: Jared, Chrisenda, Tonya, Michael, Janet and Bella, Amber, Eldon, Anthony      Second Row: Gma, Jayla, Emma, Derek, Blake, Colin, Gavin, Heidi and Carter                       Third Row:Brandon, Bailey and Chandler

Baseball with the family

Our family has been playing softball with Chrisenda and her boyfriend Jeff, Jayla and Bailey and Gma and Jared. It has been loads of fun. I even got in there and pitched for a while. It might be a while before you see me running bases but that is my ultimate goal.

Badges and Scouts

Today was the Blue and Gold Banquet. Both Brandon and Chandler got badges. Brandon got his Cooking and First Aid Merit Badges.



Chandler got his Bobcat. There were some ROTC soldiers from BYU and Chandler and his friend Britian had thier picture taken with them. It was a wonderful night.

Spring Break

We decided to do something fun for Spring Break. We were going to go to the zoo. The children decided it was too cold. We decided to go bowling with Jared and his kids. Brandon won. Alex got one strike. We had lots of fun.




I decided I have an obsession with bowling shoes.

On Saturday, we went to the Bean Museum. We took some pictures of the different animals that were on our quiz.

Winter Fun

Now that most of the snow is gone and I can appreciate it, I will post a few favorite. I had more on my phone, but I got it wet and so I lost those. Darn it.

Welcome to Holland

I came across this poem that is written in 1997 by Emily Perl Kingsley, the mother of a son with Cerebral Palsy, while she was a writer for Seasame Street. I Like it alot and wanted to share it.



Welcome to Holland

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this…

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!" you say. "What do you mean, Holland?" I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to some horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy a new guidebook. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

The pain of that will never, ever, go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Written by Emily Perl Kingsley

Asperger's Syndrome

Brandon was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome(on the Autism Spectrum, thus the Autism Awareness background) a little over a month ago. I am still trying to learn more about it and how to handle him. It has seemed to be good for him. He is going to a group therapy called Stride. It is giving him the social aspect and teaching him how to interact with other close to his age. He does well in school, but this is teaching him how to voice himself more and it also helps him with his homework. I have to go to a parent meeting every Thursday. It is very helpful for me and teaches me how to handle my children and thier separate problems better.