Wanna see??

Our lovely weekend . . . . .
in pictures!

The family cabin





Big Springs





Yellowstone



Mesa Falls




No words needed :)

Kindergarten or bust . . . . .

My baby graduated from preschool the other day.

He was sooooooooooooooooooooooo proud.
We were too.

I got the worst pictures of the occasion though.

All of them looked like this -


This kid has too much energy and too much drive to make people laugh.
And, laugh they did.
Davin and I were probably turning a couple shades of red, but we couldn't be prouder of our little man and his accomplishments.
Every milestone is a huge deal for us with this boy.

He even had a graduation trip!
We spent the night at Grandma's house while Daddy was on a business trip.
He had a blast!
Here he is enjoying some delicious s'mores at Grandma's table.


What a guy.
Congratulations Christopher.

Don't be scared . . . . .

I'm kind of a scaredy cat.

I'm afraid of silly things, really.

I am scared of taxidermy animals.

Ooooohhh man.
I am terrified.
Especially the big ones. Bears, big cats.
Agghhhh!
I can, of course, go into a Cabellas without screaming, but my stomach is doing summer saults.
Maybe it's the thought that they could magically come to life and devour me.

I am scared of deep water and SHARKS!

Hello! I live in Idaho. Not an ocean in sight.
I seriously get panicked even in a deep swimming pool.
I'm not afraid of water itself, I'm a good swimmer, but the thought of something beneath me ready to devour me . . . . . SO SCARY.

Is there a theme here? I guess I have a fear of being devoured.

I am also scared of ghosts.

Scared to death of the things.
I CANNOT watch any of those dumb ghost hunting shows cause then I can't even walk around my own house at night.

One thing I am not afraid of . . . . . . giving haircuts.

Now, I'm not GOOD at giving haircuts but I have no fear. Probably not the best thing.

It may have started when I had to start giving my Christopher hair cuts because of his sensory issues.


I had to do it with scissors too. Buzzers were too much for him.
He has definitely had some interesting hair cuts, but I had to do what I had to do :)
I'm getting so much better.

I have no fear of giving hair cuts to myself. I did one today. I woke up and thought . . . I'm getting bored of this long long (and I mean LONG) hair. I'm gonna cut it. And, I did. I got carried away and cut bangs. UGH! It's not good to cut your own hair. You do things on impulse. Now I have (what I would consider) short hair and bangs.


My hair is even shorter than this picture because I went back to even it out and ended up cutting off a couple more inches. Duh.

Wow. Big change.

Fear can be a good thing.

What are you afraid of? Or NOT afraid of?

Things We Love Lately . . . .

We love that it got to 77 degrees the other day.

We spent most the day outside running in sprinklers,



picking dandelions,


and washing rocks?

Andy spent most of the time asking "Find da rocks?" (with the most pathetic little face) so he could spray them with his spray bottle.


Whatever keeps them happy!


I love the improvements we have seen with our Christopher.



These past couple of months have been very trying for us.
Christopher's anxiety had reached a new level and his days were spent screaming and crying.
If you have never seen a depressed child, I can tell you that it is absolutely tragic.
His anxiety had gotten so bad that I was re potty training him. An almost six year old.
I thought training a 2 or 3 year was hard.
This was hard.
He psychologically could not get past his anxiety. He knew how to use a bathroom, but his fear was overtaking him.
I spent most of this winter at home feeling sorry for myself (hate to say it). Ugh.

BUT, we are doing better!!
We finally found a medicine combination that is helping.
It can't take his disorder away, of course, but it is HELPING him function.
Such a huge blessing.
I love modern medicine.



I love that I have a new project.
I am moving the boys into the same room.
Christopher loves the color red and wanted a red room.
So, they are going to have a red and gray robot room.



I will show you when it's done.


I am loving this song (click to hear it):
Hourglass
I have just discovered Mindy Gledhill and I kinda love her!
Such a unique voice.


I loved watching 20/20 last Friday and seeing Nie Nie!!


How can you not admire and love this lady?
If you haven't been to her blog, YOU SHOULD.
I have a link on the side of my blog :)


I love that my Grandma just got an IPad.
She has never used a computer, but she is learning and I know it can't be easy :)
I hope she reads this sometime and knows that I LOVE HER!!

What are you loving lately??

Spoiled

I was sitting at my table this morning looking at sweet little cards and handmade gifts my boys had given me for Mother's Day.

I remember thinking, as a child, why does my mother love getting these silly handmade presents every year? Even as a child I realized they weren't the most expensive, most elaborate gifts I could possibly give. I was proud of them though, nonetheless.

Now as a mother myself, I cherish each little piece of paper or painted rock because it was made with their little hands. Made with love by my special, priceless little boys.

My Christopher has a difficult time finishing projects so he was overflowing with pride when he presented his Mother's Day gifts. He also went up and sang with the children at our church on Mother's Day. I was elated!! You have no idea how hard that is for my boy. I was so proud.
He told me "Mommy you are spoiled to get alllll these presents from me!"

Yes I am.

It's all a blur . . . .

What a month it has been!!

It flew by so fast - I barely know what happened.
I do remember a few things . . . . .

Idaho is still cold, wet, sometimes snowy, and READY for some warm weather!! PLEASE??!
However, these rainstorms are leaving me with some beautiful skies at night.


Can't complain about that!!




Tax season is OVER!


Yippee!
Our Daddy has come home to us.




My little brother got married in Boise to an awesome girl!



I only took one stinkin picture while we were there and it happened to be on my phone.


A picture of my boys acting ridiculously crazy in our hotel room.
Christopher plus sleeping in a hotel do not mix :)
It was such a beautiful wedding though and we loooved being there.



A lot has been happening with our Christopher.
More medicine (ugh), more doctors (ugh), more and more paperwork for mommy (ugh).
However, Christopher has finally started his therapy.
He goes to a facility near our home called Camp Hippo.


Wonderful, amazing, beautiful place.

Such a strange thing though to bring your child to a place like this.
You see these sweet children with these tremendous struggles.
Children and parents that I used to feel sorry for and (sorry to say) pitied.
Now, this is US. We are one of them.
I feel like we have been inducted into a new society. Ha ha.
Who would want to be a part of this??
No one.
But, I will tell you that these kids are so brave.
We are thankful for this place to bring our son.




We had a wonderful Easter.



We dyed Easter eggs at home with grandma.



Then, we headed to the grandparents in Utah for Easter baskets


and an Easter egg hunt with the cousins.


So much fun.



Davin and I went to the U.S. Army Field Band and Chorus concert the other night.


FAB-U-LOUS.
Loved every minute.
There were the two of us "young" people and a whole auditorium full of elderly couples. :)
There are two things (along with a million other things :) ) that get me emotional.
Music and Soldiers.
I played the clarinet in band for 8 years and whenever I hear a band play it makes me so emotional.
Then, you add in young men and women who serve our country . . . . . TEARS.
They played the songs for each of the branches of the military and they had the audience stand during the song of the branch they served with.
Nearly all of those elderly people, some having a hard time even standing up, rose for their song.
Oh my heavens! So awesome.
Loved it.


So, what have you all been up to???

Things We Love Lately . . . . .

We loved looking out the window today and seeing SUN.

S-U-N-S-H-I-N-E. Such a beautiful thing.

So, because we loved it so much we spent most of the day outside. While we were outside, Andy did something that I am loving lately. TALKING. Nonstop.

Since the second we stepped out the door he was following Christopher around chatting it up.


He looked and sounded as though he was solving the greatest mysteries of all time.


I think he is.
Too bad I can't understand half of what he was saying.
Even when Christopher went inside for a potty break the kid still kept talking


- shouting to him through the door :)

We love us some strawberries. I don't eat them too much because of the price, but when we do we enjoy them thoroughly.
I found one as big as my cell phone the other day.


It was fantastic! Christopher is a little obsessed with the giant food in the movie "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs" so this strawberry was the best thing EVER.

We love the Jimmer.


We miss the Jimmer.
In case you didn't know, my husband is the biggest BYU fan ever.
I was putting away his t-shirts the other day and counted 15 BYU shirts.


So . . . . ya, we miss the Jimmer :)

I love my new dining room set.

We decided that after 6 years of sitting at our tiny table, plates touching, legs being kicked, no room for guests . . it was time to say goodbye to our old one. I'm kind of a sentimental baby about things. We got that table for our wedding and we had our first married meals (yikes) at that table. My babies colored their first pictures on that table . . . . (tears). BUT, my new table is awesome! It can be pulled out to fit 6 or more people (that's gigantic to us). So, we are loving it and we can now have people over for dinner.
Come on over!

I also love my new family room.


We took our huge couch and huge bookshelves downstairs and painted over our orange wall. We bought some super cheapo used couches, lots of thrifted things, and made it into a much better looking space. (All of you amazing house decorating people please try to muffle your laughter.) It may not be amazing but I had fun trying to make it look nice for super duper cheap.

I love that Andy calls Christopher - BUDDY.


Don't know how he came up with that.
I hear "Buddy!" being shouted throughout the house and it makes me so happy.

One more thing we love.
We love that we were approved for a government program that will pay for Christopher's therapy for at least 2 years.(therapy is EXPENSIVE! Holy cow!) Everyone told us that we wouldn't get it. I went to every terrible interview, turned in stacks of paperwork, went from doctor to doctor getting referrals . . . . and we got it.
Another little miracle in our lives.

What are you loving lately?