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?

I believe . . . .

I believe in miracles.

My boy has been the recipient of so many.
This month we have had an abundance.
My heart is absolutely bursting.


Miracle #1

Christopher was missing going to preschool and was having a hard time getting over the big change of his old teacher moving away.
We couldn't find any open preschools and we were just accepting the fact that he would be done with preschool for the rest of the year.
My sweet neighbor decided to start a preschool this fall and wanted to do a "trial run" for a few months.
She called and asked if Christopher would be interested.
YES!
He is there with 3 adorable little girls and he is having a blast.


It's small, close, fun, and he has a teacher who understands his needs.
We are blessed.



Miracle #2

We have been trying to get into an AMAZING therapy center catering to autistic children here in town called Camp Hippo.
This place has so much for the kids to learn and do.
Horses, climbing walls, crafts, you name it - they've got it.


I've been on the waiting list for months and we weren't moving up the list any time soon.
Living in a small town there are VERY limited resources and this camp is FULL.
Well, guess who came into my husband's firm looking for someone to handle their books!?
The owners of this camp.
Davin's wonderful bosses handed this job over to him and now he gets to meet with them on a regular basis.
Davin told them about our Christopher and they told him "He's in."
HE IS IN.
We are blessed.



Miracle #3

We have been worried about what to do with Christopher for school.
We are worried that he may get lost in the public schools and that it may be too overwhelming.
We even considered home schooling.
Yikes (scared me to death)
I found out about a wonderful charter school in town.



Small classrooms, lots of technology (christopher's love), lots of one on one attention = What we need!
They choose the students by lottery. Basically, Christopher's name had to be randomly chosen from a sea of hundreds of names. Oh, and the brother's and sisters of children already attending get picked first. Annnnnd, even after all that his name ended up on a huge list of "maybe we can fit one more??" and they selected him.
The school told us that basically it was a miracle he got in.
We are blessed.

Miracles.
This little boy has things to do in this big world.
We are grateful for everything the Lord has provided for us in our journey.

Did you know?

April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day.

I used to wonder what it meant to be "aware of autism."
Does it mean give money?
Does it mean to take a moment and think "Wow, glad that's not me!"
(that's seriously what I thought :) )
I found a new meaning of being aware and I hope you will share it with me.
Autism Awareness means being aware of what autism is.
Believe me, I am still on this path of learning.
It means taking a moment in the store when you see that screaming child and not judge.
It means taking a moment to realize that the spectrum is HUGE and you NEVER know who suffers from it, or who does not know that their loved one is on the spectrum.
My son has been blessed to be on the high functioning end of the spectrum. He has the ability to tell me that he loves me and I am incredibly thankful for that. So many parents would give anything to hear those words.
Autism Awareness means thinking of everyone in a new light even if they do not suffer from autism.
EVERYONE is on a journey.
Let's all take a moment to be aware of the ones around us and offer our patience and love.

Almost there . . . . . .

Waving bye bye.
(notice the hat and jammie ensemble. . . at 7:30 in the morning. BOYS.)

Daddy is off to work.

Only one more month of tax season!!!
(okay maybe a liiiittle more than a month, but we are getting close here people!!)

Things We Love Lately . . .

Wow, I feel like I've been gone a long time!

It's only been about two weeks since my last post but it feels like forever.
It's been a rough couple of weeks and every time I tried to sit down and write something happy and fun it came out grumpy and boring.
I feel a little better today.
We are working on a new treatment with Christopher and I think it is helping with his anxiety and overall attitude.
It's an interesting treatment and maybe someday (when we are very sure about its results) I will share it with you.

Anyways, sometimes it is hard for me to look through all the gray yuckiness to the good things in my life.
I have a lot of things to love . . . . . . .

I love brown, ugly grass.
Really, I do.
Spring was here the other day.
Of course, Idaho did not let her stay, but it was such a breath of fresh (still a little chilly) air. The kids had a great time out there enjoying some sun while still being able to find the few patches of snow that are left to track into the house :)

The kids love their color changing cars.
My kids want to play with EVERYTHING in the bathtub.


They loooove the bathtub.


So, Grandma got them these color changing cars for their bath time and they are in heaven.

I love AND Christopher loves Moon Dough.



Have you seen this stuff?
Wow. I love it.
It is allergy free, NEVER dries out, and it is the most interesting (oddly soothing) stuff to play with.
Their Aunt JJ was here a couple days ago playing with it and went out and bought her own grownup self some.
Seriously, this stuff is fascinating.

I loved this book.


When I saw the cheesy, pink cover I immediately thought - Uh uh. Not for me. But, I decided to give it a chance when I saw who wrote it. It was a great book. Highly recommended.

I love this show.


This is my dream life.

I love to crochet. Remember that pouf ottoman I showed you a while back? Well, she wasn't looking so good. I got some new, better stuffing for her and she looked a little better. However, with kids jumping on her and too big of stitches she was looking sad. Sooooo, I finally figured out that the directions had called for double crochet (bigger stitches) and I really needed to do a single crochet (smaller, tighter stitches) to make her look perfect. So, I undid ALLLLLLLL the stitches and started over.

I seriously have a ball of yarn as big as a basketball.

Amazing. She is looking fabulous. Much much better. I will show you when I'm done.
(Was that the most boring thing you have ever read on a blog???)

How is everyone out there???
What are you loving lately?

He came . . . .

I love Valentine's Day.

Love the colors, love the candy, love the little notes, love the memories, love the love.

Hope my kids feel the same way.

This Valentine's we made Valentine cards for all the grandparents


and we made some Valentine mail boxes.

Christopher asked me "Who brings us something for our mail boxes? Santa Claus?"

My reply : "Uhhhh . . . . ummm. . . well, The Valentine Mailman."

Ya. That's the best I could think up.
I could have said ME!

I could have said Cupid!
I could have said a huge, magical, red, glittering heart character who loves to spoil little children!
Nope. The Valentine Mailman (CREEEEEPY).


I've always had some strange mailmen and the thought of one sneaking into my house to deliver candy to my children . . . . not good.

Oh well. The kids seemed to be okay with him.

They had so much fun opening their mailboxes this morning.




The Valentine Mailman


brought them a spinning, glowy thingy (ha ha) from Grandma.


They looooooved these.

The Valentine Mailman


also brought them some bubbles from Mom and Dad.



NO SPILL bubbles!



The person who made the no spill bubble container deserves an award!


Mothers everywhere thank you!

And, of course, the Valentine Mailman



brought some candy.


Yummy.

I love these kids. I love my husband. I love all my wonderful family and dear friends.

Happy Valentine's Day to all!!!

Here's to hoping that The Valentine Mailman makes a stop at your house ;)