Life Lately

Oh my, it has been sooo long since I blogged. Now is my chance to catch up. First off, Christmas. For those that read my last blog entry about my baby nephew, I will update you now. He is HOME and doing GREAT! It was truely a Christmas miracle. He was one of the fastest recoveries that the hospital (CHOP) has seen! After his surgery (he had to have about half of his pancreas removed) he had to do an 18 hour fast to see how his blood sugars were doing (can you imagine :(?). After the fast, the doctor came in and told my sister, "He's cured! You can take him home!". A MIRACLE (so thank you for all your prayers-we know all the prayers have helped so much!). My sister didn't tell anyone that he'd be home for Christmas! The plan was that she and her husband would fly home for Christmas to be with their three girls, and my brother in laws Mom would be spending Christmas at CHOP with little Link. So, it was a HUGE surprise to me when I went to see my sister the morning after she flew in and when I walked in the door my niece said, "Come see my baby!" I totally thought she was referring to a picture but to my surprise there he was! I was in SHOCK! I started to cry and it was such a sweet, sweet experience to meet him. He is SO CUTE! She surprised everyone individually but the BEST was my sister, Tiffany. I was going to do Tiffany and Heidi's hair, so Heidi & I planned a way to tell her. When Tiffany got to my house, I told her that her friend dropped off her baby while she was running an errand and she'd be back soon. So - the car seat was sitting there & he slept while we visited for a while & I did their hair. After a half-hour or so, he started to get fussy & Tiff asked if she could pick him up. I said I thought that would be fine, so Tiff got him out of the car seat. She commented on how cute he was & what big cheeks he had - like Link. She held him for a while and he kind of got fussy. Tiffany said maybe he was hungry. I laughed & said "why don't you feed him, Tiff? You're still breastfeeding." We all laughed. Heidi asked if she could hold him & so Tiff handed him to her. She said "Well, maybe I should just feed him" & she prepared to do so. Tiffany was saying "What are you doing Heidi? You are naughty! That's not your baby!" And she said "YES IT IS!" For a second, she didn't believe us, but she realized it was true & there were hugs & tears & "you guys are SO mean!" It was just so perfect. I truly wish we had gotten it on video. Pure awesomeness!

So, Christmas had an AWESOME start to it! Christmas Eve we spent with my Mom's side of the family like usual which was a lot of fun. Christmas day was a blast! The older Parker gets, the more fun holidays are. It's like the magic is returning full speed :). Parker LOVED opening up presents! I loved watching him- I felt like a kid again. Parker's main gift was a BIKE (with training wheels of course)! He loves it and I can't wait until summer when he can ride it outside. For now he rides it inside and is getting the hang of it really well. Darrin's main gift was a 22 Rifle for target shooting with his brothers (I think he liked it :)). And my main gift was THE BEST OF ALL!! I have been wanting a Digital SLR since I took photography in high school. My wish FINALLY came true and I'm THRILLED! Darrin and my in-laws got me a Canon Rebel T3i DSLR :) :) :). You should have seen the look on my face! I have always secretly (sometimes not so secretly) wanted to be a photographer. I love pictures. I want to be really good at taking them in my own style. I want to learn to edit like a pro. I love my camera and I'm learning lots! After our own family Christmas we went to Darrin's family and had breakfast and did presents and played with them. Then we were off to my parents house. At this point I started to feel really sick with a bad cold which was unfortunate. But with medication, I was able to make it through. It was a lot of fun still. By the night I felt like a truck ran over me. BUT overall, Christmas was awesome!

New Years Eve was spent and my brother and sister in laws. It was filled with good food, good company and good games! For my new years resolution, I am going to do my PERSONAL PROGRESS again. I finished the program as a youth but I thought it couldn't hurt to do it again as a leader and be able to relate to the girls and encourage them while I'm doing it at the same time. I'm actually really excited about doing this. So far it's been great. As one of my 10 hour value projects, I'll be working on becoming a better photographer and learning lots about it and my camera. I love being in YW! I love my girls! In fact, as a recent activity, we did a photo shoot at the temple and I made them calendars for New Beginnings with the pictures I took. So fun.

Last weekend we were able to go to Midway at Zurmatt with some friends. We almost died on the way there. Don't know who remembers the storm from last Friday, but that's what we were driving in, up Parley's Canyon, with bald tires. It was one of the most scary experiences of my life. There was a sign that gave us 1/4 mile warning that said "ONLY 4x4 and CHAINS". We wanted to go so badly and so we made the unsafe decision of staying on the road. The roads were covered in snow. It was blizzarding. It was icy. There were semi's pulled over everywhere. It was terrifying. We started slipping and got STUCK on the left side of Parley's. That's when the tears started. And the praying my heart out started. The only thing we could think of to do is to get out and try to push the car out. So I had to get in the drivers seat and Darrin started to try and push us out in the freezing blizzard with cars driving past. Luckily, there was a time with no cars coming and Darrin was able to push us out. We were able to get to the right side of the road and then we got stuck again. We had to do the same thing, and then got stuck again. I was PRAYING FOR OUR LIVES! I was so scared. Then all the sudden there were no cars except us in sight and a minute later a few massive plows plowed the way allowing it to be possible to get out and make it the rest of the way. I know that was in answer to my prayers. I am so grateful that we made it safe. I am so grateful to be alive. We had a wonderful weekend packed with swimming, hot tubbing, playing lots of games, and eating good food. We just LOVE the friends we went with and the time we got to spend with them.

Right now, we are staying in a mansion at Bear Lake. AMAZING!!! We got a deal and have been staying since Friday morning and will be here until tomorrow (Monday) night. We are here with Darrin's family and it's been great. Darrin has the day off tomorrow for Martin Luther King Day so that's what sparked the idea. That and we wanted to do something for our upcoming 5 year anniversary. Let me tell you about this home we're staying in: 9,150 square feet, 6 car garage, 9 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, massive playplace including a trampoline, swings, slides basketball quart etc, a home theater, slides connecting every floor etc! There are 23 of us here. 12 adults and 11 kids. You can hardly tell. It's definitely not crowded. It has been so much fun watching movies, relaxing, playing games, eating LOTS of food, sledding and more!

Our house is still up for sale. We've had 7 showings. No offers yet. It's a test of patience for me. I am trying to trust in God's timing. Patience is a virtue. I know things will work out sometime.

So, that's what we've been up to lately.

Spencer is getting so big. Getting close to 10 months old. He got his first tooth (both my boys have been late teethers), he loves clapping hands, shaking his head, signing milk, blowing kisses (by hitting the side of his head. haha), and grunting "uh-oh" (when he drops something) and "uh-uh" (when he knows he shouldn't be doing something) :).

Parker has been saying the most funny things lately. When we were in Midway, of course Parker LOVED the swimming! He got to the point that he would wear goggles, jump in the water, find the swimming ring we have (while Darrin was holding him underwater) and come back up with it. He did so well with holding his breath! When we were at the pool once, a man walked in and Parker said, “It’s Jesus! It’s Jesus!” haha! I don’t think the man heard him since it was loud at the swimming pool. He looked more like Santa or Heavenly Father to me, but hey-it was hilarious!, The other day Parker and I were outside and he saw some birds in the sky flying. I believe they were geese. They were making a funny sound and he said, “Mom, the birds are crying!” haha., The other day Parker tuted and said, “I did a ‘scuse you!” and later on the said the same thing with a burp. Haha. I guess we haven’t really labeled tutes and burps around here. All we do is say, “Excuse you!” :).

Christmas:

Photo shoot with the YW:

Midway Trip:

Sledding/Bear Lake this weekend (haven't uploaded pics of the house yet):

Here's a link to where we're staying. It is SWEET! http://www.vrbo.com/216672