A visit from the Utah Jazz....

I have hestitated in sharing this picture for a couple reasons.....ONE the blonde Nu Skin Dancers and TWO the blonde Nu Skin dancers in the picture that make me feel short, fat, and frumpy! LOL!!!!!!! Never mind the fact that they probably don't have children and aren't going through the biggest challenge of their lives! Let's face it, even when I didn't have kids and any serious challenges in my life I never looked that thin, healthy or gorgeous. LOL! This picture was taken the day Ian had Gertrude (his line) removed. Some of the players and coaches of the Utah jazz were at the hospital handing out signed basketballs to all the sick kiddos. Maybe one of these days we will get to go see a Jazz game. I think the boys would love it!

Spencer's Stink Face....

I just had to share a couple of photos of Spencer's new favorite face to make. He cracks us up. When he's in the van he will make this face while looking at himself in the mirror we have hanging on the seat. He makes this face when he wants to eat, be held, or wants to nurse. So he pretty much makes this face several times a day. While making the face he also breathes fast through his nose, it's really too funny! We are also able to get him to make this face if we imitate him. He laughs at us of course and then we laugh back at him.

Christmas Photos....

I have the hardest time getting all three to look at the camera at the same time! LOL! Bryce was interested in his toy and I was just happy that Spencer wasn't crying because I wouldn't hold him. Kind of hard to do when I am taking his picture. They got these sweatshirts for Christmas. I think they look all look handsome! I'm biased of course!

Here's Bryce showing off another sweatshirt he got from Santa. Cute kid, I just love the bed head. It was so much fun watching him open gifts this year, he was so excited.

Santa brought Ian some more Ben Ten gear, he was thrilled! This one is called Diamond Head. He also got Wild Mutt, Humongosaur, & Swamp Fire.

Our Christmas Tree. We took our tree down today and now the house looks naked. In the evening once the kids have gone to bed, I love to turn all the lights off except for the tree lights and have some quiet time.

I tried to get Spencer in on this picture, but he wasn't having any part of it. Lets face it, Ian wasn't thrilled and while Bryce was alright with it, he still acts like a goof ball just to annoy me. Silly kids!!!

Lego Time.....

Bryce showing off another of his creations.

Here's Ian. I'm not sure if you can tell, but he has eyelashes again. And his eyebrows are growing back. His hair is taking a little longer, it's just so blonde and so fine that it doesn't show up as well. On a side note this kid ate a pancake, 3 sausages, two pieces of bacon, 5 peach slices, a huge sippy cup of chocolate milk and half a bowl of froot loops for breakfast yesterday morning. He did well at lunch and dinner also. I am so happy to see him eat better. Now if he could just start to look a little less skinny. LOL!

The finished project. He's so pleased with himself! Fun kid!

Here is Ian throwing legos even though I have asked him not to throw toys.... maybe someday he'll learn. Bryce's favorite thing to do with legos is build tall towers and then gets frustrated when they break in half. We are working on having patience and just trying again.

Last night the boys were having a blast playing legos. They were shrieking with laughter and enjoying themselves so much I couldn't help but take a few photos. I'm so pleased with Bryce, I asked him to pick up his legos when he was done playing and he did. Lately I have been struggling to get him to pick up his toys and nothing seems to be working. Last night I told him that if he didn't pick up his toys I was going to have to call Santa and tell him not to stop by our house this year. It worked! LOL! I could hear him telling Ian that if he didn't pick up his toys mommy was going to call Santa and tell him not to come. It's so neat, Bryce is really into Santa this year and seems to grasp the concept that he leaves gifts for good little boys and girls. How FUN!

More pictures of Spencer...

I just couldn't help putting some more pictures of Spencer up. He is getting so big and likes to walk around holding on to everything. He especially loves to be in the kitchen with me while I am making dinner. He's nearly a year old and still no teeth, but that doesn't stop him from eating all the big people food. He's never cared for baby food. He's such a happy little guy. Mike's nickname for him is "rigormortis" or "rigor" for short, because he goes stiff as a board everytime we try to put him in his car seat, stroller, high chair or even to put him down on the floor. He wants to be free or in our arms. Funny kid!!!

Merry Christmas

Since we don't have a fireplace, :( we decided to hang the boys stockings below their baby pictures.
I love this olive wood nativity set. It was a gift from my great aunt Katie. I love nativity sets in general, I just don't have the surface space to display them all.

We don't dare put any presents out yet... between Bryce, Ian and especially Spencer, nothing would stay wrapped. I'm already having problems keeping them from touching the ornaments. Fortunately they are shatter proof, but that doesn't mean that Spencer doesn't want to put the hooks in his mouth. Little stinker! LOL!

I wanted to share some pictures of our decorated tree and house.... I don't know what I am going to do once Christmas is over????.... The house is going to feel so naked. LOL! I love everything about Christmas except taking down the decorations. Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year!

Winter has arrived...

The mountains and the Great Salt Lake....
The mountains and the Great Salt Lake....

More of the Great Salt Lake.... this is the view from our family room.


Last time I lived in Utah was when I was at BYU and to be honest I don't remember getting so much snow.... I'm fairly certain I would remember a lot of snow since I walked everywhere. Anyhow, we have been getting dumped on and the weather forcasters predict we are going to get more. Part of me would love more snow and then the other part of me that has to get to and from Primary Childrens in SLC, doesn't want anymore snow because I don't want to have to drive in it. Ugh! Oh well.... I thought I would share some pictures. Most of the pictures were taken from our back porch. The view is spectacular, minus the military housing of course, our camera doesn't do it justice. Enjoy!

A very important T-Shirt

I truly thought I had lost this T-shirt and truth be told I was sad! However, as luck would have it, I found it buried in a rubbermaid container of clothes and now Spencer gets a chance to wear it. YAY! All of my boys have worn it and as far as I am concerned the message displayed is so true! LOL! Some of you might think it's a little innapropriate.... oh well. Inappropriate is an adult man wearing a T-shirt that says "I love boobies" on it. LOL!

Spencer

Ian

Bryce

CHILE

I am so excited and so happy I just have to share this with everyone. For the last year or so I have been trying to locate families I knew on my mission and also some of the people I taught while a missionary in Chile. Up until last night I had met very little success. See, my biggest problem was that I couldn't recall many of the families second last names and so on. So when I would do a people search on Yahoo or look for them on Facebook, I couldn't find them. Anyhow, last night I was playing with the boys and a thought just came into my head of the full name of one of the young men I taught on my mission who was also baptized. I hadn't been thinking about my mission exactly and yet the name came clearly to my mind. So I went to the computer and checked Facebook. I found him immediately and what's more I found his sister, his mom who I taught, as well as another young man Paulo I taught and was also baptized. I am so happy. I have never forgotten the sweet people of Chile with whom I had the priveledge of sharing the gospel and I am so grateful for the internet which has made it possible for us to reconnect even though we are thousands of mile apart. Now the only problem is that I have to sharpen my rusty spanish. Last night I instant messaged with Carlos for a little over an hour and my brain could barely keep up. Carlos said I still speak fine, but I think he was just being nice! LOL!!!!! Heavenly Father is so merciful. I am so grateful to have found my dear friends.

Goodbye Gertrude!

This is Gertrude all clean with a new dressing. Ian survived another torture session. Poor boy, I hate to see him miserable and unhappy! I definately don't like being the bad guy.
I have to wear a mask and in this picture I am putting on sterile golves to begin the cleaning of Gertrude.

Gertrude with her old dressing removed waiting to be cleaned. I think the anticipation of the cleaning is the worst for Ian. He knows the alcohol swabs are going to sting, at least the chloroprep doesn't sting.

Here I am removing the old dressing. I don't have to wear a mask or gloves for this part. I just sanitize my hands well before I start.

Here is Ian waiting for the torture to begin. Gertrudes dressings are looking a little raggid. He has had this line since Sept 8 and has not had one infection with it. The doctors are impressed. I can't tell you how many kids I heard of while Ian was in the hospital or who had gone home and had to come back to the hospital because of a line infection. I am convinced that proper flushing and meticulous dressing changes have made all the difference.

Last Friday at Ian's clinic appointment, the doctors asked us if we wanted to have Ian's Broviac Line removed (aka Gertrude). Our response was "Is the pope Catholic?" We are so excited, things are happening much faster than any of the doctors told us they would. For those of you who are unfamiliar with a Broviac Line, it is a pain in the rear!!!! For the last four months Ian has not been able to have a regular bath. Gertrude's dressings can't get wet and the claves (the two blue "hats" at the end of the line) cannot be submersed in water. If the dressings get wet or if the claves get wet, then everything has to be changed and then there is also the risk of infection. It's bad enough that I have to flush his lines daily, but it is a HUGE pain to get him to cooperate once a week when I have to change his dressing and change claves. NOT FUN!!!!! Anyway, we are supposedly going to have the line removed in the next week and half and I can't wait! So I took pictures of what I hope is Ian's last dressing change and clave change. It's possible I might have to do it one more time, but I am going to be positive and hope that I don't have to. Ian hates having the dressing change. I think the alcohol stings and taking the old dressings off doesn't feel too great either.

Clones....

Spencer 9 and half months old.....

Ian exactly 10 months old.....

Bryce about 6 and half months old......

For some time now I have been asking Mike to find the pictures of Bryce and Ian when they were little guys. They were on the computer somewhere, but when we bought a new computer, the Vista program wouldn't let us use our Kodack program. Anyhow, by miracle today, Mike was able to find the photos and transfer them to a the program we use now that Vista will recognize. Anyhow, I was looking at their baby pictures and reminiscing, they all look so much alike, and yet I have always thought they looked so different. I thought I would share a few pictures....

A Visit to Santa....

Yesterday, Ian had an appointment at Primary Childrens. Of course we had lots of questions. We asked his doctors if it would be alright to take him out once in awhile so long as he wears his mask and so long as the place we take him is not busy with lots of people. In addition, we have to pull him in his own wagon and he can't get out. They don't want him to touch anything that might be dirty or have germs on it. Anyhow, I have been wanting so bad to take the boys to see Santa, but I had pretty much just decided it wasn't going to happen. So you can imagine how pleasantly surprised and happy I was to get the okay to take him on short errands by following all the rules.

So this morning we got the boys all ready and we left for the Layton Hills mall so that we could be there when Santa got there. The line was short and the mall wasn't super busy yet. We were able to get a picture of all three boys sitting on Santa's lap. I am so happy!

Of course, we can't tell if Ian is smiling under his mask and Bryce looks goofy because just before they took the picture, he was busy eyeballing a HUGE Santa sack full of candy canes to his right. He looks tortured to have to look at the camera. He normally takes such cute pictures. Oh well, I guess we all have a few not so flattering photos of ourselves if we're going to be honest.

This was Spencer's first time visiting Santa and I am so happy that he smiled. Spencer has never gone through the whole stranger anxiety, everyone's his friend. His personality so far is a lot like Bryces'.

Since we got home, Ian keeps asking me when we are going to go see Santa again. It's a HUGE change from last year when we couldn't even get him to sit on Santa's lap.

Thanksgiving....

From Left to Right:
Ashley 12; Stephanie 18; Spencer almost 11months; Bryce 4; Ian 2; & Sean 15

Dave and Stephanie got a hold of the camera

and left us a cute picture

We had a great time at Thanksgiving. Mike's older brother Dave and his family joined us along with their foreign exchange student from Germany. We ate LOTS of food and played games and watched movies. I actually got to go see a movie with the girls. I am so glad they came and I am so happy that Ian stayed healthy. Everyone was so good about washing their hands and keeping things tidy. It was so much fun watching the cousins play. Daves kids are the oldest of the cousins and Mike's and my kids are the youngest. It was neat to watch the older kids play with Bryce and Ian and love on little Spencer. I sure hope the cousins can get together more often.

Mohawk Time....

So Bryce woke up with his hair all messed up and so I decided to do a mohawk. We actually let Bryce go around like this all day. He's such a good sport! By the way if you haven't already noticed, he's preparing to go alien....

Happy Thanksgiving....

Since I am not sure if I will have a chance to write tomorrow, (highly unlikely!!) I wanted to take a moment now to share with all of you some of the things that I am grateful for. I have so much to be grateful for and if I should be required to list everything I would not have space enough here to do it and I am positive that I would not be able to do it complete justice! So I am going to stick with just a few of the most important things to me!
Without overstating the obvious, I am so grateful for my family. Specifically, I am grateful for my husband and my three sweet little boys! I can't imagine how I got so lucky. Despite the fact that I am woefully imperfect, they love me unconditionally! I am grateful for their perfect love. I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Anything and everything that is a blessing in my life is as a result of my membership in the true church. I have the opportunity to partake of the sacrament every week, I enjoy temple blessings, I had the priveledge of serving a full time mission, a knowledge of the Plan of Happiness, and plenty of opportunities to serve in the church.
One of the blessings I am grateful for is the power of the priesthood. I have always had faith in priesthood blessings and yet over the last 6 months my testimony has grown, I have witnessed miracle after miracle as a result of worthy men exercising the priesthood power on behalf of Ian. I know without a doubt in my heart, or mind that it is the power of God to heal and to bless, bestowed upon worthy men to act in His name.
I am grateful for loving friends and family who have prayed and fasted for our family. I am grateful to a loving Father in Heaven, who has not left us alone through this scary time. Truly we have not been required to shoulder this burden alone. All of you have carried it with us. Thank you! It would have been unbearable without all of your love, thoughts, prayers, kindness and service. I look forward to the day that Mike and I can be on the other side of the fence, serving and loving others in need and not having to think of this challenge.
I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live. I know that They know us individually and that They love us with perfect love. I know that the church is true, that the gospel has been restored in its fulness. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and I am so grateful for my knowledge of the truth. I love you all and I hope you all have a very wonderful and happy Thanksgiving!

No more "Hank".....

Well, Ian finally did it....did what you ask, he yanked his NG tube (aka: Hank) out this morning around 4am. He woke me up calling for me and by the time I got to his bed, he had already thrown up all over his pajamas and his bed. So I turned off the pump (aka: Fred) and held the puke pail for him to finish. Anyhow, when he throws up, his tube usually comes out a little, no big deal I just push it back in... not this morning... it came out quite a bit and as I was trying to gently put it back in, I must have hit a tender spot because he slapped my hand away and yanked the tube all the way out at the same time. I just looked at him and laughed. To be a little honest I am kind of glad to have it out....

Of course I called his doctors this morning and explained what had happened and to my complete delight they said we could see how he does over the next few days without it. I am so happy! He ate really well this morning and when I say really well, I mean for a kid who has undergone chemo and transplant. At any rate, I hope he doesn't have to have the tube put back in. Now all I have to do is convince the doctors they can have his Broviac line (aka: Gertrude) taken out. YAY! That probably won't happen for awhile though. It's amazing how just having the NG tube out has brightened my day.... it's hard to see my little guy walking around with a tube coming out his nose and not think "he's sick".

Bryce

Computer time for Bryce
Bryce all ready for bed after a nice warm bath


Bryce helping grandma Jackson carve a pumpkin

Bryce playing pilot at the Air Museum here on Hill AFB

Pilot in training!

Yesterday, Bryce and I went to see Madagascar 2. The movie was good and the company was even better. It has been so long since I have had the opportunity to go do something with just Bryce. I really enjoy spending time with him, he's becoming so independent and he loves to hold a conversation and he asks tons of questions. What a neat kid! The last six months have been hard on him and he has had to give up so much. He kept asking me yesterday if I was going to take him to school. I love to see his enthusiasm for school and so we talked about it for awhile, why he likes school and why he wants to go. He asked me "Will my teacher love me?" I assured him that his teachers would love him. On the way home from the theater Bryce was quitely singing one of the songs from the movie ("I like to move it move it, you like to move it move it"), he was so quiet about it and so I asked him to sing louder. That is one of the things that I love about him, he loves to sing, and he has a beautiful voice, of course you realize I am biased. He loves to play on the computer at DisneyPlayHouse and he is really good at figuring out how to play the games. One of his favorite activities of late is to go with his grandma Jackson to the Air Museum here on base and try on flight suits and get into the planes. He continues to have a TON of energy and is all over the place, laughing and running and most of the time not following directions. Sometimes I wonder if he will ever learn to follow directions the first time...??? Most of all I love to see him playing with his brother Ian and asking me if he can hold Spencer. He loves being a big brother. I remember when I was pregnant with him, I asked Heavenly Father to bless me with a little boy with a great sense of humor, and I got it. He has a great sense of humor and more often than not he cracks himself up. LOL! To Bryce everyone is his friend, while I love that he is not shy, I certainly hope that he learns stranger danger. I am so blessed to have Bryce as my little boy and I love him so much!

Spencer

I write so much about Ian, that sometimes I forget to update on my other sweet little boys. I thought I would share a few cute pics of Spencer. He is growing so fast and I am convinced that his first year is going faster than either Bryce or Ians. He has brought us so much happiness. Truly he has been the joyful distraction amidst all the ugliness of the last 6 months. He is a crack up and such an easy baby. He has been so spoiled by all the attention at the hospital. Doctors and nurses want to take him home with them. As a result of being loved on all the time, he thinks that he needs to be held all the time, not an easy thing to do when I have three kids crying for my attention. Bryce and Ian just adore him and I love to watch them as they make Spencer laugh. I feel so blessed to have all three of my boys. I certainly have done nothing of myself to deserve their unconditional love. I hope that I can always be worthy of their trust and love. Outside of my membership in the Lords true church, and my temple marriage, my boys are my greatest blessing!!!

One of the most recent pics of Spencer - 10 months old!

9 months old - what a cutie!

Three days shy of his 7 month B-day

About three and 1/2 months old -

Spencers Birthday-just hours old...

Update....

Notice the Ben 10 watch, he wasn't completely dressed for his clinic visit without his watch.

Just a quick update on Ian. He will be home a week tomorrow and we are enjoying every minute with him home and we are especially happy to not have to take him back to the hospital! He had a clinic visit this last Friday and he has grown, so now he is 38 inches tall and he isn't even three yet. All of his lab work looked good, although his liver enzymes were slightly elevated, along with another measurements, called bands. I don't understand completely what that measurement is, however the nurse practioner said that between the two, with them both being slightly elevated it could indicate the start of a bacterial infection. I didn't think it was but they drew blood to do cultures. I was right it wasn't anything, the cultures didn't grow a thing in 24 hours. I am so grateful that all is well. Ian is doing better everyday! He drinks more everyday and trys to eat. He will be on an NG tube for awhile, but the good news is that he seems to be tolerating his feeds better and better. We had to start giving him his prevacid at night because he was having such heart burn and acid reflux. Poor kid! Otherwise he is having the best time playing with Bryce.