Update On The Family

It's been a while since I have written an update on what we are all doing so I thought I better do that.

Justin (age 14) is really growing. He is now as tall as mom and gaining weight. He continues to play the baritone in school and is in the pep band for their basketball games. Justin is excited to attend EFY (Especially For Youth) at Utah State this July with his cousins Timothy and James. It is a 5 day program that is really wonderful for the youth of our church. Justin has been diagnosed with clinical depression and is getting help for that. He is on medication and is seeing a great councilor. We love him so much and know that he will get through this.

Jayd (age 12) started taking piano lessons in December and is really enjoying it. She is a natural and is picking it up VERY quickly. She is still playing the flute in school but has said that she will probably not do it again next year but will concentrate more on piano and sports. She got all A's and 1 B this past school term. Jayd has now passed mom's height and is still growing at a crazy speed.

Chancey is turning 12 in just a couple weeks and she is excited about going into Young Women's in church at that time. She is so tall now...almost to mom's height. She just finished a science fair project using water and food coloring. She continues to play the piano and has become a constant reader. Chancey also got all A's except for history..she said the teacher was not nice.

Lilah (age 9) is really enjoying school this year as she has some great friends. She also got all A's except for Math. She continues to play the piano beautifully and is great at helping mom with cooking dinner. Lilah is also growing like a weed and doesn't seem to be stopping as she the doctor is saying that she is the size of an 11 year old.

Olivia (age 7) is doing so much better with her reading and amazes us daily with it. She enjoys reading the scriptures with us which we know has greatly helped her progress with her reading. She continues to be in her own little world and that other day Matt asked if he could join her there. She just looked at him with a blank look on her face. Yep...that's our Olivia.

Abe (age 4) is doing amazingly better. We started him in pre-school in November and wow...his behavior has improved so much. His teacher has been so patient yet firm in teaching him that fits, angry faces and crying is not needed or appropriate. We see this improvement now at home and Primary class too. Wow...what a blessing she has been to Abe. I guess he needed someone other than Mom and Dad to help him improve. We now no longer are afraid of him going to Kindergarten next year.

Elijah (age 2)...where to begin. We have decided that he must be hyperactive. I know...all two year old boys are but wow...he is none stop running, jumping, climbing etc. He is learning so fast too. We are working on potty training and he is doing well...not close yet but he is getting the idea and not fighting it. His hemophilia is managed well with the factor that he is getting 3x's a week. What a blessing that is for this very active little boy.

Matt is very busy at work right now. He has had to work longer hours and we miss him but we are so proud of his hard work and example to us. Matt continues to be the Scout Committee Chairman and enjoys playing basketball 2 mornings each week with guys from the church.

Cayr (me) has been working on the quilts for the kids. Abe and Olivia's is now done and on their beds. I am now working on Lilah's quilt. The kids and house keep me very busy.

Well, there is the family. We are looking forward to Grandma Jacqi's visit in February and for spring so that we can get out more. :)

Love Sunday Muffins

Sunday mornings we have muffins for breakfast. We usually have a triple berry first then a chocolate chip muffin. Elijah really got into his muffins this week. They were all over him but he sure enjoyed them!!!

We're Going On A Cruise!!

So remember Matt's declare that he was done with parenting after Elijah had played in the toilet. Well our healthy response to that comment and incident is for Matt and me to go on a week cruise together. :)

We are leaving on April 26th and will be flying to Miami. We then board the Carnival Cruise ship called the Valor. We will be stopping at 4 locations as well as having 2 days at sea:
Grand Cayman Island
Isla Roatan (Island off of Honduras)
Belize
Cozumel, Mexico

We chose this particular cruise because 3 of the locations we will be stopping at have ancient Mayan ruins that we will be able to tour. Plus all the relaxation and sleep we could ever need or want!!!!

He's at it again...

...actually he never stops. He is at a very interesting age right now. These pictures show Elijah wearing one of his sisters head bands as he is playing. He put it on himself. Impressive isn't he.

Then yesterday he hit his head REALLY bad. This is his first major head bang that resulted in a dangerous goose egg on his forehead. Within the hour of hitting his head he had been given a double dose injection through his port of his Factor. The picture doesn't show how bad it really is but I had to try and take a picture. This morning it is looking much better. He still has a goose egg but it is down and the coloring looks better. We will give him another double dose of factor today and a single dose tomorrow to make sure that the internal bleeding does stop.

Then this morning, Elijah decided to make our morning full of fun. He found a bathroom door open and decided to play in the toilet AGAIN. Well this time someone had "done their business of #1" and not flushed. So you guess it...Elijah had water ALL over the bathroom....as if he had been splashing and just having one heck of a good time. I hate to say that after cleaning the bathroom from top to bottom Matt's comment of "I'm done raising kids" was understandable.

Lilah and her friend Payton

Lilah has a good friend named Payton. They are in the same school and church class. They enjoy playing together and the other day Payton came over after school to play with Lilah. As they were eating their afternoon snack they decided to sit on one of the porch benches and listen to the sounds outside. They looked so cute out there that I had to sneak and take pictures from the window in the dining room. I know that Lilah says they are only friends but I think it may be more than friends for him. :-)

Our New Home?

UPDATE, Sunday, January 18th, 2009: Isn't life interesting!! As we wait to hear back from the bank Matt and I are now trying to decide if this is the right time to move. There is a strong possibility that we will wait. We LOVE that area and the home and who knows...maybe we will feel the time is more right in 6 months. With the economy there could be many more homes foreclosed in that area that would give us the opportunity again. We went to the Temple yesterday and that was what we have decided. Yes, I'm disappointed but know that we are being directed if we but listen.

UPDATE, Friday, January 16th, 2009: So the process of a short sale has nothing to do with the word "short". LOL. It is taking forever to get an approval from the bank although the home owner has given his approval of our offer. So, the last we have heard is that the bank will be another week on a decision. We found out that we are the only offer they are considering and since we offered their asking price we think that may be good. On our own home we are still working on if we will do a Lease To Own with someone we know or put it up on the market. The details on doing all these things are staggering and hopefully they will not kill this whole thing but we are praying still that it will work. We will update again when we know anything.

Written 1/13/09: This is possibly our new home. Yes, we have put an offer on a home in Herriman, UT. It is really beautiful and so perfect for our family. It has 7 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms upstairs on the 2nd floor. We will use one of the rooms (which is HUGE) as a playroom until we finish the basement family room. On the main floor is the living room, formal dining room, office, kitchen with an attached family room, laundry, 1/2 bath and another room with a full bath next to it. The only problem with that room is that it does not have a closet....who would do something like that? So that room will become my sewing/project room. The basement, when we finish it, will have 2 more bedrooms, a full bath and a huge family room. The area is really beautiful set up next to the mountains in the southwest corner of Salt Lake County.

This is a short sale home which means the people have already moved out because they can no longer may the payments. The bank has already approved the selling price which is about 100k less than the homes value. Yes...this is a GREAT deal. So the status is that the owners have approved our offer and we are now waiting for the banks signature. Wow!!!!Here are some pictures of the home. I wish they had more on the MLS listing but they didn't....so enjoy these. We'll keep you all updated.

Formal dining room looking into the entry, living room and den.

Stairway looking down from the 2nd floor.
Kitchen Family room off of the kitchen.

Terrible Two's Already?

I'm not sure what happened on his 2nd birthday but since that very day Elijah has been impossible. He now thinks that playing in the toilet is fun and is completely soaked when I find him. Yuck!!!! At the store the other day he decided that I didn't go the way he wanted to go so he threw a huge temper tantrum. He started hitting me until I pushed the cart away from me and I just let him cry until he decided he had had enough. Elijah also now pulls the chairs up to the counters to get things he wants...such as the crayons in the cabinets which are there so he can't get them. I found him standing on the counter as he was trying to get the crayons out. Yes, my heart stopped at that very moment thinking about what would have happened if he had fallen. And then this wonderful job he did on himself and the piano. Argggg. Lucky for him it was a washable marker. We can't leave him alone for a minute!!!
His eyes are closed in the picture because he has decided that he doesn't like the flash on my new camera and so refuses to have them open as soon as he sees the camera come out.

Nana and Papa's Adventures

On November 1st, 2008, Nana and Papa began their 3rd mission as a couple in the Jordan River Temple. Papa is the 2nd Counselor in the temple presidency and Nana is the assistant to the Matron. They will serve in the Temple for the next 3 years. We are so excited about this new adventure for them.

Potty Training Time

Elijah has been sitting on the potty for the past month and not doing anything...but he sees his big brother sit there so he wanted to also. Well yesterday afternoon he finally went "pee" in the toilet and proceeded to do it 2 more times that day. This morning we missed the opportunity when he woke up but an hour later we were successful. So...looks like we will be starting the process. We are so excited!!!