Factoring Elijah

With Elijah's hemophilia we need to give him infusions 3x's a week. These infusions give him the clotting factor that is not made by his body. This is very important as just normal activities can make him bleed internally and can be fatal if not controlled. Elijah has a port in his chest that then has a tube that goes into his heart. This is how we inject the factor as his veins are very difficult to get at this time. Even the IV team at Primary Children's Hospital have a hard time getting a vein on Elijah.

Matt and I have been trained on mixing the factor and then infusing Elijah and we are now teaching Justin and Jayd how to do this. This has to be a very sterile procedure and they have been mixing the factor and doing the prep work now for several months but this past Saturday was the first time that Jayd used the needle to poke through his skin and into the port. She was very nervous but did a great job. Next Saturday will be Justin's first time. We are grateful that they are willing to learn this life saving procedure for their little brother.

Happy Birthday Chancey!!

Chancey turned 12 on Monday, February 23rd. She was so excited for this birthday. Some of the things Chancey got were a camera, camera case, new scriptures with her name on them, body spray, Young Women theme poster, hair things and more. Mom made her cake and she chose Fat Noodles for her birthday dinner. We sure love Chancey. She is growing up way too fast.

Justin and Jayd

Justin and Jayd had a great time last night visiting at Aunt Chrissy's house with their Lewis relatives. Uncle Philip and Maria are moving to Alaska so they were there to say goodbye to the family. The cousins all had fun playing together and sledding in the backyard. I got there about 9:30pm to pick the kids back up but I was having so much fun talking with everyone that we stayed until 11:15pm. With an hour ride home it was a late night but so much fun visiting and seeing everyone having so much fun together. Everyone said we need to get together more often...I agree!!!

Is She Serious? Yes!!

The fun thing about Jayd is that she is just so clueless. Of course we say that with lots of love but seriously...for an "A" student in school she really is quite "blond". The other day she told Matt that her password on the computer was "extinct". It took us moment but we realized that she really meant that her password had "expired".

Today we were talking about how many days were in February there were this year. She said that there were only 28 this year because it was "skip" year. I had to remind her it was called "leap" year. Her comment was, "oh ya".

Elijah's Imaginary Friend

Elijah just barely turned 2 in December and this week he created an imaginary friend. It is so hilarious to watch him. His friend is a mouse. We first noticed it when Grandma Jacqi and Elijah were sitting together and Elijah suddenly started talking about the mouse in the plant that was sitting next to them. He then started "putting" the mouse in a sack and trying to "find" it. Almost every day this week the mouse is hiding and being found by Elijah.

This morning Elijah was in bed with me talking and he suddenly picked up his dad's pillow and said "mouse in there?" Then he picked up the bed's comfortor and looked under it and said "is the mouse hiding in there?" He won't name the mouse but just wants to try and find it all the time.

This is not the first time he has created an imaginary animal. A couple weeks ago he was looking at our 8 foot tree and talking about a monkey that was in it and he mentioned it again a couple days ago. I'm looking forward to the next new animal that visits Elijah in our home.

Bye Grandma...Come Back Soon!!

Wednesday we spent a wonderful day hanging out with Grandma Jacqi. Karmen and the boys came up and we all went shopping at Sams Club, ate lunch then did some shopping for Chancey's birthday. It's so wonderful to spend time with her and we can't wait to see her the next time she can come for a visit. We miss you Grandma Jacqi already!!!
Here are a few pictures taken while Grandma was here:

Time With Grandma

Monday was a great day. Matt and all the kids were home from school so we enjoyed being a family and visiting with Grandma. Jayd had some alone time with Grandma at Target picking out a new school bag and eating Cold Stone Ice Cream. We also watched a movie together that night for family night.

It's been a hard week in that Elijah, Abe, Justin, Jayd, Chancey and Matt have all been sick since last Wednesday. Elijah's temp got up to 103.9. We had 4 days of VERY little sleep because he just struggled with feeling so bad. He was put on antibiotics today because his cold turned into an ear infection.

Tuesday Chancey stayed home to spend some time with Grandma. We also got a foot of snow so they were not out too long because the roads were really starting to get bad but they enjoyed watching a movie together when they got home. Grandma visited with Grandpa and Grandma Curtis tonight which she really enjoyed.

We're sad that Grandma is leaving tomorrow (Thursday). It's been such a great week and we can't wait to see her again soon!!!!

What we have been doing with Grandma Jacqi

SUNDAY Chancey, Lilah, and Olivia went with Grandma to Karmen's ward for church and then went to the Stanton's for dinner and to visit.

SATURDAY Today Justin and grandma went to Barns and Nobel book store together. Grandma knows how much Justin likes to read so they had a great time there walking around and talking about all the books Justin had read.

We were supposed to have a birthday party for Zeke and Chancey but we had so many people sick at our house we postponed the party for another time. Sorry guys.

FRIDAY Today Grandma and Abe went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. They met Karmen and they boys there and had a wonderful time. They boys had such a great time digging for dinosaurs in the sand!!

Lilah and grandma Jacqi

On Thursday Lilah and grandma Jacqi got to spend the day together. They met Karmen at her house and watched Joaquin and Ezekiel while Karmen had an appointment. Little Zeke was so excited when he woke to find Lilah there. He kept laughing and wanting to play with her. Once Karmen returned they all went out to lunch at the Olive Garden. They also went to WalMart and Target running errands. They had such a great day together!!!

Grandma Jacqi is here!!!

Grandma Jacqi arrived last night and we are all excited to have her visiting with us for the next 8 days. Some of the kids had made cards for her and were very excited to give them to her when she got to the house. The kids got to stay up late because she was arriving after their bedtime...but it was worth it!!!

Today Olivia is staying home with grandma so they can have some time together. This morning they played games and then went to McDonalds for lunch. They then went shopping at Walmart for items that grandma had put in her carry-on luggage that they nice security people then threw away because she was not supposed to have them. Poor grandma!!! Karmen and the boys are also coming over this afternoon to play with us and visit with grandma.

The other kids will also get a day to spend alone with grandma and we will update you all on their activities as their days pass. Isn't family fun!!!

Justin and karate

Justin had taken about 1 1/2 years of karate when we needed to stop because of some problems with his karate school. We stopped about 1 year ago and had not yet found a new school for him that would work for his schedule or we felt comfortable with. Well, this week Justin started in a new karate school. This school seems really great and his first 2 lessons got him excited again about doing karate. We will post a picture of him in his new uniform as soon as it arrives.

Oh Jayd...you are something else.

So Jayd is unique in that she gets straight A's in school but in the real world the only way to describe her is.....dumb blond. Ever tell someone something and they just look at you with a complete blank stare and you know they have NO clue what you are talking about? She is so fun to tease because you can tell her anything and she will just sit there wondering if what you said is true or not. Well, that is our Jayd.

The other day in church we were asked by one of Jayd's teachers to describe Jayd in two words. These words were going to be used that night in a "New Beginnings" program for all the young women of our church. Immediately Matt said "dumb blond". Yes, I appropriately hit him and we started thinking of other words. We came up with Energetic and Determined. Energetic because she is constantly doing, going, playing or creating something. It's hard to keep her down and immovable. Determined because if she wants something she will drive you crazy until she has either worn you out and you give in to her or she finally gets the point and leaves us alone. :) She also will spend 2 hours on a homework assignment that should only take 30 minutes in order to make sure it is correct and also looks good. LOL. (Yes, she is also Obsessive Compulsive...but that's another story.)

That night at the program they proceeded to read all the girls names and their characteristics. When they got to Jayd and her characteristics were read, she turned to us with her blank stare and said, "What do those mean?". Of course Matt immediately looked at me and said, "We should have stuck with the dumb blond." Yes, others around us heard both these statements and we all as quietly as we could started laughing. I had to then turn to her and explain.

Jayd does not disappoint us. She is so fun!!!!

"No Dale...Mine!!!"

So I made the mistake of not having Elijah in my site the other day for about 1 minute...and so Elijah decided that was a great opportunity to dump a FULL bag of Cheerios onto the table and floor. Of course our dog Dale saw the opportunity for table food (which we do not give him) and started eating the ones on the floor. Elijah immediately jumped down from the bench, climbed under the table with the dog and proceeded to tell the dog over and over, "No Dale, Mine" as he tried to push Dale away from HIS Cheerios. Of course that is when I walked in. Imagine me then trying to get both the dog and Elijah away from all the Cheerios all over the place. Oh the joys of parenthood.

Moving Final Update

After much prayer and fasting, we have decided to stay were we are and not move. Matt and I really feel that moving would be too hard for Justin at this time in his life. He is finally feeling accepted and finding friends which for some reason has been hard for him in other places. Justin is such a wonderful boy and if staying here helps him than that is what we need to do. We feel good about this decision and know we have been directed in this. Thank you for all your support!!