Our New Backyard Toys

Now that we know we are staying in our home here in Layton we have decided to get some fun things for the kids in the backyard. We already had the trampoline so we decided to get a swing set and a playground set. They installed them about a week ago and the kids are having so much fun with it. The playground has 2 towers with a 10' bridge connecting them. One tower has a ladder up to it and then a great slide coming down. The other tower has a rock wall up to it, a fireman pole and monkey bars. Under the play set was a planting area that we are taking the rocks, dirt and plants out of and filling it with sand. We are still working on that area. The swing set has 3 swings and is metal so that it will be strong enough for even the big kids. I took the pictures below yesterday. I took so many pictures that I had to make 2 slide shows. The kids were having such a great time together playing.

The Adventures of Abe & Elijah

Abe was sick last week with the stomach flu. I set up a little "bed" for Abe so he could watch TV and have his "bucket" next to him. Elijah of course wanted his own bed...so here is a picture of them together as they are watching TV.

Our sweet neighbor brought in dinner one night last week after 3 of us had the flu in just 24 hrs (Lilah, Justin and Cayr). Elijah loved the dessert so much that he kept asking for more and more. I had told him no but that was not the right answer to him. Once I left the kitchen, Elijah pulled a chair up to the cabinet and snuck the dessert. I found him hiding it from me as he was trying to eat it. See that innocent face.

Abe's pre-school is doing a month about farms. They have had eggs in an incubator for the past 3 weeks and yesterday the eggs started to hatch. I took Elijah into the pre-school and we were able to see 2 chicks that had hatched within the past 2 hours. Today we went back and there were 5 more hatched. We got there just in time to see egg number 6 hatch. It was so fun for the two boys to see it happening. The teacher took pictures of the boys holding one of the chicks that had hatched yesterday and I will post it as soon as I get a copy of it. Here is a picture of Abe and Elijah sitting in front of the "chick house" with the warmer keeping the new chicks safe and happy. It was so fun to watch the boys be so excited about this process.

Justin Factoring Elijah

It's Justin's turn to factor Elijah. He mixed the factor and did absolutely perfect on putting the needle into Elijah's port. We were so impressed with how well he did. Justin was a little nervous at first but he once he did it he realized it was something he could do again without a problem. Again, we are so very grateful for Justin and Jayd for wanting to learn how to give the infusions of factor to Elijah. We will continue to have Justin and Jayd trade off on Saturdays doing this so that they keep this skill up.

Crazy Hair Day

On Friday it was Crazy Hair Day and Olivia wanted to join in on the fun with her class. Doesn't she look beautiful!!!

Swimming Lessons

Chancey, Lilah, Olivia and Abraham have been taking swimming lessons the past 4 weeks at our city pool. They have really enjoyed it and are anxious to show everyone what they have learned. We hope to start the next classes for them soon. Here are some pictures from the last day of class. Some of the kids have life vests on due to the deepness of the area they were in and the activities they were doing.

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!!

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. :)