Cute kids and crazy weather!!!

These two ride on these all the time. Laynie can get around really well and it is easier for her to get where she wants. 

Drake and I took a date to the Museum where we got to see Sue, the T-Rex!!! He loved it!!!

 A few days ago Drake and his neighbor friend jumped on the trampoline with sprinklers under it. They thought it was pretty cool.

 Laynie licked her popsicle a little bit and smeared it all over her legs. She loved it!!!

 So two days ago the kids were running through the sprinklers, and today I woke up to this. I was so excited to see the snow, I ran outside in my pajamas and made a snow angel (joking)!!!!!!

Our weather is pure craziness!!!

Go Jazz

 Trevor's family had some tickets that weren't being used to the Jazz vs. Suns game last night and so we got to go!!! Drake went and spent the day with Grandma Maureen and Holly did a double shift to care for Laynie. We left late in the afternoon, ate a quick dinner, enjoyed the game, and drove home. We got home at 3am, so we are paying for it today!!!! We met up with Trevor's brother and his friend at the game and had a great time. Trevor is a big Suns fan, but we stayed loyal and cheered for the Jazz. They won and they are heading to the playoffs!!! It was so much fun to spend time with just the two of us!!!

Wonderful weekend

Our weekend weather was gorgeous and that makes our weekend even better! We are LOVING our spring weather!!! We spent our weekend soaking up the sun, doing yard work, going to our nieces soccer game, going to the kid's fair, running through the sprinklers, and hanging out with family!!! It was one of those weekends that I really didn't want to end. 

Me and the Laynie Bug....

Drake and his cousins had a blast getting soaked in the sprinklers

 Trevor and Laynie... so sweet!!!

The kid's fair was a horrible experience. It was so crowded that we could hardly walk through the crowd, and the lines to do anything were worse than Disneyland's lines. Drake has been excited all week to see Diego and the line was so long he didn't get to give him a high five or a hug, and he was bummed! The kids were all great, but I felt really bad for bringing Laynie because we don't even take her to church or the store and there we were with her in a building chuck full of wild kids. We left pretty quick, and yep sure enough she already has caught something again:(

 The kids got their faces tatooed and Drake chose this lizard. They also did some painting!!!

 We went to our niece's soccer game and it was cute! This is Trevor and two of his brothers.

 I can't wait for our little man to play sports!!! Being a soccer mom is a big dream!!!

 Drake and the soccer star

Once again, our weekend was spectacular and I am already looking forward to the next one.

Our day in videos...

Kites and sibling LOVE

Spring is always so windy, but we managed to find something fun to do in the wind... flying a kite!!! Drake was super excited to go fly his kite:)

Both of our kids adore their daddy. Laynie knows what it means when I sign "Daddy's home" and she scoots over and points to the door!!! Drake has been growing up lately and has been sooooooo much nicer to his sister lately:) I hate to mention that out loud for fear that it will back-fire. A couple of posts ago I wrote how wonderful and healthy Laynie has been, and last week she got pneumonia again:(

Oh well, I will give it a try again! He has been playing with her, calling her princess, sharing his toys (sometimes), and really showing a lot of sweetness to her!!! Tonight, we were putting eye drops in her eyes (for pink eye) and she was getting really mad and he started bawling because he thought we were hurting her. He is so tender-hearted!!! And Laynie LOVES him to pieces... she stares at him and tries to copy him whenever she can.

A few days ago they were playing together and Laynie rolled on him and bit him really hard. She came up and was so proud of herself and thought she did something super cool. He started screaming and I signed NO to her and she got really sad. She left a good bruise on his arm. Everywhere we have gone for the past week Drake has wanted to tell everyone. He has called and told his grandparents, told the cashier at Walmart, and made sure that Trevor told the cashier at Taco Time today. It is hilarious!!!

A house is being built behind us and there are mounds of dirt. Drake loves it and thinks they are slides to go down.

We sure love you Drakey

Laynie and I watched from inside because it was kinda cold.

It sure melts my heart to see my kids actually interacting and loving each other!!!! I have been praying for Drake to get over whatever his fear was, and very slowly I am seeing progress!!!

P.S. Pretty sure she is the happiest girl in the world. You would have never guessed she had pneumonia! She is a champ and a stong little sassy-pants!!!

Easter Weekend

We had a fabulous Easter weekend. My dad, step mom and brother came to town. We had all our family together and it doesn't get better than that!!! We ate way too much, had egg hunts, visited, went swimming, and had a great time...
Here are all 7 grandkids swimming. Laynie is a fish that can't get wet. She LOVES the water so much, but I have to limit her because she can't get her trach wet. All the kids had a blast swimming:)
We had some fun egg hunts and our little sugar lover came home with way too much sugar!!!! He insisted on wearing his new glasses all weekend long!!!Our two adorable kids on Easter Sunday!!!! Seriously, I can't get over how sweet they look with their matching outfits!!! We all went to church together:)Then we went to the annual family Easter Brunch....
My two dudes look so handsome!!!

This made me smile

Me, my dad, and Erin.... Thanks for visiting. We always have such a fun time when you are here!

The Easter Bunny!!! Drake loved the bunny this year!

Me and all my siblings! Can't believe my brother is graduating this year!!!

All 7 grandkids... impossible to get a good photo. Drake had a ball playing with his cousins. He especially LOVES his cousin Jaxon. He follows him around everywhere and just loves him and Jax is so sweet to him!!!

Feeding the ducks...

Love my fam:)

Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thoughts...

I hate to say when Laynie is doing really well, because I can't help but think what obstacle is lurking in the future..... BUT I don't care, I have to shout it out loud... She is doing TREMENDOUS!!! She has been full of progress, personality, attitude, and cuteness lately!!! She is just about crawling. She can take a couple of steps on her knees and hands, but she can move all over if she puts her head on the floor to crawl. It is funny!!! She can stand up to things and thinks she can pull herself up to things, but can't do it quite yet. She has been taking some big falls. Her occupational therapist said that she, "made her month!!!!" She really is such a JOY!!! She still enjoys night parties and throwing tantrums occasionally, but it's okay cause it's kinda cute:) We now have a nurse 6 nights a week. We still have our nurse Holly that we LOVE and we got a new one named Alli that comes 3 nights a week. We really like her too. We really feel blessed that we have such wonderful nurses who we love and trust to take care of our girl. It isn't always easy having someone in your home, but our girl needs to be watched over at night and we really appreciate having in- home nursing!!! Her next surgery (soft palate) is in June and we are just starting the very long process of a cochlear implant.

During General Conference there was a talk that I LOVED... If any of you were listening then you probably know which one I am referring to. In fact, I recieved texts and messages about it saying that others were thinking about sweet Laynie during it:) The talk was by Elder Rasband and the entire talk was wonderful, but the one thing that stood out the most was, "If you come upon a person who is drowning, would you ask if they need help—or would it be better to just jump in and save them from the deepening waters? The offer, while well meaning and often given, “Let me know if I can help” is really no help at all."

I loved this because I have learned this lesson in the past year and a half. So many people were willing to help and lift my family up while we were "drowning". I appreciate it more than anyone knows. Even the littlest act of service was such a huge blessing to me at the time. Just to know that someone was thinking of us or praying for Laynie really made me feel better!!! So, thank you to everyone!!! I also learned that, "Let me know if I can help" is really no help at all. I have said it probably a hundred times to others and I really did mean it.... I can't recall an instance when one of those people called me for help. I know I always felt like I didn't want to be a burden on others so I wouldn't ask for help, even if I desperately needed it. I really hope that in the future I can give service to others and be there for others like so many were for me. Now that we are no longer "drowning" I really hope I can recognize the time when someone else is, and I can rescue them!!!! I am still amazed at how much a tiny person can teach me!!!