Spring Break- St. George

It has become a tradition of ours to escape the cold, wet spring of Utah County and head down to warm, sunny St. George for Spring Break. We always enjoy the warm weather and beautiful red rocks. This year I felt like we just didn't stay long enough. We did get to enjoy all our favorite hang outs.

At the boat launch at Quail Creek

Quail Creek

Dinner at Red Robin with Spaztastic Matthais

I always laugh when I look at this picture cause it was taken a few minutes after a very grumpy Owen insisted he was NOT tired. Right.

Our beach neighbors at Sand Hollow were our friends the Nettesheims and the Falabellas. They brought wave runners so Adam took each of the kids out for a right. They had a blast!

Every year I say we will wear swim suits to Sand Hollow and we never do. NEXT year for sure!

Bath tub

You can see the Nettesheims and the Falabella's camp in the background. Those guys know how to spend a day at Sand Hollow. Even though we go every year, we are still rookies

Swimming in the motel pool

Hiking at Pioneer park. Ian was a mad man running every which way. Very scary for a place that you don't know what you'll find around the corner or the edge. Good thing Adam took control of him!

Our attempt at a family picture. No one is ready but Matthais and Millie.

I took the kids to the kite festival. It was a fun little carnival. Millie loved this ride (she doesn't look like it).

All Ian wanted to do was ride in this train pulled by the tractor. He would say "ride the tractor" over and over until we finally did.

Love, Love, LOVE St. George! There is always so much to do and we always have so much fun. Until next time St.George, you will be missed!

The last hurrah

Recently our ward boundaries were changed. Very sad and very exciting all at the same time. I can't say that I'm completely thrilled with our new ward boundaries but I'm sure we will all adjust soon. About a week after the changes were made our ward held the last hurrah with the ward as we knew it. It was a lot of fun and the commitee did a great job planning it! We had a Cafe Rio type dinner and played "Minute to win it" type games.

I have to tell you about this cookie. It's the ONE thing I chose to splurge on. I took one bite and all I could taste was salt. It was April fools day and I was so embarrassed for whoever brought these cookies. I was just sure someone in their household had changed the sugar for the salt. I debated and debated if I should get up and remove the entire plate so save some unsuspecting person of being humiliated by their salty cookies. As I was in line I heard some snickering coming from a table. They were sitting near the desserts and laughing. Turns out they added salt to three of these cookies (along with another dessert fools trick). Funny thing is two of them mad there way to my table! Bummer too cause they looked so good! Overall the party was a lot of fun but also a little bittersweet looking at all the faces we knew we wouldn't see every week.

Missing March posts

Jennie had a baby shower to welcome the newest baby into our family. So fun to see all the cute little baby boy things.

We received a fun visit from the McKinneys. They have been in Oklahoma while Karissa is in law school. Sadly this is probably the last time we will see her before she is deployed in May.

Matthais finally received his Star badge. He had earned it in November but this was the first court of honor he could receive it. It was bittersweet because it was the last court of honor with his beloved Scoutmaster Paul Seamons. Our ward was split shortly after this.

The very end of March Millie performed in her last choir concert. She had a lot of fun singing in the choir and it gave her another creative outlet (although dance is her true love)! I never did get a decent picture but I sure did try!

I realize it's been awhile...

Sometimes I feel like blogging, sometimes I don't. I've been up to my eyeballs with daycare drama, puking kids and issues at Ian's school. Then I had to gather enough energy to enjoy endure spring break. It really wasn't that bad after all but it had it's moments. We snuck away from the gloom and rain of Utah county for the sun and sand in St. George. More about that later. Today I wanted to share a video with you. It's 10 minutes long but it's worth the watch. If you watch it you will never think of autism the same...


I've been thinking a lot about autism and our journey and how 8 years later how little we really know. We watched some home videos of Ian taken 3 1/2 years ago and I all I could do was cry. He was so different then, in a good way though. His thoughts were clear, he could hold a conversation,  and I didn't see any of the repetitiveness we see right now. That was defiantly a better time in our lives. Only, when we were in it I didn't see it as so great. I've always believed that Ian has so much in his brain than we realize and so much more than he is able to access. Sometimes I see the information he has come and go. It's almost like a TV with bad reception. Sometimes you can access the show you want to watch and sometimes it's too scrambled to get a clear picture.

I love this video of Carly. For a long time I have believed that Ian really can't help some of the things he does especially when it comes to trying to drown out all of the sensory input he receives. I love how she says "I know what is right and wrong but it's like I have a fight with my brain over it". So many times, so many more than I can even begin to count, I've had unsolicited advice regarding Ian. So many times I reply that I choose my battles. Yes I choose my battles even when he's stripping down. Yes, I choose my battles even when he is screaming at the top of his lungs. I have no idea what is going on in his brain and in his body. Sometimes he does this stuff for attention. Sometimes he does this stuff out of shear desperation. I can't imagine what it's like to live in his body but I'm so thankful for Carly and her chance to share what it might be like for him!

Friday, Yay!

It's been an emotionally exhausting week. I won't lie to you, it's been rough. In keeping with my goal to have a better outlook on life I haven't wanted to blog because I knew those feelings would roll into my writing. I'm feeling much better today for two reasons, it's Friday and it's BEAUTIFUL outside! We did have some fun things happen and some noteworthy things so this is my week in review.

Saturday Millie's dance studio dominated the spotlight dance cup. It was amazing to watch as every single number entered took diamonds (first place) and several teams took High score. Hot shots ended up with the sweepstakes award as well because of all the diamonds and high scores! Millie's dances Boom chica boom and footloose both earned diamonds and high scores! It was a really big deal! I know I've said it a million times but Hot Shots really is an amazing studio! They are so focused on technique and really help these girls (and boys) become fabulous dancers! Millie and I stayed overnight with some dance friends and had a fabulous time!

Sunday night we had our special stake meeting and our ward was split. I have such mixed feelings about this change. First and foremost I was devastated that Ian's teachers were moved to a another ward. It will be a hard adjustment for Ian but we'll survive. I am also sad about friendships that will no longer develop in the same way because of the split. Hopefully, some of the friendships I've already made are strong enough to endure. We'll see how it all plays out. And, we always have facebook right?

Millie had another dance performance Wednesday but I will spare you any more dance talk and tell you about Matthais's track meet instead! He placed 4th in the 1600 meter (even though he shaved 5 seconds off his time) and 2nd in the high jump. His back has been bothering him so he didn't compete in his other two events. I am just so proud that he is putting so much effort into this! He has really surprised me and I think he has surprised himself as well.

Thursday Millie sang in the Manila Magic spring concert. I tried to take some pictures but didn't get any good ones. This has been fun for her and so good for her self confidence but I'm kinda glad it's over. Just one more thing on the list ya know?

Now I am looking forward to our ward party tonight, the last one will all of us together. It should be lots of fun and I'm going to take lots of pictures. Spring is thinking about making an appearance and we are heading to St. George for spring break, so looking forward to that as well! The sunshine makes me happy!

PMA (positve mental attitude!)

So it has come to my attention that I tend to be a downer. My facebook statuses and my blog posts are nothing more than complain fests. I'm really working on that. I have always thought of myself as a glass half full type person but as I looked at my recent posts and facebook statuses I realized I really am more of a doom and gloom type person. So I am working on it. However, I also want to keep things real. So, when you read the rest of this think about me telling you in my happiest cheerful voice!

Yesterday I got a call from Ian's school that his ear was bleeding a lot and they needed me to come get him. At first I thought ear infection with eardrum rupture but when I got to the school and saw it I knew that is not what happened. It was straight blood dripping out of his ear. I quickly called the Dr and of course they could not see me for a few hours. When we finally get in the Dr takes a look and decides he probably stuck something in there. He can't tell if the ear drum is ruptured or not but decided to put him on antibiotic drops either way so that if he did just cut it it wouldn't get infected.

Yesterday Matthais ran in his first track meet. He did pretty well but I'm not sure if he placed in anything or not. It was a new experience for us all! I felt so bad because it rained and snowed and none of us were prepared! And I just assumed they'd have water for them to drink but no, I needed to bring that for him! Next time I'll be better prepared. While at his track meet his backpack with his ipod touch, his shoes, and all his school stuff was stolen!! really? I felt so bad for him especially because not long ago Ian broke his nintendo ds right in half and now this  but he is one lucky kid!! He doesn't know it but his dad just happened to win an ipod touch at work today!! As Adam said, "that kid must be living right!" I believe he is!

Been feeling like a crappy mom lately...

I just don't have the energy these days. Facebook only rubs it in my face. Green eggs and ham for Dr. Seuss day? Leprechauns and green milk for St. Patricks day? Who are these parents? My kids were lucky if they have a meal on those days. Seriously though, I used to do these kind of things, I used to be *that* kind of mom. In fact, all morning I kept trying to talk myself into green pancakes for breakfast. I just couldn't do it. I settled on green smoothies instead but there was no talk of leprechauns. Did you know that we don't have the Easter Bunny come to our house? And never, ever has a cupid come knocking at our door. Am I setting my kids up for a lifetime of sadness because their mom is too lazy to celebrate every holiday to it's fullest? It's not just holidays though. Today is the school's art carnival or festival or whatever they call it. I am absolutely dreading it. I can already give you the play by play. Just me and the three little kids.Ian lying in the middle of a very crowded hallway screaming. Owen wandering off. Millie begging me to buy everything we see. Lines, lines and more lines. More screaming because we have to wait in those lines. I'm just not in the mood. I know these things are important to the kids, and that alone used to make it worth it. I'm just wearing down folks. I'm short on energy and short on patience, but not short on love. Maybe it's time my kids know it.