Mason time

Six months ago this guy came into our lives, and it's never been the same since! Mason or Big Mac as we like to call him has brought us so much happiness, I can't imagine our lives without him in it! We also love that Nick and Erin, his parents are part of our family now too! 

 We got to spend some time with Mason last night! I find myself so excited all day long on the days we get to go and see him! Even the kids get so excited, it's all they talk about until we get to his home!

 We get pictures almost weekly from Erin and I can't believe how much he changes ever week! A few weeks ago he was looking like he was thinning out and growing so long, then just the very next week he was chunky again and then this week.....well you can see from the pictures, he is huge! 

 Cody really can't get enough time with this boy! And look how much he looks more like a brother than a nephew to Cody and Luke, especially Luke!

 He has a pretty serious disposition, but he also loves to break out the smiles! He is even laughing and cooing so much now! It even sounds like he is trying to talk!

So I have this little problem that I want to buy him everything I see! We showed up last night with this toy and two outfits! I just can't resist! But, it did make me so happy that he loved the toy! I just hope it doesn't drive Nick and Erin crazy with all it's sounds! 

I'm sad I didn't get a picture with Savannah and Mason. She loves this guy and I'm hitting myself for not getting one! Oh well, next visit! 

Sweethearts Dance and Valentines Day

I'm so happy that Brittany is back in Utah and able to go to all her school dances, but I'm  especially happy that she is able to date!  She went a few weeks ago (I know, that is how behind I am), to the Sweethearts dance with her cute friend Jesse.  

I especially loved that this dance was casual and I didn't need to go and buy another dress!

For their day date they went bowling, which I don't have a picture of, but thought I would throw this one in of them on another date 4 wheeling. I like this guy cause he actually asks Brittany out on dates and comes up with fun ones for them to do! 

On Valentines day Cody's 6th grade class had a Valentines dance at his school. For months they have been teaching the kids different dances like the cha cha, the waltz and many other ones.  They had to ask a different girl to dance each dance and then had some fun group ones.  Parents were invited to come and there was even a dance for the boys to ask their mothers, unfortunately I was home with the stomach flu that afternoon and couldn't make it. Thankfully, Jessica didn't have to work that day and she went and supported Cody!

This is Cody with his group of girl/guy friends.  He currently has a crush on the two, yes two girls on the left end!

Elle

This last week has been an extremely heartbreaking week in our neighborhood.  Let me start back a little before I explain.

  Cody and Luke are good friends with two boys in our neighborhood named Getty and Sy. It's always been such a great thing because they are both the same age as my boys, they are brothers and they have a lot of the same interests, which means they spend a lot of time with each other!   When they first started hanging out, Getty's little sister Elle would follow the boys around every where they went. See, Elle had a huge crush on Cody, even though there was a 10 year age gap between them! I loved to hear from Elle's mom and dad how much she loved being around Cody. And Cody being a kid with the sweetest heart, especially for little kids loved the attention he got from Elle.  She even made  up a song just for Cody titled "The Cody song".  In fact when we moved back from Australia I asked Cody how Elle was and if she was still crushing on him. He of course turned red and said "yes, she still sings me my song"! This crush started a few years ago and sadly ended today.  

On Saturday afternoon Elle was walking home from a friends house, who lived only two houses up from hers.  She was walking on the sidewalk, but when she got into the neighbors driveway, the owner of the home happened to be backing up at the same time. He never even saw Elle until he was completely back up and  in the street.  She had been run over twice.  They lifeflighted her to Primary Children Hospital  where she was put on life support.  By Sunday morning we received word at church that she wasn't doing well and had taken a turn for the worse. It was of course an emotional day at church, but it was comforting to be with our friends who knew Elle and loved her family. Only a few hours later we received word that she was starting to get function back in a kidney and the test were coming back in a positive turn.  They were so many of us fasting and praying for little Elle that we had hope that we would see a miracle. 

Yesterday at school, Cody and Getty spent the entire lunch time talking about Elle. I arrived at the school after lunch and Getty begged me to let Cody come over after school to play. I was hesitate but then conceited because I knew getting things back to normal would be good for the boys.  I dropped Cody off at their house and even talked to the teenage girls and received good news about Elle. It wasn't ten minutes later that Cody called and asked me to come back and get him. The kids had heard from their parents that Elle had had a stroke and they wanted them to come to the hospital as soon as possible.  

Today we heard from Loreene, Elle's mom that they had decided to take Elle off life support.  

Cody and Luke have really taken Elle's death hard. But we have had some really good discussions about death, the Lord's will and forgiveness.  See, the person who hit Elle was their next door neighbor.  Luke at first was angry with him and it's been good to explain forgiveness to him and have him actually know what it's like to forgive someone.  

The next few days will still be heartbreaking as we attend the funeral for this sweet girl.  Luke asked if we would receive an invitation so that we would be able to go to it.  I explained that we didn't need an invitation and that we would of course be going! My heart breaks when I see how sad this has made them and how they have to deal with something like this when they are so young.  But I'm also so impressed with how they handled this situation.  They were so eager to pray for her and all the time. Luke has asked me if we can go get them a present to make them happy! It's also been a great time to talk more about our Savior and the gospel with my kids and they understand how important and our grateful they have it in their lives especially  during these hard times.

So, hug your kids a little tighter tonight, because you can! Tell them often how much you love them! We will miss you Elle!

 This is a picture Elle's dad sent us in the fall of 2010. He wanted us to see how much Elle loved Cody and how she always wanted him to hold her! The other boys in the picture are Getty (on the left) and Sy (on the right).  When he sent the picture he put in the subject line "Elle's crush".

A recent picture of Elle

Getting back into the swing of things!

When Clay first approached me with the idea of the family staying in Utah after Christmas without him it lead to a lot of sleepless nights for me, wondering if I was capable of parenting by myself. We have all heard that it takes a village to raise a child and I totally believe it! I really feel like we were lead to the neighborhood in Highland four years ago because it is the only place I feel like I could be a single parent and succeed at it!  I really have the BEST neighbors and friends ever! There hasn't been a week that has gone by that one of my neighbors hasn't called me or text me to see how I'm doing. They plan lunch dates, invite us over for Sunday dinner, include my kids in activities that they know they would like.  On top of great neighbors, we have the best school I could ask for. Luke was diagnosed with some developmental delays when he was young and his school has the BEST teachers, that know him just as well as I know him. They understand how he works and use that to help him in all the areas that he needs! I really could not do any of this without all these incredible people helping me! My sister in law Lacy will laugh at this, because we joke about it, but the Lord has really blessed me with so many tender mercies since we have been back! I'm more than humbled everyday when I see the Lords hand in some many areas of my families lives.

It hasn't taken us long to get right back into the swing of things. The girls are doing great in High school and even have made new friends too.  Savannah started Lacrosse, which she has never played before, but jumped right in and is loving it! Brittany is looking for employment everyday and on the weekends is taking a ACT prep class.  To our surprise there are about 6 kids from our ward in that class too, so Brittany carpools down to BYU with them every Saturday.

Cody jumped right back into his life in our ward and school.  He was behind in Math because of our move to Australia, but not by much, and since he picks it up so quickly, his teacher has requested that he take the exam to get into the accelerated class next year in 7th grade.  He told us how none of his friends played football at recess any more since he left, but it only took one day to get that one back up and running! He even got a spot on the ski bus that our neighborhood puts together ever winter.  My kids always did the ski bus every year before our move, which starts in January and runs through March and takes the kids up every Saturday morning to Park City to snowboard, then brings them back. It really is an awesome thing, mostly cause we don't have to take them up and they love it and it's great exercise and something they will do for the rest of their lives! Plus, it's just our neighborhood that does it, so they get to go up with all their friends!

Cody's ski bus 

On top of getting the kids back and busy with their friends and school, we are quickly filling up our entire summer with activities already! The girls have both been signed up for EFY, Cody and Luke will do football camp at BYU. Luke is also doing some cooking classes at Thanksgiving point. For those of you that haven't heard, Luke wants to be a chef when he grows up. He is always the one next to me in the kitchen when I'm cooking and is eager to help me. He really just enjoys eating what ever is cooked! I think that is the main reason why he wants to learn to cook, so he wont starve to death!

I'm just so thankful and feel so blessed to be back in Utah.  Also, to be in the area that we are in! To be given all the opportunities we have been given! I really took these things for granted before our move, but now can't be more than thankfully for every single one of them! Even though I'm not living with my husband right now, and somedays I completely fall apart, I really am so happy and thankful for the life I have been given!

Getting Asked to Sweethearts!

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon, we had come home from 8:00 am church (yes, we really go that early) and we were looking forward to getting some food than taking a nap! We heard a knock on the door and everyone just looked at each other not knowing what to do. We don't EVER get anyone at our door, so it's something we were not prepared for! The boys ran to the door and opened it, but found no one there! But, there was a vase of roses and a frozen ice heart on the ground. Now we were even more confused about what to do! Brittany saw the items on the ground and instantly knew what they were for! Yes, only weeks after Preference, Lone Peak will be having another dance, the Sweethearts dance! Brittany grabbed the items but didn't know what to do with the big ice heart. We stuck it in the sink and turned on the hot water.

Inside the ice was a piece of paper that read, "Brittany will you go to Sweethearts with me?"  We had to keep melting the heart to find the other paper, a red heart with the name of the boy asking, "Jessie" was all it said! Brittany is currently "seeing" Jessie so it wasn't a surprise that he asked her to the dance. Stay tuned for some really cute dance pictures to follow in a few weeks!