Blue Bonnets

Blue Bonnets are out and this year I was determined to get pictures of the kids in the blue bonnets.  The place we went was covered with them, it was so amazing.  When I got out of the car, all I could smell was the flowers.  Here is a sneak peak at some of the pictures.  I will post more later.

Till We Meet Again

My beautiful grandma passed away today and is now free from the pains of her earthly body. She can now remember all of her family and friends and the beautiful memories she has with each of us. I can only imagine the reunion she is having with her loved ones. She was big into geneology and temple work. There will be alot of grateful and happy people to see her and embrace her.

I have so many wonderful and fun memories of her. Sleepovers where she would braid my hair, the slippers she would knit for us each christmas, the toilet paper she wrapped around her hair each night before bed so that it didn't mess up her hair, the walks to the park to play, birthday shopping, BBQ's at grandma's house, she always came to everything I did whether big or small, she was big into temple work and took us to do baptisms for the dead as soon as we turned 12, she was always trying to connect people through geneology which made it hard to date because grandma was always trying to find a way that you were related, she believed everything you told her even if it was far fetched, she was so proud of her grandkids and took every opportunity to introduce them to everyone she knew, she loved to take us to wheeler farm, she made the best homemade ice cream (grape nut being her specialty), she loved her family and friends unconditionally.

I am going to miss her terribly, but I know she will always be close by because grandma doesn't miss anything. She was always at every event. She loved to be around her family.

I love you grandma and will miss you till we meet again.

I have Tourette's, big deal!

To our family, Tourette Syndrome isn't a big deal.  To the outside world, it's like a scary disease.    People are scared of what they don't know.  So our hope is to educate as many people as we can.  Here is Carson's story.

Carson was diagnosed 7 years ago with Tourette Syndrome.  A genetic disorder that he inherited from his mothers side of the family.  It started with throat clearing and licking his shoulder.  I took him to the doctor on three separte occasions to see if he was getting sick, but after 3 times of hearing he's not sick, the doctor said, but I think he might have TS.  We were then sent to a specialist who informed us that he had to have ticks for more than a year before he could officially be diagnosed with TS.  We tried several different drugs and went to therapists to help control his ticks, but nothing worked.  The meds made it so much worse.  We opted to deal with the ticks and learn to control them ourselves.  We looked up everything we could on the internet and learned as much as we could about TS.  In doing so I learned that I too have (unofficially)TS and Carson's uncle. 

Over the years we have learned that when he experiences any kind of strong emotion, like anger, excitement, anxiety, sadness, happiness, scared, depressed, stress, fatigue, etc,  that his ticks are worse.  We have also learned what calms him down or ever takes the ticks away, like, using his hands.  Drawing, origami, video games-these tend to calm him.   There is still so much that we are learning and so much more we need to do, but for now we are taking it one day, one step at a time.

We were told that Carson's ticks will continue to get worse until he hits puberty, at which point they will level off, get better, or possibly go away.  Right before this happens, there is a calm where you think its gone or gotten better, and then it comes back with a vengence.  I really hope that we are at that stage because the ticks that he is experiencing right now are really bad.  At times he looks like he is having a seizure because his whole body is ticking so badly.  He kept falling off his chair the other day and finally had to lay on the ground to avoid hurting himself because the ticks were so bad.

The last 2 years have been the hardest for him.  Because of his Tourette's, he has been the victim of bullying.  we are considering pulling him out of school. I am worried about his self esteem and his emotional state. He is a good kid with a heart of gold. If only his fellow classmates could see what the rest of us already know about him. My heart breaks for him. It's almost more painful being the parent. We have to carry the pain of our children and our own pain. 

We need to teach our children that we are all children or our Heavenly Father and He loves each of us very much no matter our differences.

If anyone is interested in learning more about Tourette Syndrome, please go to their website at, www.tsa-usa.org.  We are so grateful for the love and support we have from all of our family and friends.  We love you.

Busy December

It seems like as soon as Thanksgiving hits, December has come and gone in a flash.  My Brother and Sister in law came to visit us at the first of the month which was so much fun.  Aaron helped the boys with their new leather making kits that my mom had sent them for their birthdays.  It was so cute watching them all concentrating so hard and having fun.

Don't you just love the red mustache?

And this goofball is my baby brother.

Milan celebrated his 40th birthday this year, he told me I wasn't allowed to throw him a birthday party to celebrate the occassion.  So I waited until after christmas and had a double surprise birthday party with one of his friends.  My friend and I told our husbands that it was a party for the other so they wouldn't figure it out.  The funniest part was when we got to the bowling alley, they went up and wished the other one a happy birthday and then they were both confused.  It was great.

After Milan's birthday, we have both boys birthdays.  It sure makes for a CRAZY month.  3 birthdays and Christmas.  But it's also alot of fun.

The boys wanted donuts instead of cake for their birthdays.

Ethan wanted this wand so bad, he was even saving his money to buy it.

Carson is our little movie maker.

CHRISTMAS DAY!!! 

Payton loves her daddys mini cooper, so for christmas she got her own.

Payton got dress ups for christmas and daddy had to try them out.  (He's gonna hate me for posting this picture of him)

Christmas outfits 

Elder Taylor even enjoyed the dress ups too!

New Year, New Post

As with every year, we all make our New Year resolutions.  So this year is no different.  This year I am going to enjoy the simple things, I'm going to slow down and take notice of the things around me, I'm going to develop a new talent, I'm not going to feel guilty about not pleasing everyone (it's exhausting), I'm going to strengthen my relationships with my children and my husband,  I'm going to organize myself and my home, I'm going to finish my projects, I'm going to be a better friend, I'm going to teach my children the importance of service by example.  I guess what I'm hoping for, is to improve my life along the way and to touch the lives of those of you who have come into my life and those that I will meet this year like I have been touched by each of you.  I am grateful that I have so many wonderful people in my life.

It's going to be a great year!

Running, Zoo, and Halloween

As most of you know, Milan is big into
 running.  On a few occassions, he has
been able to talk our boys into running
a race or two with him. 

Milan has even talked a few of his friends
 into running with him.

Dallas Zoo
 We decided since we hadn't been to the Zoo
 in the 3 years that we've been here, it was time. 
Milan took a day off from work and we took the
 kids to the zoo for a fun filled animal day.

 Carson and his buddy.

I thought this was the funniest sign.

 The staff at the Dallas zoo have been working with the giraffe's,
 trying to train them to eat out of your hand. 
Some of them do well and aren't too afraid of people,
 a few of them are still too scared to get close.

 The kids thought this was the best part of the zoo.

Halloween
 These are the costumes my kids finally decided on this year.
 Its always such a pain to pick costumes,
I think that's the part I hate most about Halloween.

Carson was a death eater from Harry Potter

Ethan was Harry Potter

Paytie was a witch

I signed up to bring drinks for Payties preschool party. 
I thought I would jazz them up a bit. 
They were a hit with the kids. 

Galveston

We went to Galveston, TX, back in August, but my computer has been a little bi-polar so sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.  So I am just now getting my pictures onto my blog.  I'm going to try to play catch up this week so you might get bombarded with posts.

Galveston has become one of our favorite places to vacation here in Texas.  We have made it a tradition to go down at the end of the summer with friends and rent a beach house.  The best part is we don't have to worry about the kids or find things to do.  It's the perfect way to have a relaxing and fun vacation.
Here are some of the fun highlights from our vacation.

It took all 3 men to light the grill, it was funny to watch them all attempt to do it. 

The kids were always having a good time.

The kids were patiently waiting on the balcony to go down to the ocean.

Paytie and Cooper were loading up their boogie boards with things to take down to the beach.

The Beach House in Galveston

The sand looked like poop on her suit, she's going to hate me one day for taking this picture.

This is pretty much what I did the whole weekend.

Ethan spent his day diggin this hole so he could hide inside of it.

All the kids and Dads playing football on the beach.  It was so funny to watch.

Football on the beach

I swear this dolphin and his friends were putting on a show for us.  They stayed out there jumping for quite a while.

Milan and Mark showing us their poses.  What dorks!

This was the other thing I did most of the weekend.

Mark sleeping on the hammock.  He actually fell off it.

Mark sleeping again, he really likes sleep.

The Shumards, one of the fun families we got to go with.

The men were afraid to get too close for a picture, big babies!

The women weren't afraid.

Our family on the beach in Galveston

Me and my little man Ethan

Carson, trying to catch these little eel fish

This is the whole group we went to Galveston with.  We're all so brown.  Wish that was my natural skin color.