A Little Getaway

We spent the weekend in St. George. Ummm... fabulous! I've decided I want to live there. Like I really want to live there. I told Sam to update his resume and move me there. Stat.

Here's a few highlights from our weekend...

Throwing rocks down a window well... totally fun!

Hiking at Zions...

Chillin' at Sam's grandmother's condo...

Searching for Easter eggs in our jammies...

Playing at the golf course...

Checking out potato bugs...

And, proof that Sam and I were part of the weekend...

Other highlights included watching The Ten Commandments for the first time (super long, but good!), and introducing the kids to Dairy Queen (and then having to go there nearly every meal). A fabulous time was had by all!

Returning home to rain and cold... not so fabulous.

Life in the Slow Lane

When Chase was born, we had no idea how appropriate his name would become. We have been "chasing" him since he learned to move. He's always on the go, so experiencing the last few days with him have been different, to say the least.

On Wednesday, we took Chase to Primary Children's Hospital to have his ear tubes replaced and his tonsils and adenoids removed. On the surgery scale, it is a pretty routine procedure, but it was still difficult watching my little 2-year-old head off to the operation room with the doctors.

Chase's surgery went like clockwork. His old tubes were completely blocked, so it's nice to know he can hear better now. His enlarged tonsils and adenoids are now gone, making sleeping (and hopefully talking) easier. Since then, we have spent many hours cuddling our little man. He doesn't open his mouth much, and he looks sad most of the time, but every once in a while we see the real Chase, and we can't wait until he feels good again.

During this process, Halle and Lizzie have been amazing girls. Halle has been so thoughtful and considerate of Chase, and Lizzie has been spending a lot of extra time in her bouncy chair and bassinet without too much protest. Thanks for your help, girlies!

SIX & So Spectacular!

We celebrated Halle all weekend. On Friday 10 of her friends came over for a very loud, very high-pitched birthday party. (I've discovered that next year, I'm either buying her off, or going somewhere else for her party.) Even though Sam and I were exhausted through the entire party, Halle was as happy as I've ever seen her. And, for that, we were happy.

On Saturday, her actual birthday, my family came over and we went to Halle's favorite joint Panda Express. Afterwards, we had cupcakes back at our house.

On Sunday, we went to Sam's parents house, where we ate (at Halle's request) "beef and potatoes." We watched Tangled and had a great time.

At 6, Halle:

• is a whiz! She excels at school and loves to read. We are beyond proud.
• has a testimony. She really knows her Heavenly Father, and we get to know Him better through her.
• loves sugar.
• is a good friend. At her most recent parent/teacher conference Mrs. Holt told us that she is kind and considerate of everyone.
• loves dance, gymnastics, and soccer. She's a busy gal!
• is an amazing big sister.
• loves watching The Amazing Race with us.
• is beautiful!

We love you, Halle! Happy Birthday!

My Boy

As I've mentioned before, Chase is progressing slowly with his speech. He understands everything we say, but getting him to actually say a word is pretty tough. He has about 15-20 words that he uses regularly, but that's it. (An average 2 1/2 year old says 300-500.) About a week ago, his speech therapist told me that she's afraid he might have apraxia, which is a disorder where the brain can't tell the mouth how to speak. It is quite rare, and difficult to "cure." Most kids with apraxia are in speech therapy 3x a week for years.

After worrying nostop for two straight days, I finally started making phone calls to see what we needed to do. I contacted his pediatrician, who referred me to a speech pathologist through Primary's to get another opinion. I also contacted his ear, nose and throat doctor to get his ear tubes checked to see if his hearing was blocked.

Which leads me to today. We went to the new speech therapist, who was amazing. She worked so well with Chase, and he loved playing with her. She seems to think that Chase is just progressing at a slower rate, and isn't seeing many red flags pointing to apraxia. She couldn't completely rule apraxia out in a two-hour session (it's a difficult diagnosis), but we left feeling so much better about Chase's future.

This afternoon we went to Chase's ENT doctor, where we found out that his ears tubes are blocked, which is decreasing his hearing, and his tonsils are enlarged, which is making speaking difficult. Finally, an answer! He now has to go into surgery to replace his ear tubes and get his tonsils and adenoids removed. We've been through the surgery with Halle before, and it is hard, but we are so happy that Chase is going to be okay. We are hopeful that his speech will come shortly following the surgery.

The past week has been filled with a lot of prayers and worry, and even though we are not out of the woods yet, we think we are going in the right direction. Hopefully in a couple months, I get to post about how much Chase is saying. That would be music to my ears.

Blessed.

Lizzie's Blessing Day was on Sunday. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress (the same dress Halle wore). It was wonderful to have both families in attendance. Lizzie is so lucky to have so many people around that love and look out for her. Sam did a beautiful job with the blessing, as he has with all of our children.

I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for entrusting us with His beautiful daughter. Lizzie has been such a joy to have in our home. I love being her mom. She makes our family complete.

WMDs = Weapons of Mass Depression

Warning: Don't come by our house, unless you too, are down in the dumps. Misery loves company, after all. In 72 hours, we've gone from planning a "hopeful" trip to Houston and the Final Four, to well, not.

Now, I will be the first to admit that our BYU fandom is a bit over the top, but hey, it makes us happy. So, on Monday when BYU was #3 in the country and a hopeful #1 seed, we were thrilled. By Tuesday night, not so much.

Many have questioned if BYU did the right thing. I'm a fence-sitter on this one, and I hate that. On one hand, when you make a commitment, you should live up to the commitment, or suffer the consequences. On the other hand, we are all human, and we make mistakes--sometimes, big ones. I'm proud of BYU for living up to their integrity in a day and age where winning comes at all costs (i.e. Ohio State, Florida, Auburn, etc.). But still, to see a person's "dirty laundry" out for everyone to see and judge isn't fair.

I don't know what the solution is. I'm certainly glad that I'm not the person that has to make the tough decisions. In the meantime, we'll keep throwing our pity party, and wonder what might have been. But, then again, we still have Jimmer...

Sweet Baby Girl

Our sweet Lizzie is 6 weeks old today. I'm certainly biased, but I'm convinced that she is the sweetest baby around. We love listening to her constant squeaking and smelling her new baby smell. She's become a master of holding her head up.

She has amazing patience. Halle and Chase love her so much, and she puts up with their constant kisses. It's pretty sweet.

Recently, her cheeks and thighs have started to show a little chub, and she has become quite the smiler. It is seriously too cute! We are completely in love with our Elizabeth. Happy 6 weeks, Baby Girl!