Baking with Ella...

I have been looking forward to this day for a long time now, baking cookies with my little girl! I have so many fun memories of baking and cooking with my mom! Ella and I made some cookies on Saturday, she loved it and especially loved the dough! I hope there is many more baking days in our future!!

How to Train your Dragon FHE...

For family night last night we took the boys to the movie How to train your Dragon. I had to document it because I think it was brigham's first to time to the movie theatres! The movie was darling, Brig was a little scared at first but he still loved it! Parley loved it too. It was so fun to go to the movies with our little family, even though Ella didn't join us, Thanks to Shupe's for watching her so that I could enjoy the movie too!
Brigham didn't let go of his dragon through the whole movie!

Just for Fun...

just some cute pics of the kids... They are really keeping me busy these days, but I love it!




Ella's hair is really pretty awesome in the mornings, the boys always laugh at her, you can't really tell in this picture but it was sticking straight up!
I think that little brigham is looking great, I don't think he has gained any weight yet but I can tell a difference in his complexion and he definitely has more energy, last year when we would go to the park all he would do is sit by me and want to eat something, this year he LOVES the park
and it is hard to get him to come home!

and another one of miss ella sportin her shades! We really can't get enough of her, oh and today she stood up in the middle of the room all by her self and took about 4 steps!! She is almost there.

T-Ball has begun...

Parley's T-ball season started last Saturday, It was a perfect day for a baseball game. He is on the same team as his little cousin and I think he had a lot of fun! He hit the ball good and he was great at running the bases, he even ran them when he was in the outfield :)It was very fun to watch these cute little boys and a few girls play. They have to start somewhere right?
Parley is #9!

The coach threw a couple of pitches before they try the T out!


Running the bases, everytime he would get on base he would turn and give us the thumbs up!

Trav went out to help him understand that we don't run the bases when we are playing outfield, so once he knew he was supposed to get the ball and throw it to a base, he did a great job!
The fans..
Brig was wishing he could play too..

Miss Ella...

Just had to throw in a few pictures of Little El's, She is getting so close to walking and took a couple of steps the other day, but she is still very hesitant , but I think it could happen any day now!

3 crazy kids! Brig is so in to making funny faces whenever I pull out the camera!

The boys love their sister more than anything!

Ella's favorite things these days are popscicles, yummy!

Old Friends...

We have been enjoying the spring weather and really hope it sticks around! We met some friends at the park last week, one friend who I haven't seen for at least 6 years, It was so fun to catch up, i am so grateful for such great girl friends!

Come What May and Love it...Celiac Disease...

I can already tell a difference in his complexion! The top picture was March 16 and the bottom picture is 3 weeks later.



On March 8, I took Ella in for her 1 year well check and at last minute ( a tender mercy from the Lord) I decided to take Brigham with me for just a quick weight check because he has always been tiny the Doctor said I could stop by and weigh him anytime. So we dropped Parley off at his cousins and went to the Doctor. Ella was a thriving 21 pounds and Brigham (2 1/2 years old) was 22.2 pounds, had gained 10 oz. in 6 months and only 4 pounds since he was 12 months old. So the Doctor asked some questions about Brig's diet and about his behavior, and I said he is a perfectly happy boy who eats like a horse! He asked if he had diarrhea, which I thought about and realized it had actually been quite a long time since I had changed a solid poop on him, they weren't always way runny just a little mushy (sorry for the details) but I figured they were always mushy because he has a diaper on and no place else for it to go. My wonderful pediatrician recommended that we have Brigham's blood taken and tested for Celiac Disease. So after a terrible experience with drawing blood from my tiny 2 year olds arm I came home and broke the news to Trav, Googled Celiac Disease and then cried and had a break down as everything I read fit Brigham perfectly and I knew he had it! A couple days later my pediatrician called with the blood results, and the number that they look for to be elevated on a celiac patient was very elevated on Brigham, normal was 0-20 and he was 247!! A sure sign of celiac but my doctor wanted to be sure so we made a trip out to SLC to see a pediatric GI specialist, She was awesome and put us at ease with Celiac. She checked Brig out and was very suprised at how happy and adorable he was, because she said usually in a child celiac they are very irritable and onery that she can't even stand to be in the same room with them and she said besides him being a little small he looked pretty healthy and happy! but she scheduled us for an endoscopy of the stomach up to Primary Children's Hospital, so on March 16 we head up to PCH, I have to say that this was the hardest day, his appt wasn't until 1:30 and he had to have an empty stomach so wasn't able to eat anything since the night before, it was terrible as my little brigham is a big breakfast eater, it was so hard holding him off, and the worst part was we waited at PCH for 1 1/2 hours before they even took him back, so finally at 3:00, I held my little brigham as they gave him the gas and I felt him go limp in my arms (a terrible feeling btw). 15 minutes later the surgery was done, the dr told us all went well and we would have to wait a couple of days for the results of the biopsy before getting the 100% diagnosis! So one day later the Dr calls me and said it was so obvious we didn't even need another day, Little Brigham has Celiac Disease!Even though in my heart I had already known, my body still sank and my heart broke for little brigham! So thus began Brigham's lifelong Gluten Free( no wheat, barley, rye, possibly oats) diet! It has been quite the learning process and I still have soooooo much to learn, gluten is in most processed foods and can be hidden in a lot of different ingredients, like malt or natural flavoring or any food starches! It has been very hard to find gluten free foods for my 2 year old, but we seem to be getting along fine. Brigham is s trooper and I believe he has had little angels with him because He has already figured out what his body can and can't have, he isn't into breads or other baked goods, but he loves Rice, potatoes, meats, and those are all gluten free, so without us knowing he had pretty much started a gluten free diet all on his own and for this I am grateful (another tender mercy ) . The only thing that he has had to give up that I think he misses the most is he BBQ chips and His daily 2 bowls of oatmeal (oats are only contaminated with gluten because they are processed in the same place as wheat). Luckily for us this disease has become more and more common and so now is a better time than ever to get it. Companies are now starting to label their foods Gluten free, such as General mills, all of their Chex cereals are gluten free and are brigham's new breakfast staple! I have had so many people give me courage and help me out with celiac websites and Blogs but right now as I start searching it is all a little overwhelming as I look through gluten free recipes and find that I haven't heard of half of the ingredients in them, so for now we are sticking to what we know brigham can have and what he likes! We found a new treat today, caramel rice cakes and he loved them, thats always a plus!

I have been very grateful for this little experience/trial in our lives, it is not an ideal thing to have as it is a lifelong disease, there is no cure and he will have to deal with it as he goes to school, scouts, dates, mission and have to explain that he is gluten free or will maybe have to take his own little treats wherever he goes. I feel bad that he doesn't get to eat cookie dough or taste the cake batter or roll out cinnamon rolls with me and enjoy them ( a childhood memory of mine). I know that eventually I will learn to make these things gluten free for him but for now we are taking it one step at a time and sticking to rice, any chex cereal, turkey and cheese roll ups etc etc. They say that we should see improvement in him right away and that he should start gaining weight right away, so I am anxious to see my little brigham put on some pounds! I have already had so many people tell me they can tell a difference in Brig! So I am so grateful for that. He still complains of tummy aches but they say that is because his stomach will take a few months to heal and then hopefully those will be gone! This has been a testimony builder for me as I have seen the Lord's hand in my life, the doctors and I believe that we caught this very early as this is something that they can be very sick from and brig didn't get too sick so I am grateful for that! I believe it was a tender mercy from the Lord and a prompting from the Holy Ghost that I took Brig to the Dr with me that day. I even spoke to my pediatrician after we found out Brig's diagnosis and he told me it was the Holy Ghost that told him to test brig for that (another tender mercy)! Ever since this all began I keep thinking of Elder Wirthlin's talk, Come What may and love it! We are trying to do just that! I feel so blessed to have little brigham in my life as he has taught me so much, I can't believe I am the lucky one to be his mom. He has the sweetest little spirit and such a tender heart, he is very unselfish and is always worried about everyone, whenever I tell him I have a head ache or something, he gives me a very sympathetic ooh and then tells me to go lay on the couch! I love Brigham and I know that heavenly father has been very aware of him and has been looking out for him! What a special little boy! Love you Briggy boy! Now its time to grow Big and Strong!!
A very hungry Brig just before his surgery, he was a trooper!

And yes he still has binky, we are working on that!
Just coming out of the surgery, he was so out of it, I didn't like seeing him like this!

Maybe in a couple of months I can post some before and after pictures of Brig and hopefully there will be a big difference!

Happy Easter...

Just some pics of the kids in their Easter clothes...
We hope everyone had a great Easter, I love this time of year and love the opportunity that Easter gives us to talk to our kids about Christ and the resurrection... Parley was very interested and it was so fun to hear his questions. We hope warmer spring weather is on its way, because this snow is no fun!

The St. George House...

We had a fantastic time down in St. George for Easter. I actually went down last Monday with the kids and my mom-in-law and we didn't come home until the next monday, one full week, it was awesome! Travis didn't join us until Wednesday, but we still had 5 days with him. My kids love going on vacation and they now call this vacation the St. George House! They loved it down there! We went to the park every day, swam a couple of times, flew kites, had easter egg hunts, played tball and tennis, watched movies, ate good food, walked around the temple, watched conference, Trav golfed and I did a little shopping, and just enjoyed being together and with family. I love this time of year and I love Easter and listening to Conference with my family I thought it was so perfect that Easter fell on Conference sunday this year, and I totally enjoyed all of the talks that I heard,I loved that there were a lot on parenting and raising our families in righteousness I am looking foward to the Ensign next month as it is a little hard to take all the talks in when you have such young kids that don't really know how to sit still and quiet yet :) But I am so grateful for a prophet and apostles on the earth today and I have such a testimony that they really are the Lord's mouth piece for us. It was a great Easter weekend, thanks to the Shupe's for such a wonderful trip and an awesome place to stay!




The kids loved the pool especially Ella!




We enjoyed dinner at the Pirate pizza place, it was a great place for kids!

My mother in law Heidi was so much help with my kids, especially when Travis wasn't there yet. She entertained Ella the whole drive down to st. george! My kids love her.


Playing some arcades at the pirate place.


We enjoyed many days at the park, it was so nice to get outside!
Playing T-ball, I know i have said it before, but brig is our little natural, He would hit the plate with his bat and say hey batter batter, he is so fun to watch and he can really hit the ball!

Parley is learning and is doing better, he actually starts t-ball this month, I am sure it is going to be very entertaining! I just hope he can take in the concept of the game!



These guys were exhausted and zonked out on gma's bed, we had a tough time waking them up to go to dinner...
we even moved them downstairs and this is where they both ended up, on the couch...
We all went to dinner, it was quite a sight but I though the kids did great!


Listening to conference...
Reading a book and playing memory during conference...Heidi and Parley played memory at least a couple of times a day, he loves this game and I think he liked playing with Heidi the most because she would let him win, what a nice grandma!
The first easter egg hunt was at the park with the condo's HOA, it was a lot of fun and kids found lots of eggs.



It was impossible to get a picture of all 6 grandkids, this is the best we could do, they were all a little preoccupied with their eggs...

swimming again...

Ella really loves the water..

The kids loved the kiddy pool, I loved this pool when i was a kid too, i actually thought it was my very own and wouldn't let other kids get in it..

Handsome boys going to the Priesthood session...
Parley and Tobie doing a puzzle...

Coloring Easter eggs...

Jessie and Amy are the best Aunts ever, they were so much help with the kids and the kids love them..
Easter morning...
Brigham found his basket under the stairs...

Parley found his in the ottoman...


And Ella found hers under the table and was thrilled...


Parley and Brigham both got the book of mormon stories and Doctrine and Covenant stories for kids, Parley loves reading them...

the 2nd easter egg hunt, Travis hid some eggs outside the condo, the kids loved it..

After Conference on Sunday we went to the park and flew kites and played....

flying kites, it was a perfect windy day....

We went and walked around the St. George temple, it was so pretty, and it was fun to have the kids be so interested in it, Parley was dying to go inside and kept telling me to open the doors...

Brigham insisted on pushing Ella everywhere we went...

The drive home...

I wasn't quite ready for the trip to be over but we are home now and it wasn't so great to come home to the snow... but it's spring time in Utah right?