Our Almost New Home

This morning we drove up to Logan to meet with the director of Luke's hearing and speech therapy program "sound beginnings" and tour the facility. We had heard great things about this program so far and were very anxious to see it for ourselves. Our expectations were met in a huge way and we left being almost speechless. It was an amazing program they are running there. I won't bore you all with the details of all that was included with their facility, just the highlights. Basically he will go to a group toddler session every Monday and Wednesday for two hours. On one of those days he will stay for a one on one session with the speech therapist for an extra hour. When he is three years old he will then attend their preschool Mon - Fri all day just like regular school. This is to get them caught up to their peers so by kindergarten he is ready to be mainstreamed into a regular Kindergarten class. On the facility they have audiologists, speech therapists and the preschool, all located in the same area. The preschool is actually attached to an elementary school so the kids can occasionally join in on the activities going on there. They have top of the line equipment in everything, they just got funded with more money and our building a brand new building and best of all there is no cost for us everything is funded through the university. Being a mother I get emotional when it comes to my kids and as we were leaving I couldn't help but get a little teary eyed because this is exactly what Luke needs and I feel they were are truly being watched over by our father in heaven.

Lance has decided that living with Granny O should be okay. She has a lazy boy chair that moves up and down with a controller. He now thinks she has the coolest house around, good to know I have Lance's approval.

We love this Grandma!

On our way home we stopped at my Granny O's house who me and the boys will be staying with while Eric is in DC. It was like I was seeing her house for the first time as I realized this is the place I would be calling home for the next year. We have made our decision and while we know it is right, it is hard to really come to terms with it. Being in her home today and feeling her love and excitement for us to be coming, I felt totally at ease and knew without a doubt this is the route my life should be taking for the time being. Thanks Grandma for being the incredible person you are and for opening up your home to my family and for your unconditional love to me always. We are truly blessed!

First Day in Utah Not So Great

We are here in Utah visiting family for two weeks. Eric's parents flew us out because his brother is getting married next week. So we thought we would use this as a little vacation time as well. However our first day here has been anything but smooth. Nothing major has happened -- just a lot of little things that are kind of adding up. First of all poor Luke, every time we come to Utah, without fail, he gets sick, and not just a little sick but fevers, throwing up, everything not fun. The poor little guy had a fever of 101 all day yesterday that finally went away this morning but he has now been throwing up all night. Now just as I was finally laying him down to sleep I noticed he had another fever coming on, poor baby looks miserable.

This is a picture of him cuddling with Eric last night, doesn't he look so sad.

Luke still not feeling well, as you can see from his not all with it expression on his face and a very excited Lance. We can't tell Lance we are coming to Utah until the morning of, otherwise he refuses to do anything else but ask if it is time to leave to see grandma, grandpa, and Carsy. His over excitement is making up for Luke's lack of.

I really don't like this Thomas suitcase that Lance insists on pushing all through the airport all by himself. I can't tell you how many people I have to apologize to for running into them with Thomas.

We flew out of the Louisville airport, which went to the Cincinnati airport for a short 30 minute flight which is completely ridiculous seeing how both Louisville and Cincinnati are an hour from our house. However to fly out of Cincinnati costs an extra hundred, go figure, so we had to drive to Louisville, just to go to Cincinnati. On this flight there is only one seat, then an aisle, then two seats. On the one seat they will not let infants in arms sit there for safety reasons. Eric got to sit there while I got to tackle both kids by myself. Luckily, like I said it was only 30 minutes. On the next looong 3 and a half hour flight Lance was an angel. He watched Cars on the DVD player and then fell asleep for an hour and a half. Luke however fell asleep for 10 minutes, woke up screaming and would not go back to sleep for the entire flight. He basically spent the whole time crying. Finally Eric spent the last hour standing in the back of the plane with him so our fellow passengers didn't kill us.

Once we got here, we were both so exhausted from the forever long flight, that neither of us were in very good moods. Then my dad had something come up and had to cancel our dinner plans. My mom was laying her sod today and couldn't drive up and who knows what my sisters are doing. Just kidding you two, I will see you tomorrow but I am feeling sad that I have not been able to see any of my family yet. But on the bright side Smiths ordered San Francisco sourdough pizza which I haven't had forever and both boys are in bed and since I now have no plans I can blog which will most likely not happen the rest of the trip because we are usually running around like crazy. So this may be the last post for a few days, or maybe not, I might find time. I am rambling because I am tired so I suppose I will go to bed now. No more complaining from me it really has not been that bad, just a long tiring day. We are very excited to be here visiting family, there is nothing better, we miss them all so much in Kentucky. We love this time. with them.

Memorial Day

We had such a busy but fun Memorial Day. We started off with our ward 5K run. I am not a runner and most certainly not a 5K runner. In high school when we had to run the mile I would fake the amount of laps I ran and got away with it every time. So this kind of thing really does not appeal to me, but being how we are on the activities committee we thought we better show our support. Not to mention our ward was doing this along with the Bluegrass Ward that we used to be a part of before they split us up, so I wanted to see all my friends from that ward. So we went and had a great time, the boys rode in the stroller the whole time and loved it. We did not do the whole 5K, surprise, surprise we did a 1K and a half. Yeah go Smith's right! I however feel really good about this 5K, 1K what's the difference, at least I got some exercise.

A proud moment, finished with my run, more like a slow walk but finished nevertheless.

Lance and the Lebaron kids eating donuts and juice, by far the kids favorite part!

This fun activity got over at about 10:00, so since it was still pretty early we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast with the boys. Ever since we got married it is our tradition to go out to breakfast on Memorial day, Labor day and New Years day. With the run we didn't think we would be able to this year but we had time. Two water spills later, which I would like to blame on the kids but was actually Eric's fault, we got out of there having to apologize to a few tables around us. Let's just say my kids were a little overexcited and it was approaching nap time. Not a good combination for taking them out to eat at a restaurant.

Two crazy boys, at least they're cute!

To finish our day off we went to a BBQ at our friends the Carlton's. Nobody throws a party quite like the Carltons they are so much fun. All of our friends from our old ward were there and it was so great catching up with all of them. Thank you for inviting us you guys we miss you, it felt just like the good old days of mommy group Tam with a few husbands along that is.

Such cute girls, another picture of cute friends to add to my Kentucky scrapbook, you are all so wonderful!

New Toys

Both boys have new toys that they are spending all of their time in lately. Here is Lance's new treasure a bob the builder blow up tent, how exciting right? We inherited this fun little tent from a lady that Eric works with, she has grand kids that she bought it for but for some reason did not want it anymore. One day Eric went into the office on a day he wasn't working and had Lance with him who was carrying a bob the builder book. She noticed it and the next day brought this plus a bunch of bob the builder toys to work and gave them all to Eric to give to Lance. Who doesn't love free toys? Okay I admit I actually do not, well some toys. I wish I was one of those moms who spent there time at garage sales and discount stores and found all of these great deals on things. I am just not though, garage sales especially freak me out. My mind just can't seem to get over not knowing where the toys have been. I am really trying hard to break myself of this bad habit. So yeah for free toys especially when they make your kids happy!


Luke's new toy is not exactly new or a toy. However this beats all toys for him---THE DRYER! I don't know what it is about the dryer that kids find so fascinating. It used to be the dishwasher now it's the dryer, how exciting are appliances! His favorite game is to crawl on up there and throw, yes throw not just toss, throw everything out and then shut the door on himself. If I was a little one year old sitting in a dark small tube would scare the crap out of me. So why is this fun? Don't know, but he sure finds it enjoyable.

I thought this was funny, here is a picture of Lance at the same age doing the exact same activity. Is this just some weird thing my kids do or do all your children find this fascinating too?

What Disney Princess Are You?

You Are Aurora! (A.K.A. Sleeping Beauty.)

Thoughtful and loving. Authority figures probably have been sheltering you all of your life. Thankfully you're a very tranquil person who is content with what life has given you, but secretly you want to know how the outside world works.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

I have seen this done on a few blogs now, so it got me curious. What else is there to do on a Sunday afternoon when everyone else is sleeping and after I have read my scriptures of course. Okay I have not actually done that yet but it is next on my to do list. Anyways I acutally think this describes me pretty accurately. Especially the part about people sheltering me, I am a total sucker when it comes to that and Eric loves to shelter so it works out great. He is great at taking care of all the things that scare me to death; taking the car to get fixed, getting our taxes filed, insurance, letting the phone company have it for charging to much, etc, etc.

If you havn't tried this yet, it was fun, give it a try!

More Kentucky Friends

A few posts ago I told all my cute Kentucky friends if I got your picture I would be putting it on my blog, so I can tell you all how wonderful you are before we leave. As you can see I wasn't kidding, I won't feel bad if you all go running if you see me coming with my camera. How else can I remember all of our wonderful friends, since this is mostly a journal of our families life and you all have played a huge roll in it. Tonight we were able to go over to our friend's the Marcum's for dinner and to visit with them. They are such a cute, fun family we have known them since we first moved in because Sean was in law school with Eric and they happen to be LDS as well. All of us LDS law students and families have gotten together quite often in the last few years. We have to stick together because we are very much in the minority here, not to mention it is quite crazy at the law school to be married with kids that is even more in the minority. What is even funner is about a year ago they split our ward up and combined us with another ward that hooray now included the Marcum's plus a few other of our law friends. It was so fun getting to see them at church now as well, we were sad when the Marcum's moved out of our ward a few months ago. Thanks you guys we had such a great time with you tonight, there is not a better way to spend a Friday night than with good friends!

What a cute family, no Eric in this picture he is the one taking it.

Wouldn't be a party without Guitar Hero, this was actually my first time playing and it was surprisingly fun. Though I shouldn't be surprised I love playing our wii!

Sarah, Lance and Jacob

Luke had a great time going up and down the stairs. We do not have stairs at our house so this was a big adventure to him. I have to say after going back and forth a few times with him I am now glad we do not have stairs, that could get very exhausting after awhile.

Where we are Going

Logan, Utah

Washington, DC

We have finally come to a decision about where our family will be spending the next year for Eric's graduate program in tax law. We have been pretty sure for the last few weeks but have kept quiet about it until we had heard from one more school. We have been very hesitant to tell people in fear that they will all think we have lost our minds or something, but as it is getting closer we feel we had better explain ourselves. In order to understand our decision we have to give you a little background on the predicament we have found ourselves in trying to make the best decision for our family. Our two top contenders were The University of Washington in Seattle, WA and Georgetown University in Washington DC. With both of us being from Utah naturally Washington appealed to us because it is closer to home and will hopefully lead to settling in Utah so we can be near family again. Georgetown University however is a more highly ranked school and of course it's in DC -- who wouldn't want to live there for a year. Mixed in with all this is Luke's hearing and speech therapy program. As of right now there are a limited number of programs around the country that are qualified to have this program. Most programs around the country recommend sign language with a hearing loss as severe as Luke's, but very few offer the auditory/verbal path we have chosen for Luke (which will hopefully allow him to learn to speak with hearing aids and therapy and be mainstreamed by kindergarten). When we found this out, we of course did our research and found that Seattle has an excellent program, and unfortunately DC does not. So we thought okay Seattle it is, then we were thrown for another loop. Both schools have really great tax programs but we feel Georgetown's is stronger and would open up more options to us for our future, which again, going back to Luke, is very important as we need to be able to have a lot of options to choose from so that we can for sure find a job in a city that meets Luke's needs as well. So we felt our only option here was to send Eric to DC for the nine month program and me and the boys will be in Logan, Utah staying with my Grandma. Logan just happens to have one of the top programs in the country right now for auditory/verbal therapy. I know -- go figure that DC, and Salt Lake City have nothing and little Logan, Utah has one of the best in the country. We are lucky enough that with help from our wonderful families, Eric will be able to fly home every three weeks or so and hopefully I will get to go visit DC without dragging the kids along -- one of the many perks of having family around again. We hope this helps in seeing this from our point of view. We have struggled with this decision for months now -- it has seriously been one of the hardest decisions we have had to make for our family. Though we know this is bound to be hard on both of us, we feel we are securing the best future we can for Luke and our family. We are just not willing to sacrifice these crucial years for Luke learning to talk as these early years will have such a huge effect on the rest of his life. Thanks to our wonderful families who have been so supportive of our decision and for all the help you have given us and will continue to give to us in this coming year. We love you all!

Reflections Tag

I was tagged again, this one was kind of difficult, I had to really think hard for the first few questions but it really made me look back on my life and see how truly blessed I have been.

20 years ago

I was five years old and living in Tremonton, Utah right down the street from all of my cousins, which I absolutely loved. My cousin Randy Jo was only two years older and was over all the time playing silly games with me and my sisters. Girls do you all remember our weird clubs who we on occasion refused a few people to join (you all know who I am talking about) what rude kids we were. We were also having dance recitals left and right in our garage that we actually invited people to come and witness how truly weird we were. My sisters and I spent our days making strawberry shortcake get ups that we wore all the time and watching Today's Special on TV. We went to my grandparents every Sunday for dinner and made so many memories, I can't even count. The good old days, I miss that easy life!

10 years ago

Sorry to all of you who read my other tag that asked this same question, skip it if you want. I was 15 years old and a sophomore at Northrigde High School. I am trying to be creative here and answer a little differently than the last. My friends and I loved going on mini trips with each other we went to Bekah's cabin, sleeping in Stacey's tent in her backyard and we desperately tried to convince our parents to let us go stay overnight in a hotel. We were not successful with this until our senior year and that was a great spring break. I worked at America First and spent a lot of my money on books (still do), this however made my sister's particularly Teri very angry because it meant less money on clothes that she could borrow from me. I also unlike most teenagers was terrified to drive, I had Coach Moore for drivers ed and he scared the crap out of me, not good memories. I also hated gym class and spent a lot of my time trying to come up with new ways to get out of going, which again I was usually not very successful with.

5 years ago

I was 20 years old and a little newlywed living in Ogden, Utah in our somewhat crummy apartment (sorry honey you know it's true). We had only been married for going on five months and we were obviously both still a little new at it. We had not yet learned the art of picking your battles and spent a lot of time in silly little fights. I can honestly say our first year of marriage was definitely the hardest still great but hard. I was loving having our own little place as crummy as it was there is nothing like the satisfaction of turning a house into a home for you and your loved ones. I was already pining for a baby, and sadly it would take a year of convincing Eric and trying for another year to get one here. I was still working at America First and Eric was going to Weber getting his undergrad in accounting. I remember getting irritated at the amount of time he spent studying, and now have to laugh at myself I obviously had no idea what law school would be like.

3 years ago

This was a happy time, I was 35 weeks pregnant with Lance and two weeks away from welcoming our first child into the world. I was counting down the weeks of quitting my job which was you got it America First. I was the lead teller by this point and only the drive up was open on Monday's so I was the only supervisor there on Monday's and of course had to be there. I remember every Monday for the last four months going in saying "only 10 more Monday's only 9, only 8,"etc. I was thrilled when Lance came three weeks early not only because my new son was here but because I got to quit three weeks earlier then expected. However there was a little bit of sadness in me, Eric had been accepted into the University of Kentucky Law School and we were moving in three months. Okay there was a lot of sadness in me, I was terrified for this big adventure ahead.

1 year ago

Another happy year, Luke had just barely gotten off oxygen and we could finally start taking him outside of the house for something other than doctor visits. Our first fun family outing was to the Louisville Zoo on June 9th for Lance's birthday, Luke was six months old. The last year of my life had been horrific and I was enjoying every second of being a real family again with my biggest worry being what to make for dinner. Eric was working for a judge here in Lexington over the summer and got home at 4:30 every day. It was truly the happiest most carefree easy going summer I have ever had. If only we could always appreciate the day to day life we all live instead of taking it for granted and having to live through a nightmare to truly appreciate how great life is. I am trying to remember this now daily to appreciate every second with my family and loved ones.

So far this year

This year so far has brought a lot of changes for our family. We found out the extent of Luke's hearing loss in January, have gotten him hearing aids and have started down the path of speech therapy. The other big event was of course Eric's graduation from law school. I never would have believed that this day would come three years ago. A few not quite so drastic events well for us anyway we went to Utah in March for Eric's brother's wedding and to visit family. Eric is again working for the same judge this summer and we are preparing for another big event coming, moving in July.

Yesterday

Yesterday was a very productive Saturday, we spent the day doing yard work and cleaning our cars. You know me and pictures here are some of Eric and "helper Lance" cleaning the inside of my car. We also ran errands crazy Wallmart being one of them we bought Lance a Handy Manny giant coloring book for $3.55 that payed for itself today during Stake Conference, kept Lance entertained the whole time. Eric went to the adult session of conference last night while lucky me got to stay home and put the kids to bed and then when Eric got home we watched Hitch on TV. So exciting I know.

A nice clear car!

Eric would not smile for the camera so we have a nice action of shot of him vacuuming out the car.

Lance spent his time "driving" in the front seat.

Today

Today we got to sleep in an extra hour because it was stake conference and it started at 10 instead of 9. We were actually 10 minutes early for church instead of 10 minutes late. The boys Eric included are all sleeping right now which means I get to blog, yeah! We will be eating dinner a little early tonight because I have to go to a Activities Committee Meeting at 7:30. Eric will get the boys in the bath and put them to bed which means the bathroom will be flooded and toys will be everywhere when I get home. Just kidding honey but again you know it's true. After the boys are in bed Eric and I can relax and have a nice Sunday evening my favorite. We usually like to read Eric is reading Harry Potter the seventh one and I will be sulking because I finished The Host and have nothing exciting to read now.

Tomorrow

Everybody's favorite day of the week. Catch up on laundry is at the top of my list, as usual after neglecting it all weekend long. Grocery shopping which is always so much fun. Then I will spend the rest of the day trying to come up with outside kiddy games for our ward 5K on memorial day next week. Anybody have any ideas? So far the only thing I have come up with is a water balloon toss, and maybe a three legged race. I don't know, I could use some help.

Kentucky Friends

Dallin and Ashley Lebaron, Holly Morgan, Luke and I

I can't get over this sad feeling of leaving Kentucky. I know I talk a lot about moving and it is still two months away but things just keep happening that remind me of how my life is drastically changing in the next few months. My good friend Holly is moving next week she is the one of the first of many. Since we have moved here we have met so many great people and it just so happens that a lot of us are moving between now and August. It is such a sad thought to me that these girls who have been such great friends and have been such a huge part of my life I will no longer be seeing a few times a week. I have absolutely loved these two girls, from the very first week we moved in these two have befriended me. We have spent so many days playing together with our children. They are my best scrap booking buddies in the winter months, (and of course you too Jaimee) and our park, swimming buddies in the summer. It is such a sad thought that I will no longer get to meet up with these two at this park and visit with each other. I hope they don't kill me for putting this picture up, I think they look darling but it's a weekday morning at the park. Does anybody really get all cute for the park? Thank goodness for blogs so we can keep in touch with all of the wonderful friends we have been lucky enough to know here. If I had a picture of all of you I would have put them up as well. Kentucky would not have been the same without all of you. Ashley if you are reading this get your blog going so I can still feel like I can be a part of your life. On a side note Ashley is one day away from having here baby in this picture, don't you all wish you could be as cute at 39 weeks pregnant.

Giggles from the Bedroom

It's a common thing around our house for these two boys to go in there room together and laugh and play with each other and all of their many toys. ( Sometimes I feel like our house is being taken over by all the boys toys, I cringe when we get a new toy because I have no idea where to store them anymore.) Last night after the boys got done taking a bath I let them play in their room while I picked up the house a bit. There was the usual giggling going on, but it seemed like tonight there was a little extra excitement. I went to go see what was going on, hysterical laughter is never good, it usually means a big giant mess for me to clean up. That was not the case though, they were overjoyed because Luke who has now turned in to a very successful climber had managed to climb up on the bunk beds and they had dragged all the toys up with them having a grand old time. To me there is nothing cuter than seeing your children laugh and play with each other. I may regret saying this but I can't wait for the day when they are both old enough to sleep in the bunk beds and talk to each other as they go to sleep. I have great memories of doing this with my sisters. There just isn't a better time to laugh and be silly then when you are supposed to be going to bed. I think this is what having siblings is all about, there is nothing funner!

A Mother's Promise

As a mother, I promise that I will always try my best to be a good parent. I will always believe in my children and give them the encouragement they need to achieve their goals and reach for their dreams. I promise that I will offer patience, kindness, and understanding when they need it. I will try to teach them by example the right beliefs and values. I will listen even when I'd rather give them my own opinions. I will try to be not only the best mother, but the best friend I can possibly be. But most of all, I promise that I will always love them without fail and without question. I will love them enough to hold them tightly yet let them go when they need it, to allow them to learn and grow. I will love them with all my heart always.

- Deanne Laura Gilbert

I love this quote, it expresses my every dream and hope about being a mother. Mother's day always makes me a little emotional, I don't think you realize how much your own mother loves you until you are a mother yourself. There is truly not a greater blessing in my life than my two boys. How can two such tiny little people make you want to be the best person you possibly can, to provide for them every love and assurance this world has to offer. I am so incredibly grateful to be a mother!



I had the most wonderful relaxing mother's day, I could have ever dreamed of. Church was great, sacrament meeting was full of wonderful speakers on mothers. My cute friend Holly had to give a talk and she did wonderful. I teach Sunday school to the twelve year olds and that is always enjoyable they are truly a fantastic class and has been one of the greatest callings I have ever had. Eric took Luke for me during relief society so I could actually sit back and enjoy it. Lance is finally doing great in nursery, right in time to move I might add. The weather was very cold and dreary with lots of rain but seeing that I had my new book to read I was thrilled about that. Nothing better than hanging out on the couch with a new book in the rain right? My sweet husband made dinner, he even grilled steaks out in the pouring wind and rain and they actually turned out wonderful. My kids were sweet and cute all day, I took a nap with Lance which was so much fun. Then I stayed up until midnight reading my book which is so great by the way. I mentioned in my last post that Eric got me The Host by Stephenie Meyer and I am loving it. Go out and buy it all you twilight lovers, I haven't finished yet but it is definitely the kind of book you don't want to put down. So there you have it my every mother's dream mother's day a little uneventful but so relaxing and enjoyable. Who could ask for more?

Okay I guess I could ask for a little more, my cute Lance made me this darling mother's day card. I always thought as a teenager moms were so funny when they went on and on about their kids stupid artwork. Now as a mother nothing warms my heart more than a homemade card just for me. Lancey was so proud of himself, what a sweetheart!

We are Expecting!

We are expecting two new nieces or nephews that is. I'm sorry such a lame joke I know, but I couldn't stop myself. My two darling sisters are both expecting little ones in November and I am just so darn excited. Aren't they just the cutest little mommy to be's you have ever seen, I guess I am a little biased. They are both a little past the three month mark, yeah, and doing great. I personally think this works out for me really well. How lucky am I to have two brand new little babies to love and cuddle and at the end of the day send them home with their exhausted mothers while I go and get a good nights sleep. Just kidding sisters! The best thing about this is they are both due a day apart from each other and found out they were pregnant on the same day in March while I was there visiting. Thanks a lot you two, you both forgot to mention that on your blogs I hate feeling like I am missing out on all the excitement this time I actually got to be in on it. Another ironic thing is Lance and my sister Teri's little boy Carson are only 12 days apart. Then Ash and I were pregnant together and Luke and Brevin are only 3 weeks apart. Now our family will have two more only a few days apart, well that's the plan anyway. Girls I think for our third round we should all go for it together now that is the only combination left. Congratulations my cute sisters, Thanksgiving can not come fast enough. I love you both!

TWILIGHT

Okay this last week I have been somewhat of a total twilight nerd. Ever since the trailer for the movie has come out it has got me really excited. I am sure you have all seen it by now, but on the chance that you haven't here it is. If you have and are anything like me you won't mind watching it again. I have also been re-reading my favorite parts of the book; the car scene, Port Angeles? not sure if I spelled that right, the first night Edward stays over (or I guess the first night Bella knows he stays over, and of course after James attacks her and Edward finds her (that's my very favorite).

Now I am curious to know what you all think of Edward and Bella or the actors playing them. At first I could only picture Robert Pattinson as Cedric on Harry Potter, but after seeing the trailer I am now thinking he is a perfect Edward. Turns out he is very good looking, well I think so.

However I am not quite so sure I like Jacob all that much. Is it just me or does he look too little to be Jacob. I guess in twilight Jacob is still little but if they make a new moon he had better have a major growth spurt.

Last but not least Eric got me The Host for mother's day today. I am really excited to read it, I can't imagine Stephenie Meyer writing anything not good. I have not heard much about it though, have any of you started reading this yet or finished. What did you think? I plan on starting it tonight after the kiddos are in bed, so I will let you know if it's any good. I promise I am not always such a nerd when it comes to twilight, this week I have been but normally I do have a life.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Happy mother's day to the very best mother a girl could have asked for. Mom I just wanted you to know how much I love you, and am so proud to call you my mother. Everything good in me I have gotten from you, you are such an example of christ-like love. There has never been a moment in my life when I had to wonder if my mother loved me. It shows in everything you do and have done for me. Whenever I am put in a hard situation with my own children I always think "what would my mom do" and the right answer comes to me. I hate being away from you on this special day, but know that I am thinking of you and love you always. I LOVE YOU!

Cochlear Implant?

We had some good news yesterday! We took Luke to his speech therapist, but this week we also had to take him to his audiologist. His hearing aids have been giving us a lot of feedback these last few weeks. Which usually means they are starting to get to small because like everything else on babies his ears are growing fast. We were telling her how he has a tendency to pull out his right hearing aid but leaves his left alone all the time. We have also been noticing him holding up noisy toys to his right ear (you all know the kind I am talking about, the ones you want to throw out the window after awhile because you are so sick of them) almost as if he can hear them better. She did her usual hearing test on him with his hearing aids in, which he responded at a normal hearing level. This was our first piece of good news the last time we took him he responded at a mild hearing loss level. Which means every month he is improving and and adjusting to his hearing aids really well. Then she wanted to do a test without his hearing aids in and the response in his right ear was much greater than his left ear. She said based on the results of this his right ear is at a moderate hearing loss and his left is a severe hearing loss. We thought this was great because we have always been told that both ears were at a severe level, we will take moderate in one ear. However the best news of the day was that based on those results and his report from the speech therapist showing great improvement there is not a need for a cochlear implant at this time. Some of you may know the reason we are staying in Lexington over the summer instead of moving right after graduation was so we could get his cochlear implant here with the doctors we are familiar with. Now we can concentrate on moving in mid July and not worry about working it around surgery, yeah! On a side note many of you have been wondering were we are going next and the answer is we are still not 100% sure yet. We are waiting to hear from one more school for Eric's graduate program in tax law but when we decide we will definitely let you all know.


These pictures have absolutely nothing to do with this post, it is just one of my weird habits. I can't bring myself to do a post without pictures, I just love them too much. However I thought these turned out really cute. When the cat's away the mice will play, Lance being the cat and Luke and I being the mice. Eric took Lance with him to run some errands because he has the week off, and Luke stayed behind with me. It's cleaning day so I put Luke in the pack n' play to get him out of my way while I was vacuuming our room. He did not mind this however because I gave him all of Lance's favorite toys to play with. He normally never gets a chance to play with them. You know 2 year olds and sharing, doesn't Luke look just thrilled! Nobody tell Lance.

Girls Night, Hives and 2 Flat Tires

We had such a fun weekend with my mom and Ashley. I am already missing you guys and mom it took Lance stopping at Dairy Queen for ice cream before he would stop crying about leaving you at the airport. Well you or the suitcase, still not exactly sure what he was so sad about. We had so many girl nights, I think we watched at least a movie a night, sometimes two. We of course went shopping, out to eat, took Luke to his 15 month Dr. appointment. Which wasn't exactly fun but I did appreciate the company. Sunday however our day got a little interesting. We have 9:00 church which was fine but when it was over we all packed in our little minivan to go home and as we started driving we realized we had a flat tire. So I got out of the car to see which tire it was and we had not one but TWO, both front and back passenger tires were completely flat. We must have run over something sharp that got to both of them. I guess what better place to get flat tires than your church parking lot. All sorts of wonderful ward members stopped to help us. I don't know if any of you have heard of Fix a Flat spray. It comes in a spray can and you put it in your tires and then you can drive on them for at least a half an hour. It is amazing stuff! I'm sure I am describing it wrong, so if you have heard of this don't laugh at my description. The worst part of this experience was my mom and Ashley got a ride home with some friends of ours so they could pick up Eric's car while he took my car to get fixed. So lucky me got to stay with three hungry tired kids all under three and tried to keep them entertained for an hour until my mom got back. Note to myself don't rush into baby number three for awhile, it was hard work. Thank goodness the nursery was still open for the ward after us and the sweet girls there let us hang out for awhile. Then later on that night we were watching a movie after the kids had gone to bed and my poor mother started breaking out in hives. Come to find out she was allergic to an antibiotic she had been taking. The next morning she was covered head to toe in them, the poor thing had to travel home with hives all over her on an airplane. Mom I hope you are feeling better but I am so glad you and Ash came to visit. We love you and can't wait to see you in three weeks.

Lance has taken up a new friendship with Brevin. Usually he doesn't give him the time of day if Carson is around but since he wasn't he decided Brev was a pretty good substitute. Teri we missed you and little Cars though it was definitely not the same without you guys.

Two tired babies wishing there silly mothers would stop shopping.

Before the hives struck, isn't my mom darling!

We went to the theater and saw "Made of Honor" . I strongly recommend this show to all of you, it was so funny and cute. Definitely a chick flick though ,I don't think Eric would have enjoyed it much. Of course anything with Patrick Dempsey is great in my opinion, do they come any cuter?