Out with the Old...

As of this year, our house is 9 years old. And it's showing it. I can't believe how many things we've had to replace in the 5 years we've lived here, most of which have actually been within the past year. Last year alone, we replaced our fridge, water softener, and dishwasher. Good times! And as of this year, we have completely repainted, re-done all our plants and flowers in the front yard, and re-carpeted. Although I will say, the recarpeting was NOT planned. It all started last November...

Our piece of junk dishwasher started to have issues for the umpteenth time, and we were tired of repairing it. So we opted for a new one, which I let my handy-dandy husband install. After a couple trips to Lowe's having difficulty finding the exact right plumbing parts for the installation, he thought he'd found one that was going to work and got it installed with no hang-ups.

Fast foward a few months... We had my family up for dinner one evening and stuffed the dishwasher pretty darn full. I started the dishwasher about 10 that night and went to bed. Ella was fussing in the middle of the night so I got up to give her her binky, and thought that something felt weird in the house. Almost a humid feeling. But I was too tired to care so I gave Ella her binky, and went back to bed. 6:30 rolls around and again I wake up, noticing the same humid feeling, but just like before, I'm too tired to care, especially because the kids were off school that day. I wanted to sleep in! Finally, 8:00 rolls around and Ella is awake and hungry. So I drag myself out of bed to go make her a bottle and as I am going downstairs, I notice a weird sound, like water is running. I also see all of our windows are dripping with humidity. I discovered the sound was coming from the kitchen, where our floor was covered in about 2 inches of water and water was rapidly flowing out from under our dishwasher! I yelled at Greg to come downstairs and bring towels, LOTS OF TOWELS! He rushed down and slipped on all the water, giving me towels that literally did not even make a dent in the water. I thought that maybe we had stuffed the dishwasher too full and it had started leaking out the front. But by the time Greg finally got the water turned off and the dishwasher pulled out, he found that the hot water line from the back had come disconnected at one point and that was the source of the problem - and as some of you may know, the line into the dishwasher does not have low pressure, trust me! It was spraying everywhere! As the day progressed and we got the kitchen as dry as we could, we found that the water had spread to other places we didn't even realize - our living room, our storage room beneath the kitchen, and our toy room beneath the living room. It was an extremely overwhelming day, to say the least.

As the week went on and we kept finding more and more water, we decided it was time to call our homeowner's insurance and get some help! They sent out a flood company to help dry things out. Even a week later, our sheetrock in our kitchen was 80% water! It was nuts! Luckily, they got things dried out very quickly with no mold issues, so we didn't have to replace any of that. But as we got into the carpet area, we noticed that the backing to the carpeting was pealing apart from the fibers, which means it cannot be stretched again. Some people may find this exciting, but I was worried out of my mind because we hadn't budgeted for new carpet, and I figured the insurance company would only pay for the rooms that got wet - about 20% of the carpet in our house. Fortunately, we got an awesome insurance adjustor who decided to give us money for any room you could see from the rooms that got wet. For those of you who have been in our house, you know it is extremely open. So in the end, the insurance gave us money for every single room in our house, except our bedrooms (living room, family room, stairs, hallways, and our toy room). In the end, we spent $550 out of pocket for our whole house to be re-carpeted! It was awesome! :) And we love the new carpet - it is so soft and thick!

So here's the BEFORE (I just had to find a random picture that showed our old carpet, so you get to see a cute pic of Ella at the same time!):

And AFTER:

Sorry if it's kind of hard to see, but you can tell it is darker and A LOT thicker than what we had before!

I also wanted to quickly post some pictures of Ella's nursery. After a year, it is FINALLY completely done! :) Well, it was done when Ella was born - I just wanted some cute curtains too. So my mom was so sweet and made some for me! And I LOVE them! When we switch Ella's room to a big girl room in a few years, I am basing everything around her curtains so I can keep them because they are so adorable! So here are some before pics when Ty was in there:

And here it is AFTER (sorry that the first couple of pictures are a bit dark):








Aww, doing a girl's room is SO much more fun than a boy's! :)

Well, that's all for now. :) -Ash

Yes, Miracles Do Happen!

I know this is a HUGE shocker to you all, but I'm back! And when I say "you all", I know I'm probably talking to a few members of my family because everybody else has given up on this blog. :) Life has just been nuts, and frankly, I've grown tired of blogging. But I realized recently that even though I'm sick of it, it's the only journaling I do so I need to keep on top of it!

Since I've obviously missed so much over the past 8 months, I'm just going to do a "condensed" overview of what's gone on with all of us since I wrote last! (Well, as "condensed as I - the ultimate talker - can be!)

Greg is doing well and staying busy. Back in the fall, he completed an entire kitchen cabinet job which was a big deal for him! It was a huge kitchen so obviously it was a lot of work, but he did a great job and the family was really happy with it. Since then, the cabinets have come to a stop though because of the BEST NEWS EVER! :) Greg finally got out of T-Mobile and got an awesome new job! He is now working for Marketstar in Ogden as a North American Field Marketing Manager. Basically, he manages their marketing account for HTC phones for all of North America. He has about 100 people below him spread out all over Canada and the United States, so obviously some travelling is involved, but he is absolutely loving it and so am I! It's so great to finally have him not working weekends anymore, and also not be micro-managed so much. His confidence has gone through the roof because he finally has managers who trust him to make good decisions, and praise him when he does. So different from T-Mobile!

As for me, I'm just keeping busy with 3 kiddos! Some days are great, and others are a struggle, but I have to admit that having 3 has been easier than I expected. I'm really loving it and feel like our family is complete with our sweet little Ella! I am still teaching piano lessons, but am going to be done at the end of May. After almost 4 years of doing it in this neighborhood, it is definitely a bittersweet thing. I've really come to love all of my students and seeing them progress, but at the same time, it takes time away from my kids that I can't get back. Plus, it's pure chaos when I teach, with my boys' extreme noisieness and Ella wanting to be on my lap playing the piano. I also got called as the YW President in our ward last November, which has only added to my craziness! We currently have just over 40 Young Women, so it definitely keeps me busy. I am fortunate though to have great counselors and advisors who help out A LOT. :)

It's hard to believe that Gavin is 6 already and almost done with Kindergarten! He started all-day Kindergarten back in September and has excelled at an unbelievable rate. I am so proud of him! He is already reading at a 1st grade level, and as of his last progress report in March, he had hit every Kindergarten benchmark with the highest scores possible! While he and Ty sometimes struggle together (I'm sure because their boys), Gavin is still such a great big brother. He is always looking out for Ty, especially when other kids are around, and absolutely LOVES Ella. Gavin is definitely our outdoors boy, which means he's been an active kid the past few weeks! He's really gotten into soccer lately and will start T-Ball next month. He also taught himself how to ride his bike without training wheels last Friday! Greg had tried numerous times with him, but he just always struggled and wanted to stop trying. Well, we got new carpet last Friday (another post for another day!) so his bike with training wheels was stuck in the garage behind our old carpet. He kept begging Greg to get it out, but Greg was busy and kept telling him, "Just a minute." So he decided to get out his old bike (with no training wheels) and came back in 5 minutes later saying, "Don't worry about it, Dad. I taught myself how to ride my bike with no training wheels." What a kid!

Ty is 4 now, and started his first year of preschool back in September. Of course, he loves it and like Gavin, has really excelled. At his parent-teacher conference, his teacher told us he is at the top of his class and is even above where he should be. I owe this to Gavin who loves to play school with him! He is still our cuddly, sweet boy. In fact, we've started calling him "our monkey" because he will climb all over you given the chance! Ty's also taken a huge liking to any kind of video game - Wii, computer games, his Leapster - to the point that I've had to put MAJOR limits on them! I'm so afraid of having a "gamer" child! Luckily, now that the weather is warming up, he is loving being outside which definitely helps with that addiction. :)

And Ella - where do I even start?! She has grown up SO much! I can't believe that in 10 days, she will be 11 months! Her first birthday will be here before I know it, and it makes me so sad! I have absolutely loved having a baby again, and it's hard for me to see her grow out of that "baby" stage. But at the same time, it has been a blast to see her do so many new fun things! She now waves, plays patty-cake, sits up perfectly, and will maneuver herself around the floor with her arms and legs. She still isn't crawling though and I'm not expecting it anytime soon. She absolutely refuses to put any weight on her legs, which I think will delay the crawling and walking stage! Her doctor isn't worried about her - we just think she's being lazy - but my guess is she will probably have to start some kind of physical therapy if she isn't doing it by her birthday. She is still such a happy, sweet, smiley baby. You just look at her and she will give you a huge grin. She's also been cracking us up lately because when we look at her, she puts her arms up in the air almost like she's saying, "Ta-Da!" It's too cute! Maybe she's watched the Price is Right a few too many times with me, and is aspiring to be a model. :) Ella is still healthy as can be, despite her rough start at life. She did contract RSV in February, but was never hospitalized - I never even had to take her up to the RSV clinic at the hospital, so I felt fortunate for that!

Well there's a "condensed" version of the past 8 months. I have lots more to tell, but better "condense" them into other posts! Along with more pics... :) -Ashlee

Ella at 2 Months

I know that I'm still slacking off. I just feel like I am constantly busy with 3 kids, so it's hard to find time to even THINK about blogging! :) But honestly, it has been a lot easier than I ever expected it would be - maybe because Ella is such an easy baby! Seriously, we have absolutely LOVED having her in our family. She is just the sweetest, happiest baby! She is even sleeping 8-9 hours straight each night, so I'm not totally sleep deprived! Here are her 2 month stats and some fun pics my little sister took!

Length: 21 5/8 (20th percentile)

She's short like her mama, apparently!

Weight: 10 lbs. 1 oz. (45th percentile)

Head: 38.8 cm (50th percentile)

It's a miracle! A Swenson baby without a ginormous head!

If you have no clue what I'm talking about, check out this blog I wrote a few years back.

As her mom, I know I'm more than biased, but we just think she is the cutest thing ever and love her to pieces! -Ash

Our Sweet Ella

As most of you know, we have a new member in our family! :) Ella Ann Swenson was born June 9, 2010 at 3:45 PM. She was 7 lbs. 2 oz. (my biggest baby yet!) and 19 inches long. The past two weeks have been quite the adventure with this little one, definitely filled with lots of unexpected news and stress, but fortunately things have calmed down now and we are adjusting well to life with three kids! Here's the story of our sweet little girl:

I was originally due June 16th but had no intention of waiting that long. I tried for two weeks to put myself into labor, doing just about anything strenuous or stressful that I could think of! But unfortunately, it hardly did a thing. I sat at 2 cm's and 75% effaced for 2 weeks, and finally decided that I was done. So my doctor agreed to induce me on June 9th. We got to the hospital at 7:00 AM and the nurse got me started on pitocin and penicillin (because I was Group B Strep positive). My doctor didn't want to break my water until the antibiotic had been in my system for 4 hours, so I went until 12:00 laboring on my own. Really, it wasn't that bad, but I decided I wanted my epidural before it did get bad! So I got that around noon and the doctor broke my water at 1:00. When he did, he discovered there was meconium in my water (meaning the baby had had a bowel movement while still inside of me). For those of you who don't know the health hazard of this, the baby can get it in their mouth and inhale it when they take their first breath. I was worried at first, but the doctor reassured me that when her head came out, they would suction it really good before allowing her chest to come out. I trusted him and didn't worry. When she was born a few hours later, they made sure to suction her really well and took her to the baby nurses quickly so they could check on her. Her circulation wasn't very good (her skin looked grayish-purple) and she needed oxygen. We all assumed she'd swallowed some meconium so the nurses took her off to their transition nursery to monitor her for the evening - I didn't even get a chance to hold her.

Once I was ready to be moved to my recovery room, they took me in a wheelchair to see her. It was so hard to see her hooked up to monitors and oxygen, but again, I trusted the nurses that she would be fine and tried not to worry. Later into the evening, the nurse from the transition nursery came in to tell me that they needed to put her in the NICU. She wasn't doing poorly, but she also hadn't turned the corner yet like they'd hoped she would. She told me to get some sleep because they wouldn't need me to feed her tonight - something I was quite relieved about. I was so exhausted, don't ask me why, because my labor was a cakewalk compared to Tyler's!

We headed down to the NICU in the morning to see her, and she seemed to be doing well. She was still on oxygen and hooked up to monitors, but they let me hold her and feed her. We continued visiting her off and on throughout the day, and Greg was able to give her a priesthood blessing which I was grateful for.

The next morning (Friday) was quite the day. I headed down in the morning to feed her and the nurse said her labs (bloodwork) weren't looking so good - they were indicating that she had some kind of infection. She also told me that she was working way too hard to breathe. I went back to my room to call Greg, and he rushed up to the hospital to talk to the doctors. They said that something more was going on than just meconium - if she had swallowed meconium, she would have been almost better at that point, not worse. They also told him that if she kept breathing at that rate, she could potentially pop a lung. So they decided to intubate her and put her on a ventilator, while also giving her some meds to help her lungs slow down and function better. In order to do this, they also had to sedate her so she wouldn't have anxiety about having a tube down her throat. So Greg came back and told me what was going on, and I couldn't help but bawl. The whole time I'd been trying to stay positive and not worry, and here things were getting worse. We were supposed to take her home that day, and now the doctors were telling us it could potentially be another week until she would recover. We were both crushed. I was released later that day and when we got home that evening, I couldn't even stand to look in her nursery. I was so worried about her and devastated that she wasn't home with us. Fortunately, a good night's rest did miracles and I handled the situation a lot better the following morning.

She was still intubated when we got there on Saturday, but they said she had improved enough over those past 24 hours that they were going to remove the tubes and take her off the ventilator. We were really excited and hopeful that she would be able to come home soon. That day, they let me try feeding her again, but she was just too weak so most of her feedings were done through a feeding tube. We still got to hold her though, which was so nice since we weren't allowed to when she was intubated.

As of Sunday, she had improved enough to move her from NICU 1 (the room where the most high-risk patients are) to NICU 3 (the room where the more stable patients are). She was still on oxygen, but they were weaning her down at a fast pace which was great news. She was also eating better that day - not even requiring a feeding tube. The doctors were really impressed by her improvement and hopeful that she could go home in a couple days, which of course had us excited. Starting that night, I slept at the hospital so I could feed her. My room was tiny - it seriously felt like a jail cell and I slept miserably. But it was fun to get to spend more time with her, even if it was in the middle of the night! :) I felt so behind on that "mother-baby" bonding time since, up until that point, I'd only been able to hold her a handful of times.

As of Monday, she was still weaning down off her oxygen really well, but her bloodwork was continuing to show signs of infection. This worried the doctors so they wanted to continue her antibiotics for a total of 7 days (until Thursday). Once again, we were crushed. We were hoping to take her home on Tuesday and now it was Thursday at the earliest. Greg was using PTO at work up until this point, and once we realized it would still be a while longer, he decided to head back to work so he didn't waste it all. This made life a little stressful since I still had to go to the hospital during the day to feed her, and I couldn't take the boys with me. Fortunately, I had wonderful neighbors and family members who were willing to help us out. Thank you to all those who helped with our crazy kiddos!

On Wednesday, the NICU called and told me they were going to discharge Ella the next day once her antibiotics were done. We were thrilled that things were finally going as planned! So we headed over Thursday morning with everything we needed to take her home, only to find out that she actually had one more day on her antibiotics. Crushed again! But I knew deep down that if she was going to come home, I wanted her to come home as healthy as possible. So we waited yet another day, and fortunately Friday really was the day! We got to bring her home finally! She is still on oxygen and on a monitor that tells us if her heart rate or respiratory rate gets into an unhealthy range, but so far, so good! She is doing great and is seriously such an angel baby. She hardly cries and I wonder if it's because she's been through so much, and is just grateful to be home where she isn't being constantly poked and prodded.

The whole experience was definitely different than anything we've gone through. While it was extremely scary at times, I felt so calm the majority of the time. I think the Lord really helped me out, and I know that help also came through the prayers of others, so thank you so much. When the nurse discharged her, she began talking about just how sick Ella had been and when I looked at the discharge papers, it listed her problems as "respiratory distress and respiratory failure." The doctors never told us about the respiratory failure - one part of me is a little bugged by it, but another part of me knows it would have only stressed me and Greg out beyond belief. So I guess I'm grateful I didn't know how dire the circumstances were. On top of that, when I took her to the pediatrician yesterday, the doctor was looking over her paperwork and said, "Oh yeah, this was the really scary baby." In the end, the doctors concluded that she most likely contracted Group B Strep from me, which can be fatal to newborns. Hearing these things makes me realize just how lucky we are to have her and how much the Lord blessed us through the whole ordeal. The thought that we could have lost her sickens me and I really am just so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that gave us the opportunity to still have her here. We are so blessed.

Thank you again to all of you who prayed for us, helped with our kids, offered kind words, and brought us dinner. Originally, the ward set up 2 dinners for our family and we ended up having 6. The outpouring of love that people have shown us has truly been astonishing and we are so grateful. I posted a few more pictures of our sweet Ella below, and I'm sure I will have more updates to come! -Ash

Till We Meet Again...

This post, as well as my last, are posts I never wanted to write and still don't want to write. But I know I need to as a remembrance of what has happened and probably for healing too. We just got home last night from laying Greg's mom to rest in Idaho, and it made me think that I really need to write about what has happened over the past two weeks. Thinking back, that time feels like it has traveled at a snail's pace, but at the same time it all feels like a big blur. And while it honestly has been the hardest time in my life thus far, it has also been a wonderful time filled with the spirit and the love of family.

As you may remember in my post about Greg's birthday, Greg received a call just over two weeks ago from his mom saying she was done fighting her cancer. The bad news just continued to come and she was so tired of not feeling well. We absolutely could not blame her and told her we supported her in whatever decision she made, and that we would come visit the following weekend (a few days later). We had no idea how long it would take for her to go - in fact, we were betting on probably right around a month or so - but we still wanted to go up early on when we felt things were still okay and we could still communicate with her. However, when we got up there that following Saturday, we were shocked at the change that had taken place in her since the Tuesday before. She could hardly speak or even move by herself, and she slept the majority of the time. It was amazing to us that her simply giving up that "will to live" could literally make her a different person in a matter of days. We talked to her the best we could, when we could, and just constantly let her know we loved her. It honestly was the hardest thing to see her in that state, and I think everybody in her home could feel that tension. However, at the same time, I cannot even express the sweet spirit that was there too. The Lord truly blessed us all by giving us peace and comfort, and I think it confirmed to all of us that whatever happened, He would help us through it. When we left the following Sunday night, we knew we needed to say goodbye to her, as hard as it was to fathom. Even if she made it a week or so, who knew if she would still be conscious to know what we were saying to her? I went first and it was not easy - I bawled through the whole thing and she did too. I have never once doubted my mother-in-law's love for me, but I have wondered if it is possible for parents to ever love their children's spouses just like their own. During that conversation though, I think my question was answered because I felt the strongest impression that she loved me just as much as anybody else in that family. It was a really neat moment for me. Greg then said his goodbyes, which were ten times more heart-wrenching than mine - I was no longer bawling at this point, I was sobbing. They had a really neat conversation that I know he will never forget. We left that night feeling really broken-hearted and sad at the thought of never speaking with her again.

The next few days were filled with anxiety, just waiting for that dreaded news. Apparently, Sheila didn't wake up again after saying goodbye to everybody that weekend, so we knew the end would come fairly quick. Well, it did - Wednesday morning, Greg called me from work telling me his sister had called and they were quite sure she was going to go that day. All his siblings were going to the house, so Greg decided to go too. That whole day was horrible - I seriously carried my cell phone everywhere I went so I wouldn't miss the call from Greg when it came. At the same time, I was bawling that I couldn't be there with Greg. It just broke my heart that he was going to have to go through that heartbreak without me since I had to stay back with the kids. Well somehow, after the longest day ever, Sheila actually made it through and even improved a bit that night. When she still wasn't gone by Thursday afternoon, I asked my mom if she could take the kids for a couple days so I could go be with Greg. She was so sweet about it, dropping all her plans for the next few days, to help me out. So I headed up to find that things were still the exact same and she was still going strong - though maybe strong is the wrong word. I cannot even express the horror that must have come across my face when I saw her - the closest thing I can compare her to is a concentration camp survivor barely still alive. It was so hard that I could hardly be in her room much that day - a lot of the time, I just sat in the other room bawling while the rest of the siblings sat in there with her. Alan (Greg's dad) finally came out at one point and had a good chat with me, convincing me enough to go back in there. At that point, the whole family was laughing and joking together, yet all I could do was listen for every breath she took. It was just a really difficult thing for me. Somehow, she made it through the night again - we're still not quite sure how her body kept going, but it did! The following day was a bit easier for me. I could definitely handle being in there more, but it was still extremely difficult seeing her get worse and worse. There were also some really neat family moments in there as well though - the kids sharing their memories of their childhood, laughing at funny or neat things that had happened. It definitely lightened the atmosphere and was a good tribute to what a great childhood these kids had, in large part to Sheila. And once again, another night passed and she continued to somehow go on. Seriously, we were amazed at her strength. Nobody thought she would make it past Wednesday, and yet here we were at Saturday! At this point, I knew I had to get back to get the kids, and even Greg had decided to come back sometime that day because he had already taken so much time off work. I headed out in the morning, got the kids from my mom, and returned home waiting for Greg to come too. He called and said he would be leaving soon, then called back not too long after saying his mom had taken a turn for the worse and he didn't think it would be much longer, so he was going to stay. Sure enough, two hours later she passed away. Earlier that day, I had told my mom that I didn't even think I would cry when she passed away because after seeing her in that horrible state, it was going to be such a relief to know she was out of that terrible situation. However, when the actual news came, I was a complete mess. Greg was totally calm and I was totally mentally unstable. I think the worst part for me was that I wasn't there to comfort Greg, and I wanted to be so bad - which was exactly why I went up for two days. The rest of the night dragged on, especially because I knew Greg was now going to stay up there until Sunday, and I just felt so down. I ended up calling my mom who was so sweet and literally consoled me for probably a total of 2 hours between numerous different phone calls. Both her parents are gone, and she watched them both go through unpleasant deaths, just like Sheila, only theirs lasted so much longer, so she was a huge comfort. She was sick as a dog with a sinus infection, and yet she wouldn't get off the phone with me until I was comforted enough to go to bed that night and feel some peace. Thank you so much for that, Mom. It was more help than you can imagine. I also discovered late that night that my water heater wasn't working - and being the typical girl that I am, I didn't even know where the pilot light was so I had no clue where to check if it had gone out. I texted some close friends here in the neighborhood to see if he could come look at it in the morning, and the next thing I knew, they were knocking on my door at 11:30 at night to fix it for me, along with bringing my favorite treat. It was so thoughtful and I just started bawling. I am so grateful for their act of kindness, even if to them it felt small. It was a huge blessing for me that night.

After making funeral arrangements on Sunday afternoon, Greg finally came home which was a huge relief to both me and him. It was just so nice to be back together as a family and have that stress lifted, even though sadness had taken its place. We headed up Tuesday morning for the viewing that night. We went to see her body at the mortuary earlier in the day and I have to admit that I was terrified at what I was going to see. I just had this horrible image in my head of the person I had seen the week before, and I wanted so badly to see my mother-in-law again. We all started crying when we saw her because they had made her look so beautiful. She truly looked like herself again, which was a huge relief. It was so nice to have that new image of her in my head, instead of the graven one I had from the week before. We continued on with the viewing that night, which was truly overwhelming. The mortuary said they had never seen so many flowers before, which was a true tribute to what a wonderful person Sheila was. The wait in line was about 45 minutes, and people continued to come well past the time it was supposed to end at. We were blessed to even have some other friends from here in our neighborhood drive all the way up there for it. It was so great to have that support for us personally, and we really appreciated them coming.

The funeral was held Wednesday morning - a beautiful day, even though the forecast had been for snow. The spirit was again, so strong, especially when they closed the casket. As difficult as that was, I know the Lord helped us all through it. The funeral was wonderful with music from the grandkids and talks from Mike (Greg's oldest brother) as well as Greg's dad. Just a couple weeks earlier, Sheila had planned her funeral exactly how she wanted it - so we did it exactly how she wanted it. At the cemetery, Greg offered the dedicatory prayer, which was really neat for him, and afterwards the ward provided a wonderful luncheon for the family. Of course, it was such a bittersweet day - I am just so grateful that the spirit that was there to carry us all through. Below are some pictures of the funeral and viewing - obviously, I didn't get many, but thought I would post a few that I did have.

The viewing with my nephew Colton, and my nieces Jessica and Kellianne.

The tribute table for Sheila

Our handsome (and silly) boys before the funeral

Bundled up at the cold cemetery!

Sheila's casket, which Greg picked out. It was beautiful and fit her perfectly.

Greg's side of the family at the luncheon (excluding our kids who were being stinkers and refused to take anymore pictures!). :)

Greg playing "Duck, Duck, Goose" with the kids - how sweet is that? :)

Overall, the two days went wonderfully and I hope Sheila now knows just how many people loved and admired her. Of course, we are going to miss her like crazy. It's so hard to imagine going up to Idaho and not having her around anymore. But we are SO grateful for the knowledge we have that she is now out of her pain and with her loving Heavenly Father. We know she is in good hands. I also want to thank all of you for your kind words, gifts, and prayers. They have truly meant the world to us, so thank you. -Ashlee

P.S. All posts from here on out will be HAPPY! Yay! :)

What a Wonderful Mother, Grandmother, and Friend...

As many of you may know by now, we lost Greg's mom last night. While we are so sad at the thought of not seeing her again in this life, she fought her cancer as hard as anyone could and we are so proud of her for her strength. She was diagnosed with colon cancer just over 13 months ago and since that time, I honestly don't know if I ever heard her complain about it. She was just always so upbeat and positive, and I will always admire her for that. She also had an amazing amount of faith in the Lord. Whenever she was given a blessing, she put her full trust in it with the most unwavering faith I have ever seen. It was such a good example to me, and I hope one day to be that way too.

We are all doing well, especially Greg and his family. I think we are all feeling so grateful for the gospel right now and the knowledge it gives us that she is in a better place and we know we will see her again. The thought of her being out of bed and out of pain is so uplifting to me. I told the boys last night that maybe she is up in heaven running around with their baby sister! :) And I bet she is up there with our little girl, which is such a neat thought to me.

I will write more later but for now, we love you, Sheila. You truly were such a wonderful mother, grandmother, and friend. We will miss you more than words can express. -Ashlee

Happy Birthday, Greg! And Some Updates...

Well Greg is yet another year older now - the big 32. What an oldie! Ha ha. (I love that I'm over 5 years younger than him cuz it's always fun to give him a hard time about his age - and I can always do it too because I will never catch up!) :) He took the day off work and wanted to get out, so we compromised and did a "family activity" by going to the Living Planet Aquarium. Based on how small it was, I think it was really overpriced but despite that, we were really impressed and had a great time. The displays were awesome and the boys loved just about everything! Gavin said his favorite was the octopus that changed colors, and Ty liked Nemo. The boys also loved the hands-on activities. They had sting rays and other small sea creatures you could touch (see pic), which the boys loved of course.

Then we headed back home and went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. Greg was kind to me and picked a steakhouse! For those of you who don't know, I have been craving steak like you would not believe this pregnancy! I am always looking for sales on it because it's not one of those things you can just send your husband to the store for at 11:00 at night. :) It was really yummy and I appreciate him being sweet enough to pick that on his birthday!

The night ended on a bit of a sad note though. Greg received a call from his mom basically saying she is done fighting her cancer. She just can't handle it anymore, and we absolutely cannot blame her. I haven't done an update on her since her scary experience in August, but she has continued to go through a lot since then. They put her on a much higher dose of chemo once her body could handle it again, but unfortunately, the cancer still continued to grow. The doctors found a large mass in her colon (as well as other tumors) at the beginning of January, which was blocking her intestines. They said the mass was too dangerous to remove so they ended up leaving it and bypassing her colon and intestines by giving her a permanant bag. She has since had struggles with the bag working properly, and has also started retaining water which the doctors fear may be from more growing tumors restricting her veins. As much as we do not want to see Sheila go, it has definitely been heart-breaking to watch her go through as much as she has. She has been so strong through all of it and had so much faith, which has been a wonderful example to all of us, but I know we will all also feel relief in knowing she is out of her pain. Greg and I went to the temple last night to do sealings and as I listened to what was said there, it gave me so much strength knowing just how much she has to look forward to after this life. I am just so grateful for the gospel and the strength it has given her throughout all of this, as well as her whole family. All I can say is that cancer is a nasty bug and I hope one day they find a cure for it. In the meantime, everybody get your colonoscopies! As horrible as they sound, 24 hours of discomfort has got to be so much better than the misery of cancer.

On a lighter note, I thought I would update you all on my pregnancy. Things are still going great, though it feels like time is dragging! In all actuality, I know the past 5 1/2 months have gone really quickly, but June still just seems like an eternity away! Hopefully it comes quickly. :) We had our big ultrasound with the doctor today and got to get a much better view of the baby which was so fun! She definitely has our boys' noses - too cute! Everything looks strong and healthy so I can't complain. (And sorry I couldn't scan the pictures - my scanner on my printer isn't working, so I had to take pictures of the pictures. Ha ha! The one is a profile pic and the other is her body - obviously she really likes her knee because she had to have it up by her head the whole time!)

As for the rest of the family (a.k.a. the wild boys!), they are doing great. Gavin is one smart little kiddo and is so excited to Kindergarten. He continues to amaze me everyday with how smart he is. He adds in his head all the time, without hardly even thinking. We will be walking through a store and he will say things like, "Mom, 3 and 2 make 5, huh? 5 and 2 make 7, huh?" He even looked at a pack of 8 markers the other day and said, "So if there are 8 markers in here, Mom, then I can have 4 and Ty can have 4." It's just amazing that he can do it without even thinking - I think we have a little mathematician on our hands! As for Ty, he is extremely smart too - he even wrote his name the other day! I was shocked - I guess he's picked it up from seeing Gavin write it down so much. He is constantly wanting to imitate his brother, which causes a lot of fights in our house, but I'm glad he admires Gavin and wants to be like him.

Well, I think that's all for now. Until next time! -Ash