Merry Christmas!

As  I sit here after all the excitement of Christmas morning has subsided I find myself reflecting on my blessings.  The snow is peacefully falling outside the window and I can see the beautiful mountains off in the distance.  I am just feeling very content and happy right now.  Last year at this time I was really struggling to be happy because we were missing our sweet Emily.  I miss her today and that ache is still there, but I feel at peace.  Yes I still have my moments and even days where it still feels fresh, but the Lord has sustained me and sent His spirit.  We are so lucky to have all that we do and to have the knowledge that our Father sent His Son, our brother Jesus Christ, to this earth.  Because of His gift we can find true happiness in Life.  We face so much and life isn't easy, but we have the gift of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to sustain us and lead us back home where we can be together with those we love forever.  God lives, Christ is our Savior.  This isn't just a belief I have, I know it and it is intertwined into who I am.

At this season may you all know of His love for you and remember that it's not about the presents, the decorations and the lights.  It is about our Savior, our brother and our friend.  May He bless you with all that you need at this time!

Love Susan

Peace among the trials

Family pics. taken a week after we lost Emily.  Love that Girl!

It has been a long time since I have blogged.  The last time I did I posted about some of my races.  I am still racing and loving it.  These past few months it has been my therapy and helped me keep going.  As hard as running can be sometimes, it has helped me deal with my feelings and find some solace.  It is actually some of the only time I have to be alone and it has helped me learn to focus and just keep putting one foot in front of the other.  It's a good analogy for life.  Sometimes there are huge hills that seem insurmountable, but if we just keep pushing and trying we can make it.

As many of you all ready know we have had a pretty rough year.  In just a few short days Kirk became very sick and gave me a good scare and we lost our sweet little Emily.  A few months later Kirk was fired because his health was keeping him from working and we were clueless as to what was happening with his body.  We finally went to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix Arizona and are working with them on treatments to help him regain his health and get back out there running with me.  He is still searching for the right opportunity with a good company that takes care of their own.  

I would be lying if I said I haven't struggled these past few months.  People have commented about how strong I am and how much faith they see in me.  There are days I don't feel strong or faithful, but weak and sometimes angry.  I know that without the help of my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ I would not be standing here today or be able to keep going.  Even though I may waiver and not do all that I know I should, He is always there for me.  

When I have taken the time and made the effort to be close to Him through prayer and reading His words and the words of our modern day prophets, I have found great strength and peace.  Lately I have really struggled to make the time to develop that relationship and my own personal testimony.  I have felt pretty distant from Him and sometimes angry that things haven't changed for our family in some areas.  I realized today that I am only hurting myself by not doing those things that will bring me closer to Him.  I know that when I make the time to really read and ponder the scriptures, I will find greater peace, happiness and even guidance in my life.  No  matter where we are in life, we can always find our way back and have that sweet peace that only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring.  There is a great balm that can be found here in His church, The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints.  How grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father that loves each of us now matter where we are in this life.  He is always there for us and although at times we may feel forsaken, we never are.  His arms are always open, all we need to do is turn to Him. 

There is a Hillary Weeks song that I really love called "A Beautiful Heartbreak."  It talks about how sometimes we run into mountains and can't find a way around and although it may be a hard climb full of heart break, when we reach the top it's worth the view.  I don't know why our sweet Emily had to go back to our Heavenly Father when she did.  I do know that she was here to teach all of us to be better than we are.  She taught me to love unconditionally, to enjoy everything about life, to laugh hysterically for no reason, to be patient, to have fun and to live in the moment.  Sometimes I feel like my heart is broken in a million pieces, but then I read something during my scripture study (when I actually do it), I get a note from someone who knew Emily, or I see a picture of her and I am filled with a great peace.  I know she is whole and happy and waiting for us to pass the tests of this earth life.  I will see her again and I am so looking forward to that day when I can hug her tight.  What a great reunion that will be!

I don't know why, but I really felt the need to write all of this down.  I wasn't sure what would come out so I just sat down and started typing.  Maybe it was just for me, so that I could feel the sweet peace of the spirit and see that although I have really been struggling to do the things I need to do I still have a strong testimony.  I know God lives, I know He loves me and what a great blessing this has been.  Thank you for taking the time to read this and Thank You for the love and support you have shown our sweet family.  

Red Rock Relay....again

Since I haven't blogged in a while I thought I'd blog about my running adventures.  Aside from the half marathons I have run some 5k's and I ran the Red Rock again!

This year we had 12 ladies giving us 2 teams of sparkle skirts.  We had "Does this skirt make me look fast"  on the back windows and lots of laughs.  The hardest part this year was the heat.  It was HOT!  Lucky for us we had plenty of water, squirt guns and nice people from the other teams spraying us with misters!  A fun race with some fun ladies.  Our team was the 6th all women team to finish the race, I think.  It's been a while so I might be wrong on that.  No matter where we came in it was a blast!  Here are a few pictures of the lovely ladies I got to hang out with!

Run, run and run some more.

Yup, I am still running and running and running some more.  Some days I have to drag myself out the door, but once I'm out I am happy I did it, most of the time. :)  I have started running without an iPod, I really fought Kirk on this one for a while.  He was mostly worried I'd get hit because I couldn't hear traffic, but he also wanted me to overcome the mental side of running.  Now  I love to go run without it and listen to the peace and quiet we are surrounded by, it's been good for me.    

Since my last post I have run 2 more half marathons, only one more to reach my goal of 4 before I'm 40.  My 40th birthday is in May and I plan to run Canyonlands again in March.  When I first made this goal I kept going back and forth thinking it's would be too hard and I would burn out, but here I am after 3 halfs and all ready planning on running 3 more  next year!  (Crazy huh?!)

So my last post was from my very first half marathon in Moab.  When I finished I wasn't so sure I wanted to do another one, my legs gave up at mile 10.  But we had all ready signed up for one so I kept training.  Steamworks was here in Durango in June and it was a great race.  I shaved off about 9 minutes from my time in Moab which made me super happy.    I kept looking down at my Garmin and couldn't believe our pace.  Super gorgeous run by the way!  My sis-in-law came down with her boys and she made signs with all the kids and Olivia dressed up in her old cheer outfit.  It was so awesome to come around the corner and see them there cheering us on.  

Our 3rd half marathon brought us back to Moab and was this past weekend.  The Moab Trail Half Marathon wasn't like anything we've done in the past.  In fact once we signed up and I read all the info.  I looked at Kirk and asked: "what did you get me into!"  There were warnings about how falling on the trail could result in death, REALLY?!!  Okay so it really wasn't all that bad, although we did feel like mountain goats at some points!  It climbed over 800 feet in just the first 4 miles, but oh it was worth the climb.  We walked/climbed the huge hills and then at one point had to hike down and at some points slide on our butts.  It was hard and we learned we needed to fuel better next time, but it was so fun!  It took us 3 hours, about an hour longer than a road race, but the whole time we just kept saying we are definitely doing this again next year!  Great race.  Here are some pictures! Might make you want to give it a try. 

In this first one we are climbing to the top of the rock you see.  I'm on the bottom right in the blue t-shirt.

 I had to enlarge this so you could see the runners.  If you look just above the shade you can see the little dots.  This was from the top of our climb.  Incredible!

 Here I am at another hill!

 Here I am coming down!

Running with an Irish Man on St. Patrick's Day!

This year I spent Saint Patrick's Day running with my Irish Man! 13.1 Miles of St. Patty's Day fun!!

That's right we celebrated his favorite holiday running in the Canyon Lands Half Marathon in Moab, Utah!!

Imagine around 4000 runners converging on a single place, YIKES!! It was crazy fun! We started out by boarding a bus at 7:45 and riding for about a half hour to get up the canyon. Everyone was trying to get out of the wind by hiding behind rocks, it was a little chilly that early! The race started at 10 and it took us about two minutes to cross the starting line after the gun went off. There was a sea of people in front of us and behind us!

We ran negative splits, which means we started out at a slow pace and increase our speed over time. It makes you feel good because you end up passing lots of other runners. It is a beautiful run down the canyon with the river next to you. When you get to the bottom they have drummers so it echos of the canyon walls, so cool!

Kirk stuck with me until about mile 11 and then my legs hurt so bad I had to walk. Think I was struggling with the heat a bit, we've been running in the 50's and it was in the 60's. There was a sweet gal that came up next to me and encouraged me for a little while which made the last two miles better. In the end I only finished 5 minutes behind Kirk at 2:10:45. By next year I want to run it in 2 hours flat! (Yes I think I am crazy for saying that!!)

It's funny during those last two miles I was really questioning why I was doing this, I wanted to cry when I hit that wall. Now I'm all ready thinking about doing it next year. Of course I have another half here in Durango come June! Let's see if I can cut some time off!!!!

Someone at church asked me today why I would want to run 13.1 miles, I ask myself that some days too. It feels good to be able to say I've run a half marathon. I set a goal and I accomplished it. 2 years ago I never thought I would run this far, but I do have to say I love the feeling after I'm done. Running is sometimes the only time I get to be alone and doing something to keep me sane. I admit I can be a big complainer while I'm out there, just ask Kirk, but I know it's doing good things for my body and my mental health. (gotta love endorphins!) I still have a long way to go, but it's teaching me lots of patience!

Now it's onto my next race, the Red Rock Relay in May and then another half here at home in June. Then we'll see what's next!!

T

Welcome to Holland

I posted this about 3 1/2 years ago and was thinking about it the other day. One of the young women from church approached me last week about doing a fund raiser for our family. I was very touched that she thought of us. Some days I wonder what life would be like if Emily was just like her sister or if Mike could walk. I know my life would be very different and I would not be the same person I am today. I have learned much about faith, patience and the love our Heavenly Father has for us. This poem sums up that feeling. I do have my tough days, but I can't dwell on what might have been because I will miss the wonderful things that are happening now. Enjoy!!

Welcome To Holland

by

Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Gratitude

Feeling very lucky for all the wonderful people that have been in my life and are in my life now. I look back over my life and see that Heavenly Father has placed people just where I needed them when I needed them. Honestly I don't know where I would be without such supportive and loving friends and family. I really feel that Heavenly Father works through us, we are his instruments here on the earth. "He has no hands but ours."

I look around just in our ward family and our community and see so many trials and suffering. Some days I wonder what I can do, I'm only one person. Then I think about the many people that have helped me even by just smiling or saying hi. So many have been there when I lost hope, or when I just thought it would be easier to give up. We may be only one person, but if we live close to the spirit and listen we can make that difference in someones life. We can be the angels that bear others up and help them on their way back to our Heavenly home.

Thank you to the many wonderful friends and family that make me laugh, take time to listen and just brighten my day. I am grateful for you and I am grateful for our greatest friend, the one who loves us most, our Savior.

Merry Christmas from the Coppingers

Some of you may have all ready gotten this letter, but I thought I'd post it for anyone I missed or had the wrong email address for. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas full of family, good friends, good food and the spirit our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. Love to all!!!

Another year has passed in the Coppinger household and after 5 ½ years we are happy to still be in beautiful Colorado. We love it here, even if the nearest freeway is 3 hours away. This was another adventured filled year including: Mike’s first year at Scout Camp with the older boys, Cousins Camp in Cedar City, Family trip to Moab to watch Mom run in her first big race, our annual trip to Denver for Dr. appointments and family fun and a week away for Mom and Dad while Mike was at MDA camp and the girls spent a week with Grandma and Granddad Coppinger! Here’s a little something about each of us.

Kirk: Still working for 4CORE with the Colorado Governors’ Energy Office. He’s been with them for 20 months now and just got a promotion which means we should have a job for a few more years. They are a non-profit organization that helps “weatherize” low-income homes to make them more energy efficient. He started as an inspector and now he is the Program Manager (boss) for weatherization. He works hard and is always learning something new and getting new certifications. I tease him that he speaks geek too much sometimes. It’s funny.

He has also gotten into running and is helping me to get faster. Sometimes I just want to quit and walk for a while, but he won’t let me (Darn it!). What a good coach. J When he’s not working or running he enjoys listening to books, watching movies, teasing the children and being one of the children. He has also been learning about apple trees and planted 5 this year as well as a garden which we hope to do better next year. He is always busy learning something new, I tease him that he’s a human encyclopedia.

Susan (AKA: Mom, The Boss) Still has the running bug. In May I ran in the Red Rocks Relay with 5 other friends. We ran a total of 70 miles and had so much fun along the way. Kirk and I are currently training for the Canyon lands Half Marathon which is on St. Patrick’s Day 2012. Here’s hoping we make it through the drawing, otherwise we’ll be headed to Gateway Colorado for the Half Marathon that same month.

Other than running, I’m busy doing the usual Mom duties. When I have some spare time I like to try and read a book, bake, sew and play my guitar for Emily. I was recently released as the Young Women’s President at church which has been bitter sweet. I miss seeing “my girls,” but I still grab them in the halls.

Olivia: Says she’s growing like a weed, but she doesn’t want to grow. She turned 10 in August and is up to Mom’s chin. She likes to ride her scooter, bike, play soccer, draw, do crafts, and sleep. (Silly Kid). We’re working on running with her and she is up to 1 ¼ miles at an 7:00 – 8:00 minute mile pace and is doing really well. She’s always out ahead of Mom and Dad and runs home by herself while we keep going! Keep your eyes open… she’s going to be fast!

Mike: Says he likes to play Nerf N-Strike on the Wii, build with Lego’s, tell jokes, play board games and loves Christmas. He started middle school this year and says “It ‘rocks!’ because I like science and math.” He is also in band and loves art as well. This year he turned 12 and is now part of the youth program at church. He now passes the sacrament on Sunday which reminds Mom how much he has grown. We are very proud of the young man he is becoming!

His health is still good and he seems to be having a good year at school. He is in his chair full-time and has faced a lot of new challenges this year. The teachers at the middle school have been amazing and have helped Mike succeed academically. It’s been a good change to spite the tragedy of losing his ability to walk.

Emily: Continues to earn her nick name of Em-Silly. Her laughter and smile are infectious and fills our house on a regular basis. She has started using a crutch to walk with at school, she still won’t use it for us but I hear she’s pretty fast! I actually went to see her at school and once I got there she would not walk with it. Turkey! She understands so much and has really matured which has been great to witness. To know her is to love her!

We are grateful for our family and many friends all over this beautiful country and hope you can feel the love of our Savior and remember He is the reason for this season.

Love The Coppinger Family

Happy Halloween

Okay, not sure what happened or how to fix it. Sorry....

Yup, I am catching up on blogging, finally!!

Just wanted to do a quick post with the kids costumes. We always have so much fun thinking of costumes and making them. This year Mike wanted to be a tank so I started saving boxes. I had fun putting it all together and spray painting it. I had actually finished Olivia's witch costume and didn't think I had the energy to finish Mike's for his school party. He said that was okay.

Well, I felt bad so I just got it done and lost a little sleep. It was all worth it to see the big smile on his face when he got home and told me he won 1st for most creative. Olivia's witch dress turned out so cute, and I didn't even use a pattern!! She tried to have a green face, but it lasted about 30 minutes before she couldn't stand the itching. Emily was our little monkey, suits her don't ya think?!

I decided to be Cruella De Vil. My friends daughters thought it was funny because it's the total opposite of my personality. It was fun even if I couldn't pull off the evil attitude. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!! Oh the first one is of my friends son. He had magnets and pictures on chicks on his shirt, he was a "Chick Magnet" very creative kid!!

My baby's a Deacon!!

In September we celebrated Mike's twelfth birthday. It was a very busy week with a lot of excitement. His birthday was pretty quiet, we opened a few presents, sang to him and he went with me to mutual for the first time. (it was weird to be there and see my son among the youth.)

The next day was his big birthday dinner with family and friends. Kirk ordained him a deacon and we all enjoyed Mike's favorite birthday treat, pumpkin pie. It was a very special evening and we are grateful for everyone that came to support him. Usually the ordination is done on Sunday, but we got permission to do it early so Mike could attend a youth temple trip on Saturday. Both Kirk and I were able to be there for this special experience. It was also temple day for our stake so when Mike was doing baptisms there were several friends looking through the glass with tears in their eyes. Many of them have watched Mike grow up since we moved here. Then on Sunday he passed the sacrament for the first time. It was a very exciting and emotional week for this proud mama. I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up. He'll always be my little man, but each day I can see changes in him that amaze me. He faces a lot in his young life and struggles, but I know he'll be okay.

This was also a big year for Mike because he started middle school! He loves it and it's been a good change for him. It's been fun to see him discover his interests and try to assert more independence. It's been rough because this is a time when kids start to become more independent and Mike is starting to lose some of that independence. He has great teachers and adults that care a great deal about him which has helped so much.

We are discovering some cognitive challenges and are trying to get him help so he can pull up his grades. Boys with Duchenne's can have problems with executive functioning and memory processing and even some ADHD. I found a resource by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy that really opened my eyes. It described Mike and his experiences in school to the t.

It's been a busy fall full of changes and tests and new things for Mike, but he seems to be doing well. He has the reputation among his teachers as the class clown. Funny boy!!

So there you have it! I don't know where the time went and how my kids got so big so fast. I swear I just blinked and they got huge! Crazy, crazy!!! Here are some pics of my little man, who still loves to give his mama hugs thank goodness!!!

Double Digits

In August we celebrated the girls 10th birthday, still can't believe it! It seems like only yesterday they were my teeny little twin girls. Many of you remember the struggles we had as we awaited their birth and those we faced after as well. I will always be grateful for everyone that prayed for us and served us during that very difficult time and feel like I have a huge debt of service to repay.

When I was six months pregnant we were told that one of our little girls wouldn't make it. From the day we knew about the challenges she would face I knew she was our little Emily. We were pretty much sent home to spend what little time she had left with her. Little did they know that she was a tough cookie and had a mission to fulfill here on this earth.

Here we are 10 years later and she is starting to walk and can understand what you tell her. She is truly a miracle and has taught me so much. I feel very lucky to be the mother of such a special spirit. I know that someday she will be able to tell me wonderful things and she will be whole, what an amazing day that will be.

She has had a profound impact on not just her family, but everyone that gets to know her. She is a true joy to be around and such a little stinker. She has a crutch that she uses at school, but at home she refuses to use it. I think she doesn't want Mom and Dad to know all of her tricks! She has rightfully earned the name Em-Silly and LOVES her Daddy.

Olivia is still the Olive of her Daddy's eye and is growing like a weed! She is all ready up to my chin and in 10 more inches she will be as tall as me! She all ready wears a woman's size 7 shoe! She is a busy fourth grader and has taken an interest in choir this year. She is playing soccer and has started to take up running. (Mom and Dad are encouraging this one!) She is fast and pretty soon she'll be leaving me in the dust.

She is a very helpful and compassionate little girl and I truly appreciate all the help she gives me. Don't get me wrong, she's still a 10 year old going on 13 and sometimes I wonder if we'll both survive the teenage years ahead! A lot is asked of her and she takes it all in stride. We just love our Olive!

Happy Birthday to my big big girls.

Red Rock Relay

As many of you know I've been training for the Red Rock Relay in Moab for the past few months. It's a 70 mile relay that is split into 12 running legs. Each team member runs 2 legs that range from 2.75 - 8 miles. The course starts in Moab and takes you on 128 next to the river. Then you go through Castle Valley and climb up into the La Sals and loop back around to Moab.

When I looked over the course map it didn't look all that bad, but when we were driving it I was starting to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into! My 1st leg was 3 miles long and I climbed about 800 feet. It was HARD, but so worth it when I got to the end, and I had one of the easy hills. On one you could walk faster than you could run. Kirk met us at about leg 8 and told me that we were all "awesome," he couldn't believe the course either.

My team was great! They powered up those hills and Jessica was running under 8 minute miles on her last leg. We finished in just under 11 hours!! My last leg was my favorite. It was 7.62 miles of flat and up and down, what I've been training on. The last 2 miles were through the parks in Moab so it was shady and quiet.

It was a tough race, but I got to spend the day laughing with friends and just having fun. We cheered for all the teams and tried to catch the BYU women's soccer team, ha, ha!! We were close the first 2 legs and then the disappeared. There were some pretty creative names and lots of fun costumes and decorated cars. We were the Bayfield Booties and we wore our sparkle skirts. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again next year. Yes I think I am a little crazy!! Here are a few pictures!! My friend took a ton so we have some great memories!!

Tough and sad week

One of my dear sweet friends was in a car accident this weekend and her daughter, one of my young women, was killed. Shaniah, I will miss your smile and your fun and vibrant spirit.

How grateful I am for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge it gives to me that there is life after death. There is a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that tells us His angels will be with us and bear us up. I believe that sometimes those angels are our friends and family and even those we don't know. He sends them to us to lift us up when life is more than we can bear. I know that the Farmers are surrounded by many angels at this time and will have their love and support to help them through this very difficult time.

Love you all.

The Durango Herald 03/24/2011 | Bayfield 7th-grader killed in Texas crash

Run, run, run!

About a year ago I decided to try to get into running. I had tried over the years to develop a love for it, but never really liked it. Part of that was living in the city and not really having a place to run and the other part was I just jumped into it and was miserable. (Patience is something I've never really had!)

So this time I started with walking and slowly worked my way up to running and just like my hubby said it worked. Silly me, I always thought I could just go out and run without the work. Anyway, let's just say I've caught the running bug and love it! I ran a few 5k's and made the goal to run a half marathon before I turn 40. (In two years)

A few weeks ago one of my friends told us there was a race we all had to run together. A 70 MILE relay race in Moab, Utah. I laughed and thought not this girlie, my goal may be to do a half marathon, but I still have 2 years. :) So here we are 4 weeks into training trying not to think about the distance. I'm still laughing, but now it's because I think I'm a little crazy some days! :)

There are 6 of us and we will each run 2 legs that are 3-8 miles each. It looks like an incredible run and I'm hoping to be able to run the whole time and not melt in the southern Utah sun. It should be a blast! My sweet hubby has been my coach and giving me workouts and pointers. He's even gotten back into running again and we hope to do a half marathon in June here in Durango. Of course he's a bit more crazy than I am. His dream is to do the Goofy challenge at Disney World. A half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon the next day. YIKES!! We'll see how this relay goes before I decide on any more races!

If you want to check out the course or get more info. you can go to:http://redrockrelay.com/moab/

By the way, I'm doing the Moab relay not the Zions one. That one is a lot longer and you run overnight!

Stand up!

Emily is our little wonder girl. She has been working on walking and has come so far in the past year. She is starting to stand up all over the place. Two weeks ago I stopped by to see how she is doing at Bayfield on Fridays and she was zooming up and down the halls in her gait trainer. She is so fast! At home she'll walk all over the place if you get her to stand up and hold her hands. We're thinking about putting rails up and down the hallway to encourage her to stand up and walk. She loves being back at school and although we wish she was at her home school full-time, one day a week is progress. We hope that some day in the near future she will be able to attend her home school full time rather than going to another district for services. At least she is happy and doing well and that is a step in the right direction.

Olivia's haircut

Olivia has been growing her hair out for the past 2 years to donate it. We were happy to find out that Panteene only needs 8 inches. No more crying and whining while Mom brushes Olivia's hair! In fact, now Olivia can do her own hair. I'll admit I did enjoy braiding her hair and doing fun stuff, but she never really let me do much so I'm good. She looks very cute with her new cut and is happy that she could donate her hair. Way to go Olivia. :)

Picture Time

Last Friday I realized the warm afternoons would soon be gone and decided to go take some pictures of Mike and Olivia. I still need to do family pictures, but hey at least I've got some new pictures of the kids. Well, not of Emily, but it would be better if I just went out with her alone. She is not easy to get good pictures of.

They both love to pose for the camera and wanted me to just keeping snapping pictures. It still makes a Mom a little sad to see how big her kids have gotten. I just don't know where the time has gone. They both are changing so much and making me feel old!!

It seems the only pictures I've gotten of Emily lately are when she's sleeping in the sun. Oh and climbing in the oven. I guess she's a little anxious for Thanksgiving?! I apologize for the organization of this post, but I'm in a hurry to just get these pictures up for everyone.

My Baby Girl

Olivia and Emily are twins, but I always think of Emily as my baby. She is younger by 2 minutes, so technically she is the baby. She is the sweetest little spirit and I just love to watch her. Sometimes I wonder what she's thinking about or what she sees.




There's a quote from one of the apostles and I can't remember what it says exactly. I just remember it talks about how these special children are special little spirits and are some of the mose valiant. I know she is a special little girl, she has touched so many people over the years. It's hard not to love our sweet little Em-silly.


These are just a few pictures of her. I love the one of her on my lap up at Lake Vallecito while we were camping. She was so happy to be outside, although she thought the lake water was a little too cold. Her new thing is laying in the sun ALL day. She hardly moves from her spot and will eventually fall asleep. It's so cute!!


Anyway I just had to share some of these pictures of our sweet girl. Enjoy!! ( I was going to add some more, but I can't get the add image icon working)

The Past 3 months

It's really hard to believe that it's been nearly 3 months since I've posted anything. Once the girls birthday is here things just seem to fly by until after Christmas. They turned 9 this year and I'm still in shock that my little babies are that old. Two weeks later Mike turned 11 and now we're talking about when he gets the priesthood next year. I watch the deacons pass the sacrament on Sunday and shudder to think my baby boy will be old enough to do that in less than a year. How did he get that old???!!!

Aside from the month of birthdays, 8 in all, we've been busy with the usual. School started and with it a few more activities to add to our all ready busy lives. Olivia played soccer again this fall and had a blast as usual, although we're still working on focus on and off the field. She gets distracted so easily. Mike has started a drums class after school on Thursdays. DRUMS stand for discipline, respect, unity, music and I can never remember the S! The music teacher at school is just amazing so we thought this would be a great thing for Mike to do and he's enjoyed it so far. Emily is home as many of you all ready know and we are currently battling the school districts to have her in Bayfield. It's not going well which is really frustrating. It's upsetting that well educated parents like ourselves trying to do what's best for their child have no voice and are completely ignored. I'll stop there before I go on an angry tangent!

Our most exciting news is our new van! We just bought it two weeks ago and are trying to get everything together so we can convert it for two wheelchairs. It will be so great to just wheel everybody in, hook them in to the tie down system and be on our way. The picture doesn't do it justice, it is HUGE. It's great for youth temple trips as we found out this Saturday!

The other pictures are the kids birthdays. Mike is such a ham, I love it! He's also being silly with the chopsticks in the other picture. We stopped at this great Thai restaurant in Poncha Springs, halfway between here and Denver. The kids loved it! Yummy food!

Now we're enjoying the last few days of warm weather before winter is upon us. The mountains are blanketed in snow and I shiver every time I look up at them. It is pretty, but I'm not looking forward to shoveling, especially since the new van is too big for our garage door. It should be interesting!

Interesting Saturday

When the kids were tiny there were many times they got sick in the car and I had a lovely little toddler and car to clean-up. Blah!! I don't know how many times they did that when they were small, but it was too many for me. Now that the kids are older we haven't had a problem. They can tell us they don't feel good and we can roll down the window or stop the car, right?! Well, this summer we've had two of the kids get sick in the car and I had to clean it up. YUCK!!

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until we loaded the kids up to go to Grandma's to water the garden and yard while they're on a church history tour. Emily was acting like she had just had a seizure, pale and lethargic. We figured she would just sleep all the way there and be recovered in time to enjoy Grandmas. As we drove along I had to keep sitting her up, she kept falling over on Mike like a little limp noodle. That's when I started to think it might be more than a seizure. About the time we got into town I just knew she was going to be sick. I grabbed a blanket and held it up so she wouldn't get it all over her brother.

Fortunately we had just stopped at the light for Wal-mart when this all happened. I very quickly ran inside for wipes and gloves and came back out to clean her up. Since we were all ready half way there we decided to just keep going. We cleaned her and the car thoroughly when we got there and got to work watering. Once we finished we headed home and were lucky enough not to have any more messes to clean up.

So that's probably more than you want to know and no I won't be posting any pictures!