Thanks for the reminder moment

About a month ago (its about time, I posted this), My good friend Jonnie posted something on her facebook status that gave me that Oh yeah moment. Here is what she posted, "In 20 years, you won't care if that book was finished today or put off until tomorrow, if that game was watched now or if it was recorded for later, or even if the lawn isn't mowed perfectly right this second. But I can promise that someone special will remember that one night that you turned off the TV / put away that book / put off mowing the lawn to spend a little extra time with them. Make memories. (Jonnie Melendez, 2009)." Let me explain a little here, Lately I have been upset and frustrated and started closing myself off to the world which included my children. I was not the mom I should be to my children. I prayed that I would know what to do with my trials. The next day, Jonnie posted that (Jonnie, you probably wouldn't guess you were the answers to my prayers, lol) which gave me that "that is what I need to do." Since then I have spent more time with my kids. Once a week, the kids have their "special day" which is when they get one-on-one time with dad in the morning and mom at night. Some of the acitivites we have done is make bread with the twins, finger puppets, painted finger nails (sis of course), taught Coby how to play backgammon, made cookies with saibrynn, Took colten to the store and bought cookie dough, and played chess (not me, i dont remember what moves where). I feel what we do isn't that important but the conversation that takes place while we are spending this time together. I hope we are building memories for my kids and when they get older will spend the same or more quality time with their own family. This also proves that sometimes as adults we need a good "kick in the butt" to remind us what is important in life. Thanks Jonnie!!!

Been A Long Time

Wow, its been a long time since I blogged. Since David has been home we have had our trials but I feel there is hope which is something I was having a hard time with lately. Yesterday, We had some of our questions answered. Even though we will not have a definitive diagnosis for about a month, the specialist does believe we are on the right track. About a year ago, Caleb started having some issues. At first, I wasn't sure if he was really having issues or if was copying certain behaviors from our best friends son who has Autism. Overtime, I was telling David about the behaviors but he was unsure since he was across the world. After David got home, he also began noticing these odd behaviors so we talked to his early intervention teacher. She said she did not think he had Autism but he did show these behaviors at school. She suggested that he may have Sensory Integrated Disorder. We then began to look further. To make a long story short, He behaviors have gotten worse and yesterday we went and saw a therapist who specializes in young children and Sensory and fine motor disorders (this was a struggle, finding someone to help because of his age). She does think he has a sensory disorder but it will take a month to get a diagnosis due to having to do observations. She has told us that David and I have headed down the right direction with attempts we have made to help him, which was good news. She also is helping with some other techniques that will have to be used in order to help caleb. This disorder has been interesting to learn about. Most of the time, it is seen with children who have autism but can affect other children with neurological disorders. As hard as this disorder is, I know we will be able to help him, we just didn't know the steps or how to help him (which was extremely heartbreaking and difficult to deal with). We are looking forward to a more positive outlook but we also know it is going to take tons and tons of work, but we are up to the challenge as long as it helps caleb. For more information on SID or SPD check out http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/

Proud of my soldier

Last weekend, my family was involved of our 60 day Yellow Ribbon Ceremony. Its amazing David has been home that long. This included a ceremony called the Freedom Salute. My husband was given the following items:

He received a medal, a coin (military members know the significance of the coin), A flag in a case, The certificate, lapels (one for him, one for the significant other) and the kids received a special future soldier case (seen in the back) which included games and military trading cards. It is a great feeling to see my husband be called and be shown appreciation for his sacrifices along with his fellow brothers and sisters in arms.

Saibrynn's Baptism Pics

I am kicking myself in the butt right now because we didnt get any group pictures that day. I did get pics of everyone eating, just wish I would of got ones of everyone together. Other than that, it was a wonderful day.

Hiking

Today, we decided that every Sunday we are going as a family and hiking. We are going to find different trails to go on and this week we went up to Mount Ogden. The kids were wonderful. They played, found golf balls, and ran around and got nice and dirty. Even Colten had a great time and didn't complain about anything, suprising for a teenager. If anyone has any good trails let us know, there is a long summer waiting for us. See colten is still a kid, he loves swinging

Searching for golf balls and playing in the water.

Chasten loved playing and throwing the rocks

They could hear a squirrel but couldnt see it.

Of course, nobody could all look the same way.