January Highlights

*As soon as the Holidays were over Jared had to get serious about studying again quick! He's been so busy with studying for tests and quizzes this month that we haven't seen him much. Gratefully he finished his last midterm on Wednesday so we have a few days together before he jumps back in to it all.

*I have been preparing myself to run a 10k on Feb 12th for Ethan's Run. Sometimes I wonder why I was so crazy to decide to do this (I'm not really much of a runner...I don't think I've ever run this much in my life!) but then I think about my Kyson. He's my motivation. This morning was one of those mornings I just didn't want to go run but I knew I had to if I was going to be ready by the 12th. I thought about my sweet Kyson and everything we've been through the whole time I was running this morning.

*All of us (except Jared thankfully!) have had a turn being sick this month. I'm tired of the coughing and runny noses and even some throwing up. Hopefully we are on the mend and can avoid anymore sickness. We've especially got to keep Kyson healthy!

*I got a new lens from my Mom and sisters for Christmas (thank you!!!) and I have been wanting to practice with it so my boys are often my guinea pigs. They get tired of me trying to take their pictures so this time I just let them be crazy and silly together:)

I love the look in Kyson's eyes. He loves his big brother!






*This month I have noticed that Kyson has been turning bluer faster and gets out of breath easier. If you notice in the pictures above, Kyson's lips are really blue! Especially in that first picture when you compare his blue lips to Caleb's pink lips!

*It's hard to believe January is coming to an end. It's gone by quickly. Before we know it February will come and go which means it's almost surgery time for Kyson. Ugh! As much as I don't want that day to come, I'm looking forward to getting it overwith so I can stop worrying about it and thinking about it all the time.

My thoughts on surgery

It's been 2 1/2 years since Kyson's last surgery. It's been a wonderful 2 1/2 years. It has been amazing to watch him grow. He has such a broken little heart, yet he runs around with all the other kids at the park and does all the crazy things little boys do! Recently though I have had to watch as he is growing out of his Glenn surgery. He NEEDS the Fontan. He turns blue so easily these days and so is out of breath just by climbing the stairs that he has to sit and breathe for a few minutes before continuing on. I watch as Caleb runs around the park climbing up the stairs, going down the slides, riding his bike around... Kyson tries but he just can't keep up! He is always having to stop to catch his breath.
The thought of taking Kyson back in for surgery breaks my heart but as I watch him I know it's necessary. Yesterday he had an echo and the tech showed me some pictures of his heart. She specifically pointed out his tricuspid valve that is leaking. She showed me how it's not formed correctly so every time it pumps it allows blood to go back up to the atrium. This just causes his heart to have to work that much harder. The big question is do we try and fix this valve or leave it alone? It's tough to know and not a call I want to make. I just hope Dr. Pearl and Dr. Alhadheri both feel really good about one way or the other. I am anxious to hear what they think. We currently have Kyson's surgery scheduled for March 7th. That's less than two months away...wow!

My little firemen!

One night in December we were headed out to have dinner as a family and we saw a fire truck out in front of a restaurant all decked out in christmas lights. They were allowing kids to climb in and look around. We stopped to let the boys take a look. Kyson absolutely loved it and Caleb loved it from a distance...he did not want to get inside! Anyway, that night the firemen gave our boys these fire chief hats.



As we stood there talking to the firemen that were there I was reminded of that first crazy, awful day with Kyson. It was May 15th 2008, and it was Kyson's 2 month pediatrician well visit. When we got in to see Kyson's doc we soon found out that Kyson was NOT ok. His oxygen saturations were 46%. We had no clue what was wrong but knew we had to get to a hospital fast! Dr. Auxier ran to call 911 and soon firemen were filing into the room and soon thereafter an ambulance arrived. I had Caleb with me so I called Jared to ask him to come get him. The doctor was very worried about Kyson and said I had no choice but to go to the hospital right then and leave Caleb behind. That was when I lost it! Gratefully someone led me to the ambulance and two firemen promised me to take care of Caleb until Jared could get there. Later Jared told me that when he arrived one of the firemen was in the office playing with all the toys with him and he was happy as he could be. That really surprised me because he was usually terrified of strangers at that age. I will always be grateful for those firemen who took care of my son when I couldn't.

And just for fun here's a couple more of my sweet, sweet boys.

Claire's blessing

The day after Christmas we all had the opportunity to attend my niece's baby blessing in Glendale. She is such a sweet baby and she was an angel all day long. The weather was so nice that day...it was just a beautiful day!

Here's everyone who was able to attend


Surrounded by the power of the Priesthood. Most of these men joined Dallas as he gave Claire her blessing.


She's got him wrapped around her little finger:)


So Beautiful!


Sweet girl



The little family

Christmas morning

We had a wonderful Christmas morning. It is so fun having a four year old and a two year old. They get so excited about everything!

Here's Caleb seeing his new bike for the first time! I think he has asked several times every day since then if he can go ride his bike. I'm glad he loves it:)


Gotta love this reaction to a new game:)


Kyson opening his new Buzz Lightyear. He LOVES Toy Story so I was excited to see his reaction.























We gave sweet Claire an ornament for her first Christmas. I think she liked it:)

Christmas Eve

Chrismtas Eve our family has always gathered around and read the Christmas story together. This year we decided to go ahead and act it out. My boys were NOT being cooperative with getting dressed up until my Mom brought out some old animal Halloween costumes. They decided being the animals would be alright. Yes, Kyson is dressed up in a pink unicorn costume but who cares...he was happy with it! We'll just pretend he's one of the sheep and Caleb is the donkey. Just use your imaginations ok:)
Here's our cast:
Mary: my sister Amber
Joseph: my brother Stephen
Jesus: my niece Claire
Angel: my niece Anna
Sheperd: my bro-in-law Zach
Animals: Caleb and Kyson


Mary riding the donkey

Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus

After reading the Christmas story it was time to get ready for bed. Our tradition is to open one present on Christmas Eve...Christmas PJ's!





All the grandkids!

Since we were all together we had to take a siblings picture. Here's me and my seven siblings!

And we just had to end on a silly picture!

Christmas stockings

Wow! I am so behind with my blogging. I have taken a ton of pictures lately but just haven't found the time to edit them all. Jared has had the last two weeks off school so I've been trying to stay away from the computer and enjoy family time. It really has been a wonderful two weeks full of a lot of fun memories.

The Tuesday before Christmas we headed up to Show Low to be with my family. While we were there my sisters and I all made stockings for our families. We all did them so different but they all turned out so cute!

I decided to take an old pair of jeans and cut them up to make my family's stockings. Once I got the first stocking put together I was trying to figure out what I wanted to put on the front of each one. I "pleaded" with Jared to draw something for me on his and he decided to draw Santa. Well, the first one turned out so cute I begged him to do the other three. I'm so happy with how they turned out! Jared spent a lot of time painting them and I'm grateful. Although he didn't really plan on doing it, it turned out to be one of my favorite Christmas gifts. I love when Jared uses his amazing talent!



My sister Natalie bought old white sweaters and turned them into stockings. So cute!!! Sadly I didn't get a picture of all three of hers but here's Claire in her Daddy's stocking (her stocking was a little smaller so she wouldn't fit in it:)


Here's the ones my sister Christy made. Sorry it isn't the best picture but you get the idea. I love how they turned out also! She did a great job!