Tyler's story on the PCMC BLOG!!!

I am proud to type this post! Primary Childre's Medical Center has featured Tyler's story on their blog! Please go over and read his post and share it with your loved oned!!! So exciting!!! HIS STORY

You're doing WHAT????

This is my best friend, Anna Carter. We have been best friends since we were in-utero. We grew up across the street and then up the block from each other. We got married 2 months apart and had babies all at the same time. No, seriously, 3 of our 4 are so close. 

Her three are 5 months older, each than my 3. We only screwed up Tyler and Ashley!!! 

We have only ever lived within 5 miles of each other for our whole existence and Anna broke the news to me that they are moving up for Nephi to run the American Fork Deseret Industries store. Nephi is REALLY good at his job and he's started some cool programs that are benefiting our store in a major way, so I knew it was only a matter of time before they would snatch him up for another store!!!

This has not been easy for me. I'm selfish, but when Anna told me she was as sure about this decision as she was when she made the decision to marry Nephi, I knew it was the right thing for their family.

I am so happy for her family. So many new adventures. I am so sad for my family. We all (including Randy and Tyler) were sobbing pretty hard when we told the kids they were leaving.Thank goodness for texts, Facetime, Skype, Facebook, Blogs and the good, old telephone!!!

I am so grateful for the relationship that Anna and I have had all these years. 

To say we're "best friends" really cheapens how we feel about each other. 

It's more like a sister relationship.

I can't begin to tell how absolutely much I am going to miss her entire family. I love her kids as much as I can love them without the fact that I didn't give birth to them. They are MY family. I adore everything about them. Randy and Nephi get along great and it's just always been such a strong bond between us all.

But it will be ok. That's what my mom tells me when I curl into the fetal position ;) I can't wait for their new adventure and all the blessings they get from it!!!!

Anna's neighbors and ward members threw her a surprise going away party and invited me. It was such a great time!!!!

Here's Harper and I, waiting for the PARTY GIRL!!!!

Hadley Hope, me and Harper partying it up!!!

And here's Anna making a mess of herself. She was crying her head off, but only because I was making her laugh till she cried!!! That's one thing I got on her, I can make her laugh till she cries and sometimes even till she pees!!!!

I love this girl with every fiber of my being. She has a special place in my life, my kids' lives and to my entire family. I will miss her a TON, but I will do my best to be supportive.

I'm just glad I realized this party was a going away party and not a protest, I had my signs out in my car, I was ready to picket!!!! OOPSIES!!!!

CDH Awareness....

Today is the International Day of CDH Awareness. I updated Tyler's CDH video last night. Please watch it and share it. Awareness is the key to research and finding a cause and cure. Thanks for your time!!!

Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia has effected our lives FOREVER. I pray that no one else has to see their baby in the condition we did. We are grateful that Tyler is a survivor. HALF of the babies diagnosed with CDH don't live. THAT'S TOO MANY. This birth defect is a huge part of our life. It will never go away for Tyler. He will ALWAYS live in fear that his diaphragm could re-herniate at anytime, causing respiratory failure and possibly death. Please help us raise awareness today!!!! THANK YOU!!!

Sacrifice

Every Sunday we go to Randy's parent's house for dinner. It gives us the opportunity to be with Randy's family and the kids get to play with "the cousins"!!! That's an extreme highlight for our kids. We don't hardly ever miss a Sunday.

At the beginning of the year, they announced in Young Women's at church that there would be a special stake youth choir that would be singing at our stake conference on Easter Sunday. They would be practicing every Sunday at 6:15pm. Maddison LOVES to sing and is really good at it. I knew she would want to do it, but I also realized that she would have to sacrifice her Sunday cousin time. This decision was not going to be easy for her.

She talked to me about her dilemma and asked for advice. I told her that I thought that if she sang in the choir and made sacrifices to use her talents that Heavenly Father would bless her in return. I whole heartedly believe that. I told her that we would support her no matter what. That we would do our best to make cousin time for her so she wasn't so left out.

So, she decided to go ahead and participate in the choir. She made every practice. She was there on time and in her Sunday clothes and beautiful every time. She did her best and worked hard. We did some things with the cousins during the week and in the middle went to Disneyland with them all for a week, so that got her fix in for a bit.

Easter Sunday came and it was the big moment!!! She looked gorgeous and she was excited to share with us what she had spent so much time on. They were WONDERFUL!!!! We are so proud of her and her confidence was lifted up!!! It was perfect!!!

So, I guess it was worth the sacrifices, at least I hope so!!! Sis. Hulme is helping Maddison get ready to lead the music in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. What a privilege for Maddison!!!! She's getting so big and I'm so happy for her. She's an amazing daughter. I am truly blessed!!!

HOLY CRAP!!!!!

So, I've been dealing with a pretty fair amount of postpartum depression here lately. I will be back on track soon and blogging about everything you want to say and don't have the guts to ;) See ya soon!!!

My life....

We just spent 5 days at "The Happiest Place on Earth" and it was GREAT!!!! One thing I always realize after being on vacation or around different people for a while is that my life is EXACTLY what I need. I love my husband, the relationship we have, the way we do things. I love my kids and how we all just work like a clock,  moving in sync without even saying a word sometimes. I love my house. It's not the biggest or newest house, but it's our HOME and it's perfect for us. I love how my life is, perfect for me.

Now, I'm not saying that my life is better than anyone else's, I'm simply saying that mine is perfect for me. I feel so lucky to have the life I do, especially when it comes to Randy. He is everything I need in an eternal companion. A lot of people don't understand our relationship, but we do. Stuff we do and say to each other is not what a lot of people would like or want, but it's how WE work. We have a mutual respect for one another and we only want for each other to be happy. Everyday I pray that I might make Randy's day better in some way or another.

What a wonderful life, trials and all. I wouldn't trade it for ANYONE ELSE'S!!! :)

Disneyland day 1

It's been a year since we've been to Disneyland and we all felt it was time!!! If I wouldn't have had heart surgery last year, we would have been here earlier!!! We started out at 7 am in St. George. With a couple of stops we were here!!! The fun starts with the kids getting to ride with their cousins on the way down!!! We got to Disneyland around 3. Started out on Big a thunder Mountain Railroad. Pirates after that and on goes the list !! We will be at the parks for 5 days this time. We are staying across the street and this is going to be a fun trip!!! We took Harper for her first ride on Pirztes!!!! Perfect first ride!!! I'm in bed, but wanted to say a few words!!!! This is goi g to be a great week!!! I wish all of m friends could be herewith us!!!