My Leap Day Boy

THIS BOY was placed in my arms 14 years ago, on February 29, 1996 and I fell in love.

THIS BOY gets 2 posts in a row.

THIS BOY has been on the high honor roll every semester since he started Junior High.

THIS BOY always kisses his mom on the cheek before he leaves for school.

THIS BOY can't enter a room without straightening pillows or closing drawers or cupboards.

THIS BOY is making solar ovens for poor villiages in Africa for his Eagle project.

THIS BOY has endured allergy shots every week for the past 2 years.

THIS BOY requested salmon, artichokes, oranges and mashed potatoes for his birthday meal.

THIS BOY won't let anyone touch his stuff until they have washed their hands.

THIS BOY was on the 8th grade championship football team.

THIS BOY has great friends.

THIS BOY has a very tender and sensitive heart.

THIS BOY has faithfully passed the sacrament and collected fast offerings (even in severe snow storms) for the last 2 years and has earned his Deacon Duty to God.


THIS BOY decided he wants to switch from Spanish 1 to beginning Japanese.....JAPANESE!?!

THIS BOY is still a little boy at heart and really doesn't want to grow up.

THIS BOY has given up on being an NFL player and now thinks he might be an engineer.

THIS BOY has done some hard things this year and is a stronger person because of them.

THIS BOY has a strong testimony and it shows.

THIS BOY will do great things in the future-no doubt about it.

THIS BOY is my son Tyler, and I love him. Happy Birthday Ty!

Wisdom Lost

Sadly, Tyler inherited a pretty messed up mouth- orthodontically speaking that is. He has big teeth, a narrow mouth, and he also does not lose teeth. He is almost 14 years old and he has never lost a tooth. All of his teeth have been pulled by a dentist or knocked out by a friend. This combination of a small jaw, delayed loss, and delayed eruption of teeth make for a pretty interesting and expensive dental experience. We have been told multiple times that he is a very difficult orthodontic case. The picture above is my handsome boy one hour before his oral surgery.

Here he is about 5 hours after his surgery to remove his wisdom teeth, 4 permanent teeth, and exposure of 2 impacted teeth to attatch brackets and chains. I cried when I went into the back to pick him up. He looked so small, and pale and he was crying (they told me that was typical for kids to cry following anethsethia) We had a rough 12 hours. He swallowed a lot of blood, which made him very nauseated. He threw up for the first 12 hours. Not the most pleasant thing with a mouth like that. He couldn't keep anything down, including some of his pain meds. There was lots of gauze changing, ice pack rotating (do you like the frozen peas?) and medication administering, it kept us up most of the night. Thankfully, his pain remained under control. He was miserable, but hardly ever complained.

Day 2-we made it through the night! Poor boy was so swollen and bruised and he hated the feel of all of the stitches in his mouth. He was starving for real food, but was still nauseated and could only manage a very soft, liquid diet. Again, miserable, but no complaining and thankfully still very minimal pain.

A smile actually emerged on day 3 (Ok, I made him smile for the picture) along with some more swelling and a few more bruises but we were on our way to recovery. He was back to school on Tuesday and only got made fun of a little for his chipmunk cheeks. I told him how proud I was of him for how he handled everything. He was a real trooper. He hardly complained and many prayers were answered. And now we are one giant step closer to that million dollar (seriously, it could come close to a million dollars) smile!

Happiest Place on Earth!

We walked right down the middle of Main Street USA-

and Ashlyn danced the whole way!

We found a sweet spot to rest and eat fudge on a stick in Critter Country!


We were chosen as Jedi apprentices and light saber fought

with Darth Vader AND Darth Maul!

We ate in our favorite restaurant...The Blue Bayou!

We mingled with some pretty amazing mice!

We screamed.....over and over again!

We hung out under a huge DUNG BALL!

We tried on a zillion hats in the hat shop!

We were pretty exhausted!

Overall, everything about our trip was pretty INCREDIBLE!

Lipgloss Anyone?

Invention Convention

Third Grade is the year for the great Invention Convention. Tyler invented the "Pea-remover," a device to help kids get rid of the peas they don't want to eat at dinner. Brandon invented a "spider saver," a contraption that allows you to catch a spider in your house without getting too close to it and then safely letting it go outside. Both of these inventions came about with some help from mom and dad, as is usually the case for most elementary school projects.

This was Bryson's year to invent something and he was ready. Since Bryson has been very young he has said he wants to be an inventor. And he knew what he was going to invent...the Everlasting Air Tank, a tank that will let you breath under water or in space for as long as you want. He has been talking about this everlasting air tank for a long long time, so when it came time for the convention, I thought, why not let him present what he has been inventing in his head for quite a while? One night we had a talk about his invention and I asked him how he thought it might work. He replied simply, "well, you need oxygen to breath and plants always produce oxygen so I will put plants in the air tank." Okay, that's a pretty good idea for a 9 year old. Then I asked, "Well, how will you get rid of the bad stuff we breath out?" He answered, "Plants need carbon dioxide to live and that's what we breath out, so it will be a continous cycle!" And there you go! The Everlasting Air Tank was born. Without any help or suggestions from mom or dad. That's my Brycie--future inventor! Sadly, we were going to be in Disneyland on the actual date for the presentation of all the inventions, so Bryce had to present it to the class before we left and another kid in his class had to explain it to the spectators. His classmate reported back that many people were interested in his invention and lots of grown ups asked questions about it!

Now that is one cute inventor!

(just a little note about this post. Help! I still don't know what I am doing! It was impossible for me to get any text under Brandon's picture and I have no idea why the top text is underlined. The top 2 pictures were scanned in and Tyler's looks really squished. I need my sister right by my side while I am learning all of this!)

check it off my list

Two things on my list this week-Catch up on kids journals (I was only 1 year behind) and Start my blog. My kids journals-7 of them, one year behind! I finished today. It only took my about 3 weeks this time. It is something I love that I have done for my kids, but I hate doing. It takes me forever, my hand gets cramped and as I write I keep thinking of new things I need to write about, and so it will take me even longer. But, I love that I have recorded things that if I hadn't I would never remember. I love watching my kids read their journals and laugh at the funny things they said or did. I love that they ask me, "did you put that in my journal, because it was funny?" And I love that in some way I am keeping some sort of journal, even if it isn't my own. I also love that it gives me an excuse to write down how much I love my kids and that I think a lot of the things that they do are incredible. That is why I do it, even though I hate doing it. So now the journals are back on the shelf, instead of beside my bed in my humongous "to do" pile.
Finish journals--check!
Next on my list was start my blog. I thought this was a good time to transition to journaling on a blog. I love reading other peoples blogs. I love the thought of journaling with pictures and it is time I accept the fact that times are changing. And so here I am, my first post, on my new blog. I still really have no idea what I am doing. I hope I learn as I go. I have actually been blogging in my head for about a year now, but just have never gotten around to actually learning how to do it. Then my wonderful sister Sarah came into town, sat me down, wrote a step by step list that I am looking at right now, and told me that she knew I could do it. I am blogging for my family. To document all of the everyday little things that happen in our lives, the good and the not so good. We'll see how this goes. And I get to check another thing off my list (one of my favorite things to do!)
Start my blog--CHECK!