Emily's Clinic day

Emily LOVES going to the hospital for her check ups...especially IVIG days! This means we will be there for LONG time! Who wouldn't love ordering food and watching movies all day?

Emily is looking great; we just wish her counts would look the same. For the last month her counts have been dropping. Her WBC is at 1800 and her ANC is also low at 700. Her EOS(I have NO idea what it stands for) are really high too which usually means she has allergies or Graft vs. Host. I haven't seen any signs of allergies but who knows? Emily also has stomach aches every morning which may be a sign of Graft vs. Host as well. (It could just be irritated from all the meds she takes!) The doctors are obviously watching her closely and aren't saying much, knowing there could be a million different reasons for low counts. For now, we will just pray that her body will work hard to bring her counts back up. It was a good reminder that she is still fragile and very susceptible to germs.

Emily's first grade class is going to the Zoo on Friday. I told Mrs. Moore I would ask the doctors to make sure but I was sure it would be fine to bring Emily since it's outside, right?! Emily has been so excited to go!

I am such a WONDERFUL, THOUGHTFUL mom...

As soon as I asked Dr. Pulsipher if she could go, he looked at me like I was a crazy woman! He told us that this is one of the WORST places we could take Emily right now! He then explained that the yucky smell at the Zoo as well as at Farms, is MOLD!!! (and I thought it was just poop!)

Emily was DEVASTATED to put it lightly! I felt horrible! Her nurse kept trying to think of other fun things we could do, but nothing sounded as good as the ZOO!

Mrs. Moore helped out by inviting her to Pirate Day on Thursday which will be Lot's of fun. She is also trying to decide what great activity we will be doing on Friday to make up for missing the zoo...I am sure it will be LOADS of fun! I am sooo excited!

On the way to our appointment we ran in to one of the bone marrow nurses. Emily asked, "Is Karter here" She looked surprised and said, "Well, yes he is and I am his nurse today!" He had just came in the night before with a fever. Not that we are glad he is sick but it was fun to see his mom and visit for awhile!

Malory has started up a new business selling hot/cold packs these are not the boring heat pads and cold pad we are used to seeing, They are stuffed animals! They are so cute! If you are interested check it out at http://www.karterskritters.blogspot.com/ Emily sleeps with a heat pad every night...she is so excited to have one that is a stuffed animal! I bet you can't guess which one she wants...hmmm.

The Dinosaur Museum

Emily has been BEGGING to go to the Dinosaur museum...She FINALLY got her wish!

Saturday evenings are a perfect time for a place like this...hardly any people were around! :)

Emily wanted to play in the sand with water. I said no at first, thinking of all the little dirty hands that have played in there! She was so brave. She took Grandma's hand and told her that she wanted to go out of the area, "I don't want people to hear what I can't do, they will think, Why not, it's free?"

We had a good laugh. Jacqueline who has an keen sense of smell when it comes to chlorine, pointed out that the water was chlorinated. GREAT POINT Jac!

We decided it would be safe enough to play in. Emily was so excited!

We (Grandma and Grandpa included) spent the rest of the time making islands,rivers, and dams for the toy dinosaurs.

Closing time came much too soon. "We didn't get to see the rest of the museum!"

That's what's great about having a pass...we will be going back very soon! :)

Field trip with the Duncans

We went to Thanksgiving Point Gardens with the Duncan's last week for a field trip. The tulip festival is going on, and it's really pretty. It was fun to see so much color! The kids enjoyed rolling down the big hill and drawing pictures of the flowers.

Emily and I spent an extra hour in the Secret Garden reading and coloring pictures. What a great way to do school!

Blessings of the Sacrament

Each Sunday for the last 7 months, we have been blessed to have these amazing teens come into our home. Boys who take their priesthood seriously, who keep themselves worthy so they can fulfill their duties as priests. They have been so willing to come after church each week to bring the sacrament to Emily. As you can see, She is all smiles because, she knows they are there for her, and she knows that they love her!

Even though Emily is not an official member of the church YET, she has a testimony of the sacrament. Last summer when we were in Arizona, she was so upset when my two younger brothers were not coming to church with us. When we got in the car to go, she looked at me and said, "Mom, they HAVE to go to church! They need to take the sacrament!"

At her young age, she knows that taking the sacrament is important. She looks forward to this each week and hates it if she misses just one week . She doesn't want to miss out on the spirit that comes into her live when she partakes of the sacrament.

It has been such a blessing in our lives. I get emotional every time I think about it, because each one of these boys has such a special spirit that they bring into our home. They have the light of Christ and it shows in everything they do. We are so grateful to live amongst such amazing people! This is proof that it's not just the adults that are amazing...young and old alike, we are blessed by all!

Words can't express our gratitude for these amazing boys, (I had to try though). Thank you for serving our family and for being such great examples of what selfless service means! I am not sure these boys will ever understand what a difference they have made in our family's life. I hope someday, they will look back and know that they really did make a difference!

THANK YOU!

Our amazing Home Teachers!

Dan and Noah Timpson have been our Home Teachers for the last 4 years. When they came today they told us the very sad news that this would be their last visit. We are so sad! We are going to miss them so much! Here are a few of the memories we have of 2 men who have truly magnified their calling as Home Teachers.

• Treats in pockets
• Replacing our shingles on our roof
• Tearing out our floor
• Inspired lessons
• Sincerely wanting to know how everyone is doing
• Priesthood blessings...anytime
• Yummy treats from Raquel!
• Setting up our phone system
• Hospital visits
• Birthday ice-cream
• Inviting us into their home when we are walking by
• Phone calls of concern
• Notes of encouragement and love
• Taking our old freezer to the dump and delivering our new one

I think you get the point!

It has been such a huge blessing in our lives to have Dan and Noah as our home teachers. They are perfect examples and proof that there is no such thing as "just a home teacher ( or visiting teacher)" I am grateful that my kids have seen what a difference good home teachers can really make. They have always been there for us...they have never considered a once a month contact as good enough...they have shown us countless times how much they care through hours and hours of service that goes far beyond the "required" monthly lesson and visit.

Thank you Dan and Noah for being such wonderful home teachers! We will never forget you and all the love you have shown to our family.

I guess we can't be selfish...it's time to give someone else the "Timpson experience"!

Thanks for EVERYTHING!

Meet against AF

Jacqueline had another amazing track meet on Tuesday. We loved it because the weather was beautiful! I love a good excuse to go outside and soak up some rays.

I missed the 800, but as you can see,(thanks to our neighbors camera), she WON! I was there to see her win the mile and take 1st or 2nd with her relay team. (we aren't sure if what age the team ahead was)

One of the greatest parts about track is having one of her best buds running with her. Kenzie and Jac have been friends since they were 5 years old when they met in "Joy school". I couldn't think of a better friend that I'd want her to be hanging around with. The greatest part is that the whole Draper family is a blast to be around! We all WIN in this friendship!!!

A true GIANT of a man

Not only is Dikembe Mutombo a 7'4" giant of a man physically, he is an even bigger Giant on the inside!
Matt and I had the privilege of meeting this NBA basketball star who plays for the Rockets, about a month ago. To tell you the truth, I didn't really want to go because it was "one more night away from the kids". I am so grateful Matt convinced me it would be worth it.

This man came to America to be a doctor. He wanted to be able to take his knowledge back to Africa and serve his people. He had never played basketball but as soon as the coach at the University saw him, he was recruited fast!

If you are a basketball fan, you know him and know that he has been playing in the NBA now for 18 years. His dreams of becoming a doctor didn't come true but the dream of serving the people in Africa has been!

Dikembe is one of the most humble people I have ever met. He has taken his fame and used it for so much good. He has built the Mutombo hospital in Africa which is an incredible state of the art facility. He has paid so much from his own pocket and is constantly raising funds to keep the hospital staffed with quality doctors and to keep it running.

He came to the church asking for help with clean water...this is where Matt comes in and I got to tag along :) It was so fun for Matt to be able to tell him the great news that the church had signed a contract with the company that very day to make a HUGE water tank for the hospital.

As we were eating dinner with Dikembe, I was so impressed with the goodness of his heart. He found a wife and a month later brought his brother's( who passed away) 4 children to live in the USA with them. He now has 7 kids and if I remember correctly there is another on the way.

He takes a group of NBA stars with him every summer to Africa, to do a camp, not a basketball camp, but a camp to build buildings and places for the community to play basketball. What a refreshing sight for an NBA player!

It was a wonderful evening!

Goodbye Spring Break

It has been a wonderful week, weather wise, not so wonderful but other than that we had a great time together as a family:)

We spent Saturday catching up on all the cleaning inside and out...YES, we can finally fit BOTH cars into the garage again!

Thomas was determined to get the trampoline up and almost did the whole thing himself. Matt came at the end to help, and discovered it was upside down! The great part was that I didn't have to do a thing!

As we were cleaning, I realized how great it is to have 3 kids that are old enough to really help out. Cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, weeding etc. goes by so much faster with 5 people working instead of just mom and dad doing all of the work!

It has been hard for me knowing that we aren't having any more kids...one of those times when we learn that our plans are not always the Lords plan. Matt has always reminded me that we have so many things to do in our future, like serving missions and serving in any other way that we can. We can do them a little earlier than planned. Even though I agree, my heart has always had a little ache wishing we had more. (I guess it's just a mom thing.)

Anyway, I do have to admit our kids are at such fun ages. We can do so many things that wouldn't be possible to do as a whole family if we had little ones. I have learned to stop mourning what kids we don't have, and enjoy every minute (well, MOST of the minutes!) of the 3 beautiful kids we do have. We have been so blessed and I am so grateful to be their mom. I have also learned that I need to trust in the Lords plan because, when all is said and done, His will be much better than mine could ever be!

I couldn't resist taking a few last pictures of our Spring Break on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. There really is a sun!

Tomorrow is supposed to be even better...maybe it will help ease the pain of going back to our old routine :)

Where's Thomas?

All week long whenever we needed Thomas we knew where to look...in the front room READING on the couch!

Thomas read 5 books in 4 days that equals 1342 pages! HOLY COW!

His reading obsession started to wear off on Emily too. She has always loved to read but hasn't loved chapter books. Well, during the last few days I have found her reading by Thomas with a chapter book. It's amazing what influence a brother can make! Good thing Thomas is such a great example...I don't mind. Well, maybe the singing REALLY LOUD part could be toned down a bit :) Our house would be way too quiet though!

BOWLING!

Friday we went to BYU and had quite the experience bowling! Don't mess with the Heaps family when it comes to bowling....We were on FIRE! (ha ha)

Emily loved every minute of it and kept asking when we can go again. Jacqueline gave Matt a run for his money; and Thomas and I had some good....and not so good turns:)

It was really fun to be together and enjoy the sunshine even if it was still quite chilly!

More Spring Break fun...

I think Mother Nature must know it's our spring break and LOVES to put a kink in everyone's plans!!

I woke up to go running this morning and noticed the power was out, AND it was snowing like crazy. So, I did something very out of the ordinary...I crawled back into bed and slept for 3 more hours! Of course regret came when I woke up thinking of all the things I could have done until Matt reminded me that sleep should be on my "to do" list. I decided he was right 1 :)

We didn't let a little bit of snow ruin our plans! We went to Monster vs Aliens and had a great time! It was perfect because we had the theater basically to ourselves. Emily did have fun, even though she looks quite stressed in the picture!

Dad got to come along which always makes our days even better! He was sure glad he didn't have to miss such a "quality" show!

Time with our cousins

Today we spent our afternoon with the Parish's! As you can see, We all had a great time playing games, making tortillas and talking, talking and more talking!

Thanks Parish's for a great day!

Clark Planetarium

We decided to go to the Clark Planetarium for one of our Spring Break adventures. I have to admit, I did have to be brave to let Emily go :). We did have hand cleaner!

We went to the IMAX 3-D Under the Sea movie which all of us loved! The workers were very nice and put us in a perfect spot away from most of the people in the theater. no one around us was sick so I let Emily take off her mask during the show...It's all good, right?

I have to admit I started questioning my judgement when she didn't feel good last night. She snapped out of it though. No fevers, just laying around not feeling like herself. Maybe she's just tired since she hasn't been going to bed until 11:00 or 12:00! She then wakes up and makes her way to our room around 3:00 or so! What's this all about??? I have no idea, but I warned her last night that she isn't allowed to wake me up when she comes to sleep on our floor.

She fought me, saying, "Mom, what if I need to go potty?"

"Don't worry, you can go by yourself"

"What if I am asleep? You HAVE to take me potty!"

I laughed and said, "If you are coming to sleep in my room, you will be awake!"

She didn't know what to say to that so she stomped off.

She was very good and took care of herself last night...Ya Hoo! You would think I would be sleeping through the night by now since my youngest is 7...Good thing she's cute!

Grandma Pink

My Grandma Whiting is truly one of the most amazing people you will ever meet. She has been through so much in her life yet, she stays so strong! She misses Grandpa so much. It has been almost 33 years and she wants to go home too! It has been very difficult during the last few years to watch her endure so much pain.

She gave us her life history for Christmas and it is so precious. I appreciate how real and honest she is...she didn't sugar coat any of it! Yet, it is the sweetest story I have ever read! She is an amazing example to EVERYONE who knows her. She has served 6 missions and would be willing to do more if her body would allow it! Grandma has made sure that all of her children, grandchildren and great children KNOW that she has a testimony of Jesus Christ. She not only shares it in words but she has always shown us through her ACTIONS! I am so glad when we can visit with her and enjoy her sweet spirit. I am not sure how much longer we have with her, for her sake, hopefully not too long. For all of us though, she will be sorely missed! We all love her so much, and we know she loves us! She has a great talent with letting us all feel like we are very special and very loved!

As we sat at her feet this afternoon listening to stories of her childhood I couldn't help but feel so much love and gratitude for having such a wonderful grandma!

Thank you Grandma for being YOU!

Clinic with the Fam...

Jac and Thomas got to go to clinic with Emily today because it's SPRING BREAK!!

Everything is going great. Emily's weight was up from 19.2 to 19.6 which makes them us very happy. She has definitely slowed down with her eating but she really is trying to eat something even when she doesn't want to...I am so proud of her.

They didn't have the official counts back but they were just a bit lower than last time, which I have found doesn't mean much. She still has a few hours every day when she doesn't feel very good but nothing that a heat pad and a comfy couch can't take care of...MUCH BETTER than being sick in the hospital!

As you can see, today was a happy day for everyone :)

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny always comes to our house on Saturday. We love it this way because there is no rushing to get to church and having the kids wishing they were home eating there treats etc.

The kids had a great time finding their Easter baskets and then there eggs (which I miscounted so we kept finding more eggs all weekend! I was a little distracted when I was counting them :) Oh well, more fun right?)

Mrs. Moore surprised us with very yummy cookies from Dipidee...so much for my "NO SUGAR" goal! I made up for it by eating lots of chocolate to go with it...hmm...something wrong with this picture?

We made "Easter cookies" Saturday night to help set the tone for the REAL meaning of Easter. We read scriptures with each ingredient and then placed the cookies in the oven which represented Christs tomb. Then, we went to bed...In the morning we opened the oven and everyone tried a cookie. When I do the recipe right, they are hollow inside representing the empty tomb. It is actually a great visual. I messed up though so we had to use our imagination :) It was still a wonderful Easter Sunday with Lot's of sunshine, and an amazing family night put on by the Parish's walking us through the last week of Christ's life. Most importantly, we celebrated the fact that CHRIST LIVES! Isn't this such a blessing to know? I am so grateful to know this with everything that is in me. I know with all my heart that Christ died for us and he was resurrected, HE DOES LIVE! Life is a wonderful thing to celebrate!

Happy Easter everyone!

Some little sunshine

Emily is so excited for Easter. She can't wait to wear her new Easter dress that she picked out all by herself; she made me take pictures of her outside with one of the new spring flowers coming up.

We had to take in all the sunshine possible yesterday since today is cold and rainy AGAIN!!! I guess it reminds us all to enjoy life to it's fullest...It's much easier when the sun is shining don't you think?

A great day for a race!

Our neighbor took these two AWESOME pictures...cameras really do make a difference!

The kids are very dedicated to cheering their sisters on for the 3 hour meets...(As long as they have friends to help keep them entertained.) The wonderful thing about today was that it was WARM and SUNNY! Sit out in the sun for 3 hours? NO PROBLEM!

Lehi was ON FIRE today! They seriously dominated the other team! Jac and Kenzie were the only Lehi runners in the 800 and they had a HUGE lead on the other girls. They were so close we thought they would start holding hands as they crossed the finish line! Kenzie won by .14th of a second. The end result was that they both came in at 2:54, beating their time from last week by almost 10 seconds!

Jac came in 1st place in the 1600 for the 7th grade, improving her time by 2 seconds! She led the pack for the first 3 laps; until an 8th grader was finally able to pass her on the last stretch coming in 1st overall just by 3 seconds.

It is so fun to watch her run...I guess she got it from her dad because I am no speedster! She got her LOVE for running from me though:)

Stay tuned for Thursdays meet...Emily and Thomas are SOO excited!

Track Meet

Thursday was Jac's first Track meet. She ran the mile, and 1/2 mile. she was going to do a relay but the meet had to end early due to the rainy weather!

Jac came in 1st out of the 7th graders and 2nd overall in the mile. I was concerned about how SLOW she was going (ha ha)...her time was 6:08!!!! It was SO fun to watch her. Her friend Kenzi came in just a few seconds behind which made for a really fun race.

Jac ran the 1/2 mile in 3:08 coming in 3rd overall with Kenzi coming in just a few seconds before her! They are a great team!

It was a great day of being out in the FREEZING cold cheering on our favorite 13 year old. Even Leo came along for the fun! Let's hope next week is SUNNY!!!!

Uncle Bob and Aunt Susan come to visit!

Uncle Bob and Aunt Susan come every April for General Conference weekend. We were spoiled to spend some time with them on Friday afternoon.

It is always so much fun to talk with them and hear about Bob's experiences with his calling as a Stake Patriarch. You can just see how much he loves his calling and loves being part of such a special part of the youth's life.

The kids LOVE to see how tall they are in comparison with Susan. She is 4 ft. 11in tall. Jac and Thomas were pretty pleased with themselves and Emily kept saying how close she is!

Susan kept us laughing the whole time...it is so fun to see how similar she is to my mom. When the 4 sisters get together it is a blast! They are so full of love and excitement for life! I am sure they had a great time growing up together....poor Uncle Billy! :) Actually he was pretty lucky to have such great sisters!

WARNING!

Matt and I spent last conference weekend putting a gel stain on our light yellow, actually graying cupboards. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!

It has been six months and we have had to do a few touch ups here and there ESPECIALLY with all the remodeling going on. I decided to put a lacquer finish on so we won't have to deal with all the little touch ups anymore.

After putting the first coat on last night without having open windows for the first 2 hours. I nearly knocked myself out! We kept the windows open for the rest of the evening but I still woke up with a horrible headache! I kept thinking of my sister Amber and her family...PLEASE don't come for a few months. I don't want you all to get sick from our house!

ANYWAY, I read the can AFTER applying the first coat and this is what I read:

NOTICE: Reports have associated repeated and prolonged occupational exposure to solvents with permanent brain and nervous system damage. WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.

WOW! I am so glad I have been exposing my family to this for the last 2 days :)

Hey, now we have an excuse for our brain malfunctions and why not give us higher risk for cancer? All that really matters is that my cupboards look great, right?!!