Our Halloween crew!

Kiss my lucky egg!

Thomas had so much fun with his costume this year! He was Sanka from "Cool Runnings"
Doesn't he look great with his spray on tan? people had a hard time recognizing him!
He had a great time getting people to kiss his lucky egg. until a girl smashed it...thank goodness it was boiled!

costume fun!

Jac dressed up at school 80's style. Bring back any memories ladies? Look at that hair!!! She really should have been a teenager during the 80's! She's a natural.

Jac went to a party tonight dressed as a palm tree...she is sooo creative! I must admit the 80's hair was my favorite though!

Trick or Treat!

Isn't Emily the cutest lady bug ever? She had such a fun day. She woke up singing "It's Halloween, It's Halloween" over and over. She kept asking me when it was time to go trick or treating.
April West organized a group of Emily's friends to go to homes that were pre-arranged, knowing they had to be healthy. They went at 4:00 so there wasn't anyone else around. It was so fun for her to go trick or treating; she loved every minute of it!
Lisa Hartle called and organized a group of about 20 kids to come(all healthy of course) and as they came to the door they put a piece of candy into Emily's bag and then we put one in theirs! It was such a fun Halloween. Emily felt so loved. She even had Kaden Struthers tell her, "Even though you have hair all over your face I don't think you are ugly!" He said it so sincerely, you could tell he was really trying to give her a compliment!
Once again, our ward proves to be so amazing!
Thanks for making this the best Halloween ever!

"Good Things Utah" Clip

Happy Halloween!

I walked out my door at 5:00am this morning to run with my great friends Leesa and Jessica. Leave it to Leesa to enjoy every part of this Holiday! We laughed so hard when she walked up! I am sure every car that passed us had to do a double take!
I just had to take a picture of 3 crazy friends who run in the dark chatting and carrying on like it's the middle of the day! We call it free therapy...I guess we do lose some sleep to go this early but the payback "priceless"!
It is so great to talk about our lives and get advice or just to feel validated with our frustrations of the moment.(Matt is also grateful I have more than just him as a sounding board!)
Even though we run in the dark I feel so lifted and filled with light when I come home. It's a great way to start the day.
THANKS for being such great friends. I hope we will be running together for many years to come!

Good Things Utah

Emily and I were on Good Things Utah today. Emily was so excited to go and even though she got nervous right before I was very proud of her! We kept her mask on until it was her turn to go on. I am hoping she will not have any ill affects from it.
A company named Sargent Steam gave one of their steamers to us when Emily was a baby to help us with cleaning our house. We use it every day it is such a blessing! They made SCIDS their charity.
There is a new little boy named Carter up at Primarys who was just diagnosed with SCIDS. He is starting chemo tomorrow. Sargent Steam presented a steamer to his mom, Malory on the show! It was fun to be there to say thanks so them for their kindness!(Even though I hate being on TV!)---I think it adds 20 lbs. don't you?!

Creating is so much fun!

For the last 2 days Emily and Thomas have been creating fun little figures with plastic beads that Teri Allred brought over. It's so fun to watch them create!!!

Day 73

Wow, I can't believe it has been 73 days since transplant. I asked the doctors what exactly day 100 means. It is actually an evaluation time where they take more tests and look closely at how everything is going so far. For people who don't live close to Primary's it is the time when they usually get to go home for the first time. For us, things will be pretty much the same but we will keep with the countdown just for fun anyway.

Emily is doing great! Her newest love is learning about Helen Keller and Abraham Lincoln. She loves to google pictures of them and learn about their lives. It is scary how quick she is on the computer. I have to watch her so close!
Teri Allred helped her find some ancestors on the genealogy website today which she can't stop talking about either! It is fun to see her get so excited about learning!

She is definitely getting hairier with each day. I see her every day and it is still shocking to see how fast it is growing....everywhere but her head! She is finally getting some, but most of it is growing everywhere else. She yelled to me today "Mom, come and see this, I even have hair on my knees! You're not supposed to have hair on your knees are you?' She is our furry little monkey. The cutest one you'll ever see!

Just keep swimming....Just keep swimming...

Jac had her first swim meet of the season on Friday and Saturday in American Fork. As you can tell she has a great time with her swim buddies! I hardly even saw her between events!
Jacquelines coach chose her events which she was not very happy about. She did the 200 freestyle, 200 IM, 100 breast and the 400 IM. (For those of you not in the swimming world IM means every kind of stroke!) These were really tough events and Jacqueline showed her true colors by not giving up. She did a great job. I think she even surprised herself with how good she did!
It is hard not to have all of us there(I am not so sure how broken hearted Emily and Thomas are about not going!) We are so used to going as a family but now we have to divide and conquer. Wait till next year Jac...we will all be there cheering you on again. (I am sure you can't wait!)

A perfect day for BYU football!

Matt and Thomas had an amazing fall afternoon at the BYU football game. They had great seats thanks to the Madsens who were so generous in giving their tickets to them. Two guys enjoying a "cougar dog" sunshine, and a great game. The kids love it when they get one on one dates with Dad!

Pumpkin Fun!

On Monday, Matt took the day off with the Kids and we had a great day together as a family! We found an awesome pumpkin patch where everyone got to pick their own pumpkin from the ground!
We took them home and while the kids carved and painted, Matt made fresh pumpkin soup that was very tasty and I made pumpkin cookies that were pretty good too!

Emily thinks that I am pretty silly for leaving my pumpkin plain. She is trying to convince me to let her make it look better! We know the kids all got the creative gene and it didn't come from me! Thank goodness for Dad!!

day 65

We had our monthly family home evening with the Whitings tonight at Grandmas. Lately it has just been us and Grandpa and Grandma because the Parish's have been sick. They were able to come tonight and Emily was so excited to finally be able to play with her cousins!

The dress Emily is wearing was made by Nicki who just turned 12 last month! Even though she is 5 1/2 yrs older than Emily, Emily is like Nicki's little shadow whenever she is around! She has always loved to be around her, maybe because she is so creative, always coming up with fun things to make, do, or act out. There is never a dull moment when Nicki is around! One time she made "play dough" out of water and flour for Emily. It was EVERYWHERE and I had to pick it out of their clothes!

She is always thinking of something new. She really is amazing how she never seems to get discouraged when something she tries doesn't work...she learns from it and tries again! I love that Emily loves her so much...she is such a great example!

It was great to be together tonight. It is funny how you always love your family but you don't realize how much until you can't be with them for a long time...we really take each other for granted! Now we just need to get the rest of my family to move back to Utah so we can have FHE with everyone! At least we are lucky to have all of the Heaps family around! (They must love us more! ha ha)

Sunday afternoons are filled with angels singing..Sister Holladay and Emily! It is so fun to listen to them singing. Emily loves to sing and play Sister Holladay's guitar! It is so great that Emily doesn't have to miss out on her primary lesson or singing time.
The young men have been coming in to give Emily the sacrament after church. There is such a sweet spirit when they come. We will forever be grateful for their willingness to serve our family in this way! Even though Emily doesn't need it. She still feels the void when she doesn't get it! It is so nice that she is able to enjoy church at home. We have an amazing ward!

Pizza anyone?

Who needs restaurant pizza when you've got a pizza stone and an amazing chef...well, actually an amazing recipe! We have been having fun trying out our pizza stone that Wade and Monica gave us! It has been a lot of fun.

Emily said "Wow mom, I didn't know you knew how to make restaurant pizza!"

Hearing this from Emily tells you it must be good. We are also enjoying the pressure cooker they gave us. I feel very domestic! I am actually cooking meals. Yes, you should all be very proud of me!Ha Ha

Thanks Whitings! Next time you come to Utah guess what we will be having!?