January Card Club

Here are the beautiful cards from our January exchange. If anyone knows how to photo cards let me know!!! I would scan them, but my scanner is giving me trouble.
Let me know which cards you like and I will pass the compliments along:)

Sooner or Later

I knew that this would happen sooner or later....I just thought it might be later...like when I had a girl:) Kenyon does not discriminate with shoes: girl shoes, boy shoes, sling back, wedge. All shoes are open season. (Maybe I should crop my photos first so Porter's nose isn't in all my pictures:) He is half the problem in getting good pictures of Kenyon...Kenyon is the other half.)

BIG Baby

I took these pictures about a month ago, I think. Anyway just a fun picture of Kenyon climbing into the baby's bed, just in case anyone had any doubt that my little boy was mischievous.Caught in the act. When I got out of the shower I knew something was up because Kenyon was so quiet. You know if there is no noise something naughty is going on. I left the bassinet too close to the bed and Kenyon climbed right in. Thank heaven he didn't break it:)
Naughty little smile when he knows he is doing something he is not suppose to. I need to start cracking down, but they are just so cute.

snow snOW SNOW!!!

I can't say that I LOVE the snow or anything, but I do like the fact that it gives me an excuse to go outside. I am a snow shoveler fanatic:) Something about the instant gratifications with no thinking...like laundry. All of the sudden, with no real effort or skill on my part, there is a big stack of towels. Or with snow...a clean walk way. COOL. So thanks to the lightly drifting but constant snow falling, we got to bundle up today and play outside. Kenyon is getting much better walking in boots and loves eating the snow. One of these days I will have to stop him from putting everything in his mouth, but right now it is kind-of cute. I took this about a week ago. We strapped Kenyon onto the sled and let the dogs pull him around. This black dog "Boo" did great but Porter has a slender neck and minimal fur to protect his neck so he didn't really do it for long. I went and bought him a harness so he could pull the sled using his chest. My neighbor (in the picture) just drove by today and we made plans to get our dogs hooked up to the sled again and take the kids for a ride. Looks so fun to me, but I think I need a few more dogs to get me around:) Nice to have good neighbors with fun dogs.

Trip to St. George

As I have mentioned before, I got to take my Mom to St. George for a few days. She got to spend tons of time with James and got to watch almost all of his therapy sessions (I'm jealous) but I got to be with all the cousins. Jon drove his four little ones to St. George from Montana (not jealous) and we played for two days. Thank heaven for cousins and little boys. Jon's kids taught Kenyon more stuff in two days than I can teach him in weeks. Kids pick up skills much faster when they see other kids doing it. For better or worse, but mostly for better.

Jack brought his skateboard ("It's really a banana board Aunt Amy."says Jack), banana board...I stand corrected...and helped Kenyon get the hang of it.
Oh yeah... Kenyon got the hang of it, or more appropriately, the hold of it.

I am so proud of this picture because I taught Kenyon how to climb the ladder for this slide. It took him three times with a spot and then he was as sure footed as a mountain goat. Kenyon also learned to teeter-tauter, swing on a big boy swing, and hang from some bar (I don't know what it is called, but mostly you hang on it and swing with your arms). Kenyon would hang for a minute and then start laughing, and then fall. We did this over and over and over again.Tell me this is not the cutest playhouse you have ever seen? James orchestrated the build, but I think a lot of people helped to build it. The kids played in the house for hours. You can see here also that Kenyon has borrowed a Christmas toy car. I liked this car because it would play "Rockin' Robin" and we could all jitter bug along. Mostly it was me lifting and pulling the kids around, waving our arms and legs, but that's my kind of dancing.

Again...Jack teaching Kenyon about the finer things in life. I love it!!!

I had to get a picture of Mom with the kidlettes. She was wranglin' them in for the picture and this was the best shot. Poor Boston. Can you see why I didn't spend much time at the rehab center? Kenyon takes three hands all by himself.

Tuesday we invaded Lisa's house and four families got together to take silly photos of our kids. Great photo, but of course my child is the only one not looking at me.

I believe in boys being boys and I can't thank all the cousins enough for wresting with Kenyon, hugging him(?), and overall watching out for him and keeping him happy and safe. We have the best cousins in the world!

Christmas Fun

Here are a few pics from Christmas. It was wonderful! We stayed home and did Christmas with just US. Can you tell I just loaded my pictures onto the computer? Oh well:) Here are the kidlettes waiting for breakfast. I like the tradition of waffles with strawberries and whip cream, bacon, orange juice, the works. Makes getting up early a little more fun...at least for the adults. Do you love the fact that there are scissors right next to Kenyon? Smart. Boston is dressed because I have not broken him of his 6am waking. What else am I suppose to do at that hour of day besides play dress-up?
Porter with his yearly sacrificial cow.

Toy of the day. Kenyon has been borrowing all his friends' cars and now he has his own.

Boston just being cute. What a lovey!!!

And here is the overall view of Christmas. Kenyon ripping stuff up that is not wrapping paper. OOOPS. Boston enjoying his Bumbo thing (really a present for Mommy so I doesn't have to hold him every second of the day, which I would like to, but something has got to get done around the house.) Plus...I got a new vacuum for Christmas!!! It sounds crazy, but a good vacuum is a joy forever. We had a very Merry Christmas and enjoyed all the Christmas cards. Thanks to good friends and family. We love you all!

Pictures of James

I took these pictures on the 30th of December. I bet James is running around his house by now:) Holding his weight with his arms.

Here's James posing for me doing a wheely. You can't stop him...he is on FIRE!!!

Standing up by himself!!!! Amazing. He gets his halo off around the end of February and I think that will be a huge relief and a big jump forward. We love you James and pray for you always!!!

Super Quick Update on James

I need to get pictures on, but James went home from rehab today!!! Not the hospital, but from rehab. My mom got to leave her mission for a few days and we went to St. George. First thing James did when we got to the rehab center is stand up for us!!! Then he got his walker...all by himself, he refuses to have help... and walked across his room and turned around and walked back to his bed. It brought tears to my eyes. He has got a cool wheelchair and while we where there he work on getting into and out of his cars during therapy sessions. He was scheduled to go home on the 6th, which was ambitious, but he has been working so hard!!! What an inspiration! He has got the best attitude. He was motivating the whole therapy floor and was such a light to everyone. I wish I could explain better how incredible he is but words cannot explain the spirit and energy he blesses others with. I know he told me he was scared to go home, but I know he can do it. Cool thing...James was making plans to install a few bars and handles in his home and his therapist told him not to....James is progressing so well that handles would just be a crutch for him and he was not going to need bars and stuff permanently. James now starts with is out-patient therapy and this is a clip from my sister-in-laws blog about this facility.

Natalie's words---A patient at my office told me about a Dr. here in St. George, Steven Bennett, who has been able to make quadriplegics walk again. Adam and I went and checked it out and it's absolutely amazing. They also say that they would be able to get James running again in a matter of months. We were able to watch him work with someone- it was amazing! Oh- and did I mention he's the only one in the West and he just "happened" to be here in St. George?