Happy Birthday #9 Makayla!

My baby is 9 years old. When did that happen??! I love my sweet girl! She is such a big helper and is so grown up lately. Sometimes I could do without the "grown up" attitude, but her big heart and happy personality makes up for it. She sparkles with creativity and intelligence. Her love of learning and reading helps her progress and grow in school. Makayla is such a good big sister to Logan and Savannah. They look forward to when she comes home from school, so she can come up with fun things for them to play and do. She is a great example to them. I am lucky to have such an amazing daughter!


Today for Makayla's birthday, we delivered cookies to Makayla's class, and then picked her up from school to head to the Webkinz store. Makayla was super excited to spend her birthday cash from her grandmas on some new Webkinz. Thank you, Grandmas!

Makayla poses with her new Miley doll. Then, it's off to Young Mens/Young Womens for a Super Hero night. These 3 are my HEROS!

We ended the birthday fun singing to Makayla. Somehow it took three times lighting the candles to let everyone help blow them out. You can see here that Makayla's trying to help Savannah out with blowing the candles.

Logan: My Little Miracle Man

Yesterday, we got the greatest news from Logan's Neurosurgeon: his Arachnoid Cyst in his brain is completely gone!!! The doctor said it's a miracle! Last year when we saw the doctor, he said it looked like his cyst had flattened, but that the lining was still there, and there was a chance it could fill with fluid again. Yesterday, looking at Logan's head CT, there is no trace of the cyst, and his brain has continued to grow, filling in the void where the cyst had been located. The doctor told me that these cysts don't just go away. There have only been cases of patients with Arachnoid cysts that have gone away after acute trauma to the head, like in a car accident. In many of those cases, there was sub cranial pressure that built up because of bleeding in the brain. The only trauma to Logan's brain we could pin point was a really hard fall into the window seal last year. The doctor thinks that fall probably fixed it. What a lucky boy! If he had fallen when he was 6 or 7 years old, his brain would have been done growing and wouldn't have filled in the gap where his cyst was, but because he was still young enough when it happened, there is no trace of the cyst!

Logan was surely blessed by our Heavenly Father. I know he has been healed through the power of the priesthood. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father and know he answers my prayers. What a miracle to not have to worry that some day his cyst may cause pressure in his brain, and we would have to operate to relieve the pressure. No more head CT's, MRI's, or yearly visits to the neurosurgeon! Thank you, Heavenly Father! I love my little boy with all my heart, and am blessed daily by the joys of having him in my life and getting to be his Mom. : )

Texas Brings out the Best in Us!

Anybody for a kegger?

Mike really enjoyed spending time with his little sister while she was here. It was nice to have some time just to hang out with Rina. We got to spend a lazy, relaxing Saturday on the Guadalupe River with Rina. Mike is dressed for the part here. White trash fun, here we come!(Really--the strongest stuff in that cooler was a Diet Dr. Pepper)

Like Father, Like Son!

Texas Welcomes Rina!

Mike's sister, Rina, came for a Texas mini-vacation a couple of weeks ago. We had such a nice visit with her. The kids were so excited to get to play with their Aunt Rina all week! It was also fun to have some sister bonding time with Rina. Mike even watched the kids one evening so we could hit the mall. We found some great clothes! And the best part--shopping with no kids!!!

The kids were in heaven all week with their Aunt Rina visiting. Logan especially loves Aunt Rina because he loves to play the Wii with her. I especially loved that too--Thank you, Rina! It was so nice to have a little time to catch up on things, while the kids were happy playing with their super fun aunt! We had a great day at the zoo while Rina was here. Logan loved the Big Cats and especially Mr. Tiger. The tiger was pacing and leaping all over his habitat and I was a little concerned he might try to leap across the ravine like that crazy tiger in the news recently. Luckily, this one didn't try for it.