Day 2 of our vacation!

We spent the evening at a fun little place we call Narnia. The kids enjoyed roasting hot dogs and smores and swinging on the swings. I can’t believe how different the weather is here; the evenings feel wonderful. So far our vacation has been so much fun.

The start of our summer trip!

We are so excited to finally start our vacation! After a crazy day of traveling with two kids by myself we finally arrived in Utah. Our plans for the trip are to head to Idaho Falls to visit Chad’s parents then head to West Yellowstone where my Dad has rented a cabin for the week; his theme for this summer is The Wild Wild West after that we will then head to our cabin in Bear Lake. We are really excited to spend time with family.

I was so happy that Payton fell asleep the last 45 minutes of our plane ride. That kid wore me out!

On the way home we met up with my two brothers and sister-in-law for dinner at Red Robin.

Payton was thrilled to get to his Grandparents home. First thing he said was "Grandpa show me how big your Garden is getting." Payton helped Grandpa pick and eat peas.

4th of July Fun!

I had to work the morning of the 4th but was glad to get off in the early afternoon to attend some festivities to celebrate the day. We celebrated our afternoon at The Bedford Boys Ranch with some friends. It was a great place to spend the day. The kids had a blast making crafts, playing on the playground, seeing the car show, eating yummy snow cones and yummy food and listening to great music; Payton especially enjoyed dancing to the music on top of the cooler with Leslie and is quite the dancer. The fireworks were absolutely fantastic and definitely the best that I have ever seen. It was great to have friends to spend the day with since we don’t have family around. What a fun memorable 4th!

Swimming Lessons

The kids have been taking swimming lessons for the past two weeks from our friend Kendra Nelson. Through the lessons Savannah has overcome her fear of diving off the diving board as well as being in the deep water by herself. Savannah can also tread water for just over a minute. I was so impressed with how well she did. Payton really liked Kendra as well and would talk about her everyday wondering when we would get to see his swim teacher next. I just loved Kendra’s creative way of teaching Payton. Payton is not always an easy boy to teach, but she would sing songs to him and find different techniques to help relate to him. I was so impressed with the kid’s progress.

Summer Sleepovers

Savannah had her best friends Carly and Aleeya sleep over this past week. I’m amazed at how these three can entertain themselves for literally hours. The girls spent time dressing each other up with; makeup, clothes, scarfs, nail painting and doing each other’s hair. They also spent time watching movies, eating snacks and playing with barbie’s. Funny thing is the only time that Savannah will play with her barbie’s is when the girls come over. Hooray for good friends and fun summer sleepovers!

Payton's Results...

GREAT NEWS! Payton's MRI and CT Scans both showed up clean with no evidence of disease. What a great feeling that is. I really had a good feeling, but there is always that doubt that goes through your head. Our clinic appointment went well and it's a great feeling to have another scan and appointment down. Now we can resume on with life for another 3 months. Thanks for all your prayers and kind words. I am so grateful that we have our little guy here with us. We love you Payton and are so proud of the brave little boy that you are.

Payton's 15 month scans...

What a completely crazy week. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to attend my Grandfathers funeral. My Grandpa is such a special person to me and it was an honor to be able to be there. I will miss his laugh, his special hand written thoughtful cards on every Birthday and his unconditional love that he always showed. It was so great to see my family and to be able to spend time with them. The kids loved spending time with their cousins and especially loved spending time with their Grandparents. We also got the chance to see my new niece and attend her blessing before Chad flew out on Sunday.

We arrived home safely after two crazy flight delays Wednesday evening. We were exhausted and glad to get home just before some crazy storms hit North Texas. This morning we got up and headed to Cook’s for Payton’s scans. We were told that if Payton could do his CT scan without sedation then they could get us in earlier. We arrived for Payton’s scan and he started to get really scared. We told him that he needed to hold still for a picture. Payton was really scared when they strapped him to the bed. Chad and I held his hand as they put him into the CT machine and I prayed so hard that he wouldn’t freak out. He did such a great job and I am once again reminded of the power of prayer. That is actually the first time that Chad has seen Payton do his CT scan. Usually I’m the one that is in there with him. Everything went great today and Payton did an amazing job with his sedation for his MRI. I was such a proud mom. Every time I go to Cooks and look around at all the kids I am again reminded of how grateful I am that Payton is doing as well as he is and I am reminded about what a crazy couple of years that it has been. We have a clinic appointment tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. and I am really anxious to receive the results.

My sister finally got her moving truck loaded and headed out Wednesday morning, the same morning we flew to Utah. It was extremely hard saying good bye to her and I will truly miss her. I will be heading to Phoenix Thursday for her wedding. Is life ever going to slow down?

Here are a couple pictures of Payton today. I will post his results as soon as I get home tomorrow.