MISC.

We had a tree fall in our yard last year, it was very large. It was a city tree but from the neighbors yard. It barely missed her shed. JD is standing in front of it. It took some time to clean up.

Here is where it fell from. Boy, was it a loud sound when it fell. You could even hear the "cracking" sound just before it hit the ground.

JD and Lyd love the new robes they got for Christmas.

This is my favorite birthday cake I have done for lyd so far. It was for her last year.

It is a 'Stephanie" cake, from the noggin show Lazytown.

J.K.L. New addition to the family

Our First nephew, 6 mos. old as of this month of April. My "chunky monkey" and his mom.

My little girl teaching her cousin how to talk on the phone... Of course, my little talker would be the one to teach him!

Oh, what a cutie!

He was dressed in a Utes outfit, and since his dad is the only Utes fan in the family, we thought it would be fun to add the BYU hat.

He got a phone for Christmas,

apparently he likes it.

First opportunity for snow,

I think he would rather sleep!

One of the first pictures taken with his little stuffed animal.

The rest of NIH PICs

This is a picture of Lyds piece of pizza, It's as big as she is!

Hard to see the Washington D.C. Temple, from the taxi,
Very beautiful when you come up the hill and it towers
over the trees.

These are Offices on the campus, we saw these on our walk.

My princess with her new rabbit friend.

Okay, so I do think this pizza is big enough!! It is HUGE!

And yet More NIH Picts

First Airplane ride, Getting ready to Go!!

On our Walk on NIH Campus

Taxi Excitment!!

At the Children's Inn, our Kitchen, Lyd is eating lunch & playing with her rabbit.

more NIH

Lyd is being funny, she is so excited to take her first taxi ride, and we are heading to the airport to go home.

Our walk behind the childrens inn. Everywhere is so

beautiful its amazing to see all the hills, I can visualize

George Washington kneeling in the trees with his horse in this picture.

This is inside the National Institute of Health,
you can see the different levels, and that isn't even
the highest points in the hospital. The wonderful
feeling you get when you are here is awesome, not many people get the chance to participate and be in a place that is so world renowned and seeing all these doctors and people that are from all over the world,
and knowing the best of the best are there.

This is the Children's Inn below, this is where families
with children get to stay on campus when participating
in studies. It is wonderful, they have so many activities for the kids, gifts, and so much donated time, dinners etc...
For anyone that donates to this Place, Thank You! it makes it easier for those families that participate in a study to enjoy themselves and forget about their illnesses. We met so many children that are terminal with cancers, or rare diseases that it was nice to see these kids doing what they could for future generations.
Our scenario was more for mental health studies so for us it wasn't the same as most of everyone there.

National Institute of Health

What great Traditional homes, everywhere the buildings looked like this.


Lyd's airplane ride home, and her new bunny she got from the gift shop. She Loved it!

This is a large Sculpture in front of the Hospital.
Below is a picture out of the taxi window, I wanted to show how all the streets are just lined with trees, it is so difficult I would think to know exactly where you are going. You don't see much of the city from the freeway.

Here's my cutie walking up the path towards the National Institute Hospital. We are going to go for a walk from the childrens inn and around the campus...(a little anyway, this campus is huge!)

My Friends

I have included some of my friends links so that I can easily go to them from time to time. My friend Lisa is like the blogger guru! she puts everything out there, I on the other hand, am not so open. I admire her, and think she is a great friend (and recently learned we are cousins) she has/does go through alot in life and yet she is so strong.

http://lisasramblings.com

Then there is Mel....Oh, what I would do without her. When a cousin of mine died due to suicide she really helped me, and she took care of the kids all day while we attended the funeral. We sure couldn't have made it through the trials we have had over the past couple of years if it wasn't for her.

Nate has been a friend for about 3 years now, and has been a great support to our family. He is a therapist and is working towards his PhD. he often drives a distance and does NAMI education meetings for me when it is my turn to set them up. So I am proud of him for having a family and continueing to get his doctarate. He has helped me in my decision to go back to school to get my masters, it will take me a while with the my family, community involvement, and my job.

I have learned that friends are very important, and given the last 2 years or so, I have found that they have been a big support.

Then there are our neighbors, They are so great. Davon is JD's soccer coach and will be hopefully for a long time. Davon coaches his team every year, and was so excited for an entire year before JD could even be eligible to play! he would count it down. All of Davons kids play/played soccer and Davon couched them in the older years, his wife Glennalee was shocked when he volunteered to be JD's couch; he had never couched the little ones...And of course you can't go without playing yourself. His wife Glennalee is always helping with the kids or playing with them. These last few years would have been much harder if it wasn't for them.

Life So Far....

I can't believe the school year is almost over! I am pretty sure it never went that fast for me when I was in school.

We are going to be experiencing one of our "firsts". JD has a friend that comes over almost everyday, the friends sister has also been coming to play with Lyd. There family will be moving in a few days down to southeast Utah. We have enjoyed having the kids around, and it will be something we all experience. It is amazing how we feel such heartache when our kids have negative experiences, I know the essence and importance of having trials...they make a person stronger than can be imagined; however at the same time, the kids will be very sad. We are going to make going away cards for their friends for family home evening and make a treat to take over there as well. I think this will help all the kids adjust.