A "showering of love" shower

Baby shower for Bonnie when she was pregnant with Zoey. Stacy and I said that we would through Bonnie a shower before Tyce was diagnosed. Good thing I had just done another shower for a friend and had all of this stuff on hand. Would have been a lot more stressful otherwise. 

Halloween 2013

The only pictures I have from Halloween. I'm not a fan of Halloween and I just didn't have it in me to go all out. Plus the boys just wanted to be super heroes and Gwen just wanted to be a princess so we just opened the dress up box and called it good. We went to the ward party. I missed most of it because the bishop pulled me aside for a meeting (have I mentioned the fact that I'm Relief Society president? I was put in last April). We went trick or treating in the Fuquas neighborhood so Tyce could be somewhat a part of it. It was fun and the kids got plenty of candy so I'll call it a success!

The took the Fuqua boys one weekend while Jeff and Julie were out of town and Tyce was in the hospital. We just wanted to have fun so we took them to Chuck E Cheese on the way up to Sacred Heart. I think it was good for everyone to get a little dose of normalcy at that point. 

Worst news ever

This adorable boy, Tyce, was diagnosed with Acute Lyphmoblastic Leukemia on October 9, 2013. This news has been the most shocking and devastating news that has ever hit our family. My Facebook post that day--

Whirlwind of emotions today. Still trying to cope with the fact that my two-year- old nephew, Tyce, was diagnosed with leukemia today. I just keep thinking what an amazing boy he is!! Before he came to this world he was given this trial. He is already so strong in accepting this assignment in the Premortal Existence. He's my hero!! Love that adorable little boy!!

Gwen and Tyce are a week apart in age. They have been the cutest little buddies. It has been a perspective changer because of that reason. Having a nephew the same age as one of my kids, living close and seeing them all the time- the only thing closer would be for this to happen to one of my own kids. The next 3-4 years of his life are going to be centered around this fight. It's crazy that something like this happened to us. It's the kind of thing that you hear about, friend of a friend situation. 

It was so sudden too. One Saturday, Julie was holding Tyce on her lap during a soccer game and she noticed some weird bumps up and down his neck. I didn't think anything of it since we had just gone through it with Carson. I thought he just needed to get on some antibiotics and he would be fine. A couple of major differences though, Carson just had one massive one, he had a fever, and his bump hurt. Tyce didn't have these same symptoms. But they took him in, got him meds, and told them to come back the following Monday for blood work. And the next day his life changed forever. So crazy how fast everything changed! Makes you realize that life is short no matter what age you are!

Bumps and the first day of school

Carson came down with a little bug. When I asked him what hurt he would tell me his neck. I thought that he meant his throat and figured that it was strep since strep was going around. We were in between insurances at the time so we just needed to hold off taking him to the doctor for a few days until September 1st. September 1st was a Sunday and after we got home from stake conference we asked Carson how he was feeling, debating weather or not to take him in to urgent care. Again, he said his neck hurt so after he changed out of his church clothes he took a look at his neck and this is what we found. Ryan and I freaked out! I took him in and the doctor said that sometimes kids lymph nodes just swell like that because they're fighting some kind of infection. So they put him on antibiotics and said that if he's not feeling better in the next few days to bring him back in to check his white blood cell count. He ended up feeling better right away, luckily, and was able to make it to the first day of school. 

First week of first grade was really rough for Carson. He had a really hard time adjusting. He didn't like being a school for so long and he had a hard time understanding why he no longer had as much time to play with friends and watch tv. "Why did you sign me up for this?!" He would cry every morning and he would cry at school. His teacher talked to me about how he was having a hard time. It was hard for me too because I obviously didn't have a choice but to send himto school and this was completely out of the blue. He had no problems going to kindergarten. I just sat him down and I explained how everyone has to go to school and how me and his teacher are on his team and we're there to help him. It helped, but it still took a couple of days. But after that first week or so he was totally fine and doing great in school. It's just anything new he has a really hard time with. He doesn't like the unknown. 

Ryan's 31st

Carson lost his first tooth! August 2013, 6 yrs old

Summer 2013 fun

Bruno Mars

Jocey's original senior trip was to go down to salt lake for a Bruno Mars concert but because she made it on to the Idaho State Bengal dancers team she couldn't go. Once again, I lucked out! I was excited to go visit Utah again. It had been forever since I've eaten at Zupas. Dang, that place is awesome!!

We spent the majority of the time shopping and playing Nertz and eating. We did convince Grandma Fernie to try Zumba and that was fun. We even got to catch up with some cousins that were in from Tennessee. 

This was a fantastic girl's trip and I had a great time getting to know Emily better!

Hiawatha Trail 2013

Carson did great! He made it through all the tunnels holding a flashlight in his hand. I was really surprised and impressed, especially considering the first tunnel is over 2 miles long.