Breanna's 9th Birthday!

I just can't believe how fast all these kids are growing up! Megan is now 3 months old, rolling over from front to back, and smiling responsively (when she isn't sleeping, eating, or crying). She weighed in at 10 lbs. 13 oz. and 23.5 inches. She's growing!

Breanna turned 9 two days after Megan's blessing. Breanna wasn't too excited to start the AIMS test on her birthday, but she had a good attitude about it. We all went to eat lunch with her and bring cupcakes, but most of her classmates were more excited to see Megan than the cupcakes. Breanna loved to show off her little sister.

After school, Breanna got to go to Makutu's Island (which is basically a huge indoor jungle gym) with cousins Emily and Kacy and one friend, Desiree, and of course her brother and sisters. Special thanks to Uncle Gary for helping drive and herd the kids. They all had a blast going down the slides and running around like monkeys.

Then we went to a park for pizza, cake, and presents. Fun times!!

We love you Breanna!

Megan's Blessing

We were planning to bless Megan on March 6th, but because of so much illness going on, we postponed it until April 10th. Thankfully, everyone was healthy.

I had started making her dress about a week before that March date, but when the sickness hit, the dress went on the backburner. I pulled it out again on Monday, April 4th. After getting one sleeve finished and the bodice mostly done, I decided to scrap it and start all over because the cheap material I bought was literally falling apart at the seams. So Tuesday I got new material and finished the dress by Friday night. (A whole day early! Whoa!) I am pleased with the way it turned out, just don't look too closely at my mistakes.

Because Megan is a crier, we tried our best to get her to be happy or asleep in time for the blessing. I fed her just as the meeting was starting, because she is most happy after eating (heck, who isn't??). Our plan was working until the bishop announced the order of the three baby blessings, and of course, Megan was last. She did great during the first two blessings, but when it was her turn, she cried through the entire thing. Richard was so flustered trying to calm her down and give the blessing, but he did a good job nonetheless. We were so happy to have so many family members come and support us.

Afterwards, everyone came over to our house for yummy food. We are so happy to have Megan Camille in our family!

Fathers and Sons

Last weekend was the Fathers and Sons campout. Jonny was so excited to go this year. His cousins Brandon and Jacob also went with Richard, and Uncle Gary came too. The most memorable part of the campout was waking to SNOW! It continued to snow most of the morning, and Jonny was so cold! Here's a few pictures:

Poor guys! Look how red Jonny's hands are!

Poor peach blossoms! But it looks pretty. :) Good times!

Ethan Ellsworth and miracles

Ethan is a seven year old boy in our ward, the son of our friends Kim and Marcus. He passed away March 26th, after suffering an aneurysm caused by an AVM (arterio venous malformation) on March 21st. He went through a couple of surgeries and spent 5 days in ICU while many hundreds (if not thousands) of friends and family fasted and prayed for a miracle. However, the Lord's will was for Ethan to return to his Heavenly Home.

This experience affected me greatly, though I didn't know Ethan very well. My heart is broken for Kim and Marcus, and their two other children, Parker and Madilyn. But my faith was strengthened as I was reminded of the many miracles that the Savior works for all of us. Richard, Rebecca, and I fasted for two consecutive days--that's a miracle to me right there! During that time, I realized (yet again) that nothing is impossible for the Savior of the world. Sometimes my eternal perspective gets cloudy and I start to think that something is not possible. But I know that Jesus Christ has power to work miracles. I have witnessed many miracles, both small and great, in my own life. And although Ethan's life was not spared, I know that many other lives were healed, both physically (as Ethan was an organ donor) and spiritually.

Ethan's spirit lives on and will one day be resurrected

and live with his family again.

I had the privilege of leading the congregational hymns for Ethan's funeral. I had a hard time controlling my emotions as I stood in front of so many loved ones (estimated 1,000 in attendance) and tried to sing "I am a child of God" and "Families can be together forever." Sometimes it was all I could do to keep my arm moving, much less sing, because I just was overcome with emotions. But I know that the messages of those songs are true, that "families can be together forever, through Heavenly Father's plan."

I know that Jesus Christ works miracles and heals lives. Even for me.

Spring Break

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Just a little late.)

I have to play catch-up a bit here. Our spring break was March 14-18. Just when I thought we were all healthy...Richard and I came down with strep throat. No fun! So we didn't get out and about too much like we wanted, but we tried to make the best of things.

Later in the week, I took the older kids to the mall where they rode the carousel, ate dinner, and of course had to look at the cute dogs in the pet store. Unfortunately for them, those doggies in the window are just too much.

On the last Saturday of break, we took the whole family for a little hike up "Carla's mountain." Man, am I out of shape!! But it was good to get out and enjoy nature before it gets way too hot.

Sick

For the past 3+ weeks, we have had too much sickness going on in our family. In my last post I mentioned how 3 of us had strep. We were lucky that no one else in the family got strep. However, we got other stuff. Before we even finished the antibiotics that Jonny, Becca and I were on, all three of us started getting head colds. Then Becca got a stomach bug. Breanna and Katie were mildly sick with fevers and runny noses somewhere in there. Jonny woke up one night with a fever of 104 and on medication we could get it down to 102. Megan had started with a runny nose and was starting to get a cough. So on March 2nd, I took Jonny and Megan in to the doctor. Jonny seemed to not have gotten rid of strep, which was also causing a rash, plus he had ear infections in both ears as well as the upper respiratory infection. He was put on a stronger antibiotic. Megan tested positively for RSV, which in older children and adults equates to a basic cold. But in infants it can be life-threatening because they are so little and their condition can change rapidly. Thankfully, Megan didn't have a bad case of it, and we were able to give her occasional breathing treatments of albuterol. But there were several nights where we were worried that we would have to take her in to the hospital. It isn't fair for a little baby to be sick. :( A few days later, Jonny's ear infection was not better, so he had to have antibiotic ear drops as well.

Today, we are mostly better. (I think I have a sinus infection, but compared to everything else, this is cake.) Richard is at church with all the older kids. (I hope he survives.) I stayed home with Megan, who could use more time to recover and not be exposed to more germs. I hope one week soon we will all be able to go to church together. We were planning to bless Megan last week, but we were too sick. So the plan is now to bless her on April 10th. (More time for me to get the dress done.) :)

Despite all the sickness, I feel truly blessed. Compared to others trials, this isn't bad at all. Megan is now 9 weeks old, and though she still cries a lot, has begun smiling more, and those smiles help me forget all about the crying. They are hard to capture on the camera, but here's some from today.

The older girls have spring break this week and I am excited to be able to get out of the house and make some fun family memories.

Here's to a healthy spring! :)

6 weeks old

Whew! The last two weeks have been crazy. All three older girls had Valentines to prepare and other projects due this last week. Fun stuff, but we were busy every night.

Valentine's Day was fairly simple this year. We had a candlelight family dinner.

We love our newest sweetheart.

Rebecca dressed up as Annie Oakley for the 5th grade wax museum.

Breanna made a board game for her class project on the Civil War.

Katie had to have a homemade car for her class. It turned out great, thanks to an awesome dad, but we didn't get a picture of it.

A few weeks ago, we took Megan to get some pictures done. We got them a couple of days ago. They turned out great. We just want to eat her up!

Isn't she a doll?

We have had lots of sickness the past week. Jonny started the day after Valentine's with a stomach bug. He was one sick little boy. Then a couple of days later he was still running a fever and seemed to have a sore throat. Sure enough...he had strep throat. Then I got it, and today Rebecca has it. Who is next?? We just hope Megan stays healthy through it all.