#'s 11 and 12, race for the cure a Texas visit, and two graduations

May 10th brought a new little person into our family. We are so excited to welcome little Annie into our family. She is a beautiful little girl. We didn't get to see her until she was 12 days old. This little family waited along time for her. I call her our little tender mercy baby, because she came about, the same week that we found out Des had cancer. I know that she is a blessing from up above, at that very moment in time. It has been so fun being here with them and seeing our TX family, Sharise included. :) Before we went to TX there were a few other things that took place...........................May 12th brought the Race for the Cure, we drove up the day before to prepared for this day. Sat morning we woke up early, rode the Trax in town. It was fun to be there to support Des in this cause. There was a huge crowd there. She had alot of support from family and friends running/walking in her name. The survivor walk at the end of the race was very emotional, I will just say I am glad that I had my sunglasses on because it hid the tears that were there. We are so grateful for the support, prayers and fasting in her behalf.
Because we were leaving for TX on the 22nd and Lukes B-day is the 28th we celebrated on the 20th, he wanted a Buzz lightyear cake so Brit and I decided to to Buzz cupcakes. They were kinda fun to make and did not take to long at all. Happy B-day Lukie!!
Tues the 22nd, we headed to TX, Dan, Chantelle and Haiven came with us for their family vacation. The pics below are at the airport and on the plane. She was a very good girl. You can see in the picture below that ripping up a napkin kept her pretty busy while dad caught a few ZZZZZZZ. As soon as the plane started the descent, Haiv decided she would go to sleep, after filling her diaper of coarse. The flight is 2 1/2, 3 hrs and she decides to go to sleep the last 15 min of the flight. :)
When we arrived at Danette's we had to celebrate some birthdays. Sam's was on the 12th so we let him open a present that we brought him. And that very day was Carly's so she opened presents and then we had cake and ice cream. The cake was yummy that Danette made.
AT THE LAKE

Sunday we attended church, and they decided to bless Annie while we were there. They chose to bless her in their home as they have the other two. Family was there plus a bishopric member. Love feeling the spirit where ever there is a baby blessing done. Sweet little things that just left the presence of our Heavenly Father. Then of coarse we had a wonder dinner after.

We went for a drive to the Battleship, USS Texas, on Mon. It was very interesting looking around the ship and imagining what it would have been like to live on a battleship for who knows how long. No privacy at all on these ships, unless you were very high up in the ranks.

May 17th and May 29th we had two little graduates. Raylie graduated on the 17th from her pre-school which I was home and able to go to. Carly graduated from kindergarten on the 29th and we were lucky enough to be in TX for her graduation. Carly is the one with the black top an levi skirt on the front row. I know that our little Ellie graduated from pre school as well this year but was in TX when hers took place. This is my favorite critter on the farm. This is Jack and I love to feed him carrots so I thought I would introduce Haiven to Jack and let her feed him some carrots, not sure if she was loving it like I do. She was a little timid when he approached us with those big teeth of his. And below are the new pigs added to the farm.

Some random pictures of smores night after Carly's graduation, and the kids playing.

Dan, Chantelle, Haiven, Grandpa and Grandma drove to Kemah Bay the Tues before they were to return home. The pictures below are of Haiven entertaining herself at lunch. We went to the Aquarium for lunch and it was all blue in there thus for the blue pics below, loved how they turned out all blue excpt for her pink flower.

More picture at Kemah

When we were headed to Kemah I received a phone call from Brit telling me about her Dr appt. she was dilated to a 5, the Dr told her that if she kept having contraction later today to go to the hospital. Now this little man was told by grandma (ME) that he was to wait until she got back home before he was to enter this world. After all he was not due until the 17th, so I figured getting home on the 8th would work out just fine. So we were keeping in touch all that day. Josh' mom was kinda on call to come help out if that day came before I returned. And yup that little guy did not listen to his grandma because he was born at 10:30 that night. He was 19 days early, now with that came some problems. Brit was 37 wks which is usually ok for babies to be born, the little man weighed in at 6lb 15oz and 19" long so not too small. But this little guy had not one, not two, not even three, but four things that usually come with being a preemie. Not to go into all the details but he stopped breathing as soon as the cord was cut, found out that he was born without surfactin which keeps the lungs inflated. Later finding out he has an ASD and a VSD (hole in arterial and ventricle) and a PPS which is a narrowing of some veins, which are all symptoms of a preemie. So needles to say when I received the phone call that he had been born and then heard first that he had stopped breathing, and they had whisked him away, it was heart breaking, Josh was with the baby and no one was with Brit, it was so hard. So my motherly instincts kicked in and I called Rons mom who happened to be in St. George at that time (on call as well) to see if she would go and be with Brittanyso she would not be alone.

I just think that us moms should be able to be where ever, whenever and in two places at once if need be. I need to get someone to work on that teleporter (you know the one from Star Trek) so that I can be here, there and everywhere when I need to be. :)

Had thought about flying home early but you know what the rate of a on the spot airline ticket would cost. And besides Ron was leaving the next day, Brit had her Mother in Law there and Grandma was there, I know she had help and support. So I stayed until my scheduled day, but I had updates continually and many pictures, even skyped with the little man. It was heart breaking to see the little guy struggle to breath. :(

Wed Ron, Dan, Chantelle and Haiven left for home, like I said above, I stayed another week to help out, not so sure I helped out so much, Danette was settled right in to being a mommy of three. But it was fun to be able to spend some more time with them and hold baby Annie more. It was fun being there for Sharise' 21st birthday. Can't believe my baby is 21. Oh well it happens right? I had a fun week holding Annie and playing with Carly and Sam. I decided on Thurs that I would try to do stand by on Fri to get an earlier flight home, so I called at 7 am and there were 10 seats open on the 11:30 flight piece of cake right? My flight was not due to leave until 5:30 so I thought I will get at the airport at 9am and would get my name on the stand by list and with 10 seats left I would be flying home early that day and be able to get home in time to go see Kaiden at the hospital. When checking in and paying the $75.00 to get on the stand by list, I was told that the 10 seats were gone. But I got all checked in and went through security and got to the gate in time for them to announce that the 11:30 flight had been delayed 2 hours. AUGGGGGG, but I was all calm and collected knowing I for sure would get on the flight. With a gate change and another announcement telling all the stand by people that this flight was full we all had been rolled over to the 2:06 flight. So with just about 15 min before that flight boarded, I started looking for my name on the stand by list (which I was #7 on the list to start with) I had been bumped down 2 names because of 2 people with higher priority than I. Now really who has higher priority than this grandma who needs to get home and see her new grand baby which happens to be in the NICU? So therefore I did not get on that flight either, so next option was my original flight of 5:30. Now remember I had been there since 9 am and it was now a little after 2, my phone had less than 1/2 the battery life and all I had was my car charger not my wall charger, I could not get my laptop to connect to the wifi in the airport, so I had to resort to the old fashion way of waiting at the airport and go buy two magazines, blaaaaaa. 5:00 comes and we start boarding the plane, plane is boarded, everyone is seated and we are all ready to take off. But oh no not yet, the co-pilot comes over the intercom and tells us that the pilot was not due in until 7:00 he was still in flight from Chicago, so OFF the plane we go and wait some more. So by the time I finally took off I had been in the airport for 8 1/2 hours. And then the long drive home from Vegas. All I can say is WHAT A DAY!!!!!

So this is how I got to see little Kaiden Saturday morning, he was release Fri night around 8 and was sent home with the lights because he was jaundice. Poor little man, but he is doing really good.

I am thankful for the many blessing our family has received this past year, we have had some really big growing experiences, and what would life be without the opportunity to grow and be stretched. I have tried really hard to be patient and calm, to lean on my Father in Heaven for comfort. I can say it hasn't been without many tears shed but that is my way of handling things. This momma and grandma LOVES her family!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RON!!!!!

Another birthday in this family, and it happens to be the birthday of the husband, dad and crandpa (in Raylie language) of the Fowlks clan. Happy Birthday to you Ron. I hope you have an amazing day, even though you have to go to work.
We love you and appreciate all that you do for this family, you are the spiritual giant in this family and I am so thankful for your example and your guidance in my life and the life of our children.

I found some yummy recipes on pinterest last night, I thought what better time to use them than to get up early and have breakfast ready for Ron when he woke up. I even made it up early enough to get some scripture reading in before I started breakfast. I had found a french toast recipe, with a coconut syrup (the syrup I made last night). I didn't want to get up too early :) I picked a rose from our rose bushes and placed it by his plate. It's OK for men to have flowers right? I turned on some Hawaiian Music and made a pineapple smoothie. I cut the shape of the bread into a pineapple and palm tree shape, and since they were not very big I did cook a normal slice of bread as well. It was fun to have breakfast almost ready when he got up.

A little about Ron.........

He can come up with the craziest things to say sometimes.

He is a fun Crandpa!!!!

He is a pretty patient person most of the time, I am really not sure how he has been able to handle all the estrogen in this family as well as he has, coming from a family of all boys. But he has!!
And has been very patient with me and my hormonal craziness, thank you for that!!!

He loves to EAT!!! he remembers our vacations by the food we eat or bakery, or chocolate shops we stop at.

He is a hard worker, always has been, he has been a great example in his work ethic

Your family loves you Ron and we all hope you have a great day!!!!!

Fun Weekend and The Scent of Spring

This past weekend was so much fun for this grandma!!! I left for SLC Friday morning, arrived there in time for lunch. Had a very yummy lunch at Applebee's. (thanks again Des for the great lunch) Did a few other things and that night Emma had her first of two ice shows. This grandma is as proud as a peacock, when it comes to watching her grandchildren. Emma skated with a group and then she was chosen this year to do a solo and she did an AWESOME JOB!
Saturday was full of more fun, it was Emma' 10th birthday, YES I said 10th I cannot believe it, she is just getting to big. So we did a few birthday things and readied ourselves for Abbie' music recital. It was fun watching and listening to these cuties play the piano and sing. They each composed their own piece that they played.
We ate at Quizinos for dinner, Emma' choices. Then we were off to her next ice show repeat of the night before but again she did a great job. After the show we went for ice cream for her birthday, it was very yummy, I have to say the best Carmel topping (next to mine) that I have ever tasted. They could have brought me a bowl of the Carmel and left out the ice cream.

Sunday was again very enlighten spiritually for me. Des' wonderful Bishop (her husband) taught the lesson in RS being it was the 5th Sunday. He gave a great lesson on the duties and responsibilities of us sisters in the kingdom. The Ogden fam went to his parents to celebrate Marks birthday and I went and cooked, and ate dinner with my mom. It was fun visiting her. Monday left for home,but I stopped to say good bye to mom and my brother that has just moved back from Boston was there and I got to chat with the both of them for a bit. Was a great weekend!!!!

When I got home, I watered some outdoor flowers that looked a little thirsty, and I could smell this wonderful smell in the air. As I walked around to the back yard I could see where the smell was coming from. Our Texas umbrella trees are all in bloom, they smell so good when they are out in bloom. I wish you could smell through these pictures, it is amazing.

I am home for a couple weeks then heading back up to SLC for the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure. Pictures of that to come.

Then the end of the month we are off to Texas to see our # 11 grandchild and 7th granddaughter. So excited to see this new little one.

Good books to read

Got the pictures off Amazon so ignore the "click to look inside" wont work on my blog. But I just thought I would share some great books that I have recently read. This book is in a story form which I learn so much more than factual books. Not sure why but that is how my brain works. It is an amazing book about the Atonement. A little snippet of what the inside cover says

"What does the atonement mean, practically speaking? How is Christ the answer to a strained relationship with a spouse, child, parent or sibling? What if I am being mistreated how can the atonement help me cope with that? How can I discover the desie to repent when I don't feel the need to repent? And how can I invite others to do the same? These are the challenging, difficult questions of daily life, questions to which the gospel must provide answers if it is to have living, cleansing, redeeming power."

It made me take a good look at myself and the power I have within myself to forgive. I know that we all get different things out of books we read, for me that is one thing that I pulled from this book.

Another great book, same Author as "The Peacegiver" James L. Ferrell. This book made me really think about some things in my life. Here is a little from the Preface page.

"I believe that many today carry a secret: we do not love what we have been commanded to love; we do not love what is holy. While we might reverence things that are deemed holy--the temple, for example, and the scriptures, and the Sabbath--we do not love them. Not really. Not with our whole souls. I want to be careful not to be misunderstood. While I know that I, at times, have carried this secret, I do not presume the same about any other particular person. But our actions as a people--both as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as a part of the larger Christian population--suggest that as a body of believers we do not love what is holy. Our temples, for example, are not as busy as they would be if we loved being there; the pages of our sciptures are not as worn as they would be if we feasted upon their words; our stores are not as empty or out chapels as filled as they would be if we truly loved the Lord's holy day. While many among us surely cherish and love holiness, our lives suggest that many more of us do not. At least, not all of the time."

Loved this book, it made me really think about my commitment of these things, and made me want to work harder at perfecting the things I love.

This is the last book that I just finished. Can I just say that I have absolutly nothing in my life to complain about. Oh I think I do and I do complain alot. Reading this book just confirmed to me that I really don't. I am sure I should read it about once a month, because that is how often I will need to be reminded of that. I am sure you have all heard of the "nieniedialogues.com" if not here's a short run down. She and her husband survived a plan crash, she was burned over 80 % of her body. A mother of two girls and two boys. It is her story, she just recently had her 5th child, a little girl. They are using her stretched skin from her pregnancy to do more skin graffs. Just an amazing story of her survivial and her faith in God to help her through.

I have never been much of a reader, but I have to say that as I have gotten older, I have enjoyed reading more and more. Still at that, like I said in the begining of this post, I love story form books, that teach great principles, I learn so much more. It has been a challenge for me to read the Book of Mormon in the past, but the last few years I have been picking out the stories that are contained with in this great book and have been able to understand it so much more. I have been able to learn so much more from it .

HAPPY READING!!!!

What's been happening

March went by really fast, not sure where it went. I drove up to SLC on the 17th of March, to stay with the kids while Mark and Desirae fly to Phoenix on a business/retreat conference. As usual I text her to let her know I was leaving. Usually I would get a text back from her but I didn't this time. I just passed it of that she was busy packing. When I hit about Orem I received a call from her, telling me she was in the ER. You can go here for her story of the day. When I got to Murray I picked up the kids from their grandma Ogden. It was a long day for Des. I really didn't know what she was going through until I read her blog page when she was gone. I just figured she was in packing and getting ready to go. I shed some tears, I wished I could have comforted her, when I was right there just a room away from her. But as she has been through this whole cancer journey she has keep things to herself. (I know Mark has been there to comfort her.) But you know how that mothering thing is. I had a great time with the kids for the few days I stayed with them.



I left on Thurs to head home and I picked mom up to bring her back with me for a couple of weeks. It was fun having a riding companion, I have driven up and back by myself lately so it was good to have her ride home.

I have been wanting to see my brother in Cali for awhile, we haven't seen him since my dads funeral 2 1/2 years ago. We were here in St. George for about a week, on the 29th we headed to Cali, for a couple of days. It was good to see Kim and Tina, we had a great time visiting with them.

You can see the sign up above, we usually find a bakery or chocolate shop where ever we go. That is Ron's favorite thing to do is eat when we are on vacation. On our way home we went the way of Palm Springs. I have always wanted to go to Palm Springs, so we drove through Palm Springs, it was gorgeous. Some day I would like to walk the streets of Palm Springs, cute little shops there. We came home Monday morning it was a nice drive, I really don't mind road trips at all. I love seeing Gods creations in different areas.

We headed back up to SLC on Friday, with Mom, Brit and kids so we could attend Abbie's baptism on Saturday.

This was a great weekend, with Abbie's baptism, and it being Easter we had fun spending it with family.

The kids had fun finding and coloring eggs. Then we ended this wonderful weekend by attending church on Easter and listening to Desirae talk in Sacrament meeting. How could she tell her Bishop no, she has to face him everyday. :)

Easter is a time that we can reflect upon our Savior and His Resurrection.

The month of Febuary (better late than never I guess)

More typing than pictures this time. I will send you to a link here that has the best picture of the most wonderful pink party ever! Celebrating Des' last day of chemo. We had our family there (except our Texas fam)Waiting for that last round of chemo to stream through Des' body and then it was time for the BELL RINGING. When a patient finishes chemo they get to ring a bell on the way out. There was video taken and pictures, but I have to tell you, I was in the prime place to get an awesome picture of her ringing the bell and I had the camara all in postision and ready to shoot and instead of hitting the button to snap the shot, I hit the off button. So hence I did not get the prime picture :( And let me tell you ring it she did, she pulled it right of the wall and down on to little Abbies hands, but all was good, She just hung it right back up onto the bracket that it came out of and Abbies hands survived. (you can see that in the video on that link.)
I stayed with Des' family for a week then headed home.

We had birthdays (previous posts) and of coarse Valentines Day, Ron and I went to dinner for Valentines day and had chocolates and chocolate covered strawberries and a carmel apple to last us for a few days.
Then on the 28th I headed back up to SLC to help her get a few things done before her surgery on the 29th.
The morning of her surgery (she needed to be in there by 6 am) I had planned on staying home with Ellie so she could just chill at home.(because that is Ellies favorite thing to do) But by 10 o'clock I was going crazy not being at the hospital. A relative offered to have Ellie come play if needed. So I showed up on her doorstep because I did not have her number. Thank you Tara for helping out. I then went to the hospital, now really what could I do at the hospital, abbsolutly nothing, but did I feel better being there? YES I DID!! We were told that it would be a 6 hr surgery, I think it was a little after noon time when the surgeon came out and told us (Mark and I) that all went well with the surgery. He said that the plastic surgeon was taking over and that she.... he hesitated for a while and then said "how do I say this....ah she is kind of a perfectionest" Now in my mind that is not a bad thing when they are working on my daughter. I was really happy to hear that. He said it like it was a bad thing.
It was, I think around 4 or 4:30 pm by the time they got her in her room, we were actually up there already waiting for her. When they rolled her into the room, my heart broke knowing what she had just been through. Looking at her she said she felt like she had been hit by a bus, which I am sure it felt like it. I stayed for a bit and kissed her on her cute fuzzy head and then I left to go get the kids so they could come see their mom.
It was a windy day all day and of course it blew in a snow storm. So as I was driving home it started to snow. I got home and there was pizza waiting to be and can I say pizza, Marks boss brought FIVE yes 5 boxes of pizza bread sticks and cinnemon sticks. We had plenty to eat. I recieved a text from Mark saying I shouldn't bring the kids up and just after that text I got a call from Des saying it was really snowing so not to bring the kids up. Little did I know that Mark had left for a minute and Des did not know that Mark had text me and Mark did not know Des called me. Spirit speaking to the parents of 4 anxious kids wanting very badly to see their mommy. But we did the next best thing, we skyped with Des. When we connected Ellie was on my lap and Josh was there, Emma walked around so she could see her mom and the tears started streaming down her face (she is our little tender heart). She had a hard time seeing her mommy with the oxygen tube in her nose and then you know skype, it really does not make us look our best. But Des took the tube out and she seemed to be alittle better. Abbie too was having a hard time.

This cancer journey was not in MY "mommy plans" at all, as we know sometimes we get things we don't sign up for. I know with the help of our Savior we can handle things that we don't think that we can. The Lord knows us and He know how to shape and mold us to become the person we are ment to be. We just need to let Him do it.
The many many prayers offered in the behalf of Des and our whole family are much felt and appreciated.

A short note about the first of March I already posted our birthday in March but on Des' birthday we had a birthday party for Abbie she turn 8 two days after, so that meant that is was birthday party year. Des having just been out of surgery two days, she recruted help from family and friends to throw this party for Abbie she had 8 little friends over and we did pedi's for them as they watched "Princess Diaries" picture here. This was one tired grandma when that party was over. But Abbie had a good time and that is what matters. The rest of March will come when it happens. ;0

Happy Birthday Desirae

What a deal having your birthday 2 days after your surgery. But we are are so happy that all went well with the surgery, now for the recovery time.

A little about Desirae, she is our first born, I had a dream about her when I was pregnant with her and dreamt she was going to be a cute little dark headed baby (this was before ultrasounds) and when I first held her in my arms it was like I had already seen her because of my dream. She was a good baby. When she was around 3 we gave her a little fisher price cassette player for her birthday, with some music tapes. She carried that thing around with her where ever we would go. It was on in the car, at home or anytime we would allow it to be on. At home she would line her dolls, and stuff animals up on the couch and she would preform for them. When Brit was born she would had her to the mix. I am sure that is where her singing began and it just kept getting better and better. When she was 4 I started her in piano lessons it was called the Yamaha method, a parent would go with and there would be 10 to 12 students at one time. it was a great way to learn when being so young. She continued to get better with her piano as well. For the most part Des was very easy going, but I soon learned that I couldn't say much to her in the mornings before school, SHE was not a morning person. She always took charge her being the oldest, that was her duty and she still does a wonderful job of gather us together to have fun, that is when we are together. She always called herself the trial child, I think we did a pretty dang good job with that trial child right? A little story about her; I walked in the living room and the music guard to the piano had been unscrewed and was on the piano bench. I looked at Desirae and asked that very dumb question "Who did this?" Well you know what her answer was "Brittany did it." Ok I know I am not the smartest person but Brittany was 6 mo. old at the time. So that was not at all possiable, but she would not back down she insisted that Brit had done it.

She now is the mother of 4 beautiful children, is a very crafty person, LOVES having some project going at all times. She is a wonderful daughter, wife and mother. She has had a pretty ruff 6 months and a few more to go. But I know that with the Lords help she has come through this challenge hands down. She has put up a good fight.

We LOVE you and wish you as Happy of a Birthday that you can possiable have. :)