LONG Update!

For some reason all of the pictures were placed totally out of order! Oh well, I'm too tired to fix them right now! There are a ton! Hope you enjoy them! 

Matt is working hard at Purgatory (yes that really is the name of the Jail here!) They just got out of their hiring/raise freeze!! Finally! He is busy planning a big scout camp for this summer (the whole family gets to go Yay!) he is the program director so he's pretty busy with that. He is super happy because we got an iPad! He's in heaven! He is an awesome daddy and loves his girls! He is still getting used to girls and their silly (different than boy) behaviors! Matt has lost 35 pounds! Woohoo!! 

I am just busy being Mom. I try to get the girls and I out of the house as much as possible. I hate being at home!! I LOVE love love my home but I just like being out and doing things! I am having fun learning how to do family History work! My Grandma tried teaching me several times how to do it before she died and I never caught on. About a week after she died My Mom, Lauren and I tried it out and man, she helped us more than I ever dreamed of! She guided us, on the other side, and taught us exactly what to do! I've always really felt like I needed to do some sort of work on my Biological Fathers Side but never knew how since I know nothing about him...just a name. Well... she helped me find them! I now have a lot of information that I've always wanted and needed to start working on getting those "ancestors" work done! 

Cate is getting so big and I can't believe that she is almost 4 and will be going to preschool this year! Cate is very smart. She has lots and lots of books memorized (she memorizes very easily now I need to learn how to teach her to learn how to figure things out rather than just memorize things. I would appreciate and advice!) she also knows most of the words to all of the songs they sing in primary (she's only been in primary since the beginning of January) she can also hear the music of a song and just start singing right with it. I cant do that so I think its awesome! She has a pretty good voice too! She is also very artistic she loves, painting, coloring, cutting, glueing, creating and building things. She is an awesome big sister. She likes to share and teach Lainey. She decided she wants to stop sucking her thumb and so she is working very hard on that right now. Its so cute when I see her start to put her thumb in her mouth and then quickly jerk it away because she remembers she doesn't want to suck her thumb anymore! She still is obsessed with lip gloss! 

Lainey just turned 2! My baby is 2 I can not believe it! She still seems like my little baby. She is sweet and funny and sensitive. She hates when anyone is sad, mad or hurt. It REALY gets to her emotionally if someone is sad. If someone is sad then she tries to comfort them right away, usually by rubbing their face and saying "I sorry, I sorry, its ok, I sorry" in a sweet slow voice. She has a deep raspy voice that I can not get enough of. Its the cutest thing! Lainey loves to make people laugh. She likes to make silly faces and do silly tricks! She is ALWAYS doing what cate is doing. She watches every move Cate makes and does the same thing. I think its pretty sweet! She even eats lotion like Cate did! Yuck! Lainey is really smart too. She has a couple books memorized and knows several songs. She talks up a storm. She says full sentences usually 5 words but sometimes a lot more than that! Her Doctor asked how many words Lainey knows and she knows every word and uses about 150 everyday! She weighs 20.5 lbs and is 33 inches tall. She loves nursery and loves her teachers. We have 1:00 church this year which is normally when she is napping so she takes a nap in nursery sometimes! Haha She loves to paint (make a mess!!!) and color and use the glue sticks and glue everything together. 

Blessed!

I truly stand all amazed! Our Heavenly Father is so loving and gracious! 

My Sweet Gramma is a hard working (addiction recover therapist), strong, intelligent, artistic, compassionate, independent, young (67 yrs) woman! The beginning of this year she started dealing with really bad vertigo and nausea and a little memory loss. One of her biggest fears is Alzheimer's Disease. She lives in Canada (Grr Don't get me started on their medical system!!) and went to the doctor, they told her that she had a bladder infection, gave her some meds and left it at that. As a few months went on her memory was getting worse. She would forget silly little things but knew and could understand that she was forgetting those things so it was very frustrating for her!! It was getting bad enough that she wanted to be seen again to figure out what was going on. At this appt they told her she had been having strokes  and SENT HER HOME (I was so mad about that!! She needed to be monitored1) they did take her drivers license away and she couldn't work anymore. This was soo sad for her! Like I said she is a hard working independent woman. Work was a huge part of her life. She loved her clients and did so much for them. A month later she was getting worse and got shivers really bad often and randomly and at this point the words she used were starting to not make sense. She went to the ER and they kept her for about a week and said that she had meningitis. And Sent Her Home! A week or so later she was rushed by ambulance to the ER again because she kept falling a sleep and couldn't even recognize her husband. She was completely out of it! This time by looking at a CT scan the "stroke" was actually a tumor. A very aggressive fast growing Tumor most likely to be a Glioma (that is just the shortened name..Don't know how to spell the real name!). A terminal Cancer. The doctors in Canada told her husband and my uncle that they could choose to have a biopsy done if we wanted to....but.... she only had 2 months to live. We were shocked, scared, sad, upset, torn. Torn because during this process since the beginning of the year my Gramma received 2 priesthood blessings that were not in harmony with this diagnosis. My faith struggled. At times I felt let down and lied to and I felt like the faith I've had in blessings was a little naive. BUT I felt deep inside that this wasn't right, Heavenly Father has sent us many medical miracles that can prolong the life of many! Her husband, my mom and uncle and her sister felt the same. They immediately started calling hospitals in Utah. Hunstman Cancer Institute read over all of her reports and gave us much better news! Not great news..but better news. They told us that the CT Scan did look like a Glioma but that there was NO way to diagnose that just by looking at the CT scan. (The neurosurgeon said he thought it was 50/50 tumor/something else) They also told us that they could do surgery (the 19th) and remove as much as they can IF it is a tumor and go from there with what the next steps are. If it is a Glioma she can have another 1, 2, 3, 4 5, maybe even more years with us!

I KNOW that Heavenly Fathers hands are in this and that he has prepared each and every step of this path perfectly. Even if it doesn't go the way we want it to go and even though It is hard and scary and sad He is in control and my Gramma is teaching us so many things by this hard experience in her life. God is good and gracious! My Gramma is at peace and happy. She has the desire and strength to live on and teach and help many more and I think its possible. 

Hopefully on this earth with us. 

 I am so thankful for her and her example to me and my family. 

Random!

Here are a few random facts about our girls! 

Cate loves to be silly! And she loves her daddy! I shot this pic because she started laughing and said mom look! I'm daddy!

They LOVE playing outside! Right now our backyard is not landscaped so its just dirt so I don't let them play back there often but they dream about it every day!

Cate still sucks her thumb! I go back and forth when I think about making her stop. Her Doctor said its fine and that she should grow out of it very soon. I'm hoping thats true! She sucks her thumb when she is shy, scared, sad or going to sleep. 

Lainey has to say family prayer every night. Its THE cutest thing every listening to her raspy little voice talk to her Heavenly Father! 

She is finally getting hair!!

Cate LOVES to color and paint. She is very creative and artistic! She colors so well! Always inside the lines and uses lots of color! 

Another Silly photo! She loves to make us laugh! 

Lainey is Soooo sweet but also sooooo stubborn. 

Cate loves Ballet but has a hard time staying concentrated in class! Miss Sammy has a hard time keeping her interested! 

This shows how sweet our Lainey is! Cate was watching a sad part in a movie and Lainey walked up to her and said in a very sweet voice "its ok sissy"

These two are best buds!! Cate loves her Jack! I can't wait to watch their friendship grow and grow as they get older! 

Cate and Libby love to explore!

                                                     

And here are a couple pictures from the pumpkin patch! 

 Lainey asks to use the potty lots! She never goes on it but she likes to try! Tonight she did though! She was sooo proud of herself! 

My favorite picture of Lainey! Isn't she the sweetest!? I love her smile! 

And My Favorite Picture of my happy girl Cate! She is so fun and loving!