Last week Ammon's aide (angel, really) BreeAnne notified me that Ammon had a seizure at school. I was a wreck the rest of the day because she said it was one of the worst ones she had seen him have. From time to time over the last 6 months Ammon has been having little moments of "checking out." His eyes roll back in his head and he spaces out for a few seconds. This time she said his hands shook as well. He has had them as well at home and it is never fun.


The week prior to this happening, we had gone to a neurologist. ( We weren't able to see his neurologist,Dr. Kerr; she is on medical leave until March.)Dr. Nelson scheduled an EEG for us, which is a way to monitor the electrical activity in the brain to see if there's been any seizure activity. On Sunday night, we had to keep him awake until midnight (three hours past his bedtime) and wake him up two hours earlier than his normal time, the goal being that he would fall asleep during the EEG. Wondering if he would actually stay still for the test, I was nervous about it.

On Monday morningwe went to Utah Valley hospital for the test. Zachary came with us to help me entertain Ammon. Zac is always the perfect side kick in these situations. When Sam had pnemonia a few years ago and was in the hospital, Zach was the one that wanted to come and help. He ended up staying with us in his hospital room all week with Sam and slept on the couch. He has a gift for cheering people up.


 After we arrived a nurse showed us into a room with a bed! Ammon's FAVORITE thing to do is to strip down to his pullup and climb under covers. He was giddy and climbed right up on the bed. The nurse began marking up his head with a red pencil and measuring with what looked to me an instrument from an ancient tomb.  Then she stuck 24 leads to different parts of his head and one on each shoulder. She turned off the lights and we all crossed our fingers hoping he would doze off to dreamland. He lay there so still but never fell asleep. Oh well,I was amazed at how well he did. Way to go Ammon! After 40 minutes of lying in the dark she came in and turned on a strobe light. I wasn't sure how he would react to the light. He layed there transfixed on it (bottom picture).

Let's hope they were able to get a good reading for the test.

Family Theme for 2014

Our family theme this year was difficult to come up with. Usually Andy and I have something in mind we would like to focus on as a family. Last year our theme was-- Quick to Observe. Elder David Bednar gave a fabulous talk to the students at BYU about seeking after the spiritual gift of discernment and being quick to observe.We learned powerful lessons and insights from this talk. We read it to our children and made it our theme for the year. Throughout the year we talked about being quick to observe the hand of the Lord in our lives, being quick to observe others in need, finding the good and spiritual discernment. January came and we were ready for a new year and new theme! We discussed possible topics several times in family home evening and the children had some great suggestions, but nothing felt like a great fit for the upcoming year. 

Last year was a SURVIVAL year, a white knuckle year. Don't get me wrong, we wouldn't change a thing. I feel like most of what we did this past year was rock , change , feed ,snuggle and OBSERVE the babies grow. The best part of it all was watching my older children love them. They have made life much better, but frankly its quite a miracle we came out as well as we did. Just trying to get dinner on the table at a decent hour and home work done or even leaving the house was a major triumph!This year we are trying to pull things back in order-things like manners,sleep, stronger gospel teaching, more sleep and a renewed commitment to follow the Savior and His example. So, we needed something Outlandishly Incredible for our theme:)

A few weeks ago I was trying to find something for Landon to memorize during home school. 
I came across a quote by President Hinckley that literally jumped off the page and exclaimed "This is it! This is our theme!" It's lengthy but worth memorizing and definitely states so many of the things our children and Andy and I wanted to focus on.


The time has come for us to stand a little taller. This is a season to be strong. It is a time to move forward without hesitation. It is a time to do what is right regardless of the consequences that may follow. It is a time to be found keeping the commandments. It is a season to reach out with kindness and love to those in distress and to those who are wandering in darkness and pain. It is a time to be considerate and good, decent and courteous toward one another in all our relationships.In other words, to become CHRIST LIKE.

                                                                                                                   -Gordon B. Hinckley

Hard To Box Up

Christmas already seems so long ago. This year I felt a sadness about its leaving. I usually have the tree and decorations down by New Year's day. I took my time taking them down and boxing them up especially the new beautiful nativity we were given by David and Diane. Why shouldn't the nativity just be a part of our decorations year round? It feels right to leave it up and be reminded of one of the greatest events to ever take place in the history of the world. Last night I looked up on a shelf in our living room and noticed a statue of Mary and Joseph holding the baby Jesus.  I forgot to take it down. I think I'll leave it there. I'll wait for one of the children to notice it and ask me why it is still there.

Our Little Sis

 This little girlie of ours. Miss Ellie Rae. She was given the right name. RAE after my Grammie, Ray Norene Sheley. Also because she is just that, a RAY of sunshine. When she falls asleep at night I think to myself-don't do it! don't wake up bigger tomorrow! Or like she says "Tom ah yo."

She had been having a hard time when Andy left for work each morning.She couldn't figure out why he can't just stay at home and be with us all day. I explained to her that he needed to earn money so we can buy food and clothes and pay for our house. Her face expressed understanding. He and Ellie now have a "leave the house routine" which goes something like this..Ellie calls out as he's preparing to leave, "Hug and a Kiss!!" and then asks "What time are you going to be back? Like the numbers on the clock? What number?" He then tells her what time says I love you and good bye and walks out the door. She then opens the door and while he is walking to his car will yell "BE GOOD!" closes the door, opens it again "BUY LOTS OF MONEY!!" All the while Simon and Luke scramble to the window to wave to him as he drives away.

I love her sense of humor and how silly she gets (mostly) and of course her giggle.
I love how deeply compationate she is. She cries with others and its so sweet.
This sounds kind of mean, its not meant to be of course, but the little girlie is so clumsy (just like her mother) and I love her so much for it.
She is confident and adventurous!
I love that she loves Jesus and speaks of Him often. She is an example to me and teaches me.
Watching her dance and sing is a party!
She so so loves her family. 
She has an incredible imagination. I love to listen outside her bedroom door when she is playing dolls. It's pure magic.
She has an exuberance for life that is contagious.

Love this little Sis of ours.
 

#1 on the Bucket list this summer--- Julie and I are trying to get our children to each temple in Utah. Friday Brad, Zach and Brian were able to go to the Draper Temple.

                                            For Narnia! Scratch that-For The Gospel!!!

Samuel's Baptism

                                       This boy of ours is truly someone very special.

                           We tried to get a group shot but I had the wrong lens on the camera for that!

The baptism program was wonderful. Brother Sanders, Sam's primary teacher gave the talk on Baptism, Brian gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. Natalie played a beautiful piano piece, Zachary played the piano for the closing song and Grandpa and Landon gave prayers. My Dad calls these days "Pay Days". It's true.  It is hard to take it all in.