Merry Christmas!!!

Baby Will eating breakfast! We make crepes every Christmas morning the kids love them!

Grandma Pat & Pa Pa Steve spoiled the kids, they got baby Will& Mary some darling toy's, they always know just what to get!! Thank you, We love and miss all of Matts family!!

Mary loves her animals!! That was her favorite thing and all she wanted to play with!

Will was more interested in the wrapping paper and ribbon!

Christmas Cookies

While Mary was decorating cookies, Will was enjoying a piece of jerky. (his new favorite treat)

Mary decorating cookies in her new baking hat and apron, so cute!! She is quite the decorator!!

She loves getting cookies ready for Santa, it is one of her favorite things about Christmas!

Will & the Christmas Tree

The ribbon on my Christmas tree kept getting pulled down. I kept putting back up a little higher. I thought it was Mary pulling on it, I didn't think Will could reach it now. But he is pretty smart, he pulls it down with his feet until he can get his hands on it. So FUNNY!

Thanksgiving Fun!!

We had a great thanksgiving at my moms house! All of my sisters and brother was there it was so fun to watch all the kids play! The food was so yummy!! My mom made an awesome turkey!!! Thanks mom!! Even Will was enjoying all the yummy food!

After dinner my dad took all the kids out for a 4-wheeler ride.........

only the weren't riding on the 4-wheeler they were being dragged behind it on a tarp. The kids loved it. They had a blast! Only my dad would think of that

Will's a rollin'

Will has been rolling for a while but he has never really gotten in to anything. But now he is pulling on the Christmas tree, hiding under the couch and table, and his favorite thing to pull on, Mary's hair! I think I am going to have my hands full, it is amazing how fast he has grown!! WOW

Grammy Pat & Pa Pa Steves visit!!!

We love when Grammy Pat and Pa Pa Steve come into town, they live in Oregon so we really miss them. They took Mary to Cabelas and the Harley Davidson shop, and to the movies they really had a great time. The kids just love them. THANKS for the fun visit, we love and miss you!

Mary showing off her trampoline skills!!

Will's Birthday!!

Will and Mary are best buddy's, she is so sweet to her little brother.

Will and "Tobby" (my dad) He loves grandpa!

Will loved his birthday cake, that was the first time he has ever tried cake and he loved it!

Will's 1st Birthday!!!

Will was born on November 3, 2007. He was 2 whole months early and only weighed 3 lbs. 6 oz. On that same day we found out the he was diagnosed with trysome 21 (Down Syndrome). He spent 7 weeks in the NICU at Utah Valley Regional. It was all so over whelming. We had so so so many neat experiences and have been so blessed everyday. I am so very thankful for William and the sweet spirit he has brought into our life's. He has been the best baby, always happy and content. He has truly changed our life's, I am so grateful for the opportunity to raise such an amazing child. We love you WILL!!! More birthday photo's to come.

Here is a poem I found that I could relate to at the time of Will's birth.

Welcome to Holland
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this……
When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”
“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”
But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things … about Holland.
Emily Perl Kingsley.c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved