Joseph Smith the Prophet

OK, for all of you who have been waiting for and have marked your calendars for the upcoming production of "Joseph Smith the Prophet" — it is this weekend!!

I will be performing my solo at the Saturday 3pm matinee and the 7pm Saturday evening performances. Please come. If you have to bring kids it is best to come to the 3pm matinee. It is at my stake center. If you don't know where that is, call me. This will be great to come see, bring everyone you know! Even if you can't come see my solo you will still love the Friday 7pm show. But, if you want to come here ME, come to the Saturday shows. (smile)

Accompaniment, Hershey, State and What he said!

This past Sunday I was asked to sing in Sacrament meeting. I roped 13 and 17 into doing the song with me. 13 accompanied me and 17 sang with me. Oh my word, can I just say I am the proudest mom on the planet. I mean, 13 accompanied me in sacrament meeting! Get out! He did so well. He really is talented on that piano! And 17's voice and mine blended so well together! It was one of those moments that will be forever logged in my memory.

Come on, we all remember Hershey Track in elementary school don't we?? Oh, it was my highlight of elementary school. I couldn't wait to dominate the 50 meter and the long jump!!!! (smile) Well, now that I am thirty-two my highlight is now watching 9 at his first ever Hershey Track Meet! I was so proud of him. His class was able to participate with all the mainstream school kids from six or so other schools in the area. He had such a good time! He ran the 50 meter, did the long jump and the softball throw. I think he was quite disappointed though, because he was looking forward to running the 200 meter—so when the track was open I let him run it by himself. He was in heaven. I cried. Ya, I really did! I know, I'm pregnant, but, I still would have cried. There is just something about seeing your child with disabilities do things with the "regular" kids. I am so proud!!!!! Good job 9!

lined up to get ready to race he was in lane 5 heat 22

his nervous race stance

watching his classmates

long jump (hop, really—bless his heart)

softball throw

his solo 200 meter—he didn't even break a sweat!

3's preschool class always has the cutest themes and this week it is the circus. They have been having a circus day in their classroom yesterday and today. I dressed her up to be a trick horse rider and we put "feathers" in her horse's mane to match. I got to peek in on her today during their circus and it was such a treat! She was so cute when she jumped through the "ring of fire" on her stick horse! Thanks to her teacher for being so wonderfully creative!

yesterday was pink and white

today was purple, green and yellow themed

17 had region for Women's Chorus last Wednesday and they made it to state. Yesterday was region for her Concert Choir and she called me this morning to let me know that they also made it to State!!! Wow! I am so excited for their choir. They have worked very hard for it!

This morning 9 and I were having a little talk over his breakfast while we waited for his bus. He asked me if the baby was sleeping and I said 'yes'. He told me that he knows when it is kicking and he said that right now it was sleeping but then it would kick. Then, he paused for a moment and looked at me with sincereness and asked "Does he have Fragile X?" (9 says it is a boy) I turned to him and sweetly said, "I don't know yet. It might. But, it's OK." I almost started to tear up, wondering if he really knew what he had asked, thinking how interesting it was that he would think about that... He then made a face and said, "I hope he doesn't hit me... or bite me. Mmm mm. That would not be good!" Tee hee. That's the concern of 9... Ha! Oh, too cute!

Chicken Coop Painting

For Family Home Evening last night Marc talked to us about letting our light shine (an article in this month's Ensign) and then we went outside to work as a family to paint our new chicken coop. Yes, we are getting chickens. In fact I think they are supposed to be here in a week! We are getting six hens. We are trying to be as self sufficient as we can. My peas are coming up in the garden and my carrots have even made an appearance.

So anyway, here we are painting our chicken coop. Even 3 got in on the work! 9 didn't last to the end because he hated the feel of the paint on his hands, but he helped for a bit. 17 and 13 hung in there till the end. And I didn't help much because the fumes made me sick—but, I took the pictures! This is just the primer. We are going to be painting it sage green, plum and cream—it will be fun, I will post the final pics when it is finished.




Also, thank you to all of you for the wonderful things you said in response to the post below. For those of you who have not yet read it—read below—I won't spoil it for you...

Miracles

OK, this is a post for everyone--so just read through and I promise you will all get something beneficial from it.

So I have been looking back on our marriage and looking at the struggles that have become true miracles and I must share—I especially share these stories for the benefit of those who are trying to have children and have not yet been blessed with children or who have had children and take it for granted what a miracle it truly is.

When we were first married we decided to wait at least a year before having a baby—you know the perfect family planning we all think will happen for us. Well, for some reason after only three months we felt strongly that we should start trying to get pregnant. This made me nervous and I think we both were excited but scared because just as I had been taught by all the examples in my family you "try" and 9 months later you have a baby!

Well, I know now that Heavenly Father had another plan—we must have needed some preparation for what was to enter our lives and he needed to know we had faith. So we "tried" to have a child for almost three years—it was one of the longest three year journeys of my life. When you so desire to have children, three years is a long wait. Finally after many awful and uncomfortable tests and studies we finally miraculously got pregnant with 9! What a welcome miracle he was too, especially when you think it will never happen. Oh, what a joy he was! And we made a decision that because of how much time it took to get pregnant with him that we should waste NO time and get started trying to have a baby right away. I was completely OK with having kids 9 months apart if that is what it took... well, two and a half years later we got two kids!!!

But, they we 12 and 10 when they came—yes, our neice and nephew! So now we had 3 children. But, still no pregnancy. After four and half years of waiting for another pregnancy I had given up, I got rid of all the baby stuff and became settled with the fact that I would never get pregnant again. Then we had a fourth child join us, he was 8 at the time, still no pregnancy. We felt that we would have these four kids and that is what the Heavenly Father had blessed us with. Then, miraculously six months later (a total of five years after having 9) we found out we were pregnant again!!!!! We were so happy and excited. Many negative pregnancy test later and TA DA finally a positive one! Well, you all know the next part... we later found out that the two children I gave birth to have Fragile X Syndrome.

Our dreams of having another were soon dashed into millions of pieces. How could we possibly bring another child into the world knowing we may have another with FXS (I was having a hard time knowing how to raise three children who were not my own and two children with disabilities—we felt very inadequate). We were scared and felt that because of the total of five children that we had been blessed with, we were done. So, we moved on with life. All along yearning for another child. We looked into the possibility of adoption, seriously. All in the meantime we got the constant question, "Are you having any more kids?" and my reply was always, "No. But, I have learned Heavenly Father has a great sense of humor and would love to see what I could do with three kids with FXS." So three and half years of yearning and wondering if we had made the right decision Heavenly Father's sense of humor comes out in full! I am eight weeks 2 days pregnant right now as I am typing this!!!!! It is truly a miracle, trust me, it is a miracle. We weren't trying to get pregnant— so there you go: three years of trying, then 5 years of trying and then, SURPRISE!!!! We are so ecstaticly happy we can hardly contain it. So, yes, I am not very far along, but I am already showing and we can't wait to tell everyone, so there it is. See, I told you it would be worth the read. So, the next question we get asked now is one of two: "Are you going to have an amnio done to test for FXS?" or "Are you scared that it will have FXS?" Here is the answer, "No I will not get an amnio done, it is most likely for me that it will have FXS, so I will just plan on that and if it has FXS... OK, and if it doesn't... OK and then, am I scared? Aren't we all, we always hope that our children will be perfect. But, I guess we all receive 'perfect' in different forms—we just don't realize it until we are holding them in our arms. All my kids are 'perfect.' As are yours..."

Long awaited Prom pics and much more!

For all of you who have been waiting to see my beautiful daughter in her prom dress, here she is:








It was raining so weren't able to take the pics outside but, my camera does better with natural light so I stood out in the rain while my friend held up the umbrella and 17 posed in the doorway. It still turned out pretty fun. She borrowed the dress from a neighbor, grandma Lynne made the jacket to make it more modest and I did her hair and makeup (of course).

And here are some other fun pictures we took. Marc's horse ride with friends, Easter, 3 riding the horse, and 17 on a fun date here at the house.

Horse ride

At my mom and dad's

Marc takes 3 on a horse ride in the back yard

Easter Party at Jessie's the week before Easter. -- so much fun. I am still waiting for video from my brother that will make all of you laugh, but, you will have to wait.

Easter Egg hunt at a friends house--so much fun!!

Here is 17's date and the "flour game"--one of my favorites from my dating years!!!

Sometimes I Wish My Life Were a Musical...

Seriously, I do. We all make fun of the musical; a serious look into someone's eyes and all of a sudden they both break out into song, now mind you it is one they both know and even harmonize perfectly together. I LOVE IT! It is so romantic. And then there are the times when they break out into song and dance right in the middle of the street or restaurant and everyone there knows the dance moves. AWESOME!!!! Ya, musicals rock! I am so glad that High School Musical, Hairspray and Camp Rock have brought it to our youth so they can enjoy the magic of song and dance—enough of this reality stuff bring on the joy—let us for a moment feel like we could just start singing our hearts out because it is a Beautiful Morning!

I love to sing, and love to dance (not good at dancing but, will do it when I have the chance). I am sure there have been times that my neighbors have heard me in the summer with the windows open while I pretend I am in my own musical right there in my kitchen—oh the fun of it! And after American Idol—I have to sing out loud to remind myself that I could do that! (smile)

My cousin sent this link to me and it made my day. I really wish I would have been there. Just click here and watch as it becomes a live musical!

Hope it makes your day...

Disappointed Brush-brush girl...

Well, I got cast in Wizard of Oz!!!!! Yay! Although, I have to admit I am disappointed that I didn't get the part I really wanted—it's a little disheartening. Do you know what an Ozzy Brush-brush girl is? Neither do I, but I have been cast as one... I had to watch that part of Wizard of Oz when they get to the land of Oz and get all cleaned up before they see the Wizard. So that is me, one of them anyway. I guess I have to start somewhere. It will be fun to get all dolled up for it. 13 has been officially cast as one of the fathers of Munchkin Land—he's one of the munchkins that talks about when the witch is dead. So there is the update.