{Modern Day Miracles}

This week has been exceptionally hard for our dear friends the Westbrooks.  Ryan Westbrook is Kenny's boss, but we are much closer to them than just work colleagues.   Their kids play with our kids, we go to church together, and do fun things together as families, like boating and hiking.  We were devastated when we found out that their son Landon, who is Owen's friend, had a brain tumor.

It was crazy how it all went down.  

Drew had gone with them boating on Thursday and came home feeling kind of sick.  Well Landon was feeling sick too, so we figured it was just too much sun and lack of water.  Drew started feeling better the next day, but Landon kept complaining of a headache.  He had never complained of headaches up to this point, so they gave him Tylenol and had him rest.   He kept falling asleep where ever he was sitting and even fell asleep when he sat on the bottom step of their stairs.   Well by Sunday he was still complaining so they took him to Urgent Care.   The Dr. gave him IV fluids and pain medication, but none of it seemed to help.  She recommended they take him to Loma Linda hospital to be checked out.  Ryan debated whether that was really necessary and the Dr. said if it were her grandchild she would take him right away.  Ryan told her he didn't want to have to sit in an ER room for hours, so she told him she would write that he had Meningitis, even though he didn't, just so they would get in right away.  She even had him go by ambulance.  

 We received a text from Ryan early in the morning asking us to keep Landon in his prayers.  He had been admitted into the hospital after a cat scan showed that Landon had a tumor close to his brain stem.  We were all in shock and at that moment realized just how fragile and unpredictable life can be.  My heart hurt and I felt so sad for this family.  We love Landon and were very scared for him.   It was amazing at how quickly the word spread and how the prayers and fasting for this family started immediately.  My little Owen as soon as he found out, offered a prayer for Landon that was so heart felt.  We were all pleading with the Lord for a miracle.  People around the world were praying for Landon and his family.

  I had the opportunity to go to the hospital and hang out with Landon for a couple of hours while Ryan talked to Surgeons and while Amber was getting help for her migraines.  We played games, colored, skyped with Owen, and I even taught him how to "milk a cow" with the Dr.'s latex gloves!

His tumor was so close to the brain stem that one Surgeon believed it was inoperable.  Another surgeon thought they could get most of the tumor out.  Ryan had fasted and prayed for many days and asked us all to pray that the Surgeon when he went into surgery would be able to see the sides of the tumor clearly.  The surgery lasted almost all day and we were all sitting on pins and needles waiting for a response.

 We were all relieved when we heard from Ryan that they were able to remove the majority of the tumor and that it was benign.  The surgeon felt good about the surgery and said the remainder of the tumor would slowly just disappear.

Landon spent days in ICU, but then when he came out of the hospital, he was ready to hang out with his friends again.

We fasted and prayed for a miracle and I truly believe that we watched a miracle take place!  The Lord gives us trials in our lives that strengthen our testimonies and test our faith.  This experience brought me closer to my Savior Jesus Christ.  You could see how the Lord blessed their family through out the whole experience.  I am so grateful for the knowledge that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again and that we can live with our families for eternity.  I am grateful that Landon's life on this earth is not over, but sometimes the Lord calls his children home earlier than what we want.  For this reason, I want to hug my kids more and give them my love and attention.  Life is a gift and one we should not take for granted.

{Fish Out of Water}

We celebrated Owen turning 6 with a pool party!  He has become quite the little fish this summer and has a new love for water slides.  I did have to bribe him with a candy of his choice from the concession stand to get him to go down the slide, but once he did, he went down over and over again.

 Owen and his STRONG buddies: Ryder Harris, Orin Patterson, Anderson Headley, Noah Stevenson, and Mason Ugapo.

 Owen was most excited about his Super Hero wallet!

 I love these little boys!  I am so grateful that Owen has such fun buddies!

The kids had a great time swimming and celebrating Owen!

{A Boys Best Friend}

Drew is a tender hearted, animal lover, like his daddy!  His 3 best friends are his furry, four-legged, creatures in our back yard.  He feeds them everyday and takes them on walks.  I often find him outside with the dogs surrounding him as he showers them with love!

I captured this picture from inside the house.

I moved outside and found him like this:

Lost deep in thought!

 I love that Drew and Leo have the same shade of hair color!  

May I just say how much I love Drew!  He is my most helpful, well behaved child!  He is a sweetheart and I think he is pretty Awesome!!!  I am so grateful he is mine!

I am grateful that Drew has a special bond with his dogs.  They may drive me crazy, but I couldn't ask for more loyal dogs.

{Amazing Owen turns 6}

Today is Owen's 6th birthday!!!  He bounded into our room this morning at 6:30am and requested to open his presents.  I suggested some morning birthday snuggles instead, which he happily accepted.  We then looked through his photo albums from the day he was born, while we waited for the rest of the family to wake up.  We had some good giggles as we reminisced about the picture of him pooping all over me and the open mouth kisses he used to give.

In our family presents are opened first thing in the morning even before breakfast.  Who wants to wait all day to open gifts, not me!

He is obsessed with Skylanders and picked this out months ago from the store.

 Owen has always loved dressing up and was ecstatic about his Hulk fists.  I'm sure these will cause several problems...bloody noses...fat lips...hurt body parts, but I knew he would be so excited about them.  I'm sure I will regret buying them by the end of the day!


We went to see the movie "Monsters University" and then went to Frugo's for frozen yogurt.  He asked for it instead of a cake.

I asked him what special dinner he would like for his birthday and his response was, "Toast for dinner and peanut butter and jelly for lunch on your bread you make."   I'm glad he loves my home made bread so much.

It is hard for me to believe my little Owen is 6 and going to be in school all day in a couple of months. He is growing up way too fast.   He brings so much joy to my life!  He is my most affectionate child and is always willing to give lots of kisses and hugs.  He is always the first kid to wake up, so I get to  enjoy lots of cuddles from him.  He is kind, smart, and funny.  He has me wrapped around his little finger with his big blue eyes and sweet smile, especially when it comes to meal time.  I would do just about anything for this kid and I love him more than he will ever know!!!

{Impromptu Garage Sale}

Ian woke up on Saturday morning ready to make some money!  He told me that he was going to earn some money real quick so he could buy an X-box.   He first started pulling out the blender and the makings for fresh fruit smoothies.  He informed me that he was going to sell smoothies from the front yard.  I told him he would have to reimburse me for all the fruit he was going to use, so he quickly changed his mind and went to his plan B.

The next thing I knew he was in the garage making signs for his "Toy Sale!"  He made several signs, went around hanging them on stop signs, and gathered items around the house.   He sat outside for hours watching for people to come.

He priced everything himself and I encouraged him to keep the prices low, but he had his own ideas!

He had a few people stop, but no buyers.  I think they thought he was a little over priced!!!!  I agreed :)

{Let's Race}

 It is that time of year again for the Pine Wood Derby!  I'm not sure who was more excited, Drew and Ian, or Kenny!  I think a better name for the event would be, "Derby Dads!"  The competitiveness comes out in all males, both young and old, when the races begin.

 This was Ian's first year to participate.  He wanted to make his car completely by himself, which was sometimes hard for Kenny to relinquish over all control.  Ian likes to figure out things for himself and doesn't always like to listen to advice.

Drew studied out several designs and got to work!

 The painting of the cars was intense!  Drew was patient and would paint one coat and then let it dry.  His car turned out sleek!  Ian on the other hand, sprayed a coat of paint on his car every time he walked by it for two days!  The paint was so thick that it left fingerprints in the paint when you tried to pick up the car.  Kenny had to scrape off layers of paint and we tried to "fix" the over painted car.

Ian's Orange car and Drew's Black car

Ian's car is in the lead!

 I LOVE watching the excitement from the scouts as their cars race!  The cheering and high fiving makes me laugh.

 Drew received an award for the "Most Awesome" car!

 We were very skeptical that Ian's car, with all the painting troubles, would do that well.  He proved us wrong and brought home a trophy for 2nd place!!!!  We were very proud of him!

Tanner and Ian

Drew, Chandler, Mese, and Jake

The boys all did a great job and had a lot of fun, which is what the scouting program is all about!

Today the boys made a track for Mya so she could get in on the racing fun too!

I love all the kids build with their wooden blocks!

{Disgust}

My boys love to torment each other!  I sometimes wonder if their only goal for the day is to see who can make the other one scream the most.  Luckily, I have the amazing gift of tuning them out and only go running if I hear the word, "BLOOD!"  I am guilty of locking them outside or putting them to bed an hour early and telling them the clocks are wrong, just to have a little bit of quiet in my house.  Mya and I already have a look we give each other, which means "girl time" and we leave just the two of us to escape the craziness, which I like to call BOYS!

Case and point of the tormenting that took place today:

I asked Owen what was on his back and went in closer to get a better look and was disgusted when I realized a big booger had been wiped on his back!  The culprit, which I am guessing is Ian, did wipe it where Owen could not reach it!   Very smart, but still totally disgusting!

These boys are lucky I love them so much, even though they are loud and disgusting, or I might have traded them in for a puppy years ago!