Two Eagles

Today, I saw two eagles. I saw the first one while Josh was at horse therapy and the second while driving. Today Josh rode Wikki -- a very slobbery and hairy horse. Up in a tall pine tree, right next to the trail we were on, sat a majestic eagle. I have never been that close to an eagle in the wild before. I felt a little honored and then I wondered what the eagle was looking at. It was the consensus of the horse therapy group that the eagle was scoping out some ducks in an adjacent yard. I felt sorry for the ducks -- they'd have no chance. I wondered if I should change my opinion on the majesty of the eagle, and then I thought, no, the eagle is still majestic and seeing him is still amazing. He is just doing what he needs to do to survive -- he is following the course of nature.

I thought about how I don't always focus on the beautiful part of life -- I just see the ducks about to be eaten. Often it is hard for me to look past the difficult parts.

For instance, today, Josh pooped in his pull-up while I was looking at shoes at Kohl's. This wouldn't normally be a big deal, but through some user error, I took the wipes out of my car and did not put them back. That oversight on my part led to a quick trip to Target that began with me picking Josh up off from the floor and putting him into a shopping cart. I think he weighs about 70 pounds now. I pick him up by grabbing the collar on his shirt and coat and then scooping him up behind his knees. I have to haul him up like this because when he doesn't want to do something, he lays on the ground like a dead fish.

After getting him in the cart, I tried to ascertain the quickest way from the front of the store to the baby section and the wipes. I'll admit -- I felt sorry for myself and a little embarrassed by the prospect of taking my 10 1/2 year old to the baby aisle to buy wipes. I normally just buy a case of them at Costco so it feels less sad. The other ladies on the aisle had a infant car seat attached to their carts with a cute small baby in them. I had a giant 2 1/2 year old in my cart who was trying to scratch all of the skin off from the tops of my hands. When I moved my hands to stop him from scratching, his next tactic was to try and pull things off from the shelves. Shopping is sometimes hazardous.

After purchasing some wipes and a couple of other things that I needed, I took Josh into the bathroom and changed him in a handicapped stall. He laid down on the floor. Gross, huh? It was the best idea I could come up with. He seemed happy to be clean again, and happily left the store.

So back to the eagle. Josh is who he is. He is naturally a little messed up in his head because of a lack of FMRP1 protein (I think that's what it is he's missing). I need to remember to see the majesty in him -- and not just the hand scratching and dead fish imitation. I think that would help me to be a happier me.

Horses

I stood in the cold of the barn looking at the beautiful horses preparing to accept their riders. There was a new horse that I'd never seen before named Stryder. He is short and powerful with a mane that had been intricately braided. I looked at him in comparison to the other horses in the arena. There were all types -- tall with thin noses, tall with broad noses, short and furry, short and sturdy. All of them were doing the same great work and were perfect for their rider's needs. I looked at all of them and thought why can't we look at people like this? Who decided that the tall thin women are the best? Who decided that short, sturdy women weren't desirable? Why can't the world look at people like we look at horses -- appreciating them for what they are and what they can do and their inherent beauty?

Jacob’s Summer Camps

This Summer, Jacob attended two Summer camps. The first one was at the beginning of July. He attended Explore! Summer Band Camp. He has been playing the clarinet for a year at school and this Summer he started playing the saxophone.

You can’t actually see him playing – he’s on the far right – second saxophone in. You can see him at the end of the performance running off from the stage – we had to hurry home to get Anni and Josh off from the bus.

I am so proud of him – learning to play two instruments and working so hard at it. No one else in our family is musical, so we think he’s amazing.

This last week, he attended a lacrosse camp. He had fun trying lacrosse in PE this past year and wanted to try it out. It was fun but exhausting and he used a lot of little used muscles.

Josh’s Birthday

Josh turned ten this year! I can’t believe it! 

He loves everything about birthdays – the presents, the balloons, the singing, blowing out the candles – he loves it all. The best part is that it was his day today.

My brother Kirk’s family came to visit us and got here just in time for Josh’s birthday party. We’ve never had family here for one of the kid’s birthdays – so this was special.

Josh loves all things Toy Story – so his birthday was extra fun because of all the Toy Story III toys in the store. I think his favorite gift, hands down, was his Toy Story comforter for his bed.

Things I love about Josh:

• He has an amazing enthusiasm for life – simple things make him happy
• He loves Ashton so much and is thrilled beyond belief to have him home
• He has a quick smile and giggle for any attention that you pay him
• He says the cutest prayers – prays for the chips and salsa

Happy Birthday, Annikah! January 2010

Annikah had a wonderful birthday. She turned 8 this year. We decided to wait to get her baptized until we visit family this summer.

Wonderful things about Annikah:

* She loves to help -- make dinner, go shopping, clean the kitchen, whatever it is, she loves to help
* She is very compassionate and worried about others' well being
* She loves babies and small children and follows them around to make sure that they're safe

*She is very loving and forgiving -- Josh scratches and bites her a lot and she always forgives him right away

Week of January 11, 2010

This week, Ashton and I went to the Autism Clinic at Seattle Children's Hospital to get the results of some testing that the doctors there did on our daughter 7, and our son, 9. They have previously both been diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome (http://www.fragilex.org/) and also with Autism, but we were told by our Fragile X specialist (Dr. Glew) here in Seattle that we should go and get them assessed. They both also have a diagnosis of Autism.

I took both kids separately for 2 visits each so that they could take IQ tests and a test to see if they are Autistic. The testing was a little tough for our son 9 because he doesn't really work well with people he doesn't know. The Autism test that they gave him took him about 5 minutes to complete because he wouldn't answer any of their questions.

Anyway, when Ashton and I went to get the results, it was interesting that they found that our son, age 9, has the IQ of a two year 7 month old and our daughter 7 has the IQ of a 5 year old. That's what I've been telling people, so I guess we were better on target with that number than I thought.

The specialists gave us some advice on therapy that would help 7 and 9 to succeed. We are going to do a social skills group for our daughter to help her learn to interact with people better. The drs said that she has high functioning Autism. They said that 9 could use some behavior therapy to help him overcome some of the anger issues he faces when asked to work or transition.

I pray that I am up to the challenge. Therapy takes a lot out of me as I do a lot of it at home -- they teach us how to do the therapy and then we implement at home.

Interestingly, this week in seminary, I taught about the premortal existence and how all of us who are here on the earth are valiant and chose Heavenly Father's plan to come and be tested. 7 and 9 are being tested in other ways than the rest of us -- they don't really see good or evil, just people, and they are innocent. Their trials will be more overcoming what is happening within themselves than what is happening around them. Our trial as parents is seeing how others treat them and seeing how different they are and not being sad that they can't do what other kids their age do. They are teaching me to accept everyone for who they are and what they can do and joy in it.

Halloween 2008

We had a great time picking out pumpkins at Fred Meyer -- we went for easy this year and we didn't go to a pumpkin patch. Jacob's pumpkin weighed 25 pounds. He and Ashton made a chameleon template and he carved it into his pumpkin. The chameleon is currently his favorite animal.

Did I mention that I colored my hair red? I did -- here are some pictures of me with red hair! Kinda crazy -- it's my mid-life crisis.

I dressed as a witch for Halloween, Ashton dressed as a Regae man, Jacob as Harry Potter, Annikah was the Little Mermaid, and Josh was Mr. Incredible. For weeks after Halloween, he had to wear his Mr. Incredible costume on Sunday after church.

We trick-or-treated at the trunk or treat at the church, at Ashton's work, and in our neighborhood. All told, we got 15 pounds of candy!! I weighed it on our scale. We still have some left, and it's December!!

Annikah

What can I say, she's a beauty, isn't she?

Here are some Anni updates. We started potty training her when she started preschool, when she was three. She was pretty well day trained when we moved here 2 years ago, but totally regressed after the move. We've been focusing on the potty training for the last couple of years and she's been doing great. She's been wearing underwear to school for almost the whole school year and the last few nights we put her in underwear to sleep in and she's been dry, Hooray!!

We've just been laughing about some of the things she's said lately. I bought her the dress she's wearing in the picture in November and she started wearing it to church then. The first time she put this dress on, she said, "Ho, Ho, Ho, I'm Santa." Then she said, "Mom, come and sit on my lap." We laughed and laughed.

Last Sunday, we were watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics (we DVR'd it). To preface this story, you need to know that Anni watches Jacob play a lot of video games and some of them are shooter games. His current favorite is Star Wars Battlefront for the XBox. Anyway, we're all on the couch, watching the closing ceremonies. On the screen, we see thousands of men playing big round drums. Then, all at once, thousands of women wearing dresses and hats covered in bells run into the stadium. Annikah looked at me and said, "Are they going to kill them?" We laughed and laughed. That's kinda sad/scary that she thought that was what was happening, but funny too.

Halloween

My 35th Birthday

These are pictures from my birthday. As usual, Ashton outdid himself and gave me some lovely presents- - a new jacket I wanted from Eddie Bauer, and some cute socks that I needed. My friends also took me out to eat. I invited so many people (friends from the ward) that we split it up into two events -- lunch and dinner. It was so fun to be there and laugh with the girls. I feel bad I forgot to take my camera -- maybe next year.

Order Another Round, Cause We're Staying Here!

Yes, the house is off the market, we decided it's better to stay for the school year. It was with a heavy heart that we took our house off from the market. I know that I need to wait for the Lord's time, so we'll stay here another school year. The house is small, but lovely and the Spirit is here, so I can't complain.

I'm on Facebook now -- you can find me there too.

(Oh, and the title of this post, it's a quote from a Pixar Movie. Do you know which one?)

Still on the Market

Our lovely townhome, here in Sammamish, is still for sale. We've had it on the market for 67 days. Sigh. We may be here for another year -- hopefully not more.

The home is lovely -- just too small. Our ward here is wonderful, the schools are terrific, and the commute for Ashton is reasonable. The house is just too small.

Happily Handicapped at the Happiest Place on Earth

We left for Disneyland on Tuesday morning (the 10th of June, 2008). Ashton had arranged for an aiport shuttle to pick us up at home -- parking at the Seattle airport is so horribly expensive, that it was about the same cost to get picked up at home. He suprised Jacob with having a limousine pick us up instead of the van. It was fun -- we kind of felt special. The little kids were thrilled to not have to be sitting in car seats and wanted to try out all of the buttons and knobs.

We had a couple of hours to kill at the airport before our flight left. We sat in front of the windows and the kids watched the airplanes take off and land.

Our flight to LAX went really smoothly, and we got there earlier than planned. We met Ashton's mom, Jane, at the baggage claim area. What a nice reunion! We used to see her weekly, so seeing her every few months isn't quite the same.

We took another shuttle to the hotel. We arranged the shuttle through the Disney travel company and paid for it before we left -- we just had to present our vouchers to the driver and give him a little tip :).

As Ashton already mentioned, we stayed at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel. We got two rooms, and hooray, all the phone calls paid off, and we had adjoining rooms. While Ashton and Jane were checking in, Josh and Anni mauled the Goofy statue in the lobby.

After getting all checked in, we went to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. One of the things that we did that were great, that saved us a little money, were signing up for a club membership at the Rainforest Cafe. I think we paid $15 for the membership, and it gets us a free appetizer or 10% off our bill -- everytime we go. So, that's where we ate the first night.

We had a good night sleep, and got ready to go to Disneyland for our 1st day! This was Annikah and Joshua's first trip to Disneyland, so we didn't know how they'd react to many things. The breakfast we went to was a character breakfast at our hotel, at the PCH grill. It's the Lilo and Stitch breakfast, but we also go our pictures taken with Goofy, Minnie, and Daisy. Anni loved meeting them all, and the food is really good there, although expensive. Another thing Ashton did to help us save money was to apply for the Chase Disney Reward Visa card. It gave us 10% off on a lot of our purchases, which was great!

How exciting to be at Disneyland, yay! The first thing we did was to go into the town hall at Disneyland. We knew that we could get a Guest Assistance Card because of Annikah and Joshua's handicapps, so we went to Town Hall to plead our case. We have read that some people who try to get this special card are turned down, so I was nervous. I told Ashton I would do the talking -- I think, so that if it didn't go well, it would be my fault, and I wouldn't be able to blame him. It went so well though -- they gave us these fabulous Guest Assistance Cards -- one with Josh's name on it and one with Anni's name on it. It allowed up to 6 of us to go with them on rides.


We got to skip the whole line with these great cards. We just went in the exit and showed our card to the person running the ride, and they'd put us in a line right next to where the ride loaded. The longest we waited in any ride line was 10 minutes, but most were 5 minutes or less, some we just walked right on.


That's why I named this post happily handicapped. I have never felt so great about having handicapped children as I did going on this trip. These people at Disneyland got it that it was hard for us to be there with handicapped children, and they gave us really special accomodations because of it. Yay! What a blessing.


The first day of rides was tough -- Ashton and I didn't agree on whether or not we should get strollers for the kids :), so we didn't. Anni and Josh cried a lot of the day because we took them on rides that were too scary for them. We didn't know what would be scary for them until we discovered it while we were on it. For example, Anni is afraid of the dark and Josh is afraid of thrills, so Pirates of the Carribean and Splash mountain were horrifying for them. They both cried. It was sad.


The next day, Thursday, was much better. We went to Disney California Adventure, and realized that because of our Chase Disney Rewards Visa that we could get two free strollers every day we go to either park! Yay. Each of our little kids got a stroller, and things were much smoother. Another perk of the card was a free 5x7 photo every day. They had a photo op every morning with different characters. These are the photos we had taken.





Thursday, we went to the Aladdin show -- which Josh loved and had so much fun going on the rides at "a bug land."



Anni and Josh loved going to see the Princesses at the Fantasy Faire, and I'll have to admit, that it was nice for me to have them somewhere where they were happy and it was shady. We stayed there for over an hour, with Grandma, seeing the princesses tell stories and attending the coronation ceremony.




We were thrilled to find out that we could go on the new Woody ride -- Toy Story Midway Mania at California Adventure. It's official opening date wasn't until the 17th, but we went on it on the 13th and 14th. Hooray! Don't you love soft openings? It was Annikah's favorite ride, but I'll have to admit that we all loved it. Ashton was just like a little kid -- as soon as we got off of it the first time he said, "Let's go on it again!!" So, we did.



All in all, it was the most fabulous trip. We used up a lot of kleenex and sunblock, and had really sore feet, and there was one point where I just wanted to walk away from the family and not look back, but we all had such a good time. I'm so glad we went, and we will still be talking about it for years to come.

Disney Trip Photo Album

Disneyland Trip 2008 - Initial Post

This is a blog hijack from Ashton, hopefully you all don't mind.


I just wanted to give some of the details of our recent Disneyland vacation. Kristen will fill you in later on more of the details as well as sharing some great pictures (including details of the some great discounts we got). I just wanted to give some quick stats on what we did.


Hotel - Stayed at the Disneyland Paradise Pier Hotel for 4 nights, and the kids loved the pool with hot tub and waterslide. We got 4 day park hopper passes to the Disneyland Resort, so that we could freely go to both parks

List of Rides we took at Disneyland:

• Disneyland Railroad (rode this a few times to get around the park)
• Haunted Mansion (just Grandma Smith, Jacob, and Ashton went on this)
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Grandma Smith and Kristen's favorite ride)
• Splash Mountain (we put Grandma Smith in the front seat, so she would get wet, and she did)
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Jungle Cruise
• Mickey and Minnie's Houses
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Disney Princess Fantasy Faire (Show)
• King Arthur Carrousel (Annikah's favorite ride)
• Mad Tea Party
• Matterhorn Bobsleds (just Grandma Smith, Jacob, and Ashton went on this)
• Peter Pan's Flight
• Pinocchio's Daring Journey
• Astro Orbitor
• Autopia
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Disneyland Monorial
• Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
• Space Mountain (Jacob's favorite at Disneyland) (just Kristen, Jacob, and Ashton went on this)
• Star Tours (just Grandma Smith, Jacob, and Ashton went on this)
• Star Wars Jedi Training Academy (Show)
• Fantasmic! (Show)
• "Remember...Dream Come True" Fireworks Spectacular
• Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams

List of Rides we took at Disney's California Adventure:

• Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (just Kristen and Ashton went on this)
• Disney's Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular (Show) (Joshua's favorite, he gave it a standing ovation)
• Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage! (Brand new version of the show, it was great)
• It's Tough to be a Bug! (Terrified Grandma Smith, we didn't tell her what would happen during the movie)
• Flik's Flyers
• Francis' Ladybug Boogie
• Heimlich's Chew Chew Train
• Princess Dot Puddle Park
• Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies
• King Triton's Carousel
• Toy Story Midway Mania (we rode it three times during the soft opening previews) (Annikah's favorite ride, she kept asking to go on it, even after we were back home)
• Soarin' Over California (Kristen, Jacob, and Grandma Smith's Favorite ride)
• Pixar Play Parade (Great parade, be prepared to get wet)

List of rides we didn't go on (but really wanted to):

• Matterhorn Bobsleds (Kristen didn't get to go)
• Enchanted Tiki Room (Could of been a nice nap for the adults)
• Indiana Jones Adventure (It was broken down)
• Muppet Vision 3D (just didn't have time)
• Grizzly River Run (again, didn't have time)
• Redwood Creek Challenge Trail (Jacob loved this 3 years ago, great for kids)
• "The Magic of Brother Bear" Totem Ceremony (again, ran out of time)

That's all for now, Kristen will be back with more details soon, including having handicapped kids at the parks.

Trying to Sell our Home

We've been busy getting ready to sell our home. I painted and packed up a lot of stuff and tried to make our home look as staged and ready to sell as possible.



Our house has been on sale for over 21 days (the magic number for appropriate time on the market for sale) so I guess we'll be in for the long haul.



I spent the most time fixing up the staircase to our garage. Since it was so much work, I thought I'd show you what I did.

This is what our stairs to our garage used to look like:

This is what the stairs to our garage look like after paint:This is what I looked like after painting:Here's what the stairs look like after paint and carpet:

The Cleanest Birds in America

It's been raining non-stop here for what seems like months. I can remember a few sunny days, and a few sun breaks, but it has been raining a lot.



The upside? Beautiful green grass year round, beautiful flowering bushes and trees in the Spring, and beautiful evergreen and deciduous trees.



Also, quite possibly, the cleanest birds in America.

Abracadabra!

Last night, during the treat for Family Home Evening, Annikah wanted another cookie. I asked her, "What's the magic word?" She thought for a minute and then said, "Abracadabra!" We laughed and laughed.

Snoqualmie Falls

Saturday was such a beautiful day -- highs in the low 70's and sunny!!! Warm and sunny haven't been in our neck of the woods for a long time. We drove to Snoqualmie and hiked to the falls. It's a very easy hike -- about a mile in total and the path is more like a road. All of the kids did very well and we had a fun time sitting by the water and eating snacks. It was a great day.

The falls

The kids on the hike

Jacob and I

Very Disappointing

Tuesday night was the weigh in for the Pinewood Derby. Jacob and Ashton and I had spent several hours the night before dutifully filing the axles of his car so as to spin faster. Ashton and Jacob also went to Ace Hardware to buy the graphite to put in the wheels to make them turn faster. Jacob and I painted the car a lovely black and we were satisfied that this year, this year would be different.



Last year, we came in dead last -- 11th out of 11. We chalked it up to being novices -- to not knowing anything about building a pinewood derby car. Ashton remembers having a neighbor make his as his parents said there was no way they'd help him make one. I remember my brother Kirk making one with my parents, but as to tips or tricks that would help our family, I had none.



So Tuesday night came, and we all piled into the car to take Jacob's car to the church to be weighed in. Joshua and Annikah and I went to the gym aka cultural hall to play and run around while Ashton and Jacob went to weigh the car. It weighed 2.6 ounces. It was supposed to weight 5.0 ounces. That was when everything started going south.



Ashton brought some coins from home and some scotch tape, just in case the car didn't weigh enough. After taping two dollars in coins to the car, it still didn't weigh enough. Ashton was getting really frustrated and I wasn't helping at all. I told him that he couldn't tape the coins to the top of the car because it looked ridiculous. Oh, for a supportive, quiet wife.



Annikah has taken up coaching me when I get upset. She went into this supportive, coaching mode, as we drove home from the church. "Mom," she said from the backseat, "take a deep breath." "Calm down." "That's better." It does work, I do calm down. Thank goodness for special ed teachers who are teaching my child to be calm, and in turn, her mother.



We ended up coming home to look for heavier coins and more tape. It was late, and the little kids were getting cranky, so while Ashton and Jacob tried to put more weight on the car, I showered the little kids and put them to bed.



The next idea for increasing the car's weight was to build a big lego seat for the driver. I thought this was a good idea and it looked really cool. Then we all remembered losing so pitifully last year, and wondered if it had to do with last year's car being the opposite of aerodynamic. So we scrapped the lego idea and I went to Ace Hardware to see if they had an weights we could use for the car.



Once there, I spoke with a lovely young man who offered me fishing lead. I bought it. Six dollars later, I came home. I gave Ashton and Jacob the lead, a pair of pliers to cut it, and the hot glue gun and sent them off to the church to re-weigh.



The boys came home a half an hour later. Jacob said that the car didn't look very good, but that it weighed enough. I was encouraged that maybe, just maybe, this would be our year.



Nope. We came in last, again. But this year, we were combined with another ward, so we were 18th out of 18. To add insult to injury, all three other boys his age from our ward came in in the top five. Ouch.



They gave Jacob an award that said, "Best Gas Mileage." Are you kidding me? Even my nine year old was smart enough to know that that was a nice way of saying, "You're last kid." Oh my.



We stopped by Jack in the Box for some chocolate shakes and came home to drown our sorrows.



I wonder why we're so bad at things so often. Isn't it bad enough that Jacob has two handicapped siblings that make life very difficult? Couldn't he have just a little success? I'm wondering what the Lord is trying to teach us. I told Jacob that we are supposed to learn that winning isn't everything. I also told him I was proud that he wasn't a sore loser.



He still asked if he could throw his car away. I said sure.