It's been a while...

 It feels like we keep really busy here, mostly doing a lot of this--

and time passes so quickly it seems.  It's impossible to cover everything, but here's just a quick recap of a few things that have been happening lately....

November--
 I gave a little bday brunch for my sister Cassy's bday.

 Kept it simple,

 but yummy.  It was a lot of fun to be together with my mom and sisters celebrating Cassy.

 Then 2 days later our newborn baby (it feels that way anyway) turned 1 year old!  Can't believe it!  Happy Birthday Caleb!  He had a vintage airplane birthday party which turned out super cute!

 He loved his gift, and the box too!

 Then 6 days later Ben, truly our living miracle, turned 5 years old.  I was super emotional all day but had to hold it together because he had a big rocket and astronaut birthday party that night where we all had a blast! (Sorry, couldn't pass up the pun! :)

 Around that same time he left a present for mom and dad, our very own mural.  We taught him to write, now we just need to teach him where to write.  At least he wrote nice things like Benjamin and Dad, I love you, and xoxoxox.  Ah, what a sweetie.

In October Cody came home from his deployment, whew!!  We were all so happy to have him home.

A couple days later, if you follow facebook you know already, we got this! Surprise!!

Also in October, Cody and I took a little road trip by ourselves to St. George.  Cody has missed a lot of our Anniversaries with military trips so he surprised me with some quality time together.  I'll admit I was worried (terrified!) about leaving the kids for 4 days but, surprisingly to me, everything went fantastic at home and Cody and I had a wonderful time too. We stopped at Cove Fort on our drive down, saw Thoroughly Modern Millie and Mary Poppins at Tuachan, went to lots of fun historic church sites and went to the St. George Temple too.  And we also were able to get almost all of our Christmas shopping done which was a huge blessing.

Here's Halloween--

I dressed up too.  I rarely do, but Aimee, after picking out her popstar costume, didn't want to wear it anymore, so I donned some sparkly leggings, a pink and white wig, and gigantic bright blue eyelashes and went as her back up singer.  She was happier then, plus she realized she could wear lipstick for the costume--that sold her!  Caleb liked my wig too!

Here are a few other random pictures from the time while Cody was deployed...

Joy School friends, minus Tanner who I didn't happen to catch in the picture

Caleb messy, pretty common actually

Aimee playing goalie

Jocelyn just before a steal

Ben's first day of preschool at Miss Vicki's 

I couldn't believe he was this big already!

(Also made me really miss our old friends the Dopp's who moved away.)

Jocelyn proud of her dessert creation which tasted super yummy!

Sarah and Ben making a carrot chain on the piano. :)

The new stove that would soon catch our kitchen on fire!  

A blessing in disguise as so many are.  

(Why do most of our blessings come in the form of lots of hard work?)

A late over with our neighbor and babysitter, Emily.  What a good sport.  We sure love her!

Jocelyn and Aimee were so proud they'd planned decorations, 

games, treats, and a movie.  Everything went great!

Ben meticulously set up this Barbie house.  Should I be worried he plays with Barbies?  I guess with 3 sisters it's not surprising.  At least he threw a Lightning McQueen car in there too.  

He was so proud of his contribution to the late-over night too!  Darling!

Here's a giant onion from our garden. 

The picture doesn't do it justice.  

We had a great crop of produce this year on our little farm.

There is sooo much more I could post but it's late.  Stay tuned for more...  :)

This is our cute family headed out on a little camping trip the week before Cody deployed.  Love 'em!

Brady...

I still can't believe it. Wednesday morning, Brady passed from this life and returned to our Father in Heaven. He is the best big brother I could have imagined and I will miss him everyday, tremendously. I wanted to share some thoughts from Cody about his brother...

Today we lost one of the best!! A true and faithful follower of Jesus Christ!! My little Brother, Brady!! Brady loved the Lord and his Family!!! He walked a painful, lonely road. I tried to take care of him growing up and comfort him as he got discouraged, but he really cared for me and comforted me. After 30 years of illness and surgeries, God has called him home. I am so sorry little brother for not always being there when you need me. You always said, I was your Hero and you looked up to me, but what you didn't know was you little brother, are my Hero!! I will always cherish the memories you and I shared together here on earth. You're earthly journey has ended and you now can have peace little brother. I love you!!! We are an eternal family , you always knew it. Brothers in life and brothers in death, I'll stand by you now and forever, my little brother!! Love your big brother, Cody.

My little brothers Missionary Farewell (funeral service) will Thursday, December 27th at West Haven Stake Center. All information can be found in Bubba's obituary, which will be in the Sunday Standard-Examiner by paper or online. It will also be posted on the Myers-Mortuary website at http://www.myers-mortuary.com/_mgxroot/page_10722.php. 

Please come and pay tribute to one of God's valiant missionaries, my little brother!!
Thanks for your prayers & support during this difficult time.

To offset the funeral costs for Brady, my sweet sister-in-law, Bernadette Gireaud-Hamer, set up a memorial fund at Chase Bank where donations will be accepted.

sick baby

Caleb has meningitis.  In the hospital.  Only 5 weeks old.  Please pray for him.

Baby Boy!

Caleb Wyatt, born November 9, 2012.  Isn't he a doll?!  Super sweet and snuggly.

We are so blessed to have him!!!

Wait for it....

Guess what!  Having a baby tomorrow!  And Ben just got out of the hospital, again!, today.  Wish us luck and keep the prayers coming for Benny.  I'll keep trying to find that camera cord so we can get a pic of our new little guy posted soon.  :)

A few updates...

Wow!  Time flies these days.  Tons has been happening around here, most of it would be better to post with pics so that means I really need to find that camera cord.  It's around here somewhere, right?
In other news...

Mainly 3 things on my mind at the moment:

First and fastest to blog is we are having another baby, soon actually.  I'll be started Nov. 9 if I haven't had him by then.  And that's the fun bit, it's a boy!  That should be fun!  Everyone's excited, though I admit I am terrified with so much that needs doing and not much time to get it done.  Eek!

Second, we thought we were moving to Vermont, it was really in the works and life was quite on hold with preparations, and then, at the very, very last minute, it fell through.  Which turned out to be an amazing blessing because....

Third thing on my mind non-stop is... Ben's new condition---(keeps him inpatient at least 2 days a week and at the hospital for treatments, tests, etc. at least another 2 days a week)
       It's called Evan's Syndrome and has been a big struggle for Ben so far.  Not that I'm not optimistic for the future, but this has definitely been rough for him.  It all started on Sept 22 when we found a hematoma on his back without having had any injuries.  We thought it was strange.  He had a blessing and we watched it during the night.  The next morning it was double in size.  I called his Hematology/Oncology drs.  We made an appt for the next day.
       But later that same day more and more hematomas and bruises were popping up along with lots of petechiae (tiny red & purple spots all over skin on body).  I was nervous.  I got him in to another dr that would see him that day.  He ended up sending us down to the ER where it was found his platelets were 5, supposed to be 150-400, and so Ben was admitted.  While in the hospital he had IVIG treatments and given lots of steroids to start.  But unfortunately no change in the platelets.
       He tested positive for antibodies for white blood cells, platelets and red blood cells; and that's why he was diagnosed with Evan's Syndrome.  What this means is that his body recognizes his own blood as foreign and attacks and destroys it.  We already knew about the white cells, since he'd been battling autoimmune neutropenia for the last year.  Now to find out the other blood cells are affected too is a serious bummer for Benny.  
       So...we went home, with high steroid doses that make him feel truly awful and with instructions from the docs to watch him closely, particularly for any head injuries (that would cause bleeding in the brain) and any signs of internal bleeding.  We went back frequently to check the blood levels and there was still no change.  He was taken off Prograf, the immune suppression med he's always been on to protect his heart, and was put on Cyclosporine instead.  He also started his chemo treatments again to further suppress his immune system.  With those three big changes, we were hoping to see some improvement.  There was none.
       Instead, last Saturday, Oct 6, he started bleeding internally.   Luckily, it was in his bladder and so we were able to see it coming out of his body, though I will tell you, it was terrible to see.  He was promptly admitted again with platelets now only 1.  Given platelet transfusions to try to stop the bleeding but they didn't really help; I guess his immune system attacked them too quickly to get benefit there.  He was started on crazy, rediculously high IV steroids, a 3-day dose.  He finished that on Monday and had his second chemo treatment (it's a 4-week plan for that).  Friday he came back for a PICC line placement and a bone marrow biopsy and aspirate.  Still no change in platelet count.  PICC placement didn't go as well as we'd hoped, radiologist says he couldn't place it as deep as he wanted because all his veins, etc, are completely occluded from years of intense use.  Tell me about it. Seriously.  Not sure how long the line will be usable.  We'd like to place a more permanent port, but surgeons won't do it until his platelets come up significantly.   Ben goes back Tuesday to check count and to get next chemo treatment.  Should find out bone marrow results by end of week.
       As far as how he is doing with all of this, you know Ben, he is amazing.  That's really the best word for him.  He's still covered in huge hematomas and lots of bruises and red dots but he is super stoic and tough and if asked how his bruises are he answers that they are fine and they'll be better tomorrow.  He doesn't complain about anything we have to do to him, though it's obvious he really hates the cyclosporine.  It was hard when he had a lot of steroids going through him because the side effects were really not fun for him.  That was hard.  So glad they are starting to wear off a little I think.

       Hoping for good news on Tuesday!  Hoping these crazy contractions just go away until I have time to deal with them and that we can get all we need (which unfortunately for a nesting momma feels like the bare necessity) done before baby #5 joins the family.  By the way, still no name for him, taking suggestions....  :)

He's happy no matter what or where--

When in the hospital, most of the time, Ben looks like this...

As sick as he is, you would think he'd look like this...

He spends most of his time doing this...

Making all of the noises of course...

And just having a really great time...

We also played with a lot of green play dough and did these craft projects...

He also had fun making this, a picture of "me and you, mom, at the hospital", aww...

Here is the gorgeous view from our room, so pretty...

Of course, it's not all fun and games at the hospital and it takes at least a day or so for Ben to perk up enough to play, but I am always amazed by his resiliency and his great attitude! What a great example!

So happy to be home now though!

(Here's what's going on... Ben has a terrible virus, the dr said "it's like RSV on steroids", plus somehow, coincidentally he developed bacterial pneumonia in both lungs with effusion (fluid in the lungs-it was really bad on the left side particularly), he has bilateral bad ear infections, and unfortunately his PTLD cancer has come back (it flares up every time he's sick) and the way we've been treating it the last few months has caused his heart to be in mild rejection. Lots going on at once and he has yucky symptoms with about every part of his body, but he his happy and on the mend. Such a sweet boy!)

Some other random pics from the party...

It was a gorgeous place and was absolutely the most fun party ever! I wish the pictures were better though. Aw, what fun!