Cutest little Indian ever

Last week Avery had her Thanksgiving feast at school. She chose to be an Indian. She was very excited and even wanted me to braid her hair to look more authentic. I was lucky enough be able to volunteer because Kirk had that day off. Sometimes his ever changing schedule really comes in handy!

DEVIN

Before I get started, this is Devin's preschool picture. So cute, huh?! I thought it was about time I finally wrote about what we now know for sure. Since Devin was 14 months there has always been a big question mark over his head with all the professionals - is he PDD NOS or just delayed? About 3 weeks or so ago he was finally diagnosed as having PDD NOS meaning Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. See this link if you want to read the signs that go along with this disorder -

http://ucf-card.org/uploads/factsheets/1187875130_eng.pdf (copy and paste this if you want to follow the link. I don't know how to do it the right way)

It has been described as basically being a mild form of Autism, although it is it's own diagnosis. Although, it was difficult to hear and we had hoped he wouldn't have it, we pretty much knew already and have now settled in with the label. After receiving ABA therapy (Applied Behavioral Analysis) for a year and then not qualifying for any more services his stimming, unable to wait for things and like behaviors really came about. In other areas he has really improved, though. Being in a typical preschool with children his own age and being around peer models has really been great for him and helped a lot. His language has really exploded since being in that environment and we are understanding him more. He still struggles with ritualistic type behaviors (I.E. opening and closing doors) and lack of pretend play among a few other things, but he's coming along. We are waiting for the official report from the assessment and for his speech assessment in December and then we will be going back to the school district to fight it out to get him more services. He really is doing well and has come a very long way. We are very grateful for his progress and all the help he got early on to get him to where he is today. It is now time to move into the next phase and be his advocates to help him go even further. Wish us luck!

AGW 2008

Our all girl weekend in Vegas was this past weekend. We were a bit smaller in numbers this year, but still had a great time! Every year my cousins, their kids, my aunt and my mom and sister and I all meet in Vegas for a fun-filled weekend of catching up. They come from as far away as Georgia and as near as St. George, UT. I look forward to this weekend the moment the current one is over. This year my wonderful cousin Janey couldn't make it at the last minute because she got sick. Gosh, we missed you Janey! It just wasn't the same. I can't tell you how much we talked about you (in a good way - ha!). We stayed at The Orlean's this time and had rooms pretty close to each other. I always get asked what all we do, but it's not about Vegas. It's about spending time with our family, so we mostly hang out in the room or go eat somewhere. And we normally are having so much fun in our rooms laughing that no one has a hard time finding where we're at. We really do have a great time! So, here's what we did. Friday we hung out in our room pretty much the whole day besides going out to get dinner. Saturday my sister and I went down to the hot tub for a bit before Linda and crew arrived and we all ate a Subway for lunch. Then my sister, mom and I went shopping for a bit. That night we all met up again for dinner at the mexican restaurant in the hotel. Sunday we met up at the buffet for brunch, hung out and went to the hot tub again and then rented Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 in Linda's room. Cute movie. I really want to read the series. Monday we said our goodbye's and half the gang went to the strip to go look at a bunch of chocolate fountains and my sis, mom and I took our time getting ready, checked out and went to the M&M store and MGM to check out the lion exhibit (the picture was taken from under. It's a glass tube like thing so you can get under them) before taking my sister to the airport. A relaxing and low key weekend, but a great time!

Visit to Santa

Last night I heard that Santa arrived at the mall. Can you believe it? Thanksgiving isn't even for another 2 weeks. Next year he'll probably get here on Halloween. Anyway, Kirk had to work today so I took the kids over to see him. I love going early because there isn't a wait and then I'm done and can enjoy the season. Outside there was a train ride that we went on too...in 90 something degree weather. There's just something wrong with going to see Santa and riding a train decorated for Christmas in shorts! :-)

Sad news

It is with great sadness that I post this entry. My dear friend, Lou Roah, has passed away at the age of 91. Lou has been in my life from the day I was born. He was at every family gathering we had and was as close to an uncle as you can get. He died of heart failure overnight. He always had such a zest for life. We shared a lot of stories about our travels to different places in the world. He always had a smile on his face and was a very warm person. I will dearly miss him. He will always hold a special place in my heart!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This year we had a pirate, Star Wars Jedi and Sleeping Beauty in our neck of the woods. And aren't they the cutest little trick or treaters? We went out from about 6:00 - 7:30. You gotta love when they ask you to come home rather than you telling them it's time to be all done. It was a very warm Halloween this year, so they all came home very warm and thirsty. They should sleep tonight!

Side note: Devin said the cutest thing tonight at dinner that I want to always remember. As you all know, he's delayed and doesn't speak all that clearly or always in complete sentences, so that's why tonight made us laugh so much. We had gotten McDonald's for dinner and only brought Devin home french fries just like always because he never eats his whole dinner, so we usually feed him prior to getting fast food and he's totally fine with that. So, we all sit down to eat and he starts saying he wants a toy and then got all pouty and sad and in a very sulking voice and slumped over shoulders he says "I never get a toy!" To hear such a complete and clear sentence out of him was hilarious and shocking....and very much appreciated.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

My birthday weekend

Beware - this is a loooooooooooooooog entry.

Well, it happened. I turned the BIG 4-0! It's really a strange thing to write that. I certainly don't feel like it and definitely don't ACT like it! It's been a fun celebration, though. It started out on Friday night. It was our ward Trunk or Treat. The kids dressed up and played the games and ran around and had a great time. We left about 8:15 and got home. While the kids got ready for bed I got my pj's on and headed over to my little shin dig at Natalie's. My friends are so awesome. They wanted to throw me a party, but I have this thing about making people feel obligated to come to something for me, so I chose to just have a very low key party with just a few friends. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of who was there because I let Natalie take the pictures and her camera didn't work all that well. I do, however, have the beautiful presentation of the food and me opening my present. It was Natalie Benedict, Alisha Bayless, Heather Muir, Jolene Chase and Yvette Flores. We all came in our pj's and played games. It was a really fun time! And those girl's are the sweetest. I'm on Weight Watcher's and so everything was low cal treats. I didn't even cheat! Such a help! Okay, the gift was the funniest ever! They all know my love of the Twilight series books. They gave me a basket of low fat treats, a movie ticket (to be used to go see the midnight showing of the movie when it comes out with them - What?! Midnight????!), a candle, a t-shirt that says 'Team Edward'...wait it gets better....AND a premade scrapbook to put all my pictures of this weekends celebration, but there are cut-outs of "Twilight, the movie"! I laughed so hard I almost broke a rib. I think I'm 15! Those girls are too cute. Thank you for making my birthday so special, girls! So, I got home at about 2:30 am and then got up Saturday morning and my friend Heather Hanks had planned a full day of scrapbooking and massages. Ahhhhh. We had such a nice day together. And the massage.....gosh, I haven't had a professional massage in years. Thank you so much Heather for such a fun and relaxing day! So, now today is my actual birthday. Kirk brought home a beautiful bouquet of flowers to surprise me. I was surprised! He already got me my laptop. I didn't expect anything else. We were planning to go to dinner tonight, but then were asked by the stake presidency to go out on our main street as a family and hold YES on Prop 8 signs for about an hour as a family home evening together. They asked the whole stake to line up from the fwy and go as long as we could. It started out a little slow, but then it became a pretty long line and was a fun experience. Earlier today I went out and bought a leash to put on Devin because otherwise I think he just may have been killed. That boy will run out into traffic on a dime. So, that made things a lot easier. We had a lot of honking in support and a couple of unkind hand gestures. I'm surprised at how people do those things even when kids are around. Oh well, we mostly were supported. It was a good experience. Most of these pictures were taken before everyone got there.. Then we went to dinner and came home. What a great 40th birthday. And I still have this Saturday to look forward to having dinner with my friends Allyson and Colleen. I feel very lucky to have such wonderful and supportive friends and family. Love you guys!

Our pictures

Remember a few entries back when I wrote about getting our picture taken by Ally? Just wanted to share more. I'm not including the Christmas card photo, though. Oh, and speaking of which, I should write on here my 'rule' about Christmas card sending. Don't be offended if you don't receive one. I don't send one to everyone. I mostly send them to people out of state or friends and family we don't see that often. If you're around here and I see you on a pretty regular basis, I figure you've seen us and don't need a picture of us. It's my way of cutting back. I hope that doesn't offend anyone because that's not how it's meant. Anyway, check out what a great job Ally did...