Happy Easter!

Easter has had a new beautiful meaning to me this year. I have never fully embraced what this means for us until now. On that Heavenly day, we escaped death! I can't imagine how terrified Jesus must have felt in Gethsemane as he knelt and prayed, "Please let this cup pass from me!" I have asked for that same thing so many times this year. A few months ago, my perfect little world came crashing down. My family was told that Mom has stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, and the prognosis was grim; 2-3 years. Through a lot of prayer and many miracles, she has responded well to chemo, and the doctor is now hoping for more than 6 years! I am grateful that God has the bigger picture. He knows what is best for us, and He gets to make the ultimate decisions based on love and concern for us. I am grateful for a mother who has given me the peace and comfort of knowing God. I'm thankful that my mom and I took every opportunity to enjoy every second together, even before this trial. I'm grateful that Jesus allowed himself to be mocked and abused by the very people he was saving, even though he had the power to stop them. I'm thankful that he made such a sacrifice so that we can live forever, and there is nothing more important to me than teaching this to my children and living worthy of that great promise!


The Huntsman is such an amazing place. It is beautiful, and everyone there is soooo nice. They have a cart that they bring around with snacks and drinks. They have bins everywhere that have complimentary hats, wigs, and books. There are huge puzzles all over that people work on while they wait, although we have never had to wait there - they're always ready for us the second we arrive.



Sage is finding a book at the Huntsman Cancer Center library.




Playing with hats during chemo. It's not fair - Kim even looked good in the ugly ones!
At the school where Mom works they each made a quilt square for her.


Mom is very patient with the boys "loving" her when she's not feeling well.


Easter Eggs!

While the boys did easter eggs, Emilee took care of Sage.


Easter egg hunt at Grandma Star and Grandpa Mike's!









Listening to Grandpa Mike tell the Easter story.

Hoola!





Happy Birthday Mason!Mason is my happy-go-lucky kiddo. He loves life, and everyone and everything in it. When we go to the store, he talks to everyone. I hope he never grows out of that. He once told the store clerk, "My brother is going to be a famous motorcycle rider!" He still wants to play the electric guitar (although last year I think it was the air guitar), and he still loves bugs - except for spiders and slugs. He likes to make slug traps. He has discovered a small taste of independence, and enjoys going to play with his friends. My neighbor loves that he calls her son, Connor, "Con-man." He learned to read this year, and is very proud of his preschool. Mason likes to tell tall tales - I'm sure I've posted a few of them. He is full of energy. When he gets carried away, he is the best little apoligizer I've ever seen. He can say "I'm sorry" in a way that melts my heart! He loves to entertain. His doctor was having him walk so he could look at his legs, and he turned around and walked backwards. He said," This way's better." I'm pretty sure the doctor has to carve out extra time for Mason's appointments so he'll have time to listen to him talk:) Mason is an out of the box thinker, just like his dad. One time when he didn't like what I had planned for dinner he called his Grandma Star and arranged for us to go to dinner at her house. I thought Scott planned it, and he thought I planned it. We didn't find out until later what happened!

Mason wanted to invite friends to Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday, but they're still a bit too young, so I told him he could invite four friends to our house for a little 'mini' party. As kids found out about it, the party grew - we didn't want anyone to feel left out! So we ended up with 11 kids! I was a little concerned, because Sage was sick and I was the only adult, but it worked out perfectly. The only thing I would change is that we would have invited our great friends that live outside the neighborhood, too. We'll make up for it next year!


The erupting volcano cake was a hit.



I think he liked it!

We played "what do you wish this person" with the presents, and Mason wished "Con-man" a garbage truck. Connor LOVES garbage trucks. His mom had to video the garbage man because he came during the party!

Instead of going out and buying a present (on my tab) Corbin decided to wrap up his own toys to give to Mason. It was so thoughtful and sweet. Corbin really loves his brother!


Mason chose to do a motorcycle pinata this year. Instead of breaking it, we made the engine with tissue paper, and they squirted it until it broke. It was a lot easier to make and turned out to be lots of fun! After the pinata we sat up paper cups for target practice. I'm happy to say that nobody squirted anyone else (apparently, I was sufficiently scarey and my threats worked). It was an abnormally cold day- we hid easter eggs in the snow that morning! I planned two hours for the party, and after the pinata, target practice, easter egg hunt, cake, and presents, we still had 45 minutes left, so we had to improvise more games. I always go overboard and plan way too much, so I scaled back this time. It was supposed to be a simple party, after all! The improv games turned out to be lots of fun. We played easter egg toss (into bowls), and made pyramids out of paper cups to throw easter eggs at.


Nice shot, boys!




Mason's spider web cake.

The "buddy system." Nobodody's a better buddy than Boston!

Pepperoni pizza, one of the only foods besides pizza that Mason likes.

Story time!
After our trip to San Rafael, Mason told me he saw a giraffe skeleton there. I said, "There are no giraffes in San Rafael. He said, "It used to be a jungle, but they pulled out all of the trees." When I asked Mason how he knew that, he said, "Because I said a prayer and an angel came and told me."

Mason's prayer the other day: "...Please help us to eat healthy and nutritious foods, but not the ones we don't like..."


Feb. 25, 2011
Happy Birthday, Sage!

Anyone who has met Sage knows what a sweet little angel she is! Sage is so easy going, and she's always happy and smiling. A friend once said, "I'll bet it takes a lot of work to lift those cute chubby cheeks to smile!" It's all muscle, baby! She has used that smile to capture the hearts of her two big brothers. When she wakes up they usually beat me to her bedroom, and it's all smiles and cuddles. I love to see that side of my tough, active boys. They love to make her laugh and share their stuffed animals with her. Sage loves animals, stuffed or real. She is always pointing at them and saying, "ooooh" or "dog." Dori is a big comfy pillow to Sage. She has a bunny that she carries everywhere with her. Sage's favorite food is popcorn. I know it's not on the "okay for babies" list, but she does great with it, and she gets so excited that it's not an option to share it with her! To redeem myself, her second favorite food is peas:) She's my great little helper. She likes to get the mop out of the pantry and scoot around the kitchen floor with it. She has learned how to climb up on the door of the dishwasher and tuck her feet under the drawer so she can hand me the silverware to put away. Sage loves her daddy. If she sees him, she'll squeal until he comes over and loves her. This past year with Sage has changed our family forever. She has brought a beautiful softness and love into our home. We love you, Sagey!


Sage is so sweet and easy! When she's sleepy, I just lay her in her crib, and she instantly rolls over and hugs her bunny until she falls asleep.


Sage loves Aunt Rachel-if she's in the room, Sage is right there! We were out somewhere the other day, and Sage thought she saw Aunt Rachel. The second she walked in the room Sage scooted over to her as fast as her little bum would take her!



"Hello?"

"So this is what cake tastes like!!!! What other secrets have you been keeping from me?!"

My little scooter

Hello? Hi!

Cutest little baby dinosaur ever!

If she could talk in this, she'd be using my middle name - she's that serious!