Cherry Blossoms

This last weekend we decided to go down to the Cherry Blossom festival in DC and it could not have been a more beautiful day. The best part was being able to get out and be together as a family. It was so fun and it was perfect weather! There were people flying kites, having picnics and just enjoying the spring.

Here are my two boys!

Here we are all together enjoying the blossoms.

Barrick wanted to check out the water fountain at the WWII monument.

Here is my little guy checking out the blossoms close up.

Last, this was after we got home and he was just being so cute and posing for the camera so I had to add a couple of them.

I just love this little boy! This is my favorite face he gives me. The sly smile from the side.

Usuhs Easter Party!

This last week was the annual Easter party that they hold at Scottys school for all of the families. It was such a fun day and Barrick had a blast! We met for lunch then they have an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Barrick loved all of the eggs! Of course he thought the eggs were balls, so he would pick an egg up, grunt and throw it as far as he could. Of course all of the other kids loved that because it meant more eggs for them. It think in the end we ended up with five eggs, oh well we are just glad he had so much fun!

(Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest they were taken with my phone)

Here is Barrick checking out the dirt on his hands. He takes after me in that way, he likes to be clean!

Here is Barrick taking the eggs out of his basket and throwing them.

Here he is in action throwing his eggs, or as Barrick would say "Baa".

Here is our happy boy when we got home after eating a couple of treats from his basket.

Nothing better!

After a week of:

1-Driving 13 hours in a car.

2-Not going to bed at a normal time and not getting long enough naps.

3-Catching a pretty nasty cold and coughing all night long.

4-Having a soar throat and eating next to nothing.

5-Having four molars come in all at once.

There is nothing better then having this little boy back. As you can see he is happy as a clam with his baseball and blanket! WOW am I glad to see him better!

Spring Break!

Yes we finally had a break, and it was needed! This last Friday after Barricks 15 month appt. We packed up and took off to Ohio, we met up with Gma and Gpa Stewart, Shauni and her kids, and Alex. We had such a great time!

Thanks Alex for having us over to your house. We were treated like royalty. We came into a warm welcoming house with roast, mashed potatoes, rolls and salad set up for dinner! Yummy! He gave up his room and he slept in the the guest bedroom so we could have more room. We had such a great time playing wii, playstation, talking, going on walks with Barrick, showing us around Columbus and OSU and yes watching Twilight. These guys must really love me because I was outnumbered by all these boys and they let me get my way. Thanks so much Alex we had such a great time!

Here is a picture of Barrick and Uncle Alex. Barrick LOVED Alex! Here they are just hanging out watching TV.

Barrick was so sick all weekend and it just got worse, by the time we made it to Alex's he wouldn't eat anything except these cookies, which later he refused, but for the first day he at least ate a couple of cookies.

Here are the boys hanging out playing playstation. I know Barrick doesn't have any pants on I just changed him and he escaped before I could finish putting his clothes on.

Here we are at Columbus's own Max and Ermas and it was nummy!! Barrick of course didn't eat anything poor little guy!

Here is the one and only Ohio State football stadium it was huge!! It was so fun to drive around campus and see what Alex does everyday, from his school department to the hospitals he is doing his rotations at.

Before we went to Columbus we spent a couple of days in Dayton with Gma and Gpa Stewart and Shauni and her kids and we had such a great time.

Here we are at the Air Force museum it was so fun and a great way to celebrate Carters birthday. This is Barrick holding his new Airplane Gma gave him.

Here are all the cousins, Barrick, Ammon, Carter, and Abbi with Gpa Stewart in front of a B24. This is the type of airplane Great Grandpa Stewart flew in WWII.

Here we are in front of a big Cargo plane, Barrick loved this because he could climb up into this one.
Here he is on his way up.

Here we are before we left celebrating Carters birthday. We got a little cake and had a great time. I loved this picture because Gpa and Carter must have really strong eyes because nobody else could handle the sun especially Barrick.

We also went to a Water park in Vandalia. It was such a cute little place but unfortunately Barrick was not feeling well so he spent most of the time like this.

He eventually played a little but this was about the extent and he wouldn't let go of Scotty or I.
Luckily we were able to get some pictures don't pay attention to my half closed eyes.
Last we couldn't go without a cute picture of Gma and Gpa with all of the grand kids.

Last both nights we were in Dayton we were able to go over to Trent and Valenes house. (Scotty's aunt and uncle) We had two great nights full of card games, wii tournaments and good food. Alex also came with us one night and we had such a great time! Barricks favorite part was being able to go on a walk with Aunt Valene and Uncle Trent and of course Dino. He absolutely loved it!

Here is Barrick after the walk giving Dino loves. Thanks so much for having us over we had such a great time with your family and look forward to September where we can do it again!

Thanks everyone for such a great weekend we had so much fun and we love all of you!

Our fate has been told!

This last Wednesday was Scottys lottery day and wow was I nervous! At his school, for third year of medical school all students are finally put into the hospitals and they do different rotations in each area of medicine. They each receive a number for each change of rotation. We came out with pretty good numbers considering the track we wanted to start with. Then they split his class into double and single tracks where one group starts the longer rotations first (surgery or internal medicine) and the second half starts the shorter rotations (family medicine, Obgyn, ect.) Well Wednesday I packed Barrick up and drove down with my friend so we could be there. When they do the lottery everyone in his group sits in a lecture hall and they just put your name and number up and you choose what is available. Most Medical schools have you do most of your rotations at the hospital that is affiliated with your school. With Scottys school they are all over the US. So to say I was nervous is an understatement.

Well here is the final results.


Drum roll please.....

• rotation 1- Honolulu, Hawaii Psychiatry
• rotation 2-Las Vegas, Nevada Family Medicine
• rotaion 3- Dayton, Ohio Internal Medicine Inpatient
• rotation 4- Washington DC (NNMC)Internal Medicine Outpatient
• rotation 5- Washingtion DC (NNMC)Pediatrics
• rotation 6- Washington DC (Washington Hospital) Obgyn
• rotation 7- Washington DC (Walter Reed) Surgery

So if anyone wants to come visit us in Hawaii, or Vegas, we well be in Hawaii for 6 weeks, then in Vegas for four. I will be stopping in Utah for a couple of weeks then driving down to Vegas for the last part of his rotation. Then I am coming home!! I will probablly go up to Dayton for maybe a week but I need to come home after that. So there you have it, it is so nice to know where we are going and to start planning for next year. We are very excited!

A day in the life of Barrick at 14 months!

Well my little guy is 14 months, and because he is changing so fast I wanted to show what a day in his life is all about. I see him change so fast and find myself forgetting the little things so here is a day in the life of Barrick at 14 months.

1-The day starts out and the first thing he does is visit every single window and bark. We have a dog in our neighbors yard and Barrick can't get enough of him. So here is Barrick at the window barking away.

2-We then follow it up with playtime, and there is nothing he loves best then making a huge mess of our dvds. I don't normally let him do it so as you can see by the smile he was in heaven!

3-I then of course usually do some cleaning and Barrick loves helping me out. He loves pulling the clothes out of the dryer, and his second favorite is wiping/sweeping the floor. He constantly gets into our cabinet that has the rags and he will sit and wipe the floor. He also loves getting the broom out he thinks he is pretty special when he has that.

4-Then of course this would have to be his favorite thing. Which is anything electronic. Ipod, phone, Zune, Laptop, Desktop, tv, anything, he LOVES it. I am chasing him all day making sure he isn't breaking one of these items. What can I say he is just like his dad.

5-Without fail he has to go joy riding on his Lighting Mcqueen.

6-Enjoy some of his Baby Einstein movies. Nothing can distract this boy while his movie is on.

7-Then I am always having to make sure the bathroom doors are closed or else this happens every time. I walk in and find a little boy splashing and having a ball.

8-This is where mommy gets her workout. I am following this little guy up and down the stairs all day long!! He can do it by himself but call me paranoid, I just don't want my little guy falling down our steep stairs.

9-The day can't go by without many loves for his elephant. He LOVES this stuffed animal he can't get enough of it.

10-He has to brush his teeth as many times as I will let him. Not only with his own tooth brush but with mommy and daddy's also.

11-These last two always happen after daddy comes home. There is nothing he loves more then seeing his daddy in the evening. Anything that daddy touches he thinks is the most amazing thing in the world! The top picture shows that. He got in Scotty's bag and was playing with some of his medical equipment.

12-This last picture is my favorite because this is all Scotty sees. This little guy waiting to be held by his daddy. Barrick has Scotty wrapped around his little finger he just has to do this and he gets whatever he wants.

Also some updates on Scotty and I. Scotty is doing the same thing, studying every waking moment he can. The end is in sight for second year which I must say will be the happiest day of my life!! He takes his Step 1 exam on June 15th! Which will be the hardest exam he has ever taken and the most important. He has been studying for the test since we got back from Christmas vacation along with all of his other schooling, so we are both excited for him to be done. He is stressed and extremely busy he just can't wait for next year when he will be working in the hospital and done with the classroom. It is sad to say he doesn't have much else going on, he will occasionally play on our wards Basketball and Volleyball teams, but that is pretty much it. So to say we are excited for this year to be over is definitely an understatement.

I didn't realize how depressing I made this sound, (all though I wish I could say it wasn't true) but he said his favorite part is being able to wake up with Barrick and play in the mornings, and Sundays he doesn't study so we are able to have some quality time as a family and as a couple. I just appreciate how hard he is working and someday it will all pay off. (hopefully) haha

As for me. I am lucky enough that I get these two in my life. Barrick is so fun I love spending my days with him. I love taking him to the library and out to run errands he is such a joy and so fun to be with! I am also in Young Women's so I enjoy getting to know all of the girls! We are currently doing a road show and I was put in charge of teaching the Young Men a dance. So it has been fun getting my creative juices flowing again. I also started jogging again!! It has been too cold and I'd like to say I was working out at the gym or at home but that would be lying. It has been so nice to go running and I was proud that I was able to do 3 miles my first time back. Life is good! Overall we are so blessed we have such amazing friends and family and I count my blessings everyday.

Thank you all for words of kindness and concern. You really don't know how much it meant to me. THANK YOU!!

Blessed.

As you can see by the title we are so blessed. Scotty and I have so many blessings in life and I know I take them for granted everyday. This last week we were faced with a devastating discovery and without the Lords hand in our lives and the blessings he gives us everyday this could have turned out a completely different way.

To start off last week I received a phone call from my older brother who was obviously upset, telling me that my dad was in the ER and that they had found a mass on his kidney. (Kidney Cancer) After talking with my brother who is a physician he sat and explained everything that this could possible mean and the prognosis didn't look very good. Scotty jumped on the computer and bought me a ticket to fly home right away. The sequence of events that happened after this was truly remarkable.
First the only reason they were able to find the mass, was my dad had broken his arm and had surgery on it two weeks earlier and was having severe pain in his back. They were worried about complications from the surgery and considered just sending him home with an antibiotic thinking it was something else. But the physician in the ER decided to take it further and by chance through a CT scan found the mass on my dads kidney.
He went to three different Urologists and through these meetings they decided that they had to forgo the biopsy on the kidney and just go in asap and remove his entire right kidney. With Kidney cancer if found to late it is fatal, radiation and chemotherapy don't work with this cancer so when you find it you cut it out. After talking with this other doctor he decided to refer my dad to another Urologist, Doctor Bishoff who is the only physician in Utah who can remove the kidney Laparascopically. Not to mention my dad has had four major surgeries in the last year and the traditional way of removing the kidney is pretty horrific. I will spare you all the gory details but it is horrible. So to hear that Dr. Bishoff would take my dads case was amazing. With the seriousness of this cancer, they had my dad in for surgery the next week.
I was able to go out for a week, my dad went in on the 11th for the surgery and I was so grateful I was able to be there to support my family. I have the most amazing family and friends there were so many prayers, fasts, letters, meals and phone calls of support for my family. It is amazing to see how one person like my dad can affect so many people. The surgery went well. From what they could see the mass was confined just to the kidney. So that was a huge success. There were a few scares in the hospital, they thought at one point my dad had a pulmonary embolism but everything turned out just fine. Unfortunately I had to leave before he was released from the hospital, and I have been sitting on pins and needles ever since waiting for the pathology report which would tell us exactly what stage of cancer he had. Well I finally received the phone call last night and I had prepared myself for the worst and we literally received the greatest blessing from our Heavenly Father. The results showed that the mass was Benin. Come to find out with this cancer only 5% of people with this have Benin masses. So as you can see we have been so blessed.

The most remarkable thing about this is the way children can make everything so much better. So here are some pictures of Barrick and the other kids helping us sad adults smile. Here is a picture of Barrick and my dad the night before the surgery. It was so nice to be out there for a couple of days before so Barrick could play with my dad he was his little shadow he followed grandpa around everywhere!

Here is Barrick with my sister Ariane and Kellen his cousin.

Here is Barrick with Chole taking a bath. As you can see Barrick loves splashing.

Here is Barrick with his uncle Ryan at Kylees (my niece) fifth grade program.

Here is Barrick with uncle Austin. Both Austin and Alex (my brothers) really sacrificed a lot to be here for my dad. With Austin being Chief Resident and Alex in his third year of Medical School they really had to jump through hoops to be here. I didn't get Alex in any pictures because he literally didn't leave my dads side.

Here is Barrick with some of his cousins as you can see Barrick was to interested in watching the movie to look at the camera.

Barrick with his uncle Morgan. I was so sad this picture was fuzzy because it was so cute!

Anther picture with Grandpa. Barrick loves him, as you can obviously see by the picture. As I looked through the pictures I posted I realized Barrick is with men in almost every one. I think that had a lot to do with him missing his daddy!
Last, I want to tell you all I have the most amazing husband in the world!! While I was gone I missed Scottys birthday and Valentines day. So I want to wish Scotty a Happy Birthday!! He is the most amazing person I know and I love that he supports me and helps me grow and become a better person. Happy Birthday!

I made a cake the night before I left and had a little party for him. I love you babe thanks for all of the sacrifices you make for our family, I am truely blessed to have you in my life.