Happy Birthday Abby!!

Abby turns 7 years old today!
On her birthday I always think back to the crazy night she was born. The short version of the story is that she came 2 weeks early. Nate had left that very morning for a week long trip to Atlanta. I went into labor on the evening of the 9th, called my mom, she took me to the hospital, was admitted around midnight, called Nate at 1:00am (3:00am his time) to let him know that I was in the hospital and we were having a baby! While on the phone the doctor came in so I told Nate I would call him back. When I called him back 10 mins later I was holding a little 6lb 8oz Abigail Sara Arnesen. Nate caught the first flight home and was at the hospital by 10am. It's such a fun story to share with Abby. She loves it!

She had a friend party last weekend. We had a rockwall climbing party at the city recreation center.
Here's the birthday girl on the wall and then all her cute little friends that came to the party.

Here's her cake that ended up looking like a big pink donut.

Here are some of my favorite things about Abby.
1. She is my best eater. She will try anything and likes most things.
2. She is a great reader and she enjoys reading. (Wish I had a little of that in me!)
3. She is just like her Aunt Sara. She hates getting her hair brushed, she is very smart, and she loves to have her arms scratched (lightly). It's exactly what I hoped for when I named her after my favorite sister!
4. Abby is so creative and has LOVED spending time with her Dad creating things lately.
5. Abby makes a bed for Ferby (our dog) on her bed each night. It's cute to see them asleep together.

6. Abby is a perfectionist (again like Aunt Sara). I'm very impressed by her desire and determination to get things right.
7. She's my little buddy and even when she's driving me a little crazy I still thank my lucky stars that she's mine. (Well, not while she's driving me crazy!)
Happy Birthday Abby!!

The after party...

After Christmas we took a day off and did NOTHING!!! I don't think I even got out of my pajamas that day. It was wonderful.

Tyler got a huge Alien Invasion Lego set that he spent almost the entire day doing. Here is the before and after.

Did you want to see that closer up? I thougth so, otherwise taking so many pictures of this lego set would've been silly!

Well after all of that Alex couldn't let Tyler steal the show so he got out his Lego stuff and we took pictures of his things. They are not new from Christmas but hey, why not take a few shoots of them.

Alex spend some quality time with Nate making paper airplanes out of a kit he got from Grandma and Grandpa.

I'm not sure where Abby was all day but this is what Lu did all day. She's pretty skilled with the IPad.

We ended up running some sort of errand that evening so we loaded the whole crew up to get out of the house for a while. Nate ran into Walmart to do our semi-annual cereal stock up while the rest of us waited in the car. Here's a view of us waiting in the car.

What would I do without the phone and DVD player to entertain?

Outside the car I caught a beautiful sunset.

It was a perfect ending to a nice relaxing day with the family.

Christmas 2011

We had a great Christmas this year. It was pretty relaxing and low key.

My favorite part of Christmas is the Singleton party. It was always held on Christmas Eve until a couple of years ago when we moved it to the 23rd. It's always been at that party when it really starts to feel like Christmas. This was our first Chirstmas without Grandma Singleton and the party just happened to fall on the 6 month anniversary of her death. It put a little sober feeling over the party but it was still a very enjoyable time.

As a kid I always remember having a little talent show at the Singleton party. All of my cousins would play amazing piano pieces and my family would do things like put nylon stockings on our heads and sing Jingle Bells as we pulled the stockings off and our faces were smashed and funny looking. Good memories....

This year my cousins Shannon and Brooke played Sleigh Ride on the piano. It was the only talent of the night but it brought back great memories. It is a seriously difficult piece and they played it wonderfully. They are amazing!

On Christmas Eve we had Adam and Megan over for our Arnesen party. We are the only Arnesen's around so it's a pretty small party! We always love getting together with them but don't do it enough.

Megan made homemade ice cream for dessert. The kids loved the toppings and especially loved crushing the oreos.

Here we are with the spread for our ice cream.

After the party we got ready to put the kids to bed and read The Night Before Christmas by the Christmas tree. The kids actually went to sleep pretty good this year and Nate and I got to work! We give one gift to each child and Santa brings one gift. At 11pm I realized that the one and only gift I had for Alex was no where to be found. To this day we have never found it. After a bit of panicking and some quick thinking we turned an extra gift that we were planning to give to all the kids into Alex's gift.

Here are some of the Christmas morning pictures.

After opening presents at home we drove to my parents church to attend with them. I LOVED having a few presents in the morning and then off to church to enjoy the spirit and remember exactly why we are celebrating.

After church we headed to my parents house for breakfast (for lunch) and then more gift giving and recieving with cousins. I wish I had gotten a picture of the pile of presents there. It was massive!

Here is Abby almost getting lost in her pile of gifts from Grandma and Grandpa (they love to spoil the grandkids!)

Here are Tyler and Alex with a favorite gift from the day. And one of Lu because she stood still for a picture and almost smiled!

And one last picture because I love it! It's my Grandpa Singleton who must be the most perfect man on earth! I love him dearly.

It was a great Christmas!

Santa

Tonight the older kids and I went to a Christmas party. It is put on by one of the special ed teachers at the school. It's for all of his current students and former students. He is so kind to have the party every year. We've been going for 4 years now. It's always the same....the kids play the same game each year, sit on the stairs and sing songs, and then Santa comes in with gifts for each of them. The kids really enjoy it. Here they are sitting with Santa.

In this last picture Santa is asking Tyler what he wants for Christmas. Tyler said a remote control car. I was a little surprised because I hadn't heard him talk about one of those this year. After we got home Tyler requested some help from me to write a letter to Santa.

Now I wish you could've seen this next part because writing about it just won't do it justice. I told Tyler he didn't need to write a letter because he just told Santa what he wants. At this point he throws his hands in the air and shouts "I panicked!" I wasn't following what he meant so I asked him to explain. Again he throws his hands in the air and says "I panicked with Santa. I don't want a remote control car!" Thus the reason for the urgency to write a letter to Santa with his more thought out request. I wish you could've been there. It was great!

Hopefully Santa will get that letter in time to make any needed changes to his previous plans!

NIH

Last week Tyler, Lauren, my Mom, and I flew to Bethesda Maryland to the National Institutes of Health. We were able to participate in a study they are doing on Bardet-Biedl Syndrome. I have been working towards going on this trip for over 10 months now. I have had soooo much anxiety over many aspects of it. The travel made me nervous, navigating my way around a new place made me nervous, trying to make the kids do all of the procedures and tests that needed to be done made me nervous. I was a nervous wreck by the time we left. My biggest worry was that I wouldn't be able to get Tyler on the plane. He has been known to refuse to get on things before like trains or buses so the plane made me worried. If he refused I didn't know what I would do. I considered medicating him and Lauren to make things easier but the medication made both of them dizzy and that made me worry about them getting sick on the plane. Do you see a general theme here of me being nervous. Seriously, I cannot think of a single event that I have worried about more than this! Nate gave Tyler and I blessings the night before we left. I felt a nice calm feeling come over me and I felt like we were going to be ok.

I was so proud of Tyler and Lauren on the plane. They were so good! Tyler got a little nervous getting on but he kept telling himself that he was brave and he was strong. It was really cute.

The plane ride was uneventful and we caught the right shuttle to NIH from the hospital and we arrived at the Children' Inn around 6:30pm sunday. The Children's Inn is a place for families to stay while they are patients at NIH. It is a great place. Tyler was very excited to find the game room he had seen online. He also LOVED this super mild therapy dog.

Lu loved the playroom. It had a treehouse in it where she loved to play.

She loved the "Woody hat" and this fun life sized light bright thing.

We started our appointments on monday morning. Tyler was amazing. He was calm and so willing to do whatever we asked him to do. He was able to do every test that was scheduled for him. I was certain there were a few he wouldn't be able to do but he surprised us all and did them. Between monday and thursday he had a physical exam, blood draw (13 viles to fill and 3 different attempts,it was not fun!), DEXA scan to measure bone density, Abdominal MRI and brain MRI, 2 different ultrasounds, x-rays, EKG, Psychological testing, Audiology testing, Opthamology appt, and a couple of other appts that I went to and he had to wait in the waiting room with Lu and my Mom for hours! I am so proud of him and what he did there. I know that he was strengthened and calmed as a result of so many prayers on our behalf. It really was amazing. Here he is waiting for an appointment.

He loved that some of the offices had complimentary drinks!

Then there was Lu. Wow, was she the opposite of Tyler. She was scheduled for all the same appointments as Tyler but I think the only thing she did was the psychological testing. She threw a royal fit anytime anyone tried to touch her. Luckily we had scheduled for her to be sedated for her opthamology appointment at the end of the week. We decided to do as many tests as possible while she was out. She ended up having her eye exam and ERG, MRI's, blood draw, and physical exam while she was sedated. It was a wonderfully calm and relaxing few hours for me while she was out! (Is that wrong of me to say?) Here she is just before the sedation.

Did I mention that she watched a Bugs Bunny movie about a million times on the IPad? She called it "carrots" and she watched it all the time!

We got some great news that Lauren's eyes seem to be fine. She doesn't have Retinitis Pigmentosa as of yet. The opthamologist said he would love to do an exam in a few years and see how things look but for now she is just fine.

Lu recovered from the sedation just fine for a couple of hours but then she seemed to struggle. She started shaking really bad and she could not stay awake. It was a little concerning but it was also really cute to have her cuddle and sleep on me and my mom.

Even the day after the sedation she seemed really out of it still. I am counting that as a blessing because we flew home that day and she was an angel through it all. We had 2 flights and I don't think she even said 2 words or moved off my lap during either. By this morning she seemed to be back to her normal self so I'm not worried anymore.

The entire week was so exhausting for my Mom and I. The days were long at the clinic and then trying to entertain the kids in the evenings was draining too. My Mom was a fantastic travel partner. She and Tyler were buddies and I took care of Lauren most of the time. My Mom was a great support to me and I loved being able to share this experience with her. She was our navigator and found ways for us to get out for dinner or get to the grocery store. She was so great to entertain the kids in waiting rooms when I was meeting with different specialists. I really enjoyed getting to spend the week with her.

I also have to share these pictures because they are perfect representations of the week. These are their security badges they had to wear all week. Tyler didn't go anywhere without his elephant. He even held it during his MRI's. And Lauren, well the picture says it all!

Even though the experience was very exhausting and difficult I am still so glad that we had the opportunity to go. I thought I would come home with tons of new information about the syndrome but I don't feel like I did. I did learn some things but I found out that I already know most of what there is to know about the syndrome in general. I realized that I need to shift my focus from general information to more specific information about what is going on with my kids. That is what I did find out this week. I found out the Tyler is already showing some pre-diabetes signs. I feel a real urgency to change some things in our diets to make sure he is healthy. I also found out that generally my kids are doing really well. Their hearts and kidney's are fine. Lauren's eyes are fine. And although Tyler does have the eye disease his vision is quite good still. I learned more about genetics and how the syndrome was passed on too. We didn't get the result of the genetic testing yet. That could take a few months to get.

The most important thing I learned this week was something that I already knew but was reminded of many times this week. I re-learned that I have been guided and directed by the Holy Ghost so many times as a parent to these special kids. I was able to think through our journey from the time Tyler was born until the now and was able to recognize that my mind has been enlightened by the Spirit. I've been lead to different things at different times that have been beneficial for us. As I've looked at the past 10 yrs it's so easy to see how blessed I've been. I feel really grateful for the renewed appreciation for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

On the flight home there was a beautiful sunset somewhere over the midwest.

I was so excited to get home and see Nate, Alex, and Abby. I was also very excited to sleep in my own bed without Lauren!

A gift

Here is a question. Do you think that simply thinking about something and hoping for something is a silent prayer? Because I have been thinking about something and really hoping something would happen. I haven't "officially" prayed about it but I've thought about it a lot. Today the thing that I had been hoping for happened and I instantly had a feeling that it was an answer to my prayers. Only, I haven't prayed for it. Maybe it's what some would call a tender mercy. I remember a few lines from a talk given by Elder Bednar about tender mercies. He says " I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord’s timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them." He also says "the Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness, obedience, and humility invite tender mercies into our lives, and it is often the Lord’s timing that enables us to recognize and treasure these important blessings."

I guess whether it was a tender mercy or an answer to silent prayer doesn't matter. I recognized instantly that it was a blessing made just for me.

You're probably expecting some great story at this point but it really is a very simple thing. But, I have thought about this very simple thing over and over today and I am so grateful for it!

Lauren has been going to preschool for a few months now. She comes home happy and I see papers she brings home but I have no idea what she does at school or how she acts there. I don't know the routine. I don't know what her behavior is like. Does she act happy there or is she missing home? I have held her cute, chubby checks with my hands and looked into her eyes almost begging for her to tell me something, anything she did that day. I know she can't tell me but for some reason it makes me sad to not know what she thinks and feels about her time at school. This has been the norm for almost 3 months now. I think about it less than I did at first but sometimes my heart still longs for her to share something with me.

Today Lauren and I were playing with some toys and she brought out a bag of wooden blocks. She set it on the table and said "It's toy time"! She said it 2 or 3 times and I instantly recognized that they must call playtime "toy time" in her class. I was so excited that she shared something with me. It was so small but it was so big at the same time. A little while later I heard her talking to herself saying "let's count to ten" then she would start counting from 1 to 10. Again, my heart just melted knowing that she must have learned that at school. I can just imagine the teacher saying that exact phrase. Like I said before. I know this is such a small thing. I still don't really know much about her school and her time there but I am so grateful that she was able to share something with me. I am even more grateful that I recognized that it was a gift for me from my Father in Heaven. He knows me. He knows the small desires of my heart. I am so grateful that he gave me that sweet gift today.

Fall Happenings

This is a catch up post for all of our fall activities.

We went to the school carnival last month. They had fun activities for the kids but my kids LOVED the band the most! Tyler's old teacher is the drummer in the band so he let the kids sit and play the drums.

Here's Lu soaking in the loud music from the band!

We went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point during Fall Break. The kids had a great time there. I didn't remember Lu's stroller and she can't be trusted to stay with me while she's walking so we rented a wagon for her.

Tyler rode this bike around a track. It's a big deal to me because he doesn't know how to ride a bike and I wasn't even sure if he knew how to pedal! It wasn't easy for him but he did it! I was so proud of him for trying. He ended up doing this activity twice.

We watched pig races, played in bouce houses, played volleyball over hay bails, roped cattle, got faces painted, and had a snack. I didn't take the kids through the corn maze though. I didn't think that was a good idea by myself! If I lost someone in there I may not ever find them! This is the only maze the kids went through.

We also spent a night at Grandma's house over Fall Break. It was our mini vacation! The next morning we got donuts and went up into the Layton foothills to eat and look at the fall leaves with Grandma. Here we are.

The spot we went to had a great lookout area where we could soak in a view of the valley below.

We picked fall leaves and still have them drying in a heavy book. We should probably take them out now!

Next we carved pumpkins. Lauren thought they looked pretty tasty!

I'm pretty sure she thought it would taste like cantalope.

Nate was a great helper with the carving. He helped the kids get their designs just right.

Then came Halloween....
Have I mentioned that I don't love Halloween? Scary things, candy and dressing up are not my favorite things! Nevertheless, the kids had a costume parade at school on Halloween. Tyler doesn't dress up so he sat with me and Lu during the parade. He was my photographer so I got some pretty interesting pictures there!

Here I am waiting for Lu to finish throwing a fit on the floor. It was nice of Tyler to capture that moment! If you look closely you can see a pink blob on the floor by me. That's Lu.

Tyler took some great pictures at the parade. Unfortunately none of them were of Alex or Abby in their costumes! Luckily I had the camara handy that night just before they went trick or treating. Here is Alex and his friend. Alex was a phantom.

Abby was Minnie Mouse and Lu was whatever we could find around the house that she would wear!

(Can you tell Abby had a party at school that day? Wish I had gotten a picture taken before she stained the front of her costume!)
Here's Lu taking another taste of pumpkin!

I didn't get a picture of Tyler but he was a doctor. He dresses up enough to be able to trick or treat to the houses on our street. He's done after that! Alex and Abby went crazy with the trick or treating this year! They went for 2 1/2 hours! Here they are with their friends they went with.

Abby and her friend ended up in the wagon by the end of the night and they had gotten a little silly! By little I mean ALOT!

That's all I have time for right now. I went on a fantastic girls getaway weekend with my sister/sister in laws last weekend. I'll have to share about that one later!