Tyler's Day

Today Chad was able to baptize Tyler. His uncle Kirk and cousin Keslee gave great talks. Raegan and Kalli gave the opening and closing prayers and Tyler sang a solo...at his request. He sang I Love To See the Temple, he was so dang cute. This meeting was one where I definitely felt close to my savior. It was really hard to not have my dad there and to know what he is going through and what my mom has been through.

There was a special spirit at this baptism.
Tyler was able to be baptized by his dad.

This is Tyler still wet after his baptism. Chad had me sneak into the men's restroom to help Tyler. He was so dang cute!

Like Father like Son. I love this picture.

Wow that is a lot of kids! I LOVE my kids!

Afterward we had a big dinner with TONS of food. Tyler was hanging out with one of his best buds, Elizabeth.

Some of Raegan's Best Buds. Allie, McKayla,
Raegan and Kylee

Update on Dad

Thanks for all of the prayers and concerns! The surgery went well. PHEW! The surgeon went into his hip and saw that there was quite a bit of infected fluid all throughout it. He was able to clean and "power wash" the hip out. The problem he did find that because the cancer has eaten away so much of the bone there are lots of little holes for the infectious bug to hide. So the chances of him having to have his hip "power washed" again is likely. They will be giving him some hard core antibiotics but with him being on chemo that is likely to fight the antibiotic. So frequent blood tests will have to be done to determine if the levels of infection rise. Does any of this make sense???? Any how he is recovering and will probably be released from the hospital on Monday if all goes well. Hopefully this will have relieved much of his pain that he has had in that area. Only time will tell. I am so grateful that my sister Tara was able to fly up here from AZ to help with driving my mom back and forth to Huntsman Medical, which is about 1 hour away. My mom will not drive in the dark, on the freeway or if it is raining or snowing, so Tara being here will help a lot! And my heck I am so amazed at the friends who rallied around me yesterday. The phone calls, visits, dinner for my hubby and kids, picking the kids up from school, the megga treat bag (ladmo bag) for the hospital, babysitting...lots of babysitting and just all around concern for my needs was overwhelming. I can't hold back the tears just thinking about the love that was shown for me these last couple of days and I wasn't the one in surgery!!!! I have the greatest friends and belong to such an amazing ward.
THANK YOU!!!

Prayers Needed!

Well we just found out that my dad has to undergo surgery...Again. He has been in unbelievable pain for the last couple of months. His Chemo doctor has just been throwing more and more medication down him to try to ease his pain without figuring out the problem. (She is not my favorite can you tell!) Anyhow he was finally able to meet with his surgeon who performed his hip replacement. Needless to say he was extremely concerned with my dad's progression which has been NONE! It has been very frustrating to watch him in this pain and not getting any better. Well the surgeon decided to run test and he believes that my dad's hip is infected. So tomorrow he will be checked into Huntsman Cancer Hospital to undergo more surgery to scrape any infection from his hip. I have very mixed emotions about this. First of all I am THRILLED that finally someone is concerned enough to do something for him but second I am extremely nervous for him to go into surgery again. But if this can relieve his pain it will all be worth it. PLEASE keep him and my mom in your prayers.
I will let you know as I know more.

Side Note: Thank you for all of your donations to our Guatemala cause. We have passed our goal and now have a new goal of $2000.00. We are currently at about $1400.00. WOW! I know some of you have expressed that you wish you could donate but are unable to. Please don't feel bad! Just having you PRAY for Chad and I when we go will be awesome! We are a little nervous about the whole experience. I really have the GREATEST FRIENDS and FAMILY!!!

Our little Toughie!

Tonight Kalli came home and said "Look at my fat pinkie, I think it's broken!" Sure enough it was fat and swollen. I asked her what happened and she told me that she was wearing her clunky shoes and tripped and fell at her friend's house. She said that it hurt but she didn't want to quit playing so she would just bite her tongue to make the pain of the pinkie go away and she continued to play for a couple more hours.

So we took her to our friend Robyn who is a nurse and she suggested that we take her to urgent care. Sure enough she didn't just break her finger but she broke it where it connects with her hand. So a cast is necessary. She never even shed a tear. She has an amazing pain tolerance and makes me laugh. She is joy in so many ways,
not alot of drama when it comes to Kalli!

WOW!

Your donations will help families like this one...Thank you!

I just wanted to quickly update any of you who have been following our blog about our Guatemala donations. I am so excited to say that I am up to $830.00!! WOW! Seriously I am in shock at the generous donations I have received for this cause. Tears come to my eyes when I think of all of my friends and family who have contributed. Thank you! Today Raegan went around our neighborhood selling vinyl lettering for this cause and in such a short time she came home with $114.00! WOW! I have not even added that to the $830.00 yet. I am so close to my goal in not even half the time I gave myself. This is so awesome. You all Rock! If you are still wanting to donate or to just check out my donation page you can go
(just click on the orange here)

HERE.

I love Family Home Evening!

Raegan, Tyler and Grandpa
Tonight for Family Home Evening we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to help with some yard work. The kids helped with raking and picking up sticks that were covering the yard. They also picked up rocks in what will be the garden and grandma said she would pay each kid a penny a rock! There are a lot of rocks. I think maybe each kid earned a dollar...They were thrilled!

Raegan looking pretty sassy while wheel barreling the leaves and sticks away.

Sydney is always up for "Striking a Pose"

Max couldn't decide what he wanted to do, either ride in the wheelbarrow or push it, either way he wasn't a very happy boy.

The girls had a great time even picking up rocks. Yes and Sydney doesn't take a picture without
striking a pose.

Andrew just worked quietly on his own.

Tyler was a workhorse.
He had that wheelbarrow filled quickly.

Then for all of their hard work they were rewarded with homemade ice cream...yum! Kalli and Tyler were pretending they were cranking the ice cream maker like grandma used to have.

Topping the ice cream was a great end to a very nice Family Home Evening.
Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!!

The Goings On

Here is a little bit of what has been going on at the Kerby house this past week.
Max got his first "Big Boy" haircut.

He was so good! We were shocked, when Chad cuts his hair it takes three people to hold him while he screams the entire time. Guess daddy won't be cutting his hair any more!

We have left over Valentines Day Suckers.
Can you guess who might have done this?

Yup! It was Max! He thought he was pretty clever finding a place to store them. Good thing they didn't have a metal stick!

We have all been struck with a little bit of SPRING FEVER! Seriously that sun comes out and the neighborhood comes alive again. You see people you haven't seen in 5 months and they just live across the street...I know pathetic huh? Anyhow the kids were out in full force and having a blast.

Chad was busy taking kids on rides in the bike trailer while Sydney followed close behind.

This is Riley, Max's buddy.

Logan and Sydney are the best of friends!

Happy Birthday to Me!

OK so this last weekend was my birthday. It started on Friday with getting to go up to a friends cabin. We had a blast! It was just 10 lovely ladies, 5 snow mobiles, tons of chocolate and lots of laughing. This was my first experience with snowmobiling and let me tell you, it was awesome!!! I loved it. At first I was pretty timid and not sure about going on a midnight snowmobile ride without husbands with muscles to ward off all of the bears or elk we might encounter. (I am such a worrier!) Well I was convinced and I am SO happy I was. Talk about a Bat out of you know where...I got behind that machine with my friend Andrea on the back and I was off.

I guess I had some pretty hard core pinned up energy that needed to just let loose. It was amazing. I pressed on that gas and never let up. Seriously I was AWESOME!!! (especially for a big fat chicken like myself) After the midnight snowmobile ride we stayed up and talked and laughed. I think I finally fell asleep about 3:00am.

Then Saturday morning came quickly and there awaiting me in the kitchen was pancakes with candles...Ahh Happy Birthday to me! I have some really great friends. Then off to the outlets in Park City.
A little birthday shopping with friends was a treat. Then that night I got to go out to dinner with some other great friends Maren and Jason at of course...Carrabbas, where else. What a day and what a weekend, I love birthdays...Especially mine!

Side Note: Thanks to all of you who have donated to our Toilets in Guatemala cause. As of right now I am already up to $355.00, (the goal is $1,000). I really have generous and really great friends and family...Thank You! Remember you can still donate even as little as $5.00 helps. If you want to donate or just to check out my donation page click HERE.

Fund Raising Project

The Happy Children of Guatemala

Ok many of you know that Chad and I will be heading to Guatemala in April. We are getting way excited for this. On this trip we will be helping out the villagers in the Chimaxyat village. One of the projects we will be doing is building ecological compost latrines (toilets) for 33 of the families there. This in turn will help with cleanliness and sanitation. Chad and I have set a goal to raise $1,000.00 for this cause. We are also looking for donations of school and art supplies for the school there. (Contact me directly if you are interested in donating supplies) There is such a need for so much and I am so excited to be apart of this.
If you would like to donate any money (even $5.00) click HERE and it will take you to my donation page. I will have more updates on other ways to donate as the trip comes closer.
I am so excited to be apart of this.