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.

Congratulations Staci!!

My sister in law Staci Boren (Chad's sister) just had a baby down in AZ. This little cutie is her and her husband Brad's fifth kiddo. Little Rachel was born on Monday night and weighed in at 8 pounds 11 ounces and was 23 inches long! I am so wanting to hold this little girl. All of Staci's other kids were born with dark hair, this little sweetie as a full head of blond hair.
Congratulations Brad and Staci, she is beautiful!!!

An update on Dad

Today I was stressed...No wait I was a mess! I knew that today I would be meeting with the doctor to discuss my dad's cancer. He received a Pet Scan last week. A Pet Scan is an all over body scan that searches for cancer. It can detect it anywhere and everywhere. My dad had received one when he was first diagnosed with cancer. This was the second one-about 6 months apart to compare and see where and if the cancer was growing. The great news is that the tumor on his hip has shrunk significantly, due to the radiation! It is still there, but none the less quite a bit smaller. There also doesn't seem to be any cancer that they didn't already know about, which means it doesn't seem to be spreading or growing!!! Hip Hip Hooray!!! They are going to continue the same Chemo treatment that he has been on and then evaluate in a few weeks. The cancer is not going away but it is not growing either. We are all very happy. Now if he can get his pain under control (he is still in a great deal of pain in his hip where the replacement surgery took place). We meet with his doctor who performed the hip surgery on Monday, with x-rays we should know more then. Any how thanks for the kind words, thoughts and prayers! They seem to be working!!!

The Honest Blogger Award

I have been Honored as an “Honest Blogger” by Joni, you can see her blog at
www.Joni-fletcherfamily.blogspot.com
Honored by bloggers The rules are thus:
1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Scrap.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

The 7 blogs: These are ladies who bare-all on their blogs. They are intelligent, funny, honest-to-the-bone, and make me a better person for reading them. I consider these ladies my dear friends, even thoughsome of them I have never met, because of the connection I feel from their blogs. You can check out their blogs from my sidebar. In no particular order:

1. Kayola Skinner. Even though her blog is private she has quite the following. She is honest, hilarious, sincere, amazing and incredibly talented. She was kind of a second mother to me. She saw me at my worst when I went to California with her family and got Shingles and she took me to a crazy-grosso doctor.

2. Melanie Syrek. She is my cousin who I recently have gotten closer to. I love Melanie. She is sweet, sincere, a loving mother and a person who I admire for going through what she has gone through these past few years, with loosing her twin brother and raising a righteous posterity. She is an inspiration to me.

3. Tara LaRue. My sister who is trying ever so hard to get out of debt and has been brave enough to make it public. I love her and admire her for her dedication to this cause. She is also a loving aunt to many nieces and nephews who absolutely adore her.

4. Shelly Lomu. Wow what trial she is enduring. Shelly is a mother of 5 who just found out that she has stage 3 breast cancer. She is a fighter. To read her blog is an inspiration to all. She speaks of her Chemo, her hair loss, her exhaustion and her love of life.

5. Andrea Derrick. My sister who is constantly battling the daily grind with 7 children and a husband who is in the stake presidency and is extremely busy with working 70 hours a week! She is amazing and awesome! I look up to her and laugh at her as well as with her as she shares the funny things her kids are doing as well as the daily struggles..

6. Maren Checketts. A life long friend who has known me almost as long as my family. She is awesome. In her blog she tells it like it is! She talks about being a busy mom of six, dealing with lice, laundry, stomach flu, fighting children, long days without a spouse (he travels alot) and demanding church callings. She is a forever friend!

7. Summer. She is a friend from high school friend. She was recently remarried. She talks of the fun and challenges she has had combining two families into one. She is happy and it exudes out of her blog. Summer is one who just makes you smile!

To all of you who read my blog. I have so many others I could put on this list. So many are private now, but I love reading them all the same. I enjoy your feelings and seeing you and your kids grow up!

10 honest things about me:

1. I love my family with all my heart

2. I love to bake anything and everything homemade.

3.I believe that I live in a modern day Mayberry.

4. I hope to never move from this area, I want to raise my kids right here.

5. For the first time in a long time I feel like I have some really good friends who care about me, and would notice if I up and left in the night. (not that I would, but it's nice to know they would notice)

6.I absolutely love spending any and all time with Chad, the love of my life!

7.I hate seeing my dad age. It is so hard to see him be so sick and in so much pain.

8. I am really proud of my mom, seeing her be so strong for my dad is strength to me.

9. I love to travel, I don't care where to, but lets go!

10. I love to take long, hot, showers in the dark when I am stressed...It calms me.

I have to say again how honored I am to be chosen and I so appreciate all the kind words Joni said.

"In your face!"

Last night our ward had an adult miniature golf party. Different organizations were in charge of making up their own holes. One lady decided to do a characature of Bishop Kerby. So the point was to get the ball up the tongue and through the mouth.
Pretty Funny!!! It was a hit.

A Utah Icon will be missed!!!

This might be a little strange coming from my blog but I am feeling sad.
Owner of the Utah Jazz and Utah Icon Larry Miller age 64 just passed away. His health has been failing fast. He is such a part of Utah and has done so much for the entire community, the church and from what I understand he was a really great man.
I am sad for his close friends and family. He will surely be missed!

Win, Win, Win!!!

I Won And You Can Too! Pay It Forward

The Rules...

1. Be one of the first three bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which entitles you to a handmade item from me.

2. Winners, you must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway.

3. The gift that you send to your friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It's the Spirit and the thought that counts!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!

If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Please take the button and post it on your blog; start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

Monster of a Valentine!

These are our "bad" Monster Truck T-Shirts!

Thanks guys!!
(This was my first Monster truck show!)

We were totally into the whole truck crashing,
big Tonka Truck wheels and revving of motors
in our Suite. We were also laughing pretty dang hard!

Here we are making the I love you sign since we were there on Valentines day!
(sorry the pictures aren't great, they were taken with Chad's phone)

Tonight Chad and I were surprised with a night out on the town with our good friends the Majors. Sue and Darren asked us about two months ago if they could plan our Valentines date for us. Chad was thrilled because it basically took him off of the hook to plan anything. They picked us up and we went to the train station and rode the train up to the Gateway Shopping Center. We first ate at Costa Vida...Yummy! Then we walked over to the Energy Solutions Arena (Delta Center). They surprise us with Monster Truck tickets. We were cracking up! We had the time of our lives. Then as if it can't get any better, Sue's parent's work at the Arena and got us into a Suite! So we got to watch the Crazy Truck show in a suite! We had a blast!!! Then our men bought us Monster Truck T-Shirts so we could always remember this Valentines day!!! We laughed all night long. The night ended with Chad getting to use his Norwegian on the train.

Thank you to Sue and Darren for a total blast of a night that we will never forget!!!

Chocolate Valentines

These ladies are my great friends and we spent the morning dipping and creating chocolate valentines for our men. We made such a mess and had such a great time! We made chocolate-caramel apples, pretzels, chocolate dipped strawberries, chocolate dipped marshmallows and dipped heart shaped chocolate chip cookies! They looked awesome.
Anna, Kim, Andrea and Raelene

The "drying counter" where all of the treats were
left to dry before we bagged them.

The big helper-Max

The finished product was this cute basket full of our treats with some valentine coupons tied on. (I also had extra that I will surprise my kids with.) I believe that I am married to the most wonderful man ever. Happy Valentines Day Mr. Wonderful!!!

Happy Birthday Raegan

Today is Raegan's Birthday. I cannot believe that she is already 11 years old. She was my biggest baby weighing 7 lbs 14 oz and was one week over due and had to be induced. I think she must have know what kind of responsibilities she was going to have being the oldest of 6.
She is truly a joy in our life.

Torie and Raegan

She does like to root for our Cougars!

Raegan had breakfast in bed this morning.
She had crepes and Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.
(Her Request)

Here are 11 reason's why I love Raegan so much...

1. Raegan is very talented. She loves to sing and is a great clogger.
2. Raegan has a very sensitive spirit. She can never leave AZ without crying all of the way to Flagstaff. She misses her grandma, cousins and her aunts and loves spending time with them.
3. She loves to shop. In fact this year she wanted to forgo any gifts or party. She wants the money instead to go shopping and out to lunch. So shopping we are going this afternoon!
4. She is such a help. She is always helping out with her younger siblings. And they adore her. She is a huge help to me on Sundays.
5. She is extremely reliable. We can leave her in charge and know that things will be in order when we come back.
6. She is determined and passionate. She does not back down. If she has something in her mind, it is nearly impossible to sway her another way. She has big ideas and likes to follow through with them.
7. She is a great student. She tries really hard to please her teacher and will work extra hard to make the honor roll. (there is that determination)
8. She is creative. She is very good at making up plays, posters or activities for her and her friends or her siblings. Especially on Sunday mornings when she helps with all of the kids by playing school, train or sunday school.
9. She is a dreamer (she gets this from her mom).
10. She loves to read.
11. Raegan is loving. She loves her family and loves to spend time with us!

Happy Birthday Raeggie Roo! We love you!

Tyler'sBig Day

Tyler had to blow out his candles
three times to get his wish.

Tyler was so sweet,
he shared everything with his siblings.

Tyler got a new bike, I think it's a little big but he said that it was ok. He told me that he is growing so fast that he will be sure to grow into it by this summer!

All of his buddies playing indoor soccer.

Happy Birthday Tye!

Today we celebrated Tyler's birthday. After school he had a party with his buddies. We took all of the kids to the church to play indoor soccer in the cultural hall as well as a little basket ball. They all had a blast! He has such good friends. He had a great day and was so cute because he shared everything with his little sister and brother. He really was so sweet. He said that it was the best day ever!