Last one, I PROMISE!!!!

Ok, so this is the LAST post about my birthday, for this year, I PROMISE!! If you are sick of my birthday fun, just skip this post! Haha!! But, come on, who can complain with a birthday WEEK!! It started off on Monday where I had a new friend every 15 minutes come to visit, then Tues was pretty dull, Wed was my actual birthday with lunch w/ my parents, my treasure hunt and dinner with Tyler, Thursday I had lunch with my brother and his wife (Thanks Aaron and Rachelle) and Friday Tyler went to Father's and Sons so all of us girls decided to go out together. We took all the girls (even our daughters) to Jake's grave, since some of my friends had never been before. Tanisha made a BEAUTIFUL flower arrangement that we put on his grave, along with a photo! So cute!! I love it!!

Here's all the little girlie's that came!! Kaeli, Paige H., Paige M., Maddie, Melody and Lexi

Here's me and my girlie's and our baby Jake

After the cemetery, we all went to Red Robin........YUMMMMMMM!!! It was delicious!! A little noisy, but all the girls had a great time.

After Red Robin, we took all the little girls home and the older girls went to see "17 Again"! It was cute but I feel a little old to think that Zac Efron is cute!! :)

Thanks again, everyone, for making this a VERY memorable birthday WEEK!! I love you all!!

More Happy birthday to me.....

My birthday was GREAT! I woke up to my yard being heart attacked! How GREAT!! Thanks, girls!

As you all know, my hubby is amazing!! He is always so clever and great at getting me gifts!! This year he warned me that it would be part Mother's day and part birthday, which I was fine with!! When Maddie and Payton got home from school, Tyler sent me away for 1 hr. I, of course, went shopping while they all stayed at home getting ready for me! When I got home I saw this sign:

It reads: If your name is Elizabeth....start here

The first index card said:

On your journey you shall start, to find the things of your heart

Kiss by kiss, follow your way, through the house, please don't play

From all of us to you we say, hope you have a magnificent birthday!!

The second card read:

1. You MUST open gift before card!!

2. Follow

3. ENJOY!!

The kisses led me all over the house and at different places there would be different gifts and a card

I got gift cards, chocolates, muffin tins shaped as trains, the movie Mama Mia (I love that music!), ribs, an umbrella for the pool, a beautiful Precious Moments figurine of a Mom

holding a baby wrapped in a blue blanket. It was from Jake.

It is so sweet and looks like me and my Jake.

The final gift was in my bedroom and it was surrounded by kisses that spelled out "We (heart) You" It was very cute.

The gift made me open the card first and the card said: "We love you because you're you! Pink for girls, blue for boys, gem in the middle for Jake. Think of us when you wear it! WE LOVE YOU! Love, Your Family

It is a beautiful blue flower with pink leaves and a yellow center. It is PERFECT and I LOVE it! Now I just need to get it sized so it fits me!

Thanks, Tyler. I loved all of my gifts!! You truly amaze me at what you come up with! Thank you!! I love you!

Happy Birthday to ME!!

My birthday is on Wed, but my friends had something planned and they wanted me to stay home ALL DAY on Monday!! It was the BEST day ever! starting at 8:30am I got a new visitor every 15 mninutes!! They each brought me a rose and some brought cards or treats! It was so fun! Even Lexi, Maddie and Payton brought me flowers! It ended with Tyler bringing me 2 dozen red roses! So, now I have 2 dozen red roses and 2 dozen pinkish roses! They are beautiful and my house smells SO GOOD!! Thank you to everyone who participated! I felt so loved and had so much fun finding out who the next visitor was! It was GREAT!!

One other surprise was a gift from Kelly. She is the one helping us with Jakey's Blankies. She made Jake a giraffe patterned blanket right after his first surgery because we were too afraid to use the white one. It was so soft and we wrapped him in it during his last moments here on earth and when the kids got to hold him after he passed away. This blanky means a lot to me, and Kelly put his blanket into a larger blanket that our whole family can wrap up in. The inset is Jake's original blankie! Isn't it so sweet! I cried!! And, then I snuggled in it in between visitors! Thanks, Kelly!!

Here are my beautiful Flowers that I got throughout the day-and the cards!

Here are my beautiful flowers on my beautiful piano!

Here are the beautiful flowers Tyler bought me!

Thank you so much! I had a GREAT birthday!!

BIG TROUBLE!!

Last night Lexi was being really quiet, so I decided to go find her. Well, you know kids are being naughty when they are quiet and Lexi is NO exception!! I walked into the bathroom and found drawings all over the walls and floors. We had just bought Lexi tub crayons, so I wasn't worried about it, but Lexi thought she was in BIG trouble, so as soon as I saw the floor she started crying! It was all I could do to keep from laughing. I wasn't mad at all (if it had been real crayon, I might have gotten a bit upset!) but she didn't know that! Then, I called Tyler's name so he could survey the damage and she almost fell apart! She wouldn't stop crying! I promise, we didn't even get mad!! It was hilarious! Well, at least she knows right from wrong! She cleaned it up, but boy was she sad!! Haha!!

Easter at the Cabin!

This year for Easter we decided to try something new. We went up to the Cabin!! We had a GREAT time! We arrived Thursday night. Friday we hung out, played outside, then went fishing!

Here is Lexi and her small pink princess pole! It caught her the biggest fish last year! Haha!




Yeah!! Payton caught one!




Yeah, Maddie caught one!




Yeah!! Daddy caught one!



Here is Daddy showing his fish to Lexi. She was fascinated.
Unfortunately, Lexi never caught a fish! She was ok with that because the wind started to blow and it got a bit chilly!!


That night it started getting cold, but stayed warm by the fire! The next morning we woke up to this:



Luckily we had some snow gear (gloves, boots, hats, etc) and the kids went outside and had fun in the snow. They even made some snow people! They said the little one was Jake. I love how they love to include him in things!!



I'm not sure what this face was for, maybe cause it was so cold outside?? Haha, that's my Lexi!


(Now, before any of you say, I'm sure it wasn't that cold, well, just know that it didn't get above 35'that day. So, it was pretty cold. Especially for April in AZ!!)

It was too cold to play outside all day, so we decorated Easter eggs!! The kids had a great time and I think the eggs turned out pretty well!!






Sunday morning was still CHILLY but we got ready for church. Our Easter outfits were definitely springy!! My poor kiddos were freezing!

But, that didn't stop Lexi from dancing in her dress and twirling! She knew she was a princess!


On the way home we stopped by Jakey's grave to put flowers, a balloon and a few Easter eggs filled with notes the kids had written. Thank you to whoever put some white flowers on his grave. That was very sweet. Here are all my kiddos!


We also stopped by Grandpa Dennison's grave (Tyler's dad). He passed away a little over 2 years ago.


I'm glad we know about the resurrection and that we will be with Jake forever and get to see him and Tyler's dad again!! It definitely means so much more to us now. We can hardly wait for that day to come! Hope you had a great Easter too!

Wow, what a weekend!

HUGE Warning!!! This will be a LONG post, but it is worth it!!
So, I have been wanting to go to conference for over a year. (Conference is a time when the church leaders from our church come together in Utah to give direct guidance and counsel to all of the members. It is broadcast on TV, the Internet, radios and satellite transmissions all over the world. It is both Saturday and Sunday and only 2 times a year. See HERE for more info. It only has audio available right now, but will have written out forms of the talks within the week.) Well, I wanted to go last April, then President Hinckley passed away so I knew I would never get tickets (they are free, but they only have limited space) because it would be packed. I wanted to go in October, but we had found out about Jake and were taking our last family trip before Jake was born. Then, I knew I wasn't going to be able to go this April, because I would either be in the hospital still, with Jake, or at home with a baby that needed 24/7 care. Then a week after Jake passed away, I decided I wanted to go. No one was able to go with me, so I started to dismiss the idea, when I really felt strongly that I should go, so I booked myself a ticket to go alone! Then, my great friend, Heidi (Angel Jersey's mom) found a way to come too!! I was so excited for us to be there together!

I flew in early Thursday morning and hung out with some cousins and Tyler's aunt and Uncle, then I went to a new friends house, Mindi, that has a heart baby (baby Libbi). She is a beautiful baby and doing really well!! YEAH!!!!

Heidi came in later Thursday evening and we went out to dinner with some other new friends, Leah (Angel Avery's mom) and Michele (Angel Gracie's mom).

These women are amazing! We chatted for 4 1/2 hours at Macaroni Grill! Our poor waiter could hardly get us to order because we were chatting so much! :) Thanks girls, it was SO great to meet you and talk to you! You are amazing!

Friday morning we went to the Salt Lake temple with my parents and had a very sweet time. That afternoon we went around the temple and saw the Joseph Smith movie. The Mesa Temple visitors center is showing it, so if you want see it, go there (it's free too)! It was a great movie.

(My mom, me, and Heidi in front of the Salt Lake Temple)

Friday Evening we went back to Mindi's house to deliver some oranges for my little brother, Nathan. He is on a mission for our church in Ogden and is in Mindi's area. While I was there, she surprised me and invited him over! He is the CUTEST ever! It was so fun to talk and chat with him. He comes home in November and we can hardly wait! Missionaries are gone for 2 years and don't normally get to see family members, only get to talk to them on the phone 2 times a year.

Afterwards we went to dinner with Mindi's mom, cousins, sister-in-law and aunt. We had SOOOO much fun chatting and laughing with them.

Thanks for the GREAT time, gals! I feel like we are all family!

Also, a HUGE shout out to Netso for letting us borrow her car! WE LOVED it! Thank you, thank you! Check out this car!

We even got mistaken for some high schoolers driving her car! Haha!!

We had tickets to the Saturday morning and afternoon sessions, thanks to my dad. It was amazing to be in the conference center and feel of the spirit. The Saturday afternoon session was AMAZING!! We got tickets down in front about 15 rows back. See:

It was amazing to be so close and see the expressions on the President Monson's face and the other apostles. The second to last speaker, Elder Richard G. Scott gave an amazing talk that should be titled "To Liz and Heidi, and any other Heart baby's moms." Go listen to it. He told about how he has lost his wife, and how they also lost a daughter and 6 weeks later they lost a son to a heart defect! WOW!! Heidi and I just stared in awe that we could be so close and in the session that he spoke about that. WOW, WOW, WOW!!

After that session Heidi and I desperately wanted to meet Elder Scott and thank him for his amazing talk. As people began to leave the conference center, Elder Scott stayed around and began mingling with people! We tried to get close, but some ropes and security guards prevented us. As people left we would get closer and closer. Eventually, we were 5 feet from him, but they were beginning to tell everyone to leave. One sweet sister that we had told our story to knew that we had to meet Elder Scott too. She spoke with some man that was waiting, and when Elder Scott started to walk away, this man that had been waiting said, "No, Dad, you can't leave yet. You have to meet these girls." WOW WOW WOW!! IT had been Elder Scott's son! He came over to use and talked for a few minutes. We told him about our babies and he shed a few tears with us. We also thanked him for his amazing talk. Then he let us take a photo with him. Our eyes were all red from crying, but it was amazing to be able to meet him!

Even if you aren't a member of my church, read or listen to his talk. It is amazing and so sweet and sincere. He is such an amazing guy!!

Saturday evening was spent shopping, eating and visiting until waaaaaay too late! :)

We didn't have tickets to the Sunday morning session, but we really wanted to get in, so we came prepared! Here is our PINK sign.

It says, "Totally Need Tickets" and even has silver glitter all over it! We figured it had to work, and it DID!! We got tickets for us and my parents! GO HEIDI!! That was another amazing session with a great talk about the atonement from Elder Holland. You can listen to that one too. It can't hurt! :)

Here we are after the Sunday morning session. You can see the Salt Lake Temple behind us. Then we had to say goodbye to each other and Salt Lake. I flew out during the Sunday afternoon session and Heidi flew home Monday. Thanks for going with me, Heidi! I had an amazing time.

I am so grateful to belong to the church that I do. I KNOW I will see my baby again, and be able to raise him and be with him and my husband and my other children FOREVER!! I love that! I am grateful for my testimony in Jesus Christ and the example He was to all of us. I'm grateful for the power of prayer and a loving Heavenly Father that always listens to me and comforts me. It is what keeps me going.

Well, you made it to the end! Sorry, I didn't mean to get "Churchy" on you all, but I had to let you all know about my amazing experience and my testimony!! Thanks for reading!!