Jer and Stef: 06/2016

Sara was taking care of a friends animals and one morning she brought baby bunnies over to play. Ashlyn was in heaven.

Making sure Brody isn't lonely in the swing.

A trip to the library. Ellia is picking out chapter books and reminded me of the 5 word rule as she tested out which books would be best to check out.

We attended a lot of cousin baseball games. Ellia was showing Emily how Brody only has one little tuft of his original hair on the top of his head.

A chart Ellia made, I think to emphasize all the talk we have about Emily turning 40.

It took a lot of motivation but one of my goals for the summer was to visit Heritage Park with the girls. We made it happen and I'm so glad we did. I had forgotten that there was a replica of Truman O. Angell's Eagle Gate. It was fun telling that kids how we are related to him and taking their picture under it.

The first stop we made ended up being their favorite and they kept asking to go back. They got to wash rags with a wash board and hang them to dry. Who knew the "hard" way of laundry would be way more entertaining than doing it the easy way at home. Maybe I will have to try recruiting their help more often. They also liked the iron...irons!

We couldn't go very far without stopping to ride the horses. Ellia chose not to, but Quincy and Ashlyn had a blast. Quincy even rode a horse named Elsa.

Holding the baby chicks was another favorite.

They really wanted to play in the fountains, but I wasn't prepared for soaking wet kids, so they just got misted a little.

Making impressions in leather.

We took a little break to ride the train to the top of the park.

The view always amazes me and I can see why Brigham Young chose it...though it is hard to imagine it as he saw it...an uninhabited desert.

We spent lots of time panning for gold i.e. pyrite. It was the perfect spot for us adults to relax in the shade, although admittedly I helped out with the panning quite a bit.

Quincy got tired of panning and went to watch the Native American dances with Grandpa.

Grandma enjoyed Brody's company. He seems to really like watching the breeze change the dark and light through the leaves.

Probably the most entertaining and educational stop we made was at the printing press. We learned how letters became referred to as "uppercase and lowercase" among other very interesting facts.

At the bank the girls weighed their "gold" and got a receipt saying how much it was worth.

Just as we were headed out at closing time we made one final stop to wash clothes.

Ashlyn actually got to go help take care of the bunnies with Sara. I took this picture of her because the property Sara is helping with is actually the house we rented when we first moved to Midway. What is now the Chicken Coop was then our play house.

I think Brody must be world's best cuddler.

june 6

Quincy is showing us how many strawberries she picked at Grandma Laura's.

The Gillespie cousins enjoying a summer feast at Grandma Pat's.

Ellia enjoying baby Lexi, and learning it's a bit different than holding Brody!

june 6-10 Brody and I went to Houston to house hunt and the girls were left in very capable hands. First off they had swimming lessons every morning.

Ashlyn's class was learning to dive.

I think there was only one other kid in Ellia's level...I guess there won't be too many summer swim lessons left for her!

Quincy enjoys a free ride.

This is my favorite picture of Ashlyn learning to dive. I love her toes.

One of their favorite parts is the shower after.

Quincy spent a lot of time playing at cousin's houses while Ashlyn and Ellia were at summer school. Dressing up and playing "home" was a favorite activity.

Dressing up also had some meaning as Quincy and Ella picked their costumes for Princess camp.

Another option for Princess camp.

...but the winner is....

I got back to Utah on Quincy's last day of camp. Apparently having me there (even just outside the studio) made her shy.

Days

Sara offered to take all her kids and my girls swimming in Park City, I was worried about it mostly because of Quincy not being a great swimmer (and Anna too). I guess I worried about Ashlyn wandering off too, like she did at the rec center pool so many times last summer, but Sara was very successful, and they all had a blast.

As if that wasn't a big enough adventure for the day, she took them rock climbing in Park City afterward.

These kids are going to be beat! To top off the day they met up with Emile's kids to play at the Heber park.

Meanwhile, Jeremy and I find our house.

Brody had a rough trip. He was fevering off and on and I was giving him Tylenol but he just wouldn't stop crying. It was a very long night (his bed was a pillow on the floor, I didn't feel comfortable with him on the air mattress with us). I ended up taking him to a Dr. who reported a sore throat and larger doses of Tylenol.

We also made the 5 hour trip to Louisiana to work on the house a little bit before inspections. We can't resist taking pictures of our favorite parts. Selling the house ended up being a bit of a process. It still sold within the first three days, but after some time the buyers found out they couldn't lease it so they backed out. The house didn't even go back on the market but instead the realtors called the next people in line who were interested and they made a full price offer. After their ten day grace period they backed out, the newly married wife got cold feet. The house went BACK on the market for a few days and we finally found a buyer that stuck.

Jeremy and I took some short drives around the area to see some of the most beautiful sites Mandeville has to offer.

Back in Utah Brody gets a hair cut.

I was able to see Quincy on the last day of Princess camp. I think because I was there she was being pretty shy. Emily said she hadn't been like that the whole time.

Brody getting bored with his new book. His face in this picture reminds me so much of my dad and Zak when they were little.

My favorite tradition, a Ranch burger from Dairy Keen.

june 18. We took a trip to central Utah for the Collings reunion. Our first stop was cooling off in Grandma Paula's backyard pool.

It took Quincy a long time to warm up to the idea and she stayed in the whole spot the entire time she was in, but she still had fun.

Afterward it was time for the reunion and a trip to the Fairview cabin, I enjoyed having the kids there since they have never really been. The reunion theme was 80s and thanks to Emily and Paula we had the girls looking pretty good. Ellia was the most into it. The hat was NOT part of the costume, I think it was for a game.

80s cousins.

I played along for a little bit but as it usually is in Fairview in the summer, it was too hot to stay dressed up.

Emily and Jed made a pretty cute 80s couple.

After all the phone call hassle, we got squeezed in to a geneticist at Primary Children's to learn Brody's diagnosis. June 22, 2016, a date burned into my memory.

There were three things I was most afraid to hear with Brody's diagnosis. 1) Mental disability, 2) degenerative physical disability, 3) shortened lifespan. On Wednesday we found out we are facing all three. Brody has been diagnosed with Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia Type 1B. Lifespan is 10-20 years. One percent of the population carries the recessive gene for it. Both Jeremy and I carry it. With each child we had a 25% chance they would be born with it. There are 51 known cases.

My parents came and Jeremy was face timing us. After we heard he decided to fly out to be with us. I spent a day trying to escape with sleep.

It was so fortunate that we had the everything going on as it was, becasue it meant more time to adjust to the news with family, and more help from them too. I think for the girls it was probably their best summer ever. One day included a swim party at aunt Juli's.

The night before we got Brody's diagnosis I was distracted enough to do something I had been terrified of. I let someone drive my kids, A VERY LONG WAY. Mallary took Ellia and Ashlyn to Yellowstone. I'm really glad they were there while Jeremy and I let the news settle a little bit.