An Awesome Night of Fun

Well the auction went great on Thursday! We raised a lot of money for Tegan and I pray that it helps her and her family with the day to day costs. I loved being a part of it all. Thank You Jen for letting me help. We got to the Red Lion at 3pm to set up. Erin, Alison and I were getting all of the centerpieces ready. We had fish bowls filled with pretty pink and purple rocks and goldfish. They were slippery little suckers! So much in fact that Erin ended up spilling the bag of like 30 fish on the floor and there was goldfish flopping all around. It was pretty funny and I just want to reassure everyone that we saved every single fish.....including the one I found under the table about 5 minutes later! We got the slide show working on the projecter and then the band showed up to set up and practice. The bands name was Brothers of Jared and they were really, really good! They played a lot of old and new stuff. I was really impressed with them. I highly recommend them. After setting up, we all rushed home to get ready and head back to start greeting people. I was positioned up front with Brandi, Shelby and Alison. Shelby and Alison are aunts of Tegan. It was really awesome to get to know them and work beside them most of the night. Our job was to sell raffle tickets, greet people and assign them a bid number. After the auction we were also in charge of checking the winning bidders out at the end of the night. That proved to be the toughest job throughout the whole night. It was pure chaos but everyone ended up paying and being happy with what they won. Even Brenda Baumgartner and Todd Blackinton from channel 6 news came. Brenda won a fun gift and it was really neat to see them there just showing their support for the Salce's, not because they were reporting the event. The auctioneer, Roger, did an amazing job with getting people to bid higher and making it a fun night for everyone. I never did get to go inside the auction because I was super busy selling tickets and checking people out but I could hear him and he sounded like he was having lots of fun too. We had one game called 50/50. Anyone who bought a ticket for it was eligible to win half of the pot at the end of the night. I knew the lady that won it and she ended up donating her half back to the family!! What an awesome thing to do! The whole night was so much fun. My family and Nicks parents showed up too and they all stayed the whole night. Carter, my son, had so much fun playing with all of the big kids at the auction. It was so fun to watch him laugh and run around. They all ended up dancing on the dance floor to the band. I'm pretty sure they had a good time too. Towards the end, Shelby, Tegan's aunt, got up and thanked everyone and there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Earlier in the evening, I had 2 small boys, along w/their mom, come up to the table and put $20 each in the donation cans. I thanked them for their generosity and the mom pointed to one of her boys and said, "This is my little survivor. He was diagnosed when he was 5 and he made it. Ive know people on both sides and we support anyone going through this." All four of us at the table were bawling like babies. Its just so amazing to see how generous people can be and that they really do care. I am so blessed to be a part of this and I pray for Tegan everyday that she will get stronger and healthier for her big surgery on the 29th. Thank you to everyone who came and showed your support. Mostly I am thankful for my beautiful children and for their health. You never know when it could be them in the hospital fighting for their life. We are going to start planning our next fundraiser for Nov. 7. A craft fair with lots of neat stuff. Keep it open on your calendars and please keep Tegan in your prayers! Thanks everyone!

Spread the Word

For those of you that actually read my blog I would love it if you can help me spread the word about Tegan Salce. She is a 2 yr old little girl that was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of cancer called MRT in April. There are only 15 cases diagnosed each year and only a 20% survival rate. Tegan's parent tried for 5 years to conceive until they were finally blessed with this sweet little girl. My heart goes out to them because of our own fertility problems. Tegan lives in my neighborhood and there are a lot of wonderful people helping out her family. We are having a fabulous fundraiser for her next Thurs. Sept 24th from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Red Lion. Its a FREE, yes I said FREE, Ice Cream Social. There is also going to be a Live and Silent Auction and also a raffle. There is going to be some amazing items in the auction and raffle. We need as many people to attend as possible. Please come and bring your family, friends and coworkers!! Did I mention there was going to be Free Ice Cream!!! To see all of the items being auctioned and raffled go to miraclefortegan.blogspot.com. I cant help but think how many of us take having healthy children for granted. My children in particular to me are divine gifts from God and I am so thankful that they are healthy. I cant imaging sitting in a hospital room for days on end watching my daughter endure the awful side effects of chemo and then to be holding her as clumps of hair fall off of her precious little head. Tegan is scheduled for surgery to remove the tumor and it is a very invasive surgery. They actually have to remove her collar bone to get to it. Please help us to raise money for the medical costs associated with her treatments and the traveling expenses. We will also be having a Craft Fair in early November. If anyone is interested in having a booth to sell items, please contact me. I will definitely be there helping out so you will see a familiar face there. If anyone has any questions or knows of something to donate for the auction or raffle please let me know. I hope to see you all there!!!

Spring and Summer Stuff

Here are some pics to go with what we've been doing for the last 6 months.....Just having fun mostly!!

We took the kids to Hogle Zoo and had a blast. Well except Nick....he got eaten by a lion!!

Me and Avery liked the elephant exhibit. It was our favorite!

Carter got pneumonia right after we moved into our new house. Here is one of the bad days he had laying on the couch. He was so weak he couldnt even sit up to let me dress him. Poor kid!

Avery had her first birthday in March and I made a butterfly cake for her which she hardly touched. But that was ok....she looked to pretty to get all messy!

My sweet baby girl on her 1st birthday. Doesnt she look so pretty in her party dress!

On Mothers Day we had a BBQ at my parents house and Carter was giving Avery rides on his Harley. He can pop wheelies ya know. Even with Avery on the back.

It's very rare that I get both kids "sitting" and posing for pictures. Here they are on the 4th of July all fesive-like. Carter was giving me the courtesy smile that's not really even a smile.

Kissing cousins....or should I say hugging cousins. We went to the mountains with Nick's family and Cayben and Carter actually got along for most of the night. They even hugged each other because they wanted to and not because we made them to apologize for something. Dont they look so stinking cute. I wish they didnt fight so much! :)

When cousin Sam came to visit, a lot of time was spent playing in the pool and eating popscicles. On this HOT day, they each ate about 3 popscicles and as you can see Carter is in love with his and Sam thinks he is a weirdo. He's probably right though.

Avery also enjoys a popscicle now and then. I tried to take the popscicle away from her to clean her up and she flipped out. Do Not Mess with her popscicle!!!

Last but not least, this is what happens when you let Grandma do Avery's hair. Enough said.

Boy Trouble

Okay all of you mothers of little boys.....I need help. At least I think I need help...maybe its just a phase or something but what do you do about your son playing with his little schmeckel constantly!! The other day I got him out of the bathtub and was putting lotion on him. He grabbed the lotion, put some on his hands and went to town on his manhood. I kept telling him to stop but by the 3rd or 4th time I said it, I noticed that "it" was at attention. What do you do?
Also, Carter has it out for his sister. I am constantly finding new bruises all over Avery's back and head. He will go out of his way to knock her down or jump on her or throw stuff at her or push her down. Its impossible for her to even walk around him. We've had talks about being nice to her, family home evenings specifically on loving our family members and it just doesnt seem to be getting through to him. Any suggestions would be helpful.

The Po Po

So this is such a funny story that I had to blog about it. Yesterday we went to Walmart and when we were coming out there was a policeman outside. Carter immediately recognizes him and says "The cops Daddy, look". Nick proceeds to say "Yup, its the Po Po"(an inner city slang term for police---for those of you who didnt grow up in the hood) :) Any way, so then we head over to Shopko and on the drive over I told him we do not call them the Po Po. They are nice policeman that are here to protect us. So we go inside and as we are waiting for the one of the clerks to retrieve the item we just purchased, I see a cop car speed by. Nick and Carter go outside to see what is going on. They see a policeman park his car and get out. Carter sees the policeman and as if he knows it was wrong, screams, "Its the Po Po!" and turns and runs into the store.

Thank You Bryce

On Friday I decided to get the kids all dressed up in patriotic colors and go to a funeral precession for Spc. Bryce Millward. He was a cousin of mine and he died in a helicopter accident in Hawaii while on active duty. I knew that the community was going to support his family by displaying flags along the route to the funeral home from the airport as they brought his body home. Before we left I showed Carter the US Flag on his shirt and explained that we lived in a very special place and that there are "nice people" who protect us and our homes by fighting against the "naughty people" who want to take that away from us. Once I could tell he sort of knew what I was talking about, I explained who Bryce was, a "nice person", who died trying to protect us and is now in heaven with Jesus and Heavenly Father. Then I told him that we were going to show our support to his family by waving our flags and saying Thank You as they drove by. As we headed out the door we grabbed our little flags and bundled up since it was pretty chilly. We got a really good spot on the street and Grandma and Grandpa Johnson showed up with blankets. While we were waiting, I again took the opportunity to explain to Carter why we were there. I wasnt sure it would all sink in. Then, we heard the police sirens and the POW/MIA motorcycles leading the precession. Carter jumped up in my arms to see better. As they all drove by, the entire street fell silent. You could feel the gratitude in the air from everyone around us. Then we saw the hurst carrying Bryce's body and tears began to stream from my eyes. Carter kept asking me, "Mommy, who is that?" I told him it was Bryce. And then, just when I thought that maybe he didnt remember anything we had talked about, he silently whispered...."Thank you Bryce". My heart melted and I held my son as tight as I could knowing that the Millward family had just lost theirs. It was a moment I will never forget. I am so happy I shared that experience with my children. I didnt know Bryce, nor did they but I knew it was important that they knew about him. I hope I can install a sense of honor and gratitude in them for the free and wonderful country we live in. We are all truly blessed!!

Short and Sweet

I always feel like I have to blog with a ton of pictures and lots of fun news and then I get so discouraged because it will take me forever to blog it all. So what im gonna start doing is blogging random things..quickly and maybe even sometimes without pictures!! I need to do it so that I can count this as my journaling. So far....here's a recap since the last blog. Short and sweet!
1. Avery turned 1....it was a great day but sad for me. My baby is one and getting bigger.
2. I turned 31....again a good day but sad for me. :( I hate getting older too. Nick took me to a beautiful themed suite and dinner. It was really fun.
3. Carter tried to potty train and did really good but got really distracted because it was so nice outside and never wanted to come in to go potty. So we gave up....Honestly, I wasnt ready. :)
4. I had an awesome Mothers Day. The kids gave me a maple tree to plant in our front yard to watch grow as they grow....how thoughtful. Nick changed all of the diapers and we had a BBQ.
5. Carter called me at work the other day to tell me he pooped in the potty all by himself.
6. We planted grass in our yard, had a sprinkler system installed and just got A/C installed.
7. I heard some sad news about a friend of a friend. My friend Jen has a friend named Angela who has a little girl named Tegan and she has just recently been diagnosed with MRT, a rare form of cancer that only affects 15 people a year! Jen organized many fundraising events for Tegan. I have offered to help because seeing what this little girl and her family are going through is heart breaking and it really maked me appreciate the healthy children I have. If anyone is interested in the fundraising events go to teganlyn.blogspot.com or click on the link on my side bar labeled Tegan Lyn. If anyone would like to make a donation or help in anyway please let me know. Any donations are appreciated. The main fundraiser will be next week June 12 and 13 at the Diamond Court Apartments. There will be a yard sale where the money earned from all items sold will go to the family. They will also be selling raffle tickets for some really awesome prizes. I hope there will be a huge turnout!
8. Summer is here...kind of...and Im looking for fun ideas to do things with the kids on my day off. Hopefully we can go swimming or something. If anyone is interested in a play date let me know. My kids need to get out of the house and play with other kids! I am really looking forward to the summer. I might try and add just pictures tomorrow. I have a ton of them.
9 My sister and her family coming down for the fourth of July and I am really excited. Ive got some stuff planned and hope to keep everyone entertained....especially myself and the kids. :)
10. I went to the foot doctor because I have been having tremendous pain in my heel. I have plantar fasciitis and had custom insoles made....which were expensive and so far have not done anything to help relieve the pain. My next option is probably surgery....which I am totally avoiding. Im going to see how the next months go and then make up my mind....so wish me luck.
11. Carter got pneumonia and was pretty sick. He was so weak he couldnt even sit up to let me dress him. It was so sad! But he recovered quickly and is healthy now.
12. Avery is trying to walk....but only when she wants to. She is stubborn and if youre not paying her any attention, she'll walk all over!!
13. We found out that we are adding a new niece and a nephew to the Bullock side of the family. We are super excited to have one of each. Cassie is due at the end of October and Erika is due at the start of November. Why cant anyone in our family have a summer baby? They are all winter babies!! Sheesh..... :)
Well there it is....the long and short of it all. Happy Blogging!!!