...CHRISTMAS...

We had a very merry Christmas this year! We had so much fun watching Krew with all his new fun things. All of his Grandparents spoiled him, way more than Santa ;)! 

On Christmas Eve we went to my dad's house and ate dinner, made gingerbread houses, and opened presents. Then on Christmas morning, my mom came over and watched us open our presents. Tyson made us a nice breakfast and then we headed over to his parents to open more presents with them. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, played some games at my sister's house, and visited with family. Then the day after Christmas, we went to my mom's and had Christmas again over there! 

I love this time of year when time slows down a bit and we can reflect more on the birth of our Savior and all of our many blessings. It's so great to be able to spend more time with family and friends and enjoy each other's company. We really enjoyed Christmas this year and we are so grateful we are home this year as a family!

 I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas as well!!

...Krew's Birthday Party...

Last weekend we celebrated Krew's 1st Birthday! We had a joint birthday party for him and my niece Gracie since her birthday is the day after. Tyson's mom and dad came up from Boise and all of our family here came to celebrate with us along with a few close friends. We made a yummy spaghetti dinner (Alisha did most of it), had cake and ice cream, and opened presents! It was so much fun! Krew was so funny with his cake. Well more like pudding pie, but he really enjoyed it! Since his doc said he can't eat "real" food yet, just really runny and pureed foods, we decided to have a normal cake for everyone else and a pudding pie just for him! But I think he liked the pudding pie way more than he would have liked cake! It took him a minute to eat it but once he tasted that first bite, he LOVED it! He also got a lot of really cute and fun toys!! He got spoiled! Thanks so much to everyone who came and to everyone that helped out too!! Happy Birthday Mister Krew!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

My very 1st fondant cake! I have been wanting to make one for a while so now I can say that I have! Thanks to my sister who helped me learn how to make it. It turned out pretty cute I think! The top of it wasn't what I imagined it to be since I was in such a hurry but overall I was pretty pleased.

He was clearly enjoying himself!!

Grandpa and Grandma Perkes

Gracie and her adorable castle cake! My sister is pretty talented!

the beautiful Meghan and Krew

Carl and Stacie

Grandma and Grandpa Sawin

Cassie and Steve

Grandma and Grandpa Harris

...sooo, so blessed...

This is more for my journaling purposes so don't feel like you have to read...

So tomorrow is my little baby boy's 1st birthday and I am feeling a little overwhelmed with feelings right now! I am so happy and excited for all the fun things he is doing and how big he is getting, but I also can't help but feel a little sad he is not my little baby that I can just cuddle with and hold all day long anymore! (although he is still likes to snuggle :))

I can't believe he is already 1!! It has gone by sooo fast! It is so much fun to watch him grow and to see his little personality come out! I can't imagine my life with out him in it. His birthday brings back so many memories! I have been thinking a lot today about this past year and all the joy and happiness it has brought to us! One year ago tonight, we had just got done at Tyson's work christmas party where everyone was asking when I was going to have our baby. I kept telling them all probably in about 2 weeks from then when my due date was. If only I would have known that early the next morning I was going to go into labor... If I could go back in time and give myself some advice, I would tell myself to go to bed WAY earlier that night, eat a bigger dinner, enjoy my big huge belly, and cuddle with my husband. But I think ultimately, I would tell myself to just trust in the Lord and know that everything was going to be all right!

So the next morning, 5:41 am to be exact, I woke up with stomach cramps. Within about 3 seconds my water started breaking. So I waddled into the bathroom as fast as I could while yelling to Tyson that I thought my water had broke! (the doctors don't tell you your water doesn't stop breaking- it keeps going for quite a while). So I called my sister and asked her what to do. So I called the hospital, ate a big breakfast, and we headed up to the hospital! It seemed like I was the only one there! I got to pick my labor and delivery room and I got all settled in. Within a couple of hours I got my epideral, Tyson and my dad gave me a priesthood blessing, and things went smooth sailing from there! I really enjoyed the whole experience! It was so much fun. (at least the whole labor thing). And I feel so blessed it went so well for me because I know that's not always the case. I was only in labor for about 12 hours until I started pushing! And 45 minutes later, our little bundle of joy arrived! It was such an amazing experience! We instantly fell in love with him!! We got to bond for about a half hour and all the family got to meet him. Then I sent everyone out except for Tys and my sister so I could feed him for the first time. (My sisters a pro at this stuff so I had her help me.) It went pretty well for about 5 minutes. Then Krew made a big squeal, and he started to turn a little blue. I sent my sister to get the nurse for me. The nurse came in and took my little guy from me and said she would be back in a minute. Well a few minutes past and they said they were just checking a few things on him and that I could get settled in my room upstairs in the meantime. So about an hour or so past when our pediatrician came in and said he needed to talk to us. Then he went on to say that our son was born with a birth defect called tracheoesophagealfistula. He kept explaining but I lost it and didn't really hear anything after that. Then I heard him say that he was going to be life flighted down to Primary Childrens where he would have surgery to fix the problem. About an hour later, the life flight Krew brought him into us so we could say good bye to him one last time before they took him. They ended up being able to take him by ambulance because he was so stable. So we said our sad goodbyes and off he went. That was the longest night of my entire life.

We were blessed since the very beginning! If I would have had to have a c-section, I wouldn't have been able to be discharged the very next morning from the hospital so I could go see him. Also a majority of the babies born with TEF (shorter name), have heart problems, are premature, have limb problems, kidney problems, and some are even born without a bum hole. He didn't have any other problems when he was born and was very healthy otherwise. Also, a couple weeks before this, my mom got a job in Salt Lake and had just moved into a new apartment about 20 minutes from the hospital, so we never had to worry about finding a place to stay. And this was just the beginning of many, many blessings through out this time in our lives. When he was 2 days old, he had surgery and everything went awesome! His doctor is one of the best and is also the surgeon who performed the surgery on the conjointed twins a few years ago. He stayed in the NICU down at Primarys for 3 weeks. He had good days and he had bad days. After about 1 week we were able to start feeding him again and we could finally hold him again too! Every day he got better and better. We witnessed a lot of miracles while we were there. And not just with Krew, but with other babies as well. He never ceased to amaze us. He is such a strong and determined little guy! He has been like that since the day he was born! We got to take him home a few days after Christmas! It is a Christmas we will always cherish and never forget! Since then he has had a few complications that I have mentioned in other posts and has had to have 4 minor surgeries since then. We thought we would be done with them but just found out at his last one he will need about 6 more! Once a month for 6 months and then we will see at that point what needs to happen. But they are nothing compared to his first one and they have all went great! There are SO many worse things that he could have been born with and other things that could have went wrong, but didn't.

So as I am looking back at this past year, I am thinking about all the many blessings we have had poured upon us. There are too many to list but the biggest one is of course Krew! He has blessed our lives in so many ways! Do I wish that he was born healthy and that he wouldn't have had and still continue to go through all of this? Yes!! But I am TRULY grateful for these experiences too in so many ways! They have made me grow in so many different ways and helped me do things I wouldn't have thought I could do otherwise. I am so grateful that I have the gospel in my life and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is true! I know our Savior lives and loves each and everyone of us and that he gives us experiences in our lives to help us grow and to prepare us for what He has in store for us! I know He has a plan for us and wants us to be happy. He is the reason for all the good things I have in my life. I am truly blessed!!

Thanksgiving Day and a sneak peek of the CUTEST booth at the november fest....

We had a very good thanksgiving day! This year we spent it with my mom and my sister's families. The food was delicious and we ate a TON. Krew even got his own turkey and sweet potato dinner. He can only have pureed food until after his surgeries are over, so we made sure he didn't miss out on all the good stuff. And as you can tell by the pictures he really enjoyed it! After we ate we played games ( Tys and I won) and just enjoyed everybody's company! We love Thanksgiving. It is such a great and special time to reflect on all of our many blessings! We have so much to be thankful for!

Tonight we went to the rec center and helped my sister Alisha set up her booth for the November Fest. It has a TON of cute stuff for babies/toddlers/etc.. She has aprons, tutus, leg warmers, sleeves, hair bows, clips, head bands, purses, and really cute boards to hang your hair clips on and more! It is all very cute and stylish, and also very affordable. So whether your looking for christmas gifts, birthday gifts, or just for fun, then you should go check it out. It's kind of in the middle of all the booths on the main floor so it is pretty easy to find. You won't want to miss it!! There's a little sneak peek below of what you can find there. Happy shopping!

Aunt Cassie and Krew

just loungin' around

yum, yum

mom and alisha

tyson and ryan

steve

sisters

benjamin

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really cute boards to hang your clips/bows on (or whatever else you want to hang on them)

adorable tutus (she has a lot more too you can choose from)

cupcake onsies

crocheted slippers (bunch of styles to choose from including ballet style that ties up the ankle)

adorable girl and boy aprons (a ton of different patterns and styles that velcro, tie, ect.)

i love these purses and bags. they make great gift ideas (hint, hint tyson)

these are leg warmers and can also be used as sleeves under your child's shirts. For boys and girls. i LOVE them. sooo cute.

she has probably close to 75 different patterns to choose from.

warm, soft blankets. they are adorable and also come in different colors like pink and black.