Easter fun

At Nana Foote's house for her 86th birthday celebration.
Our Easter picture using the timer.

The mess after they opened their baskets. While I was getting ready for church, the kids decided to put EVERY Easter sticker they got on the coffee table. I heard them whispering, "Mommy's coming, say surprise," so I came in, and they said, "Surprise, Mommy! We made the table pretty!" They were pretty proud of themselves.

Excited to get their fun Easter baskets from Grandma Shaw, plus their little Easter egg hunt in our house.

Our Easter was good--we went to the temple the day before and a had a good experience. Then Easter Sunday we had our own family dinner after church and just relaxed.

Thanks for all your comments about my previous post--they were so nice to read!

Best news in a long time

On April 21st, we had the biggest blessing come to our family in a very long time. Julianna was evaluated by the Inland Regional Center and finally qualified for services. We have been fighting them since she was 3, but year after year they did not qualify her for this reason or that. Two years ago after her evaulation and denial, we thought we were done trying with them and decided to move on. But 6 months ago, I felt strongly that I needed to try one more time. My persistence paid off, not to mention the MANY prayers being said for her to get this help. So now that she's a client, she will get services IN THE HOME--something we have needed for a long time. It's great that she can go to school and get help there, but she comes home and we struggle with how to help her in daily living skills, behaviors, the list goes on and on. Very soon there will be trained people coming here to help Julianna in the home, plus we might get respite care as well. The best part is the regional center will be there for her when she is an adult, so we don't need to worry about that anymore.

Since getting this long-awaited yes (almost a week ago) it is amazing how much my spirits have been lifted. I feel like a brand new mom, like I can do anything now. Just knowing that I have more support coming has seriously brightened my whole attitude toward life! A huge burden has been lifted for sure, and now I don't have that little nagging feeling inside saying, "She needs more help," because she has it now.

The big shocker from this evaluation--the psychologist feels strongly that Julianna does NOT have autism, but global delays, anxiety and sensory issues, and perhaps motor tics--they said she is a "unique girl." We are getting closer to figuring her out. Regardless, she is still our Julianna, and we love her just the way she is! We are so lucky to have such a smart, funny, beautiful little girl.

Thanks to all of you who were praying and thinking of us!

Autism video

My mom shared this video, and I wanted to post it here, in honor of autism awareness month. Julianna isn't nearly this severe, and she talks a LOT, but she has her own issues, many related to sensory and anxiety/OCD. I hope you can learn from this video to see what it's like for kids with autism.

Spring Break happenings

I celebrated my 29th birthday. Last year in my 20's! Blake always has to do something silly in pictures now.

Some good friends "egged" our door as a birthday surprise for me. We didn't see it until Joel left for Priesthood session--we were inside watching conference, or in the backyard working. It was pretty sneaky, and it totally made my day!

My birthday present was a raised bed garden--I really want to learn how to garden this year. Here I am with Blake during our "groundbreaking" ceremony. We also went to a movie as a family and a few days earlier, Joel and I went to the temple and had lunch together. It was a great birthday.

When the yard was being done, we moved our trampoline to the concrete, and the kids thought it was extra fun to jump on it this way.

A "before" shot of our yard, just one side of it. The weeds were out of control!

And the "after" shot. We had the ground cleared, and sprinklers and grass installed. The other side of the yard is dirt for now until we get a swingset, and the trampoline is moved over there again, and there's room to expand my garden. We love having grass, finally! We will plant in the edges as we go--we just wanted the grass in for now. We also finally caught the gopher that's been living in our yard for YEARS.

We've also had lots of soccer during the break--2 games and a few practices. Here's Blake ready to go to his first soccer game.

Here's his coach talking to him before the game--the pictures are blurry because I was sitting far away.

Standing in his position. Whenever the whistle blew, he was VERY good at going back to his position. In fact, he might have been the only kid who did this. He seemed a little shy when the ball actually came within kicking range, but he was very good at chasing that ball everywhere. He played the ENTIRE 30-minutes (I think his coach forgot to switch him out). At the end of the game, he said, "I kicked the ball THREE times!" We asked him how many times he will kick it in the next game, and he said, "Um, like 20 times!" He is liking soccer and whenever we are getting his "uniform" on he says, "I'm a soccer player now."

Spring break is almost over now...it's been fun!