Uncle Tims Quilt

My Mom made this quilt for her brother Tim. I helped a little so I felt like I could post it. It is made out of old jean his and his daughters have worn. It also has their Brands on the quilt. I think my mom did an amazing job.

Spiders

A big conversation in our home is about spiders. Which I guess I can't be to surprised since we find at least one in the basement every day and we see way too many in the garden. So this evening as the kids were going to bed this is the conversation they had.

William: Bad spiders have red eyes

Joseph:What color of eyes do good spiders have?

William: Blue eyes (of course, what a surprise they are the same color as his)

Joseph: Oh I never knew that before(he makes me laugh so hard)

William :Yeah good Daddy spiders have blue eyes and they teach their kid spiders to be good

Me: What about Mommy spiders

William: Well bad Mommy spiders have red eyes and they show Daddy spiders to show kid spiders to be bad (hmm I guess we know who is the meany in our house)

Joseph: When I am a spider I will have blue eyes and be good.

I love the minds of children. They will always give you a good laugh.

Joseph and Michaels B-day Party

We had Joseph and Michael's Birthday party on Saturday since I will be up at girls camp for their actual birthday. They begged to have two friend from church over so I decided to invite the whole family and play swimming pool kickball. We also had the pleasure of having uncle Ryan and Aunt Aunt (Ann)(as our kids call her) and their cute boys down from Sheridan to join in on the party. We had a lot of laughs and a couple of tears as kids got hit by the ball. At one point we played boys against girls and the men would tell the little girls to lay down so the would get pumbled by the ball.

We also made home made ice cream. The kids were all pushing in line to get a turn. Strong Kaden showed everyone how it was done and even took two turns.

The boys requested Transformer cakes. If you can't tell the yellow one is Bumble Bee and the black one (it was gray and got darker as the day went on) is Jazz. The boys had a great day and we are thankful for the family who made the effort to come.

Joseph Update

Jeremiah and Joseph headed down to Salt Lake once again on Wednesday. Joseph had a check up early Thursday morning. Dr. Vitali said everything is looking great and his eye sight has improved greatly. One bad thing is that the cataract is already returning to his eye (crazy right?). But luckily it is a really easy procedure to have it removed with a laser. They said it could be done while he is awake (yeah right like that will happen he is too squirmy). We don't go back down until August 21 for another check up and if everything is looking grand Joseph will be having cataract surgery on his right eye September 9. So wish us luck.
Joseph is doing really well with getting around. He is getting good at putting on sunglasses before he walks outside. And he runs around as if he could see fine out of both eyes. He is a trooper.

Climbing Tree's

The kids have taken to climbing trees. They are so funny to watch do this because they are not yet very good at it. But with some help they can get up a bit. Grandma helped Isabelle get up into the tree. Then Isabelle said "You can leave Grandma, don't worry I am just going to sit here by myself" And she did for a while.

Best Friends

Lately Isabelle and Joseph have become best friends. They love to go out on adventures together. If Isabelle wants to head out to play she makes sure Joseph is right behind.

After Joseph's surgery he had to wear a patch to bed for about a week. They gave him a little on to put on his stuff dog. Well Isabelle decided she would wear it so Joseph didn't have to wear his alone. I couldn't believe how long she kept it on. I figured once she headed for bed it would be off. But she kept it on all night and took it off when Joseph took his off in the morning. Now that is what a call a best friend.

Ice Cream Time

Last week for Family Home Evening we made some homemade icecream. The kids had a lot of fun turning the handle. It made a lot less work for Jeremiah and Me. The kids loved having icecream for the next week that they made.

Who are you going to Marry?

Today Isabelle came up to me and said "Mommy I love Joseph so much. When I grow up I am going to marry him"
I took the time to explain that even though we love our brother we can't marry him.
She took some time to ponder this. She soon came back and said
"Mommy I love Joseph. I also love Isaac (her cousin). I am going to marry Isaac."
So I started over and told her we don't marry our family. But I gave her a few sugestion for some cute little boys in our ward. I am not sure if she went for that.

The Great Gates

I just felt the need to post about the Gates family.
Here is the background. Darren and Heather Gates moved to Philadelphia for Darren to finish school. They had two little ones at the time. Well Jeremiah's parents took care of them and helped them out a lot (as Heather tells me).
By the time Jeremiah and I were married, the Gates had moved to Provo and just had their 4th kid. So when we moved down to Provo (2 months after we were married) Darren and Heather took care of us. They helped us find our first apartment. They put us up for a night when we couldn't move into our apartment right away. And through the years they check up on us now and again.
For me Heather was always some one to look up too. She is an amazing women and mother. Very loving and caring. I have always felt at peace in her presence.
This last trip I made to Utah I got to squeeze in a visit to the Gates. We had not seen them since we moved. It was so nice to be back in their home to see their 7 sweet children. When Jeremiah and I got married their oldest boy, Nathaniel, was 11. He is now 19 getting ready to leave on his mission in July. It is amazing to see this family grow. I loved seeing how church minded all the kids are and so giving and loving. I often hope I can be as good as a mother as Heather is. I am thankful to have the Gates in our life. They are truly a blessing to us. As I was leaving, Heather (oh she is so sweet), said "Isn't Missy like family. She is more like and Aunt then just a friend". Well I feel the same way. The Gates will always be family to us. Whether or not Sam and Isabelle get married.

Back to Utah We Go We Go

So yesterday Joseph and I headed back down to Utah. We were able to make it down to Provo this time and visit some friends. I always leave Provo wishing we had some more time to visit more friends. This time I got to go shopping with Karen. Visit with Mickelle and Scott. We enjoyed a great dinner with the Gates. We spent the night and had a yummy breakfast at McDonald's with Grandma and Grandpa Stephenson. And has quick visit with Malea and James. I think every time I come down I need to visit a new person. I think next time it will be friends from our last ward. We haven't seen any of them since we moved.
So anyway back to the reason we went down. Today Joseph went in for a check up. Dr Moshifar said his eye is looking good. Starting Monday we get to cut down on eye drops. Hurray. Also we found out he will have to have reading glasses and will have to wear sunglasses anytime he heads outside for the rest of his life.
We headed home right after the appointment. So in 35 hours I had driven a total of 15 hours. I am happy to be out of the car and sleeping in my own bed tonight.

Joseph Update

So here is what happened when we took Joseph in for his "day after surgery" check up.
First of all when the doctors came out and talked me after the surgery they told me Joseph wouldn't really be able to see anything for about a week. That it would be pretty cloudy because of some meds they injected into his eye.
After taking off the patch, Joseph said his eye felt weird and seeing was weird but he could kind of make out some things. Dr Vitale (uveitis specialist) checked his eye. Then Dr. Moshifar(lens specialist) checked his eye. As soon as Dr. Moshifar finished he looked up at Dr Vitale with a smile and said "I could have never expected it to look this good. The lens is taking so well" Dr Vitale said "I know I can't believe it".
They then had an aid bring in an ultrasound machine to get a good look inside his eye. As we were waiting I mentioned to the aid that Joseph was seeing a little. She decided to test out what he could see. She held out her fingers and asked how many Joseph saw. He got it right every time. So then she projected letters across the room and he was able to see every one. While Joseph was doing this the doctors walked back into the room and their jaws dropped. They couldn't believe he was able to see any of it. I started bawling. Silly Dr. Vitale came over and started patting my head like I was a little girl and said "it's OK everything is all right". I just thought "Well duh! My baby can see again. Why do you think I am crying". But I said "I know I know I just can't believe he can see again" I had to be nice.
So they are please with how everything is going. Watching Joseph is like night and day compared to how he was the day of the surgery. As we left the office and as we were driving home from Utah, Joseph pointed out everything that was exciting for him to see(which was quite a bit).
I have always believed in miracles. But this is the first time I got to witness one. Thank you again for the the prayers and fasting in Joseph's behalf.
We will be heading back to Salt Lake on Thursday for a check up on Friday. Then back again in early July. We have not yet set a date for the surgery on his right eye. I hope it will be in July but I know better then to get my hopes up.

Day after Surgery

Joseph was such a trooper through everything. I can't believe how little he complained.
Here is Joseph in the waiting room. Waiting to get his patch off. The patch took about 1/2 an hour to get off. That tape sticks so tight and the nurse was going really slow using some kind of wipes that make the tape unstick. Joseph got pretty antsy. Poor guy.

This is a picture of Joseph's eye that evening. I couldn't get a good shot because he is so wiggly. It doesn't quite show how bloody his eye was. He was put on a regiment of eye drops. One drop 3 times a day. One 4 times a day. And the last every 2 hours. For I don' t know how long.

Surgery Day

Here are some pictures of the surgery dayJoseph waiting to go in. If you notice he is using his hands to feel everything. He got to the point where he wouldn't even look at what he was doing. It was all by sense of feel.

After surgery. Joseph kept waking up and them falling back to sleep. This is the saddest looking picture. I always hate seeing him this way.

Joseph Surgery

Joseph's surgery went well. They only did the cataract surgery on the left eye. They were able to put in the lens and have great hopes of it taking. Joseph had a bit of a hard time waking up. He kept trying to pull off his eye patch and trying to pull out his I.V. He got a bit queasy in the car and threw up orange Popsicle in the car. In Joseph's words "the surgery made me sick and now there is disgusting orange Popsicle all over Grandma's car" (don't worry mom I already clean it up). He spent the rest of the day hanging out on Grandma and pa Stephenson's couch. He was such a good boy never complained. He never once complained of any pain and slept like an angel. I couldn't ask for anything to go any smoother.

T-Shirt Quilt

Tonight I just finished a T-shirt quilt my brother and sister in-law had me make them for their 30th anniversary (yes they have been married longer then I have been alive). They gave me some of the t-shirts of different places and things they have done in the last 30 years. It was a really fun quilt to make and I think it turned out great.

If you look close you can see the cool swirl design on the quilt. I was able to do that because of the class Jeremiah got me for Mother's day so I could use the big quilting machine.