Christmas 2010

This Christmas was definitely one we will remember for the rest of our lives.  What a wonderful reason to celebrate!  The birth of our Savior Jesus Christ was truly the center of our thoughts this year.  Our dear neighbors who lost their baby boy on December 5 so elegantly reminded us of this.  Last year when we lost our nephew, Tyler, we had thought that Christmas would be the hardest time to lose someone you love.  The Cope family changed my thoughts on this.  Brother Cope stood at the funeral of his beautiful infant baby and expressed that he was grateful to be able to celebrate his sons life simultaneously with the birth of the Savior, for without the Savior he would not have the opportunity to be with his son again.  In the most trying trial of their lives, they were grateful.  Our ward was fasting together on the day that sweet little Daniel passed away.  Everyone was praying for a miracle.  Brother Cope was concerned that some would be upset about this or think that they didn’t get their miracle, but he wanted us to know that they did get their miracle.  Their miracle was that they had the time to give Daniel a name and blessing and they got to hold him until his little spirit returned home.  I am so grateful for the example the Cope family has been to me.  They strengthened my testimony immensely and I can only pray that I can bear my trials with as much grace. 

Our whole month was filled with events that truly made this a SEASON OF CHRIST that we will never forget…

This was left on our door step a few days before Christmas.  Our neighbors wanted to do something special for Mitch this year.  They went above and beyond! I can’t explain how much this meant to our family.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to the Keisels, the Paxtons, and the Kellers.  We love you. 

This is what was in it…

It’s a SWING!  Mitch absolutely LOVES this swing!  “Kids Who Count” is where Mitch goes for “Friday’s Kids” and they have a swing exactly like this one.  Mitch doesn’t get out of it the entire time he is there.  My dear neighbors are so very thoughtful.  They wanted to give him something that he would love and they heard about this swing.  Completely selfless act of kindness.  Do I not have the best neighbors EVER! 

When Will brought it back to his room, HE FOLLOWED HIM!  (or rather the swing)

He got in it himself! 

LOVES IT!  Will hung it in his room and I haven’t taken pictures of it yet.  Mitch spends most of his time in his room now:)

I have to thank my whole neighborhood for their generous acts of kindness toward my family.  A lot of them were anonymous so we don’t know exactly who to thank so we will just say thank you to everyone and we love you all. 
Amazingly, not a single penny came from our pocket this year for Christmas.  A lot of these gifts came from people that don’t even know us very well.  One gift came from someone that Will has been doing work for a very short time that I have never even met.  This amazed me.  I do know that prayers are answered.  We got news this month that our mortgage payment went up, imagine that!  When everyone else’s is going down, ours went up.  That sent me over the edge with stress.  So when Will had someone approach him and ask if he could help, again I was amazed that it came from someone I have met once that Will has, from time to time, done some work for.  We were both astonished to find that he had completely caught our mortgage up so now we are up to date.  I love that prayers are truly answered.  As tears are streaming down my face I also have a smile there because I know my Savior lives.  I love that through each other we are strengthened in Him.  We are all connected.  I have so much joy in my life because of Him and I hope you do too!

Wow, this is going to be a very long post… so on to CHRISTmas  eve!  Santa came by for a visit to make sure the boys went to bed before he started his work.
Major got very nervous… hence the hands in the pocket.

Madd on the other hand, went straight up to Santa and told him exactly what he was thinking.  He is the sweetest boy… my parents came to Utah for Christmas this year and he was worried that Santa wouldn’t be able to find them.  So, he wrote some things down that he thought they might like and gave it to Santa along with a picture he drew for him.  ha-ha

Darn it, little Mitch already fell asleep!


CHRISTMAS MORNING!




HUH?!?


This face would normally describe how Will feels about Christmas but this year was different for Will too!  We were pleasantly surprised to find Willy, well, PLEASANT!  I don’t know why he looks so ornery in this picture, oh I remember… he was teasing me!  

My brother and his family came down to see us.  They were in Willard with Natalie’s family this year.  It was so nice to see them.  We don’t get to see them very often any more since we don’t go to Arizona but once a year these days.  Their kids have gotten so big I can’t believe it.

Merry Christmas from the Morton's! 

HORTON SAVES CHRISTMAS!

Mitch’s Christmas play was last night.  It is always a crowd pleaser!  They received a standing ovation and that was so amazing to see these sweet kids up there on the stage while everyone was clapping and cheering them on!  I know I say this all the time but, I love this school!  They really care about these kids.  They don’t see the disability, they see the ABILITY.  They get to cheer these kids on everyday and that is exactly what they do.  I was also incredibly grateful for the members of the student council at Springville High School.  They did an excellent job with the kids.  They sacrifice a lot during the whole preparation for the play and they did it with smiles on their faces and I love them for it!  Imagine a bunch of high school students doing all of this and being HAPPY to do it?!?  They give up their lunch hour to practice with the kids at Oakridge!  They got up on the stage and gave it their all.  I hope this has an impact on them because I know it has an impact on the kids at Oakridge and their families.  Thank you so much to the students who truly gave of themselves last night.

Mitch played the part of Vlad the Vulture, and I have to say, the part was completely perfect for him!  Vlad was a little ornery and Mitch put his best ornery face on while he pushed the switch button that said his part.  ha-ha!  Kind of like this face….

We are so proud of our sweet little Mitch

Linz and the girls are always there to support us!

Haley too…  We appreciate it so much!

Look at little Roo!  He was OUT half way thru the play!

This is Mitch’s communication intervener, Jolyn.  She is amazing with Mitch and he loves her!

We have such wonderful friends that are so supportive.  Haley used to be Mitch’s intervener and now she is a very good friend of the family.  She comes to all that she can and she is the only one I’ll leave Mitch with when we are in a pinch.  It is so wonderful to see how many people Mitch has touched. 

And then Santa showed up….

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove

out of sight, “HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL,

AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!”

Do you see what I hear, I hear?

I laughed so hard on the way home from taking Mitch to school that it was literally dangerous to be on the road!  We were listening to Christmas music when this song came on, “Do you hear what I hear?”  Maj’s version is, “Do you see what I hear, I hear?” and “Do you hear what I see, I see?” We heard a funny one last night too when we went to see the Christmas lights at Salem Pond.  “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” came on and Maj’s version is “Rudolph the Red Nosed Snowman”, he is constantly mixing things up like that!  Soooo funny!  All of my boys are so much fun to be with.  I love them!  Where would we be without a little laughter in our lives!  Probably in the nut house! 

No words

I really have no words to describe how I feel.  We were the recipient of an extremely generous, anonymous gift last night.  So generous, in fact, that we no longer have to worry one bit about Christmas for our boys.  We can just concentrate on what Christmas is really about and I am so grateful for that.  We truly felt the love of our Savior through the kind service of our dear neighbors.  I sat and bawled last night on the floor.  Will tried to come up with an excuse as to why his eyes were watering.  haha… You can’t fool me Willy!  He said, “You know when you are so tired that your eyes water?”  Uh huh Will, we know.  It takes a lot to make Will tear up.  We were just overwhelmed with love and gratitude.  I guess I just have two words… THANK YOU! 

Mitch

I have had a lot of time at home lately.  On Friday, Mitch had a really bad seizure and ended up in the hospital.  He kept “pausing” when breathing so we knew he was in bad shape but it was still a shocker to see his co2’s in the 80’s.  His doctor looked at me and said, this is usually something that requires intubation.  “What?” I thought.  I haven’t heard that word since he was a baby in the NICU!  So they bagged him for a little while and he didn’t tolerate that very well, I can’t blame him.  We did a few other things as well and by the time we got another blood gas, his co2’s had dropped into the 60’s.  What a relief!  By the end of the day his blood gas was perfect!  He can flip in a matter of minutes.  It always amazes me just how fast he changes, one minute he can be a little sick and in the next minute we could be rushing him to the hospital wondering if this is it, and then right back to normal!?!  He is still very sick, it will take a while to recover from this one.  This sweet boy has endured so much in his little nine years.  He is amazing.  I feel incredibly blessed to be his mother and I will enjoy him for as long as we have him.  Everyday is a blessing and a miracle.  Love you baby.

Wouldn’t you know, my whole family is sick right now.  I know, big surprise.  We have the greatest neighbors and friends that have taken such good care of us through this.  So in the days that we have been home, (when I can muster up the strength, energy and time) I have been enjoying our family pictures and getting Christmas cards done and all that fun stuff.  Times a runnin out!  I have really loved seeing these of sweet Mitch…

San Diego, Nov 2010

We met my parents there for a few days and had the best time.  Its been a while since we've seen them and I forget how much fun they are!  I was rolling on the ground with laughter most of the time and the other time was probably spent at Bates Nut Farm.  We just can't get enough of that place.  Will and Dad, on the other hand, had a heaping list of "honey do's" for my mom.  She bought some things for the house and had them busy, busy, busy!  They also helped out at the golf tournament for Hal and he didn't say it, but I think Will was wishing he had taken his golf clubs and golfed in the tourny instead.  Maybe next year:)  Fun was had by all!  We love it there.  Time was flying by and before we knew it we were headed our seperate ways, mom and dad went back to the vineyard and we were headed back to... snow:(

The boys couldn't get enough of hiking the trails around the house.  Grandpa might be sorry he showed them cause he sure got his exercise keeping up with Mad and Maj!  Can you spot 'em?

Here they come...

The boys feeding the ducks at Bates...

Maj fell asleep while Grandma was reading "Skippy Jon Jones", their fav book:)



Big Boy School Bus

LOOK HOW BIG THAT BUS IS THAT MY LITTLE 3 YEAR OLD IS ABOUT TO GET ON!

Off he goes...  Have a great day at school Major!



DID YOU SEE IT????

Turn to page 113 of this month's Ensign....
http://lds.org/churchmagazines/EN_2010_11_00___09211_000_000.pdf

Halloween Happenings 2010

This is my favorite holiday!  I love all the spookyness of this month when the leaves start changing and falling, scary movies galore on the tele, and all the fun activities!  So fun!  My boys love it too and Will is a good sport, although I tried to get him to dress up as a marshmellow but no dice.  Oh well, maybe next year.  The only bad thing about this year was the weather.  It rained and hailed so bad right at trick or treat time so it was really cold and wet.  It was still so much fun.  Loved it!

CRAZY HAIR DAY AT SCHOOL... he is such a good sport for his crazy mom! lol

PUPMKINLAND

My dear neighbor invited my sister and I to go with her to a playgroup activity at Pumkinland.  It was the cutest place for the little kids to have some Halloween fun! 

Maj goin thru the corn maze

Maj and his buddy, Gannon

COSTUMES AND SCHOOL PARTIES

Here's Mads getting ready to head to school in his costume...

And here's Mitchy boy headed to school in his BUG costume... He is my LOVEBUG:)

Guess who finally started school..... It's CAPTAIN ROO!

Here is my baby Major at school.  I was sad to leave him there but it didn't really hit me until I had dropped Mitch off at school and I didn't have my little Maj in the back talking to me the whole way home.  I bawled all the way back to the house.

TRICK OR TREAT???

my grapes were very sparse by the time I got home... stinkin wind:(  Oh well, it was fun and the boys LOVED it! lol



Have you seen?????

This made the front page news!  Click on (share) to see a familiar face!

Collin Raye - She's With Me