More family photos

Nathan, Janessa, Heather, Kristin and I
Mom and her kids
Heather (not wanting her pic taken) with mom
Kristin's 2 girls with Zachary

"Hoppy" Easter

Hoppy Easter! This weekend was quite the busy one. Zachary and I went to visit my sister Heather who just had a baby and Phil went to his parents house with Kaylin. I had a lot of fun at my sister's house. The first day we went to get pedicures and hung out and watched "Dan in real life" (good movie btw). Later that evening, we went to visit my sister Kristin and family to play games and visit with each other. My other sister Janessa came up with her husband and my brother Nathan was there also visiting from Chicago. It was a fun family gathering. Saturday was busy at my mom's families house with Easter bingo and a giant Easter egg hunt. I wish Kaylin was there because she would've loved it, but I know that she had a blast going to the movies with Grandpa and decorating Easter eggs. I left Heather's house on Sunday and Phil got home Sunday night. It was a short trip but a very memorable one.

Uncle Jay and Zachary at the Fire station. We got a "private tour" of the station where we got to see the "Jaws of Life-both the cutters and the stretchers" (Did I get that right Jay?)
Zachary driving the firetruck

Jay, Heather and baby Lauren. Jay had to model his full fire suit. Looking great the Jay!

The weekend before Easter weekend, my sister Michelle flew in to visit us. She came without her two kids and loved it! We went to the temple on Saturday and then went shopping all day. It was really fun to have a style guru shopping with me and updating my sadly out-of-style wardrobe. We also visited my favorite grocery store Winco to buy some things in their incredibly cheap "Bulk foods" section. We went a little nuts, but it's food storage, right?

Michelle took a trip down memory lane playing Super Mario Bro 3 on the Wii and together, she and Phil beat the game. Phil loved having someone to play with since I don't play all that often.

All in all they were two very fun weekends.

Potty time for Zachary

Zachary was having a hard time "pushing" so I decided to let gravity help him along. Worked like a charm! :)

Colonoscopy

This last week was definitely one that I could have done without. As many of you know, Kaylin has been dealing with colitis (inflammation in her colon) for the last 18 months. We have been through 4 or 5 different medications, none of which has worked into getting her into remission. She has been to the hospital twice in the last year and has now had 2 colonoscopy/endoscopies. She has been off of all medication for about 3 months and so we have been exploring our options for additional treatment. A couple of weeks ago, I discussed some different treatments with the doctor and we decided that before we commit to anything, we needed to re-scope her and see if the disease has progressed or gotten better. So last week, Kaylin and I both got a blessing from Daddy and then headed up to Phil's parents house to spend the night there since my mother-in-law was going to go with me to the hospital. I don't know how many know this, but before a colonoscopy, you need to go on a clear liquid diet for the whole day before and drink this nasty magnesium citrate to "clean you out." Wednesday, Kaylin was such a trooper. She had about 5 meltdowns because she was so hungry (she hates jello and is not a big juice drinker). Grandma Walker and I did our best to distract her--taking her shopping, buying her a pretty dress, going to the park, meeting up with her "best friend" Ella etc. I honestly believe that the Lord was with her because she really did wonderfully. As a mom, it was so difficult to say "no" when I knew how hungry she was. I just kept saying that we needed to empty out her tummy so that Dr. Davies could look inside it. She would then respond, "No doctor Davies, no look in tummy!" AHHH. It was so hard.
The next day, we drove to the hospital at 5:30 am (luckily we were the first procedure at 8:30 AM). She had awesome nurses and 3 child life specialists that came in a played "nurse" with her. They brought in a doll and let her put a little IV in the arm and put tape on it to keep it in place. She also got to "hear the heartbeat" and take their blood pressure. It was great. Although she was really out of it, due to the massive emptiness in her tummy, she seemed to like it. When she finally got her IV put in, the child life specialist came in and played with cool toys to distract her. She cried a little,but it went so much better than I had anticipated.
They put her under for the procedure and she did wonderfully waking up. She immediately got her favorite cereal, Cheerios, and was happy as can be. Unfortunately, her colon is still completely inflammed and we are waiting for the pathology results to see if the inflammation has spread to her small intestines. If it has then she has Crohn's Disease, if not she's got Ulcerative Colitis. Both are chronic diseases (she'll have them her whole life) but hopefully with the right medication we will be able to get it into remission. Both are apparently very painful diseases, but she doesn't ever complain or even indicate that she hurts. I'm so grateful for that.
This has really been a trial for Phil and I. I once told my mom that I didn't sign up for this, but I know that the Lord obviously knew I could handle it. Our lives have changed, but looking back at the last 18 months, I think that it has taught us some things and eventually will bring us that much closer to our Heavenly Father. I know that He sent Kaylin to us and that he knew she and we could handle this. It has been frustrating and we have shed many tears, but she's our little girl and she is perfect in every other way. Sometimes it is just hard to see them get something like this when they are so young.
Thanks for letting me ramble on...and thanks to those that have prayed and fasted for our little girl.

The flowers I got from Phil for being such an awesome wife and mother.

Happy 3rd Birthday Kaylin!

Kaylin turned 3 on March 2nd. I can't believe that we have a three year old. We actually celebrated her birthday on March 1st (Saturday) because that way we could go out to eat etc. We went to lunch at the Macaroni Grill (yummy!) and went to the park. In the morning, we made her honey wheat (yummy!) pancakes and put a candle in them. She loved it! The whole day she asked for nothing but cake! Poor thing had to wait until after we got home from the restaurant. She was thrilled to eat it though! I have to say that for my first layered cake I think that it turned out really nice. I had to redeem myself after the awful "Yankee candle on half eaten cake" that was for Phil's birthday.

Here she is blowing out the candles and then taking a bow after she was done! Job well done!



During her birthday week, we went and got her first haircut-technically. My friend Leah Jukes cut it the first time, but this time we went to a salon and got a bob cut. It looks really cute! She looks so mad in the picture, but she was a really good sport and the whole day was running her hands through her hair and saying "look at my pretty hair."

Aaron and Melissa surprised us and came up on Sunday to help eat some cake and celebrate Kaylin's birthday. It was so fun to have them over to visit!

Oh--I almost forgot, this is a picture of her birthday present that will be coming in 2 weeks! Thank you to all who contributed monetarily! We love you!