Baby B AKA- Aaron William Michael England

If you read the previous blog you can see the details of my pregnancy as Aaron shared the same living space with Abbey for 40 weeks. I will add this part in though, I always imagined that I would have a house full of boys probably because I grew up on the streets with my brothers playing street hockey or in the belford's backyard playing soccer. We often made forts and I would pee in them just to see what Terry and Michael would say..they were never pleased!
I was 17 weeks pregnant when they did the "sex of the baby" ultra sound and they checked out baby A first (abbey) the ultra sound tech stated these exact words..not me "ohhhh she has a vagina" at that moment I thought oh dang, I am going to have three girls...as she smothered my over sized belly in the really cold jelly and pressed the instrument across my mountainous lump she looked at me and said "ohhhhh he has a penis" I have never in my life heard the word penis before and got so excited...I was getting my BOY!!
When Aaron was a baby he talked himself to sleep at night. The children's grandmother Barbara told me to record the sound of him talking to himself or I would regret it someday. It is someday and I do regret not taking the time to do that. At night when the twins were in their crib I would sneak in when they were almost asleep to hear Aaron, he had the sweetest little voice and it was almost as though he was talking to someone out there about his day.
Grandma England always made blankets for the twins and they were quilts that had "fluffies" on them (the little pieces of yarn that are tied onto the quilt) Aaron still inserts a fluffy into his ear at night to fall asleep..if you watch him it makes his eyes roll back into his head. He has two blankets that he will not allow me to throw out both of which has lost their fluffies but he has one lonely fluffy stored above his bed.
If you were to watch Aaron from a distance he seeks out little girls (not in a bad way) I am sure it has to do with his protective nature over Abbey. He looks for little girls that no one plays with and he will make a huge effort to include them in everything.
Aaron is a goof ball, but he thinks his mom is pretty cool..I love that! He tells me all the time that all he has to do is touch me and he feels better, what he doesn't know is, it is the other way around. When he hugs me his face fits perfectly against mine especially now that he is the same height as me.
Mr England is not innocent by any means, in fact he is quite Boyd-like, let me explain. In a crowded grocery store when we were standing in line he casually turned to me and said "mom, I still cannot believe you got a tattoo on your boob" the man standing in front of us turned slowly around as to not make it look so obvious...I wanted to sink into a hole. He loves to laugh and he is known as the "class clown" not too sure I like that. Aaron loves to go to Canada to see his Grandpa Boyd. When my dad was healthier he would take the kids fishing and tell them stories of when he was in the war. He took them all to an airplane museum and Aaron has a picture of it in his bedroom. My dad gave him his badge from the pen and it is displayed proudly above Aaron's bed.
I am so grateful for my son and how much fun he brings into our home. He is going to make the most amazing husband someday. He lives and breaths with 3 females..heaven help the poor kid:)

Abbey Jean Michelle England

Abbey was born May 27th 1997 at noon, 48 minutes before her twin brother Aaron. Bret, Cierra and I lived in Flagstaff Arizona when we found out that not only were we expecting, but that we were going to have two babies. Abbey was known as baby "A" for 9 months and because having twins is considered a high-risk pregnancy we were at the doctor's office non-stop.
At 28 weeks of pregnancy I went into pre-term labor and was put on bed rest. For anyone who has ever been put on bed rest knows that it is almost impossible to remain off your feet especially when you have a very active two year old and at that time a husband that worked 18 hours a day.
When I was 30 weeks pregnant we decided to move to Wyoming to be closer to family. Ironically I began my pregnancy with my oldest daughter Cierra in Wyoming with an incredible OBGYN who's name was Robert Fagnant. I was really upset when we moved to Hawaii and our OBGYN changed. When we returned to the Wyoming area, Dr. Fagnant delivered my twins. It was an incredible experience and I was excited to have him be apart of our lives again.
During the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy Bret's mom Barbara brought dinner over at least 3 times a week. She was there to help with Cierra and because they lived right across the street it was easy to let Cierra run over and play.
So at 36 weeks the Dr took me off of all medication to stop labor and at 38 weeks after nothing happened they induced labor. My mom came to stay with us for the last month to help with my babies and I would have died without my mom.
On May 27th we headed to the hospital and checked in at 8 am and Abbey arrived at noon. She was 5 pounds 11 ounces and had a head full of black hair. (she took after grandma boyd). I remember the first day Abbey must have slept at least 5 hours straight without eating. I would get worried and wake her to feed her. After having my brute Cierra at 8 pound 12 ounces, Abbey was so tiny and made me worry constantly. I look back on that time now and realize she loves to sleep. When she is tired she heads straight to her bed and it takes two seconds for her to fall asleep.
Abbey was a very easy baby, but with the combination of both her and Aaron, life was pretty difficult. To be honest, it was such a busy time that I do not remember at what age she first started crawling, she started walking at 12 months and has not stopped running since.
The twin thing is an experience that no one will understand unless they have been there themselves. Where Aaron goes, Abbey is close behind.
When the twins started kindergarten I decided to put them in the same class. The did very well except when Aaron would stumble with an answer, Abbey would answer for him. When the twins had their centers Abbey would go to Aaron's table and grab his hand and take him to where he was supposed to go. She adores Aaron and he adores her.
Abbey has always been a very athletic young lady. She loves sports and is involved in many teams. She has played basketball, soccer, and would love to be on a football team. She has a love affair with the Chicago Bears and loves the game of football.
Abbey does not wear pink and she does not do frills, she is often found wearing basketball shorts and tennis shoes. She wants to either be a professional soccer player when she grows up or design cars.
When Abbey was 6 she tripped on a blanket and hit her mouth on the frame of her bed. Her tongue was hanging by one thin membrane and received two stitches on her tongue (the scar is still there and she is pretty proud of it)
Abbey is the coolest girl most people will ever meet. She is funny and goofy and she loves to play.
Her favorite color is yellow and she has a stuffed animal(a giraffe) called floppy that goes everywhere with her. Her favorite candy is circus peanuts and if you really want to make her happy just buy her cookie dough bites when she goes to the movies. She is easy to please and loves to be loved.
I am so grateful that I have Abbey in my life, she makes me smile daily!!

The life and death of the Snake that lived with the England family

For those of you who don't know about the snake that dwells and slithers in this house of ours, I will give you a quick version of the long of it.
Aaron called me one day from Bear Lake while he was with his dad and asked me for a snake. I have to tell you a little bit about my son so you can perhaps see my dilemma. Aaron had a pet rat that his father bought for him that lasted two weeks and it died. He was devastated and we had a funeral for it in the back yard. Apparently, we didn't dig the grave deep enough and the next day the dog was playing with the dead rat which added to Aaron's devastation. Next came the guinea pig and he was very sweet, yet completely stinky. Aaron took the guinea pig to his father's house while we were on vacation to Canada and we never really brought him back, he later died and once again Aaron was devastated. Keeping in mind that I gave in a little too often with the animals due to the fact I was trying to fill in some of the guilt I felt during that time period for my children experiencing a divorce.
So...last summer the phone rang at least 10 times with the same question "mom, can I have a snake?" my first response was "NO WAY". Snakes scare me, they are in NO way cute or adorable. The thought of a snake in my house made me completely grossed out. After the 10th phone call and my son pleading into the phone, he told me he would get one that ate crickets....I caved...bad idea.
We met at Pet Co the following day and before I got there the decision to get the ball python was made (it eats live mice). For any of you who have seen Aaron happy and excited about something it leaves you weak and unable to say no. The whole way home I was completely freaked out because there was a snake in the back of my vehicle and now I would share an existence with it.
THE FIRST TIME IT ATE FOOD
This was a day that will remain one in my mind for the rest of my life. The lady at Pet Co stated that the python was a baby and needed to eat fuzzies first. I had no clue what on earth a fuzzy was until I went to purchase one. A fuzzy is a baby mouse that is just barely getting it's fur. I asked for the fuzzy and the lady brought it out, she said "I need you to look at this and let me know that, this is what you want" I said " no, please, I will trust you" she wouldn't accept that answer and I was forced into looking into the brown sack at this little cute mouse. After I peaked in he said "please arlene, do not feed me to that snake"
With a heavy heart I took Stewart Little home and instructed Abbey to not look into the bag knowing that she would not approve of this cute little creature being eaten by a snake. What do kids do when their parents instruct them not to do....she peaked and started crying. The lady at the store told us that we needed to separate his eating from his living so Aaron plopped him into the bathtub and put the baby mouse in there with him. It took him two hours to eat that darn mouse the whole time Abbey was in tears and even Aaron was starting to get choked up...finally he ate it.
For the majority of the time the snake was pretty mellow and you could hardly tell that he was even around, other times I would look into aaron's room and that darn snake would hiss at me. It didn't like me and I didn't like it right back.
One day I was approaching the house on a night after work and I was greeted at the door by Aaron who said "mom, don't be mad" for some reason that phrase automatically puts me on guard. "The snake got out" fear, anger, and the sudden urgency to wet my pants all came at the same time. The question that kept lingering in my mind was..how would we sleep in a house with a run-away snake? It took Aaron two days and he had him back in his little habitat and life when on as normal. In the mean time we duct taped the lid of the snake's cage closed, that thing was not getting out again, or so we thought. We left for Canada in the middle of January and when we came back, the same words escaped from Aaron's mouth...."my snake got out" This time JJ (that's his name, I forgot to tell you that part) was out for a month.
I crawled into bed one night and 20 minutes later I heard a scream that pierced the silence of the night, it was Cierra and she had found the snake slithering on the floor...by this time we knew he was starving so I went and hid in the other room while the kids swept him up with the broom and the dust pan. I have to give it to him, he was a very intelligent snake!
On his little month long adventure with free reign of the house I think he must have gotten sick. We fed him a mouse and he ate it right up, a week later we fed him another mouse that remained in his cage with him for 5 days before the mouse died. This morning I asked Aaron to check on his snake and he was gone. Aaron took it pretty well, the first thing out of his mouth was "he's in heaven" Do I miss the snake, NO WAY!! do I miss how happy he made my son..YOU BET! We will bury him in the back yard (a little deeper than the last pet) and we will have some long-term memories of this little vanishing snake. I do not see another snake in our future ever again, and I never did watch him devour a mouse, I am just glad I am at the top of the food chain!

IT'S WORKING

So, this has been an incredible week. Nope-nothing spectacular has happened, I haven't sold my house yet and Team Canada actually lost to team USA on Sunday night but my outlook has been completely positive. So what is the difference between this week and last week? I am taking one minute, one hour, one day at a time. I am trying to let go of the things that I cannot change and embrace the things that are right in front of me. I am trying to find joy in the simple things (like Cierra passing driver's ed) and I am not planning the next event in my life, I am enjoying today. It might also be helping that I am totally caught up on my homework, laundry, dishes, reports at work, and I am squeezing in my running everyday-that always helps:) I am getting up earlier so I can get everything done and I am not even tired. I have not been this motivated in a very long time. So will this continue? I am going to try my best to MAKE it happen.
It's funny, I wake up in the morning and think of someone that I can help in some small way to accomplish the goals that I set for myself and by the end of the day I have received more things/help than I gave in the first place..I have some very amazing people in my life.

i think I hate myself (this post contains religious matter, read at your own risk)

Just over three years ago I was traveling down I15 southbound in the left lane passing a semi-truck. I was going at least 78 because I was late meeting my children at Bear Lake. It was a very windy day and I had a tight grip on the steering wheel and my full attention was on the road. I had passed the semi-truck halfway when my right-side-rear tire blew. The sound was like a helicopter and it forced my hands to violently jerk side to side. I held tight and slowly moved onto the median and came to a complete stop. I have no idea how I arrived to a stop safely because the force of the blow left nothing on the rim of my tire. I remember it was a cold day and the first thing I thought was to get the tire off and put on the spare and at least drive it into blackfoot to see if I could get a tire. I had the pilot about two weeks and I could not even find the jack to remove the tire. After 5 minutes of panicking I realized it was a drop down jack but I had zero tools in my car and the bolt was on extremely tight. The next thing to do was call Bret (I was still married at the time and I had no clue what to do) His dad took it from there, called Les Schwab who came out with their huge tools and changed my tire to the spare and then I followed them into town where they replaced all four tires and my ex-father in law paid for four new tires.
So why am I telling you this story and how does that apply to me hating myself? Here goes, I feel like I have been coasting, living life because it's what everyone does. I try to do my best everyday but I am wondering if it really is my best? So last week my tire blew out, and like always I feel myself just putting it behind me and moving on, not this time. I need to fix it, I need to stop and fix me. I think the first step is actually admitting that I am broken, I guess that is a good thing. So now I have myself stopped at the median and who do I call? NO ONE! This is up to me. I was thinking in church this morning of the last time that I was really at peace with myself and liked who I was. Sometimes when i look in the mirror I honestly think I do not deserve to be truly happy and will completely talk myself out of anything that could possibly bring me happiness. The time has come for me to change my thought process and focus on having and being the person that I have always wanted to be. So when was the last time I truly liked myself? When I was on my mission and had absolutely no desire to do anything for myself and did not focus on what I wanted. I would lay down in my futon at night and be so exhausted that it took .2 seconds to fall asleep. So what now? that was a million years ago. The time has come for me to let go of every need that I have and focus on those around me. I can't join the peace corp or quit my job to volunteer at the homeless shelter, but I can set my needs aside and loose this angry bitter person that I have been carrying around for a long time now.
So here begins my journey, and I won't post about the things that I will do for others because then it will become about me. This has to be unhitched service, the kind that does not require anything back ever. I am excited about the change...it's about time.

Lifetime friends

On September 5th many years ago I met two incredible women that are still a part of my world today. Allison Crowther and Donna Goldston were my companions in the MTC. For anyone who has ever served an LDS mission- you know what the MTC is like, it is pretty hard and we lived with each other for 9 weeks studying the Japanese language. At that time I was devastated because I was leaving my boyfriend and both Allison and Donna can tell you I was completely pathetic it and now it seems funny but I imagine back then it was kind of annoying.
We arrived in Japan and I did not get to see Allison or Donna very often but when I did, it was like seeing family again. After we got home, we all went our separate ways, married, and had babies. Allsion lives in Washington D.C. with her husband and two sons and Donna now lives in Boise, Idaho with her husband and 4 kids.
I have STD conferences that I go to in Boise, Idaho and ever since I found out that Donna was here I have stopped in to say hello and spend some time with her incredible family.
Donna has a mountain of faith and is very kind and loving. When you walk into her home immediately you feel welcomed. She is still the same person as she was all of those years ago and she often kept me in line with a gentle "now, Boyd Shimai" Donna was definitely the leader of our little group, she had the wisdom of someone who had experienced life for many years!
Donna married a fine young man by the name of Byron Stepherson. Byron has his own business in insurance coverage and I might add that he is very successful. I could not have hand picked a better guy for Donna, he is funny, smart, and an incredible dad.
Their first son Henry, is 15 and wrestles. He has a big meet tomorrow and I am hoping that he makes it to state so that I can see their little family on my side of the state within the next two weeks! Henry has to maintain his weight in order to compete so while I was at their house tonight he was running stairs, treadmill, and all around the house to burn calories. I love how devoted he is!
Jane is next..(8th grade, I hope I have that right) Long strawberry blonde hair like her mom and very cute. She danced the majority of the time and worked on homework with her dad. According to her mom, Jane is excellent at solving problems and figures things out on her own, smart and beautiful...dang!
THE TWINS!!
Kate and Sarah are both in the 6th grade and VERY intelligent. When I first arrived tonight they were both upstairs reading a book. Donna says that they read a book per week. The twins are very athletic and flexible, while I was there they gracefully did a head-stand and invited me to do the same.... no comment. The same bond that my twins have, is evident with Sarah and Kate as well, they are best friends. I was sitting beside Sarah and had a very deep conversation with her. I asked her if her and Kate ever fought, her reply was..."arlene, we are not perfect" totally priceless. These two belong on the doublemint gum commericals..adorable, funny and very entertaining.
So tonight went something like this, arrived at Donna's, Byron continued to give me the update on the hockey game between Team Canada and Sweden (olympics), watched the women's snowboarding event and Shaun White (that kid is amazing) Donna and i helped with homework, we played apples to apples and the game " I never", I received a back massage from Sarah and she brushed my hair and put it in pony tails.
I love spending time with the Stepherson's, they are so down to earth and so much fun! I am so glad they are a part of my world.

Moooooving

I have lived at my current residence for the past ten years now and this is the second time I have attempted to sell this house. When we first moved into this house Cierra was attending pre-school and the twins were two. I was going to nursing school and working part time at the Idaho Falls temple as a custodian from 10pm until 2am (I loved that job, in fact, it felt like I should have been paying them for letting me work there).
We choose this house for a few reasons;
1. it is 5 houses from the school
2. it was full of charm and potential
3. the huge room added to the back of the house (my favorite room)
This house holds many memories and has been a place of safety and comfort.
Almost two years ago I put it on the market and planned on staying in the Idaho Falls area to continue to work at the health department and continue my education. I left it on the market for 5 months, there was not much movement at that time and the economy was starting to fall. Taking it off the market and making some improvements was a solution for a while but I knew that it would be put up for sale again within a short period of time.
It's time again and all of a sudden I remembered how hard it was to keep a house spotless for longer than two hours.
My house has been on the market for a week now and it has received some attention. I have decreased the price quite a bit and have made some huge improvements. So what's next? The one thing that makes me insane in life..waiting with great patience for someone to fall in love with it the way that i did ten years ago.

learning

The feeling of the past two days have been very strange and almost "twlight zone" like. As i was cleaning my basement out I found a note that had been posted to my door over 12 years ago. It was from a man that killed himself 11 years ago. He was my neighbor and the maintenance guy at the little america hotel. He had tried to kill himself twice before the final attempt and then finally succeeded. The feeling of weirdness did not change today when one of my favorite nurses from the satelite offices shared a traumatic story about of her relative that was killed in an avalanche this past weekend. As she sat with tears streaming down her face she made several comments that still ring through my mind. The gentleman that passed away was very familar with the back hills and was with his son. They make it a habit of bringing their rescue equipment whenever they go but this time he said he did not need it and left it in his truck. When they recovered the man's body there was not one scratch on him. He was buried under only 15 inches of snow while his son watched. He worked at the temple the night before and escorted his son through the veil. It just leaves me wondering if somehow he knew it was coming to a close?

With all of this running through my mind I encountered a young mom who was suicidal and I escorted her to the emergency room. I thought for sure this day would pull out of it's darkness when I received and email stating that my dear friend Bonnie had passed away.

I met Bonnie when i was young and single. Her youngest of 5 boys was on his mission to Japan and she was in my Japanese Anthropology class. She introduced herself and we became very close. She was going to pick her son up after his mission and she wanted to learn the language so in exchange for teaching her Japanese once a week, she made me dinner.

She came to my wedding and we have kept in touch over the years. Eventually she remarried and ironically it was to my co-worker's grandfather. The last time I spoke to her she offered to take family pictures of my children and myself, I should have taken her up on that.

So what did I learn today? hmmm..It is hard to put into words but don't take people for granted, if you care about them tell them now and don't put it off. I like to control everything in my life but I am slowly learning that I am powerless and ultimately I really do not have that much of a say. Don't sweat the small stuff, if you do you set yourself up for disappointment every single time.

Canada

I didn't have much time to blog while I was in Canada with my family so I will give you a brief summary of the events that took place as far as I can remember while I was with my family.
The night before we boarded the airplane I had all my documentation in place (or so I thought) I have all of my children's social security numbers and birth certificates placed together with my green card and I had their dad's letter stating it would be fine for his children to cross the border. When I opened my little blue folder I noticed that Abbey's birth certificate was missing. Immediately my mind when back to the summer when I remembered I needed to present it to her soccer coach to prove her age. I did not have time to look for it so I turned to the kids and said.."oh well, let's hope this works" We arrived in Salt Lake and stayed at a hotel, we were all excited so sleep was not on our minds and I was stressed about crossing the border with a child's birth certificate missing. All night long I had dreams that I would not get across the border and that I should have looked in the back of my vehicle because that is where I placed it. We woke up and got ready for our adventure and just before the shuttle left for the airport I looked for her certificate in the back of my car...there it was, I knew at that moment it was an answer to my prayers. At that very moment abbey complained that her foot was hurting and I grabbed the first aid kit out of the back of the car at the same time and put a dressing on her foot. The shuttle was getting ready to leave so I raced out to my vehicle to put it back in the back of my car (little did I know I placed the birth certificate in the first aid kit). If you don't know me and you are reading this, it may seem like a completely air-headed thing to do, however, stress+being crazy busy='s significant memory loss for me every single time...
The plane ride there was completely uneventful which is a miracle in and of itself. There were no delays and we landed on time. The roads were clear for travelling. My dear friend Maureen picked us up and we met my mom, sister Debbie, and my friend Cindy at Maureen's house.

My parents live in Brighton which is a small tourist town right on the shore of Lake Ontario. I grew up 4km from a huge sandy beach and my parents still live in the same house. The smells are familiar and that house gives complete comfort when you walk in the front door.
The first night Debbie's kids and husband Daryl, came over to my parent's house to visit. My dad looked very weak and he was exhausted. He tried like crazy to be funny and crack jokes but his tough exterior no longer exists. He is a 66 year old man inside of a 95 year old man's body.
The most amazing thing to me was watching my mom in action. She has never been to nursing school in fact she dropped out of school when she was very young to help support her family. She fed my dad high protein foods and checked his B/P daily. She made him put his own socks on and get up and down quite frequently to prevent muscle wasting. She is amazing and taught me that the only qualifications you need to have to be a nurse is to care about the person you are taking care of.

So the first day we did not plan to do very much at all. We were tired and the object of this trip was to give my mom some relief and create some memories with my dad that my kids would remember forever. Both of my parents speak with a very strong Irish accent and sometimes it is hard for my kids to understand what they are saying. I love to watch my parents interact with my kids, there is nothing that makes me happier than that. Aaron came running upstairs one morning as I was getting ready with a huge grin on his face and said "I was just eating cereal with grandma and she turned to me and said, Aaron, I love you guys so much" My parents have never had a ton of money, but they have huge hearts that love many many people.

Ok, I am tired and I really need to get to bed, I will continue this blog another day, hopefully soon so that my memories are still fresh in my mind.

My family

Over the next couple of weeks I am going to be in Brighton, Ontario, Canada. That is where I grew up and where the rest of my family lives. I love my family, they are all unique individuals that when put together equal a lot of fun.

Michael Davis Boyd

He is the funniest of us all and if you want to read more about him you can check out one of my previous blog entries. He is awesome and has taken care of all of us in some way over our life span. He is the head of our household and not one of us would disrespect him on purpose. That is all I will say about him, like I said, if you would like to read more then check out my previous blog.

Irene Phyllis Boyd

If there was one word to describe my mom it is fire-cracker (I know that is two words but I joined it with a hyphen). She is full of energy and does not stop moving. She is very funny and not on purpose, she just comes off with these goofy things and does not realize how funny she actually is. My mom had a rough start in life when she lost her mom at the age of 5 but she has pulled through like a trooper and does nothing but give 100% of the time. Truly an amazing woman with a heart of gold.

Terrence Robert Boyd

This guy is definitely the alpha male of the siblings, he takes on the role of being the lead and makes sure that everyone is taken care of. When Terry, Mike, and I were walking home from school one day, mike and I called a girl "fatso"-rude, I know. She chased us and was totally going to attack when she caught us. Terry grabbed her and flipped her over his back and broke her collar bone. We had a bunch of bullies follow us everyday after school until Terry turned around and wacked them with his lunchbox on the head. Terry is an amazing big brother and would go to bat for me anyday! When Terry laughs immediately tears roll down his face and he has a hard time telling the rest of the story. Terry's family includes, Heather, his hot little woman with Cameron, Hannah, Caitlyn and Clover as their children.

Michael Phillip Boyd

Michael is the quiet yet very methodical one. When dad was going through his radiation treatments, this guy took off everyday to take him to the kingston cancer center, which is about an hour drive. Micheal acts pretty tough on the outside but underneath it all is caring and giving. He is also an awesome big brother. I love how Mike's girls tease him, they give him a run for his money and he totally loves it. Mike's wife is Bonnie and they have two beautiful girls, Britany, and Kaitlyn

MEEEEEEEE -enough said, I have my three children, Cierra, Abbey and Aaron.

Deboragh Sheila Jane Boyd

I remember the day that mom and dad brought Debbie home from the hospital, I also remember the day that she was admitted to the hospital with her second round of chicken pox. I remember the day she politely said "you stepped on my toe you F'ing kid" (I did not spell that out to spare you the details) or the time that her young boyfriend leaned over to kiss her and put his hand in dog poop instead. There are not too many memories that I have of my childhood that do not have Debbie in them too. Debbie loves to laugh and she has a very infectious laugh. That is how I know I am home, when I hear her giggle. Debbie is not only my sister but she is my best friend. I love to spend time with her and to this day I still take great pleasure in teasing her. Deb's family includes Daryl-one of my favorite guys in the world! with children, Bridger, Porter, Jazzlyn, and Keely.

Christine Elizabeth Wilamenha Boyd (lisser)

Lisser is amazing, she had a rough start when she was born she was premature and weighed 1 lb 8 oz. The doctors told my mom that she was not going to make it through the night, her tough little spirit pulled her through and she is the most amazing person I have ever met in my life. Christine does have some residual developmental problems from being premature but she has graduated from college and works as a volunteer teachers' assistant for Brighton public school. All of her life skills came much later than that of the milestones but if you have the opportunity to meet her she will instantly touch your heart in ways that words cannot describe. She is very quiet until you get her talking and then you might just as well sit down because you will be there for a while. When Christine starts laughing she cannot stop. The thing that makes her laugh the most is when people fall, I am pretty sure it is a nervous thing, but don't attempt to watch the titanic with her because when the people start hitting the water, you won't get the normal response. Christine is not married and does not have any children, she may never, but that girl is going straight to heaven.

John Mathew Tyler Boyd

John was adopted into the Boyd family and came home with my mom and dad when he was one day old. He has big blue eyes just like the rest of us so he fits in very well. Unfortunately, the year my mom and dad adopted Johnny was the year that I was married and lived in the states so I did not get to watch him grow up into the young man that he is today. I remember my wedding day and how my poor mom had to leave a number of times because of this fussy young man. He was allergic to all of the formulas known to man and it took my parents a lot of sleepless nights to figure it out. This I do know about my brother, he is a good kid. He tries super hard at everything that he does. Finding your way in a world full of adults can be tough but he pulled through it like a champ. Johnny is not married, he is 16 but has a girlfriend by the name of Sami.

That is the Boyd family, we have our issues just like every other family out there but when we get together the games are endless and the laughter-unstoppable. I love my family every single one of them and I cannot wait to see them all this week!

Cierra

Cierra, Christina, Renee England was born January 20th 1995. Her original due date was January 15th but apparently she enjoyed her housing arrangements and had a hard time leaving. She was a big baby and weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces and was 21 inches long. At that time Cierra's father (bret) and I lived in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu while bret attended BYU Hawaii. It was an exciting time for us because she was our first baby and we were very excited. We did not have a vehicle on the island so Cierra and I spent many hours walking with her in her stroller, and we loved every minute of it. To be honest, she was a crabby baby. The first few weeks of her life she awoke every hour to nurse, and it was incredibly hard to get her back to sleep. I am sure it was my lack of experience and I jumped up every time she made a noise. Cierra was a breastfeeding nazi and would not take a bottle so needless to say we were connected at the hip and still are to this day. As she grew into a toddler her little personality had most people intrigued with her intellect and she entertained many.

Cierra was 29 months old when her younger twin brother (aaron) and sister (abbey) were born. She instantly became a little mother for the both of them. She helped me with everything from changing diapers to helping bathe the babies. She was a life saver even back then when she was so little.

I will tell you a few stories about Cierra that clearly define who she is. When she was 5 she came home from kindergarten and asked if she could do more chores around the house to earn some extra money. I looked at her strangely and she explained that there was a young man in her class that could not afford to bring in the $0.50 that he needed to partake in the classes Thanksgiving dinner. She did the chores and turned the money in anonymously. Cierra would give away anything that she had to help another person out, she is amazing.

Cierra is a lot like her father in the fact that she is very organized. She does have some qualities that she was born with and were not learned behaviors, reading-that girl can plow through a book and have it completed in a short period of time. She completes assignments for school months before they are due.

So here she is turning 15 in less than 3 weeks, where on earth did the time go and where did that little girl go? She has her four year college plan mapped out and wants to become a vet. She knows what she wants and goes after it with determination.

I would not even want to imagine a world without Cierra in it. She makes me smile daily with her goofy attitude. She loves people and fills the room with her positive attitude and courage. I love that she is apart of my world!

My Dad

So I talk about things it helps me to deal with things so I am going to write about my Dad. His name is Michael and he is not perfect by any means but he is and has been an amazing dad. In May of 2008 he was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. The lesion they found was quite small in fact 2mmx 2mm and it was pretty much localized to one area. They removed his upper left lobe and has not had any problems with his lungs since. His physician was Dr. Reed from Kingston Ontario and he was amazing. He had a team of many other physicians that managed his pain and all other side effects that occurred at that time. His follow up appointment showed no other invasion in the surrounding lymph tissues. At that time radiation or chemotherapy not was necessary. In May of the following year he started to have severe nausea and headaches. He started throwing up and becoming severely dizzy. After much prodding he went in and had a head CT. The results were a golf-ball sized tumor in parietal lobe. They got him in quickly and performed a craniotomy removing all of the tumor in his brain. They decided at that time he would need radiation on the left side of his head. His health has gone down ever since the radiation. Memory loss as well as confusion led them to perform an MRI of the head. Atrophy of the brain and low dopamine receptors led to the diagnosis of radiation induced Parkinsons. So here we are watching the man my family has loved and has relied on our whole lives waste away to someone he never wanted to become. Right before his craniotomy he said "I don't want to wear diapers or have someone take care of me" My dad is a rock and has pulled me through so much in my life and I know that all of my brothers and sisters feel the same way.

There is a beautiful side to this story, my mom, Irene has totally been there for him. People have asked her several times if she will put my dad in a convalescent center and her love for this man makes her mad at the very thought. She takes care of his every need and makes sure that he is comfortable. I have seen the changes in my mom and they have been inspiring and uplifting. She is one of my greatest examples and I love her with all of my heart.

In ten days I am headed home (brighton, Ontario) with my kids and I am not sure that I am tough enough to actually board the plane to return to Idaho Falls. They say whatever doesn't kill you helps you to grow strong, but holy cow I think this is pushing it.