Happy Thanksgiving

My parents just got released from their mission and came and spent Thanksgiving with us. It was simply WONDERFUL. It is so great to have them home I have missed them so much! I have much to be thankful for! It was a wonderful week spent with my family.

Happy Birthday Kayelee

Kayelee turned 6 on the 21st of November, it was a great day. She was so excited to get a locket and a beautiful princess dress with a matching one for her doll. We waited to do cake when Grandma and Grandpa were here for Thanksgiving so we really got to celebrate all week, it was a lot of fun. On her birthday it snowed, so we went out and took some pictures of her dancing in the snow. I love that you can see the snow flakes in the background. It was a perfect day.
I love this girl so much. She is such a girl, she loves anything that has to do with a princess. She is happy and a natural leader. She is really smart. She is sweet and kind. Most of all she has courage and is so brave, she's already done harder things than I have ever done in my life, she is strong. She is such an amazing girl and I am so blessed to be her mom.

Cake with Grandma


matching dresses


Dancing in the snow

Red Robin with Mom and Dad

Letter from Kayelee

It reads...
To: MOM
From: Kayelee
I love you Mom You make my happy you are the best in the whole world and you are a champion cause you always chose the right (a heart with CTR in it) you are a good Mom.

The words that follow are very personal to me ones I want my children to be able to read when this book is printed. You are welcome to read them (since I know everyone who reads this blog) but I just thought I'd give you that disclaimer in case you don't want to get to personal:)

This was on my door yesterday. It is sweet things like this that remind me what is really most important in this life, it puts everything into perspective and makes every mom duty a meaningful adventure, every doctor's visit, every hospital stay, every dance practice, every drive to school, every meal made, every band aid placed, every grocery run, every prescription pickup, every errand ran, every hearing aid appointment, every brace check, every pair of glasses, every cub scout meeting, every sports practice, every diaper changed, every Family Home evening, every Scripture read, every prayer said, every church meeting attended, every song sung, every child rocked, every hug hugged, every kiss offered, every time I love you is said. These become treasures instead of trials or duties.

I love this Kayelee girl. I am so happy she is still here in this life. I know that may sound a little extreme and I wish I was being extreme. I have never seen death knock on someone's door until my experience with Kayelee, and while I do not fear death because I know God and his plan I fear life without any one of my children or my husband. The huge hole that would be in my heart until Heaven.

And so this Thanksgiving and every single day I am so thankful for 5 amazing children and one amazing Man who make life matter and worth it. Life is not perfect for us, but I think that is part of what makes it so WONDERFUL. We experience moments with each other that bind us together forever, moments and times we would not trade for the world itself even though they are some of the hardest things we will ever have to face. Seeing children suffer is among those for me.
The relationship I have with Kayelee has become a treasure to me along with every sweet individual relationship I have with each one of my kids, all of my relationships have been strengthened because of my experience with her, I have spent countless hours at Kayelee's bedside and it has made me a better person and mother because of it. She has taught me so many things the strength of a person is so amazing, and the strength of a little person is even more amazing. We are truly God like people if we choose to be. We have to choose though. We have it in us because our spirits were created by God and so our potential is truly endless. So on a rough day remember that...

Life is beautiful, and be grateful you get to live it.

Healthy Stuff

I have learned the definition of what I used to think was healthy is a bit different. I have learned a lot by reading part of the book I posted about 150 healthiest foods on earth, and then I have just read different things here and there. I have learned the difference between grass fed and grain fed chickens and cows, it makes a difference. I have learned a bit more about organic and why Plant food is so healthy and important for us. Honestly if you think about it, what keeps us alive? Food and water (among other things) but we need these essentials... Don't you think what Kind of food and water we put in our bodies is so important. As Kayelee has gone through her whole ordeal I have wondered how good food could maybe help her situation. At least keep her immune defenses up so she doesn't get sick as often.
I thought I'd share a few things I have tried or learned about recently.
Missy thank you for all the information on the Chia seeds. I would send you to her blog but it is private. She did an amazing post on whole food and I loved it.

Sprouts

Wheat sprouts

And my kids favorite, lentil sprouts.
Because sprouts are essentially a young version of the plant itself by eating them you are getting so many benefits so many vitamins and they are immune system boosters. My kids will eat lentil sprouts as snacks they love them. You can also throw them on salads or hide them in soups or casseroles. I did sprout these myself it is actually very easy and inexpensive to do.

Almond milk

This is a great alternative to milk itself. Milk in its raw form is so healthy for us but cows that are fed corn are not near as healthy as cows that are fed grass. Milk also has to undergo processing in order to be sold to us IE pasteurization (which is helpful but also pulls out a lot of nutrients as well) so a lot of the nutrients in real milk is lost when it comes to us in the gallon on the shelf at the store. I grew up drinking whole raw milk and man I didn't know how great that was until now (my dad owned a dairy for lots of my growing up years).
Our family still drinks the milk from the store (I love milk, so do my kids) but I thought I'd try the almond mild for an alternative at times. It is great in recipes (couldn't even taste it when cooked) and to drink it does have a different flavor but it was pretty good. The Vanilla and Chocolate kind were our favorites but the unsweetened is the best for you.

Chia seeds and coconut oil

I read a post by Missy about the chia seeds so I went and bought some, what an amazing seed, to know the benefits just google chia seeds and your will find lots of info. They are fiber and protein packed 5 grams of fiber in just one tablespoon. I love to throw them in our smoothies, you can't even taste them, one the back of the package they have some other suggestions for uses as well.
Coconut oil has had a bad rap for a while but they are finding that this natural oil is not bad like they used to think it is actually a good fat and has many health benefits, if you google coconut oil you can also find some awesome info on it. Coconuts are essentially a big nut and they are all natural. A great substitute to vegetable oil when cooking. Make sure you get extra virgin when you buy it and organic is the best. The way the oil is expressed is really important so it undergoes minimally processing to get it to us, you can read all about it by googling it.

Olive oil

Most people know Olive oil is s good alternative to vegetable oil and has its health benefits also. Jut make sure it is extra virgin. I didn't know it had to be extra virgin but that is the kind that has the most benefits.

The way things are brought to us (IE processed or packaged) makes a huge difference on how good they are for you so learning a bit about the processing of even natural foods can be beneficial.
Hopefully some of this info is helpful. Let me know if you try any of it.

Projects

I've been working on some projects... Can you believe it? Well I can't take much credit all I had to do was show up to our super saturday and do the finishing work. The Ladies in our ward always come up with the best ideas and projects. My house is decorated with lots of cute stuff from Relief Society meetings and super saturdays over the past couple of years I love it (thanks Bobbi and Nedra).

The temple pictures turned out awesome. I made this one for my girls for their bedroom.

I loved how this one turned out... I love putting messages like this in my home.

Making Fun

I knew these days would come and I wish kids never had to face this but they do. Kambree gets it a lot... and it's been going on for a couple years now, lets just say more than her fair share of it. The other day someone in Kayelee's class told her that her sister walks and runs funny (broke my heart) Kayelee came home and told me and she said it made her so so sad. I asked her what she said back and she said she didn't say anything. I was thinking fast for a quick answer to give her the next time someone makes fun of Kam's to Kayelee. I told her next time just tell her Kambree is cool thats why she walks like that (I know dumb but it was the best I could come up with) Kayelee said how bout I just tell her She is my best friend and I love her so much. What an answer, put mine to shame. I said yep you tell her that next time. I love the compassion and real love Kayelee showed for Kambree, she didn't need a fancy answer, she's my sister and my best friend and I love her. Both of those girls are fighting their own hard battles, I am so glad they have each other.

Gone

Kayelee's pheresis line got infected again. She ended up in the hospital Saturday night to Tuesday afternoon. These line infections can be life threatening so they have to be treated with line antibiotics and she has to be admitted to the hospital. They took the line out Monday and she is now line free, hence the nice hole, they can't sew it up because of high risk for infection so, it will just heal and look like a dimple. She is loving having that thing gone! Let's hope we don't need another one any time soon. We are working on getting the experimental drug covered by our insurance and to allow our hospital to administer it in Idaho. From what I understand there have only been 12 or so AHUS patients that have tried the drug, because there are so few people with AHUS. So we are just taking things one day at a time, we find peace in knowing we do not make these decisons alone and that Heavenly Father is very aware of Kayelee.

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a great Halloween weekend... They trick or treated at Kayelee's Doctor's offices (she ended up in there for a blood culture on her line) and then the next day we went to the ward Trunk or Treat. The Kids traded the Gerdie the good witch a big chunk of their candy for "How to train your Dragon". We delayed having our traditional dinner in a pumpkin because Kayelee ended up in the hospital with a line infection. But you better believe we still did it wednesday and it was so yummy. We has a great Halloween.