we did it!!--I mean we--went East and loved it

fun park in harrisonburg--castle shaped jungle gym

lampost in hershey pennsylvania that look like candy kisses

getting reaquainted--laughing --teasing each other --having grass fights and pillow fights all the best part and main purpose of the trip--(mission accomplished)

loved being in Harrisonburg the most--so much fun being at Brad and kerri's and kaci's was the best part of the whole entire trip

enjoyed watching the girls /polvaulting and other events at the district track meet and enjoy watching kerri from a distance --coach her polvaulters

here is the pit

dad at the waterfall--

goofing around at the track meet

kaci loves to swing--so papa call swung with her lots and pushed ler lots too--they became buddies as the week went on--and she wasn't scared of me by weeks end--she'd read books with me and laugh

kaci beeping papa call's nose and giggling on one of our many car excursions to get to fun places--she was soooooo patient to buckle up and off we went

pennsylvania street--notorious--as each pres drives down this street on inaguaration day

jefferson monument at night--we saw lots on the night tours as far as monuments

the garden spot--fun playing in the dirt--the neat thing about a garden in virginia is you plant and the clouds water it for you--as the days go by (:



so fun seeing the campus of James Madison and looking around the building where brad is most of the time--love love love the campus and the gardens on the campus

kaci and papa call watched little mermaid together on video-(and liked it!) well mostly he liked the -bonding time--and restful

fun walking in what they call the mall of DC and seeing the capitall and then turning around to see the washington monument--sort of blurring in this pic but sooooooo pretty at night

a 'GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL" so much to see and do--so little time --but we loved everything that we did do soooooo much fun...other highlights --I was able to look at painting at the smithsonian --wanted to do that all of my life--*went to the patomic river and a walkway by that* went to gettysburg* went to arlington's cementary--saw the changing of the guards--went to church went to natural history museum--*space musueum, archives where the declaration of Independance is displayed--lots of yummy food prepared for us by brad and kerri

out to eat ice cream too--and city parks and feed ducks and swing in the back yard and parks and play at jason and dadra's house--and more parks and fun fun fun..it was all like a wonderful dream--like going to "narnia" in the witch, and the wardrobe---it was an adventure and hard to leave the beauty and come back--but where ever I wander or roam--there is no "place like Home" when I was re-entering slc on the plane and saw the snow capped mountains--I smiled too..so needless to say--I've done a lot of smiling the last 10 days--good times--enough to last me a life time--

at dust--capturing the monument in the background while at the WWII monument

remember both grandpa Call and grandpa Gertsch were in the WWII so it meant a lot to us

we giggled a lot at the virginia safari petting zoo the animals really came close up to the car looking for that white bucket of food--sooo fun we drove through 3 x's and laughed every time

kaci being cute in one of the garden's up in DC she loved the purple flowers and says "purple" and a bunch of other things so cute

hiked to a beautiful water fall and loved the hike

some of the state we visted were; maryland, washington DC, virginia, and pennsylvania all were lush and pretty and green and we had a blast!! and the prettiest thing we saw the whole trip was pretty little Kaci--here are more pics of the trip

grand caverns-in virginia

loved this cave or cavern as they call it...it was really a cool 1 mile walk through some awesome scenery--inside and outside the park---

we are having a great time--"a vacation from our problems!"

hi family

we aren't trying to keep harrisonburg all to ourselves but we are having a blast! we're using brad's toothbrush , we've taken over brad's & kerri's comfy bed--we're eating all their chicken and we're like human super glue--& I even called it the 'burg'

we are country now!!

yesterday--Tues-we went to watch kerri coach her poulvaulters yesterday afternoon--she does so great--we had nothing but blues skies--earlier in the day we hiked a beautiful trail at about 2,000 feet sea level so because of the low altitudes we could hike and hike--even up hill and not get too tired--oh the beautiful trail on the way to the beautiful falls--soooooooooo much fun. the day before that(mon)--we went to a way fun cave --similar to watching the stalagtites & stalagmites in timpanogus cave--but this was sooo big and very intriguing--as is timp--but just on a larger scale. the day before that enjoyed church--all the folks here are so welcoming and warm and of course they love brad and kerri--dad went to high preist--I went to yw with kerri

the day before that(Sat) we went to arlington cemetary and also to Ford's theater----and to the national archives--the day before that brad and kaci came up to washington and played while kerri was at track (poulvaulting practice) So Fri we went around some pretty gardens and dad and kaci had grass fights and kaci and I chased the birds and looked at the falls--and smelled flowers

we also went on a wonderful night tour of the historical monuments around DC it was fun then on wed we went to a fun safari zoo--where the animals come up to your car and eat pellets out of white--buckets about the size of cool whip bowles--there were elk--there were ostriages, deer, watusi, (a large bull with very large horns) lamas and gazille--it was fun--pictures to come

HAPPY DAY-HAPPY PHONE CALL

DAD AND I PICTURED HERE TALKING ON THE SPEAKER PHONE TO HAYLEY-ME LEANING OVER THE PHONE--AS 'TRADITION'--WOULD HAVE IT
wE HAVE GREATLY ANTICIPATED THIS DAY mAY 10TH FOR MANY REASONS -ONE THAT 

WE WOULD BE TALKING TO HAYLEY ON THE PHONE --AND HEARING ABOUT ADVENTURES OF MISSIONARY WORK--OH WHAT FUN WE HAD CHATTING BACK AND FORTH--GOT LOTS OF QUESTIONS ANSWERED --HAYLEY HOPE YOU ARE READING THIS--AND KNOW HOW MUCH FUN WE ALL HAD FUN SHARING TIME WITH YOU, EVEN BY PHONE--IT WAS EVERYTHING WE HOPED IT WOULD BE--AND AS i ALWAYS SAY :"i THINK SHE SOUNDS GOOD"!!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day you are all awesome dedicated mothers

Have wonderful day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYLEY-MAY 8TH, BRIANNE MAY 11TH , MEGAN MAY 9TH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY--BIRTHDAY GIRLS--THESE LITTLE GIRLS HAD A BIRTHDAY --THESE THREE SITTING HERE--FATHER IN HEAVEN BLESS THEM THROUGHOUT THE COMING YEAR-------happy birthday to you --happy birthday to you--happy birthday to all of you--happy birthday to you!!!!! I love may and I love birthdays
hope that you have a great celebration of the lives you have lived and celebrate the influence that you have had on others--we love you all for your laughter --for you love and for you faith and for your friendship and for your example of goodness....
I won't put everyones top "ten" on the blog --I'll write that in your cards but know that you are loved --loved --loved--and we think you are the all wonderful

SMA *spinal muscular atrophy and what Nancy told me about it

I have had the term SMA (spinal muscular atrophy) on my mind a lot since last Dec and have shared a little of what I know --but Nancy did an outline that was reader friendly and helped me to understand it affects more, so I asked her if I could post it here. so read on if you want to have some answers to questions that Nancy is commonly asked ----------- ____________________________________________________

Nancy shared these questions and /answers

I can't thank you enough for your kind words, your prayers and your friendship. I have truly felt strengthened and loved because of the thoughtfulness of so many people!

Funny how 4 months ago Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) was not even a part of my vocabulary and now I am trying to become at expert about it. When I was at Primary Children's with Kyle they had a mother of another child with SMA come down to talk to me. She started talking with Dr. Swoboda and throwing out acronyms that meant nothing to me. I got tears in my eyes and said, "I don't even know what you are talking about." "Don't worry," they replied. "You'll be using all this lingo in no time."

As I have been learning and as people have found out our circumstances, they have asked what having Spinal Muscular Atrophy means. So, I thought I would answer some FAQ. Feel free to scroll down (It is kind of long) and read what it is you want to know. Here is my best effort to answer some of the questions that I am still learning the answers to. Some of these are answered in my own words and some are copied and pasted from the website of the doctor we go to!

What is SMA?
A neuro-muscular disease.
The longest nerves are affected first (that is why Megan's legs were affected first.) Over time you lose the use of your arms, ability to sit up unassisted, and develop weakness of chest muscles involved in breathing. Scoliosis develops in virtually all children at some point, and they are prone to bone fractures. Contractures of the muscles and joints can limit function over time (Megan already has leg contractures, which is why she sleeps in the braces at night.) Children in may also demonstrate difficulties in swallowing and chewing, and require close monitoring of nutrition. Lifespan depends on the severity of respiratory muscle weakness, but many children survive well into adulthood.

How common is SMA?
Spinal muscular atrophy occurs in approximately one in 6,000 -10,000 live births. However, read the answer to the next question to see why the likelihood of Kyle and Megan both having it was so high.

What causes spinal muscular atrophy?
There is a gene called survival motor neuron (or SMN). Everyone should have 2 of this gene. If you have only 1 of this gene you are fine. When you have 0 of this gene you have SMA. In order to have 0 of this gene each of the parents has to have only one of this gene. Since Steve and I have only 1 of this gene (who knew? this is determined by the fact that our kids have 0 of this gene) then our children have a 1 in 4 chance of having SMA.

What are the Symptoms of Spinal Muscular atrophy?

We noticed with Megan around 9 months that she was still unable to bear any weight on her legs (If you stood her up to the couch her legs just buckled and she fell down, whereas most kids that age can cruise along the furniture, etc.) Read the answer to the first question about what SMA is to see the other symptoms.

How is spinal muscular atrophy diagnosed?

They collected blood and sent it to a lab in Ohio for genetic testing.

How does this affect us right now?
Right now both my kids are just at the beginning. So at this point in the progression it mostly has to do with meeting their physical needs of getting around and staying healthy.
Here is a list of a few of things I have to do now that I know they have SMA that I didn't have to do before or that you probably don't have to work into your daily schedule:
1. Give medicine. I run my own little pharmacy in the morning. Megan takes a daily vitamin and carnitin in the morning and then the carnitin again at night. In the morning for Kyle I mix 2 ounces of formula, ½ tsp. of his medicine, and 3 packets of sun crystals and pour the mixture into four bottles that I keep in the fridge and give 4 times throughout the day.
2. Keeping my kids as active as possible. The more they use their bodies the longer it takes them to lose the ability to do what they are doing. One example of this is in order to help Megan keep her ability to raise her hands above her head instead of just handing her the lego to make a tower, I hold it high in the air so that she has to reach up and grab it and then push it onto her tower. We play with a lot of toys that require resistance (legos, sit and spin, velcro play food, etc.)
3. Physical Therapy. A physical therapist (Kim) and an occupational therapist (Mary) come to my house twice a month (every Friday one of them comes) and then twice a month I go to the Payson Hospital Pool with Megan and Kim.
4. Megan also stands in her stander 1-2 hours a day.
5. Megan sleeps in braces at night. I lay by her while she falls asleep because if she wants to roll over she often needs help to do so when in her braces.
6. Megan has a wheelchair.
7. For Kyle we will go to Primary Children's every 2 months and for Megan every 6 months.

What is the good news?
They say that those who are blind make up for their loss of sight with other senses. With SMA the kids are usually very smart. This you can definately see in Megan. With everything she is not using to walk she is using to talk. She turns 2 next month but can already count to 20, sing lots of songs, express herself and has many of the books we read to her memorized.

Both my children are sweet little blessings from our Heavenly Father to our family.