Whoever said boys grow up????

Lenn wins!! I am not sure who needs the congrats, me or him? This little beard thing started as a little competition with a buddy. Lenn outlasted him so I guess he is the winner. He finally decided to shave, but to do that he had to have a little fun with it. (Lenn keeps our house exciting, it is never dull when he is around!).He laughed with joy between each shave and Abby was busy hiding behind things saying, "he looks freaky"! He couldn't wait to show his Mom because he knows it drives her crazy, so he left this one. He went down to show her and she was gone, so he left it and actually went to Bentley's pinewood derby with it. I could have died, but that is just silly Lenn. He wore 'chaps' on his face for a few days.

This one is where he is right now. I would say it is a huge improvement!!

This is from last fall when Lenn decided he wanted to have a John Lennon do and grow his hair and beard out. (Yeah not sure what crisis you call this!) He gets a kick out of it so I have learned to just wait it out. The quieter I am the quicker it goes away, as long as the is no harm in it, right? I finally convinced him that he was way beyond being able to do the John Lennon thing and he let me cut it, but not without the fun.

The comb over!!

The mohawk!

Finally back to Lenn! And they say we have no entertainment!! Yeah right, we have Lenn, we will always have entertainment!! It would get pretty boring without him.

What is going to happen this year for the BIG DAY?

As you all should know my BIRTHDAY IS A BIG DAY around here. I always thought it should be a national holiday! So lo and behold my birthday made it on the marquee board in Cokeville. That was 2006.





2006, oh what a year. We were building the house, changing jobs, and having a quarter life crisis. I shaved my head and some of my poor hair never came back..





2007, I thought nothing would top my quarter life crisis, but this year even got better. Still trying to grow my hair back and celebrated my birthday at Grandma Johnson's funeral. Yup, got to be a pall bearer on my birthday.




2008, with all my grandparents funerals behind me this was the year to celebrate! Then Owen was born. Spent the months leading up to my birthday in the hospital and a good deal of them after there too. This was the year I spent MY holiday in BED sicker than a dog. The entire week was spent by a huge bowl, room spinning, and a shot in the butt (thanks Karen).. Sounds great huh?

2009, funerals done, sickness done, this is the year to kick up the ole heels! This national holiday was spent in Houston.... Yup, in Texas. I flew home and celebrated early with the kids. I did have a really large piece of prime rib at salt grass steakhouse and a homemade pecan pie to myself, but it wasn't home...

2010, IS THIS THE YEAR? Already cut the remaining hair on my head and moved it lower to my chin area. Not in Texas, no funerals yet, and I am as healthy as a horse! What is going to happen tomorrow? The anticipation is killing me!

A side note-Happy Birthday Dr. Chan, you were a special family friend long before we knew we shared birthdays!

Sometimes they are more like FAMILY

Earl, we love this man, what more can I say! Let me tell you how Earl came into our lives. When Owen was still in the NICU, we would come into the unit wash up and then round the corner to look at the wall chart with nurse assignments hoping to see a familiar name. One day, not too long after Owen had been there, we looked at the chart and saw Owen with a nurse named Earl. 'Earl' we thought! Yes, the Dixie Chicks song came right into our minds. We walked down the hall wondering what we were going to walk into. Little did we know, (this is why you don't judge others), we were going to meet one of the most loving and caring nurses there. Sorry we ever doubted you Earl! If I remember right we walked in to see Earl holding Owen up on his shoulder with the most gentle hands. By the end of the shift Earl asked if he could sign up to be a primary nurse for Owen. He said "When I was holding him, he looked into my eyes and I fell in love with him." We gladly accepted his request and fell in love with Earl ourselves. In fact, when both Lenn and I were home with Bentley and Abby I would call to see how Owen was doing each day. It never failed when I got off the phone I was hit with the question of who is Owen's nurse today? We were all relieved when it was Earl or one of the other favorites.

Last month Earl was going to visit his Dad and he asked if he could come visit. Of course he can visit! Earl made a huge detour to come and visit. We were all glad to see him, even Owen. Owen hasn't seen Earl since July of 2008. At that time he was 6 months old. When Earl came in and said hello, I could tell that Owen knew exactly who he was. Owen has a way with his eyes and he didn't give him the 'who are you and what are you going to do to me' look. He gave him the look of 'wow, it's been awhile, where have you been?' look. Thanks Earl, it was great to see you and thanks for surprising us with your love and knowledge of nursing.

I did try to get both of them to smile but no luck!

Last week we took Owen to some routine appointments at Primary's. They all went well and all the docs said he looks great and keep it up. While we were there we saw two people that have come to mean A LOT to our family. I realized we didn't have one picture of either one of them so I was on a mission . I don't know if Toni was too excited about a picture, but thanks anyway. (Hopefully she isn't hiding from the law or anything!) We had to convince her that we didn't just want the back of her head we wanted to see the face that we will always remember. She did get some smiles out of Owen but I am telling you the camera can not catch them very well.

Thanks, Toni for all you have done and continue to do for us along this journey.

Next is Chris, to put it modestly, we wouldn't be able to keep Owen home without her. She is more than willing to help us with whatever we need help with over phone and email. I am sure that is not protocol but she does it because she knows how badly we want to stay home. We can not thank her enough for what she has done and the stress I am sure she goes through when handling crazy situations with us over the phone. Thanks Chris.

When I asked her for a picture she jumped right over Owen's tubes and gave him a big kiss on the forehead, then turned and gave us a big smile!!

These are only a few of the people that have become our 'NICU family', they are just the most recent pictures. We have been blessed to have met so many good people through our journey with Owen. I am not sure what our lives would be like without them. The nurses, doctors (some anyway), social workers, RT's, other parents and the palliative care team have become more like family. We will always have a special place in our hearts for all of them.

Owen's 2nd Birthday!

Today is Owen's 2nd birthday! We were able to celebrate here at home with some family. It turned out to be a nice day.The Cake!

The birthday boy, cake and balloons!

Singing Happy Birthday to the little man.

His gift from Aunt Nellie. Thanks it is so cute. It was worth the wait.

Ellianna (cousin) gave him a stuffed cow and bear. That was so sweet. Thanks Elli.

Owen just relaxing after everyone left.

Happy birthday Owen. We love you. You are such a special part of our family.

A very special shared day!

Today is Owen's birthday and he shares it with a very special angel who has touched our lives for good, forever. We wanted to do something for her, all we could think of is sending some balloons heavenward for her to catch and play with. We feel like this special angel is part of the family so happy birthday in Heaven Mercydez. We love you. Thanks for touching our family the way that you have.
Owen holding the balloons before we sent them. Bentley and Abby were so excited to send these to her. It is amazing how she even influenced them. Don't worry with the Wyoming wind I am sure she got them in good time!