Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you.

There are so many people that fit this category for me. I surround myself with people that uplift and inspire me. I am constantly amazed at the wonderful people that I get to communicate with every day.

Most recently, I have been profoundly touched by my cousin Bryce and his incredible wife Heidi. They are parents to two amazing boys. Their second son is such a special child that he only needed a few days in his earthly body before he completed his test.

With profound respect, I chose to share the rest of what I wrote directly with them and the picture I snitched from the blog is an oldie but goodie. :)

I sure love you guys... A LOT!

Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die.

Write a novel.

I've already got several ideas started. Something I could really pour my heart into.

Eat at a very fancy restaurant.

Where the food is pretty and there are lots of forks.

Travel with just Geoff.

On a plane. Somewhere really far away. Be an anonymous tourist. Take lots of pictures.

Take a really pretty picture of me that could be laid next to Robert Frost's poem, The Road Not Taken.

Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

Ummm, that's like EVERYONE! I could never imagine my life without anyone who is already in it until it really is their time to go and I'm forced to.

My views on life and death are tied so closely to my religion and I believe that I will get to be with my loved ones forever and ever if we all do what's right while here on earth. I know where they're going when they leave and my dearest and only hope is that I will get to be with them there someday.

So, I guess I'm refusing to answer this question! I don't want to imagine my life without anyone and so I choose not to.

Instead, I choose to show you a picture of the place where families can be tied together forever. This is where we are Sealed together so tightly, not even death can break us apart.

The Bountiful Temple

Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist.

Of all time: Collin Raye

You may remember when we got to go and see him at Desert Star. He is seriously the nicest guy. We exchanged a couple of emails before his granddaughter passed away. I haven't gotten up the guts since then to write to him again. He has this amazing Spirit about him. He has such strong core beliefs. His family means everything to him. He is just a really great person.

I like SO many different artists and songs! I struggled to narrow it down to even a handful of favorites. I couldn't do it! So, we'll just stick with the best and let the rest hold their own. :)

Day 12 - A picture of something you love.

Day 11 - A picture of something you hate.

I'm not even going to dignify it with an actual picture, plus I wouldn't be able to look at this post ever if I put a picture of a real one. I hate spiders. They make me feel all creepy crawly just to look at them. I once spent over an hour trying to build up the courage to smash a spider when I was 8 or 9 and I cried the entire time! And when my Mom, who had been encouraging me from out in the hallway, finally came in and saw how big it actually was, called my Dad to come and get it in the end! :D I'm slightly braver these days when it comes to protecting my kids from their obvious ill will and probably poisonous personalities. But I still detest them and will call anybody else, who is not me, to avenge my near death experience upon seeing one.

I made a special effort to find green spiders, which, not surprisingly brought up a lot of green goblin pics, considering I searched for "green cartoon spiders." :D

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the craziest things with.

If you'd asked me 11 years ago if I'd be doing half the stuff I do, I'd have called you crazy! My partner in these crimes? Becca, of course! I have done more out-of-the-ordinary things with this girl than I ever thought possible!!

I remember taking my teensy, sqeaky 3 month old baby girl to get her very first hearing aid. At one year old, she got glasses and a second hearing aid. This picture was taken at 2 years old. Not very long after this, we gave up on the second hearing aid as we could never find any hearing in that ear and she hated the aid in her bad ear, but left the better one alone. That's how we knew it was working well for her. :) And when they tried to move up to a stronger prescription on the glasses, she refused to wear them ever again!

Several times a week I would let complete strangers in my house to manhandle my daughter and do all kinds of therapies on her. Of course, they didn't stay strangers for long! This is Donata doing PT. She also got OT, Speech, Vision and Hearing visitors... from a few weeks old to 3 years old, every week. Becca learned to love therapy and also what to do to get them to stop. She was the BEST at playing possum with her first PT Curt. She would fake sleep until he stopped and then she would be all alert again. :) I love Early Intervention and I am so grateful for their persistence and patience and friendship.

I sent someone who couldn't do anything for herself away on a bus every day to preschool. I put a lot of trust in her bus drivers and teachers to take care of her the way I would and send her back to me tired, but happy. This was from her first day of preschool which happened on her 3rd birthday.

When Becca first started losing teeth, I freaked out! First of all, I didn't know where it had gone! And second of all, the first thing I assumed was that something was terribly wrong. My Mom reminded me that she was the right age to be losing teeth and it was the first milestone she hit right on time!! :D Loose teeth still freak me out.

We do all kinds of other "crazy" things on a daily basis. I feed her with a tube directly into her stomach 5 times a day at 8, 11, 2, 5 and 8. She actually had a tiny seizure today, but she hasn't had a really big one in nearly a year and a half. Seizures are horrible and I wouldn't wish them on my greatest enemy. I do tons and tons of comfort caring and really just everything the rest of us do for ourselves... I do for Becca.

So if I use the definition of crazy that includes the words bizarre and fantastic... I do bizarre things for a fantastic girl every day. And if that makes me crazy... I love being crazy!!

Day 9 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.

I must say that the person I pour my heart out to while on my knees has gotten me through all kinds of tempests and trials. My Savior loves me. He never leaves me completely alone. He guides me and lifts me up when I can't walk another step on my own.



He also gave me an incredible husband to walk through life with. We drive each other completely crazy sometimes, but we know we can count on each other no matter what. We've been through a lot in our almost-13 years together! He takes care of me and usually says just the right thing at just the right moment. He still melts me. We laugh ALL THE TIME! I'm so glad he's mine!

Here he is being raised to be the funny, strong, helpful, supportive man I know him to be.

Baby Becca on oxygen.

Double birthday party for our January birthdays... Becca's 1st.

Becca and Emily

Emily

Emily building with Daddy.

Emily playing "pretendo."

Feeding baby Gracie.

Gracie playing pretendo.

Landon smiling at Daddy.

Geoff's mini-me.

Ethan

Da Boyz!