It is hard to believe that we have reached the end of our week here in Utah.

My mother's oncologist appointment went well on Wednesday. I was able to meet her specialist and was impressed with her kindness. As I stated in an earlier email, her cancer has not returned. For this we are grateful and count our blessings. We did discuss some other worries with her and she encouraged my mom to return to her pulmonologist for her breathing issues.

My father and I spent most of the week together as my mom has her volunteer activities which she does not like to be away from. We did have her Thursday and Monday, she is also home today so I am grateful for this. We did a lot of weeding this week and were able to prune, weed and get the front yard mostly in shape and sections of the back as well.

I also saw my sweet friends Kim (Checketts) Futey, Bonnie (Freeman) Morgan and Katie (Edwards) Bakker, all of them are the best of women and have hearts of gold. How blessed I am to have good friendships. I look back on my high school years and consider myself lucky to have been surrounded with good, christian girls who upheld their standards and never asked me to compromise mine. You may also know that Bonnie is my cousin through my mother's side, but she may as well be a sister. In fact, this week I finalized DC/NY plans and Bonnie and I are going to see the Little Mermaid while in New York. We got great seats (a only so often opportunity as I do not get out to the east often) and our Statue of Liberty tickets are booked. I am sad to say that we are not able to tour the crown as all those tickets were sold out through September. However, we did get crowns to go in to her pedestal and look up through her interior....that also was not an option because of 09/11 until the past couple of weeks. So either way, I am thrilled!

I cannot believe how fast this summer has gone by. It truly has flown. I knew as soon as my dad came out that the time would go quickly and it has! I look forward to my baby sister coming August 6th and then shortly after she leaves I head back to Washington, D.C. to spend a week with her. Before I know it, this summer is going to be over!!

So for now, I have to sign out so I can pack up my things and head home. I was just watching some of the blog videos of the boys and looking at their photos. It will be good to get home and give them hugs and kisses as I have missed them.

Our Harry Potter evening is tomorrow! I was able to do some shopping this week and I think I have things in order. I just need to do some cooking/cleaning tomorrow and setting up for the big night.

New York, New York!!!

I am thrilled out of my mind. My trip back to Washington, D.C. to see my sis' Valerie in August will also now include a stay near the Statue of Liberty and a tour of the sweet lady herself. I saw that they had reopened the crown this week and almost burst with want to be able to see her again. September 11th, 2001 happened in the fall before the spring that I moved back east so I never had the chance to climb Lady Liberty. We were able to get Val, her friend, my cousin and I in on the trip and with four of us chipping in the expenses won't be too bad.

Here I come! I am looking forward to the reunion!

Is this photo not ADORABLE? My friend Brooke had a wonderful idea to take a photo of all the babies who attended the pool party on the 4th at the Bonds.

Thanks Brooke, what a great idea!

Good news with the NAPA research. I heard back from the same parent whose Web site I checked (she said her son lost his skill after the 3 week program). Here is what she had to say:

After you do an intensive with Napa, they give you a book with a series of exercises that you’re meant to do daily to help your child maintain the skills he gained. Unfortunately we didn’t do exercises so Nathan. We were so overwhelmed with different treatments and modalities that we just couldn’t maintain the home program. I do think NAPA is EXCELLENT and one of the best out there.

Your plan sounds fantastic! If you are able to do it, you should see rapid progress in Jonah. How old is he?

My experience at Napa was excellent – everything about it. The therapists are fabulous – very skilled – but also very good with children. They kept Nathan entertained and happy. They were able to push him while keeping him happy. Nathan has worked with a lot of people, and I think of everyone that he’s seen, NAPA is the best.

Very encouraging! I told her we were planning on perhaps the 3 week program in January and then an every other month 4-hour session to help Jonah keep up his progress. I also plan to apply for some grants to see if we can't get some sponsorship for Jonah's therapy (NAPA provided me with two Web sites).

That is the latest and I am thrilled at this recent email. I am feeling very positive about this option.

My Mother's test results came back and there is no sign of cancer at this time. What a sigh of relief. Her oncologist called her Thursday and let her know and then she passed the word along to us. My father and I still leave tomorrow to spend the week with my mother in Bountiful, UT. I am so excited to see family and friends. I have not seen my brother since the boys where in the NICU and it has been even longer since I have seen my nieces and sister-in-law. I also get to see my dear, sweet cousin Bonnie and my very close and dear friend Kim. I love both of these women and we have been in each others' lives for so many years and seen each other through so much.

We have our Harry Potter party this weekend so things will be pretty busy when we get back Friday night but I will try and post again as soon as I can.

God bless and thank you everyone for your prayers and concern on behalf of my mother.

Happy Fourth of July!

I love this holiday. I always reflect on the many freedoms that I enjoy as a citizen of this great country. I consider myself fortunate enough to have watched the John Adams series recently (produced by HBO) and it was marvelous. My great admiration of the founding fathers was renewed and I remember my testimony regarding the founding of this great nation by God fearing men.

Today was so much fun. We thank our dear friends for making today so enjoyable. We started out with our church pancake breakfast (Shane is Activity Chair so this was a big event for him) and then we cleaned the house very well until the afternoon. We then joined the Bonds, Hansons and Watsons at the Bonds' community pool. We had so much fun, the boys enjoyed themselves (as you can see below) and it made the hot weather bearable. We had good BBQ (including freshly husked corn, thanks Blaine!) and yummy burgers. Later we went back to our place for dessert and a movie before fireworks. We watched the babies play and where joined by yet more friends about 8:00 before starting the fireworks. All in all we had well over a dozen people that came to watch fireworks with us. It was a great show with Shane playing ringmaster.

It was a wonderful day and we are grateful we were able to celebrate the many freedoms that we have and remember how blessed we are to call this nation home.

Two cute video clips of Noah. The first of his famous dancing moves, you can see him standing by himself in the video. Also, the other of his famous roaming the house antics! He loves walking around with his toy walker and squealing the entire time. As soon as this little guy starts doing both (walking unassisted and talking) we are in for a house full of constant chatter and chaos!

Playing with brother.

Noah loves to play with Jonah in his new chair, especially when toys are involved. What an incentive!

Everything but food.........

Lately Noah has taken to putting every available toy in his mouth. *Sigh* If only he was as excited about his food.

We tried one of the activities recommended to us by Blind Babies and let Jonah play in a puddle of whip cream on top of his light box with red food coloring swirled in. He had a blast! I think he enjoyed eating it more then anything else! What fun!

Making progress every day.......

We finally found a sippy cup that Jonah enjoys. Hurray!