30 years!

Thanks to Pinterest, this is the birthday cake I made for Neil for his birthday! I Loved the way it turned out, and it tasted awesome too!

Since Neil was turning 30, yes, I did say 30!! I wanted to do something extra special. For weeks and weeks I teased him, telling him that I was going to throw him a huge party with all of his friends and family with balloons, party hats.. etc. This is something that he wouldn't necessarily love, not because he doesn't love his friends and family, but he hates all of the attention. But I loved teasing him to make him think he was going to be part of an embarrassing celebration! It started off on a Friday, he was at work, so I dropped the kids off at Grandma's. Thanks a ton to Grandma! So when he got home, he was surprised to see the kids weren't home. We then went to Winger's with some great friends! Mindy and I planned a trivia game which involved money, $30 to be exact! (Joel turned 30 also) It really was such a fun night out with everyone! Then I took Neil to Little America. We found out, when showing up that Mitt Romney was there and they and all of his many guests were just leaving their $1000 dinner! Darn, we just missed out on that one!

The breakfast was AmAzInG!! I should have taken a better picture of the food, but I'm telling you, go to Little America to eat if you've never been there. You won't be disappointed. Yum!

This was the view from our room, besides the huge parking lot below, everything else was really fun to look at.

I don't know how to express how much I love this man! I truly can say he is my best friend. We have been through so much together and as times get hard, we've only gotten stronger. I Love Love Love him!

Later that night since I had teased him about this huge party, I told him that I had reserved the church, to get him a little nervous. But really it was just his family there to do what he loves, sports! It's his second love, besides me, right? Yes, this man loves to play sports!

The kids loved running and getting their energy out as well!

Setting up the volleyball net, one of Neil's favorite sports.

And basketball...

Happy birthday to my Love!

It's been on my mind...

So as so of you may know, or not know, in November we had a baby with Anencephaly. Which basically is the absence of a large part of the brain and the skull. Symptoms: Absence of the skull; Absence of the brain (cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum); Facial feature abnormalities; Heart defects. This is in the same family as spina bifida. However with spina bifida you have a chance of survial, with anencephaly you have a zero chance of living. It's basically black and white, there are no chances of survival, no matter what you try to do. The sweet baby is, as sad as it is to say, brain dead.
As hard as this is to swallow, we've had to relive this situation over and over lately (due to insurance issues) and what I know now, I wish I would have known then. When we were told about this situation, we were completely in shock. I mean shock! I didn't know what to say or how to function. I didn't know what questions to ask? I didn't know all of the facts at the time, but at that time, if this makes any sense, I didn't know that that I didn't know all of the facts. We just followed what we were guided to do. With not knowing much about this condition, we trusted our doctors and radiologists. They advised us that we should have a D&C while the baby is still small to avoid risks to the baby and mother. We followed this advise and felt comfortable, although very very saddened that we had to lose our sweet baby! We were emotional, but felt that at no matter what point of delivery, the outcome was the same, no viable baby.
As time has gone on, I have learned a lot about anencephaly. Maybe more than I can handle sometimes. I worry about what people think. I worry and think about the situation every day. I think about this sweet baby who has been blessed now with a great life in Heaven. I know this baby is happy and has forever changed my life. What I've learned from this situation is that first, we can't take life for granted and second, even when in such a hard situation, ask questions and learn as much as you can about the situation you've been presented with. Know every option. (Even if you think you know every option!)

To our baby,
We love you forever!