Dear Family and Friends,

This week we went from this picture taken right after doing baptisms for the dead with Spencer and my parents:

To this:
It was a great week, wonderful to have my parents here and then sad to see them go.

Monday my mom showed me how to prune our trees.  I felt like I was butchering them but they look so much better now.  And despite my mom having a cough that would not quit she pressed forward showing me and doing a bunch to fix the cushions for our family room bench.  Almost done, so pictures next week hopefully.

The good news Monday was that Taylor saw the neurologist and we went over his MRI.  He has no new brain damage, just lots of old damage.  Which means he was not having mini-strokes this fall and that all of his rapid decline in skills, ability etc can be attributed to hips rather than brain damage.  Which is good in that hopefully if we can fix the hips he will be able to regain those skills and quality of life he did have last year.  Have a plan to try to decrease one of his meds and introduce a new one to help with seizure control but we are waiting on that till after his surgery.

Tuesday Robyn and I had a free day so we went with my parents to tour the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU and then go to lunch at Kneaders.  Robyn was so very serious about carrying around her ipad at the exhibit and learning all about the paintings.

Spencer has had a lot of firsts this week.  On Tuesday evening we all went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead with him.  He was quite nervous about going into the temple for the first time so I was so grateful that Jeremy was there to hold his hand the whole way.  I haven't done baptisms for years as they won't let adults do them unless its for family names.  My dad had a few names for me so I was able to be baptized by Jeremy.  A neat experience for everyone and it was wonderful that my parents were there.  Then today Spencer passed the sacrament for the first time.  He was very nervous again and moved very slowly, afraid the would spill.  He did great though.  And now is out collecting fast offerings with Jeremy for the first time.  Add in 2 scout service projects this week and 2 time going to the church to set up chairs and 1 time cleaning the church and he has been a busy kid.

Allison has been super involved in her play this week.  Lots of rehearsals have left her pretty tuckered out.  She came home sick from school Thursday morning but after taking a long nap and eating a bunch she was ready to go back for play practice.  Think she just got over tired with everything going on.  Good thing the play is almost over!  Saturday was the dress rehearsal - all day long.  Jeremy was there taking pictures for most of it.  Allison was excited to dye her hair black and put on all her stage make-up.  Pictures to come!

Super sad to say good-bye to my parents Wednesday morning.  Luckily the sun came out and we caught up on some of the things I meant to do before they came.  Like fertilize the lawn, scoop the poop etc.  Nothing like sunshine and catching up on some to-dos to chase the blues away.  We had a snowstorm Friday that coincided with my long run for the week.  That was just plain miserable.  I was by myself and it was cold and then by half-way through it was really cold and snowing hard and I was soaked.  I was just glad to get the one over with.  Thursday night a few of my friends and I went to a running workshop that talked about form.  So I tried really hard to run with better form and realized how far I have to go.  Friday night was cousin pizza and movie night.  Jeremy was gone to a photo event so I was happy to curl up and watch movies with everyone for a few hours.

Tonight our stake gets new ward boundaries so church today was a little bitter sweet with the realization that some of us at least are getting split up.  Our kids aren't really understanding what is happening so they aren't too worried about it.

Jeremy has been working on a couple of photography projects this week.  He was able to go to a photography workshop Wednesday evening which he really enjoyed.  And of course March Madness basketball.  Not as much as he would have liked to seen but whenever he could.

Robyn is just Robyn - a ball of sunshine and energy with occasional bursts of thunder and lightening, tears and whining.  My mom told her that she needed to go to her room one day to find her sweet voice.  We have liked that expression so much we have used it often since.  Hearing Robyn tell Spencer to "go find his sweet voice" still makes me laugh.  As does Spencer telling Robyn while cleaning the office bathrooms "that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should".  I knew if we said things a few hundred times, something would eventually stick!

Love to you all, Heather