Fall Break- Wednesday /Thursday

With a bit of discussion with Grandpa, we decided to go spend the rest of the afternoon with Aunt Titi in Salt Lake so that we could spend some time with Dallas' family. We were going to spend time with them anyway, but not until later Thursday. But what is one day with Aunt Titi.

Aunt Nicky didn't get much alone time and she is pretty cool, so we went up and met her at Toys R Us. We had promised Tyler a movie and he did SO so Good at being disappointed. So we ended up spending way to much money at the stupid toy store. But all in good spirits. 

We hung out, got pizza and I finished my school test! We got the boys set up and they slept on the same bed and they loved it. Oreo also decided that he was going to protect my kids and hung out on their heads. There was zero complaints from them. 

Early Thursday we took Nicky to work and dropped off her car to get a fix and spend the morning with our Aunt Sheena. WE LOVE AUNT SHEENA!! 

Not sure if we have mentioned just how much we LOVE Aunt Sheena, but we do. I love her! I loved having her live with me. I love her just like a sister. I also LOVE her baby. And I love we get to have another one soon. 

We decided to met up at Gardner village and check out the Witches. We didn't have a ton of time and we weren't sure what was there, but we did see a lot of cool witches and did a few events. 

Our favorite Witch was the pooping witch! It was in the outhouse and we LOVED it and we all giggled. Because Ty can't see we went into the exhibits. We didn't ask and we didn't get in trouble either . 

And the best part, dancing with the witches. Ty loved it. And we let him go at it. 

Grayson is the best at following and enjoying the stuff that his brother does. Our Cousin Emery was dancing with us and we LOVED it. It was so much fun. 

After Gardner Village we headed to my Best Friend Stephanie's. We opted to play at a park. We played at the park for 3 hours. Yes, three whole hours of them playing. it was amazing. I miss her so much that I was so thankful to talk to someone who I totally just get, that I just wanted to be with her. WE watched the kids go nuts at the park and  we had them -playing till their heart was content.

We ran up to get Nicky because we had dropped her off. Then we went ahead and took her home and head with our Grandma to a hotel with them.

Grandma got us checked into a great hotel, after a dashing and fab dinner at Chick fil A :)

Getting in a hotel, was like heavenly. two beds. Me in my own. Grandma just to hang with. We loved it.

We got our plans for the next  day. Friday was going to be spent visiting out papa in the hospital in hopes he gets to go home and then an afternoon with all of our cousins again!!


It was a good day. We enjoyed our trip to this far!!

Fall Break- Day one!

Arizona has some strange school schedules. However, we love the breaks. We get a shorter summer and longer breaks. Fall break is about a week and a half, Spring break is 2 weeks and Christmas is 2.5 weeks. Sometimes that is good, sometimes... well not!

Originally we had plans to go to Utah so that we could have some work done on Tyler's legs. But Shriner's and our schedules got all messy really fast. So we have plans to do it again in a few months. We were a bit bummed and frankly I was so frustrated. It is so hard to be stuck in one place. We haven't been anywhere in almost 2 years ( for fun, not for surgeries) and I was struggling with needing a break. I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and TRY to drive the 12 hours on our own.

The "break" for myself never seemed to happen. I never got a chance to be alone in the entire week, but I didn't cry either. I always cry!! When I talk to D on the phone while we are gone, by day 2 or 3 I am in tears wishing we had never left. But I survived until the trip home, right around Page, before losing it!

The boys had a ton of fun and I tried to make sure they got to do things, but not get to overwhelmed. It was a pretty positive trip. On the  HUGE, fun ,plus side, we saw all of our cousins and the boys played till our heart was content.

Day one: Driving-

We left around 3:00 am. I have never driven so I was a bit nervous going. D and I had hoped that the earlier I left the more the boys would sleep, and well, that didn't happen.  They were awake the entire time to our first stop. We stopped for Breakfast in Flagstaff. Getting out when your temperature says 33 degrees is the BIGGEST shock to your system. Add that to a little boy that is Severely anemic and the fact that we left the Valley at 3 am and it was STILL 65 degrees. Needless to say we were a bit chilly.

About Page the boys fell asleep so I pushed to get to Kanab before they woke up. I was SO thankful to get to Kanab. I had researched every single town on our way and had the city parks of every single town so we could stop. It was the first time in my entire life that I was thankful that we have food issues and that I didn't have to stop to take little bladders to the bathroom. The park was heavenly and we were able to push out lunch till we found a McDonald's with a play place. ( In case McDonald's reads my blog, I wish they would make more places with amazing play places.... but nope. You sucked!)

* SIDE NOTE: *While at the park, the boys were met with 2 other little boys who lived there in Kanab. Tyler tried really hard to get them to play with him, but they were SOOO mean. I was so frustrated but needed the time to stretch out. But the grandpa was raising the boys and he had a dog. Oh boy did the boys LOVE that dog. It was a bitter sweet thing to watch. I was thankful when the grandpa stepped in with the mean kids so I didn't have to.

We pushed to Richfield where I KNEW there was a McDonald's with a killer play place ( thank you All Star Basketball teams) and we were able to stay there for an HOUR. Yes folks, I stayed at a McDonald's for ONE HOUR!! I knew what the last stretch held and I just hoped we made it with no more tears.

From Richfield to Orangeville was about 2 hours. Grayson decided he was all done and took off his seat belt more times than I could count. Finally I stopped pulling over and just let it go. Letting him go meant that I had a SEVERE anxiety issue but getting into the good old EC ( what us cool folks call Emery County and what we call it to make it sound WAY cooler than it REALLY is) and realized there were NO cars on the road and we were going to be OK. ( Longest part of the trip was the last 20 minutes. I could have fallen asleep then!!)

We pulled into my parents drive way in just enough time to hug and kiss on grandpa before he had to head to Priesthood conference. Aunt Nicky came down to see the kids and brought her dog, Oreo, aka our "cousin" so that they boys could play and she could kiss on a few faces. We were sad to miss my sisters kids but they would come the next afternoon.

I was so thankful to not be in a car any more. Had a great chat with my mom and was SOOOO thankful to go to bed.

Utah Trip Continued

The amazing El Zaribah Shrine here in Arizona are the ones that take care of the out reach clinic for Shriner's. We LOVE them. We always enjoy the clinic and all the fun stuff they have to offer us and for all the fun stuff that they do while we wait. But the best and most amazing part of ANY Shrine is what they provide for us.

After setting our appointment with the Shriner's Hospital we got our travel plans done by the El Zaribah. Meaning, they make AND PAY for our flight. They fly the patient and one adult. Grayson is free ( but not for long) so we were able to get to Utah at not cost to us. Dallas had to work so it wasn’t a huge deal but we miss him and wish he could go with us next time.

Turns out, Utah got the dates wrong so we had to make changes to our flight dates and they were amazing and we got to stay around for a holiday weekend which made it a little easier to see both grandparents AND get our procedure done.

We flew in on Monday . We were picked up by our Aunt Nicky Poo. We dropped her off at work, took her car and went to McDonald's. Ty played and played and MIGHT have ate a little. Grayson did the same. We picked her up and went to our grandma and grandpa’s Browns. We were happy that we got to stay there and have some extra time with them. And we had awesome beds.

Tuesday was Ty’s procedure. They put him totally out for these because they are almost to the bone and VERY painful. We got there and we were getting prepped to met with everyone. Nicky kept Grayson for me, so it was a great chance for one on one time with Ty. We met with Dr. Gooch. She doesn’t agree that we shouldn’t do phenol. She thinks he responds well, does great and that even if he has dystonia then we deal and get his muscles under control. She begged us to not start clipping yet though.  We agree are with her second opinion a lot.


We were able to convince them to NOT give Tyler Versed. He literally becomes this VIOLENT, VIOLENT, little boy that pulls out IV’s and kicks and basically beats the crap out of everyone, including me!  They agreed and said we could try it without.

I got Ty dressed in his little gown and his little bum was showing. I went into the bathroom and came back out and Ty had disappeared. He started walking around the halls and happened to wander into another persons room. Her name was Breanna. She had been there about 2 weeks. Mind you, the hospital doesn’t have LOTS of people or rooms so Breanna had been feeling pretty down. Her parents were both there. Breanna had to have her spine fused a few years ago and was having complications with them. One had to be taken out and she was losing a little bit of her ability to do the things she wanted.

As I went looking for Tyler I heard a sweet voice saying, “ My name is Tyler Brown. I am seven. I live in Arizona.” I went in to save the poor people from my child. I was met  at the door by Breanna’s mom. Ty climbed up on this girls bed and was laying there with her. The mom burst into tears and the dad just stared. I thought, “ Seriously Tyler you can’t just do whatever you want. Sheesh.” As I was ushering him out, Breanna asked if he could stay until he had to go. I reluctantly agreed.

When I got back from taking him into surgery her room was empty. She was able to go home. We got a little note from her mom.  The note said that Breanna had been really down and had asked for a blessing helping her to understand how she could be OK with losing some abilities. Her dad said that he felt very impressed that she would find the answer, but he told her he didn’t know when or how. Her mom said that as Tyler was walking around talking to them, Breanna saw Tyler as a answer to her prayers. The mom said that Ty was exactly what they all needed and the reason they asked him to stay was because they wanted his little spirit to be with them as long as they could.  When Ty left Breanna got released and she told her mom that if he could be brave and do hard things, she would work super hard to do her best.

The nurse that took care of us said that she had never met a little boy quite like Tyler. I have to admit, neither have we. Ty is one of a kind. When he was small people would stop and say stuff. We always thought that he was cute. I mean COME ON! We made him. When we had Grayson, people still stopped us. But people still stop us about Tyler. He draws in EVERYONE. He is polite, kind and most of all he NEVER complains about his situation. I do. I do a lot, but never a word is uttered from his sweet spirit.

On the way to surgery me and Ty were wheeled by the basketball court on the upper floor of the hospital. ( Yes you read that right... a HUGE play room on the upper floor of the hospital) He was quickly fixated on going to go play basketball. We went into the waiting room and he got a hat and we talked about what was going to happen and how much I loved him. I told him I loved him to the Mystery planet and back. He told me he loved me to the mystery planet and back and that he was going to visit the moon and come back to him so we could go play basketball.

The second he said he loved me to the mystery planet and back I lost it. I  can’t imagine what I would do without this little boy. My sweet baby. The mystery planet is not even far enough away to show him how much I love him. But he was telling me all about the stuff he was going to do on the moon. That him and Chicka were going to have a bubble gum nebulizer and they were going to fly to the moon and get rocks and come back out and play basketball.

Soon they came in and took him from me. My heart broke. I let them have him and I went to breakfast. Nothing tasted good so I headed back to the room. Decided to take a nap and wait for my Super Hero to get out of surgery. Faster than I imagined, he was back. They left the IV in his hand this time so he had to wait to go play basketball. They said that they have only heard about going to play basketball.

After about 20 minutes and a little bit of begging from Tyler, they checked to see if he could get out of his bed and head out to play ball. 20 minutes after surgery and my son, who had stuff done on his legs, is now going to be going out and playing basketball.

We played for a few minutes, then went and got him lunch and then played some more. He butted into several other games in which he quickly won over the hearts of other people. We packed up our stuff to go and Aunt Nicky brought our brother to come get us. We went to her place to let her dog out and to take a small walk around. Then headed up to have a quiet evening with his Grandparents.





Tyler did so great. He is so amazing. He has YET to complain. He tells me that his legs feel all better now. I have watched the bruises go away  but watched the way he is walking and I cringe, but know that it won’t last forever.

The next day, was suppose to be the day I got some stuff done at 2 colleges and didn’t. So we are doing them all from here now. The rest of the week, will be up soon.........

Happy Birthday Nicky

It is my baby sisters birthday today. It started 21 minutes ago. She was born on a Tuesday. She kept the tradition of the 26th because if not mom cant' remember when we are born.

Nicky has a mind of her own. She is a good person and she tries her hardest to be thoughtful and giving to those around her. She doesn't like feeling like she is taken advantage of and if she does have that feeling, she steps away.

She is a very pretty women. She forgets it sometimes. She forgets it and lets herself be treated in ways that make me want to punch people. :)

I am the family band-aid and will fix all I can for Nicky in as many ways as I can. She is the baby. She will always be the baby. She will always have to be the last one to do everything.

She is great with all of our kids. She is a wonderful Aunt/mother to my child and to my other siblings children. Everyone needs that Aunt that means the world and moon to them. Nicky is that for 6 of them. Some day.. we hope to return the favor.

Thanks for being a pain and making me steal. It was RUDE of you to do that. But I hope you have know that even when you are a pain you are my baby pain. I hope to give you all you want soon.

"Regardless of whether or not a woman is able to have children, she is nevertheless - a mother. A woman - is a mother to all she knows and loves."

A mother is someone who cares for others. Always be that Other mother!

Family Reunion

Taking your child with special needs to family events can be a little nerve wracking. There are so many things to think about ahead of time and so many things that you can't control. I don't always have the ability to know all the details ahead of time in order to be able to make adaptations or make it more "Tyler" friendly. Some activities really don't work and sometimes we have to respectfully decline ( which I end up making excuses for, like we are busy that day or we have something else planned. It seems I can't just be honest) because there is no way to make the activity enjoyable or physically possible. Physically possible, not just for him but for me. For me meaning I can't carry him that long or I I can't find a way to adapt that activity to him and help him do that activity. He is almost to big for that darn stroller and he is getting to be just to darn heavy.

A few weeks ago we went camping down at my parents house. He LOVED camping. He associates grandpa with camping and fishing so when you mention grandpa, grandpa's house or going out he asks about going fishing. We were invited( do you really have to be "invited" to a family reunion in which you belong!) to the Labrum Family summer get together/reunion.

This year we went to Cold Springs Trout Farm in North Ogden. Because it is a trout farm there is more than plenty of fish for everyone. You pay per fish that you catch. You can't catch and release for the integrity of the ponds and you just have to feed the fish for them to start biting. I was really looking forward to taking Tyler because they had places that kids could fish. He LOVES fishing and carries around his fake ( and his real one if we let him) fishing pole all the time.

My parents were driving up early and had to make a few stops and so I asked my sister if she would like to ride with me. We left in plenty of time to get lost ( but we didn't!) and got there before most of the family. It was really easy to find.

We couldn't hold Tyler and his need to fish back any longer, so we went ahead and got a bucket and a pole ( they offered you a pole at no cost!) and went to town. Aunt Nicky was a trooper and was fine with helping Tyler. A little girl was standing by us and she was feeding the fish and Ty was catching them.

My cute sister.. and Ty's Aunt Nicky Mouse

His face is priceless and he gets so excited. We caught 3 fish quickly and thankfully grandpa and grandma got there soon after and Ty was able to take Grandpa around. Ty was so excited. As soon as he saw grandpa he asked him to go fishing.

My dad helping Ty fish. SEE I told you his face was priceless.

We ate lunch and I was able to visit with my Aunts. I haven't seen all of them for almost 2 years. ( A side note: I LOVE my Aunts. My dads sisters are seriously so great. My Aunt Mary and Aunt Luanne showed up at the hospital after I had Tyler. Though there was no baby for them to see they still came. I always feel welcome with them. They both wanted to know about Tyler, how he is doing and everything inbetween. They were and are so understanding and accepting of Tyler. My Aunt Mary even came up and saw Tyler when he was stuck in a incubator. My Aunt Linda Labrum is such a sweet lady and Oh my Aunt Kaye.. Honestly, there was NEVER a sweeter lady. I LOVE her.) While I was visiting with them Nicky and my dad had walked back down and were fishing. We all walked back to the pond and Ty had caught WAY to many fish ( that you can't throw back) and was laughing so hard as he did it. He was so funny. And everyone else was behind him laughing as we tried really hard to NOT catch a fish. We were relived when the few he got were able to come off the hook. He has the biggest joy of just tossing the pole in the water. ( We have a video so you can see him.)

Thanks mom for the video!!

When you are ready to go you take your fish to the shack there and they gut them and filet them. You pay per fish and it is calculated on the length of the fish. They charge a small fee for the filet but WAY worth it. We ended up spending way to much for the priceless look on his face. But not enough that I didn't mind handing over my card.

It was a great day. It seemed VERY handicapped friendly. It isn't hard to get to the ponds. There is no major hills. It is grass but a wheelchair would easily be able to be maneuvered. You can put up chairs on the grass and sit or just sit on the ground. There is shade and water to drink. You can also bring in your own picnic. You can rent the pavilion for pretty inexpensive. Best of all you get a kid with LOTS of smiles.

*My dad is the fish grandpa and Dallas' dad is the campfire grandpa. We had a campfire there on the 24th and Ty asks all the time for a campfire. Like EVERY TIME we see Grandpa Brown. *