First December Activity

The week after Thanksgiving, Grandma and Grandpa Brown came down to help G and G "Warmer." They spent a few days there and then came here. Getting ready for Christmas and visitors was a lot. And sometimes, days are long for us! So a shopping trip and plans were made.

We had 2 very excited kids. We had high hopes of having such amazing warm weather but we really had a bit of rain.

Ok, we had a lot of rain.

The day of the big storm, I did everything in my power short of duct tape, to keep Grayson out of the park and out of the water. It didn't work. Oh and he has been potty trained for a bit now, but with visitors wouldn't use the bathroom because "Grandma might see my Pirates." So we went through LOTS of clothes. In Arizona, you don't use long pants all that often, so he doesn't have THAT many to go through. We washed A LOT!

We had planned to go to the Mesa temple lights that night and we had planned to make hot scones and hot cocoa, so the fact that it rained made it even a better night to do it all. 

We headed out to dinner and the lights. We made it to the lights to start touring and the boys LOVED it. The nativity scenes there are really beautiful and the reflection pool are done up so well. We waited for a while for our dad to come but he was really slow. ( A painful confession followed the slowness later!) 

I asked some of the Missionaries there if we could walk up close to the nativity scene so that he could see the scene. Grayson, Tyler and I were able to go right up and look. The Nativity was carved out of a specific wood in Italy. It was gorgeous and so life like. Tyler and Grayson looked at the Wise men and then did the the baby Jesus. It was so, so  cool!

After we got home we checked out our Elf, who happens to bring us a Christmas book every night instead of something I have to clean up and actually do the next day and then our Christ tree. We headed to bed and then the adults enjoyed the evening of scones and hot chocolate. 

This season has been one where I feel totally and completely blessed. We have made and done some things this year that have left us at peace. For a long time we have had to make choices that have left us some what drained. However, after making some better choices and putting up boundaries and allowing us to set our own rules and relying on each other we are definitely in a different place. 

We can't wait for the new year and to see where it brings us. 

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.

Fall Break

Tyler is on Fall Break and so is Grayson. Because we have such a long Fall Break we decided we would attempt something we have NEVER done and drove to Utah. We will be here until we decide to go home!! Hit me up if you want to hang out.... But better hurry, our Salt Lake Schedule is filling up. We can't wait to spend it with Oli, Amy and Stephanie and the few others on our list........


P.S. The weather is DIVINE you Arizona boiling people

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.........