Walk with Angels

A few years ago we joined a support group for families of children with special needs called the United Angels Foundation. This group took the place of the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation for us since there were problems among the Salt Lake and Utah County Chapters. We have really enjoyed being a part of the UAF. It is so nice to bond with other families who might be having some similar experiences as us, and who we can turn to with questions or for support. This was the UAF's first walk ever! They called it The Walk with Angels. It was a blast and they did an awesome job putting it together! We were very thankful to have so much family support there. Thanks to all those who supported us, both near and far! We really appreciate it!
Emma was clinging to Tessa because she was afraid of the Mascots.

The kids LOVED the bounce house and the big slide!




The Emma Raine Walkers waiting for the walk to start.

Luckily the rain stopped just before we got there. We came prepared and dressed for cold just in case.


Thanks again to all who came and supported and who supported from afar. Thanks also to Mark and Dave(MAD Screenprinting) for doing the shirts for us.

Bridal Veil Falls - Just Because

A few weeks ago my friend posted an entry on her blog about trying not to make yourself too busy to enjoy your children and to try to spend time with them rather than doing more dishes or some other mundane thing. She inspired me to try to do better to play with my kids and enjoy the simple things together. We went for a walk up in Provo Canyon to see Bridal Veil Falls. It was a beautiful afternoon and a great chance to just be together! I love my little family and feel so blessed to have each of my sweet children. I hope I can remember to make them priority #1 in my life.

Emma's Kindergarten Program

It was kind of hard to get a good picture, but Emma is in white on the front row. She was so excited about her program. She sang the songs for weeks before the program, but we usually only got bits and pieces so we were excited to see and hear it all!

Emma saying her part - She introduced the song "Spooky Day"!

Emma and Andrew blowing the bubbles Emma's teacher gave her after the program.

Emma's Bowling Fieldtrip

I didn't actually go with Emma on this fieldtrip. I just showed up to take pictures. Emma was soooo excited to be going bowling with her friends!

3rd Grade Track Meet

Track meet day was one of my favorite memories from Elementary School. I wasn't neccesarily one of the fastest in my class, but I LOVED to run(short distances)! I was very excited for Julia's first track meet!
It was freezing the morning of the meet. I bundled up the boys and we walked over to the track. AJ started crying after only a few minutes of being there. I didn't think I would be able to stay long enough to see Julia run at all. I was very grateful my mom showed up and was willing to take the boys home so I could stay and watch Julia. She won her heat in the 50 and the 100 yard dash and moved on to the semifinals. She has on the aqua colored sweat suit.

By the afternoon it had warmed up and Julia shed her sweats and jacket. This picture is of her in the semifinals of the 50 yard dash. She took 3rd or 4th, but went out of her lane anyway so she would have been disqualified had it mattered:) She is in lane 7.

Thanks to my mother in law for sitting with AJ during his nap I was able to pick up Andrew and Emma and take them to run the lollipop race for preschoolers. They LOVED this event and kept asking when their next race would be!!! I wish I could have taken pictures but my camera batteries died:(

Julia's last event of the day was the relay. She ran the 3rd leg and raced her little heart out. They not only won the relay they creamed everyone else! It was so fun to watch them do so well! Again no pics because of the dead camera, but hopefully their time was good enough to qualify for the district meet. If so, we'll be sure to get some video of that!!

Birthday Pics

Grandma and Grandpa Hult came by to give AJ his gifts. They got him an outfit and a sock monkey.


AJ really liked the sock monkey. Here he is giving it kisses!!!

We did a barnyard animal cake, but one of my barns fell down. I didn't do a whole barnyard bash like I did for Julia's 2nd birthday. I guess I've gotten lazy in my old age:)



I told my family not to bring gifts to AJ because we cannot fit another toy in our house and being the second boy we also have plenty of clothes for him, but they didn't listen.


I was happy with my SIL's very practical gift - baby food! Perfect!
AJ was excited about it also!

My mom gave him a toy, but it's cute so I guess we'll keep it!









I bought AJ not one, but two shopping carts. I thought it would be a good tool for him to use to learn to walk, and I couldn't deal with the fights I might have to break up if we only had 1 cart. AJ loved to stand next to the cart and let go and put his hands up like he was saying "Look at me, I'm standing!!!"


I made spice cake because I like it and AJ doesn't know any better! Now we know AJ likes spice cake too!

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy! We love you!

AJ turns 1!

Oops, I just realized I haven't uploaded the birthday pictures yet. We celebrated a few days after AJ's actual birthday, but I took this picture on April 22, AJ's birth-day. I can't believe my baby is 1. He is growing up so fast. He cruises everywhere and even lets go sometimes, but he has yet to take a step on his own. He is a happy baby and loves to clap and sway to any music! He has started emptying cupboards and his older siblings are constantly tattling on him for making messes, and they look so dumbfounded when I tell them it's okay and not to worry about it:) We love having this little guy in our family.

AJ is special for so many reasons, but one special thing about AJ is that he was born on Grandma Tuckett's birthday. Grandma Tuckett had a twin brother who passed away just a few weeks before AJ was born. We gave AJ the middle name Douglas so we could always remember my mom's twin brother and the great man he was. We miss you Uncle Doug!!!