Courage in Craziness

Life has been busy, really busy. Not with the things you'd normally hear like soccer games and vacation planning and hair appointments. Things like 2 hour parent trainings mulling over how to use my time better to help prevent some of Spencer's behaviors like screaming. Talking with Alta Regional about other kinds of respite for Spence. These things are difficult for me to process and cause stress. Sometimes this; be consistent, never give up, line upon line business is a little trying and tiring. I love that we have respite though. The kids(Joseph & Emmy),Brian, and I went out to Costa Vida and had fun playing guitar hero at Frys last Tuesday. I feel so happy when I can spend quality time with my family. After we got home I listened to Pandora for a while and fiddled around on the computer. It was peaceful and nice. I love and treasure the moments where I really feel like I'm doing something I want to do and am enjoying it. Those moments come a lot with my family, but its okay to have alone time too! This week I have needed that a little more. I went shopping a few nights on my own and even got some super fancy/yummy desserts from Bel Air. I was glad I got the four desserts for ten dollar deal because later I really wanted to clean the fridges and those desserts became an incentive for Emmy and I to clean. Joseph helped with the fridges too and he earned silly bands. Those are those plastic bracelets you see kids wearing everywhere. They bend onto shapes of things when you take them off your wrist and you can trade them. There is always some fad going the kids are into, I'm glad I remember how it was to be in elementary school and Junior high so I can relate to my kids. It really doesn't feel that long ago that I was the one growing up!

Each of are kids are so unique and special. They need so much guidance and help. Not to mention involvement in school and church. We can't go to everything and be everywhere, but somehow our weeks are packed. I feel though that we are choosing the things that will benefit our children in the long run. Spencer is going to be having tutoring after school from 3:30 to 6pm five days a week. Celia is having tutoring four days a week same time. With weekly parent trainings and two team meetings a week, it can be quite busy. I am excited for Emmy's band concert on Tuesday. As an early birthday gift we got Emelie a flute of her own. She sounds wonderful and seems to be practicing a lot more. her and Celia and I shopped all day Saturday for Emmy's upcoming birthday. It was a great opportunity to just hang out with the girls.

Spencer is getting a new teacher tomorrow. I hope she is awesome, everyone cross your fingers and pray for that.:) I am ready for the drama with his school to be done, however If it does go longer, I will be in it for the long haul. Help, love, support, services, and a prayerful attitude will take me through this busy and chaotic time I believe. I'm grateful to Brian, he is so great and I hope to report Spence sleeping through the night soon, which will alleviate a lot of the stress now being endured.:) Even though I feel a time of crisis is something we are going through, I am looking forward to real benefits and rewards. I know all the effort will be worth and and already see great progress and good coming out of all we as a family try to do. I love that its raining outside today and the house smells wonderful from our Sunday meal. We are warm and well blessed and gearing up for the coming weeks. I hope to press forward and keep calm through it all.

Dressing Up Early

Every year we get Emmy her Halloween Costume early. Her friends seem to have parties where she needs to dress up. It is only the beginning of October, but already she is pulling out her Elizabeth Swan Pirate Costume. Her friend Megan invited her to spend time with her while her brother had a birthday party. Since it was a dress up party, the girls dressed up too. Here is Kaitlin's sister, Emmy, Megan, and Kaitlyn. I love how great Emmy's hair looks with the whole get up! fun.~

Celia Jean's glasses~

These lenses go darker and go clear depending on the lighting, pretty tricky




Celia had a silly eye that was going inward sometimes, mainly when she would look far away like at the TV. After a visit to the Ophthamologist we discovered Celia is farsighted more so in the left eye then the other. She needed glasses. We ordered two pair and this one came first. We are still waiting for her Dora the explorer glasses. She does take them off, but overall is being a trooper and enjoying her new glasses. She says everything is bigger and was telling me all the details on her shoes, apparently she hadn't noticed or been able to see before. Good thing they are pink, they go with all her clothes hehe.

Brian's Birthday

Yesterday morning when Brian was leaving for work, we told Celia it was Daddy's Birthday. She refused to believe that. She said no, its coming very soon. Then proceeded to have a imaginary playtime filled with balloons and party favors for Daddy's birthday. I knew then she wouldn't call it good until we celebrated Brian's birthday sufficiently. It was a busy day, I got the kids off to school then went visiting teaching then had a team meeting for Spencer at home. After that was done I rushed off to Emmy's school to get her for an Ortho appointment. She chose black and purple as her rubber band color for Halloween I think, and was told she would have headgear soon, just like Brian and I both although she doesn't have to wear it to school like her daddy. On the way home we went and got Bri a bunch of balloons streamers, horns, hats, and funny birthday glasses. We got SPence off the bus then ran off to get cupcakes. Celia was so pleased when Brian came home little early and we could show him all the fun celebration things we had for him. The UPS guy brought a package for Brian so I wrapped it and we had chocolate eclairs for Brian and cupcakes for the rest of us. It was yummy! We got a lot joy seeing Celia so happy about her Daddy's Birthday.

Young came to babysit the kids and Brian and I went to Lucille's BBQ for dinner. It was really yummy and a lot of food. we have left overs for today even with is being one of those dinner for two meals where you split everything. I didn't wat my half, I guess I'm still recovering from my sickness. It was crowded there and there was a big group next to use so dinner took a while, but it was great to get out and talk and enjoy each others' company. Afterwards, we scoped out Ipods. Brian loves his book on tape to make his commute more pleasant. He takes great care of his things too and had his last one for six years! We love him and hope he has a great year until we celebrate again.

Bishop's Farm Family Time

FEAT, an advocate group for Autism sponsored a family day at Bishop's farm. Normally we don't attend carnivals or fairs or things like this because it is difficult to go out in public with our wild Indian kiddos. I'm glad we went and participated in this family day. We had fun seeing everything, having chili, corn bread, and fruit with the group of families with special needs, and were able to enjoy the outdoor together. The family headed to the front of the farm two by two.


Emmy and Celia loved the baby goats.~

The big kids liked this hay pile, it was a trampoline underneath. Celia liked throwing the hay in the air and bouncing around.

The kids loved the train, Celia rode it twice. On the second time we saw piglets racing which was a big hit for Celia and Joe.


Joseph couldn't wait to go to marble mine mountain. He loved panning for marbles, although was disappointed there were more colors of them. They all loved the slides.
We walked through the path of the Sun flower Labyrinth. The idea was to pick the perfect flower just for you and cut it and take it home. Celia found one and I clipped it and she said not that one, this one and pick a very small sunflower that was hiding underneath lol. Hers was small and cute , just like her.
Spencer really enjoyed himself which makes me happy. He uses his drink as a shaker as you can see.~

Book Group

It has been a busy week, but what is new?:) I was excited to attend book group on the third Thursday of the month like usual. This however was my group's 15 year anniversary. I was off in my Utah Book group for part of that time but am glad to be a part of this great book group now. We rated books, shared comments, had yummy food and took a group picture. It was an evening full of thought provoking discussion on the middle east and Arizona Immigration law. It was great to see Angie Bassest back from her mission as mission president's wife in AZ. I am excited about the years to come with this group. My mom is the president of a book group called the Bella Letras. I'm sure she would agree how wonderful it is to read and discuss good book with other women.:)

Blooming and Growing

Celia was cozy in her pajamas today taking Joseph to school. She saw a kitty cat in our yard and was so excited. Apparently its our neighbor's cat named shadow. She loved him so I snapped a few pictures.


My lavender plants in the front yard have grown all the last few weeks and bloomed.I love that there is so much purple down our walkway and Celia does too. I like the her new haircut too. This little short haircut works well on her.:)
Brian surprised me with these flowers, Tylenol quick release( which I love and works the best) and some Kearns fruit nectar. Those are my taste buds favorite type of fruit flavor.
I went in the backyard after Spencer one night and noticed these beautiful roses. All the water Spencer has been funneling to these plants has made them grow very tall and beautiful. To one person it is multiple floods, to these plants it is great food!
Okay, today is day bazillion of waking up which feeling like I can't walk in a straight line, nauseous, and on the verge of a high fever again with various aches and pains. The good news is I have battle plan to make it through the day. Armed with my antibiotics, pain reliever, and a few bursts of energy expended followed by a nice rest, I can do the daily routine of getting my kids of to school. Everyone woken up on time, lunches made or money prepared, reminders of brushing their teeth or asking if I need to sign anything. Clothes and medicine for Spence. Also, entertainment for Celia. She lights up my day with all her I love you Mamas and waiting to hug. She is talking so well now, I don't even mind her expressing the every desire of her heart in a demanding tone. Emmy's out the door at 7:30am, Spencer @ 8:15am, then I take Joseph to school @ 8:20am. Next is Celia and me time. I might get some rest if she finds something imaginary that is fascinating. She talks the whole time so I can lay down and listen.

My Doctor appointment on Monday went pretty good although she said it was unusual to have a patient have some many issues at once before coming in. I told her I wasn't a come-er-iner and she laughed and said then I should be good after this for another year. I hoping this illness will be under control soon, but in the meantime I am so grateful to my little family for their support. I've noticed the beautiful flowers around my home blossoming and some of my children too. Emmy has been getting up and getting herself to school on time. She has been practicing her flute and helping with the little chores here and there I ask her to do. A big thumbs up for her to step up when I needed it most. She is even doing a cooking goal for young women's.:) Joseph has been more compliant too. He is always full of complaints, but if you can ignore that he really has been just such a good boy doing his homework nicely, doing his chores and helping taddle on Spencer and Celia when they are doing mischief. He also endures a lot of noise from Spencer very well. I don't think any other family member could be his roommate, but Joseph does a great job.

Celia is so full of love and hugs and sweetness. Yesterday she grabbed two lip glosses, one for me(dark pink) and one for her (light Pink) and we put on our make up. She loves it and is such a girly girl. She plays beauty salon with her tutors and loves playing with my hair. It's funny if I put my hair up she takes out my clip and says you look like the neighbor then says "You need to look like the Mama" and takes my hair down. She obviously prefers it straight which I think is very cute. I love that she loves animals so much too. She talks about her ABC animals from preschool like Pippa Pig and Tiggy Tiger. She is doing so well with her letters that the Opthamologist was able to test her eyes by having her read the big letters that got smaller each time. They said she was a smart and clever girl. We knew that.:) She does however have some farsightedness in both eyes. We ordered two pairs of glasses. Some cute pink rimmed ones and some Dora the Explorer frames. She looked darling in them I'll have to take a lot of pictures when she gets them. There have been a few changes here at the Davis house, but so far I have just seen lot of growth. Trials are hard, but there is always some good to find. I have many things to be grateful for. I made a mental list last night! It really helps to gain perspective and realize things aren't so bad. I watched a scary series with Brian last night too called Supernatural. I had completely forgotten about my fever, aches, pains, and dizziness while I was watching that lol. Goes to show how nice a little distraction is to renew our minds. I am teaching Music Mentoring at Joseph's school today, I hope that goes well and I have our 15 year( I've only been a member for one year) anniversary for the book group I am in tomorrow night. It should be fun. Spencer has a dental appointment on Friday and Bishop's Farm is having an Autism family day this Saturday. I hope I can make it to these things and am grateful for my life and its many experiences. Today my Dear Friend Lisa is having her Temple work done in Redlands California. What a wonderful thing. Life is blooming and is full or growth and happiness.

Temple Trio

Brian, Emmy, and I were able to go to the youth Temple trip last night. There were a lot of adults that went too. I believe there were forty three of us all together, or at least that is how many cheeseburgers they ordered from In N Out for us to each have one.:) It was nice to see such a big group of people we know and see each Sunday. The youth were great, so quiet and reverent. We drove five of them in our minivan on the way to the temple. They are so cute to listen to. Talk talk talk about the funniest things. I remember being a young beehive and just talking about whatever just to say something. It was a great experience seeing several families together at the temple. Erik Summers who is going on a mission next week and is the Bishop's son baptised his sister. Brian was able to baptize Emmy and I, Brother Gibson baptised his son Avery, and the other brother Davis baptized his daughter. I felt like we were a real ward family and seeing the relatives doing ordinances together warmed my heart and made me grateful for the connections we make here on earth.

Girls Going Out.~

I loved hearing the violin from this young talented Artist named Jenny Oaks Baker. It was so calming and wonderful to hear her play, It was my favorite part of the weekend. I bought her best of CD.:)
Ardeth Kapp~
John Bytheway is pretty funny, but he was giving good advice about appreciating your hubbys. I saw him when I was at EFY when I was seventeen years old. He still looks the same!
I went to the convention with Liz Goldthorpe and Laurie Jensen from my ward. It was a lot of fun. We made our own lunches for Saturday, it was more of a pot luck of healthy foods. A man walking by even stopped and said wow what a great healthy lunch and asked about our red totes we had that were matching from the convention. Everyone we talked to in Sacramento seemed to love the idea of the Time Out for Women and the cute red bag. They even were talking to us about the red tote in the Home and Garden convention we dropped by after we were done. On Friday night, we were stopped by the drunk driving inspection barricade. They were saying they saw a lot of us women after they asked us if we had been drinking or if we were wanted. It was funny, especially Liz's response to them asking.
Jill Manning was inspirational. She is a marriage and family counselor which I love because that was what I was going to be when I grew up! She was very poised and professional and really seemed to know about what does work and what hinders a family unit. She was bold in talking about pornography and gave us a clue on how we can combat pornography from creeping into our families. I thanked her afterwards and told her she was brave. I could tell not all the audience was into it, but I appreciated her talking about such a difficult subject.
I have to say Brian was the greatest for coming home early on Friday and Spending all his Saturday taking care of the kids so I could participate in Time Out for Women. It was a long time, but was so energizing to be with other women and hear such inspiration music and word.

Playin' Cards~

Playing card games seems to be an activity that runs in our family. I don't mean just face cards. Brian grew up playing cards with his brothers, his father, Grandma Jean, and many other relatives. We played cards too on my Dad's side of the family. It was a little humorous when we compared our family's different approach to playing Rook. Apparently, there are a few different ways to play and we tease about which is the true way to play. We still play cards. My Dad will play solitaire in the dining room while eating his cereal for breakfast. Brian and I started playng cards together when we first were married. We didn't have a television, but we had a comic book store just down the street where Brian had many friends. I learned to play a game called Magic the Gathering. Brian was pretty skilled at it, making up decks of cards that he could play against other players. We went to tournaments on Saturdays at BYU and UVSC(UVU) and of course the comic book store. We tried other games too some of the names of the games were; Legends of the Five Rings, Rage, Net Runner,and one I can't think of the name that I'll call "The Cowboy Game". After we had kids we didn't play as often. Brian would play with his brother from time to time and kept his card collections. Dawn, Lance, Brian, and I played a game of Magic the Gathering when they came for a visit at Rah Rah's last year.

As Emmy and Joseph have gotten older, We've played a few card games with them mainly when we go to the cabin on family vacations. This year we played a game called Loot, it is all about pirates, and ships, and their captains, we really enjoyed it. The year before we'd played UNO every night at the cabin after Celia and Spencer went to sleep, since they are busy and like to distract from the concentration on the game.:)

Brian has taught Joseph and Emmy to play our old game, Magic the Gathering. We have new cards, but it's fun to play, even though they are premade decks and not the ones Brian had so cleverly made in the past. The kids win sometimes, which is hard concept for my competitive nature to grasp.:) We play other games too, board games like Settlers of Zarahemla; Katan, and one called Pandemic which is the family as a team trying to cure diseases and outbreaks before it takes over the whole world! That is a great one for teaching the children about working together. Brian and I value spending time with the children and playing games together is one way we try to cultivate our family relationships. It builds fond memories, maybe some social and attention skills, and is just plain fun too. Sixteen years and counting for one of our cards games in our little family. I wonder how far the rook playing dates back?

Terrible two days or was it?

Spencer Loves guitar hero, these kids bring so much joy even in times of strife and turmoil.

I found Spencer a new bedspread, I have been looking for so long. Emmy and I found it on our date to Marshall's after a super yummy dinner at Olive Garden Emmy found a cute hoody, which she had been looking for a new one this year for a while too. Its great to find what you're looking for. ( thinks of the U2 song):)
In a nut shell I got a pedicure, played with the kids, went to the temple with a dear friend, had a mommy daughter date that was special, and had a great time with the kids and their tutors. I also felt supported by Brian very much. On the other hand I had two days worth of visits from Child Protection Services with allegations concerning our Spencer. We love him and take very good care of him. I was saddened and hurt by the situation. It should be resolved and closed very soon. I know I've been blessed and it could have been a lot worse. On a better note the teacher of his new school ( I guess the sub and an aide were the accusers) stood up for me as well as Spencer's Alta regional worker, and his in home Consultant from Capital Autism Services. I am glad to have the support of my family the most. I love them so much. Spencer woke up at 2:30 am and didn't go back to sleep, maybe he will sleep early tonight. The kids are at school for a minimum day and we have tutoring, cub scouts and, Young women this evening. I better go rest up.~