Baby Johnny

My cousin Macie and her husband KJ had their baby last January full term, knowing he had many health problems including a heart defect which would eventually need surgery. He was a whole 2 lbs 9 oz but earned the name "Rockstar of the NICU" because not only did he live, but he grew and thrived. He was the cutest, squishiest little babe! But, as Macie said, they saw every specialist at Primary Children's, had cataract surgery, glasses, a feeding tube, multiple infections, a head brace, and his heart surgery. With all the miracles that occurred, the poor little guy had a hard little life and finally passed away on Saturday. We spent a lot of time thinking about and praying for Baby Johnny at our house and were blessed enough to be able to attend his funeral this morning. It was an amazing experience to be there with such a strong family whose faith didn't weaken through these trials but their knowledge and testimonies of the gospel grew instead. The peace that comes with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Atonement, sealing families together in the temple, and the knowledge that you can be with your family forever is awesome. It was an emotionally draining but but testimony building day.

At the graveside, we met to dedicate the grave- you can see KJ holding the tiny little coffin right in the center of the picture.

Macie and Breta.

At the end of the dedication their family released 240 balloons into the sky- one for each day of Johnny life. I love this picture of his big sister Eva.

Macie watching as the balloons go up.

Up, up and

Away!

We miss you but we'll see you again Johnny!

KEVEN JOHN STRATTON III

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Keven John Stratton, III 1/12/2011 ~ 8/20/2011 Our valiant warrior, Johnny, completed his mortal mission on Aug. 20 after a seven month battle with an imperfect body. Though he never said a word, Johnny's life spoke volumes. He taught us all through his example of faith, love, dedication, endurance, humility and Christlike submission to his Heavenly Father's will. He has left us forever changed. Johnny will be deeply missed by his dad, Keven; his mom, Macie; his big sister, Eva; his grandparents, Keven and Laurie Stratton and Allen and Breta Finlinson; his aunts, uncles, cousins, and many dear friends. Our heartfelt thanks goes to the dedicated staff at Primary Children's Medical Center for their love and care. Funeral services will be held Saturday Aug. 27 at 11 a.m. at the Canyon View LDS Stake Center (575 E. 800 N., Orem). A viewing will be held from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and on Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Walker Sanderson Funeral Home (646 E. 800 N., Orem). In lieu of flowers, we suggest a donation to your favorite charity or Kids on the Move in Orem.

One more fling!

After the big kids went to school on Thursday we took off for Spanish Fork to do a little hiking with Maama, Wendy, Kristi and Lydia. We went up Payson canyon to "The Grotto." Weston was our mountain guide. :)

Lydia and Afton had the comfy seats in the backpacks.

It's a beautiful hike with lots of bridges to cross over the river, plants, animal life...

and the beautiful Grotto at the end.

I don't know what is with Weston and his wacky poses but Wendy does a pretty good impression. :)

The whole crew!

Little Lydia

Weston prancing in the cold water.

Afton would have played all day in the rocks and water, of course!

Isn't that pretty?

This was my favorite caterpillar- three inches long and oh, so fuzzy. Thanks for the fun!

Back to School for Hyrum!

One day, summer ended and school began...

But Hyrum was ready for it! 3rd grade, here he comes!

Oh, yeah!

This year, he is a Later Gator to work with Weston's kindergarten schedule so he doesn't start until 9:15 and doesn't come home until 3:30. At least it gives him time to get reading and home done in the morning! This is Hyrum at Miss Ottley's door just waiting for the bell to ring...

We got a little excited to pick him up and walked over a little early so we had to wait for a bit before Hyrum came out... But look at this cute little series of two cute little kids!

And he made it out! For some reason, Hyrum's class is always the last one to get out...Why? I don't know, but we were happy to see him! (Obviously, look at Afton's face :)

Today, was Weston's kindergarten test and he totally rocked it! The teacher asked him to count as high as he could- he got to 35 and she said "Oh, that's good. You can stop there." And Weston said "I can go to 100." "I bet you can!"

When he finished the teacher came over and said "I asked him every single question and he answered them all and could have kept going!"

I was one proud mom! Especially since he hasn't had any formal pre-school or anything... Thank you thank you! Oh, I mean, good job Weston!

Hyrum's Birthday- #8!

It's true, Hyrum really turned 8 years old. Can you believe it? And he's starting 3rd grade, too. Crazy! Hyrum was successful in planning out a fabulous space birthday stretching throughout the week. Starting on Thursday with the Planetarium:

We snagged Bryson and Maama to drive with us up to Salt Lake to the Clark Planetarium where we hit the "Black Hole" movie in the dome theater. Awesome. I know more about black holes than I ever thought possible. For a while, I wondered if Hyrum and Weston even enjoyed it because it was a very technical show and was sometimes way over even MY science loving brain. :) But, I shouldn't have worried- the boys understood more than I did, I think! Afton, on the other hand, just wanted to climb around and break her glow stick all over the chair and the floor and my clothes...

The rest of the planetarium was just as cool and all free, too. There was lots of stuff to watch, touch and do. Try it, you'll like it!

They even went for a walk on the moon!

Hyrum the birthday boy realizing he's got to get back to his cake on Earth.

Actually, on Friday, the boys went with Daddy on the ward Father and Son's campout. They had a blast and even slept well, ate well, and socialized. It just adds to the birthday fun. :)

The Cake:

It's a solar system of course, complete with moon and asteroid belt. Hyrum helped me decorate the planets and did Jupiter all by himself. Nice!

Party #1

My family came over Saturday night for cake and presents and we reveled in Robby's decorating skills:

Those are going on Hyrum's bedroom door, I think!

The pictures are staying until his baptism, though. (Can't wait!)

Party #2

Sunday was Hyrum's real birthday so after church we took our Solar system and went to Largey Grandma's for Party #2.

Daddy and the cousins

Blow it out Hyrum!

Cute baby sister eating a moon cup cake:

Couldn't help but include this- she's just too cute!

The Spiffy new suit:

He wanted to go in and eat lunch. :)

Um, we're just showing off the suit, not Hyrum's posing skills! Anyway, he looked awesome and handsome and so grown up. I really can't believe he is 8 years old because it doesn't seem like that long ago that I was eight! As excited as I am for him to start 3rd grade, I'll be sad for him to be gone all day again. He is the best helper especially with Afton, laundry, dishes, getting his jobs done, etc. This summer, he wakes up before everyone (like usual) and just hangs out reading a book (Magic tree house have been the favorite lately)until Afton wakes up. Then he runs in to get her so I get to sleep in. It's the best! We just moved his bedroom downstairs and made it into a Space room with glow in the dark stars on the ceiling, planets on the walls, glowing star pillow cases, and even pictures we painted of a rocket and a black hole. That makes him seem even ore grown up!
Hyrum's stats:

Height:

Weight: 62 lbs

Favorite color:

Hobbies:

Things he likes:

Things he does not like:

Little Bit of Summer Fun

Now that Afton is not sick, we are trying to take advantage of the summer before it's over. How?

Seven Peaks at least once a week- no pictures there, don't want the camera getting lost or stolen but boy is it fun!

Camping at the Father and Sons (While Afton and I had a girls party with all my sisters- we made pizza, chocolate cake, watched Newsies and made dresses. Yep, dresses! I'll have to take a picture of mine. I love it!)

We hit the $2 Tuesdays at Thankgiving Point TWICE!

The gardens are beautiful, of course!

Even so, I think my favorite thing is watching the giant fish fighting over the fish food in the pond. I seriously could watch them for hours, those creepy things!
But, I could watch this little babe even longer!
:

Notice how she's sitting in the tiny little box? :)

After this little concert we had the night of all nights: The Christopher Cross concert, of course! (Personally, this was not MY night of all nights but Zach was looking forward to this concert for SO long.) When he saw Mr. Cross was coming to the Scera, he bought tickets immediately- that was probably three months ago. Funny story about these tickets: One Sunday night, we were over at the Largey grandparents after dinner and we were all outside just chatting with the family. Zach started talking about how he was so excited to go to this concert and Seth said "Hey! We have tickets to that concert too!" What was the chance that Seth actually bought tickets to the same concert? Crazy! Zach wondered where they were sitting, how much they paid, etc, and Seth said "I don't know. We just got them for free. Someone just sent them to us in the mail. I think, unless Jade bought them. Jade, did you buy them?" She denied it and said she was still doubting that they really were free tickets. Zach said "What? You already have your tickets? I ordered mine two month ago and I still haven't received them!" Turns out, our tickets got sent to the old address for some reason and Seth really had our tickets... Maybe you had to be there but it was a great conversation. :)

ANYWAY, on to the night of all nights:

Notice, there is only ONE row of chairs in front of Zach. One chair between Zach, and the man.

Just us, on a date. :) Ten years from now we'll love this picture...

The band! The percussion guy was awesome- he did bubble sounds, wind, chimes, squeaks, whistles, bongo drums, and even shook belly dancing belts to get the bells ringing. Nice!

And the Man himself: Christopher Cross! He sang oldies like "Sailing" and new stuff like "Open my Window" (which I loved) but ended with "Ride Like the Wind" of course! It really was a great show!