Go Team Briggs!

A group of friends and I are putting together a "Team Briggs" for the American Cancer Society's Relay for life. This is a great event that raises money to help fund the fight against cancer. After having watched many people struggle with this horrible disease, this is deeply personal. You can read about it here http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=14610. In a nutshell, we need help! You don't need to be an athlete, or even need to walk in the event. We just need members of "Team Briggs"! Our team page is http://main.acsevents.org/goto/teambriggs

You can make a donation, or sign up to join us on the 5th of June at Weber State University. We all need to pull together to beat cancer. It's an awful disease that has taken way too many lives and left many others with scars of fear and pain. Briggs is fighting hard, and we'll continue to fight for him. We love you buddy! Please join "Team Briggs" and remember to keep him in your prayers. And while we're on the subject, God bless you Wade and the other dear loved ones we have lost from this disease. Let's hope that someday we never have to hear the word "Cancer" again. Also, If you still haven't put your "Briggs Blinkie" on your blog, follow this link to get one!http://thehillfamilysix.blogspot.com/2009/04/briggs-blinkie.html

*Picture by the very talented Jessica Kettle

Let's go fly a kite, Emma's bed, a visit to the Dinosaur park, oh and the Pinewood Derby. WHEW!

Fun stuff we've done this week:

Last Wednesday the weather was beautiful! We rode our bikes up to the park to fly our new kites. Bruce got Emma's ladybug up, then she flew it herself! Well, she did let go a FEW times.

Mason and Drake give the "thumbs up".

Here's Emma in her new bed! Well, it's actually her old bed, I just bought her a new toddler bedding set. What a big girl. Next, we'll remove the side of her crib and she'll really have a big girl bed (Not until we're SURE she won't escape in the night!).

Yesterday we went to the Dinosaur park for a Scout activity. First of all, I Can't believe how much it's changed. We used to take Colt and Juss all the time when they were little, but haven't gone in awhile. Now they have a ton of neat activities, like quizzes, bone digs, and other interactive games. Another new thing, they have a few life sized dinosaur skeletons. This WAS NOT Emma's favorite. As a matter of fact, as soon as we turned the corner into the exhibit, she freaked out. We tried to explain that they weren't real, but she was having none of that. We had to rush through and out to the park. The rest of the park she really enjoyed. Highlights:

I have some really cute pictures of Colter and Justine with their heads in these things...I've got to dig them out...
When we were getting ready to leave, Mason spotted a few Mallard ducks. He ran up to get their picture and bumped into this goose! Isn't she cute? We tried to feed her some dried pears (all we had), but she didn't care for them. We talked to her for awhile, then she got back in the water. She followed us along in the stream, honking the whole time! We figured it was just her way of saying "good bye". Next time I'll bring some bread....



Last but not least, Mason had his Pinewood derby on April 14th. It was a sad day (see post below), but we knew Wade, who loved to do all of the scout activities with B&B, would approve. Bruce and Mason spent quite a bit of time on the car and it was pretty cool for Bruce, because it was the first Pinewood Derby he was able to attend. You've got to watch the video in the Smilebox below. Yes, his car actually STOPPED on the track! He was a good sport though, and won an award for "Most Authentic" car.

Happy Easter!

We decided to go ahead with our Easter brunch this year. It was hard to have a celebration while everyone was feeling sad, but we needed to be together as a family. On Friday, Justine came up and the kids dyed Easter Eggs. Emma's favorite part? The stickers. She not only put stickers on the eggs, she decorated the kitchen counter as well. Silly Emma! On Sunday, Mason woke up at the crack of dawn (of course!), and wanted to search for his basket. We told him he needed to at least wait until the sun came up! When we all woke up, the kids searched for their baskets. Emma was so excited to find her basket. She squealed "look what the Easter bunny brought me!!! Later that morning, Grandma Sue, Jeni, Nikki, Mardee, Tobin, Kaira and Archer arrived for our annual Easter brunch/Egg hunt and Grandpa Vern brought Quayden up for the egg hunt. Justine and Colter helped the little kids by first hiding the eggs, then helping them find them. They're much too old to hunt for eggs, but not too old for The Easter Bunny! So as long as they live here, the Easter bunny will visit. Emma loved looking for eggs. She took her time, and searched everywhere! When we gave the signal for the older kids, Quayden and Mason were mad men! They found tons of eggs. More candy than we'll ever eat. Oh well, they had a great time. After we ate, the kids played outside and we had a nice visit with our family. Happy Easter! Here are the highlights:

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

God Bless and Keep You Wade!

My dear Uncle Wade lost his battle with cancer this morning at about 8:30. Aleisha was by his side. He passed peacefully, and I'm sure my Dad and Grandparents were there to great him. Please keep the family in your thoughts and prayers. We love you Wade.

Visiting day....

On Thursday, Bruce, Colter and I met Justine in Salt Lake for a hospital tour. Our first stop was to visit Wade, who was admitted to The Huntsman Cancer center on Monday. He was severely dehydrated and suffering from some type of infection. When we got there, he seemed to be in pretty good shape. He had a good, positive outlook, and expected to be home soon. Aleisha had come on Tuesday, so we were fortunate to visit with her. We didn't get to see Brant and Kendell though, as their flight wasn't expected to arrive until midnight. We had a nice visit, and when we left, I held his hand and told him that we loved him. Next, we headed to Primary Children's to visit Briggs and Aubrie. Brigg's was home over the weekend, but he caught a cold, so it was back to the big house for him. He was doing really well and was really happy to see us. I brought him a "Cars" Easter egg filled with tattoos (he still can't eat, so it was perfect for him!) that he loved. He loves tattoos, and showed us his tummy, which was covered with the Hulk! What a character. He was so talkative. Telling us all about his stuffed animals and the hunting movie he was watching. When we were telling him goodbye, I told him that Emma missed him. He said "Emma's my cousin". What a cutie! Next, we headed over to Aubrie's room. Aubrie had been rock climbing with her friends on Sunday, when she fell 40 feet. Luckily, she hit a tree which broke her fall. She was rescued by Life Flight, and taken to PCMC. Unbelievably, she only received a few injuries. She has a broken femur (which was fixed), some internal bleeding, a fractured pelvis, and a few very small scratches. What a miracle! When she told us the whole story, we were amazed at her strength and bravery. And Anna? Poor Anna has sure been through the ringer! When she told us the story of her having to follow Life Flight in her car, not knowing the extent of Aubrie's injuries. Well, I just about lost it! Not to mention that being at the hospital brought back memories of Emma Jayne's medical emergency exactly two years earlier (I'll post that story later)! It was a pretty emotional night, but more on the positive side. Everyone seemed to be doing so well. Wade seemed to be healing, Brigg's would be home soon, and as soon as Aubrie is stronger, she'll be going home. She'll be in a wheelchair for awhile, but she'll recover. What a night! After we were done, Bruce and I took Colter to Crown Burger & had a late night dinner. UPDATE: On Saturday, while I was cleaning the house for our Easter party, Mardee called. Wade had taken a turn for the worse. His liver and kidneys are failing. The prognosis isn't good. I immediately called my mom, and we made plans to go down. Mason really wanted to go with us, but he has had an allergy problem and since it could be a cold, he had to stay. He made him a neat card, then told me "Mom, I think Grandpa is going to come and pick up Wade...Maybe in a truck". I hope so. We ran Mason and Emma down to GMA and GPA's (Justine would pick them up when she got off work) and off we went to pick up Gma Sue, Jeni and Nikki. It rained all the way, and was pretty depressing. When we got to the hospital, all of our family was there. It was a flash back to when my dad died. All of the same people together, heartbroken. We all gathered and Jo gave us an update. Again, not good. While she was talking, she suddenly stopped and said "look at that, the sun is shining on one little spot on the Great Salt Lake". The hospital sits on the mountain, looking down on the Salt Lake valley and the Great Salt Lake. Seeing this sight was truly beautiful and very calming. She continued to give us the prognosis. He probably wasn't going to recover. We all cried. It was a very sad time. After awhile, Wade was ready for two visitors at a time. Tobin, Jeni and I went first. It was very hard to see my strong uncle who had helped us move, till, lay sod, camp, and lots more other big jobs, lying in a hospital bed, nearing the end of his life. We tried to be upbeat, commenting on the U basketball game that was on TV, making small talk. It was so sad. It was all we could do not to break down. We could only stay a minute, so when we left, we told him that we loved him, and again, took his hand. We went back and sat with the family. We reminisced about all of the great times we had together. Having a close family is one of our greatest gifts. We spend holidays, birthdays, vacations and other fun times together. There are so many great memories, I couldn't begin to say. When there is a tragedy, we lean on each other, and we're certainly leaning on each other now. It's so hard. We love our family so much. It was hard to leave. When we got in the car, I realized that I didn't have a chance to get the last of the Easter gifts. I had planed to go to Target to get Mason and Colter's big gift, and Ulta for Justine's, but then Mardee called, and I forgot about it. It was now 9:30. We decided to go eat in Centerville and then go to the Target there. As we pulled into Ihop, Nikki said "I think Target closes at 10. We better check." Sure enough, Ten. We had exactly eight minutes to run in and grab the boys gifts. We ran in, got the stuff, and on to Ihop. We ate and headed home. Justine had done a wonderful job with the kids. She even got Emma to sleep! Not an easy job. What a great kid. I talked to her about her Easter gift, and promised I would take her to Ulta. Stay tuned for an Easter update, and please, please keep my family in your prayers. My Uncle Wade is a great guy. I have so many great memories of all of the great times we've shared. Keep Wade, Jo, Aleisha, Matt, Grace, Ivy, Braden, Tiffany, Brant and Kendall in you thoughts and prayers. We love you!!!

Briggs Blinkie

My awesome buddy Keri created this amazing link to "Team Briggs". I posted about it a few times on the carepages, but I neglected to post it here. Slacker me! Please, if you have a blog, will you include this link? Here is Keri's blog with the instructions: http://blog.toponcefamily.org/go-briggers/
I am so thankful for my friend Keri. She is a computer genius, a fabulous teacher, and most importantly, a wonderful mom to her cute little Jackie. Even though she's so busy, she took the time to not only make the link, she made Briggs the cutest board book! He loves it, and shows it to all the nurses and Doctors at PCMC. If I can figure out how to post a PDF file with images of the book, you'll see just how creative she is! She also has a really cool blog with lots of fun ideas for teaching little ones at home. Check out "The Homeschool Mommy" link on the right. It's very inspiring! Thank you Keri. I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate all that you have done for my family. You are truly an angel!
I know I have quite a few readers (I get few replies on the blog, but I still get your emails, Facebook messages, phone calls, ect) and I thank you for reading! Please, if you can pass on the word to your fellow bloggers, I would be so grateful! Briggs has come so far, but still has a long battle ahead. Let's get the word out. Go Team Briggs!!!!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Today would have been my parent's 44th anniversary. I love you Mom! Dad would be so proud of all of the great things you've done. And Dad, I miss you so much! There isn't an hour that goes by that I don't think about you. Happy Anniversary!

At the Nature Center....

When Mason was a baby, my dad went with me to one of his Doctor's appointments. While we were driving past the Nature Center, my dad reminisced about taking Jeni and I there before the land had been granted to the center. He talked about the birds that lived there and feeding the ducks. He also mentioned that the land originally had been owned by a cousin of his who had farmed the land. On Thursday, Mason's class had a field trip to the Nature Center. While we were driving there, I casually mentioned this story to Mason, really just to share a memory about my dad. When we arrived, we were greeted by the resident deer and Mr. Turkey.

Then we went to the education center where we met Laser, the Desert Tortoise. Isn't he cute? I wanted to smuggle him out under my jacket!Here's Mason trying to decide if this animal belongs in the desert or the mountains...We went on a tour of the grounds, and met some of the resident birds. This guy is a rescued Hawk. They have a program where you can donate money to help the birds. I told Bruce I wanted to donate, and he said "After I'm gone." Well Bruce, here's where your money is going. Don't worry, I'll name him after you.

While we were walking around, I kept overhearing Mason talking about the story I had told him. I was glad that I had shared the memory with him, but it was kind of funny when one of his friends approached me as we were leaving and said "Is it true Mason's Grandpa used to own this place???"! It seems that we had our own little game of "Telephone" going on! Fun times...