February in a Nutshell

In an effort to get Favorite Aunt Sarah to blog, keep my promise to Grandma Becky that I would blog, and as a confirmation to my cousin, Hollee that I am not MIA, here I go:

Our baby is growing so fast!


Jack received the "Principal's Pride" award from school:


Nixin taught himself how to blow awesome bubbles in the bath:


Cohen is getting more and more adorable every day:


Jack finished up his basketball season:


A little bird found Nixin's homemade bird feeder:


Cohen loves bath time:


Jack visited the book fair at school, he LOVES to read:


Nixin has a new favorite hobby:


And this little face just melts my heart, I'm so happy we have him!

To My Valentine

I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband. He is loving, kind, humorous, a great provider, dad and friend. I love you Chad! Thank you for all that you do for our family, I am so lucky to have you. Happy Valentine's Day!

Common, you know you want to help!

To My Dear Family and Friends,

You may remember me mentioning a few months back about my very talented photograspher friend, Carrie Butler, and her little brother Brett Fafard. Brett was diagnosed with STAGE 3 testicular cancer in June of last year. He has since undergone surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy. Unfortunately this fall, his doctor found residual cancer and has decided that the next step is salvage chemotherapy, which will come in the form of back to back stem cell transplants. His doctor has said that while he has a negligible chance of beating the cancer without these transplants, his chances increase to 70% if he has the transplants.

While Brett was very blessed to learn that he was approved for a primary insurance with medicaid as a backup, his primary insurance company has denied the first request for the procedure. Medicaid has agreed to move forward with the first transplant but is declining to provide the second. While one transplant is better then none, the Doctor feels that in order for Brett to be cancer free and return to leading a healthy life that he must have both transplants.

Carrie and her husband, Mike have been doing everything they can to help Brett with all of his medical expenses. But the fact of the matter is, they have a family of their own to take care of and they simply cannot come up with this money all by themselves and in the short amount of time they have left until Brett needs his second transplant. Brett has just begun his first transplant this week, and with your help, he will be finishing his last treatment at the end of March. There are a couple of ways that you can help...

1. There is a paypal account set up at http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpages%2FSave-Brett%2F258561409913%3Fref%3Dsearch%26sid%3D607896555.2896082454..1&h=1d9433b19c8cff1caf8b1ad50f9dcb74 where donations can be made. If they could get 120,000 people to donate just one dollar, then they will have made their goal!!

2. Come eat at the Taylorsville Souper Salad on February 19th. Carrie, and her family and friends, will be there clearing tables and filling drinks, a portion of the proceeds and tips earned that night will go to help Save Brett!!!

3. Carrie is organizing a "Fafard 5k" to help raise money for Brett. It will take place on February 27th at the Riverwoods in Provo. It is $20.00 a person. Register at www.fafard5k.com. There is going to be live music, cookies and fun! They need to get a head count so if you would like to come but can't yet register, please shoot Carrie a message or email at carrie_butler@msn.com. I know a lot of you out there are runners or else know of people who are so please join us in this race! It is for such a good cause.

* Chad and Jack will be running the 5k and would love it if there are other Father/Son or Daughter pairs out there to run with them. I am not a runner in the least, but am planning on walking it... It's only 3 miles or so... I should be able to handle it, right? Will any of you walk with me?

4. Pass this message on to all of your family and friends! I'm sure there are many out there who would love to get involved.

Thank you so much for your support! Any efforts to help will be greatly appreciated.

Catching Up

I'm a blog slacker. I don't want to be, but the time just flies by so fast! As I sit here eating my cheese and cracker lunch, I am thinking of the past couple weeks. A lot has happened, and here's what I am coming up with:

* Chad passed his cold on to Cohen and I. We have had lots of green stuff coming out of our noses. That has now developed into little coughs. We are feeling much better the past couple of days, but it sure wiped us out at the beginning of the week!

* Jack is off track. We have been trying to occupy our time with play dates, trips to the library, and special treats from the kitchen.

* Chad sold his 91 Lexus and bought a new Jetta! He is thrilled about it. Maybe one day he'll let me take it for a drive. It looks great from what I've seen so far.

* Cohen is getting his first tooth. Here and there I'll catch a little glimpse of it peeking through.

* Just yesterday, Nixin started Break Dancing classes! He has a lot to learn, but I think it could be just up his alley if he sticks with it. Talk about cutest thing ever!

* We bribed our older boys with a trip to Pirate Island in Orem if they each earned 20 good behavior pennies in their jars. They made it with no time to spare, and so Friday we made the drive. They love that place so much. The food is pretty good, very reasonably priced, and the kids love the ambiance. The arcade after dinner doesn't hurt either. They were giddy with excitement and I loved it!

* I got my first cavity filled :( I didn't enjoy it, but thank goodness we have a great dentist and so the experience wasn't horrible. I will be giving up Dr. Pepper (my caffeine savior since Cohen was born) and hopefully prevent future needles, drilling, and soreness.

* Jack is playing Jr. Jazz. He is usually very timid... but not yesterday! He scored 2 baskets (his firsts!) and he also made a couple of assists and rebounds. It was the best game so far!

* Cohen started rice cereal a couple of months ago and loves it. Yesterday we pulled out the baby food peas and gave them to him. He seemed to think they were great. He is growing so fast!

Okay, I think that sums it up for now. Cohen sounds like he needs me :)

Fafard 5k

You all may remember me mentioning a few months back about my very talented friend, Carrie Butler and her little brother Brett Fafard. Brett was diagnosed with STAGE 3 testicular cancer in June of last year. He has since undergone surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy. Unfortunately this fall, his doctor found residual cancer and has decided that the next step is salvage chemotherapy, which will come in the form of back to back bone marrow transplants. His doctor has said that while he has a negligible chance of beating the cancer without these transplants, his chances increase to 70% if he has the transplants.

While Brett was very blessed to learn that he was approved for a primary insurance with medicaid as a backup, his primary insurance company has denied the first request for the procedure. Medicaid has agreed to move forward with the first transplant but is declining to provide the second. While one transplant is better then none, the Doctor feels that in order for Brett to be cancer free and return to leading a healthy life that he must have both transplants.
Carrie and her husband, Mike have been doing everything they can to help Brett with all of his medical expenses. But the fact of the matter is, they have a family of their own to take care of and they simply cannot come up with this money all by themselves and in the short amount of time they have left until Brett needs his second transplant.

If they could get 120,000 people to donate a dollar, then they will have made their goal!!

Carrie is organizing a "Fafard 5k" to help raise money for Brett. It will take place on February 27th at the Riverwoods in Provo. It is $20.00 a person.

I know a lot of you out there are runners or else know of people who are so please join us in this race! It is for such a good cause.
Brett will begin his first transplant at the beginning of February, and with your help, he will be finishing his last treatment at the end of March. If you have any questions about the race or how you can donate please visit (I don't know how to add a link...):

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Brett/258561409913?ref=search&sid=607896555.2896082454..1#/event.php?eid=278286439438

December 25, 2009

Christmas is here!

I woke up to Jack and Nixin rummaging around in the front room this morning. Chad and I slowly came out of our deep sleeps and then Jack so adorably woke Cohen up. The missing cookies, carrots, and milk could only mean one thing- Santa had been here!


The boys got exactly what they had asked for. Jack got a Didj, Nixin a Leapster (although he later decided to trade in his Leapster for a Didj), and Cohen an activity center jumper thing. Chad got a watch that I'm not 100% convinced that he loves and I got a watch too, which I do love.



After the present opening, I headed into the kitchen to get the breakfast together. The craziest thing happened. All of the sudden the front door slammed! We went into the front room and there were a couple of new presents under the tree addressed to me from Santa! I got a new camera!!!


It was not something that I had asked for, but something that I am super excited to learn how to use. The pictures that I have taken so far are awesome! Here are a few of them from our Christmas Day:





Our day was full of company, good food, and fun. We could not have asked for a better Christmas. Merry Christmas from the Williams family! We hope your holiday was a wonderful one.

December 24, 2009

It's Christmas Eve!!!

I remember as a kid how exciting Christmas Eve was. How I couldn't sleep, how I'd have that nervous/sugar filled belly ache, and how happy I felt. Then you get older, secrets are let out of the bag, it becomes more important to sleep in on Christmas morning than to get up and see what Santa brought... Then you have kids. The cycle starts again and it is so fun! Christmas is every bit as exciting for me now as it was then, probably even more so, and I can hardly stand it!

We spent all morning in our pajamas today. We cleaned, I got all of the food ready for tomorrow, the boys played games, and we had a good time.

Every Christmas Eve we go to Bountiful and spend time with Chad's dad and his lovely wife, Becky, and Chad's brother, Chris. It has become a tradition that we are all very fond of. They order pizzas and pastas from Robintino's, we hang out, usually watch a movie, and exchange our gifts.* It is great and I LOVE that they do this. Thanks for having us over Ken and Becky!

Cohen and Uncle Chris (He's single, handsome, educated, employed, and obviously great with kids. If you have someone amazing to set him up with, let me know!):


Cohen's very first present opening experience:


Is he not so cute? Nixin on Christmas Eve:


Say Cheese! Jack on Christmas Eve:


Jack and Nixin's all time favorite thing to do with Grandma Becky, play games!


Growing up in my family, we always got to open "Christmas Jammies" on Christmas Eve. It is a tradition that I love to do with my own family too. We open them in Bountiful, change into them there, and then all we need to do when we get home is set out the cookies and milk and go to bed. The boys were exhausted and fell asleep with no problem at all.

The boys in their new jammies:


Santa's treats:


Peaceful and ready to go:



We can't wait to see what Santa brought!

Today's Activity: Christmas Eve in Bountiful

*This year we drove home from Ken and Becky's house remembering that we had left out a few of our "traditions". I wanted to make note of them so that we remember for next year. We can't forget to do the chimes, they are so fun! Also, I was a little disappointed that Ken did not read the Christmas story from the scriptures. And, I know that we watched Ken's special Christmas movie, but "The Christmas Story" was not ever even insterted into the DVD player. It should have at least been background noise :) Love you guys!

December 23, 2009

Today is the first day of Chad's two week Christmas vacation! It is going to be so nice to have him around. I can't wait!

Today was full of last minute Christmas preparations. We had a couple of stores to hit for those last minute gifts, groceries to pick up for the holiday meals, presents to wrap, and a house to clean. Before the day was over, we were also treated to a visit from my cousin Hollee and her family.

Christmas is practically here! Yay!

Today's Activity: Hmmm...I made it this far, and then I blew it. Can we count wrapping presents?

December 22, 2009

Jack had a "Polar Express" party at school today. He was so excited to have Nixin, Cohen and I come help in his class. We made candy trains, they were awesome! He has such a wonderful, organized teacher this year. I am so grateful for that.

Nixin got up the other morning and we had this conversation:
Nixin: "Guess what mom. Jack doesn't think that girls are gross any more".
Erica: "What? He doesn't like girls."
Nixin: "He has a girlfriend now."
Erica: "Huh? How do you know that?!"
Nixin: "We talked about it last night before we fell asleep in our bedroom."

Oh! They have brother talks before they fall asleep! I LOVE that! It has always been one of my very favorite things to walk past their bedroom at night and listen to them talking and giggling.

Anyways, Jack did end up telling me that he had a girlfriend. Her name is Aspen and he thinks she is cute! For the past couple of years Jack has thought that girls are just the most horrible creatures on the planet, but he likes them now! This is huge news at our house.

The point of my rambling is that it was fun for me to meet all of Jack's school friends. I hear about them all of the time but didn't have faces to go with the names. It was especially great to see this darling (she is darling) girl who broke Jack of his "girls are gross" phase.

Today's Activity: Polar Express Party

December 21, 2009

Today we were able to attend a beautiful funeral service for John Miles. The speakers were amazing and the musical numbers were absolutely beautiful. Nancy was so thoughtful and put Jack and Nixin on the program as Honorary Pall Bearers. She asked that they follow behind the Pall Bearers as they carried the casket. It was so sweet! I know that they boys thought that it was a really neat too.

Our drive from the cemetery back to the church for lunch was full of questions. Jack and Nixin have really been pretty quiet about his death. I think the trip to the cemetery got them thinking a little bit though. They were asking a lot about the second coming. Jack likes to come back to the thought that "Angel Moroni will blow his horn and then Jesus will come to earth. That is when Grandpa Miles and Grandpa Henry and Grandma Coral will come back to life." I love that.

Nixin has a little Magna Doodle thing that we keep in the car. On that drive he drew a picture of Grandpa Miles with his hands on Jack and Nixin's shoulders. It was so sweet! Jack said that he wants to draw a picture of him and Grandpa Miles so that he doesn't forget him. I love that too.

It was a wonderful and yet exhausting day. We have been absolutely blessed that John and Nancy have let us be a part of their lives. Our family loves them so much.

Last week Jack came home from school with a Dreidel and instructions on how to play the game. They have been learning about different traditions this month at school and it is so fun for him. He has really been into this game and we have played it numerous times since he brought it home. We didn't really get around to a "Christmas Activity" today, but I think that I will count the Dreidel game :)

Today's Activity: Grandpa's Funeral and The Dreidel Game