Like sister, like sister.

Remember when Sophie discovered her tongue?

Well, Lillian has now discovered hers. And it's the most adorable thing ever.

Yes, her tongue is in her mouth here, but I love her passive, content face.

I love my little Lillian Jean.

Also (come on, you knew there'd be one of these at the end, right?) I took the girls to Logan by myself yesterday. I was scared to do it and it did get intense for a few minutes toward the end, but I was SO glad I went. It was the Special Needs talent show. Basically, the happiest place on earth for me. I saw several of my participants I worked with and former co-workers. It feels so good to know that I've established life long friends up there. I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed myself. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve the night before. I love those people a ridiculous amount and seeing them was just what I needed. One of these days, I'll get around to writing my feelings on Cache Valley (again...) because I love it so much. Gah! I want to live there again. Will someone please find Josh a job there?

Thanks.

Oh, and another also. It's my brother, Craig's birthday. He's pretty awesome, but getting pretty old. :) He lives with his beautiful wife and adorable kids in Texas. It makes me want to move there. (The fact that it's warm/hot pretty much all the time helps too...)
Happy birthday, Craig!

Today it dawned on me...

...that in a matter of a few months (at most), I'll be leaving my job. This is my last week working with the adults in the program and as much I can say I'm thrilled about it, I'm sad at the same time. It's funny how you can complain about something so much, but then when you realize it's over, you just want to cry. Tomorrow will be it and I'll be done working with them forever. Buuuuuut starting June 7th, the teens of BRASC will be back for summer program and I couldn't be happier! In my current uh... condition, I wont be working much, but I'll still get to see them every day. My Stinker, my texting friend, the boy who loves cheese and Simon and Garfunkle and all my other best friends will be back. I can't wait and as much as I'm ready for these girls to come, I selfishly wish they'd come after the summer (without me having to be pregnant that long of course) so I could do all of summer program. Oh well, I'm obviously not in charge there.

It also dawned on me how super Josh is. He surprised me with this

{don't you love how ridiculous the bottle is?}

and this

Does he know how to treat a pregnant lady or what?

I really, really like him.

p.s. Week 25 hasn't been as cruel as I initially expected. The week started out rough, but it quickly got better and hopefully the next 10-14 weeks go by just as fast.

This wont make much sense unless you work at BRASC or if your name is Lacy

Sometimes I have bad days and a certain 16 year old texting me can make my world bright again. She's hilarious, don't you think?

Over

Summer Program is over. I cried. I don't want to talk about it.

teeny little super guy.

Here's the Sesame Street video of the week. These segments will always remind me of my brother, Jason, because my mom used to sing this song as if he was the Teeny Little Super Guy.

I broke down at work today. There were a myriad of things going on in my little brain and I went into the bathroom and broke down pretty hardcore. Two sweet boys, my stinker, and his friend were quite concerned for me. Stinker patted me on the back and his friend kept asking who made me upset and if I wanted some of his candy. It was adorable and made me feel so much better. I absolutely love my job and am super sad the majority of it's ending in 2 days. Hopefully, if I still work at brasc next summer, Stinker will walk in and sumo over to me like he did this summer. If I don't, there will be some serious visitations to that building just to visit him. :)

I have a funny story about Stinker. He always loves grabbing my phone, water bottle, snack, craft, etc and holding it high above his head saying, "mine!!!" while laughing. He's my exact height, but I humor him by acting like I can't get it for a while. He finds it hilairous! Today, he grabbed my phone and started looking through my pictures. Every picture he found of Josh he'd yell, "Issss me!!!" Sorry friend, but you are not married to me. Even though you give me me 15 hugs a day, tickle my knee, want to ride in whatever vehicle I'm in (oh, and he yelled, " isss funny" when he saw a picture of the driving schedule he switched a while back), and we have a million inside jokes together, you are not my husband. However, I hope someday in Heaven, I'll still be able to call him Stinker and he'll respond in his grunting high pitched voice, "Hey! Isss you!" and then he'll call me a stinker and I'll have a regular conversation with him and his perfected mind. Yeah, that will be an awesome day.

Also, I almost ran over Hailey Willie while driving the mini bus this morning. Yes, I drive a bus that is filled to the brim with wheel chairs and autism. Sorry Willie. I hope this and my current facebook status are enough to receive your full forgiveness for your almost slaughter at the hands of me behind the wheel.

In other news, the camera has shipped! And my doubts have officially been put to rest that I do NOT need a passport for the cruise. Yippee!

p.s. have you seen today's picture on bing? It's beautiful. The picture changes every day, so if you didn't see it...too bad. I've officially broken my google addiction. Bing is so much more lovely.

B.

My little stinker

6 is the number of days that I have left with my Stinker. He only comes 3 days a week and summer program has 2 weeks left. I'll probably cry. Remember the sumo wrestler? Well, it's safe to say that he's in love with me. I've only been his official staff once this summer because of the other participant I work with, but that hasn't stopped his love for me. We have the most hilarious relationship and yesterday I realized it was deeper than just being silly, having 'who can tickle the last' wars, stealing my water bottle, chasing down the halls and teasing each other. We have different vehicles that we take the kids in on our activities. My little friend decided to erase my participant's name and put himself on my vehicle instead. It was hilarious. I can't post a picture because of the names listed and for confidentiality issues, but it's SO obvious that his name and my participants name wasn't written by a staff. Sadly, he had to go on the other van, but I give him props for trying.

Then, as we were waiting for his mom to pick him up, he got really excited and ran to get a piece of paper. He laughed, pointed at me, and shouted a few times, "It's you!" He turned around and carefully looked at the board and began to write. The final product? This.

I am absolutely smitten by my pal.

One more grumpy post and then I'll get happy again. Promise.

I love my job. It doesn't pay well and I really only get substantial hours in the summer, but I absolutely love it. (even when I get punched in the jaw I can still say I like it...) My job has given me a whole new respect for people with disabilities and the people who take care of them. Patience, kindness, and finding joy in simple things are just a few things I've learned. However, the biggest thing that my job has taught me is pure Christ-like love. The kids I work with don't care if you're ugly, fat, smelly, short, tall, etc. They just want you to be happy. These guys are straight from Heaven (well most of them...ha) and they'll stay that way forever. They never loose their 'child-like' attitude. I love it.

Now, for the grumps. Why are non-disabled people so lame? We take the kids out into the community at least 3 days a week and I'm SO disgusted by the stares, whisperings, and terrified looks that we get. I have two examples (from dozens and dozens) that have made me loose a lot of faith in humanity.

1. A few days ago we went to the American West Heritage Center. The kids were thrilled! Pony rides, cookies, chickens and pigs running around, it was great. My participant doesn't physically look disabled at all, but if you spend more than 10 seconds around him, you realize that he is the definition of autism. He got really excited when he found out there were pony rides and he started running up to everyone he saw, asking there where they were. One lady completely ignored him, another guy swore at him and everyone else around just stared. It broke my heart as I tried to get him back over to me because he was crushed. I'll admit, it would be weird to see a teenage boy run up in a high pitched voice asked about ponies, but why be rude? Why not just say something like, "I don't know, you'll have to look at the map!" or something like that? My little guy walked away with his head down low. I wanted to cry and punch everyone around me.

2. We went to Logan's summerfest back in June and a co-worker and I counted in an hour, 6 people staring at us and I heard 2 people whisper about our group (one boy in particular). My intimidating looking co-worker didn't hold anything back and started pointing and staring right back. I was uncomfortable, they were uncomfortable, but hopefully (but doubtfully) they learned a lesson.

We have kids in wheelchairs, helmets, and others with obvious disabilities, but who cares? I don't understand why people are such jerks. I can't stand the staring, pointing, and making fun my kids. Over the past year the participants have become mine. I love them and seriously want to spit on those who make fun. Now, I realize that retaliation isn't Christ-like at all, but we all have room to grow, right? Like I said, these kids are straight from Heavenly Father. Why do people make fun of them? Why are people afraid?

So next time you see someone with a disibility, don't stare. If they talk to you, talk back and don't be afraid. If they were really that scary or violent, they wouldn't be in public. I'm tired of trying to explain to my kids why the "mainstream people" (as some of them call non-disabled people) don't want to talk to them.

I promise with all my heart that I will not be a grump in my next post.

I've been blogging a lot lately because...

I've got to get that Good Things Utah video off my front page. So here's another super random post by yours truly.

Work has been great. Today we got to spend the day with the USU basketball team. There were probably 6 guys from the men's team, and about 10 ladies from the women's team. It was fun to see the kids get so excited to be lifted up to the basket and dunk the ball in. One down syndrome boy {the one who does the sumo walk} got almost ever shot he took. He even made a 3 pointer! I heart my job.

The new Regina Spektor CD came out today. What a beautiful surprise! I thought it came out next week, but little Lacy Lynn summoned me over to her apartment to listen to it. Wonderful! The lyrics, the music, her voice. Beautiful.

I jetted off to my favorite grocery store today and...got a free mascara! It was buy-one-get-one-free and I totally took advantage of it. Thanks Smith's! I went with my usual Full and Soft by Maybelline and I got daring and bought The Colossal. I've tried a lot of different mascaras that have been recommended to me {Lash Blast, Define a Lash, Fantastic Lash} but I think I still love Full and Soft. The Colossal has been recommended by two different people so far, so I'm giving it a try next. I'll report back soon.

*The fine print on The Colossal package says, "Never apply this product in a moving vehicle." Take note and be safe.

Oh, here's some soup pictures for Fro. Thanks for waiting patiently.





Yep, it was good.

Finally

Summer program at BRASC finally starts on Monday! I doubt really any of you know what that means, but basically I'm going to actually work 40 hours a week with the most precious angels on earth. (Even when they bite and kick they're still slightly precious...) I can't wait! This summer will include a tour of the airport & fire department, rodeos, canoeing, swimming/park days every week, horse back riding, the dinosaur museum, county fair, and tons of other fun activities. I can't wait!

In other news, my car Stacy has apparently been sick lately. $600 worth of sick. (There goes my hope for a new camera.) She (yes, Stacy is my car and she is a girl. Deal with it) didn't pass inspections and after about $600 of repairs (windsheild, and a bunch of electrical stuff) she'll hopefully be on the road again. My Dad's going to pitch in some of the bill, because some of it is stuff we were suppose to fix last year, but that's still a chunk of change. Oh well, you do what you have to. Luckily Josh got a bonus last month so that's what it's going too! I'm just grateful we got the bonus. Definitely a blessing with a purpose!

We've had a few more adventures that I will soon be blogging about. Until then, be cool my babies. (For all of you who don't watch Conan...you're missing out. He's hilarious on the Tonight Show)

B

Married friends and Lacy's blog

Josh and I have finally made some married friends! Yesterday we were invited to a BBQ with two of his co-workers and their wives. We went to their house at 3 and stayed until 9. It was great! We've only had one other 'married friends attempt' and it turned out to be a slight disaster. 3 hours of Settlers of Catan made me realize that making friends with married people might be a little harder than when you were single. However, Josh's co-worker's wives were hilarious, and they plan on having many more BBQ's this summer. Yay for making friends!

This just in. lacy. got. a. blog. I don't know if anyone realizes how big of deal that is. I'm thrilled. I guess since she's stuck in Malad she has nothing better to do other than succumb to conformity. So Lacy, this is my official blog shout out to you. Welcome to the community!

B.

I can't say it enough

Yesterday as we were taking the Brasc folks home, one of the participants (the one I usually have a millions of stories about for those of you who have heard them...) started singing The Spirit of God. She sings all the time but we've never sung a church song together. This sparked another kid singing I Love To See The Temple in the back seat. We sung both songs all the way through and then rewarded ourselves with a round of applause. I can't wait for summer program to start!

I have the best job ever

I work at a center for people with disabilities in up here in Logan. Last night was our "Friday Night Fun" which meant that I got paid to hang out at the Fun Park with some of the greatest people I know. I drove a few participants, and one girl in particular and I shared a moment. She's hilarious, and usually has something to say constantly. She was rather quite last night on our 30 minute drive to pick up another participant, so I asked her if she'd seen any movies lately in hopes to spark a conversation. What it did spark was a sing-a-thon the entire way. We sang Oliver and Company, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, and many many other disney songs. It was great! She impressed me (and made me laugh) so much because she even knew the dialogue that was mixed in with the singing in all the songs. At the end of our singing she turns to me and says, "I'm so happy being 20. It's the greatest time!" She's right. Being 20 has been grand, and sharing a moment of common childhood memories with another human being was priceless. I continued to listen to her sing the whole way, and it really made me realize that even with all the stresses in the world, I have so much to be grateful and happy about. I wish I could write a book that captures all the lessons I've learned from my job, but I can't. You have to live them yourself to fully understand them, but take my word; I have the greatest job ever.

On another note, I really love Logan. I've complained about it before, but driving through Cache Valley for work makes me really see how great of a place this is. If anyone out there is debating to go to USU or not....GO! It's great, and by far the best (sorry BYU pals...) University out there. I love love love it! Again, I can't do it justice to write about it, but if anyone gets the chance to come to this little place for an extended period of time, do it. It's great. When Josh and I are done with school we don't see ourselves staying here, but Cache Valley will always be my home away from home. It's cheesy, but it's so true. I love Logan.

One very last thing. I need to put up some of our professional wedding pictures. With an overbooked photographer, and then a kidney infection that landed her in the hospital, we're just getting them back. They're wonderful though and I'll share some soon.

Life is good guys, life is good.