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California Adventure

So we are back from one amazing trip to California. We all went, including Jessica Evans (our rent-a-daughter). We were able to spend a night with Dustin and Melanie in Hemet and meet up with them and cute Damon a couple of times during the week. Danaka, Johnny and Heather have never met Ryan so it was exciting for them to meet their nephew. Thanks to Danaka and Johnny for being so gracious hostess. We spent two days at the beach and tide pools. Tyler boogie-boarded and was awesome for his first try. We were also able to spend a lot of time with Cousin Elise and Aunt Holly- which is always a treat. Disneyland was sooooo much fun. We won some dream fast passes for the big rides and hardily waited in a line. Two days of walking, riding and eating junk in the beautiful California weather. Talk about being spoiled. Now it's back to reality- (or is it?)

April Fool's Day is Here

March was a fun month! We had a lot of great pictures, however, I was teaching someone how to take pictures and many were erased. Sorry, I know that everyone is sooooo disappointed. We had the leprechaun come on the 17th, went to the zoo, had an awesome Easter egg-extravaganza at Thanksgiving point thanks to Che and Nana Gunn, had a great Easter egg hunt and dinner with Ethan and family and spent a great day with Sonya & AC. We may have had a little too much fun- I guess someone has to have fun, right? Ryan now loves to bowl and he is very good at it. He got a strike and two spares. Taking turns is another story!
We are so excited that April is here. We have regular health insurance again! The boys have been battling one infection after another so it is nice not to have to see how long we can hold off running test and seeing doctors. Ryan & Tyler both have strep (second time this year) and Davin has croup & sinus infections (third time this year). We finally took everyone in today and got some more meds. Ryan's Pneumonia is getting better and now only in his bronchial. We will be doing some sugeries this summer and hopefully things will be a little more calm. I can hope right? The MD said Ryan has dropped a significant amount of weight and is now only in the 75 percentile. I laughed because 75 sounds much better than Davin's 3rd. Of course Ryan is still above 100 percentile for head and height. We are going to be running tests for ciliary disease and cyclic neutropenia. Hopefully we will find answers so the boys can have more of a childhood and less worries of illness. We have been very blessed with answers when we need them most and medications that have worked. I am so grateful for a husband that is able and willing to bless our children. I am indebted to a Heavenly Father who is aware of our concerns and blesses us daily. I don't know if everything happens because there is a lesson we have to learn, but I do know that there is an opportunity to learn through every experience we have. Sometimes I feel like I am a slow learner!

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The Gift of Laughter

We just finished watching a movie given to us by my parents called the Ultimate Gift. One of the gifts was the gift of laughter. So I thought I would pass along this little video clip. Hope it brings a smile to your face. (You might have to pause the music below first)

On a more serious note, a good friend of ours was in a construction accident and is paralyzed. He is in the hospital and luckily is surrounded by the gift of family. It is Brody's (Davin's friend who lives across the street) Dad- Mike Kemp. If you could remember him in your prayers we would appreciate it!

Intresting Howard Info

There is so much to a name, however, we seldom ever know the story behind it. Here is how we named our boys.

Tyler- since he was our first the sky was the limit. His name means "tile maker" and anyone who knows him can attest that his is an incredible builder. His dad actually had the last say in naming him since I was in hard labor for 29 hours. All I wanted was to have him, then there was so much turmoil surrounding his birth that the name was secondary. However, he is the one who started the building of our family.

Davin- his name is the most interesting. I actually wanted to name Tyler "Davin", but Trevor felt that Tyler was a better name for him. When I was 16 weeks pregnant we found our that Davin was a boy (everyone knows he is not shy!) Tyler wanted to name him, so I told him he could nick-name him instead. After a week of thinking he started to call him "Finn". We found this most curious, however, since we promised, we started to call him "Finn" as well. A couple of weeks before he was born, I told Trevor we were picking out a name before labor started. Trevor said he wanted a family name, however, I was still partial to Davin. We looked up what Davin meant "bright and lively" (should have seen that one coming). However, this is the most fascinating part, the nickname for Davin was "Finn". Talk about inspired! We have asked Tyler how he came up with "Finn" and he is not sure. Actually, this story gets more interesting. When Davin was one, we were looking though Trevor's genealogy book and found that he had a great-grandfather who died about 150 AD named Finn. So Davin was a name that was meant to be! If you are wondering if this is true, it is!

Ryan- after two boys, it became harder to find one we both liked. We thought of Lincoln, Ryker, Luke and many others. We still wanted a name with meaning but one that fit him. Ryan was a family name on both sides and one that we agreed on. Ryan means "little king" and I loved to say "Oh Ryan". However, it wasn't until after we named him that Tyler pointed out one interesting fact. If you take the second and last letters out of Tyler and Davin (y,r,a,n) and put them together you spell Ryan. Anyone who knows Ryan will tell you he is the perfect blend of his two brothers.

At any rate, that is how we came to naming our children. Hope you found it interesting as well!

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Tyler is 10 Years Old! He has earned his Bear and is having lots of success in school. He got a Gameboy DS (with help from many of you) for his birthday- Thank You. Let's just say he is in Heaven. Grandma/Che Gunn, Grandma Howard, Ethan (and parents), siblings (including Jessica), Terra & Josh and one of Tyler's friends all joined in on a fun day of sledding and food. Happy Birthday Tyler! February has been another month of sickness. We all got the flu followed by secondary infections. Nothing that steroids and antibiotics couldn't cure. Hopefully we will see a couple of days of health here in the near future. Thanks to Nana Gunn and Jessica for taking care of everything while I was sick. Sadly, Jessica got the flu- just in time for her 14th birthday (what a sacrifice)! Well the sun is out and so are we. Take Care Jen