Peter is the BEST

Okay so not only did Peter have a great day of sales on Monday but he kept it up all week. After working mostly 14 hour days with really short lunch breaks he also had a record breaking week. Peter officially sold 62 accounts in the last 6 days! He is home now and worn out and ready for a well deserved day off. I just love that boy.

Alright, we have videos!

I have been wanting to put video on forever and now they finally have that feature for dummys like me who couldn't figure it out! Here is a little clip from Dallin's birthday

A Blessing in Disguise

A couple of weeks ago I made an entry about Dallin's appointment with the regional center and went on and on about how mad I was that they needed to re-evaluate him by there psychologist before we could get funding for his programs and it wouldn't be until July 23rd. I was very depressed about that news because I knew that meant that he would not be able to start receiving more services until well into August.

Well, now I feel like I should have more faith that things happen for a reason. I got a phone call today from the Lovaas Institute. This is an Applied Behavioral Analysis center that I did not dream we would ever get into. The reason being that this is the place that developed ABA therapy and have done many famous studies over the last 40 years out of UCLA. They show that 48% of their students attend regular school settings, some even without and aid by the age of seven. Almost anyone who deals with autism has heard of Dr. Lovaas. Anyway there are a lot of other centers for ABA in our area but they are just modeling the Lovaas Center. So I had kind of ruled Lovaas out thinking we would never get in because of waiting lists and we were planning to work with another center that I didn't know anything about but at least they could get him in. If we had been approved for funding at that appointment 2 weeks ago we would have already started at the other center. So this is good that we had to wait because now the Lovaas Center says they can take him as soon as we get funding! This is pretty much the cream of the crop.

The other miracle is that the Lovaas Center requires that their patients have a psychological evaluation which Dallin has never officially had, he was only diagnosed educationally. And that coincidentally will be taken care of on July 23rd by the regional center. Amazing! I feel like Lehi must have felt in the Book of Mormon when their families were starving and he was murmuring. After Nephi built a new bow and found food, Lehi was truly humbled. If a prophet can have that kind of faith shaking experiences I guess we all can. Just another reminder to me that the Lord knows what he is doing and I should really just trust Him.

A lot of people ask me what this therapy is all about so here is a link if you are interested: http://www.lovaas.com/

Twice in a Lifetime

This is the coolest story. The first Sunday we were here we went to our new ward here in Elk Grove. During 3rd hour I sat down next to a very nice girl. She introduced herself and was very sweet to me. After I heard her name a little bell in my head went off but I didn't quite make a connection. Right when the meeting began I finally got it. I went to EFY when I was 15 and she was one of the girls in my group! The reason that I remembered her was that she and her roommate became really good friends with me and my roommate so we hung out all week. After that, we wrote letters back and forth a few times. So as I am figuring this out, I wasn't totally sure since it has been 13 YEARS since that one week, but I had to sit through the whole hour of class before I could find out. As soon as the lesson was over I wasn't really sure how to ask her without coming off like a freak, so I just decided to ask her how old she was so I could at least know if I was in my right mind or not. She was 27, that was it, I was sure and just then she asked me if we had met at EFY 13 years ago! What are the chances that we would both remember? Crazy. She was engaged and told me that she would love for me to come to her wedding in a few weeks. So that was that and last weekend we went to the wedding of my old and new friend Alyssa. To top it off, she and her husband are now Dallin's sunday school teachers. The wedding was the most extravagant event that I have ever been to. The ceremony was in the park next to the state capital in the rose gardens. They released a couple of dozen doves at the end. The reception was a few blocks away at a grand ballroom built in 1920. Wow it was gorgeous. There were so many fun details and a 4 course lamb tenderloin dinner and assigned seating. There were tons of gorgeous flowers and even a candy shop dessert bar for the souvenirs. I was just blown away at how fancy everything was and was so glad that I got a babysitter and convinced Peter to take the night off and be my date. It was a very fun evening.
This cake was so beautiful with their engagement pictures right on it.
This was an orange tree in the park. Being from Oregon, this isn't really something you see everyday so I was pretty exited about it.

A New Record

I am so proud of Peter today so I have to brag just a bit. This is the sixth summer that Peter has done pest control and he is good at what he does. Selling about 3 a day is considered doing very well by most standards and he can usually do a little better than that. Occasionally, there is a high day. Peter's personal record was 13 in one day a couple of years ago. Today he tore it up. Over all he has not been making his goals as much this summer because there is so much more distraction with the family and his apprentiship. So now that he doesn't have to fly to Oregon once a week and things are settling in nicely at home he feels like he can get down to business. At least that is what he was saying yesterday. He said in order to catch up for the month he needed to sell 40 this week alone. That is pretty much impossible but of course I told him he could do it. So today he sold a whopping 18 accounts! I am just bursting with pride for him. They are all strong sales too with payment and scheduled for either today or tomorrow. That is amazing as well. When this boy sets his mind to something he has an iron will. I am so grateful for such a hard working sweet husband already but today I am elated for him. You Go Peter!

Dallin Progress

We are so happy that we moved into the ward that we are in. The couple that I spoke of before that knows how to do behavior therapy have just really taken our family under their wings. They sit with us in Sacrament meeting, she has now been called to be his primary helper and he does the music in primary and helps when he is not busy with that. They have also been so awesome to come over to our house almost every Sunday to work with Dallin and teach us ways to help him. When we were going to move here and had another house lined up I never had a great confirming feeling about it. When that fell through I was almost relieved because of that and when we found this house at the last minute, I did get that confirming feeling. I believe that this is why and that the Lord helped us to find a great ward to be in where we could get help. Honestly, Sundays have been my worst day for the last 3 years, even though I love the church. I just wanted to share this little testimony that the Lord is mindful of His children and I have seen that so much in the last few months.

Does it float?

Have you ever seen that segment that David Letterman does call Will it Float? This is a good way to describe Dallin. He is always trying things out in the sink, bathtub and kiddie pool. I guess I should have seen it coming but yesterday he decided to see if my pc phone would float...It doesn't. I was so sad I could cry because I had just bought a bunch of accessories for it this very week and made it my music player. I had to keep telling myself " it is just a posession". Thats the only thing that got me through. I can get it to turn on, but it turns off after a few seconds. The guy at the T Mobile store told me that sometimes after a couple days they dry out and are okay. Then he tried to sell me a new one for $350. That was a lot of help! Like thats ever going to happen. I am hoping for the first option. I am a very sad girl today. Even my SIM card developed some rust on it and won't work in my old phone. Dallin can be a really expensive kid sometimes. But I love him way more than a phone so life will go on, even in I am sad for a couple of days. I guess we will see if it will work again by then. The pink part of the phone is a paper that is normally white...unless it gets water on it!

Disneyland!!!

We spent all day Monday and Tuesday at Disneyland with some of Peter's family and our family. What an awesome and tiring experience. I knew that all the lines would be really hard for Dallin, and then I heard that autistic people can get guest assistance passes which is pretty much a fast pass for every ride. We got to enter in the exit, show the pass and get right on most of the time. So whoever rode with Dallin didn't have to wait. Dallin still had a hard time even if it was just a couple of minutes to get on a ride. By the second day we just learned that we had to always be moving and things would be fine but if we had to stop at all things would get hard. It was so hard to keep Dallin with us and happy until we got on a ride and then he was in Heaven. I know that big crowds are so overwhelming for Dallin so I thought he did a pretty good job considering all that we expected of him. It was just so awesome to watch him as he saw things he had never seen before. Now I have a bright red burn on my neck from the one spot I missed with sunblock and the part in my hair. Ouch! After looking at all the pictures I realized that I really didn't get very interesting pictures. Here are a few of the better ones. This is the Nemo Submarine ride. The kids love Nemo so they were really exited about everything they saw. There were a lot of hologram type cartoons with the characters. This one had a 3 hour line but Dallin got to do it twice with no wait. What a blessing that pass was.
This was our first ride and Eden was terrified. But once she saw Dori the fish it was literally smooth sailing. She was so brave and did all the rides except the ones that came off of the ground.
Eden was so amazed that she met Buzz Lightyear. She was a bit awestruck but wasn't too timid about going right up to him.
We saw some of the 3D movies. They were fun and interactive. I especially liked the bugs life one. We also did alot of the classic rides like Small World and Pirates, etc. Anything that had a boat to ride or a train or car were our main attractions. I don't think the kids knew that all of the figures and animals they saw on the rides were not real. They just looked around with huge eyes the whole time.

Tanner was quite a trooper and would literally just pass out from exhaustion every once in a while, but didn't really complain much. Here he is enjoying a lolipop that Daddy gave him which made a huge mess. I was wiping faces and clothes from all the sticky food and candy for the whole 2 days. I am definately going to have to use spray and wash on our clothes.
This is our group. We did manage to do a few rides all together, and split up the rest of the time. Thank goodness for cell phones. What a luxury.
Dallin and Eden also got to meet Woody. To my suprise Dallin ran right up and gave him a big hug. What a cutie. We spent the second day at California Adventure. Peter and I had not been there before so it was fun to explore. The kids got to talk to Crush the sea turtle, ride the Monsters inc ride, and do all the bugs life adventures. We went to the big roller coaster area and Dallin did all the rides that he was tall enough for. Eden opted out of those. Dallin has no fear. Peter and I and Dallin went on the HUGE ferris wheel where each of the carts has its own track it rolls around on and I was so freaked out I couldn't even look. All I could hear was Dallin squealing with delight. Obviously the Eden takes after me and Dallin after Peter. I couldn't do scary rides until I was about 16.
After 2 long days we were beat, especially Eden. Notice the ice cream coating all over her. Eden got a Tinker Bell and a Minnie mouse for her shoes which she picked out. Dallin got a micky mouse (or Micky House as my kids call it) and a mickey glove for his shoes.
Tanners face sums up the trip for me. It was worth every minute and I am so glad that we had grandma and grandpa to help us. The drive home through the night was really hard because we were so tired but we eventually made it back and now we are back to real life. I hope that we can go again sometime. I am sad that none of our kids will likely remember this trip at all but I couldn't get enough of the delight on their face with each adventure.

Ventura Beach

Sunday after church we drove down to Ventura to stay with Tammy, Will and Mark. Tammy made us a nice dinner when we got there and then we headed over to the beach, which was a whole 10 minutes away (so not fair). We barely saw the sun slip away when we got there. Compared to Oregon the water was cold but not as icy feeling. I think if it were hot you could easily swim or wade in it without instant numbness to your toes.

This ship was part of a playground right at the beach. The kids loved it, but especially the zip line.
Eden was the most scared but couldn't help smiling a little bit through her screams. Dallin hopped on with each person as they went and could not get enough.

Even Tanner enjoyed the zip line.

Father's Day

Father's Day was wonderful this year. With Peter's family in town we had a special celebration for Peter and his Dad. Lucy and I made homemade waffles with fresh strawberry sauce and whip cream. We gave Peter hand made cards and some pest control treats to keep in his car. We love you Peter and Grandpa. Of course I was missing my own dad as well. That was the only thing that would have made it perfect.

I have been blessed

Last weekend we celebrated Tanners 1st Birthday. What a lucky mommy I am to have such a sweet little guy to raise. I cannot imagine life without him. He brings so much peace to my heart when life gets crazy. Peters parents flew into town on Saturday morning. We went straight to a picnic with some Dickinson relatives (most Peter didn't even know before). It was fun to meet and visit with everyone. Then we came back to the house and had Tanner's Party. We played on the new trampoline and kiddie pool and ate some yummy taco soup. The weather was perfect so we were outside the whole time. Then we had cake and Ice cream (see below for Tanner's experience). Then Tanner opened presents. It could not have been a more perfect occasion. The family was in town at just the right time. It is days like this that makes summer my favorite time of year. The kids love the slide that splashes into the water. Dallin also likes to just jump in from the top (ouch!)
Lucy is RAD!
Lucy came up with the idea of making a smiley face cake for Tanner because he smiles all the time. He is always good for a smile.
After digging in for a while Tanner just stuck his whole face in the cake.
He had so much cake up his nose that he started sneezing. He demolished the whole cake within about 5 minutes or so. With all the colored frosting I will just say that the next day his diapers were very interesting.

Dallin "helped" Tanner open the presents. What a good big brother.
Tanner figured out his new piggy bank right away.
Dallin and Eden really like it too. We have had to just put it away for a while because everyone keeps fighting over it.
Grandma and Grandpa D. Gave Tanner his very own slide. He loves it. Thanks G&G!
The trampoline is a hit as expected. They played all afternoon on it and came up with all sorts of fun games. We haven't put the spring cover or netting around the sides yet.

Poor dead cat!

We had our first heat wave today. The high was 101. It's not so bad with air conditioning but poor Peter has to be outside today. He literally worked 11 hours out in the heat and only took a half hour lunch. He said that he was the only living thing outside all day. No dogs, kids, ice cream man, nothing at all...except the poor cat. This was a nice looking cat except it had died of heat exhaustion on its owners porch! After confirming the death by kicking it a little, Peter knocked on the door only to get someone yelling through the door that they didn't want any. He tried to explain but they wouldn't listen, so I guess they will have to discover the cat for themselves. It is supposed to cool down again as the weekend moves on but I think this is just a sneak peak of what is to come. "I need a bath!" Tanner is turning 1 tomorrow. Time goes by so quickly. We will save the party for Saturday though because Peters parents and younger siblings will be in town. We will celebrate by setting up our brand new trampoline (or trambampoline as Peter calls it), and having cake and ice cream. Sunday we will drive down to southern Cali and stay with Tammy and Will for the night. Monday and Tuesday we are going to take the kids to Disneyland. I am so very exited because I think they are at an age that they can really experience the magic. I did not go there until I was 21 so I am glad we can do this for them.
This is Dallin's first Monster truck that he drew all by himself. He has made us draw them about a thousand times and he finally figured out that he can do it too. I was very surprised and impressed with his artistic ability.

One step forward, two steps back

Today I took Dallin to an initial evaluation with the Regional Center. They are the ones who fund all of the therapies and stuff. This is separate than the school district which provides the preschool. As you have probably heard me say a million times, I really want to push for intensive in home behavior therapy. I was so happy to finally have this appointment and was really hoping to get things moving. I even have an agency for the therapy lined up, I just need the funding from this regional center. Sorry if that is so confusing. Anyway, I spent 2 hours answering questions and filling out forms for Dallin while Dallin tore apart her office and really showed his colors. This disappointment was that she said he needs to be officially diagnosed by their psychologist before they can give him eligibility because his diagnosis in Oregon was over a year ago. It makes me mad because she even said that she thinks he is eligible after being with him for the 2 hours. So the soonest opening for this 3 hour evaluation is July 23rd. AHHHH! Then after the psychologist writes up his report I have to wait for another meeting where we will finally know what services will be provided. I think we could really do without the psychologist and it just really frustrates me. Dallin's school schedule is year round so they take a few weeks off here and there. He will have the first 3 weeks of July off and I will be on my own again with no help and precious time wasted. I made the lady promise me that if there were any cancellations with the psychologist she would call me and I would come in. I plan to call periodically to check on that.

Enough with my ranting, there is a little good going on. He is in a great school setting which is so great. Also, there is a couple in our ward who are behavior therapists. They have come over to our house to give us some help with Dallin and I have learned a lot just from that. They even sat with us at church and totally had Dallin sitting through almost the whole 1st hour (amazing results really). This gives me hope because they are so nice and willing to help us some until the other stuff starts up. What a blessing. I am so glad that we are in the ward we are in. The primary president is very supportive as well. I know that we are supposed to be right where we are. So more patience and persistence, and I know we will get there.

Ode to Crocs

I just have to give props to the Crocs. I finally decided to buy some recently. It has made life SIGNIFICANTLY easier. I just tell the kids to put shoes on and they love to do it. They don't even need help. No more velcro, laces or chasing kids down to squeeze their little feet into the heels. I even got some for myself and they are so totally comfortable. I know most of you already know all of this but I was a late bloomer. They don't make any in Tanner's size but I found something similar at Target. Oh, another cool thing is the Jibbits. I just tell them " this is your doggy foot, and this is your froggy foot, etc. and they usually get them on the right feet. Eden has a cat and a pig.

Long Live Swedish Imports

I had my first big outing while Dallin was at school today. We went to IKEA. It is such a fun place. I could have spent all day there but I had a mission to get new bedding. All the walls in our house are white so I wanted to bring some color to the room. This ought to do it. I feel so contemporary now. I am totally loving it. It was such a good deal. I bought the duvet set, sheets, new pillows, bedskirt and the bonus pillow for less than $150 (thats still a lot I know but all of the ones I liked at departments stores were like 150-200 just for the quilt so it would haved easily been 300-400 for everything). This picture doesn't do it justice, the teal and red are a fun combo. Now we just need to get a headboard. I almost bought one at a yard sale last week but by the time I ran home to get the checkbook it was sold. Last week was a big bed week too (drum roll)... We finally got Dallin and Eden real beds. The reason for the drum roll is because now Eden is out of the crib and Tanner is finally out of the pack n play. Poor Tanner had a hard time with the crib for a couple of days. He used to stick his head into the mesh sides of the play pen all the time. The crib is not so forgiving. He even got a couple of bruises on the noggin. I got new bedding for the older kids a little while ago but just bought coordinating sheets. They are actually bunk beds but they do not share a room right now (maybe later). I am very proud of all of our nice beds and bedding all cute and coordinated. It is much funner than hand me down blankets, matresses on the floor, and babies in play pens.

This one has a sleeping beauty in it. The quilt has cute little girly dresses on it. Eden transitioned seemlesly and is crazy about her "princess bed".
Can't resist a jammy picture.

This is Dallin's CHEESE! (camera). He knows the drill. How imaginative. (Sarah N please note the hair piece)

Tanner can stand now for a few seconds but not really getting the walking concept. He has good balance, just doesn't like to put one foot in front of the other. His birthday is this week so I don't think he will walk by then. I guess he will be my latest walker but I still think it won't be long. For those of you wondering, yes, he does crawl normal now. He started whole milk last week too. He loves any food I put in front of him and is still just easy going and happy almost all the time.

The Wonder Pets

(Disclaimer: Only moms of preschoolers will truly appreciate this post. If you don't have them, you will probably think I am crazy). Okay so I am really loving having cable for the first time in years and especially TIVO. I like that I can record a few of the kids favorite shows and we were getting tired of PBS all the time (don't get me wrong, PBS is wonderful too). I used to be all about the Backyardigains which is such a cute show about these computer animated creatures that get lost in their imaginary world in their back yard and sing and dance. Then we discovered the Wonder Pets. This is a new show on Nickelodean with baby animals that are the cutest things ever. They have the cutest little voices and look sort of look like real animals. Dallin sings their songs all the time "Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets, Yay!" and begs to watch. I can't quite figure out how the animation works for this one. Anyway here is the description and a link to a little music video (You have to see this):

http://www.nickjr.com/home/wond_splash.jhtml

Wonder Pets! is an exciting new Nick Jr. show for preschoolers. Each episode follows the adventures of three classroom pets--Linny the Guinea Pig, Ming-Ming Duckling, and Turtle Tuck--who travel around the globe helping to rescue animals who need their help. Like real preschoolers, these three unlikely heroes don't have any actual super powers, but by working together they can conquer any obstacle: "What's gonna work? Teamwork!"The show features photo-puppetry animation--an animation style created specifically for this series--which allows the animators to manipulate photos of real animals. The result is striking, memorable, and truly unique. Each episode is like a mini-opera with dialog often sung to an original score by some of Broadway's top composers. And each episode encourages teamwork, empathy, problem-solving skills, and an appreciation of music and humor.

First Day of School

Dallin started his new school yesterday. I was very impressed with the whole setting and his teacher seemed really nice. Comparing to his old school I think he will have to work a little harder as more is expected of him. That is good. The 5 hour day is broken up into many segments including academic stations, recess, snack, potty time, circle time, lunch time, brush teeth, more potty time, occupational therapy time, art, and one on one work. Wow I was so impressed. Having more time makes a difference for what they can really get done. The other children in his class seemed to be ahead of him in language and I couldn't even tell there were any issues. I am guessing most of them have aspergers. This seems like a perfect setting for him from what I could tell. He didn't seem to mind that I left either. I think he remembers his old school and knew the routine. When he got home he was a chatterbox the rest of the day. I couldn't believe how talkative he was. He was playing nicely with his trains and singing songs to himself and talking so much. I guess that means he liked school. On Monday he will start riding the bus. That could be interesting as sometimes he will and sometimes he won't. Then he will pretty much be away from home from 7 am to 2 pm. I think that will be pretty wierd for me but I am so exited for my sweet little Dallin. Yesterday we bought Dallin a Spiderman lunch box for school. He was so exited when I filled it with food for him to take to school. Here is his first day of school picture. I am so proud of him!

Happy Birthday Dallin

Yesterday Dallin turned 4! We had a little family party and had so much fun. He knew it was his special day. I can't believe I have only been a Mommy for 4 years. It sure seems like a long time ago that I first met Dallin. We also met an autism specialist in our ward who came over after church and helped us work with him a little bit. It was so great to have someone tell me exaclty what to do with him. TODAY IS A BIG DAY TOO......I found out that Dallin will start his special preschool on Wednesday. This is such a huge relief I could cry. He will go Monday through Thursdays from 7:45 to 12:45. The bus will take him and bring him back too. That is 20 hours a week! In Oregon we were getting 6. I am so happy for him and for me. I can run errands again and really have a chance to clean the house. I am still working on getting his in home behavior therapy going and it looks like that will happen at the end of June. I have just been going so loopy with the kids all to myself 12 hours a day and Dallin has just been crazy without enough structure. I have really hit my breaking point so I am so relieved to have some help. It will be so good for him too. He will be able to learn (they will even work on potty training), be around specialists and other children and be in a highly structured environment. Yay!!! Dallin is really into Sponge Bob since we got cable a couple of weeks ago.
He was so exited about his happy birthday cake and all the presents. This is the first birthday he actually really understood what was going on.
Dallin got a lot of bathtub toys for his new kiddie pool.
His big present was a new bike! It was so fun to watch him open everything.