I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Thank you for all the well wishes and holiday wishes!

Our Christmas was wonderful! Low key and simple. This was the first Christmas since we have been married that we were able to stay home and not worry about getting to see all our family, grandparents, etc. I must say that the holiday seemed a lot more simple without those concerns. We had a nice Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve with my family. We opened gifts, which made Hannah very excited. This is the first year she has been into opening presents, and she was REALLY into it! My Dad gave Hannah and Spencer little play laptops and they were a big hit. So big in fact that Christmas morning at our house Spencer would have nothing to do with opening any gifts because he just wanted to play with the laptop. :) Hannah was also really into Santa this year. Christmas morning she came out and just sat staring at the tree. Then I heard her whisper, "He came!". So cute. Christmas we visited with family and enjoyed spending time visiting with those we love.

Recovery is coming along nicely. I am being patient and feel a great deal of gratitiude for so many hands that help me. I finally feel like I can say that I am beginning to feel better. Keven pointed out that I can talk without getting out of breathe. He also says he can tell I have more energy because I am more fiesty. :) My sister-in-law, Jamie, pointed out that I am walking faster. I notice that I have more energy to move around my house and don't tire as easily as I used to. I even felt well enough yesterday that I convinced my sister-in-laws, Jamie & Whitney, to take me to Target. I really wanted to get a few things in my home and had already tried explaining to Keven what I wanted, but what he came home with was always far from the picture in my mind. Now, I hope I don't sound like jerk. I feel like I have been decently patient with having everyone else pick stuff out for me. But I really wanted to pick out a few things so my sweet sister-in-laws pushed me around Target in a wheelchair and helped me out. Doing that took all my energy. We came home and I couldn't do anything all night because I was so tired! SO....... I will probably avoid that activity for awhile, but sure appreciate my sister-in-laws help!

I cannot believe it is almost Christmas! This has been such a wild month! So Merry Christmas all! I wish each of you a very Happy Holiday Season!!

Things are going well here at the Wall Home! We are slowly making our way through this holiday season and through the ins and outs of each day. Here are a few updates on heart surgery recovery...... 1. My fever left last Friday and has not been an issue since! So grateful for that one! 2. I washed my own hair for the first time Sunday. May sound like a silly thing to be excited about but that is a big accomplishment! And you would be surprised how tired you get just trying to do something like that! And 3. I actually only woke up twice last night! After heart surgery your body does the weirdest things - one being that your sleep schedule gets really off. Ever since surgery I have gotten used to being awake for most of the night, but last night I fell asleep at 9 p.m. and didn't remember waking up until close to 5! Loved that!

People keep on asking me if I feel like I am getting better and my answer may seem funny, but I have to tell them that I don't know. At some moments I feel like I am getting better then at some points I feel like I regressed to a worse state. When I saw my doctor last week she reminded me that it will be awhile before I feel better. They said after 8 weeks I can start back into my normal routine but reminded me that just doing my normal routine will wear me out. So she then said to plan on 6 months to a year before I feel really back to myself............wow..... Dr. Yetman said that many people get depressed after heart surgery because you are so limited physically. I don't feel depressed, but I do sometimes get impatient with my limits. I really am not that impatient, because I really don't feel like doing much, but sometimes I get frustrated having to ask for help ALL the time. For example, the other day I was so hungry and hated asking Keven to help me again for the 50th time that day so I thought I would just get it myself. Well, I went to the kitchen to find a bowl and then realized I couldn't reach them without hurting my chest. I opened the fridge next and realized I couldn't lift the milk, which is where I gave up. I was so frustrated I started to cry and when Keven tried to find out what was wrong I was angry. (Big sigh). It is good to have experiences that teach us humility :)

Hello family and friends! It's Cary here!!! I am so excited to be posting and updating about this past week!!

I feel like so much has gone on over the past week. First, we moved into our house! Yahoo!! It is SO wonderful to have a bed again! Thanks to so many friends and family who came to help us! We are so blessed! Second, we have been adjusting - or maybe I should say I have been adjusting - to life on a couch with others caring for my children, cooking my family dinner, and people doing my laundry, etc. It's not easy....but I am so grateful for all the wonderful help we have received. I really don't have the energy to do anything else anyway. My sweet children have been so patient. Hannah is very tender with me because she knows I have "hurts". She will so carefully come sit by me and hug my arm. Spencer is still trying to figure out why I won't pick him up. He runs to me often and pats my leg, which is his cue for wanting to be picked up. It's nice when people will sit him on my lap and I can love him for a little while.

I had a check up with my doctor at Primary Children's today. I expected to spend an hour or so there and it turned out being an all day event. I had to have a echocardiogram done and it was very uncomfortable. You do those tests laying on your left side but my left side has a pacemaker incision, some broken bones, etc. - you get the point. Laying on that side about did me in....but we made it! The staff up there even gave me a cute pink, flowery, fleece blanket for being so brave. :) Turned out I had a fever so they made me stay to do blood work, tests, and such to make sure there was no infection. After awhile I was worried they were not going to let me leave, but all my tests came back mostly normal. I have some fluid on my right lung, and some blood tests were a little off but not enough to keep me there. So I have to check my temperature over the next two days and if the fever doesn't go away then we must go back. As of tonight the fever was still here so keep your fingers crossed that it will go away!!

I need to take a moment to thank my sweet husband for all he is doing, has done, and is continuing to do. He is a super star! You can't even imagine all that he has taken on for our family right now. He is working full time, being a full time, single parent - as I am totally worthless right now - and is trying to run our household, etc. He is my full time nurse and caregiver. He helps me dress, washes and combs my hair, assists me in and out of bed, feeds me, makes sure I take my medicine, and does so with a smile. While we were up at Primary's today one of the nurses turned to me and said "Wow, you can tell he really takes good care of you." How correct she was! So thank you sweetie!!! I love you!!

Okay, I need to run. But I have lots more to add and many more to thank so stay posted!!!

This is the Place!

Cary and I flew home yesterday...an all day affair. Cary did a great job, but was EXHAUSTED when we reached Salt Lake City. My mom, grandma, and Hannah met us at the airport. Hannah was so cute, and gave her mommy a kiss on the cheek to help her feel better. I think it worked. The normally strong Cary cried a little bit.

Then, when we came home, we helped Cary into the house to another surprise. Some kind, awesome, AMAZING friends, who refuse to tell us who they are, gave us this...

A Heart Christmas Tree...with gifts for Hannah, Spencer, Mommy and Daddy. It was so touching, so kind and generous...so much more than I can explain. I'm not sure if it helped mend broken hearts or tore mine right out of my chest...I think the Wall Family has just adopted a new tradition. Thank you to whoever you are. Christmas will never be the same for us.

We also got some beautiful flowers from our kind friends at Wasatch Drywall and Paint. Aren't they awesome!

Today has been crazy. I think our kids have had way too much fun while we were away, and we had some tired children all day today. So, mom, Hannah and Spencer are now all in bed...and I'm left watching the news:) Cary is getting some sleep, which is nice. She gets uncomfortable mostly because she's on her back all day long. Her appetite is not 100% back yet either. She is usually able to eat about 5 or so mini meals a day...to go along with her medication schedule. She told me today that her taste buds are whacked out. She wanted to eat chili at about 8:30 tonight (which is weird by itself) and after about 3 bites she let me know that the chili tasted like ladies perfume. What can I say to that? So I asked "which one?" What I want to know is why is she tasting women's perfume to begin with?

We continue to see progress every day, and are continually thankful to everyone's help and concern. We have better friends than we deserve. Good night!

Discharge!

It is 11:30 Rochester time, and I am blogging now because I thought Cary had blogged before. A lot has happened today.

Cary got paced for the first time last night. I've become 1 with the lingo, so for those who don't know what that means, it means that Cary's heart rate dropped far enough that her pace maker jumped into action to help regulate her heart rate. That sounds bad, but really I'm happy. This has been one of her problems that has caused her grief in the past, but no longer. Now, instead of fainting spells or chest pain, she'll just have a little help from her new friend.

While Cary was showering this morning I told the doctors about her being paced, and their response was "good...that's why it's there." I really appreciated his candor. There are a lot of things in life that seem bad in one way or another, but if we try and expand our vision, we see that they are huge blessings. So...Cary's heart surgery, her pace maker, and our trip to Rochester, MN, have all been huge blessings in our life.

Cary got discharged today. We are staying at a hotel in town until Wednesday afternoon, when we will fly home! The hospital staff has all said that we've come a long way in a very short time. Cary's uncomfortable, but every day walking more, being able to converse more, stay awake longer, etc. Hopefully for her sake she'll be able to get some sleep tonight.

As for our home...well, if only that could have happened quicker than we all thought!...or as quick as we thought...heck I'd be happy if it would have happened slightly longer than we thought...but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We know the underwriter is looking at the file because of all the stupid little letters and hoops we are jumping through now. I assume everyone has them. Our lender seems to think it's all done, and hopefully tomorrow we will have a closing date. I don't have a lot of hope of it being done before we fly home, but maybe Thursday closing?

I appreciate all the people who have fasted, prayed, expressed love, thoughts, flowers, hospitality and in general gone above and beyond anything I could have asked for. I shouldn't name anyone, but some I would feel remiss if I don't...so here goes. First to family. My brother and sister and their families for keeping our kids while we are away. My parents and in-laws for their concern. Thank you Becca, Jamie, Whitney, Elaine for helping coordinate meals, babysitting, mommysitting for when we get back. Thanks to Rod, Melissa, Doug, Troy, Ashley and Ashley. These are the people I work with who have allowed me to take so much time and energy away from work during this process...as well as the build of my home. They are awesome.

Thanks to Brighton Girls Camp and the special bond these girls share. We've been shuttled around Rochester by one of Cary's brighton friends, Tibet, and her husband while we've been here. He is a resident at the hospital and she's taking care of their 4 babies, but they insisted on feeding us, driving us around, and visiting us at the hospital. Rochester was a small extension of Utah thanks to them. Thanks to the Shield's family and their newfound friendship during this experience. They went through this with their daughter a couple years ago and offered a lot of advice for us.

Thanks to our 2 wards, the Canyon Rim Ward and the Country Crossing 5th ward. The Canyon Rim ward held a shower for us before we left, and it was awesome. Elaine is a lifesaver. They have showed us so much love over the years. It was really hard to leave. Similarly, our new ward family has reached out to us in a way that made me feel like we've been there for years already, (and we don't even have a home there yet!) I was so surprised to get phone call after phone call from people in the ward who wanted an update. Thank you so much to both wards!

The doctors, nurses, volunteers, clinic workers, shuttle drivers and Sprinhill Suites at Mayo Clinic have re-defined Christianity for me. Thanks to them for their skill, care, concern and love they've shown us over the past week.

And finally, not to sound cliche, but so much has just fallen perfectly into place that there is no way this is all coincidence. I am thankful to Heavenly Father for His help in making this all happen.

Hopefully the list is complete...I'll have Cary double check it all in the morning. If I forgot someone I am sorry. Thanks.

And I'm sorry this blog is so long. I guess I get long winded after midnight! See you in 2 days.

The Gig is up!

Well...Cary was well enough today to read my blog posts!!! Uh oh! She said I need to "give more details." Here goes.

This morning Cary had an echo. It looked great. What they look for is back flow from the atrium back into the venticle. They call it regurgitation. The cardiologist said that there was almost none! That was the last bit of information to prove that Cary's surgery was a great success. Cary and I were super excited to learn that.

Also...Cary started eating real food late last night. Technically it was 1 saltine cracker and a couple bites of "ice cream." Today she ate parts of breakfast and lunch and...(this is the funniest)...part of a reeces miniature cup.

The doctor's anticipate that we will be discharged on Monday. We have booked our flights to come home on Wednesday evening. It's been a great experience being here at the Mayo Clinic. Everyone has been great. Especially our doctors, Dearani, Cannon, and Cetta. Also, Andrea and Eric Cannon have been awesome! I have to admit Brighton girls are the best. Besides being our shuttle, restaurant and laundromat, they also visited and brought COOKIES!

Also, it snowed here.

Day 3?

The days are starting to run together. We spent our first night together in our step down room. Today, Cary had the chest tubes removed and has been walking around a bit. She's started taking her pain meds orally and just barely finished her first whole cup of raspberry sherbet. YUMMY HOSPITAL FOOD!!!

I'm good. And blogging is becoming boring. Basically, all is well, and hopefully we will learn about when we will come home in the next few days. More to come later.

"The Morning After"

Day 2:

After a lengthy evening of...well...nothing...the most ex

citing thing that happened was that Car

y had the breathing tube removed, around

9:30. She was READY to have it out about 8:00...but the doctor's said no. Turns out that Propopyl, one of the sedatives that Cary was getting weaned off of, is the same medication that killed Michael Jackson. Something about w

hen you are on it you forget to breath or something. Oops!! So they wanted to make sure that Cary was awake enough to remember to breathe before they took out the breathing tube. Anyways, after that happened, I was asked to leave so Cary could get some rest.

Side note, I went to an awesome little restaurant called the Canadian Honker for dinner. Thanks Shields family for the suggestion an

d for the coughing pillow! Cary's been huggi

ng it close.

Then today, Cary has been very sleepy, but she got out of bed and sat in a chair for about 3 hours in the ICU. After that, they sent us down to the "step-down" room...the next step before we get discharged. She's doing great. A little sick to her stomach, very thirsty (she's had more soda than I have had today!), tired and weak

but everyone says she's doing very well. We've had visits today from Dr. Dearani (the Cardiov

ascular Surgeon), Dr. Cetta (the Cardiologist), Dr. Cannon (The pace maker guy) and a host of other guys.

Right now Cary is eating dinner. Not eating s

o much as slurping broth. They have as many flavors of broth as I have hands!!! Chicken AND Beef!

Anyways, I'm bored writing and I'm sure you're bored reading. Here's a little love from Cary...ENJOY!

Post Op

It is 5:40 local time, and Cary has been out of surgery since about 4:00 local...which means that she was in surgery for 6 to 6 1/2 hours. Dr. Dearani (sp?) said that the surgery went "exactly as planned." He seemed a little self confident yesterday, and that was confirmed today. But he is almost universally accepted to be the best at what he does, and he proved it today. He was able to repair Cary's tricuspid valve and make her atrium smaller. He also installed a pace maker to help keep her heart rhythm regular. Everyone is optimistic that she won't need it, but Cary and I are glad it's there...just in case.

I am debating taking a couple snap shots of her with her breathing tube lying in ICU, but I think one of these days Cary will read what I've written, and I'd get in trouble. So let me just say 2 things:

1. Cary is doing great and recovering and

2. No John Doyle it wasn't breast enhancement surgery.

More tomorrow!!!!

We made it!! We arrived in Minneapolis last night around 6 p.m. My cute friend Andrea picked us up from the airport, took us to her home in Rochester, and then fed us a home cooked meal! What a pal! Brighton relationships have such a blessing in my life! Then she took us to our hotel and we got settled for the night. Thanks Tibet a.k.a Andrea and her husband Eric for all they have done for us and all they continue to offer to do for us! :)

Today has been a LONG day....but an extremely peaceful and educational day. Our day started with an appointment at 6:50 a.m. and did not end until 6 p.m. First was blood tests, then echocardiogram, followed by a cardiac MRI, then chest x-rays, EKG, etc. The afternoon was spent meeting with different doctors - Dr. Cetta, Dr. Dearani, and Dr. Cannon. We also slipped a portable EKG test in there too. Lots to say about today but I will sum up a few main thoughts.

First, the Mayo Clinic is incredible!! We have never met more friendly, sincere people. Everyone is available to help you and treats you with such kindness. It is amazing!

Second, we have felt so educated today. In Salt Lake most doctors/medical staff/people don't know anything about this heart defect, but that is not the case here. It was SO nice to come to a place where people know and understand this condition. So many things were clarified today and that brought a lot of peace into our lives. I think we have gotten used to not knowing much about this defect and also having most medical people around us be unfamiliar with this.

And finally, I am amazed at the peace we are feeling. I fully expected that after meeting with all these doctors I would be super nervous for surgery tomorrow but that is not the case. I left the Clinic today feeling complete peace. Every doctor we talked to left us feeling secure and positive. The cardiologist, Dr. Cetta, told us he was very encouraged by what he saw in our heart films. People with this heart defect usually have very bad right ventricle function, which leads to extreme, irreparable issues. He said my right ventricle function was not normal but extremely good for a person with Ebsteins. How exciting! Dr. Dearani, our surgeon, is a very honest, direct man. He came in and told us his exact thoughts. He said he is not exactly sure what he will do in surgery tomorrow. He believes there is a 50% chance of fixing the valve doing a slight cone procedure and the other 50% chance is that he will just have to replace our valve. But after talking with him we feel very at east with whatever choice he feels he needs to make. We talked about surgical risks and he felt very confident. He has worked with so many patients with this heart defect and he feels our surgery will be completely successful. Dr. Cannon is a cardiologist that specializes in heart rhythms. He wants us to have a pacemaker put in during our stay here as well. We felt complete peace as we talked about that choice and know it is the right thing to do.

SO, tomorrow is the day! We check into the hospital at 7 a.m. Surgery is supposed to be about 6 hours. We are feeling good and very much at peace. We acknowledge that peace to the power of prayer, the power of faith, and the blessings that result from fasting. Thank you to all that have helped us in this! We love you all!!!

On Our Way!

We are on our way! I was a little concerned we wouldn't make it out, just driving to the airport was wild! But we did make it out of Salt Lake this morning and are now in Denver. Our next flight to Minneapolis was supposed to leave around 2 but has been delayed to 3 so I thought would take the 3 hour layover to update the blog!

The past few days have been very touching. We continue to be strenghened and uplifted by the kindness of family and friends. How blessed we are!

We had the opportunity to fast with our family on Sunday. Being together with both sides of our family was wonderful. Keven, with help from other family priesthood holders, gave me a blessing. I don't remember a lot of what was said but I do remember how I felt -- love and peace. Thank you to our family for joining us in this and thank you to others who also participated.

We spent Sunday night at Grandpa Martin's viewing. Grandpa looked SO peaceful! We are glad his suffering is over! We are sad to miss the funeral today but are sending prayers to our family there.

Hannah went home to cousin Maleia's house after the viewing. She was SO excited to go! She was out the door, in the car, and buckled up before we got the chance to say goodbye. Silly girl! We are very glad she was excited to be where she was, it sure makes it a lot easier to leave. Jamie texted us last night saying that Hannah and Maleia were laughing and giggling in Maleia's room as they went to sleep. How sweet! Thanks to Jamie and Sean for taking our Hannah!

We parted with Spencer this morning. Keven's parents drove us to the airport and Spencer came too. I think he was getting tired of my kisses as we drove, but I wanted to get in all the love I could give to my boy. Spencer is staying with cousins Madison and Lily. They are such cute girls and have been so excited to have him over! Madison has been asking me for the last week if Spencer could just come home with them then. :) Thanks Ryan and Whitney for taking our Spencer!

Tonight we are being picked up at the Minneapolis Airport by my friend Andrea (a.k.a Tibet!). Her husband is doing his residency at the Mayo Clinic so when they heard we were coming out they offered to help us out. We truly appreciate their generosity!

Tomorrow morning we start a full day of testing/appointments at the Mayo Clinic. Bloodwork at 6:45 a.m., followed by echocardiograms, mri, ekg, consultations, etc. We will post again tommorrow night after we know more details about surgery and our plans. We are scheduled to have surgery Wednesday morning but we should know all final details after our visit tomorrow.

Wish us luck for a successful flight out of Denver!

Not sure exactly how to start this, but the best words that sums up my thoughts are this: THANKS!!!

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family who support us! We truly appreciate all of your prayers, fasting, phone calls, emails, etc. We have been so touched by the different people who have come forward with words of comfort, actions of servce, offers of service, and friendly listening ears. And thank you for putting our name in the temple!! We are so blessed!!

The past few weeks have been crazy. We were supposed to move into our new house, get things set up, and then take off for the surgery. Well, getting our house finished took longer than we thought. We finally got our Certificate of Occupancy today but our loan is still in underwriting which means we will most likely not close on our house before we need to leave. Now, I recognize miracles can happen so we might get a miracle and close tomorrow......but not likely. Luckily our builder said we could move a few things in before we go -- like our bed! (I really want to come home to my own bed!) Craziness I tell ya! BUT, it all works out! At least we will have a home eventually and we feel blessed in that manner.

Sunday evening Keven's Grandpa Martin passed away. We will miss him but are grateful that his suffering is through. Between that and our house craziness it has been a little wild. On the bright side, at least we have had some other things to distract us from our adventure next week.

Thanks again for all your suport, prayers, and love! We truly have felt uplifted and strenghened! Happy Thanksgiving and Happy BYU/UTAH Game!! GO Utes!!

Going Public...

No pictures of the house today. I need to put new pictures up, everything is almost finished! We should be moving in this weekend or right before Thanksgiving sometime......we hope :)

Today I am going public :) Going public about something that has been going on in our little family. It's a long story, but I will try to sum it up quickly.

I am going in for heart surgery. The surgery will in December 1st. The surgery will be done in Minnesota, at the Mayo Clinic. We leave to go there Monday, November 29th. We will be there for a couple of weeks. We plan to be home for Christmas unless anything crazy happens.

I was born with a heart defect called Ebstein's Anomaly. This defect causes the tricuspid valve of your heart to be in the wrong place and the valve is disfunctional. A couple of months ago I developed a problem with an irregular heart rhythm. This lead to the decision that it was time to do some work on my heart defect.

This heart defect is very rare. In the past there has not been a great solution for fixing it. But there is now a new surgery out for people such as myself. It is called the cone procedure. This is an open-heart surgery in which they use your own heart tissue to reform the bad valve into a cone. The cone shape helps funnel blood into the correct places. This surgery is still very new but very successful. We will be having it done by one of the most experienced men in the country, Dr. Joseph Dearani.

They entire process of discovering I had a irregular rhythm to finding a new cardiologist to discovering I needed heart surgery to going to the Mayo Clinic has been a very spiritual process. We know the Lord has been with us and believe He will continue to be with us.

We plan to help keep family and friends updated about our surgery on this blog so there may be a lot of crazy things appearing here soon.

We would love any prayers that could be sent in our direction. We have felt the prayers of our family as we have proceeded this far and would love any extra support we can get. :)

Halloween......and the House!

Oh, look at my cute puppies!!! Hannah has been really into pretending to be a puppy. You can ask her friends and cousins - I feel like she is responsible for teaching all to walk on all fours, tie things around your neck for a leash, and scratching behind the ears with your hands. (Thanks to so many who humor Hannah in this game - cousins Lily and Maleia, and Hannah's Caleb.) So it seemed a good idea to let Hannah have a puppy costume and some time to really go puppy! Spencer enjoyed the costume too or should I say many people enjoyed watching Spencer in the costume. Whenever he ran his little puppy tail would bounce like a real puppy. It was hilarious!

And the house! It really is coming along! We are supposed to close the end of next week!

Some of these pictures are recent and some are outdated but all worthy of documenting for history's sake...

This is the bonus room above the garage.. a.k.a playroom

Kitchen w/ the cabinents

Pretty sure this is Spencer's room

Archway into the master closet

Master bathroom

The hallway!

This week is counter tops, flooring, touch up paint, finish electrical and plumbing, and exterior. Big week!

Howdy Friends and Fam! Here are the newest additions to the future home!

Insulation!! Foam, fiberglass, and then batts!

Garage area
Front of the house. There is a big truck blocking the view so the picture is kind of off but I wanted to try and get a front picture in this stage.

Front archway. I love archways!

We have a front door!!

This week they are finishing up insulation and then the 4 way inspection will be done. On Thursday the drywall will begin. Soon after will be the roof and house exterior!!

Here is the front of the house with the roof trusses.

This is the roof over the bonus roof.

Front of the house with trusses!

This week they have gotten SO much done! These builders are wonderful and so great at keeping subs on a good schedule! Plumbers, electricans, and hvac are all in and will be done early next week. 4 way inspection next week and then it is Keven's turn! Yahoo for insulation, drywall, and paint!

Latest and greatest

We haven't had a lot of progress this week...we've been waiting on our roof trusses. We are optimistic that our house will still be finished by the middle of November...hopefully in about 6 weeks. Here are some pictures of the framing.This is our front porch (on the left), with Hannah's room next to that and Spencer's room on the far right. Hannah loves to show everyone "her window."

Yes! We will not only have a 3 car garage, but I hope to be able to use it.

This is a picture of our family room, from our kitchen. It's not much to look at right now...but that corner will have a fireplace some day!

This week, we hope to have our trusses installed, the bonus room framed, and get a start on our HVAC, plumbing and electrical. If all goes right, by next week we'll be insulating and drywalling. Look for those pictures!!!!!!

And then there was framing!!!

Here is the updated house progress! Foundation and framing!!

Getting ready to pour foundation!!

I must say that I have been super impressed with our builder. They have totally kept to the schedule they have outlined! If they keep it up then we just might actually

be in the first of November!!

Wow! Are you shocked!?! I am actually blogging! Keven and I want to document our house being built so we decided the best way to do that would be to blog it!

So here is the beginning! WE HAVE A HOLE!!! Yahoo!! It is so exciting to finally see some progress!!!

And we got some new family pictures! Many thanks to my great sister-in-law, Jamie!! She took them and did a great job!

Our kids are getting SO big! Where does the time go?!!

What a busy summer! Keven and I were a Ma and Pa on Trek, Cary went to Girls Camp, and then there was the Brighton Staff Reunion. We also spent lots of time doing our construction loan, getting house plans finalized, etc. Life has slowed down since summer ended and we stopped attending the Canyon Rim Ward. Our callings at the Canyon Rim Ward kept us very busy so now we have lots more free time in our schedules. It's different, but nice as well. Sure miss all our friends there!

Stay posted for more home progress! And more Wall Family updates!

I finally am updating with pictures! I had my sister-in-law take some shots of my kids for Mother's Day. Here's a few of my favorites.

Spencer always, and I mean always, has his finger touching his lips. I was so glad Jamie caught this pose of him!

Thanks again Jamie!

Now for a Wall family update. As many of been asking -- yes, we are officially moving. We are sad to leave behind such wonderful people, but also excited for what this new move will bring.

When Keven and I bought this home 4 years ago we felt very strongly that it was where we were meant to be. We looked at several different places, tried to put in offers on two other houses, and then we found our current home. I still remember walking into the front living room - I turned to Keven and told him that I knew this was the house.

When we first thought of selling it was very worrisome because we bought our home on the high, high tide of the housing boom before the economy fell. Throughout the selling process we have felt the Lord's calm influence, and we feel so grateful for the way everything has come together.

This ward has become our family. We have made many dear friends that will be our friends always, we have been given wonderful opportunities to serve, and we have been blessed in too many ways to count.

We find we are still seeing the Lord's blessings as we start to move forward. As we have experienced this process of selling, moving, and then purchasing again we have found the Lord is always aware of our needs. Random things always seem to hiccup in the works and then suddenly everything comes together in ways we never imagined. Our hearts are very full of gratitiude.

We will close on our house the end of May. We will then close 2 weeks later on some land that is a bank repossession and begin the build process this fall. The land is located in South Jordan, about 106th S. and 2500 W. We are so thankful for this opportunity to take further steps towards fulfilling goals of our little Wall family.

I am officially such an awful blogger. But no one is perfect, right?

I will try to update as best I can. Here is a person by person list of funness!

Keven = Busy finishing the semester, balancing his new love of racquetball with his Dad, working super hard at work, working super hard at home, working super hard with some new business ventures. Does everyone see the working hard theme?!! What a stellar man!

Cary = let's see, right now my life consists of a few main themes. Kids, family, Brighton, YW's, United Health Care, and 5k prep. My kids and family are my world. Sure love them, more then I can express! Hannah told me last night that I was her best friend....now that is pure joy. I asked her if I could always be one of her best friends and she said yes. I hope she remembers that in about 12 years! Anyway, Brighton is taking up a lot of my time these days. I am working on helping to produce a new CD for this camp and it has been quite the project - but I love any excuse to play the guitar! YW is great! I absolutely love the YW in our ward. You are the best ladies! I also absolutely love the other leaders I work with! I have a small part time job I do with United Health Care, and when I say part time is really is about 4 hours a month. I am a health site reviewer and help review and approve new health sites for this insurance company. I love this work! It allows me to use my degree in Health Care without being away from my kids. I am also prepping for a 5k. At the beginning of the year I planned to do a 10k, but I think I was a little overzealous. I actually really dislike running, but my sweet sister in laws have encouraged me to try running with them. So here comes the Taylorsville 5k in July! Thanks for the encouragement Whitney and Jamie!

Hannah = just turned 3!! What a big girl! She is always amazing us with her growth and knowledge. Her prayers are always entertaining and endearing. Recently she prayed that Pinocchio could become a real boy. Gotta love that! But her evening prayers always contain a "thank you so much for Jesus". She loves to ride her bike and do anything that is outside. She is starting to take a little dance class in a few weeks, just something for fun. I am excited to see how she does. She loves her cousins and is so excited when we get to play with Lily or Maleia. This girl also loves to read. She has had an obsession with books from day one and it has never left.

Spencer = is such a sweetheart. He is growing so big and looking less babyish every day. He is ten months now and has 6 teeth! His hair is long enough now that is curls at the end. He is crawling all over and trying to walk. I foresee that coming very soon. He LOVES Hannah and is so happy when she takes notice of him. The last few weeks he has been struggling with an ear infection that has not wanted to leave. Poor boy.

Well, I think that is it. Sorry I have not put on pictures...I can't find my camera cord. Maybe next time...:)

Yahoo for 2010!

Alright, get ready for another pictureless blog session!

Goodbye 2009. It was a good year -- but I am all about moving forward. So Happy 2010 wishes to all our friends and family! I hope this year brings health, happiness, and growth to all of you!

Us Wall's are already excited for what this year will bring. First, we got a fun surprise of being able to do a cruise the end of January with Keven's parents. They are turning out to be our vacation pals and we couldn't ask for better! Second, things at Keven's work are going so well. Keven has worked very hard developing a new division at his company and it has been such a wonderful opportunity. We are SO grateful for this blessing and offer thanks for it each day. Third, Keven is graduating with his Associates Degree in May! Yahoo! And will then begin a bacholer's program in the Fall. What a blessing to be able to go to school! And finally, fun and exciting projects on the horizon. I am helping do a music CD for Brighton Girl's Camp. I love playing the guitar and am grateful for the excuse to play more often!

Welcome to some of our new friends! Baby Jenna Sorensen and Baby Jacob Holbrook! Super cute babies!