Our little Haylee turned 5 in April. She is a big personality in a small package. She loves to talk, sing, and dance. She is always making us and others laugh with the funny things she says. She loves to play dress-up and is very interested in makeup, hair and other things that make me a little nervous (like the little boy in her class that she always talks about). After nearly 5 years of being the baby she has had to grow up a little, but has lovingly accepted Easton without the slightest bit of jealousy.
Aleeya turned 8 in September and was baptized. It’s hard to believe she is that old. She is a sweet, loving girl that wants so much to do her best and please everyone. She is doing well in school and loves to learn about new things. Her teacher says that she is very kind and helpful to the other kids in her class. She reminds me of myself because she is very sensitive. She just got her first pair of glasses, they are very cute and far more stylish than the things I had to wear at her age. Aleeya is a wonderful helper and I just couldn’t live without her. She played soccer this fall and did very well, scoring almost every game. It was fun to watch her play. She loves doing active things and most often would rather be out in the dirt than playing girl things.
I am still very blessed to be able to stay at home with the kids and I love being a mom. I teach a few piano lessons in the afternoon and eventually I might try to get more students. I spend most of my time just trying to keep up with the day to day schedule, so I don’t really have much time for hobbies right now. When I get a chance I do enjoy relaxing and doing nothing with the kids and Norm.
Norm is working at Nestle and has just gotten a really good position there, although he is now working in the afternoon until about 2 or 3 in the morning. He will be able to take some classes at UVU that his schedule hasn’t allowed him to before. He is getting close to being finished with his teaching degree. He is such a great daddy and husband. I am really missing having him home at night. We had our 9th anniversary this year and I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband, he is the only thing that keeps me sane in this crazy world. We have definitely grown closer this year as we have had both great blessings and also trials.
Our family has done quite a bit of traveling this year. Our little Easton has been all over the place in the first 10 months of his life. We have been to St. George several times this year because Norm’s Dad lives down there now. On one of those trips we went to Zion’s National Park. It was gorgeous and we hope to return and go on a few more hikes. This summer we went to Island Park with my mom’s family and went to Yellowstone. Somehow we survived camping in a tent with a 5 month old for a week. Despite all the mosquitoes, it was beautiful up there and fun to see all the family. Our latest travel adventure was a surprise trip to Disneyland for Christmas. We had so much fun with the kids, it was a nice and well needed distraction from all the challenges of the last few months.
Well now you have heard the best things of our year, it’s time for the worst. In August Haylee jumped off a card table, caught herself with her arm and broke it very badly right above her elbow. Norm and I were both outside (me in the middle of canning and him tilling the garden) when Aleeya came outside screaming that Haylee had broken her arm. It was clearly broken and dangling unnaturally when I saw her. Norm picked her up and we jumped in the car, took her to the instacare where they immediately sent us to the emergency room. She had to have surgery to put her arm back together. It was a very difficult break to fix and she had to have 3 pins put in. It’s absolutely heart wrenching to have to send your baby into surgery and to see her in so much pain, you wish you could just take it all away. They kept her at the hospital overnight, so Norm, Easton, and I stayed with her. The first few days were pretty rough, she was in a lot of pain and pretty miserable. The cast went from her knuckles almost to her shoulder and it was so big and heavy she could hardly stand up. She got a lighter cast after a couple weeks, then had another surgery to remove the pins and a new cast for 3 more weeks, so she was in a cast for a total of 6 ½ weeks. Her arm didn’t heal very quickly and they probably should have left the pins in longer because when they took the cast off the bone was still moving. The bone ended up shifting out of place when it was out of the cast and she had started moving it. Her arm has healed very crooked and looks deformed. We have been to Primary Children’s to see a specialist and he wanted to let her get her movement back right now, but next year she will need another surgery to fix her arm. She can almost fully extend her arm, but she can’t contract it past a 90 degree angle. She is doing really well now and has adjusted a lot better than I would have thought. She had to start Kindergarten with a cast on (it was her right arm of course) and so she learned to write with her left hand and figured out how to do almost everything she needed to. She is back to using her arm pretty much like normal. She’s a brave little girl who has charmed every Dr. and nurse she has seen through this process.
This has been a very difficult situation to deal with, but it makes you evaluate what really matters in life. We are so grateful for our children and for our knowledge of the gospel plan. It has helped me to be able to feel some of what our Heavenly Father must feel for his children. I’m so grateful for my Savior, for His birth, His life, His sacrifice for all of us that we can have the opportunity to experience life and become better people. May the spirit of this Christmas season enter your hearts and homes and bring the comfort and peace that only our Savior can bring.
With love,
Norm, Jenny, Aleeya, Haylee, and Easton Parker
My Mom holding Easton, and my Grandpa and Grandma
My Dad and Easton
