I haven't really posted in a while so here goes.

We have actually been up to quite a bit the last little bit. We went to Midway with my family.

It was a lot of fun. We went shopping, made hair bows, ate a lot, and had a great time. Porter and

Nickelle slept outside with Dallin in the tent. I am not exaggerating by saying Nickelle was up all

night the first night. She fell asleep at 6 am and woke up at 8 am. The second night she did a little

better. We had a lot of fun seeing my family and finished up the weekend with a baby blessing for my cute

new nephew Logan. That is Kevin and Shannon's little guy.

Porter and Nickelle had different school things this week. Nickelle had an open house for her preschool

and loved it. She is so excited for school. She wouldn't even eat dinner before we went because

she just wanted to get there. It is a darling school and I love there curriculum. I am a little picky

being a former preschool teacher myself. So I am so happy she was able to get a spot. Then later in

the week I got to go to Porter's school to make goals for him. To all those lucky parents out there

who do not have to make IEP goals before school. I will explain. A child with needs to attend school

has to have an IEP. An IEP is where teachers, parents, therapists, and district members all sit down

and make a list of what your child is going to learn to do for the year. See Porter will never just come

to school like all the other kids and learn math, reading, science, etc... He will have to have a specialized

education plan. If the kids are learning addition but that is too advanced for Porter, Porter will learn

something more appropriate such as counting, or recognizing numbers etc.. Also they make behavior

goals for him as well. So things like learning to sit in a chair, learning to put coat away, learning to

ask to use the bathroom. All these have to be planned out and written out. It is a tedious process and

can be terrifying as a parent. You walk into a room and there is a table full of people and tons of

paperwork and tests on your child. All you talk about is your child's weaknesses, because that is what

you have to work on. But also this can be when a parent is approached about serious concerns about their

child. For some parents this meeting will be the first time they even find out their child may have

a disability. Another reason this is terrifying is because as a parent you have to fight for what services

you feel your child needs and depending on the opinions of everyone else in the room you may or may not

receive that. Like speech therapy, and aide, etc.. In the past this has been a very tuff thing for us. We

are getting better at it and learning more and more how to best advocate for Porter but I have usually

left feeling frustrated, not listened too, and discouraged. This week I felt uplifted, hopeful, encouraged,

and excited. The thing that impressed me most was that everything I said I wanted Porter to do they

felt like was achievable. In the past I have been told otherwise and have often felt that the bar is too

low for him. They made me feel like they think he can do anything. It was a good feeling. Also they

listened to everything I said and implemented all I felt he needed. It was awesome. We will sit back

down in a couple weeks and add more and make changes where we see fit. When I walked into the room

full of educators, they just made me feel like he was the neatest kid in the world and they just couldn't

wait to work with him. Instead of feeling like a failure as a mother because my child's behaviors are just

awful. I am so excited to work with them and can't wait to be taught more of how I can help Porter.

Now I just need to figure out some babysitting so I can get up there as much as I can, to be taught.

On a side note. My kids came with me and Porter loved the school. His teachers are awesome and it was

amazing to met people who understand and love autistic kids. They were educating me instead of the

other way around and we have never had that. So again thanks for all the prayers because this blessing

has come from so many people praying for us. I KNOW IT!

We also had a lot of fun this week. My sister Janalyn came and we went to Julie and Julia. We also made

and intense cake in honor of it. It had 7 layers. I will post pictures some time. Dallin watched all the kids

including Jan's little girl Paige. He is so wonderful to do that for us. We also went four wheeling, and had a

BBQ with our awesome neighbors across the street. It is so fun to live so close to good friends. He is a

mechanic and pretty much saved my life this weekend. I was hearing a weird noise in the car and

it turns out my brakes were totally gone. So he fixed them and saved us a TON of money. Thanks! My parents

and my little sister and her little boy popped in a couple times this weekend and it was fun to see them

for a little bit. I almost forgot but I got to watch Ashlyn and Kolby (my niece and nephew). My kids had

so much fun. Jan taught the girls dance and Bennett and Koby played. We had a picnic and had so much

fun. Thanks for letting us watch them Courtnie. My kids had so much fun having them over. All in all it

has been a great couple weeks and it seems we are enjoying every last second of summer.