I'm still not a roller coaster person, BUT . . .

The Izatt Family Reunion Lagoon Trip 2010 was still verrrry fun!!

We had such a fun time with Chuck's family camping and going to Lagoon last year that we convinced his parents (not a tough job) that we needed to go back this year. They very generously invited Quinn to come as well.

Here we are getting ready to depart from Boise. I will freely admit that Chuck, Clyde, Will, and I are all wearing Star Wars shirts intentionally to coordinate (Clyde's is hard to see, but it's definitely Yoda on there), but we did not anticipate Quinn also wearing his Star Wars shirt. Oh, the dorkiness.

We all squeezed in the car for the drive down to Utah. Five people + a double stroller + a tent and other camping supplies = a tightly packed station wagon. Kudos to my Tetris-trained husband for making it all fit!!
(And honorable mention to ME who packed amazingly lightly for the first time in my life).

The drive was pretty uneventful; the backseat gang watched 'Monsters and Aliens' and 'Star Wars Episode I'. Chuck and I traded off driving and cursed the construction... stupid orange barrels!

But we made it safe and sound and met up with the family for dinner.
Our large group required a bit of waiting before we got a table, er tables :). Luckily there were lots of cousins/aunts/uncles/grandparents to play with while we waited.

After dinner we headed to the campground to get settled in for the night. Our new tent proved to be plenty spacious and comfortable, yay!
Quinn seriously just fell into bed, no pajamas, no sleeping bag. Goof.

This is how my boys started out the night - sooo cute, right? Somehow we woke up the next morning with Will in my sleeping bag and Clyde and I sharing his blanket... gotta love it.

Then it was time for Lagoon, hooray!
We slowly gathered everyone together for a big family picture before heading into the park and splitting off into smaller groups. . .

Here we are, all nineteen of us - definitely a bigger group with a much better adult to kid ratio when compared to last year :). Here's the breakdown: two grandparents (Mom and Pops), four adult children (Melissa, Chuck, Lee, and Amanda) and their spouses (Kevin, Jana, Aleesha, and Steve, respectively), one random kid (Quinn), one cousin (Alli), and seven and a half kids (Mallory, Courtney, George, Clyde, Lily, Will, Bri, and Lee and Aleesha's baby-to-be).

And then it was time for rides! Chuck and Clyde came prepared with a list of rides that Clyde was tall enough to ride - and with reeeeal good posture, Will as well. Thankfully Quinn was there to be the second accompanying adult so that I could safely watch from the sidelines and photograph the fun. As I learned last year, grown-up Jana does NOT like roller coasters/spinning rides/going up in the air/etc. Although I guess I needed a reminder, because I attempted the 'Flying Aces' ride (pretty mild, you go around in an airplane and use the 'sail' to control your direction a bit) and almost died. Seriously, I came very close to throwing up and spent the next half-hour lying down on a bench.

Will, on the other hand, LOVED all the crazy rides - here he is with Quinn on the Tilt-A-Whirl. He was not a fan of waiting in line (shockingly) and cried while waiting for most of the rides. We're pretty sure other Lagoon patrons thought we were horrible people and forcing an unwilling child to go on the rides, but as soon as he was buckled in the tears were replaced by a huge smile and he chanted, 'Ready, GO!'

Clyde and Chuck - two peas in a pod. I'm honestly not sure which of them was more excited about Lagoon.

Chuck and Quinn were able to do a couple of the real big rides, as well, including Wicked and the Rocket - both Blast Off and Re-entry (pictured).

Will and Chuck gearing up for the Jumping Dragon.

Clyde and Quinn. My brother's a nud.

The boys checked out a couple of the kiddie rides; brothers make the best co-pilots!

I was sooo excited for Lagoon-A-Beach, but apparently I angered the weather gods somehow, because as soon as we changed into our swimsuits and stepped into the water, the hot July sun disappeared behind a mess o' dark clouds. We braved the lazy river (joined by Courtney!) for a bit before admitting defeat and racing for our towels. We ate lunch (Chuck's mom and sisters packed a wagon with lunch fixings, so smart!) and attempted to wait out the chill.

Aren't their little water shoes sooo cute? We gave up waiting for the sun to reappear and headed back out to the main park. Approximately fifteen minutes later, the clouds dispersed and it got about twenty degrees hotter. Just my luck :).

We spent the afternoon wandering around and riding more rides. At one point we heard our names shouted from above and looked up to see . . .
Mallory and Melissa high in the sky!

The whole family reconvened at the campsite for some dinner around six.
We eagerly ate delicious pulled pork sandwiches (Chuck's selection) and chatted about our favorite rides and adventures thus far.

We also officially celebrated the three birthdays that happily coincided with the trip - Pops', Lee's, and Bri's. Happy birthday!!

Lily and Will found some fun in a bucket of ice water. Cute cousins!!

After dinner we returned to the park for a couple more hours of rides.
I love this picture because it looks like Quinn is riding solo :). I promise Will is there next to him, though!

While some of the big 'kids' went to ride Wicked, I hung out with George, Clyde, and Will. First up were the bumper cars, which all three boys loved.

Next we hit up the merry-go-round . . . three times in a row :).

George and Clyde were sooo excited that the 'spinney thing' was available for them. Funny thought: at one point as we were walking around they got a little too far ahead so I called after them, "George!! Clyde!! Come back!" and I realized that people probably thought I was calling after two eighty-year-old men :).

Amanda had the most excellent idea to gather the whole family together for an Izatt family Bumper Cars War. The four youngest kids were too little, and Aleesha and Pops sat out with them, but the rest of us buckled up and prepared for impact.

Courtney and I chose cars right next to each other and made a pact not to go after each other. I knew several family members were gunning for me (cough, Kevin, cough, Quinn, cough, Chuck), so I had to get as many allies as possible :).

My cute husband! It was definitely fun, and the only reeeeeally hard bump I felt came from a random non-relative, so it's all good :).

We all sleepily climbed into our tents that night and packed up camp the next morning.

We had a GREAT time - thanks again Mom and Pops!! (photo stolen from Aleesha's facebook :) ).

To: Heidi // From: Jana

Happy Birthday Heidi!!!

Today is my darlingest BFSC (best friend/sister/cousin) Heidi's 18th birthday. I had the best intentions of sending a card in the mail to her, but that did not happen, so she'll have to settle for a blog post instead :).

Here are just a few of the MANY reasons I love Heidi:

Heidi is extremely hot. Here she is as the maid of honor for her sweet sister Courtney (aka my other BFSC). And not only is she extremely hot, but she also generously helps ME be hot when we hang out by doing my hair and make-up. Sometimes she even wakes up at four o'clock in the morning to drive five hours to do my make-up before my family pictures (I know, right? Girl's a saint!)

Heidi also has some pretty serious skills in the kitchen. Her chocolate chip cookies are basically famous, and her pizza is most excellent. And her monkey bread (as pictured here)? Fabulous.

Heidi is also straight-up hilarious. Honestly, this is how I look 90% of the time hanging out with her. Or when she texts me. Or when I reread her old texts. Or when I think about her old texts.

Heidi is also extremely thoughtful. She recently traipsed around Europe for three weeks with her delightful mom Gloria, and they bought this absolutely beautiful scarf for me in Florence - thank you both so much!!

(Also, I don't normally stick European gifts out in the grass, but, you know, the lighting was much better outside).

Heidi is also as obsessed with 'glee' as I am. Love having someone to discuss the highs (Journey medley, anyone?) and lows (the whole Like a Virgin medley/situations. Still disappointed in Finn!) with. And sing along to the songs in the car with - she's Rachel, I'm Finn (or was it the other way around?? Either way, we rocked).

Heidi is so special to me, as is the rest of her family. I love having such amazing women to hang out with and admire - here are Heidi, Gloria, Pam, Courtney, and me!

Our trio - BFSC! Courtney and Heidi are the cutest sisters ever, and they could happily go along their way just having each other but they sweetly let me crash in as the pretend big sister. I just absolutely love them both! (Incidentally, Courtney's birthday was last month, and since I was more on top of things, she did get a card in the mail. She definitely deserves a similar blog post extolling her virtues and praise, however - I'm thinking next year!!)

Last week at the end of our trip to Lagoon with Chuck's family (more to come on that!!) we were able to stop and spend the day with the Smiths, during which Heidi and I had an awesome photo shoot. Enjoy:

Okay, usually I decline to post pictures where I look no bueno, but Heidi looked so cute in this one that I had to make an exception (please ignore my apparently lazy eye; I was laughing pretty hard at Quinn's reaction to our 'fake engagement shot').

Even though Court and Dez weren't there to participate, we attempted a 'circle head' shot. Check out Quinn's new flip-flops! (Poor Quinn was our reluctant photographer, who would rather snap shots of dead birds and who also kept insisting, "Two more pictures!! I'm only taking two more pictures!!")

So we fired him and attempted a couple by ourselves. I promise that the flash is not that much to blame in this picture, Heidi really is that tan and I am almost that white. Sigh.

Happy, happy birthday Heidi! I love you soooooooooooo much!!

Sweet, sweet baby Will

Well, I've written and rewritten this post in my head quite a few times in the last few months, so I guess we'll see how it comes out now that it's being written for real! I'd like to share some news about our sweet youngest son that we received officially yesterday, although we've been aware of it for several months now. Will has autism.

In the months following Will's first birthday, Chuck and I noticed his lack of language development but dismissed any concerns by reminding ourselves that Clyde was by no means an 'early' talker. As we continued to watch Will grow and develop, we noticed his tendency to zone out and his preference to spend time by himself, and even talked briefly about autism, but dismissed it since he has always been very social - lots of eye contact and physical affection. In the meantime, Will continued to babble in his funny own language but declined to pick up any of the sign language that we attempted to teach him. Finally, this past January, Chuck and I decided to look more seriously into the possibility of autism. At this point Will was 22 months old.

There is a lot of information - and misinformation - about autism online, but we found a website that we trusted that featured side-by-side videos of normally developing children participating in various activities and similarly-aged children with autism participating in the same activities. A light went off for both of us as we recognized our son in the videos of the children with autism, in terms of both general behavior and physical mannerisms. We met with Will's pediatrician at the beginning of February to discuss our concerns. We then began a several-month period of 'limbo' as Will was placed on waiting lists to be evaluated for speech, occupational, and developmental therapy with the Infant/Toddler Program through the Department of Heath and Welfare and as we waited for his appointment with the developmental pediatric specialist to roll around. Will has now begun both speech therapy and occupational therapy with the Infant/Toddler Program, which means that each therapist comes to our home once a week to work one-on-one with him. We're so grateful for this program and work alongside the therapists to help Will progress.


In those few months before his therapy started, we watched somewhat in awe as Will took a keen interest in the alphabet and learned to say, sign, and independently identify all 26 letters. More recently, he's picked up numbers 1 - 10. Will's therapists and doctors are all pretty amazed that he can do this, especially at such a young age (I'm equally impressed but a little less surprised, since Clyde was able to identify letters shortly after his second birthday as well). He can also sign/say around 30 words, although he doesn't use the signs to communicate needs or wants, merely to identify or to 'show-off'.

So, since January we've been operating under the assumption that Will is autistic but without an official diagnosis. Yesterday was Will's long-awaited appointment with the developmental pediatric specialist, Dr. Felix. We spent an hour with Dr. Felix as he looked over the paperwork we had filled out and mailed in, observed Will, and asked us questions. He then confirmed that Will is somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. As we also anticipated, Dr. Felix was unable to offer any definitive prognosis for Will, since every child with autism is different in how they develop and function. It reminded me of what our good friend Gloria told us, "If you've met one child with autism, then you've met one child with autism." We will continue with the speech and occupation (and eventually developmental) therapy and follow-up with Dr. Felix in a few months.


This experience has been a very peaceful, strengthening time for for both Chuck and myself. We have felt Heavenly Father's love for us, and more importantly, His deep love for Will. We feel very strongly that Heavenly Father will help us be the parents that we need to be for Will; we take comfort in the oft-repeated phrase, "Whom the Lord calls, He qualifies." That isn't to say it hasn't been difficult at times. If you re-read my post from late January, it will be more obvious why I was feeling a bit dreary then! It has also been a struggle the last couple of weeks as our normally even-tempered little boy has had a few meltdowns during which he's completely inconsolable and very angry. It's pretty understandable - I can only imagine the frustration he feels being unable to communicate his needs to us - but it's still difficult to get through. It's especially at those times that I'm grateful for my husband and parenting partner; it's nice to be able to tag him in when I'm at my wit's end!

Most of all, we are so grateful for the Lord's tender mercies for our family. We feel even more sure of our decision to have two little boys so close together in age (even though it seemed a bit crazy at the time!) as we watch Clyde and Will together. Will loves to imitate, and we know that Clyde will be an excellent role model and teacher as they play and interact together. I know that Clyde will benefit and learn so much as Will's older brother. We recognize the blessing of Will's social nature; we can't get enough of his hugs and kisses and we are very aware that children with autism often fail to recognize and/or acknowledge their parents or other people. I can't imagine how hard that would be as a parent, and I am so, so thankful that it doesn't appear we will have to endure that. We are extremely grateful for our supportive extended families and close friends. We can already anticipate how vital that support will be in the coming days, months, and years and it is already greatly appreciated. Finally, we are grateful for Will and his sweet spirit in our home.


Family picture courtesy of Mandie Anderson/Captured Moments. More to come!!

Awesome weekend, parts two and three.

As we are about to embark upon another awesome weekend (Lagoon with Chuck's family!) I figured I'd combine the rest of our last awesome weekend into one post, which means LOTS of pictures . . . as usual.

Saturday morning started with some family pictures with my mom. Look forward to those in a future post, but here's a behind the scenes glimpse:


After pictures, we met up with the extremely wonderful Gloria and Heidi for lunch at Olive Garden and then slowly made our way back to my house to prepare for a fun BBQ that evening.

Gloria and Bailey! It was so fun to have the Smiths visit.

Heidi, my BFSC extraordinaire!

Terri, my SIL extraordinaire! They both helped so much with the BBQ prep, don't those fruit platters look so delicious?

Bailey and Grandma Pam and Gloria (who is soon to be a grandma herself!)

We were excited to welcome some extended family from my mom's side to our home that evening - Uncle David, Aunt Sage, cousin Bryn, Uncle Larry, and Aunt Iris.

There was lots of catching up to be done.

Iris and Bryn. I have the best memories of having Bryn as a 'pen-pal' growing up; she lived in Seattle and always sent me sweet little notes and letters - all of which I still have, complete with the sticker-covered envelopes!

Will was still napping when the party started, but Chuck eased him awake with an ABC book - his favorite, of course!
Clyde took on two uncles in a light saber dual outside after dinner.

Will preferred to take an airplane ride.

Then it was time for some games; we played Who What Where and a seriously hilarious 'visual Telephone' game.

I gave Clyde the camera for a bit and ended up with pictures like this . . .

and this. Heidi and I were on a team and were conferring about our next move :).

Sunday morning Quinn spoke in church in my mom's ward and very sweetly taught about the Savior's role in our lives and the sacred importance of the Atonement. So many extended family members and friends came - my grandpa, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. It was really, really neat to see all of that support for Quinn.

Afterwards, we gathered back at my mom's house to watch the soccer game, er, spend time together and chat . . .

We managed to get a few rounds of 'SET' in during halftime. SET is possibly my favorite game ever and I was introduced to it back in the day by Bryn and her family, so it was fun to play together again!

Reed held Bailey a bit to practice for his upcoming grandbaby.

Big Will and Bailey. I'm pretty sure this was Will's first visit back to Boise in quite some time, but now that he knows the way we expect some more visits. Especially since there wasn't time this trip to play Star Wars video game, which proved a bit devastating to Clyde.

Aunt Sage, Aunt Iris, and Chuck. We were so happy that David and Sage were able to come; we hadn't seen them since Sam and Terri's reception three years ago! And despite living much closer to Larry and Iris, we don't see them as much as we'd like to either, so that was also really nice.

Near the end of the soccer game we defied logic and fit a ridiculous number of people in my mom's back room.

That night, after most of the out-of-town guests headed home, we reconvened back at my house with just my mom and siblings to wrap up the weekend.

There was napping, video game playing, and reading. . .

and some more reading :). Terri indulged Will and read with him forever - what a sweet aunt!!

There was also a soccer rematch; I think the teams were Cody and Sam against Chuck and Quinn. Again, I have no idea what the final score was :).

Cody and Chuck also fit in some chess.

Terri and Sam. They headed home the next morning, although Sam left me a most wonderful gift - a webcam! We tested it out last night; it was really fun to use, thanks Sammy!!

And that was (at least a glimpse of) our seriously awesome weekend.