Garrett's Graduation!

Garrett is officially graduated! YAH! When they called his name the crowd and all the graduates went wild, stood up, and clapped so loud! Garrett is just a lovable kid! I think it was more of the fact that no one was sure he would be able to make it that far when he was diagnosed with his cancer. Thank goodness he did!
Marching in....
Pre-graduation

Katelyn and G Baby

B Gaby and I

Caleb and Uncle G Baby

Parker, Caleb, and G Baby

All the siblings with G Baby (except Heather, Robyn & John)

The proud parents with their newest graduate! Fifth one from Burley High School!

Alex and I with G Baby

Katelyn and I waiting for all the pictures to be done!

A New Toy!

What's life without a bit of excitement right? We have debated for a few weeks now about buying some kind of fun toy that we can first of all afford, secondly BOTH enjoy, and thirdly use alot. What a better choice than a four wheeler! It's a 2005 Honda TRX450R. It is way nice and so much fun! We just got it on Saturday the 16th and rode it for the first time on some hills today (Sunday the 17th). It is so much fun. It was either that or a bullet bike and so for OBVIOUS reasons I talked Alex into the four wheeler.

Alex thought he was cool drivin it through a tiny puddle but the picture actually turned out pretty cool!

If anyone wants to go ridin' let us know! We aren't very experienced ourselves yet other than the times we've gone with Alex's cousin who are WAY experienced riders, but I still think it would be alot of fun!

Mother's Day Dinner

Alex's cousin who has a house out in Tremonton invited all the family over to her house on Mother's Day for a family dinner and family home evening. It was really alot of fun. Not everyone in Alex's family on his mom's side who was at this party is LDS or active LDS so the fact that we had a family home evening together was really neat. Alex's cousin Mike (Return Missionary) gave the lesson and bore his testimony and it really touched me. The food was great too: carne esada, beans, rice, pico de gallo, homemade salsas, etc. I love it when the Mexican side of the family throws parties cuz the food is fabulous and the people are even better! I LOVE OUR FAMILIA!!! The picture above is of Alex and his cousin's little girl Lilly. She is so stinkin' cute and just loves Alex to pieces!

This is Alex's cousin Linda. She got bored at the party and wanted to play a good game of solitaire I guess!

This is Mike and Raquel. Mike is Alex's cousin just a few months younger than him and he was just married in November. They are 6 months pregnant with their first son! We hang out with these 2 at least 2 nights out of the week if not more. We even sleep over at their house when we throw all nighter movie marathons! It's great! WE LOVE THEM!

Of course this is us...

Mike and Lilly again

Nene and Obed just chillaxin on the couch. Nene is just a close family friend and Obed is Alex's uncle. (Mike's dad)

Mom and Dad Nelson and then Alex's Aunt Claudia in the back!

Will (Alex's brother), Alex, and his Aunt Leite (Mike's mom)

Boomer

We have been loving this beautiful Spring weather recently. We have been taking Boomer to the park every weekend to let him stretch his legs and get some fresh air. We feel bad that we work all the time and he has to stay at home in the bedroom by himself. He gets soooo excited to see us every day when we come home for lunch or come home from a full day of work. In fact, sometimes he gets TOO excited and piddles! Its kind of funny! I love that little boy!!! Anyway...
Here are a few pictures from this last weekend at the park. We don't have any pictures showing this, but he is the worlds best dog at fetch I swear. We never taught him this formally, he just loves to run and get things and then drop then perfectly in mommy's hand so I can throw it again. I got him a cute doggie tennis ball that he runs after and let me tell ya.....I don't think that thing will ever get old to Boomer!
He's so stinkin cute! We haven't really noticed him growing anymore but then again we see him EVERY day so maybe you have noticed he's gotten bigger. He's a strong healthy little boy!

I LOVE MY BABY BOOMER!

I LOVE MY MOM AND GARRETT!!!

Since today is Mother's Day AND Garrett's birthday, I want to do a shout out to both of them! Let's start with mom:

Top 10 reasons I love her:

1. She is the best gift giver ever! She always gets you something you need/want!

2. She is a great cook!

3. She has a testimony of the gospel and shares it often

4. She raised 5 AMAZING children who still love and respect her after all these years

5. She is all of our #1 Fan. She was always the one cheering for us in the stands at the top of her lungs during our sporting events and the one yelling at the refs! (takes after grandma Moore!)

6. She is the sweetest grandma. My future children are so lucky to have the love of a grandma that is endless and so compassionate

7. She is the most generous person I know. She would rather you get seconds at dinner time than her have anything!

8. She has the coolest laugh. It's very contagious!

9. She has a beautiful smile! I look forward to seeing my mom cuz she will give me a big grin when she hugs me!

10. SHE LOVES ME! "There is not a greater feeling than to love and be loved in return"

I love you mom! You are the best mom anyone could ever ask for! I know sometimes we have our moments with each other but you still put up with me and love me anyways! I am so lucky to have been raised by such a wonderful, beautiful, amazing, and strong woman like you! You are such a great example to me. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Next is Garrett. He turns 18 today! For some reason, I always and forever will just see him as my little 10 year old brother. I know he's not but....Let me tell you, even before all this cancer crap hit him all of a sudden I knew Garrett was special. He was always so chill and relaxed, always happy, down to earth, easy go lucky, and had the "come what may" attitude. I always wondered how a 17 year old could love life so much and have everything turn out the way he wanted all the time! I started analyzing his characteristics sub conciously and came to this conclusion as to why everything with him was the way it was: It's because he chooses the right ALL the time, he follows the rules, he has never ruined my parents trust that I know of, and he has a testimony of the church that radiates off of him 24/7! Then it hit....cancer....How could something so horrible be a part of Garrett's life when everything else was so perfect??? Then I remembered what I've been trying to tell myself alot lately to help me deal with all my infertility stuff: "Heavenly Father would never deal us cards we couldn't play. He would never give us trials in our life that we weren't strong enough to handle" and it HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS! Of anyone in our family, I think Garrett is the one strong enough to get through this and he will! He is my bright and shining star. He is my hero. He has taught me so many life lessons these past couple weeks since he was diagnosed that I will NEVER forget. He is such an amazing example to me of fighting till the end and giving life everything you got. He is honestly the srongest person I know! I will never forget his attitude through all of this. He will come out of it, he will pull through, he will survive, and he will always and forever be my hero because of it! I love you Garrett! Happy 18th birthday!

Family Support

We freakin rock! Livestrong FOREVER!

I LOST 10 POUNDS ON THE CHEMO DIET!

YES these are REALLY Garrett's pants! He lost all that weight in just the first 10 days of Chemo!

Baldies!

BEFORE!

HALF WAY!

CHECK IT OUT!

PARKER DID IT TO TO SHOW HIS SUPPORT!

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!
LOOK AT THOSE WHITE HEADS!

Garrett Made It To Senior Prom!

Garrett was feeling well enough to go to Prom with his BEAUTIFUL date Paetyn!

The "famous" Prom picture!

Eating dinner with their group before the dance

Like Father like Son

Garrett and Parker

Of course, my favorite picture of Garrett and I!
Mother Son dance at Promenade

Garrett and Paetyn being recognized at Promenade! They looked so great!

Taking a break from all the dancin' and sportin' a cute smile for the camera! Isn't he so handsome?

Livestrong!

I came across these pics from a gal's facebook page that is Garrett's age at school. For those of you that don't know, Burley and Minico are ARCH rivals. BUT in the face of adversity, this time being Garrett's cancer, they have come together. Just typing this brings tears to my eyes! Notice the homemade arm bands that BOTH teams are wearing. They are yellow like the Lance Armstrong Livestrong bands and they say G-5 for Garrett! What an amazing thing! I love how Carli added the color affect on the second one. It makes it look so much more meaningful that it ALREADY is! Thanks Carli!

WOW!

More pics of G-Baby in the hospital

Here are a few more pics from the hospital. Garrett will be release on Thursday morning if everything goes well! YAH!

Sportin' one of the new Beanies his girlfriend Peyton got him and doing what he does best: X Box!
Lucas and Garrett getting in their bonding time
Four of G-Baby's favorite girls and one of his favorite nephews!
Garrett and his girlfriend Peyton. Isn't she just a doll? She bought him a HUGE coloring book and crayons so when she came to the hospital in SLC to visit, they sat and colored for awhile and had a great time! What a sweetheart!

Snugglin with my little bro!

Garrett and his best friend and team mate Sam Harris

Garrett receiving his does of Chemo Therapy for the day. The chemicals they put inside his body to kill the cancer is so toxic that if it gets on his skin it will burn him so the nurse administering it to him has to be all decked out with gloves and apron so she doesn't spill on herself or Garrett's arm. Crazy...

Mama Lyons and Garrett just trying to stay positive!