Elder Asay

Matthew's littlest brother is entering the MTC tomorrow. Jacob will be serving in the Ukraine L'viv mission. He will spend 9 weeks at the MTC and then he will take off for Ukraine. We are so excited and proud of Jacob for choosing to serve a mission. He is a great example to us. We really enjoyed be able to listen to his mission farewell talk on Sunday. You have a wonderful testimony Jacob, and you strengthen mine as well as others testimonies around you. We can't wait to hear from you and will miss you dearly. The people of Ukraine will be blessed to have you as a missionary in their area. You are all the nieces and nephews favorite uncle Jacob. They will miss you tons. The Lord will bless you for your dedication to him and your hard work. Good luck Jacob, and we love you. Here is Jacob's mission website: Elder Asay

Quick trip to Wyoming

This last weekend we headed to Wyoming. We left around 8pm when Matthew got home from school. This was perfect for the kids. We drove all night and didn't have to feed Chloe until Bridger, MT which is about an hour from Matthew's parents. We hung out all day at Matthew's families Friday. We went over to his brother Christians house that evening to play on their new playset. Ian loved their big yard to run in. Saturday morning the kids and I headed over to my parents to spend the day. Matthew helped his dad around the farm and house in the morning, and in the afternoon went fishing with his brothers. Ian and I enjoyed riding around in Grandpa's new ranger. We really want one so bad now. Saturday evening we had a party at the Asay's for Jacob. Jacob is going to be leaving on his mission on Wednesday, so we partied. We had yummy food, including homemade ice cream and yogurt. Sunday we were able to go to Matthew's brother Daniel's little baby Paige's baby blessing. She is seriously so pretty. I am so glad we were able to go home to meet her. Then we were also able to go to Jacob's mission farewell. Jacob is has such a wonderful testimony, and is going to make a great missionary. Even though we had to do so much driving for so little time to spend with family, it was all worth it.

Ian getting a hair cut from Aunt Kasi

Boyer Park

Last Tuesday, Josie and her kiddos went to Boyer Park with us for the day. We enjoyed the sun, playing in the water and good company. Ian loved playing in the river. He played so hard he came back to our picnic area and laid down all by himself and fell asleep. Thanks Josie for a great day :)

Diagnosis for Ian

At Ian's 2 year well child appointment we went in concerned about his ears. Ian has had quite a few ear infections and constant fluid in his ears since he was, I am thinking about 9 months old. The doctor check his ears and there was for sure fluid in there still. Another concern she had was that he has signs of Autism. This was shocking and sad to hear. I was fighting back the tears in the doctors office, and cried for days after about it. This was Matthew and I's biggest fear that one of our children would be sick or have some sort of disorder. Some of the reasons why she had this concern was because Ian had no speech, he use to have speech but now has regressed, he doesn't interact with other children, he flaps arms and hands, doesn't answer to his name, and has little understanding of what we are telling him.
The next step for Ian was to get his hearing tested. We often thought that Ian may be deaf because he just didn't listen or answer to his name ever.We took him to Spokane Audiology which was the worst place to go. The audiologist there was the worst. She obviously had not worked with many children because she did not know what she was doing. She told us that the fluid in Ian's ears was clear. She then began to try other tests to test his hearing. Ian fought every single test. The audiologist was ready to give up until I piped up. I told her that "we did not drive all the way from Pullman to just find out the fluid was clear, we want more answers." She finally did her best to finally find out that Ian could hear just fine.
So now the next thing was to find out if Ian has Autism. We had early learning services come to the house and have Ian's development. He scored pretty low in cognitive skills which was obvious because that has to do a lot with communication. Ian has little to no communication.
We called a few different doctors who could diagnose Ian. One is Spokane and one in Seattle. The place in Spokane would never call me back, and the one in Seattle was a least 6-9 months out. We finally called NW Neuro Behavioral Institute  in Spokane. We sent over a referral from Ian's doctor and the process began. They originally scheduled an appointment for the 29th of July which was amazing to get him in that fast. They called me back just about a day later and said they had a cancellation. We got Ian into the doctor on the 3rd.
We filled out tons of paper work before the appointment, then once we got there filled out more. The doctor called us back, and observed Ian for an hour. While she was observing him she was asking us questions. By the end she had diagnosed him with Classic Autism. We both felt like a huge weight was taken off our shoulders. Although this was very sad to hear we felt like now we can get the help Ian needs. Our insurance did not pay for this appointment, but it was worth our money to finally have an answer. Ian will have to go through lots of therapy, so it's going to be a long journey for this little boy. We are so lucky to find out so early. Lots of kids are not diagnosed until they are school age. Ian is going to get all the help while he is younger. Everything I have read and doctors and therapist have told me that this is so great we caught it early. Ian is going to do so well, and be so much better off because we did.
We feel so blessed to have Ian in our family though. We know that Heavenly Father has sent him to our family because we can handle his challenges.I have to remind myself this everyday, but through constant prayer I am reminded I can do it. Ian is going to teach our family more then we could ever teach him. Ian is such a happy boy, and just loves the simple things in life. This is a great reminder for us. We are not sorry that Ian has Autism. We feel our Savior's through Ian. We feel so blessed and loved to have both Ian and Chloe. We love them so much and would do anything to make them happy. We are thankful to all our family and friends for the prayers and thoughts. We feel the blessings of those prayers. This life is so short, and in that short time we are here to learn to be more like our Savior. We don't know why Ian was given this disorder, but we know that our Heavenly Father see's him as a perfect little boy. Ian is perfect, and so precious to our family. We love him so much and thank our Heavenly Father for sending him to us, Autism and all.

Our Weekend

This weekend was a warm one. Friday after nap Ian playing in the water for quite a long time. He is so tan after playing outside so much. I hardly ever put sunscreen on him because he just tans. Chloe on the other hand is so fair skin. She gets the sunscreen every time. Saturday, Matthew had to work on his senior paper almost all day. The kids and I went for a walk and stopped by the school to see Matthew for a few minutes. When Matthew got done working on his paper for the day we jumped in the car. We decided to go for a drive to Steptoe Butte. It is just past Colfax, WA, and is the highest point in the Palouse. It was so pretty. You could see fields, fields and more fields of wheat all across the Palouse. There was a nice lady up there that took our picture. We couldn't get Ian to look, but it still turned out pretty good.

Ian woke up a little too early on Friday morning, and he fell back to sleep around 7:30

I took the kids to the park on Friday morning. Ian was filthy dirty by the time we went home. 

Swimming Friday afternoon. Ian was a little cold.

Bumbo

Chloe is big enough to sit in the bumbo chair. When did this happen??? She loves to sit in it on the back porch and watch Ian swim and play. She loves her brother so much. She could watch him all day.

Pictures from my phone

Played hard all morning, ate all his lunch, then he decided it was time for a nap. 

A little animal print never hurt any little girl. 

Our Saturday to Costco and Sonic. Ian loves tots and cherry limeades. 

Ian fell asleep in his play tent for nap time.

Ready, Set Go! Ready for a walk.

All ready for church. I love that this dress fits her now.

We tricked Ian into sitting by his sister for a picture. He looks thrilled lol.

Ian's tower he built with his new mega blocks.

We Love The Weekend

We really enjoyed the sun this weekend. Friday we headed to the stake activity, and enjoyed a bbq with ice cream. Ian liked jumping in the jumping house they had. It got a little rough with some bigger kids, and he had had enough. He was content to just run in the grass though. Matthew and I have decided that when we move it is a must to have a yard with a fence, so that Ian can run all he wants. Saturday morning it was not as hot, so we decided to go for a walk to the bears. Ian fell asleep on the way there, and Chloe did not. She cried the whole way there, and most the way back. The bears were out of their cages though, and it was fun to see them. All afternoon Ian played in the pool and colored with chalk. Matthew and I both got a tan as well. Well Matthew's was more on the sunburn side, but it's a tan now. :) That evening we went to Wal-mart to do some shopping. On the way home we clocked out walk. We walked 4 miles from our house to the bears and back home. Pretty dang good walk. That evening our friend Logan Potts came over with his new wife Whitney. We have always loved Logan, and appreciate his friendship. We are so happy to finally get to know Whitney more. She is such a sweetie, and I loved talking with her. Sunday we enjoyed church and a nice Sunday meal. We also ended our day with Ian playing outside again. He seriously could live outside. He is in heaven whenever he is able to play outside.

Our little square dancer

Sleeping bear. Sure am glad he is behind that cage.

One of Ian's favorite things is when cars drive by. Can you tell he is excited ? :)

Ian ate so many red vines. He was covered in stickiness

Me getting my tan on.

These last pictures are taken on Sunday. I tried to put a shirt on Ian before we went outside. He insisted on not wearing a shirt. After playing all day on Saturday in the sun and water he was pretty sure you don't wear shirts outside anymore. :)

Look how strong this baby girl is. Ignore the middle finger there. She really does love tummy time. :)