The zoo

 The Thomson family headed to the zoo with new baby Sienna and the whole crew!

 Ever since Gracie asked Lila what her favorite animal was and she smiled when she got to "giraffe" we have loved these graceful giants. I think they fit the little one pretty well. Quiet, elegant creatures with a big presence and long eyelashes to boot.

 Lila loves the sunshine. Every time we pulled up her sunshade she gave a huge smile.

 Cool pic huh?

 I can't believe my nephew Ben is this old!! Crazy.

 Rocky shores was pretty awesome

 It was baby Sienna's first trip to the zoo. Its tradition to bring the new little ones to the zoo as a family. Isn't she adorable?

Calder loves Benny. He was so cute all day. When Calder is cuddly you have to jump on it.
I also love that you can see Gracie in the background taking care of Lila. She is such a sweetheart to her.

Three Winks Studio

 This is Lila "talking"

One of the best gifts that anyone could give our family is photos. This past month we had two wonderful opportunities to get family pics done. One was a gift from our dear friend Nikki (hopefully I will post those soon) and one was from the fabulous three winks studios.
A few weeks ago I attended a funeral of an older gentlemen from my ward growing up, while there I ran into some childhood friends including Stacy Young. She is now a talented photographer with her own studio (three winks) in the city. She very generously offered to take photos of Lila. I was so touched by the gesture but really didn't want to bother her. She was persistent and called a week later to see if we could schedule a session. Here is her amazing work!
I am always so in awe of what artists can do. Lila was in no mood to smile -despite her gorgeous new dress- but Stacy still managed to get some beautiful shots, including the small smile at the bottom! Thank you so much Stacy!!! You will never know how much this means to us. To have Lila's image forever is priceless. Thank you!
Please check out Three Winks Studio

Indiegogo and PGD

The Indiegogo campaign that Quinn's friend and co worker Jeff set up ended a few days ago and I would just like to say Thank you!!!! Thank you to everyone who donated. It was incredible to see friends, acquaintances and total strangers come to our aide. The site raised just over 5000 dollars! How sweet and wonderful it has been to watch such selfless acts of service.  We are truly humbled.

During this campaign I have had several questions as to the process of pre-genetic diagnosis or PGD, since I just got off the phone with two genetic counselors, talking about the whole process I thought I would update everyone and also tell where we are in the mix. With PGD we will undergo the "normal" invitro (IVF) process. Extracting eggs from me and sperm from Quinn they will put them together and make embryos.  As our little embryos grow in their dish one cell with be extracted and shipped overnight to a lab in Chicago. There researchers will test each cell to determine which embryo is affected with Vici. After the results (which will take 24 hours) they will let the docs here know which ones will be safe to implant and they will implant healthy embryos and hope for the best.
Here is why it gets so pricey since Vici is so rare there is no already set test to test for it. So we will have to pay for the test to be made, then pay to test the embryos for the mutation all of which is on top of the already high price of IVF. So the money raised from the indiegogo campaign is very much needed and very much appreciated! Luckily we can enroll in the guarantee program with our facility where they give us about six tries (for a bit higher price than one round of IVF) to get a baby. If it doesn't work we get most of our money (excluding all the money for fertility drugs) back. In which case we will have more money and more options for adoption. 
Does it seem like a long emotional process? It sure does to me. I am so nervous to even start. The lab believes that they will be done creating the test by August. I'm not so convinced but if so that could mean that we could be pregnant by fall. What a miracle! Please keep us in your prayers. We are hoping that all will go well but our track record is making it very hard for me to be optimistic. If it does work you future kiddos of mine better know how desperately you were wanted and just how much you put your parents through before you were ever even born! 

happy fathers day!

Happy fathers day Quinn! Remember when you held that little peanut for the first time? We never could have guessed what life was about throw at us.  But despite all the challenges you have been the best dad to our little angel girl! She lights up around you. Giving precious smiles and laughs whenever she is able. Thanks so much for being such a great daddy! Thank you for keeping us all together and for being Lila's and my rock. We sure are lucky! love you.

29 is pretty fun

 Usually as you get older birthdays are a bit anti-climatic but I had a blast this birthday. Thanks to the peps who hung out with me! In the morning these lovely ladies ( Barb, Liz, Nikki and Lindsey ) surprised me and took me to breakfast. That made my day. Thanks Liz for organizing it! You guys are such good friends. I felt like we were back in high school.  It really meant a lot to me ladies. Thank you!

 Then I hung out with these two great friends in the afternoon.

 Quinn took me to my favorite Sushi place that night, and Little Miss was so sweet and didn't cry for us the whole time we were eating. she must have known it was mommy's birth day.

 On Thursday Quinn kept the party going and we headed up to Park City for some yummy food right on main street and a ride down the alpine slide ( Thanks Auntie Riss for watching Lila! ) We had so much fun. I totally beat Quinn on the slide, even with him cheating!

 I thought Quinn was being so cute giving me a kiss on the ski lift, it was after I was downloading the pic that I saw it was a lick!

Thursday we went to dinner with some friends in the neighborhood. (blogger wouldn't let me put this caption under the right picture ) These ladies, LaRisse, Cynthia and Lena have been my Monday night bachelorette buddies. We get together to watch the show but most of the time it is forgotten and we talk till two in the morning laughing and sobbing. They have been an incredible support system. They also inspire me. They have been through a lot.

The last pic is our niece Poppy showing Lila her care bears. We got that pic while we were in park city. It has been such a blessing to have incredibly supportive family. thank you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTI!!!

 

To my best friend and the best woman I will ever know, I hope for you a Birthday filled with love and happiness (and some serious treats). You have embraced life's challenges with such grace and have succeeded in more ways than you can know. On your day baby Lila and I want you to know we love you dearly

Kurtz family

 The Kurtz family has been our real life angels. Their baby James had Vici syndrome. Diagnosed when he was five months old Nichole got a hold of Dr.Vici's email and sent him a message. He got her in touch with the Docs in the UK. Because of her we have a diagnosis and maybe the chance to have healthy children in the future. How can you thank someone for that? We love this family so much!
Joseph was having a mining convention in Price and they made the drive up to see us. As soon as they walked in I felt like I had known them for years. It was amazing that they were even here considering how rare Vici syndrome is. I think there are only three of us in the US, so to have a Vici family at our home was pretty remarkable. Thank you guys so much for coming! It was so nice to talk to people who could completely understand what we are going, and have gone through.  It was wonderful to hear about James. What a sweet boy. It was crazy to hear how much he and Lila are alike. I am sure they are kindred spirits.

 Sweet Joseph was so cute with Lila. He kept kissing her and handing her toys. He also kept telling me about his little brother James.

 Joseph wanted in on the picture.

 Joe had the magic touch. Lila started getting sad so he took her and tried a little trick that use to work on baby James. She completely calmed down and actually fell asleep!

They gave Lila this sweet little bracelet and us a sign that state. "While we teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about" How true that is! We love these special angels!

memorial day in George (and a picture overload)

 We took Lila swimming for the first time! The Sweet Williams family invited us to go swimming at their family's house down in St George. It was so fun. Look at this little fish. She takes after her uncle Mikey! She would be a great backstroker. She floated like a champ. I think she liked it. She fell asleep! I bet getting all her weight and pressure off her little body just made her super comfy.   
Thanks Nikki and Callahan! we had so much fun. Thanks to Nikki for taking so many pics for us. We forgot our camera and the i phone was ok but Nikki's pics are great! Thanks! 

 A little tired after a day of swimming

 Caroline was Lila's swimming buddy. Those suits are adorable!

Thanks to Nikki and Callahan for hanging out with us for the weekend. You guys are such good friends and amazing supports. It was inspirational to see Callahan walking around a year after his bike accident where he was told he may never walk or use his arms again. Miracles happen!

 Snuggling in to take a nap.

 enjoying the red rocks of Dixie.

 We went hiking around snow canyon. I have never been there  (sorry mom and dad if you have and I just don't remember) It was so beautiful.