a night at the aquarium

Monday night our local aquarium hosted a free night for children with autism and their families to come after hours and walk and enjoy the animals. One of Fisher's favorite things is water. Add a couple fish and some bubbles and he loves it even more.

This boy could seriously just sit and watch fish swim and bubbles float in water for hours.


I love just watching them.

I am so thankful that our aquarium hosted such a wonderful night for my family and for so many other families. It was a great and wonderful experience and their kindness just absolutely amazes me.

spring flowers

Sunday afternoon we decided to go down to beautiful Temple Square to get some pictures of the boys with the blooming flowers. The boys didn't really want to get their pictures taken, they wanted to run and  play instead. Good thing the flowers were beautiful and it smelled just absolutely amazing!

The day was just beautiful and perfect. It was so nice to just get out and get some fresh air.

And thank you Spring for bringing such gorgeous flowers!!

dino-mite party!

This weekend we celebrated Chase turning 2! We had a fun dinosaur party at our local park and invited all of our good friends and adopted grandparents and aunts to come party with us!

I had a fun time planning and putting together this fun little party. I am so thankful for all of our friends offering to bring yummy food and snacks for all of us to munch on! And the swamp water punch... a yummy drink indeed!! 

We decided to do a dino-egg hunt for all of the kids. It was so much fun to watch them all run around looking and collecting brightly colored eggs hidden throughout the park.

Inside each little egg was a brightly colored dinosaur that the kids got to keep and take home!

After the egg hunt it was cupcake time! In true fashion, I couldn't find the candles I packed till after we sang and ate cupcakes, but Chase didn't mind... he loved digging in!

I made chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes from scratch and they were A-MAZ-ing! Seriously, so yummy!!

We had such a fun time celebrating and being with such great friends. We are so going to miss partying with our close friends here, I am so glad that this was such a fun one to remember!

discovering

Yesterday I helped volunteer for Fisher's feildtrip to the discovery center at the Gateway. He loved it!! I loved it! It was just us two for a couple of hours. I just enjoyed every minute, watching him run and play, explore and just smile with excitement. It was such a trip for both of us.

The minute we got there Fisher looked and watch with wonderment. His head was constantly looking up, there was so much to see and watch!

His favorite parts of the whole place was playing in the water, hoarding all of the toys, or walking around with this popping thing. Seriously... it took a little while to get him to explore and play with more. But he loved it!

I absolutely loved watching him. I wish I could figure out what he is thinking...

And can I just tell you how much I am loving that baby girl has found and is loving her feet?! It is so cute and I just love it!! 

So cute!!

Hope you are all having a great week!!

packing up

As many of you already know, we Crowders are moving out to the mid-west. Wayne was offered a wonderful opportunity to work in his corporate office doing the work he is so passionate and so excited to be involved in. After much deliberation and prayers, we agreed that this would be a wonderful move for both Wayne and our family.

We were able to work with the school district in Kansas City to get Fisher into another great program for autistic children. Although we are so sad to see him leave the wonderful school he is in now, we feel like this new program will be just as good and we are excited to see him grow and shine in this new place.

I know that we still have a few more months here in beautiful Utah with our amazing friends, who have become our family here, but it hit me yesterday just knowing that those two months aren't really a whole lot of time. I will be sad to leave all of my great friends here, the mountains, the beautiful weather and the quick drive to Colorado.

But I know that this opportunity is a great one, and it is one that will help us grow and develop as a family. 

We will definitely miss Utah and always remember it. It was our first home as a family. It's where our children were born. It's were most of our memories and wonderful moments were created. We will miss it, but I am sure we will be back! They always come back... right?

i am going to pretend that it's NOT snowing outside

I am going to pretend that the white stuff that is falling from the dark clouds in the sky is not snow. I am SO over it and I am not going to let it win.

Instead, I am going to post pictures from last Friday, when it was a wonderful 73 degrees and the sun was out so we ventured out too.

Seriously. We made sure to take plenty advantage of that wonderful weather and day.

We went and met friends and played and run and just loved being at the park.

Thank you sunshine!


We hurried after wonderful naps to make it to the zoo so we could walk and watch the animals. We remembered what a wonderful treat it is to be able to ride our favorite animal up and down on the carousel.

Thank you wonderful weather!


We ran around and even went to the park after dinner, because it was still that nice outside!

Thank you, thank you spring for finally showing up!

Yes, so I am just going to relive those happy days with the wonderful sun and hope that this snow decides that it doesn't want to stay too long, we have a lot more fun things we need to do!!

awareness

April is Autism Awareness month and April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day, and tonight and tomorrow night prominent buildings across North America and the world — including the Empire State Building in New York City and the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada — will turn their lights blue to raise awareness for autism.

As many of you know Autism is something that hits close to home here. Last March, our little Fisher was diagnosed with Autism and our world quickly changed. We always knew how special and unique our little guy truly was, we just had know idea that he would be diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. If you want to read more about our first discovery of Fisher's diagnosis you can read it here. 

It's crazy to think how many children our diagnosed with autism every year and yet many families struggle to find and get the help for these beautiful and unique children. I am a huge advocate to help make people more aware and to help more with answers and help.

So for today and even tomorrow, I say we all should help light it up blue and wear blue! Let's get more people aware!!

for more info on light it up blue and autism check out Light it up Blue