2008 wrap up!

So today is the day to think about what the past year has been and how we are going to tackle the next year. It is really amazing how time seems to fly by but then the moments, every day seem to go VERY SLOW!

For us 2008 has been a very crazy year that honestly we did not expect most everything that happened. That is life though, right? Let me warn you now that this post is extremely long and a bit boring so please feel free to stop reading now if you don't want to. We understand!:)


This is a medium size summary of 2008 for the Phippen Family:

Jan: Claire had her MRI at McKay Dee Hospital...I thought I was the most paranoid mom and felt horrible to have my little baby girl undergo the whole sedation process.

Feb: Claire got diagnosed with porencephaly and left sided hemiparesis. So started our journey of having a child with special needs.

March: Emma turned 3 with the craziest Princess party. She is still talking about it!:) Claire started physical, and occupation therapy once-twice a week. New schedules for us all!

April: Maria starts to investigate hippotherapy and looks into buying a pony. Kent decides to quite his current job at the time and start working on the opening of GO MOTORS!

May: Kent graduates from the U of U (yah!!!) and Pocket arrives to Crestwood Farms and becomes our first official pet. (We don't go half way in this house...no fish or turtle for us!:)

June: Maria turns 28, Hannah gets married to Toby (about time!) and Go Motors officially opens! Claire is diagnosed with speech apraxia and we are told she might not ever speak.


July: Kent turns 28 and we celebrate our 6th year of marriage! Maria is in charge of the Utah Suzuki Harp Institute and Emma attends her first Suzuki Harp Institute. She does tip over her harp but thankfully no other harps fell!!! The whole family runs in the Kaysville 4th of July 5K. Kent and Maria attend the DHS class of 98 10 year high school reunion. It was really fun!

August: Watkins Family trip to Portland, Maria's first time traveling alone with the kids as Kent got sick. Maria and Kent went to Maine to see Wheeler get married! What a fun weekend. Anyone looking for a great place to visit I strongly suggest Camden, Maine. BEAUTIFUL! Maria finishes her 1/2 marathon which was the main goal.

September: Claire starts hippotherapy at the National Ability Center and LOVES IT! Emma starts pre-school and wishes she could go all the time. Kent starts to take every other Saturday off. Yah!!! Maria plays "My Fair Lady" at PMT and starts teaching harp lessons in the morning and not after school.

October: Claire starts to take a few steps and can say "GO"! Emma switches up costumes a million times so we don't really know until the day before what she wants to be for Halloween! Kent and Maria find out we are having twins!

November: Claire starts to walk a bit more and say a few more things. Thanksgiving at the Kreiger's and Maria trying to struggle through the first few months of pregnancy. Kent and Go Motors are still in tact and weathering the economy.

December: We find out we are having a BOY and GIRL! Claire turns 2! Claire really starts to walk almost all the time now and can say more than 5 words! (See June post where they told us she wouldn't speak!) Emma performs in her first harp recital and does great! Kent and Go Motors has the best month they have had since opening!!! HURRAY! Kent gets his Wii for Christmas and is thrilled. (Maria is also thrilled and enjoying MarioKart much more than anticipated!)


That is our year in a nutshell. If you have made it this far in reading sorry it reads more of a Christmas card but since I didn't get them out this year then consider this it.

We love all of our friends and family and are looking forward to 2009 and all the craziness it will bring. Happy New Year!
love,
the phippens

Christmas Symphony and Emma's First Harp Recital!!!

This past weekend we went to the Santa Symphony with the Utah Symphony. If you haven't heard of it or haven't gone it is a really fun tradition we have started last year with our girls and LOVE IT!
There are tons of kids and families and we decided to take both girls this year. The orchestra plays some really fun numbers such as Nutcracker Suite and Sleigh Ride. They also have a sing along at the end which Santa comes and sings/conducts the kids to sing carols. Emma was thrilled to see him and took his order of Chocolate chip cookies without nuts very seriously. You all know what we are going to be doing on Wednesday!

Then tonight was my annual harp students recital. It was especially fun since Hannah's studio joined mine. Emma also performed and it was the first public performance for her. I have to tell you that for all the hard work we have done this past year on Taka Taka Jump Jump, the thing I was most worried about was her knocking her harp off the stage! She did AWESOME!!! She was totally careful and just got up and did her thing. She played beautifully and even smiled when she bowed. What more could I ask of my 3 yr old? I was totally proud and very happy to have an intact harp at the end!

The rest of the students did a great job as well and we had 32 total students perform. I am relieved it is over though until next year...

Claire Update

Claire one year ago...before we knew

Claire 2 weeks ago


Today we had an appointment with a Pediatric Neurologist at Primary Children's Hospital and I am happy to report that all was well. I have been trying for about 10 months to get into this Dr. that I had so many people tell me was great and I just want to tell you that he was as good as people told me. If any of you have a need for a pediatric neurosurgeon/neurologist Dr. Filloux is the one to go to!

He spent 45 min with Kent and I looking over all of Claire's MRI's from last year and explained exactly what he thought she would be capable of doing and why certain things were happening. Can I just tell you how great it was to have someone who really knows the field explain to us about our daughter! AMAZING! He told us a couple of things that just brought a smile to both our faces. One is that he thinks she will be able to speak all in good time. He is not 100% sure as nothing is certain with the brain but he thinks that because of the size of the hole the other side of her brain (the side with the language) is probably overworking to compensate so the things that should be coming naturally such as language is just going to take longer. I am happy to wait with the idea that it will come in it's own time. He also said that the part of her brain that controls cognitive thinking such as learning disabilities, reading, etc. is totally fine and that as long as her speech develops then she should be good to go to "regular" school. (I put it in "" because come on, is there ever anything regular?)

Another good thing he told us is that she is at low risk to have seizures as the hole is inside the brain and not on the outside. What a RELIEF!!!! In all it was such a great appointment and I can't say that for every appointment that we have had on this journey but the good ones make it worth all the bad ones.

In all to sum it up this season has been a season of tiny miracles in our life and this appointment and the info we were given would be one I would chalk up on that board of miracles! Merry Christmas everyone! Hope your season has tiny miracles scattered throughout as well.

We are having.....

So I was told this week by a few people that you don't blog about having twins and then just never respond after that! I apologize that I haven't posted sooner about the pregnancy but seriously I have been so tired and just void of telling you all anything that those of you who have been pregnant before don't know! Morning sickness sucks! Being tired sucks! Having your kids being babysat by Dora and Max and Ruby sucks!

However today we found out information worthy of blogging as well as making all the above complaints about pregnancy worth it. We found out this morning that we are 100% sure that we are having a BOY and 90-95% that we will have another GIRL!!!!

I am thrilled to experience motherhood of a son and more than happy to have another little girl. They are also healthy and measuring totally on schedule. They are about the same size and are measuring about 16 weeks. (I will be 17 weeks on Saturday~) The Dr. told us that they are two totally different people and that they both decided to come down at the same time rather than take turns. I laughed because they both probably knew that if only one would have come then the other might never had made it here. We might have stopped at 3!!!

So, now we need some help. Does anyone have any name suggestions at all? We are totally stumped especially on the boy front. We are open and would appreciate any ideas! Emma has offered Clementine and Hal and those two are both out of the running so sorry for those who were going to suggest them!

Thanks everyone. I have included a picture of me pregnant at 13 weeks and one at 16 weeks. (As a apology to those who have actually wanted to know how it is all going!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!!!

Today Claire turns 2. It has been a bit of an emotional time with me (hormones I think:) but to look back on the year we have had with Claire and our family I can't help but be amazed at how courageous and unbelievable my 2nd daughter is.

It has been fun to watch her grow and learn and discover new ways to do things that most of us take for granted that our kids just know. Such as walking and talking. I am happy to report that our goal was to have her walking by her second birthday and while it is not the mode of transportation she chooses on a day to day basis, she can walk down the hall when she needs to. She has also started to say a couple of words such as "go", "whoa" and most recently "bye".

I know all of you who have kids will understand my next statement...My daughter has taught me more in this past year than I feel like I have learned the past 5 years. I am so grateful to have her in our family and to have her smile brighten my day!

WE LOVE YOU CLAIRE!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

love,
mom, dad and emma

New Additions

Does life ever stop getting crazy or do you just have to adjust?

For the past couple of months I have been trying to wrap my head around the prospect of having 3 children. Yes, Kent and I are expecting. I feel like it took me a couple of months because of how everyone tells you how hard 3 is. So you can only imagine what happened last week when the Dr. told me that we are actually having 2 babies! TWINS!!!!
It is very crazy and I can't believe it but that is what is happening in our house. We are only a couple of months along so hopefully everything will go well, but we are looking at doubling our family in late April, early May. We have no idea how we are going to do it and are once again just realizing that we will have to adjust and just go with it. We feel that if Heavenly Father has blessed us with these two babies then he has faith in us so we should have faith in ourselves.

So here is to having 4 kids 4 and under!!!!

Food Storage Anyone?

So since recent world events have been happening, (you all know of them, I don't really need to remind) Kent and I have once again been reminded and kicking ourselves for not being better prepared. How long have we been told to get our homes, families and lives prepared by having food storage and how long have we been procrastinating?

We have decided that procrastination is no longer an option, so we are going to take the plunge and get our rears in gear. I have found out today by researching our options for the year supply of food storage that we are not alone in this boat! While that makes me feel happy that we are not the only ones, I also realize that we need to be quick about it so that there is something left for those of us in the procrastinating arena.

Here is my question to the blogging world. What do you do for food storage and emergency preparedness? I have checked out the websites www.providentliving.org as well as the Emergency Essentials website. (just a side note, if you live in Utah and go to there store things are much cheaper than online) I have been to Costco this morning pricing out things I would feel my family would eat as well as the idea of having a separate freezer in the garage. Does anyone have any other ideas? I am open to all suggestions and please...don't judge us because we have been listening but not acting for far too long. :) We all ready know that!

My Little Equestrians

For those of you who don't know this little known fact about me, I used to ride horses. When I was in grade school I was a member of Crestwood Pony Club, which is an organization that teaches young kids how to care, ride and compete in English riding. Growing up in cowboy country did not really make you popular among the horse people and to be honest I never really LOVED it like my sisters did. Which is why I find it so interesting that my family is into horses once again this time with a small shetland pony, a huge Norwegian Fjord and a husband and dad who is allergic to horses. Yes, Kent has told me that I am solo on this route of lessons.

So yesterday Emma had another riding lesson at Grandma's barn on Pocket with her awesome teacher Mitchell. (another Pony Cluber, and a lot better than me!) Then today Claire had her therapy session on Rebekah Dill at the National Ability Center. Both of my girls are doing great and really enjoying the horses. I am enjoying the time that I get to spend with them riding. It is amazing how things come full circle isn't it.

I have included two pictures, one of Emma on Pocket and the other of Claire on Dill. You will have to click on Claire's picture to see her but yes, she is riding the horse backwards. Something I never did or tried!

Packs Pumpkin Patch

Last night we went to the pumpkin patch as a family. It was so much fun and one I really enjoy. I am so into traditions and love making new ones with my own family. This is one! We have been going for 3 years now, ever since Emma was born and it is so much fun to see how each year Emma gets more excited. This year was no exception!

She was pretty choosy about which pumpkins she took and which ones didn't make the cut. Eventually though she chose the ones that would grace our front steps and I must say she did a very good job. My little designer and fashionista is something else!:)

Claire update...she took 10 steps this past weekend and is starting to get a little more courage every day. I can't wait until she is up and going. She is also starting to try and say a few more things. It is amazing to me how excited Kent, Emma and I get at each and every sound she makes.

Emma, my Prima Donna

This past month has flown by so fast I can't believe that next week is October! We have had a great month playing, starting preschool, decorating for the fall and just enjoying our time.

In the past month Emma decided that she was going to be a ballerina for Halloween. I don't have any idea where she got this idea but am more than happy to buy a ballerina costume that will actually work or when she starts dance! So today we went to the store to pick out her leotard and I realized (I don't know why I didn't catch on before!) that she had definate opinions about her costume. I was naturally going for a long sleeved leotard while she as insistant on have a sleeveless black one. We made a compromise and she got the sleeveless but realizes that she will need to wear a sweater when the actual day comes around! She looked so cute today trying it on and then for the past 3 hours just dancing around and showing me what she could do. I don't think I ever was that excited about any Halloween costume I had. In my family you always had to go to the basement and figure out a costume from the hand me downs. I was never anything really exciting and I don't think my mom ever made or bought me a costume. I didn't realize that there was anything different!:)

On a side note, Claire this past Tuesday took 5 steps on her own!!!! Yes, I know that it was only 5 but she was holding the hula hoop at kindermusic and all of a sudden she was walking. Of course when she realized that she had done it she fell down crying but I am so thrilled! The day of not having to carry her everywhere is coming soon. I can feel it:)

Emma's 1st day of Pre-school

Last Thursday Emma had her first official day of pre-school. I say official because on Tuesday she had a meet and greet with her teacher. She is quite lucky because she has one of her best friends and neighbors Luke in her class. As Luke's parents and I took the kids in I did not expect to fill a little bit sad.
Emma on the other hand was soooooo excited that she set her clothes out the night before with everything. Her undies and head band along with shoes, dress and sweater, "in case she gets chilly". When I took her to her class I helped her hang her backpack on the rack and she just waltzed right in never looking back. I would like to think that I have raised such a strong and independent little girl but I do realize that the majority of her confidence comes from her personality.

In a nut shell, I am so happy that Emma is now getting to go to school 2 days a week and sad that she really is growing up. The days seem long but the time truly does fly by.

Logan 1/2 marathon

On August 23 I achieved a goal I set for myself last April. I wanted to try and get back in to shape since I haven't been since high school and started running again. With the help of my cousin Alan and Elizabeth's running advice I set small goals with the big goal being to run a 1/2 marathon. I didn't need to do it fast, I just wanted to run the entire way and have the sense of accomplishment of running 13 miles.

So here are the pictures to prove it! I ran with Kent's niece Ally and her dad Jeff. They were awesome and I was so happy to have company. Now I need help...does anyone have any other ideas of how to stay motivated with the fitness program? I am not sure I am ready for a full marathon (since I swore I would never run one!) but need something. I work much better with goals!

If you have any ideas I am always open to suggestions!:)

Long day of therapy

This past summer has been the craziest summer since I can remember! Besides Kent starting his business, my students and the girls lessons we had harp institute (which I was in charge of), high school reunion-10 year (I also helped with that one), 9 days in Wisconsin for Suzuki teacher training, a weekend with the girls and my family in Portland, Oregon and then the next weekend in Camden, Maine with Kent for my cousin's wedding. CRAZY!

We survived (barley) and now are getting back to a routine of lessons, therapy and preschool next week.

Yesterday was our consultation for the hippotherapy program at the National Ability Center in Park City. We have been on their waiting list since March and were so thrilled when they called a week or two ago with the news that they had a spot for us! So Claire and I headed up to check it out and is was fantastic. Kim, the therapist was so sweet and energetic that you couldn't help but be convinced that you were in the right place. Claire rode a Norwegian Fjord named Rebekah and only cried when they had her riding backwards. Let's be honest though, who wouldn't be scared to ride a horse backwards?!

Then we came home and had a short nap before we headed off to physical therapy with Lisa. Claire did a great job and is really close to walking I think. I am posting the picture of her after a long day of therapy with her big gulp. What baby doesn't need a big gulp?:)

Emma on the other hand spent the day with our amazing babysitter Danielle. She has been the lifesaver for our family this summer. She took Emma to her house to play then took her to the movies. They had a lot of fun and it was so nice to know that Emma was getting a fun day out with Danielle. We will miss her as this is her last week and she is heading back to college.

I don't know about you but I am really liking the school starting, and the craziness of summer over. Someone remind me to "just say no" so next summer isn't the same!:)

I've been tagged!

So I just got tagged by my friend Jamie Doggett! Thanks for including me Jamie.:) Here my answers as of today.

MY JOYS
1. My greatest joy is my family. I have been really blessed with a patient and supportive husband and two amazing little girls. They all keep me balanced and in check of reality. I am lucky I have this! I am also extremely blessed to have a wonderful extended family on both sides that I learning from and leaning on in my times of need.
2. The gospel. I have times in my life where I think I totally get how important it is to me but then I seem to go on "cruise control" and get things thrown at me that keep me realizing how important this is to me and how much joy it can give me.
3. Harps! This is a joy as well as an obsession for me. My family can attest to this fact. I love the harp! I love playing it, teaching it, talking about it and really almost anything to do with it. Once in awhile, (like this summer) I get a little bit too much harp but for the most part I am pretty much obsessed with it knowing that it brings me so much joy!

FEARS
1. My greatest fear is that Kent will die before me and then I have to figure out life as a single parent.
2. My other fears are that something will happen to my kids.
3. Mice. This is seriously a fear of mine. If you ever see me with any type of rodent I will freeze up like a statue and it will take me at lest 5 min before I thaw out.

CURRENT OBSESSIONS
1. The Twilight series. I LOVE these books. I know these books bring on a strong feeling either for or against, but I haven't been able to put these books down for the last couple of years. I have forgotten how many times I have read each book. Simply put, I love these books. (Probably the escape of reality once in awhile!:))
2. Harps. See above paragraph about my joy and obsession on harps.
3. Candy. I love candy so much. If you come to my house it is like Willy Wonka's. I can't help it. My mom didn't buy it as a kid and I think it is my way of rebeling.

SURPRISING FACTS
1. I like my friend Jamie am pretty much an open book so most people know everything about me. I think one surprising fact might be that in my first year of music school in London, I almost went and got a tatoo. I know that most of you think I am bluffing, but I am quite serious. I was going to have a butterfly put on my right foot. I know, not original but it was my idea of rebelling. I opted instead to get my haircut all off which was not a good look for me and took me the other 3 years of school to grow out.
2. Some of you may know this but most may not. When I was 14 years old I performed a concerto in the Sydney Opera House in Sydney. It was so amazing and a good thing that I was to young to get really nervous.
3. The only other thing I can think of involves Kent and I am not sure he would want me to post it. If you have to know, call me and I will tell you what it is!

INTERESTING FACT ABOUT JAMIE
I knew Jamie when we were both single in Britannia Ward in London. She was one of the most friendly and happy people I ever met. She is also a loyal friend who is a very straight talker. A good person to have on your side!:)

PEOPLE I'VE TAGGED
1. Sarah
2. Padgett
3. Dree
4. Elizabeth
5. Jorgs

Our life as we will know it...for now!

So once again it has been awhile since I have written and I am reminded about my journal keeping. I am not great at that and am not really great at blogging either. It is still fun and a good outlet.:)

Kent and I have had some crazy things happen in our lives the past few months and I have debated about sharing it with the blogging world. Then my sister E told me about another blog that has helped us so much and she said we should share in case it can help others. So I will fill you in and hopefully this will all make sense!

In January I took my second little girl Claire to a doctor to get a second opinion. She had not ever really used her left hand and our first ped. kept telling me that she was just right handed. Since I am not a doctor I believed him and went on with my life. He told me this at the 6, 9 and 12 month visits. After the 12 month visit I just didn't feel right, so that is why we got a second opinion. Sarah and Mike told us of a ped to go to and he was awesome! He said that it didn't seem right and ordered an MRI. I was totally freaked out because doing an MRI on a baby ment they needed to sedate her. That was my biggest concern at the time! Little did I know!:)

So on February 12 our lives changed as we knew it. Claire was diagnosed with Porencephaly and left sided hemi-paresis. I know, a lot of big words and things I totally didn't know were possible! Bascially they found that she had a rather large hole in the right side of her brain and because of that the left side of her body was half paralysed. That is why she never used her left hand!

So since March we have been doing physical and occupational therapy and in those sessions they have discovered that the hand is not the only thing affected by this brain disorder. Her left leg as well as her entire left side of her trunk is weak as well. So we are now working with Claire every day to try and help her learn to walk as well as learn to use her left hand. Along the way I also discovered that she LOVED horses. This is where I get slightly crazy!:) We decided to start hippotherapy which is occupation and physical therapy done on horses. That is where Pocket came into our lives. I felt very strongly that we needed to buy Pocket and use him with Claire as well as Emma. That is the other side of my story. How do you balance one child who has special needs without not paying as much attention to the other child? I am still trying to figure this one out. So Emma started her own riding lessons and Claire started hippotherapy. She has been doing pretty good with all her therapy and loves the horse therapy. Kent and I had a handle on our new life and felt like we were going to be OK.

Then we went to her 18 mo visit and our new ped. told us that we needed to go in for a speech evaluation. Like the MRI I had no inclination that there was somthing wrong but thay maybe we would need to do some speech therapy and work on the sounds and everything. Well the speech pathalogist at the Primary Children's Rehab Center diagnosed Claire with Developmental Speech Apraxia. Again, I felt like this was another moment like Feb 12 where I just went through the motions and later on realized what she was saying. Apraxia is a motor speech disorder where the brain can't send the signals to the mouth to make the movements needed to speak! So we are now coming to grips that our daughter might not be able to speak. She might and we are hoping that she will but are preparing ourselves for the possibility that she might not. We are starting baby signing classes next week as well as have a renewed sense of need to get her left hand to work as she will need that hand to sign. Isn't amazing how much everything in the body and mind interact with each other?!

So we don't know really where we are headed! We wish there was a booklet or someone to tell us exactly what the next step will be or when the next thing that she can't do will come to our attention but I do know this...that we are not alone! We have been so deeply touched by the outpouring of love from our families and friends! We have also realized that we have been so blessed with all that we have. That Claire is a fighter and that her personality is such that she will not let this stop her so we have to take her cue and follow suit. We have also realized that the Lord know us personally. He know what we are going through and that he will make sure we have what we need at the time we need it to help us. It has really been amazing how much we know this and rely on it daily!

So this is our life as we are trying to know and understand it. We are just trying to have the patience to realize that we can't figure it all out now and that we will have to wait!

I just wanted to let you know that the blog that Liz told us about that has helped me keep it all in prespective is called www.charliecooper.blogspot.com.

Thanks to everyone! We love you all!!!!

A lot of stuff has been happening in the Phippen Fam the past few weeks so I apologize for not writing sooner!

Kent officially opened his car dealership on June 2.  It is named Go Motors and it is in Bountiful.  He is soooooo happy that I can't help but be happy.  The hours are long in my opinion but I am so thrilled at how it is going so far.  Kent is pretty chuffed as well!:)

Summer has come and that means Cherry Hill, Lagoon and swimming at grandma Simmons.  What a life our girls have!  Today they went to Cherry Hill this morning with Danielle, (our fantastic babysitter), and Lagoon tonight while I was trying to spend a couple of hours with the girls and waiting for Kent to come home.  It was really fun.  In case you want to know, Lagoon on Tuesday night is great!  The girls rode every ride twice!

I have learned how to trailer Pocket.  Pocket is our small Shetland Pony for Claire's therapy.  If you have any questions what a therapy pony is, just ask Emma.  She will tell anyone she can about "Polly Pocket.  Claire's therapy pony!"  It is pretty funny when your 3 yr old has therapy in her vocabulary!:)   So, anyway, last Thursday night I successfully loaded Pocket in the trailer and drove it to therapy and back again.  I am so proud of myself of this new skill I have learned. I feel like a total cowgirl!  Now all I have to do is learn how to back up and unhitch it. :) Who would have thought I would have ever been able to do this?!

Well, this is a small smattering of our lives these past couple of weeks.  I know it is random and not very well organized but you know, that is how our life is right now.  Random and organized chaos!:)  Does anyone else have that going on?

Dad's 72nd!

So today is my dad's 72nd birthday.  It is amazing because to me he will always be 50 and young and not in the 70's!  He threw a party this evening and invited all of his friends.  When I say all, I mean all 170!:)  At first I felt overwhelmed by the amount of people then I realized that dad is amazing.  What a great way to celebrate life. Not just the number of years you have been here on earth, but how many connections you have made.  The friends, family and loved ones who were there to support and honor my father was truly inspirational.  I can only hope that when I am 72 I can throw a party and have half as many people as dad had tonight.  So Happy birthday DAD I love you and thank you for all you have done for me and my family!!!!  I am so lucky to have you as my dad!

 

Love,

Maria

Emma's new haircut

So Emma got a new haircut yesterday. She has been fighting me about doing her hair everyday for the past year and I have finally given up! So we went to the new children's salon in Bountiful, Cookie Cutters. They are AWESOME!!!! She sat still the entire time, got her hair washed in a fire truck and got to watch the Barbie movie while sitting in pink car. What more could you ask for? Me, I loved the fact that she now can brush her own hair and I don't have to fight this fight every day. At least until the next haircut is needed!

On another note, I couldn't help but take a picture of Claire today. She is blonde and I don't know what to do with a blonde so I found her old swimhat from last summer to go out to the park today. It was the only hat I have found that she will wear and since she needed something I figured that would work. She had a great time and didn't get burned!

We are open for business!

Hi Everyone! So I have decided to join the fastlane and start a blog! I know, Crazy, but I feel like a bit of a sneak. So many months now checking out everyone else's blogs and lives and realizing how cool everyone else seems and how many interesting things people are doing. You have all made me want to join in hopes that our family will one day be interesing as well!:)

The reason we have called our blog Denbigh Road is because that is the road that Kent and I lived on our first year of marriage in London. Denbigh is in the burrough of Ealing which is a 10 min train ride away from London or a 45 min tube ride depending on the day:) We loved Ealing, and Denbigh and have decided that it would serve the purpose of having our blog name.

So to Becki....here goes nothing!