Here are some of our family highlights for 2014:
-McKinley had an emergency appendectomy in January. Her appendix had already been ruptured for 2-3 days before we found out, so we are thankful she is okay!
-LOTS of back and forth between Salt Lake and Cedar! I counted 7 trips we took up North and 7 times the Potts family came down here! We also made trips to Richfield & St. George to hang out with Jason's family. Thankful for so much family time!
-Watching the winter Olympics!
-The girls all chopping 12-14'' off their hair!
-Noelle Eve's entrance in our family - 4/8/2014
-Benson's visit
-We've worked HARD to get the side yard done on our house. What used to be a steep sage-brush filled hill is now leveled off with retaining walls, 2 long garden boxes with an automatic watering system, a nice RV pad and rock that goes through the RV pad, down the path & between the garden boxes. It looks SO wonderful! Especially compared to how it started! We had a pretty good garden crop, too! - especially for our first year.
-We've also been updating our home - changing out the "cabin" theme (though we are keeping that decor in case we do get a cabin one day) to a more modern, clean look. It's taken time & some guidance, but things are looking really great & we are loving the cleaner look and layout.
-We went on a few wonderful camping trips before we sold our trailer this year :( Hope to get another one next year.
-Our family sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" in the primary program this year.
-In October, for fall break, we went to Capitola, California!! We stayed in a beautiful beach house just a couple blocks from the beach. It was peaceful, magical, and healing. The perfect getaway. The girls loved hanging out and playing in the ocean. And the weather was almost too good to be true! We are so thankful for the amazing generosity that made that trip possible!!
*PLEASE SEE THE BOTTOM FOR A SLIDESHOW WITH PICTURES OF THESE HIGHLIGHTS :)
Jason:
Jason has really done a lot in his budget/finance position and earned a lot of respect there. A detail opportunity came available for a fleet management position in October and so he is currently performing that job and looking to possibly gain that job permanently. He really enjoys his job and the people he works with and all he is learning. He has also been a loving presence to two families in the forest service who lost children in 2014. Jason also enjoys his callings in the church - he is a scout leader and worked with both the priests and teachers. He had some really fun adventures, including a caving trip and a 50-mile hike in the High Uintas. Jason says his favorite thing about 2014 was our baby being born. And he's most looking forward to the possibility of getting the permanent gs-11 position.
Heidi:
Heidi continues to work through the mix of emotions that comes with still grieving plus learning to accept the joy that comes into her life as well - especially since the addition of Noelle to our family. She definitely does not fill the hole that Link left, but the amount of joy she has brought is amazing! Having a baby to hold, smell, kiss, etc is so healing. Heidi still spends much of her time running (she ran a half marathon with her dad in September), reading (afterlife books and fantasy books are her mainstay), engaging in support groups (both the share group locally and her SIDS mom group), working on birthday books, newsletters, and embracing the joys of parenthood - both the older ones with the projects, homework & field trips, and the younger ones with dolls, songs, diapers, and meals. Heidi worked in the primary this year until about August. Now, she is focusing on the Relief Society activity committee - she is the publicity coordinator & is in charge of the activity posters and invitations. Heidi also spends a good deal of her time being a human taxi - taking/picking up for both Kezia's preschool and North Elementary. Heidi's favorite memory from 2014 was our trip to Capitola. In 2015, she's looking forward to our 15 year anniversary (& hopefully a nice trip to celebrate)! :)
McKinley:
McKinley turned 9 years old on 9-9 this year! :) She is in Miss Heap's 3rd grade class and Miss Heap has nothing but wonderful things to say about McKinley. She is doing so well academically and is also such a great leader and friend. Her favorite school friends are Lindsey, Jaycee, Kaylin, and T-Nyla. They started a group called the Giggles Club. She sometimes goes to 4H, which is like an afterschool club where they make projects, go on field trips, and play games. She was a finalist in the North Elementary science fair with her static electricity project where they worked on generating enough static electricity to power a tiny lightbulb. We are sure thankful that McKinley's scare with her appendectomy is over! :( McKinley got a kit from Aunt Tiffany where she got to order some caterpillars. We got to watch them form into chrysalises and eventually into butterflies. It was really neat! McKinley decided she wanted to be in the Suessical Musical this year. She was a quail and she went to lots of rehearsals through the summer and finally performed in August. It was awesome!! The whole play was wonderful and McKinley did a great job and had fun meeting new people and being on stage. She is a great big sister and helps out with her younger sisters even when they don't listen to her ;) Her other good friends are Addison Bealer, Olivia Price, and Emma Beacham. McKinley also loves Activity Days & has made some awesome crafts and even made a quilt with her activity day friends for Noelle! McKinley is good at drawing, writing stories, and since we got a piano, she's learned quite a few songs by heart and can pick out the tune of songs she hears. We hope to get her in lessons soon! McKinley is so thoughtful & is still constantly making gifts, notes, surprises, and service projects for those around her. She is really loving her primary class with Brother & Sister Spencer & is really learning the scripture stories so well! At the end of the year, she got the award of excellence for her Reflections Contest entry - the theme was "The world would be a better place if..." and she took pictures with mom's camera of the beautiful things of this world and a picture of her tablet and placed a "no" symbol over it. McKinley's favorite thing about 2014 was Lagoon and she's most excited about seeing Aunt Tiffany and getting her ears pierced for her 10th birthday next year!
Ireland:
Ireland turned 7 years old this year! She is in Mrs. Willden's 2nd grade class and is doing really well. She is the top reader in her class (at a 4th grade level!) and is improving a lot in math! Unfortunately, her best friend at school (Drew) moved away and so she has been lonely lately at school. We are hoping and praying she will find a new good friend soon. Ireland did gymnastics in the summer and was doing really well! She was so close to getting her kickover and she started doing front flips on the trampoline. Her non-school friends are Shaylee, Emi, and Isabella and she loves to have late-overs with them. Ireland REALLY loved the ocean on our trip to the beach in October. It's possible she could have camped out there forever :) She has loved getting to see her cousins so much this year - especially Joshua. Ireland really LOVES her baby sister Noelle & is still constantly wanting to hold her and kiss her every day. She's still pretty infatuated with shoes :) Mom asked her to pick an outfit that she wanted to wear the first day of school, but she decided to wear her old clothes & just get a new pair of shoes instead! She has fun playing with Kezia - they still like to spend hours playing My Little Pony and Barbies. Ireland says her favorite part of 2014 was going to the ocean and she's most excited about getting baptized next year!
Kezia:
Kezia is now 5 and had quite the Anna & Elsa birthday - including a Frozen cake, Anna & Elsa dresses, and an Olaf pinata. She sure loves that movie! She also loves playing Barbies and Ponies. Kezia is attending South Elementary Preschool again this year and is now in Mrs. Clara's class. She is having fun and is really an awesome reader - she knows over a hundred sight words! Her preschool friends are Hadley and Emi. Her non-school friends are Adelaide Price and Paige Hillstead. She had her first lessons this year - swim lesssons - she did really well, but had a hard time staying above the water long enough to listen to her teacher. She's quite a little fish. Kezi loves her mommy and Kezi time in the morning before preschool. She loves to paint, color, draw, do puzzles, make crafts, and bake things. She is SUCH a thoughtful daughter. Almost not a day goes by that mom and/or dad doesn't get multiples drawings, colorings, or "tickets" to a "ball" or "show." :-) She also loves making things for her teachers and friends. She loves watching Jake & the Neverland Pirates, My Little Pony, and VeggieTales on Netflix. Kezia says her favorite part of 2014 was her birthday and she's most excited about "learning Kindergarten" next year! 
Link:
Link would have turned 2 this year. For his angelversary (the anniversary of his death - March 26th), we decided to honor him and help fulfill his mission by taking family names to the temple. Family & friends did names, too & we had 24 names in all by his angelversary that we wrote on strips of paper & "linked" around his bench. It was a special experience and we hope to do even more names next year!! We truly feel his joy when we are serving in the temple - especially working to "link" our family together :). There have been many tender mercies throughout this year where we have felt Link sending his love and care for us. One of them was when his sister came into this world. We felt him close - especially during some scary moments of delivery - and especially after she got here safely, we felt that he was bursting with joy. Also - on the very evening of when Noelle was the exact age of Link when he died, we found a beautiful rainbow outside our window. And, amazingly, DURING our family pictures this year, a gorgeous rainbow appeared & we were able to take pictures & forever document his message of love. On his 2nd birthday, we were able to again donate to the Philadelphia and Salt Lake Ronald McDonald Houses and again numerous donations were made in his honor to the Jubilee House in Cedar City. We also had a special surprise when Mike Edwards' Aunt Liz donated money to get a brick for Link at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House. We enjoy visiting Link's bench as a family - we sometimes bring a picnic. We sometimes bring decorations. Sometimes we just sit. In May, many of our family came to wear shirts with Link's picture and go on a Share walk of remembrance. It was really neat. Another neat thing that came about because of Link was that a woman named Susan Curtis found a picture of the forget-me-nots on Link's bench & asked to use it in a book she was making for her grandkids titled "Sunny the Sad Sunflower." She was sweet enough to send us a special copy and it was SUCH a neat story. The other amazing thing was that she had previously come into contact with Grandma Potts & they knew each other! Also - Heidi wrote a blog post about some of the details of Link's death and ways that could possibly help others avoid going through what we have gone through. The post has gotten over 17,000 views and we've had many positive responses about it.
Noelle:
Noelle came into this world on April 8th. We call her our "sunrise baby" because after a long night of grief, she has come, bringing so much light and joy into our lives. The girls are so infatuated with their baby sister and even after 8 months, she is still fought over and the girls constantly want to hold and kiss her - take baths with her and sit by her in the van. There was a lot of anxiety as she neared Link's age when he died and we had to put our trust in the Lord. Thankfully, she is still with us - continuing to bring light and love. Her laugh and smile just brightens everything. She is sitting up really well, LOVING eating her solid food as well as breastfeeding, shaking her head, laughing, talking (mama, dada, doggie, hi), standing up for long periods of time, trying to get on all fours, clicking her tongue, giving kisses, waving, and clapping hands. She loves watching her sisters. She loves holding her brother's picture. She still is sleeping with the Snuza monitor, the video monitor & she's strapped into her crib with the sleep guardian. Yes, we keep a pretty close eye on our sunrise baby girl, but our anxieties have eased a bit since she's older and we are praying we'll get to keep her. Noelle loves her exersaucer, her jumper, Sydney dog, playing the piano, flapping her arms when she's happy, and grabbing anything and everything within her reach! She can't really tell us, but we are guessing her favorite thing about 2014 was being born :) - and she's most looking forward to walking in 2015!
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