Its a race...

Last Saturday was the Intermountain Healing Hearts picnic. When the picnic was held last year Daxton was in the NICU we were obviously scared to death about what the future would hold. It was nice to meet people who had been through this same nightmare. This year was a totally differant story. We had so much fun. All of us enjoyed the wonderful company, the slushes, the magic show and the heart shaped dessert contest. Last year on this day Daxton had his first heart attack. Reliving that night has brought back all of those unwanted feelings. I am grateful that we are on this side of things.My cake I made for the contest. We won four passes to the Bees game!! Yahoo! The other cakes were amazing next year I am going to have to learn how to do fondant.
Daxton and Jack-little heart buddies

Ellie and Morgan(Morgans sister is Gracie)
Mady with Brinley and Gators big sister
Daddy and Daxton sporting his scrunchy smile.

Ryan had to meet me up at the hospital for the picnic after work so we had two cars. Last summer Ryan and I would always race home(very responsibly) from the hospital. I mostly won(of course). So Saturday night the girls wanted to ride with Ryan so It was me and Dax. We were winning for a little bit but it soon became apparent that I would not be the winner of this race....unless.....I pulled out a few tricks. Suddenly my car wouldn't work anymore so I turned on my hazard lights and pulled over the side of the road, called Ryan and told him to come help me. While he was turning around to help me in my "desperate" time of need. I continued on home honking as I passed him. I of course won. There are no rules to this game and I came out the winner, which is not all that matters(unless Ryan is involved). Thanks for being a good sport Ry.

We are movin on up

Today was clinic. It went very well. Daxton is growing and gaining weight. He is gaining the minimum amount of what they are wanting so we will have to keep working on that. His heart is looking great and everything else is going well. My favorite part of the visit was when we were talking to the doctor and "ulgh" Daxton puked. It was pretty funny. I had been telling them about his throw up and how it would just come and they got the privledge of witnessing it first hand. The exciting news is that now we have clinic only once of month!!! Yahoo!!! I am so excited. I do love all of the wonderful people on Transplant team especially Emily and Michelle. They are amazing and I love chatting with them. But we will have to catch up monthly now. I am so thrilled at how Daxton is thriving. Hopefully he will keep pluggin along.

Busy summer

So far this summer is turning out to be a busy one. The girls are taking ballet, I am taking a cake decorating class(super fun), lots of play dates, family reunions, Lagoon, training for my half marathon and lots of other fun stuff. The marathon training is kicking my butt. Tonight I ran 3 1/2 miles. It is getting a little easier the more I do it which is nice. I have decided to run the Top of Utah half marathon it is on August 29th, the day after my birthday-thats a nice birthday present to me. I'm excited!

Me and the girls on the tilt-o-whirl.

My first cake.

Yay for Daxton he is finally standing!!

My family with Great Grandma and Grandpa Hilton

Cutest boy in the world hangin out at the family reunion

Last weekend we went to a friends house and their little son was playing with a basketball Daxton was so so excited so my little sister and I went on a quest for some balls. We found this big bag of balls at the DI for $4. After lots and lots of sanitizing Daxton was in heaven.

Random Thoughts...

This weekend was the KSL telethon for Primary Childrens Hospital. Last year at this time our heart journey was just beginning. I remember watching it in picu while Daxton was recovering from his first surgery the BT Shunt. The story that had a huge impact on me was Paul Cardall. He and Daxton had the same heart condition-minus Daxtons coronary anomaly-I remember crying and thinking that if he had made it to age 35 there was hope for my son. I remember the feeling of overwhelming comfort. If there were ever moments that Paul wondered "Why? Why do I have to go through all of this?" One of the answers to that question is that Hilary needed to hear your story so that I could have hope and faith for me and my child. I thank my Heavenly Father and Savior for their love for me in knowing that I would need to hear Pauls story. Paul is currently on the Heart Transplant list waiting. We pray that his miracle day will be in the near future.

A few years ago I had started seeing a counciler for some issues from my childhood-the therapist told me at our first visit that the positive would far outweigh the negative in this experiance. I first I thought "um, ya right there is nothing positive in what I have been through." But as the years have passed I now know that he was absoulutly correct. I have learned some lifes lessons that have made me the person I am today. I can honestly say that I am thankful for what I have been taught. I have been thinking about that a lot lately and I feel the exact same way about this past year with everything we have had to go through. The positive has far outweighed the negative! My marriage is stronger, I have a deeper appreciation for living in the moment and to not take anything for granted. We have met so many spectacular people who we feel honored to know and be associated with. We have witnessed many mighty Miracles, our faith and testimony have grown. We have witnessed first hand the love and compassion our Heavenly Father and Savior have for each and everyone of his children. There are many many more lessons we have learned and many more to be learned.

On a side note-I have decided to train for a half marathon. I have not yet signed up for one but I will be starting my training tomorrow with a three mile run...wish me luck!

Happy Birthday Daxton!!

My baby boy is One year old!!

We got home from our trip Sunday night at 10:30 p.m. Ryans mom made Daxton his blue elephant cake and had the house decorated for his birthday. We sang Happy Birthday and gave lots and lots of kisses.

The next day was memorial day so at the park we sang again and ate cake. Daxton was more interested in the plate than the actual cake. He shakes his head now when he doesn't want something and he was shaking it everytime I tried to give him a bite of his cake. I wanted to give him a really big birthday bash but transplant team said that we should wait until a year post transplant. So we will have a big celebration in September!

My sweet baby boy, You are our little miracle. Not a day goes by that I don't feel blessed to have you as my son. You have taught me things I never could have imagined. I love you with all of my heart! You are my little warrior, Daxtonious. Lets have this next year just be full of fun and good times.

Cruisin....

St. Thomas was our first destination. Ryan and I got to go scuba diving, it was awesome. We had so much fun. It was so beautiful.

We went to Antigua the next day and relaxed on the beach all day long. The water was beautiful. This day I learned that Ryan is not a good bargainer. I love to bargain and could always get the seller down a little. Not Ryan they would tell him a price and I would try to bargain with them but Ryan would just say Hilary thats ok that sounds like a good price. It was funny. Cute guy!

Our third and final destination was Bermuda. Oh my was it beautiful. This was our favorite port. The homes were spectactular even the "slums" were beautiful. We went shopping and went sight seeing and then I had heard that the sand in Bermuda was pink so we went to the beach. Yes the sand was pink and soft and georgous. The water was so crystal clear. We would love to go back and spend a whole week just there however the average cost for a room there is $300 per night. That won't be happening anytime soon. It sure was beautiful.

This is our cruise ship

The last night we were walking around the ship and talking about how much fun we had, we commented on how we would have liked to see a dolphin and literally one minute later there were about 10 dolphins jumping out of the water right in front of us. It was so much fun. They were so cute.

We ended our trip in New York. I was so bummed that we couldn't stay and see anything but then we found out we would be docking right by the Statue of Liberty. We were up at 5:30 am so that we could see her. It was a very humbling moment for me. I pondered on all my ancestors and what the emotions they must have had when seeing this beautiful statue. I am so glad we got to see this.

We had a wonderful time and came home feeling refreshed and ready to go. We missed our kids but enjoyed the time as a couple.

*Funny story-on our flight to go to the cruise Bronco Mendanhall was on our flight. He is the head coach of BYU football. It was funny because I was wearing my Utah sweetshirt and Ryan his Utah hat. We were going to ask him to sign Ryans hat but we decided we didn't want to get it dirty-hehe

We're leavin on a jet plane....

Here we go Ryan and I are off on our vacation. We are currently in Georgia waiting for our connecting flight. We are flying to Puerto Rico where we will start our cruise. Yahoo!! We are super excited and in much need of some R&R.