Asher and I took a little road trip out to Shamrock Farms for a tour of the dairy.  We rode a little tram thing around the grounds to see all the cows, watched some cows being milked, watched a completely cheesy video about their dairy farm, Asher got to pet and feed a baby cow, and we had a little ice cream/chocolate milk date after our tour…oh, and the unforgettable (in Asher’s mind) pile of cow poop.  We had a great time on our little date.  But, I’m not sure I would make that trip again.  I love road trips, but that was a long ways to drive to see and smell some cows.  I realized when we pulled up how much I hate the smell of cows from a distance, much less at arms length, ha!

And, we have really bad luck in asking people to take pictures of us…

Asher has had quite the cold this last week.  It hit him like a ton of bricks, and has been lingering around in his lungs thanks to cf.  We’ve been doing extra treatments and trying to keep the cardio going when he’s feeling up to it.  We hit the park the other day for some baseball, kickball, frisbee, and some base running.  I just had to put up this video to show what a fighter this boy is.  He’s clearly not feeling 100%, but didn’t want to stop running his timed laps.  Oh, and how adorable is it that he’s coughing into his elbow!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPem27NEdpM[/youtube]

On a really good note.  We’ve finally made the transition from Albuterol to Xopenex.  And, ohhhhhh are we all happy people!  Asher is still his feisty, overly energetic self, but now it doesn’t seem like…his heart is going to explode out of his chest.  We’re thankful to finally have the chance to change meds.  It’s clearly effected Asher for quite some time.  We couldn’t afford Xopenex, it’s quite a bit more expensive than Albuterol, but for the next year we got approved for the Breath for Less Savings Program from Xopenex, which covers $50 of your copay.  If you’re interested in the program you can call 1-877-264-2431 or visit xopenex.com.

While on the topic of meds, I might as well document that we’re starting a new cycle of antibiotic Tobi today.  Asher’s culture came back positive again for Pseudomonas.  Ugh.  Who knows though, maybe the Tobi will help push out whatever is lingering around in his lungs.

Who doesn’t love a rainy day…especially when you live in the desert.

Who doesn’t love Lite Brite…especially when you’re three.

We know we love our Breathe Easy Mask Holder!  Asher has been sick and having to do more treatments this last week.  I’m constantly thankful for our friend, Melissa, creating this invention that has made treatment times around here more fun.  Not only is Asher a complete whiz on about 10 different XBOX games, but we get to play games together too, all because his hands are freed up.  The extra treatment times this week have just made me again so thankful to my friend, and so excited that she continues to sell these mask holders like crazy and has officially went international too!  YEA!!!

We were so super blessed to have Grandma Hoverson, Grandma Olimb, and Auntie Dana come to be with us for the auction!  We had a great time spending time together, and everyone was such a huge help in preparing for the auction!  This is the third year that Grandma Olimb has come to take care of Asher during the auction, and we just couldn’t do it without her help!!!  So thankful that our family could be with us this year.

We took a spin on the Dolly Steamboat while everyone was here, and it was a perfect time.  The weather was so gorgeous, and we had a perfect spot on the back of the boat that allowed for a certain rambunctious little man to roam around.  Oh, and they had great popcorn that made it extra memorable :)!

Family portrait courtesy of the A-man.

Grandma Olimb also shared with us her famous homemade bun recipe, AND a batch of her famous chocolate chip cookies!  Yea!  Asher loves to be in the kitchen helping, and he loved it even more being with his Grandma.

Thanks again to all of you for coming, we loved having you here!!!

I just also have to record that Asher for the first time saw his Daddy up front teaching at church.  Once a month all the kids gather into one of our classrooms to do some corporate worship/skits/teaching.  I think Asher’s head literally exploded when he saw Jeremy get up front.  I had to go and stand in back just to see his reaction.  Thankfully he wasn’t out of control like I expected, he was a good listener and completely mesmerized by his Daddy…after he made sure Jeremy saw him of course.  Right after Jeremy welcomed everyone, Asher raised his hand and blurted out every word about God that he knew in a very frantic, overly ecstatic, this is the best thing ever, total freak out little voice – “GOD, JESUS LOVES US, OBEY GOD, JESUS!!!”  Jeremy literally had to say, “Ok, Buddy, Ok.” Giving him the simmer down hand motions, ha!  It was great.

Sigh…it was such a wonderful event!  So many people came out and shared in our passion for fighting for a cure!  We don’t have an exact number of how many people were there, but we’re guessing it was about 400 people.  The place was packed.  It blessed us so much to look around and see so many people who took time out of their weekend to come out and support us and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

We ended up having 241 items for people to bid on.  I sent out about 300 letters to local businesses seeking donations, but the majority of our items came from our friends asking people they know to make a donation, or making a donation themselves using their own skills.  It was pretty amazing to watch all of the items flood into our home.  It is going to be pretty boring walking to the mailbox now!

The Brio people were amazing.  They just swooped in and set everything up, and stayed there to serve our guests.  At one point I looked over and saw the Brio guy also restocking our water bottles.  They were amazing, and so was the food!  If you ever go to Brio at San Tan Mall, would you mind passing along a big thank you to the Manager Chris, and letting him know how great everything turned out!  Maybe he’ll be willing to help us out again next year :).

Jeremy made another video to create awareness for CF this year, and I’m in love with it.  Check it out…

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/21790240[/vimeo]

So…I’ve been getting a lot of heat for not posting a Grand Total yet, but we keep having some donations come in here and there and so I’ve been waiting a bit to give you all the most accurate number.  It’ll probably change as soon as I hit publish, but here’s where we’re at right now.  We’re going to be cutting a check to the CFF for $12,695.00!!!!  I’m sure I’ll throw in the extra five bucks to make it $12,700.00.  This number is incredible!!!  At the Silent Auction last year we raised $5,451.00, and there’s nothing like the feeling of more than doubling that amount!!!   You wanna see another incredible number…$3,345.00!!!  This is the amount that is going into a medical fund to pay for Asher’s medications, equipment, and doctor visits!  We don’t even know how to express our thankfulness towards so many people for graciously donating to the CFF and personally to our family!!  We don’t get any help from the state, and honestly, we have a huge pile of medical bills from Paxon, so this money is an absolute blessing!!!  So, this means that $16,040.00 walked through the commons doors on Saturday, April 2nd, making a difference in many people’s lives, including ours.  We can definitely say that we kicked some major CF booty that night!!!  Thank you to everyone who joined us on Saturday, and thank you for joining us in this fight!!!

I’m still replaying the auction over and over again in my mind and processing everything that happened, and probably will be for awhile because so much happened.  But, the one memory that stands out to me the most is that my dearest CF mommy friend, Emily, flew down to be with us for the auction.  So, so blessed by her friendship.  Love you, Em!!!

Closin’ up shop on the Silent Auction this year, and maybe resting for a bit now, but what a great event and great memories!  We hope that Paxon’s name was honored throughout it all, because he was definitely in our hearts and minds.  Love you, sweet baby.

If you weren’t able to be at the auction, and you would still like to donate to teamASHER, just follow this link below!  Thank you SOOO much for your donation to our team!

http://www.cff.org/great_strides/dsp_donationPage.cfm?registeringwalkid=7450&idUser=351422

Don’t you just want to snuggle up next to him?!  I did.  He was completely zonked out, and let me take a million pictures of him, play with his hair, and hold his hand.  It was just like he was an itty bitty baby again.  I was really struck by how big he’s getting.  His little hands and feet are big boy hands and feet.  It makes me sad to see him grow up, but I’m excited to see his life unfold.  I love his feet.  He has his daddy’s feet, and I pray they will take his daddy’s lead and follow his footsteps.

We’re in the awkward nap/no nap transition time.  Yesterday the nap won, and I’m thankful it did on the couch so I could capture this moment in time.  I was reading an article about how quickly life passes us by, and he used the illustration of sitting on a train and looking out the window.  Our lives move that quickly, and we will never get the exact moment we have right now ever again.  Nothing revolutionary, but a good reminder of our fleeting lives, and makes me want to seize each moment even more.

And, THREE more days until the auction!!!  Our home is full of items to bid on right now!  It’s exciting!!!  Last night we were getting Asher ready for bed so most of the lights were off in the house.  We have a mannequin sitting on our pool table, and I forgot about this when I rounded the corner.  Imagine my excitement, ha!  Asher said, “Mommy, why you do this?” and he put his hands over his heart, ha!  We’re all excited for Saturday to come for several reasons :).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj_mccxF8No[/youtube]

Under all the beeshing bad guys, karate kicks, “I’m a mean batman” encounters, lies a tender heart.  It’s videos like this that keep me going.  I’ve watched it about a million times.  It’s from one of the many all day adventures Asher has had with his Miss Lorraine.  Asher and Lorraine have a special bond together.  I could go on and on about what Lorraine means to our family, but she’s probably going to kill me for just saying what I have, so I will really quickly say that I could not do this auction without her “dates” with Asher.  She comes and scoops him up, and brings him back when the sun is down and he’s full of new, fun memories.  For example, one of these last times she dropped him off with a shark face-painted on his cheek.  It was adorable.  And a lasting memory for him.  Jeremy texted me this picture when I was gone the other day and said, “Asher told me he wanted to face paint like Miss Lorraine.  With a yellow marker.”  Ha!  We love you, Lorraine!!!

It’s coming!  Your shopping/kicking cf booty extravaganza!  If you know us, or follow this blog, the Silent Auction is of no surprise to you.  But, we did want to give you the latest info on the event, and tell you once again…you should be there :).

Guess what!  This year we can take credit/debit cards.  This is a big deal!  The tshirts are done.  We only have about half the tshirts we had last year, and we can’t order more, so I guess you could say they’re limited edition.  Asher is a cute model.  We have over 200 items to bid on.  This is also a big deal.   The video and decor are being refined to perfection.  The grass is lush and ready for the kids to run free while you shop.  Bring blankets and outdoor activities if you’d like.  Brio is feeding us, and their employees are volunteering their time to serve us.   Help us thank them when you come.  This is incredible of them.  Oooohhhhhh, I could go on.  We’re just excited.  And, so thankful for you standing by our side and fighting this fight with us.

DATE:  April 2nd, 2011

TIME:  4:00-6:00P (Silent Auction ending at 5:45p)

LOCATION:  The Commons at Redemption Church (1820 West Elliot Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85233). We’ll have signs directing you.

NOTE TO CF PARENTS:  Jeremy and I have went back and forth about this dilemma since we started planning the auction.  We really want other cf kids to be at the auction, but have decided for the safety of everyone it’s probably not best.  We’re talking about little cfers that might be inclined to jump in the bounce house :).  We obviously don’t have anything against cfers, we’re just nervous about them passing bacteria to one another.  Asher has Pseudomonas, and we wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if he happened to “share” that with someone.  Thanks SO much for understanding!!!

Here’s the link to all the items…

2011 MASTER DONATION LIST

Here are the boys.  Asher wants to show you something…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8luIbqukYO4[/youtube]

And, here’s the 3 year old ‘tude that keeps us on our toes…

And, here’s how he makes up for it…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uav9icl54w&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/youtube]

Jeremy is itching to take Asher up to the mountains to go camping and embrace some manliness.  So, we had a trial run in the backyard to see how Asher would do with the sleeping.  He did great!  I fully expected the two of them to throw the towel in, and come in from outside around 2:00amish.  But, Jeremy said Asher only woke up once at 11:30p asking him about a noise, and then he was out until 7:15a.  For a 3 year old boy who sleeps with a really loud air purifier, this is kind of a big deal.

Jeremy said it was really sweet being cuddled up next to Asher all night listening to his little noises and night giggles.  I’m pretty sure someone else felt like the most special little boy getting to spend the night next to his daddy on their first Father/Son Campout.  The evening consisted of corn dogs, roasted marshmallows, and the boys cuddled up watching “Up” in their tent.  Jeremy said that Asher put his hand on his cheek and said, “I love you sooooo much, Daddy.”  How sweet.

The whole idea of campfires completely wigs us out.  Because Asher has thick, sticky mucus, everything gets caught in there.  So watching big plumes of smoke containing lots of pollutants is just unsettling to us.  I don’t know what we’re going to do about this when he gets older, because we certainly don’t want him to miss out on all the fun that campfires offer.  We’ve completely avoided campfires so far…and probably will until Asher gets older…unless we can find him a good mask to wear.  All that to say, Jeremy was able to rig a little container to house a few sticks and very minimal smoke so Asher could at least experience the goodness and happiness that a roasted marshmallow can bring :).

Jeremy tucked Asher into bed last night, and told me this was his prayer…

“Dear God, Thank you God for love us. Jesus please protect me and help me not be afraid. Amen!”

I just had to make note of this, because it’s about the sweetest thing ever.  And, pretty much verbatim of my prayer for him.

If you think of it, would you please pray for Asher.  He cultured Pseudomonas again after his second 28 day cycle of Tobi.  The part that really gets me is that it was literally hours after his Tobi treatment (his antibiotic to fight this lung infection).    Our doctor started Asher on Azithromycin and is having us do another round of Tobi, and that was before we got his culture results back.  We just don’t want to lose any ground with this infection.  Talk about fueling my fire to see this cure come to fruition.

I got lost in the blog looking through old pictures and reminiscing…