Family Pics 2011

So its been a while since we got family pictures taken! When we went to Cedar City to visit Robs family we had pics done of the WHOLE Miller family, it was sure a fun adventure.
I thought I'd share one of our cute family.
Hope ya like.
Happy Holidays!!

Holidays.....

as well i guess its been way too long since i blogged last, before the holidays started. so i guess id better play catch up.

we had a fun halloween, and kanton got tons of candy!!

kanton has taken an interest in the transformers, so that what he was this year. he was the cutest "bumble bee"the transformer i had ever seen.

he did great this year! i could even hear him yelling trick or treat from the side walk, while rob took him to the doors. i love experiencing the growth that he makes every year.

as for thanksgiving, we were able to celebrate it at my parents house. it was so much fun!! both of my sisters and there families, except 1 bro-in law, were there. my grammy was even able to join us. its not very often that my whole family gets to enjoy a holiday together. the adults were able to sit around visiting and playing games. its been so long since i have laughed so hard. all the kids were able to hang out and play games and of course cause mischief. :o) the picture is of my grammy and all her great grand kids, that are my nieces and nephews and of course kanton.

it was sure an awesome weekend full of fun , family €and love!

as for christmas, well its just over a week away and were not ready, but really is anyone ever ready?

weve decorated and put up the tree. i love to sit with the lights off looking at the pretty decorated tree, listening to christmas music. its something ive done since i was a kid and now kanton like to turn off the lights and just play on the floor by the light of the tree.

we were able to take a trip to cedar city to visit with robs family and to celebrate robs moms birthday. rob and kanton really enjoyed them selves, so im glad we were able to go.

we were able to experience our first school christmas program last night. kanton didnt do the best, but he did do better than i thought he would. all the kindergarten classes wore antelers and some got there nose painted red and they sang rudolph the red nosed reindeer.

as for the rest of the holiday season, you'll have to wait and see....

happy holidays to you all and i pray we all may remember the true meaning of christmas.

Autism Speaks Walk

on october 8th we were able to participate in the annual utah walks for autism speaks. it was such an amazing experience!! it was held at the rio tinto stadium this year. over 4000 people participated.

its always such a good experience to go to these community events. it really opens my eyes to the reality of how many people are affected by this horrible disorder. yet i was humbled to see all of the many people that support the autistic community.

kanton is so blessed to have so many people in his life that support him. im so grateful to my parents for be there to experience this with us.

im hoping to be able to get more people involved in the walk next year.

until next time...

Summer Fun

this summer has flown by so fast! we had lots of fun this year. we didnt go any where amazing, but we were able to come up with lots of activities to keep us busy.

we did a lot of picnics at the park, its one of kanton favorite things to do. we took a few photo shoots at the temples and joseph smith memorial building. the end of july rob and i celebrated our 7 year anniversary. we were able to go to a free concert and just have a night evening together.

this past weekend kanton and i were able to go to the annual sahara cares autism carnival. this is our 3rd year going. kanton always has so much fun and i get lots of information.

kanton was able to play with is cousin nattie mae a couple time when they came for a visit. they sure have lots of fun together.

so here you have it in pictures, hope you enjoyed it!

KINDERGARTEN.....

Holy cow! I can not believe that kanton started kindergarten, august 22nd! It is beyond me that I no longer have a baby, I now have a big boy!

so this past week has been quite the adventure. most kindergarten only go to school for half a day. well kanton is going to a charter school for kids with high functioning autism and aspergers and they has all day kindergarten! thats right all day!!

we found out in the spring that he would be attending this school and we were so extremely excited and felt so blessed! as summer break drew to an end and the day that school was to start drew closer and closer i slowly started to get more and more nervous!! lets just saw that the week before school started, i was a mess!!

i know this is the school kanton is suppose to be going to and i know that this is the best thing for him. but i know the different things he struggles with on a daily basis and my heart aches for him because of the challenges i know is will have to face!

as a mother you hate to watch your child suffer!! but, as i have learned in my few short years of parenting, you cant fix everything!! (as much as you want too!)

so the sunday before started we went to my parents so my dad and rob could give kanton and myself a blessing. i am so extremely greatful for the blessing of the priesthood in our lives!!

monday came and ready or not its time to take my baby boy to school!!

i was so proud of my boy!! i walked him into his classroom. i could tell he was nervous, but he didnt cry or even cling to me when i left!

as i walked from the school to my car, i had never felt so alone as i did at that moment!! i didnt have my sweet little shadow toddling beside me holding my hand. as the day went on i realized how lonely i was, all day and how much love i have for my sweet little miracle man.

there were only a few minor hic-ups, but over all the first week of school was a success!!

somethings are going to take some getting use too, but thats normal. somethings may always be a challenge, but i am so greatful for where kanton is in his life! hes a dang good kid, he makes us laugh and he loves us and thats all i could ever hope for!!

i thank my heavenly father everyday for this sweet boy and for all that he has taught me and continues to teach me, everyday!!

we love you kanton and have an awesome kindergarten year!!

A Day with Thomas....

Kanton and his Grammy waiting for a pic with
Thomas.


Kanton and Rob with Thomas.

Kanton waiting so patiently.

Kanton waiting for Thomas to come.

Kanton with his Grammy and Papa on the
train ride.

Since we moved to Bountiful Kanton has LOVED Thomas the tank engine. And for those of you that know Trains is his thing!! And some times his only thing. :0)

So every since then we've wanted to take him to the Day out with Thomas at the Heber Creeper.

Well over Memorial Day weekend we finally did it!! We bought tickets back in April and decided to keep it a secret from him.

So We woke up early and went to Grammy and Papas, they went with us. After getting there, we told him that we were going to take a drive to the mountains. He thought that was a great idea.

So we piled into Grammys car and headed to Heber. We brough out portable DVD player so Kanton could watch a movie while we drove there, a Thomas movie of course has to get him in the mood.

As we were pulling into the parking lot Kanton saw Thomas and was SO excited!

Kanton had a super fun day, ok we did too. I was so proud of him, he did awesome!! You see Kanton has a hard time with big groups of people and when he gets too excited it usually end up in a melt down. He did great all day.

I know it was a dream come true for Him. We hope to do it again next year.

Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Update...

Wow.... Time sure flys!
I cant believe its already been over 2 months since I posted last.
Life has been a bit crazy at our house the last little while.

Rob's been working lots of hours and is getting a bit burned out. He enjoys his job, but is having a really hard time with his supervisor. I'll just tell you - THE MAN SUCKS!!!!!
He expects so much from the people under him, yet he cant even do half of it himself. So frustrating!!

I have been busy doing the Mom thing. Getting Kanton to and from school and Dr. appointments, play dates , home programs, and trying to keep him (Rob and I as well) from going crazy from having to be inside cause of all the rain. So Fun!
School has been a big struggle for Kanton. His teachers and I have been trying to work with him on many different things to try and help, but we have not been very successful... Bumber!!!

Greatfully...... School is OVER!!! His last day was the 19th. Now time to find things to keep us
busy this summer. That in its self can be a chore. I sure love being a MOMMY.

Kanton is really doing great! He has made a ton of improvements. We have changed up some of the supplements that he's on and we will be changing another one here shortly. They seem to be doing wonders for him, even though they are expensive, its so worth it!
Since its the end of the year we had Kantons IEP meeting (Individualized Education Plan)
He is doing really well academically. His teacher feels he may need a little extra help with handwritting, other than that they feel he's where he should be.
His behavior, social skills and communication is still a big issue. He can talk and communicate real well, he just cant figure out how to use it appropriately.

We also had an assesment meeting at Spectrum Acadamy to see where he is at. The kindergarten teacher said that he is right where she thought he would be. I was a little concerned at first, but she was so good with him and made me feel so much better.
Can I just tell you, it was such an amazing experience for us. We all left there feeling so good about Kanton being able to go to school there. We know with all our hearts he is suppose to go there.
Now every day Kanton keeps asking to go back to his new school. What a sigh of relief, I was really nervous he wasnt going to like it since he's had such a hard time transitioning from special ed. to main stream. Hopefully he will still be that excited when school starts agian in the fall.

So there you have it our Update. Hopefully it wont be so long for me to update next time.
Tootles!!

HE MADE IT!!!

Since Kanton got his diagonses, back when he turned 3, we have been thinking about were he should go when he starts school. Of course we thought it would all depend on how he was doing congnativley, the progress he had made, and how he was doing socailly.
Through the autism community we learned that there was a charter school for kids with high functioning autism and aspergers, The Spectrum Acadamy. The cool thing about it was the school is in North Salt Lake, like 5 min. from our home. The sucky things are its by lottery only. Meaning you put your kids name on the list and the computer draws names at random. Plus, there is a gianormous list and only a few spots to fill.

After lots of prayer, last summer we decided we'd like to have him go there. We felt like it would be the best place for him with his anxiety, sensory, and transition issues.
So back in September when school started I went on line to put his name in for the lottery and the website wasnt working, so I drove down and filled out some info. and got his name in. At the beginning of the new year they would do the lottery and let the families know.

Two fridays ago some of my friends game me a little b-day get together. One of my good friends also has a daughter with autism and put her name in the lottery.
So as we were sitting there chatting she starts telling us her story about how she found out that her daughters name was drawn in the lottery, she was in.
So of course I was a little anxious myself to find out if Kantons name had been drawn.
It was really late when I got home and I had to be out to my parents the next day to go to a baby shower with my mom.

Saturday came and my mom, sis-in law and myself went to the shower. As soon as we got back to my parents place, I jumped on the computer.
I went to the website and at the very top it had a link for the lottery results of 2011 - 2012.
So I clicked the link.
It started out with a list of names of Kindergarten class, then the next grade and so forth....

So Im slowly going down the names for kindergateners, theres like 20, and what do I see..... 6 from the bottom it says..... KANTON. (how many kantons do you know and spelt the way it is)

WHAT??? WAS I REALLY SEEING THIS??? (holding my breath this whole time)
Then all of a sudden it sank in. I started screaming " HE'S IN, HE MADE IT, HE MADE IT!!!"
Then the tears came!!! I was in shock, I couldnt believe my eyes. I kept having to look at it to make sure I wasnt see things.

We are so excited for this awsome opportunity for Kanton! We have been so blessed to be able to have this special child in our lives. We are looking forward to an exciting new school year this fall.
So here we are only a few months until pre-school ends. It is so hard to believe that he will start Kindergarten this coming September. WOW!!!
It is crazy how fast littles one grow! And how fast you forget the little things they use to do.

So there ya have it. He made it, Kanton made it!!
hugs to you all.

SO PROUD!!

I wanted to post a little about Kantons improvements. It had almost been a whole month since we started giving Kanton vitamin B-12 shots. We give them to him every 3 days.
We we first started the whole supplement regiment. The Dr. said now it would be so much easier for Kanton to become potty trained.
WELL......... drum roll please! We done it. KANTON DID IT!!! Thats right he is finally potty trained. He has been wearing big boy underwear since christmas vacation started. We still have to remind him sometimes to go, and he wears pull ups at night for an accational accident, But it is finally done!
We are so happy at our house. I was beginning to wonder if he would ever get it. Now we can check one more thing off the list of accomplishments for our guy. We are SO PROUD of him!!

It is amazing how much he has emerged since starting the supplement regiment. His teachers at school have even noticed a difference, for the better. I never thought that just a few supplements a day could make such a difference in someones life.
Rob and I really went back and forth in our minds for over a year about taking Kanton this Dr. It has really been a struggle finacially since we have to pay all out of pocket every time we go and you have to pay up front. But I will tell you, I feel like this has been one of, if not the best investment Rob and I have made and continue to make.
We are so greatful to this amazing Dr. for the things he has tought us about Kanton and for the knowledge he has to be able to work towards healing him.
We are eternally greatful for the great friends that we have made because of Kanton. They have been such a straingth for us and have given us hope in times of need.

Hope all is well where ever you are.
Until next time,
Hugs