Trevor doctor

  On November 1st we loaded up our precious family and headed off to Missoula to see a Pediatric Rheumatologist for Trevor.  The doctor was very hopeful that the meds Trevor is taking will put his little body in remission in about a year from now.  She was also very patient and answered ALL of our Questions.  We were hopeful that we would be able to eliminate prednizone but the doc.  found lots of swollen joints and decided to keep Trevors meds the same until the next visit the middle of January.  We are so blessed to have a pediatric Rhematoligist so close and I am so grateful that we do not have to go to Seattle every 2-3 months.
   There are lots of Rheumatoligists out there but arthritis in children is different than adults so there are only a handful of pediatric rheumatoligist in the nation.


First big snow of the season


About a week after our trip to Missoula we loaded up our family again and headed off to Billings Montana.  We have lived in Montana for 8 years  and have not once been to Billings.  We have also been very desirous to go to the Temple,  it has been a few years due to nursing babies, difficult pregnancies and the distance to the Temple.  So when Eric was asked to helpout in the Billings store we were thrilled to go. 
We had great roads and a beautiful drive Montana is a very beautiful state.  Once we got to Billings we drove straight to the Temple ( thanks to out handy dandy GPS in Eric's tablet).   When we arrived at the temple the parking lot was EMPTY we were shocked.  So we decided to drive by the front doors to see what was up.  At the doors we discovered a ladder just inside the doorway.  SIGH TEARS the Temple was closed for cleaning.  We decided that at least we could get out of our car and bundle everyone up and take a walk on the Temple grounds.  Walking the Temple grounds we were able to share our love for the Temple and enjoy the spirit that dwells at the Holy Place.  I am still saddened that we were not able to go inside but I am grateful for the opportunity to take my children to the Temple grounds.
After our walk around the Temple Grounds we drove to our dear friends the Burk's home.  It was wonderful reuniting with old friends and seeing there beautiful family.  I think we need to return to Billings sooner than later.
We happened to go to Billings the day of a Presidential Election,  so before we headed out of town we headed off to the fairgrounds so we could cast our vote.  It was fun talking to our children about elections and why voting maters to us.  The were very intrested in the process.  I am glad we did not have to wait to vote.  We watched some of the news to see who the the next President was going to be.  The children were interested in the process but they could only handle so much so off to bed we went.
The morning that we returned home from Billings we new that a storm was coming but we were hopeful that we would miss the storm.  Insert hysterical laugh here.  Nope we made it about 45 minutes out of Billings and the roads started to get icy and worse with each passing mile.  We made it home safe and sound.  There is something to be said about Montana drivers and snow we traveled over a hundred miles on very bad roads in blizzard to white out conditions and never once saw a slide off or an accident.
It snowed for about 3 days straight we had about 18 or so inches of snow at our home.