Robert. . .

So this post has been started and sitting in my drafts for far too many months. I decided that it was about time for it to get finished. Everything is very late and long overdue, but that is usually how I roll.

So clear back in May, Robert graduated from Dixie State College! It was a long awaited day in our family's life. He has worked long and hard and we have all sacrified for this day to get here. This post should have originally been published in May as I tell you all of the reasons that we love and appreciate this wonderful guy in our lives. The post didn't happen but here are some of the highlights of that day. First is was Dixie's 100th year and as a special guest speaker President Monson came to speak. It was fun to be able to listen to him. Each graduate got 2 tickets to give to family, which isn't very many. But, thanks to a very nice home teacher we were given an extra ticket so both of Robert's parents and I could go. My mom stayed and watched Dax and brought him later when he actually recieved his diploma. I am so proud of him and how good he is at what he graduated to be. Yea for Dixie State Alumni status!! :)

Listening to President Monson

Getting his diploma

With two of his favorite professors-Dave and Stace-and his favorite boy!

The supporters...

The family

I really am so proud of Robert and all he has done and accomplished. I feel so blessed to have him in my life and for eternity. I couldn't have asked for a husband and friend for me and a better dad for my children. There are so many wonderful things that I admire and love about him. I love how hard he works for things that he wants and how he makes things happen no matter what it takes. I love his loyalty and integrity. I love his patience (especially with me!). I love his ability to see the good no matter how bleak it gets. I love his whit and sense of humor. I love that the gospel and his family come first. I love that he can dream and then goes out and accomplishes those dreams. I'll follow you anywhere Robert Cole! I love you with everything and can't wait to see where your dreams continue to take us!

Dax is 2!!

So Dax had a birthday a month ago and I am just super slow getting around to documenting it...It was a fun couple of days of celebrating and he is a pretty spoiled little boy! His birthday just happened to be right when Robert's graduation was (which will be another post that I will hopefully get around to soon!) so Grandma and Grandpa Lovell even were here that day. We had a fun time with them going to Texas Roadhouse and Grandpa and Dax got to ride the saddle for both of their birthdays. Dax loved it but I think that Grandpa liked it just as much or maybe even more! :)

After we ate we just went back to our house and opened a few presents and had cupcakes. Dax finally figured out candles this birthday and wanted to blow out the candles about 7 times. Dax's cousin Maddie had a birthday the week earlier and loved candles too so between the two of them, that cupcake was good and spit on before we were done with it! Dax got a basketball hoop and a cool Buzz basketball that he loves a lot, some books, bubbles, and all sorts of fun toys.

Then a few days later we went to Enterprise and did it all over again. The parties just are never ending! What could be better than more food and cake and presents and more fun with cousins and family?! This is what it is all about. :)

We sure do love our Daxton and wouldn't know what to do without him. He has been my reason to keep going and smiling along the way. We love his funny looks and his mean glares. We love his sweet songs. We love his Toy Story obsession that allows us to hear "to infinity and beyond" several hundred times a day. We love his imagination. We even love that he can wear a crown, high heels and a purse with all of the girls in his life calling himself a princess while sword fighting. We love how he can find anything silk to rub so he can sucks his thumb (well I might could do without that!). We love that he LOVES 4-wheeler rides and horses and cows. We love that he loves his cousins and aunts and uncles and his grandmas and grandpas. We love his prayers and group hugs and kisses at night time. He is our sweet boy and we are so lucky that Heavenly Father blesses allowed us to have him as part of our family! Happy Birthday Daxton Cole!!

Kari

With today being the day after Mother's Day I just want to write a few lines about my amazing wife and Dax's wonderful mother.

First of all she truly is amazing.  She is everything to our family and does nearly everything for us.  While I have been finishing school she's been the breadwinner, the mom, the wife, the housekeeper, the cook, and she even tries to get me to let her do some of my homework.  She truly is exceptional and does her best to make sure we are living a good, comfortable life right now.  I thank her for that and am so grateful for all she does, especially to pick up where I lack.  One of the amazing things is how she does it all on a very small amount of sleep because she works nights.  She is such a great mother to Dax and makes sure he is growing up right.

In my last post I hinted that I would write about something else that happened on our trip to Ohio.  This adventure once again speaks to how strong and wonderful Kari is.  We were in Ohio from Friday to Wednesday.  On Sunday night Dax was having a really bad ear infection so we got a hold of our Dr. in St. George and he called in an antibiotic to a 24-hour pharmacy in Canton.  While I was picking it up I grabbed a pregnancy test because we had been trying to get pregnant and Kari was a few weeks late but wasn't getting a positive test.  That night she took the test and it came back positive.  We were really excited and looking forward to the day when we would get to welcome another one of Heavenly Father's children into our family.  The next morning however, Kari started cramping really bad and bleeding.  She hurt most of the day so we pretty much just did and saw stuff from the car so she could sit.  That night was when we met with a bunch of people Kari grew close to around Cleveland and she did her best to put on a happy face but she was hurting and so she wasn't quite her normal self.  The next day we started thinking maybe it was a miscarriage and contacted our Dr. again.  He told us that's likely what it was and that we should do two rounds of lab tests on Thursday and Saturday when we got back.  The problem was that on Tuesday she was in so much pain she could barely walk.  She had started looking up the symptoms she was having and they were consistent with either a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy.  That night we were staying at the Titera's and Bro. Titera and myself gave Kari a blessing that she would be able to travel the next day (carrying luggage and Dax through three airports) without any problems.  She was a trooper to be sure.  She did great the entire time and is incredibly strong.  She did hurt most of the day, but the really bad pain didn't come until about the time we got in our car to drive from Las Vegas to St. George.  The Lord truly answers prayers and blessed her on that day.  The next day she went in and got her first round of tests done and felt OK on Thursday and Friday.  Friday night was a different story though.  She was in pain most of the night and didn't sleep.  When we were getting ready to go take her second set of labs I got in the shower and while I was in there she came in to the bathroom and said, "Robert, I'm going to pass out."  Startled I quickly jumped out to make sure she didn't fall and hit her head or anything, but she did pass out and didn't know what was going on or remember telling me she was going to pass out.  When that happened I insisted that we go to the emergency room and her sister and brother-in-law Kellie and Matt met us at the hospital to take Dax.  We owe a big thank you to them for all they did and do to help us.  We were there for two hours before they finally came in and told us that the ultrasounds confirmed an ectopic pregnancy.  For those of you who don't know, it is a tubal pregnancy and as the fetus grows inside the fallopian tube there isn't room causing the tube to rupture if you don't catch it in time.  Well we didn't catch it in time and they said that when she passed out was likely when it ruptured.  Our Dr. also mentioned that the tube likely should have burst days before.  The fact that it didn't we once again credit Heavenly Father and the power of priesthood blessings for that.  Once they confirmed that it had burst they had to do emergency surgery.  When the surgeon came out and told me how it went he said the surgery went good but that she had lost 2 liters of blood, nearly half, and it was all in her stomach.  He said it took longer to suck the blood out then it did to perform the surgery.  Because she is young they didn't put any blood in her and just wanted to let her body regenerate it, that caused her to be really tired and lack energy the next few weeks while her body was trying to get back to normal.  The surgery itself went well and she is doing better now.  The physical toll was enough to have to bare, but she also had the emotional toll to deal with, which might have been worse.  She is now constantly concerned about the chance that she won't be able to have kids again because they had to remove one of her fallopian tubes.  But through it all she has been absolutely amazing and has shown strength and courage.  Her family did so much to help out during these last couple of months and for that we are forever grateful and we are once again so grateful to our Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ for Kari's health and safety during it and for truly everything.  We are a blessed family.  Happy Mother's Day Kari and to my mom and mother-in-law.

Spring Break!!!! Ohio here we come!!!

The title of this post is correct. We left St. George when it was 70-75 degrees and sunny and made our way to Cleveland where it was 35 degrees and snowing the day we landed.  We never claimed to be the smartest people, but we still had a good time during our trip.

Kari served her mission in the Ohio Cleveland Mission and spent some time at the Kirtland Historic Sites.  She has been wanting to get back there to show me off for quite a while so we decided to go over spring break this semester.  We actually went back because a couple of people she taught that joined the church are getting up there in age, they're both 90, and she wanted to see them while we knew we had the chance to do so.  The second reason was because she wanted to show off Daxton, then there were a few more reasons before I showed up on the list but I was more than happy to go along for the ride.

Daxton was very excited to see the airplanes and to "fly in the sky" but he fell asleep right before take off and slept for the first hour.  Mid-flight though he woke up suddenly and said "fly airplane in the sky."  It was really cute and fun to see how he acted on the plane.  He was really good for all of the flights we had to and from Ohio.  We flew out to Ohio on Friday and stayed at the Titera's house.  They are a family that Kari grew close to during her time out there and we were very fortunate to be able to stay there and are very grateful for their hospitality.  Saturday we got the chance to see George, one of the converts Kari taught.  He is an incredibly neat guy and a great addition to the church.  Then we made our way over to Kirtland and stayed the night near there.  We deemed Sunday as our spiritual day and went to the Kirtland Ward and Kari got to see some members she worked with while she was in that area.  Then Karin Stewart, who is from Enterprise, took us on tour of the visitors center and the open sites.  It was a great tour and fun for Kari to be back in that area to see everything.  Sister Stewart and her companion would often ask Kari to share what she remembered about certain sites and to share her testimony of it.  That aspect of the trip was really neat for me and I only wish Dax would have been older and better behaved so that he too could have had a more powerful experience of seeing his mom beam at the memories she made and the testimony she gained of different principles while at Kirtland.  That area truly is a remarkable place and the spirit is felt very strong there.

After leaving the visitors center we crossed the street and went to see the Kirtland Temple.  The building itself is remarkable and the spirit is definitely there as well.  We got there about the same time as a Community of Christ tour bus and so the tour we had was quite different than most tours they give to LDS members.  Kari went on tour there many times as a missionary and said the one we went on this year was vastly different.  The tour guide talked a lot about their doctrine and stuff more than normal because of the tour group that we were with.

We weren't able to go to Johnson Farm because we got there like 10 minutes after it closed, which was disappointing because that was one of Kari's favorite places and when I went to Kirtland 8 years ago it's the place I best remembered also.  After that failed attempt we made our way to Canton so that we could go to the Football Hall of Fame.  That night though we went swimming at our hotel and Dax's ears were no bueno after that.  We think the flight bothered his ears some and then swimming definitely didn't help.  But we got a hold of our Dr's office in St. George and they called in an antibiotic prescription to a 24-hour pharmacy for us.

The next day we went to the HOF and had fun seeing all of the artifacts there and getting pics of Dax playing football.  Then we made our way through Amish country and Dax loved that too.  He loved saying "horse and buggy" and seeing them.  That night the Titera's planned a get together for a bunch of ward members that Kari knew so it was fun to meet the people Kari always talks about and for her to interact and reminisce with them.  The next day we took Dax to a nature center so he could see some animals and fish.  He loved seeing all of them and we also went to Lake Erie and took a picture of the frozen lake.  We also saw James, the other convert that is 90 years old.  It was good for him and Kari to see each other.  We also did a couple of things to help him out.

We came home from Ohio on Wednesday.  We went and saw George one more time that morning and met his daughter, who Kari has always wanted to meet.  Then we went to lunch with Sister Titera and her daughter Linda before jumping on a plane and flying home.  Dax loved Linda by the way.  She is incredibly musically inclined and talented and works as a music therapist.  Dax loved all of the instruments she had and playing with her.

Overall it was a fun trip and it was good for Kari to go back and show us off and see everybody, despite the unfortunate adventure that we had about midway through that I will write about another day.