We had Laurel's 26th birthday party here Saturday night. Cristie went to a lot of work to pull it off and we had Sam and Melissa and their kids; Ed and Val and the girls, and Cristie, Lizzie and I. Dave was in Vegas at the Mountain West basketball tournament and of course Joe is serving in AZ. We loved having Alison and Katie in town earlier this month, but they weren't here for the party.

It was a disappointment. Laurel wasn't in good shape which was heartbreaking, but we soldiered on and made a night out of it. We continue to take it a day at a time with that girl. We love her and pray for her and we know you do too. We much appreciate the family support.

One bright spot to the night was little Claire's predicament shown in the slide show to the right of this post. Claire is Ed and Val's oldest and she's historically had trouble with the banister posts in the loft which opens up to our family room below. Most of the grandkids have stuck their heads through the posts a time or two, but after a teary episode requiring a parents help to remove them, they don't do it anymore. Sadly, Claire (turning three in June) has been stuck more than a few times. Maybe she's so intent on what's happening below she can't keep her head from poking on through. At any rate, I got a few of her expressions on camera Saturday night before her dad saved her. We love our little Claire.