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Well, I know this is nutty, but....since I don't have cancer anymore, my blog has gone to the pot. I know. I was only cool when I had cancer.......However, I would gladly take a boring blog to cancer. Now my blog has just turned into the typical "mommy" blog with pictures of my kids. It was kind of like when you were little and took a family vacation. Afterwards, your parents would make you sit down and watch a slideshow of all the pictures, trying to re-live every exact moment through some snap shots with some occasional "ooooo's" and "ahhhhhh's" even though your thoughts had wandered to which toy you were going to hide so your brother or sister didn't have a fat chance of stealing it any more.

Well.........so what! Since I don't have cancer to make my blog interesting anymore, I will bore you with photo's of my awesomely fantastic family! I love my family and I love being a mom! I have nothing to hide!

The first stop we make down memory lane occured a little over a week ago. Ethan decided to ride the swivel go cart on his own down our steep driveway. When he hit the pavement he decided the best break was his forehead and shoulder. The picture tells the rest.

The next locale is at Josh's first T-Ball game. He was a trooper. I think it took more him out of him to kick the dirt in the outfield than it did up to bat.

Thirdly, we inherited (take a deep breath) a Chihuahua (let it out). Some friends of ours breed their Chihuahua and gave us one of the pups. His name is Chewy. Short for 3 things: 1 - he is a chew toy for Lexi, our other dog. 2 - he chews on everything (the obvious description). 3 - it is short for Chewbaca (spelling?) from Star Wars. I wasn't sure about him. I haven't quite connected with him yet but the kids love him. If any one has any tips on house training a dog, I would love to hear it! We are desparate!

The last stop I will be making was over Memorial weekend. We went up to my brother's house in Panaca and took the dirt bike we have been borrowing from a friend. It is an addicting little machine. The kids love it.

Unfortunately, for Ethan, the sunblock I applied to his face got in is eyes and he puffed up like a marshmellow in a hot camp fire. The last picture is evidence of his woes that details his lovely hamburger scar on his forehead and sightly swollen eyes. Poor Ethan, he just has a hard time. A guy at church even mentioned that we should buy him a helmet after he fell at Father's and Sons camp out this last weekend and smacked his already scarring head. I am seriously taking it into careful consideration.

Nachhhooooo!

Finally, the pictures to my swine infested flu cruise!

It was a super fun cruise. However, I will admit that having just went to Hawaii on a fabulous vaca with my hub, Mexico was.....well.....er.....you can probably guess. Not to mention, when we got off the ship it reeked of sewage. None-the-less, it was being with the women in my life that I love dearly.

I do need to give a public verbal apology to my niece. I slept on the top bunk in our inside cabin. My sister strategically placed her 10 month old daughter in the crib below me. In the middle of the night I got up to relieve my bladder. Routine. Unfortunately, I forgot where I was and that I was suspended 5 feet above the ground. I came crashing down on top of Tess. Since the rooms are pitch black, I couldn't figure out what had happened until my cousin flipped on the light to her rescue. I snapped the roll-a-way crib in 2 and left a sightly bruise the the poor baby's face. Fortunately, Carnival Cruise line didn't charge us for the damage.

In Mexico we went to La Bufadora which translates to.......blow hole. We were given $10 each for a competition to see who could come up with best souvenir from Mexico. Sona bought some Nacho Libre masks that were highly entertaining for us. Joi got a temp tat on some secured locations. I purchased a nacho libre wrestling box that included 4 wrestlers! A bargain if you aske me for only $5! (Even though I know they probably only paid .25 cents for it from China. the wee wrestling dudes were our entertainment at the dinner table that evening. It was a fun event that I will always remember, for more reasons than one. Looking forward to the next girls trip!

Pork anyone?

I went on a "girls only" cruise this past weekend. Our only stop was in Ensenada. Mmmmm. Wonderful Ensenada. So....ahem....clean?

We saw 2 trucks of military personnell driving by. We didn't think anything of it and went about our day of blow hole seeing, adobada tacos, and negotiating a cheaper price for some Nacho Libre mask capes. It wasn't until we got back on the boat that evening that we saw on the news there was an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico. Hence, the military trucks (they were trying quarantine certain areas).

I would like to state for the record that I have not been infected. It is only natural for me to act paranoid and foam at the mouth. If you see me....just walk on by.

Girl's trip was loads of fun. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures yet because my sister took her camera and we decided to share the photos. She hasn't downloaded them.

I am still in the process of fighting my insurance to cover my remaining surgeries. Nothing new on that end.

I am getting excited for the summer!

Hawaii

I have been home now for almost a month and still have not posted anything on my fabulous trip to Hawaii.

Of course, the pictures don't really do any justice.

The first two days we were there, it rained. Non-stop. Our flight was cancelled and we flew in a day late. So, Josh and I were less than excited to see all the rain. We wanted the sunny, warm Hawaii that you see in posters. By day 3, it was gorgeous. We saw TONS of whales. No joke. They were EVERYWHERE. Playing and breeching. When we snorkeled, we would dive down under the water deep enough to hear the whales. It was awesome.

We started on Oahu. THen Maui for 2 days where we snorkeled and beached.

It was off to the Big Island for 2 days, where we biked down the active volcano. This is a picture of us in front of the venting Molokai Crater.

Heading into a lava tube tunnel.

As we were disembarking from the Big Island, our Captain drove past the lava flowing into the ocean. I can't even being to describe how cool this was. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Then, we were in Kaui for 2 days. We rented mopeds and scootered all over half of the island. We saw many waterfalls. But, it was raining so we went to Wal*Mart to buy some ponchos, i.e. garbage bags. Josh was extremely embarrassed by my appearance.

On our way back to Oahu, we drove up the Napali coast. Incredible. Amazing. Breathtaking.

The last day was on Oahu, where we crammed Pearl Harbor, the Swap Meet, and the Polynesian Cultural Center in one day. The Cultural Center was neat. A perfect way to end the perfect vacation.

My only problem, if you can call it a problem, is now I want to live there. Ahhhh......wishful thinking.

(reading back on this, I realize it all sounded a bit like a first grade report. Sorry for the amateurity).

One year ago

I tried to post this yesterday. But didn't get to it. So read it as if you were reading it on Thursday, March 27, 2009.

One year ago today, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The last 365 days have been a huge eye opening, life reflecting, given-a-2nd-chance-at-life experience for me.

I cannot even begin to write about the things I have felt, compassion I have witnessed and patience I have learned.

A month ago, I read Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture." If I were to write a book, that would be it. Too bad Mr. Pausch beat me to the punch.
If you get the opportunity to read it, please do. Just a warning. He dies. Don't worry. I am not giving anything away by telling you. He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Have a tissue nearby as you read it.

The first time I was to meet with my oncologist, I remember sitting in his waiting area. I picked up a cancer magazine and read a marvelous article on this Randy fellow. I was inspired then to read his words of wisdom. Unfortunately, everything caught up with me and I was't able to get to it until about 1 month ago.

I don't really know what I am trying to say that I haven't already said already. I know that when the news spread it was like the wild fires of California. I know so many prayers were said. So many people fasted and urged their beliefs of higher powers for me to heal.

Last December, I finally got the nerve to ask my doctor what my prognosis was when I was first diagnosed. He tried to persuade me into not wanting to know. It didn't work.
He finally crunched the number and came out with one devastating result. I was given a 6% chance of survival. I was a stage 3. I realize now the power of prayer - especially in numbers.

I know I have expressed my gratitude before, I really don't think I could ever say it enough. Here are my thank you's:

For all the people who donated diapers, wipes, formula and other baby needs.

For all the people that added my names to the prayer rolls at the many temples across the nation/world

For all the letters of empathy and love

For all the people who got down on there knees and prayed for me countless hours

For all the money that was donated and yard sales that helped us with our medical expenses

For the housecleaning that so many people did when I wasn't able to.

For all babysitting from friends, family, and the young women in our area.

For the young men coming to my house when I couldn't make it to church

For all the people that brought meals to me and fed my family

For all the people who visited me and cried with me

For the leaders of my church

For hair the hair on my head, eyelashes and eyebrows

For the remarkable Susan Doughmans Christin Olsons in the world (there are more but too many to mention).

For cancer support groups

For all the pink bracelets and pink objects people bought or wore on my behalf

For scripture

For all the hats, wigs and scarves I was able to wear

For my family

For Doctors that eagerly saved my life

For my dear friend, Karen Esplin

For my beautiful sweet children

And, last but certainly not least, my wonderful, magnificent husband, Josh. I love him more than life. I couldn't have gone through this without him. I know he probably won't read this but I thought I would publicly thank him anyway.

Here is to a wonderful (yes wonderful) last year and to many many more years to come...

All you couponers....

This is a shout out to all you couponers. Here is some useful information. For Utahn's, if you use the website http://www.grocerysmarts.com/, this applies to you mostly. However, this will still apply to anyone outside of Utah as well.

I have some friends that started a blog on great deals and coupons. It is called http://itshiptoclip.blogspot.com. I have found it extremely helpful. They will tell you what the really good deals are and how to exactly get them. It is like "coupons for dummies" for people like me. They don't just talk about grocery store coupons but also go into detail about some really good promotions and offers through different companies. I am putting a link to it under "Blogs I Stalk" column on the right hand side of this page. Feel free to follow it and post it on your blog.

Also, I will soon be putting some adsense on my blog. If you have a blog or webpage, I suggest you do it too. It is just a great way to earn a couple of extra dollars. You get payed "per click". Hey, who doesn't want a couple of extra dollars in today's economy?

Mission Aborted

Unfortunately, we have to cancel our big home show for this weekend. However, it is only postponed until the 1st weekend in April, so if you were planning on coming this weekend, just mark your calendars for April 3-4. We will definitely be there then. The location has also changed so I will update with addresses when it gets closer to the date.

Let me clarify a little of my last email. I was actually suppose to hear the wonderful "R" word about 3 months ago. Due to a CAT Scan that I had from a hospital visit, I was told I had 2 new nodules in my lungs. Of course, the doc's all assumed the worse, given my history and the likelihood. They told me to wait it out and see what the next scan would read. WAIT IT OUT??? REALLY? Well, I did. Not with much sleep, but I did. One doctor even said, "I know it's kind of like the 800 pound gorilla in the room..." Ya think? I secretely wanted to high five him in the face. Don't worry I didn't. After much pleading and prayers, the CAT scan I had before I left for Hawaii showed that the nodules were still there but that they hadn't grown. This just means that they are 99% sure that it is not cancer and more probably scar tissue due to radiation or inflammation from all the drugs I have been high on the past year or so. Whew! Finding out this news brings me so much peace and elation I just cannot even begin to tell you.

I have hundreds of Hawaii pictures, but I will spare your eyes and only put the ones I love later.

P.S., I tried to keep the nodule thing a secret but the news leaked out and several people knew. Don't worry. Those of you who knew, you don't have to pretend anymore that you don't think that I know what you know about what I know......: )