Halloween

Wow. I just realized how long it has been since I last blogged. I am terrible. Sorry to keep my devoted readers hanging for so long. I always tell myself that this is more for me and doubt that any one ever really reads it except my family. Then I stand corrected when I bump into a perfect stranger at the grocery store and they know everything about me through a blog of a blog. Really, I guess this is just the new era of journaling. Kind of nice accept the whole world can keep tabs on you.

Well, I am halfway through radiation and so far, so good. I have a nice square tan/burn across my chest where I am being treated. I am tired but I think that just comes with the package of "mom."

To follow the spirit of Halloween, I thought I would be like everyone else out there and share pictures of my kids this season. The costumes I am not posting until after Halloween but they are quite spectacular. I went to my cousin Patty's house this weekend and had to improvise costumes for a ward party. Our real costumes weren't complete yet. Josh was a cowboy. I loved this picture of him.



It was Red Ribbon Week last week in Drue's school. One of the days was Crazy Hair Day. I was going for sort of a Sanjaya (American Idol) mohawk. I am not sure if it worked or not. Drue was mad at me when I did her hair like this. She loved the pink until I did the mohawk. She thought I was out to humiliate her. When she got to school and saw people with crazier hair than her, she was okay.

I must say, I am quite proud of our pumpkins this year. I did Ethan's and Drue's. Josh carved his and little Josh's. I got about half ways through mine when Josh pulled out the Dremmel and finished it off. I have decided that using the Dremmel is the only way to go when carving pumpkins. I have always wondered how professional carvers got their's so detailed. Ahhh. Dremmel.

This is Ethan's. Since he spits-up A LOT we decided to have his pumpkin resemble him. I thought it was pretty cute. He doesn't seem so happy about it though.

Drue's (she colored where she wanted me to cut):

Josh (he wanted a "scary" one):

Mine:



Dad Josh:

Josh and I spent a couple of weekends ago in Georgia visiting his family. We went to Stone Mountain where I overwhelmed the kids with pictures in all the pumpkins. It was a fun trip.

On the Allred note, Josh and I have found out that the Allred's are actually related to Mr. Obama. Yep. Apparantly, Barack's mom is a descendant of the Allred lineage. Our Allred lineage. Don't worry, this doesn't effect my vote next week. For all those Barrack supporters, I am sorry but.....blech. My two cents of opinion is this: I don't particularly like McCain either but really, which is the worser of the two? And that is all I will say about that. I think I have been listening to too much talk radio lately.

Random...

I wish I had more exciting news to pass along.

Life is fantastic!

Someone anonymously gave Josh and I a weekend stay out in Zion. To them, I tip my hat. It was a wonderful weekend. We stayed at a brand new lodge. The Cable Mountain Lodge. I could have stayed there a week. It was gorgeous! We ate at the Bit 'n' Spur. A classic favorite. I used to work right across the street from the Bit (Switchback Grille) when I was in high school. It was a fun job and I made a few good bucks in my teenage years. I was the only underage server. Beats working at McD's.

The next morning we hiked the Narrows. 4 of my tween into teen years were spent living in Virgin so I have hiked Angel's Landing many many times. It is my favorite hike. But, no matter how many times I go to Zion, it never ceases to amaze me. I have always loved it more than the Grand Canyon. The world truly doesn't understand the outstanding beauty we have right at our back door. It makes me ashamed that I live so close and don't take advantage of it more often.

Thank you thank you. To the anonymous person(s) that put that together for us. We loved it!

I have started radiation. It is pretty easy. I am there only about 15 minutes and I have to lay still for about 2 minutes. I go early in the morning so I am back before my kids are off to school. Then I have the rest of my day clear. My skin is just starting to turn red and be a little sensitive. Pretty easy in comparison.

I have discovered chemo has killed my nearly perfect track record of teeth. I have only had one teeny tiny cavity my entire life. I didn't even have to have any anesthetics when they fixed it. The Dr.'s and experts all told me that it probably wouldn't stay perfect because of the chemo. Ha! I shook my head and told them they don't know my teeth. They have never let me down before. Well, I went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago and discovered I had 6 cavities!!! SIX! I wanted to cry. I feel like I should just tell the dentist (who happens to be Josh's dad) to yank them all out and start over. I was/am devastated. I fly out to Georgia in a week and he will fix them for me. I was telling Josh last night that I hate dentists. I don't hate Josh's dad, I just hate going to the dentist. I think I actually fear the dentist more than I do cancer. Pathetic. I know. I had so much work done on my mouth when I was teen (braces, imbedded wisdom teeth, uncut extracted permanent teeth, implants) that it was enough to scar me for life. I may or may not wet myself on the dental chair in fear.

Enough of that.

I wish I had more exciting info to pass along. I guess that is why I haven't posted in awhile. Not much of a dog and pony show going here.

At the risk of sounding redundant, thank you all again for everything you do!