Happy Thanksgiving

So, even though we took our camera to Thanksgiving with us, I just realized we didn't take any pictures. Hmm. Happy Holidays all the same!

The C Word

This is an odd post for me, since I usually just post pictures and lighthearted posts, but I just found out a friend of mine from Ricks was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Coming a few months after I found out about my melanoma (which was fortunately caught early, since it was an aggressive cancer), I am wondering why so many of my young 30 something friends are dealing with such major issues at such a young age. It used to be (at least it seemed when I was younger) that cancer was an "old folks" disease (not that my dad is old, of course--he is now a survivor of two forms of cancer). Now I'm learning not so much.

It's amazing how trials, especially health trials change your perspective on life. I watched my grandfather fight and eventually die from colon cancer. My grandmother wore a prosthetic bra for many years after having a mastectomy due to breast cancer. As I mentioned, my family has watched my father battle cancer twice, and after receiving my own diagnosis, my mother had surgery to have three melanoma (melanomas?) removed.

In the end, I guess this post is to say a few things:

1. Don't take your health for granted. Paying bills and providing for a family are two very important things, but they aren't worth losing time spent with the ones you love. When trials come (as they eventually do to all of us) you won't remember time spent watching T.V., playing computer games, being at work, etc.

2. Don't avoid going to the Dr. if you have those nagging thoughts that you should go. Best case scenario, you are out a deductible (which I KNOW can be high and a stress on a tight budget). In the event it's a worst case scenario, isn't that deductible worth saving your life?

3. I am so grateful for the gospel. I hate feeling helpless, as I have every time I have found out about trials others are facing--I don't always have the right words to offer comfort. In fact, many times I feel awkward and am concerned I might do more harm than good trying to offer my support. In the end, even Dr.s don't always have the answers--but the Lord does. Until I had any answers about my own melanoma (i.e., had it spread, what treatments would I need, etc.), I really didn't want to talk to anyone. I didn't want to talk about unknowns since it made me stress more than I was already. But I spent a lot of time on my knees and received priesthood blessings that gave me comfort when I needed it the most. And when I find myself in those awkward, helpless moments, I am grateful that the Lord is in control--I can turn to him and pray on behalf of those I love and know that He can help in ways I wish I could.

Here's wishing you all a healthy, stress-free holiday season--and if that's not possible, I wish you peace.

I love to see the temple

Yesterday night we went to the SLC Temple for family home evening. It was Laney's first time and she LOVED it.

Then . . .

Now:

Happy Halloween . . . It makes everyone a little crazy . . .

So if you're wondering what to do with all those trick-or-treat buckets after Halloween is over on Friday, Josh and Laney have come up with a game for you:

So, Josh has been getting on my case about updating the blog--or at least mentioning that I need to "put that on the blog" everyday. So here are some pics from our ward Halloween party (we had ours VERY early this year . . .)

Our Little Monkey! She walked around saying "ooo ooo ooo." It was SO cute!


Laney and her friend Zoe.


This is Laney's first crush! She followed him around all night--we think she liked his muscles!

A Good Morning

So, as some of you know, I spent my morning blog-stalking today. It is crazy what a small world it is and the degrees of separation between friends. I try not to make a habit of hunting down old friends via blog/facebook stalking, but it is great when I do get to catch up with people via blogs. So, in honor of my blog-stalking, I am posting (and to make Josh happy since he keeps asking if I've added anything new). To any friends who found me blog-stalking too, WELCOME! hahaha

I'm not feeling oh so creative today, so here's another pic of Laney . . .

Happy Birthday Laney!

Laney turned two yesterday! I can't believe she is getting so big.
She played two games of bowling, got two desserts (the one at the restaurant and the one at home) and two toys. It was two-riffic.

The pictures of her bowling didn't do it justice--she was HILARIOUS--so here's a video (I didn't realize that you couldn't change the rotation of the movie when I recorded it :(. Turn your head sideways and you can get the full effect.):

Mommy's Motivation . . .

Laney woke up today and wanted to "work." I wasn't sure what that meant until she went and put on one of my sports bras. She did really good--we did a whole work out video together (I thought she'd only last a few minutes). Keep this up and I'll be in shape in no time!

To answer a few questions . . .

So, some of you have asked how I got the pic of Laney at the President's desk. The answer is . . . the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. I had never heard of it before either. It is a really fun place for kids, I found out. Here are some more pics of our visit with Aunt Tiffy and cousin Katie and Hailey:

Is anyone having a hard time deciding who to vote for this year? This is our favorite candidate!

Happy Labor Day!

Sweet Laney

Happy Anniversary!

Even though it's not until Saturday, Happy Anniversary Josh! It's been an eventful three years. Here's to all the adventures to come!

Scrapaholic

After being inspired by our cousin Maile's impressive scrapbook pages during our visit to Jersery/NYC, I became an addict to digital scrapbooking. Not that I've done a whole lot per se, but I want to get good at it. I've been playing around with designing my own papers etc. This one is really simple/basic, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Good News!

The biopsies all came back: two were normal and one was pre-cancerous. The good news is that there are no more surgeries, and right now I'm just in healing mode with my elbow. I do get to go in every 3 months for the rest of this year and then every 6 months for 3-4 years; after that, as long as it doesn't come back, I'm on the routine yearly visit for the rest of my life. So it looks like we're out of the woods for now. It also looks like I shouldn't have much cancer go undetected in the future--now that I'm on the hit list I also have to be consistent with my annual physicals, mamograms, etc. Doctors will love me. I hope their kids enjoy college. . . .

The Update

Sorry to everyone who has wanted e-mails and phone calls. It's been a busy/rough week. As you can see from the hideous pictures, my surgery was in a very inconvenient spot--right on my elbow where it bends. If it was even a centimeter lower on my forearm, I'd actually be able to move it. Consequently (and VERY gratefully), I've had a lot of help come in, since little things like showering and changing diapers are either impossible or exhausting.

But enough of the complaining. Since I won't have time to get back to everyone, hopefully you will read this and get the update. Since Josh's last post, there have been some great updates:

1. The biopsy came back from the surgery. Apparently there were still some remnants of melanoma in the chunk they cut out, but from the edges and deeper skin, it looks like they got it all. YAHOO! The top layer of stitches was taken out (the bottom two layers of stitches are the dissolving kind), so the wound is healing nicely. The only bad news on that is that with the top layer of stitches out, it's more likely to tear at this point, so I need to be even MORE careful with it over this next week. With an almost two-year old, that is quite the feat.

The last few things I need to do will be taken care of Monday. I need to get a full body check to make sure that there are no other melanomas that need to be cut out, and I need to have my lymph nodes checked to make sure it hasn't spread. The Dr. is optimistic that it will be a quick appointment and that we're out of the woods after the biopsy--I sure hope so because I don't enjoy being dissected.

2. We found out that the type of melanoma that I have/had was genetic, so it wasn't really sun related at all. That means that there really wasn't anything I did or could have done to either cause it or prevent it. The good news: I don't have to be a sun hermit--just need to take care of my skin like everyone else. The bad news: these little suckers can pop up at any time. Here come dermatology appointments for the rest of my life (the good news: they should never go undetected long enough to spread too much). Also, with this type of melanoma, I also need to watch out for breast cancer (the good news: my doctors' kids will be able to go to college because I will keep them in a job with 6 month to annual visits). For some odd reason, ovarian cancer really doesn't factor into the equation. Just goes to show that we DO pay Dr's the big bucks for a reason.

Thank you to everyone who has shown their love and concern and who have kept us in their prayers. Even though skin cancer is fairly common/routine these days, it's still scary when you hear things like "possible radiation and chemo," "potentially more biopsies," and "you really need to stay on top of this, especially since you had melanoma at such a young age." There shouldn't be much more update on Monday, but we'll keep you posted!

Some Gross Photos

Enjoy!

The Joys Of Tanning

It has been a craaazy week. Wednesday around lunchtime Kim got a call from the dermatologist asking her why she hadn't followed up on her melanoma. This came as a surprise since they never called to tell her she had skin cancer in the first place. A month ago, she went in to have a mole removed and they said they would only call if there was bad news. Apparently aggressive spreading cancer is not considered bad news these days.

Thursday I took the day off as Kim was scheduled for surgery at 10:30. Originally they had scheduled her in for the next Thursday, and knowing that Kim would be stressing for a week, I called to see if they could move the date up which they asked if the following morning was acceptable (my thoughts are they could see through the phone and see that I had recently shaved my hair clean off, which can be very intimidating). Anyway, we made it to the appointment and she's been hopped up on pain killers ever since.






They had to cut down to the muscle and took about a 2 inch radius chunk of meat out. I accidentally looked once (risking the embarrassment that fainting in the doctor's arms would bring) and was able to see her muscle. It looked very toned and so now anytime she asks I say her muscles look very strong.

We will hear back in a couple days on whether all the cancer was removed and if not she will have to go under the knife again. Scary stuff folks. Please use sunscreen, hats, umbrellas etc when in the sun and no more tanning beds.

Cool Dudes

Laney calls sunglasses "cool dudes." After breaking a pair of daddy's, Laney got her very own pair of cool dudes--she LOVES them!

Goin Back to Cali

We had so much fun visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Sacramento! We didn't want to leave. :( Sigh. They have a pool in the backyard, so we knew we needed to teach Laney to at least respect the water, so she didn't go too near and fall in. Grandma is a swim instructor so we left it up to her to teach Laney the basics. She taught Laney how to throw the water at people (simulating the swimming motion), to blow bubbles in the water (which teaches them that they need to be exhaling or holding their breath when their mouth is in the water, and never inhaling) and how to kick her little legs (which she wasn't too excited about). We would throw her in the air from person to person, which she enjoyed at the first but worried we would drop her so she started hanging on tighter and tighter to each person who caught her. She quickly got to the point where she just wanted Mama or Dada, but that didn't stop Grandma from getting her turn.

Laney thought it would be a good idea to try the slide, so she climbed up and Josh helped her get situated and I caught her at the bottom. Then she climbed up again, thinking she wanted to go down again but this time got scared at the top. She wanted to go down on dad's lap but that presented the problem of what to do at the bottom. I told Josh to just hold Laney up at the bottom and I would grab her out of the air. Josh went down so fast, and put his legs up as he came off the slide so he landed on his back, instead of sticking his feet in and standing up at the bottom, so the momentum took them both under and I struggled to pull Laney up due to Josh holding on to her tight, unsure of whether I had a hold of her or not. I could see her little eyes wide open under the water- it was sad! Finally Josh let go and I was able to lift her out of the water. It was only about a second long but felt like a lot longer as we went through it. Turns out Laney held her breath the whole time! She did so good!

Her favorite thing was to walk around on the outside of the pool and throw things in (balls, rafts, speggetti floaty things) and have the wind blow it back to her, then she would reach in and throw them back out. She had been in the water enough at that point that she knew she had to be very careful. It was so much fun.

This is laney playing in the kitchen. She pulled EVERYTHING out so she could build a little fort inside. She is SO good at making messes :)

We took her to Funderland which is near the Sacramento Zoo. It's a place with a bunch of kiddie rides. She LOVED going on the fishie ride, which went around in circles and bobbed up and down. We weren't sure if she was too little, and wouldn't enjoy it. The first time she had a bit of a surprised look on her face, but as she realized how much fun it was, she ended up riding that thing close to 20 times!
We tried the Tea Cups with her, and she did not like that one bit. The operator was nice enough to stop the ride and let us get off. Ryan and Grandpa rode it later, and spun that cup so fast Ryan got a blister! They must enjoy being dizzy haha!

The Fairyland park is right next to the zoo and Funderland. It consists of a bunch of slides and things kids can play on. She had so much fun here. The slide built on the Old Lady in the Shoe was made of metal and was about 15 feet long. Josh and I both went down it and I was so fast it threw us off at the bottom. They need to have brakes on those things!

Ryan got some fireworks and we all went outside to enjoy the show. Laney was really scared of all the noises and must have thought we were being bombed or something (if she knew what a bomb was of course). She took turns sitting on Josh's and my laps and held on tight as the scary noises and flashing lights went off. Ryan did a great job keeping us entertained.

Sunday night Audrey and Mike drove down from Tracy, and we had a little BBQ and played some Catch Phrase. It was girls against boys and of course the ladies won a close one. It was very good to see them both!

We had so much fun there, it was so relaxing and just so good to be able to hang out with the fam. We had been there a couple of times before but they were only for short weekend trips.

So You Think You Can Dance . . .

Laney LOVES dancing and music. It may look like she's just running around, but no--those are her smooth moves.

Babysitter for Hire

Landon came over for a few minutes the other day (literally like 20 min) and Laney was such a good little baby sitter! The whole time he was here, she was non-stop trying to play with him.

Happy Early Father's Day

Wanted to get this one up in plenty of time.
Thanks for being a great husband and father, Josh!

Mommy's favorite things about dad:

1. He is loves the Lord and honors his priesthood.
2. He is always willing to help.
3. He is very loving and kind.
4. Let's face it . . . he's hot.
5. He makes being married worth it!

Laney's favorite things about dad:

1. Dancing and doing "lifts."
2. Bedtime stories and songs.
3. Riding on dad's back.
4. "Helping" dad do websites.
5. Cuddles and loves.


Thanks for being a great husband and father. We love you!
Happy Father's Day!

Philly

It was nice to have some laid back days in Philly in between our "long" (two day) trips to D.C. and NYC. The only thing we didn't get to see were the "Rocky" steps. We saw them from the freeway, but we were going to run up them on Saturday. Unfortunately, Josh sprained his ankle playing B-ball Saturday morning and I had a sore knee all week, so we passed. . . .
Adrianne, we did NOT do it.

The only bad weather we encountered was in Philly. We walked from our friends town home to our car (only a few feet) and we got SOAKED from a random thunder shower. By the time we got to our other friends' house, the rain had stopped and the sun came out. Go figure.

NYC

I know it's totally touristy, but we did the double decker bus tour of NYC. It was much less smelly than the subways, and it allowed us to see most of the city in two days. We accidentally found the temple too. I happened to look over my shoulder and saw it--the rest of the people on the bus thought we were crazy because we were looking behind us and taking pictures of the temple instead of taking pictures of the historic building the guide was talking about.

Times Square was CRAZY, but fun. The second day, we both felt like we smoked a pack of cigarettes--blech.

Laney had so much fun in Central Park, probably because she was allowed out of the stroller!

We enjoyed the Museum of Natural History. Laney had fun making animal noises and seeing them "up close and personal."

Washington, D.C.

Besides the monuments and the National Archives, we also went to Mount Vernon.
It was beautiful.

Counting Our Blessings

We just got back from a fun family vacation to the East Coast. There is nothing like a trip to places like Ground Zero to make you realize how much you have to be grateful for. Here are just some of the blessings we've learned to be grateful for from this trip:

Freedom

Memorial Day was the best day to be in Washington, D.C.--it was a great reminder of how precious our freedom is and how many people have given their lives to defend that freedom.


Friends and Family

This trip was really made possible because friends and family were willing to let us come crash on their floors. Thank you so much Angie and Brett and Maile and Peter for letting us stay with you! Kim's friend Shari also helped us tons by being our tour guide in D.C. We would have gotten SO lost without her! Laney had such a fun time making new friends--Taft, Hosea, Kaia, and Asher were great playmates for Laney. She sure is bored now that we are home!


Strollers

These pictures should explain how much we are grateful for the invention of the stroller. If you can't tell from the picture on the bottom right, as soon as we took Laney out of her stroller she escaped and ran ON the Korean War Memorial. While Josh and I were debating about who had to go get her (and got chewed out by someone who wondered if we knew she wasn't allowed on there), Shari ran and got her. For all the time in the stroller, though, Laney was a little trooper and did GREAT on our trip. She only had one or two meltdowns, which isn't much considering how much time she spent in airports, cars, and strollers.


Food!

Anyone who knows me knows that I take my food (especially deserts) seriously. We had SO much good food on our trip! We all came home a few pounds heavier, but every bit was worth it. Looks like we'll be doing Biggest Loser again . . .

New Outfits

Debi bought Laney some new outfits when they were in Park City a little while ago.
They are SO cute!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mom got sick on Mother's Day, so we just spent the day lazing around.





Laney got bored watching the Jazz game and decided to make a fort/bed on the stairs.
She is hilarious!