December. In a nutshell.

The last few months have been Crazy… with a capital C! I never imagined I could be so far behind on a to-do list. ;) I’ve never felt so much chaos but at the same time so content & happy with life. It’s full of everything I love. {and I’ve only had a couple of break down’s, a few monster stress zits, and two migraines"} ha! Really. It’s a beautiful life. I am so grateful for  my many blessings.

I guess it doesn’t help that I’d rather spend my nights sitting in front of the Christmas tree watching the twinkling lights.

I think I’ll just try to recap our month of December. On December 1st, Zach & I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Love that boy SO much. He makes all my dreams come true.

It was also the day my dad had surgery. It was a day of miracles. He is doing SO great. He is cancer free right now! That feels so good to say! :) He will do 12 more rounds of chemo after Christmas. He is my hero. I don’t know that I could fight like he is fighting. Truly he is amazing. It has been hard. We have had so many tender mercies. Very grateful.

We were able to visit with Braxton’s birth mom Shanna and her sweet family for an afternoon as well.  What would I do without these sweet girls who made it possible for me to be a mom?! Love them and that is an understatement!

We made a quick trip to Dallas where we were wined and dined. Seriously. Limo, 8 star hotel, breakfast in bed, the works. Can you believe I didn’t get a single picture? ha! {that is so unlike me}

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We helped host an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. SO fun!

this cute girl got a hair cut, and it was all her idea!

 

Welcomed a new niece! Rylin Kate Davis. She is SO tiny and I am SO baby hungry. Mmm. Nothing better than a sweet little one straight from heaven! So happy for Josh & Amber!

We celebrated my mom’s 50th Birthday. She is so beautiful. Really inside and out!

She's the kind of mom, who when you become a mom, somehow gets even better. You slowly start to realize what it must have taken to have provided the childhood you were blessed with, and wonder how you're ever going to do what she did, and be what she was. With every additional year of my own my mom becomes more amazing.

We’ve had preschool parties-

I am LOVING volunteering in Miss Brooklyn’s kindergarten class once a week too. The kids make me laugh. They are so fun!

 

We’ve been caroling, visiting the Senior Citizen’s home, Pedicures & Personal Progress, Studying Christmas with the Prophets for our Young Women Christmas lesson. Awesome book btw.

 

We have had SO much fun with our Elf on the Shelf Frisbee… my kids almost don’t want Christmas to come (I said almost)… because then Frisbee will have to go back to the North Pole. CUTE! Here are just a few of the things Frisbee has been up to! We love you too Frisbee!

 

Here is our Christmas card. We wish each of you a Merry Christmas filled with the love of our Savior, peace in your hearts & all good things as 2012 approaches.

 

Thankful Hearts & a New Surgery Date…

As we approach Thanksgiving tomorrow, we want to tell each of you who visit us here, at home, in prayer, in service and many other ways,how very, very grateful we are that we have you in our life. Supporting us through this difficult trial. We love you. We can't wait for the day when it is our turn to give back. We say it again and again, but we are humbled by the wealth of blessings we see each and ever day. Though the road has been extremely difficult, we have hope & we feel slivers of peace throughout each day.

They have bumped dad's surgery up to this Tuesday the 29th. Mom & dad will travel down to Huntsman's on Monday for the MRI & pre-op anesthesia and then they will decide after studying the MRI what the best plan is for dad's leg. We will keep you updated here as we receive more information from my mom on that day. We are holding a fast this Sunday for those who feel so inclined to participate with us for dad, that everything will go smoothly for him. Thank you so much. We truly feel the strength your prayers and fasting bring. We post most of the updates for dad HERE.

We leave you with a beautiful inspiring message.

Happy Thanksgiving. We truly have so much to be grateful for.

Wow. What a week. It's been crazy, hard & I never want to repeat it but- you know what we made it through it! On to the next adventure right?! My parents are on the way home from Salt Lake as I type this & we can't wait to have them closer & back in the comfort of their own home. It's hard to be in a hospital. I have learned so much about the person I want to be through this. I want to be more caring, giving, concerned with others. It's so easy to just go about our lives living them and looking out for ourselves, while we hardly notice how many people are suffering, sad, lonely or in pain. It makes my heart ache.

Did you know that October is Cancer Awareness month? Through some wonderful friends and family we came across this awesome song-





and this inspiring video. I hope you will take the time to watch them both. It's worth it.


Enjoy your weekend.

Caring Bridge...

Things seem to slowly be looking up for dad. He got quite a bit of rest yesterday. He is still having spasms and they have taken the spinal block out, but he seems to be tolerating the constant pain better, it's just those darn spasms that are hard. He even got up to do physical therapy and sit in a chair for about 20 minutes yesterday. We couldn't believe it! We thought it would be impossible, yet he rose to the challenge! We are SO proud of him!!! They started his chemo treatment today. We just hope and pray that it goes smoothly!

One thing that is great is dad still has his awesome sense of humor. He smiles when he can & makes us all smile too, one nurse came in and asked him if she could get him anything, he quickly replied "Some hair!" He is the best, we love him SO much!

My sweet Aunt Kathy, also set up a site where we can post more regular updates for you, and you can actually write a note of encouragement or well wishes to my mom and dad. :)

I may post here and there on this blog of important milestones and updates but for more regular updates check HERE. You just need an e-mail address and password. It only takes about 30 seconds to log in. You can sign up for e-mails or text messages to get notices as we add updates as well. Thank you again for all of your kindness & support.

Seeing the Positive...

I wanted to post some positive news! Last night they got dad's pain levels down and he slept really well! Krystal is staying down with my mom this week, for some support {which we are SO grateful for!} and she texted me and said he even falls asleep in the middle of eating. That is AWESOME! They got him moved & settled up at Huntsman's and started hydrating him for his next round of chemo. His doctor was very positive and couldn't believe he is even enduring the pain this long- He is SO tough! My mantra today has been "WE CAN DO HARD THINGS!" I say this in my mind over and over again.

I loved this quote I saw on my friend Jen's blog who has been coping with trials of her own:

"Faith in God includes faith in His timing." Elder Neal A Maxwell


We are also working on getting a blog of sorts just for all of dad's updates, thank you to my Aunt Kathy for working on it, as soon as we get it going, we will share the link, we think it will be easier for you to pass comments on to my mom, dad & stay more regularly updated. :)

Sunday Update...

I'm sure many are waiting for an update on dad. I am tempted to mince words, but then what good would an update be? It has been a rough couple of days. Full of pain for him, full of heartache for us watching him as he struggles with the pain. He cries out and we watch helplessly wishing we could trade places with him. They have him on the best pain meds & have also put a spinal block in so he can hopefully find some relief. It lessens the pain but doesn't seem to get rid of it completely. The plan is to try to get the pain under control and start hydrating him tonight so they can move him up to Huntsman's and start another round of Chemotherapy.  The more chemo he gets, the better the chances are of avoiding amputation. The more the swelling goes down & the more the tumor dies, the better the chances are of the doctor being able to reconstruct & do a hinge knee for my dad. We pray that dad can tolerate the pain, so he can get through these next rounds of chemo before surgery. Thank you for your kindness, your prayers & support. 

Al ot of things are up in the air still, we will play it by ear and see what comes next. 

We are still seeing the tender mercies of the Lord around every hurdle and block we must go through. 

Plans Change & Prayers for Dad…

Well this was my original post and update on my sweet dad.

Grandpa’s hair started falling out because of the medicine he takes. It was itchy and he was tired of seeing it come out on his pillow and in the shower, so he had grandma shave it off. We took you over to watch so you wouldn’t be scared when you saw him with no hair. We colored pictures of Grandpa without his hair. :) We also explained to you that it is a good thing his hair is coming out. That means the medicine to help his leg is working! :) He is cute even without hair, just look at those dimples!  We love you Grandpa!

 

 

 

As I write this I try not to let my tears start flowing again. It has been a taxing and emotional day. My dad spent all week on his second round of chemo treatments. He was doing great. He got to come home on Thursday afternoon. We took him dinner and went over to see how he was doing, he was in good spirits and other than being a little cold & tired he looked awesome! I left filled with much hope.

Friday morning I called to check in with my mom to see how things were going. She said he was feeling great. He was even planning on going in to work for a couple of hours. Well as most of you know we had an early Christmas in Idaho and it had snowed all night long. We woke up to a winter wonderland.  On his way into his building he slipped and broke his leg, right in half above the knee. The cancer is in his left femur and has made the bone porous & weak, Dr. Jones his specialist warned us that would be the worst thing that could happen, his exact words were “whatever you do don’t break your leg.” before we left his last appointment in August. There are just so many complications. They rushed him to the hospital  then later this evening they flew him & my mom to Salt Lake to the University Hospital.

His doctor will do an MRI tomorrow morning.  We need the swelling to go down. What happens to his leg all depends on the amount of pain he can handle and where the swelling is. The soonest they feel like they can do surgery is Sunday night.

We are now waiting for his doctor to come in and tell us more of what to expect in the next couple of days, when the surgery will be etc.

I came across this talk by Susan Tanner-  If you are interested in reading it all go HERE.

Sister Tanner said this: “As we search, pray, and believe, we will recognize miracles in our lives and become miracle workers in the lives of others. “{That is

where you come in-

would you please pray

for my dad?}

 

We believe in the power of prayer, we expect miracles, we know the Lord is aware of my dad and each one of us. He loves us. We don’t know why this is happening, but have faith that just as in D&C 98:1 Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, ... all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good

All Things Shall Work Together for Your Good

I love to read. But I can hardly stand it if a novel gets too intense—if the hero’s life is too dangerous or sad or complicated. So I have to read ahead to the end just to make sure that everything will turn out all right for the main character.

In a sense all of us are in the middle of our own novels, our own life stories. Sometimes our stories feel very intense, and we would like to read ahead to know our own end, to make sure that everything is going to turn out all right. While we don’t know the particular details of our life’s experiences, fortunately we do know something about our futures, if we live worthily.

We are given this insight in Doctrine and Covenants 90:24 [D&C 90:24]: “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly.” This stunning promise from the Lord that all things shall work together for our good is repeated many times in the scriptures, particularly to people or prophets who are suffering through the trials of their own life stories.

I sense that this promise comes from a tender, caring Father who desires to bless us and give us reason to hope through our earthly journey. Knowing that eventually all things will work together for our good will help us endure affliction like the faithful people from the scriptures who knew of His promises and trusted in them, “having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them” (Heb. 11:13). We too can embrace this promise.

 

We are smack in the middle of our book, we would surely appreciate all the prayers you can utter.We will be holding a special fast for him on Sunday, you are welcome to join us.  We feel your prayers, they buoy us up. We know things will work out, it will just be pretty rough for a minute. Thank you for your continued support & kindness- I wish I could reach through the computer and hug each one of you, tell you how much we love you, and how we couldn’t do it without you.

I’ll try to give you updates as I can.

Our River…

I feel like the days rush by like a crazy wild river.  A river that is filled to the brim and bubbling with things like going to the zoo a few more times before summer says goodbye.

 

Decorating for Halloween.

Here is a little 4x6 printable for you.

A little spider to decorate Miss Brooklyn’s hair. You can get the pattern for yourself HERE.

Go HERE to learn how to curl ribbon (for the spider legs)

Or leave a comment- and I’ll draw a random winner in a few days for one that I made. :)

cute young women

These glasses went with a handout that says

Here are a few handouts I’ve made in the last little while. Nothing spectacular- just super simple.

Temple Marriage Manual 3 Lesson 36

{atatched to a white hanger}

Dating Decisions Manual 3 Lesson 35  

 

new recipes from my sweet friend Jodene

{click on the picture for the recipe}

 

Inspiring Books

 

Sunshine to my Soul

Watched the Relief Society Broadcast- to read President Uchtdorf’s uplifting words go HERE.

 

Words of Wisdom

“Every one of us is either a plus or a minus in people’s lives” John C. Maxwell   What are you?

 

Christmas Shopping- call me crazy but I think I’m about finished!

Looking forward to Conference this weekend!

Speaking of Conference I like to put a little something together for the girls I get to visit with.

It says:

Conference Listening Kit:

notebook & pen: to take notes during conference

kleenex: for those emotional talks

highlighter: to highlight memorable talks in the ensign

popcorn & m&ms: because conference should be just as good as a movie (if not better)

My dad goes in this Sunday night for his second round of Chemo. Thank you to all who have been so kind and keep him in your prayers. We appreciate it more than you will ever know. Those prayers give us strength.

 

Have a great week!

Update on Dad…

My eyes well up with tears at your kind response from my last post. My dad started chemo and is a little more than half way through his first treatment. He will get a 3 week break until the next treatment. He is doing SO great! He has had  a little problem with his port that they put in last week, and not being able to draw blood from it, but other than that his only side affects right now are being tired & a little bored. (We think those are AWESOME side affects!) :) He is in good spirits. We are grateful for little things like a big window in his hospital room that overlooks a beautiful park and lets the sun come streaming in! We are grateful for happy nurses and doctors. For friends and family who are so thoughtful. We are truly blessed.

Cancer…

It’s such an ugly word isn’t it? You never really think about it until it touches someone you love. Well it did just that. This month has been filled with more than a few ups and downs. My dad has cancer. (I can finally type that without shedding a tear or two) First let me say THANK YOU to all of you who have sent us messages, texts, e-mails, phone calls, dropping by, so much service has been rendered on our behalf. We have been reminded over and over again how incredibly kind & good people are. My dad is really an amazing man (amazing is an understatement), and so many people love him. As a family we can’t keep up with updating everyone with what is going on- so we thought  this might be a good place to try.

My cute dad has been limping for a few months now and had some pain in his left knee. He had a family doctor check it out and they assumed it was probably tendonitis. He did acupuncture, he did cortisone shots, he tried a bunch of remedies but nothing was helping. So they went in to a specialist who thankfully saw what it really was.

Without going in to too much detail, he has high grade Osteosarcoma of the left distal femur. It is a type of bone cancer that is normally found in teenagers.  He had a biopsy 2 weeks ago,  that confirmed it. It has not spread- a huge blessing. He will start chemo this Sunday night. We are so lucky that he can do his Chemo treatments close to home, just up the road, in Rexburg. They have excellent doctors there that have been trained by the Huntsman clinic in Salt Lake City. He will do 3 day cycles of Chemo, so he will be in the hospital until Wednesday morning. He will most likely do two rounds of chemo then go in for surgery in Salt Lake to remove the tumor in his knee. Then a few months later he will start another chemo regiment when the Dr. feels that he is ready.

 

 We have been praying for miracles, and we believe we will get them.

We have already seen SO many “tender mercies” from our Father in Heaven.  Two scriptures that have been of great comfort

Mosiah 23:27-28

Mosiah 24:14-16

Another sweet reminder that our Heavenly Father is walking along side of us. {Especially the 2nd & 3rd verse}

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said—
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

In every condition, In Sickness, in Health
In poverties veil, or abounding in wealth;
At home or abroad, on the Land or the Sea
As thy days may demand, So thy succor shall be

“Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.”

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.”

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.”

“E’en down to old age, All my people shall prove
My sovereign, Eternal, Unchangeable Love;
And when hoary hairs, shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in my bosom be bourne.”

“The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I can not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!”

Even in trials the Lord is with us. We can do hard things. We love you dad!