Silly syd

I had to post this pic of Syd. She is SO silly sometimes! Love this girl!

                                         

August 2015-Random

I just love this picture of syd-she's so cute!

 This is the tree in our yard that the kids love the best. They play in it and climb in it all of the time.

 This was a owl that came into the clinic. Pretty cool!

 Dalton had a follow-up appointment from his surgery and Brett took them while I was with my mom. He took them to a cool park/mini zoo in boise and then for ice cream. They had a great time!

Cancer Sucks!

 On August 27, I was able to go with my mom to her 2nd Chemo appointment. I wasn't any real help to her but it did a lot for me to be there and see the process and to just see her. I hadn't seen her since her diagnosis and living so far away from her was very hard. I felt so helpless.

She had chemo in St George and it took like 6 hours do get all of that poisen into her body so I ran a few errands for her and also got us smoothies at Tropical Smoothie Cafe. I kept popping back in to check on her. It was interesting to watch the other people. The infusion room is just a huge room with a bunch of chairs with people hooked up to them-people with all different kinds of cancer at different stages. Some were very quiet and kept to themselves, some were crying because they were so sick, some were loud and talking to everyone about everything. I guess everyone deals with it in their own way but I found myself wanting to know more about them. What kind of cancer did they have? What was their prognosis? What do they believe about life and the afterlife? Was this their first battle with cancer? Have they had family members that they have also battled cancer? I was curious but it also felt so personal-like something they just had to deal with on their own. It made me thankful for my family and friends and support system that I have. My mom has been very private about the whole thing (she is naturally an extremely private person) so it's been hard to know how to help her and truthfully there isn't much you can do to help someone going through chemo. I have been absolutely amazed at my mom's courage. She never once complained-not once. I begged her once to complain and she wouldn't. Guess she's like Job and I am more like Job's wife but she literally never complained. She also chose to go completely bald in public which has taught us so much about what beauty really is. She was absolutely beautiful without hair and she owned it big time. Her confidence was contagious and she was complimented so many times about how beautiful she was without hair. I've never been more proud of her or more proud to be her daughter.

Her Dr. is Dr. Te and we love him. He has been so good to my mom. He told her he has treated her cancer as aggressively as possible. Which to me says, "we have taken you as close to death as possible without killing you". Chemo made her SO SO SO sick. Radiation was much better than Chemo but not without it's pain and challenges.

This picture with a smile on her face makes me cry every time. Not because she has no hair-but because she was able to smile throughout it all. She is THE BEST!!

She had some bad experiences trying to find a wig in vegas but did get one. She hardly wore it though. We tried on a few in St. George as well. I thought it would be fun to post a few here.

Love you mom-you are so inspiring!

Cat club

So Mia and my kids are all interested in the Warrior books. They have given each other cat names from the books and everything. They call themselves the cat club. I'm not sure when but Mia sent these notes to the girls and I just love how she spelled everything-so cute! We wish she was our "naber" too!

Ward Boating Party-August 2015

We were able to go to the ward party at CJ Strike (mostly because they wanted Brett to bring his boat-Jeramiah covered calls for him so he could go). Brett said he would have rather worked than haul kids on the tube:)

Our neighbor Phil wore this shirt and I thought it was so funny!

 All the kids had a great time.

First day of Preschool! Aug 2015

 These little cuties got to go to preschool this year and they were SO excited. They were ready to get a little break from me. Dalton was a little disappointed when he found out that they were going to be in the same class. I think he needed a break from her too!

They went to Discovery preschool with Mrs. Pippin and Mrs. Kennedy (who are AMAZING). We loved them as teachers. They did such fun things with the kids. It was good for D&S to be around other kids. I had a hard time getting real smiles out of them, that's why there are so many pictures.