Tylers & Stephanie's Wedding

The wedding lunch was at Corbins in Layton.
Temple pictures took a little longer than expected, we waited about 45 minutes for the bride & groom to arrive.

How could I not mention the food. Lemon pepper dill Chicken- was alright. More of a flavor that would compliment some Halibut. Delish mashed potatoes! Steamed veggies- I love my veggies! & a salad drenched in ranch. Yummy!

Waiting for pictures we goofed around.

Little boys can't keep clothes clean for long.

Trent, pondering over the good book.

(Diary of a wimpy kid or something like that)

A fun place to play.

Adelaide, such a doll.

Lil' buddies

Check out those blue eyes.

Nate & Jens girls

Say Cheese

Awe, he finally let me have a picture of us together.

Would you believe I don't have a picture of the bride & groom. Partially because my camera doesn't act like it should. It's still upset about the near drowning.

(You will have to look up past postings to read about that adventure)

40 years

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad

it's their 40th wedding anniversary!

Stockton

For a while now we have been keeping some news about Stockton to ourselves, because we didn't want to worry you over nothing. We have told a few people & they have told a few people, so we figured we can talk about it openly now. About a month or so ago, Nic found a lump on Stocktons neck. You can bet I about crapped my pants when he showed me. Of course he found it on a Sunday, so we were panic stricken until Monday when I took him in. Our Doctor said that Swollen lymph nodes are VERY common in kids. He then gave Stockton a Z-Pack antibiotic to rid him of any infection. & told me to come back in 10 days. So we went back, lymph nodes still the same size. (I would guess it's about the size of a kidney bean) Obviously not caused by an infection. Did some blood work to try & determine Mono, & check CBC. Mono came back negative & CBC came back normal. So he said lets watch it another 2 weeks & then re-check. So being that they (one on each side & the Doctor could feel some under his jaw) were still there, no change in size he scheduled an ultra sound. We had that done on Thursday & got the results today. It ruled out that there wasn't any kind of infection. Which is kind of what we were hoping for. Those are easy to fix. So, the next step is to get a CT scan done. We will be doing that next week.

Tis' the season

CANNING

I have frozen

peas

corn

raspberry jam

I have canned

pears

peaches

green beans

apricot juice

peach jam

strawberry jam

............................................................

and for the first time ever I am going to attempt

SALSA

I will take any recipes and tips you have to offer. I have gotten a few recipes, but what I like to do is, look at like 5 & then make my own. Silly I know, but that is how I am.

Last year was my first year for apple sauce & apple butter. I tried a few different recipes all were good in their own way. I did enough, however, to cover me for this year.

With Grattitude

I want to thank the wonderful Young Women's group from West Haven, and Grandma Hadley for organizing the activity.

Grandma happened to look at my blog when I posted about my garden. You'll have to go back & look at the blog.

I never had time to weed it, so I just kept watering it, & that's it. I did pick some green beans and bottled them. When the weeds were taller than Stockton, I gave up. Then we got a call from Grandma that she was coming over with her young women's group to weed our garden. We tried to tell her that each girl could maybe pick a square foot & work on it for an hour & then go home.

I was trying to be sneaky & take a picture from my back door with out them seeing.

She said they would do what they could. My beans had been harvested, my herbs were WAY out of control. My cucumbers had been choked out by the weeds. I still have plenty of tomatoes & tomatillos. I asked Grandpa Hadley if he thought my potatoes had survived. I told him that that had grown for a while, but had since died. He took his shovel & did a little digging. It didn't take much & red potatoes started popping up everywhere. I was so happy. Every time I have planted potatoes in that garden, they have never really made it. This year I had a good crop. I made hash browns for breakfast & masked potatoes for dinner the following day. My family is still using the tomatoes, potatoes, and onions. I also had a zucchini plant make it, I now I've got too many. But I'm not complaining.

~Thank You Ladies~

You need to look back and find the post where it has a picture of how it looked when I gave up.

Last Chemo

Ahhhhh, need I say more.

How is Nic feeling? Well that question has 2 answers.

1- he is feeling crappy, how could you not after chemo.

2- he feels great. having a party in his head, waiting for his body to join in.

His counts were border, so the doctor let him decide if he wanted the shot or not. We were concerned with his brothers wedding coming up, lots of germs. As the conversation progressed it was decided that the shot adds to Nic's mouth sores, by like 70%. & well there you have it. No shot.

He will have a PET scan in about 2-3 weeks & then he will have his port taken out.

He will then have scans every 3 months for 1 year

He will then have scans every 4 months for 1 year

He will then have scans every 6 months for 1 year

He will then have scans every year, for the rest of his life.

~No, this is not multiple choice, this is how it is.

Being that Monday was Labor day, it made treatment day quite busy. Not to mention that one of the nurses was sick. Sick nurses can't be around cancer patients, so she had called in. There are 12 chairs. There were 10 patients (normally there are 3 or 4) A few had to be turned away because their counts were too low or their body was in no shape to handle it. Had they all been able to have a chemo treatment, not sure what they would have done. They were also taking pictures for a new brochure. I normally don't sit with Nic through his full treatment, I go to the appointment part, then leave & go back to work & go pick him up when he is done. Being that this was his last treatment, I decided to stay. The Lady that was on my other side was coming back. She had beat breast cancer, but when she had her first 3 month scan-- bad news. It was back in 3 new places. She was a school teacher, & is a "head witch" at fright mares, and has been for the last few years. She was also in suzical the musical, as grandma who. She turned to me & was telling me her story. She said that she debated treating cancer this time, she decided that she had lead a good life & if it was her time, it was her time. Her sister convinced her to go ahead with chemo. Why not live another 5 years, & if that is all you get, won't it have been worth it? Wisdom. It was that point that I decided to break out my home made Mrs. Fields cookies to celebrate Nic's last chemo. She then kind of changed her tune. "Oh" she said. "Well Maybe we'll see you back here in another 3 months." (Okay--that was pretty negative.) The Nurse said "He's not coming back." the witch lady responded with "Why is he so lucky, why did I have to come back". silence.. how do you answer that. & why would you ask it.

Looking around I noticed that Nic was the youngest in the room by far. Would she really wish his cancer to come back to make her feel better? Hmm, didn't talk much to her after that. She was really fun to talk to, until the hopelessness & negativity came through.

At the end of the treatment, all staff, yes all of them- came out & sang happy last chemo to you, in the tune of happy birthday. I tried to get it on my phone, but I only got the end of it, & I moved my phone too much, so it didn't turn out.

Then I wondered to myself, how often do they get to sing that song. Is it offensive to anyone battling it for the 3 or 4th time, or those who are only doing it to prolong their life.

I was happy to walk out of that office, hoping to never return. The care we had there was excellent. I would recommend Dr. Stinnett & Nurse Lisa to anyone. But really, I hope I never have to go there again. I have thanked God daily if not more often for giving my family the strength to endure, and for the simple fact that I can still wake up next to my husband, and he can attend all the little league games. I have thanked him for the love and support we had from our wonderful family and friends. The last 6 months have been an earthquake that disrupted our lives, and rather than being swallowed up in the depths of despair. We made it through, and couldn't have with out you all. Please know how much we appreciate you all, and always will.

LAST TREATMENT

Last treatment day!
Funny dates though......
Diagnosed with cancer........Friday the 13th ( of March)
First Chemo Treatment.....April fools day
Last day of Chemo......09-09-09
Such odd dates...

LOOKING FOR A RECIPE

Hi everyone, I am looking for a recipe-
for a Spanish or Mexican rice.
Something that goes well with a chili verde sauce..
Box mixes won't do- no rice a roni or zatarans recipe's.
Thanks~

MonteCristo 2009

Grandma on the wheeler, Love the new hair color!

Nic trying to get the fishing pole to work.

The pond is getting low.

Can you see the cute little chipmunk eating the food my mom left out for it.

The only way to cruise around. Kim's Stylin' ride.

Yummy, this camping trip was worth it's weight in food.Smoked Chicken......

What is in the dutch ovens you ask?

Smoked chicken, Smoked pork shoulder, Chile Verde

Mexican Rice, Black beans, Scones, Corn on the cob

Dutch oven potato's, watermelon.

And for Dessert:

Raspberry cake, Raspberry blueberry cobbler,

homemade vanilla ice cream

Rice Krispie treats

Trouble with a capitol T

Now that is camping. Not a hot dog or foil dinner to be seen!

*Thanks Trent for letting use your camera!*

Brick wall, water fall...

Brick wall, Water fall.
Boy you think you've got it all.....
(My 3 year old Niece Charly teaching me moves.)

You don't, I do.

Something Captain crunch

bang bang Choo choo train Something

Something

I'll mess you up.

For Fun

Exercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles. As we grow older, it's important to keep mentally alert.If you don't use it, you lose it! Below is a very private way to gauge your loss or non-loss of intelligence. Take the test presented here to determine if you're losing it or not. The spaces below are so you don't see the answers until you've made your answer.
OK, relax, clear your mind and begin.

1. What do you put in a toaster?


Answer: 'bread..' If you said 'toast,' give up now and do something else.. Try not to hurt yourself. If you said, bread, go to Question 2.

2. Say 'silk' five times. Now spell 'silk..' What do cows drink?


Answer: Cows drink water. If you said 'milk,' don't attempt the next question. Your brain is over-stressed and may even overheat. Content yourself with reading a more appropriate literature such as Auto World. However, if you said 'water', proceed to question 3.

3. If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black brick s, what is a green house made from?


Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass.. If you said 'green bricks,' why are you still reading these??? If you said 'glass,' go on to Question 4.


4. It's twenty years ago, and a plane is flying at 20,000 feet over Germany (If you will recall, Germany at the time was politically divided into West Germany and East Germany ) Anyway, during the flight, two engines fail. The pilot, realizing that the last remaining engine is also failing, decides on a crash landing procedure. Unfortunately the engine fails before he can do so and the plane fatally crashes smack in the middle of 'no man's land' between East Germany and West Germany . Where would you bury the survivors? East Germany , West Germany , or no man's land'?


Answer: You don't bury survivors. If you said ANYTHING else, you're a dunce and you must stop. If you said, 'You don't bury survivors', proceed to the next question.


5. Without using a calculator - You are driving a bus from London to Milford Haven in Wales . In London , 17 people get on the bus.

In Reading , 6 people get off the bus and 9 people get on.In Swindon, 2 people get off and 4 get on.In Cardiff , 11 people get off and 16 people get on.In Swansea , 3 people get off and 5 people get on.In Carmathen, 6 people get off and 3 get on.You then arrive at Milford Haven.. Without scrolling back to review, how old is the bus driver?

Answer: Oh, for crying out loud! Don't you remember your own age? It was YOU driving the bus!!

PS: 95% of people fail most of the questions!