Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving started out the normal way.  I didn't race, but I do go on a long 5 and a half mile run. It has been awhile since I have done that.  It felt good to go and work out.  Then I came home and did my morning routine.  Don and Ian got up and went to the ward flag football game.  They had a blast.  Don even played this year.  I noticed they forgot the camera so I went and took some pictures of them playing.  They make a couple of games because so many people show up.  It was great to watch some of my Sunday School class play.

I got some of Ian rushing his Dad.

We have a new Stake President.  Hmmmm, I don't think I ever remember our old Stake President chasing my son and growling at him!!!  (LOL)

I love cooking.  I was pretty proud of my pies this year.  They came out great.

After dinner we went to the movies with our friends, The Albrights.  We went and watched "Catching Fire".  It was pretty good.  I was surprised that Zach even liked it.  It was great to go out and digest our food.

When we went home we had some pie!

We had a great Thanksgiving.  We missed Austin, but we know he is having a great Thanksgiving.  He told us he was going to spend it with one of his favorite families in his ward.  We are so grateful for our many blessings.  We have been really blessed this year!  I love this quote,

"A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort—at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude."—Thomas S. Monson

I know this is true.  I am especially grateful for all of the friends and family who have been a positive and loving support to our family.  We have appreciated the meals, laughs, kind notes, hugs, and all the help we have received.  It has meant the world to us!  You all have carried us!  Thank you! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone was a wonderful Thanksgiving!



Dance Open House

This week was Bunker Dance Open House.  This year Aubrey is on the high school team but she takes three and a half hours of outside dance.  She wanted to make sure she kept her skills up and is always improving.  So she took an hour of ballet at Bunker Dance with Miss Erina.  She has had her before, so we knew this was going to be a good class.  Plus it is with members of her old team, and she loves that!  She also takes a hour and a half class with Nevada Ballet.  Unfortunately, she can't be in their recital (I will explain later.) so she wanted to dance ballet for Bunker too.  This way she can be in recital for ballet.  She loves ballet.  She works really hard at it.  She loves Dancing for Erina.  She is a hard teacher, but you learn so much!

 

She also takes a class at Nevada Ballet. It was open house for them too!  In order to be in their pre-professional program you have to sign a contract stating that you will only dance for Nevada Ballet and be totally dedicated to them.  Well, that would me that she would have to give up the high school dance team and tapping with Bunker.  She was not willing to give that up.  So she tried out for this class.  It is mostly a skills class.  The teacher is very hard and every time Aubrey leaves the class she is dripping in sweat.  She loves it and never complains.  When she tried out, two other girls tried out with her.  Within five minutes the teacher looked at Aubrey and said, "You, I want to work with!"  She looked at the other girls and said, "I need to speak to your mothers."  Aubrey never saw those girls again!  Needless to say, Aubrey is very honored to be in this class.  Don and I have never even seen this class.  At Nevada Ballet the parents are not aloud to watch class through the windows.  You have to sit in a lobby and use "library voices" if you are going to talk.  So this was the first time Don and I could see her teacher and see her dance.  She did an amazing job!  I can't believe how strong she is!  She has really improved.  We were just sad that they didn't do pointe.  Most of the time they do.

We also didn't want Aubrey to lose her tap skills.  So we talked to Miss Stephanie and she agreed to let Aubrey tap with her old team.  So she taps at Bunker.  She will only be in recital.  She does not compete with this group.  Now pictures of tap come out horrible!  So here are the videos.

 

This is her favorite combination!

This is a little preview of the recital piece.

Say Good-Bye To My Little Friend!

Today my port was taken out.  (In medicine, a port (or portacath) is a small medical appliance that is installed beneath the skin. A catheter connects the port to a vein. Under the skin, the port has a septum through which drugs can be injected and blood samples can be drawn many times, usually with less discomfort for the patient than a more typical "needle stick".)  I had a love hate relationship with my port.  I hated having it in.  It hurt being put in.  (No anesthesia, you are awake!)  Then it took me awhile to get used to it.  I would feel pain when I would roll over in bed or feel it catch in my neck.  It was not very pleasant.  On the other hand, I was very thankful for it.  I had all of my chemo through it and I even had some blood work taken from it. It saved me from being stuck in the arm every three weeks!  I do appreciate that.  It was simple to have in and I never had a problem with it.  Eventually, I didn't even feel it and I kind of forgot it was there.  I mean, I ran and did everything I normally do.  Then one day my oncologist told me it was time to take it out. I kind of freaked out.  Well, freaked out inside!  I had this strange feeling that if I took it out I would get cancer again.  Also, I really didn't want to go through  that procedure again!  My oncologist told me that it would be fine.  If I got cancer again, I could put it back in. (With anesthesia!)  Don was supportive and felt like this was a good way to have a bit of closure.  See, when you have cancer it messes with your head.  You get a lot of bad news.  It just keeps coming at you, and it is hard to accept good news.  It is hard to accept or believe that it is coming to an end.  It is like I have emotional battle scars from the whole thing.  I have a few friends who are also cancer survivors and they have told me this is totally normal.  Hopefully eventually, I will be fine.  Anyway, today I went and took it out.  The same doctor that put it in took it out!  He was funny!  He gave me a high five and got to work.  Actually it went fine. (No anesthesia!  They told me it would be easier.)  It is so strange to have people working on you and you are awake the whole time.  I felt like screaming, "I can hear you talking about my body!!!" While I was talking about my children with my doctor and jokingly asked him if I could keep the port!  He was like, "Sure, no problem!"  Are you kidding me??  How awesome is that?  So when it was over, they gave me my port in a little plastic cup with a lid.  I took it with me to get dressed and just kind of looked at it and cried a bit.  This part is over.  It is time to move on!  When I went out to the waiting room I held up the cup to show Don.  He laughed!  Only me!!!  Then we went out to breakfast to celebrate!  Pumpkin pancakes are the best!  I am a little sore now, but I went to work and things will be fine.  Now it is on to reconstruction!  Dang, I feel like that will never end!  When I went to pick up Ian he thought my port was awesome!!!  Like Ender in Ender's Game.  I am so glad they didn't take mine out like they did Ender!  Aubrey thought it was gross!  Can't win them all!

100 Year Celebration (By Don)

When the Boy Scout program was first introduced from England to the United States, the first large organization to join the Boy Scouts was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (nicknamed The Mormons). This event occurred in 1913 and since that time, The Boy Scouts of America organization has been at the center of activities for boys and young men in the Mormon Church. This year (2013) marks the 100-year anniversary between both organizations and a massive event on November 1-2 was organized at a nearby park called Floyd Lamb. Almost 5,000 boys, young men, and adults participated in this 2-day event. Unfortunately, we arrived at the park right at dusk and by the time we packed our gear to the campsite, it was dark. I truly do hate setting up tents in the dark, but Ian and I got right to work and set up our tent quickly. That evening we attended an outdoor concert with a group called Nashville Tribute and watched an amazing firework show. When we returned to our tent, one of the  scout leaders and his father went into their tent to sleep only to find out that a large hawk had crawled into their tent. It took a lot of effort to get the bird out of the tent and I even had to get a pair of gloves and pry its talons off of the tent itself. Finally the bird flew away. We think that the firework show somehow stunned it, so it landed, and crawled into the nearest safe place....a tent. This "bird in the tent" story has already become legendary in our Boy Scout unit and we will have a good laugh every time we talk about it!!!! 

 

In the morning, our entire scout group was assigned a service project pulling weeds along a fence line and then Ian attended a merit badge class where he earned the Chess merit badge. The rest of his day was spent running around with his friends participating in the many events at this celebration and playing football at camp. Ian and I had a great time together. I love the Boy Scout program which has been part of my life since I was a boy and into my adulthood. I have been a boy scout leader for many years and all of my three boys have been very active participants in this program. In fact, the Boy Scout program has provided me time with my sons that I will cherish forever.

 

Waiting near our campsite for breakfast to be served.

 

Ian's favorite thing to do was climb the three rock walls.  Ian's friend helps him get the harness on before climbing the wall.

 

Getting ready to make the climb.

Here we go!!!!

Finally at the top!!! Once at the top, the boys could ring a loud alarm letting everybody know that they had made it. Ian rang the alarm....of course!!!

Back to earth.