I Graduated!

Doesn't this just look so fun? Aren't you all jealous you couldn't take this class with me each day? Imagine 30 minutes of laying under different machines like this holding perfectly still and holding your breath over and over again?? It's definitely not a class I'd recommend enrolling for. Avoid it at all costs! =)

I did it-I graduated!! Of course it was only a 33 day course but it seemed like forever! Tuesday was my last day of radiation and after my treatment my doctors played the 'graduation theme' music and presented me with this Diploma!! Isn't that funny? They said I passed with high honors in optimism and good breath holding techniques. =) Anyhow, I hardly know what to think now...is it really true? Will I get some of my 'normal life' back now? What is normal life anyhow?? =)

Just had to share the great news!

Times to Remember...

These are just some really cute photos I wanted to share. Definitely times to remember...special times!!

Here is our first photo of the "cousins" on my side of the family. My sister had a baby girl 4 months ago and my children got to meet her for the first time Sunday. My kids are so excited to have a darling little cousin and Kaylie is excited that there is another girl in the family that she'll get to play with in a few years!

For Family Home Evening Cameron had our lesson. He taught about the importance of choosing the right. Then he had us build things from the scriptures out of Legos. It was very cute and everyone was really creative. We had a fun time! =) Thanks Cameron for a great lesson!

The boys playing "Police Chiefs". You'd better watch out-- they put up 'crime scene' notes throughout the house and were ready to take any 'bad guys' off to jail. Even Kyler had a little badge Cameron made him. Aren't they so cute??

I came downstairs and found Kyler in his pajamas still, wearing a toolbelt and playing Dad's drums, including the foot pedal. Is this a sign of things to come?? Perhaps another drummer boy in the family???

Climbing on top of the world

Scott's company had it's annual springtime picnic in Rancho Cordova on Friday and there is a great park there. I couldn't pass up the chance to take some photos of my boys climbing all around on the mountain and tower!

A Baking Holiday

So Scott said this is the first time in 10 years of marriage that he's seen me wear an apron in the kitchen! That's right..I'm getting serious about all this baking stuff and today was the fun day that I tried some new recipes. Some of these recipes come from my new favorite recipe book about Baking with Agave Nectar. A few come from my natural cookbooks as well. Four of the recipes use agave nectar instead of sugar as a natural sweetener. Agave nectar is a natural, organic, kosher, plant-based sweetener made from varieties of the agave plant. It's my favorite natural sweetener as I've been experimenting with different types. The power bars use Brown Rice Syrup which I'm experimenting with also. I got my books at amazon.com so you can search for agave nectar and get more info!

So tonight the children taste-tested things and I got 5 stars on everything I made! Yeahoo! These are winners! Of Course you should see my kitchen, oh my what a mess--yikes!

The fun recipes I made were:
1-Cranberry Orange muffins
2-Pecan Orange Granola
3-Fruit and Nut Bars
4-Do It Yourself Power Bars
5-Zucchini Raisin Bread

Wondering what makes up these great treats? Here are just a few of the ingredients that my children are eating while they say "yum yum" with each bite! Gotta LOVE it! Not only am I eating healthy but my kids are too!!

1-Cranberry Orange Muffins--Whole Wheat Flour--yes really! Wheat bran, unsweetened applesauce and nonfat yogurt.
2-Orange Pecan Granola--Wheat bran, Ground Flax Seeds, Almond Meal & unsweetened applesauce
3-Fruit and Nut Bars--Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Macadamia Nuts & Apricots
4-PowerBars-Wheat Bran, walnuts (which my kids claim they don't like), brown rice cereal & wheat bran
5-Zucchini Bread--Whole wheat flour, flax seed meal, & nonfat yogurt

I'm so excited to have some more yummy options for 'snacking'. As many of you know I'm not eating any sugar or processed foods and so I've been struggling to find some more recipes and this is exciting!! =) Happy Snacking....

A Flashback to Feb...

Ok, so I was really not into posting photos of myself while I was going through treatment (Yuck!) but I know many of you never got to see me with my cute wig...I must say my wig was really fun...and so I thought I would post this photo I just received. This is from our stake temple day in February. I was struggling to have energy and stamina and it was a stretch for me to make it, but I was able to attend with Scott and I was so grateful. What a blessing it was to spend some time in the temple. Boy, my wig sure covers up how frail and sickly I really was in this photo!! Anyhow..here we are! =)

On to the "Boost" treatments

Well this is all very exciting because I am in my last few days of radiation!! YEAH!! I am now having my scar area getting a "boost" of extra strong radiation for 5 days and then I'm DONE with radiation! I can hardly believe it. I'm so grateful to be almost done with the radiation because my skin is really starting to be sore, itchy and red, red, red! It looks like I have a sunburn.

One thing I've noticed is when I walk outside my neck starts to sting. (My neck is red because they radiate my clavicle area and halfway up my neck) I asked my Dr. about this and she said that I'll have to wear hats, collared shirts, that sort of thing to cover my neck up for the next few months. She said for the next year my skin will be much more sensitive than normal. So I guess hats and sunscreen here I come!! =) Wait..I thought I was done with hats!! =) No such luck!

Anyhow..count your blessings...i'm counting mine!! =)

Sometimes it is Hard!

Ok, so everyone thinks that I'm super cheerful Heidi about this whole cancer routine that has become my life story..and its true, MOST of the time I try to be cheerful about the whole thing and make the most of it. After all your attitude and the way you react to a situation is half the battle really. So I try to surround myself with people and activities that build me up and encourage me and are cheerful, because I NEED that!

But some days are just HARD! I've never written a blog post on a hard day, so I thought I should do so today. Can I just complain for a minute? Ok, here are my 4 complaints for today!

1-My arm hurt SO BAD during radiation! I don't know why! Usually it only hurts the last few minutes after holding it perfectly still for 30 minutes---and did I mention its being held above my head in a weird position? Uncomfortable...but today was really hard and my arm was KILLING me. But I couldn't move it. It was so hard and I had to use 'mind over body' exercises to help me to not go bonkers. It was so painful.

2-Holding my breath today was HARD too! I hold my breath 20+ times a day for radiation treatment and usually its not a big deal. But once a week they do x-rays along w/ the radiation and I have to hold my breath much longer. Add on to that the fact that I have sore muscles in my chest area from the radiation and it just hurts to hold my breath. Well today I seriously thought I would pass out one time. I had to hold my breath SOOO long I about died. And here' s the clincher...if I let out a breath then the machine will be radiating my HEART!! So I ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO hold my breath in. It was so hard, I couldn't stand it. I opened my eyes (I usually always have them closed) and looked up to the ceiling and started counting the bolts on the ceiling and kept telling myself to just keep counting and ignoring the fact that my lungs were on fire from holding it so long. Combined with my sore arm it was just really a hard day at radiation today.

3-As some of you know our car was broken into two weeks ago while we were at church. The result of all this is that our car has been in the shop this entire week and will be there a few days next week. Since I have radiation daily I have to have a car. So we've been juggling things all week long between Scott and I and friends help. It's so stressful on top of everything else. Next week we are going to just break down and rent a car. The stress is just too much!!

4-My last complaint is just how hard it is to get things done when I'm gone every single day for several hours. Its really starting to wear on me and some days I feel like I'm going to burst. The whole commuting thing (30 minutes each way downtown), the dropping my kids off at all sorts of friends homes (bless each and every one of them), but its just so hard to go through this day in and day out. There's nothing more to say except its hard.


Ok, that's it. I got it out of my system now! I'm done complaining!! I'm grateful that I have only SEVEN MORE DAYS of radiation. What an exciting thing. I'm also grateful to have a vehicle that normally is working and at my disposal, something I take for granted often. Certainly going through trials helps us to realize the blessings we take for granted daily--like our health. If you have yours--be so grateful!

Love and Hugs,
Heidi

A few of my favorites...

I have plans to do "All About Mom" simple scrapbooks for each of my children. I want them to have a photo journal of sorts for them to look back on all about ME! Since I'm usually scrapbooking about them I don't very often take photos of things that I like. So today I thought I'd start. Here are a few of my favorites.

Favorite New CD, my Mother's Day Gift, Clay Aiken's new CD "On My Way Here". I love Clay Aiken!

Favorite movie of all time is Pride and Prejudice!

My favorite animals are frogs and turtles...and yes I collect all things frogs and turtles when occasion allows!

My favorite hobby is to stamp and scrapbook...this photo is from my stamping club last night. We made these cute 'purse scrapbooks'. Fun stuff!

All Natural Popsicles??

Ok, so since our family has become such a healthy family I'm working on finding alternatives to all the very sugary desserts and treats out there. One thing we did this week was to make homemade Popsicles. We used 100% cranberry juice and our cute Tupperware molds to make these yummy treats.

Now Mom is smart..take a look at Kyler's Popsicle...and remember since he is only 22 months old he's walking ALL over the place with this thing and its dripping everywhere!!! I don't like messes!! Yep..you got it..its nothing but a glorified ice cube but he LOVES it!!! he he he...aren't Mom's smart??

How Royal!

Just two more pictures of our Wright Family Celebrities!!

Musical Theater

Kaylie & Cameron are members of Elk Grove Musical Theater Company. This winter they did the production of "The Emperor's New Clothes". The children were given a CD with photos taken from dress rehearsal. I sorted through the photos and chose a few to share on our blog. I hope you enjoy these photos of our cute little actor and actress!!

Kaylie was one of the narrators. She did an awesome job!! She really gained confidence this year and she did a great job at memorizing all of her lines!! Way to go Kate!

Cameron was the artist. He was hired to paint a portrait of the Royal Family. Cameron did a great job 'pretending' to paint and stomping off the stage when his 'stick figure' painting was rejected...=(

This is a classic photo! Even though Cameron's costume was made perfect to size, he had this nervous habit of pulling his pants up all throughout the performance. I asked him if he needed them pinned or something?? But he assured me they fit just fine. Ok, so it must have been a nervous habit. Given the fact that Cam was the youngest participant in the play I think he did a GREAT job!! =)

Oh and by the way...don't laugh at the sports socks he's wearing! Remember this was dress rehearsal...I hadn't had a chance to pick up his white knee highs that he actually wore for the performance..they looked MUCH better!!!

MORE Race for the Cure Photos...

See the last blog post for all the info about the big race.....or shall we call it a walk?? =)

My boys holding the banner along the race route..

Mom and Kaylie...official participants in the Race for the Cure...See mom's survivor medal??

Behind us is a breast cancer ribbon made of crepe paper...we had fun checking out all the booths at the expo after the race.

Dallyn and Mom...he wanted to wear my special "Team Me" hat..he keeps telling me how he "saw me in the road" during my race...cute boy!

Race for the Cure!!

Well today was the Susan B Komen RACE FOR THE CURE in downtown Sacramento. It was a great day!! A bunch of gals in my ward formed "Team Heidi" and everyone wore visors with our team name on them. Mine was funny, it said "Team Me!" There were a bunch of us spread throughout the 5K race. Some people walked and some ran. Kaylie and I took it up with the walking group

Here's a photo of the 6 of us that managed to stick together during the whole race...not an easy task when there were thousands upon thousands of people there...WOW!

Oh and did I mention my biggest fans came out to cheer us on during the race?? It was so fun to see the boys and Dad on the sidelines encouraging us!!

The boys got green "Team Heidi" hats..and here we are sporting the banner that Scott made for the boys to hold along the race route. How sweet is that?? What a great husband and family I have. Thanks for the great support everyone!! Who knows? Maybe next year I'll be running in the race... =) I'll post more photos soon...

Halfway Point for Radiation!!

Yeahoo! I'm at the halfway point for my radiation!! I have a total of 33 days of treatment...28 regular treatments and 5 boost days for extra radiation to my scar area. I just had day 17 on Friday so its all very exciting that my treatment is half over!!! I'm starting to be more sore but overall I'm feeling very blessed that my side effects haven't been as bad as they anticipated!

Here is my new (very silly) haircut--or lack of haircut I guess you could say. My hair has grown in enough that I don't wear a wig or hairpiece anymore! YEAH! That's a relief...and my hair is easy to fix but sheez it sure looks silly. I can't wait until it grows out more. But for now it is what it is and I'm grateful to have hair at all!

In the basement of this hospital is where I receive my radiation treatments each weekday...I'm getting very familiar with this hospital!

Right across the parking lot is the Mercy Medical Buildings. This is where I received my chemo treatments for 5 months and where I'll continue to receive my Herception IV injections over the next 9 months, once every 3 weeks. These places are becoming all too-familiar second homes for me...=)

Look For Small Miracles

A few posts ago I mentioned I am trying to look for the 'little things' to be grateful for, I thought I'd share this saying today. My parents gave this wall hanging to me shortly after my diagnosis. It helps me to keep things in perspective.....

One of the 'little things' I was grateful for this week was finding my boys actually PLAYING with all the little people toys the way they were intended to be played!! They made a city and played for a good hour with all the toys, it was so fun to watch them and listen to them interact together. They are becoming better friends as they both get older.

Another little thing I'm grateful for is the *near* completion of our living room projects! Scott covered my window box with fabric, as well as the piano bench. I'm still planning to do pillows...but the room is looking much better! I love the bookcases!

And last, I made my first dessert item using wheat pastry flour and natural sweeteners! That's right, there is NO SUGAR in this orange bubble bread. Yummy...it was really good too! I'm learning how to modify recipes using more natural sweeteners. More on that later...but this was my first accomplishment. Yeahoo!