Cruisin to the Caribbean...

That's right...Scott and I are off on our long-awaited Caribbean Cruise to celebrate our 10th Anniversary/11th Anniversary/One Year Mark for Surviving Breast Cancer trip! =) Since our 10th anniversary trip got postponed due to my sudden surgery last fall we are making up for it with this trip!

I'm so excited...now in the morning I'm off to Puerto Rico...thanks to Grandma Salisbury for coming to be with our sweet children while we;re gone! I'll be back to post photos and details when we return....See ya!! =)

Saying Goodbye...

Well it's easy to admit that saying goodbye to my braces is going to be an easy thing to do!
Here I am beforehand..and in this photo you can't see how horribly crooked my bottom teeth were! I'm amazed they are straight now! They were so crazy!

Here I am in May of 2007 with my sweet Kyler baby (so little) on the day I got my braces on! Can you believe it? I look younger too..thats what chemo does to you my friends...it ages you...amongst other things!!

Then fast forward 14 months..here I am with Kyler again...complete with my crazy hair and braces!! Boy am I ready to get them off!

Again with my Kyler boy tonight....no more braces!! Still the crazy hair...but hey I'm working on that..it'll grow..but it takes time! =) At least my teeth are straight now! I love it! Thursday I go in for my retainers...isn't that going to be fun? Bring back any high school memories for any of you?? =) I'll let you know how it goes!! So for now I'm saying Goodbye to this chapter of life...happily..

Reflection & gratitude...

This past week I've been reflecting on how different my life was, in so many ways, one year ago. At this very time a year ago I had scheduled a Dr. apt with my Obgyn to have her look at a lump that I thought was a clogged milk duct, as I had just weaned Kyler on Sept 5th. Little did I know that this lump would be aggressive breast cancer. This past year has been such a whirlwind and blur and I can hardly believe it has been one full year.

Next month marks the anniversary of my surgery and the start of my chemotherapy. Scott and I are taking our 10th anniversary trip that we were unable to take last year. It holds more significance now as it represents my one year mark of surviving breast cancer, as well as our 10th and 11th Wedding Anniversaries. As I reflect on my many blessings, I'm so grateful that at this time much of my health has been restored to me.

Many thanks to all of you that have kept me in your thoughts and prayers during the past 12 months.

Love and Hugs,
Heidi

A 9 year old American Girl Dream

This gift was a dream come true for Kaylie. She has been dreaming about an American Girl Doll since she was 6 years old. She's collected all the magazines and has had her "look alike doll" marked for the past few years.

Does she look excited or what??

Kaylie and her new doll Annie. Annie has brown hair, blue eyes and freckles, just like our Kaylie!

Here is Mom with Kaylie and Annie. =) Kaylie had a wonderful birthday! In addition to her fun presents, she used her birthday money to purchase Heely shoes ($24.99 at Mervyns...a bargain!) and Mom and Kaylie went shopping at the mall together. Kaylie chose Fresh Choice as the restaurant she wanted to go to for dinner and Dad and the boys met us there. Kaylie had a wonderful 9th birthday! We love you Kaylie!

Kaylie's Birthday Morning

Kaylie got her dream breakfast....Sugar cereals, donuts and orange juice!! How lucky!!

She was really excited to get a 'Best of Disney' Cd from Cameron. Kaylie LOVES music and singing, dancing, the works!

Dallyn gave Kaylie some High School Musical Pajamas...fun!

Kyler got Kaylie a new bag with a fun frog print on it...Kaylie loves to take it everywhere with her now!

Kaylie's Movie Night

Since this was Kaylie's off-year from having a party, she just had 2 of her girlfriends over for an Enchanted Evening of girly fun watching Enchanted!!

Here they are with her gifts..

Being goofy girls...

Enjoying all the sugary, salty munchies that Mom doesn't usually allow in the house! That's what special days are for! Kaylie had a great time!!

Football Season Has Begun!

What a cute football player! Cameron is playing on a flag-football team for 7-8 year olds through Elk Grove Park & Rec. Saturday was his first game and he enjoyed playing defense the most!

Here is a photo of Cam on the field getting some coaching from Coach John.

Isn't this sweet? Kyler came in from the backyard last week and brought me these cups of Tomatoes from our garden. "Look Mom, I did it, Tomatoes" said Kyler. He was so cute about it..I didn't have the heart to tell him that he'd just picked all of our great potential tomatoes!! If you are wondering about the bike helmet..he has decided he needs to wear it when he rides his trikes in the yard, after all, his siblings always wear one..why shouldn't he??

Heidi had to say goodbye to her sweet niece last week! =( Amy moved back to Utah as Austin had to go back to BYU for the fall. It's been so fun having them living close by. I'll miss Bella Boo, she'll be so big by Christmas!! Love you!!

Golfing Fun!

To celebrate Kaylie's upcoming birthday, our family went miniature golfing Monday with Grandma and Grandpa Black. Here are the kids enjoying the day!

Dallyn and Kyler dancing while waiting for the others to catch up!

This is Kyler trying to hit the ball into the hole....this happened a few times!

But most of the time this is how his ball (and most of ours!) ended up in the hole. He'd promptly pick up the ball and put it IN the hole! He knew where it was supposed to go!! =) Never mind all this hitting business!! We had a great time!

More Golfing Photos

Dallyn was very persistent and he really enjoyed getting the golf ball in the hole..he never gave up!

I love the look on Kyler's face here as he watches his ball go flying down the path!

Kaylie and Cam golfed with my parents for part of the time...they did really well!

The future Tiger Woods?? =)

Labor Day Lunch

Labor Day we spent time in Livermore and we ate at a park that I used to play at as a child!
Here's the kids having some fun! =)

Holding Gecky!

Cameron had to wait 48 hours to hold Gecky as that's what the pet store recommended. He was so excited when he finally was able to hold his new pet Monday morning!!

Kaylie even took a turn!

And a close-up of our cute new pet!

Please Meet Gecky!

After two years of life with the Wrights, we have said goodbye to Sassy & Mo, our Red Eared Slider turtles. They were badly in need of a larger home and we found a nice pond for them to live in with another family!

Which leads us to Cameron's new pet, someone he has been dreaming of for the past few years! Yes, he is a gecko! A leopard gecko to be exact! He is pretty cute too. I'll upload more photos soon. For now, please meet Gecky, the newest member of the Wright Family. And I must say the kids LOVE to watch him catch his live crickets for lunch. Yuck! I'm not used to the live food thing, but I suppose I'll adjust! As long as I don't have to touch them!!

Stampin' Fun Part 2

More samples...fun stuff! Using some new ribbon (of course!) and the Party Hearty stamp set!

More with the party Hearty and new ribbon..see the little glitter dots??

Getting into some spooky cheer...it's never too soon to start thinking about Halloween!

And Frankenstein...spooky fun with new papers!!