Wii Fit

Well, about a month ago I started exercising a little bit 5 days a week. I put on 15 pounds due to steroids and being in bed for 6 weeks. For someone as small as me the 15 pounds makes a big difference and currently I can not wear any of my clothing except sweat pants! That doesn't really work when its in the 90's outside. I was fed up with this 'rubber ring' that I had put on (this is the third time I've had this in the past 2 years due to steroids) and wanted to do something to lose the weight.

So I decided to turn to the Wii Fit that I got for Christmas almost 2 years ago. I have determined that it is a great tool for someone recovering from surgery! It really has worked well for me to help me gradually get my strength back. If you are a really athletic person then you would laugh at what I call 'exercises' but for me, someone who could hardly walk up stairs a month ago, this is working really well for me.

I've worked up to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise and I'm so happy to see the improvement in my stamina when I exercise. The weight is slow coming off, but at least I'm trying so I try not to get discouraged. One time it took me 6 months to lose the steroid weight, all those drugs just do crazy things to my body. Anyhow I just wanted to share that I am enjoying the Wii Fit for now as my exercise tool and I am grateful that I feel well enough to actually exercise even if it is just very mild. The Wii is amazing..you should all try it out!

Grateful Reflections..

So this past week I've been reflecting on little things that I couldn't do a month ago that I am grateful to be able to do now!!

*I can drive a car! Last week I started driving again...weird but I'm glad to be self sufficient again!
*I don't have to take Ibuprofen every waking minute just to survive!
*I can open the shutters and blinds in my house and let in the light!
*I can finally sleep through the night again!! No more drugs causing me to wake up all the time.
*I can play Candy Land with Kyler!! Spending time with my kids again has been great!
*I can make my BED!! This is a huge one for me...making it means I'm not going to be getting IN it until that night. Oh I am so tired of that bed and am grateful to be out of it!
*I can kneel again! Hooray..I've had so many joint issues due to steroids..I'm not 100% back to normal but I'm doing a lot better now.

Those are just a few of the little things that I am grateful for this week in my reflections. I'm SO happy to be 100% Drug Free. That is an amazing thing for a patient with all my issues. I know I only have pockets of time where I get to be drug free but let me tell you how GRATEFUL I am for those pockets of time. I really hate how drugs affect me so much. I'm grateful to just me ME and to be semi-normal again.

Be sure to be grateful for the little things.....

Our First Pinata!

Ok so I am one of those not-so-fun Moms that does not like pinatas! I have never let my children have one before. Something about children madly swinging a bat around in desperation to whack candy all over the ground doesn't appeal to me. However I am learning that it isn't about what I like as the mom..I have three boys and for some reason boys (and their dad) seem to think that pinatas and all the madness surrounding them is cool. So, I succumbed and purchased a soccer ball pinata for the party....Here is some of the excitement...I still can't believe I did this!

Sunner Birthdays

Two Days before my big surgery we had a combined birthday party for Dallyn and Kyler. Dallyn turned 6 and Kyler turned 4. It was so fun to be able to invite all their friends over for a water party. We bought one of those inflatable waterslides and it was a blast! Here are the kids waiting for their turn on the slide.

Dallyn going down the slide for his first turn!

Kyler trying out the slide...looks pretty fun!

Here comes Kyler...getting sprayed by a friend at the bottom of the slide. This slide was really fun to have this summer. As I was in bed recovering from surgery the kids had a blast playing outside with the waterslide!

2 Month Post-Op MRI

Well yesterday was my 2 month Post-Op scan and meeting with Dr. Jensen. Other than the fact that it was a really LOONG day, things went well for my appointments. My last scan was July 17, the day after surgery, so this scan showed a great reduction in the swelling which is great. You could see the cavity where they removed the tumor and it looked great. The chemo wafers were completely gone...you could really see that on the scans as well.

Dr. Jensen said he is really happy about what he saw. He said our next focus is to figure out how to keep this tumor from coming back!! Yes, I agree with that! He said he is going to meet with the tumor board today and will call me tonight with their consensus on whether we should radiate or just let it be and watch it! I'm all for that!! =)

Swim Team!

I don't have photos yet but I wanted to share Cameron's news that he made swim team this past month!! He's been really excited about this and has been working hard all summer taking lots of classes to improve his stroke!! He is following in his father's footsteps with the swimming. I just hope I'll survive the busy schedule of driving my children to yet one more activity!! Cameron currently is in a theater class and takes piano lessons and scouts..so adding swimming to his life will make him the most busy of my children...hopefully he will do well with it since he loves swimming so much! We shall see!! =)

Kaylie's Birthday Bike

This past week Kaylie turned 11 years old. She was born on Labor Day 11 years ago and she thought it was so cool that she had her birthday off of school this year. Kaylie was surprised to get a new bike for her birthday. She has been wanting one for a long time. She has had 2 garage sale bikes but never a new bike so this was quite exciting.

Here she is amazed at the gift...

The Happy Birthday Girl!!

Then Dad threw a wrench in the plans...turns out he bought two bikes for Kaylie and she got to choose which one to keep. There were good things about each bike and here Scott is educating Kaylie about the differences. The one big factor was if she wanted to keep the Schwinn she had to pay us $40 since it was more expensive then the Target bike. She debated a lot the pros and cons of each bike...she debated for about an hour trying to decide which bike to choose. I thought it was a great lesson she learned through this experience.

And the verdict is...

Which one should she pick..its a hard decision???..Drum roll please....

She chose the Blue Schwinn Bike...its really great!!

Here is Kaylie enjoying her first ride on her new bike. It took a little bit for her to get used to the hand brakes. She kept moving her feet backwards like she was used to with her old bike!

Grandparent Gifts

My parents gave Kaylie an eleven special collector doll for her birthday. I used to collect these when I was little too! So it has been fun for Kaylie to collect some of them as well!!

Grandma Salisbury gave Kaylie a cooking set...looks like a theme this year!! Grandma and Grandpa Wright & Great Grandma and Grandpa Black gave Kaylie some money. Thanks to all the grandparents for your kindness!!

One thing the children really look forward to on their birthday is getting to eat sugar cereal!! Since I don't ever buy that stuff this is their chance to choose any cereal they want! These were Kaylie's choices....complete with donuts!! It makes me shake in my boots to think of these sugary treats, but it sure makes their birthdays special!

Sibling Gifts

Kyler gave Kaylie a purse with a few surprises in it! =)

Dallyn gave Kaylie a Kids Recipe Box since she is wanting to get more into cooking.

Cameron made such a nice card for Kaylie and he helped his brothers make cards too since I wasn't feeling well. Their gifts were so thoughtful!

Family Birthday Party

Last Sunday we had a get together with my brothers and sister and their families for Kaylie's birthday. Here she is with her brownie cake (she doesn't like cake). She has a math problem on her brownies, which is a long standing family tradition in my family. So it says 8 plus 3, which represents her turning 11 years old!


Kaylie got to choose the menu for her special meal and she chose BBQ food. Scott made BBQ chicken, hot dogs, pasta salad, jello salad, watermelon, grapes, chips, and lemonade. It was a great meal thanks to Scott. I was too worn out to help...so I just put chips in a bowl!

Here's the guys on dish duty...chatting and enjoying time together.

One of the highlights of the night was that we got to "Skype" with my parents in California. This way they got to chat with everyone and they got to be in on the festivities!!

Tyler Black

Since I have been recovering from surgery and my brother Ryan has been sick its been a long time since we have all been together. It was so fun to see Tyler and he has grown up so much. He is all smiles, its just darling!! Here are some photos of him with his adoring cousins!

I think he could have been entertained all day being surrounded by his cousins as he was!!

Cousin Fun!

It was so fun to have the cousins together! Here are some cute photos from that evening together!!
Cute Abby and Uncle Jason!

Kaylie the birthday girl and Bella...

Kaylie and Cameron trying to make Tyler laugh!

All the boy cousins!! There are 4 boy cousins on my side of the family and here they are...it was fun to be together!

Catching up a bit

Well its time for me to catch up a bit from being so behind on my blog these past 2 months. I know I've had a good reason, but its time to catch up!! Scot still fit in 2 competitions this summer despite all the craziness. I'm sad I wasn't able to be there to support Scott, but I just wasn't up to attending. One event was a personal triathlon and another one was a team triathlon. Way to go Scott!! He came in 15th out of about 230 competitors in the personal race. He is already talking about how he can better his time next year!! =)

Kaylie took a few classes this summer including a few sewing classes and a cake decorating class!! Here is the cake she made!

Our garden got mostly neglected this summer---I wonder why--but we still managed to grow some vegetables for our family to enjoy!

Here's a view of the lovely staples I had this time...last surgery I got 25...this time I got 50 instead! Yikes! This photo was taken 2 weeks post-op on the day my staples were to be removed. People are always commenting on how they can't believe I had this surgery without the Dr's shaving my head. Well they did shave all along my head its just that with my curly hair styled just right, or pulled in a pony tail you can't tell. =) Gratefully the 'buzz cut' I have all along my head is very narrow. So for all you that were questioning that--here is the proof!!