Carving Pumpkins

Here are the kids with the pumpkins they carved the other night. I was using Kaylie's camera since my batteries died and so I couldn't tell what I was taking a picture of very well since it was dark! So I cut off a few of them...

Here are the boys pumpkins before they started carving!!

Kyler's is supposed to look like Mickey Mouse..I think Scott did a good job at that! Dallyn's is the most friendliest and Cameron's was the biggest!

Focused on Carving

For Family night on Monday we carved pumpkins. Here are some photos of each of the kids focusing on their work...don't know why Kyler does this silly staged smile these days???

Happy Halloween!

Here are my spooky ones! Harry Potter's son...


A rootin tootin cowboy wearing his Dad's old dress ups!!

Our family Smarty Pants!!

And the family wouldn't be complete without Superman!! =)

New Tumor Growth

I went in for my follow-up MRI on Monday and we met with the Neurosurgeon and Radiation Oncologist on Tuesday and the results were not good. I seem to have really determined cancer cells and they are just not giving up.

In September at my 2 month post-op scan my Dr. saw a spot that was concerning and so he wanted to watch it and rescan me in Oct. I just had that scan and what we found was pretty surprising! My tumor that was just operated on in July, is already growing back.

The tumor is growing back on the same tumor bed as before but in a slightly different location. It is the same tumor though, not a new tumor. When I had my operation in July there was a small section where the Dr. was unable to get a large margin. This was due to the fact that the resection was right along a major artery in my brain. They can't get any closer than they did in surgery. They took out all visible cancer cells and had hoped that that would take care of it. However, there is new growth in that area and they can not eliminate the whole tumor because of the situation with the to the artery.

So, the current treatment option is to have stereo tactic radio surgery for the THIRD time. This radiation will be whole brain radiation localized to a smaller area. In short, I will have a large section of my brain radiated in November. This time there will be 5 daily treatments of a high dose radiation. (And yes I will lose a lot of my hair!)

We are hoping that *the third time is the charm* for this as our options will be more limited now since operation is not possible with the artery involvement. We are pretty shocked to find out how quickly it has grown and my Dr's can not guarantee success with repeat radiation, but we are trying to stay hopeful.

I appreciate all the love and prayers and am grateful for the friendships I have with each one of you! You never know what life will bring, I hope you can all live life to the fullest! Hugs, Heidi

A Microwave Cabinet!

So the electrician came this past week and put in our electrical for the microwave oven that will go above the counter top. Scott modified the cabinet and here he is hanging it back up. Now we just have to buy a microwave (we have been borrowing one!) and then we have to decide on what color we want to paint our cabinets!! It's coming together though! Oh and we also got our under cabinet lighting put in last week...LOVE that! =)

Happy Anniversary!

This past weekend Scott and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary together. On our first anniversary we were living in Provo, Utah and so we decided to go to the Yardley Inn Bed and Breakfast for our anniversary. We came back for nostalgia sake this past weekend.

The bed and breakfast is very quaint and old, but it was really quite charming.

One thing I remembered from our 1st Anniversary was the Jacuzzi tub in the sitting room! Quite luxurious! Of course now we have one in our master bathroom and our backyard too, so since we are a little spoiled it doesn't have quite the same effect, but it was still fun!

Scott loved the vaulted ceiling with the neat mural, it really was beautiful and very Victorian!

Manti Temple Views

The Manti Temple is so beautiful and we just loved visiting it this last weekend. Here are some photos from our trip. Isn't it so pretty?

This wall is so interesting and we thought it was a very neat addition to the landscape.

Aren't the fall colors so pretty? It was so quaint and quiet there in Manti.

Our Nightmare Camping Trip

So last weekend was fall break for our kids so we decided to take them up to the mountains and do some camping. Since my health and Scott's work schedule are both so unpredictable, we didn't make reservations, we just went up hoping we could find a spot at one of the many campsites we had seen last time we were to Timanooke Campground. Well, LOOONG story short we ended up making a wrong turn in the dark and ended up on this long and rocky road that had NOWHERE for us to turn our huge trailer around. After 10 minutes Scott decided we had no other option but to turn around. This would require him backing the trailer (29 feet of it!) backwards while Kaylie and I guided the trailer. Now, we were on super REMOTE road and it was so scary! But Kaylie and I guided the trailer for about 10 minutes. Then the car got too close to the cliff side and so I told him to turn the trailer. He couldn't do that without pulling forward. When he did that it pulled the trailer at a different angle and got the trailer STUCK on a tree. I started screaming for him to stop but it was stuck. Due to the cliff Scott was stuck too. Moving one direction would destroy the awning, moving the other way would send our car down the embankment. We were stuck. Kaylie, who was scared of the wildlife, and freezing in shorts and my coat, asked if we could just cut the tree down! What an idea, (Sorry to the forest) but we were stuck. So Scott got his ax out and started cutting.

A few minutes later my worst fear was realized when another car came down the road right at us so I ran into the road and started jumping up and down and waving my hands..PLEASE don't slam into my car full of children I was thinking. Well, that car ended up being a truck with Tony and his son, angels sent to help us!! After 2 1/2 hours and much help from Tony we finished cutting the tree down, strapped it to a second tree and moved our trailer out of the way. Then they chopped the rest of the tree down so they could clear it off the road and away from dangering others. Then Tony scouted out up ahead and found spots he thought we could turn around. We tried 2 of them with no luck and it was SO stressful as we almost got stuck another time. At last we found a spot we were able to turn around...our paint job on the Sequoia isn't quite a pretty, but at least no one was hurt. We feel so blessed to have been given Tony and his son to help us through our dilemma. Almost 3 hours after arriving in the campground we finally parked our trailer in a parking lot. We were too emotionally and physically drained to drive anywhere. Our kids had been crying and scared and we were just done.

So we called it a night and prayed we wouldn't get a ticket from the rangers that night and we didn't. So you'd like to think the story turned happy there...well it did NOT. The next morning as we were planning to find a campground Scott came out to find a HUGE 3 inch wide gash in one of our trailer tires. Not surprising given the road we were driving on. So after much time in changing the tire we finally found a campground to camp in. Well, it was 34 degrees outside so we were playing games in the trailer when the next problem occurred. Our battery decided not to hold a charge and gave out. We tried charging it with the car and it would get to 100% and then go out 15 minutes later. So needless to say we could not camp without power since that meant ho heater and no fridge and that just wasn't going to work. So we let the kids play a bit and then we headed home. This trip was not meant to be!! We met up with Amy's family for a bit on our drive home and ended up roasting marshmallows with some friends back in Centerville. Scott and the kids slept in the trailer that night to feel like they were truly camping. I was so exhausted from the whole thing I decided to forgo the excitement and sleep in my own bed. So needless to say our experience was not what we were hoping. The battle scars on our trailer show the sad signs of our trial, but it could have been a lot worse, we are just grateful we made it back safely and that everyone has a greater appreciation for many of our blessings!

Fall is Here!

I can't believe how fast time is flying! It's already the middle of October already! This weekend we were able to visit with Amy and her girls for a bit after we stopped by Cabellas on our way home. Here are some photos of the kids with Bella! =)

First my handsome boy with his favorite pumpkins.

All my kids taking a photo with Bella!

Bella and Kaylie are buddies! Bella was so cute carrying her purse and her cookie monster with her in the store. She was wearing the giraffe overalls I gave her when she was a newborn!! I can't believe she is big enough to wear those now! She looked darling!

Here's the group of us at Cabellas!

A Different Fridge

Well yesterday I spent about 2 hours cleaning out a fridge we bought (used, about 4 years old) in preparation for the swap. It was a LOT of work and my hands are all dry! I should have used gloves. Anyhow, here are the boys playing with the clean drawers. The boys were really helpful in drying them for me and I appreciated that. It was a lot of work.

Here is our white fridge, which I love and it still works great!! But with our kitchen renovation the white just stands out too too much. Well it has always stood out too much with our dark counter tops and dark island, but we weren't motivated to do anything about it until we got this new awesome oven combo! And so we bought a used fridge in stainless so that everything will coordinate better.

Here is the after photo...phew..it was a lot of work getting it in place (thanks Tyler!) but the guys finally got in in place and it looks awesome! It's a GE Profile just like our oven and has the matching handles so that was one of our motivations for getting this one. Our other motivation is that it is one of the types that does NOT show fingerprints very easily and that was important to me. I can't stand fingerprints on stainless!! So this was a big priority!! The kitchen is coming along, it is very exciting! =)

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month we bought some pink ribbon cookies. Not that we need any reminders, I think our family is well aware, but we are pink ribbon fans around here so I just had to get the cookies too!

Two Anniversaries

This past week we celebrated 2 anniversaries. Monday was Scott and my 13th wedding anniversary! We took the children out to celebrate the happy occasion that brought about life for all of them!! We went out to dinner as a family and its been soo very long since we have done that, so that was fun!

Here is the lovely rose bouquet Scott gave me! =) The other anniversary happened last week and that was my 3 year anniversary of my diagnosis with cancer. How grateful I am to be a 3 year survivor and I hope to live for many more anniversaries! =)

Oven Project Update

Well if you have been following the blog lately you'll know we are working on our oven project. This last week Scott got the top cabinet out finally (it was really stuck) and he rebuilt the side cabinet where we fit the cookie sheets. He also rebuilt the side drawer and built a casing above the oven that will support the counter top when we get that rebuilt. So it is coming along!


Here's a sneak peek of what we are thinking about for our kitchen...back splash and new paint on the cabinets....we are still making decisions so more to come on this later!! If only Scott didn't have a full time job!! Then our kitchen would be done in a snap! But reality is that he has a real job he has to complete before he can play around with our kitchen project. So we have to be patient!!

New Paint

One room that we have wanted to paint is our music/guest room in the basement. Scott chose the new colors for it, as it will be his beachy themed music room. It was a dance room for the previous owners and the pink just wasn't working for us!

So we hired our favorite painter to paint over the pink. Here's the before photo...



Here's the after photo...it'll make more sense once we finish decorating, but the idea is that it's SAND and WATER!! Hence the wavy line across the wall. I'll show you more photos once we finish the decorating, but I'm excited to have the pink gone and more calming colors replacing it!

The Hair Truth!

Ok I have been keeping my hopes up these past few weeks, but I think reality is really sinking in! I'm losing my hair, lots and lots of it! I have been losing my hair for the past 3 weeks pretty intensely. It's been wild! I think I've already lived through this haven't I??? I really can't believe its happening again! No one told me this would happen....of course I am a rarity...but really, this is ridiculous!!

We thought at first my hair was coming out due to the steroids I had been on, as that has caused my hair to thin in the past. However, with how much is coming out the past 2 weeks, Scott now thinks it is a result of the chemo in my brain. That chemo was not suppposed to cross the blood/ brain barrier but it appears to us that is has! Why else would I be losing my hair?

So I can't wear my hair down anymore because it is so thin and shows bald spots like crazy. I wore it down Sunday and it was really embarrassing since there were so many bald spots! And remember my hair is curly now. I LOVED it when it was thick and curly....well that is a thing of the past!

So the past 2 days my hair has been coming out from the roots, in handfuls...it is scary beyond scary now. I'm really praying that I get to keep some...even just a little bit. It was such a journey for me before, I REALLY don't want to go through that trial again.

Keep your fingers crossed for me..I can hardly put my hair in a clip now...there isn't enough hair to put up! =(

Our Oven Project

So all those weeks I laid in bed watching home design shows I just wished I had the energy and ability to DO something about the ideas. Of course I had to wait until our life calmed down a bit!! =) Well this past weekend Scott and I decided to tackle the Oven project. The oven project has been a year in the planning so I am excited we are finally THERE!

Here are our ovens before...We had two small ovens in this space. We wanted to open the kitchen up more and so we are taking out the ovens and putting counter top where they were previously. The double ovens will be replaced with a single oven sized unit that has two ovens in one spot! It's a new oven from GE! We are replacing the white appliances with stainless ones.

Here is the progress on Friday Night. Scott and Tyler successfully removed our double oven unit!!

This was Saturday afternoon...Scott was able to cut the unit apart...what a sawdust mess..it was pretty crazy in our kitchen!

Saturday night....5 pm, this is what we have! The new unit in screwed in so it won't fall, but its several inches too low and Scott still has to build the supports for the top so that the counter top folks can work their magic. It will probably take us a few months to get this project finished but I'm excited we are started. Scott has to modify the two side cabinets before the cabinet maker can come back and measure for the new doors he is making for our lower cupboards. Meanwhile I need to find room for the dishes that were displaced removing the lower cabinet. But I am so excited to have more counter top and to have a microwave ABOVE the oven instead of on the counter top! Hooray!! I'll post photos as we progress. =)