Thanksgiving

We had a Happy Thanksgiving at our house, we hope yours was great as well.
ps. Eric shaved because I've been dying to see those DIMPLES!!!

7 years of wedded bliss

For our anniversary this year we did a family staycation. We stayed up in Park City where it all began. It is an awkward time of year to visit PC because its in between seasons so you have to find your own fun. 

The place we stayed at had a game room. Tayvia LOVED driving the motorcycles!

She and Eric loved swimming in the indoor outdoor pool. It was too cold for my taste but the hot tub/ 'warm bath' as Tayvia called it was nice.

Our first night up there we ate at the Loco Lizrd where Eric and I ran to get food the first night that we met. Afterwards we went to the Peanuts Movie. Eric fell asleep in it and I had a hard time paying attention but Tayvia liked it. 

 We went out to eat on our anniversary to a 'fancy' restaurant hence we look so cute! We ate at a place called the Butchers Chop. I looked for a place that was family friendly. Although I think they have a different version of family friendly than I do, the food was amazing- the dessert was out of this world! We had a great time!

Luckily there was some snow as we stayed at the bottom of the Canyons resort. This was probably Tayvia's favorite thing of the whole trip up there...playing in the snow.  

Life as we know it

We were able to go on a fantastic date night to a Jazz game on Thursday night. We took Tayvia on her first trax train ride, had great lower bowl seats that were freeee! And enjoyed some yummy ice cream. It was the perfect family date night!

Next I would like to share word's that I've never spoken...maybe to anyone. But, I want it on record. Because life with cancer is real. And maybe if I finally let it out of my darkest corner, I'll start to feel free and my heart will soften.

Absolutely enjoyed this...the only podcast I've ever listened to.

 I looooved hearing Stephanie Nielson speak in Evanston a little over a year ago and getting to meet her. (& Mr)

I draw so much strength from her shining example of surviving and thriving in life. 

We are coming up on 3 years of my family's life being forever changed. I wouldn't change anything because it has and continues to make us better in so many ways.

Just because Eric is through with treatment and is doing so much better doesn't mean that it's all sunshine and roses.

Eric isn't the same but guess what...neither am I. But we continue to grow through this journey of ours.

 Listen to this podcast! At about 31 minutes is where it hits personal for me. I'm tired of fighting that fear! I just want it gone. 

It's a wonderful thing to put your trust in God. Through him all things are possible. 

I'm grateful that Eric is still here by my side and will be for eternity aaand that we are a forever family.

I just love this cute family of mine!

Check up/ Conference Weekend/ Riffle Hunt

Eric had a check up last week. He went solo so I'm not sure what was said but I do know that everything went well. He doesn't have scans until December.

This past weekend we enjoyed conference at the cabin while Eric went hunting on Saturday. It's one of my favorite things...relaxing in the mountains listening to the words from our church leaders. Key quotes here

On a lunch date last week.

2 more Special Days

Something cool to remember about Eric is that he technically has three bithday's because he had two bone marrow transplants. His bone marrow grafted the first time on Aug 10th and the other September 20th so don't forget to remind him how much we love him in our lives!

Feijoada

Eric finally let me take him to a Local brailian restaurant (the sweet spot), he said it was the best feijoada since the missao!

Camping in the Tetons

Over Labor Day Weekend we went camping with my family in the Tetons. One day we also ventured to Yellowstone. Enjoy a few pictures in no particular order.

Deer Archery Hunt 2015

I forgot to post a few pictures from the Archery Hunt a couple weeks ago. Mostly we just like going to the cabin and enjoying the mountains!

Hearing Aid Repairs and adjustments

Eric went in for hearing aid repairs. I was able to go with him so that they could be adjusted to the harmonies of my voice. All I had to do was read from this paper (so that I was talking continuously). After the first time Eric said that I sounded like I was mumbling and a bit muffled. The doctor had me read for a bit more so that he could change the settings to be a little more aggressive to my voice. Now Eric can hear me much better! The doctor did talk to me about talking to Eric more directly. He used a ping pong ball analogy. If you throw it against a wall it could go any direction but if you throw it right at Eric the microphone is more likely to get it. So no more excuses on either end. Lol
After we enjoyed a lunch date to Los Hermanos!

Picture taken on Eric's birthday at Temple Square.

Full Circle

This is a post from facebook. It was originally in Portuguese and translated by Google. I first met Felipe when he was 8 yrs old. He was from the Palo Alto Ward which was my fourth area and my first opportunity to train another missionary. This family was found a few weeks before I entered the area, but Elder Bahr and I taught them the lessons. Anyhow, the Fornaciari family was ready for the gospel. I have fond memories of going to their house and joking a lot with Felipe. They were baptized and I was part of Aline, Felipe, and Simone's baptism. Elizeu was later baptized after I had left the area. I have maintained contact through instant messenger and later facebook.  Felipe, though the youngest to be baptized, was very receptive and I image was a strong pillar for this family.  Now he is headed for a mission in Brazil and last week entered the MTC in Sao Paulo.  It is wonderful to see the blessings come back full circle. This family means so much to me and were a big part of my missionary experience. I know Felipe will be a great missionary as he learned from the best ;)

Lamb Days

We got off work early on Friday July 17th to head down to Fountain Green for a mutton feast. Tayvia wanted to say hi to the baby lambs next to where we parked. After we drove to Moroni to have ice cream and check out Grandpa Gayles garden. We took home a few goodies!

Birthday Boy

Eric turned one year older and wiser too. Happy 31st Eric!

I took this photo of my stud muffin when we went to lamb days a week ago.

Okay, are you ready to hear about all of the fun that we did on Birthday Boys big day?

Eric requested that we go to Bruges waffles which is downtown. We were going to drop Eric off at work but he decided to make it a fun day with his girls.
Next stop City Creek to shop in Macy's for a minute then we headed over to Temple Square where we walked around enjoying the beautiful scenery.
 *side note: I was driving in between City Creek and Temple Square trying to find where we should park and I saw a gentleman in between both directions of traffic crossing the road coming our way so I slammed on my breaks.  I swear to you that it was Elder Oaks! He was dressed more casual in a blue plaid button up rather than a suit but his resemblance was uncanny.
We then drove over to the Gateway to play at the Clarke Planetarium but there were way too many kids(from day care or something) and we missed the movie that we wanted to see so we had lunch at the food court. (that's another story for another day!)
 After lunch we went to the movies. We saw Inside Out. If you ask Eric is was well done, if you ask me it was so so sad and Tayvia said it was scary.
After our day out and about in the city we headed home to get ready for the Fiesta Day's Rodeo in Spanish Fork. Eric's cousin sometimes has extra tickets and invites us down. There is nothing like going to Spanish Fork this time of year! We ate Tri Tip Sandwiches from our friends booth for dinner and enjoyed the best rodeo in the state!

On Saturday Eric went with his brother Paul went to Nickelcade after dinner. They only spent $5 but they were there for 2 1/2 hours.

Workout buddies

We finally got gym memberships again and went for the first time together tonight. It felt good to get our blood pumping and hopefully we can get into better shape!

Happy 4th of July

We made our own tie dye shirts at a Holman Family BBQ. They turned out so cute! We spent the 4th in the small town of Moroni where Eric's dad is from. They have lots of fun activities.

Watching the Parade. They dont just throw candy....they throw otter pops!

Lake Powell trip

A few pictures from our annual trip to Lake Powell with the Holman Family. It was a hot but fun one!

Tayvia is sure growing up!

 A few pictures from her 3 year old photo shoot

Photo's taken by Horrocks Photography in Bluffdale.

Happy Father's Day

Routinely check up

My health is steady. I'm tipping the scales at just under 200 lbs. I'm trying to convince Justine to be my new workout buddy with the goal of seeing the 170s again. I will put updates on that too. The doc said I'd be a bald forever and I think I have embraced that now. My blood is still normal and my heart rate was about 70 bpm which measured a little lower than my normal checks. I'm still livin cancer free and enjoying life. I do have a cataract forming in my right eye, so I guess I'm aging real quickly now with my eye and hearing problems and all.

Family date to the Strawberry Days's Rodeo!

Eye doctor appointment

Eric had an appointment on Monday to get his eyes looked at. They found a cataract forming in his right eye. They don't want to do anything at this point because when they remove the cataract they also remove the eyes natural lense which isn't as good soooo we wait until it gets worse to do anything.  

Family date to the city pool.

Happy National Cancer Survivors Day! An update by Eric!

The girls and I love getting Slurpees on Saturday afternoons. We bike there and get them. The stairs and cement are too dirty and everything smells like smoke so we decide to have our slurpees on the yard of a neighboring house. We love our family bike rides. These girls complete me. I heart them dearly.

Cancer remains in remission. I have two lingering side effects. My hearing is bad and it is annoying that batteries only last 3-4 days, but I am grateful to have hearing aids now. The other thing is I can't see as crisp with my right eye which I plan to get checked out soon.

I am happy to be healthy and enjoying activities with my family.

Family Walks

Sitting on the hill at our neighborhood park watching a family fly some awesome kites on a windy summer evening.

Happy Memorial Day!

We spent a fun weekend at the cabin, put pinwheels on Erics relatives graves, got a delicious shake and visited the horses in Moroni! It's always fun to spend time together!