I'm Done!

Today was my very last day of chemo treatment.  It's really hard to believe.  It has felt like this day would never come.  I had looked forward to it for so long, and was thinking I needed a serious party or vacation to celebrate the end (I do still need that too).  However, I found myself getting a big reality check at the cancer center today.  A flood of emotions came in, completely unexpected, at the realization that I am done and all that I've been through to get to this point (including just having my last surgery last week).  I was reminded why I went through all the torture and how serious it is.  There wasn't a choice, I had to fight for my kids and Tyson.  I don't want to miss out on their lives.

So I said to my doctor, "Now the worry begins", and she actually agreed, being a survivor herself.  I guess that is never going to go away.  She had a quote on her white board in my room that she pointed out to me which said, "No one said we would live a life time, we just need to live a good time".  That's a tough one for me to read, but its true.

So to my kids and Tyson, thanks for all your support, for understanding when mommy's sick and has to go to the doctors a million times, for all your prayers to help mommy get better, for all the hugs and kisses, and for all the fun and chaos this past year that has been a wonderful distraction to this all.  I couldn't have made it without you!

Deck the Halls!

We love decorating for Christmas, and this year has been especially fun in our new house.  We spent many days getting all the lights done on the outside, and had the inside decor up before Thanksgiving (my mom just couldn't wait and I love it).  Only thing missing was a tree...the most important part!  But Tyson resisted the ease of buying a fake tree once again and we made a trip up the mountain.  He pulled through and found us a beautiful Christmas tree off the Grand Mesa.

O Christmas Tree!

All ready for Christmas!

Our substitute spot for the stockings because I was afraid they might burn up over the mantle.  And yes there are five.  We are excited to have my mom staying with us for a while and for the kids to have Grandma here for Christmas.

Now if we could just get rid of our unwelcome Christmas mouse!!!

Collin Turned 3!

I can't believe it!  My baby boy turned 3.  Collin's birthday was on Thanksgiving this year and we were able to celebrate it with Tyson's family after our big turkey dinner.

For months now Collin has been telling me that all he wants for his birthday is "a red birthday cake" and continually asking me if I can make one for him.  Easy enough, right?  But when it came down to it, he was quite specific at it being Lightning McQueen again (he had this for his 2 yr bday too).  So once again I did it, but no more - it takes forever!  It turned out pretty cute and he was thrilled!

The cake!

Playing musical chairs to Christmas music.  We started with about 15, and had to end with three kids winning to avoid some big tears. :)

Giving a big swing at the pinata!

Getting ready to sing and have cake!

Collin decided to blow out the candles halfway through the singing.  He just couldn't wait, he was so excited!

So here's a bit about Collin as a big 3 year old:

1 - He is VERY opinionated about what he wears.  It must always be a Toy Story t-shirt (he only has 2 so this creates a huge problem), his #8 pants (luckily he has 3 of those), and his Lightning McQueen light-up shoes (he NEVER takes them off).  He also always wants the snowman pajamas for bed....oh but only the bottoms because he HAS to wear the Toy Story shirt to bed too.  It is extremely hard to get him to take a bath or change shirts to get him ready for school.  I can't wait for this phase to be over.  I have wasted a lot of money on brand new clothes that sit in his drawers never worn!

2 - His favorite color is RED!

3 - He loves basketball and bowling.

4 - His favorite food is probably shrimp, and his favorite veggie is for sure broccoli (he says its a tree and then eats the top off).

5 - He loves watching Dora and Cars.

6 - He loves to play Don't Break The Ice

7 - He loves to ring our doorbell...all day if he could!

8 - He covers his eyes, with this big smerk on his face, and stands completely still when he has been naughty...its cute!

9 - He gives sweet, sweet hugs.

10 - He is a such a cute little boy with tons of personality that brightens up our day, and sometimes makes us just a little bit crazy!  We love him! 

Happy Birthday Collin!

Finally...One Room Done!

We've lived in our house 7 months now and I've been working on getting it the way I want the entire time it seems, and making little progress.  I've done work in some way or another on nearly every room in the house (lots of painting) and finally I finished one and it just happened to be Collin's bedroom.  I would have never thought his would be the first one done, but I'm so glad it is.  He LOVES it, I do too!

Before...

This is the only real 'before' pic I have, which displays my crazy kids in the room jumping on the toddler bed (that would be Collin) and the queen mattress plopped on the floor.  It was quite the hodge-podge of a room for a while. 

After...

 Ready for take-off!

 Collin loves his room.  He loves airplanes and now loves to tell everyone, "I have airplanes in my bed!"

I thought I'd add a few more close-ups of the airplane stuff...too cute to not. :)

Mermaids and Sharks, Oh My!

For Halloween, Mackenzie fell in love with this mermaid costume because, yep, you guessed it....it was turquoise!  She does like mermaids too.  There was no debating that costume.  So lucky for me that Collin doesn't really care so much and I got to pick his costume.  :)  He was a shark.  Our week of Halloween was filled with parties and trick-or-treating and waaaayyyyy too much candy!  They enjoyed all the festivities, and their favorites were ringing doorbells and handing out candy to other kids.

Preparing for a night of Trunk-Or-Treat!

Night 2 - Trick-or-Treating

And off they go!

Orlando!

We finally made it on a vacation without kids and it was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!!!!!!  We were gone for a week to Orlando, but you wouldn't know it by the amount of pictures that I took, which totaled all of about 10.  Guess I was too busy having fun! 

We went with our good ol' friends from dental school, the Greene's and the Nielsen's.  The guys went to a few classes at the ADA convention.  It's amazing how they can continue to talk dentistry after four full years of it during school, but it never ends I guess and it's quite comical to sit back and listen to at times.  For us girls, we shopped, played, went to the movies, sat at the pool drinking daquiris and margaritas (virgin, of course), went to Universal, rode bikes, slept-in, (the guys did all this too minus the shopping trip and the bikes) and we all ate tons of great food!  Thanks for a wonderful vacation!

A Little Golf

Out at the Par 3 Golf Course at the hotel. 

 I have decided that type of golf is quite fun and perfect for me and I loved it!

(Not such a great picture of me...but the only one of us together. :)

Julie and I out golfing. 

 Julie was totally working on her tan, while I was more into my golf game and trying to take some pics.

Tyson with his serious slicing swing.  He wasn't so great out on the course, lost plenty of balls in the water, but gave us lots of good laughs.  That's our awesome hotel/resort in the background!

Brent trying to hit one of his many golf balls he had out on the course. 

This kid didn't play by the rules at all, but was actually quite good when he tried. :)

Sooooo...I totally won this round of golf!

Shopping

Of course, whenever I leave my little town of Grand Junction, I have a shopping agenda and seem to drag my friends into it as well.  It was fun, although I wore Julie out... again!  Our friends, Heather and Brandie came up from Ft. Lauderdale and met us at the mall to do some shopping and have lunch.  It was soooo good to see them!  Thanks for coming!!!

Julie, me, and Krishawn

Heather and me!

Fallin' for Fall

I love the fall because I LOVE the fall colors.  In all our busyness, we managed to get out and check out the fall colors, do a little hike, a little fishing and enjoy the mountains.  It was wonderful!

Mr. Outdoorsman

Mr. Mischief...

 

and Mr. Attitude

My little sweet girl!

Hope For a Cure

I can hardly believe it!  October 1st marks the 1 year anniversary of my cancer diagnosis.  It seems that was a very long time ago.  This has certainly been a very long year for me (and my family), a hard and challenging one in ways, but also one that has made me grow and learn a lot.  I don't wish it never had happened to me.  I've never asked 'Why?', but I think I know why.  I know that we all experience trials to test us and strengthen us, and through trials, blessing do come and I've experienced that.  So I would have to say I really am grateful for this experience, but I pray that I don't ever have to go through all that again.

So through the past year I've had 4 surgeries with 1 more to go, 6 hard chemo treatments, and a lot of easier chemo treatments of which I'm still getting every 3 weeks until Christmas, and a bajillion doctor appointments.  I will be SOOOO glad when all the treatments are done.  However, it's not all torture.  I have loved going to the Cancer Center - love the people, love the place.  It's usually a very light-hearted happy time with plenty of staff to bring warm blankets, and ice-cream (my two favs), program my television and chat with me about what I've been up to since my previous treatment.  I do enjoy it!

And the people who have helped me pull through it all are my family and friends.  This would be extremely difficult without the love and support of Tyson; Collin and Mackenzie to keep me distracted, and extended family and friends.  I'm so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends!

So here's hoping that this next year is better than the last, with fewer doctor appointments, longer hair :), and some fun!  I have a new motto I came across that says, "Breast Cancer didn't take my life, it made me live it." 

The New Do!

It was January 1, 2010, nearly 9 months ago that all my hair fell out and Mackenzie and Tyson took the clippers to the rest of it.  We told Mackenzie it would grow back, so after a few minutes she came to me and asked if it had grown back yet and was then sad to realize it wasn't growing back for a very long time.  And a VERY long time it has been, but finally I am saying 'So long!' to the scarfs (although I have loved them and they are super cute). 

I went to the salon and sought desperate help in trying to do my short hair, and I think it turned out the best it possibly could.   The slowest growing hair and shortest hair is all along my forehead hairline, where I need it to be the longest, so it is going to take some time to get it looking a bit better.  It is coming in very curly, although it is hard to tell because it is so short.  I have to say it does look better in real life and I do kind of like it, but don't think for a minute I'm going to convert to short hair, at least not this short. 

Nine months later...a full (short) head of hair, eyelashes back in tact, eyebrows kind of there...things are looking up! :)

Big Day!

The long awaited for day finally came!  Mackenzie and Collin went off to preschool and had a blast.  They have been begging to go for months now, since we drive by it every day.  And I have been excited for them to go for months now as they fight and cry when they are together at home. :)  So it was a happy day for all of us!  Actually, I was feeling a little sad, but glad to have a little free time.

The best part about it is that Collin goes to a toddler pre-school, and Mackenzie goes to a pre-K class, but they are at the same time and same place, three hours a day, three times a week!  So here's hoping we all have a fabulous year and enjoy our space. :)

All ready to go!

And Happy Birthday to Mackenzie (the first day of preschool was her actual birthday)!

Come Under The Sea!

I can't even believe it!  Mackenzie is turning 4 already.  Somedays I want her to grow up more, but most days she is so, so sweet and smart and very goofy!  We love her!  This is the first 'real' birthday party we've thrown with kids that aren't part of our extended family.  It was super fun, super crazy, super exhausting, and we loved it.  I'm just so glad I get to be her mom to do such fun things for her!

We had an Under The Sea theme, not mermaids, but lots of fish since she is quite obsessed with fish.  It was soooo cute!

The invites...

The Under The Sea Decor...

The Long-Awaited-For Fish Cake...

The games...we did this fun fishing game (with prizes of course), a treasure hunt...

...and we had to have a fish pinata!

Happy Birthday Mackenzie!