Random Catching Up...

I promised some Christmas pictures... I know it's February. Life has been complicated. We had a wonderful Christmas holiday. We began the festivities with Jason's family party. Unfortunately, Collin had the stomach bug so he and I got some R&R at Grandma's while everyone else attended the party. I felt bad I had to miss it. It sounded like a lot of fun. The boys love to play with their cousins. Maren made a blanket for Nathan that he loves. Davin got a fun drawing book and a Nerf dart gun. Aaron got puzzles and some fun animal videos. A white elephant exchange happened between the adults and Jason got Stetson cologne... again.

I was so happy that I was able to attend my Grandma's annual Christmas carol sing-a-long. I always miss it because we are so far away and it's hard to make two trips so close together. My cousin John stole the show as "Elf" and we had egg nog and sang and I loved singing "Still, Still, Still" with my musical family.

Mom, Melissa, Hannah, Me & Dell

We spent Christmas Eve at home. We read from Luke and talked about the birth of the Savior. We each put on a piece of paper what our gift to Christ would be this year. We read the Polar Express and had milk and cookies and left some for Santa. The kids have got me figured out by now and know that the one gift they get to open on Christmas Eve is... Pajamas.

Christmas morning was fun as always. I really scaled down this year and got each child something to wear, something to read, something to watch and something to play. Santa then brings them a few things they really wanted as well. Simplify. It felt great. Davin asked for Madden Football for the wii a million times. He was so excited to get that as well as his own alarm clock. Nathan got a leapfrog laptop and a life-size Mickey, which he adored. Collin got a keyboard to make music and a robot dog. Aaron got Toy Story 3 and an electronic drum set to play with Collin. Jas and I decided not to give each other gifts and he cheated and got me some really, really cute clothes and said it was from the boys. Semantics. I call it cheating. What a stinker. I know he loves me a lot and just wanted to see me smile.

We headed up to Grandma's to celebrate more there. It's always fun to be with the family. Nathan and C.J. are quite the pair. C.J. is almost a whole year younger and look how tall he is! Nathan is still as cute as ever and I'll keep him little as long as I can. (I really do try to feed him though) This year was the year of the Zhu Zhu pets. Grandma went all out and got all the kids one. They thought they were so much fun! Our parents spoiled all the adults this year. We all got gifts plus we had to find our money in the Christmas tree if we wanted it. Here is Dell sporting hers. Thanks Mom and Dad, we love you!

Nathan and C.J.

Zhu Zhu fest

Dell with her cash "accessory"

We had a fun New Years Eve with friends. The kids came in jammies and watched Despicable Me and ate treats while the adults played games and laughed and snacked. It was a lot of fun! Thanks for hosting Cox family! We were a little pathetic this year and didn't quite make it to midnight. I guess we are getting old. Sleep is a delicacy around our house and we love every minute we get.

The girls

Davin is now in scouts and loves it. It came time for the anticipated Pine wood derby. Jason and Davin worked on their cars together and Jason made sure Davin's was just the right weight. They both turned out really good. Jason made a replica of his truck (with motorcycle in back, nonetheless). He was the only dad that made a car, which really surprised me. Davin's car was super fast and took 1st in all the heats he raced. Way to go, Davin!

We headed up and celebrated Nathan's 4th birthday with family. We had a pizza party and cake and ice cream. He got lots of fun presents and loved all the attention. Thanks to everyone for coming and being a part of his celebration. I was also able to meet and hold the newest member of our family. Brittany and Jon had another boy and named him Jesse David. He has the cutest hair and the sweetest spirit. Congrats guys, you did great!

Britt, Jesse and Me

Aaron reached a milestone and lost his first tooth. He was so excited when he got the tiny note from the tooth fairy and a golden dollar. He is such a fun addition to our family. He is loving first grade and is doing so well. Way to go, Aaron!

Nathan is in a little pre-school that the mom's rotate teaching. It was my turn to do the field trip so we went to the Pizza Gallery of course. Jason let the kids toss the pizza dough and stretch it. He showed them the oven and mixer and they each got to make their own little pizzas. The kids absolutely loved it. They watched their pizzas bake and then they got to enjoy their own custom pizzas. They had root beer floats too and Nathan got some really fun presents from his friends. Thanks guys! It was such a blast to watch them and Nathan was just beaming.

Nathan's birthday started off with a genuine Mickey Mouse pancake. If you haven't noticed, he is obsessed with Mickey these days. He wanted a Mickey party, so a Mickey party he got. Again, I simplified. A few balloons, some Mikey plates and cupcakes and ice cream. Simple, but Nathan still loved it! I could have gone all out with the Mickey cake that would have taken a million hours and probably not quite looked like Mickey. I didn't. I kept it simple. He got some new clothes and his very own bike. He was so excited and began riding it all around the house. He is so much fun. I can't believe my baby is four. What happened?!

UPDATE:

Well, if you made it to the end of this post, I am amazed. Everyone is always asking about my health so I will update here so I don't have to repeat the whole story four million times. I had a period there where I was so weak I couldn't get out of bed. My ward is amazing and in came the meals and Nathan was off to play dates so I could rest. I got some IV fluids that helped. The one with protein helped a lot. I was nauseous and couldn't keep much down. With rest and IV's and supplements I have regained a lot of strength and have found my appetite again. I am not sick anymore and have a lot more energy. I am still not 100% by any means. I have lost some weight and then I developed what I call "Cabbage Patch feet". My feet and legs started swelling and my abdomen is enlarged. I knew it was bad when people started asking when I was due. I could either lie or shock them by saying, "I'm not pregnant, I have cancer." I had a doctor's appointment today with my primary care physician. We did an ultrasound to see if there is enough fluid in my abdomen to drain. There wasn't. They checked my kidneys and they looked normal. My bowels looked normal (I know you wanted to know) and my heart seems ok. We got the recent lab results on my blood work and I just thought to compare them to the labs I had done back in April. To my astonishment, my numbers weren't as bad as I thought. Some were only slightly out of the "normal" range. Some were elevated or low but compared to the April labs, they were better. It surprised me and gave me lots of encouragement. My liver is still not too happy but at least everything else seems to be working ok. My doctor told me to take a water pill to get rid of the excess swelling in my feet and said I need to supplement my calcium and iron. I may try a new protocol with another doctor to treat the cancer. Anyway, there it is. I was bracing myself for horrible news and it turns out that although things look bad, my body is amazing and is doing pretty good considering. Thank you so much for all the meals and thoughts and prayers and fasting. You are sustaining me more than I think any of us realize. "Doubt not, Fear not" plays over and over in my head and I will continue to forge forward on this incredibly hard path until the sun shines again.