the Goods, the Bads, and the Uglies

GOOD: 2009 CHRISTMAS IN UTAH.  We had such a great time.

Caroling in 6 degree weather: kind-of-fun

Love the Rollers

More pictures of Christmas Day Later, I hope.

the Goods, the Bads, and the Uglies

Good: Santa's Candy Land:  Ryan and I were in charge of our ward (church) Christmas Party.  Our theme was obviously Santa meets Candy Land. We had professional carolers, family pictures, Santa, ham dinner, music by the children and a video presentation of the Savior's life.  It was so much fun and I admit so much work!  Thank goodness I had such great help. We had a great time using squares of 12 x 12 paper to recreate Candy Land. We had many a late night working on the decorations which included wrapping over a hundred boxes with nothing in them (to the boys dismay and confusion) for the table centerpieces, making all sorts of candy, Santa's naughty and nice list, food for the dinner, planning the entertainment, advertising etc etc etc. The two gorgeous and amazing murals were made and donated by the awesome art teacher at Coyote Hills, Mr. Hay.  He spent a lot of time on them and they turned out great!  With all of these things, the party looked magical, well as magical as a  giant gym can look. The party was a great success, thanks to all of the supportive people in our ward. Now, I am ready for a long, long break, after I wrap the "real" presents, pack for Utah, clean out my truck that is still full of things from the party and so on, never a dull moment, and I wouldn't change a thing.  Merry Christmas, I hope everyone's Christmas is magical.

the Goods, the Bads, and the Uglies

FABULOUS (Yes, I made up a new category again.): It's a long story, so bear with me.  Braydon had been complaining about the side of his leg hurting, by his fibula, on and off again for about a month. I finally decided to take him to the doctor. I know mother of the year.  We went to Onpoint Urgent Care and had x-rays. Dr. Bushnell asked me to come look at the x-ray of Braydon's foot.  He showed me a spot where there looked to be something next to the bone. It was so tiny I could barely see it.  He told me he thought it was nothing but that I should have it checked out by a specialist. So, a visit to the specialist, then a MRI at Childrens Hospital confirmed that there was a mass of abnormal cells attached to Braydon's bone. Our pediatrician  called us the same day as the MRI, and told us this mass was most likely some type of bone infection or osteosarcoma (bone cancer). This is when my official "freak out" began. We wanted Braydon to get a blessing, but of course the Friday after Thanksgiving is not the time to call people.  Ryan gave Braydon a great blessing, but didn't promise any immediate recovery, so yes, I continued to freak out (not in front of the kids of course). We met with the specialist again on Monday.  We walked into his office he sat down, gave us a couple of scenarios, and then told us that he had already made an appointment with an oncologist for tomorrow.  This news was one of my worst nightmares come true. We had Bishop and Matt Mathison give all of us blessings which helped to calm me for awhile. I kept it together until we got the kids to bed and then I completely lost it.  How could this be happening to us? How could my baby have the "c" word? blah blah blah. The next day we met with the oncologist and after waiting an hour and a half he told us the same thing that we had already heard.  I was really frustrated and wasn't so nice to him (yes, I felt bad about it after we left).  He felt that we needed to have a biopsy of the area asap. So he scheduled one for 8am at P/SL the next day.  We arrived at P/SL and waited two hours for his biopsy/surgery (no I didn't freak out at the doctor this time). Dr. Hugate (the doctor) then explained that while performing the biopsy if it were an infection he would clean out the area, apply antibiotics and then start him on IV antibiotics for one to two weeks.  If it was a tumor then he would obtain a sample, send it to pathology to determine the best type of treatment and chemotherapy to use.  When he finished his explanation, I "ate crow" and apologized to him. He was very gracious in accepting my apology, which actually made me feel worse, but who wants a mad doctor operating on their son? Braydon was so brave through out the entire ordeal at the hospital.  I went back with him to the OR to be with him until he fell asleep from the gas. Do you like my hasmat outfit?  We went in the OR, I could tell my brave boy was starting to get scared.  When they put the mask on him, he started crying and reached for me saying, "Mommy." Well, that was enough for me. Tears were streaming down face, but he was already out so he didn't notice. The doctor told me they would take good care of him. I told him he better, that I was leaving him with half of my life. Braydon later told me he got scared b/c everyone's heads got really big.  Then, Ryan and I waited for two long hours. The surgeon came out to talk to us and then the most amazing, fabulous miracle happened he told us that Braydon had a tumor, which he removed, but that he didn't see any signs of cancer and he was 90% sure that the tumor was benign.  They did have to graft some bone in b/c the fibula had been destroyed by the tumor, but that went well and now we would just have to wait for the pathology reports to make sure there was absolutely no cancer.  It was seriously a miracle.  He didn't understand how the x-ray and MRI could show something completely different from what he saw in surgery.  It was the one scenario that he didn't bring up b/c he didn't even think it was an option. We knew that our prayers, and the hundreds of others that had been offered in his behalf had been answered. Now, Bryadon is home and recovering from his surgery. He is supposed to lay around for 3 days, he made it about one day. We are just so grateful he his home and healthy, I can hardly get mad at him for not wanting to lay around. Our only challenge now is to keep him from running, jumping, wrestling, or tripping for 6 weeks, a hard task that we are so happy to have. What did I learn from this? That everyday is an amazing day that we are so lucky to share with our kids.  Things can change so quickly we shouldn't take any of it for granted.  I LOVE YOU BRAYDON SO SO MUCH!

the Goods, the Bads, and the Uglies

GOOD: Kole is a little sweetheart.
Jessica Mortensen and I had an early morning 9 am get together (okay, early for me when Ryan and I stayed up until 2:30 the night before) to figure out the decorations for our Church Christmas Party.  Jess is so talented and had so many great ideas, that we had a plan in place in no time, but we had to chat and catch up b/c no "meeting" should be under 20 minutes.  While we were "working" on ideas, Kole brought us each a plateful of salad, with celery, fresh strawberries, unwashed carrots from Kole's wheelbarrow garden and some shredded cheese.  It tasted great, we loved it, and wanted him to take pictures of it, just to prove how much. I must love Kole, b/c these are some lovely no make-up, hair not combed, pictures of me, Jess looks perfect as always. Sigh, what can you do?

GOOD:
Braydon is brave and Kole mastered his fear, I think.
 I had Ryan climb up in our nook above our front door to put some Christmas decorations up there.  Kole decided he wanted to climb up too.  He would climb a couple of rungs and then climb back down, this happened a couple of times.  Braydon walked over to see what we were doing and decided he wanted to climb up. So, Braydon got on the ladder and climbed right up.  Kole was down below telling Braydon to be careful, that what he was doing was dangerous.  Braydon made it up there and was hanging out with Ryan, so Kole decided he had to try.  He started climbing and while he was climbing he kept saying over and over again,"come on Kole, you can do it." It was so cute.  He made it to the top and was shaky and all sweaty, but he was so proud of himself.  Braydon wondered what the big deal was.  The brave just don't understand sometimes.  So after a photo-op it was time climb to down, Braydon was fine (check out his cool boxers) as for Kole ........ that was another story. Let's just say they all made it safely down the ladder eventually, with Kole kissing the ground, so glad to be safe.

the Goods, the Bads, and the Uglies

Good/Bad? My boys are little Hugh Hefners.

We were at Target and they both were so excited to spend their allowance on their first robes. I got a really cozy robe from Ryan for Christmas of last year, and it is so soft, the boys were very jealous of it.  So, the boys have been wanting robes for a long time.  I thought it was so cute, and that they looked so cute in them.  What's the problem? For one, they look like Hugh Hefner and we definitely don't live in the playboy mansion (don't worry they don't even know what that is.) Secondly, they wear them around the house all the time. They get home from school or church and put their robes on for the rest of the day. Thirdly, Kole wanted to take his to school for show-n-tell. We talked him out of it. Fourth, I can't wear mine around all day if I won't let them do the same.....I guess there isn't really a problem after all.

Ugly: kjarendales my hot family

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the Goods, the Bads, and the Uglies

BAD: Braydon who doesn't really like candy: "I'm not trick or treating anymore, all you get is candy.'" Wow, where did this kid come from, we lived for trick-or-treating and that candy was treasured, hoarded, with even a few pieces saved until Christmas.
BAD: Kole: "I am only going to trick or treat one more year and then I'm too old for it." First of all, can't you trick or treat until you're 12 or something, secondly who thinks of those things after bringing in the mother load?

GOOD: They looked super cute in their costumes.