the Goods, the Bads, and the Uglies

Bad: What ever happened to the paper heart valentine holders (that were 2 heart shaped papers stapled together) or the boxes with tissue paper wrapped around them?

Good: Yea for dad and his creative side!

Cool Valentine boxes huh!

The Goods, the Bads, and the Uglies

UGLY: Our beloved  two year old gecko, STRIPES died on Sunday, January 18, 2010 at approximately 6:00 pm.  He had been battling an infection that had caused him to lose weight and become very lethargic.  This was the second infection that he had had.  He fought off the first infection that he acquired, six months ago like a champ and tried to overcome the second infection but even with $300 vet bill, it proved too much for his little body to handle. He is survived by his self proclaimed dad, Kole Graper, his self proclaimed uncle, Braydon Graper, and his not self-proclaimed grandparents Ryan and Kimberlee Graper.

At the end of Stripes life, both Kole and I were crying over this stupid gecko.  I never touched him, hate reptiles and thought he was ugly, but there is something about a little lizard trying to survive and a little boy sitting by his cage crying saying, "fight Stripes, fight!" ....and yes, I am crying now while I write this so so lame.

Kole was so sad, and wanted to know why his prayers weren't answered for his gecko to get better this time.  I was trying to make him feel better so I told him that a little boy in heaven probably wanted a gecko to play with, so Stripes had to go be his pet for awhile. Okay, I know pretty lame but you try coming up with an answer to that on the fly.  Kole thought for a second and then asked,"Well, why did the little boy die that needed a pet in heaven?" At that, it was dad's turn to offer some words of wisdom.

Hopefully, Stripes is enjoying a fat juicy worm in Gecko Paradise.

Yes, Stripes is still alive in the pictures, but nearing the end :(

the Goods, the Bads, and the Uglies

BAD and GOOD: I turned 36....um not so good, but I was spoiled rotten with a lot of great gifts.  I admit I love presents and a day being all about me, so if I have to turn a year older to enjoy such things then so be it. Ryan out did himself this year, and my presents were fabulous. My cake was even awesome. I mean how cool is this burger and fries cake.  I thought that maybe the Cake Boss was hiding in the other room.  He wasn't but "that Albertson's Cake Baker might be his brother," Braydon is convinced. Oh and yes, as you can see in my pictures, my house can be messy on my birthday!

the Goods, the Bads, and the Uglies

BAD: My Kole-a-bowl-a-ground hog, who also answers to Mr. Patera, Koliapolis, Kolykalikymakisaka, and so many more (yes, we love our nicknames) turned 10 yesterday.  I mean a kid in the double digits.  How did this happen?  He even claimed to have one chest hair, but when I asked to see it, he couldn't find it.  He was sad and said that it must have fallen off.  The sad thing is, soon that won't be a hair that fell from his head. He was so so excited to be turning 10.  I guess 10 is only bad when you are the mom, but seriously where has all the time gone.  I think he should still be around 6 or 7, and I should be 26, but Kim Years don't really count in real life.  I am lucky he is an amazingly sweet, kind boy, who still wants to be read to at night, and isn't embarrassed to give me hugs in front of his friends, now his little brother is a different story, when it comes to hugs outside of our house.

Quotes from this amazing day:

Mom, if I'm 10 years old and you had me when you were 25, you must be........

I am 10 and can light the cake myself....10 minutes later the lighting process was still going.

How could this steak (9oz) be gone so fast? I mean did you taste the seasoning?

I can finally be the artist I've dreamed of. He got REAL art supplies for his birthday.

A lot of parents at my school, don't make their kids go to school on their birthday.

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!