Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Status Update......

So it's been awhile since I last updated the family blog. I have a hard time thinking of things to write. Also I think I've become too dependent on Facebook as a way of posting news and our status. Since I last wrote, a lot has happened. Appointments and play dates. We met with volunteers from Make A Wish to finalize some of the information for our trip to Disney World in August. We have 12 more days till we leave and the boys are so excited! Mike and I are excited! We will be staying at Gives Kids the World, have a park hopper pass to Disney World, and one day passes to Univeral Studios and Sea World. We are going to be pretty busy! After we get home, are plans are to drive down to Phoenix for a quick visit to the Beazers. We haven't seen them in awhile. Our tradition was to spend every Halloween with them. Clearly that changed last year as we were in the middle of cancer treatments for Ian. And this year it won't happen because my sweet little boy Bryce starts Kindergarten. At any rate, we sure miss them and enjoy their company!
So, I knew when this month started that I was going to be busy and of course a bit stressed. Ian had his brain and spine scans this month, as well as his oncology clinic visit. I always get so stressed and anxious starting about 2 weeks prior to all the appointments. Part of me is scared of receiving bad news, but mostly I just dislike seeing my little guy be knocked out for scans and having to deal with his crankiness, loopiness and moodiness after sedation. Poor kid can barely walk and it's next to impossible to reason with him. It lasts for 24 hours after sedation. It would almost be comical if it weren't my kid. Nevertheless, he did great! He didn't even flinch or cry when they put in an IV. The GOOD NEWS is that the scans came back clean. So he continues in remission and I am grateful to the Lord for his tender mercies. Our clinic visit was a pain.... I don't know what the deal is with Ian's new oncology doctor... we never had a problem when dealing with the BMT doctors... but she is almost always late! I think she knows that Mike and I don't care much for her, because this time around she actually tried to be friendly and spend more than 5 minutes gracing us with her pressence. Perhaps I'm being too hard on her! It's not like we can change doctors...she's the one that specializes in brain tumors. Perhaps over time we will develop a better relationship! I know she knows her brain tumors, she is more than qualified, she's clearly a very intelligent woman, and perhaps she has just seen so much tragedy with regard to children that she is just little hardened. Who knows.... I just need to change my attitude because we will be seeing this woman for the next several years and I don't want it to be uncomfortable every time we meet with her. My goal is to see her crack a smile and perhaps even laugh.
On happy note we have been getting out and playing quite a bit. There is this neat splash pad here on base that I have taken the boys to several times and they always have a good time. Unfortunately, I can't take them for the next few days as Spencer managed to split his eye open yesterday on our fire proof safe and had his owie glued shut in the Emergency Room at Davis County. Fortunately, we only spent about an hour at the ER. I think that has to be a record. Nobody makes it out of the ER in less that 5 to 6 hours. LOL! So now Spencer needs to learn the saying "chicks dig scars". The boys wills start soccer this month and we are excited for them. It will be fun to watch the coach heard a bunch of "cats". So I guess I have covered just about everything that is going on around here.... we are taking each day as it comes and are so grateful to have healthy boys and be able to do things as a family! One of the blessings of having a HUGE challenge, is that it has the power to change ones perspective. I have always loved my children and my husband, and yet I appreciate that much more the value and sacredness of life. None of us knows the time we will be called home to our Father in Heaven, none of knows what challenges we might be called on to face and endure. Life is beautiful, a gift, to be spent in service, happiness and love.


Spencer before getting an owie just above his left eye.
Bryce and Ian taking their helicopter for a test spin. LOL! They really were alot more excited than they look!

Monday, July 6, 2009

4th of July....

Uncle Dave, the boys and Ashley
Uncle Dave letting Bryce play with his video recorder
Ian with his cousins Sean and Ashley
Mike and Jared Bennet
Spencer and Ian with Jared and April's two kids Cassiday (sp?) and Enoch.....
We had a GREAT 4th of July! Mike's brother Dave and two of his kids Sean and Ashley came up. It was nice to have family in town. We also invited one of Mike's favorite companions, Jared Bennet, from his mission (San Jose CA) and his family to join us for a BBQ. We BBQed burgers, ate potato salad, fruit salad, deviled eggs, chips and plenty of Kool-Aid. Yummy! I even got to see fireworks from the comfort of our family room. It was so neat! Looking out towards the Great Salt Lake a display of fireworks was quite the sight to behold. Anyhow, Dave and his family left Sunday morning and we have plans to get together with Jared and his family again soon.

Over night in Park City with the Woods Family

The view from the balcony off our room -La Escala Resort

The Pool Area ..... so much fun!
The room was beautiful and we had our own HUGE bathroom, as well as our own fridge.....
The Boys in our room.

A good friend of ours from Mt Home, invited us up to Park City for some fun! We stayed over night with them in an amazing condo! According to Lisa they are selling these condos for somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.2 million dollars. It was definately beautiful and looked well made. You get what you pay for! Anyhow, we spent a couple hours with the kids out at the pool and then Lisa, her sister and I went to the factory outlets for some shopping therapy! Super fun! THANKS LISA AND SENECA! We had a blast, it was just what our family needed! Next time we get together we are going to really wear the kids out so that they go to sleep and stay asleep so the adults can have a game night! LOL! So wonderful to be able to do fun things and feel normal! Mostly we just really enjoyed seeing good friends again and watching the boys play with their friends.

Mommy's Shoes....

I have no idea why my shoes have become a favorite with Spencer...( and Bryce and Ian in fact), but I decided not to fight it. It all started when Spencer took an interest in Bryce and Ian's shoes...they were often left lying around and so Spencer started trying to put them on and quite often proved successful at it. However, his patience was tried more often than not, when he was unable to put them on and he could be heard through out the day crying in fits of rage at a pair of enemy shoes! So to make life a little easier on him and more pleasant for me (I wouldn't have to listen to his screaming crying rages), I offered him a couple pairs of my shoes. Big enough to easily slip his small feet into, all the while providing hours of clomping around the house bliss! Well as soon as I offered my shoes to Spencer, Bryce and Ian decided that they needed some shoes to clomp around in. Fair enough......all three have enjoyed themselves wearing my shoes.
I first want to share a video with you on what happens when Spencer gets frustrated with shoes....




Ian sporting his preferred pair of mommy shoes! Looking good Ian!


Here is Spencer trying to put the shoes on....

Spencer gets a black eye....

Lately I have been working a lot with the boys about being kind to one another! We have even learned the song "Kindness Begins With Me". However, the adage "Boys will be boys" reigns supreme at my house and quite frequently someone walks away hurt. More often than not, Spencer takes a licking and fortunately keeps on ticking!!!!! This little boy is hard core. I often joke with Mike about getting a front row seat with pop corn and a drink to watch the smack down when Spencer gets big enough to do some damage! At any rate, more often than not, he's just in the wrong place at the wrong time....LOL! That is the case with the black eye and cut that Spencer earned recently. Bryce accidently knocked him into the corner of a wall and instead of catching himself with his hands, he just used his head, because, well everyone knows that makes more sense...right?
The black eye is finally all cleared up, but it sure looked ugly for awhile! I was concerned someone would think we were beating our little boy up, on the other hand they could just as easily put two and two together when they saw Spencer flanked by two older brothers! LOL!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Please Help the Hess Family

Hi Friends, Family and Visitors to our blog! I am sharing this story with all of you in the hopes that perhaps someone reading this will be able to help or know someone who can! My dear friend and past roommate from BYU, Natalie contacted me to share this story, and the Hess family are dear friends of theirs. Please take the time to consider if there is anything you can do. Again I appreciate all of you who have been such a support to my family as we have dealt with the the challenge of cancer in our family. Your prayers, thoughts, selfless acts of service have made our journey that much easier to endure. At the very least, perhaps you can remember the Hess family in your prayers. Thanks everyone! You guys are the BEST!!!



***FEDERAL EMPLOYEES- PLEASE DONATE LEAVE TO RYAN HESS***

My name is Margie Hess, my husband Ryan was diagnosed on June 12, 2009 with a rare and aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Since this is an aggressive form of T-Cell Lymphoma, his doctor has put him on an aggressive chemo regimen that will result in him being unable to work for the next 4-6 months and possibly longer. At the time of diagnosis he was finishing up his 1st year as a Podiatry Resident at the V.A. in Tucson, AZ. Ryan is a devoted husband and father of two children, Hallie (5) and Max (2). By the end of this month (June 2009), Ryan will use up the last of his vacation and sick leave and will have to go on unpaid leave. Ryan is the sole provider for our family; I stay at home with both the kids. Without him working we have no income. I need to stay home to help care for him, so I cannot get a job right now, either. As difficult as it is for our family to have to ask for help, we have realized that we must do so at this time. We were told that any federal employee (ie: military, Border Patrol, DEA, FB I, Dept of Justice, EPA etc. EXCEPT Post Office employees) can donate vacation time to be used as sick leave for another Federal employee. We would be so thankful for any number of extra paid days we can accumulate. Thank you so much.How can you help if you ARE a Federal Employee?Go to your HR department and request to donate leave to Ryan Hess who works for the VA. (Your HR person will know the form that needs to be filled out- each Federal agency has their own form to donate leave)Once filled out and signed, the HR person will then need to fax or e-mail the form to:OLIVIA McCLURE - Benefits Specialist (TUCSON V.A.)Phone #: (520) 792-1450 x 6076Fax # : (520) 629-1849E-Mail : olivia.mcclure@va.govALSO, for those who are federal employees, please print out this message and post it in break/lunch rooms to help get the word out as well as emailing it to co-workers!How to help if you are NOT a Federal Employee:PASS this along to ANYONE and EVERYONE that you know and then ask them to pass the message along. Post it on blogs, Facebook...whatever you can think of.Thanks again everyone- this will help SO much!GO TEAM RYAN HESS!(E-mail teamryanhess@gmail.com to receive updates or to send a message!)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

"MOMMY YOU HAVE SWEET LITTLE MONSTERS"

Ian and Bryce at the Hill AFB Air Show

Sweet Spencer 17 months old

Sweet Monsters Bryce and Ian waiting to leave for church GateWall mall in SLC the water feature. Spencer is so cute!

Lately, both Bryce and Ian have been reminding me that I have "sweet little monsters". I think I have called them my sweet little monsters one too many times. They don't seem to mind my loving description of them and I almost think they are proud of being monsters. Things are going well around here. The boys are happy and healthy and enjoying the summer. We have
been getting out more and attending all of our church meetings. Of course, Ian has more scans coming up in July. What I want to know is why three months seems like an eternity if you are waiting for something wonderful to happen and why it FLIES by when something stressful or unpleasant is impending??? Quite frankly I am just looking forward to the day when I don't feel like I am waiting for something bad to happen. Considering the last year and a half of my life and many other unpleasant childhood events, I have to fight to not feel like I am waiting for the next tragedy to happen. For the most part I feel hopeful, happy, positive, and optimistic and yet I'm just guarded enough to not feel free and 100% content. We are commanded to be grateful and have joy. Well I AM grateful .................. that life isn't as bad as it could be and often is for others............. no really I am grateful for all of my blessings. LOL! I'm still working on being joyful. How do you be happy and joyful when you're in the middle of something ugly? I have moments of immense happiness and I laugh regularly(who wouldn't with boys like mine?) I'm talking about the kind of joy that stays, lingers with you always....a contentment a sense of peace.... Maybe I'm just afraid to be happy for fear that it will be snuffed out by something completely outside of my control. Anyway, I'm grateful for my wonderful family. I have the best husband....Heavenly Father knew I was going to need a companion with infinite patience. How Mike puts up with opinionated, bossy, impatient, unforgiving little me, I will never know and yet he adores me. He loves to see me happy. He loves our boys and he works so hard to provide for all of us. I not only love him for who he is, but also for all the potential for greatness I see in him. He's a work in progress and so am I. I love him because he wants to please the Lord and because he wants to do his best. SO now that this blog is a buffet of different thoughts and feelings....I just want to say one last thing. I want to thank all of my friends and family for taking the time to register to become a bone marrow donor. Yesterday was the last day to obtain a free kit to become a donor, and I hope that even though it now will cost a nominal fee, that many of you will still take the time to research the idea of becoming a donor and consider registering to become one. It could save someone's life.