Finally an update!!!

I have been feeling so good and have majorly neglected my blog.  I am on steroids that give me lots of energy and help me feel so good.  The tumor on my tailbone is still there after my 15 rounds of radiation and so the steroids are helping with the bone pain.  It is amazing just how good I feel.  My face is really puffy and I feel like a bug but I will take the puffiness anyday over feeling awful.

So since January I have been sewing in my craft room, traveling with friends and family to St. George, went to the Oregon coast with my mom and sisters and just staying busy.  In fact I am updating this right now from Texas where I am visiting Jordan and Emily.  Life is going pretty great for now. 

I did just have new scans done and I have more lung spots and they are a little bigger than 6 months ago.  I also have a new spot on the tube that runs from my kidney to my bladder and will probably have to have a stent put in over the next couple weeks.  Hopefully it will work otherwise my option will be to let my kidney die if the stent doesn't work or causes problems.  I meet with a urologist next week to discuss all the options.

So onto the fun stuff and pictures.  My mom and sisters got away for a few days to the Oregon coast.  It rained but it was fun to be together.  We did glitter toes, made homemade cards, went out to eat, shopped at the outlet mall, walked on the beach in the rain and Alison got us hooked on a TV series "Drop Dead Diva".  It was so fun to be together.  Last time we did this we had the 2 little girls with us so it was nice to just be able to go and not have any kids.

We had a beautiful sunset one of the nights.

I couldn't go hot tubbing because of my medicine but the rest got in. 

It was pretty funny trying to get this picture.

 I went to St. George with my mom and her sisters and Mindy showed up for a couple days.  It was so fun to be with them and be invited on their sisters trip.

 This is a picture of our ancestor Miles Romney who built the circular stairs in the St. George Tabernacle.

 I love spending any time with my mom.

 The sisters.

I was also able to get away to St. George with these amazing women from my ward.  We went and visited an amazing quilter Marilyn Badger in her studio.  It was so inspirational and I picked up some tips on how to quilt using the long arm and how to get started.  I'm excited to try out what I learned from her.  We spent the week quilting and eating out at some yummy restaurants.  I love to be with these women and our Rosebud Club.

 JoAnne, me, Rebecca, Marilyn, Susie and Annie.

So I have been busy and feeling good.  Mike has been so supportive and letting me have these retreats.  I have some fun things coming up also.  A trip to the cabin and Washington, bike races (to support Mike), Hawaii, and of course my remaining time here in Texas.

I continue to be so appreciative of everyone and their continued thoughts and prayers in my behalf.  I was given my terminal diagnosis 2 years ago and my doctor keeps saying 6-10 months and I keep beating it.  I consider any time I get my bonus days and am so glad that Heavenly Father continues to bless me with bonus days to enjoy my time with family and friends.

Super quick update

I am going to make this quick since I am in so much pain and it is hard for me to sit.  The ache in my tailbone ended up to be a tumor growing right at the base of the tailbone.  It was on my scan but the radiologist missed it and so it kept getting worse and worse and finally one of my doctors looked at the actual scan instead of the report and saw the tumor.  Long story but I was just glad to know that the pain in my behind was something real.

So I am now undergoing 15 treatments of radiation to shrink the tumor.  I have to go every day and today was my 4th treatment.  It is pretty easy, lasts about 10 minutes and I don't have any side effects.  I just hope that I will be able to sit again sometime soon.  The doctors are pretty confident that this will ease my pain sometime soon.

Mike again has stepped up and been such a trooper.  My pain meds keep me pretty loopy and so he does quite a bit for me and makes sure that I am comfortable.  I really don't know what I would do without him.  He is my everything.

Hopefully I'll be able to sit for longer and put some fun pictures on here soon.  Just keep me in your prayers and know that I love you all.

Monster Update

I have been running around like crazy and am finally taking a moment to update everyone on what's happening in my world.

Mike worked on our dining room window and encased it in a nice cherry wood.  It turned out really nice and then we covered it all up with drapes.  If we open the sheer drapes a little we can still see the wood.  Now we are just waiting for the dining room set which should be here in a couple weeks.  Can't wait.

We spent one evening at the tire shop with Cori's kids since she had an emergency dentist appointment and a flat tire.  She took my car and Mike met us at the tire shop and we got her car fixed before she even got home.  These kids love to see Mike.

We went to St. George with our friends Jaime and Chris and their kids.  Mike, Chris and Doug (a brother-in-law) rode in 100 mile bike ride that started and ended in Mesquite.  We had fun meeting them a couple times along the route.

Here Mike is riding up "The Wall" (a pretty steep hill).

Here we are playing at a park before we went and waited at the finish line.  These kids are so fun to be with and we had a great weekend with them.

The guys finally showed up at the finish line.  We were glad to see them and were so proud of their accomplishment. (This picture is actually taken about half way through the ride at one of their official break stops).

Before leaving St. George we went and said "Hi" to Trudy and Bill (my aunt & uncle) who were staying down there.  It is always so fun to see them and spend time together.

We came home to cold weather and falling leaves.  Mike has a new leaf sucker upper that he uses to get rid of our leaves.  Most of our trees are evergreens so we don't have a lot of leaves in the yard.

I went home to Seattle for a quick weekend trip and my sisters were playing in a symphony concert.  Check out all these kids in this little bitty room.  And that's only about 1/2 of my nieces and nephews.  They are probably watching Tom & Jerry...a favorite shared by all.

December came and my mom and Emily came for a visit.  We went to go see "Christmas Around the World" down at BYU.  It was fun to be back on campus and we went with my mom's sisters' also.  What a fun outing.  I loved having my mom and Emily here and we ate at some yummy places (Pei Wei, Zupa's, & Kneaders).  It was a quick trip but we did a lot and they helped me decorate my tree.
(Notice my new purse:  I call it Petunia and I made it as a birthday present for myself.  So fun.)

We were busy during December.  We had our ward Christmas party and Mike's work Christmas party which is always a lot of fun.  We went to see "White Christmas" up at the U at the Pioneer Theater.  So fun and I was so proud of Mike for being a sport and going even though he doesn't really enjoy plays and musicals.  I was also selected to get tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir christmas concert with David Archuleta.  I always love going to this concert and I am a huge David fan.  We went with Trudy and Bill and it was so much fun.  Trudy is a huge David fan also and so it just made us fans even more.  I can't wait for the CD to come out next year.  We walked around temple square a little bit afterwards and got a quick picture.  It was so crowded but so festive and beautiful.

I couldn't resist adding this cute picture of Cori's twins checking out the little houses under the trees.

We went to Seattle for Christmas and saw lots of movies, played lots of games, ate good food and just enjoyed being all together.  Jordan & Emily came from Texas to visit and it was sooo good to see them.  I could not get enough of Sunny (my newest niece).  She is the sweetest girl ever and I hardly ever saw her upset or crying.  I'm sure she was in amazement of all the activity going on around her.

Christmas Eve was spent at my parents where we had a yummy dinner and then a Christmas Nativity and talent sharing.  Every kid had a costume but it was pretty chaotic getting them to play their parts and to stay put.

Andrew contemplating his role as a wiseman.

Dad & Jordan singing with gusto!!

Here are the string players in the family minus Jared.  It was fun to hear them play all together.

Christmas morning parade after breakfast to see what Santa brought.

I made some cute quilts this Christmas for gifts and only got pictures of a couple of them.

I got together with some of my friends one night.  I love these girls and we have such a great time talking and laughing and reminiscing about old times.

Holly, me, Sandra, Stephanie, Shiela, Michelle, Kristi & Crystal

Love you girls!!!

For my birthday (New Year's Eve) we went to breakfast at Snoqualamie Falls.  It is so yummy and has a great view of the falls.

And last of all, here is the picture we put on our Christmas card.

We hope everyone had a great holiday.  I just got Christmas all put away last night.

As for a health update....I am having scans taken next Thursday and then I meet with my doctor on Feb 1.  He wants me to talk to some doctors up at the U of U about doing a clinical trial.  So it looks like it will be a busy month.  I am feeling pretty good.  I sleep a lot (about 10 hours a day) and my tailbone area has been aching a lot.  I'm hoping the scans will be able to show if anything new is growing.  I am hoping and praying that everything is still small and manageable.  My life is in Heavenly Father's hands.  Whatever his plan is...I am OK with.  Thanks to all for your continued thoughts and prayers on my behalf.

Traveling girl

I have been all over the place and am finally getting around to updating and posting some pictures.  I went to Washington to see the family and we went to the cabin for a couple fun days.  We lounged around, played games, ate yummy food, rode horses and just enjoyed our time together.

 Here's cute Brigham and Amelia.

 Mike doesn't like me to ride horses especially since I broke my knee but he wasn't there and I rode bareback again!!  I love to ride.

 My dad came up and as you can tell it was a little chilly and we had the stove going or as we call it the energy zapper.  It sucks you in and puts you to sleep.

 Blurry picture but we had fun playing games.

Jared and Jess came over from Spokane and we had a big game night.  We had a Rook card tournament (mom actually had a 200 hand without cheating), played Quirkle and did a puzzle.  It is fun to just all be in the same room even if there are different things going on.  I'm sure we'll do it again at Christmas.

 The girls went to lunch at the Secret Garden.  A fun girly restaurant.

 Here's my 2 youngest nieces.  They are growing up.  Megan loves to snuggle with me and Lily is a little firecracker and check out her curls.  Just like her mom.

 I have been working on LOTS of projects.  I can't really show them all yet because they are Christmas gifts.  But here are some cute skirts I made for some lucky little girls. They are fun to make and so cute.

Mike and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on Oct. 8.  He had a scout campout that night so I went to dinner with some friends.  So fun!!!

My friend Cori and I and her 3 kids went to Montana for 4 days.  Her parents have a ranch there and it was so peaceful and quiet.  We made it into a quilt retreat and worked on lots of projects.  This was the room we worked in and had big windows on all 3 sides so the views were great.

Here is the ranch.  Such a pretty setting. I love the book "Hattie Big Sky" which takes place in Montana.  We had a great time and I got a lot of projects finished.

Cori and I came home for a day and left on Monday morning for New York City with our other friend MaryAnn.  We got there early enough on Monday that we were able to get discount tickets to Mamma Mia!  So fun.  Gotta love ABBA.

Here we are just before the play!

Times Square...so many lights and it really does not ever sleep.

The M&M store was still open at 11 p.m.  Work it girls!

This was the real reason we came to NYC was to see Wicked.  It has been on my bucket list.  I LOVED it.  It was amazing and so fun.

Here's a look at the stage from my seat.  AMAZING.  This of course was taken before they announced that no pictures were allowed.  Ooops!

After NY, I came home for a day and Mike and I went to Lake Tahoe for the weekend to meet up with his cousin and aunt.  I didn't take any pictures and it poured down rain the entire time so we didn't get to explore much.  It was a long ride but it was fun to travel in my new car.

We are off to St. George next so Mike can ride in a 100 mile bike ride.

My CEA score is now 17.  It came down but I'm not getting too excited because the tumors did grow a little bit.  I'll get another score in a couple weeks and probably more scans in January.  For right now I am just feeling great and enjoying my craft room and projects and travels.