Summer Vacation (Part One)

This is the first summer since we moved to Texas that we have been able to have a real Family Vacation. I met Russell in Dallas on his way home from camping out with the Scouts in Arkansas on the 19th. From there we drove straight through (31 hours) to Idaho. We went up the Colorado way just to see what it was like. It was a beautiful drive through Colorado. The weather was cool and crisp we drove through the night so we didn't get to see as much of the mountains as we would have liked but it was still really beautiful. About 5 in the morning when we had just reached the top of the Mountain we had been driving up Kennadee woke up sick from all the winding roads and altitude. After cleaning her up and getting her some Dramamine we were back on the road. It knocked her out for 8 hours we couldn't even get her to wake up to try and go potty or anything!        
      Once we reached Idaho it was pretty late in the afternoon. We ate a nice Father's Day dinner with Russell's brother Dan and his wife Heather and their son Matthew and we went and visited Russell's Aunt Ada and played Texas Hold 'em over there.
      The next day we got up and got packed and ready to go camping at Anderson (My very favorite place to camp) visited with more family and went to bed so we could get up early to go camping.
      We arrived at Anderson and got the camp all set up and enjoyed spending time out side in nature. Russell's brother John and his wife Jessica and their kids met us up there. We had a great time. Swimming in the Hot Springs, exploring nature, eating tasty foods, talking, chasing kids around and sleeping in the cold Idaho night.
Here are some pictures from the trip to Anderson:

Matthew ^

Kennadee ^

Matthew ^        and        Kyler ^ 

Kyler ^

John^ and Gage ^

(left to right) Matthew, Kyler, Kennadee, Gage, John

Gagers ^

Kennadee enjoying a just her size chair

(left to right) Dan, Kaylee, Gage, Kennadee, Heather

Kennadee

Beautiful Kaylee Bug

The rest of our Idaho trip consisted of tons of dinners, lunches, & visits with all of our friends, and family members in Twin Falls. We headed up to Nampa to see Russell's brother Sam and his family and his brother Joe we went to a park and the men played ultimate frisbee while the kids played and then we went to Sam and Dee's for dinner and we played the Wii and visited. It was a blast! It was so good to see our family and it was really fun to see our cute Nieces and Nephews and see how much they have grown and changed in the last two years!! We hope to make this an annual trip!

On a side note: While we were in Twin Falls we bought a mini van! It's a 2004 Honda Odyssey we got a great deal on it!! We love it!!! Here is what it looks like:

Stay tuned for Summer Vacation (part two).............

Main Floor Painting

Before we left on vacation we decided it was time to paint the main floor of our house. It was originally painted with flat paint which is virtually unwashable and so the walls had been getting black marks and looking horrible. We have been talking back and forth and looking at swatches forever and could never come to an agreement on the colors we wanted to paint it. We knew we wanted to do the two-tone with chair rail we just didn't know which colors to use. Finally we found two swatches that we both could agree on and here is the results!

Before:

After:

Here is a video to show the whole downstairs

(please excuse the TV in the background)

Biopsy Results

Well as some of you know Russell has been diagnosed with Graves Disease (hyperthyroidism). He was diagnosed because he has a racing pulse, has lost 35 pounds in the last few months without even trying, he has been tired, nauseous, dizzy, and a bunch of other things. The treatment for this disease is to take a pill of radioactive iodine which in turn goes in and kills the thyroid and then he would have to be on medication for the rest of his life. Well when he went in to the radiologist to get scanned to see if he was a candidate for this procedure they found a nodule and told him that they could not do the radiation until he had a biopsy to make sure it wasn't cancerous. We went in for the biopsy and the Dr. said that there was less than a 5% chance that it would be cancerous. That was last Friday and she said she would get back to us Monday or Tuesday to let us know what the results were. Well this morning (Thurs.) She called to let me know that they discovered something that they weren't expecting.....Cancer. She said that he has Papillary Carcinoma which is the most common of the Thyroid Cancers and has been researched to find that people who get it between age 20-40 have a less than 1% mortality rate so it is the best one to have. I am still seriously worried. So for now we have to wait until the medication he is on regulates he Thyroid and then he will have surgery to remove the Thyroid and the nodules and then after the surgery he will be having radioactive iodine treatments to make sure to kill any remaining cancer cells.
Please keep him in your prayers!

"How 'bout I draw a line down your head and make it look like a butt"

The quote is from Cool Runnings when Sanka is calling Yule Brenner baldie.

Russell and I were joking around the other day saying that he should shave his head bald for the last week of school, then it turned into talking about having a beard with it, then last night we decided why not just try it out and see what it looks like? So we shaved it all off with the clippers first and then I shaved it clean with his Gillette razor. 

He has a really nice shaped head. I really like it. And luckily he has really olive complected skin so his hairless head isn't bright white as I have seen happen to some men when they first do this. He is very happy that it makes his head so much cooler. I really like it too!! 

Easter 2010

This year we kept Easter pretty simple. I have been seriously ill for the last 2 weeks and so I wasn't able to go out and find fun stuff for her and we also weren't up to going to any fun Easter Egg Hunts or anything like that either.

Sunday morning Kennadee woke up and was able to have a little Easter egg hunt of her own around the house. 

She had that face after every egg she found. It was so cute!!

The above picture I had to put on here because I don't think I have ever been able to take a picture of her where her hair swooped like that!! It has always been too short!! It is so fun that her hair is FINALLY growing!!

After her Egg Hunt she got to open her Easter Basket. She just got all candy this year. Even though her Daddy got plenty of candy she really wanted to be generous and she gave him half of her candy. It was so sweet. This girl is growing up!!

Kennadee Turns Five

I can't believe my little girl is 5 years old!! I have been telling her for the last 3 years that we would take her to Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday and this year we finally decided to take her and her cousins. We had a blast. The kids all played games and got lots of tickets to get prizes with. We sang to Kennadee and ate cupcakes. She got to open her presents and then we went home. It was so fun!!! 

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!

Miscarriage/Blessing

As some of you know we were finally able to get pregnant. All along the way I was having problems. See this link for more of the story.
I went in for an ultrasound last Friday and found out that there is no sign of the baby. They aren't sure what happened. They don't know whether it is a Molar pregnancy (which she said isn't as likely) or what it is. I went in on Monday morning for a uterine tissue biopsy to see if they can figure out what happened. They are also trying to figure out if I need to have a D&C to get it all out. I am hoping that I don't have to do that.
I had a Priesthood Blessing that gave me tremendous strength and comfort to get through this enormous trial in my life. I wanted to write this down so I don't forget. The blessing went as follows:
Our baby had the choice to be born now and have a pretty big trial to deal with in their life or they could wait and come later and not have this specific trial. The baby counseled with the Lord personally and decided to wait and come later. The baby also knows that it has caused us some pain in our lives and will be with us to comfort and uplift us in this hard time.
This blessing came as great comfort to me in my life. It is so nice to be able to know what happened.
So many people have sent us gifts and cards to help cheer and lift us at this time. I wanted to thank you all (you know who you are!!) for your love and support and prayers!!