My BFF

Erica has been such a great friend to me with all that's been going on with my dad. She's been there for me if I need to vent or cry, and will cheer me up by taking my mind off things. Tonight she brought over homemade pumpkin cookies and stuffed peppers. Thanks Erica, you're very much loved! I hope these two grow up to be the bestest of friends.

Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins with Chris and Anna really brought some light into a very heavy week. Anna kept saying "Eeww" the whole time.

You may be asking "what's up with the drill?" I saw the idea on Martha Stewart. I drilled holes are over the pumpkin. It looks really neat when lit up.

My pumpkinAnna's pumpkin

Chris's pumpkin. He did a GREAT job!

Fall Pictures

*DECORATING*

I decided Anna's room needed to be "girled up" a little, so I painted pink squares on one side and a solid pink stripe on the other side. I got the idea from my sister and think it turned out kinda cute. Virginia helped me cut a flower and dragon fly out of wood so I could decorate with them. They turned out so cute. I used the same color pink from the walls for the flower and body of the dragon fly.
*MOMMY TIME*

Anna's becoming such a good "mommy" with her babies. Here she was making sure baby ate her cereal.


Fall brings leaf piles!

*THE BALL*

Bear is obsessed with having the ball thrown to her. I was sitting at the computer and looked over and she was sitting there staring at me with her ball in her mouth.

Tagged

8 things

8 T.V. show I love to watch:

Grey's Anatomy
America's Next Top Model
The Office
Heroes
E.R.
Deperate Housewives
90210 (I know!)
SuperNatural

8 Favorite restaurants:

Red Robin
Chili's
Cafe Rio
P.F. Changs
Canton Wok (in WVC)
That's all I can think of, Chris & I totally need to get out more!

8 Things that happened yesterday:

Woke up wishing I had the day off
Went to work and pushed through despite having a nasty cold and feeling icky
Watched Chris install my mom's new washer
Ate pizza at my mom's house
Snuck some candy from the Halloween bag
Raced Chris home on Legacy (he took I-15)
Fell asleep at 8:30pm on the couch
Ended up sleeping in the spare bedroom with Bear


8 Things I love about fall:

Less yard work!
Pulling out the warm, fuzzy socks
New fall T.V. shows
Cooler temps
The leaves changing colors
Holiday season
Driving home with the windows down
College football (GO UTES!)

8 Things I'm looking forward to:

Being debt free
Getting pregnant again (any day now body!)
Chris getting promoted
My dad getting well again
Our first Christmas in our new home
Watching Anna on Halloween night
Planning next summers vacation
Getting pregnant (yes I'm saying it again, that's another hint body that we can do this again!)

8 Things on my wish list:

Winning the lottery
Finding my dream job
Getting Chris's jeep super jacked up
A bigger home
Another baby (can you tell I'm baby hungry?)
Being able to travel where ever I want to go
To be a stay at home mom
To be debt free

8 People I tagged:
Erica, Steph, Tannia, Jen, Jodi, Jamie, Camille, Shea

Update on my dad

My dad's health is slowly improving. We still don't have the results of the muscle biopsy that was taken on Monday. If life was like E.R. or Grey's, we would have had it 15 minutes after and my dad would be cured and home by now!! The doctor also finally put him back on a regular food diet, which means he can have anything and can ask for anything. So guess what my mom brings him to eat? KFC!! He didn't eat much, but a few bites is more than he was doing before. But to side with him I've seen a few of the meals they've brought it...I wouldn't feed it to my mom's cocker spaniel and he eats cat poop!! So each day he eats a little more and that's good since his doctor was trying to push a feeding tube on him previously.

So to sum up my dad: he has Minimal Change Disease (kidney disease) and isn't responding well to the steroids (yes, he falls into that 10% that don't respond. Way to be unique dad!) Also his pituitary glands aren't working so that's not helping the kidneys either, which is why the toxins aren't leaving the body. The dialysis seems to be helping with the toxins and the doctor doesn't want to put him on the other drug until his overall heath improves. It's a chemo based drug and right now it would do more damage than benefit for him.

My mom and sister also found a nice transitional center for my dad to go to once his health is up. It's a rehab hospital that will focus on getting him stronger and mobile again. We've made it very clear to my dad "it's not a rest home".

I've had a terrible cold this week so I haven't seen him since Tuesday, but I did print off a bunch of pictures of my dad, pre-illness, that my sister/mom are going to post up all over his hospital room. This way the nurses/doctors can see the man they've been tending to was once a healthy, vibrant person. And not just a sick, stubborn patient. Also we think it will give my dad some hope that he can return to being that person.

I'm still asking for prayers, they seem to be working.

A Prayer Request

My dad has been back in the hospital for just over a week now. Although his kidney function is at 49%, they are not cycling out the toxins in his system. Yesterday the doctors decided to put him back on dialysis to see if that would help and his body went into shock about 3/4 of the way through and the doctors rushed in to his side. Apparently that can happen to the body when it's the toxins vs. the machines. Either way, it was very scary (my mom was there) and my family and I are asking for lots of prayers for my dad to help him through this. He's very tired and weak, and that's not like my dad at all. He still manages a smile once in a while, but he tired of being poked and tired of being sick. So please keep my family, and especially my dad in your prayers tonight.

XOXO

~Cindy

Lazy Sunday

Anna decided watching football was boring, so she made a bed on the floor and fell asleep with her frog.

Handbag Planet

Handbag Planet is having a contest to give away bags on October 15th. Enter to win!
www.handbagplanet.com

First snow

I cannot believe we woke up to snow this morning. SNOW!! I saw a few flurries last night before going to bed, but when Chris got home he said it was dry outside. And then we wake to this: (I blame Al Gore!) Anna of course LOVES the snow.


As does Bear!!

Moo Cow

I've decided it's time to loose some weight, so I've started jogging again. I usually push Anna in the jog stroller and take Bear out first and then Holly (she's my "cool down"). On my nightly walk with Anna and Bear we always go past this small farm, the minute the animals see you coming they immediately start running toward the fence. It's the funniest thing to see all these little goats running toward you. Anna gets the biggest kick out this cow that comes right up to the fence and goes "MOOO" loudly at her. She turns and says "MOM! LOOK!" and points at the cow. Bear on the other hand could care less about the animals.

Elk Hunt

Although Chris didn't get his elk (yet), his buddy Sean did manage to get this 5x6 in the Black Fork area of the Uintas.

First Official Haircut

Chris and I took Anna to Cookie Cutters today for her first official haircut. Sure we've trimmed her bangs a number of times, but I've never cut the back of her hair. She did great!! Of course Shrek, a free sucker and an awesome stylist all played a part. She got a cute little bob and looks like such a big girl now. They have these great little cars the kids sit in (seatbelts included!) and each station has its own DVD player. I will definitely be taking Anna back for her next haircut.