Just a few more days to go...

Ok, so back in January (2009) I posted about my New Year's goals (not resolutions). Then in April I did a little update on how I was doing up until that point (text in blue), now that it is only a few days away from the end of 2009 I thought I'd revisit these goals and see how I did (green text), I'm a little scared, I know I didn't do well at all!

Family Goals:
1. Only move once! HA! if you know us you'll know that's a tough goal for us! Well we've moved once already, now let's see if you we can stay here the rest of the year!! So we didn't stay in CA for very long. So in 2009 we moved from Enoch to Riverside and then back to Enoch. Oh well, better luck next year.

2. Family dinners every Sunday, I like this goal, it keeps our family together and helps us to stay in touch with what is happening with all our kids. This one is harder to keep now that we are in CA and the rest of the family is in UT or IN. James and I do eat together every Sunday though (and we bring Asher along with us) Family dinners have not worked out for us. Our family is so spread out now that they are growing up and moving on to bigger and better things. Plus most of this year was spend with James driving back down to Southern California on Sunday nights.

3. Save $$! YEAH RIGHT!!! ( I have no comment for this one right now!) Still no comment for this goal.

Creative Goals:
1. 200 Digital Scrapbook pages by Dec 31! I think I have 9 done already...woohoo I'm doing awesome on this goal! So far I've created 70 layouts, and it's only April. I'm not sure where I stand on this goal. I know back in June I had over 100 but when school started in August I stopped creating scrapbook pages. I have created so many that I've had to save them on disks and take them off my computer because they were taking up too much memory. I'll count them when I get back to Utah.

2. Project 365. Take a picture a day for 2009, I started a little late so I'm actually doing Project 360 hehe.Still going strong here also! Another project that completely stopped when I started school, I'm sad to say. I might try it again in 2010.

Personal Goals:
1. Lose the baby weight, get to 145 lbs before our Family Vacation (I think we are shooting for May) Not sure if we are doing the family vacation, but I still have about 7 more pounds left to lose. So I got below 145 right before I came down here (Riverside) for Christmas Break, but I'm pretty sure I've gained it all back since I got here :(

2. Read 10 books this year...almost a book a month, that shouldn't be to hard for me. Ok so I didn't think this one would be hard to accomplish but I haven't picked up a book yet...yikes! I better get on that. I've read 3 books for pleasure but that's it! When school started I didn't have time for reading for pleasure, but I did read a lot of school books, does that count??

I have a new goal to add here under personal goals
3. Run a 5k at the end of the summer. I started my training yesterday! WOOOHOOO I actually completed this goal! James and I did the 5K during the Iron County Fair. I didn't run the whole thing but we did finish it, next year I'll have a goal of finishing it faster then this last time. That shouldn't be to hard to accomplish since it took me 34 minutes the first time!

Is it completely sad that I've only completed 1 of my goals! And it wasn't even an original goal that I started the year off with. UGH! Well good thing there is always next year. I can't believe the year is almost over! It seems like just the other day I was first writing down those goals for the year. CRAZY!!!!!!

Dad's Surgery

On November 11, 2009 my dad went in for surgery. He had this lump on the side of his face, right side between his jaw bone and his ear. The surgery was an outpatient procedure, nothing too crazy. I decided not to come down for it because I had a lot going on at school and with the surgery being right in the middle of the week I'd miss to many classes. So I called right before he went in and wished him luck and then I told my stepmom Kim to call me as soon as he was done. This was at 10 my time. By 12:30 she hadn't called but the surgery was suppose to take about 2 hours so I wasn't too worried. Around 1:00 she called me and I could tell she was upset. She told me that when they cut my dad open they found out the lump had cancer in it. The doctor was pretty certain he had gotten it all out but there would be more tests later to determine the extent of the cancer in his body. After I hung up with her and sat down on the floor in the library and started to cry. The scariest thing in the world is to find out the one person you believe to be untouchable isn't. Even though school was busy I felt I had to be there with my dad. Within 30 minutes I had talked to all my professors, explained what was happening and told them I wouldn't be back for a week. They were all very understanding, which I am so grateful for.

By 2:30 I had Asher and I all packed and was on my way to my in-laws house to pick him up. We finally got to Riverside around 9pm. It was a long emotional drive but I was so happy to be in Riverside instead of Cedar where I couldn't do anything. Not that I was really needed there, but it felt good to just be around. My dad was in great spirits, of course, he always is. The day I left to head back to Utah my dad had a doctor's appointment. They told him that even though they were sure they had gotten all the cancer out he would still need to do radiation, 6 weeks of it, 5 days a week.

The week before Thanksgiving they did a PET scan of his entire body and found that there was no other cancer anywhere else that they could see. His radiation started Wednesday, Dec 9th. As soon as my finals were done on Friday the 11th I headed back down to Riverside to spend my Christmas break with him and to hang out with him while he drives back and forth to his radiation appointments. (which is where I am right now) Everything seems to be going ok. He is going to still get really sick from the radiation. The doctors have said that he will lose a lot of weight before the 6 weeks is over. I'm not looking forward to seeing my dad so weak but I am looking forward to knowing that he will be cancer free when it is all over.

A Little Splash of Color

I have always wanted a red kitchen and now I finally have it! Sunday and Monday night I tapped off all the cabinets and such and on Tuesday morning (11/10/09) I got up and started painting. It took me from 8am to 4:30 pm to get it all done, I had to do two coats, but it was so worth the time and effort. I love my new kitchen. Then the following weekend Jadeth and Whitnee stopped by for a quick visit and Whitnee said "Oh I love your new kitchen" and Jadeth said "me too, I like the new cabinets!" ROFL he is so funny. I guess the red made my cabinets look even better then they did before. And of course, here are some pictures of the kitchen and my little helper.

Asher vs. his dinner

Oh boy oh boy oh boy...what was I thinking letting Asher feed himself? But how could I resist, look how much fun he was having. Good thing I stripped him down to his diaper first!

Peace

On November 6, 2009 I was at school. I had brought my lunch and was trying to find a place to eat it. I looked out the building I was in and saw this! It was just warm enough outside that I didn't need a coat, the sun was shinning, the birds were chirping and I sat down on the grass an enjoyed my lunch. Isn't the campus at SUU beautiful?

Halloween 2009

For Halloween this year we decided to go visit my mom and Rocky in Kingman, AZ and then go to my sisters new salon in Lake Havasu for Halloween night since they close down the street her salon is on for a big street party.

The drive to Kingman was awful with Asher. It was just me and Asher, James came too but he was coming from CA and so it was just me and Asher. Somewhere after the dam (Hoover Dam) Asher got incredibly fussy. He wouldn't stop crying and I knew he was tired so I tried singing him to sleep but he would only sleep for a few minutes and then wake back up. He was still really fussy when I finally got to my mom's. Come to find out later he had a really back tummy ache. Poor little guy. Saturday morning, Halloween, he was back to his usual self. Around 3 we headed for Lake Havasu. Its about an hour drive from my mom's house. Asher was all dressed up in his hand-me-down costume. It was a Superman costume that I had semi-homemade myself for Bailey on his second Halloween. Asher loved it! Once we got there the street was just starting to close down and people were starting to show up. I could not believe how many people were there. It was crazy.

We didn't stay long, Asher was getting sleepy and we still had an hour drive back home to my mom's so around 9pm we headed back for Kingman. Sunday we hung around my mom's for a little while and then around 1 packed up and headed out. Asher was a lot better on the drive home. In fact he slept from Vegas all the way to Mesquite, which for him is amazing!

Here are some great pictures from that trip.

October 25th was my last post???

I'm so far behind. Almost two months. But in my defense that last two months have been crazy insane and I'm only now beginning to come down from it all. So in an attempt to catch back up with our life via the blog I'm going to skip the song titles for the next few blogs.