Mama Mia!

I've been on blog hiatus for a while. Life has been crazy, but I'm back and I must begin my week of posts with my favorite! My sister in laws, mother in law, and I went to see Mama Mia on Friday. LOVED IT! Seriously so good! I've never seen the play...I'm sure it's great. Pierce Brosnan left a little to be desired in the singing department, but I could totally get past it! If you haven't seen this I recommend it! At the end of our movie the whole audience was dancing and clapping in their seats! So fun! Great girls night out! Thank you Grandpa Mike for treating us to the movie...even though you thought it looked stupid! :)

A Miracle

Bryan's cousin Michele sent out this email. Aunt DeAnn (our Grandpa's bone marrow donor is Micheles mom). I thought she did a great job describing the transplant process and I learned a lot reading this! Thanks Michele!

Hi,
As you all know, Mike was diagnosed just over a year ago with leukemia. Right from the beginning, the doctors started talking about a bone marrow transplant. So Candice and my mom were tested to see if they matched Mike.

There are 10 antigens in the white blood cells that could match in the donor and recipient. A good match is 7 or 8. My mom and Mike matched all 10. An interesting fact is that they have different blood types - Mike is O+ and my mom is A+.

After the testing, they decided not to do the transplant last year. Mike received lots of chemotherapy and eventually the leukemia was gone.

On May 14 (his 59th birthday) of this year, Mike received the phone call that the leukemia was back. He was back in the hospital 4 days later having a chemo treatment and he called to ask my mom how her bone marrow was. They needed to do the transplant.

So, this week we watched this miracle happen.

Each morning for 4 days (starting July 3), my mom went in for a shot (in her stomach) that increased the stem cell production in her bone marrow. Her bones were achy and she got headaches. On the 5th day, she received another shot and got a catheter put into her jugular vein. Then that morning, over a 4-hour period, 14 liters of blood were taken out, run through a machine that removed the calcium first, then the stem cells, and then put back into her body. 14 liters of blood is approximately 2-2 1/2 times her body's full blood supply. The next morning, the 6th day, she received another shot and then they removed 14 liters of blood again.

The first day's collection was one cup. 1% of that cup of liquid was stem cells. It looked like watered down blood. There were 2.7 billion stem cells collected the first day. That's a lot but Shawn could probably count them. There were 3.6 million stem cells per some unit of measurement (I can't remember what). They said that was a great number. We don't know the number of stem cells collected the second day but they figured it would be about 2 million per unit.

My dad and I went to the hospital on the second day. We watched my mom's blood run through a machine and then back into her. The second day they warmed the blood before it went back because the first day she got really cold (which never happens) from the cold blood. They also put calcium back into the blood before it went back because she felt very tingly due to a loss of calcium. We saw the little bag of stem cells hanging there and the plasma that was also collected. We watched the tech pack it in a cooler that is kept at room temp. A technician stayed with my mom and the machine the whole time both days. The tech personally delivered the stem cells to the lab.

When my mom was done, all 3 of us went to Mike's room. He had received his last chemo treatment 2 days before (July 6). The infusion of stem cells from the first day had just started. They are run into him like an IV. He has a line into his jugular vein. It took just over an hour or so. I sat and held the little tube and watched the cells run through it. The nurse kept checking his vital signs to make sure he wasn't having a reaction to receiving foreign cells into his body. While we were there, the nurse and other staff members came in with a birthday balloon. They sang Happy Birthday to him because it was the first day of his new life and being a new person.

The stem cells will take 2-3 weeks to ingraft (I think that's the word they used) in his bones. Then they'll start producing A+ blood. So, Mike's blood type will be changed. Over the next few weeks, he'll need blood transfusions since he has no bone marrow to produce blood. They'll give him O+ red blood cells but A+ plasma and platelets. If there are any remaining leukemia cells, my mom's cells will kill them off. As soon as his white blood count is 500 then he can leave the hospital but has to stay somewhere close. I don't know how long he has to be here in SLC.

It is an amazing miracle and so neat to watch. I'll try to attach some pictures. You can send this on to anyone that you think might be interested.

I will send the pictures we took also. But I will need help so it might be a few days until I get that done.

Love, Michele

Me and My Shadow

I always wanted a little sister growing up. When Camry started asking me why she didn't have a little sister I felt a little bad saying, "because we didn't want to risk giving you another brother" HE HE....(I didn't really ever say that to her)....So anyway, now that we have Miss Maddie around I'm thinking we've filled a void. These two are so cute together. Despite the big age gap of 10 years they are still best buds. Camry is so sweet with her and you can just see the love and admiration in Maddie's eyes whenever she looks at her cousin. She loves to copy what Camry does and sit on her lap. Camry is the greatest babysitter...I think Bonnie has it pretty good having a 2 yr old with Camry around to chase her everywhere! I hope Camry always remembers that someone is looking up to her and trying to be just like her.Camry and Maddie at the Huntsman Center
Giving each other moral support at the Pediatrician
Fourth of July

Tag of 3's

I was tagged by Cami and Jessica on this one...
3 Joys....my kids, my family, reading a good book
3 Fears....losing someone I love, heights, being in a car accident
3 Goals....start running again (great now Bonnie is going to make me go), play more with the kids, finish all of my projects I've started this year.
3 Obsessions....blogging, my mini bag of popcorn (I seriously plan my day around this), my bank account being balanced to the penny
3 Random....I rarely cry (but if I'm watching a sad movie I can sob for hours...weird), the smell of a cafeteria gives me little panic attacks (no idea why), I love to laugh so hard my stomach hurts...therefore I try to surround myself with people who will make this happen ie. bonnie, cami, chelsea....
3 Tags....Melissa, Jenny, KerrieLeigh

Giant Water Slide=FUN!

My cute friend Cami....this is her above.....invited me and the kids to the park today for some Giant Water Slide fun!
Big Hill +Vinyl Billboard Signs+Water=Tons of FUN!! Here's a view of the slide...although the picture doesn't really do it justice.
My cute nephew Garet
I don't think this backwards move was intentional...but Jace loved it anyway!
Best Buds...Emily and Camry

Easton...the little daredevil.....he ended the day with some major road rash on his shoulder! Major pile-up!!
Me and the little boys going SUPER fast!

At the bottom....let's do it AGAIN!

My graceful self...major crash landing.
We had so much fun! Thanks again Cami for inviting us! What a great day!

14th Wedding Anniversary

Wow! I can't believe I've been married for 14 years! Has it really been that long? It's amazing how quickly time goes by. What a great life we've made for ourselves. We have 3 amazing kids, and a dog....and we're surrounded by family and friends. Engagement Photo...1994
Wedding Day Photos 7-8-94 Us Now...2008

14 Random Facts over 14 Years

1. We've moved 6 times
2. We've had 3 babies
3. We've built 2 houses and put in 2 yards
4. We've been really poor....and not so much
5. We've never lived anywhere where our ward hasn't split at least twice while we lived there!
6. We've been to Disneyland 6 times
7. We've owned 4 different cars and 4 different trucks
8. We've had a hundred fights and made up a hundred times
9. We've welcomed 5 sister in laws, 5 nieces and 5 nephews to our family
10. We've broken 1 bone, and had 2 surgeries
11. We've had 8 different jobs
12. We've made best friends with our neighbors
13. We've cut, colored, permed, and grown out our hair...both of us!
14. We've loved each other every day!

Independence Day Fun

MORNING OF THE 4TH

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids

Thank you Grandma Gail for always supplying us with cute Fourth of July gear!

Nemi and Camry....it's so fun for Camry to have a girl cousin her same age...these girls are 4 months apart in age. One extreme to the other!

Camry, Nemi, Jace, and Easton in the back of Grandpa's truck. These city kids thought this was one of the coolest things about Blanding....getting to break the rules and ride in the back of the truck!

PARADE

Grandma and Sage all set to watch the parade.

Garet and Jace...bags in hand....ready for the candy fest!

Me and my Maddie at the parade

Making sure everybody's bags are the same size!

Grandpa and Camry hanging out in the shade...it was a HOT one!

This picture is for Rochelle and Jeremy....we were laughing so hard that the D fell off this float....read it in Navajo and you'll get it! :)

Uncle Colby and Sage waiting for some smarties!

Easton and Kaleb...the boys had a great weekend together!

DIVING FOR DOLLARS

Diving for Dollars: money is thrown on the bottom of the pool. The kids are split into age groups and dive for the money.

Garet and Jace before they "dove for dollars"

This is Jace trying his HARDEST to get to the bottom of the pool....for some reason little bodies just seem to float! I almost fell in trying to push his head down to the bottom to help him out.

This is a picture worth a thousand words....the little boys holding their "charity" coins.

Mass chaos in the 9/10 year old group....these kids were out for blood!

Every time Easton came up for air he looked over to make sure I was watching. This is him with his hand full of money! Way to go bud! East is always so giving...before he even got out of the water he gave Kaleb, Garet, and Jace all a coin.

BARBEQUE
Sage was having some "Naked Time" in Aunt Karen' s pool.

Uncle Danny and my Dad tending the burgers. Thank you Aunt Karen and Uncle Danny for having us and my whole family over for dinner...you're the best!

2 of my favorite babies....Maddie and Sage.

Sage really loved Maddie. He followed her around pointing at her saying, "pwetty!" So cute!

Uncle Jeff entertaining the kids on the tramp....luckily no stitches were needed during this event.

What more can a boy need....olives and cheetos! Yummy!

FIREWORKS Ciana, Nemi, and Camry hanging out at the Fireworks.
Maddie and Grandma Linda taking a resty.
Garet and Jace, glow sticks in hand waiting for the big show.
Jace and my lovely self....it was a hot, sweaty, long day!
Dawson, Lance, Easton, and Kaleb playing the gameboy before the fireworks started.

10 Things I Loved About The Day:

1. Spending the whole day with both my family and Bryan's.

2. Getting to see all of our Arizona family together.

3. Hanging out at Aunt Karen's (it's always a party)

4. Watching the small town parade and seeing so many familiar faces

5. Seeing Jenny and Aundrea at the fireworks

6. Lighting a billion sparklers for the kids and burning my arm hair off

7. Cheering my kids on while they dove for dollars

8. Taking a much needed nap

9. My little guy falling asleep on my lap during the fireworks

10. How many hundreds of people stopped me and asked me about my father in law.....I love what a close knit community Blanding is!