Power Port Phil

Phil had his Power Port put in yesterday - it went really well. Now he has two more scars to add to his collection. He also gets to wear a cool bracelet (like the Lance Armstrong- LiveStrong ones) indicating that he has a Power Port. He's cool! He will receive his first chemo infusion tomorrow. We are pretty hopeful that it will be effective without causing too many of the side effects, the most likely being neuropathy.

Eden did really well with the ladies from our branch which makes it much easier to leave her again tomorrow.

Our friends in the Adam's Park Ward - in Logan, UT - fasted for Phil on Sunday, for which we are really grateful. It is just so wonderful to have family and friends all over the nation praying and adding their faith for Phil's successful treatment. Thanks everyone!

More Eden Pics

Eden standing in her crib:
Eden eating rice cereal (we aren't sure how much ends up in her tummy):
Eden drinking from a cup - she absolutely LOVES water:
Eden all ready for church:

Playing:
Bathing:

Living the Dream

I had a dream...

When I was young there was one dream that I esteemed above all others. No, it wasn't the dream of a decent hairstyle (hey, parts down the middle were "in") or the dream of a turtleneck that was actually fastened in the back...

My dream was to be an entertainer. I didn't want to just be a movie star, I wanted to sing and dance and truly entertain. I wanted to be adored and thought of as adorable. I was sure that some time while walking down the street or vacuuming or waiting for the school bus, I'd be "discovered" by some talent scout (because of course the talent scouts would always be looking for fresh talent in Gresham, OR). Seriously, it didn't matter what I was doing, I was REALLY singing and dancing and waiting to be discovered.

In truth, I wanted to be Shirley Temple! I was
so jealous of her (little did I know that she
was already a grown up when I launched
my fierce campaign to dethrone her as
"the greatest child entertainer").


Sadly, my dreams of being the next Shirley Temple were never realized. I grew up, completely undiscovered (except for a few stake events and that incredibly awesome dance routine I choreographed to the music "Everybody Ought to Have a Body" for the West Gresham Grade School talent show).

Years of disappointment were followed by nearly forgetting my earliest goals in life. And then, it happened ...

Yesterday as I was singing "One" from A Chorus Line in order to entertain my "One" (of course I changed the lyrics so it was all about her), I realized that I have indeed come full circle. Once again, I am singing and dancing and entertaining my way through life. I have a captive audience who giggles and smiles at me (and I'm sure she'd clap if only she could). What could be better? I'm living my dreams!

My audience of "One":

Your turn...

It is your turn to contribute to this blog. Leave a comment (you can do it anonymously if you want) and tell the world how long I've known you. For extra credit* you can also tell of the circumstances of our meeting.

*admittedly, extra credit is pretty meaningless because extra of nothing is still nothing - but it will be FUN!

Pregnant Again?

Yesterday I felt nauseated a couple of times. It was distinct enough that I thought "could it be?" I am taking a supplement that would not be good if I was pregnant so I thought I better make sure. Phil, Eden, and I headed over to Target. Now you have to know that the Target pharmacy is able to stay in business because of our family's pharmaceutical needs alone. We know these guys and they know us. It really shouldn't matter but I felt really silly carrying in my 4 1/2 month old baby to buy a pregnancy test. Of course those items are shelved right in front of the pharmacy. In we go, heads held high (but relieved that we were undetected nonetheless). Then there are the questions. Do we get the double pack, triple pack, or single pack? Is the generic as accurate as the name brand? After a decision is made we go about our other bit of shopping (needed to get the dark chocolate Raisinets just in case I AM pregnant and I need something to console me... I mean with which to celebrate). As we approach the check out my anxiety of "how does this look to be buying a prego test while I have this infant in my arms" returns. Just then, Eden comes through and spits up all over. Darn, I left the burp rag in the car! "Phil, why don't you just check out and I'll take Eden out to the car and get her cleaned up." :) YES, it worked! I was spared the embarrassment of checking out. What a good man I married!

Oh, and the Raisinets remain unopened.

Grateful

I'm a big believer in the power of gratitude. When I focus on those things for which I am grateful it is so much easier to be happy and positive than when I forget those things. At various times in my life, I have made lists or kept records (journals) of things for which I am grateful. Right now, Phil and I have a family gratitude book. It is fun to write in it and it is fun to read through it.

Here are some of the things for which I am grateful:

1. My patient, kind husband who has great faith.
2. Rain!
   
3. The power of the priesthood in my home and the peace and hope that come from receiving priesthood blessings.
4. My Toyota Matrix (I'll be even more grateful in December when we are done making payments).
5. My darling daughter who smiles - even when she's crying - and who gives the best hugs.

Help!!!

Until now, I've been able to time my haircuts until I was in Utah and therefore have my hair cut by my hair dresser of 8 years (Debra). Until now... On Monday I got my haircut (several inches) and it is TERRIBLE! It is totally uneven and choppy. So here is the question: should I go back and have the woman who slaughtered it try to fix it (for free) or should I go back to the same salon but ask someone else to fix it (for free) or should I wait until next month (when I have $ again) and get it cut somewhere else? Naturally, my fear is that if I go back to the same lady, I'll end up with an even shorter bad haircut.

Your advice is greatly appreciated. And those of you reading this from Calhoun county, any suggestions about a good place to get my hair cut?

thanks!

No Tents Allowed

This past week was Phil's surgery. Things went really well and we are home now. He had the left, upper lobe of his lung removed because of cancer. Chemo will follow soon. He is an exceptional patient and is anxious to do all the things he is supposed to do and willing to not do the things he is not supposed to do (although that is harder).

The morning of the surgery we had to be at the hospital to check in at 5:45 a.m.! My mom and sister, Heather, stayed in the hotel with Eden while Phil and I went to check in. Then we waited and waited and waited some more. He didn't actually get in the OR until 3:00 p.m.! A little ridiculous. Apparently the hospital has had some problems with waiting room etiquette because we were presented with a pamphlet which included the following instructions:

• Please do not move the furniture.
• Please place your used food trays, cups, newspapers, etc., in the waste cans.
• No coolers.
• No Air mattresses or Tents
• No Electrical Appliances
• Eating is not allowed in the waiting rooms. (So from where are the before-mentioned food trays coming?)
• No one under twelve (12) years of age may visit.
  

You know that they wouldn't randomly put these things in print unless they'd actually had problems (probably more than once). A tent???

For a time the volunteers weren't sure where Phil was (somehow he was misplaced between the prep room and the OR). After the surgery I asked Phil if he knew that they had "lost" him for a while. The poor guy thought I meant he had died on the table and was disappointed that he didn't get to have a near-death experience. Oops. I guess I need to choose my words more carefully.

The cutest thing was after the surgery when Phil said to the nurse, "we have a baby, a four-month old girl. Well, she's my daughter, and I'd like to see her!" Anyone who knows Phil, knows that this demanding attitude is extremely rare. An exception to the 12 year old rule (see rules above) was granted. I went immediately over to the hotel (which is conveniently connected to the hospital) and got Eden. It was absolutely adorable to see both of them grinning wildly when I brought her in. She was able to visit each day and the nurses and others on the floor quite enjoyed having her around.

All in all it was a successful week. Eden did just great with my mom and sister and Phil seems to be recovering well. I'm grateful for such blessings!

Latest Pictures of Eden

I figured I'd post some recent pictures of Eden because I know that is the real reason most of you tune in!

Eden after mommy kissed her:


Eden sitting in her bouncer - laughing at her toys:


Eden looking at herself in the mirror - one of her
favorite activities:


Eden in the dress Grandma Kesler gave her (she loves
to suck on it and everything else):


Eden with her cousin Matt (who just got home
from his mission to France/Switzerland):


Eden with her friend Katie (mommy with her friend
KayDawn):

Unexpectedly Tagged

I've been tagged by Charlotte. I am to write about 8 unexpected things. I'm choosing to write about 8 unexpected things since I moved to Alabama a year ago.

1 - I didn't expect to be pregnant so soon (two months) after I got married and that it would be so emotional for me.

2 - I didn't expect that my husband would have medical problems and end up having three surgeries last fall.

3 - I didn't expect to love the songbirds who make Alabama their home.

4 - I didn't expect flowers to bloom in January.
(this is a photo taken in our back yard last January)


5 - I didn't expect to miss my best friend's wedding (because I was 8 months pregnant).

6 - I didn't expect that Alabama would celebrate Confederate's Memorial Day.

7 - I didn't expect to make it through labor and delivery so well (and that Eden would come four weeks early).

8 - I didn't expect that my husband would have more medical problems and have another surgery this fall.

I'm not going to officially "tag" anyone but feel free to include your own unexpected things in either a blog or a comment on this blog.

*************************************************************
unrelated:
I just have to shout out a wonderful thing! IT IS RAINING! (It hasn't done that for quite some time here.)

Television Favorites

Ok all of you who lived the late 70s/early 80s, tell me which of these were your favorites:

1. Magnum P.I. or Rockford Files
2. Brady Bunch or Partridge Family
3. Sigmund & The Sea Monsters or H.R. Pufnstuf
   
4. Star Search or The Gong Show
5. Solid Gold or Dance Fever
   
6. Love Boat or Fantasy Island
7. Diff'rent Strokes or Facts of Life
8. Silver Spoons or Punky Brewster
9. Battlestar Gallactica or Buck Rogers
10. Bionic Woman or 6 Million Dollar Man
11. Lavern and Shirley or Happy Days
12. Alf or Mork and Mindy
13. Fame or Welcome Back Kotter
14. Moonlighting or Remington Steele
15. Charlie's Angels or Hardy Boys

my answers:

1. Rockford Files
2. Brady Bunch
3. Sigmund
4. Gong Show
5. Dance Fever
6. Love Boat
7. Facts of Life
8. Silver Spoons
9. Buck Rogers
10. 6 Million
11. Happy Days
12. Mork
13. Fame
14. Remington Steele
15. Charlie's Angels

What other shows were your favorites?

Motherhood

Tonight as I sat rocking my sweet Eden (and not wanting to lay her down quite yet), I pondered about how much I just didn't know before I became a mother. I thought about the times I was a royal brat to my own mother. I had no idea how much she loved me, sacrificed for me, cared for me, and worried for me. I just didn't know. Now it kills me to think that someday (all too soon), Eden will be a teen or a tween and will say any number of the following: "You just don't love me!" "You don't understand." "I don't love you." "You're mean!" etc. It will KILL me!

Motherhood is HARD! There is just no way to comprehend the sacrifice (whether it is sleep, or ice cream, or free time, or whatever!) and the concern (is she breathing? is she developing correctly? am I doing this right?). This afternoon Eden seems to have had a bad tummy ache (she has acid reflux) and she was crying in obvious pain. I seriously hurt with her. It is impossible to comprehend this kind of love until you've actually experienced it.

I wonder how I can ever repay my own mother. How can I ever apologize enough for the bratty things I did and said as a thoughtless teen? How can I repay her for the sleepless nights (and not just when I was an infant) or the numerous prayers in my behalf? The truth is that I can't. The other truth is that regardless of my behavior my mother continued, and continues, to love me with the same (and yet more developed and perfected) love that I am just now coming to understand.

Motherhood is amazing!

Its all good & well irregardless of who your talking to

Admission: I'm a bit of a grammar snob. I get a kick out of the English language with all of its rules and exceptions to the rule. I don't always get my own grammar shined to perfection but I still enjoy editing (in my head) when others are speaking. Here are a few of my favorite errors.

Good and Well
I had a friend who was disgusted whenever someone answered the question, "How are you doing?" with the reply, "good." He'd say "nuns and priests do good." In other words good is not an adverb so it can't describe how you are doing. The correct response is that you are doing "well."

Adding prefixes and suffixes
People, intelligent people, say "irregardless" all the time. Well, I hate to say it (actually I LOVE to say it), but that isn't a proper word! What people really mean is simply "regardless." Irregardless is considered nonstandard because of the two negative elements ir- and -less. It was probably formed on the analogy of such words as irrespective, irrelevant, and irreparable. Those who use it, including on occasion educated speakers, may do so from a desire to add emphasis. Irregardless first appeared in the early 20th century and was perhaps popularized by its use in a comic radio program of the 1930s. My friends (Tom, Charlotte, Phil, Tracey) and I came up with the ultimate word for this category: disirregardlessliness.

Who v. Whom
If the person about whom you are speaking is receiving the action it is "whom" if the person is performing the action it is "who." This is so old-school that hardly anyone uses "whom" anymore. It is like the young women at church Sunday who read a scripture that said, "ought ye not..." It drove them nuts! They kept saying, "ought not, ought not? What does that even mean?" That is probably how most people feel about whom but I still think it is useful.

Its, it's, your, you're, to, two, too, there, they're, their, etc.
Just get these correct, please! You can't rely on spell check for everything!

Prepositional phrases
Hardly anyone uses these correctly anymore. These are probably in the "ought not" category. Strictly speaking (or when speaking strictly), a sentence should never end with a preposition (to, from, about, etc.).

Strange phrases (popular in Utah)
"Is what it is, is"
"Might could"
Need I say more? Unfortunately I might could but is what it is, is that I just can't stomach it!

Passive voice
This comes from years of writing essays and papers in history courses. No passive passages allowed! Now it simply drives me nuts to hear people speak passively. The one that really gets me is when people pray that we "might" do this and we "might" do that and that we "might" be blessed with this and that. It is so passive and if there is a time for action, I think it is in our prayers. I hate to admit it but sometimes I'll whisper in my head, "he means bless us that we WILL do this and we WILL do that and that we WILL be blessed with this and that."

And that, friends, is when you know you've gone too far as a grammar snob. Correcting people's grammar during prayers is just too much!

(feel free to edit any errors in this post) :)

We're Back

We had a very nice time with friends and family and now it is good to be home. It is hot and humid here but it was hotter and dry (too dry) in Utah!


Eden had such a nice time meeting lots of people and especially seeing all four of her grandparents again. She spent lots of time with them. She has grown so much. She has doubled her birth weight now.

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

This is Eden after her first experience in a swimming pool (she didn't like it).


Eden playing with Grandma Kesler:


Eden with cousin Alex (who was in Utah for EFY - he lives in Corning, NY)


Watching Punka's TV with cousins Allison and Tanner:


Eden was really fussy this day but her 4-year old cousin, Brady, was sure he could calm her and sure enough he did!

Mission Reunion

Last weekend Phil, Eden, and I attended a mission reunion. It was the 20th anniversary of the formation of the New Hampshire-Manchester mission. I served 19 years ago! Amazing. There weren't too many people there but it was really fun to see those who did make it. It was really fun to catch up with people. How funny though that I was there with my newborn talking to guys who had teenagers! There really weren't any surprises. Those who were great elders seem to be great dads, husbands, church members etc. It was fun to see. None of my companions were there but I got an update on some of them. Sister Waite is also a new mother. I believe that she and her husband now live in Boise. She was supposedly going to attend but didn't make it. Sister Fletcher is a foster mother and living in Nebraska. I have kept in contact with Sister Cannon and she and her family (husband and two boys) live in Michigan. I have also kept in contact with Sister Israelsen. She and her husband are building a home in Cache Valley and have a baby (Katie) who is two months older than Eden. I believe we'll see them in the next couple of weeks. It was fun to see Kelly Moulton - we were never companions but we've stayed in contact.

Some of the elders that were at the reunion include Elder Hitchcock who now lives in Oregon (he was from MT), Elder Magleby who lives in St. George UT, Elder Wade (and his wife) who still lives in Nashville (that is close enough that we may have to visit them), Elder Davies who is a professor at Weber State in Ogden UT, and Elder Burnett who still lives in NM.

Seriously it was so fun to see these people. Missions are great experiences!

Here are a few pictures: