No BMT!

Ed and I went to Huntsman this morning fully expecting to get bad news, but came home with another reprieve!

Dr. Couriel explained that although they are not sure whether I have the more aggressive BPLL or the less aggressive SMZL, they do not recommend I have a stem cell transplant at this time!

The two cancers look very similar in pathology, but act different in clinical situations. My reactions have been a little of one and a little of the other, but since I am doing well now and am in complete remission (something they would not have expected with BPLL), they will just monitor me and see how I do on my daily anti-cancer pill (Ibrutinib). I have the doctor's  permission to start living my life again, making plans to go places and do things!

Thanks to my siblings for having their blood tested to see if they could donate if I needed it. Annette, my sister 18 months older than me (second from right) won the blood testing lottery. She is a 100% match for my blood! So, if things change and I need a BMT, we're ready to go. Thanks, Mom, for having seven children!

Antelope Island

On President's day we drove up north to Antelope Island with Brittany and John and the girls. It is interesting driving onto the Island via a causeway with the Great Salt Lake on both sides!

There are nice views of the lake, as well as the mountains on the island. It might be fun to come hiking in the spring. We've heard they have a lot of biting gnats, so were glad to go in the winter and not have to fight that battle!

There is a herd of buffalo on the Island, but we only got close to this statue at the visitors center.

We did see buffalo and pronghorns (antelope) in the wild, but you can barely tell in this picture!

We got a close-up view of some red-winged blackbirds at the visitor's center. They had a pretty fancy birdhouse there!

We've been trying to get up to see Antelope Island after hearing so much about it since moving here. Just another of the amazing natural wonders Utah has to offer!

Sunday Dinner

Brittany and John invited us over to dinner on Sunday, which was nice, as we didn't have the energy to cook, anyway. They made some really good tortilla soup and veggie and guacamole sandwiches. I was in a real avocado mood, so it was great!

Then, after dinner we had the best medicine, time playing with the grandkids! Mabel and I had fun with Lambchop! I just did whatever she told me to do. She's apparently likes her creativity better than mine!

Clementine just ran around being entertaining all evening. It was a good ending to a long week in bed!

Getting out of the House

I asked Ed to take me to lunch yesterday, thinking if I pretended to feel better it would be so! After a week in bed, it felt good to see the outside world! I still have a cold, but it is finally starting to break up!

We enjoyed the turkey French dip sandwiches at the Ridge Restaurant in Suncrest. We also enjoyed the piles of snow in the parking lot! It felt like we were eating at a ski resort! 

Have you ever wondered how many episodes of Criminal Minds you could watch in three days? Well the answer is 19! Ed, who is also sick, probably watched an equal number of Star Trek, Voyagers. His programming was a lot less disturbing, but equally mind numbing! We were both ruing not having gotten our flu shots this year!

Clementine's Birthday Party

Saturday was Clementine's big 2 year old birthday party! We hosted it and Brittany made a beautiful rainbow cake!

Brittany chose a list of activities from Go, Dog, Go! We started with making party hats!

Then, Brittany read the book to everyone! The kids loved it! It was just like story time at the library!

Then the four dogs had a party on a boat at night!

Do you like my hat? I do not like that hat!

However, the hats were pretty cool vintage hats from Clementine's great grandmother!

Big dogs, little dogs, white dogs, black dogs! The kids had fun choosing dogs and sorting them in the right boxes!

One big dog going out, three little dogs going in. The maze was short, but just the right length for these little dogs!

Now it is night. Night is not a time for play. It is a time for sleep. The dogs go to sleep.

Some big dogs and some little dogs going around in cars!

 Where are those dogs going? To the top of the tree!

To a big dog party!

And finally, Mabel's favorite part of the party, watching Clementine open presents and having all the kids play with them afterwards!

What a great dog party!

Getting Ready for the Big Birthday Party

We spent several days getting ready for Clementine's birthday party. Ed made little doggie party favors in the 3D printer. The girls loved watching them be built!

We're planning a Go Dog Go party, reprising Crystal's 4 year old birthday!

We enjoyed having Mabel and Clementine over a few days last week. Brittany's nanny quit and so Brittany decided to quit also. It's just too hard to afford daycare for two children. She'll miss work, but hopefully, can go back in a few years when the kids are in school!

Snow!

We got a lot of snow last week! It started last week right in the middle of our walk! We were taken by surprise!

Ed has had plenty of opportunity to use his new snowblower, that is much more powerful than his old one!

We had a good foot on top of our bird feeder!

We had Clementine and Mabel over to help us clean up the snow!

They weren't all that helpful, but they had a good time!

They didn't really enjoy walking in the snow, as it was up to their waists!

The girls enjoyed warming up by the fireplace afterwards!

They also had a great time riding on the "train." It was a little dangerous, especially when they leaned backwards!

We were also happy to have Clementine over on her real birthday last Thursday! She turned 2!

Choir is Fun!

We had choir practice at the church today, as we're singing for Ward Conference next week and need both the piano and the organ! We had a good group, but could use about 15 more! We're doing It is Well with My Soul, arranged by Mack Wilberg.

Happily, next week we'll pick up a few out-of-towners, and should sound great!

It is fun being choir director, although it is intimidating, as our pianist has won honors in the church music contest every year for about 8 years. This year she got top honors! Check out her music at Suzanneshippenmusic.com! It's great, accessible choir music, and it's free!

Home Show and a Movie

We went to the Provo Home Show yesterday, and mostly fell in love with this little Sugar Baby! It is the sweetest little Pet from Indonesia that likes to sleep in your pocket!

We didn't get one, but tried to talk Crystal into adopting one!

Afterwards we went to the movies with Barbara and Kent--Spiderman-Into the Spiderverse. We'd have to give it an A for creativity, although it moved so fast I could barely keep up! The graphics were amazing. So were the recliner chairs in the theater!

Pickleball and dinner without the pickleball

We were so excited to play pickleball and go out to eat with the Sardonis Thursday night. Sadly, we couldn't find a court, so ended up with dinner instead. It was just as well, as we had a lot of catching up to do from the holidays! The Sardonis went to Hawaii to escape the cold of Alpine. We stuck it out and told them all about it!

Rugs and Rugrats!

Ed pointed out my new study needed a rug to bring it all together. We think this beautiful rug from Wayfair was just the ticket!

It makes me so happy, that I holed up in the study this week scanning and organizing family photos. We also got an inexpensive scanner that does a far better job than my laser multi-function printer! (And I don't have to stand up to change the pictures!)

It was a very emotional journey watching my family grow up right before my eyes! We've had some good times!

I also scanned all their baby and class pictures! I bet you can't guess who this is!