Alpine Sage together again!

We started band up again this week. We figured we might as well, since I'm feeling great. I might end up with a stem cell transplant in the future, but we have no idea when. My WBC was 14.86 yesterday and my platelets were 12. Holding steady. I start back on my cancer pill today, after a week off. It is 3 weeks on and one week off. Hopefully, we'll see some improvement soon.

In the meantime, don't I look like Sinead O'Connor?

Getting ready for Halloween

We went to two Halloween activites with Brittany and the girls on Monday. One was at Provo Beach, which has tons of activities for kids and adults. Mabel and Brittany were witches and Clementine was a monkey.

Afterwards we stopped at the Bean Museum, where we saw the animals and got our pictures taken again!

 On Tuesday we made Jack-O-Lanterns.

Mabel and Clementine were good helpers.

They were very scary!

In other scary news, I had my nodules irradiated the same day. It might take a while before they go away, but hopefully, it will help me get closer to remission!

We stopped by Mom's house and watched them demolish her old garage. It is amazing that you can do that in a half a day!

We took mom to lunch with us at Sizzler, and when we came back they were all finished with the demolition! Hopefully, they'll start the new one soon!

Biking, Labs, Podcast Show

Friday we biked the Jordan River Trail with Barbara and Kent. We made them very jealous of our electric bikes!

We stopped to enjoy the view at a very pretty pond, and right at that moment Molly (our nurse) called with my lab results. My white blood count had gone down to 11.54! We were so grateful that we all got up and did a happy dance! Unfortunately, my platelets were also 11. If they go below 10 I have to get a transfusion tomorrow. The good news is, I still feel great. I told the nurse we were out biking. She was not pleased, as an accident would be bad with my low platelets. Fortunately, I had no accident!

Barbara made us a celebratory chilli luncheon at her house after our rather chilly ride.

In the evening we met the Zippi's at the Market Street Grill for dinner. Afterwards we went to the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City, where we saw a taping of our favorite podcast, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me."  It is a weekly news quiz that is very funny and has a variety of panelists, as well as people calling in on the phone.

Tricia had gone a few years ago when they were in town and I told her we wished we had gone. It was so nice of her to get us tickets, despite me being in the middle of cancer treatments and being somewhat unpredictable.

The panelists on Friday were Bobcat Goldthwaite, Amy Dickinson and Adam Burke. The special guest was Alex Boye, who was every bit as funny as the panelists.

It was a good day all around!

Murdock trail and Herb Garden

Ed and I took our bikes out three times last week. We give them an A+. You must pedal them, including when you want the electric boost, but pedaling is much easier uphill. We tried not to you the assist too much, as we wanted exercise, but it was a great way to catch up with Ed when I needed to, as well as a great way to come out of a tunnel and get up the hill!

On Tuesday we biked 14 miles up and back on the Murdock trail, starting at Lone Peak High School and turning around just short of the I-15 freeway entrance.

In the evening I went to Relief Society at the Butterfield barn, where we made herb gardens. I still had a very tall basil that has lasted me over a year, but we added some chives, rosemary and a little more basil. I haven't had good luck with anything but basil in the past. Let's see if this time is magic!

New Electric Bikes

We've been eyeing electric bikes for a couple of years now. Up till now we had been waiting for my cancer treatments to be done to buy them.

I've been feeling good lately, and on Saturday we decided to get ourselves new e-bikes as an early anniversary present. (one month early). Hopefully, we can work in a few rides before winter sets in.

We got Vado 3.0 bikes by Specialized. They have three levels of assist. When you put them on the highest level you don't even know you're pedaling uphill. It is pretty amazing!

Hike to Donut Falls while waiting for Lab results

Friday after my lab draw we met Barbara and Kent to go hiking to Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. When Ed woke up and saw the snow in the mountains he almost cancelled. I said, "Don't worry, it will be fine." and, surprisingly, it was fine!

It turned out to be a magical hike. The snow was so beautiful on the trees. Much of the path was clear, with occasional patches of snow. We didn't go to the top of the waterfall, as it was slippery and we are not limber. Again, maybe we'll have to return in the summer.

We stopped for lunch at the Porcupine Grill at the base of the canyon. They had an Octoberfest menu, which we really enjoyed. We even finished up with German Chocolate Cake. Sadly our 1.5 mile hike didn't burn enough calories to make up for this decadent dessert!

Friday's WBC was slightly elevated at 17.68. Platelets were down to 26! We'll hope Monday's are a little better!

Battle Creek Falls

On Thursday we hiked up to Battle Creek Falls in Pleasant Grove. It was a beautiful day. Brittany came prepared with her baby carrier, but both Mabel and Clementine walked the entire way (1 mile round trip).

It's a very pretty walk, and we enjoyed the stream next to it.

The flowers were out of season, and it really made me want to come back in the summer and see what they look like. This clematis was still pretty with it's fall puffballs.

The falls are nice, and we enjoyed taking pictures there. I was surprised to see Mabel get crazy in the photos. It makes me laugh.

I'm feeling good still and happy to be out. I was also happy to have the kids for an excuse to only hike one mile!