Latest photos

We got some new photos of Kurt. Above is Chino's baptism. Below is a photo of the kind of roads they get to walk on every day. Kurt says it is blistering hot. He says it is nothing like he has every experienced with the hot sun and then the intense humidity. He just moved into a new apartment and then he and his companion have been really sick, so he has felt a little frustrated lately. Hopefully he is doing much better.

Below are some photos from Thursday, July 9th when Rakel brought the kids over to swim. Casey hadn't gone to work yet, so the boys were having fun swimming with Austin & Alayna.

We even had Brent, Nichole & Todd come and joing us for lunch after the swimming. It was a fun summer July day.

Here are Austin & Cade using about any flotation device they could find! Austin had swimming lessons a few weeks ago and he is really swimming well and getting maybe a little too brave!

I told Austin to "cheez-it" for the camera and he did! This was his Sunday evening snack while hanging out at Granma & Grandpa's house. We love it when they come over!

Alayna's Brownie Face after dessert on Sunday dinner. I love her little smile she does...I call it her "mole face".

More celebrations!

Yesterday was my birthday (yes Brent & I are both 53) and I am grateful for 1 more birthday! I received so many gifts and I say thank you to everyone. I tried to put the word out that we were going to ignore my birthday, but it didn't work very well. One of the best gifts was that I had a really good day and felt well. The day before I was not feeling well, so I was happy to have a good day. I even got dressed in real clothes, put on make-up and my wig because I had to renew my driver's license. It was expiring and they wouldn't extend it anymore. I called and told them my situation but they said sorry you have to come to the DMV and pay your fee and fill out your application and have a photo taken. So I did it. Brent bought me a shaved ice on the way home and that was my birthday treat for the day! It did taste good! Thanks again for all of the phone calls, emails, facebook messages, visits, and gifts!! It meant a lot to me! Love to you all!

Father's Day was fun! Here Brent is opening his presents with of course Austin helping! He is wearing his new shirt from Troy & Amy and checking out his new wind up flashlight from Todd & Rakel. He also got another shirt from Cade & Neil, a movie from Chad & Melinda, and coupons from Casey & Nichole for dinner and a night off from worrying about the boys (she & Casey took them to the new Transformers movie). Brent is a wonderful dad and I love him so much for that! He has been amazing during this cancer trial taking good care of me. He has to give me my medicine 4 times a day and he keeps my food tube pump working. It has not been easy with everything else he has going on in his life, but he keeps working hard to do it all!

This is a little Mazda 6 that we bought for Neil to drive in a few months...also, Brent & I will use it as a smaller car to run around in. Neil is very excited. He has had his driving permit since he turned 15, so it is nice he can practice driving a smaller car. He turns 16 Sept. 20th.

Back in the hospital & Back home again!

This is a photo of me in better days gone by! A week after my last chemo I got really sick again and ended up going to the Emergency Room again on May 31st. My lovely cdiff bacteria returned again. I was ICU for a few hours and then ended up down on the 3rd floor again. (A lot of the nurses and CNAs are getting to know me by first name.) I was there for a week and I was neutropenic again and was in isolation again. My doctor called in 2 specialists to figure out what to do with me, since now I was on my 3rd time and Dr. Cobb decided I had contracted a superbug that is resistant to antibiotics. They ended up doing a rare procedure which I won't describe here, and we are hoping that now I will be healed! I came home June 7th with great hope to do better but feeling very tired. In fact, that whole next week I did a lot of sleeping!! Then when this last weekend hit I started feeling sick again! It really scared us and that is why poor Brent's birthday was so lame! We made arrangements to delay my PET scan because I am just not getting well enough to get my feeding tube out. Today I finally feel a little better so we are feeling more hopeful. Another sad thing is my hair is falling out...yes...I actually was getting a good head of 1/2 - 1 inch long hair, but 2 weeks exactly after my last chemo it started falling out. Hopefully I won't loose it all!

Here are more photos from Memorial Weekend when we were together.

Memorial weekend we all gathered together for Austin's 3rd birthday. It was Memorial Weekend and so Chad & Melinda & Mikell was there to help celebrate too with us here in St. George.

Happy 53rd Birthday to Brent (he doesn't look a day over 25). I was so sick that day he had to make his own birthday dinner, however, I did have Baskin & Robbins make him an ice cream cake. Our umbrella on our outdoor patio broke in the crazy wind while I was in the hospital so Brent went out and bought us a new umbrella...an exciting birthday. Luckily his kids all remembered to give him some gifts!

Fun-packed Memorial Weekend

It was a fun Memorial Weekend having lots of family around and lots of fun activities. It wasn't really as fun for Kristine because she can't do much, but she enjoyed watching everyone. I had my last chemo on Friday and it went okay. I slept during it and after. Saturday I had a pretty good day, but for some reason on Sunday I had some kind of an anxiety attack and it was pretty hard on me. I haven't felt well the last few days either. This chemo treatment definitely has been my hardest to deal with. I have been pretty sick, but I am trying to fight my way through it! Being with family made my weekend happier. Austin blowing out the candles on his birthday cake. It was a yummy layered ice cream cake that Rakel made. She also brought cupcakes for share.

Sunday Dinner and Austin's 3rd Birthday. Here they are celebrating, Austin, Todd, Rakel & Alayna.

Casey & Nichole join the party too!

Chad, Melinda & Mikell eating Sunday Dinner.

I love this photo of Austin getting his free Birthday ice cream treat! What joy! Cade & Alayna watch from behind. Friday they had a party at Pirates Pizza and I had to add this darling photo with Austin & Mikell with their Pirates' hats on.

Sunday we all got together to celebrate Austin's birthday. He already opened his presents at his house but had a few here at Grandma & Grandpa's house. We can't believe he is 3 years old!

Mikell also had fun swimming in Grandma & Grandpa's swiming pool. Mikell loved her first boating trip and didn't want to get off the boat when the day was over. Grandpa Gardner was her good buddy on the boat.

Cade & Neil tubing on Saturday, the weather was windy so they were mostly only able to go tubing.

Happy Birthday Kurt!

How could I dare post on my blog today and not mention the importance of the day!!! Kurt Wayne Gardner was born this day 20 years ago!! I don't know if Kurt ever looks at my blog, but if he does ...Kurt we are thinking about you today and hoping you are having a great birthday out their in the Dominican Republic. We love you!!

Father & Sons Outing '09

Here is Cade swimming in the pool fed by the natural spring water.

Neil & Stockton play in the river that goes through the property. They boys said that playing in the river was the most fun.

This last weekend was Father & Sons Outing and our Ward went to a really cool place down by Moapa, Nevada called Warm Springs. The Church owns the property and I guess a misionary couple oversees the area. Brent said it was this little valley oasis out in the middle of the desert. There is a natural spring that empties into a swimming pool. They had a nice grassy area to pitch their tents. They had a great time! Above is a photo of Neil and his friend Stockton and the background is a snapshot of the area.

Found some photos finally!

Casey has a birthday May 1st. Nichole has a fun party for him in their basement apartment. Doesn't he look thrilled!?!

Nichole graduates with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education Magna Cum Laude from Dixie College. I missed the graduation (sadly) but Casey & Brent were there to support her.

Above: Neil playing in the Church Regional Basketball Tournament. Unfortunately it is blurry but their team did really well and barely lost in the final championship game.

Above: You can see Troy, Amy, and Nichole in background and Neil & Casey mugging for the camera.

Below: Fun night out at Pirate Island Pizza. Here is Casey, Neil & Cade...they found video games!

When Troy & Amy came to visit, Amy promised her brother they would go check out Pirate Island Pizza (a client of his). So Brent, Troy, Amy, Casey, Nichole, Neil, & Cade met Todd and Austin there. Rakel stayed home with Alayna because she was sick, and of course I had to stay home. Anyway, they had a great time!

Here is Cade playing the chimes in the 6th grade Band Concert. The song is the theme song from Halo.