Mesa - We took a quick trip down to the Mesa area last week for some doctor's appointments.  Hopefully once summer comes we can go down for more than a day and visit all of our family down there.  We stayed the night at my sister's house luckily because when we went to unpack our van late that night we realized we didn't have our suitcase, our one suitcase with everyone's clothes in it. Luckily I did have my makeup bag, but that was it.  My sister let us borrow clothes for the kids to wear the next day.
We went to the zoo with my mom and hiked up 'hole in the rock' nearby. 

 

School fun - Kevin and Paige were 'bats' in their kindergarten music program.  Kevin was so excited to earn his 'silver' belt at school which means he can read without sounding out something like 200 words.  Paige was happy to get her brown belt.  She still has 3 more belts to go until she's done.  I'm not sure if we're going to make it by the end of the year.

Well, it's not as good as nana's hair cuts but I think I did a pretty good job of the boys.  I'm not going to post Tad's picture on here which Susan had to come over and fix for me!

Everyone exercising together!

Everyday several times a day Darci runs up to me and says "I love you so much.  I miss you so much!" and gives me her goofy little smile.  She sure is sweet.

Here are a few of the forts the kids have built to play together in..

Darci also loves to sneak out at night for extra hugs and kisses and snuggling.

Artichokes

Grandpa spent a lot of time nurturing the artichoke plants in his garden only to have them bear fruit just as they leave for their missions.  Grandpa loves artichokes but we've never had them, so I steamed some the other day and the kids enjoyed scraping the leaves.  All except for Kevin.  I don't blame him.  They had a good flavor, but much too much work.  And I couldn't even figure out what the heart of the artichoke was!

Another Sunday....

Uploaded the pictures from the camera today and found this....


Derek had a fun time at the Regionals Pinewood Derby yesterday. He finished 3rd, 3rd, and 1st in his 3 races but not good enough to win a trophy, but he still had fun.


I was helping the girls with a shower last night and told the boys to clean up. When I opened the door, this sign was waiting for me...


Playing around the house today...

Happy Easter

This year we dyed Easter eggs and had fun creating some 'neon' colors. They were all proud of their creations.


We stayed in town this year since Tad's parents only have a few days before they leave on their mission to New York. We had the Easter egg hunt Saturday with their cousins Caroline and Miles (so happy they moved here!). And of course, it only took Darci a few eggs before she cracked one open and started chowing down on the candy.






Caroline - Paige is ecstatic that they will be in the same Kindergarten class if only for a few weeks...


Little Miles was hunting for empty eggs but he still had fun...


Tad cooking the burgers









And most of all this Easter, I am truly grateful for the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ and for all he has suffered for me and my family. I know that because of his sacrifice we will be able to remain a family and be together after this life.


This is a meal I cooked tonight and thought was really good. It is sweet and spicy tofu with mushrooms and brussel sprouts. Should've made more of it, it was yummy.

Melanoma Update

A few months ago one of the surgeons I work with at the hospital noticed the big gnarly scar on my neck and asked what it was. So I responded, melanoma no big deal. He looked at my neck again and said, I don't think so, tell me more - what stage was it, what class was it, etc, etc. I didn't remember, I just remembered them saying it was deep, took out a lymph node, get dermatologist exams every 6 months and all is good. So I ordered my medical records which took forever, but finally came in the mail a few weeks ago and I told him the results of my pathology, which was early Clarks level IV. I stressed the 'early' part and the surgeon just laughed at me and said, no that means Clarks level IV, which apparently is the worst level there is. He said I needed to have a PET scan and proceeded to call the radiology department and told them to expect me the next day they were in town, which was 2 days later on my birthday.

So on my birthday I had a PET scan. I didn't mind (except for the price tag) because I've wanted one for a while. He said that if the melanoma spread or were to come back, it wouldn't necessarily show up as a mole, it would show up in my liver or something like that. Thankfully the test came back negative and didn't detect any cancer cells at this time. The surgeon later told me that he was very surprised it was negative because he was expecting it to show cancer somewhere. He also said that I was lucky that I didn't because with that type of staging and location of the original melanoma, most oncologists that deal with melanoma would have removed all lymph nodes in the area. This obviously would have resulted in a much bigger scar and deformation of my neck. Needless to say I feel very blessed that the surgery I had, although it felt major at the time, was minor compared to what it could have been and very blessed that there has been no sign of it returning. I still have to make an appt with the oncologist who comes to town every week for a follow up just to make sure I'm not missing something. I'm sure I'll get around to that sometime....

I was also looking forward to the PET scan because I thought I would finally be able to tell if I have a spleen or not (long story for another post), but it uses a particular type of imaging that didn't show so I still don't know if I have a spleen.

And these pictures are just because I don't have any pictures lately of my hair. It seems like it is taking FOREVER to grow this time! I like the cut and style most of the time. Every now and then I fix it and it looks really cute, and I try and recreate it the next day and of course it just doesn't turn out...