Take deep breaths

I am writing this in my Mom's hospital room. We started the day by getting the kids ready for the day early in the morning in preparation of having Lance's parents come over to watch them. Unfortunately I am the only one who can fix Hannah's hair so it had to be done early or not at all. Lance and I met my mom at the surgery entrance and began the long wait. Wait for her to get checked in, wait for her to get taken back, wait for her to see the anesthesiologists, wait for the sedative medication to take her blood pressure down. (it skyrocketed to 240 over 90) Finally they took her back for the surgery and then we waited on pins and needles to hear how the surgery went. About three hours later the doctor came and found me in the waiting room to let me know that things went well. She felt like she was able to get a good margin of area around the lump. The really time consuming part was getting the lymph nodes in her arm pit. The doctor said that some of them were really large and that they had grown close to the veins. She said that the nerves weren't damaged so that is good news. It took another hour or so before they told us that she was in her room and we could come back. Charlie had come after school so the three of us walked down to her room. We were standing in the hall when a guy came up and was kinda staring at me. Come to find out it was her Bishop and he wasn't sure if he was in the right place or not. Mom was still kinda groggy and in a lot of pain at that point. I talked her into asking for more pain medication - she is really resistant to using any kind of pain medication but in this case she just couldn't tough it out like other times. At one point I tried to help her use the restroom by myself - let's just say it wasn't a good idea. I just don't know the tricks to moving her - she was low on pain medication at the time too so that didn't help. It is frusterating to not be able to help as well as I would like to. I helped her eat her food and we got her some more pain meds. Mary Ellen and my mom's friend Kristi came by for a bit too. Lance and I had dinner down at the cafeteria which has been totally redone. They have a really neat outdoor courtyard that you can go out into. It has tables with thatched roof canopies, a waterfall and lots of tropical plants. There was even a cat roaming around looking for handouts! Lance has gone home now to take care of the kids and let his parent's go home. (I truly can't thank them enough for taking such good care of the kids so I can be here with my mom.) I am so glad that she is resting now really well. I am sure her body is exhausted. It is going to be a long night but I brought my earphones so I can watch tv shows or what ever on the internet.

All plans subject to change . . .

So yesterday the school called me to say that JJ was sick and I needed to come and get him. Of course all kinds of scary thoughts ran through my head. The secretary said that his face was positively green. And it was! When I got there she had him staying in the bathroom until I got there. He came out and he was pale, clammy and had green tints to his face. He said that his stomach hurt and that he felt like throwing up. I hurried him home and got him settled on the couch with a Sprite to sip on. He seemed to be fine about 45 minutes after we got home. Strange to say the least. He has an older friend named Carter, the son of one of my close friends. He is a couple of years older than JJ but they are very similar in personality and are really good friends. Carter watches out for JJ on the playground and they play at lunch recess almost every day. Carter doesn't seem to mind that JJ is younger. I have been really impressed with how compassionate Carter can be not just to JJ but to anyone in distress. He is a wonderful kid. I couldn't ask for a better friend for JJ to look up to. But I digress . . . Carter is the one who brought JJ to the office when he got sick and stayed with him as long as he could. JJ is totally fine today although he tried to convince Lance and I that he needed to stay home today so he could watch TV all day. Nice try! My mom went to the hospital to day to have an EKG and some blood work done in preparation for the surgery Monday. She is scheduled for 9:15 AM. The tentative plan is that she will stay over night and then come home on Tuesday. After discussing it with her we decided that maybe she will come to our house for a few days. We can put her in Hannah's room and put Hannah in with us on a blow up mattress. This way I can still take care of my kids and get them to school and take care of her too. It is pretty quiet here during the day when the older kids are in school and Asher is napping. I know that she would prefer to be in her own home but I just can't figure out how to get my kids to and from school etc while staying at her house. Everybody else in the family has jobs and family they have to take care of too so hopefully this will work out ok. If anyone else has a better idea let either Mom or me know. I am not sure how long her recovery will be. Recovery is different for everyone and I just have no frame of reference for this surgery. Tonight and tomorrow Lance is at a special conference at Thanksgiving Point. I am going over to a dinner where spouses are invited tonight. Tomorrow is the Women's Conference. Our stake always has a dinner beforehand. I really look forward to this every year. I am planning on going with some of my friends - and maybe my mom will come too. Sunday I have to teach so this is going to be another busy weekend. Our garden is finally starting to produce. We didn't plant a lot but our squash is finally giving us a few zucchini and crookneck squash. One of our two tomato plants is huge and covered in tomatoes. I picked 10 tomatoes a couple of days ago. I made some yummy fresh salsa from a few of the tomatoes and an Anaheim pepper that we picked. It has been delicious! Book club last night was fun as usual! I can't say how much I look forward to book club each month. I truly love all the girls who come to book club. The book was awesome and it was great to discuss it with people from such varying backgrounds. Everyone has a different perspective. It is a real eye opener and I learn so much. I am amazed at how supportive everyone in the group is to anyone who is in need of anything. These ladies are such great examples to me of compassion, love and friendship.

New Recipes

I am the first one to admit that I am not the best of cooks (or housekeeper etc). I do, however, like to eat! I get bored with the same old meals and I like to try new recipes. Not hard ones, mind you. Or ones with an ingredient list as long as my arm, with words that sounds like a foreign language. For those reasons I really like to use ward recipe books. You know the ones that are put together by all the sisters in Relief Society contributing a few of thier favorite family recipes. These tend to be fairly easy recipes, great for families with picky eaters, with ingredients you don't have to search too hard for in your local grocery store. I know of people who don't follow recipes and great food just seems to appear. I am not one of those people. I can follow a great recipe and hope that something somewhat tasty appears. So for the people out there who are like me I thought I would feature a few new recipes every once in a while that our family has enjoyed. I hope to hear from any of you fabulous cooks out there who like to share recipes too. If you have one you want me to share on my blog email me at sarey@hotmail.com

Easy French Dip Sandwiches
2 (14 oz.) cans beef broth
6 hoagie buns
1 pkg. onion soup mix
6 slices white cheese
1 ½ lb. roast beef, thinly sliced

In a saucepan, combine beef broth and soup mix. Add roast beef slices and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and keep warm while you lightly toast hoagie buns under broiler. When ready to serve, place a slice of cheese and a portion of roast beef in buns. May use the left over beef broth as your au jus for dipping. *This goes well with homemade oven fries.

Meat Loaf
2 lb ground beef
4 large carrots, grated
2 slices bread
½ tsp. basil
2 eggs
½ tsp. oregano
4 Tbsp. milk
½ tsp. pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. salt (optional)
ketchup

Put the ground beef into a large mixing bowl. Soak the piece of bread in some warm water, then squeeze the water out with clean hands. Break up the bread and add it to the bowl. Add all the other ingredients except the ketchup. Mix t all up. Put in a loaf pan, patting it down. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and cover the top with ketchup. Place back into oven for another 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with a side of mashed potatoes and enjoy!

Mexican Beef
4 lb chuck roast
1 large onion
2 (15 oz) cans Rotel tomatoes with green chilies
2 Tbsp. chili powder
2 cans green chilies
2 Tbsp. oregano
1 Tbsp. cumin

Combine ingredients in a crock-pot. Heat on low for 8-10 hours. Before serving, add ½ cup cilantro and 2 tablespoons lime juice. We eat this with tortillas or you can make a great taco salad with this meat.*This is what my family is having tonight - this is our first try of it so hopefully the kids will like it. It sure smells good!

Today and a book review

Today was my mom's MRI. I went and got her and drove her to the clinic in Provo. She was very nervous but made it through alright. She told me that to mentally keep herself from freaking out while inside the machine she first thought about the Savior's life from beginning to end and then thought about each of her kids lives and then started to sing hymns in her head until the test was finally finished and hour later. Still no word on the scheduled time of her surgery on Monday. Hopefully we will find out soon. The following is a book review from a book that I just recently finished. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

Book'>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/248484.Book_of_a_Thousand_Days?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

My'>http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/33760507?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">

My

review rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book quenched my thirst for something to read after the Twilight series. (a touch of the supernatural made this book that much more exciting) I would love to see Shannon add more books to this and make a series. Reading this book I could really see how the author's writing has improved. It seemed more sophisticated and the story more fleshed out then Princess Academy (which I really enjoyed too!). This book kept me reading and wondering what would happen next. It is interesting to compare and contrast the long-suffering life of Dashti with someone like Fanny Price of Mansfield Park. Both had a lot to put up with from people who were supposedly of higher rank or worth then them. It was also interesting to see how doing an honest day's work can change someone who has never worked a day in thier life. The self esteem that comes from working hard and accomplishing something is often forgotten. The themes of loyalty, unconditional love, patience and selflessness are illustrated here very skillfully. I loved the story and will read it again and again!

View'>http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/809611?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.

These are some photos from Sunday at Mom's house.

Guns, tarantulas, and kids Oh My!

After a rough beginning this turned out to be a good week. I have certainly had my low moments but I am trying to keep my thoughts in a positive direction. Maybe it won't be too surprising to some that JJ has really been acting up this week. He seems to be extremely sensitive to the emotional status of our home. While Hannah tends to try harder to be on her best behavior in times of turmoil, JJ veers to the opposite direction and seems to put even more pressure on us all. "Keep moving forward" has become my daily mantra. I have to say a big thank you to some wonderful friends how seemed to know just when to call. Jamie M. came over to talk scrapbooking and life and motivated me to actually get a shower and get out of bed. Scrapbooking continues to be very theraputic for me. Lance could see that I wasn't dealing very well and actually went into work late one day so that he could get JJ off to school for me. It was a huge emotional help to not have to begin my day arguing with JJ over EVERY little thing that has to be done to get him ready for school. I feel really blessed to have so many people who care so much about me. You may be thinking "what's her problem - it's not her that has breast cancer" and you would probably be right. I can only really write about my own feelings - valid or not. I don't have a lot of insight about how my mom is dealing with all of this. Frankly, it has just been too hard to talk to her about it - we both end up bawling. I know that she is really, really scared and although she has many people who love her, she feels very alone. When we talk every day we talk about other things, make plans for fun activities in the future that we can both look forward to and talk about the kids.

Lance has been working on extending our driveway so that he has a place to park his car off the street. This week he put in a few hours and got the bender board in. He still needs to level it out but hopefully we will get this project done before the weather gets bad. Okay, so I had to add my two-cents. This is Lance, obviously. While Sara went to the Primary Super Saturday with JJ & Hannah, Asher, Grandpa and me put in the concrete forms for the driveway. Two items of note ... Dad (er, Grandpa) is doing really well with his new heart, if he is digging and surveying and putting in forms (if only his concrete finishing work was as good as his mouth, but I digress). Second, Asher was so funny helping. He would bring us tools (whether we needed them or not), dig himself with his little shovel, follow directions with a perfect spanky "O-tay!" and play with Grandpa. His favorite game was to "sneak" up to Grandpa and grab the end of the tap measurer clipped to his hip and pull it out. Grandpa would "jump" and ... well, there really isn't any other way to say it, squeal. It was funny. Of course, we would have gotten more work done without Grandpa playing so much ....

Friday I went over to Jamie M.'s house in the AM to help her get stuff ready for the Primary Activity on Saturday. Me, JJ and Hannah went on Saturday to the Primary Activity. I helped Jamie with her portion of the program: helping the kids make a love card for someone that they care about. The activity was really great. It was kind of a My Turn on Earth program where the kids traveled from room to room gathering talents along the way and being faced with temptations in the form of people selling candy and toys in exchange for thier talents. It was a neat experiance seeing the lightbulb really go on for some of the kids. JJ loved it! It was a great reminder to keep an eternal perspective.

Later that evening Lance and I attended the Elder's Quorum Meet and Skeet! We had a fabulous dinner at the park -including AL Payne's famous BBQ brisket. Then we headed up behind Saratoga Shores Elementary to a gravel pit where we shot skeet. Having never shot skeet before I was a little nervous but it was great fun. I will say that we really wished that we had thought to bring ear plugs. I am still a little deaf! I am also bruised from where the gun kicked back into my shoulder and my arms are sore from lifting and holding the gun. I guess I was using muscles that I don't normally use. I don't think that I could hit the broad side of a bus but Lance did ok. I was very impressed that some many of the women in our ward are such good shots. Remind me never to get into a street brawl with Jynelle, Jeanna, Melissa, Rachel Jackie,or Nikki (unless they are on my side!) Here are some photos:

We came across this little guy on our way up to the gravel pit.

Jeanna and Jeremy showing they got the right stuff.

The Blacks were nice enough to give me a few pointers and let me and Lance use one of thier guns and not laugh too hard when I couldn't hit the target to save my life.

I love this photo of Lance! Missy taking a shot.

Here's a link to more photos from the skeet shoot: http://sarey1127.shutterfly.com/

Today (Sunday) we were able to have a dinner at Mom's house with all my nieces and nephews who live close by. Mom has been wanting to do this all summer but for various reasons it just never happened. We were blessed with perfect weather and we had a delicious dinner (anybody who wants the recipe for Manti turkey just email me!) and it was great to catch up on what is going on in everybody's lives.

Finding Peace

I wasn't looking forward to today. Last week we began the process of finding out if my mom has breast cancer. She found a lump a while back and let it go, hoping that it was just a cyst (something she is prone to). It got larger quickly and she mentioned it to me and I encouraged her to get a mammogram. She waited until all the weddings were done to have it checked out. Yesterday was the biopsy and today the 1st meeting with the surgeon. We feel really lucky to have gotten her into a young doctor named Jennifer Titensor. She is the best from what we have heard. She is also treating a friend of mine who goes in for her double mastectomy on October 1st. This doctor actually made time to see her before she left on vacation after viewing her mammogram and sonogram. Seems like I have been crying off and on since last Friday. I know mentally that life isn't fair and that bad things happen to good people - all the cliches have occurred to me as I have wrestled with my thoughts and emotions over the last few days. The cliches are not comforting at all when you get right down to it. I do, however, hope for some good things to come out of this experience. I hope that this brings our family closer together, that we are reminded of the important role my mom has played and is playing in each of our lives. I know that this experience will be further evidence of her great faith and her love for each of us despite our faults.
Back to today, we met with Dr. Titensor for the 1st time. She confirmed out fears that it is indeed breast cancer and that it is also in the lymph nodes in her arm pit. The doctor's proposed course of action is to first for my mom to have an MRI while the doctor is on vacation for a week. Next she will go in for surgery on the 29th of September to have a single mastectomy removal of the lymph nodes on that side. I suppose this could change if the MRI shows the cancer in other areas of her body. Following surgery she will most likely do radiation. Chemo is not currently planned unless absolutely necessary. Her prognosis sounds good if everything goes according to plan. The one cliche that does apply seems to be "taking it one day at a time". In the midst of this the routines of the kids had to go on and Jake and Carolyn have been wonderful about taking care of them whenever I needed to go with Mom. I explained to JJ what was happening and he is taking it really well. I think he really understands most of what we are saying from the questions he is asking. Mom and I did our best to not frighten him as we discussed it. We discussed prayer yesterday in FHE in hopes that as difficult things come into the kids lives that they will be able to talk to Heavenly Father and gain comfort and peace.
For book club this month we are reading The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Keel. It was a perfect read for me this month - it's mood fit mine exactly. I really enjoyed it. I have started traditional scrapbooking again - it takes me a day to do one page. It feels good to use my hands and concentrate on something creative.
I keep thinking at least I don't have to go through another day like today. Waiting and wondering, finding out the worst and then finding a ray of hope too. On a lighter note - Asher decided to spread lotion all over the kitchen floor today! He sure is trouble!

BFF's at play

Hannah was excited to have an impromptu playdate with her BFF Reganne. They looked so cute in thier dresses I just had to take some photos. Of course Reggy didn't want to slow down long enough for me to get many of her - so most of her's were blurry. They are cute though! It is so good for Hannah to play with a girl her own age. She is very used to just playing with JJ and JJ casts a big shadow, so to speak. I can see her blossoming into her own person this year - our preschool choice has been a good one so far. She is loving it which of course makes me happy too. JJ is doing a lot better on the playground. I spoke with one of the recess teachers and she told me that JJ only has troubles when he is provoked by other kids and that he is getting better about walking away. She said that she is glad that he will stand up for himself and that if she wants to get the truth of an incident then she asks JJ and he always tells the truth even if it implicates him. Can't say how much better this made me feel. Maybe I'm not failing completely as a parent. I know there will be rough days in the future but I am going to try and trust him more. I am proud of the progress he is making every day. I had a great time at my friend Missy's house the other night. We watched the movie "The Ultimate Gift." I have to say that I LOVED it and would highly reccommend it to EVERYONE! Missy watched it with her kids and then based several family home evenings on the 12 gifts portrayed in the film. Before some of you are turned off by thinking it is some preachy seminary film - it is funny, sarcastic and a little dark at times. And no it isn't an LDS film. Check out the trailer at: http://www.theultimategift.com/home.php?cid=4294967295&cat=home

My mom politely suggested the other day that we take the rest of my barbie stuff home for Hannah to play with. So we now have another couple of huge boxes, including a barbie house, tent, horse, bike, etc. to store. The kids were excited to play with them and pulled out all the stuff. What a huge mess. I didn't realize how much barbie stuff I had. And all of it is in pretty good condition. Of course once our kids get a hold of it - it won't be for long! Could the organizing fairy make a trip to my house?

Does this remind you of someone?

...or is it just me?


click on image for a larger view.

Book Review: The Wednesday Wars

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Years ago I would have never read this book simply because it was about a boy and written from his point of view. Now as the mom of two boys and wife to one I have softened my views of the "cootie carriers"! I liked that this book is written in first person about subject that the author is obviously familiar with. Hilarious at times, this book could be also very poignant. Set in the sixties during the Vietnam War, this made me really compare the differences in attitudes between then and now. All I can say is thank goodness for those people in your life who decide to make a difference in the lives they come in contact with.


View all my reviews.

Love and Marriage . . .

do they still go together like a horse and carriage? I can't think of a better rhyme so I guess they do! It was great to see Sammi finally sealed to her own "Prince Charming". Every girl deserves a day to feel totally special and loved. I am glad that that day came for Sammi. The kids did amazingly well on both of the long car drives up and back. Sleeping arrangements were interesting at times but we made it work. The hotel was nice- clean, spacious and a small kitchen in each room. The kids enjoyed the pool. Our only real issues with the kids came on the day of Sammi's wedding - JJ refused to wear a tie and then threw a fit when we wouldn't back down on him having his white shirt tucked in. Lance got the joy of staying out with the kids in the waiting room. He was a good sport about it as always. You can't tell from the above picture but it seemed like it was about 110 in the shade.

On Sunday we had a tough time getting the kids to get up and ready for church. None of us slept very well and they really didn't want to get up that morning and get ready for church at 9 am. But we made it through that too and got to church on time too. I am coming to realize that although it is difficult at times to travel with the kids it is really worth it to stick it out so that we can all have these experiances and fun memories. The kids LOVED playing in the pool at Jace's birthday party. They also enjoyed playing at the new fountain area in the historic district of St. George. My mom and I got to do a little shopping which is always fun. My only regret is that we didn't try harder to spend more time with our family down there.

I have to say a BIG happy 75th birthday to my MOM. She was such a trooper on our trip- putting up with our crazy kids and plans. I think that everyone in the family takes her a little for granted. Sure she isn't perfect (who is?) I think we forget that she is still the same person she was as a teenager at heart. She loves her family more than her own life and has really sacrificed a lot to make our lives better. I couldn't get through the day with out talking to her. She is truly one of my best friends. I am so grateful that she is my mom.