Grandma Retta

Grandma Retta came to visit us all the way from Salt Lake!  Retta is a dear friend of mine that I have know since I was five.  Her kids were my age and she was involved with my youth group at church.  It was though her son, Chris, that Matt and I hooked up.  Retta is one of a kind.  She is the perfect combination of love, kindness, patience, crazy, fun, and pure JOY.  She is truly a ray of sunshine to anyone she is around.  When I grow up, I want to be like her.  When my mom passed away, Retta took me under her wing even further than I already had been.  When my kids were born she became Grandma Retta.  She has always loved my kids as though they were hers.  When Ruby was born she told us that she would give us movie tickets if she and her awesome husband "ICK" could tend her.  When we lived in Salt Lake, she was so helpful with our family, I can't even begin to express my gratitude.  She never forgets a holiday, throws the best parties (she even sends us parties in a box), and checks up on us.  She visited us twice in Indiana and now here in Massachusetts.  We are so lucky.  I know my mom is so thankful to Retta for taking such good care of us.  We love her dearly!  We had a jam packed 4 days while she was here.  2 movies (movies are the best with Grandma Retta, she has THE best laugh!), celebrated her birthday, went to 6 Flags, Yankee Candle, Springfield Museums, Lighthouse beach, ate lots of yummy food, and laughed until our sides hurt.  We love you Grandma Retta!  Thanks for all you do for us!!  Can't wait until you come back!

Summer Fun, Purple toilets, and miracles

Rocky loves his tigers.  This tiger is fully dressed (wearing star wars undies with his tail coming out of the fly) and all buckled up nice and safe.

 I scream, we scream, they all scream for ice cream!

 We love July 11 or 7-11 for free SLURPEES!!

 Ruby did a summer orchestra camp with her favorite orchestra teacher.  I love to see how much she likes to play her cello.

We love the Hampden Splash park and stream.  The kids caught a few frogs.  Turns out this particular one is NOT a prince.  

 This is my ROCKstar.  Love the sparkly pink belt to match his "lookie lay lee"

We were FLUSHED.  This lovely purple potty was sent to us by one of Coopers friends.  A $10 donation gets it removed, $20 lets us send it to a friend, and $30 gives us potty insurance so it never shows up on my lawn again.  The Purple Potty is traveling around town to raise money for cancer research.  It was started by a local family whose daughter passed away a few months ago.  I love that in their grief, they are doing good.

I am a cancer survivor.  My mom took me in for my kindergarten physical.  I was a healthy kid.  My parents had no clue that I had a tumor the size of a grapefruit growing in my little abdomen, I was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma.  As a parent I can't image how devastating this must have been for my parents.  I remember my mom telling me that my dad looked green when he heard the news.  The surgeon, Dr. Matlack, told my parents that IF I lived through the surgery, there was a good chance that I would be paralyzed due to the proximity of the tumor to my spine.  He also told them that I would not live past 8 years old.  My dad gave me a priesthood blessing.  My friends from church fasted and prayed in my behalf. The tumor was surgically removed and plans for future treatments were discussed.  Dr. Matlack paged my parents at Primary Children's Hospital scaring my parents to death.  When he met with them he told them that a miracle had occurred.  The malignant tumor was somehow benign!  The doctor told my parents this was a 1 in 10,000 situation.  I did not have any further treatments, have 3 healthy children and am training for a marathon!  God lives.  He loves us. Miracles happen.  I feel so blessed to have this knowledge and to be here with my family.  When things are hard I remind my self there is a reason I am here.

I found this letter that my dad wrote to my brother Rob who was on his mission.

This fuzzy picture was taken right after my surgery.

Summer...

 Happy 15th anniversary to us.  I am such a lucky woman to have such a great husband.  3 kids, 4 states, and a million great memories with this handsome man.

Cooper ran the 4x100 relay race at the state finals.  Nice work CMan!

Concord, MA: yummy ice cream, old grave stones (Here lies the mortal remains...), oldest toy store in the US, fun trees to climb.

Walden Pond: When my mom needed to get away for a few minutes she would go to the pond in the Wasatch Lawn Cemetery in SLC.  She would pretend that it was Walden Pond.  I felt that I owed it to her to go see the real pond.  Absolutely beautiful.  Not so much solitude however.  Tons of people swimming in it.  Loved the statue of Henry David Thoreau, I couldn't resist sticking an iPhone in his hand.