Random

I saw my oncologist yesterday morning, after having labs done and talking to my study coordinator.  Dr. Prystas was so positive about the way my body has responded to the current regimen; the study drug Ibrance (palbocyclib), the hormone shots, and the Herceptin.  She said that we'll keep doing what we're doing if / until tumors start to grow again (cancer cells mutate and spread, that's why chemo can't always keep up with it.)

We've both been working hard outside this week, spent basically all day and into the night working on sprinklers for the front yard.  I ran drip lines through the flower bed while Mat (with a little help from Isaac) glued pipe and got it ready for sprinkler heads.  I cut down the old shrubs from along our back fence and have a huge pile of stuff that needs to be cleaned up.

I needed a chainsaw for what was left after I used my
hand saw all day yesterday.

This is "most" of the pile, really old Euonymus and snowball bush

Mat was boring out a hole in the sprinkler valve box and caught his left thumb today, so part of our day was spent at Instacare.  He ended up with stitches 3 layers down, 5 stitches on the outside.  SO GROSS!  We'll be in San Fran when he's supposed to have the outside stitches removed.  Hopefully we can find a clinic that will just do it for us.  I got the email link for our tickets to Hamilton today.  SO FREAKING EXCITED to see that!  I managed to make reservations for campgrounds near Lake Tahoe and near the Golden Gate bridge.  Hopefully we're that lucky as we make our way up the coast!

Life is Good!

Earlier this month we got to go on a retreat with a foundation called Inheritance of Hope.  The purpose of their Legacy Retreats is to help people with a terminal illness know how to leave a legacy for their families.  We got to connect with others who understand what we're going through, make a legacy video for our families, go on a river trip, a tour of the Biltmore mansion, we had a date night at an amazing restaurant with all the couples (while the kids had an amazing time at a trampoline park with our volunteers!)  Leaving a legacy was one of the first things I worried over after my diagnosis.  What would my legacy be?  How would my kids remember me?  What could I do to make sure grandkids know what I was all about?  For me, it's all about telling my story.  The material things I have won't mean a whole lot, but if I can communicate my love and admiration for my family, tell stories about my life, impart some wisdom . . . THAT'S the most important thing for me.

I'm working on digitizing everything that isn't, creating digital scrapbooks for every year of our lives together, writing my personal history - and if I manage to get through all of that, I'd love to make some books with ancestor stories as well.  We've got some really remarkable people and stories in past generations!  And the great thing is, today I got the gift of MORE TIME!

Stable patchy sclerosis of the left iliac bone.No findings of progressive thoracic metastatic disease are present.No evidence of abdominal or pelvic metastatic disease.

I had my CT scan today, the results came through this afternoon.  I've always had to wait until the next day to see them!  Greatest news ever!  My mind is a little bit boggled by this news, that I've had no evidence of disease in the last 3 scans??  Incredible.

In other news, McKinley turned 10, she
is super and awesome!  We'll have a friend party this week.  She got sushi for lunch, and a case of her favorite Ramen from the asian store.  This ramen is WAY better that Top Ramen from Smiths or Walmart.



We've managed to train the dog to do *this* when we're eating.  He only climbs on the table when someone leaves dishes there and he thinks he can get away with it!  We have the kitchen blocked off completely.  He'd have a hay day with all the dishes and food that sits around in there!

After we get home from our trip, we really need to have someone professional come in and help us fine tune his quirky stuff and make him an even better dog with better trained people!

Split Seconds

Maddie came home last night, which was so fun!  She requested we bring a chicken burrito from Cafe Rio to the airport.  But I forgot plastic silverware so she had to wait until we got home to have any.  😂  Mat was anxious to get to the airport, we ended up having to wait about 45 minutes before she finally came out of security!  It was a happy, tearful time for some of us, I'm not saying who.  This morning she pulled out the things she brought for us, there happened to be a lot of chocolate, but some other fun things as well.  She has some great stories to tell!

Maddie spent the day in Orem with a friend, I love that she can just ride the train and get there on her own!  She texted me tonight when she was about 10 minutes out and I left to go pick her up at the station.  I had just turned from 2600 S. on to 800 W. when an SUV on the side of the road suddenly went to make a U turn but didn't see me.  I swerved and honked but knew there was no way I would avoid getting hit.  All those thoughts go through your head at the same time!  When I came to a stop, I got out to ask the other driver if everyone was OK.

They were fine, I am fine.  There happened to be a policeman two cars behind me, so he saw everything.  There is quite a bit of damage to her front end and my entire passenger side.  The right front tire just made a skid mark when I pulled it off the road, so it had to be towed.

In a split second, you have to decide how to react.  The first thing I did was get out to make sure they were OK.  There were 3 people walking down the sidewalk at that moment, saw everything that happened, and stuck around for a few minutes while police and fire came.  As they walked away, they thanked me for checking on the driver that hit me.  I thought that was so peculiar.  Isn't that what anyone would do?  Twenty years ago I probably wouldn't have reacted the same way.  Mat has mellowed me out, and cancer has totally changed me.  You realize real fast after a diagnosis what is important, who is important, and how you want to live.  Freaking out about an accident isn't a high priority!!!  It's a perfect time to be a one car family!  Mat's off for the summer, so we can manage until we get this figured out.  I didn't think to take a picture until after it was towed.  Naturally!

Last Friday was the funeral for my friend Ginger.  They had it at the Regional Center in Bountiful.  She had such a tremendous influence on so many people through her work in the cancer community.  I had arranged with Candace, my friend who gave me the news of her death the Friday before, to go to the funeral together.  But when it came down to it, I just couldn't do it.  As great as Ginger was, I couldn't sit through a funeral knowing that she dealt with what I am dealing with.  I couldn't think about her leaving her kids behind.

As it turned out, Geri, my sweet friend, knowing how rough that week was on me, texted to see what she could do for me.  I asked her if she would come with me to run a couple errands and go to lunch.  So, I spent Friday NOT thinking about how hard and "unfair" life can be for people.  Instead I spent the day with Geri.  We ended up eating at this great Belgian cafe that I've driven past a thousand times but never stopped in.  Right next door is a birding store (27th and Highland) that I had to check out.  Coolest. Place. Ever!!  I bought some bird seed to inspire me to clean up my feeders and get them hung up again.  Thanks for saving the day Geri!

I've spent hours and hours working outside in the front yard.  I'm "almost" done and it looks good!  We need to redo the sprinklers, but will only focus on the the part of the yard where I just planted everything.  😜  Mat's a cool dude and can figure it out.

Grief

I was minding my own business on Friday afternoon when got a call from a cancer friend, Candace.  I've known her since my initial diagnosis in 2009.  She asked me if I'd been on FB yet and told me that our friend, Ginger, had passed.  I was dumbfounded.  She is the 4th friend since Christmas to die.  The other three were friends from my support group at Huntsman, they were my friends and I loved them.  But Ginger?  If anyone was going to beat stage 4 cancer, it was her.  She did everything she could to beat it.  Traditional treatments, alternative treatments, changed her diet, changed her mindset - not allowing her brain to even go to thoughts of not making it!  She had the best attitude I've ever seen from anyone going through what she was going through (it was way more than just terminal cancer).

Painting by Caitlin Connolly

Our cancer journeys have been on parallel tracks.  She was diagnosed when she was pregnant with her youngest, I was diagnosed just after my youngest was born.  Her kids are about the same ages as mine.  We both had 8-9 years before it came back.  She was diagnosed with stage 4, then I was diagnosed with stage 4.  She's one of the first people I talked to after I found out because I had to process with someone who knew exactly what I was going through.

I've had a crappy weekend.  This one hit me hard.  I've shed many tears, had to come to terms with my own vulnerability.  I'm not invincible, I don't get to choose the timing.  I've realized that I need to get my crap together and get my "long term" projects done ... because I really don't have unlimited amounts of time.  I've got to get my stuff done. I'm scanning and editing photos, digitizing everything that isn't.  I'm writing my personal history that I will publish like I have my scrapbooks, mostly text with a few pictures mixed in.  I have a couple other ideas swirling through my head as well.  It's all about leaving a LEGACY for our kids and their kids.  What will your legacy be?

... another teenager ...

I haven't had a lot to report lately because I feel so darn good!  I had my group at Huntsman today, it's always great to see my friends, but always a bummer to hear about losing another one.  Today I learned that Pat, a spunky, happy, friendly woman of 82 died recently.  She was a regular at group, and so fun to be around because her enthusiasm was infectious!  She had some pretty tough chemo toward the end, a couple of the same drugs that totally kicked my butt!  But she smiled and laughed and 

I've been working in the yard like crazy, which is SO FUN for me!  I really do get my therapy in when I'm outside.  I had great ideas about what to do along our back fence . . . and then the puppy came home with us.  I'm not going to do anything in the back yard now.  He can chew on what's out there.  Our yard is perfect for him, we have two gates that can be locked with padlocks.  We have to do that because the kids go in and out and forget to shut them again.  So as long as he doesn't figure out he's big enough to jump the 4 foot fence, it's perfect.  If he does figure out he will be big enough to jump it, we're sunk!  He's growing like crazy.  I'm going to go to DI tomorrow and get him chew toys: measuring cups, wooden spoons, beat up shoes, stuffed animals, and anything else I can find!  McKinley has graciously donated a few stuffed animals to the cause already.

Spring break never lines up in our family.  McKinley's was different from Davis district, and Mat's was different than everyone else's.  So we just stayed home and worked on projects.  One thing I desperately needed to get done was a small retaining wall in front of our house, because I had a bunch of plants I needed to move into the completed bed before it got warm and they grew too much in the wrong place!  It rained for 3 days while Mat was home, but by Thursday the rain went away so Mat could start the wall.  I'm just not much help with that kind of thing, but I did rototill all the grass out of the area, clean it up, prep it with mulch, install lawn edging, etc. etc.  By Saturday, everything was done and it was time to start moving plants.  I spent over 10 hours outside that day, in my MOJO sauce, lovingly moving the plants from the wrong part of the yard to the front bed we had just completed.  The problem is I still have 6 trees to find spots for!  I could put some in the park strip but I don't want to do that until we've run water out there.  I predict that will be done by the time school starts in the fall - if I'm lucky.

Quick update on the fam:

• Maddie is our world traveler, having been all over Europe the last couple weeks (from Amsterdam to Auschwitz-Birkenau to Athens).  There is a possibility she would extend 2 weeks, she'll either fly home June 3rd or June 17th.  She has LOVED her time in Russia, and we loved that she got some worldly experience before settling down into school and life.
• Isaac is doing better.  He's calm and pleasant, if we could only get him to clean and detox his room!  As far as we know, he's stayed away from the substances that got him into trouble in the first place.  He would never tell us if he had or hadn't, but his behavior suggests that he has.  I've been taking him to counseling down at Wasatch Canyons (Primary Children's)  in Taylorsville.  It's made all the difference!  He wants to work full time for a few months and save up to move out and figure out what's next.  I remind him that he's only 18 and doesn't have to jump into college immediately--it's OK to take some time to figure out what you want to be when you grow up!  
• Brooklyn is 8th grade and obsessed with choir/Mrs. Larsen, and junior high in general.  I don't know many kids that feel the way she does about junior high, but she's thriving!  She tried out for next years Madrigals and got in!  She is doing track, high jump and long jump.  They couldn't teach them high jump because it rained so much.  She's our tallest kid, but a scant 5'5" at that.  I think she's a distance runner, personally.  I learned that about myself 20 years after I ran track in HS.  I wish my coach had seen that in me and steered me toward the cross country team instead.  I might have never stopped running.
• McKinley (4th grade) is more interested in being outside than reading and math.  She loves to get dirty, explore, help with stuff, be independent, walk and play with the dog.  She is cheerful, outgoing, and a sensitive kid who wants to keep everyone happy.  The girl drama thing is really hard for her.  Girl drama in 4th grade, it happens.  It gives us opportunities to talk about problem-solving and showing kindness anyway.
• Mat's busiest time is from October to May.  I do pretty well through Christmas, but start to get a little impatient March through May.  It's ridiculous how much he works without compensation.  I hate news stories about teacher salary. ("Canyons raises salaries for 1st year teachers to $50,000") and then I think about 25 years of teaching, a Masters degree, countless hours of "volunteer time" and he's not getting paid a heck of a lot more than that anyway--not when it's averaged over 12 months.  How will those salaries trickle UP?  It's a touchy subject for me.  Don't anyone ever say things like "but they only work 10 months of the year."  I will reach down your throat and remove your voice box.  
• Bentley (3 months)  Another teenager in the house!  He tends to go crazy right about bedtime, he just wants to play!  We're all getting better about stuffing something in his mouth when he's biting/playing.  McKinley gets upset when she can't keep up with avoiding his teeth.  I'm "alpha" so he does pretty well with potty and obedience when I'm home and on top of it.  When I'm not, it can be another story!

Puppy

He's sleeping.  That can't be comfortable.

Our lives have revolved around the puppy this week.  I can already tell he's grown since we picked him up a week ago.  Crazy how fast that happens, he's more confident (or tolerant!) with us. I can tell he's happy, and that makes me happy!

I introduced the kennel today. He's not been one bit interested in it, maybe a little afraid of it!  I put his food and water in the back of it and his blanket in the front with some toys.  I got some little bits of chicken from Costco and slowly coaxed him in over and over again.  Tonight I did the same thing to put him in for the night.  He's whining but not barking.  He'll be a pro in a couple of days!

I told the kids that there could only be one trainer, and that is me.  The thought terrified me at first, but I think I've done a decent job.  I share what I figure out and work on with the kids and Mat.

I took this picture just after he had gone on a digging frenzy in the back yard.  It reminded me of a favorite book from my childhood, The Diggingest Dog.  It was hilarious to watch him dig so enthusiastically that it flipped him into a summersault.  Now, I realize that isn't something we should encourage, but it was pretty dang funny to watch!

Scan Results

A couple weekends ago, me and McKinley went to Spokane to visit my friend Belinda and her family.  We met in Sedona at a BC retreat last summer.  We bonded pretty fast, she's like the 3rd twin, the one that got separated at birth!  We are so much alike, it's crazy.  She even has red hair!  She has a daughter just younger than McKinley, and they were instant buddies too.  It was great to get up to see them.  That same weekend Mat went on his choir tour (Isaac went with him), Brooklyn stayed home (at the Kumps, might as well be home, she is there all the time!)

I love road trips.  I couldn't get the AUX in the car to work, so I plugged in my headphones, and McKinley plugged in hers.  She watched movies on my laptop and was content as could be.  We are planning another "epic" summer road trip, this time to the west.  Lake Tahoe, Sequoia NP, San Fran, Redwoods, up the Cali, Oregon, and Washington coast to Bellingham, Buchart Garden in Vancouver, BC, Spokane (to visit Belinda and fam), Priest Lake/Coeur d' Alene, Glacier NP, Teton and Yellowstone NP, and a thousand places in between.  Epic!  We'll have at least 2 kids with us, I'm not sure what the plans are for the grown-ups this summer.

McKinley desperately wants a dog.  If I'm honest, I'd admit that I've been thinking about it for a long time.  Despite poop clean up, one breed really appeals to me.  I have at least 2 kids who could really benefit from "doggie therapy".  I have done a ton of research about breeds, temperament, hypoallergenic options, etc. and found what I think would be perfect for our family.   This little guy is a Havanese, and he's literally perfect.  This is not our dog, just a picture I found online!

Seriously, how could you say
"no" to that face!

The problem is, Havanese are perfect.  You won't find them in a shelter (I've looked everywhere), and only from breeders on KSL.  We have a breeder that lives less than a mile from us, I've known them for many years and trust them.  But the price tag seems impossible for us, when we've got a basement to finish and we're already stretched thin.  So, therein lies my dilemma.  I think it would be such a great thing for the kids to have a little creature to bond with, especially because the future is a little uncertain for us  So, what to do?  I don't know.  The kids would be shocked if they knew I was thinking about a dog - please don't say anything to them!

I had my CT scan yesterday, got the results today.  I didn't talk to the doctor because I wasn't too worried about it, but I see her Friday, so I'll see if I've interpreted the radiologist's report correctly.  Things are still looking good!  It seems I often learn a little more with each scan, depending on who is reading it.  It says, A small area of sclerosis in the left posterior 12th rib is unchanged. Vague sclerosis in the left iliac bone and scattered punctate (tiny holes)  areas of sclerosis in the lumbar spine and pelvic bones are unchanged.  Having spots on my lumbar spine and pelvic bones is news to me!  At least they are watching things closely and know what's going on.

Huntsman has been a great blessing to me, they have so much support in all areas of patient care.  I am still doing acupuncture regularly, which I never thought I would love, but I sure love it!  The social workers, the dietitians, the exercise room and experts, every type of patient support is available there.  Every Tuesday they have art therapy.  I had a couple of hours between my scan and the ECG, so I went up where the art was and worked on digitizing the photos from our early marriage.  I just took pictures of the pictures, which is so much easier than scanning them.  The trickiest part is getting the picture square with your phone, but shadows and light reflection dictate how successful that part is. Now I'm editing those pictures to get them ready for books.  Yippee!

My long-term goals are to digitize everything that isn't yet (photos) and create digital scrapbooks from those pictures.  I also want to write my personal history and include pictures I've scanned from my baby books and beyond.  I've started that already and have made good progress on my life before my mission.  The third thing I want to do is create memory books of our ancestors, from the stories and information found on Family Search.  The other two things need to be done before I take that on, but I really want to do that too so kids and grandkids and their kids know where they came from.

I thank y'all for your continued love and support! We're surrounded by the greatest bunch of people in the world.  I couldn't do any of this without you.  Things are "slow" right now, but I always know if that changes, we'll have our army of supporters at the ready.  We Love You!

Shoulder Angel

I started this post weeks ago, but never finished and totally forgot about it!  I haven't felt like I had a lot to say lately, my life is so average!  Now, I'll finish it.

I had a great few days at RootsTech this week!  My main objective was to go to classes about how to how to format and write my personal history.  I came away with so many ideas!  I have ideas for histories that will take me forever to complete.  They must be done before I exit!  I went with my good friend, Geri, from our ward.  It was great to have someone there to talk to, eat lunch with, and bounce around ideas.  We found Rae D. there too, who used to live in the neighborhood.  I should type up the ideas I heard in the classes so I don't forget the direction I want to go with all of this.  I will!


The highlight for me was having Relative Race there.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE that show!  They brought in last seasons red team and black team (big red hair) for Q and A, and it was so fun.

We let Rae leave before thinking of
doing this picture, dang it! 

I've been working on catching up the scrapbooks I've neglected for so many years.  One of the things that hit me hard at RootsTech was how important it is for kids to know that they belong, to their families and their ancestors.  Studies show that kids who know where they came from are more resilient and able to handle adversity (somebody at RootsTech said this).  When they know their stories, they know that they can get through hard stuff because others in their families have gotten through hard things too.

I'm working on getting all my scrapbooks digitized and simplified.  I use shutterfly.com, and have printed off 10 books so far!  There's so much more to do!  I also want to get my personal history done.  What I learned at RootsTech is that a chronology isn't the best (boring!).  A personal history is better written in chunks.  52 questions on the Family Search website is a great place to start.  The oncologist that runs our support group said she did essays on her values for her kids.  Like empathy, honesty, forgiveness, etc. etc. and then include experiences from your life to tell the story about those values.  I think that's brilliant!

If I manage to get all that done, I want to create storybooks about our ancestors with snippets of their stories.  As I was browsing through Family Search the other day, I discovered that one of my ancestors fought in the Civil War.  I found the ancestors that were the first immigrants from Europe.  I remember my Mom saying that one of our ancestors was on the Mayflower, but I haven't found documentation on that yet.  I'm sure there are lots of fascinating stories up in my tree.

I started working outside Tuesday, which was so fun!  I managed to fill both garbage cans with clumps of grass.  Garbage day is Tuesday, so we can't throw anything away until next week.  😂  There's so much work to do outside.  We decided we're just going to do the very front of the house this year (redoing sprinklers and getting landscape in), and work on the back and sides next summer.  We're keeping this yard pretty simple, flower beds will basically just be in the front.  I just can't handle more than that.

I had my group last week where we learned that one of my favorite women, Elaine, had passed away the week before.  I learned two days ago that another friend, Mieke, from group had passed away.  Cancer is no joke, friends!  There is no such thing as remission for stage 4 cancer, there's only the blessing of time between the good and the bad.  Right now I'm good.  I'm praying it stays that way for a good long time! Both of these women lived their lives to the fullest.  I found out a few months ago that Elaine and her husband were building their dream house.  It was so fun to hear about the progress, although I admit early on I wondered why they would go to the expense of building a dream house when her health was so sketchy.  You know what?  She got to live out the last few months of her life in the house she always wanted.  The house matched her personality perfectly, spunky, vibrant, happy, bright.  I'm so happy for her!

It was Mieke's husband that came to do the Shaman blessing at our retreat last September.  That was really the first time I got to talk to Mieke, she had such an interesting life!  She was born in Belgium, made her way to the US at some point (college?) and ended up marrying a Shoshone Shaman later in life.  I loved her accent and her laugh.

I love that I get to know these amazing women in my group who live their lives to the absolute fullest.  I was a Huntsman today and saw this sign in the office I was in.  I think it says perfectly how these women lived, and how I intend to live.  Having a terminal illness isn't about counting months or years, it's about LIVING the very best life you can.  It's about loving, it's about having faith in God's timing.  It's about leaving this life with a legacy your family can hold onto.  It's about NO REGRETS.

I'm working on it. 

Our chilly week in Alaska

I've planned on this Alaska adventure for 2-3 months.  The Northern Lights are on my bucket list, and the only way to see them is from locations in the northern regions of the earth.  And only in the winter!  Mat went with his family to Rome for the temple open house.  I decided I'd rather knock the lights off my list!  I'm lucky to have a great friend that lives just outside Anchorage.

When I left for the airport on Monday, I realized half way there that I didn't have my phone.  I felt so bad because our friends, Jeff and Marilee were taking me!  They graciously turned around and we went back home to get it.  Can you imagine what it would be like to travel without one?  How did we ever survive the olden days?

When I checked in, they told me the plane coming in was delayed and that we would be leaving late.  As I calculated that in my head, I realized that would only leave me 12 minutes in Seattle to get to the flight to Anchorage.  And the next best alternative was to wait for the next flight 9 hours later.  NO THANKS!  I knew I couldn't do that because we had a reservation at a bed and breakfast in Talkeetna to make, and I didn't want a delayed flight to change our entire plan.  So I prayed that it would work out in Seattle, and so did Annette.

When I got to Seattle, the gate agent said they were holding the plane for the handful of us that needed that connection.  I sprinted to the gate to catch the plane to Anchorage, which included jumping on the train to the terminal two stops away and a lot of running.  When I got to the gate, there were a couple of guys there yelling at the gate agent because she said their seats were filled.  The flight was full and they would have to wait.  I leaned over and quietly said that I was in the same situation they were, she asked for my name, checked me in, printed the boarding pass and pointed at the gate.  The moral of that story is when you're a jerk, you're not going to get what you want! 


It was a long flight.  The guy next to me was annoyed I showed up and took my seat by the window.  I realized I forgot my laptop headphones, so all I could do was listen to music on my phone (not a terrible thing, but it was a long flight).  Finding Annette and her mom at the other end made it all worth it!  It was so great to see them!  Annettes mom lives in Provo.  She came up a couple days before I did and is leaving on Sunday.  We went to Annette's house in Eagle River and then left for Talkeetna.

A pretty common sight along roads

Winter driving in Alaska means snow packed and icy roads the entire winter.  They put gravel down to help with traction, and then come back in the spring after the ice melts to clean up the gravel.  Annette had packed the car with emergency supplies 'just in case' and had studded tires.  We had no problems.

The view from our room
at the B and B

Waiting for pizza

Talkeetna 

is a happening place in the summer, lots of tourist activities coordinated from there, including climbing Denali.  In the winter it's almost a ghost town.  We went to town after dropping our stuff at the B and B, we hoped we could find food.  At 7:50 p.m. we walked into the only place that was open, a pizza joint.  All the chairs were on the tables, they were about to close.  The look on the guys face when we walked in the   door was priceless!  He was a little snarky at first, telling us our only option was take out and pressing us to make a decision quickly.  He ended up being nice in the end, we took our pizza back to the bed and breakfast.  The next day we went back into town to get pastries from the Roadhouse and stopped at Annette's favorite souvenir shop.  Everything was marked down significantly, because - no people in town!  I bought stuff for the whole family, I spent $45 and saved $125. 😀  After that we headed toward Fairbanks.  There wasn't a whole lot of civilization between the 2 towns, maybe a gas station about every 100 miles.  At one of them, we stopped to warm up the left over pizza from the night before, and the giant cinnamon rolls we got at the Roadhouse in Talkeetna.  As we got closer to Fairbanks the snow started falling and the wind blew like crazy.  The last 10 miles or so were nail biters, but Annette handled it like a champ.  We stayed 3 days with her friend Shauna and her husband.  They work in the temple together once a month.  When you live far from the temple, When you live far from the temple, you spend a few consecutive day per month there.  They fly down to Anchorage and stay with members so they can serve for 3 days at a time.  How cool is that?!  Shauna was the greatest.  She fed us very well!  I got the impression that Annette hadn't told her the "why" of my trip (northern lights = bucket list).  She's had breast cancer too, so that opened up a whole can of worms!  It was so fun to sit and talk as a group about anything and everything.


Another friend from the temple, Olga, took us all around Fairbanks to show us points of interest.  There was a 1,000 mile dog race last week called Yukon Quest.  Imagine running 12 dogs for 2 weeks in bitter cold.  Yikes!  They told us that a runner would be coming in right around 5:00, so we staked out a spot and waited ... and waited.  We found out later that they had the runner go a different route to the finish because the ice on the river had cracked.  So we missed that!

There was an ice sculpture competition at the fairgrounds starting up as well.  We were told it opened on Thursday, but the real fun didn't start until Saturday.  That's when the guys or gals would come in and carve for the competition.  They set up blocks of ice in the camp sites at the fairgrounds for the artists.  We saw the prep work, a maze like a corn maze, only made out of ice.  They had long, icy slides in the kids area, we watched a guy start the trunk of a palm tree and another guy working on a bobsled, those were going in the kids area too.  The kick back of ice shavings from the chainsaws would go right in their faces.  I'm not sure why people choose to do stuff like that.  The sculpture garden will be open until the ice melts, about the end of March.

Of course the real reason we were there was to try to see the northern lights.  I was there 4 nights, 3 of them were overcast.  The only clear night was Thursday, the day we were going to drive back to Anchorage so I could catch my flight on Friday.  But it was the only clear night we had had all week!  So my sweet friend Annette, used her airline miles to buy me a plane ticket for Friday morning, from Fairbanks to Anchorage, so I could catch my flight back home.  She was determined to do everything she could to ensure that if the lights did come out, we would see them.

She booked us at a ski lodge away from town, where from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. you could stay warm in the lodge and drink as much hot chocolate as you liked, and check outside occasionally.  The kid that worked there knew everything anyone could know about the science behind the lights, and could read the charts coming from the university in Fairbanks and NASA.  He called himself an "aurora chaser."  The projections were moderate, or possible but not awesome.  So we sat and drank hot chocolate with a lodge full of Asians and waited for the lights that never showed themselves.  At about 1:30 a.m. they all abruptly got up and left because their bus had come for them.  We worked our way home about 3 a.m.

Sunrise over Fairbanks, taken from Shauna's deck

Sunset in Fairbanks, taken from the road
Shauna lives on

Because the skies were clear, we would have a clear view of Denali from the airplane if you were sitting on the right side.  I was on the right isle, with a woman in the middle seat.  The window seat wasn't there because it was the emergency exit row, so you want to give people room to get out if needed.  What a concept!  I've never seen that before.  After the captain made the announcement about Denali, I leaned over to the woman next to me and asked her if she could snap a few photos of Denali with my phone.  She said something like, "This is my first time here and I will be taking my own pictures."  I was STUNNED, did she really just tell me she wasn't willing to take a few pictures for me?!?  There were no words.  I couldn't believe it.  As we got close, I had my phone out and ready.  I was debating if I would ask the people in front of me, or the people behind me to take my pictures.  I certainly wasn't going to take them with her in the frame!  In the end, she did take my phone and take pictures which I thanked her for.  When the plane landed, I grabbed my stuff and got off as quick as I could.

The tallest point on Denali is over 20,000 feet, and quite a sight to see

I was exhausted when I finally got home.  My flight in Fairbanks left at about 10 a.m. (noon our time).  I walked into my house close to 1 a.m.  It was a great trip!  Annette was determined, we did absolutely everything we could to meet our objective, the lights.  I assured her it was OK not to see them, that the lights were only one part of the trip.  I had so much fun, we saw her beautiful neck of the woods, met great people along the way (except the lady on the airplane), laughed a lot and talked about everything under the sun.

A good read

First of all, I wanted to let everyone know that Mat made it to Rome and Maddie made it to Moscow!  It's been fun texting Mat late at night (morning for him), hearing about lot of things, but in particular, his brothers snoring.  He thinks he should get his own hotel room. 😂  He's feeling my pain!  We haven't slept in the same bedroom for a very long time, for the exact same reason!  I've spent many nights on the couch because there was no where else to go.  I even resorted to the car once, when we were in California at hotel, there was no where else to go!  Security came knocking on the car window and I begged him to leave me alone!  He did.  We both sleep more peacefully when I'm not having to push him or pull him all night long.  But I'm not convinced that he sleeps any better without me.  He still snores something fierce, even with the mouthpiece.

Maddie updated her blog, if you want to follow that!  maddieinmoscow.blogspot.com  Looks like she's been culture-shocked, but she's figuring things out.  I'm grateful she's in a house where her friend, Abby, is with her.  Not many houses can accommodate 2 students at a time.  They have their own room, but they both sleep on couches!  😀  It's all part of the adventure! If you want to email her, it's 16mulmer2@gmail.com.  I'm sure she would love to hear from anyone and everyone!

The post I published before this one is really long.  Our ward historian asked me to type up the ways we have seen the hand of the Lord through all this cancer stuff.  It was a little overwhelming thinking about the millions of ways we've been blessed, but I think I summed it up pretty well.  It's 13 pages and single spaced, but worth the read if your up to it.  I (with a some help from a friend) picked out the highlights from 297 blog posts.  I'm grateful someone asked me to do this because it's probably something I would have thought about and wanted to do, but with a deadline, it happened.

For anyone I mentioned by name, I only used your last names initial for semi-privacy purposes.