Independence Day

Keith is currently back in the hospital for the beginning of his second chemo cycle. We're hoping he's discharged tonight. While Keith's asleep and awaiting his independence from his IV pole, I'll sum up the last week.

We had a festive 4th of July party with family, thanks to Brent who is turning out to be a pretty incredible party host. Shocker. I know. Brent and party in the same sentence? They say people change for the ones they love so I guess that means he loves me lots...
He brewed some homemade rootbeer, grilled some serious steak, set up an outdoor theatre, lit the tiki-torches and worked with his brothers to create an impressive fireworks display. Somewhere in the holiday weekend he squeezed in Cars 2 with the kids, golf, and dirt biking.

Ally spent more than an hour hanging out in the drink bucket before the party. Going to the "big movie" (Cars 2) is probably the only thing that could get her out of that cramped bowl.

 Keith loved being outside playing with Grandma B, Cole, Ally and Caden.

 Cole loved playing with fire.

 Ally, Caden and Keith watching the outdoor movie (below). Cole was probably changing his pajamas for the 5th time of the evening so he's nowhere to be found in this pic.

 Brent and Keith watching the show.

 Ally, cheesing it up (above) and loving those kisses from Jenny (below).

 Keith hanging out with some of his favorite ladies.

On the morning of the 5th, since Keith didn't have to go into the clinic, Grandma Burnett drove us all up to Yakima for the week. We played with Milo, jumped on the trampoline and spent time swimming in the pool.
Luckily for the kids, Grandma Smart taught swim lessons for years so they all got private lessons from a pro.

 Keith loved being in the water and spent an hour or two in the pool every day. We really wore him out!

 We witnessed some pretty serious squirt gun wars. Grandpa Smart and Keith vs. Grandma Smart and Cole. It was intense.

Ally hanging out with Grandma.

 Keith hanging out with Uncle Shea who is finally home from his mission in Raleigh, NC! Yay! We were so excited to celebrate his homecoming. He is back and even better-looking than we remembered!

 Ally couldn't get enough of her BCF (Best Cousin Forever), Evie. She had to help feed her and change her and love her. Yay for a girl cousin!

Keith had a great week off from treatment. He has been so upbeat and talkative and just plain happy. He's also been open to tasting more foods. It has been so fun to watch. He absolutely LOVES hanging out at both grandparent's homes. Those are his two favorite places to spend time. He still isn't walking. His foot drop continues to be a problem. So much, in fact that the oncologist didn't give him the chemo drug that causes foot drop this hospital visit. She's going to wait until he can stand on his own and walk with assistance before giving him that particular chemo again. Supposedly, in rare cases foot drop can be permanent so they obviously don't want to overdo it. They've assured us that a break from this drug won't be enough to allow the cancer cells to rally.
We received the results from Keith's sedated hearing test and his hearing his okay. He's experienced a mild loss of hearing but they are pushing forward with treatment until they see something more alarming. So, I guess that's good.

I know this is the longest post ever so I'll wrap it up with some pictures from today. Grandma Burnett brought Cole and Ally down for a visit this morning. Everyone played hard in every playroom available to us and of course, there were tears at the end; Cole crying to stay and Keith crying to go home. But I just spoke with the oncologist and we are set to leave as soon as Keith's hydration finishes tonight.
This visit seemed smoother than the last. It started out rough when we headed down the hallway towards the clinic yesterday morning. Keith immediately started vomiting from the anxiety of going through that door and I thought, Great. Here goes another long hospital visit. But he's done really well. He hasn't slept very much, but he's only thrown up once and he's been pretty active. Yay for good days and good stays. Here's to hoping for little to no vomiting over the next 2 weeks!

Chuckles

Keith was able to receive a break from the clinic as we had hoped so we spent a week in Yakima. (More on that later.) After spending so much time in the sun, I might have had a few or several thousand more freckles break out on my face. Cole looked at me and said, "Mom. You're face is soooo dirty. You need to wash it."

Gotta love the honesty and sincerity of a 3 year old.

The next day Cole broke out in hives from sunscreen (I think) and he said, "No, Mom. Those aren't hives. They're chuckles."
Me: "Chuckles? What are chuckles?"
Cole: "I have chuckles on me just like you have on your face, Mom."
Me (laughing hysterically): "Oh, you mean freckles? Ha! Yes, well, maybe someday you'll have chuckles just like me."

If you haven't laughed yet, then maybe this picture of Cole can brighten your Tuesday. I followed him in from the pool last week and found him stark naked, except for his goggles and he had found my trumpet from Junior High marching band days.
If he has chuckles and can play a mean trumpet, am I justified in fearing for his future social life?

Life Goes On

And on and on, apparently. Brent and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last month. Time really does fly. And it makes me feel old. Really old. It also made me realize one major thing. Brent and I do not have enough pictures together. So, my goal for the next 10 years is to make sure we get more pictures of us. Even if I have to train one of the kids, we are going to find a way to capture moments when we are together.

In January, Brent and I had big plans for our anniversary that are obviously going unfulfilled, but 11 years is going to be celebrated in style. Somewhere sunny, exotic, romantic and relaxing. I will just continue dreaming until that happens.
We did get to go to a really nice dinner downtown. It was a beautiful summer night and we had a great time. I don't know what we expected when we got married, but life has a funny way of surprising us. Mostly, I can't believe how incredible our life is together. We hit the jackpot with our kids and we still genuinely love spending time together. Just us. It doesn't happen often, but maybe that's why we crave it so much!

Our day was tainted by the reality that one of our friends at the hospital is likely not going to make it. He is a 5 year old little boy that we've known for a few months. His first week of radiation was Keith's last week. But he's been battling for over a year already. I ran into his mother on our way out of the clinic and she told me the news. They are willing to keep treating him but his MRI scans aren't showing improvement. I cried. I cried hard. I usually don't break like that, especially in front of Keith and Cole, but they were standing there with me when my friend shared the news and it just caught me off guard. It was already an emotional day as I contemplated how I had anticipated spending our 10th wedding anniversary and I can tell you it wasn't inside a children's oncology clinic. Cole kept asking me why I was crying and then as he wiped one of my tears, he said, "Here, Mom. I'll wipe your tears for ya."  So sweet.
Anyway, it just hit me hard. That's why I look so tired in these pictures and why I usually don't post pictures of myself. I look tired. I am tired. My heart aches for these people going through so much. And the day to day can sometimes be draining. I don't mean to be depressing. Life really is mostly "normal" for us these days but news like this just really hits home.

As we celebrate our 10 years together, we have many happy memories for which we are so grateful and we know we'll have many, many more. There's just a shadow there that has changed us forever. It hasn't all been bad change.  A lot of good change, actually, but still some very real heartache that we never anticipated 10 years ago. But that's okay. We have each other and not everyone has such a strong "other" so we know we are blessed.

Blast from the Past.

June 21, 2001

Portland, Oregon LDS Temple