Grammie

In March Bryan's mom came to visit. It was so much fun having her here. (She left the day before Carter was diagnosed with cancer.) Before we took her to the airport we went to the park (on a blustery day) to play. I brought my camera so I could take pictures of each kid with their super sweet grandmother.

You hear stories about the dreaded "mother-in-law". I must say, mine is a walk in the park. She's awesome. She's one of my closest friends and does her VERY best to not overstep her bounds. (Which I know at times is hard. ;)) She drove up with me when we moved up here a few months ago and helped us get settled... which was REALLY nice considering we all got sick on the ride up and first few days here. (Pres puked all night in the hotel room and Carter had massive diarrhea the morning we left AZ.) She surprised the kids last month with a visit. They were THRILLED! They asked her if she was going to live with us and, of course, there were SOOOOOO many tears when she had to go home. (It's in my grand master plan to get them to move up here once they are empty nesters and Dru retires.) Anyways, it was a beautiful day at the park with tons of sun light to play with. I got some cute pictures of the kids with her.

The Shaving and the Support System

Carter's hair was falling out for about 5 days before we finally convinced him to shave it. We wanted to wait until he was ready. It was his last thread of being a "normal" kid and we wanted to respect that. His hair was EVERYWHERE (woot woot, Dashboard!)!! I told people it was like having an Alaskan husky in the middle of an Arizona summer. It was crazy. It was on his clothes, his pillow, the couch, the floor, the table, the counter, the toilet, on Bryan, me, Addilyn, and Preslee. Honestly, everywhere.

When he finally decided to shave it, I don't think Bryan or I were quite prepared for just how "cancer patient" he would look. Carter has always had a TON of hair. Nice thick mousy-brown-with-a-touch-of-strawberry hair. The oncologist told us that more than likely it would not fall out for a bit longer. But, as they tell us ALL the time, "Every child is different". He does still have some peach fuzz for sure. But you look at him and think, "Oh, that poor little boy has cancer!" He has received tons of awesome hats from friends all over the country. He has also received so much support. Now, not everyone can shave their heads. People need to keep their jobs and Bry and I are the very first to understand that. We in no way expected anyone to shave their heads. But we love that he received support from those who felt shaving their heads was an option. Here are some pictures from the shaving. We started with a 2 on the clippers and he looked ridiculous. :) So, we went to a 1 which was much better. In this first picture you can see how thin his hair looks.

Uncle Bradley, who Carter has always been really close to (his name is Carter Bradley, after all) was on skype within 30 minutes so that Carter could watch him shave his head. We tried to get Aunt Jessi to join in with no luck. :) Here's a picture of them over the computer. (taken with my iPhone...)

Uncle Bradley's complete excitement with the shaved head.... :)

Uncle Neal. When Carter saw this picture he said to me, "Uh oh, Mom. Does Uncle Neal know that my tattoos are just pretend?!" He knew he shaved his head so he could be like Carter so Carter just assumed that Neal got tattoos because he saw Carter's Star Wars one on his arm. :) That comment gave me a good laugh.

Uncle Bryan was the first one to shave his head. He even beat Carter to it. When Carter saw the picture he said to Bryan (Daddy Bryan, not uncle Bryan), "Does he have leukemia too, Dad?" HA! So cute!!! I gotta say, I love these two cousins of mine. Neal and Bryan are honestly two of the most amazing men in the world (and both married, sorry ladies.) They have it all. They are so grounded, great personalities, funny, clearly VERY handsome... they are just amazing. I consider them brothers in every sense of the word. I'm so proud of the men they've become and I love them to pieces!!!

Uncle Kevin just started at a new job so he couldn't completely shave his head. He went as short as he could so we are totally counting it!

Uncle Robby. He went into Aunt Kelly's salon and the Ladies shaved his head. Aunt Kelly even sent us videos of it.
Sweet little Trevin. He's our newest cousin (Jon and Nicole's little one). He had a touch of hair but shaved it all off for Carter. :)
Braden and Koen Martineau. Koen is one of Carter's best buddies in Arizona. They were thick as thieves and had an absolute blast together at least 3 days a week.

Uncle Ben and Will. They match!!! Ben is Bryan's younger brother. He told Bryan that if Bryan shaved his head, Ben would do it too... that was enough to make Bryan do it. :)

The finished product.

Now, I'm not gunna lie. This was hard for me. I had to excuse myself for a few minutes to have a good cry. I mean, try to envision your 5 year old bald. Going through this. It sucks. But he's so darn brave, it's hard to stay sad for long. Plus, you can't live your life in complete tears. Every few days I'll just go lock myself in the bathroom and have a good, long cry. But then I pull myself together, thank the dear Lord for all the blessings I have in my life, and move on with my day. I think crying is good for everyone. I really do. I know it helps me. And usually it's something small that sets me off. Something that wouldn't normally even phase me.

All in all, everything ended up good. He refused to touch it when we were done shaving it. But, once he saw it in the mirror, he thought it was hysterical that there was green still on his scalp. I'm so glad he found the humor in all of it. That is something that we are really trying to instill in Carter. That there is ALWAYS silver lining. Always. Sometimes you have to look super hard. But it's there. Now he really likes it and doesn't want his hair to grow back until after Halloween because he wants to be Yoda for Halloween and he doesn't have any hair. :) Love that kid!!

A Visit to San Diego

I know what you're thinking: "Where on earth does this crazy lady find time to go to San Diego while her son is undergoing intense chemotherapy?! And furthermore, what kind of lame-o mom leaves her very, very sick child?" Well, don't get your panties all in a wad... I went on a VERY relaxing girls weekend with my sister-in-laws and my mother-in-law in February. It. Was. Awe. Some. Seriously. It was a relaxing weekend where most of us stuffed ourselves into one bedroom, stayed up FAR too late talking about everything from boys (for the single ones) to make up. We went out for frozen yogurt, went shopping at the swap meet (Yay for cheap MAC make up), ate at a beautiful restaurant on the beach, took turns holding my SUPER cute new nephew, did each others hair, had make up lessons from Naomi, spent time walking around the Temple, got tinsel in our hair from Kelly, watched the sunset at the beach... did I mention how awesome it was?

It was even more amazing for me because we stayed at my parents house. It was a two-fer. I came out a day early and stayed a day late. I got to see Kevin and Abby's new BEAUTIFUL home, spend day with my my amazingly cool Grandma, and have a sleep over with the Ladies (two of the coolest nieces EVER!).

This was a weekend that I needed. I think the dear Lord knew what was coming. He knew that I would need this weekend to look back on right now. To keep me going when things are nuts... which is literally ALWAYS. I need another weekend like that. A weekend where I can just pretend my life is "normal" (if there is such a thing).

Smile Bradley!! (He's on the phone with Jessie.)
Naomi. Isn't she cute even when she's silhouetted.