Trick or Treat

Here are the three kiddos on the night of the truck or treat. Our knight in shining armor, Iron Man, and Shawn Johnson wanna-be. Gavin didn't end up participating because he thought people would laugh at him. We tried to talk him into it but he said, "I'm lucky. I get to go to bed early and I won't have cavities." Hmmmm That isn't very Gavin-ish. He loves candy more than anyone (except maybe me). We'll see if he goes out on the actual trick-or-treat.

Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins a little earlier than I planned (last Wed) because Teague was supposed to take one to Pack Meeting. I don't know that they will survive until Friday but they looked good while they lasted. It is nice that the kids are finally getting to the age where they can do most of the work themselves. I am getting lazier by the minute.

PS - I know that I have been tagged. Multiple times lately. Why do you want to know any more than you already do about me? I don't know. I will try to get to the tags - they are all slightly different so I may just combine them.

The Twins Save FHE

Tonight FHE wasn't looking too great but the twins saved the day. They showed up just in time to make sugar cookies and help the kids frost them. They weren't masterpieces but they tasted yummy and the kids were HAPPY! Thanks Jane and Kristine (and check out their etsy shop!).

Raise the Bar

Today we had Stake Conference. I was feeling pretty good about getting all three kids out of the house 30 minutes early to go get seats. Apparently everyone was doing pretty well today because the first row of seats available was pretty far back. It put us right behind two families of 6 kids. One family with 5 boys and one girl. They didn't have any bag of tricks and all of them sat there the entire 2 hours. The other family had 5 girls and one boy and the youngest two were baby girl twins (about 4 months old). And the dad is a bishop. (Just like my family.) They also all sat without any entertainment except for their youngest two children. The moms looked totally together and calm and appeared to have listened to the whole conference without any interruptions from children.

Geesh! I had my 3 kids and a bag full of stuff and we couldn't be reverent. Then watching those twin babies and all their needs, I started feeling a little overwhelmed about adding a 4th. What were we thinking? Well, we need to raise the bar at our house. The kids and I need to do a little work. My kids might freak out when they go to church without a church bag but apparently it can be done.

On a positive note - I was very impressed with all the stories that my kids were able to recite from conference. Apparently they actually were listening. It wasn't a total waste of 2 hours for them, after all.

Our visiting general authority was Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitis. He is from Brazil but serving in Argentina area. He was fabulous. He reminded me so much of my grandpa Cannon. He had a great sense of humor, excellent at telling stories, and had great messages for the youth and the adults.

The Stake President's message was to encourage us to commit our families to the stake goals: 1 - meaningful daily prayer, 2 - daily scriptures study, and 3 - weekly family home evening with a gospel message.

We had a little extra time today, so took a drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Kenyon has been wanting to go up the canyon since Labor Day and we just haven't been able to make it happen. It was gorgeous and the perfect little family outing.

It was a good sabbath day! (plus it ended with homemade chocolate cake - thanks Kristine and warm apple crisp).

Kenyon Update

Today we had our 100 day evaluation meeting with the doctor (even though it is actually more like 112 days). It was kind of complicated and that makes it a little difficult for me to put into words exactly what the results are and what they all mean. I should really make Kenyon write this because I think he understood it all a little better than I do. But here goes... (Some of you might be bored with all the details - long story short - Kenyon is doing quite well).

Kenyon is doing well. He still HATES taking pills but his appetite and energy are improving - gradually, of course. The blood marrow tests show no sign of CML. That is great! However, other tests show that 97% of his marrow is from his donor and 3% is still his own. That is not uncommon for patients at about day 100. But, it has to get to 100% donor marrow. The problem is that left unchecked the 3% could start producing leukemic cells. The doctor reassured us that there are "many tools in the toolbox" for this problem. The first step is to speed up his medicine taper. That forces the donor marrow to step it up and fight off the 3%. The drawback to this tactic is that the chance of GVHD (graft vs host disease) is more likely - but not necessarily guaranteed. (Defense for GVHD is to continue to avoid any infection and sunburn). Next there are some meds or infusion methods that they might try. It also means that we continue to make frequent visits to Huntsman and more tests in month to check those percentages.

So, overall it was quite good news.

While I was sitting in the waiting room this cute gal approached me wanting to talk. She and her husband are from St. George and a little younger than us. Her husband is preparing for a transplant at the end of the month. They have a 1 and 3 year old and are also expecting a baby. She had so many questions. It was nice to talk with her and share a little of our experience. I am so glad to be this far out and able to tell her how blessed we have been and encourage them that it will work out. I know the stage she is in and it is such a scary, overwhelming place. I just can't imagine having to uproot from home and move to go through this. That will be a whole different challenge for her.

I have also been following an 8 year old boy, Trent, here in the South Jordan area who is losing his battle with AML. They had a great fundraiser for him at Chick-Fil-A on Monday. It was packed so hopefully it provided a lot for his family. If you want to be inspired - read what he has written on his blog. He is an amazing kid!

We continue to be so grateful for all the love, support, babysitting, prayers, etc. Thank you!

I Should Know Better

Of course, I should have posted the recipe. Duh! If I could I would have had you all over and shared them.

It is from Kenyon's niece Lynsie - She calls them the "World's Greatest Pumpkin Cookies."

4 cups flour
2 cups quick oats
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1tsp vanilla
1 16 oz can pumpkin
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions:
Combine flour, oats, soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl cream butter and gradually add sugars until light and fluffy. Then add egg and vanilla mix well. Next, alternating pumpkin and dry ingredients to butter/sugar mixture. Mix well. Add chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Frost with cream cheese frosting. (I actually didn't do that last night but it would have made my kids very happy if I had.)

Pumpkins for Family Night

We have a great pumpkin patch by our house and it made the perfect family night activity. Apparently everyone had the same idea. It was fun but dang cold. Please go away! I hate the coldness. But then we came home to warm oatmeal pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. We also had a little lesson on the being happy while we are helping - a much need lesson around here. You would think I torture my children with endless chores and that they never, ever, ever get to play with friends. Yep. I just sit on the couch and watch them slave the day away. It's great.

3 1/2 Weeks...

I had a nice visit with my Doc this morning and we scheduled the arrival of Baby No Name for November 3rd. Hello! I can't believe I know a date. Of course, she could come sooner. But hopefully we will make it to that day. I am a bit of a cheater, I know. I have to schedule everything. It makes life easier. With every child I think, this time I won't be induced and I will just let it happen. But then as it gets closer it just makes so much sense for everyone involved to have it totally planned. My Doc reassured me that it is not cheating - in fact, God made pitocin (sp?) possible so that we could plan these things out. Who knows but I will take that reasoning for now.

The crib (Thanks Gavin) and car seat are ready (Thanks Brit). Some clothes are washed. But still no name.... I need something brilliant. I feel like it is on the tip of my tongue but I just don't know what it is. Do you know? If it hits you, let me know.

Hip Hip Hooray...

It is Day +100. What does that mean? Well, it is kind of complicated and a little anti-climatic but it is a big milestone for Kenyon. It is amazing that 100 of days have passed. It hasn't been great but definitely not as bad as it could have been. We have been blessed. I would love to have a big party -but not the greatest plan because he still needs to be very careful about germs.

We don't have our 100 day conference with the doctor until the 14th of Oct. when all the test results are back in. But, the main idea is that if Kenyon didn't have any GVHD (graft vs host disease) before day 100 then the chances of GVHD after are less. He really did quite well without major complications during the last 100 days. It also means that he begins to taper off his meds. We hope that he will feel lots better as he gets rid of the number of pills he swallows each day.

He still struggles with some nausea but his appetite is much better and seems to be putting weight back on. His hair is growing back.

The warning is that while he is feeling better each day - he is still on immuno-suppressent drugs. That means - he really needs to be careful - still. That is mostly a problem in large groups or around anyone who is sick.

We are looking forward to him being back to 100%. In the meantime, we are also counting down the days to the baby coming. 34 days!! That kind of freaks me out. Time to get serious about this. I am absolutely not ready. It is panic time.

The kids and I were excited to finally finish the Book of Mormon this morning. Don't ask us how long it took us. I read to the kids every morning over breakfast. Sometimes it is a chapter and other days we get in a few verses. But we made it!! We talked about Moroni 10 this morning and Teague said, "Every time we read the scriptures my testimony gets stronger." Love it!