alli's first pony tail

allison's hair is finally getting long enough to pull back into a pony tail. she looked so cute and grown up but it didn't last too long until she pulled it out!

christmas in a nut shell

since our camera is lost/missing our pictures of christmas are limited. we were lucky to borrow a camera from dan's brother and sister-in law so we do have some documentation that christmas actually happened...

this was the first, and luckily only, casualty of christmas.

we took the kids to the mall to see santa. logan was excited to see him and so was allison until she had to get too close to him. so we put her on this little stool that was off to the side but then she just looked like the outcast child. oh well, it was the best we could do.

we went to visit grandma and grandpa great to see their christmas lights. grandpa great had a beautiful display and the kids enjoyed drinking sparkling cider and eating cookies.

we spent christmas at home with just the four of us. the kids had fun opening their presents. alli finally got the hang of opening the presents but then she would want to spend all her time with one present and not want to move on.

logan, on the other hand, ripped through his presents and could hardly wait to get to the next one. logan was so excited for santa to come bring him presents. he finally understood the concept of christmas and that santa was bringing toys to his house.

here are the kids with all their loot. the favorites for logan were his monster truck, his zhu zhu pets, and his spongebob calendar.

alli's favorites were her dollhouse, her zhu zhu pets and her dress up clothes.

we had a great christmas spending time with family and friends!

so i was going to post our christmas card letter for 2010 but blogger won't let me copy/paste it into the post. dumb. so sorry...i guess you all don't get a year-end recap. i know, so sad.

i can think of a handful of reasons why it has been a while since i have last posted. first of all, i have misplaced (in other words lost) our camera. without pictures to post, i lose my motivation to blog...so until i (hopefully) find the camera i am doing a picture-less post that might divulge more information about our lives than pictures will anyway.

this post isn't meant to be a "woe is me" post. rather, i want to remember what has happened during this period in my life. i hope it will help me contemplate what i can learn from my experiences and recognize the many blessings in my life.

the last 19 months of my life have been like a roller coaster. remember this and this? then there was this...and sometimes it seems like it just keeps coming...in the early summer i was experiencing some unusual and persistent symptoms that led me to see my ob/gyn. i went in for an ultrasound and they found an ovarian cyst which was the likely culprit for my symptoms. so in late september i went in for surgery to have the cyst removed. the surgery went well and i was on my way to recovery until i went in to see the doctor for my post-surgery follow-up. the pathology report came back and the cyst was cancerous.

when i received this news, i have to say that i wasn't really surprised. i'd had a series of medical issues in the past year and half and i seem to just expect the worst. it was dreadful to wait a week and a half until my appointment with the oncologist. the oncologist diagnosed me with borderline ovarian cancer. it is called borderline because it is a form of cancer that doesn't usually take over your organs, but it attaches to the surfaces and grows. because of this the cancer doesn't respond to chemotherapy. after learning i had cancer, i was trying to think positive and i told myself that if i am going to have cancer then this is a good kind to have. but that meant that i had to have more surgery.

my second surgery was just 5 weeks after my first. by this time i was tired of having surgeries and procedures. this was the 7th time i had been put under anesthesia in the last year and a half. but it had to be done to see if the cancer had spread and to stage the cancer. so on november 3 i had surgery to remove my ovary and fallopian tube. i am so blessed that everything went well during the surgery. the doctor removed two more tumors on my other ovary and removed some endometriosis on my abdominal wall. but they found no other traces of cancer. since this type of cancer is only treated surgically i have to go in for a check-up every six months for the rest of my life.

i feel so blessed to not have anymore complications with this diagnosis. despite the fear and anxiety i think i got off pretty easy. i am still dealing with changes in my life from my heart condition and now i have a cancer diagnosis to consider. i am trying to understand why all this has happened and what i am suppose to do with it. i know this is all part of Heavenly Father's plan. i have seen his hand in our lives and know that we were at a certain place and time to be dealing with this. i have also felt the endless love and support from my family and friends and am so thankful for that.

i came across a quote that says "we must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us" -Joseph Campbell. this past year has taught me alot and i am only beginning to understand the life that is waiting for me. i am working on accepting that Heavenly Father has a plan for me that is different than what i have planned. and i want to let go of my plan so i don't miss out on what is waiting for me.

huntington beach

we also went to huntington beach while we were in california. the water was freezing and logan was the only one brave enough to go in. we all had a relaxing time just hanging out on the beach, playing in the sand, snacking, and flying kites. some of my favorite pictures from the trip are from the beach!

this was out at the end of the pier. we walked the pier and then ate lunch in a cute little restaurant called ruby's.

logan took allison by the hand as we were walking down to the beach. i'm so glad they love eachother!

a little boy and his kite. thanks grandma and papa for the spiderman kite. logan loved flying it!

logan and papa flying kites together on the beach...does it get any better than this?

grandma took this picture of alli and i sitting on the beach. i'm so glad she grabbed the camera-it is one of my favorites!

legoland

while we were in california we decided we would go to legoland. this was a great place for logan who was exactly 40 inches which was pretty much the minimum for all the rides. allison however, could hardly go on anything. we felt so bad because she hung out in the stroller a lot but she was a trooper throughout the day. the only bummer was that the park closed early so we didn't get to explore all the rides-oh well. we were pretty tired by the end of the day anyway.

logan's first ride at loegland

allison got to get out of her stoller while grandma stayed with her in this little play area. thank you grandma-i think that was the most fun alli had all day!

here is logan getting his driver's license on the cars. he just took his time and weaved back and forth. he only made it around the track once while most of the other kids made it three times. he had a slow car which didn't help, good thing he wasn't in a hurry!

this ride was called the sky towers. logan liked it and there was hardly ever a line so we went a couple of times. you pull on the rope and it takes your seat to the top of this tower.

logan's first roller coaster! he did awesome. he was so excited to go on a roller coaster and he had his hands up in the air before we even took off. he would also scream just to scream- because that is what you do on roller coasters-not because he was scared!

disneyland

the kids sitting in front of our hotel room all ready to go!

classic mickey mouse picture

all those who don't get motion sickness went on the teacups! it was great that alli could go on so many rides!

buzz lightyear was being escorted through the park and walked right past us. he saw logan and it was as if time stopped for a few moments while they interacted. buzz liked logan's toy story shirt and kept pointing to it! it was a magic moment!

the toy story ride was logan's favorite ride. he was so excited to go and even picked it again as his last ride of the day.

another classic disney picture in front of the castle.

this is on splash mountain. i promise logan had more fun than what it looks like-i think he was just caught off guard.

we pretty much all passed out at the end of the day!

this year we participated in the disney "give a day get a day" program. dan and i volunteered with his parents at the local food bank repacking food and were rewarded with free tickets to disneyland! at the end of august we drove to california for 5 days and 4 nights. we had a great time and it was fun to take a real vacation with our kids. (but let me just say that allison slept a whole 45 minutes the entire 7.5 hour drive to california=not so much fun!) both the kids did really well at disneyland without any major meltdowns. we could not...and wouldnot...have been able to do it without the help of bamma and papa-thanks! i think we all had a good time!