TOFW and TOFG

Meg and I went up to Portland for the Time Out for Women and Time Out for Girls conference.  Unfortunately, I started getting sick the day before we left, so I wasn't feeling great.  But, we still had a wonderful time with our friends and family that were there.  We were able to stay in a hotel close to the convention center, and they had a shuttle, so we didn't even have to walk in the rain.  At the convention center, the girls were upstairs in the ballroom and all the women were downstairs.  We had a great time.

We met John Bytheway! 

 



Saw some friends from our ward, while waiting in line to get autographs from GENTRI.

 

And of course, a picture with the singing trio GENTRI.  

 

It was so fun to be there with Meg.  It was also really fun to see her "fan-girl" side come out. 

Oh, how I love this girl of mine!!  

Veteran's Day Parade

We enjoyed watching the parade this morning.  Roman and his troop walked the 3-mile loop.

Things are busy, busy around here.  It seems that we are always running someone somewhere.  Meg has gone to Eugene tonight for a BE SMART devotional.  Friday we are going up to Portland for the Time Out for Women and the Time Out for Girls conference.  It is going to be awesome.  It is Meg's first time going, so I am so excited for her to have such a wonderful experience.  Another highlight is that John Bytheway is one of the speakers.  We have a lot of his talks on CDs and we are excited to get to see him, hear him and feel of the spirit in the room when he speaks.  Since it is sort of a "girls weekend" Roman will be having a sleepover at a friend's house.  Fun times all around for everyone. 

Yachats

We spent Friday and Saturday on the beach in Yachats, near Florence.  It was a beautiful weekend, hardly any wind at all.  It was so nice to see Dean and Kathie.  We really enjoyed spending some time with them.  Friday we searched tide pools, enjoyed the view of the ocean, ate dinner, watched a movie and the kids enjoyed the pool and hot tub.  Saturday morning we saw the Devil's Churn, Cape Perpetua and Heceta Head lighthouse.  After Dean and Kathie had to head to Scott's for the night, we decided to go to Sea Lion Caves.  We were a bit disappointed that there weren't any in the cave, but we did see some out in the water.  We also saw a whale!!  Well, to be honest we saw his back and the spray of water coming up.  But, I had not ever seen that before, so it was pretty cool.  Then we went to the beach and had our lunch.  The beach was gorgeous.  We had so much fun running around on the sand and drawing with our sticks.  There is something about the beach that is so rejuvenating and calming.  It was something that we definitely needed.  It was a great weekend!

                                                                Exploring the beach

                                                     A beautiful, stormy, rough ocean

                                                         So nice to see so many ferns!

                                                                At Devil's Churn

                                                       These trees are beautiful and creepy.

                                                       Roman having fun with the waves.

                                                          We love you grandma and grandpa!

Halloween

We love Halloween!  We went to our church trunk-r-treat, Meg helped run the "Fishing Pond" game for the little kids and Roman was busy wheeling around with his friends.  Afterwards, we took Roman and a friend for some real trick-r-treating in a neighborhood.  The boys had so much fun, they got spooked by a few houses, got loads of candy, and after about an hour were so tired of carrying their big bags of candy that they were passing up houses just to get to the car.  It was hilarious.  Meg and I walked the neighborhood with them and we were both wearing shoes that weren't that comfortable.  Meg actually ditched her shoes and just walked barefoot.  But, thankfully the rain held off until we were on our way home.  It was a great night.

                                           Wow--time flies by--Roman is an old man already

                                                                Meg-Tinkerbell

My two favorite people....my whole world

We are getting through this and not only that, we are living life with a smile.  I am so thankful to have my children.  They are everything to me and have helped me so much. Together, we can do anything! 

Families are forever and EVER

Another dear and precious member of our family is gone.  He was a wonderful man, so kind and always willing to do anything for anyone.  I am so thankful for forever families. I can now picture two Myler brothers in Heaven smiling, carefree and watching over their families.  Kent, you will truly be missed.  We love you!

Smallest park in the world

We took a little trip up to Portland to see Sally, who was there for a book conference.  It was GREAT to see her.  The kids swam in the pool and we got a chance to visit.  How did I get so lucky to have such a wonderful family?  On the way home we took a small detour to find a hidden gem.
YEP, this is what Guiness Book of World Records calls the "smallest park in the world"....at least we think it is.  Not sure what the definition of a park is, but hey, it was an adventure finding it in downtown Portland.  We may or may not have been illegally parked for just a few minutes while we ran the 1 1/2 blocks to get a photo. 

 

Rachelle---what can I say, but thank you a million times over.  You are an amazing sister and friend, I love you!!

Tumor Board

Tuesday morning the Tumor Board met with a team of doctors and discussed me and my diagnosis.  Both of my surgeons were there, along with radiologists, radiation docs, and a few others.  I got a call Wednesday morning from Dr. Schauer, my original surgeon.  He told me they were all happy with the treatment plan and felt that radiation was NOT necessary at this time.  YAY!  Also, I could stop taking the estrogen-blocker medicine that I have been on for the past three years.  This medicine is very bad on your bones, (I now have osteopenia), so to not have to take it is DOUBLE YAY!!  It obviously wasn't working at preventing the cancer from coming back.  So why take it??!?!

I am still going in every Monday to Dr. Christiansen to get 60cc of fluid on each side.  I think maybe one more fill up and that will be done.  Once the "desired size" is reached, I wait for a few months to do the implant surgery.  These expanders are very hard and tight.  They are stretching the skin and the muscles underneath.   Right now it feels like I have two rocks on my chest.   Kyle said it best..."it could be worse, it could feel like a porcupine on your chest."  ha ha ha ha---Yes, I believe that would be worse!!  I love you Kyle, you always make me laugh. 

I am still either jogging or walking everyday.  For the first few days after my fill-up, it is too painful to jog, so I walk.  But after that, I get back to jogging. 

Love to you all. 

Tragedy in our small town

5-week post mastectomy morning jog.....sort of

This was about right, but let me just say....it felt painful, but GREAT to be moving and to be ALIVE!