November, December and a Cancer Survivor!

We have been so busy that is seems impossible to have a post dedicated to it all...with explanations and pictures. So instead, I am going to bullet point :)

• I turned 24. Yup. Feels really weird.
• Lance and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary with a weekend away. I feel so incredibly blessed to have that man in my life. He gets me like no one else does. He makes me feel safe and loved and I can't wait to spend forever with him. 
• We spent Thanksgiving with my family which was so much fun! We made it an entire week's worth of events with bowling, movie-going, tree hunting and cutting, and a big feast to top it off. Favorite quote of the week? "Put those away! We don't need to use those", my dad about using the fine china for our Thanksgiving feast. Oh dad, I sure love you. We also put phrases under each person's plate. The trick was to slide your phrase into the dinner conversation without anyone knowing which just amounted to unspeakable amounts of laughter. 
• I finished a few more projects: I painted the kitchen table light turqouise, painted and put up a new shelf in Crew's room (it's so stinkin cute!) and started painting our bedside tables.
• Mom finished radiation!! I cannot tell you how excited we are that she is officially a survivor. We celebrated with dinner, balloons and a cake. Her hair is starting to grow back and it looks super sassy! We are so proud of her and how gracefully she went through it all. Honest to goodness, you wouldn't have even known she was going through chemo and radiation, even if you lived with her. We love you mom! Here's to another 50 years of enjoying your giggles and love.
• We are looking forward to spending Christmas with Lance's family in Salt Lake this year with the entire family!

We feel so incredibly blessed this holiday season. Honestly, my heart couldn't be more full. Sure, the day to day stuff can be tough; cleaning, poop (need I say more?!), balancing responsibilities, making stupid mistakes again and again. But what an incredible blessing to have warm homes, loving families, and most of all to have our Savior who gave his life so that we can keep trying. He is the reason for the season.

Merry Christmas!

{head shaving party}

Mom's hair started falling out in handfulls. And instead of letting it fall out all on it's own, she insisted on having a head shaving party. YUP. You read it right. A party... and a party it was!

Dad made a mountain of crepes with berries and powdered sugar...

And Kayshia Dawn made mom's favorite cake, german chocolate.

Everyone gathered in mom and dad's kitchen for dinner much like we do for birthdays.

And then the cutting began...

There were a few tears. But mostly just laughter and giggling.

We left the mullet and bangs for last on purpose. It's a good look for her.

Have you ever seen a woman quite so happy about shaving her head? 

We love you so so much mom. Thank you for your sense of humor, for your laughter and endless love. For your ability to focus on everyone else when you are the one going through surgery, chemotherapy, and sickness. Thank you for your love and support, your eternal optimism, and for your ability to make everyone feel just about as loved as one can feel.

You are my hero.

{cancer}

Just the word alone is ugly. It's something you think will always happen to someone else. So when my mom called me to see if she could come over to talk, the last thing I expected was to have her tell me she had cancer.

Breast cancer.

The most aggressive kind.

The world stood still for us as a family. All kinds of questions going through all of our heads. Me, especially, wondering if my sweet little baby was going to know his grandma. Suddenly, it made so much sense why it felt so right to stay in Utah.

I talk about everything as if it's all better and the threat is gone. It's not. She still has chemo and radiation ahead which will both be long roads. But she had surgery yesterday and did wonderfully. Also, the surrounding lymph nodes were negative for cancer... a very good thing!

My mom is one of the most positive people I know. She has handled everything with class and humor, between the occasional tears, of course. And we have all been very touched by the outpouring of love and support from friends and family. We have grown closer as a family as we have united strong against the cancer. But we are still scared silly to lose our Matriarch. She is the glue that holds this family together and the one everyone goes to when they need some reassurance and love.

She is going to beat this. We just know it :)

If you would like to follow along with her progress, my dad has created a blog for journal entries and stories. The link is on the sidebar and is titled, "The Merrells". 

We love you mom!