Friday, October 14, 2011

Family Update

I realize that there are many "fans" who check our blog daily for any updates. I really hate to bore you or scare you or offend you or anything else, but I am going to try and update more often. If nothing else, for the grandmas and great grandmas to be kept in the loop! So here is a bit of an update on everyone...

Josh has been down here in Utah for the past few weeks. He has been redoing his parents' roof and adding on a new covered front entry. It is looking awesome and completely changed the look of their house, at least in my opinion. I will have to share pictures of the finished project. Annabelle and I have not been able to spend as much time with him as I would like because we are still staying down in SLC for radiation but we have been able to see him more than we get to when he is in MT!

Layla Jane is cuter than ever. I don't get to see her too much and I miss her terribly, but she is so sweet to talk to me on the phone and tell me everything going on in her 2 year old life. Usually grandma has to tell me what she is pointing at and narrate me through the conversation but I love it! She is talking like crazy and some days runs around goofy jabbering the entire time. Josh told me that she "helped" with the rock work the other day. She would pick up pieces and tell him where to put them and then measure them with a tape. Oh, I could go on and on about how sweet she is.

Annabelle had a big birthday on Monday the 10th. She is now 5 years old! I will share more about that when I have pictures to go along, but let me just say that the day was filled with lots of pink, princesses, fairies and smiles! She is still fighting hard. During radiation, her lows have been REALLY low, but that makes her highs seem even higher. When she feels good she takes advantage of it. She loves going to radiation because everyone is so good to her there. Today she took a tutu to Heather, one of the radiation techs, and Heather put it on and wore it for her. She loves those girls there and I think she will actually miss going. It will be one of those bitter sweet moments. She is set to finish radiation on next Friday, the 21st. Yay!

I am doing fine and feel like I am finally in a good place emotionally and mentally. (Physically is a whole other issue...let's just say cafeteria food, stress, and a whole lot of sittin' around is taking it's toll!) For a few weeks (ok, maybe months) I was in survival mode. Just trying to not loose my patience when Annabelle was mean and grouchy while functioning on minimal sleep was taking all I had. This last week I was able to catch up on sleep and relax and breathe during Annabelle's frequent naps and now I feel more like myself again. Fall is my favorite season and I hated being so run down during it and not able to really enjoy it. Annabelle and I took a drive yesterday up Emigration Canyon and over to Little Dell Reservoir. It was just what I needed.

The view from on top.
Down on the water.
The changing colors reminded me of our trip back east last year to see the foliage. It reminded me that life was "normal" once and it will return to that again someday. It will be a new normal, but we will make it work.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sally and Annabelle,
I can't believe that radiation is over the 21st! This has gotta feel like one of those highs you just wrote about. You and Annabelle deserve days when radiation won't be the first thing on your mind when you wake up each day. I am very excited for the end of this chapter in Annabelle's healing.
Thank you for being so willing to write about what has happened over the course of treatments. Cousin Jodi

Grandma Kroll said...

Very beautiful. I am glad that you were able to go to the mountains and recharge for the next round. I do appreciate the updates. Gotta love that Layla!