Best week ever! Things we are happy about...

1. FINALLY having our own house! We moved in on Friday and LOVE it!

2. NO MORE CHEMO! I was down to 6 on Monday and recieved my last shot.

3. Baby E is coming to town! Who cares about Santa when this little squish face of a nephew is coming on Christmas from Texas. (Oh, and we are excited to see Eddie and Mary, too!)

4. D-A-D... I haven't seen my Dad since October. His flight gets in tonight. What a good christmas present.

5. Christmas. There is not a better time of year. I love the Holidays, I love the music, and I love being with my family.

I hope everyone has a good Christmas, and remembers what it is really about. ( Yeah, we know it's not about new houses :) But hey, we are still excited, and that is okay, right??)

Tagged by Brit

8

8 TV shows I love to watch:

The Office
Grey's Anatomy
The Hills
Law & Order SVU
Design on a Dime
Friends
John & Kate Plus 8
Ugly Betty

8 Favorite Restaurants:

Royal India (Chicken Tikka Masala)
Olive Garden
Cafe Molise (Where we ate on our engagement night)
Ruth's Chris Steak House (Only been there once)
Costa Vida (Mango Chicken Salad)
Pace's (AMAZING onion rings!)
Chili's
Robintino's

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:

Picked up Jess from the airport
Filled up my tank for $25! Holy Crap!
Made gucamole and frosting while my mom made pumpkin cake and cookies
Hosted Shay Crump's bridal shower
Watched BYU play their worst game EVER
Read about Obama's family in people magazine
Brought Kyle some food at work (at 11 pm... I hate sleeping alone when he works night shifts!)
Got into sweats and cuddled with Phebes


8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:

Getting my last chemo treatment
Moving in to our new house
Seeing my Dad and nephew at Christmas
Getting the green light for baby making!!!
Visiting my fam in June in the Cayman Islands
Finishing my master's project and graduating
Finishing my first year of teaching, so I can start over again and do it RIGHT next year!
Seeing Twilight on Monday

8 Things On My Wish List:

Visit Europe
Have the next pregnancy be normal, healthy, and successful
For Kyle to always be happy
Be able to influence my students' lives (unrelated to English)
A couch, fridge, table & chairs, t.v..... I don't even want to think about buying all of that stuff!!!
Another pair of Ugg boots... to go with everything that my black Uggs don't! (Kyle hates my Uggs. But he is the one who bought them for me!)
To be a REALLY good English teacher... right now, i'm just trying to survive!
To have people describe me as "laid back"... yeah right! I am a stress case.

8 People I tag:

Pee
Jess
Nicole
Allison
Erika
Shauna
Ashley
Mary

Grannies, Hair, & Chemo!

My nephew is the cutest little baby! Look at all of his fuzzy hair! Here are my parents, now officially Granny and Gramppy!

A really sweet thought came to me... Our first baby was due within days of Baby E. I just know that he knew our little baby. I don't know why, but I feel like they were little buddies. Every time I see him, I think of our little baby that we lost and am glad that s/he had such a cute little friend to play with up there :)

Speaking of babies...

I had chemo yesterday... I am down to 347 for my hcg level. That is REALLY good (down from 1,500 the previous week and 68,000 a month ago... getting closer below 5). Once I am below 5, no more chemo and 6 months to wait until we try again! So probably June :)

Boston

I feel so grown up! The English department at the school where I teach was sent to Boston for a conference. So, here I am! We haven't seen much, but I wanted to post a few cool things in the city. (By the way, it is FREEZING!!!!)There is a very cool Holocaust landmark right in the middle of one of the streets. This quote was engraved on the wall.

This is Paul Revere's house! Supposedly, he didn't really warn about the British coming... but he did go for a horse ride.

The city is so beautiful in its own quaint, historic way.

Another homage to Paul Revere... Kristy, Lisa, and I.

Mike's Pastries... The biggest, most delicious eclair I have ever tasted!

December 15th!

Currently our closing date is Dec. 15! We are so excited to move into our new home :)

Aunt Kelli and Uncle Kyle

We are officially Aunt and Uncle! Last night my sister-in-law, Mary, gave birth to Edward Layton Grampp IV. My brother is actually a Dad! Little Eddie is the first Grandbaby, and we are so excited to have him in our family! I just wish that they lived here, so I could cuddle that cute new baby!

My cute brother, a Daddy!

Mary and her little bundle of joy.

Like Kyle and myself, Eddie and Mary experienced several losses before having this baby. Looking at their experience really gives me hope, because I see that even when you have problems in the beginning, a healthy baby can be the end result! I am so happy for this new little family :) We love you guys!

Our Exciting Adventure at Huntsman Cancer Hospital!

We sure had a crazy week! I will give you the details and try not to ramble on, how's that?

On wednesday I was taken to the ER at University Hospital because I was losing so much blood. I had a CT scan the night before to see exactly what had been going on in my uterus, so while in the ER I was told what the results were...

The cells from the molar pregnancy had grown back, and had turned in to an "invasive mole". Translation: The placetal cancer had seeped through the walls of my uterus. Also, the radiologist noticed some small tumors in my lungs, most likely stemming from the cells in my uterus.

While in the ER, I was given a test to see how much blood I lost. Turns out I was severely anemic; normal score is 40 and I was at 21. So, lucky me, I got to have a blood transfusion! (My nurse was pretty funny. I asked "How do I get the blood?" And he said "You have to drink it." :) I am totally Bella!) I got 6 units of blood; the scary thing is, you only have 8 in your body!

I then got an MRI to get a closer look at how far the cells had spread.

Then I was admitted to Huntsman Cancer Institute.

The next morning, the nurse helped me up, and I was bleeding worse than ever. The nurse was freaking out; even I hadn't ever seen that much blood before except on Law and Order! The oncologists came down and decided to do surgery to remove what they could in order to stop the bleeding.

The next day I got my first dose of chemo, and my adventure at Huntsman came to an end that afternoon. The good news is the chemo should kill everything within 8-10 weeks, and I won't loose my hair! :)

House Pictures... Finally!

Headshot :)

Walking in to the Great Room, Nook and Kitchen.

Future Fireplace... and home of Kyle's "50 inch T.V."... (Unless I have anything to say about that!)

Nook/Great Room

Kitchen

Backyard view! We won't have anyone behind us... yet.

Bedroom... I'm so excited!

Covered patio that Kyle finally talked me in to... I'm glad we did this now, but I was reluctant at first.

Spooky!

BOO!

Kyle's mom bought a Halloween ginger bread house for us to decorate. For some reason, Kyle and his dad are freakishly talented at decorating candy houses!

I don't know what is spookier... the haunted Halloween castle, or the monster with the crazy hair! Phoebe makes one cute Halloween Monster!

This picture made me laugh :)

The Exciting, the Sad, the Bad

Because I have been teaching, I have not had a lot of time to post. However, there are a few things that are newsworthy that I need to share!

1. My Dad got a job in Grand Cayman island, and he moves there in a week! My mom and little sisters will be moving there in January. I am going to miss them so much. The only plus? I now have a new vacation home in the Caribbean!

2. We had our "Four Way" inspection (yes, that is what they call it :) on Thursday of last week. Everything looked great, and they will be putting up sheet rock tomorrow. Our house will be done in the middle of December.

(Once I find my camera, there will be a picture of the house!)

3. I had my HCG levels tested, and unfortunately they went from 6,000 to 18,000. NOT good news. My doctor is in Germany, so I will be meeting with her when she gets back to discuss what we do next. My body has probably made more molar tissue. (see previous posts).

In a nutshell, our lives right now are full of surprises. I just keep telling myself that everything happens for a reason, but sometimes it feels more random than planned!

Shoes, handbags, and free shipping...OH MY!

If you like shoes and handbags as much as I do, then you HAVE to go to this website.

www.endless.com

They have thousands of shoes and handbags, both cheap and expensive. Also, they offer FREE OVERNIGHT SHIPPING on most items!

And, you can search in the coolest ways. When you find a shoe you like, you can zoom in and see a perfect, up-close picture of it. Also, you can return a shoe for UP TO 1 YEAR after you buy it!

Sorry Nordstrom, your customer service has been beaten!

And the magic number is...

3,000! My HCG levels were only at 3,000 on Tuesday. For some perspective, pre-surgery they were at 350,000! So they have dropped A TON in the last two weeks. And like I said in the last post... I need to get to ZERO and stay at ZERO before we can even think about conceiving... so I am getting closer! :) Good news!

Time to start waiting...

Today I had a doctors appointment and was told that I in fact had a Molar pregnancy. This means that an egg was fertilized, but for some reason it did not contain any genetic information. My body started growing molar tissue, and as a result my HCG (pregnancy hormone) levels skyrocketed into the 300,000's. In a normal pregnancy, I should have only been around 30,000.

Unfortunately, after you have this kind of pregnancy, you can't get pregnant for a while. I have to get my blood drawn every week to make sure my HCG levels are going down. If they rise, or stay the same, this means that my body is making more Molar tissue. This is why we can't get pregnant right now, because if we were, my HCG levels would go up. If my levels went up, we couldn't be sure if it was because of the molar tissue or because I was actually pregnant. If my body makes more of the tissue, it can turn into cancer. But I have decided that this is NOT going to happen to me :)

Once I get to "zero" HCG level, then we have to wait six months before we even try getting pregnant again. This is sad for us, but I guess that I can have something to look forward to: getting to zero and then staying at zero for six months! I will let everyone know once I am at zero!

In Remembrance...

I will never forget this day. I was a sophomore in high school. I can still remember going to my 1st period math class and watching the tragedy live on CNN. It was the first time that I realized my freedom and safety was not inherently given to me, it was something that our country fights to protect every day.

As I was remembering September 11th, I realized that when the attacks of September 11th occurred, I was the exact same age as my students that I teach are now... I am showing this to my students tomorrow in remembrance of September 11th. Go to this website:

http://www.woodyulmer.com/prayer.html

It made me cry.

A rough week

I want to express how much I love Kyle and both our families.

This past week we went through another miscarriage and I had to have surgery as this pregnancy was possibly a 'molar pregnancy', a very rare but life-threatening occurrence.

Sometimes it is hard for me to understand why things like this happen. I never thought that we would be one of "those" couples that have a hard time conceiving a healthy baby.

One thing I know for certain, you really do grow closer together when life breaks you down. I really don't believe that god makes things like this happen, but I do think that he is the reason you make it through.

Thank you Kyle for all of your blessings, prayers, and for letting me keep you up late while I cry it out. When we do finally have kids, I know that all of this will feel like it was worth it, and our kids will be lucky to have a strong dad like you :)

Happy Anniversary

August 16th was our 2 year anniversary. I can't believe it has already been that long, it feels like we are still newlyweds!


I want to write down some of my favorite things about Ky, and also share some random pictures of us:



1. He leaves really early every morning for work (5:15 am), but he gets up early enough so that he can cuddle with me for a few minutes before he has to go. He always puts a blanket over me so I don't get cold, too! ( I know it is cheesy, but true and so cute!)

2. He sings in the shower, and he is really good! I sneak in and listen to him sometimes.

3. He knows everything about sports, and not just the basics. Ask him where a new player for BYU went to high school, ask him where all the Jazz players have played, and he has an answer for you.


4. He has a lot of random knowledge. I am like a little kid always asking him questions, and he somehow always knows the answer.

5. Kyle loves kids! When we were dating, we used to babysit his little cousins for FUN! Little kids love him, too. I always knew he would be such a good dad, which is one reason I wanted to marry him. I can't wait until we have our own (except it will suck that I am never going to be the favorite, with him around!)

6. It is really hard to be in a bad mood around him. He can always make me laugh. Even when I am trying to be grumpy, he somehow gets me to smile :)

7. Kyle is such a hard worker. Everything he does, he does it 110%. I wish that I could work as hard as he does, but I just don't have that kind of work ethic!

Love you, Ky! Happy Anniversary!

Home Sweet Hole

We had our final meeting with our home builder on Tuesday, and the next thing you know... Viola! They are digging! I drove by today to check it out.

Luckily the team was hard at work! I think the guy was a little wierded out that I was snapping pictures of him digging, but I am so excited so I don't really care if he thinks I am crazy. Here is the sight of our future home, which will hopefully be finished by Christmas!

In other news...

I finally got my Twilight book in the mail today! I preordered it a few months ago, and it just barely came. So now I will probably be hibernating for the next week while I read the book (sorry babe!).

And for all of you Jacob lovers out there... I am going to make a T-Shirt that says:

Team Edward

Just to spite you!

Allie and Bobby's Wedding

My big sis Allie married Bobby on July 25, 2008 in the Salt Lake Temple. It was so much fun to be able to watch them get sealed! She usually does everything before me, but this time we switched. I am so happy for them!

My cute sister Carli got to come home for the wedding (the one right next to me). She lives in NYC and is attending AMDA, a musical theatre school. We got a pic of all the sisters, and our Daddy of course, at the wedding dinner. What a lucky Dad, see how many weddings he still has left to pay for?

I love my cute hubbie. He is so much fun to look at because he is so H-O-T! We had fun at Tuscany for the rehearsal dinner the night before.

After waiting a while for both of them to get changed, Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Bourne make their grand entrance!

Allie and her best friend Erika. Allie's hair was so pretty!

Allie with Bobby's Grandpa. She has married into a really great family!

Erika and Bria

The K Brown Fam!

We used to be the Grampp girls... not anymore by name, but ALWAYS by heart!

The Grampps, Browns and Bournes!

Dancing with her Dad

Kelli, Summer, Holly, Cheyanne, Mom, Mary, and Carli. Mary is 6 months pregnant! You can't even tell. Her dress hides her cute little bump.

Summer thought this was HILARIOUS! Goofin off in the brides room... Made entirely of mirrors.

A long, sweaty day... We let the groomsmen come into the bride's room and drink our cold drinks!

Don't worry, it is water, not alcohol... Some of the fanciest water I have ever seen.

I was obsessed with the dessersts. I had about 20 of the little chocolate raspberry mandarin orange truffles. They were amazing.

Kyle and his mom

Dancing...

Cake fight!

Sending them off with some fire!

The bride and groom are gone... but the party is just starting!