Sophie got her first haircut yesterday at Sit Still Salon. It was the coolest little kids salon I've ever seen! Flat screen TVs at every station with cartoons, cool cars to sit in----she didn't even realize that someone had scissors and was cutting her hair! She didn't end up getting much of a haircut though---it looks the same. The stylist asked mentioned the words "baby mullet" and it scared Kim to do much. Don't blame her!

Breakfast at Mother's was amazing. Definitely a must-try when in Portland. And don't let the long line out the door scare you--it's so worth the wait!

TGIF

Friday is here! And all I want to do is go curl up in bed. I blame the weather. I don't think it has stopped raining since Wednesday. What happened to the nice weather we were having? It's amazing how energized sun can make you feel. When I was driving to work yesterday I was thinking about how much I dislike this time of the year. We usually always get a tease of really nice weather and then it's usually rainy and dreary until, well, July. Here's to hoping that doesn't happen this year!

Joe will be off work at 7:45 this morning and then he has a doctor appointment at 11:15. He hasn't been to the doctor since high school. Not even for a check-up! I'm sure that's the case with most people, but my theory is, if you're paying for health insurance you might as well go make sure you're healthy once a year. Tonight he's heading up to Tacoma so he can go skiing with his cousin tomorrow at Crystal. YAY! Oh whooops, did I just say that?! I'm just excited because my brother-in-law is going to be out of town too. Girl day tomorrow! I always feel guilty leaving him to do stuff if he doesn't have plans. Even though he doesn't care, I still feel bad. So on the agenda tomorrow is breakfast at Mother's at 10 and Sophie is getting her first haircut at 12. I'm so excited to watch! It seems like once the first haircut happens they go from being babies to little girls/boys though. She's growing up too fast!

Well, gotta scarf down my oatmeal and get going. Here's to hoping the day goes fast and the sun decides to shine all weekend!

Girl Scouts saved my day

I had been having major cravings for Girl Scout cookies on Tuesday and lucky me, two Girl Scouts stopped by work and were selling cookies later that afternoon! I was SO excited to see them! We ordered cookies from Joe's cousin in Cle Elum but I don't know when we'll ever end up getting them so I had to give in and buy two boxes. My favorite, lemon chalet cremes, and Joe's favorite, thin mints. I must say, I'm a little disappointed. Is it just me or have they gone down hill a little bit? I remember them being so much better when I was a Girl Scout and sold them! And the price! Goodness. $4 a box! I wish I could remember how much they were when I sold them. Oh well, it's for a good cause and I remember how much I loved selling them and I could tell these girls were loving it too. One guy said he was on a diet and the little girl said, "That's ok, you can just make a donation!" So cute.

It's THURSDAY! This week has gone so fast! But so slow at the same time. Can't wait for the weekend!

The best ice cream

Yesterday I made Cherry Cordial ice cream. I think it's my all-time favorite. It is so good! Or maybe it's just extra good because it's homemade. I also made a chocolate cherry cake to go with it. Perfect combo! Luckily it was my Uncle Roger's birthday so I invited them all out to help us eat it. :)

Saturday Joe and I watched Sophie for a couple of hours at our house. It was a gorgeous day and we had a blast with her. We were outside pretty much the entire time. We went for walks, watched the kids next door play----she was a little angel.

Yesterday we worked around the house and ended up taking 400 pounds of stuff to Waste Control. We had a ton of recyclables but most of it was yard waste. Felt good to get rid of all of that---and it only cost $4.00. I found it really sad to see some of the stuff people were throwing away though. Swing sets, couches---I'm sure someone could use that stuff and yet it was just getting chucked onto the conveyor belt never to be seen again.

Have a great Monday!

Oh Friday, how I've missed you!

My favorite day of the week is here again. Yay! And what makes it even better is the fact it's supposed to be 61 and sunny! We've definitely been spoiled this spring. I mean winter...

My appointment went great yesterday! My blood work was perfect and the doctor said the chance of a lymphoma coming back after two years is highly unlikely. As always, I left the doctors office feeling incredibly lucky. I still feel nauseous every time I look back and see people sitting around getting injected with chemo. SO glad that tiny part of my life is over. Forever.

Dad is out of town so Joe and I took my mom out for dinner. Joe has been craving Ichi 12 Teriyaki so that's where we went. It was delicious as always. And then we topped it off with a stop by Dairy Queen. Mud Pie blizzard. Mmmmmm. That's the first one I've had in years and now I know why. They're dangerously good!

Joe also got our new entryway bench assembled! I'm so excited about this, it makes our entryway look a lot more complete and now I can really implement my NO SHOE rule in the house. So much grit gets tracked in, I hate it. And I really hate 20 pairs of shoes laying by the front door. The bench seat lifts up so that's where all of our shoes will now be housed. Love it!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Two years ago today....

I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's B-Cell Lymphoma. I remember the day clearly. We all (mom, dad, Kim, George, Joe) loaded up in the Sequoia and headed up to see Dr. 'Chappie' Conrad at the University of Washington. We weren't quite sure what to expect. I was still in a tremendous amount of pain and unable to walk. All of us piled into the tiny exam room and waited for him to come in. I don't really remember how he said it but I don't think he came out and said I had cancer. I think he just said "non-Hodgkin's lymphoma." Never have heard of that before I didn't know what it really meant. But then he said we needed to meet with the oncologist and I would have to have chemo and radiation. So then I knew....I had cancer. I think when you're told something like this your body takes over and puts up a good defense. I didn't cry, I didn't feel anything. Totally numb. To this day, I still don't think it's really set in that I had cancer and am now a cancer survivor. It seems so surreal. I am SO thankful that I had such a good outcome. To me it was just like a fluke thing that happened. Like getting sick, it was just something I had to fight off and recover from. I think Dr. Nichols helped me be so positive about it. He has always said that the chances of it ever coming back are slim. Thank God!

When I was told I had cancer I didn't think I was going to die. The first thought that ran through my head was, "I'm not going to be able to have kids!" I've always wanted to be a mom and I couldn't imagine not being able to have children because of stupid cancer. Thankfully I found out about Fertile Hope. Because of Fertile Hope I was able to freeze eggs. It was the best insurance policy ever. I started treatment knowing that I had those in case I wasn't able to have kids.

Chances are you'll end up knowing someone in their child-bearing age that is diagnosed with cancer. If you do, please tell them about Fertile Hope. A lot of times doctors get rushed to start treating cancer without thinking about what could possibly happen to the persons fertility.

Two year check-up tomorrow!

I was shocked to hear on TV last night that President Obama smokes. This was news to me, I would've never guessed. I couldn't imagine him with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth so I had to Google image search it this morning. Looks so weird!

This past weekend was uneventful but very relaxing. We were glued to the news most of the day Saturday waiting for the Tsunami to hit Maui. Kim, George and Sophie were all there so it was very nerve wracking. Thankfully nothing came of it but it caused their flight to get cancelled. We surprised them at the airport on Sunday afternoon. It was so good to see them! Pretty sure Sophie didn't forget about us while she was gone. She's getting so big! I'm sure she'll be walking any day now.

Alright, time to go make Joe's breakfast. That's right, I make his breakfast. Only because I enjoy doing it. And it makes him say things like, "You're so wonderful..." Maybe he just says that because he knows it will get him breakfast?!