Mixed Blessings

This time of year is always so wonderful, kicking off in September. I love the Fall, usually enjoy the winter (except for driving in snow), and there are so many great holidays and times to think of and be with family.

Thanksgiving this year was pretty quiet, but really awesome at the same time. Mark and I did Thanksgiving dinner with just the two of us this year, and it was a lot of fun to cook and spend the day with him. We slept in, lazed around in the morning, did some cleaning, and cooked our "feast." We were much smarter this time than our first year (when we also did it just the two of us). Our first year, we seriously cooked enough food for like, 6 people. We made mashed potatoes with 8 whole potatoes (because you know, I eat four potatoes at a time. What were we thinking??), tons of stuffing, rolls, etc. This time, we gauged much better. I'll try to post pictures soon (doing a quick work post - man, I really do not want to be at work today).

It was so nice just to relax with Mark. I am so thankful for him. He is a great support to me, and always tries to cheer me up when I am feeling down.

That night, Mark went and camped with Linc (Hannah's husband), Linc's brother and sister-in-law. to get a new Wii (by Nintendo). Let's just say that their persevance paid off, all coming away with new Wii's. They were 1st, 3rd, and 4th in line, and that Gamestop got 6 consoles. Mark said that by this morning, there was probably 50 people waiting in line. Mark is so excited (me too, of course), and I am sure he is enjoying his day off at home playing with our new Christmas present. ;)

The reason I call this post "mixed blessings" is because I also found out some potentially bad news on Wednesday. My mom might have cancer again. She had noticed a small little pea sized lump near the same place her cancer came back last year. She went to her doctor's appt. earlier this week, and her doctor is very concerned about the spot as well. She goes in for a biopsy on Monday. We are all really hoping (of course), that it's nothing serious. She has only noticed this for the past 2 or 3 weeks (it wasn't there at her previous appointment 6 weeks ago). I just pray that it's nothing serious. She would have to go back on intra-veinous chemotherapy. She has been continuously taking the pill form since her last bout - her body reacted really well with it, so her doctor just decided to keep her on it in hopes of better staving off further recurrences. But if it is cancer, the pill obviously hasn't been keeping it away.

It just really hurts to see the possibility of her going through this again. Literally, she will have had fought cancer on separate occasions every year since she was initially diagnosed in 2004. This would be her 3rd time.

Yet as always, my mom has such an amazing attitude about it. She always keeps her chin up, and just meets it head on, doing everything she can. She is already preparing herself for the possibility of it being malignant, and having to go through treatment again. She remarked to me as we talked about it that she felt really compelled to get all of her Christmas shopping done, and her Christmas cards out much earlier this year. Now she realizes, it was probably some sort of "premonition", because now she may not have been physically able to do it.

So for those of you who still come to this little blog corner, and happen to read this - if you happen to think about it over the next few days, please keep a prayer in your heart for my mom and my family. We are all really hoping that it's nothing serious. It would be awesome if it wasn't cancerous at all, but if it is, hopefully it's easily treatable, and not spread to anywhere else. She can use a lot of prayers, and any additional ones you all could offer would be much appreciated. (:

I know I am fairly "quiet" when it comes to our blogging community, but I want each of you to know that I am thankful for you. So many of you I just always look up to as strong, caring, wonderful friends and people. Truly, there are parts of each of you I wish I could be more like. You are all such great examples to me, and I appreciate the kindess and friendship you extend to me (:

Lazy days

This past weekend, I was so lazy. And it was great. I have had a sneaking cold the past few days, that just won't become a full blown cold and get over with it. No, it's in that annoying achy, fuzzy-headed, dry throat kind of stage.

Therefore, I took the liberty of just lounging about as much as possible over the weekend. Saturday was glorious - pretty much just lazed about in my comfies, playing video games, aside from a brief trip to Wal-Mart to get a new computer desk for our new computer. (Mark and I are getting a new iMac, it's quite exciting. It should actually be delivered today, speaking of. We hope in the next year to get a video camera, and this will be great for making our own movies. Plus, with GarageBand, I can hook it up to my digital piano and make CDs - definitely want to do some cds at least for my family (: .)


Yesterday, Mark and I had to give brief talks in Sacrament Meeting on missionary work. I confess, I love it when they tell you "it only needs to be 5 minutes." I get nervous when I speak in church, and the shorter, the better. We also practiced for our Primary Program next week during our entire Primary...time? It was a lot of fun, (aside from it being a long time to keep a room full of kids sitting still - who can blame them?) and I am really proud of my class. It will be fun to do the program for all of their parents next week.

After church, I read, took a nap in our Love Sac, and played some games. Again, totally lazy afternoon. It was so nice. Now if only I could shake this cold, or just have it go all out and get it over with.

Is anyone else loving the weather today? I just wish I was home (again becoming one with the relaxation), rather than being stuck at work.

Now Playing: A100 - Billy Corgan

Gay Old Time

Friday night, my cousin Becky and I went to the Pet Shop Boys concert at the Ford Theater at the E Center. Wow, that's kind of a mouthful.

Anways, for those of you unfamiliar with the Pet Shop Boys, they have been around since about 1981. They are a British electronic music group, and my brother is the one who really got me into them (along with many other bands, including my "ultimate favorite," Depeche Mode). I think a lot of their music is so much fun, and you would probably recognize a few of their songs if you heard them, such as "West End Girls."

The venue was fairly small, and it wasn't completely sold out - so it was a fun change, after the past few concerts I've been to (which were in bigger venues, and pretty much sold out). Interesting mix of people as well. My cousin and I were a little concerned that the section we were in were going to just sit there and be boring, but finally all the people behind us stood up, so we could finally get our "dance on." I'm glad I finally had the chance to see them live.



Also, being a video game nerd, Mark and I got Final Fantasy XII last week. I have been anticpating this game like you can't believe. And so far, it is definitely not disappointing the expectations I have had for it. It is ridiculously fun. The picture above is a screenshot from the "opening movie" of the game. Since I am sure most of you are quite bored by this, suffice to say that if I allowed myself to, I could sit there and play this game all day. After day. After day. Until I finished it. But, I cannot shirk all responsibilities just to indulge myself in a fun video game. Plus, I have to share playing time with Mark, as we are both playing it separately.

Other than that, this past weekend was entirely lazy. It was delightful. Mark and I watched a movie, slept in - loved it.

Now Playing: Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again