Family Vacation Day: ONE

Today we headed to Cedar City. Nate is working a couple of half days out there on our way to California. The kids and I just hung out at the hotel until Nate got back. We went to dinner at a local hamburger joint, stopped at an antique store, and drove up Kolob Canyon in Zions National Park. It is only day one and I feel like this vacation is so much more fun with my kids being older, at least with the older two. They are enjoying and appreciating things a little more. They are learning to stop and smell the roses. Gavin loved Kolob. He kept pointing around and saying "mountain" "trees". Nate was kind enough to stop at an old antique store. It looked totally run down, which in my opinion, is the best kind! Belle wanted to join me, so she and I perused the store and the grounds. It was a proud moment for me. I love that she enjoyed the antiques as much as I did. Nate did not see my antique furniture visions but she totally did! We had an enjoyable day. Tomorrow we will continue on to Irvine when Nate is finished with work. It will be a longer drive in one shot than we are used to but it will be fun. I love my family. I tried some different editing techniques so some of the pictures look funky. Enjoy!

A Little Moment

I saw this today as I was looking through my pictures. I had forgotten (already) how bald and sick Spencer was. It makes me hold my breath for a minute as my heart drops into my stomach. After my moment I let out a big sigh and thank God for our blessings and health and strength. We are leaving tomorrow for our 10 day vacation to California. It has been since before Spence was diagnosed that we have been able to go as a family. We are so excited to sit on the beach and relax!

The Birthday Bash

Spencer's birthday this year was nothing short of a miracle. We all fought hard to have him here to celebrate this year! We started the weekend with a trip ALL THE WAY TO PROVO (lol) to stay in an hotel and surprise Spence with lunch the next day at Tucanos. He has been waiting and waiting to eat there since he was not able to during treatments. We had Red Robin for dinner that night and then surprised him the following day with his "surprise birthday/cancer free party". It turned out amazing! My wonderful friend Megan, the owner of Sweet Tooth Fairy made him an awesome Halo cake. We are so lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful people!

Business Endeavors

I know you are wanting pictures and I am not delivering to you! I am sorry! They will come. I just need some time. I am trying to start up a couple of business opportunities for myself and thought maybe I could use your help. I would like to start up a house cleaning/spring cleaning business. I have over 4 years of hospital grade cleaning experience and love to scrub and detail. Normal charges will be $20/hr for house cleaning and $25/hr for spring cleaning. I am going to start with a Summer Special of $18/hr and $20/hr. If you are interested or have friends and family who are interested please contact me goochymomma@gmail.com. I have yet to come up with a fun, catchy name. I would love to get ideas for names and if your idea is chosen I will give you 2 hours FREE of house cleaning. Also I am trying to launch an Etsy store. I refinish furniture and have such a love and passion for it. I have a great eye to turn junk into treasures and have a fun, unique style. I need a name for this store too. I need your help. If your name is chosen then I will give you a $50 gift certificate towards furniture. For my furniture restoration I would like maybe something with the ocean or the beach in the name, maybe an alliteration of some sort (not a requirement), and maybe something to do with "seconds" or "reruns" or something to that effect. I am hoping to start up the Etsy site soon and have some furniture to post after we get back from Calfornia the second week of July. Thank you for all of your help! You can either comment or email me at goochymomma@gmail.com

Convincing

I am having some weird emotions as I am trying to collect myself to blog again. SO MANY PICTURES! I need to journal this part of our lives, especially the happy parts, even if it just means posting pictures but my mind just screams "CANCER" when I come to this place. These are things that I do not want to push from my mind. These experiences made us strong, full of faith, humble. I cannot fear coming to this blog. Although cancer may creep into our lives again someday, I need to be thankful for these, the happy, healthy times. I need those who seek support to see the normalcy and happiness of life. I need to provide hope to those who come here to seek it. With these words of mine I try to convince myself of them. There are so many unimportant things in our lives. I have come to love and appreciate my family even more than before. I have so much love and gratitude in my life. Don't sweat the small stuff. I have an amazing husband. Our relationship is different. Renewed and bound tight. I am thankful for all of these things. It may be hard for me to journal as much as I have because of the emotions that I am trying to push aside but I am working on posting pictures. I am so thankful to you all for listening to me and feeling our pain throughout this journey. Spencer has his first post treatment scan in July. I am not feeling nervous but we always appreciate your prayers. We have all seen what your prayers have done for our family!