Oligodendroglioma

In 1995, my sweet mother was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor called Oligodendroglioma. With the faith, prayers, and fasting of friends and family spanning the world, coupled with the skills of many physicians, my mother was able to beat the cancer and showed our family that miracles do still happen.

Unfortunately, this last week my mother was again diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, most likely the same Oligodendroglioma. There is a 95% chance that it is the same, but that last 5% will not be confirmed until some of it is removed and tested.

It has been 13 years since she last fought the cancer, but it has been a beautiful 13 years. I was only 10 years old the last time so the memories are relatively vague. This go-around feels almost like a first time. It is a tough situation to face. Surprisingly, I am not angry and not asking why this had to happen. What is, is. At this point, we just have to turn our hearts to the Lord and trust that he will give us another miracle. I have to ask Him, what is next? And to give me the strength to move forward.

I admire my sweet mother so much for her strength and faith. She teaches me so much about life and about faith. I am praying for her and for the time we will continue to have when she beats this disease again!

This coming Sunday, July 6, our family and wards are going to fast on her behalf. I ask all of you who wish, to join in this fast and pray for my mother. Little miracles are already happening
(like the fact she got her routine MRI 4 months earlier than necessary, and that all my siblings were already planning to fly home this week for a scheduled family reunion), and with the faith and love of so many, she will have her miracle again!


If any of you wish to learn more about Oligodendroglioma, click here. This is a link from cancerbackup.org defining Oligodendroglioma, its symptoms, and types of treatments.

Delayed

Wow, the month is already half over! I can't believe that I haven't even written once yet. I'm such a slacker :)

So here's a few pics from what I've been doing.

June 6
Late night Dee's run with a bunch of friends
Brian, Missy, Racine, Kyle, Liz


Isaiah, Liz, Me, Brian, Missy


Austin had a hard time getting out of the booth so he decided to go under?!?!


What is a late night without Blue Steel?



Joe and Isaiah convince our server to bring extra cups of syrup to do syrup shots.
Do not try this as home...
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June 7
Box seats at the Real Salt Lake game!


With the Mascot, I don't even know his name! haha


We might have been high up, but we could see the action really well


With my date, Cameron

Vanessa and Eli

One of my dear friends from my childhood got married last night. It was a beautiful ceremony and dinner; and the location, Millcreek Inn, was perfect! It was so much fun to see old friends again and get to hang out with them for the evening.

Me, Sydney, Vanessa, Krissi

I was a little stressed about it this week because my date for the wedding cancelled on me 2 days before the wedding! How was I going to find a guy to go with me who would be able to get off work early enough to get to the wedding on time--and be able to dance?!?! Well, Bryce stepped in and was the best date I could have had! Such a gentleman, and a pretty good dancer too...he was actually teaching me some things!


Well, here are some pics from the wedding. Note: my camera battery was nearly dead so I have limited pictures. They're good enough that they will suffice though.

with Krissi

Melissa, me, Krissi, Sydney

Dancing the night away with Bryce

Word of the day: REDACT

Today I learned a new word...

REDACT

Pronunciation: \ri-ˈdakt\
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin redactus, past participle of redigere
Date: 15th century

1: to put in writing : frame
2: to select or adapt (as by obscuring or removing sensitive information) for publication or release; broadly : edit
3: to obscure or remove (text) from a document prior to publication or release

Not much left to read after this one was redacted!!! :)

**Definition courtesy of www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

Wedding Season... Full Steam Ahead

As many of you know, for the last couple years I have been planning weddings for brides in Salt Lake and the surrounding areas. I definitely fell in love with weddings during this time. I started out planning them on the side for friends, but then got a job last year as an official wedding planner, along with a few other titles. Unfortunately, my job responsibilities overlapped into various departments within the company so in December, I with my boss decided it would be best for the company to separate my job the way it should have been in the beginning, but this has now deprived me of participating in the wedding industry. It took a few months to transfer all the information I had to the new coordinator, but now that it's done, I am missing my love for weddings more and more.

Since I no longer have the privilege of planning weddings at work, I thought I would share some of my knowledge with anyone who happens to be getting married in the Salt Lake areas, and who happens to stumble upon my blog. I am adding links to my favorite vendors. And if you need any assistance in planning (or just finding the best vendor in your price range), I would love to assist. Just leave a comment and I'll get back to you!

PS- I am beginning to better define my job responsibilities since the change earlier this year. I am working as their Rental Manager/Prop Specialist. I have a lot of work ahead of me because my predecessors didn't care much for this end of their job (understandable when you compare it with wedding planning!) and much has been left untamed. Our items haven't been well cataloged for over 5 years. I'm thinking it will be a long summer. But once I get it done, oh... it'll work so nice! Hopefully, I'll be able to find a way to plan weddings on the side...

Take me out to the ball game

"... if they don't win it's a shame. 'Cause it's 1 - 2 - 3 strikes you're out at the old ball game!"

Last night we went to the Salt Lake Bees game courtesy of Liz's work. 4 free tickets, 4 friends, and 2nd ROW make for a great combination!

The Bees have had a great season so far. Currently, they are 33-14 and rank #1 in the PCL Pacific North League. Now, I understand this was no MLB game like the ones many of you attend in SF, Houston, etc., but hey, it's what Salt Lake has so I'm going to enjoy it! And last night we did as we watched the Bees hit about 5 home runs and win the game. It was a fun night and my friends will always keep me entertained!

And the Winner is...

David Cook!
A surprising upset! Utah native, David Archuleta, was thought to sweep American Idol, but wow, David Cook clenches the title!

Last night, Archuleta sang his heart out and it was absolutely amazing! But I must say, since a friend of mine convinced me to get sucked into this season of AI in April, I have been a fan of Cook. His sound is much more similar to the music I love and he has such and incredible ability to rearrange songs to be perfect for him. In addition, he makes this little smirk when he sings that I love!

I guess since I'm a Utah native myself, I should have just naturally been voting for Archuleta, but lets be honest... he's really young. How would he maintain his young innocence that made him so lovable if he were to win and spend the next year and a half in LA recording albums? I guess he'll probably be doing that anyway, but that will most likely change who is. I do agree that he has an incredible voice, but he's so young and his voice and image could change so drastically over the next few years. David Cook is just the more mature and substantial artist...right now. Archuleta can potentially becoming something very incredible when he's a little bit older.

More than anything, I will be interested to watch as Archuleta ages and makes a decision to serve an LDS mission or not, and how the media reacts to it. He has been such a role model thus far, that I'm sure the media will talk something about it if/when that time comes.

This year's AI contestants were very talented. I am very happy with the results of tonight and the overall fact that it came down to David and David. Go David!