My Valentine's

We started a tradition of eating dinner by candle light. My sister-in-law Carmen gave us this idea several years ago. We loved it and have kept it ever since. We usually have heart shaped pizza, but opted for something different this year, fish sandwiches.

We had a great dinner with our Valentine's.

After dinner Aaron and I went to a movie, "Hood to Coast". It is a documentary on the Hood to Coast relay. I had fun watching it and remembering things from when I ran it in 2009. Aaron enjoyed it because he got to see what it was like. Afterwards he asked when we were going to run Hood to Coast as a family. We'll have to wait and see. We had a great night. Thanks to Hunter for being so willing to babysit and put the kids to bed.

Talent Show

Last night our ward had a talent show. Aaron and Gretchen were the only ones brave enough to be in it.

Aaron sang with some of the men from church. They sounded great.

Gretchen did a dance with the Activity Day girls. It was really cool. All of the lights were out and the girls wore all black. As you can see the used glow sticks in the dance.

Afterwards Gretchen kept saying how much fun it was. She gets really nervous before. When it is all done she realizes that she had a good time.

We had a wonderful time.

Almost Made It

Hunter's counts were almost there. His platelets were up from 44 to 83, very good. Hemoglobin were still good at 9.7. But the ANC (white cells) were .7 down from 1.2 last week. Hunter's ANC needed to be at .75 to move on with chemo. I think his white cells are down because his nose has be a little runny not much. I guess enough to make his counts lower. His doctor said even though it is so close, we're still playing by the rules. I'm all for following the rules. So we will try again on Tuesday for counts and be admitted on Wednesday until Saturday. Not ideal, but it is what it is. Here Hunter is putting together his new Lego set.

Notice his hair coming in. Hunter saw this picture and said wow I have dark hair coming in. It really is much darker than it was last July.

So excited, it's almost done.

We are so glad that he is feeling so good.

A Teenager!

Our little man turned 13 today, a teenager. When did that happen?

Hunter woke up to handmade cards and gifts from his siblings that they bought with their own money. They were so excited to give things to Hunter. Even Graham and Harrison were making cards and pictures for him. It was so cute to watch them doing these things in secret.

Hunter was also excited to have food that he would get sick eating. He has an appetite again since he hasn't had chemo for several weeks.

Hunter's dinner of choice, KFC. He loves it.

After dinner he opened one last present. It was a banana. Just kidding, Aaron put that in there as a joke. Always a jokester, that Aaron.

You can't see the present but you can see Hunter's face. He is so excited to get another Lego Star Wars set. One that isn't being made anymore.

An Dairy Queen Oreo ice cream cake was he request. A very good choice!

Getting ready for the singing.

You can see the Lego set in the background. Hunter was so excited to have Yoda, since he came in the set.

Enjoying the song.

Warming his hands by the nice warm fire all of those candles are making.

He blow them all out!

Right after we got done singing, our friends the Petty's called from Utah to wish Hunter a Happy Birthday.

Hunter had a great birthday. He did have to stay up a little late working on a science project. Luckily it wasn't too late.

Home Sick

Gavin stayed home sick today. He started to get a stuffy nose after church yesterday. By bedtime he had a headache. He couldn't go to sleep and woke me up at 11:05 pm to tell me his head was really hurting. I gave him some Tylenol and sent him to bed. He was still not feeling so great this morning. A day home couldn't hurt him. He has felt alright most of the day, but his head has hurt off and on. I think once he get a good sleep tonight he'll be feeling much better.

Another Set Back

Thursday Hunter had blood drawn in town. It is very convenient. We got a call from Doernbecher later in the afternoon. Hunter didn't pass counts. His ANC 1.7, good. Hemoglobin 9.8, also good. Platelets 44, not good. Hunter's platelets needed to be at 75 in order to receive chemo. So once again we are delayed another week. Hunter was geared up and ready for the hospital stay. He took the new in stride. "At least I'll feel good for my birthday!" was his reply. His birthday is Tuesday. Always finding the good in things. What an example! Now on to next week.

Violin Concert

Last Saturday Gretchen had a strings concert. It is so fun to see her blossoming. She really enjoys the violin. (She is in the back row in the middle of the picture.) Her violin skills have improved so much. Her brothers even enjoyed being there, for the most part.

I also forgot to mention that last week Gretchen was the star student of her class. Gretch was so excited for this. She didn't have homework and got to be first in line. Pretty important for a 5th grader.