The Itsy Bitsy Spider....(Opps...Spiders...)

I went out on the deck this morning....and it seems....Charlotte's little ones...found our home.....(smile) They were on my plants, hanging where ever they pleased...Sorry, the spiders didn't come in clearer, but you get the idea...(smile)

Nathan

So Nathan was in our bedroom and he found something pretty....

A Little Bit of Nathan

Ok so my camera skills are not the best!

A Little Bit of Nathan II

Us Again

A new side to Sam... he put on my mascaraRachel's first pig-tail hairdo

LATEST REPORT of the Saga of Garvin Smith

The blood tests looked good today. Next Friday I meet with my oncologist and he will schedule another PET scan. Those results will determine my fate!

On another note, while perusing through my file at the doctor's office, I happened upon the "financial" tab. Here I noticed what the doctor pays for the chemo, and what the insurance allows for payment. Not a big difference there. What was surprising was that the Rituxan, used to target only the B-cell lymphocytes, and is a relatively new drug, costs $5,800 per dose! Cytoxin, a fifty year old chemo drug only cost $250. Since I had eight doses of Rituxan, that runs to $46,400 for that treatment alone!

Wow.

More to come.

Our FIRST YOUTH CONFERENCE - in Montana

Maybe, you are getting tired of seeing the "Holy Griddle" but, this was our FIRST YOUTH CONFERENCE to cook for...It was for 3-Stakes and we fed over 400 PLUS...people at this conference...We are so so grateful for Abraham to take time out to come help out...plus...all the NEW HANDS that helped make this part of Youth Conference...a success...There is NO WAY this could have been accomplished without ALL the "many" hands...."Many hands make LIGHT WORK"...but, I will say this...we still were quite tired at the end of each night...

 Garvin was in heaven...He got to use his trailer

for the first time...It was so FANTASTIC

not to have to come home and UNLOAD

everything into the garage! (smile)

After building shelves, etc. he was able to

organize for he event.

Don't you love the sign?

They had to rope off the area that the

"griddle" would be...(smile)

 You can see how Garvin has organized the "tanks"

chairs, coolers, and tables, now.

Abe and Garvin cooking the chicken

for the fajitas...

 Killdeer - protecting his eggs

This male and his bride had laid their eggs 

right near where the griddle was set up.

Everytime someone walked outside

the male protected the eggs...

and the female would

protend it was hurt...

and try to lead you away from the nest.

Sad thing was...the very LAST day

some kid walked right on top of the eggs

and destroyed them.  They were on the verge

of hatching...

 

 

Ideas for Father's Day

Below are a few ideas for Father's Day:

Darry Pierce's Visit - Part II - Glacier National Park

I wanted to post the second part of our visit with Darryl...We went to Glacier National Park! It doesn't matter...what the weather is like...this park is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! A MUST see when you all come to visit!!!

 Darryl taking in the beauty that is all around him

Abraham joined us for a few days...

 Garvin and Abe

Abe constantly "goofing" off while I tried to take his picture!

Great spot for some Father and Son time

Garvin and Hyrum

I LOVE flowers...

especially "wild" flowers

Garvin, Abe, and Darryl

 "17" year old - living on the "edge"

Best not to "comment"

Great place for two brothers to spend

time together...

Glacier National Park

 Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park

 Glacier National Park

 Glacier National Park

 "2" ducks - white water rafting - without a raft...

It was funny...watching them float down the river

Check out this great MSN Video: Touching Soldier Homecomings

Check out this great MSN Video: Touching Soldier Homecomings
Brought a tear to my eye.

Since Joel is too excited to keep quiet, I'M PREGNANT! only 5 weeks along, I know too soon to announce but oh well. I have my first doctors appointment next Wednesday, I will keep you up-dated! CRAZY!

Our Second Florida Family Visit - Our Brother - Darryl Pierce - Part 1

There is nothing like FAMILY visiting...We had the joy of having Darryl Pierce come stay with us for almost a week.  Darryl is currently staying in Oregon to receive treatments for his prostrate cancer...Being so close to us, it enabled him to come see us by TRAIN!!! One day, I would LOVE to take a TRAIN ride throughout these beautiful mountains...We picked him up at the WHITEFISH TRAIN STATION...It was just like in the movies...Train stations haven't changed much...It was AWESOME!!!

I took over 100 pictures while Darryl was here...so, now comes the hard part in deciding what to post here on the blog...

 Since Darryl and Garvin are both taking CHEMO

they were often "cold"...so you would find 

them both often wrapped up in blankets...

We took a couple of trips...One trip - we went to "Hungry Horse Dam"...It seems our lot for the week was rain and overcast weather.  But, we still ENJOYED the BEAUTY of the country...

Got to LOVE this PICTURE!

Garvin, Mama, Darryl

"Hungry Horse Dam"

Notice this time - Garvin has his COAT on instead of 

his "Hawaiian shirt"...It was much colder when

he was in his "shirt" than this time - but CHEMO 

has changed all that...

What can I say - Hyrum is still a "teenager"!

Garvin and Hyrum made the "7-layer" dip

for our trip - so we had a little picnic

and found a spot to eat and enjoy

the countryside...

Little water fall near the dam...

We had our picnic at this spot

Hyrum loving the nature of this country

I loved this picture - taken on the other side of the dam

Loved the way the clouds were reflected 

in the water...

Yum...great 7-layer dip!!!

Hyrum off "investigating"

I am going to make this week's events into 2 or 3 parts...Like I said...I took over 100 pictures...and need to decide how I want to display this wonderful week with our Brother Darryl!!! Next post will be our experience in Glacier National Park....TRULY...one of the most BEAUTIFUL places on this earth!!!

Four-Wheeling Accident

So mom wanted me to write it up so here it goes:

I was in a ATV accident where I totalled the four-wheeler and nearly died but didn't. So yeah. That's the watered down version because I'm not in the mood to write a lot about what happened. I'm just to lazy to do that. If you want to hear the story then call because i'm not writing it (that would take way to much effort).

But on a totally different note, here's another "Randomness" picture of mine. Who do you think would win?





For those who don't get it, that's Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh vs. Calvin and Hobbes.

The Living Saga of Garvin Smith - Are you Dying to Read It? Part 15

Wednesday I started my third (and hopefully final) full chemo three-day regimen of Ativan, Decadron, Cytoxan, Fludarabine, Aloxi, Benadryl, Tylenol, Zantac, and Rituxan). One month from now I will get the PET scan to determine my fate. My oncologist is optimistic that I will only need "maitenance" Rituxan treatments in the future, even though my first scan is the worst lymphoma scan he has ever seen.

While Rituxan targets and causes the death of B-cell Lymphocytes, Cytoxin and Fludarabine work by damaging the DNA strands of all fast growing individual cells. The mutant clone cells (bad cancer cells) produced from the translocated 14th gene cannot repair themselves and they die. Normal cells produced from the 18th gene are able to repair themselves and they live on. Eventually, after modern medicine (per Elder Oaks in April 2010 General Conference) lowers the count of mutant clone cells enough the normal good cells can do their job and keep the mutant clones in check.

Hmmm. Sounds surprisingly similar to the blessing I received from John Cyrocki in January 2010. During that blessing of health, the good cells were commanded to “rise up like the stripling warriors of Helaman and destroy the bad cells” in my body.

God has blessed me. Mostly with so many caring friends. I can now testify that God has increased my charity, because of your support and good example! He has shown me how I must live. Another hymn is growing on me. "Because I Have Been Given Much", was never a big favorite of mine, but last Sunday as I sang the words, the eyes of my understanding were opened and I "saw" more deeply than ever before this truth: "Because of thy great bounty Lord each day I live, I shall divide my gifts from thee, with every brother that I see, who has the need of help from me." I realize more that ever that my bounty does come from God, but that as a gift from Him, it is my responsibinity to share it with my brothers and sisters who stand in need.

See you in a month! . . .

We BROKE Ground....

One of my dreams...was to have a HUGE BERRY PATCH...It will take a few years to build it up...but, today, we BROKE ground...We planted "20" Raspberry plants: 10 - Killarney Raspberry and 10 - Caroline Raspberry.  VERY EXCITED!!!  However, we do NOT have a rototiller, so we had to do it the OLD-FASHION way....with a shovel...(smile)  So, when you all come to visit...over the next several years...we should have some WONDERFUL RASPBERRIES to eat FRESH!!! (or frozen - depending on when you come) (smile)  I would like to add other varieties of BERRIES...blueberries, black berries, goose berries...etc.

Garvin "rototilling" by shovel

I did not get a picture of Hyrum, but he finished digging out this row and did the second row

Completed - thus far...

Someone had removed these rocks from the field BEFORE we moved here...

Some of the rocks WE had to REMOVE

Another angle of the pasture we chose to plant in...

Garvin chose the site for the berries - that are WAY in the corner...

He said it was the best ground - but, it will be a walk for now...

Eventually, we will continue to ADD more rows and develop this entire pasture.

This is only ONE of our pastures.

But, know...FLOWERS and my HERBS

are, also, slowly finding new resting

spots around our home

LOTS OF WORK to do BEFORE it will look like I envision...

YEARS of work - but for now, I am EXCITED

over small patches to work in...(smile)