What happened?

So apparently I have not been here in a while! What happened to 2010?? Has it really been a year and a half? So much has happened in our life and our family. I promise that I will be back soon with new pictures and to fill you in on our family adventures soon...but, for now, I have to head off to bed. :) Talk to you all soon!

Vacation!

We just got back from a 9 day trip to DisneyWorld in Florida! It was a surprise trip for Emily who didn't know where we were going until we got to the Disney bus area at the Orlando airport. (She thought that we were going to Atlanta, GA for a family wedding.)

She was much happier to go to DisneyWorld than a wedding! Hee, hee...

Here are some of the pics from our trip...

at Hollywood Studios

at Epcot

at Animal Kingdom

and...

with the characters!

Birthday crafts

At the party we made journals to keep summer memories and phone/address books to help with keeping in touch with friends over the summer. We also made crazy flip flops to wear over the summer. Everything turned out really cute!

Emily's 10th birthday!

Swimming @ the party!

We took the girls down to our neighborhood pool during the party. They had a good time swimming for almost 2 hours!

Memorial Day trip

Kevin and I took a day trip to Shoshone Falls for a picnic lunch over Memorial Day. The falls were low, but it was nice to finally see them.

My current journey...

So I am not going to include any pictures with this one, because honestly, you won't want to see them. I just finished have surgery this last week. It has been a long and very tiring journey that began back in January when my doctor found a lump on my right thyroid. From there I was sent in to have an ultrasound on my thyroid in February. March came and brought a pretty painful biopsy on what ended up being 2 masses on my right side. The biopsy came back inconclusive and surgery was scheduled for April 29th.

My parents came on the 28th to help with Emily and on the morning of the 29th I headed to St. Luke's for my surgery to remove the right side of my thyroid that was supposed to take about 1 1/2 hours. Well...during my surgery, cancer was found and they went back in to take out my left side and 7 lymph nodes as well. I had a terrible reaction to the anesthesia as I was waking. But, by the next evening I was able to check out and come home to recover. It has now been 9 days since my surgery and I am able to eat already, but drinking is still difficult. (Go figure!)

I went back to school on Tuesday morning and for a full day on Wednesday. Wednesday is when I overdid it. By yesterday morning, I was shaking all over and an emotional wreck. I was sent out to my car for an hour to lay down while my aide helped to cover my classroom. I left early to meet with the doctor and have my stitches taken out. My pathology report came back and it really was cancer. I was by myself at the doctor's office and what was I supposed to think? He said that there was cancer in my right side, left side, and one of the lymph nodes as well. He painfully took off the tape and pulled out the stitch and then left. At that point my emotions got the best of me and the tears started flowing. A person can only be strong for so long.

Now I will look to what is ahead. I still need to have an iodine/radiation treatment and am waiting for my new endocrinologist to schedule my appointment so that I can get done with this an move on. I am hoping that this will be a quick process, but as I am learning, things of this nature move at their own pace!

One thing that I am truly thankful for is my family and friends that have been surrounding me. I feel very loved and cared for and that means so much to me! Thank you to everyone for your prayers, food, cards, flowers, and support! I will try to update everyone as I continue to recover. Stay tuned for the rest of the drama that is my current journey...