Update...somewhat!

Well, where to begin...

Last weekend was nice having all of Kent's siblings and their families and Kent's parents all together. Friday we all got together at our place in Crossfield and had a BBQ. It was nice to have all the little cousins together and to visit with everyone and play some games. Russ slept a lot, but would come out every once in a while to visit. He said that he slept well and that when his body layed on the bed he said all he could think was, "awww this feels good." I am SO glad he was able to sleep well.

Kent, Kori, Avery and Jeff asleep on our bed Friday afternoon the day. Kori and Avery are Jeff's girls. They were exhausted from being up until the early morning hours visiting with their parents when they first arrived home. So they decided to take a nap while the little ones were napping...smart guys =)

Roel (Gary's son), Isla (Mike's daughter), Jade and Kori (Jeff's daughters)

Nieces and Nephews watching a movie together

Cole and Taylor (Sheri's son) are on the chairs and Logan (Jeff's son) is laying on the couch

We ended up having a full house with families and cousins sleeping over that didn't plan on it...which we were so glad they did! Saturday morning we had a big breakfast for everyone and called Jeff and his family and Gary and his family to come over as well (Gary was staying at Jeff's). We LOVED having everyone around like this it was great! I am ticked at myself for not taking pics during the BBQ but I was busy visiting so I didn't even think about it...oh well!?

Saturday we all headed up to Sheri's (except for Mike and family as they had to go back to Lethbridge) for the day. Sheri had made a wonderful lunch. We visited and played some games some more and then the guys watched their awful UFC fighting show ha ha. Deb and Russ decided they would stay at Sheri's the next few nights as they wanted to go to their home ward on Sunday up there in Innisfail and plus he had his Dr appointment in Red Deer on Monday.

Mondays Dr appointment with the surgeon was kind of uneventful...lot's of talking and them giving the surgeon all the results and paperwork they had from the Malaysia hospital. Of course the Surgeon wanted to look over everything and do some of his own testing and said he would get back to them. It was a LONG week as the Surgeon didn't call until Thursday. He thinks there is more cancer there than what the Malaysia Dr's caught and wants to do some more testing.

Russ also met with an Oncologist on Thursday and he "thinks" the type of cancer Russ "might" have is Renal Cell Carcinoma. I looked it up on the internet and well I still don't know what to think. We are waiting to see if any surgeons will be willing to operate on him or what the next step is. It is frustrating to say the least.

Russ has his ups and downs, but still has a good sense of humor about him. It is hard to see him like this...but we are thankful he is here and not in Malaysia anymore.

Russ and Brynley hanging out on our deck in the backyard today. It was beautiful out and the sun was shining...that is why Bryn is squinting as the sun was right in her face...but she was still smiling LOL.

And yes, that is how her hair is...I did not do it like that. I get people stopping me and asking me that question all the time...she has a natural phohawk and then that lovely swirl (cowlick) dead center on the front of her head...poor baby! ha ha Notice she isn't wearing any hair thing...she pulls them off her head now and I can't get her to leave the alone dang it! I have had many chats with her to "remind" her about the "rules" of wearing her hair things...when out in public or with company they are a MUST! ha ha But she is showing me otherwise...little turkey!

Our nieces and nephew came over this afternoon and since it was nice out we decided to put the sprinkler on under the trampoline for them. This was a first for them so they thought it was great! They of course didn't have their swim suits so we stripped them down and let them have fun anyways ha ha.

Russ and Deb are sleeping at our place tonight (Friday, May 29th). Jeff is laying his sod on Saturday and so everyone who can come help is going to be over there. So Russ and Deb wanted to be where everyone is. It is nice to have them here with us again.

They are home, they are home, they are home!

This week has been a long one for our family (OUR family meaning all of us Stanford's). We have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my in laws and they are FINALLY home. I have to say it is SO interesting how one minute they were on the other side of the world and now they are right in front of us...it is amazing how that works!

Deb & Russ's plane arrived a few minutes early (11:17 pm) last night. We were all at the airport about 2 hours early. I had bought poster board and brought crayons and felt markers for the kids to make "Welcome Home" posters to hold up. They were excited about doing that. Plus it gave them something to do while we were waiting. I didn't know if we should bring the boys or not...but there was no way we couldn't as they were just as anxious to see them as us. In the end I am so glad I did.

Cole, Tyson and Roel making their posters. Everyone else was just hanging out and visiting.

Cole's poster says "Returned with Honour" and he drew some scriptures on there and a tag with their names on it. Tyson's poster said (and I am going to spell it ALL like he did as it was cute) "I love you gus (gus meaning guys) i mist (meaning missed) you Welcome Home." He is so funny!

We were all excited to see them. We all were just focusing on keeping our emotions in check and just happy that they are coming home. They were only gone 7 months but it seems like they were gone longer as SO much has changed since they were gone. There was 4 babies born while they were gone.

We were all lined up along the little wall waiting for them to come through those doors. I had my video camera AND my camera going. So my pics aren't as good as I wanted...but some are better than none!

Waiting and waiting for them to come through those doors. It was SO late, but the kids all did so well.

Russ and Deb talking with their Bishop that came to the airport all the way from Innisfail.

When Deb came around the corner first and saw us it was a tender moment as tears began to stream down her cheeks. The boys were holding up there posters they had made for them to see. Russ was being pushed in a wheel chair behind her as she was pushing all the luggage. He too had tears pouring down his cheeks when he saw everyone. Tyson was VERY quick to jump up and go hug them.

Everyone visiting and lots of hugging going on =)

Russ and Deb are going to be staying at our house until they know where Russ will be having surgery or getting treated...whether it is in Calgary or Edmonton. I guess they have some Dr appointments lined up on Monday.

We moved Tyson downstairs so that Russ didn't have to climb the stairs. Tyson was thrilled about this as he has been wanting to have his bedroom downstairs like Cole for a while now. So Deb and Russ are upstairs and we made up that room as comfy as possible for them. We aren't sure how long they will be staying with us. In the end it doesn't matter as long as they are comfortable.

We visited with them till about 2 am. To them it was like 4 pm in the afternoon so they are really turned around time wise. It was neat to hear some of their stories. Everyone will be coming out to our place today to come visit.

Russ is pretty frail. He has lost weight already and talks so softly almost like he can't catch his breath. He coughs a lot as well. So the journey begins!

Father in law

This past Thursday we got some heart breaking health news about my father in law (Russ).

My in laws are on a mission in Malaysia...they have been there since October 2008...so about 7 months. I guess since December his back has been hurting him and he just thought it was nothing so ignored it thinking it would go away. My mother in law (Debbie) finally made him go to the Dr. Monday, May 11th 2009. Little did they know what they were going to be told.

He has cancer! It is in one of his kidneys, touching his pancreas, in his spleen, his lungs and they think it is in his back muscles too. They say it is a very aggressive cancer.

We got the phone call Thursday morning from Kent's sister Sheri. Kent was already gone to work. Sheri called him and told him the news. He was blind sided with the news of course. Sheri talked to me shortly after as I was at home and just sending the boys out the door to school. Sheri and I were crying as we talked about everything...oh, how quickly life can change! I called Kent once I hung up with Sheri and he was on his way home. He too of course was crying and shaken up.

We all were packing to get ready for our long weekend down in Rexburg Idaho....we were to be leaving that afternoon. We were going down along with Kent's other siblings and there families. All of them except for his brother Mike and his family were going to be there. We all decided to still go so we could all be together when we got the other phone call about whether it was operable & if they were coming home or staying there for treatment etc.

Telling our boys about their Papa was very hard. How do you tell an 11 year old and a 8 year old something like this? They adore their Papa! We had just picked them up early from school Thursday so we could head down to Rexburg. It was obvious something was wrong as Kent and I had puffy eyes. Cole asked what was going on as he got in the truck and looked at us. Tyson quickly looked at me and realized something was up as well. We were quiet as we gathered our thoughts and then Kent told them their Papa was very sick and might be coming home. The boys sat there quietly and then Cole said, "sick meaning what...cancer?" Kent looked at me shocked and I was shocked as well. We said yes and that it was really bad. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tyson slouch over. I looked at him and saw that he was visibly shaking and crying. He had layed his head on Brynley's car seat and cried and cried. Bryn kept patting his head...it was so tender! I rubbed his back and cried along with him. Tyson looked at me and said, "I don't want my Papa to die, tell Heavenly Father not to take him from us." That was hard to hear Tyson say. So we then talked about fasting and how the whole family (Kent's sibling and many other relatives) were all going to fast on Friday. The boys liked this idea and were excited to do it. And they did it! I was so proud of them for not complaining. It was hard to fast as we were travelling, but at the same time it wasn't as it was for such a great purpose.

Once everyone got to Rexburg (everyone meaning....Sheri and her family, Niki and her family, Jeff and family, Us and Gary and his family live in Rexburg) we went to a restaurant to eat dinner. We were thankfully put into a back room where we could shut the doors. Kent stood and said a few words and then he said a prayer to close our fast all together. We wiped our tears and went and ate. It was so amazing to be all together like this and doing all of this together as a family. We were all pretty close to begin with, but this has definitely made everyone that much closer.

I have to say the Saturday phone call we received from Debbie while in Rexburg was a tough one for all of us. Lot's of tears and hugs! It is never easy when you get news you don't want to here. BUT it so matters on how you choose to deal with it. It is what it is, so we just need to be move forward and be there for each other the best we can. We are all trying to stay optimistic and we will wait and see what happens when he comes home and see what can be done here.

I am SO thankful for the power of prayer and for the priesthood that my husband holds. It has helped bring some peace to our hearts and minds. It doesn't change anything, but it sure helps us stay focused on what is important. It has been very eye opening to say the least at how God's hand has been in all of this thus far.

They are coming home and will arrive late Thursday evening. We are very anxious to see them! And we can't wait to wrap our arms around them and help with whatever we can.

Lot's going on...

OK, so I learned a valuable lesson a couple of weeks ago...NEVER to let myself dye my children's hair again LOL!

Tyson's actually didn't turn out so bad...Cole's on the other hand...NOT GOOD! His hair took the blonde way quicker than Ty's hair did LOL. Poor Cole looked like a girl!

My kids have wanted to grow their hair out. I am not so happy about that, but I thought why fight them on it, it really isn't that big of a deal...pick my battles...right?! And in the end I figured they could see for themselves that having their hair longer is a pain and a lot of work. Sooooo... that back fired as Cole LOVED his hair longer...and we, his parents couldn't stand it!

Tyson told me Monday night he wanted his hair cut as he didn't like it anymore (YEAH).

He said, "Mom if I get my hair cut short again can I have my hair dyed?" (meaning he wanted highlights on the top part of his hair)

I thought why not this will be better than what he has now. So I agreed and he was so excited...so was I as I couldn't wait for him to have shorter hair LOL

His hair got cut, we bought some hair dye and we went home. Easy right?! Well, not when you are tired ha ha. I figured what harm can it do if I just use my fingers to brush it in on top...I mean really?? So I did just that and sent him away to watch t.v. for a half an hour as it was supposed to stay on for that long. Looking at the left over bottle we didn't really use hardly any of it. So I thought, why not put some in Cole's hair. So I called Cole upstairs and asked him if he wanted some highlights and he said yes and he was excited. I started to put it in and then realized this probably wasn't a good idea as Cole had a TON of hair and it was thick. SO I figured why not just put it all over it then and that would be quicker. And if it doesn't turn out then worst case scenario then he gets a hair cut and that would be great LOL....he wouldn't be happy about that as his hair is his big thing right now...but we his parents would be THRILLED to have his hair shorter again. =)

Cole at first didn't mind the blonde till I convinced him it was awful looking. I called my sister Becky who is a hair dresser and asked what we should do. She told my kids to NEVER let me do that to them again and if I wanted to that they should RUN! LOL Sadly, I agree! Apparently there is a lot more skill in dying hair than I thought ha ha

She told me what hair dye to buy to fix it and so the next morning I kept him home from school and we went out to Sheri's and dyed it there. Yes, I did keep him home from school because of his hair...I know! I was scared to re-dye it on my own so I had Niki and Sheri there as my support LOL We were able to get it back as close as we could to to his "natural" hair color. But it still looked not so good so we told him it needed to be cut...he wasn't happy!

Oh poor Cole!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

My 3 wonderful kids and I. I was looking back at my last years Mother's Day post when I was pregnant. It has come full circle and I love my complete little family. It is all I could have ever asked for and more. I love being a Mom! This picture was taken near the end of the day so we were a little tired. Cole and Tyson look very handsome with their new hair dos I must say =)

Hockey wind up parties

Cole's Teams Hockey wind up party

Cole's team went to the Deerfoot Mall bowling alley and had a good time there. There was pizza and pop afterwards as well. Once they were done that they handed out a couple of gifts that they got the kids.

It was this mat with there team logo on it and name and hockey number...the mat is for them to put on the floor and use in the changing room as they get changed. They also each got a gift certificate for $55 to Eastside Sports. Cole is excited about that as he wants to put that money towards new hockey gear he said.

In top right corner of all the pics is "Little Miss." She was tired as it was her nap time and it was WAY too loud in there for her to be able to fall asleep. We of course didn't have her stroller...so we went into the mall and rented one of these mall stroller things. She thought it was great. We let her sit in it for a bit and then we put her in her car seat and sat it on it and covered her up and went for a walk around the mall. She was asleep in no time and I enjoyed walking around the mall while she slept.

Cole's hockey team

We are going to actually really miss Cole's team as this was such a great year. The kids all got along great and so did all the parents. We made some great friends!



Tyson's teams hockey wind up party

Tyson's hockey team

Tyson's team went to Strathmore to the laser tag place there. They had a great time and lots of the Dad's played as well. Afterwards there was pizza, chips & pop.

They too got gifts...they each got a mat with there team name, logo, hockey number and last name on it as well...and a gift certificate to the sports shop in Airdrie. The kids were pretty excited about there gifts.

Have I mentioned how HAPPY I am that hockey is done?! ha ha

Spring Fling Dance... This is a dance that the elementary school puts on every year for families to come and have fun at. Plus each grade is taught a dance routine that they do for the parents. I have to say it was hilarious to watch. We took our niece Jade with us as she goes to the same school and she so badly wanted to be able to go do her dance as well.

Tyson and Cole had a good time with their friends there. Since Cole's grade is the oldest grade in the school they had "responsibilities" to do at the dance. Cole's job was to help hand pick names out of the draw baskets to see who won things at the end of the dance.

I went looking for Jade at one point during the dance and I couldn't find her. I started to panic since I couldn't find her...right then I looked up on the stage where the D.J. was playing the music and right where the LOUD speakers are there was Jade and her friend dancing away (bottom right picture). She is way to funny! She was having a great time on that stage.

I video taped all 3 of the kids dances. You will have to bear with me as I am still trying to figure out how to sperate the videos from being all clumped together on the downloads. So for now this will have to do. So this is the video...it is long as they are all together =) Plus it was dark in there so it is hard to see the kids.

The video start off with Tyson dancing with Bryn on the dance floor and showing her off to some friends.

Then Jade's Kindergarten class dances...so cute!

Then Tyson's Grade 2 classes...HILARIOUS!!!

Then finally Cole's Grade 5 classes...fun!

Sick baby...

Bryn has been sick, poor baby! She is doing better now, but it took over a week for her to get rid of that darn cold. I took this pic cause I wanted a pic of her with the teddy bear Kent had made for her at Christmas time. She loves this teddy bear!


Cheesy grin...

This is Brynley's "new" smile lately. She squishes up her nose and squints her eyes and smiles big...it is hilarious! She sure can make some funny faces. She almost looks like she is crying, but she isn't she is very happy in these pics LOL.


Sunday dress...


How cute is this outfit eh?! I had my sister in law Niki make a matching hair thing...it turned out so good. Thanks again Niki! Bryn's shirt says...Cuter Than Most =) Underneath her little tutu on her legs are these leggings called Baby legs...SO FUN! She wore this outfit to church.

The Flames have been extinguished...

OK, so the Flames are out of the playoffs now. BUT, it was sure fun being at the Saddledome that night of their last game. I am a week late posting this so bear with me LOL.

Kent and I before the game. I was wearing Cole's jersey.

Here is some video I took with my camera. It isn't the greatest, but it gives you a good idea of how LOUD it was in there. EVERYONE was wearing red...it literally looked like a "sea of red". It was AWESOME! The music was loud, the fans were loud there was lot's of lights and even fire...it was really fun and SO exciting being there! The atmosphere was amazing...everyone was so pumped.

If you look at the top left picture and then go down looking at the next 2 pics under it and then go to the bottom right pic and up...this is the sequence this MASSIVE Flames flag came at us. It was HUGE! It passed over our heads and everyone grabbed onto it and passed it along. It was passed all the way around the dome. It was really neat to see everyone participate!

I have to say we were pretty bummed the Flames lost. But it had to end at some point I guess. Even when we knew we were going to lose everyone in the dome still kept the cheering up. I am so glad I went. So next year I plan on going to some of the games now LOL. If you haven't experienced it...you NEED too...you are missing out!