Mother's Day Dinner

Alex's cousin who has a house out in Tremonton invited all the family over to her house on Mother's Day for a family dinner and family home evening. It was really alot of fun. Not everyone in Alex's family on his mom's side who was at this party is LDS or active LDS so the fact that we had a family home evening together was really neat. Alex's cousin Mike (Return Missionary) gave the lesson and bore his testimony and it really touched me. The food was great too: carne esada, beans, rice, pico de gallo, homemade salsas, etc. I love it when the Mexican side of the family throws parties cuz the food is fabulous and the people are even better! I LOVE OUR FAMILIA!!! The picture above is of Alex and his cousin's little girl Lilly. She is so stinkin' cute and just loves Alex to pieces!

This is Alex's cousin Linda. She got bored at the party and wanted to play a good game of solitaire I guess!

This is Mike and Raquel. Mike is Alex's cousin just a few months younger than him and he was just married in November. They are 6 months pregnant with their first son! We hang out with these 2 at least 2 nights out of the week if not more. We even sleep over at their house when we throw all nighter movie marathons! It's great! WE LOVE THEM!

Of course this is us...

Mike and Lilly again

Nene and Obed just chillaxin on the couch. Nene is just a close family friend and Obed is Alex's uncle. (Mike's dad)

Mom and Dad Nelson and then Alex's Aunt Claudia in the back!

Will (Alex's brother), Alex, and his Aunt Leite (Mike's mom)

Boomer

We have been loving this beautiful Spring weather recently. We have been taking Boomer to the park every weekend to let him stretch his legs and get some fresh air. We feel bad that we work all the time and he has to stay at home in the bedroom by himself. He gets soooo excited to see us every day when we come home for lunch or come home from a full day of work. In fact, sometimes he gets TOO excited and piddles! Its kind of funny! I love that little boy!!! Anyway...
Here are a few pictures from this last weekend at the park. We don't have any pictures showing this, but he is the worlds best dog at fetch I swear. We never taught him this formally, he just loves to run and get things and then drop then perfectly in mommy's hand so I can throw it again. I got him a cute doggie tennis ball that he runs after and let me tell ya.....I don't think that thing will ever get old to Boomer!
He's so stinkin cute! We haven't really noticed him growing anymore but then again we see him EVERY day so maybe you have noticed he's gotten bigger. He's a strong healthy little boy!

I LOVE MY BABY BOOMER!

I LOVE MY MOM AND GARRETT!!!

Since today is Mother's Day AND Garrett's birthday, I want to do a shout out to both of them! Let's start with mom:

Top 10 reasons I love her:

1. She is the best gift giver ever! She always gets you something you need/want!

2. She is a great cook!

3. She has a testimony of the gospel and shares it often

4. She raised 5 AMAZING children who still love and respect her after all these years

5. She is all of our #1 Fan. She was always the one cheering for us in the stands at the top of her lungs during our sporting events and the one yelling at the refs! (takes after grandma Moore!)

6. She is the sweetest grandma. My future children are so lucky to have the love of a grandma that is endless and so compassionate

7. She is the most generous person I know. She would rather you get seconds at dinner time than her have anything!

8. She has the coolest laugh. It's very contagious!

9. She has a beautiful smile! I look forward to seeing my mom cuz she will give me a big grin when she hugs me!

10. SHE LOVES ME! "There is not a greater feeling than to love and be loved in return"

I love you mom! You are the best mom anyone could ever ask for! I know sometimes we have our moments with each other but you still put up with me and love me anyways! I am so lucky to have been raised by such a wonderful, beautiful, amazing, and strong woman like you! You are such a great example to me. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Next is Garrett. He turns 18 today! For some reason, I always and forever will just see him as my little 10 year old brother. I know he's not but....Let me tell you, even before all this cancer crap hit him all of a sudden I knew Garrett was special. He was always so chill and relaxed, always happy, down to earth, easy go lucky, and had the "come what may" attitude. I always wondered how a 17 year old could love life so much and have everything turn out the way he wanted all the time! I started analyzing his characteristics sub conciously and came to this conclusion as to why everything with him was the way it was: It's because he chooses the right ALL the time, he follows the rules, he has never ruined my parents trust that I know of, and he has a testimony of the church that radiates off of him 24/7! Then it hit....cancer....How could something so horrible be a part of Garrett's life when everything else was so perfect??? Then I remembered what I've been trying to tell myself alot lately to help me deal with all my infertility stuff: "Heavenly Father would never deal us cards we couldn't play. He would never give us trials in our life that we weren't strong enough to handle" and it HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS! Of anyone in our family, I think Garrett is the one strong enough to get through this and he will! He is my bright and shining star. He is my hero. He has taught me so many life lessons these past couple weeks since he was diagnosed that I will NEVER forget. He is such an amazing example to me of fighting till the end and giving life everything you got. He is honestly the srongest person I know! I will never forget his attitude through all of this. He will come out of it, he will pull through, he will survive, and he will always and forever be my hero because of it! I love you Garrett! Happy 18th birthday!

Family Support

We freakin rock! Livestrong FOREVER!

I LOST 10 POUNDS ON THE CHEMO DIET!

YES these are REALLY Garrett's pants! He lost all that weight in just the first 10 days of Chemo!

Baldies!

BEFORE!

HALF WAY!

CHECK IT OUT!

PARKER DID IT TO TO SHOW HIS SUPPORT!

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!
LOOK AT THOSE WHITE HEADS!

Garrett Made It To Senior Prom!

Garrett was feeling well enough to go to Prom with his BEAUTIFUL date Paetyn!

The "famous" Prom picture!

Eating dinner with their group before the dance

Like Father like Son

Garrett and Parker

Of course, my favorite picture of Garrett and I!
Mother Son dance at Promenade

Garrett and Paetyn being recognized at Promenade! They looked so great!

Taking a break from all the dancin' and sportin' a cute smile for the camera! Isn't he so handsome?

Livestrong!

I came across these pics from a gal's facebook page that is Garrett's age at school. For those of you that don't know, Burley and Minico are ARCH rivals. BUT in the face of adversity, this time being Garrett's cancer, they have come together. Just typing this brings tears to my eyes! Notice the homemade arm bands that BOTH teams are wearing. They are yellow like the Lance Armstrong Livestrong bands and they say G-5 for Garrett! What an amazing thing! I love how Carli added the color affect on the second one. It makes it look so much more meaningful that it ALREADY is! Thanks Carli!

WOW!

More pics of G-Baby in the hospital

Here are a few more pics from the hospital. Garrett will be release on Thursday morning if everything goes well! YAH!

Sportin' one of the new Beanies his girlfriend Peyton got him and doing what he does best: X Box!
Lucas and Garrett getting in their bonding time
Four of G-Baby's favorite girls and one of his favorite nephews!
Garrett and his girlfriend Peyton. Isn't she just a doll? She bought him a HUGE coloring book and crayons so when she came to the hospital in SLC to visit, they sat and colored for awhile and had a great time! What a sweetheart!

Snugglin with my little bro!

Garrett and his best friend and team mate Sam Harris

Garrett receiving his does of Chemo Therapy for the day. The chemicals they put inside his body to kill the cancer is so toxic that if it gets on his skin it will burn him so the nurse administering it to him has to be all decked out with gloves and apron so she doesn't spill on herself or Garrett's arm. Crazy...

Mama Lyons and Garrett just trying to stay positive!

Fresh Strawberry Pie

I've been wanting to make a fresh strawberry pie since I started seeing strawberries on sale! They are like $1 a carton now and I LOVE IT! Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits along with rasberries but FRESH strawberry pie is even better! Looks pretty good huh?

G-Baby Pics

I apologzie for posting some of these pictures that were already posted on gbabybattleback.blogspot.com but I couldn't resist putting them on my personal Blog as well! The first picture is what Robyn (with the help of Katelyn and I) filled out for the nurses to get to know G-Baby better! Of course we were sarcastic through the entire thing pretty much, but hey....we had to get Garrett while he was down! :)

These beautiful flowers were delivered to the hopsital (I beleive) from the Cassia County School District. They are still in full bloom and have made the hospital room smell so nice this entire time! You walk in the door and the smell of them overtakes your sense of smell!

As you can imagine, G-Baby gets ALOT of sleep while he can. He's been sleeping relatively good at night with all the pain meds and all that. During the day he'll break for a nap between visitors, meals, etc. Especially right now, he's starting to get EXTRA sleepyt because the chemo is breaking down his immune system which tires him out. Poor kid....those hopsital beds aren't comfy let me tell you! Each of us sisters have been taking turns snuggling with him in there and it never lasts long because the bed sucks!

This is one of my favorite pics of Garrett and I this week (there were PLENTY of them!) I love laying with him in the bed and either watch him play X Box, watch a movie, or just talk. He's such a good sport! He's been so respectful to all the doctors, nurses, and CNA's. They all just love him to pieces. They said they love getting assigned to his room because he's young enough to actually talk back and NOT on his last breath! Most of the patients on the cancer floor are like wayyyyyy old and grouchy! You know Garrett: smiley, happy, go-lucky, outgoing kid!

Blog

We have created a Blog for Garrett called "G Baby Battle Back". Whenever we get updates we will post it on here. PLEASE feel free to leave us comments, post stories about Garrett, ask questions, ect. We would love to hear from all of you! Thanks again for all your love and support through this horrible time in all our lives. Garrett loves all of you and says thank you from the bottom of his heart! THANKS GUYS!

gbabybattleback.blogspot.com

Update

The main doctor (oncologist) came in a few minutes ago and gave us this update: he doesn't need to have surgery to remove the tumor until after chemo which will be in 3 to 4 months because they are extremely worried about the blood clots! He actually starts the chemo on Friday and that will be for 5 days straight and then be released from the hospital here in SLC on either Tuesday or Wednesday. He will finally get to be in his own bed and let me tell ya: HE IS STOKED ABOUT THAT! The doctors said he hasn't seen anything like this case in 10 years but there is still a 95% survival rate especially since he is young, active, and healthy so we are all thinking positive! The only bad part is chemo REALLY sucks. He will lose all his hair within 3 weeks (if he doesn't just shave it off first) and be extremyl sick for the next couple months before his full and complete recovery. There is a 25% chance the cancer will come back in the next couple years but Chemo will be effective then as well so YAH FOR TECHNOLOGY! If Lance Armstrong can overcome this EXACT kind of cancer and still race in the Tour de France, so can Garrett! Thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers for Garrett and our family! They are all so greatly appreciated!

I hate cancer!...

Just a quick update. As you can imagine, being diagnosed with cancer at age 17 is a huge pill to TRY and swallow! Garrett is doing so well and has high spirits considering the situation. He had so much going for him: he was a star baseball player, senior graduating in 6 weeks, complete and udder ladies man, a wonderful member of the church, and friends with everyone! All that was turned upside down when he went into a regular doctors appointment to check for a cracked rib (he was having pain in that area) to being diagnosed with cancer that has infested his whole body except his limbs. We are going to get through this, but we need everyone's thoughts and prayers for him and for our family. Thank you so much to those of you already who have called, the many prayers that have been offered up in his behalf, the treats, food, and concern. Without friends and family by our side, this would be ALOT harder than it already is. I will post an update just as soon as I hear what the scoop is because right now doctors have no idea. All they know is he will start chemo therapy this week and that will last a good couple months. They can't do surgery to take out the tumors because he ALSO developed blood clots in his heart and lungs and it's just too risky. They put in a stint into his heart today to stop the blood clot from making his way into his heart completely. Please pray for him!

Love,
Jayne

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!

It's not until tomorrow, Friday April 3rd, but before I forgot I wanted to post a little something for him. He is a whopping 23 years old! What an O-L-D man! Ha ha I love you babe! I am so grateful for you in my life!

Snowboarding in March!

Heather was singing at church on Sunday and Robyn John & Lucas were home from Vegas for a family wedding so Alex and I made the trip back home to Burley again. Robyn and John had just purchased some "sick" snowboarding gear on sale in Vegas and wanted to test it out so we hit the slopes. It's almost spring and we're out snowboarding! It was nice because this time Heather could come with us unlike last time over Christmas that she couldn't. Garrett was missing this time around and he seriously makes it even funner because you see him do these hilarious stunts! We missed you bud! As you can tell in the picture, I went the second half of the day with just a sweatshirt and no coat! That's how nice it was! I'm paying for it now though because this morning I broke out with 2 lips full of sun blisters because I didn't put sunscreen on my lips....HORRIBLE enough to not be able to go to work. I'm babying them like there's no tomorrow and I can see the progress, but still. I hate having this stupid Herpes Simplex virus. It makes my lips so dang sensative to bacteria and sunlight that I can almost expect at least a small cold sore everytime I'm out in the sun. It's ugly. I work at the front desk and it's bad enough I would definitely get stares! My top lip is the worst: 3X the size it should be with a ton of oozing blisters and bright pink swollen color. I can't even eat anything except out of a straw. I won't post any pictures because let's be honest...that's why I didn't go to work today! I'm more self conscious than anything I think but ya...life goes on! I'm just looking at the bright side: this same thing happened about a year and a half ago and it was 5X worse! At least it's not THAT bad! Anyway...sorry for the graphic detail. . .

Katelyn brought home a kid she met at ISU. His name was Jake and he was super cool and nice. It was only his second time snowboarding (he's normally a skiier) and he did great. It was mainly Alex and I and Jake & Katelyn because we kept being seperated from the rest of the group after lunch time.

An Early Birthday!

Since my 21st birthday falls on Monday and I work, we went home the weekend prior to celebrate my birthday with Alex and my families. We also went home because Parker and Heather were speaking in sacrament meeting. It was a double wammy! We went up to Albion to the new steakhouse up there called "Craig's". Alex's dad, grandpa, brother, and nephew came from his family and my entire family except Katelyn, Robyn, John, and Lucas for obvious reasons. Alex's mom would have been there but she stayed in Mexico and is coming back tomorrow. Dinner was really good and it was a great way to combine both families and have a good time together for my birthday. On Sunday my mom made me a birthday cake and we ate it before we had to head back to Logan on Sunday night. I have to just brag a little bit now and tell you how AWESOME of a gift giver my husband is! I've been asking for MONTHS for a nice electric skillet for cooking breakfast items OR a nice non-stick FLAT pan for the same thing. HE GOT ME BOTH! He also picked out a super cute home decor sign that says "Live, Laugh, Love". The cherry on top was a gift certificate to get my nails done, a pedicure, and to cut AND color my hair! He is the bestest I swear! I got a $20 bill in the mail from Grandpa Lyons (THANKS G-PA!) and a really soft Burley Bobcats blanket from my parents. It was by far one of the best birthdays ever and the best part is, in my opinion since I'm on a scrapbooking BINGE, is that I got a few pictures! Since I've been married I haven't gotten any pictures from my last 2 birthdays until now! YAH FOR THE MEMORIES AND YAH FOR THE CHANCE TO DOCUMENT IT! Thanks everyone for making my big 2-1 the very best ever! I LOVE YOU!




On our way to Idaho to celebrate all of this, Alex caught Boomer and I both dead asleep! I thought it was a cute pic so I had to share!

One More Day...TILL I'M 21!

One more day till I'm officially a COMPLETE ADULT! 21 BABY! When I say "complete" adult this is what I mean: When you turn 18, you are an adult, but not really. Kind of just half way. Once you hit that big two-one you can gamble (which I don't except for an occasional scratch crossword puzzle where I ALWAYS win my money back at least-$3), you can purchase alcohol (WHICH I DON'T), yada yada yada. See what I'm saying? You are not completely an adult till you hit twenty-one. And I'm at that stage tomorrow! YAH! ha ha