Favorite talk from General Conference

This was my favorite talk from General Conference this year. I needed to hear it.

Easter 2011

This post is long overdue. I am sure that my mom has been waiting so patiently to see pictures of the kids in their Easter clothes.....they look great mom-THANKS! She was even our here the next weekend and never got to see the pics. Overall Easter day was ruff. I must have just been hormonal. I didn't even take pictures of the egg hunt after church. No one wanted to cooperate for their pictures...and I was hurting.

Drew would not take a normal picture.

Getting a group shot is always so much fun...zoom in on Evan's face.

Why do you need a fridge lock???

So we don't waste the sour cream.

We are having a.....

BOY!!!

I thought for sure that it was going to be a girl. Kris knew it was going to be a boy. I was surprised. I was so sure that I agreed to his name if it was a boy if he would agree to my name if it was a girl. I don't like his boy name. It is weird. In a cute weird way. My girl name was Anne. When the ultra-sound tech was doing her job she spent a lot of time on the heart. I kept telling her..."it doesn't look right to me". Knowing that she could not discuss anything with me. Well turns out that there was a bright spot on the heart....it is called a left ventricular echognic focus. The doc says that nothing is wrong with the heart. BUT that it is a genetic marker for Down Syndrome and Trisomy 18. Do you know anything about genetic markers? Well I didn't. It doesn't mean that my baby will have it, just increased my chances from 1 in 750 to 3 in 750. Well, that and my age add to the increase risk. Am I old???? I didn't think so, but I guess I am old enough to have it increase the risk. With it being a 3 in 750 chance it is still less than a 1% chance. The next test to figure anything out would be an amnio. Not interested. My chances of having a miscarriage are higher doing that than having any issues with the baby. I didn't have anything else bring up red flags. I also had the triple screen blood test and everything came back normal. So one "soft" marker, huh? Does the chance of having a child with either one of these conditions scare me? Oh yeah.... Trisomy 18 is very scary. VERY VERY SCARY... down syndrome...not so much. We are not guaranteed anything in life. Just one more bump in the road to my blessing. Oh and one more thing...this little guy has Drew's ears!

Melanoma

May is Melanoma awareness month. So I thought that I would do my part and make you more aware of what the fact are, just in case you didn't know. Some of them I find crazy and I am sure that you will too. The first time I met with the surgeon even before introducing herself she asked if I had ever had a really bad sunburn? My question was "A?" While holding up 1 finger...."yes a really bad sunburn?" Holding up just one finger. My answer-"I was kid in the 80's growing up in Southern California." I can't even count the number of sunburns (even really bad ones) that I have had. I love the sun-The sun sucks! I find myself or use to find myself loving the sun. Cover those nasty spider veins right? Tan skins helps that. Plus don't we all just want that little bit of a healthy glow? Not anymore I don't. Ever see people that oh so orange? Now I just shake my head over it. I have heard other people say "don't you just want to walk up and slap them for not getting it". The sad thing, we don't realize how bad it is....it is just skin cancer right? Cut it off and you are done? NOPE. Farther down you see some facts about it. Australia is trying to ban the use of Tanning beds to minors. I am not sure if I am for or against this. I have heard the argument....make them aware and then give them a choice. Anyone ever had to sign the paper that they are aware of the risk before entering a tanning bad? I have....the problem with that is that NO ONE GETS IT. As a society we just don't understand those risks that are spelled out for us. We need more awareness. People seem to shy aware from it. Famous people have died from Melanoma.....let's talk about Bob Marley....ask someone what he died from and if the person knows anything about Bob you will most likely be told "brain cancer"....well nope...it was cancer in his brain....it was Melanoma that started on his foot and then because he didn't take care of it, it did end up in his brain. So to keep this from getting any longer...just one last thing...all of my friends....we all know that we hate the little facebook status post about "if you know someone who has or has had cancer....". I am asking that you fill someone in, or spread the word somehow. Help me bring a bit of awareness to this cancer. Just one person maybe? Did you know that there are times when doctors say "I wish I could tell you that this was breast cancer, instead I am saying it is Malignant Melanoma." Can you believe that it is better to have breast cancer than melanoma????? We are so much more aware of Breast Cancer....just a bit of awareness would help. Don't you think. Now I am not saying that having Breast Cancer is not scary, and that people don't die from it, it is just more treatable. There is more awareness for it. THANKS! in advance.


Here are some facts about it from melanoma.org.

• Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the US.


• Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer. Every hour a person dies from melanoma.


• Melanoma is one of the fastest growing cancers in the US and worldwide.


• Melanoma can develop anywhere on the body, including eyes, scalp, hands and feet.


• Melanoma is most common in men over the age of 50; in from of colon, prostate, and lung cancer. (Funny we hear a lot about those cancers don't we?)


• In ages 15-29, melanoma is the second most common cancer.


• The incidence of people under 30 developing melanoma is increasing faster than any other demographic group, soaring by 50% in women since 1980.


• Today 1 in 58 people will develop melanoma. It is estimated that this year there will be 68,720 new cases and 8,650 people will die from melanoma.


• Melanoma can develop on anyone-no matter their age, sex or race.


• The majority of melanoma is caused by exposure to UV light and sunlight.


• It takes only one blistering sunburn, especially at a young age, to more than double a person's chance of developing melanoma later in life.


• Exposure to tanning beds before the age of 30 increases a person's risk of developing melanoma by 75%, and younger people who regularly use tanning beds are eight times more likely to develop melanoma than people who have never used them. Occasional use of tanning beds triples their chances.


• The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer reclassified tanning devices into the highest cancer risk category (carcinogenic to humans).


• Unlike all other cancers, melanoma is visible on the skin, making it easier to detect in the early stages.


• Most melanoma is curable in the early stages with an 90% survival rate.