Bad news for our family

Picture was taken just after my dad was first diagnosed with Cancer in 2006
My dad has been fighting cancer for almost 3 years and recently had started his 4th chemo treatment. He's been such a trooper and never complains. However, Monday our family got some bad news from my dad's oncologist. His cancer is spreading and is no longer responding to treatment. They have given him 2-3 months. There is nothing more they can do but keep him as comfortable as possible for the time we have. This has been EXTREMELY difficult for our family but has brought us so close together which I know makes my dad happy. The last few days we have met all his Hospice nurses and case worker, re-done all his meds, and will hopefully give him a better quality of life so we can spend some good memorable times together. Our Halona family has been so supportive and several members of our family are coming into town from all over the country to visit with my dad and show their love. I'm grateful that my work is also being EXTREMELY supportive and giving me whatever time I need to be with my dad and family. They more than understand and that is so wonderful that I don't have to worry about that. Monday was one of the worst days I'll ever have in my life, but I am thankful to have my family and John around me. John came to my dad's to just sit by me and hold my hand. When we got home I realized I hadn't eaten all day, and all I wanted was cereal but the milk in the fridge expired. So he went to the grocery store to get me some milk and brought me back some flowers. Lynzie has also been amazing on keeping an eye on me, checking in with me to make sure I'm breathing, eating, resting, etc. I don't know what I would do without my support system. I'm definately going to need it.

Movie Night Birthday Party

Sunday we celebrated my birthday with my Halona family. We had it at my sister Desiree's clubhouse which has a movie theatre room. We had popcorn, chips & salsa and drinks while watching "Transformers". My dad had never seen it and it's one of my favorites. It was a fun movie night with my family and I got to spend some time with my dad and see my little nephew Hurley who is growing so fast. Two of my other nephews, Jake & Tristan, had fun running & flying onto the bean bags. Thanks Re' for arranging the clubhouse and all the treats!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This year for Valentine's we took a more casual and approach. Friday I had a dozen red roses waiting for me when I got home and Saturday morning I made John bacon & eggs for breakfast. We decided to stay home for dinner since neither of us felt like battling the crowds. So I bought 2 rib eye steaks, strawberries & chocolate for dinner. John BBQ'd the steaks and I made the chocolate covered strawberries. I even started to setup the dining room table (that we never eat on) so that we could have a nice romantic dinner, but of course we're not that fancy and we ended up eating in the living room while watching the NBA All-Star games in our lounge clothes :) It felt so good to just relax and later in the evening we opened our presents. I got a very much needed gift card to Sego Lily Spa :) I already made plans to use it on Monday since I don't have to work :) Thanks honey!

Valentine's Party for the CBH

For the past week or so, Courtney & I have been planning a Valentine's party for the kids at The Christmas Box House (CBH) as part of our on-going volunteer work with them. I was REALLY excited about this project because we actually get to interact with the kids. So Friday afternoon, Courtney, myself, Terri, Keri and Keri's sister all went to The CBH to setup while the kids finished their lunch and played outside. When we were ready, we split them into two groups and they took turns playing ring toss & bean bag toss. The kids really got into the games and seeing how many points they could get. Quite a few of them asked if they could keep the game so after the party we donated the games to the CBH to keep. After the games we had the kids decorate their own heart sugar cookies. It was messy but a lot of fun for us and for them. They really enjoyed decorating their cookies and I had so much fun helping them and see the different designs they would make with the frosting and sprinkles. There was an adorable 2 year old African-American girl that was such a cutie while eating her cookie. She had frosting all over her face, hands and clothes. It was SO funny to watch her. I wish we could've taken pictures of the kids, but due to privacy issues we are not allowed. I took some pictures while we were setting up before the kids came in but that's all we were able to get. I absolutely LOVED playing with the kids. They were such good kids that it's hard to believe the reasons that they are at CBH. This has been my favorite activity with the CBH and I hope we do more activities like this with the kids in the future.

Pizza Birthday Party at work

Last week I had helped one of my clients, Rock Creek Pizza Co., with a huge Workers Comp issue. Long story short, I fixed his problem and he offered us free pizza because I am so awesome! LOL. The timing was perfect, so I took him up on his offer so that we could have a Pizza Birthday Party for me, Destini, Marshall & Karen since we all have our birthday's in February. Mine, Destini's & Marshall's are almost right after each other. Marshall's is the 6th, Destini's is the 7th and mine was the 9th. So Tuesday we got 5 specialty pizzas and drinks for everyone. It was fun just hanging out and the pizza was pretty good. I got some cute birthday cards from Courtney, Christy and Barb. Christy also gave me the cutest Elvis beanie! I love it! Thanks Rock Creek for the pizza!

And yesterday, the 2 producers I work with, Ryan & Darrin took me & my assistant Courtney to lunch at Ruby River for my birthday. Thanks guys!!

Birthday with my family

Last night we went to my mom's to celebrate my birthday with my family. I decided I wanted all my favorites for my birthday instead of going to a restaurant. So my mom made delicious Navajo Tacos for dinner and Strawberry Shortcake for dessert. Mmmmm!! They were SO yummy! We watched American Idol while we ate and then I opened my presents. I asked for money to go towards my San Diego trip in March with my mom :) But I also got a really pretty watch, a book and a bookmark that my sister-in-law made. It was casual, but fun and I got to have all my favorite food. Thank you everyone! I have such an awesome family :)

Happy Birthday to me...I'm goin to Graceland!!!

Yesterday was my official birthday. As in my previous post, and my complaints to everyone who asked about my upcoming big 3-0 birthday, I was not happy about it. I finally decided to take the day off from work. Mostly just so I could sleep in, which I did. And because I could sleep in, I stayed up the night before my birthday watching medical mystery shows in bed (which I love), and at midnight I got a glass of wine and toasted to myself. (John was asleep). "Happy Birthday you old woman!"

My mom had planned to take me to a fancy lunch at "La Caille" but the morning of my birthday she found out they do not do lunch, only dinner. So we went to "The Cheesecake Factory" instead. The waiters & waitresses sang Happy Birthday and gave me the most delicious Strawberry Shortcake dessert with "Happy Birthday Tahna" written in chocolate around the plate.

Afterwards we went to see "He's just not that into you" in Jordan Landing. I LOVED the movie and I had fun hanging out with just me & my mom like old times. We would've gone shopping like we both love to do, but it was raining too much. I actually loved my day with my mom and it was perfect. When I got home I got ready and John took me to dinner at "Tiburon" my all time favorite restaurant. I chose an Italian bottle of wine (2007 Kris Pinot Grigio) that went wonderful with my Rocky Mountain Elk tenderloin with a creamy mushroom duxelle green peppercorn demi-glace. It's SO delicious! When we got home I got to open my presents which were actually hints to my REAL present. The first was a jug of Jim Beam which I kind of sarcastically guessed, "are we going to the Jim Beam distillery?" The second was a book. But not just any book. It was a pop-up book of............GRACELAND!!! Yes, the famous home of Elvis Presley himself!! I almost couldn't believe it that I kept interrupting John telling me about the trip just to make him confirm over & over again that we were going. The plan is to fly to Louisville, Kentucky to visit several distilleries, including the Jim Beam distillery. We will then drive to Nashville, Tennessee and do some sightseeing and take the General Jackson riverboat ride on the Cumberland River. After Nashville we will drive to Memphis, Tennessee where we will stay at Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel and take the Graceland Elvis Entourage VIP Tour. John's original plan was that we would be in Graceland on my birthday, but because its still cold in Tennessee, he decided to postpone until April when it's warmer. John is the most wonderful guy and he really made my 30th the most memorable birthday ever! Not to mention that I got a lot of loving & supporting texts and facebook messages that it made me feel good througout my whole day. Thank you everyone!! And thank you honey bunny for my AMAZING gift!! You truly understand my man crush of the century ;) lol

Me & Homer J with the Elvis glasses from the book

Birthday Brunch

Saturday officially kicked off my big 3-0 birthday. I went to brunch with Lynzie at "Paradise Bakery & Cafe". We were both disappointed to hear that they had stopped serving their wonderful croissant breakfast sandwiches 5 minutes before we got there. So we ended up ordering coffee and muffins. A little while later, Jacque joined us. I was so happy she came because we haven't seen her in a while. She gave me some lotion & bubble bath from Bath & Body. Our friend Taylor called to say she couldn't join us because of school. But her & Lynzie's birthday are coming up so we said the 3 of us would get together to celebrate all our birthday's together. Anyway, we had fun talking and afterwards we went shopping at World Market where Jacque got me the cutest wine glass charms with the wonders of the world on them. It was a nice & warm day and I had a lot of fun. Thanks Lynz for kicking off my birthday!! Luv ya!

Lynzie, Jacque & Me at Lynzie's Wedding