Wasn't I just mentioning the other day about how much I miss my fresh raspberry jam? Well, today must have been my lucky day because I found some beautiful fresh raspberries on sale at publix. Now let's just say that normally raspberries are almost $5 for one little carton of them, and the raspberries that I have seen here in Tennessee always look so old, therefore I rarely buy them. Today was an exception and I found them on sale for $20 a case. I quickly loaded my cart with 2 cases, and I am off to make some delicious homemade jam. The last day of the sale is today so get over to publix for some delicious berries. What a beautiful day indeed.

everyone needs a best friend

When we moved to Tennessee I was so suprised at how few children we had in our ward. There was only 1 little girl Kelsie's age, and 1 other girl who was Alyssa's age. Lots and lots of boys but hardly any girls. The little girl who was Kelsie's age was named Mikayla, and she and Kelsie got along great. Soon Mikayla moved away which we were so sad about. It wasn't long before another little girl came along named Maya who Kelsie worships more than anyone else on this planet. Maya is her best friend and she never stops talking about her. When it's Kelsie's turn to pray at dinner time, her prayer usually goes something like this. Please bless that I can see Maya tomorrow, and that she will let me play with her toys. Please bless that Maya is having fun right now. Please bless that Maya will be at church tomorrow. Please bless that Maya is having a good day at preschool. Please bless that me and Maya can watch a movie. Please bless that I can go to Maya's house, and on and on and on about Maya. She plays with Maya sometimes as much as 3-4 times a week, and still that is not enough. When she is not playing with Maya, she is writing her letters and wants to mail them to her. They are so cute together though, and we love our little Maya. She and Kelsie are two peas in a pod that's for sure. Maya lives less than five minutes away from us which is also very convenient.

Kentucky, the lake, and fun galore

skip to maWe have had a summer of HOT weather, humidity, swimming, playing, sleeping in, free summer movies, barbecues, catching fireflies, no chiggers (knock on wood), and just having an all-around great summer. It's going by way too fast. It's sad to think that Alyssa will be back in school in just four short weeks.

We went to Kentucky last weekend to visit a place called Kentucky Down Under. It was a really neat place. (It could have been a lot neater if it wasn't 90 degrees outside with about 80% humidity, but it was great and the kids had so much fun.) They have several different kinds of kangaroo's that they allow you to pet, and other hands-on exhibits. There is also a cave there that you can go into. Our girls thought that going into the cave was so spectacular. The weather in the cave was spectacular also.

We also went to one of Kevin's work parties which was held on the lake, the weather was just perfect so it made for a very pleasant day. It was the first time that our girls had been boating, and let's just say they had the time of their lives. Alyssa kept jumping off of the dock and would swim back and forth non-stop. She did this literally for hours. By the time we got in the car which was seven hours later, both she and Kelsie just crashed.

The majority of our summer has been spent swimming, you have to beat the heat somehow around these parts. Alyssa has really taken off with her swimming skills. She can now swim the lap of the pool without a life jacket, and can also jump off of the diving board without assistance. Kelsie, and the babies have really enjoyed the water as well.

Tennessee has grown on me and I am falling more and more in love with it every day. It kind of scares me at times because I find myself not wanting to leave this beautiful state. ( I bet you didn't ever expect me to say that did you?) Kevin literally had to drag me here, and I think that if we ever go back to Utah, it's very possible that he will be dragging me back there as well.

Happy Father's Day

(drawing of Kevin courtesy of Alyssa)

It looks just like him if you ask me

I know that this post is a little late but none the less, I wanted to tell Kevin Happy Father's Day. He is such an incredible Dad to our estrogen filled house, and loves his girls more than words can say. Our girls also love their Dad more than words can say.

Alyssa knows all about her Dad, and wrote it in the cutest Father's Day card ever. She said that her Dad is 31 years old. He is 6'2 inches tall. His favorite color is green. Her Dad is so strong that he can lift 6 pounds. Her Dad is busy at work and puts people to sleep so they can have surgery. Her Dad's favorite t.v show is the Blob. His favorite food is spaghetti and meatballs. His favorite sport is basketball. Her favorite thing to do with her dad is play basketball, and she thinks that her Dad is the best Dad in the world because he is very very fun to play with. On the back of the card she also had to list the top 5 things that you must do to be a great Dad and here is what she said in order:

5-buy toys for your children

4-Tell jokes to your children

3-Not yell at your children

2-Pay attention to your children

1-Love your children

All of those things I can assure you that Kevin truly does. He is such a fun-loving Dad. He was so meant to be the father of all girls. He can name you every Disney princess, and can carve a princess pumpkin like you have never seen. He is great at telling bedtime stories, and even does character voices. He makes fun character pancakes for breakfast that he designs himself. He teaches the girls about all kinds of things ranging in facts about life to facts about Voltron. He is the master at changing diapers, and could do it with his eyes closed. He can put a baby to sleep within seconds flat. These are only a few of the thousands of great attributes that Kevin has but I won't embarrass him by telling you more.

Happy Father's Day Kevin, we love you lots!

3 words that should never be used in the same sentence

Those 3 words are aggressive, surgery, and non-curable. Luckily enough for me, I heard all of those today while I spent 1 1/2 hours talking with my neurosurgeon. Surgery has been scheduled, and in less than four weeks I will be going through yet another endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery for the removal of a pituitary tumor. I think that I should be able to get some kind of a discount seeing how this surgery is most likely going to be something that will be happening often.

I don't even know where to begin in venting my anger and frustrations. Part of me wants to just pretend like this isn't really going to happen and continue being in denial, then part of me is the tough Trisha side that just tells me to be strong and that I will be able to kick this tumor's butt. Oh how I don't know what side to be on. Right now I just want to cry. Knowing what is coming my way is almost harder than not knowing. For instance with the last surgery, I experienced a lot of complications. I had a spinal fluid leak, and had to have a skin graft taken from my right thigh to patch the leak. I threw up several litters of blood following the surgery, and just had some other things happen that you probably don't want to hear about. Am I scared to go through this again? The answer is YES.

This time around I even get to experience the joys of having 3 screws in my skull while my surgery takes place. These are called skin markers and will be used so that the doctor's can do an MRI while I am actually having my surgery, and will help them navigate through the proper tumor areas. Does this sound painful to anyone else because it sure does to me. Oh, and I have to be awake while they put these screws in place. They do numb up the skull the day before surgery. Oh my gosh, I can't possibly do this. Not to mention that they are going to clip off some of my hair in these three spots. I am not going to think about this part. Moving on.

This tumor is aggressive and is not responding to medication at this time. We are going to try to remove the largest portion of the tumor, and then the neurosurgeonwill have me follow-up with radiation. What? Are you kidding me? Radiation. I can't possibly think of radiation. Luckily, it will just be done with a laser beam and not with radioactive dye. It seems like there are more risks with the radioactive dye. Let's just skip talking about radiation, I can't think about that either.

I found this really good website that talks about pituitary surgery in language that I can even understand. Here are some pictures if you feel so as inclined to look at them. People are kind of curious as to how they do this surgery, so here it is.

The surgeon uses an image-guidance system to help navigate through the nose. Skull landmarks and infrared cameras correlate the “real patient” to the 3D computer model generated from the patient’s CT or MRI scans. It functions as a global positioning system to help locate the lesion. Instrument positions are detected by the cameras and displayed on the computer model. Next, the endoscope is inserted through one nostril. A bony opening is made in the nasal septum (dotted line) and sphenoid sinus (green) to access the sella. Last but not least, the surgeon passes instruments through the other nostril to remove the tumor.

That my friends, is pituitary surgery at its finest.

Just tell me that I can do this. I need encouragement more than anything and maybe a few babysitters so that I can get to a few more appointments before my surgery.

My Mom will be flying out for a few weeks when I have the surgery, and it will be so good to have her help with the girls.

The cost of feeding TWINS!

These little chunks think that they are always starving. Can you tell by the pictures how much they are starving? Between the two of them per day they drink 80 ounces of formula, eat 4 bottles of baby food, and eat 2 bowls of mixed baby cereal. So the cost of feeding them per day is around $9.14. Doesn't seem like a whole lot until you times that by 28 days. Grand total is $255.92 per month. Wow!

strawberry picking

A few weeks ago the girls and I went strawberry picking in good ol' Cottontown. Cottontown is about 40 minutes away or so but the drive was well worth it. It was a new experience picking our own berries. The girls thought it was very exciting, and I think Alyssa ate more berries than she put into her basket. We came home and made some strawberry jam, and also made a pie. Very delicious strawberries. I wish they had raspberries here but they don't. They ship them in from other states, and they are so usually so expensive to buy. Oh well, I guess the strawberries and blackberries will have to do for now.