Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Our Christmas card to all of you out there... slightly late, but that's okay!

Merry Christmas!

We have been so busy with Christmas I have been slow on a few things. We still have our neighbor gifts in a bag that we haven't delivered. And I still haven't sent our Christmas cards out yet. I figured I would put on our Christmas letter here. Can you guess who does our Christmas letter each year?

Christmas 2008!

Crew: Hello World!! It was a tight squeeze but I think I made it here unscathed. I was born February 20th of this year and have had a pretty good time. I hear my two older brothers screaming and fighting a lot but my parents seem to be pretty cool. I just have to smile and wave or clap and they keep giving me whatever I want. In fact, the mother taught me how to say “more” in sign language. Brilliant! I’m never hungry. I eat, a lot, and then I say “mmm” and do the more thing and the pretty girl in the family keeps giving me more food. I love this human thing. I’ve been teething and I haven’t slept so well through that. I also had double ear infections twice in a 4 week period and kept my parents up all night. I thought it was kind of cool. The only problem is that SportsCenter keeps playing the same thing over and over again so I would just fall asleep after I got bored. I crawl a lot and I get my picture taken a TON but other than that life is all about the food.

Cole: Party people!! What? What? I turned 4 on July 15th and things have been pretty good this year. I have been going to pre-school and that’s fun. My world was kinda rocked in February when this little crier decided to show up and take all the attention. Then Jake got sick and everyone started focusing on him. I had a hard time with it for a while but it’s cool now. Jake didn’t act like himself for quite some time so that was tough but now we hang out/fight a ton and we enjoy doing it. My parents don’t think it’s very funny that I tease as much as I do but I think it’s great. Jake gets so mad so fast!! It’s hilarious! I spent some time waterskiing this summer and got pretty good. I love to play with my friends. I really like to drive the car with my dad and to race motorcycles too. Life is good and I’m enjoying it!

Jake: Life is good. I was diagnosed with leukemia on April 19th. It was pretty tough in the beginning because I DON’T like shots and they tried jamming all these pills down my mouth. Then all my hair started falling out and my body hurt so bad I couldn’t walk. But now I’ve realized every time I go to the hospital I get the soft bed and my dad gets the hard chair. And when I want anything all I have to do is dial 23663 and they’ll send me whatever I want. Plus they let me play video games and watch movies all day everyday…so I decided the hospital isn’t all that bad. In fact, I’ve been there every month since April! I can’t play with friends much and I’ve only been to 3 days of school but my dad says school is way overrated so I shouldn’t worry about it! My cancer is in remission and I just started my last phase which will go until June 24, 2011. I’ve got to go wrestle since I’m still in training to be a power ranger.

Heidi: 2008 has brought a few changes to our lives for both the good and bad. Crewsers is my sanity and is so precious. The cancer thing has been educational. My photography business is going really well. I wouldn’t say this but Jeff thinks my work is awesome! Raising 4 boys is still a challenge. I came home the other day and Jeff had taken the sled and was flying down the stairs on to couch cushions with the boys. He’s so mature!! He wants to move to a farm now. I just think that would be a super idea. We feel very lucky to have the challenges we’ve had. We haven’t really been many places this year. Jake’s counts have been pretty low since April so we usually stay home. I finished the Twilight series again and have a new movie crush in Edward Cullen!! Love him. We are truly so blessed and are so thankful for the friendships that we have and are grateful for Him whom we celebrate at this time of year.

Hondo: 2008!!!!! Like Heidi said, we feel so lucky. Jake is doing very well. Cole is growing and is a TON of fun. Crew is a human vacuum…but we love him! This year I was able to keep all my ligaments attached for the 2nd year in a row! I sold my motorcycle and bought a ski. Heidi kept nagging about something about growing up and responsibilities and….I can’t remember. Obviously this year was dominated by Twilight and Jake being diagnosed but there have been tons of other things we’ve been able to do and learn. We are lucky to have the family, friends and faith that we have.

Tis the Season...

To be BUSY!  You would think that life would slow down a little bit, but I guess that is just wishful thinking.  Talking about slowing down, has anyone figured out how to slow down cute babies growing?  Crew took his first step this last week and now thinks he needs to learn to walk.  He is growing up way too fast and just needs to stop!  

He is enjoying our Christmas tree immensely.   All of the decorations that were at the bottom of the tree have now moved to the top.  So, the bottom is bare.  

We were able to go on the Polar Express last week through Make-a-wish.  The boys absolutley loved it and were spoiled rotten the way only make-a-wish can do.  

KBER sponsored the trip for about 200 kids.  We met at the station and then they bused us all up to Heber where we stopped at McDonalds for lunch.

Ronald McDonald was there to play with all of the kids.  (Or Mr. McDonald as Jake and Cole call him for some reason.)

After we were stuffed full we got back on the buses and headed up to the Polar Express.  Ronald McDonald read us the book "The Polar Express" and we sang christmas carols on the way up to the lodge.




(Don't forget about the golden ticket!)
Of course, Santa was waiting at the lodge with hot chocolate and a very nice present for each kid.  They wrote a letter to Santa and then got to spend some time talking to him and telling him what they wanted for Christmas.  We were very spoiled and the boys had a wonderful time!! 

Me and Jeff were able to go to an AWESOME christmas party.  My favorite part was the sweaters.  As you can see my husband was Eddie.  He fits the part well, don't you think?


(I wonder if he is capable of making a normal face while taking a picture.  I really don't think that he is!)

As for Jakers... we are officially a week and a half into maintenance.  We now only have to go to clinic once a month where he has an iv push of chemo and sometimes, a back poke.  He is also taking a daily pill.  On the days that we go to clinic, he starts a 5 day push of steroids.  Lucky us.  We did this last week from Tuesday to Saturday.  I am still trying to figure out what those doctors are trying to do to us poor parents!  I am tempted to tell our doctor she needs to take him home those five days just to see what we have to live with and then maybe they would rethink the whole steroid thing!!  (hehe)  We have a monster living with us those five days.  Sometimes it is actually kind of funny because the smallest things set him off.  For example, I looked at him wrong one day and he told me that I looked like a witch and that he wished I had never married his dad.  It was really very funny.   The best day was the day that I was on the phone and he was yelling and screaming, so I locked him out of my room so I could hear, and all of a sudden I hear him yelling, "Open the damn door!"  I did not realize he even knew how to use that word.  Apparently, he heard it off of Spiderman 3.   Ya gotta love the kid.  Six months down, only three more years to go... 

MAINTENANCE, here we come!

We FINALLY made it!  HOORAY!  It is time to celebrate!  (If you can't tell, we are slightly excited by the news we received today.)  I just think we may have to have a party.  

We have been waiting since the beginning of October to start the last phase of Jake's chemotherapy.  For the last six weeks, his ANC has fluctuated between 0 and 300.  This week, we were told, that if his counts did not get up to 750 we were going to have to do a bone marrow aspirate to make sure everything was still okay.  Needless to say, we have been slightly worried this past week.  But he did it!  His ANC is at 1200 today.  It is wonderful news and we are so excited to finally be in the 'easy' part of therapy.  

That being said... thank you thank you thank you to all of you who fasted and prayed for him yesterday.  We are so very grateful for your thoughts and prayers.  We know there is no way we could have gotten this far or received such great news today without your prayers and faith.  a We have such wonderful friends and family--you have helped make this burden much lighter.  We love you and thank you! 

Must be Santa...

We went and saw Santa yesterday!  Is he not the cutest Santa ever??  Jake wants Santa to surprise him and Cole wants a Nintendo DS.  Crew is, of course, just happy to be here.  We love this time of year!  We love Santa!