I'm Finished

I just had to post and say that I'm done with my treatments! I had a busy day yesterday so I didn't put it on here, but I"M DONE!!! I am feeling great and so grateful for that. My skin is doing well. One of my doctors asked me how I was planning on celebrating and I said that I'm headed to Arizona to the sunshine. I go in 4 more days. I'm very excited to see my family that's down there! My hope is that when I get back I'm feeling up to being a regular mom again. If I keep feeling this well then I know it will happen.

I am so thankful for all of the support I've gotten! I can't even begin to thank everyone that has helped me and my family. We are so blessed to have so many people who love us and care about us! Thank you for the prayers, meals, rides for me and my kids, hugs and words of encouragement. We made it, and I can honestly say that it wasn't too bad. I know that is because of so many prayers in our behalf. Thank you for your love! Last night Sam said, "Mom, I'm glad you made it through your treatments and you didn't die." I told him that I'm glad too. So sweet! I do feel blessed! I don't think he worried that I would die. I know I never did!

Catching up!

This is going to be a crazy post. Just lots of pictures so you can see what we've been up to.


Sam lost his first tooth this week. It has been loose for so long. Just as he was heading out the door to school I was brushing his teeth and saw the tooth just hanging there. I got a paper towel and grabbed the tooth. He jerked his head away and started screaming at me that it hurt and he didn't want it out. Well, too bad--it was in my hand. Then it bled and bled. He was so mad at me that I had pulled it out. After we got the bleeding to stop he was so excited to go to school and tell his friends that he'd lost a tooth!

After I put the picture on of us on Christmas Eve I got quite a few comments of how tall Jed was. That next Sunday I realized how little his suit was on him. I knew it was time for a new suit so we got online (that's pretty much all the shopping I do these days) and ordered this. I still can't believe that I'm old enough to have a son that wears a real man suit! (He's had lots of suits they've just been little boys suits.) On Sunday Jed and Victoria sang in a wonderful youth choir for Stake Conference. I sat and cried at the army of future missionaries! I also measured Jed. Well, he's almost 5'10''. Exactly the same height he was the day before school started. He grew 8" the first 9 months of 2010. Hopefully he'll keep staying this size for a while before another big growth spurt!

By far my favorite part of Christmas this year was watching my kids make gifts for each other! I loved how excited they were to make and give their gifts! The next three pictures show the excitement of Jed giving Julia and Emilee their bunkbed he made them.

Finally, here are pictures of almost everyone in their new Christmas Pajamas. You can tell who was taking the pictures. I realized after that we should have taken a picture of the three girls in purple pajamas since that's what color mine were. Maybe next year! :)

We are doing really well! I have 4 treatments left this week--just Monday through Thursday. I am doing well most of the time. My biggest complaint is my burn. It hurts really badly and keeps me up some nights with the pain. I am very anxious to be done! I did give in and quit driving. It just hurt too much. I hope to be able to drive again soon. It's so hard to not be independent! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

Happy New Year!!

As 2010 came to a close I thought back to all we did during the year. My heart was full of gratitude at all we accomplished and what a wonderful year it was. I do hope that 2011 will be a healthier year, but I can't imagine that it could be better than 2010.

We had a very nice Christmas at our house! It was a nice day, and I was so grateful that I was feeling better. I had spent most of the week before Christmas feeling very green. Maybe just looking pretty green!

Our Christmas tree. This is pretty much all of the decorating we did.

The whole family on Christmas Eve

We've had a wonderful time with my mom here. She's been a life saver for sure! I've been able to just take it easy and she's cooked, cleaned, done laundry and much more. We will be so sad to see her leave tomorrow! I am on the downhill slide with my treatments. I have 13 more to go! I will be finished on January 19th. Then on January 25th I am heading to Arizona for a little sunshine and rest before I get right back to life in February. We are all sad to have the kids go back to school tomorrow. We've enjoyed our time together!

I've tried to get other pictures where I want, but can't so for today that's all the pictures! :)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

For those of you that know me you know that I love Christmas! I love to decorate for Christmas--it's the only holiday that I decorate for. I love to give Christmas presents and usually I'm finished with all of my gifts around October. Well, needless to say that this year has been different. I had such a busy summer that I kept putting off Christmas gifts until the kids went back to school in September. Little did I know that my fall held many other plans. BUT, I did manage to get things pretty well taken care of thanks to my trusty PINK computer and my AMEX!! I love to wrap presents and those of you who have seen my tree know that the presents underneath are all coordinated with the tree...gold wrapping paper and burgandy bows. People ask me if the presents are real. YES!!! I wouldn't spend time wrapping empty boxes. :) I don't love wrapping that much!

I love helping my kids make presents for each other. This usually happens the week before Christmas when all of my other projects are finished. Well, this year the closer we get to Christmas the more rotten I feel. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to help my kids. I never should have worried about this! It has been really fun for me to watch them do for each other on their own! Emilee is the sweetest sister ever! She has been working on things that she came up with on her own. Jed's been working in the garage, and Victoria was even helping Samuel out tonight. I did ask my mom to help them. She's coming tomorrow night and I know that the kitchen will be busy Thursday and Friday. I can't wait!! I'm so glad that Grandma can step in where Mom falls short!

I've been feeling pretty weak and tired this week. I thought I was feeling pretty great tonight when Scott was headed to the store to get D-Con. It seems we've had a little mouse problem in the garage. I went along because Emilee had run out of supplies for one of her presents. We were gone for about 45 minutes total, and we bought 3 things. By the time I got home I was so weak I was shaking. It's very hard for me to not be able to do simple things like go to the store. That's ok. I finished my 15th treatment today. Tomorrow will be 16. I'll only have 17 more to go! I'm about half way. I'm glad I get a 4 day break for Christmas. It will give me a little bit of a chance to regain some strength. I'll take some Christmas pictures of the tree and presents and my cute kids in the next few days. I was a little sad to only have 1 tree. The last few years I've decorated 3. Now I realize that there is only 1 tree to put away and this year that sounds wonderful!!

Hanging on!!

After 9 radiation treatments I am doing great! I had a tough day on Saturday so Scott told me that I wasn't driving anymore. It's so hard to have your independence taken away! Sorry to say that someday I'm going to be one of those little grandmas that is a crazy driver, but NO ONE is going to tell me I can't drive...then or now! :) This morning I was feeling well so I got ready early and headed off as soon as I put my kids on the bus. Post office, Target, back to post office then off to Deaconess for my treatment. They were a little behind so I had to wait some. Then I was off again before the nasty side effects kicked in. Costco, Hobby Lobby, Sears and Down East, and right when I was paying in Down East I hit the wall. I shuffled my way back through the mall and drove home. I was so tired, but I did everything I wanted to do except go to the bank. Then, I made some lunch and fell asleep for a while. I woke up and wrapped the last of my kids' Christmas presents and cleaned out my closet. I made it back to rest on the couch and then got up and fixed dinner. By the time we sat down to dinner I was in so much pain. I ate and then made it back to the couch to rest. For Family Home Evening the kids and Scott made gingerbread houses while I rested. I feel so accomplished today! I'm tired and sore and I'm sure I'll really pay for it tomorrow, but I think it was worth it. We'll see what I say tomorrow. Oh, and my tummy seems to have gotten used to the treatments. I only felt sick once today, horray!!

Merry Christmas From the Jensens

Joy And Magic Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Merry Christmas From the Jensens Continued

I'm having a hard time getting what I want so it's going to have to be two different posts. Sorry. My tummy and my patience are both on the weak side! :)

Here's a sneak peak at our Christmas card for this year. I'm a little late at getting them ordered, and after my treatment today I'm wondering if I'll even get them out. I was so afraid I wasn't going to make it home today without getting sick. I made it today, but we'll see how tomorrow goes. I thought that maybe I'd be spending less time on the couch wrapped in my pink and green quilt in the days to come. Maybe not. The Dr said he didn't expect me to have a hard time until 2-3 weeks into treatments. Hopefully it stays just this icky and doesn't get any worse! For now...