Ethan's ITP Story Part 1....

I remember my mom calling me at work and telling me that Ethan had his first official black eye and she felt like the worst grandma ever. He was almost eight months old and I just smiled. “What did that crazy kid do this time?” I asked her. Apparently he had been in his walker and leaned down to pick up a toy from the ground and bonked his head on the walker tray. That night when I picked him up it wasn’t that bad and we honestly thought nothing of it. We did notice that week how he was getting quite a few bruises all over the place, but he was a pretty crazy and active boy. Finally he started to get a weird “rash” of sorts. It was not on the skin but seemed to be under the skin and was purple. My mother started to get a little worried about it and was thinking it could be the measles. Being the kind of mother I am my only response to her was, “The kid is crazy, he has no other symptoms, no fever, no cough, I’m sure he is fine.” But then that day at work I started looking up different rashes and came across the perfect picture of Ethan’s rash. I found out that these spots or rash was purpura. Basically what that is is blood from blood cells that have burst that make it to the skin. We all have blood cells that burst, however normally our platelets heal them in time before the blood gets to the layer of skin. I did what uneducated parents should never do; I followed a few different links and freaked myself out enough that I called the Dr. right away and made an appointment for that night. I made Chris go with me to this Dr. Appointment and can still remember the drive out there. I was worried that they were going to take one look at Ethan and think we were abusive parents. I was convinced they would never believe us when we told them how crazy Ethan was and that he got all those bruises by himself. There was a huge tire fire just off the side of the freeway and it was backing up traffic. We talked about the fire for a while and continued on to the Dr. Dr. Duddy came into the office and took a good look at Ethan and then said, “These marks are called purpura.” And then he explained to us what it was. He referred us to get blood drawn and gave us a “stat” order. We were one of his last patients which put us in a tough position to get Ethan’s blood drawn that night. Our insurance of course only allowed us to use LabCorp and the one next to the office was already closed. The Dr. gave us his most current list of LabCorp offices and hours, we found the one that was still open and headed about 20 minutes away to it. We pulled up and noticed that the office was closed. I would like to say I was not panicked and was nice and calm but I can’t. I was irate that this location said it was opened late, however it was closed. I was frustrated that we weren’t going to get this blood work done and that we wouldn’t know what was wrong with Ethan. Fortunately Chris was with me and was ever so calm. He suggested we call some of the offices until we found one that was still opened. We did this and found one which was only about 5 minutes away and was still open. We rushed over there just in time to be the last patient of the day. Although the word “Stat” was highlighted on our paperwork I pointed it out to the lady behind the desk as well. Finally it was our turn to get blood drawn and Ethan did a pretty good job, for only being 8 months old. After this we headed home to eat and get Ethan to bed. By the time we got the blood drawn it was after 6 and Ethan’s bed time was 7. From the moment we got home I carried my phone around with me waiting for the Dr. to call. He said he would call us when he got the results and I was anxiously awaiting them. If I went upstairs so did my phone. Finally around 9pm I decided that no news was good news and that the Dr. would probably not be calling us that night. I told Chris goodnight and headed upstairs. I brushed my teeth, got in my PJs and picked up my phone to go to bed and it rang. I didn’t notice the number and got a little panicked by that. “Hello” I said with a forced smile. “Hi Hilary, This is Dr. Duddy. I have Ethan’s test results… Can you put your husband on the phone as well.” Immediently my heart sank and I started crying. He hadn’t even given me any news and here I was crying. I practically ran down the stairs and threw the phone at Chris, “It’s Dr. Duddy!” I said fighting back tears from Chris and then I headed to the top of the stairs and curled up. My heart was pounding as I heard a one sided conversation that sounded a lot like, “Okay, yes we can do that.” “No that shouldn’t be a problem.” “ahuh” “Okay” “How long” “If that is what we need to do” “They will be expecting us?” With each new sentence more fear entered into my body and more tears streamed down my face. I heard Chris say good-bye and I braced myself. Chris came over to the stairs and calmly walked up them and sat next to me. He told me that Ethan’s platelets were seriously low, the normal is 150,000-450,000 and Ethan’s were around 3,000. It could be a bad reading, because platelets stick together, however because they were so low the Dr. wanted us to take Ethan to Sunrise Children’s Hospital, where they already had all our information and would be waiting for us. He then told me that Dr. Duddy had given him different scenarios and the worse case scenario, just so we would not be shocked by it, this scenario being Leukemia. The hospital would run a few tests and maybe do a bone marrow draw to determine exactly what it is. There is a lot more that Dr. Duddy told him that I must have chosen to forget, but after he was done talking I told him, “No, we aren’t going to the hospital, my son is sleeping and there is nothing wrong with him. Look at him, he’s sleeping just fine, he’s fine!” Even when I said the words I knew we would be going to the hospital because I knew there was something wrong with my son and the only real way to protect my son was to go to the hospital. We called my parents to come over and give Ethan a blessing before we went to the hospital. I dialed their number and said hello and then had to pass the phone over to Chris again because I couldn’t speak. My parents were there in no time, how grateful I am that my husband and Dad were able to give Ethan a blessing and then I got one too. In my blessing Chris said that all would be well and I’d be able to handle all that was presented to me. With that my dad headed home and Chris, Ethan, my mom and I headed to the hospital. Chris hugged me more than once and told me everything would be fine more than once. I held tight to his hope for the entire next year….

Random Thoughts.....

I did a lot of thinking while I was driving around today and I thought I'd share some of them with you, but most of all with my kids when they are old enough to read.
1. On my way to work I was listening to some Meat Loaf and heard a profound quote. "We'll never be as young as we are right now!" I often complain that my body hurts. I complain that I'm getting old too fast and these words struck me in a few different ways! I get so wrapped up in wishing for tomorrow, the weekend, next month, next year, Chris to finish school or some other point in the future. How important it is for me to focus on the "Right Now" part of my life and my kids' life! Tomorrow when I wake up my kids will be a day older and so will I, we will never get younger. My mother gave me a framed quote for Christmas one year that said, "Little boys should never be sent to bed, they only wake up a day older!" Each day my kids do something new that reminds me that they are growing up. As I look at them sleeping in their beds I notice that pretty soon Ethan is going to need a bigger bed. He is getting close to hanging off the end. I notice that Katelee looks so big in her little crib and then I remember when both Katelee and Ethan were so small they looked lost in that same crib. Chris always laughs at me when I say I'm getting old. When you are young you never think that little things like aches and pains will stop you from doing stuff, but boy they do. I know, I'm not that old, Chris will always be 5 years older than me, but I guess I just never thought I would change. I guess I thought I'd always be able to go run and be pain free, or be able to kneel down and not have any problem getting back up! Silly me. How I need to learn to embrace each day, be grateful I have the health I have, be grateful that my kids can do the things I once could and now can't! So I'm going to live it up today because tomorrow I'm only going to be older!

2. I saw a really nice Corvette yesterday and it had this on it's license plate, "IDODIVC" What a city we live...What a world we live in. Here this man makes tons of money from people who's lives are torn apart. He makes his money from heartache and here he is publishing it to the world. Bragging to the world that because he is a divorce attorney he is driving a brand new Corvette. I wanted to hit him. But I took the higher, much cheaper road :). I only vented in my head about how sad it was that this man had so much money because so many people are hurting and get divorces. In today's world so many people are affected by divorces. Not only the husband and wife, but the kids and eventually their posterity...... That is all for this one!

3. I got to stay home with my kids and baby Emily on Monday and I loved it! It was tough, of course, but I really enjoyed spending so much time with my kids and niece. When I went back to work Tuesday I was really thinking I would have a great day because Monday was so busy, however after reading only 20 e-mails from the day I missed I was ready to stay at home FOREVER with my kids. I have always enjoyed my job and most days I still do, but I so enjoyed my time at home with the kids on Monday!

4. Tuesday was Primary Election day. Chris and I went up to Vegas High School after work to vote. I was very disappointed at how few of people there were there! I realize that many people early vote however when I got on the Secretary of States website and noticed that only 30% of registered voters in the state of Nevada came out to vote I was livid! My problem with people that don't vote is this: They are always the first to complain about whoever won or what that person is doing! (or so it seems) If you vote I feel you have a little more room to complain because you "tried" to solve a problem. I had a co-worker say to me on Wednesday, "I bet you didn't even vote." to which I replied, "Did you seriously just say that to me? As a woman and a Mormon we had to fight to get the right to vote, it is my duty to vote!" This man just stared at me with big eyes. This is probably because I am not a forceful person at work. I will give my opinion when asked it, however I never throw out my thoughts on things if they are not welcomed. I feel kinda silly pulling the "Woman" card but I actually did! Plus this guy is a Really Really Really Far Left Democrat that believes everything negative and pushes his opinion on everyone! Needless to say I have strong feelings toward voting and it being our duty as citizens to do so! I do not mean to offend anyone that did not vote, however I would ask that you think about it next time............. And vote for Jerry Wiese, Judge, Dept 30! :)

5. Chris started his first clinical this Monday. His schedule is 7:30am-4pm. It has been quite a production making sure the Clinician received everything that they needed. Chris had to go get a few shots and different other items all while watching the kids. He did a great job managing it all! So far only 4 days into the clinical he is still enjoying it, which is a good thing! Chris has been getting up early for about a month now so he can shower, get dressed and ready his scriptures. He did this pretty much the whole time he was off of school which I think is amazing. Any chance I get to sleep in, I take it! He even gets up early on Saturdays!

6. The other day Chris was told he needed to start eating a little healthier for his cholesterol and something else. So he purchased some frozen fish fillets. He informed me that he was going to be making dinner one night, bar-b-que fish and potatoes. I prepped myself that whole day to eat fish, which I hate! So we sat down for dinner, I got the kids' potato ready and got them going and tried my fish. It was actually quite delicious. Chris had found a recipe for a rub and that made all the difference. (I think the prep talk had worked as well!)

7. The other day I received some disheartening news about girl that I had the opportunity of getting to know better from being in YW. It hit me pretty hard that night and even effected my sleep a bit. The next morning while getting ready for church I had the thought that these girls need to realize and be told how important they are and how special they are. So for YW that day, Sister Nelson gave the "thought" instead of one of the girls. I told them how they should never settle for anything less than what they deserve and told them how much I enjoyed and love them. Before I received the calling to YW I was pretty unsympathetic. If they messed up it was their fault, it was their responsibility to fix it. Although ultimately it is still "their" responsibility I feel a lot more responsibility to help show them how they can fix it and how they can prevent it! This has been a true blessing in my life. This lesson has opened my eyes to opportunities for me to help someone in need and from doing that has blessed me greatly! I love the YW in our ward as if they were my own daughter, (pretty much!) When they accomplish something I rejoice for them, and when they fail at something my heart sorrows for them. I know these girls are future mothers, leaders and examples and it makes me feel a great responsibility in my calling! I have been given a tremendous opportunity to serve with some AMAZING women who have set wonderful examples for me. These women have become dear friends and true confidants!

8. Lately I have been thinking about going back to school. Chris and I have discussed this and decided that I will go back to school when he is finished with school. I'm excited to go back to school one day but have no idea what I'd major in. My original major was going to be Secondary Education, then it when to Hotel Management, then I changed it to Finance with a minor in Auditing and last it was Accounting. I'm leaning towards to Accounting just because it seems I would be able to do that from home, however I'm not completely convinced that is what I really want to do! Thoughts of being a nurse have passed my mind as well as a Physical Therapist Assistant, Massage Therapy and even lawyer! The lawyer one is a little out there, but I do find the Financial Regulations to be entertaining and would love to educate people on them. My ideal job besides mother would be to stand in front of 100's of people and teach them about something, like Banking Compliance. But I don't even know how you get a job like that.... And how boring does that sound to the rest of the world?

Well that is just a little glimpse of what goes on inside my brain when I'm left with enough time and silence to myself!

5 Years Ago Today

I woke up around 7:30am to get my hair done and get ready to head to the temple. Liesl (my cousin) and Jenell (my best friend) had stayed over and where there to help me out in the morning. The night before we had stayed up watching old "In Living Color" episodes. Most people say they hardly slept the night before their wedding however, around 11pm I decided to head to bed and once my head hit the pillow I was out until my alarm woke me up the next morning. My parents came and picked me up and we were at the temple by 9:45am. Chris and his parents were parking as we pulled in and we walked into the temple together! I had the great opportunity of having my mother and mother-in-law assist me in the Bride's room getting in my dress. I was excited and couldn't believe that I was actually getting married. I must tell a side story. I was able to walk through the Las Vegas temple before it was dedicated. I was probably around 6 or so when I did this. Of all the things I could have remembered about the temple from that long ago, the one thing that stuck out the most was the Bride's Dressing Room. I remember being 6 and seeing that room and thinking, "one day I will be in this room getting ready for my wedding!" As I stood in front of the huge mirrors in my wedding dress I felt such a peaceful feeling! I was then taken to the Sealing Waiting room where Chris was with my dad and his dad. I was so excited to see him and my father. We were able to sit in there for quite a while with our parents and if anyone knows my dad you can guarantee there were quite a few giggles and smiles. While we were in there another couple was brought in. I still laugh with Chris about how nervous they seemed to be. The didn't touch and they didn't talk. Once again I often hear people say how nervous they are before they get married, how they have second thoughts, but I had NONE. I knew that this guy sitting beside me was going to be mine forever and that it was the right choice. I knew that the guy sitting next to me was going to be the father of my children and I was so excited for this new chapter to begin in my life! As we got closer to the wedding time our parents were taken into the sealing room and we were left with on another, soon enough they came and escorted us to the Sealing room. I remember walking in and seeing a whole bunch of my family there and also Chris's family. There were people standing because there was no more room to sit and at that moment I realized how much we were both loved and what a great family both of us were marrying into! Another side story. My Grandpa Stewart was a sealer at the Las Vegas Temple for many years and as a child I always wanted him to marry me. Since he died when I was in High School I had to pick someone else. We decided to go with President Worthen, who lived behind my Grandpa Stewart and knew him very well. He gave us some great words of encouragement and even told how my Grandpa and Grandma always honored their church leaders and we would be a happier couple if we chose to do that same thing. I was touched to hear of my grandparents and it just made our sealing much more memorable. After our sealing we were able to thank everyone that came one by one and I was once again overwhelmed with how much we were truly loved! After the sealing as we exited the temple we were met again by all of our family and then some. Even my family that was not able to be at the sealing was there waiting for us, I couldn't believe it!

We took pictures and then headed over to my Aunt and Uncle's house for a bar-b-que. We had a blast and were surrounded by so many wonderful family members and friends the entire day!

The Nelson Family at the Bar-b-que...The Blackburn Family at the Bar-b-que...(wow, this family sure has grown!)Chris and I then left the bar-b-que to check into the nice hotel room at the Hilton that my dad was able to get us for way cheap. We then headed over to the chapel for our reception. What a great time we had. We danced we laughed and we did all the fun reception stuff! Here are just a few pictures from our wedding day!

I always joke that it's a good thing I got my nails done, or Chris's would have been way nicer than mine! :)

Our beautiful cake!

5 Years of Marriage....

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary. It seems like those 5 years just flew by, but then when you think of all that has happened in the last 5 years it's amazing how much has taken place. Just a few examples:

• When we first got married we moved to an apartment until our house was done. Well as always our house was not done on time so we moved in with Chris's parents for a month and then finally into our house just before 2006.


• Chris has finished his Bachelor's degree and now has completed his first year of PT School. Woo hoo, only 2 1/2 more to go!
• Chris and I had the opportunity of working in the Temple Baptistery for a while together, which brought us many blessings and spiritual growing.


• We have been blessed with two wonderful kids. Ethan was born in 2006 and Katelee was born in 2008. They have been a huge blessing in our lives. They truly allow us to have an eternal perspective as we can no longer envision our lives without them.


• Ethan has had a Platelet Disorder that lasted about a year, but looking back at that time in our lives it sure seems longer than a year. Leaving from work to meet my mom at the Pediatric Oncologists office multiple times a month, sometimes multiple times weekly really took a toll on me. But now he has been cleared of this and it only crosses my mind when he isn't feeling well.


• We have had multiple callings. Mine including Enrichment food coordinator, Relief Society Pianist (what a joke, those poor sisters must have needed a lesson in patience with me as the pianist), Ward Music Coordinator, Laural Advisor and now First Counselor in the YW. Chris's callings have included: Gospel Principles Sunday School Instructor (forever), Secretary in the Elders quorum, Counselor in the Elders quorum and now Elders Quorum president.


• Ethan is already in Sunbeam, I know this sounds silly, but it makes me feel a little old! Katelee is already in nursery and I really enjoy Sunday School and YW again!


• We have made many friends in our ward, the first two years or so we seemed to be social introverts and knew really no one. But now we have many friends at church which makes going so much more fun!


• We have been in our new house long enough to do renovations, the major ones being putting in wood floors and fake grass!


• After living in our house for over 4 years we finally bought some curtains, and they seem to add a nice touch that has been missing since we moved in!


• Some random items. Since we have been married we have had a car stolen, had a car in a pretty big accident, purchased two cars together and sold Chris's favorite truck (which I don't miss one bit!)

Looking back it seems that we have been pretty busy! I have really enjoyed being married to Chris and am so thankful that we met each other. These five years have been full of ups and downs and I don't expect the next five to be any different. I love where we are in our lives right now. I'm enjoying the joys and pains(not so much) that come from having kids. I have truly learned to some extent how our pains and afflictions are really for our gain. I have gained a better appreciation for my kids by going through Ethan's many medical problems. I have been surrounded by wonderful people who have bigger struggles than I, and have grown from their fantastic examples. But most importantly I have been able to grow right along side my eternal companion and progress together! To some 5 years is not very long and in the eternal prospective it really isn't, but it has been 5 of my best years ever and I'm so thankful for that day in May when Chris and I were sealed together for Time and All Eternity. I love you babe!

One of Those Weeks.....

(I have been wanting to blog, but just have too much going on in my head to come up with one clear topic, so this is what I came up with)

It has just been one of those weeks. You know the ones where you go from high to low and then back to high and on and on. Well I’m exaggerating a little bit but needless to say this week is one I will be happy to see go. This weekend was the Father’s and Son’s camp out for Ethan and Chris. My Dad joined them this year and they had a blast. Hopefully after this week ends I will be able to get that post on here! Because the boys were out of town, Katelee and I decided to stay the night with my mother. It was so much fun, we went to dinner, watched two movies (Twilight and New Moon), we talked and had a great night’s sleep. I even got to sleep in until 7:45am, wow, AMAZING!!! Then the next day we went over to Anna’s house for a Mary Kay party and had some more fun. Being the crazy mother I am, I really missed my son and my husband and was so excited to see them when they got home. That afternoon Chris and I went to the Temple Sealing of a family in the ward. It was a great sealing, especially since this family included one of the YW from our ward. Sunday was great. Basically I went to bed feeling practically perfect and Monday morning I woke up feeling the same way. Then as the day went on it seemed to get worse… Work…. Well work is work and although I enjoy it most days, Monday would be one of those days that I did not enjoy. I hate to complain about my job, especially in this economy where many people are unemployed and unable to provide for their family like I have the opportunity of doing. However, please bear with me for a brief moment. Work for me lately has become an emotional rollercoaster. I work for a bank and they are not very popular right now with anyone. I tend to think like a banker and think ‘some’ banks are getting a bad reputation for things that ‘other’ banks have done. (I digress, sorry) Being at a bank that is struggling is a pretty rough thing. One day you hear nothing but positive news and then the next your hopes of a bright employment future are dashed by something that seems so small. Monday was one of those days. My weekend was great, and then Monday comes and one simple request sends me into grouch mood. I have a nice conversation with my husband via “text message” because I just needed to talk with someone to vent it out. My day was just plain after that. I was grateful to get home and spend some time with my family. Chris had a CPR class he had to attend so we did FHE early. My parents came over for dinner and helped me get the kids ready for bed. Tuesday was a bit better at work; I was in a better mood. I came home to Chris making dinner for us and the missionaries. Dinner was great, I think it always taste better when someone else makes it! Then I had to rush off to go to my monthly camp meeting. These meetings tend to drive me crazy because not much gets accomplished in them… Around 7 Chris has a meeting so my kids end up hanging out with me at the camp meeting until they become a little too disruptive or it gets too far past their bed time. Last night’s meeting was especially tough for me because they expect us to meet with our group more than just at these meetings. Don’t get me wrong I understand that they want us to bond with the girls that we are going to camp with, I get that. But where would you like us to squeeze that in? I know I need to fulfill my calling to the best of my ability but sometimes I feel like there is just no more time to go around. I work till around 5, pick up the kids, get home around 6. I make dinner try to get some housework done, which very rarely happens and then I have to get the kids down. Oh yeah, and don’t forget I have to work around Chris’ schedule too. He goes to school, studies and has the duties that come with being the Elder’s quorum president too. Where am I supposed to squeeze another meeting into? But that is not all our poor Young Woman’s President’s husband works multiple jobs, goes to school and they have three kids. She always has to get babysitters to go to meetings and she feels horrible about it. Wow, I’m really venting, I feel horrible. Anyways, I came home from that meeting feeling like more of a failure then I did when I got there. I put Katelee down around 8:15 and of course that night is the night she chooses to cry instead of fall right to sleep. Grrr. So Ethan and I go upstairs, he sits on the bed and watches TV while I try to get Katelee to calm down and go to sleep. Ethan decides he needs to go get his Woody stuff animal from downstairs and comes up with an apple and Woody. I take the apple back downstairs and then we sit on the bed and watch TV until 9 o’clock. (I must explain that I cannot put Ethan to bed if Katelee is still awake. If I do this, she will keep them both awake late into the night, most the time we have to just move Ethan into the den for about 30 minutes until she falls asleep and then Ethan can go back into the room. Thus, why Ethan gets to stay up until 9….) By then Chris gets home and we put Ethan to bed. He gets up and complains that his leg hurts. He has taken the bandage off and scratched him eczema spot raw yet again! We rewrap it and put him back into bed. He later gets out of bed and asks for a blessing because his leg hurts too bad. Chris says okay, (how do you say no to that?) and then we go to put him in bed again and find his wrap has been taken off again! Grrr… So I rewrap him once again, this time crying because this poor boy has had this spot forever, and I’m only slightly exaggerating when I say that. His skin looks horrible on this one side and now it’s starting to get a heat rash around the whole leg from having the wrap on him. He goes back to bed and stays there. I’m exhausted by now and still have laundry to fold. So I go upstairs and Chris helps fold the laundry. We start to watch a show in bed and I’m out. It is amazing how tired you can get in one day… Needless to say it is Wednesday, and I have Friday off so I can’t complain too much, but I sure can’t wait to spend all day on Friday with my husband and kids! I need a good four day weekend to get my emotions back into check! Thank heavens for my family, they are always the highlight of my day!!!!

The Blackburn's Sealing

Saturday May 8th, 2010

This day will be a day to remember for a very long time, how does Eternity sound? My brother Matt, his wife Anjali and their daughter Madilynn were sealed together as a family on May 8th around 9 o'clock in the morning. I have been so excited ever since they gave me a date that I could hardly contain my excitement! The night before the sealing we went down to the church and helped set up for a little reception to be held after the sealing. While we were there my dad got out the dodge balls and we had a nice friendly game of dodge ball. Later that night my arm was sore from throwing the balls...

Anyway, on Saturday we got up and all of us got dressed to go to the temple. Aunt Anna, Uncle Enrique and Baby Emily volunteered to watch the kids up there so we could get a family picture taken right after the sealing. I made sure to take a picture of the kids before we went up to the temple because they were just so cute....

Katelee is so funny with pictures, she will look at the camera and when you say smile this is what she does.... She also likes to say cheeesssseeee....

When I told Ethan to smile, this is the look I got. I told him he looked like a pirate and he really liked that!

Just so everyone doesn't think he really is a pirate, here is a normal picture of him!

When we got up to the temple we took the kids inside to wait for Anna and Enrique to get there. Chris took Ethan over to the pictures and was explaining the stories behind them all... Ethan is a good kid but he was especially good in the temple. He was quiet and respectful and seemed to just be absorbing everything. Sometimes I look at Ethan and am amazed at how much he already knows and understands....

While we were in the temple the kids got to spend some good quality time with their Aunt and Uncle and play games and run around. Aunt Anna has some really good pictures but these are just a few from our camera. Katelee loves to be outside and loves even more to follow her brother around.

The kids were so cute together, this of course did not last long.....

After the sealing all of the remaining family waited outside the temple doors for the newly sealed family to come out. Ethan and I kept trying to peek inside to see if we could tell when they were coming....

And then they came out. It was the cutest thing I have seen in a while. They were so happy and you could see the excitement radiating off of them.

We only got a few pictures because it's a lot of work to try to keep track of Katelee and Ethan in such an open space....

How cute!

After we had our family picture done it was off to the reception/luncheon!

I love seeing my brother so happy with his little family. He absolutely adores his wife and his daughter. I love this picture because to me it represents this Blackburn family.

I have the opportunity of working in the youth center at the temple quite often and being able to see a lot of children sealed to their families, however I would have to say this has to be my favorite one. To know that you can be with your family FOREVER is such a great blessing in my life... I love this little family so much and am so grateful that they were able to take this step together!

Race for the Cure-5K Fun

Saturday May 1st, 2010





My Mother-in-Law, Karolyn, goes up to Salt Lake City each year and participates in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 5K and fun walk each year with Lisa. I have thought about doing this each year so we can show our support for Karolyn and all that she has been through, but just never got it done. So this year I finally decided to actually do it. I signed Karolyn, Chris, Ethan, Katelee and myself up! I started to get excited because I signed myself up for the timed 5K.... I also got excited because as the race approached I felt a sense of the importance of educating my kids on this subject and letting them know that Grandma Nelson had been a fighter and made it through this disease. I had my co-worker pick us up some "In Celebration of" signs for us to complete and put on our backs for the race. We each decorated our own in our own special way. Here is mine......

And here is Ethan coloring his....

And here is the final product... (Ethan determines his grandparents names based on their dog's name, so Grandma Nelson is Grandma Snickers!)

And here is Chris's sign......

So we got up bright and early on Saturday and headed out with Grandma Nelson to the race which was held down town. After finally getting parked and heading away from the start line and then finally towards the start line my nerves were almost out of control. I couldn't focus on the map to find the right way and started to get snappy with everyone. The last 5K I did was a church one and so I wasn't stressed about running or starting on time. As we got closer to the start I couldn't believe my eyes, there were TONS of people there.... What had I gotten myself into?

Here is just some of the people there...... Crazy!

So I got into the running crowd about a minute before it started and then after the gun was shot I realized that I was on the wrong side of the road.. So I made my way over to the right side and started the race. Wow, Everyone warned me that the first half mile would be weaving in and out of the crowd and finding my groove.... they were right and I couldn't believe how many people were already walking....

So after getting around those that were a bit slower and finding a good grove, I started looking around and thinking about why ALL these people were here. Lisa had told me before the race that I shouldn't read any ones shirts because they would make me cry. Well she was right, I started thinking about my mother-in-law and how much it must have sucked to have Breast Cancer and then I noticed a few peoples shirts that had "In Memory of" signs on them. Immediately my thoughts turned to how grateful I was that Karolyn had been able to fight and conquer so my kids are able to know their Grandma Nelson. All of a sudden I noticed tears coming down my cheeks.... How silly I might have looked to the outside world, but quite a few thoughts were drifting through my mind, such as 1. I hope we are able to find a cure soon, 2. Please don't let Katelee have to go through this, 3. Thoughts of all the women I know who have been affected by this disease, 4. Thank you Karolyn for fighting, 5. I can't believe how many people I know that have been affected by this, it's crazy and on and on....

Here are my kids waiting for me to finish the race.....Don't they look excited?

And here I am after finishing the race.... yes I was having problems breathing and I don't know why I put my arms out like that. My final time was 26:26.......Not to shabby!

Chippendale's was there to give all of the survivors flowers and I made sure to get a picture of Karolyn with them!

We walked around and picked up all the free stuff we could which included a KFC bucket hat that Katelee left on the ENTIRE time! She will still let us put it on her head and leave it there! Silly girl!

I know I may not share my feelings about my in-laws very much, I do love them with all my heart. I am so glad to be their daughter and thankful that they are so great. Karolyn once told me that while she was going though her cancer she often thought something like this, "Karolyn, you have grand kids you haven't met yet that you need to meet!" I am so grateful for the fighter in her so that she is in her grandchildren's life! They love their Ma Ma and Grama Snickers more than words can express!

Here's to Next years Race! :)