Crazy Things

me, Joel, and Lexi

This past weekend was so much FuN!

Lexi had invited me to go with her to Gilbert and get her car re-keyed and to spend time with her family!

 Let's just say that the Heninger family is so awesome and so sweet!

Driving up there was so hilarious, we took a friend named Joel up there with us but he went to see his own family. On the car ride up he was extremely funny and very entertaining!

After meeting the family
 Lexi and her sister Holly took us around to show us the area on these double seater bikes. It was soooo weird! I was freaking out! Not knowing what do to and knowing I had no control was crazy! Lexi then had me drive and it was better but so weird and I didn't want to kill her! We luckily made it without dying!



Joel soon told everyone he was going to marry Holly (She's 15)

Lexi and I took Joel to his sister house.
Let's just say men don't like to ask for directions.
We drove around for an hour trying to find where his sister lives.
It was dark and we came from the side he's not used to but still!!! On the way there we stopped at Mill Ave since I've never been there and walked around for a few minutes. Was a bit creepy but we were glad Joel was there. 

                            Lexi and I at Urban Outfitters





SaturDay:

 We watched some conference then did some yard work and layed out in the sun! Holly and Lexi and I got a little red but it turns into a Tan right?! We then had girls night while Lexi's dad and brother went to priesthood session. We went and ate at Chilli's with Jami (Lexi's older sister), her baby Kylie whose aka Squish, Holly, Lexi, Mrs. Heninger (RaLyn).

  Then looked around JC Penny's then went home. When we got home I had decided to color my hair. Lexi wanted a pink/red streak in her hair same with Holly. I did their streaks first then we colored my hair &  I got some streaks too. :)

BeFore:


Lexi getting hers done, Me, and Holly (She's taller like Kortnee)



I'm doing Holly's



AfTer:

I'm wearing a shirt I promise ...

SunDay:

We finished conference and went and picked Joel back up from his sister's house. His family seemed really cool. We went back to Lexi's to finish the second session. They had the whole family over for dinner! Got to meet Grandma and Grandpa and brother Chris. Lexi has one awesome family and I felt right at home with them! We then went and took pictures of Jami and Brandon and Little Squish (Kylie). Making a little girl smile takes work!

 Back in Thatcher-

Officer Cater and Another officer have helped catch the robbers that broke into the Shire.

The Officer drove up by an abandon house and there was a guy and girl who were there. The car wreaked with marijuana. The Officer called Officer Carter and they searched the car for drugs little did they know a backpack (Britnee's) was full of Lexi's car keys (she already had re-keyed her car so she's pressing charges) and some other items. None of my stuff was found but we found out that they were drug dealers. They are not college kids and they broke in to find stuff to trade to get drugs. This man has a 4yr old kid and doesn't want to go back to jail so he told them he would try to help to lower his 4 felony's over his head and get some of our stuff back and gave the cops 3 other names. This man is our neighbor. He lives behind us and his dad is always watching us. I catch him all the time starring at us. A lady came to our door today to worn us that he is always watching us. If some random person knows this then that's really creepy!!

 I'll keep you updated.

MonDay (Today)- Rusty started chemo again..



Went from this



To this


To Last week!!!


We got some good news today. Rusty's AFP levels have gone down to 10.3.



Rusty after this session will be done with Chemo! The doctor got two other doctors opinion and feels really good about him only doing two sessions! Rusty was soo excited! His mom and dad both cried and I'm so happy that this is going to end soon!  This has been the hardest trial for Rusty and I. I've cried almost every day wondering if I'm strong enough for this but I've been able to get through every day taking one day at a time & and holding onto the days that we were perfect! We've had so many people praying and shaving their heads for support. ( even my brother shaved his head this weekend.) I just want to thank everyone and for my Heavenly Father for making me strong enough to do this.

And who in the world knocks and but this on someones door and RuNs?!?



Gross!! Scared Lexi to death!



Been a good last few days! And this Friday I'll be 19 to end on a perfect note!

The Hawk

Last night 3/29/11 was the night Rusty started to lose his hair.

He was playing ball and his buddy Quinn asked him " Dude why do you have hair all over your shirt?" Rusty looked down and his hair was all over his shirt. He realized that if he ran his fingers through the little hair he had it'd fall out. His leg hair, facial hair, and head hair. So to cheer him up Quinn buzzed a mo-hawk in his hair but Rusty says " Just for a day" ha. He didn't want to look like he had a cat anymore so he wanted his hair even shorter and then decided to to the hawk. Guess every boy has to try it once..So I've heard from others. ;)

It's not easy to lose your hair but I'm trying to keep his chin up! He will always be good lookin to me with or without hair!

A Disaster We Couldn't Control

On March 27th, 2011

we found

Our House (the shire used to be known as the slut hut) had been broken into

 with a crow bar through the doors in our room.

We have french doors that no one goes through and they started with mine and Lexi's room.

Took my ihome and a lot of my jewelry . Rusty's bracelet that he had engraved on when he first asked me out is gone. Women's medallion and all my jewelry that I actually wear! Lexi whose birthday is today she has her Cello case stolen and it's tuner. She had her extra  key to her car stolen and her DVD player. Stephanie had lots of jewelry money, chords to her computer, backpack. Britnee's chords to her camera jewelery, stereo, and movies. Courtney has her pearl ring that Bryce gave her and jewelry stolen, check book. Madi's check books were gone too. Her electronic stuff, movies, suitcase. Tiara lost her hard drive and jewelry and her fiance's keys and quad are gone from the shed. Anything that had do with electronics or ipods were taken.

We all lost something that was valuable.

 It's not funny! People that do this stuff need lives. It's pathetic. They nic-picked through everything. Some things were left that they could have easily taken and who knows why they didn't. Who knows what were going on through these people's heads. The cops were called. Our neighbor said they say lights through their windows at 2:30 Wednesday night. This was over spring break so we were all gone and Stephanie left Tuesday.

Stephanie, Madi, and Tiara's room

Our Second Living Room

My room and Lexi's

Britnee's room

By our back door

And Courtney's room

They totally trashed our house and went through everything.

It's ALL off

On Tuesday March 22, 2011

My Handsome Fiance decided he didn't want to deal with losing his hair so I shaved it.

 He decided to do a number two. He may not lose his hair all the way but that's a traumatic experience even for  guy so he wanted it off.

And he still looks cute!

Jake was also there. Jake and soo many more people have shaved their heads to support Rusty. Jake also wanted his hairline fixed so I fixed that so he didn't look like a "little boy" anymore! :)

This whole experience which... isn't over yet... has been well a life teaching experience.

Rusty and I talk about last semester and how perfect life seemed and now it's a different process. Before our worries were school and learning from each other and everything else that seems so little compared to now.

Many things have changed,

 life seems so serious and I miss the days he had energy to tickle me, wrestle with me, pick me up, even to scream at each other (in a playful way) that always ended up in a kiss and laughing.. Guess I have to remember that this will make us stronger in the long run and right now he's sick and needs his rest and needs to get better.

 One day we'll be back to our normal selves but hopefully take our trial and turn it into a better

 US.

Strength

Lexi, me, and with the help of Johnny took pictures to make Rusty smile

 instead it made him and his mom cry.



This one makes me laugh every time. ha



Strength.

 Is what i prayed for on the drive to Rio Rancho, New Mexico. I didn't know how hard it was going to be to see Rusty doing chemo or so sick.

So I asked for strength.  

Friday ( the 18 )
 Was the first time I was going to be with Rusty while doing chemo.

 The session was his last of his first week of chemo. He made it.

 It lasted 5 hours.

You'd think horrible..boring..right?

 It wasn't too bad.

Cherish had come from Phoenix on Thursday as well. We had woken up about 6:45 so we could leave the house by 7:30 to be there by eight. But we were a tad late. It was an early start especially because the time zone changed for me. So really I woke up at 5:45.

But the 5 hours went faster then I thought. Rusty slept the first bit while Cherish and Debbie talked and then the steroids kicked in!

 He was no longer yellow. He seemed more awake and happy.

 His nurses were very sweet! We also found out he may only have to do 2 sessions rather then 4. So keep praying for that!! We played "cut the rope" on Cherish phone and talked and ate.

 Rusty has his good moments and his bad.

Sometimes he's up and others he just crashes.

 His head has been hurting and he's felt a little light headed.
Saturday
  I found him laying in front of the bathroom on the floor because his head was hurting him.

That was hard to see.
Yesterday his buddies also came over which most have shaved their heads.

Rusty. Nathan. Sumner. Carson. Wesley.

Sunday (today)
 This morning he got too tired to even put on his shoes to go to church. He put on one..that was too much energy. He can't walk around very much either before he has to sit down and rest.

 We only stayed for sacrament because he was too tired and his head hurt. He's sleeping now! Rusty as had to eat right and drink lots of fluids. He's found that lemonade hurts his stomach but a coconut smoothies help or orange juice helps his stomach feel better. 

 He doesn't want to do chemo anymore.

 He hates feeling yucky.

 He just wants it to end...and I wish that I could take his pain away.

 Sometimes this is harder then I expected. But just taking one day at a time and remember this is just for a short period of time.



The Journey Isn't Over

" When you think life is going great and all is well, next thing you know you get hit back down on your knees" -Rusty Edwards

On March 2nd 2011, Rusty found out his trial was not over...

He got a phone call from the doctor that him and his family had seen the day before where they checked his blood and set up all the check ups that he needed to do for the next couple years...

Well his blood test came back..

Rusty's AFP (Alpha-fetoprotein) levels in his blood were at 23.5 the normal is 0-15 but before the surgery his AFP level was 750.

So the level has dropped but it still needed to go down more so he got the news...

he had to do chemo.

(We fasted and prayed and felt that he needed to do the chemo)

For precautionary measures Rusty has had to do the sperm bank,

but the odds are he will be able to have kids later

down the road.

Rusty will tell you that doing that for 6 days was soo awkward.

but better safe then sorry.

Rusty on March 14, 2011 (Today) he started

his first session of chemo @ 11 am.

He has to do 4 sessions, at least, of chemo.

5 days in a row (Monday through Friday) + 4.5 hours each day = 1 session

Then he gets 2 weeks off and starts another session, four times. His last session should be

in about May.

Wedding plans?

On hold. Depending if he can work or not and how he's feeling will see when we can plan a date so mean while we are trying to

make him better..

keep him strong..

say lots of prayers..

and do wedding things here and there.

He was "cruising around" with this Iv Cart

Pretty happy guy for what he as to go through

but he has so many things

to fight for

and I know we will get through this and that

he is strong enough for this trial in his life and so

am I.



And don't forget that Nathan was there by his side his first day and his parents!



First day. Done. He was fine until, towards the end of the night, when he felt sick, drained, and of course "missed his woman!"
 Thank you to those who are supporting him and shaved their heads.
 Nathan
Carson
Micheal
Wesley
Tanner F
Kegan
Danny
Sumner
Quinn
Nathan B
Eli
Ron
This morning Rusty walked down stairs and his dad had shaved his head even after Rusty told him he didn't have to. Rusty cried..

He's got an awesome dad!
While skyping you can tell that he is a little yellowish and got a sweet beanie from the hospital.

It isn't easy to see him sad..hear him breakdown..or know he's hurting.



Nathan with his head shaved



Eli Rusty's brother with his head shaved!