A Nice Ending to the Year

These days have been packed full it seems. Christmas and New Year were wonderful. After a decorating project and organizing the entire house, I am ready to sit down and enter my last entry for 2002 and for the "Kelby Update Website."

Let's see. There's so much that has gone on these days since Christmas. My mom and dad were here for about 4 days after Christmas. The girls kept them busy the whole time playing with their new toys...and being their toys. My dad was Kelby's horse the whole time he was here. She also made him build towers with her blocks so she could knock them down. Mom and Dad both played with the girls new playdoh for hours. It is neat stuff that smells like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream. Needless to say the girls were happy! After my parents had to leave we got busy re-decorating Michael's office. We painted all the walls a bright blue. It turned out so great. It is an inspiring place to work on the computer now. Also, it is a "media room" for watching surround sound DVDs! After that project was finished, I got the whole house organized...including the garage! Wow...it feels so good. I always go on an organizing/decorating kick at the beginning of the new year! I'm a little bit tired out now, so it is time to relax.

Mike got me a domain name for Christmas, so I have to work on a website for that now. I'm not sure yet what I am going to do with it, but it is www.smileonmyheart.com. I think I might be selling a few of my hand-made cards there...and who knows what else. Tune in to see what it becomes. The "Smile On My Heart" name is one that I've been thinking of for a long time. I want my stuff to be called "Smile on My Heart Art." It comes from a theory I've had since high school that no matter how tough things are, if you have Jesus in your heart, you have a smile there...even if you don't always have a smile on your face.

We have another website called "The Wright Site" for our family. It is a great way to keep everyone updated without it being focused on just Kelby and cancer. Hopefully I'll never have to update this website again. If something does come up, I will be sure to let you know through this website. I am also keeping a current email list of people that want to receive a copy of these Kelby Updates. If you don't already receive these, you can email me at mommy@mikrowiz.com and ask to be added to my Website Updates list. This way you'd be the first to know if anything should happen. Otherwise, if you want to check out the rest of our day-to-day family stuff, check www.mikrowiz.com/thewrightsite as often as you like. We will be checking the guestbooks from both sites, so please feel free to write there or send us an email using the contacts page if you'd like a direct response. We like to leave this site active for anybody that is newly going through any kind of cancer experience in hopes that it might give them hope. Feel free to pass this site on to anyone that might like to read Kelby's story.

Now check out all the great pictures from Christmas time and the end of the year.

Great Scans!!

I'm just so sorry that I haven't updated the website yet. Scans on Monday gave us wonderful news. Kelby's scans look great according to her doctor. We are so happy...we couldn't help but enjoy our Christmas holiday to the max...that's why I forgot to write. Thank you for your prayers of love and support.

We just had a lovely Christmas dinner of clam chower, sandwiches and ham balls...I'm stuffed. Yesterday we had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner at our house. I fixed a "fancy dinner" of Prime Rib, sauted mushrooms, twice baked potatoes, etc! It was so much fun. The cousins were all here. It was a wonderful evening.

This morning was magical with mounds of Christmas presents. Mike and I realized our mistake of buying too many things with lots of pieces just a little too late. Santa brought the girls a great doll house and the black plastic ponies that Kelby wanted so badly. My mom and dad made it in at about a quarter to 10:00am...just in time for breakfast and more presents. Then we all got to go over to Gramma Debbie and Grampa George Wright's house for a few more presents and lots more good food and company. It was all so wonderful. Now the girls are playing with all the toys and getting sick on the goodies.

We are so thankful for this wonderful Christmas and the good news that helped us to enjoy it. It will be another 4 months before the next scans. Hopefully it will be as stress-free as the last 3 months have been. God bless you all this Christmas season. I think with the coming of 2003 we might stop updating this website and go back to the "Wright Site" for regular family news since there hasn't been new cancer news in so long. We couldn't be more thankful for that! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (in case I don't get another chance to write.)

Forgot to Mention

I forgot to mention our little adventure this week in my last message. Kelby managed to stick a bead in her ear the other day. I couldn't get it out and neither could her primary physician. He thought she might have to get anestesia for it, so we were pretty bummed. She slept on it that night and then the next day we went to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. He had the right tools though and got it out fairly easily without knocking her out. We were very thankful that it didn't end up being a big deal. I think Kelby knows better than to put anything in her ear from now on.

We had a wonderful time last night at the Festival of Lights. Kelby even got to go on a pony ride. She sat on Santa's lap without any tears. Tegan was too afraid to do it though. I'll post some pictures from the evening later. Then we got to see the whole Lohman family together last night. It was really wonderful. Kelby and Tegan stayed up until 9:30 last night and were happy the whole time. I was so proud of them.

This morning Kelby "sang" carols in front of the church for their Christmas program. Really she just stood there and waved, but the sight of her up there in her beautiful new Christmas dress brought tears to my eyes. It was so sweet.

I'll write again tomorrow if we learn anything from her scans by then. God bless you all!

Christmas Time!

Here in the Wright household, the elves have been busy. Momma elf has been cooking and crafting as much as possible. These days are so exciting...packed with anticipation for the little girlie elves. Daddy elf has been smoking things out in the backyard...things like salmon, almonds, cheese, and beef. It's going to be a tasty Christmas this year.

We had a wonderful time in Billings for Thanksgiving. We played and had fun and ate a lot of pie. The girls loved visiting Gramma and Grampa's house...even if it was the last time at the house with the pool...Gramma and Grampa moved the very next week. I posted some pictures of our trip. As soon as we got home, we put up the Christmas tree and decorations. Kelby keeps asking each day, "Is it still Christmas time?" and then in the very next breath, "Can I open the presents?" Then, I point to the advent calendar and gently explain that she has "this many days" to wait. Every once in a while, with no prompting, she says, "I love your decorations Mommy." She makes me turn on Christmas music and put her in her pretty dress-up wedding dress so she can dance. Both girls love the train around the tree. The flat-bed car holds M&Ms and Daddy lets them take one each time he starts up the train. There is a battle going with the constant nagging for the candy canes from the tree. We built a gingerbread house together last week. Too bad we already ate it!

We are looking forward to the rest of the season. I love this time of year. It is a time for me to craft and cook with a greater purpose of giving them as gifts. Each little gift comes straight from my heart. I also love to entertain friends and family. It looks like Gramma and Grampa Morrow are going to get to be here for Christmas Day! The girls will be really excited to have them here.

There is only one thing to think about right now. Kelby's next set of scans are on the 23rd of this month. This is a regular scheduled set of scans (3 months from her last set). We are praying with hope it will be good news as a great Christmas present! Please just keep Kelby in your prayers these next few weeks. I haven't even been worrying about it this time. She seems like she is doing 100%, so I have no reason to think her scans won't look fine. She is an amazing girl! Really, in March of this year, we didn't think we'd be seeing another Christmas with Kelby, so praise God for every miraculous day! This is going to be a really fun Christmas with both girls old enough to have a great time this season. I'll be sure to let everyone know the results of the scans as soon as we know anything. Thank you all for caring so much for our family. God bless and Merry Christmas to all!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we have lots of thankfulness! Everything is going great. The girls just keep growing. Tegan is learning lots of new words. She says; "meow, moo, ni-night, bye-bye, hi, eye, ouu (ouch), and more." It is very helpful to be able to understand her. All us girls had the sickies the last week and a half. I'm still hanging on to it, but the girls are all better. I got my hair cut really short last week! I just LOVE it. I'll post a picture. It is really easy to take care of and it's really hip. I just needed a self-confidence booster. Mike started a new hobby. He bought himself a smoker. Then, when he goes fishing, he can do something with it. He caught a salmon last weekend and smoked it and it is delicious! He's out fishing right now, so hopefully he'll get some more. Our house smells a bit like a smoke house, but I don't mind. We'll be smoking stuff all winter I'm sure. That's about all that's going on here so far. We're heading to Billings for Thanksgiving, so I am getting excited about that. We miss everyone over there. We'll try to take a lot of pictures.

Never Better

As you can see, I am having a hard time coming up with things to write about these days. Everything is going great. As a family, we are loving and laughing and playing together. The girls keep growing. They are both such good girls. The days are just getting away from me because "time flys when you're having fun." I wish I could write what has been going on, but I really can't remember. I guess I'd have to write more often to do that. I'll try to note some of the silly things the girls are doing lately. Kelby has really taken to playing with her babies. She lays them down and turns off all the lights so we don't wake up the baby. Actually her "baby" right now is a stuffed animal kitty princess. Tegan likes to play with her sister and now she puts her little finger in front of her mouth and blows as if to say, "shhhh" and then whispers, "baby" because the baby is sleeping. Tegan says lots of words now...like cracker, eye, hi, bite, all done, iwantdown (as one word). She says them so that only a mommy could understand her, except the word "eye"...she says that one perfectly as she points to her eye.

I've decided that all us girls are addicted to candy, so I've been trying to cut us all back. Boy, it's hard work for me. It was all that Halloween candy she got. Oh yeah, I got a cold...that was something else that happened lately. It wasn't that bad of one though. Tegan may have had it before me, but Kelby never got it! I'm getting better now. Okay...nothing much else to update you all on. I'll try to keep a mental note of the other sweet little things the girls do and write more later. Thanks for continuing to check up on us. I haven't been emailing these last few messages because they don't have that much information in them. I figure these updates are just for the diehards that check back here every now and then. Thanks so much!

Happy Halloween!

It's been a whole two weeks since I last sat down to write an update. I downloaded pictures from my digital camera yesterday and there were over a hundred, so I knew it had been a while. We are all doing great. The girls are growing and learning like crazy. Tegan is really picking up on a lot of her words and Kelby is learning all her letters by name. I'm not sure what we have been up to, but I know we have been keeping busy. I have been doing a lot of Stampin' Up! parties because when everyone found out I was quitting, they wanted to get one more party in. The girls and I went down to the zoo with some friends last week. On Friday night I got to stay out and scrapbook for 24 hours! It was so much fun. It was an event planned by a church in Bellingham. My friends were great fun and kept me laughing until about 3:30 in the morning when we curled up in our sleeping bags for a little rest. I woke up and got back to scrapbooking at 7:00 am. I didn't even get that many pages done in my album, but the ones I did are really cool! I just enjoying scrapbooking our family memories so much. Really, this entire website is just one big digital scrapbook for me.

As you'll see from our photos, we've been visiting the pumpkin farms again. I just love the colors of the fall. It is beautiful weather here. Usually there is a bit more rain, but not this year. It makes me smile when my mom talks about 6 degrees there when we have sunny sun!

Hmmm, no, there's not really much else to talk about. Kelby seems to be 100% three year old. We have our fair bit of sibling rivalry, whining, and talking back. That's about normal I'd say. The girls are generally very good. For a while there I dreaded taking them out shopping at all because they were so upset when I did. They are doing better these days...and so am I, now that I got my 24 hours away.

I did get to go to IKEA this Monday. That was a blast. If you haven't heard of the store, you'd better find one. It is a big furniture/housewares store. We had to drive over an hour to get there. My friend Cheryl and her mom took Tegan and I. Kelby got to stay and play with Gramma Debbie all day, so she had a great time too. I didn't spend too much money, but I'd love to go back. I am quite the organizational gal, and they have everything I need to do it. If only money grew on trees...

I had this update all written before the Halloween activities, so I thought I'd tell you about that before posting all the pictures. We had a great evening. After nap I got the girls dressed up in their costumes. We visited Great Gramma and Grampa Wright for a bit, then headed over to the church. Kelby played a few games at the Harvest Party they had going on there. We ran into Gramma Debbie for a bit before we headed home for Trick-or-Treating. The girls had so much fun. We have a perfect little neighborhood for it. We made it to several houses before both girls tired out. Tegan didn't understand that the candy stayed in the bucket at first, but she really got into it by the end of the night. Boy, she didn't want any help with carrying her goodies. Kelby only got scared at one house that had a screaming thing hooked up to a motion sensor. Other than that, it was an easy stroll around our block. After the girls went to bed, I went back to our church to help out for a bit at the Harvest Party. It was fun. Things will be settling down here now...until we start gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas! I can't wait.

Okay, that's enough rambling for now. Just know that we are still doing great. Thank you for all your prayers. Everyday is a miracle for which to be thankful. Enjoy the pictures.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Well, isn't it wonderful that I don't have much to update you on. We have been doing great. Everyone is happy and healthy. The days have been flying by for me. I'm not sure why, except we are all so happy. The weather has even been wonderful. We went out to search for some pumpkins on Saturday. The girls had a great time. The Century 21 here puts on an annual customer appreciation day each fall and this was the second time we've gone. I put up a ton of cute pictures from that day. We got three free pumpkins. Kelby only wanted one that she could carry and the free ones were pretty much all too big for her, so she settled on a miniture pumpkin we had to buy for her.

I have started really teaching Kelby her letters and sounds. She has learned that "B" makes the "buh" sound and "R" makes the "Ruh" sound. We are working on "S" and "K" this week. I figure if we take two letters a week, she'll really remember them. It has been really fun. I suppose I need to post some sound files of her saying those things because it is really cute!

Tegan has been learning many words lately. She hadn't been saying much of anything, but now she says: bear, baby, dada, mama, and somethings that sound kinda like amen, all done, and cookie. She's a cutie too. Everyone comments on her. At MOPS the caregivers really seem to like her. The room she's in during MOPS is filled with stuff animal chairs and she just loves it in there.

That's the other thing I have been up to lately...just buying the stuff for crafts for MOPS. It gives me a good excuse to go out and shop without spending my own money. I didn't use to be nervous to talk in front of the ladies, but I have been this year. I get all shakey while I'm up in front demonstrating the craft. I think I am just afraid they won't like my ideas. Oh well...nobody else volunteered for the job...so they're stuck with me. :)

Boring, Boring, Boring...just the way we like it. Thanks for checking in on us. Hopefully we are nothing but a normal family for awhile! God bless you all!

Loving Fall

Isn't it wonderful that there is nothing for me to write about? We are doing absolutely wonderful. Since we got home from Disneyland, we've been relaxing, having a little fun, and gearing up for fall. Our MOPS group started up again on Tuesday. I am the "creative activities" lady this year. That means that I get to provide crafts for the gals to do each meeting. So, that's taking up my time lately. It will be fun for me. I also just recently decided to quit my Stampin' Up! business...at least the workshop part. I have just loved being a demonstrator, but I have so much stuff now that I don't really need the income to support my hobby anymore. It is time for me to have that part of my brain back. Every now and then I have what I call a "Stamp-'Til-U-Cramp night" here at my home, and I'll keep doing those. Everyone just comes here and pays $5 to use my paper and stamps and make as many cards as they can before midnight! It is easy for me to do and fun too. Otherwise, I'll not be selling it anymore. I am looking forward to not having to think about it anymore.

As for the girls, they had a great time at MOPS on Tuesday too. They love to socialize...and get out of the house. Of course, that means we'll be susceptable to getting everyone's colds again, but it is worth the risk I think. Needless to say, the girls have a bit of a cold now, but nothing to worry about. They are still playing and staying happy.

The weather here is cooling down. It makes it just right for eating warm soup and baking cookies. I think this is one of my favorite parts of the year. Everything is joyful for me right now. It is just really nice.

God really just grabbed my attention when Kelby's catheter came out. I really am looking at her and at our life like it is normal again. I can totally appreciate the miracle of Kelby's being well right now. Who would have expected that she would be fine right now? Not me...and that is why I was feeling down before. But now, I am realizing how thankful to God I should be right now. We had too choices on how to look at Kelby's situation. One choice was to assume that Kelby's cancer is there and will eventually take her...that way we won't be disappointed when it comes back. This is the route I was taking before. It lead me to be suspicious and doubtful all the time...even though I still believed that she was totally in God's hands and trusted him with the outcome, I didn't want to get my hopes up. The other choice is to realize that she is healed right now. Now I do have my hopes up. That's okay because I know that if the cancer does come back, I can rely on God getting me through it...just like he did in the very beginning. So rather than looking to know what the future holds, I can live thankful for today. It is far easier to say that, than to actually do it. It took God's guidance and that catheter coming out to show me that I hadn't been "appreciating today." I had been, not even worrying, but wondering about tomorrow. Well, maybe I worried a little. Okay, all that to say, we are doing so much better now. Thank you for all your prayers!

We Are Back from Dismeyland!

We made it back late Sunday night. We had a great time in Disneyland. The girls just loved it all. We tired them out, but they were really good girls anyways. I think we really tired my mom and dad out too.

We left here on Wednesday and headed down to Seattle. After spending the afternoon at the zoo, we went and found our "hotel." I had found a place for us to stay near the airport that included 7 days of parking so we could leave our car there while we were gone. It was cheap, and needless to say, it was not a great place. We had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to get to our flight, and Michael didn't sleep at all. It was noisy and uncomfortable. He was a tired guy. On the plane, the girls did great. Tegan slept almost the whole way and Kelby colored. We met up with my parents at the airport and they took us over to our hotel...which was the Grand California Hotel...the brand new one that was built with the new theme park. It was absolutely beautiful inside. It wasn't as "Disney" as the other hotels, but it was really fancy and amazing. It had an earthy, woodsy feel to it. Mom and Dad stayed at the Disney Paradise Pier Hotel which was across the street from our us. We checked in to our rooms and headed out to the parks for some Disneyland fun!

We didn't really know where to start. There were just so many choices...and the lines for the rides were really short! It was the perfect time of year because all the kids are back and school, but the weather was wonderful. Mid 80's was a bit hot for us Northern Washingtonians though. We went on little rides and big rides. Mom and Dad took Tegan and Kelby over to see Pooh and Tiger while we went on Splash Mountain (my personal favorite). Apparently, Tegan had the crowd's attention while she took her place on Tiger's tummy to sleep. I'll include the pictures soon. We hit the Tea Cups and the Dumbo ride...and of course the Rockets. Kelby loves those rides. She still got a kick out of those fountains too. By nap-time we were all exhausted. Mike rested with the girls in the room while my parents and I laid by the pool. Is everyone jealous? That evening we tried to fit so much in that we didn't get to eat dinner until after the park closed at 8:00, though we did get to see part of the Disneyland parade. Since we got up so early that morning, we were exhausted and went to bed right away. My parents went and bought us some peanut butter and jelly, so I'd have something to feed the girls. They are a bit picky, so it was nice to know we had something that they would definately eat.

On Friday morning we had our oatmeal and then went back to the park. This time we went to "Toon Town." Kelby got to have pictures taken with Minnie and Mickey. She rode on the kiddy rollercoaster after some coaxing. It tickled her tummy and she decided she liked it enough to back on it with Grampa. Tegan got to walk around and really enjoy the park this time. You wouldn't believe how much she loved all the characters! She just started saying "bear" in a cute baby-sort of way whenever she's talking about her stuffed animals...so of course, she pointed and called all the characters "bear" whenever we saw one. She wanted to go up and see all of them. We went back to the hotel early that afternoon to get some pool time in for the girls before they had to take a nap. Kelby loved the fact that there was a kiddy pool there...meaning a pool that is only about 2 feet deep. She could play in it without being too scared. Tegan liked the little squirting turtle fountain. It was a nice relaxing time. This time while the girls napped, my parents generously stayed with the girls so Michael and I could have some fun time alone. We rode all the fast, fun, new rides at the California Adventure park. There are some cool rides there including a really fast rollercoaster and a ride where you feel like you are flying over California landscape. When the girls got up, my parents came in and we showed them around the new theme park. It wasn't there the last time they were there. As the evening wore down, the park closed and we watched the Electrical Light Parade. We all loved the beautiful lights and music. Both girls were amazed by it. When the California park closed, we shuffled our way over to Disneyland to our special assigned viewing of Fastasmic. With our prize package we got special seating at the huge laser, light, water show. It was really neat for us adults, but a lot scary for Kelby. To calm her down, we went on more of her favorite rides before the park closed.

Saturday morning, we had to switch hotels. Our last night there was spent at the Disneyland Resort hotel. That was also a beautiful hotel. After the transfer of luggage, we made our way over to Disneyland and met up with my parents after a couple of rides. During nap-time that day, my mom stayed with the girls for their nap and Mike, my dad, and I went over to ride the fast rides. We rode the rollercoaster three times...until I was feeling a little sick. After just a few more rides, the girls woke up and we brought them back into the California park for dinner. We found a place that served popcorn chicken and happy face french fries...if you can believe it! Kelby thought that was pretty neat. The park closed shortly after dinner which surprised us because we didn't think it closed that early on a Saturday. After fitting in a quick viewing of the "Muppets 3D" show, we went back to Disneyland again. That day we had promised Kelby she would get to see "Princess Atta" from "A Bug's Life," but we never got to see her. Mike ran to find her a Princess Atta doll and then she is very happy. We didn't stay up until closing that night because we were all so exhausted. After one last ride on the tea cups and Dumbo with Grampa, we said our good byes to Disneyland and hitched a ride out of town on the Monorail.

The whole next day was ours because we didn't have to fly out of town until 6:00 that night. We took a leisurely stroll around the Disneyland Hotel grounds which includes beautiful waterfalls, Japanese Koi fish, and cool stores. Then, Kelby and I got our suits on and went down for one last dip in the pool. She was disappointed that the hotel didn't have the famed "kiddy pool" like the other hotel, but she settled for a dip in the hot tub. Then it was time to check out and we dashed off to find a beach. Kelby had so much fun at the beach. I did too! I rode the waves and got icky and dirty before the ride home in the airplane. It was a beautiful day on the beach. On our last trip, the day we went to the beach was dreary. This was so much nicer. Kelby played and played in the sand and waves with Gramma and Grampa. It is possible that the beach was her favorite part of the trip. After we washed up the girls (Tegan had rolled around in the sand and loved it!), we headed for the airport and said our good byes to my parents and sent them back to Billings. By that time, we were exhausted and ready to be home. The girls did great on the flight...Tegan slept the whole way and Kelby did as good as can be expected from an exhausted three year old.

Monday was a lazy day...Mike didn't have to go to work. We recuperated from the trip and now we are on to normal life. I am thankful for the trip...a celebration of a new beginning! Kelby and Tegan had a wonderful time....and so did I! Wouldn't it be nice if we could go to Disneyland every six months all the time! Bye for now.

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