Locks of Love Family

My cute little niece, Ella, donated her hair to Locks of Love today. Every year at her elementary school, anyone who wants to donate their hair, gets to get their hair chopped off in front of the whole school during an assembly. Apparently last year had a big impact on her when she heard about it because she's been growing her hair out all year. Her mom almost cut it a few months ago, not knowing her plan and was quickly corrected that no she would not be cutting her hair.

So I decided to go to the assembly with my sister and my mom to watch the great event. She looked pretty nervous to be up in front of the whole school, but was so brave. She was the only 1st grader brave enough to do it.

She dedicated her cut to her cousin Eliza, who is her same age and lost her hair a couple years ago during her cancer treatment and also to me. I thought it was so cute of her to think of us.

So I officially am no longer the girl in our family with the shortest hair...certificate of progress for me.

THEN...as I got home from that great event and got on my computer to post this, I logged onto my Facebook account only to find out my sister Lori just cut off 13 inches of her hair and donated it to Locks Of Love as well today! I am totally shocked since I didn't know she was going to do this but how great of her. I haven't seen any pictures yet but I am sure it's going to be cute. So we have had a Locks of Love family day today.

Good job Ella and Lori for donating to such a great cause.
I love you both.

I heart California

I went to California this last weekend to visit my sister Christy and my cute, adorable, 3 nieces. I was a little sad when before I left the weather was supposed to be cool and cloudy the entire time. When I mentioned this to Christy she told me it was the Great company not the Great weather I was going down there for. And was she ever right. The bonus was that I had great weather as well and saw the sun each day I was there.

I had to get in my fix of favorite restaurants down there. So on the way back from the airport, we stopped at In-N-Out. That night we went to BJ's pizza. We woke up the next morning and Christy had gone and gotten yummy doughnuts. Where are all the good doughnut shops in Utah? Chinese food and doughnut shops (yes the same place) don't exist up here, how sad cuz they make the best doughnuts. Then on Saturday I went to Islands with my friend Konstantina from high school. I don't think I'll ever go to Islands without thinking of my other friend Alisa from high school, good times and yummy food. I'm full just thinking about all the food I ate this weekend.

I have the cutest 3 nieces down there. I love them to death (along with my other ones that I get to see all the time.) It was so fun to be down there and just hang out with them. Eliza, 7, lost a tooth while I was there and she was so proud for pulling it out herself. She is so sweet and lovable and has this cute twinkle in her eye. We were able to go to her end of the year school luau where I could see all her friends and teacher that love her as well. Avery, 4, is a sassy little thing. She knows what she wants and nothing stops that one. And then at the same time, she is so cuddly and cute. She came into my room each morning to ask if she could lay in bed with me. Really I think it was her way of getting me up out of bed. She even threw a small tantrum when she realized I was leaving to go home...just about as cute of a tantrum as you can get! Mia, almost 2, has the cutest smile ever. She is talking more and more and loves her older sisters. When they were gone one night she walked around the house and outside calling their names and asking where they were. She is a cutie.

Between eating out and playing with my neices, Christy and I were able to go to the beach, ride bikes in Newport and just spend time relaxing. Christy is a great mom and has a lot going on at all times and yet never seems frazzled by her girls wanting her time and attention. I am amazed at what a great mom she is.

Sorry for all the pictures, feel free to skip them, but you'll miss 3 cutie pies.

Shane wasn't able to make this trip with me. By the look on his face when he dropped me off at the airport, you would think he was all excited for his bachelor weekend away from me...really he worked all weekend. Hopefully he got a lot done without me there bugging him.


Mia at the park:


Avery at the park:


The beach while Eliza was at school:


Avery and I feeling the water:


Eliza swimming after school:


The Boardwalk - Newport Beach:


The Wedge - Newport Beach:


Eliza showing off her missing tooth:


The cutest 3 California Girls:


So now I am at the end of this post and realized I haven't mentioned that they do have a dad, and Christy has a husband. But for some reason I don't have a picture and forgot to mention him. Sorry Brett! Brett is a great dad and didn't complain once when he had to watch the kids so Christy and I could go out and play. He helped fix up the bikes so we could ride them and even came home from work early and took the girls to a movie. All his in-laws up here in Utah call him Father of the Year...he really is a great guy. I did try to thank him and let him take Christy out one night while I babysat. Thanks again Brian family for letting me come stay!

Hair Color and Trim

I haven't blogged in a quite a while. There really hasn't been a lot going on blog worthy. Shane and I have both been busy with quite a few things but mostly just normal life kinds of things.

However, I did get my hair highlighted and trimmed this week. This is the first hair highlighting I have had in 1 1/2 years. Before chemo, I had my hair highlighted for many years. Everyone asks me if my hair changed when it came back in. And really it didn't. People think it's a lot darker and curlier. They just don't realize I always had it highlighted and I would straighten it. I have really enjoyed the low maintenance of my hair this last little while. I was going to keep it my natural hair color for a while and just be a brown haired girl. However, I started finding some gray hairs in my head. My hair dresser said there were only a few and they were just in the front right where I could see them (isn't she so nice to try and make me feel better?)

Ahhh...Why am I getting gray hair!!!???

1) Just cuz I am getting older
2) I've had them for a while and just never noticed cuz my hair was always highlighted and a lot ligher
3) They were chemo causing gray hairs (I blame a lot on chemo so it's not that far fetched for me to think that.)

I choose to believe #3. So it was off to my hair dresser to get my hair highlighted a little earlier then I had hoped. Although it takes some maintenance to keep it up, I am happy I got it done. I kind of feel like the old me. It's not as blonde as I have been but it's a lot closer to my 'old normal.'

Here is a before and after. Before, dark brown and curly. After light brown and straight. I think my hair looks a lot longer when it's straightened.

Before:


After:

Wicked

I feel soooo lucky. I just got home from seeing Wicked at the Capitol theater. For those of you who don't know, tickets have been very hard to come by and I have some very jealous friends and co-workers right now. Apparently I married into some good connections with my sister-in-laws mother who was able to get us some tickets. I saw the show in LA almost 2 years ago and have been kind of obsessed with the music ever since. In fact when I hear the music I think about driving home from Shane's in Provo when we were dating. I could listen to all my favorite songs in the amount of time it took me to drive home. So as I was driving out of his condo complex I would crank it up and sing the whole way home. It kept me awake and gave me some happiness to face the drive home on some many late nights.

Anyways, Wicked tonight was soo good. It makes you smile, sing, laugh and cry. And yes I cried the first time I saw it and this time as well. (They really did an incredible job and I have all the songs playing in my head:
Tell them that I'm defying gravity
One short day in the emerald city
Dancing through life
Loathing...unadulterated loathing
and my favorite:
because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

LOVE IT!!

MS Walk

Lisa, Brigitte and I before the walk

Last Saturday I participated in the 2009 MS Walk. Brigitte and I have both been supporting this for many years. However, a few years after we started walking for MS, Brigitte's sister-in-law, was diagnosed with MS. She has been doing fabulous with her treatments and you would never know she has MS. She is so positive and has a great outlook on life. She has also been a tremendous support to me as I faced my health challenge. There is no cure for MS right now and we all sure hope someone finds a cure soon to help out Lisa and the many others battling this disease. So now a lot of Brigitte's family comes out to the MS Walk and we always have a great time. The last few years we've been doing the walk in Provo, but we decided this year to do the Salt Lake walk. There were a lot of people and even though it was a little chilly we all had a good time.

Preparing for the walk - the Eppley clan and me


Walking - Chris (Lisa's son had foot surgery, which is why he is in a wheelchair)

What will I be doing in 9 months?

UPDATE: This was an April Fools joke, so for the record, I am NOT pregnant, but it sure was fun fooling everyone this week!




I am so excited I finally get to add one of these cute little countdowns to my blog. How fun will it be to countdown the next nine months. I'm Pregnant!!! The doctors wanted me to wait a little longer but we can't be more excited to think about a new baby in our home. We've already thought about some names and are both excited and nervous about this change in our lives.






















oh yeah...April Fools. Come on tell me the truth, did you fall for it?

Rollerskating

The other night Brigitte and Tyler invited us to go rollerskating with them. It was $2 Tuesday's. Such cheap entertainment...so off we went. I love rollerskating. I don't know why I think it's so fun to skate in a circle for a couple hours but I do. I love skating to music. Tyler and Shane were good sports because I don't think they were as excited to be there as Brigitte and I were. We only lasted about an hour and a half until we could feel blisters starting. Then we had to leave and go back to being adults.

I realized we might be too old to rollerskate when:
1 - A friend was there that night, as a chaperone with his Young Men's group.
2 - They didn't have any of the songs Brigitte requested (were the 80's really that long ago?)

Brigitte was really hoping Tyler would ask her to skate during the "boys choice couples song!!"


Looks like her wish came true...


I got my guy during the girls choice couples song...and then he never left during the other songs! Lucky me.