Reflections on 1 year of Marriage

When I was single I used to pride myself that I thought I was independent. I could go to home depot, I had my own tools, ladder, lawn mower, etc. Ok I was pretty independent and although some things were fun learning to do, deep down I always wished it was different.

Now I am married. I love being married. About once a month at least I think to myself, wow, having a husband around really is handy. When I was single I would get myself into little predicaments and then start getting so bugged thinking ‘where is my husband when I really need him?’ Here are a few situations that have happened this year where I found having a husband around really comes in handy.

Gopher in window well when trying to sell my house –

Single Days: Ignore it and hope that the potential buyers don’t see it running around down there.

Married: Shane comes up with a contraption to set down there and try to trap it, fills the hole and spends quite a while getting the situation taken care of.

Broken/loose rain gutter banging against the house –

Single Days: Call my dad and beg him to come over and try to fix it. (Of course he always would.)

Married: Without even asking Shane got up one day and fixed it. I am not even sure how he did it, but he did and it worked.

Go to Home Depot and try to find one tiny little thing in that huge store –

Single Days: Wander around trying to find someone to help point me in the right direction while trying to describe what the little thing looks like and have no idea what it is really called.

Married: Shane may not know exactly where it is but at least he knows what it’s called we are looking for now. And for some reason more people come up and offer help then they ever did as a lonely single girl wandering around lost in the store.

Changing a lightbulb at the top of my vaulted ceiling –

Single Days: Go get my huge ladder out of the garage that is really too heavy for me to carry by myself (why did I even buy such a big ladder?), drag it through the door that keeps swinging closed on me and almost banging into every wall in sight. It’s about a 30 minute process, no joke

Married: Shane goes and gets the ladder like it’s a piece of paper, brings it in, sets it up, changes the lightbulb in 5 minutes tops.

Toilet making a repetitive clinging noise –

Single Days: Ignore the sound and pretend it’s not there, I mean if it’s not dripping water and it’s flushing then everything is just fine right? Or, shut the bathroom door and you really can’t hear it anymore. Or…break down and call the plumber while getting bugged that a 5 minute fix will cost you $100 or more.

Married: A quick trip to Home Depot (see above) and 10 minutes later the toilet is as good as new.

All in all Shane does a lot more then just this. I love him even if he didn’t do any of these things. But he really has been sooo helpful with everything and more. He claims he isn’t or doesn’t want to be handy but I know he can do a lot more then he lets on. I really couldn’t ask for anything more.

So for all of you that have been married too long to remember these things, think of how you would’ve handled a situation if you were single with no spouse to help you out. Yep, marriage is great and not just to have someone around to help me out of my predicaments but to have a companion that loves me unconditionally. Sick or healthy, bald, falling out hair or long and beautiful, sleeping or hyper, lazy or hard working, bored or too busy…he loves me and I love him!

Happy 1^st (of many) Anniversary, I love you Forever!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday I was sitting at work when the receptionist called and told me I had a delivery at the front desk. In my mind I thought, 'that could only mean one thing on the day before Valentine's' The receptionist must have read my mind because she then said 'Don't get too excited, it's only a book or something.' A little disappointed, I finished what I was working on and then decided to go see who dropped off a book for me. When I got to the front desk this is what I found...



A huge, beautiful, bouquet of flowers. He has sent me flowers every Valentine's since we met. The first year we were dating, the second year we were engaged and now this year we are married. I told him that I didn't need flowers every Valentine's but I'm not complaining because it sure is fun to receive them. I have an amazing guy and I'm so glad he's mine.

Last night we decided to celebrate a day early. We went to PF Changs (yummy lettuce wraps and my favorite dish, Chicken with Black Bean sauce.) Then we went and heard Peter Breinholt's Valentines performance to a small intimate crowd. It's already been a great Valentine's Day!

A visit from California

A couple weekends ago my good friend from high school came to visit. She lives in California and decided to come hang out in some cold weather. She was disappointed it didn't snow while she was here but we had a great time. We went shopping, to a movie and dinner and then really just hung out and got caught up with each other. It was fun to see her and hope she will come again.

While we were shopping we went and bought a few little clips that I can put in my hair. It's fun to have hair long enough to actually be able to put a clip in it. So this is the way I have been wearing my hair lately and I really like...and so does Shane.

Complete Remission

I had my first PET scan since finishing treatment last week. I didn't announce it to everyone because I was feeling quite anxious about the whole thing. I don't know why I thought not telling everyone would help but I guess I just didn't feel like discussing it and thinking about it every minute of the day leading up to it, even though I still did. Plus I think I am a paranoid freak and any little thing out of the ordinary automatically makes me think the cancer has returned. It's exhausting and annoying.

Anyways, I got the results back this afternoon and the test came back Normal, meaning I am still completely cancer free. Apparently, even though I was in remission before (or so I thought) making it to this hurdle and still being in remission now means, according to my doctor, I am in 'Complete Remission.' Who knew I had to reach this to be in complete remission...but it feels good.

I feel so relieved to have the first scan since being done with treatment over with. Hopefully the others ones will get a little easier. I don't have another scan now until July. YEAH! This is a huge relief and it feels like a weight off my shoulders to not have to worry about it any longer...it was a long couple weeks leading up to today.

So as you can tell if you've been reading my other posts recently, this blog is going to turn into a sort of what's happening in Sheri and Shane's lives. It's really not that exciting but I like to keep track of it, so feel free to continue reading, or not. The posts might not come all that often but we do plan to do some traveling this year so stay tuned for that.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Shane and Sheri have had quite an adventurous year. Most of you know the details of what has gone on this year but for the few who do not, here is a summary.

The biggest highlight was that we got MARRIED this year. What an amazing day our wedding was, one we will never forget. The day was perfect, what more could we ask for. We love being married and have enjoyed the change and new experiences it brings.

Sheri was also diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 5 weeks before our wedding. Chemo started the week before the wedding and lasted until the end of July with another month of Radiation afterwards. She is happy her hair is growing back and she is feeling good. Being married and cancer free are her two favorite terms for the 2008.

Shane moved his office, sold his place and made a clean cut from living in Utah County to Salt Lake County. Sheri also sold her place and together we bought a new home in Draper. We love our home and moving into a place together has been nice. We live in a great neighborhood and now enjoy teaching the 6 year olds at church.

Amongst the marriage, chemo, and moving we managed to get in a few trips this year. Orlando, St. George, S. California, Boston, and N. California were all fun times and we were happy to get away from life for several days.

We want to thank all of you for blessing our lives this year. More then ever we have appreciated our family, friendships, the prayers, and the many kind thoughts and deeds in our behalf. We are especially grateful to the Lord for his tender mercies and blessings in our lives this year.

2009 will bring more marriage, more cancer free testing, more vacations, and hopefully no moves!

We hope everyone has a great Christmas and a Happy 2009!

Shane and Sheri Glover

Tim Tam Slam Party!

Last night was our annual Tim Tam Slam party. For those who don't know what that is, Tim Tams were introduced to me on my mission. They are very yummy biscuits (cookies) that you can buy in Australia and other places. They are chocolate cookies with a chocolate soft center. They used to be hard to come by here, however, Target now sells them...yeah! Now...you can just eat a Tim Tam, no problem. But to Slam a Tim Tam is a whole other experience. The slide show will show the process but basically you get a mug of hot chocolate, bite off the ends and suck the hot chocolate through the cookie as it melts, and while using no hands, slam the whole cookie into your mouth without letting it disintegrate on the counter or into your hot chocolate.

So every year around the first snow fall (we were a little late this year) we get together to carry on a tradition of Slamming Tim Tams. It started with just a few of us and have grown. This year was a lot of fun and so I put together a slide show of our night.

Thanks everyone for coming, it was a lot of fun!

Numbers and Results

So at work this week I have been putting together my year end contributions. I have to include all projects, tasks and results that I've completed this year. It is what they use to determine my raise and job security. So I've been going through my year and as I put down all my job related accomplishments, I really wanted to add in this list:

12 rounds of chemo
13 radiation treatments
3 surgeries
9 consultations/other doctor appts.
6 scans and tests (2 PET, 1CT, bone marrow, EKG, diffusing capacity)
8 different doctors seen this year
296 hours of sick time (which is actually only 14% of working time)
8 lbs gained, 4 lost
15 inches of hair lost, 2 gained so far
16 hats
1 wig
3 fevers
0 throwing up (thank goodness for anti-nausea medication!)
10 neulasta shots
10 baths for my aching bones because of my neulasta shots
$170,000 in Medical Costs
$1500 of which I paid
1 GREAT Health Insurance Plan
too many to count…nurses and blood draws (fyi to the nurses, I have floppy veins)
1 Body free of Cancer!
2 houses sold, 1 bought
1 wedding planned
1 amazing husband
9 months of marriage
250 (appx.) Thank you notes written (I really am blessed by all of you!)
4 trips (Florida, St. George, California and Boston)

I left it all out of my work list, but if I got to give myself a raise for my personal accomplishments this year, I would give myself the highest raise if I do say so myself.

Mostly I just thought all the numbers were interesting and wanted to remember them.

This also reminds me why I keep telling people that life is normal and almost a little boring...which I LOVE!