"The Future is as bright as your faith"

Last week Jared had his after chemotherapy appointment. The doctor wouldn't say that he was cancer free, but that the treatment had worked, and they are going to strictly monitor him for the first year, and then I guess after 5 years of monitoring, they will give us the clear, if everything is normal. So, it was kind of anti-climactic, and a little disappointing, but Jared and I are moving on, and according to us he doesn't have cancer anymore.

Since we didn't end up buying a house due to all the crazy unknowns in our family, we are moving August 15th out of our 2 bedroom/loft house, and into something bigger, with 4 bedrooms and a loft. It was like pulling teeth to get Jared to allow our family do this. But, he realizes it will make me happier to have more space, and we will actually be paying 100$ less each month, and getting way more for our money. So we are busy getting boxes together, and I'm VERY excited to have SPACE!
We also have planned a few trips. We are going to Utah the first week of September. We are also going to Jamaica for a week, the day after Thanksgiving. Hallelujah! It is going to be awesome...no kids...no stress...no responsibilities...just Jared and I having a blast! I really love taking trips with just Jared, it reminds me why I married him, we always have so much fun together.
I'm totally excited for the future...

Getting our life back

So it has been a few weeks since Jared finished his last treatment, and we find out for sure if the cancer is gone next week. We are very excited to get the clear from the oncologist. Jared is still having some side affects, but his energy levels are getting WAY better. In fact, we are almost back to be a normal active family. The last couple of weeks, we have gone to the beach, and Jared has gone surfing a handful of times, and I have been able to start going to the gym, leaving the kids home with Jared. Brent and Cameron love going to the beach, especially Brent. We go about 3 or 4 times a week, he runs around, and plays so much at the beach that he gets chaffed between his legs. Well, we bought him a speedo, the kind that look like biker shorts, and they solved the problem. (We put the swim trunks over the speedo). It is so funny, Brent knows the definition of chaffed, and he says, "now I won't get chaffed anymore" in his little 3 year old voice.
We are looking forward to taking a vacation soon. Jared has saved his paternity leave from when Cameron was born, so we are going to take 6 weeks off over the months of December and January. During that time Jared and I are getting away for a nice break, no kids, just enjoyment. Jared deserves it, and so do I, we can't wait. We were thinking Jamaica, south east Asia, Australia, Dominican Republic, or Hawaii. I wish I could go to all of those places!!! Soon enough. When Jared and I first got married we vowed that were were going to take a big trip every 3 years, and we are coming up on the 2 year mark since our last trip, but since cancer happened we are doing a trip early!
I will keep you all posted on the news next week! Miss all my friends!

I can feel that light shining on me, @ the end of the tunnel!

Last week Jared finished the last round of his chemotherapy. It has been definitely rough! I never want to see anyone ever go through this again. He has one more shot that he has to get on Tuesday, and then he is done with IV's. Even though Jared can only live one day at a time, I'm thinking about the road ahead, and how great it is going to be when cancer is just a memory in our minds. I have to say one thing, I'm so glad that our children will not remember this time. It would have been so much harder to see them suffer emotionally from this. Brent just thinks that daddy likes to take naps all the time, and gets "owies" at the doctor constantly. Cameron likes his daddy even more with a bald head, because they match together. We are definitely looking forward to a future filled with lots of FUN memories. Jared's attitude on life is to live it like there is no tomorrow. We may be going on some crazy trips soon....screw buying a house, let's go to Australia! Ha ha! We will see...
This past month my sister Lana was able to come down for a visit. Brent LOVES playing w/ his cousins. We went on the train, down to downtown San Diego. The kids didn't care much about S.D., it was the train ride that was fun. The coastal view on the way down was awesome. My sister and I also took the kids and picked strawberries in the fields here in Carlsbad. You pay like 4 bucks, and fill your baskets with strawberries, they are TDF. We spent a couple days at the beach, and also enjoyed watching the Bachelorette together. It was awesome, because all the things I say about the show to myself while I watch it, I had someone to say them to.
Back to the future...Jared goes in for his last body scan and blood work on July 19th, and then we meet with the oncologist for our hopefully final visit on the 24th, where she will say, "You are cancer free, Jared". And that day will be a PARTY day!!! July 24th is also the day that Jared and I kissed for the first time. Sappy, I know, but it could become an even more memorable day to us. Oh ya, and it's pioneer day...don't forget them!

Getting through it!

A week and a half ago, Jared finished his second round of chemo, and it was a rough one. He was pretty sick during that week and about 4 days after. His toughest side affect has been the nausea. All the foods he has eaten in the last month sound gross to him, so the difficult part is thinking of new things for him to eat. Jared is a bald man now, but he still is as hot as ever to me :) . Next week will be his last round of chemo, and we are very excited to be done with all of this craziness. It will be nice to see Jared getting better constantly, instead of getting better and then getting poisoned again, like he gets as he is going through this treatment. When I think about what we have been through for the last 2 1/2 months...I'm seriously amazed. I just can't believe we are making it through this. Before all this happened, I used to think in the my head, "wouldn't it be the worst thing if Jared ever got really sick?" HA! Funny how sometimes the brain foreshadows what is going to happen. However, we are almost through, and I never thought we would be able to handle something like this. It just goes to show, that you can handle just about anything that life throws at you. It may suck, and you may not want to be going through it, but you can make it through anything, especially when you rely on Heavenly Father to help you through it.
The kids are doing great! Cameron is a giant. He is wearing 12 month clothes now, and he is only 4 months old! He is not very chubby, it's his body length...it's insane. I feel like he has grown up so much. Brent is a social butterfly, and loves playing with friends, going to the beach, and watching his "shows" in the morning on TV.

What's up with us?....CHEMO

Well, it's been 2 weeks, since Jared's first day of Chemotherapy, and we are still all alive. Jared progressively got more sick as the days went by. However, he is doing good as of right now. It's kind of guess as to what he is going to feel like each minute, because he can go from feeling great to feeling really bad. We are 1/3 of the way done though, that's good. Both Jared and I cannot wait until all this is done with, and we can move on from it.
Our 2 boys are growing like weeds, especially Cameron. I will be taking both of them to the doctor for their checkups, Cameron for his 4 month and Brent for his 3 year. I have to hold off on Vaccinations until Jared is done with his treatment. (I guess they can effect him or something.) Jared gets the ruler out every week to measure Cameron and get his percentage on the charts. He is 26 1/2 inches long...and that is the 99th percentile in height for his age. Brent is about average, he has stayed in the 5oth percent for about a year now. Cameron is developing, and loves to watch Brent do things. Brent is enjoying all his little play dates with his friends. For a 3 year old he has a busy schedule. Tuesday - Preschool, Weds- Preschool activity, Thurs. - Legoland, Friday- Puppet show @ the library, plus all the other little mommy/kid outings. We are trying to keep him busy, because he is so full of energy. Overall, we have maintained our normal life considering the crazy onbstacle that is happening in our family.

The Roller Coaster of LIFE

So, as most of you know, life has not been normal for the Underwood Family. A month ago Jared was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer, and has had surgery and will be starting Chemotherapy on Monday. The way this all started was, back in December, Jared was out surfing. He felt some tenderness under his left nipple, and decided he should go in and get it checked since it was bothering him. After having numerous test, and blood work done, it was determined that the lump under his nipple was being caused by a hormonal imbalance, which was caused by cancer in his testicle. After getting a CT scan of his body, the scan showed that there was also cancer in his lymph nodes (2 tumors in the abdomen, by his kidneys). He has surgery right away to remove the cancer from his testicle, and they are going to do chemotherapy to get rid of the rest. He has stage 2B testicular cancer, so chemotherapy is really the only option. As I said earlier, he will be started chemotherapy on Monday, where he will go into the hospital and get hooked to an IV for 7 hours for 5 days straight, and then he will have 2 weeks off, and do it again 2 more times. As you know there are ALOT of side affects from chemo, but they don't know how many side affects and how severe they will be on each person, since everybody handles it in different ways. Jared has to make sure he doesn't get sick from our kids since he will be more prone to infection. Hopefully none of us will get sick! I feel very optimistic that after he completes his rounds of chemo that the cancer will be gone, and we can move on with our lives, but I don't expect that until September, when Jared will be fully recovered from some serious poison in his body. It has been a whirlwind of a month, and I can't wait until this nightmare is over. However, on a positive note, I have learned alot about myself, and Jared and I are more in love than we ever have been, This cancer has not torn our family apart, it has only made us stronger, and our testimony that Heavenly Father is there listening to our prayers. I'm so grateful for my belief, it truly has gotten me through such a dark time in my life.
Cameron is sleeping through the night (8pm-7am), and he is laughing and cooing all the time. He is such a sweet baby, I feel so blessed that I can't even put it into words. Brent is also becoming quite the brainiac. He says words that I have never said to him, and has an interest in everything in life, except playing dolls which is a good thing. Brent's Grammy Underwood, gave him a boy doll when Cameron was born so he wouldn't feel left out, and I had Brent get it out the other day. I told him to burp the doll, and he gave the doll 2 pats and threw it across the room, and ran to get some blocks to play with. I died laughing. Thank you to all my friends and family for you love, concern, and support. This is what the gospel is all about...taking care of each other during our time on the earth.

Day by Day

Things are getting easier in the Underwood household as of recently. Cameron is a growing little boy, who is in the 95th percentile in height and the 50th percentile in weight. Brent as a baby was always really tall, but we took his measurements the other day, and for a 3 year old, he is average height. Jared has given up on the fact that Brent is going to be 6'5 like him, so he is hoping Cameron will be nice and tall. I'm average height for a girl, so he can't expect us to have giants for children. Cameron is on a good schedule, and the nice part, is that Brent and Cameron go down for naps at the same time...hallelujah! Because of daylight savings time, it stays light till 7 or 7:30, and it reminds me of summer. I'm so excited for summer, and to be living so close to the beach. I think Cameron will be at the perfect age this summer, to be immobile at the beach, and Brent is old enough to play, play, play. All that's left to do is to get rid of any evidence on my body that I have had a baby...ugh! Our lease in the house we are living in is up in August, and Jared and I are getting ready to start making offers on houses that we might want to buy. I'm SO excited to be a homeowner again in San Diego. Fun times!