Take 5

I've begun so many posts this summer and just haven't found the will to finish them. So here I sit. Typing again. Hoping I can document some of the things that have been happening this summer. I find I work well with parameters so I've chosen the number 5. If I can simply talk about 5 things that have been happening then I will have served my purpose and hopefully my NyQuil will have kicked in by the time I'm done.

Event 1: 5 YEARS! That's right folks Adam and I celebrated 5 years of nuptial bliss in June. We celebrated by escaping house guests and spent a relaxing night at The Chateau at Silver Fork Lodge in Deer Valley, Utah. Oh my goodness this was by far one of the most lovely places I've ever been. Deer Valley is so picturesque! We spent our anniversary evening dinning on five amazing courses on the patio of the restaurant... though you must forgive me... it's been a few months and I am spacing on the name of it.... oopsies.

Event 2: 4 months ago, Adam and I received one of those late night calls that causes your heart to plummet through the floor. His 52 year old father, Tracy, who is a fit racket-baller, had been sick for months and had recently had some coughing attacks that caused him to pass out and be short of breath, my new mother-in-law, Ana, after weeks of coaxing finally convinced him to go the the ER. While in the waiting room, Adam's aunt's ex-husband, Mark, who is a surgeon happened to walk past and saw Tracy. Just by looking at him Mark knew what he had. He ordered some blood work and sent Tracy with the nurse, keeping my worried mother-in-law behind. Without seeing lab results Mark put his hand on Ana's shoulder and said, "He has leukemia."

After his first chemo.

The blood work confirmed his suspicions. I never realized how rare leukemia is nor how dangerous and rapid the cells divide. When Tracy got his white blood cell count that night he had over 355,000 white blood cells. A normal adult has between 10,000-30,000.  With no healthy white cells and not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen through his body, the doctors told us he would surely have died within a few days and needed to start treatment immediately. Due to it's rarity the nearest leukemia treatment facilities were in Salt Lake. Within hours everything changed. I spent the day preparing our second bedroom so Ana would have a place to stay.

My sister in law organized a Blood Drive for Tracy and
had everyone wear red to show our support.
Adam and I went shooting with friends that day.

This journey has been long and overwhelming. I am ashamed to say that I have not handled all the changes and strains as well as I had hoped, but continue to do my best with the thanks of some close friends and their listening ears. As of last week Tracy's blood work is cancer free and he is considered to be in remission. As of today his bone marrow transplant which was scheduled for Oct. 28th has been postponed. Due to the aggressive chemo treatments Tracy has had several kidney stones. This has led to 50 lbs of water retention and some lowered kidney function. We thought these weeks that he had overcome these hurdles. However, today we learned that one of Tracy's kidney's has died and they will be removing it on Oct. 27th. I continue to be amazed by my father-in-law; his drive and positive outlook is truly something!

My BFF Marci took time out of her busy schedule to cut Tracy's hair.

Event 3: My brother-in-law Daniel returned home from his mission to Moscow, Russia the beginning of August. Due to all the major changes that took place while he was on his mission he has decided to stay in Utah to be close to Tracy. As such, he is living with Adam and I.

Daniel, Tracy, and Aaron (Tracy's brother and bone marrow transplant donor!)
Tracy got a 2 hour pass from the hospital so that he could come pick Daniel up and attend his release.

Event 4: I turned 28 last month and it was rather sobering. I'm getting old and that sweet little internal clock is just tick-tick-ticking away. Getting old is harder than I imagined it would be. After all, during our youth weren't we always excited to get older? Getting older meant removing the training wheels off our bikes, going to the 'big kid school', being baptized, getting your ears pierced, not wearing a life jacket at all times in the boat, Jr. High, High School, driving, dating, and the like. Getting older was FUN! It meant new opportunities and freedom! Time is so fleeting and now all I wish to do is hold onto it awhile longer. At what age do we start dreading adding a digit?

Event 5: Though the aging part isn't always fun, the partying is! This year 3 of my dearest friends surprised me with a night out to Rascal Flatts. We got drenched but it was certainly a night I shall never forget :). In addition to a fun night out with the ladies, Adam surprised me with a trip to Disneyland! That shall be a different post however :).

Maybe getting older isn't so bad after all ;-)

Frisky 'Frisco

I have loved San Francisco since I was a wee child. Being the youngest, when I was 8 I thought it was the shiz to visit my sister and her hubby whilst he finished podiatry school in San Fran and later in L.A. when he did his res at Cedars Sinai. San Fran is seriously beautiful! The architecture! The awesomeness that is the hilly streets! China Town! Delicious restaurants! The Pacific! The Golden Gates! Gazing at the bay and beautiful view of sail boats out your window! A trip with your sweetums! Spontinagety! All of this EQUALS I heart San Francisco! (Also, the Tanner family lived here... what more can be said?!).

As Adam's first trip to San Fran and my first trip as an adult we made some rookie mistakes. First was the unexpected CASH only $4.00 Bridge Bay Toll fee. Uh... who carries cash these days? Luckily we had some cash in the consol. Still, cash only? Lame.

Cheri's Travel Tip #1: Carry $20 in cash and also have $5 in quarters for the parking meters as no one will give you change for more than a dollar in quarters. LAME.

Second rookie mistake was how ridiculously expensive parking is. We're talking $3.50 per half hour! Uh seriously? Who charges for each half hour? Also, who wants to spend $20-30 on parking if it's not valet? Nobody. So that was a bit lame. Even if you park a mile away from your destination you're paying $12 for the day. Le sigh.

Enter Cheri's Travel Tip #2: It is well worth the extra $60+/night to have a place near Fisherman's Wharf. Not that the streets aren't tubular, but who wants to walk around creepy Vietnamese shops in unfamiliar and rather shady parts of a huge city? Nobody. Pier 39 Hotel = Better location. You aren't tied to the 2 hour parking meters and won't be spending $20+/day for parking.

I don't have any more tips. Everything else went quite smoothly! We pre-purchased our trip to Alcatraz online which was brilliant to avoid lines and it sells out weeks in advance! The island was gorgeous juxtaposed to the cold penitentiary walls! All the plants and flowers were in full bloom. Everywhere you turned there were gorgeous flowers and greenery with a spectacular view of the city! We also could have not asked for better weather! I remember San Fran being rainy, a bit chilly and windy. However, we experienced perfect weather! Our days were mostly sunny with light breezes. Awesomeness!

I wish we would have had more time to go to the Muir Woods. We'll do that next time I suppose! All in all it was a wonderful escape the hum drum day-to-day tasks and it was nice to take a trip with just Adam. We go on vacays all the time with family and friends but rarely just the two of us. We're a good time!

Here we are at the Golden Gate Bridge:

and Takin' the Ferry to Alcatraz!'

Aren't we cute in our Alcatraz Audio Tour Gear?!

as we took the boat back Ad snapped this pic of the island de Alcatraz... I like to think I'm on that sail boat..

Gotta love the movie BIG right? I wished for a million dollars... do you think it'll happen? 

And lastly, we stopped for some grub at Bubba Gump Shrimp at Pier 39 and visited Fisherman's Wharf:

Dear Spring Break in San Francisco,

You treated us well. Thank you for the sweet respite from school and work, the perfect weather, the delicious food and the super comfy bed. Next time how 'bout you leave out the horrible tooth ache resulting in an emergency root canal upon my return? Eh! Alright. I won't be picky...

Best wishes, The Hansens.