Another Brooklyn Update

Brooklyn is about fed up with the hospital. She is a lot more aware of what is going on so whenever the nurses or doctors come in she instantly gets upset. She is doing so well. Her drain worked perfectly and her brain started to drain properly so they were able to take that out today. The doctors were surprised because she progressed about twice as fast as usual. We did get our diagnosis today and our treatment plan. She was diagnosed with Anaplastic Ependymoma. This is a cancer that grows on the brain stem and the ventricles around it. With this cancer they feel the best treatment is going to be radiation. It will be a six and half week treatment at the LDS hospital in Salt Lake City. She will go in once a day for that long. Where she is so little she will have to be put to sleep during the process. It will stink having to be away from Derek during the week but you got to do what you got to do. Brooklyn and I will stay in Salt Lake during the treatments. These should start the first of the year. We are hoping to go home tomorrow or Thursday and they are optimistic about that. We will have to come back twice next week. Once for a spinal tap (to make sure none of the cancer is in the fluid) and then again to meet with the Radiologist Oncologist. We thank everyone who has helped us and prayed for us. We really appreciate all your love. Thank you.

Brooklyn Update

You can see that she has significantly less tubes in. I think that she feels a lot better not being sedated all day long.

Brooklyn is doing awesome! She got out of the ICU today. We were there since Thursday so that was really nice. She did so well after the surgery with the breathing tube that they took that out. She started drinking juice last night and drank so much that they were able to take her off the IV as well. I think the thing she was most happy about was the jammies we were able to put on. As soon as got them on she rolled over and told me "night night" and went to sleep. She is doing so well. We won't have a ton of information on her till Monday when we meet with her oncologist. Once we meet with him we will know when we will start chemo and how aggressive we will be. We are thinking that it shouldn't too bad because they got the whole tumor. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers we really appreciate it. If there are any questions just call or text and we can give you some answers.

Pictures of a sad baby

This is one that you can see all the equipment she is attached to. There is more on the right side but couldn't get it in the picture.

This is the drain they put in her brain to get rid of the built up fluid. You should see the bag of how much is there. I didn't mean to rhyme that much in that sentence.

Here is a close up of her face. She is so cute. they didn't have to shave her head. There are just a few spots they had to. There is a line up the back of her head where they removed the tumor and then on the side for the drain. This breaks my heart!

Here is one with her blanket. She loves this thing. The pictures doesn't show it but she also has her baby doll under the blanket.

Brooklyn Update

Brooklyn did amazing yesterday. The surgery was only 5 1/2 hours. That was a lot less than they originally thought. The tumor wasn't attached in the place that they thought so they were able to take the entire thing out. The doctor said that there could still be microscopic remnants but the chemotherapy should take care of anything left behind. They will give her another MRI today to make sure that they got everything. This morning as she was trying to wake up, she was coughing and fighting her breathing tube which is a really good sign. Where the tumor was they were worried about her coughing/ gagging/ swallowing reflexes. They have a drain in the top of her head to relieve that pressure. We are told we still have a long hard journey but with a bright start. We had one of the best pediatric neurosurgeons and it really show by how well she is doing. We will keep posting updates and maybe pictures if we can. Thanks to everybody for their prayers, love, and support.

Brooklyn Birthday!!

November was a lot more fun than October mainly because Brooklyn turned two! Her birthday was just last weekend. She had a blast and loved opening presents. I can't believe that she is two. Here are some of the pictures from the party. Thanks to my mother-in-law for letting us have it in her house over Thanksgiving...again! Sorry there aren't any pictures of Brooklyn actually looking at the camera. Derek was in charge of pictures so they are all just candid shots. Oh well, she is still so cute.
Here is Brooklyn with her cupcake. You can't really tell but the candle is a sparkler in the #2 shape. It was awesome!

Brooklyn loves Toy Story and she got a Woody doll from mom and dad. Again you can't really tell from the picture but she was so excited and didn't want to open any more presents after she got this one.

This is a really cute Toy Story book I found. She loves pointing out Woody and Buzz.

She got so many cute presents and loved them all. Thanks to everybody who helped, came, and gave her gift. We have such a wonderful family.

October Recap

Wow! Has it been a long time since I updated our blog our what? October was such an awesome crazy month. We of course had Halloween (one of my favorite holidays) and our four year anniversary. This year for our anniversary we had family pictures done. I had my very talented cousin Kimberly come all the way to Logan. She did an awesome job. It took a little while to get the pictures back (so she could touch things up) so that is why I haven't posted till now. Here are some of my favorites.

Brooklyn is so dang cute!

I really love this family shot of us.

Seriously! How cute?!

Here is one of our engagement shots. It felt weird to be taking these. Usually it is just us trying to get cute pictures of Brooke. I really like that we have some nice up to date pictures though. It has been an amazing four years!

Other things that happened in October weren't so much fun. Halloween was kind of a dud. My ward does truck or treating, or at least they say they do. It was actually me and about two other cars with crappy candy. I was prepared for an army. I didn't post any pictures because I don't know who looks more sad, me or Brooke....okay its me. With books I actually read a lot but didn't really love any of them. I did finish my Three Musketeers Series but by the time I finished I was so just not in to them and they seemed to drag. I did get a whole bunch of great suggestions from a friend so I am excited to start those. Other than those fun events October was just busy.

Fall is here!

For those of you who do not know, fall is my favorite season. I love all the holidays and just how many fun activities there are to do. I have reflected the season in my blog. I know that this background isn't very fallish but it was either cute or creepy and I figured this was a family show. Also, I know that our picture is from Easter but it is the only picture we have where all three of us are in it. Usually either Derek or myself is taking the picture. Hopefully we will have some family pictures to post soon. Happy fall!!

Farmer man Derek

Derek had a few days off so he went to help his sister Paige and brother-in-law Mark in Arco, Id with their harvest. Paige and Mark have a really big operation so I hope that having Derek there was more of a help than a burden. Derek loved it! Derek loves going back to his roots and farming. After a few nights but bailing hay all night he was glad to get home and sleep in his bed.

Recap of September Book

I guess I should say books. I did it. I not only read both of the Twenty Years After but I actually made it through the next one too. It was The Vicomte De Bragelonne. Don't be intimidated by the name it is just a person's name in French. I loved Twenty Years After. The Vicomte De Bragelonne was good but after ready so many books in a row that take so long to build up it is hard to stay on it. I am glad I did but I still have two more books to finish the series. I am thinking about taking a break but it is hard to remember all the characters when you do that. I guess you will all have to tune in in a few days when I post the book for October. That will keep the four of your who read my blog in suspense.

September Book

This month I am reading Twenty Years After. A few months ago I read The Three Musketeers and loved it. So far anything by Alexandre Dumas is a must read. I found out that the book is actually a series and goes on for about five books and ends up at The Man in the Iron Mask. I had to wait till my library here got the book in but finally they just bought it. Now my library has Twenty Years After in two separate books. Volume I : The Shade of Cardinal Richelieu is the one that I am reading. I would suggest to anyone read The Three Musketeers and you will definitely want to continue on in the series. It takes a little while to build the book, but like in The Count of Monte Cristo, it is worth it. I will try to read both volumes this month but no guarantees.

Family time!

One Sunday when Derek was lucky enough to not work we decided to setup our air mattress in the living room and watch a movie as a family. Brooke loved playing on the air mattress and having treats. The other pictures were another family day when we went to the arena cross in Preston. She sure loves her juice!

Derek was trying to reach out far enough to get us in. I tried to and looked about the same. I chose the one where Derek looked weird. That the perk of doing the blog!

Dirt Biker Family

Dirt biking is in Brooklyn's blood. We went to the Cache Valley fair and let her try out some dirt bikes. She loved it! She didn't want me to help her hold and she even tried to start it. Derek has never been so proud. The next day we went to an arena cross in Preston, ID. It wasn't the world finals in Las Vegas (Derek and I got to go last year) but it was pretty fun. Brooklyn loved watching the dirt bikers.

Derek's Famous Taco Salad

When Derek was in the fifth grade he had to do some sort of a project with a recipe. His family have him making his "famous taco salad" on video. We watch every time we watch home movies. From that project the name has stuck. I thought the Walker family would get a kick out of how much Brooklyn loved taco salad. She ate the entire thing! She is so much like her dad it isn't even funny!

August Book Club

The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

This month I am reading the Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. This book is great for anyone who wants to read something classic but doesn't want to commit so much time. The book I got from the library has around twenty different cases. Each case is about five-ten pages. They are awesome to try to figure it out as you go.

Summer of Reunions!

We had four reunions this summer. That may not sound like very much but three of them were right in a row. Last week we finished our final reunion with The Walker Reunion. This was a really fun reunion with Derek's extended family. This year it was in Star Valley, WY. Derek did tons of fun stuff. He hiked an 18 mile hike to see the upper Palisades and then did white water rafting down the Hoback on the Snake River. Brooklyn played with her aunt Paige and her Grandma Marilyn. She had a lot of fun but I think that she was ready for the reunions to be over too....ask you can see if her picture.

Life doesn't get much better

Brooklyn loves to swim. Her grandma Marilyn just happened to have a swimming pool so spur of the moment Brooke decided to take a dip. Here she is bearing all in the front yard. Later that day we went to the park and she played on the swings for the first time.

Summer Fun!

Brooklyn has loved every minute of summer. I can't get her out of the water or inside. One weekend in Rexburg we decided to go to the Splash Park with her cousins. She was a little afraid of the other kids and just wanted to put her face in the water at the bottom of the slide. Oh well, what are ya going to do?

Book Club by myself

I decided to start my own book club. This was a great idea because I always get to pick the books. I am trying to read all the classics. This month I am reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. If you have not read this book, it is a must read! It is nothing like they portray. It is a book surprisingly about compassion and love. Check out the rest of the books I have read at the bottom of my blog. I changed the theme of this blog to match the book I am reading.

4th of July

This year was our first 4th of July all by ourselves. Derek had to work but luckily Logan had their fireworks on the 3rd. We sat in the Lowe's parking lot with about half of Logan. Brooklyn loved the fireworks and was mesmerized.

Larry Walker Family Reunion

This year the Larry Walker Family Reunion was at Warm River campground. It started off nice and warm but of course some storms blew in. Brooklyn had a blast. She would have lived in her swimming pool if her mom would have let her. Our theme this year was "Mission Impossible" and as you can see we all look top secret.

Boys Weekend

Derek and his cousin Alan spent the weekend fishing in Island Park. They had a lot of fun and caught some pretty good fish. Of course he missed his beautiful wife and daughter.

Summary

Wow! We have moved so many times it seems impossible to keep up with our blog. Here is a summary of what we have been up to. We moved to Vernal, UT so Derek could start and Utah State University. He had a job with Smith Services that serviced oil rigs. We lived there for about a year then transferred to the Utah State main campus in Logan, UT. We have a job being apartment managers for Bridger Village Apartments. We love Logan! Derek will continue on this fall in accounting. I will also be starting part-time. Brooklyn is almost a year and a half. She is so big and developing so fast. She talks and runs everywhere! We have added some significant pictures of the last year. We hope you enjoy!