Wow.

We made responsibility charts yesterday. I didn't know how excited the girls would be about them. They didn't end up falling asleep last night until 9 (Emma) and after 9:30 (Arianna). They were up a few minutes to 6 am wanting to do the things on their charts! Wow. What have I done?

With Very Grateful Hearts - It's clean! It's clean!

We met with the Oncologist to get the results of the PET Scan that Kenneth had on Wednesday and it's clean!!! The scan showed no sign of the cancer! It did show a few small, residual lumps, which are most likely scar tissue from the the large tumors he had in the center of his chest, but nothing to really worry about. If Kenneth were less reserved he would have jumped right up and clicked his heels on the way out of the doctor's office!

I don't know if 'relieved' and 'grateful' can even begin to express the way we felt this morning when we got the news. Speaking of getting the news, when the doctor came into the exam room where Kenneth and I were waiting he greeted us, shaking our hands, commenting on the return of Kenneth's hair and almost in passing mentioned that the scan was clean and everything looked great. The news came so quickly and in such a nonchalant way that Kenneth and I had to kind of double take to make sure we had really heard correctly! What a great piece of news to hear!

Kenneth doesn't even have to return to see the Oncologist for 3 months and even then it is just a check up with some blood testing. Unless Kenneth feels anything funny, or the doctor suspects something, there won't even be another PET scan. The numbers show that 75% of the time, this cancer, with the treatment that Kenneth had, is completely gone. Forever. Kenneth's blood counts have even returned almost to normal. He is still slightly anemic at this point, which is contributing to his lowered energy levels, but other than that he feels great! So, life is back to normal . . . and normal is good.

Thank you! Thank you all for the support, love, prayers and faith poured out on our behalf. We recognize this is a modern miracle made possible only by the incredible faith and sacrifice of friends and family and the medical expertise we have been blessed with over the last six months. We could not have made it through without all of you. We love you and sincerely appreciate all you have done for us.

Back from the East

We're back from our 2 week-long visit to New York State. Before I go into the trip I wanted to let everyone know that Kenneth is feeling great. His hair is even coming back, including his eyebrows and eyelashes. I'll have to post a picture of him on of these days. He will have the PET scan soon and I'll let everyone know the results when we get them.
Also, we did NOT get the house we put the offer on. Just as well. It really would have consumed our lives for the next couple of years. Maybe we will just stay put. We'll see!

Okay, back to the travel report. . .It was all around a great trip. Four of Kenneth's siblings were able to join us on the farm with his parents. We sure felt the absence of Karen, his sister, and her family. We also spent quite a bit of time at Kenneth's Sister's house near Syracuse. It was wonderful to be 'home'. Of anyplace I have lived, New York feels the most like home to me. Maybe because that's where my life really began (meeting and marrying Kenneth) or maybe because it's the only place we've owned a home, or maybe because in our married life we lived there the longest. Regardless, of the 2 countries and 8 states that I've lived in, it feels the most like home. We enjoyed experiencing Spring again; we got it once already in California and got to see the tail end of it in New York as well. Spring green is one of my favorite colors there is. I love to see the trees bursting with new leaves in that gorgeous color! Because I can't think of a better way to do it, I am going to just talk about the trip in bullet form:

• The kids loved the airplane ride. They were all very excited and generally did very well. They gave us a little trouble at security. We left pretty early in the morning, which meant we had to wake them all up to drive the 45 minutes to the San Francisco Airport. So, they were a little crabby and did NOT like the idea of having to get out of the stroller, much less take off their sweatshirts, and shoes and be close to strangers. But we made it through. In an effort to save money, we decided not to check any baggage. So, we were quite a sight walking through the airport with 7 total bags, 3 children, and 1 stroller. We actually got it down and were pretty efficient at navigating the airports. We had the infant carrier with us as well, so we could strap Grant on and both the girls had a place to sit in the double stroller.

Watching a video during our layover in Chicago.

Sitting on all the bags- they made a great couch!

• We all enjoyed the fresh air and open spaces of the farm. The kids loved seeing the cows, kittens, tractors and the farm dog, Sam. Arianna always wanted to know where he was and liked to just stand close to him checking him out. It was quite adorable. The kittens at the barn were a definite favorite. They could have spent all day with them! Kubota, tractor and 4-wheeler rides and walks up and down Larchar Road also made their favorite list.

View from the farm house. The poppies bloomed while we were there! The space is so lovely, especially after living in the DC area and the Bay area!

Same view with the cows grazing in that field.

Walks up and down Larchar Road

More walks- with Jenni and kids this time.

Grant and Daddy. Notice Grant's little boots- so cute!

How do you like these big boots!

Checking out the calves

Arianna loves Sam Dog. She mostly likes to keep a healthy distance, though.

The kids chasing after the kitten.

Playing with the kitten.

Taking turns holding another one on their laps.

Oh the joy a kitten can bring!


Uncle Scott giving the kids a Kubota ride. This is the best shot I got of a Kubota ride- sad!

Arianna and Grant having a tractor ride with Dad

Four-wheeler ride with Dad

• Kenneth graduated!!! We had already received the Diploma in the mail, so I guess it was already official, but going to Cornell's campus to be a part of the actual ceremonies of graduation make it feel very real. Kenneth's family was able to come to Ithaca and be a part of the Commencement. Hooray for Kenneth!

The Man himself!

At the Systems Engineering Ceremony

Here are the Systems Engineering Masters Graduates. If you look closely you will notice Kenneth is 'special'. They gave him the wrong color hood. Everyone is orange and he is yellow! Luckily, we got it switched out after this ceremony and before the Commencement the next day. He would have really looked like he was in the wrong place!

Kenneth and Heidi- happy that it's over!

Here is the whole family. When Kenneth started his Masters degree Emma was about 1 year old!

• Kenneth and I celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary during the trip. It is hard to believe it has already been so long! With all the family around, we took the chance to get away for one night alone. We had a great time together!

• There was an exceptional amount of rain in New York during the time we were there, so unfortunately, the boys were not able to do as much haying as they would have liked, but they did get done what they could.

Mowing the field near the house.

This is the tedder. From my limited understanding, it crimps the hay to help it dry out a little. All you Larchar men can correct me if I am wrong =).

Here is Kenneth wrapping the hay bales with white plastic.

• Great times playing with the cousins! Lydia and Emma were fast friends and had so much fun together.

Little buddies

The cousins all lined up watching Tangled. (Benjamin, Arianna, Grace, Lydia and Emma)

• We enjoyed Story time at the Sherburne Library twice during our visit. Sherburne has the best children's librarian, who just make story time so much fun.

Drawing with chalk on the sidewalk- part of storytime. So cool!

Lydia, Grant, Benjamin and Grace- they posed like this all on their own on the steps of the Library.

• For posterity's sake, I had to include this video of Arianna after the Commencement Ceremony. At this point in our vacation, the lack of sleep was catching up with Arianna, not to mention it was hot and miserable. Scott definitely earns the best uncle award for helping me with her! We were walking from the Stadium to meet Kenneth a couple of blocks away. I had Grant in the carrier and Arianna was inconsolable. Poor thing. Unfortunately, what you see in this video went on for about 20 minutes. At one point I was a little bit separated from Scott and Arianna in the crowd and I heard someone say, "Boy, that makes you want to have more kids, doesn't it!" Nice.
  

This is how she looked when we were finally in a quiet place (the bus taking us back to the parking lot):

• We had 4 great BBQ's. Two chicken BBQ's on the farm and 2 at Diane and Joseph's home. They have the BEST backyard for family gatherings and everyone had a great time. We especially enjoyed seeing Pat and Phil and Lori and their family.

Pat, Phil and Lori and the rest of the clan at Diane's house for a lovely BBQ. Joseph took the picture, in case you are looking for him!

Grant playing in Diane's yard and loving it!

Here is Arianna nearing the end of that long day. Sucking her thumb holding on to her dress. Still tired.

• We were glad to have the chance to see some good friends in the Utica Stake and also in the Liverpool ward. We sure miss you all!

• On Memorial Day Jenni had the great idea to go to the Columbus Cemetary. We visited Grandma and Grandpa Larchar's grave and also did some rubbings on some old headstones that were hard to read. I was glad to have taken the time out to remember those gone before on that special day.

The Columbus Cemetary- you can see Jenni, Caleb, Lydia and Emma over in the distance.

Emma with her rubbing

My wedding ring belonged to L. May, Kenneth's Great-Grandmother. It was neat to visit the grave.

• The day before we left New York the temperature rose to the 90's. 97 degrees if you took the humidity into account. Boy, were we ever glad to get back to California and weather in the 60's!Here they are zonked out on the plane ride home. We all had a great time! Sunday morning, our 4th morning home, Grant finally figured out we were back on Pacific Standard time and slept until after 6 again. Yeah! He was getting up at 5:30 every morning in New York. Up and ready to work when the sun got up! He's got a farm boy in him!