Jekyl and Hyde Plant

This Spring, I had a beautiful, but unfamiliar plant start growing in the large pot by our front porch. I did not know what it was, but it had such pretty leaves, and then really cute pink flowers...So we just let it take over and enjoyed seeing how fast it grew.
But then we noticed something disturbing...see these cute green fuzzy, pointy things?
I think when they dried out, they would be pretty much DEATH! Yup! I nurtured that tricky weed all spring long!
As you can see...I gave the weed the whack! I had to empty the entire pot to get the HUGE root out...it had grown through the bottom and into the flower bed.

I replanted the pot with perennials...a cute yellow one and LUPIN, the savior of Mt. St. Helens...that is a joke for my family who listened to a lecture up at Mt. St. Helens on the saving qualities of the lupin :) Not so large and showy, but NOT A WEED! I think there is a lesson to be learned by this. Oh yes, talk material!

I'm a SURVIVOR

Feelin' pretty good right now. Just got a phone call that made a few people around here happy. To set the stage, I went for my annual mammogram a few weeks ago and within a week got a letter back saying they needed to re-screen me and do an ultrasound on an area on my right breast. Last year it was my left.

So, I made the appointment and went in on Monday, yesterday for the ultrasound and mammogram. It is interesting to see inside yourself, but not really wonderful to see a dark spot show up (actually white on the mammogram and dark on the ultrasound). What they found was not a cyst like last year. Cysts are fluid filled and uniform in shape, like an oval or circle, not bumpy edges. They are not a problem unless they get too large and painful.

The hard mass they found this time was a little less than a centimeter in size, (they measure the screen images.)

I was informed that this would require a biopsy and that it could possibly be cancer. I had to come back later in the day for my biopsy, but at least I did not have to wait days or weeks. I was glad to go right back...the sooner the better. I was not really excited about the prospects of a needle being inserted inside of me...first one to numb the breast, and then a large needle inside of a needle that they used to extract the tissue samples. The pain killer shot was well...a killer. Not my idea of a good time. I pretty much could not feel any of the rest of the big needle stuff, just a little pressure, very easy really. I just did not look at it, so I cannot tell you what it looked like. I remember passing out watching Jenna get shots in her head as a 5 year old, so I just don't look anymore!!

I was steri-stripped back together and given some little ice pads to pad my bra with for a day or so, and told that I would get a call by Thursday afternoon...that makes for a few days of uneasiness eh? We let the kids know what was up and set out to wait for results.

My take on it was that either it was not cancer, and that is good...or it is cancer and they caught it really early...before the little lump could even be felt manually. And that is good too.

Braden did not go to football today. When I came out around 7 am, I found him on the couch, looking rather sick. He said he was not sick though. I did not clue in that he was sick...with worry. It was not until later that morning that Scott suggested I check in with him. I had no idea he was so worried. I assured him that one way or another it was fine...like I said, an 80% chance everything would be just fine, or a very good chance of nipping cancer in the bud to find it so early if that was the outcome.

So, back to that phone call. It was unexpected so early, but very welcome.

Braden says he plans on going to football tomorrow!

YAY! I am a biopsy survivor! And for now, I am CANCER FREE!!

Breanna invades Europe Part II

A second installment of Breanna in Austria. Got these off the blogs of her fellow students - nice to see photos of her in her now-favorite element. The first two photos are from Breanna dressing up for a Viennese ball a couple of weekends ago. Had to post these soon because there may be more soon from her side trips to Italy and Switzerland.

Check out her blogs here (stories and photos) and here (photos only).

Breanna's Garden

Breanna asked me for pictures of her garden. I call it the Perennial Garden. Over the past several years, she has planted a variety of beautiful perennials that have come together nicely.One day her peonies were huge buds...
And the next they had bloomed...so pretty!
She has poppies and lilies and mini sunflowers, snapdragons, English daisies and
one of my favorites, columbines.
It is a glorious little floral display. We sure love our flowers around here.
So Jenna, do you want pictures of your garden now? It is looking pretty cute as well!

Breanna invades Europe

Most of you now know Breanna is in Austria this summer for a BYU Study Abroad program, having left in early May and returning the last of July. And most of you are aware of her blog —click here — as well as her photography blog for her travel-photography class while in Austria — click here.

Quite often, the photographer gets great shots of everything and everybody but himself/herself. So, I've scoured some of the photo blogs of Breanna's fellow students in Austria in order to find a few photos showing both Austria/Europe and Breanna.

Enjoy.

Missing Breanna

Notice anything missing in this picture???

Yep, there's an empty place at the table where our

Breanna girl would be sitting!

Notice anything about this room?

Yep, it's squeaky clean and devoid of messes.

(This officially means she is not here)

Notice anything different about this face?

No??? You mean he always looks like this?

This is how Braden looks when his sister leaves for

3 months to study abroad in Vienna.

We are missing our Breanna, but are so very excited for her opportunity to really immerse herself in a new country and know she will soak it all up and learn more than any textbook could ever teach. We look forward to all her blogs and photos and want her to know how much we love her and her enthusiasm for life.

You live it well Breanna!

"Hey!"

"Hi. Carter Jensen here. I'm all smiles because last month I got to go to Utah to visit my grandparents and uncles and aunts for a week and now most of the Taylors are here in New Jersey visiting me. I'd be doing backflips ... but first I've got to get down the basics of mobility, like walking. OK, standing. OK, just sitting up by myself and crawling.

"Anyway, I'm sure with all the visitors in town, there'll be lots of photos taken -- of me, of course. And more photos means more material for "Carter's Revenge," a little blog my grandpa and I have going -- click here to check it out. It's the only way you can find out what I'm really thinking because I've got to first get down some of the basics of verbal communication, like talking in complete sentences. OK, simply using words. OK, some sort of recognizable audible sound.

"But I digress again. Since we'll be getting new photos this week with everyone in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and D.C., my Grandpa Taylor cleaned out the collection of recent photos and just posted six new photos on my blog. You're always welcome to help me formalize my thoughts - just post them as comments. Sometimes, like in this photo above, I'm speechless without your help - click here to see.

"And check 'Carter's Revenge' soon to see how I do as tour guide, taking my mom and the Taylors around NJ, DC and PA. Bye-bye."

Colour My World

She purposely didn't get in the middle of the mosh pit known as the Hare Krishna's annual Festival of Colors celebration in Spanish Fork.

But she didn't come back totally unscathed, either.

Her intent was to stay off to the side to photograph some of the action for her photography class at BYU. We figured we needed some images showing the "collateral damage"

-- and that's after her doing some initial cleaning before coming home.

See her own blogs — click here and here — for some of her photos and musings of the event.

'Great' lunch ladies

Before heading off to the airport for a flight back to New Jersey, Jenna and Carter stopped off in Salt Lake City for a quick lunch.

Joining them at Macaroni Grill were Carter's Great-Grandma Taylor/Olsen and his Great-Aunt Lori. Not pictured were Great-Uncle Aaron and the only un-greatful person in the group, Grandpa Taylor).

Out for a stroll

From Jenna and Carter's visit to Utah earlier this month ...

... Cheryl gets Carter all bundled up for a walk in the stroller on a chilly March morning.

And Carter responds with a "super" smile.

Oh, snap!

In case you weren't aware, Breanna has an additional new website up, called "Curiousity Behind The Camera Lens" (click on the title — it's a link). The site is a "photo-a-day" class project in preparation for her spring/summer Study Abroad in Vienna that starts in May.

It's been fun to check in daily to see what has captured her interest and her efforts. She's been packing the camera in hand - and she even has me (Scott) doing the same when we take evening walks around the neighborhood.