Kade and Brette Martinez

NEW HOUSE!!

2011-11-16T09:59:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a little bit since I updated our blog. Well Kade and I have been a little busy. We both are working full time. Kade's hours just got changed. He works Friday thru Monday 8 pm to 6 am. This makes for an interesting change in our lives. I was use to spending Sunday with him and having some time on the weekend together. So we will see how this goes. I still work for Professional Dental. I work 5-6 days a week. One week it's 5, then the next week it is 6 days. I love my job, but I sometimes wish that I had a day off. Since we don't have kids I'll just keep pushing through.

Well, we have had some exciting this happen in our lives. We are still trying to adopt, but we decided that we would try to look for a house as well, and see which happened faster. Well, we found a house we loved for a price we loved and an interest rate that we loved even more. So we decided to bite the bullet and buy. It was the scariest decision of our lives. I kept going to back and forth weighing the pros and cons. When it was all said and done we couldn't pass it up. Poor Kade had to deal with me being really silly (or I guess you can say I was stressed) for a bit.

The house has a nice sized backyard with a hot tub, a deck and a deck cover. We have a three car garage, 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bath.

Buying the house was stressful especially during the last few weeks when we were closing. We had an amazing realtor that helped us through the process though. I'm happy to report that we survived and after spending 4 wonderful days with my mom decorating we have a cute little starter home. I'm so happy. Here are a few pictures of the house.

Kitchen and dining area

Kitchen/Dining room, just another view

My amazing pantry!! Need I say more.

One of the reasons we bought this house was because I loved this pantry

This is the Hallway that leads our to our garage. It comes off the Kitchen/Dining room.

This is our living room. When we can afford it we will add furniture. In the meantime we have lots of empty space.

This is the back half of our living room. We love having a fire place that will keep us warm during the winter. Not to mention it will help with our utility bills. :)

Okay, now that we have seen the main floor, I'm going to give you a tour of the upstairs. All 4 bedrooms and the Laundry room are on this floor. I love that my laundry room is up stairs so it's easy to carry all the dirty clothes in.

Stairs :) Going up please

Top of the staircase, I love the banister

I love my laundry room!!!

Guest Bathroom

This is our first guest room. I call it the blue room. I'm trying to decide if I want to re paint this room. I like that it's blue, but I'm not that fond of the planes.

This is the Master bathroom. It goes into the walk in closet.

This is the Master Bedroom

Bedroom #3, We use this room as Kade's "Man cave"I love it. He is able to keep all his cop stuff in this room.

This is Bedroom #4. We are just using it for storage right now, but one day it will be the nursery.

Trost Family Vacation

2011-08-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

My Dad and Mom being the wonderful people that they are decided that they wanted to take our entire family on a family trip. He paid for all 7 of us, plus our significant others, to go to Disneyland. Kade and I just love going there. We had a great time. It's always nice when you can get the family together. There was around 18 of us total. My older sister and her husband and their two kids made the trip way fun. My adopted sister and her husband and their two kids also came along for the ride. Getting to watch 4 children play in Disney was so fun. It truly is the happiest place on earth! I love my family with all my heart. Here are just a few pictures to show how much we love Disney!

Kade and I in front of the Castle

Kade on Mr. Toad's wild ride...

Abbi and I on Dumbo the flying elephant.

Kendle, Derek, Mike, Elissa, and Caleb. Evan is being held in the air by Mike- all on Small world

My mom and I getting ready to ride Goofy's flight school. I just love her.

Kade taking a funny photo with the new hats at Disney!

Kade and I just love Billy Hill and the Hillbillies!

I love my parents so much, we are sitting outside Naples eating lunch

The whole Trost clan taking a photo in front of the Mickey

Kade, Cody, Arica and I riding a car on Main Street Disney.

ADOPTION

2011-07-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

Everyone...

Kade and I are looking to adopt. Please help us spread the word. I am working on another blog dedicated to this cause. We are currently working with LDSFS ( LDS Family Services) so if you know anyone who is in a hard position and is interested in talking with someone about adopting, tell them to contact LDSFS in their state. It costs no money to them and can be a great help to them and also to Kade and I. If they are interested in helping us become parents, then their state can get a hold of us. We are working with the American Fork Utah agency.

Thanks so much for helping make our dreams come true!

Life

2011-07-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

So I guess it's has been a while since I've updated our blog. Kade and I are both working full time now. Kade still loves being a Utah highway patrol. He works Wed-Sunday 8 pm to 6 am. I think that he likes this shift because it's busy. One thing I know about my man is that he likes to stay busy. I am so happy that he is happy, but It would be nice to be on the same schedule once in a while.

Me on the other hand landed a great job. I was working for a company as a dental assistant with the promise that when a dental hygiene position opened I would get it. Well, the office hired someone else for that position and said that I could keep working as an assistant until their new office opened. I decided I would start looking for a new job. With in one hour of being passed over for the promotion I was offered a full time dental hygiene job. I was so excited and obviously accepted it on the spot.

I am loving my new job. It's amazing how much you like something when you are trained to do your job. I never get bored either. I work for a dental company called Professional Dental. They own 7 dental practices around Utah. Naturally that means that we are busy. I work at 4 out of the 7 offices. Monday I am off with Kade, Tuesday I'm in Alpine working, Wed I'm in Lindon, Thursday I'm in Saratoga Springs, and Friday I'm in Orem. I love it. This makes me drive around a bit, but it helps shake up the week. The company and people I work for so far are great. I may be picking up more shifts come the end of August.

Other than that Kade and I are doing great. We are still trying to adopt and have filled out the first set of paper work for LDS family services. We find the process long and a little nerve wracking. We kindly ask any who knows someone in the hard position of giving up a child that we are very interested in making that decision a little easier. Please help us spread the word

Feeding Ducks

2011-05-16T18:50:00.001-07:00

Kade and I decided that we were bored at home by ourselves one day, so we took Mazee, our niece to feed the ducks. We had so much fun! We just love spending time with her.

Kade was warming the ducks up before Mazee got to the pond. We just love spending time with her.

Kade trying to show Mazee where to throw her bread.

Mazee and Kade took a break from feeding the ducks to pose for a picture for Aunt Brette!

Kade got a duck to eat the bread right out of his hand. Mazee was really impressed.

Graduation

2011-05-16T18:32:00.001-07:00

I finally made it to my graduation. I was only a year behind, but I made it. I am officially done with all of my exams that I needed to take to get my license. It was a long road to take, but I wouldn't change my experiences for anything. I know that this is what I'm suppose to do. I am so happy that I was able to finish Hygiene school. UCDH was so awesome to let me take a leave of absence and let me come back. I even received the survivor award from the school. The award was started by a previous hygienist who survived cancer. She wanted other people to be rewarded for going through hardships during their schooling. It was so nice, the students and my professors gave me a standing ovation... I was so grateful for the thoughtfulness of my fellow classmates. I didn't realize that I had made a difference to anyone, much less my entire class. It was so sweet of them, and I'm so grateful for all of them. Both classes. I am so glad that I now have 119 new friends through this whole experience.

Me receiving my dipolma!

Some of my favorite instructors! They were all so excited that I finally graduated

Life

2011-01-30T13:42:00.000-08:00

Well life is pretty crazy right now for Kade and I. Kade is loving his new job, but I don't know if i love his new job. He is away from me a lot. He is working nights mostly, so when i'm at school he is at home and when i'm home he is at work. Somehow we seem to making it work though. He is really good at what he does. He always has interesting stories to tell me. All I ask is that some person doesn't shoot at or run over my sweet husband; since a lot of highway patrol men are being runover lately. This scares me just a little.

I guess I should say that I am lucky. When Kade isn't around I can actually get some studying for my boards done. I don't like to study when he is home. Well retract that statement, I don't like to study at all.

I have three months left of school and I'm so excited. I can't believe that it is almost here. I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed about it though. My body is taking a hit also. I am finally getting over some illness that has taken me a week to feel better, and now I'm afraid that Kade is coming down with it. Sad day! He at least has two days off work that he can stay at home and rest for! I had to go to school everyday and see patients. Ha Ha that was a joke. I would be working on them and have to get up every ten minutes to blow my nose. :) My poor patients.

Well, hope everyone reading this finds themselves well. Sorry that it's taken me forever to update our blog.

Love,
Kade and Brette

Hawaii

2011-01-30T12:49:00.000-08:00

Kade's grandparents sent us to Kauai as a gift for me completing my cancer treatments for the second time. Originally they tried to send us there for our honeymoon, but couldn't find anything available during that time. This was there way of making it possible for Kade and I to start over and to reconnect with one another. We had so much fun and we will always be grateful for them.
Kade upgraded our rental car to a convertible. We had so much fun driving around with the top down. :) It was a great way for us to experience the island.

Kade in front of a double water fall. You can't see it, but it also has a double rainbow. This was fun to see.

At the beach
There were sea turtles everywhere. We sat and watched this one in the picture for about an hour. It was surfing in the rough water. :) We loved it!

For Kade's 25 birthday I surprised him with a helicoptor tour of Kauai. I have heard that it is the only way to see the whole Island. We had a great time. Kade got the best seat in the helicoptor, which made me very happy!
This is us getting done with our tour.
Kade took this pictue while we were in the air. The water fall that is in the opening scene of Jurassic park. Kade loved finding sights like this. You can only get to this water fall by air now. It is on private property.

The Napali coast. It is one of the most breath-taking places that Kade and I have seen. You can only get to this beach by Hiking 2 days, boat, or seeing it by the air.

Going out to the beach!
The whole time we were in Kauai, Kade wanted to go to every spot that had anything to do with the movie Jurassic Park. This tree is where the raptor eggs were found; however, the trees are much larger now then when the movie was made. At this same location, parts of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie was filmed. They were there one month filming before we were there. Sad!
The view from our balcony
The day we left Kauai we had to check out of our hotel pretty early, but out flight didn't leave until 10:00 pm. We had to find something to do with all our time. Kade's grandparents told us we had to try the Fern Gratto and we kept forgetting about it until our last day. What a fun experience. We enjoyed ourselves and it was fun to have something to do before we caught our plane.
Kade in front of the boat for the Fern Grotto.
"Getting re-married!" This site is the gratto, or shallow cave. Lots of people come to this spot, to get married on the island of Kauai. There was a song and a dance performed by the company to symbolize marriage. It was fun.
Getting back on the boat
Kade and I

New Job

2010-11-20T20:04:00.000-08:00

A lot of neat things have happened in our home recently. Kade got a new job! This job is one that he has wanted for quite some time now. If you have seen my facebook page you know that Kade got hired with Utah Highway Patrol. He got sworn in on November 18. Kade turned 25 the day before, so we pretty much had a week to celebrate Kade. What a wonderful week it turned out to be. On top of all that, Kade and I headed to Hawaii on November 19.

Here are a few pictures to show how Kades day went...

This is a Picture of Kade saying the oath

You have to love sisters Playing games with you right?

Kade never would be where he is without his mom and dad!

I am so proud of him! I am excited to learn how to be a cops wife!

Disney Land/ Las Vegas

2010-06-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

For Kade's Graduation I planned a trip to Disney Land for him. Disney Land is his happy place so what better a place to take my recent graduate? Our first stop was in Vegas where we stayed at the Hampton Inn. We took that first evening to play with my twin sister and her Husband. :) It was Cody's Birthday so we went to dinner and then went to Fremont Street. It was tons of fun. To be honest, it was the first time that I had ever gambled. I decided to try out the penny slots (cause I'm a wimp and did not want to loose that much money)
My first time Gambling. See my cute sister and her husband behind me.
We got a fast pass for Peter Pan!
Thunder Rail Road- I really like this ride!
Kade and I with Mickey Mouse
Karen, Mark, Kade and I waiting to ride the Toy story ride
Picture moment
Tom Sawyer's Island
Kade and I got our own boat during the Pirates of the Caribbean ride

Kade talked me into going on Grisly River Rapids... Needless to say I got so wet. I am lying on a concert bench trying to get dry.
Kade and I on the Alice in Wonderland ride
Kade and I taking a moment to just be us
The Lions at feeding time
The Lions at MGM Casino in Las Vegas
I am so glad that we had such an awesome vacation. It ended up being like 10 days in all. It was fun to see how different our two family's are. We spent the first half of the week with Kade's family and then the last half with my parents in Las Vegas.

Kade's Graduation

2010-06-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

Kade graduated from the UVU Police Academy on May 18th. I am so proud of him. The ceremony was fun and we all got to hear the little bloopers that happened during the year. To be totally honest, I am so glad that he is finished. It will be nice to have him home with me again at night. We are currently just waiting patiently (not) for a job to open up. Kade has some applications out and we are hoping one or two will work out. My husband is so amazing. He was the best shooter in the class and received a reward for it. I am excited to display it on the wall. I think every great accomplishment should be hung up in plain sight for everyone to see.

Kade receiving his certificate

Kade receiving the "Top Gun" Award... That means he was the best shooter in the class! He beat the next classmate by .3 points. :) Not to brag or anything!
Mel, Jake, and Kade
The whole family
Bari, Kade, and Brad. My parents
Chad, Gabbi, Kade and Lisa
Me, Kade, James, and Brittany
Kade opening some of his gifts
I would like to thank everyone who came to make this event such a wonderful experience.

ONE- Year Anniversary

2010-04-20T15:16:00.001-07:00

Kade took me to the Cliff Lodge to celebrate our one year anniversary. It was such a nice surprise. He would not tell me where we were going or what we were doing.
Kade's grandparents are sending us to Hawaii for a second honeymoon, and so while we were at the lodge I took some time to do research for our trip. We are both so excited and thankful.

Even though it is warm and there is no snow where we live, the ski hill is still working and people are still boarding and skiing. I wasn't prepared for that. I was only told to dress slightly warmer than I had been. I don't think Kade was ready for all the snow either.
We had dinner reservations at the steak house. It was so good; however, I only had flip flops on and the pathway to the restaurant was not plowed. I walked the whole way barefoot. By the time we got to dinner my feet were numb. Not from cold but from the pressure of the packed snow. I wasn't too excited about it, but I'm glad Kade can look at a situation and decide that it is picture worthy. He loved documenting our vacation.
This picture is to show that I was a good girl and never went in a hot tub until I was allowed to do so. When my central line came out on April 7th Kade made sure to ask if I was now allowed to sit in one. When he made reservations he made sure that we had a hot tub on the balcony. It was so wonderful and romantic. I just am so grateful he is so thoughtful and wonderful. We had such a nice time remember our first year of marriage. Our real anniversary isn't until April 24, but Kade has school that night so we decided that this was a great time!

Kade and I getting ready to head out and to have a great day!
Kade's favorite animal at the zoo!
Kade and I each took turns taking our picture by one of the animals that was actually awake.

Kade and I both loved spending some quality time together alone and away from the world! We are looking forward to a more normal- or just less stressful and a more healthier second year of marriage. Thanks again to all our friends and family for their love and support!

GOOD NEWS

2010-04-04T19:21:00.000-07:00

I had my final exam done about two weeks ago at the hospital. It was to see how my bone marrow was responding to the transplant. The results that we got were amazing. I am 100 % my bone marrow donor's marrow. So i'm no longer really me... lol

The hospital was excited. That's exactly what they were waiting for. I am getting more leeway now; which helps a lot. I know only have to go to the hospital every 2 weeks, but I think that will be moved to monthly quickly. I am so excited for the good news.

I just want to thank everyone for the love and support that has been shown towards me and my family. I would never be where I am with out all of you.

Hospital visit

2010-03-11T18:55:00.000-08:00

Today being Thursday meant another appointment at the hospital for my mother- in- law and me. We arrived at 9 right on time for the appointment only to find out that the outpatient registration had screwed up something on my account and I had to go down to their office and make a visit. So instead of being on time I was officially 15 minutes late; which means a lot of waiting around.

So finally after getting a room and having my blood drawn the doctor and nurse practitioner came into talk with me. They say everything looks amazing and wonderful. I have been instructed to make sure I wear sunscreen in the sun and be careful. I love it when they say that to a 23 year old... it's like I don't understand that the sun can burn me pretty badly right now. HAHA

So I'm excited that I will soon be able to visit the hospital only once a month. It's nice however to be given compliments up there. They told me that I have a great shaped head and it's looking really nice with all the hair that's growing on it. :) I am so excited that it's finally growing.

Well, Kade is getting closer every day to graduating. He is really loving school especially since they are finally at the fun part of school, the shooting. He's so good and yet so humble about it all. I am so surprised about that! LOL no really, I am :). I had the opportunity to go to class with him the other day and it was a really neat experience. I got to hear a lot of personal stories from the officer teaching. I feel more prepared to be a wife of a police officer.

Well Kade and I are both itching to go on vacation someplace warm. I think my hubby is sick of my complaining about being cold (seriously with no hair it gets really cold!) We are really thinking about a Disneyland trip in May as soon as he graduates. It will be wonderful to go back to the happiest place on earth.

HOME

2010-02-05T14:36:00.000-08:00

Well... I am home and loving spending time with my family! I have to go to the hospital about once a week.

So far the Dr.'s are impressed. My blood counts are holding their own! I guess that's what happens when you have blessed bone marrow from a missionary.

Kade is loving school and work. They keep him busy and away from home most of the day. He usually gets home around 10 pm and leaves around 7:30 am to get to work on time. He does this Mon- Friday, and Saturday he goes from 8-5. This makes it so we can at least have a date night. :)
Well nothing much is new here. My two sisters and their husbands are coming to visit us this coming weekend and we are excited to see them. We are excited to watch the Superbowl together and to eat lots of good food.

That sums things up for us. Keep in touch

Engraftment

2010-01-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

On day +25 we finally engrafted! That's good news. It means by body has accepted Andrew's bone marrow and it has moved into the bones where it belongs. It has started to divide and I was able to go home. I am feeling great. All I know from here on out is dr. visits with a blood draw. I am so excited that i'm done with chemo and radiation; hopefully for life.

It's wonderful to be home and to be able to see my husband. It's a great feeling!

Update on Transplant

2010-01-10T23:41:00.000-08:00

Well,
Since it is 12:30 am I can officially call today day plus 19, meaning that it has been 19 days since the transplant. We are experiencing signs that the engraftment will occur any day now. My long bones have been aching (legs and arms) which means the cells are trying to get into where the bone marrow goes.

Along with that, I have decided that since most of my mouth sores are gone I would try solid food. The radiation that I had burned off my taste buds so everything pretty much tastes the same to me. I eat some solid food but I'm also on IV nutrition that keeps getting reduced. This is good since once I engraft it makes me be able to go home sooner.

The hospital is slowly turning off my pain pump, but they also don't want my body to have withdrawals or for me to be in pain so it's been slow progress. I am managing to take all of my meds orally right now. All that is except the anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral. Once my ANC (absolute neutrophill count) is 500 most of the anti drugs go away automatically.

Everything so far has been great improvement. The Dr. say that I'm within the top 3 % that they have ever seen. I haven't had any unwanted side effects (yet- knock on wood). I have both good days and bad. Most of all I just really want to go home at this point. I can't wait to engraft. I'm doing all I can the rest is up to the Lord.

Well thanks for tuning in, but that's all for now.

0 + 14

2010-01-06T16:21:00.000-08:00

We are officially on day 14 from receiving the transplant. All is well. The doctors have told me that I'm in the top three percent of the patients that they see. I guess this would mean that I have less complications and symptoms or less sever symptoms than the other patients that they see. I was excited to hear that and so was the rest of the family. Like family and friends we have a guessing game going on to find out when I'll engraft. Well, the Doctors are having that same guessing game amongst themselves. One thinks that it will happen at the end of this week, another think the following week. So I'm just playing a waiting game.

I have mouth sores that hurt like crazy, but they seem to be doing better. I could not eat or swallow anything for a while so they put me on IV foods ( lipids, and vitamins mixed with water)

My throat is feeling tons better now I can swallow and I ate my first solid food today. It was jello! I love frozen jello.

My long bones hurt, which I hear is a good sign. This shows potential for engraftment.

Well all is well with the cancer patient- Know an update on Kade's life

Kade started school today. He is in the police academy, so this round being the second round will be more hands on. Kade loves to shoot so this period of school should fly by for him. I also believe that It will prove that he is the best in his class ( no offense guys).

Well enough about us. Thanks for all your love and support in every way possible.

Bone Marrow Transplant

2009-12-27T22:59:00.000-08:00

For many of you, this may come as a surprise and for others this is old news, but my bone marrow transplant took place on December 23. My little brother flew home from his mission to be my donor. Isn't that just so nice of him. Due to the fact that I got new bone marrow I also received a new birthday. I'm so excited about this! My husband and I now have two reasons to celebrate my birth. My original birthday on Feb 24 and now my bone marrow birthday Dec 23.

The transplant itself is just a simple blood transfusion.
Hanging on the IV pole is the bag of donated bone marrow from Andrew. Andrew checked into the hospital at 6 am. He was taken into surgery around 7 am and was in my room by around eleven. Poor kid, he was and still is pretty sore. They laid him on a table (after putting him under) and drilled a hole through each of his hip bones in order to extract the marrow. The Nurse practitioner told me that he had extremely hard bones, but that his bone marrow looked amazing. I feel that it's the missionary factor that made the marrow so amazing.

Luckily for me, Andrew and I are the same blood type. This allowed me to be alert and coherent during the transfusion.

The Child life crew, the bone marrow doctors and any staff available participated in my celebration. they came into the room bearing gifts and the greatest version of happy birthday that one would ever hear. It was so loud and off key everyone could not help but smile and laugh. The bone marrow staff is amazing and I am ever so grateful.

Besides the hospital staff, Kade's and my, families were there to help bring in the big moment. I am so grateful for all the support that was given. Here are some photos of them

It took roughly four hours for the transfusion to be complete. They say it usually takes about 2 hours, but like I said before Andrew's bone marrow was amazing. I'm still feeling well and we are on day 4. The doctor's say that that is a good sign.

I am in the hospital until graft vs. host appears. This usually appears after the stage of in-graftment (meaning the new cells have migrated into my bone marrow spaces). Since it was a sibling donor, this should occur between 17-21 days. We have a nice little envelope full of money attached to a calendar (each person that wanted to make a guess as to when in-graftment will take place, put money in the envelope and then put their name on the calendar) I get to keep all the money and they get the "glory" of picking the magic day.

Well, I think I have informed everyone on this matter well enough. My next post will be about Christmas.

Transplant here we come!

2009-12-15T16:00:00.000-08:00

Well wed Dec 16 is the official check in date to start radiation in preparation to starting the bone marrow transplant. I have three days, of two sessions, of full body radiation. I also have three days of chemo (lucky for me these are my last days of chemo!)

Andrew is home and I think he is completely weirded out by being home. He walks around with this funny expression on his face- like the cat who ate the cannery. It's so cute. I'm ever so grateful that he did not have any parasites or infections that needed to be taken care of.

Well, Kade and I have celebrated Christmas with both sets of family now due to the fact that we are unaware of how with it I will be after the transplant. The transplant is still set for the 23 of December. I was told that on that day there will be a large party to celebrate my "new birthday"

Cancer Life

2009-11-30T11:30:00.000-08:00

Well,

I am finally out of the hospital. I think I was in for about 20 days straight and I was ready to go when they released me on Sunday. I have to be back at the hospital on Friday Dec 6 for more tests before the bone marrow transplant and then for a meeting with the radiologist. I'm nervous for the meeting and excited so I can get all my questions answered. Andrew flies into SLC on Dec 7! That's a week from today! Our whole family is way excited for that and what an amazing experience it will be to have him home with us for Christmas. The transplant will take place on Dec 23. That's also the same day that they will harvest Andrew's bone marrow. The Bone marrow team talks as if this day will be like Christmas for us. It will be a big party with both sets of family and they give gifts and sing happy birthday ( not sure why, but that's what they said). I check back into the hosptial however on Dec 15 to start the radiation and the final chemo therapy treatments. It's a little weird to think that this day is almost upon us. I'm excited to be getting better and for my hair to finally start growing back. You can only stand to be bald for so long. haha

Well that's all I know as of right now. I'll keep you posted as more information is given to me. Thanks for all your love and support

Kade's Birthday

2009-11-30T11:24:00.000-08:00

Kade turned 24 this year. :) I was really looking forward to spending his birthday with him. I was actually still in the hospital for his birthday. Lucky for me, he wasn't feeling the best so instead of me going to him, he came to me to open his birthday gift. Kade's an easy person to shop for if you think like a cop. I bought him a thigh holster for his gun. He had been telling me he wanted one for a long time. It's a good thing i listen and get mad at him when he talks about buying things before his birthday and Christmas. Boys! They just get what they need or want and forget that others like to shop for them. HAHA

Kade even brought up a cake for us. It's so cute. It looks like a dog. It was two cupcakes with yummy frosting. He's so sweet to think about bringing his own cake to help us celebrate.

Playing in the leaves

2009-11-30T11:21:00.000-08:00

Karen, Mazee, and I had a great time playing in the leaves. Mazee was having fun throwing them in the air and running through Karen's neat piles. It's so fun to watch Mazee grow up. :)

Up date on the Transplant

2009-11-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

Well, we got word that my transplant will probably take place on Decemeber 23. What a new experience to spend Christmas in the hospital. Andrew will probably fly to SLC on December 5-7. We need him at the hospital for testing on the 7th if all works out according to plan. It will be nice to see him and to catch up on what's been going on with his mission. I am so grateful that he is coming up so that I can live. What a nice little brother I have.

Well, when we know more we will keep you posted.

Zermont Hotel

2009-10-19T15:29:00.001-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Gunnell (Kade's grandparents) took us to dinner at the Zermont hotel. They are so sweet to us. They wanted to help us celebrate out sixth month anniversary. They even put us up in the hotel for two nights. We had so much fun walking around Midway. They were having a scarecrow show. So we walked around that and enjoyed viewing what people had made. Kade also showed me the crater and we wished that we could have gone swimming in it. too bad I have a central line.

Kade and I are so grateful for the wonderful people in our lives that give us support. It made our week to be able to spend time together alone and to just do nothing. I was feeling great while we were in midway, but I ended up needing two bags of blood when we got home. I was a little winded from all our walking. ;)

We are getting more and more excited for the Andrew to come home. It will be great to see him when he comes to save my life. I am more excited that Andrew and Kade will get to meet for more than two hours. (For those of you who don't know, Kade and Andrew met briefly before Andrew left to Costa Rica... yes, I know, I broke mission rules!)

I go back to Primary Children's hospital on October 22 for my next round of chemo. I should be there about five days unless I have some major complication. I hope that I don't so that I can spend more time at home before the transplant. Well that about sums up whats been happening with the Martinez family!

Fall

2009-10-19T15:25:00.001-07:00

Kade understands that I get a little cooped up in the house when my counts are not high enough for me to be in public. So one afternoon when he had gotten off work we went for a drive up the hobble creek canyon. The leaves had just started to change! It was so beautiful. We took the opportunity to have a photo op. I just loved it. I like to go out and look at all the leaves changing. Fall is a great season!

Bone Marrow Donor

2009-10-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

So here is the latest of what's been going on in the cancer world. I just spend five days at primary childrens hospital for my latest round of chemo. I am home now and don't have to return until October 22. I am way excited about that.

During my stay at the hospital my mom Bari, my mother- in-law Karen, Kade and I met with the bone marrow team. PEOPLE WE HAVE FOUND A MATCH! My brother Andrew is the one. The problem, he's living in Costa Rica serving a mission for the LDS church.

We are working with the church to get him flown up here for the procedure and then to let him finish his mission. We are unsure when the bone marrow transplant will take place, but it could be as early as November or as late as December (we think.)

The meeting was left me feeling optimistic and I feel really good about the decision to proceed with the bone marrow. I'm a little worried about the radiation, but that comes from being a dental hygiene major and seeing all those horrible pictures during my first year. -See I was paying attention in school. It's worth all the money :)-

Well, that's all that's going on right now. I feel good and am enjoying my time at home. I don't have as much energy as I normally do, but that can be expected. Kade takes me for walks and makes sure that I get out of the house enough. I just love him.

Mazee'!s Birthday

2009-10-03T09:00:00.001-07:00

Since we went to Idaho we missed Mazee's birthday, So here are the pictures we got to show that she really liked our gift! Mazee loves finding Nemo so we bought her that DVD and a few other things. :) She is such a cute girl.

Rigby Homecoming!

2009-10-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

Mitchell and His homecoming date! Aren't they cute
Grandpa and Dad.
Kendle made a cute t-shirt for Abbi to wear to support Uncle Mitchell.
Our Rigby Trojans!
Kendle and Kade
In this picture we have Kade, Grama, Abbi and Arica. Abbi was so excited to watch Mitchell play baseball. We couldn't get her to switch sports

Kade and I drove home to Idaho to spend some quality time with my family and to also see Mitchell play foot ball. Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Hair Falling Out!

2009-09-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I am officially almost completely bald now! Kade and I decided that I was shedding too much and that it was time to take drastic measures! Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy of Kade cutting my hair all off!

Cancer!

2009-09-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

Most of you by now know that Brette's cancer has returned.
She was re-diagnosed on August 21 at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City Utah. She is doing really well and almost done with her first month of chemo.
As of right now chemo is every Thursday and her Mother-in-law drives her to her appointments. Since I'm on home health I'm not allowed to drive. :) Funny, i didn't know that last time. Kade is working full time and spends the evenings with me at home when I'm at home. If I'm in the hospital Kade spends the weekends with me and his family and my family come down for visits.

We are currently searching for a bone marrow donor. Results have come in and Mitchell is not a match, Kendle is out of the running and we are having issues getting Costa Rica to know how to test Andrew. As for everything else, it seems to be running smoothly.

Kade and I moved in with Mark and Karen (Kade's parents) to help us save money and to have someone around in case I got really sick. They have been a wonderful blessing and I'm grateful for them. It's amazing the relationship you can gain by spending all day with someone.

I know that my mom is heart broken that she can't be down here all the time helping me out. It's sad really, but you just have to make due with what we can do.

Honey Moon!

2009-09-21T15:18:00.001-07:00

Kade talking to Jake on our Honeymoon! I think we had almost everyone in the family call us on our vacation. :) gotta Love family
Kade eating the best chocolate cake I've ever had!
I like this picture!
I love this picture!
We ate at the best pizza restaurant in down town Disney
Kade and I riding the wildest roller coaster in the West! We had a great time in Disney Land! What a magical place to be.

Kade and I at the Airport! Kade took me to Disney Land for our honeymoon. I hadn't been there since I was like 11. I had so much fun. Kade and his family are disney aholics. It was good to see him in his happy place and to see him act like a kid!

Marriage

2009-09-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

Kade and I were married on April 24, 2009 in the Rexburg Idaho Temple. We had a lovely honeymoon in Disney Land! Kade's favorite place on earth.