Attention Attention

Attention Attention

Everyone who has asked

"What can I do to help?"

This is for you....

Please join our community in rallying around this little family who needs our help more than ever right now.   

If you fall into any of the following categories

We NEED your help

I need a haircut

I know someone who needs a haircut

My child needs a totally rad haircut for school

I hate cancer

I'd like to donate 12 inches to "Locks of Love"

I am a licensed beautician who would like to help cut/wash hair

I just want to donate some money to a good cause

   because bad things happen to really good people
I'm totally popular and I can get like 400 people to attend this thing

My son has been growing out his hair and I HATE IT!!

I need some blessings
I know someone who works at a Salon that may like the exposure for their business

I like to attend events where a picture of me might end up in the newspaper

I simply love the Hyde Family

Please Please Please

Come and help us raise some money

Or tell someone who lives in St. George about this

and by all means....  Feel free to repost the flyer on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook)

Please comment ANY questions that we can answer.

A Visit from our Houston Peeps

So....  on Monday I get a text from Mom

"The Bauers are coming to St. George on Sunday.  They are passing through on their way to Lake Powell.   I'd like for you to come over for dinner...  but don't bring your kids....  there will be too many people here and there won't be enough room for them if you bring all those kids"

Mom and Dad have a great house, but the family room is tiny and the seating is limited.

And mom gets really stressed out if people have to sit on the floor.

So, no biggie,  I threw a nice little pre-made Chicken Alfredo meal that I had purchased at Costco into the oven and kissed them on their little heads and Raleigh and I went over for Sunday Dinner.

When we walked in, Gracie was sitting in the office in a chair in the corner.

I said  "uh-oh are you in trouble?"

And she said  "Nana said I couldn't sit on any of the furniture, so I am sitting in here out of the way."

Garrett and Grant were in the kitchen

I said  "what are you two clowns up to?" 

Garrett said "we can't sit on the couch, so we are in here eating all the food..."

I laughed.  This was going to be a fun day.

Kami and Brent walked in right behind us

Instantly I could tell they were in fun moods and I knew we would have a good time.

Mom had been cooking all day and had prepared a lovely feast

but there were rules for the four of us (big kids) to follow

some of them spoken, some of them unspoken...

The Bauers were arriving in two waves and Mom had prepared a round of food to be served at 4:30 and another at 6:00.  And so the food had to last through two groups and she was a wreck that the second group would arrive and there wouldn't be enough food for them.   It was our job to help ration the food.  Which was going to be very difficult...  I for one, was starving.

We tried to stay out of the way.  The four of us huddled together in the corner and waited for the 

blessing on the food.

The Bauers, bless their hearts, filled up their plates and took them outside to eat on the patio with Kori and Russ.

It was only 100 degrees in St George today...  but it's a dry heat and so it felt nice to them. 

That left the four of us big kids and Garrett inside.

We ate our food and had a nice conversation.

One of the side dishes that Mom made was her famous bow tie chicken salad...

It is my VERY FAVORITE

(like that is all I wanted for my birthday this year)

I reallyyyyyyy love it.

And I made the grave error of going back for seconds

and actually, I almost got away with it undetected, but BRENT ratted me out to her

and I got a lecture... I will not soon forget.   And I felt like I had regressed back to my childhood

"Kaci, you can have seconds of the meat and the fruit...  but the pasta salad and the beans are not for you to have second helpings of."

.............oh...........

Unspoken Rule #1: No Second Helpings of Certain Undisclosed Side Dishes

 broken by yours truly

 ooooooops....

 Shortly after my catastrophic mistake,

Russ came in with his plate and started filling it up again... 

and we started waving our arms at him and whistling at him from the family room in hushed voices

"No......  Russ......  don't get seconds.

No....  mas..... frijoles......

You're going to get in big trouble"

And he got all scared and put his beans back in the pot.

Then Dad came in from outside and put a second round of pasta on his plate.

And we quickly filled him in on Rule #1 as well

but he didn't flinch....

"I love pasta" he said

And he piled it high

Heeeee   Heeee

I love my Dad.

I am happy to report that there was plenty of delicious food for everyone.

There was so much pasta salad left over, in fact, that I am planning to go to Casa de Little for lunch tomorrow.  And I WILL have seconds (guilt free)

Although, after this post....  I probably won't be invited back....  ever.

My Mom is the best.

We love when she gets high strung.

She was an only child and so she gets kinda nervous when there are a lot of people (specifically all of our children...  most of them being mine)

in her house...  having a lot of energy and making noise and messes.

Every once in a while she'll get all worked up and truly it makes for the best stories

We had such a great visit with The Bauers.

We enjoyed getting to know all of their kids

This is Tara, their daughter who is having a baby in a couple of months

opening up a baby gift.

 Then Bishop Cash and his cute wife and his parents stopped over.

Here is a re-cap of the connection:

Bishop Cash is a brother to Tim who is married to Tiffany (who lives in Houston and is friends with Tami who is married to Scott, got it???)

Remember TNT?

The cute girls who visited Kori in the hospital every single day while she was there.

Tami (Bauer) is one of the "Ts"

Tiffany is the other. 

Bishop Cash was the bishop of Kori and Russ' ward (and Russ was his counselor in the bishopric) 

and HE is the reason we have the pleasure of knowing these wonderful people. 

 So they came over to visit with the Bauers.  Joel (Bishop Cash) and Tim's mom and dad (Brother and Sister Cash) also live in Kori and Russ' ward so they came along to visit.  What a great night!!

Mom took this picture to send to Tiffany.

Maybe some day she will come for a visit too.

 Here we are back in our corner

Such a fun day

We really hope they will come again

And/or possibly move here.

Update on Kori.....

She sang with the Relief Society in Sacrament Meeting today.  Russ wheeled her up front and then sat with her while she sang.  So sweet.
She did very well today with the BIG crowd.  Sometimes it is hard for her when there are lots of people around but she did well and visited from time to time.
This weekend she had a break from radiation, 4 days off.  She has exactly one more week of chemo and 8 more days of radiation beginning tomorrow.  Almost over, happy days.
She'll be up bright and early in the morning for rehab.  We're expecting BIG progress this week.
We hope you'll continue to remember her in your prayers.

Weepy (Wonderful) Wednesdays

It's hard to write a blog about someone else's life.   It's hard enough for me to keep up with my own blog.  But, to write about the comings and goings of someone else's life where most of the information comes to you second hand.... I'm telling you,  it's hard.  I am writing about people I have never met and situations I haven't experienced.   And Mom and Dad send me pictures and tell me what is going on in them and I report.   Albeit, totally inaccurately most times.  And then Mom goes in behind me and makes all sorts of corrections.  

Sigh.........

I desperately want the posts to be informative and ENTERTAINING.  Mostly because we love this girl with all of our hearts and we don't want people to forget about her because then they might stop praying and we really need those prayers.   We so appreciate those of you who pop on here everyday and check for updates.  I LOVE the people who stop me in Walmart and say "Are you Kori's sister?  You look just like her and I recognize you from her blog.  We read the blog everyday.  Thank you for keeping us informed."   It means so much to our family. 

This week was a week of hard work, sweat and tears. 

Kori had a new therapist because Luke is out of town. 

He has worked her hard.

 In this picture she looks like she is resting...

but this arm that she is leaning on is her paralyzed arm.

When you think of that, you must realize that she is not resting AT ALL.

This is actually very hard work.

 In these pictures, she is practicing what she would do if she were to fall.

That's a scary thought.

She's been "gently" dropped a couple of times, but there was someone right there to help her get up.

What if she were to fall and she was alone?  (Although she is never alone).

It's a good thing to prepare for the worst.

As mentioned earlier, this is a holiday weekend for Utah.   So her treatments were cut short this week.  Dr. Richards gave her today (Thursday) off as well.  It's good and bad.  Good, because it lets her body rest from the side effects of radiation for a couple of days.  Bad, because it prolongs her finish date.

Every Wednesday, Kori meets with Dr. Richards (this Wednesday she also met with Dr. Tudor).   She gets very emotional on Wednesdays because she is forced to have to "talk" about her feelings and she doesn't like to do that.   They "talk" about her treatments and her schedule and her side effects and her thoughts about how things are going and that is not super fun for her.  Kori cries.  This Wednesday, they discussed her most recent blood tests which all came back good.  Her red and white blood cell counts are in the expected range.  Additionally, Dr. Richards told them that during her type of radiation treatments, very rarely do patients show improvement in their cognitive functioning.  Cognitive functioning is the way a person "thinks".  He said often times there is little improvement and many times there is regression, or taking steps backwards.  But, in Kori's case, he said that he is noticing improvements.  And he said "I am not just saying that to make you feel better,  I am your doctor and I am telling you that, I really see a change in you."  Of course, this made Kori cry harder.

Then Mom started crying too.  And then he said "oh, no, now you're crying....  I have never been very good with the ladies."

When Kori's facial paralysis started wearing off, she noticed a tingling in her face.  Kind of like the tingling that you feel when the Novocain is wearing off after the dentist.  She also felt this sensation in her leg as it started to improve.  WELL.......  today she has started feeling that feeling in her arm.   She feels it underneath her arm and down into her chest.  We are very excited.  This is great news.

Hang in there,  Kor...  Only a couple of Wednesdays left.

Updating...

Tomorrow marks the 2/3 mark.

Which means 14 more chemo pills and 10 more radiation treatments.

The holidays have thrown a wrench into the schedule.

July 4th and July 24th (otherwise known as Pioneer Day here in Utah)

will cause a 2 day delay (with radiation) so that means, Kori will wrap up chemo on August 2nd and her last radiation treatment will be August 4th.  Then we're going to have a celebration of some sort.  Stay tuned.

This week she will have a blood draw. 

She will meet with Doctors Tudor and Vroenen.

And she will continue with rehab beginning tomorrow morning at 8:00

In the midst of all of this, real life keeps happening.

Russ had a huge problem at work.

The big semi truck that delivers all of their goods from St. George to Vegas

broke down in the Gorge resulting in several mini-loads having to be delivered 

down there.

One night last week, Russ had to leave at 3:00 am to drive a truck to Vegas.

And that left Kori at home alone.

My mom didn't know about it or she would have gone over.

But cute, Grant stepped up and took over the role of caretaker.

He slept right next to Kori and helped her during the night.

He helped her get up to use the bathroom.

He fixed her breakfast and helped her get dressed in the morning.

He may look like a normal teenager on the outside,

but he most definitely is not.

Additionally, he has been rubbing her legs at night with doTerra oils

and all of her swelling is gone.  

Gracie has also been a huge help with Kori's at-home rehab program. 

And it is making a huge difference.

Here's Luke helping Kori with exercises to strengthen her hamstrings.  The exercises are hard and she gets kinda sweaty but she's going to be walking on her own in no time.

Then on Friday, Mom took Kori over to the ER.

She was having some minor complications associated with her treatments.

She did not want to go.

And she fought it big time.

But after many suggestions by Dr. Tudor's medical assistants had failed, it finally was decided she should head on over to the ER at DRMC. 

I think she is glad that she went.

They were able to help her and she feels a little better this weekend. 

This cute guy is Dee, he was Kori's nurse.  He was very kind.  He was warned about the difficult time that many have getting an IV into Kori's arm (it runs in our family).  It only took him TWO tries, not bad.
Here's hoping for a good week.  It's a short one thanks to our holiday.

That means it has to be good, right?

Headwraps, Hats and Haircuts.....

Yesterday marked the exact half way point

through Kori's chemo and radiation treatments.

We are on the downward slope.

The radiation tech at Dr. Richard's office said that their patients tell them that 

the second half of radiation treatment

goes much faster than the first.

Kori continues to feel alright physically

(alright being such a relative term)

She is still struggling emotionally

especially as she has started losing her hair.

Large amounts of hair.

She was very sad on Sunday

And so Mom called in the Troops

(aka  "Kami the Flamboyant")

Kami has a sense of style that ONLY Kami can pull off.

Here she was last year at Mom's birthday celebration.

She strutted in like she owned the joint.

And every eye was on her.

Notice that one of these is NOT like the others.

Conservative, Conservative, Conservative and 

Wham Bam They Call Me Kam

I called her "Erykah Badu" all night

And every time she turned to talk to me,  I got a face full of

gigantic blue head wrap bow.

The truthful secret is we are all really just jealous that we don't have the confidence

to walk into a public eating establishment

in a get-up like this.

Nevertheless, she has accumulated quite the assortment of

head-to-dos

and she brought them over to Kori's house this morning and 

had some fun

 I am being totally honest when I say this...

When I see women at the store wearing head wraps

obviously cancer stricken...

I think 

"Well there goes a woman with a thousand times the strength that I have

and who, I am certain walks daily with Jesus."

I think their faces are beautiful

.........................................................

 Later today Jan Fausett invited Kori over to her new hair salon 

Solutions 

and Jan cut Kori's hair shorter

and styled it.

Thank you Jan, she looks darling.

We are Latter-day Saints

Our family belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We are Mormons.

Most people have heard of Mormons.

Some people have some misguided misconceptions of what Mormons are.

First of all, it is important to know that we don't believe that we are perfect.

We are simply a group of people who are trying very hard to do their best.

We are committed to family.

We believe that serving others makes us better.

We love Jesus Christ and we try to live our lives as He would want us to.

We are a very works-based church.

By that I mean, we try to do good works.

Good works are kind acts like helping others in need.

I think most of us want to be able to stand before God at the end of our lives and say that we lived the best lives that we could.   I will often say to my children when they are being unkind to one another or another child....  "you are going to have to sit at a desk across from Jesus some day and explain this behavior and there really won't be anything that you will be able to say to make it alright."  

It really makes them stop and think.

I think most people want to be able to say that they tried their very best to be as good as they could.  Not because they want Jesus to like them more, but because they want to be proud of the life they have lived... to be able to say that their lives were worthwhile, that they did some good, that they thought of other people and not themselves all the time. 

We try to be grateful to our Savior for providing us with His most precious gift, that being the Atonement.  We can be grateful when we act unselfishly and serve other people.  Jesus did good works every single day while He was on the Earth.   And to emulate His life is the greatest way to show our gratitude.   Why would He require good works of himself and not require them of me?

I will willingly admit right here, that I fall short every single day.

Every... single... day.

But one of our beloved Prophets, Gordon B. Hinckley said once

"Just do your best."  

And those four words changed my life.  I can do my best.  

It's MY best

And at the very least, I can do my best.

Kori has had so many unselfish people in her life over these past few months. 

People who have taken time out of their very busy schedules to...

 Bring dinner to their house every night. 

Drive her kids to and from practices and games.

Some come over and sit with her for 2-3 hours in the afternoons, so my parents can have a break.

They have cleaned her home.

They call and check in on her. 

They make gifts for her.

They have donated money.

They have made quilts for her.

They read her blog and show support. 

In Houston, Kori and my Dad and Russ were served daily by good people who were completely unselfish and shared their time and talents with a girl they hardly knew. 

I am humbled by them

I am learning from them. 

Our family has been blessed by them. 

I also want to mention my parents, who have literally changed their lives to serve.

And they will say...  "oh don't say that ....  we are doing what any parent would do."

But, they are two of the greatest people on the Earth.

And at the end of their lives they will both be able to say...  there was not one day of our parental lives that we did not serve our children (or their grandchildren) in one way or another.

And also my sister, Kami, who stops over to visit Kori on her lunch breaks and makes every one laugh and lightens the mood. 

And then there is RUSS.....  Russ has really stepped up to the plate big time and he has taken on the responsibilities of two parents and he has loved Kori and treated her like a queen.  He showers her, washes her hair and gets her dressed for the day, all before he leaves for work in the morning.  He makes jokes at her expense only because he completely loves her.   And he keeps everything real.  

Russ has taken on the role of "at home physical therapist" 

He's learned all the exercises and he makes her work hard at home.

He is learning all about her hand manipulation and exercises.

 The past few days have been like a roller coaster.

Kori will have a good day

A bad afternoon

A good morning followed by a bad afternoon.

Followed by a good day.

Her doctors say this is all normal.

And her emotions and anxiety are expected reactions to 

what has unfortunately become her world for the time being.

This is Doctor Tudor.  

He is her "in charge" oncologist. 

He makes the plans. (Kori was in this picture with Dr. Tudor but it was one of those "bad days" and she doesn't photograph too well on those days.)

Today some changes were made:

No more Ted Hose

No more morning injections (only daily aspirin now)

She is walking a lot more with very little assistance.  

And those things are all happy.

She IS losing her hair.

But the good news is... she has SO MUCH HAIR

it's like she is a normal person now.  However, we might be looking for some cute hats soon.

I personally just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has been there for Kori in her time of need.

I am so grateful for unselfish people who are putting our sister/daughter before themselves.  Please know how much our family appreciates YOU and the many acts of service/kindness that have been done.

Just know that you will get to sit at a desk across from Jesus one day and tell him what you did to serve this cute girl.

And He will say "well done thou good and faithful servant"

Emotions...

One of the hardest things that Kori has had to learn to deal with on this journey are the different emotions that go along with all of the new, never before imagined experiences that she is going through.  It's hard enough to try and manage the physical aspect of everything, but equally and maybe more difficult, is the emotional journey that she is on.  

She has good days, bad days and totally crappy days.

Today was a good day. 

We had a good, long weekend vacation, but she was emotionally ready to get back to work.

Luke's student, Adam completed his internship and so Luke was a one man show today.  

And you can kind of tell here in this picture that she is actually smiling. 

She is really improving.

And today was a good day because she was actually able to see her progress.  

Every once in a while, she gets discouraged because she can't tell that she is getting better...

but today she definitely could today and it made her happy.

And so naturally, it made her want to work hard.  

 Today she danced with Luke.

Luke had my mom take her wheel chair out to the lobby.

Then he made Kori walk all the way out to get it.

Mom says it's a pretty long walk, but she very nearly beat my mom out there.

Mom said she had a great attitude today, she was very UP.

That has to make a difference

Keep up the good work, girl

Family Traditions

 Every Fourth of July for the past.....  I don't know....  15 years,

The Hydes have ventured up to Provo for the Freedom Festival.  

They go to the Parade that travels down University in Provo and

then they watch the fireworks at Stadium of Fire...  some years in the stadium and some years from the soccer field at Provo High School.  

Some years, the 4th fell on a Monday through Thursday.

Meaning Russ only had the day off.

So they would wake up at 4:00...

Drive up...

Attend both events....

and drive home... in one day.

They're crazy like that.

The past 7 years, the rest of the family has joined them in the tradition.

It always begins the same way

 The men play golf at Hobble Creek

With wildlife and NO CELL SERVICE.

While the women get all of the children ready.

Load up the car

Hide all of the snacks in our beach towels

make a pit stop at McDonalds with 12 children

and then we head over to Seven Peaks.

Unload 45,000 items from 4 cars.

Sneak our snacks through check in

(because stupid Seven Peaks doesn't allow outside food)

but we don't follow the rules.

We have learned all the sneak in tricks.

We hide chips in our chair bags and in the canopy bags and we wrap licorice up in our towels and we are not beneath hiding stuff on our small children...  because NO ONE WOULD EVER SEARCH A SMALL CHILD.  

Then the women (with 12 children) and (45,000 items) begin setting up camp.

2-3 canopys, 25 camp chairs, tarps, towels, hidden snack food etc.

Finally....  and we are certain the men sit accross the street watching us set up and 

THE VERY SECOND EVERY THING IS ALL SET UP AND DARLING... 

one of them will text us and say they are just now pulling in.

They pull up next to us at the fence and launch 

4 cases of ice cold water over the barbed wire fence 

and we pass their tickets through the fence and they wander in...  wearing their golf attire and change into their suits....  right there wrapped up in towels under the women-set-up-canopies.  

And the fun begins.

This year was no different...

except...

Our very best camp-setter-upper was in a wheel chair.

And boy did we feel the pain of that.

Mom was a stressed out mess by the time we got to the gate.

It was 100 degrees and as usual 

(because she is for sure NOT going on any water slides)

she was wearing capris and a t-shirt

which is far too many clothes for this activity

nevertheless....

and the sweat began to appear and then it 

STARTED DRIPPING DOWN HER FACE 

LIKE MICHAEL JORDAN IN A BIG GAME

And she started saying things like

what is taking so long, what is going on at the window, why is this line not moving, we are going to die right here in line,  I have never been so hot,  look at me I'm sweating like a man,  this is ridiculous,  what is going on at that window,  does anyone know why this line isn't moving.....

And poor Kori was under a tiny tree with virtuously NO SHADE 

someone just parked her there and she was trapped.

and the children looked like this...

see those chair bags....

yep, filled with FOOD...

STUFFED

And by a small miracle we were able to purchase our tickets and somehow we made it through check in without incident.

I took this picture of Kami here because.....

Kami

Packed

7 outfits 

for the water park

and I kid you not....

she changed into every single one of them.

This was change #2 in the making.

Every time I looked at her she had a new outfit on.

So hiliarious!!

Gavin and Quincey who didn't want their pictures taken.

 And Kori was a trooper.

Because I think she was miserable the entire day

It was so hot and she couldn't dip her toes in the water like the rest of us.

Scott and Tami Bauer, from Houston have a home two blocks from Seven Peaks.

And when we started posting pictures on Instagram they text us and said

"we are two blocks away, we are coming over to say HI".  

And they did.  

It was so fun

for Kami and I to finally meet them.  

They are the greatest people.  

THE NEXT DAY WAS THE FOURTH OF JULY

And we decided as a family that we would forgo the parade this year because

Kori would be too hot,  the little kids don't like the cannons,  and it was too early for all of us to try and get there on time.

Instead we drove up the canyon to Heber for Garrett's game

It was much cooler up there

Raleigh and I literally arrived in the LAST INNING.  

They played well, but lost and so we left there and went to the outlet mall in Park City.

Kori and Russ and their kids went to the Provo River to fish.

We ate lunch together

and headed back to Utah County to get ready for Fireworks

We met at the soccer field and set up our 25 camp chairs facing toward

Lavell Edwards Stadium

and waited and waited....

There was a cute boy sitting behind us and he started making balloon animals for all of the kids

 Poor little 3 year old....  HATED the loud sound the fireworks make

 A pink and purple butterfly

 A green dog on a leash

 Quincey and Gracie

Garrett and Quincey

Kori was freezing but we got her all fixed up on the lounge chair with lots of blankets.

It was SO great that she trudged through a probably not very fun weekend for her 

so that we could all have fun.

 Garrett tired all the little kids out

Weekend over

Back to the work week

Kori will resume treatments and therapy.

PS....  she has a new therapist that she's added to her collection