Its all about SUGAR!

I found out what was wrong with me finally after a few tests last week. Hypoglycemia!!! I had a terrible day Friday doing a glucose test. You drink 8 oz of pure glucose after you've fasted for 12 hours and have your blood drawn every 1/2 hour. Normal levels after fasting shouldn't go below 70. The normal range is between 70-150 and mine was 40 after only 3 hours. So basically that means to not feel like I am pregnant 24/7 I need to eat like 6-10 mini meals a day at 100-150 calories each. I always said the only way I would ever watch what I eat and "diet" is if I had to. I guess I am going to be healthier than I thought! It takes a lot of work to eat good and plan a good diet. Not only that but to be prepared and have food handy (good food that is!) Low carb, lots of protein and hardly any sugar. So no more CARVER FOOD :( I am so sad. I can eat a cinnamon roll but I will pay with a dizzy spell, headache and a 2 hour nap! Oh well, it's not like my moms cinnamon rolls are the best in the world or anything! GGGRRR. Anyway, I hope that I can start to feel better soon and get my blood sugar under control. Sometimes when you get pregnant your hormones level out if your sugar is low and you feel better. Either way, I hope I can feel better and get back to normal soon! Watch out swim suit season.... her I come.---I HOPE :)

Life, Graditude, Babies & Mountains to Climb

I haven't blogged in a while and everyone is bugging me to get on here including my conscience. I have been busy organizing my house and dreading my awful business taxes due this month. I am sort of overwhelmed with Life. I haven't been feeling very well lately and have been kinda down in the dumps, not motivated to exercise or clean or even work. I was talking to my mom about it when I realized that she is the one with cancer... WHAT AM I COMPLAINING ABOUT! She has such a good attitude and is taking one day at a time. Sometimes we forget that TODAY is NOT the END OF THE WORLD! I have such a hard time remembering that some times. I fight it so much when I have a bad day or am down, I don't know why. I just have to remember the eternal perspective of things and count my blessings. I look back at the things in my life that I thought I would never get through and am amazed at how little and insignificant they are. I am so thankful for all my blessings and for the things that I have at this stage in my life. I am scared to have kids because I know that they will rely on me for everything. If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy right? Chris and I have been talking about getting pregnant this year sometime. I am totally excited but at the same time, super scared and nervous. I have been reading every publication on parenting, motherhood and children I can get my hands on and he thinks I am crazy! "Melanie, you aren't even pregnant, and when you are you have like 10 months to get ready!" I guess I just want to be the best mom I can be. My sisters are both always doing their best raising their kids and worry about the littlest things. They seem little to me now, but I know how important they are in the overall picture of a successful family. I can't wait to have a baby to snuggle and kiss on and want my mom to be able to be here to share all the special moments of first time motherhood with me. She is such a good example of a selfless mother. She has always put us first and she still does. I was able to do a session at the temple the other day and put her name on the prayer role. It was so special to me to do something for her that she couldn't do for herself for once. I love her so much! Life seems better than it ever has, maybe because it means so much more to me now than it ever has. Cherish every moment! There are mountains to climb... so climb on!

New hair once again

So I chopped off my hair and dyed it darker. It is crazy! I am not sure what I am thinking sometimes. I do know that I am not photogenic so I hope you like the retarded picture.

Workin on the Trailer

When Chris and I were first dating, I use to go over and help him work on his projects. One trailer in particular was death! I made the mistake of helping once and doing a good job and let him discover the fact that I could actually work. Needless to say, we spent many many hours in that nasty place. We would flirt and I loved to see him working, it was pretty funny and of course he always looks hot when he works. Ha ha!! Anyway, he kind of gives me crap because I haven't volunteered to help in the last year or so. Tonight, I was on my way home and wanted to just watch a movie and relax but I went to Little Caesar's instead, grabbed a pizza and headed for home. I changed into my grubs and brought dinner and service to him at the trailer. The look on his face was awesome. He was pretty excited, it cracked me up. Anyway, I helped until about 11:00 and got tired so I left him there all by his lonesome. I am trying to be better at having a good attitude and helping him out when he is stressed. I actually had fun, it seems silly that after being married for a while, you still do little things to impress them.

Christmas!

I asked Chris's dad for a guitar for Christmas and actually got it! The funny irony of the whole thing is that Chris is ALWAYS the one that is playing it. It is kinda cute though, if I want to play, he is already on it. It's called, "Whoever gets to it first!" The other night.... he got to it first, because I was cooking HIM dinner! HA HA,that little turkey. It has been pretty fun though. He will be better than me even when I have time to practice. I think he is a natural at most things. Here is a couple cute pics from Christmas. My dad got me a fishing pole and Chris put Roses in my stocking. I totally cried because he has never gotten me flowers and I am always kind of bahumbug about Valentines and Birthdays because I always thought it would be cool to get flowers from a non-traditional flower kind of a guy. For my birthday he had planned to have flowers delivered to Olive Garden so when we went to dinner, they would be there, but the flower shop was already closed and his perfect intention was shut down. So, Christmas morning I went out to fill his stocking and didn't see mine hanging next to his. I was really quite surprised and even more when I found it stuffed with Roses. He also got me a cute pink blue tooth for my phone and fruit snacks (instead of candy). He is pretty dang hilarious and original. Gotta love em!

Wig Shopping

So, on Saturday after the REI yard sale, I met my mom at

Franki & Co. to help her pick out a wig. I was hoping she would do it before she lost all her hair so she wouldn't be do sad when she had to go later. It was pretty fun actually. She tried on some funky styles, a really curly one and a silverish white one. I loved this particular one myself. I told her that she looked like she was a sexy 40 year old! I think I embarrassed her a little but she was brave and wore it home to show my dad. I told her to wear it to church and get every one's opinion, that way she could decide while she still had real hair on her head. The lady at the salon had some little headbands and scarfs so I put this polka dot one on her because it was so stinkin cute. I love it! She looks so dang cute. Hopefully she will stick with this one. She has an appointment on Thursday to get it cut if she decides she wants it. If not, she can pick a different one and chose another color or whatever. She had a port put in on Monday and is a little sore but other than that she is doing good. Her hair started coming out in clumps this week. She cried this morning. She was washing her hair in the sink and she said gobs were coming out. She came to my office this afternoon and we were able to put her recipe book together for all 7 of the kids to have their very own CARVER COOKBOOK. We spend all afternoon copying pages and putting them in protector sheets. She took a little nap in one of the massage rooms and was ready to go again in a half hour! She did awesome. I am so proud of her.

Doesn't she look good in this picture? She has lost around 15 pounds since the start of chemo.

REI YARD SALES!!!!

Oh how I love to get a good deal. Chris and I started hittin up the REI yard sales about a year and a half ago. We were still dating when we went to our first and I was really excited to get outdoor stuff for a good deal. We have gotten snow shoes, hiking boots, beanies, biking clothes, snowboard boots, gloves, pants.... you name it. But the best of the best was last saturday. The store opens at 10:00 am but you have to get there at like 7 and wait outside if you want a chance to get anything good. Our friends from the singles branch were in the front of the line so we told them to look out for a board for me. I didn't think anything of it because I am never THAT lucky but we got inside and started gathering our goods and they were able to get a board for me. It is a $399 Burton Board but it was marked down to $139. After an hour or so, they start marking down prices so they time chris got out of their, we got it for $109!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited. I don't even really snowboard that good, but renting adds up and why not add it to our board collection? I love REI!

My sis Sherri & I- X-Mas Eve

Cooking up some fabulous grub!

2007 Christmas Letter

I am so proud of myself for getting my Christmas letter out this year. I have always wanted to be organized when I was married and be the "Cool family that did a Christmas letter." I didn't get it out to everyone so I posted it for those who care to know what we were up to this year.

Wow,
What an eventful year it has been. We celebrated our 1YEAR anniversary last month on the 25th of November and here we are with Christmas already. I can’t believe a year has already past!!! We have both been very busy with the never ending projects we seem to always be getting ourselves into. Chris is still in school. He had a class that wasn’t offered this semester that he needed so he had to wait for spring. Once that is complete he will be an official WSU Tri-Cities graduate. He is still trying to decide exactly what he wants to do with his degree which will be Bachelors in Business Management and a Minor in Human Resources. I finally got my own massage office this September and have two other therapists that work with me. It has been fun and challenging all at the same time. Chris and I joke around that it is good that we live in “The Trailer,” because running your own place isn’t cheap. We are planning on saving up to get into a house soon. We have church callings with the young men and women right now. I teach the 12-13 year old girls Sunday school and Chris teaches the 12-13 year old boys class. It has been fun to be able to work with the younger crowd.
We weren’t able to go on a honeymoon, so this summer we enjoyed a lot of little mini vacations. We went to Francis Lake in Oregon and endured a 2 day, 20 mile hike in that I still don’t know how I lived through. Chris had gone in high school and has wanted to take me forever. We also had the opportunity to climb Mount. St Helens with a group of boys scouts from another stake. I don’t know now how I keep getting sucked into these BOY trips. We did a little fishing and of course boating. What is a Cain summer without boating and endless days of wakeboarding? We had too many days of sunshine and boating to even count. Chris hurt his back in early spring so he had to cool off a little this year, but come summer he’ll probably be up and at it again.
On December 1st of this year, we were sealed in the Columbia River Temple. It was a great experience as some of our family and friends were able to attend. 2 weeks after, we were able to get away for a trip to Las Vegas. I had never flown before and it was our first real vacation. We decided to celebrate our anniversary, belated honeymoon and Christmas all together. I don’t know if we’d go every year, but it sure was good to get away. Cheap, fast and fun…. that is what we are all about.
My mom was just diagnosed with Cancer so we have been busy helping her and being with family. She is doing well and has just started chemotherapy treatment. My sister Kim has set up a blog that keeps everyone updated on doctor’s visits and family news. It is http://mymomsfight.blogspot.com.
We have been so blessed this year. I am so thankful for everything we have, especially this time of year. It is wonderful to have all of our family close by. We don’t ever have to travel and we take advantage of that sometimes. We hope that everyone has a great holiday season and will keep in touch. We love to hear from everyone and look forward to Christmas when everyone is in town. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Chris and Melanie Cain

A letter from my mom- DATED 1999

This is why my mom is amazing....
August 1999
Dearest Melanie,
Let me tell you why you are a Carver. Your dad and I had six beautiful children and I was busy taking care of them. Mote and Shawn were in college and needed our support. Kim was 8, Steven was 6, Sherri 5 and Kent was 2. Dad and I went to a special meeting at church. We had a special talk about family. About how we should have children we are capable of taking care of. At that time we were not planning on more children but the feeling came to me that we should have one more so Dad and I prayed about it. We felt prompted to have one more child. I was 39 and Dad was 43. Because of those feelings that came over me and your Dad you are part of our family. I have never regretted that decision. You are a great asset to our family. You are a special daughter . One that is loved by our heavenly parents as well as your earthly parents. I feel it a privilege to be your mother . I know I am not a perfect mom. I do make mistakes. But that is a process we all have to go through. Please forgive me for the things I do wrong. I love you very much want only the best for you. I am so proud of your accomplishments. You have been blessed with many wonderful talents. I know you were a valiant daughter in the pre-existence. Your sisters have been good examples for you to follow. Look to their example. Set your goals high and keep reaching for them. Don't settle for anything less that a temple marriage. Heavenly Father wants to bless you with all he has! Remember: The chief cause of failure and unhappiness in this life is treading what we want most, for what we want at the moment! I love you. YOUR OLD MOM