Organizing Photos

Hi friends!

Okay...so on my list of things to do is organizing all of our pictures on our computer.

Here's the story...

-Had a photo program that came with our old camera that I really loved- easy to save from, organize by date, view in files, easy to download to blog or to email from, etc. Long story short, it was really working for me.

- Then we got a new computer and for some reason, it would no longer give me the option to save from there, so it started saving my pictures to "My Pictures" on the hard drive- which it doesn't automatically organize by year/date, etc.

- With the new computer, it also has Windows photo gallery, which is fine to organize by date, but it's a nightmare to upload or email photos from. It does have a video feature, which seems fun to play around with, but I just haven't had the time to dabble in it yet.

- We just got a new camera, so I'm wondering about the Software it came with, maybe I'd like it, but then I have pictures everywhere. Currently I have some in ZoomBrowser, Picassa, "My Pictures" File and Windows Photo Gallery. Talk about a nightmare- that's why I quit blogging. No longer convenient.

So.....

Let me know what you love. Something that's easy, has a lot of options, can do everything in one spot type of a thing. It seems like I like bits and pieces of each thing.

I have Photoshop Elements (got it for Christmas 3 years ago and it still remains in it's original packaging). Is it time to open it up?...but then if I Install it and all, do I need an external hardrive? It's kindof like Pandora's box....once it's opened, you never know what it might unveil.
It could distract me (like diving into editing and creating, etc.). I don't need any distractions right now, I need to get on top of things.

Also...how do you guys back your photos up? We've always just burned them to CD's, but I don't think that will last forever and they take up a lot of space over time. External hard drives, zip drives, CD's, online site, etc.

I'm interested in knowing your systems. I tend to over-analyze things because I like getting the best result, but I don't have a lot of time to research things out. I'm more of a word-of-mouth researcher.

Happy to report that I'm making some good progress around here. If I can figure out my picture mess, I'll share some of what I've been reclaiming!

Until next time....

Oh, and I might as well ask while I'm at it. Has anyone had any horror stories of making a blog book? I really want to do this, but am a little terrified of something happening and losing our whole blog. Is there a way to back your blog up? Give me some reassurance people...and what company you like to go with.

Cost of Friendship

So, yesterday Jace came home from school. Later, he showed me a dime and a penny and I asked him where he got it from.

He said that a boy in his class had given it to him and said he could keep it if Jace would be his friend.

An 11 cent friendship. Part of this made me sad- everyone has such a desire to be included and wanted, no matter the cost.

I told Jace to give the money back and tell him that he'd be his friend for free.

True friendship can't be bought.

Snipits of Life

Seems like it used to be so easy to blog.

I'm trying to reclaim my life so to say...that explains my absence. I've been proclaiming that I'm having post-traumatic stress disorder. Maybe not officially, but it's funny now that things have settled, I feel more behind, more stressed and more out of control than I felt in the heat of all our troubles.

I swear it's the effect of seeing all that I've had to let go out of necessity. Drawers didn't get cleaned out, laundry was never caught up, things that needed decorated got pushed aside, years of photographs are waiting for my attention to put in albums or atleast print them or something. And now here I am, able to deal with it all now and it can be overwhelming picking up the pieces of two years of complete mayhem.

Lately I've just really been wanting an "easy" button. I want my house clean and to stay clean...how can kids destroy a full days work so quickly? I hate laundry...it's the never-ending job. I wish Rylee's speech development would come quicker, but as I know too well....it's a patient process and she's making progress, so I should be happy about that. I wish Jace didn't love to watch TV so much- I get stressed everytime he's sitting there, thinking that he should be more productive (beside the fact that TV drives me crazy...I don't need more noise in my life!). And Jaden.....oh this child. Seems like every other minute he's whacking someone over the head with something....or biting...or hitting...or getting into all loads of mishchief.

Basically it's life. It's not easy. Even when you get one hard thing over with, other things come along and challenge you differently. Miley was onto something when she said, "It's the climb".

So, this year...I'm trying to reclaim life. My goal for 2011 is "Life should be enjoyed, not just endured." I want to focus on really enjoying things more. Enjoy the parts of my house that are clean and organized and little by little do something everyday to improve it. Enjoy my kids, my husband, my friends and make time to plan some fun things. We went over to a neighbors house for game night the other night...had a great time. We took the kids bowling and to play games at Fat Cats for Justin's birthday...and had a great time! I always get home from these things and think, "We need to do stuff like this more often" and we do, so we are. This is the year!

I've got to get back into updating our blog. I love looking back on our memories and moments. It helps me enjoy things more as I look at the pictures and write about things. So the blog will hopefully be more regular from here on out.

Just wanted to jot down a few thoughts of where I'm at right now....just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.

The End Has Come...

I should be in bed....Rylee has her last treatment tomorrow, starting at 6:30 a.m.

So actually, today marks the end of a very long journey for us. This is the last of many procedures we have endured. I'm just so overcome with gratitude to be finished...for her and for us.

There are so many words to say about this, but I decided I wanted to quickly share the lesson we had at Family Home Evening tonight.

There is a story in the scriptures about ten lepers. When Jesus entered a certain village, he met ten men suffering from a disease called leprosy. They pleaded with Him to have mercy on them. They cried out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Luke 17:13). Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests. As they went to do so, they were healed.


Even though all ten lepers had been healed, only one of the men thought to return and thank Jesus for the miracle He had performed for them. The man “turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at [Jesus’] feet, giving him thanks” (Luke 17:15–16).

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I feel like the one tonight. At the end of 2008, Rylee's blood was 90% leukemic. Today...she stands a 94% chance of surviving. We always want to be the one that is grateful and never the 9 that forget. We know what we have been given and we hope that we can live up to that blessing.

Thank you all so much for your ongoing encouragment and support! We're amongst the survivors now- that feels so great! We have finally arrived.

And just to make you aware (some stats):

• An estimated 259,889 people in the United States are living with, or are in remission from, leukemia.
• An estimated 43,050 new cases of leukemia will be diagnosed in the United States in 2010.
• The most common type of leukemia in children is acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), which will account for about 5,330 new cases this year.
• About 31 percent of cancers in children aged 0-14 years are leukemia.
• The most common cancer in children 1 to 7 years old is acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).
• The leukemia death rate for children 0 to 14 years of age in the United States has declined 76 percent from 1969 to 2007. Despite this decline, leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under age 20.
• About 447 children under the age of 15 are expected to die from leukemia in 2010.

If you ever have the chance to donate to childhood cancer research....do it! Do it for Rylee and all the other children who have fought and survived.

Halloween 2010

Ahhh! Where did October even go? It's frightening the way time passes so quickly.

We had a great Halloween. We decorated (not carved or painted) our pumpkins. These pumpkin parts were a great find- very kid-friendly! I loved how fun it was for the kids to pick their faces, plus it was clean and the kids were able to do their pumpkins independently for the most part. Your pumpkins don't wither away either- I just took the parts out and now they are "fall pumpkins" on our doorstep for Thanksgiving.

Jace (football player) had a Halloween parade and party and Rylee's (cute bee) preschool class dressed up too. Little bubs went as a skeleton and was as cute as can be. We went trick or treating around our neighborhood & the weather was actually great! I wish Idaho always had a warm fall.

My best Halloween Tips: Don't go overboard on costumes- kids only wear them for a few hours. My best secret is buying things that will double as dress-up clothes for every-day play. Jace got this football uniform for Christmas and worked great as a costume. Last year we did the same things for Rylee- my mom gave her some princess dress-up for her birthday and that's what she was for Halloween. Shop after-Halloween sales, let your kids use them all year, then it's there for Halloween. Jaden's skeleton costume is actually pajamas, which he needed. We get double the use.

Also...idea for candy. Let your kids pick freely for a day or two. Then, they forget they have it. Secretly stash a zip-lock bag full somewhere and save it for Christmas stockings. Also....only open a bag or two at a time for trick or treaters. If you only open as needed, you can put entire bags up for Christmas too. Most candy will stay fine for 2 months.

2 Year Mark

Today is our DOD (Date of Diagnosis). 2 years ago today, we heard the news that changed our lives. Rylee has cancer. About this time, we were aboard Life Flight, fighting for our daughter's life. We are in a much better place today.

It's unbelievable to me that we're already here. I remember sitting in the hospital room at Primary Children's, thinking that this day was a long time coming. And it has been a long road....yet it has flown by.

Rylee was just 18 months at diagnosis. She is now 3.5 years old. Jaden, our then unexpectant baby, is now nearly 20 months old- older than Rylee was at diagnosis. Yet, I look at him and cannot even fathom doing all that we did with a child his age. She was born with the strength to do this...it was part of her plan.

We have received so many blessings. So many little miracles. We have experienced some of our greatest sorrow, yet some of our sweetest joys. It's definitely been a bitter-sweet battle. We've lost a lot, but we've gained a lot too.

Rylee has been a little trooper. She has fought a good fight. She's been through so much, yet she's never resisted. She took things as they came. She's never questioned it. She has made it all bearable for me.

This is her just waking up from the anesthesia after her spinal tap last month. She's probably had over 20 of these. She only has 1 left.

Today she had chemo. Her blood counts look much better than they did 2 years ago. When we arrived at PCMC her HCT was a 10! Normal is like 37. The nurses in the ER at Primary's all took a double take...they couldn't believe she was alive and had a count that low. That's a moment that takes your breath away.


Here we are this summer at Relay for Life. This photo is from the Standard Journal- did you see us on the front page? Don't mind me: I'm telling Rylee where the camera is. Don't mind Rylee: She was tired- of all the days to skip a nap!

What a journey! One leg of the race is almost finished- treatment. She has two more hits of chemo (Vincristine); 1 more spinal tap; 2.5 more months of her daily medication (Mercaptopurine); 11 more doses of home-chemo (methotrexate); 10 more doses of her once a week med (Dapsone); and 15 more days of steroids (Dexamethasone) left. You better believe I know all of these drugs plus spelling, dosage and everything else by heart. Some of them will only need refilled one more time. I can't even imagine. These drugs have become part of our normal routine. "Rylee, brush your teeth, go to the bathroom, come take your chemo, go to bed." It's amazing what you can learn to live with.

Today's treatment was basically October's treatment-just how the days fell. She gets chemo every 28 days. She gets to push October back by a few days because we'll be out of town, so her next one will be the first of November and then her last one will probably fall right around Dec. 1. We will then finish out home meds for another week and SHE IS DONE!!! Merry Christmas to us.

I've been a little nervous about crossing back over to the other side. I decided today that when treatment ends, we will be excited and hopeful, which is better than anxious and fearful, if you ask me. Rylee will continue to get blood checked monthly and if things continue to look good 6 months post-treatment, we'll be able to have her port removed. Of course she'll be checked her whole life, but checking beats treating any day.

I must say that 2 years out isn't so bad. Sure we hear a lot of "My belly hurts." or "My bum hurts." We still have our good days and bad days. But..Rylee is in preschool this year, she's in speech therapy (trying to catch up, since her body was a little busy at that point in development) and she learned to ride her bike without training wheels this past weekend. She's just like any other 3.5 year old girl....I am so grateful that we're here and that she's here with us!

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P.S. I'm wanting to put together something for Rylee to recap her cancer journey. If you have any pictures (10/2008-present), thoughts, perspectives, comment, etc. regarding Rylee's cancer journey/experience from anything that we've shared or you've seen first-hand, please leave a comment or email me (send pic here) at natalie-taylor@hotmail.com. I know I've seen some family members' pictures that caught moments that I can't even remember-- I'd love to have a copy.

Thanks!

All Your Best Ideas

Hi blog friends- are you shocked that there is finally a post? I don't know where the days go....I need to dedicate some time to this within the next few weeks.

But...for now, I'm wanting to gather all of your best ideas. Not that I needed another thing to do, but my neighbor is the PTO President and has somehow reeled me in.

We need to do some fundraising- our kids go to a new school and has a little bit of playground equiptment, but really need more stuff.

So...I want to know some school fundraising idea. I know my blog readers live everywhere & I'm curious to hear what other schools/places have come up with.

Give me all your ideas---everything you've seen done. There are so many creative/brillant minds out there.

Keep checking back here too---I'm going to work on updating some stuff little by little.

Thanks-- Natalie