Pool party

We had our first pool party of the year back on June 23rd at my Grandpa Foster's home. I've been so lucky to grow up with a swimming pool at Grandma and Grandpa's and now my kids get to experience it too. Aubrey is a mini me. Cody stunted with her and tossed her into the water over and over. She loved it! We aren't doing swimming lessons this year because of my health, so the kids love going to Grandpa's house. They've actually improved since last year - yeah!

 Being launched is one of my favorite memories at the pool.

 It really was a great day because my parents and sister's family came to join us. My Dad rarely swims, but those grand kids can get him to do almost anything.

 Tucker recently asked Cody to buzz his hair like Daddy's, so we took the clippers out and off went his hair. My hair actually looks a bit long compared to his. : )

 Cousin Ethan. Blake missed the pool party because of a much needed afternoon nap. We barbecued later on and enjoyed the official start of summer. Last year I would drive my kids down at least once a week for piano lessons and swimming time. We'll be lucky to make it once a month this year.

Hair progression

 Fantastic news from my MRI today on Tuesday. My radiation oncologist reviewed the scans and cannot see any remnants of the tumor. He said he is, quote "thrilled," with the results of the radiation and chemo. I might still have some microscopic remnants of the tumor, so I will continue chemo monthly through next March. Can you say "remission," that's what I'd like to say. Cancer free won't get to be said for a few years, but remission works for now. I go back every 2 months for MRI's. Thank you all for your prayers and love. I am so blessed.

I thought it would be fun to document my hair progression. First picture, January 10th. 2 days post surgery. 

 February 29th. Starting to grow in more. Hair hasn't fallen out yet from radiation.

 Cool radiation hair loss patterns. March 10th. I had my head buzzed short again so that it was a tad bit more even looking.

 June 17th. I finally am starting to style my hair with gel products.

 And, you can see hair actually growing in where I had radiation.

 And in case you forgot, this is what I used to look like with hair. Sigh. Maybe next year I'll look like that again. ; )

 Oh and I can't forget my picture from SteveO my neighbor. He thinks I look like David Bowie. And I had a man at church last Sunday tell me that I reminded him of Pat Benatar. I had to google her. Lady with short hair from the 80s.

Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day this year.  We got my dad two tickets to the John Fogerty concert this week up at Deer Valley.  My dad's favorite band growing up was, and still is, Creedence Clearwater Revival.  Carson, Kristin and I discussed it and decided to send my mom and dad on a date night to go enjoy the concert.  He was very surprised and very happy for such a gift.
For Lisa's dad, we got him a Garmin heart monitor that will help him with his workouts.  He's been working out and we thought he would enjoy a techy piece of equipment to further help him achieve his goals.  He loves it and was excited to receive it. 
As for me, Lisa was great and said that I can get two tickets to any BYU football home game this year.  I think we will go to the Washington State game.
The best part though was getting these letters from Tucker and Aubrey that they filled out at church.  There were some questions that they were supposed to answer, and boy are some of their answers funny.

In case you can't read it, let me re-write them here:
My daddy's name is:
Tucker- Cody
Aubrey- Cody

He is ____ years old, ______ tall and weighs _____ pounds.
Tucker- 20, 6', 160 (way off on age, right on with height, 20 pounds light on weight)
Aubrey- 33, 60' 44", 70 pounds (right on with age, height and weight, not so close)

His favorite food is:
Tucker-Sausage (I don't know where either of them came up with these answers, but they made me laugh anyway)
Aubrey- Pasta

My daddy is really good at:
Both said work.  That's right, I am really good at work.

He loves to:
Tucker- computer
Aubrey- work in the yard and paint the shed (not really, but it's still cute)

My favorite thing(s) to do with my dad is:
Tucker- camping
Aubrey- hang out with him

I'm just like my dad because I:
Tucker- play computer
Aubrey- play with him

What I love most about my daddy is:
Tucker- he helps me
Aubrey- hugging him

It makes dad happy when I:
Tucker- pick up my room (got that one right)
Aubrey- Come home from school


Awesome stuff.  They also drew a picture of me on the back of their survey.  Tucker drew a picture of me lifting weights.

 And Aubrey drew a picture of me in a field of flowers.

I love my kids and love being a dad.  I hope everyone else had a great father's day as well!

Gradu - what?!

Have you heard about Cody's dislike for little kid graduations? Cody likes to quote Mr. Incredible when it comes to preschool/kindergarten graduations. "It is not a graduation. He will be moving from the 4th grade to the 5th grade. It's psychotic! They keep inventing new ways to celebrate mediocrity, but when someone is genuinely exceptional--". Nevertheless, I can still manage to drag him along. Aubrey finished preschool and had a cute little program. This is her teacher, Miss Melissa, and Aubrey's cowgirl picture she made. Apparently that is what she wants to be when she grows up, a cowgirl.

Tucker's graduation was the next week, and luckily for Cody, it was in the middle of the day in the work week, so no pressure from me for him to go. Although surprisingly, probably 80% of Dad's were in attendance. Tucker is on the back row in the turquoise shirt. 5th child from the left.

Singing and dancing involved of course.

Tucker and his two friends, Jordan and Kali. They live on our street and thanks to their wonderful Mom's, he was carted to and from kindergarten all year.

Tag and Tucker. One of a few "outside our ward" buddies.

Mrs. Kohler. Aubrey will most likely have her next year and the little boys as well. She's a wonderful teacher.

We caved

We actually took the kids and in-laws to ride Thomas the Train when he came to the Heber Valley Railroad. But, only because my wonderful friend and neighbor gave me 6 vouchers and Blake rode free. The kids had fun, but I did not see how the train ride was worth the money people were paying. The ride was only 22 minutes long and unless you arrived 30+ minutes early, I'm sure you didn't get to sit by your family.

 Nice that you can see Tucker's lovely granola bar in his mouth. Train treats!

 No one wanted to pose in front of Thomas, least of all Tucker.

 Walking along the tracks was much more fun.

1st Tooth

The tooth fairy has finally visited our home. And it took her long enough. Tucker has wanted to lose a tooth for at least a year now. I believe he honestly thought he was the only kid that had never lost one. He has a cousin that had a loose tooth once and pulled it himself. Cody forbade Tucker to do that, it wasn't ready to come out yet. But, the day finally arrived where it was wiggly enough that we knew he'd probably lose it with his corn on the cob. Cody asked Tucker if he'd like him to pull it. Cody got the pliers, we prepped Tucker that it would hurt - a lot - and then Dr. Calderwood yanked the tooth out of his mouth. Tucker didn't cry at all (and is very proud of himself).

"I Work Out" -LMFAO

Last year I decided that I was tired of being skinny and out of shape.  I decided that there was nothing I could do to change my balding (without doing something like hair plugs) and nothing I could do to change my skin color.  Don't worry, I've tried tanning and it just doesn't work for me.  It's alright though, I've accepted and embraced my baldness and pasty white skin and don't really want to take any measures to change those.  But as for my skinniness, I knew that was within my power to change.  I also knew, because of my genetics, that it would be a long, hard road for me to bulk up.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to do one of those "Get big in 8 weeks!" regiments.  Unfortunately I wasn't blessed with the ability to bulk up big time and get massive muscles. 

It had been years since I last lifted weights regularly- 14 years to be precise.  Serving a two year mission in Mexico and then going to college and dental school for another 8 years really took it's toll on my strength and muscles.

I bought a used weight set (including all the olympic weights) off of KSL classifieds for super cheap.  A fireman in Pleasant Grove bought it a few years before and barely used it so he decided to get $200 out of it rather than have it collect dust.  Were I to have bought all of it from the store, it would have cost me about $2,000.

So last November I made a goal to work out and start lifting consistently for a minimum of 6 months and see how much weight I could gain and how much muscle I could pack on.  I took an initial picture with my cell phone for comparison sake.  In hind sight I wish I had taken the photo with our better camera, and that I would have taken a full body shot with a front view, side view, and back view to better be able to compare my progress.

For those who desire to continue on, I must warn you!  You will want to wear sunglasses when viewing my pasty white skin.

Here I am in my weak glory last November, and the next photo is what I look like today after 6 months of working out.

 Over the span of 6 months I didn't end up bulking up as much as I thought I would from looking at the before and after photos.  Most of my weight gain was actually in my legs and butt (no comparison photos of those).  I did however increase my lifting maximums by about what I expected and then some.  When I look at the before and after totals for my weight and my weight lifting totals, I am impressed by how much I increased those.
I didn't even work out that much because I have been so busy with running a dental practice, my church callings, taking care of the kids, and since January taking care of Lisa and dealing with all of her cancer challenges. After we would put the kids to bed for the night, I would work out 3 nights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for about 45-60 minutes a night.

Here is a list of where I started and where I am now:
Weight:  
before- 165 pounds
after- 181 pounds

Bench press max:
before- 180 pounds
after- 240 pounds

Squats max:
before- 220 pounds
after- 300 pounds

I plan on continuing on with my regular weight lifting.  My goals for the next 6 months are to get to 275 pounds on the bench press and 350 pounds with squats.  I am also going to start focusing more on my abs to get that desired 6 pack where my abs "pop".

It's been fun not only getting in shape and getting stronger, but also learning along the way how my body reacts and what works best for me.