5 YEAR DIAGNOSAVERSARY

There are moments in our lives when time stands still and you can replay ever minute as it passed, down to the sights, emotion and even smells. Well, five years ago was one of those moments when time stood still for our family; the day Lilly was diagnosed with cancer.

I remember the phone call Tiffany made me answer because she already knew in her heart what Lilly's diagnosis was. Because she had already received an answer to her prayers, though it wasn't what she was hoping for. I remember the saltiness of the tears that streamed down my face and wouldn't stop as we told Lilly the heart wrenching news. I remember watching Lilly say goodbye to everything in the house, her bed, her room, the dogs, the piano thinking that she would never see those things again.

Tiffany and I remember the wise council given by Gordon Mills as he took us aside and told us "no matter what happens, the choices are between the two of you and God and that you need to stand together." That's exactly what Tiffany and I have tried to do as we faced challenging decisions and opposition. 

I remember arriving at the hospital and smell of the hand sanitizer as we walked through the doors to the cancer ward. I remember all the Dr.s and nurses that came into the room explaining to us Lilly's diagnosis and me feeling hollow inside and lost in their words as they spoke. I recall the helplessness I felt as knelt by Lilly's bedside holding her trembling hand.

I also remember the extreme kindness shown by so many as the kind words, notes, gifts and service actions poured in for Lilly and our behalf. There were so many memories of deep fear and hopelessness that we felt in those first few days, weeks and years. But, they were always overshadowed by the outpouring of love and generosity given by family, old friends and new friends that we made during these 5 years. We can't thank everyone enough, we can merely say we love you.

A lot has happened in these 5 years that has encouraged Lilly and our family to grow and change over the years. We hope that we can continue to face the future with the same fierce strength Lilly has shown to overcome her cancer. Lilly is a beautiful and amazing girl who has more empathy than anyone else I know. Our family has been blessed to have you as part of our family.

We love you Lilly.

Look how much she's grown into a beautiful young woman.

What a special family we've been blessed with.

Miss Lilly is our Sweet Warrior, one who fights for everyone.

These two sisters are nearly inseparable. 

So glad she's the oldest so Emery and Gryffin can learn from her experiences.

We will always Be Brave 4 Lilly.

Diagnosaversary

Today it's been 3 years... 3 years since we heard the words "Lilly has Leukemia." 3 years since our lives were turned upside down. How, as a parent, are you supposed to comfort your scared child when you are terrified yourself? So many thoughts and emotions come back to me as I reflect on the day February 12th, 2014. 

For 3 years we've had a 'Word of the Day' every day. For 3 years, we've chosen a word to focus on throughout this journey.  We don't repeat a word for a whole year. Sometimes it's easy to find that one word you need... Other times it's a challenge. We've decided that today will be the last consistent 'Word of the Day.' Lilly is doing well. She just had her clinic appointment on Friday and everything looks great. We don't have another appointment with her oncologist until April. We feel so blessed that she is doing so well. We know far too many kids who are still struggling and have had it a lot harder than she has. Our hearts break for them. We continue to pray for them. As time goes on, I'm sure there will be days that we need those special 'Words of the Day' to focus on. But not every day.

In the very beginning when Lilly was first diagnosed, Jay told Lilly that she could choose to be happy or sad.... And she chose HAPPINESS! So with that, we leave you with a final quote:

Yesterday we celebrated Lilly's "diagnosaversary" as a family. Lilly said she just wanted to go and be a kid. We went to All Star Lanes and played mini golf and in the arcade. We had lots of fun!

Gryffin slept the entire time!! He can sleep through pretty much anything! This is the only picture we got of him. Oops!

So grateful for our little family (Gryffin included who was still snoozing in the stroller). 

Gryffin's Picture Debut

Now that the Holidays are over and the new year is here it's time to get back into the swing of things and share pictures of the latest addition to our family. 

We had so much fun with the photo shoot. We brought all of our own props. I'm sure no one is surprised. We certainly love how they turned out.

We love you so much!

Gryffin Dailey Alldredge

He who has not been named.... Finally has a Name!

What a wonderful day it was for our family. Long and busy but, wonderful just the same. We went to see Dr. Roth yesterday for Tiffany's regular check up and of course her blood pressure was way high. Dr. Roth said lets have him tomorrow (tomorrow now being today). So, Tiffany and I arrived at St. Marks Hospital this morning at 8:00am to start induction. They started her on pitocin at 9:00 am starting at a mere level of "1" since that's all Tiffany could ever go to for the girls and they both delivered in 6hrs or less. But, we quickly came to the realization that Baby Boy was NOT going to be like his sisters. So after 9 hrs and her reaching a level of "17" on the pitocin Tiffany and baby were finally ready. Tiffany is quite the power house when it comes to actually delivering babies; she pushed a total of 3 long pushes with Lilly, once with Emery and 3 short one's with Baby Boy.

He finally arrived at 5:59 pm weighing 6.8 and was 18" long. Both baby and Tiffany did fantastic. But, shortly after him being born and getting him and Tiffany settled I had to rush to The Festival of Trees to hear Lilly speak and light the lights. I was able to make it just in time. Lilly did fabulous. She's such a great speaker, she doesn't get scared at all of being in front of hundreds of people. I don't know how she does it being so young.

Well, now that the anticipation is just killing you as to his name. We first had to bring Lilly and Emery to the hospital so we could tell them first and they can go tell everyone else.

So after lots of pondering, praying and without further delay. 

His name shall be known as...

Gryffin Dailey Alldredge

Watching Gryffin get his first bath

And we love him so much. 

Thanks for all the warm wishes!

Mascot Halloween Party

Life has been crazy the past couple of days, with taking Emery up to Primary Children's and finding out she has pneumonia, and all the lack of sleep that goes along with it. Good news though, she is finally starting to feel a little bit better today. Yay! 

Even though I'm behind, I still wanted to post these pictures from the Halloween Party we went to last Saturday. We love Mascot Miracles Foundation and all the fun events they put on for the kids. We love the fun memories we get to make with these crazy zoo animals, and we consider them some of our very dearest friends. 

Lilly and Emery have been saving some silly string for a while now and decided the best way to use it would to be to spray Felix! 

And they are still talking about how fun it was! 

Harry Potter meets Darth Vader?

Now this is a big deal... Em conquered another one of her fears. She loves loves loves horses, but when she gets near them she panics. Same thing as with the mascots. Well, Lilly was getting ready to ride a horse and Jay just stuck her up there in the saddle with Lilly. She was extremely nervous and was only sitting on the horse for about a minute. But, she did it! I was so proud of her. Now, when she talks about it, she said she would ride a horse if Lilly was with her, or with our friend Kenzi. She is getting brave! (and I think therapy is helping!!)

Beautiful Cinderella - which is Emery's very favorite princess, and Glen from Change 4 Love. What an awesome guy! 

The girls had never bobbed for apples before, which was fun for them. They both ended up grabbing their apple by the stem with their teeth. Smart girlies! 

But then Jay had to show them how it was really done...

My crazy husband! Where'd his head go? Let's just say he got a little bit wet! 

Crazy guy! 

Look! We even found Santa!

Matt Birch is the man behind the horses and carriages and this event is held at his home. What a great guy! We love you Matt!

Thanks Mascot Miracles Foundation! We look forward to this event every year! Happy Halloween everyone! 

Curesearch 2016

September always seems to come fast for me. Summer gets busy and then school starts and then all of a sudden it's Curesearch, and I haven't done any fundraising for it. I signed our little family up under Lilly's team about a week and a half ago and I vowed we'd do better at fundraising next year. And then Lilly said, "Well, why can't we just do a Bake Sale this weekend?" So I agreed. I figured we'd get 5 or so donations and call it good. Lilly is quite the seller of baked goods! She did all the calling and ended up with 27 orders! She sold brownies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies. After we made all of our deliveries, Lilly had raised $610 for Curesearch! I am so proud of her! Next year, we are going to start fundraising in January. That was A LOT of baking in one weekend! 

This is only pictures of a few people whom we delivered to. Thank You, Thank You to all who helped Lilly! 

It was quite rainy this morning on our way to Sugarhouse Park. But, as we pulled into the park, the clouds were parting and it ended up being a fairly good day weather wise. It is so great to see so many come out and raise money for Childhood Cancer Research. Because of all that Lilly has gone through, it is something we will always participate in. Our children need more money for cancer research to find a CURE! 

The nurses at Primary Children's Hospital always hand out balloons to those families who have lost loved ones to cancer. Lilly asked if she could have one for Michalla. It's a very emotional thing to watch... Kids gone far too soon!

And then those balloons are released into heaven.

And these are the heroes. The survivors. They were all honored and received medals. These are some of the strongest kids I know! 

Look at them all!

And then we walk. We walk in honor of all children fighting cancer. These cute girls were leading the pack! What a special day!

Lilly with her favorite tech Holly. And Lilly with one of her oncologists Dr. Lemons. 

Two of our favorite nurses - Nancy and Trish. Love them both so much!

Look at how BRAVE Em was! She not only danced with this silly mascot named Smudge, but she HUGGED him all by herself! This is a HUGE deal for her and we were beyond excited that she did it! Way to go Emery! You are one brave girl!

And look! She did it again with the Chick-fil-a Cow!!!

Every girl wants to be a Princess! 

Lilly got to smash the heck out of a watermelon - that was fun! And she loves to climb trees! 

But, one of the best parts of Curesearch was seeing Madeleine again. She lives in London but has been receiving treatment in Seattle and has been pretty sick, so we were so so excited to hear she was coming to Utah for Curesearch! Madeleine, you have touched our lives in more ways than you will ever know. We love you so much! Thank you for spending some time with us today. 

And we will be back again next year, and the year after that, and the year after that! Who wants to come walk with us?