my dear muffin top

(this is not me of course ... i would never show you mine!)

my dear muffin top, oh how you make me sad. i have tried and tried to eat you away but you only grow larger ....

my aunt

Gayle Lynn Murphy Cornaby
Gayle Lynn

Murphy Cornaby

Gayle Lynn Murphy Cornaby passed away Saturday morning, February 21st, after a courageous 7 year battle with cancer and Cushing disease. She had just celebrated her 58th birthday on Thursday surrounded by family, neighbors and co-workers. She was born on the 19th of February 1951 in Provo, Utah to Joseph Robison and Loneta Mangus Murphy and then moved to Lincoln, Nebraska where her family resided until 1961. The family spent the next 15 summers residing in Yellowstone Park where Gayle's father served as a Ranger Naturalist. She attended elementary school in Lincoln and Orem after the family returned to Utah. Gayle attended BY High through 1967 and then graduated from Provo High in 1969. She began her career at age 21 at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center as a unit secretary in the Mother-Baby dept. and served there faithfully for 37 years until the time of her death. She was grateful to her supervisors for allowing her to continue there during many months of chemotherapy during the last few years.

Gayle married Kaye Cornaby in 1971 and they were later sealed in the Salt Lake Temple in 1978. They have lived in both Provo and Orem where they raised 3 children: son Brandon (wife Cindy), son Brice (Stacey) and daughter Breann (Derek Olsen). Gayle was extremely proud of her 10 grandchildren and loved to spend time with them in her home whenever possible. She loved to travel with her family and continued a tradition of annual trips to Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks with all the grandkids and many time her siblings and extended family members. Her favorite retreat the last few years has been to Palm Springs, Calif. to spend winter days relaxing in the warm sunshine at the home of her brother David and his partner Glenn Texeira - whom she considered "another brother." Her hobbies were photography and family and she devoted all of her spare time to recording their activities and then sharing these memories with others. In addition to her husband Kaye, children and grandchildren, she is survived by her : brothers Joel (Sharon), Robert, David (Glenn ), Phil (Miriam) Murphy; sister-in law Dawn (Bill) Aaron., mother-in-law Dorris Cornaby, and sister-n-laws Colleen(Charles) Jarvis and Collette Thomas, uncles Don Murphy, LeRoy Mangus, Wally Mangus and aunts Rebecca Sutton and Jewell Hepworth. She has numerous nieces, nephews and cousins who have been a tremendous source of love and strength for her over the years. She was preceded in death by a grandson Dustin, both parents Joe and Loneta, and all of her grandparents. Her "extended family" has been her co-workers at UVRMC who have shown love and compassion toward her during her final stages of this difficult journey. The family also wishes to express our deepest gratitude to Dr. Wendy Breyer and her entire staff at the IHC Cancer facility in American Fork for their tender care for Gayle.

Funeral services for Gayle will be Thursday, Feb. 26 at 11 am at the Heather Ridge 1st Ward Chapel, 450 E. 2000 North in Orem. Viewing will be at the Walker Sanderson Funeral Home, 646 E. 800 North in Orem on Wednesday, the 25, from 6 to 8 pm and from 9 - 10:30 am at the chapel the morning of the services. Interment will be in the Orem City Cemetery.

i will walk

this is Neena, aka jasmine. she is a neighbor of mine and also worked for me for several years. we became very close, she is like a little sister! she is now on a mission in atlanta georgia. we have also grown close to her family. sometimes they sit with us at church and often times they have play dates with my kids. yesterday Neena's family sat with us on our pew at church. and saylor and neena's dad steve had this convo ...

saylor: where is jasmine?
steve: she is on her mission
saylor: where
Steve: (shows her the bulliton with all the mission address's and points to neenas) she is here, see this is her address in georgia.
saylor: what is she doing?
steve: she is teaching the people the gospel
saylor: i am going to go on a mission
Steve: oh really? and what will you do on your mission
saylor: I WILL WALK.

Pizza Partaaaay! & a general update

So this year storie decided on a small friend party and as it turns out nine really is fine. her birthday is not really until sunday, at which time she will have a small friend/family party. but this one was more like "her friends" just 5 cute little girls. she wanted to theme it "pizza party". last week while grandpa murph was here on a visit he got her a pizza making kit and so we decided that we would use it at the party. in the past i have really not enjoyed the kids "friends" parties. perhaps i am not the mom i aspire to be, but really i find entertaining small children of that quantity to be hard and exhausting. this was different ... they are sort of ready to entertain themselves at this age, its comical to watch! and is now entertaining me .... we have finally arrived!




so each girl made their own individual pizza, tossed dough and all. as you can see i attempted to make a pizza cake. it was cute. a little off color ... but cute. i decided though i am no pastry artist but that i do enjoy making my childrens cakes .... so much better then store bought. it makes both of us feel more special. they did the usual bday stuff, but mostly giggled and played.

today i took storie to lunch at PF Changs, and shopping for a "ball gown" her skool is putting on a daddy daughter ball in a few weeks and she wanted a "ball gown" desperately bad. we luckily found something so girly i can hardly stand it. its not me at all but i love what it is. its her, in all her 9 year old girly splendor ... and its soo much to heart. we had a great time shopping. earings, shoes, and a hair flower were also purchased to match!

as for an update ... i really have been avoiding doing this to be honest. i just feel like i have no good news to offer. and i also feel like we are ok. we are coping. we have had so much love and support over the last few months (years really) and i am so tired. you all must be tired of this too? but for those that have been buggin it comes down to this ....

another funeral looms in our future. my aunt is dying of cancer. she is in her last days. i have seen her several times over the last week or so including today. its a very sad thing, that sort of dampens the spirit of each day as memories and thoughts and concerns wear on you. i cant wait for her to be cancer free!

we got PH probe results back on stock ... left me feeling nothing short of completly naive! i really had just brushed that off after the biopsy results were neg. i guess i just thought that since i did a lot of the recording of PH levels and found them to be relatively normal that we were all good. not so .... so long story short the kid is on 4 different meds, rather then one, and takes meds 6 times a day. including at skool. i think the skool is starting to wonder what kind of DNA recreating machine i am. he is fine, he will be fine, and we will adjust. he may need surgery but it will be far into the future. for now he just has the med schedule of a 80 year old. no biggie!

saylor .... things are still rather rough and roller coaster like for her. we never know what day we will be on the ride and what day we will be in the line or what day we can sit and rest on the park bench. its become very evident to nate and i that she will need another bowell surgery. hard to talk about extensively yet. she still needs that other bladder surgery as well and in fact had some complications last week that screamed at us .... "sooner then later here people!" she also is fighting a pretty nasty UTI. she is not symptomatic but her cultures are horrible. since when has she ever made sense? but she is such an angel.

nate and i are well. i am over whatever it was i had but have been up since 3 am (thus the 6 am post) not feeling great, like something might be coming on. i so hope it doesnt really come on. we are just trying to balance all that life demands of us right now. we are headed to coalville here pretty soon for a state wrestling tourni for stock, then home and hopefully headed to the timpanogos T for a little divine intervention.

beneath a marble sky

so this is what i have been reading. finished up last night. great book. a love story, but one of those almost braveheart style except a woman is the main character! it does have some descriptive violence and rape though. its an important part of the story.

" .... life and youth, wealth and glory, they all drift away in the current of time. You strove, therefore, to perpetuate only the sorrow of your heart. Let the splendor of diamond, pearl, and ruby vanish. Only let this one tear drop, this Taj Mahal, glisten spotlessly bright on the cheek of time, forever and ever.

a time to reflect upon the meaning of anniversary

i posted this same pic last year on this same day. and another year has come and gone. today is our spina bifida anniversary. 6 years ago today dr glenn schemmer diagnosed our little family with the journery we were about to embark on. its hard not look back and be filled with emotions, both good and not really bad but hard or sad. and yet here i am. this past few weeks have brought the memories so much closer to the surface then they normally are as we have visited with other families facing spina bifida. i cant help but be so tremendously grateful for the community and family this has created around me. for the experience and for the timing of all things. so grateful for what i live and how i live it and most of all with whom!!!!!!

a little fun

guess what i am reading? yes i actually am having a moment where i have time to read, well really no i dont but somehow its a priority as of right now. i need an escape i guess ... so you guess.



"the minute i heard my first love story, i started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers dont finally meet somewhere, they're in each other all long."
RUMI

PS amy your exempt from this game!

a worthy cause in the congo

My good friend Cynthia @ enizio will be holding a dress drive on april 11 2009 to benefit a very worthy, need of attention, cause. please check out her blog link here for more info! but the jist is this, enizio will be collecting/receiving any prom style dress's you can donate at their studio in lehi until april 11th, at which time they will hold a dress drive (sale) where they will turn those donated dress's over and sell them to local high school students. no dress will be marked more then $40. what a great way to get a great prom dress in rough economic times. this is helping our local kids too! ALL proceeds will be sent to the panzi hospital in the congo. I really admire cynthia for her drive to make a difference in the world and her dedication to humanitarian aid!

suave challenge

the suave challenge ... have you ever taken it?

this should be interesting coming from me ... a licensed cosmotologist! so the suave challenge is this, times are rough economically for a bit many of us! including nate & I. i could even say the roughest they have ever been for us! at least it really feels that way. we are facing some harsh realities and hard lessons. in realizing that there really is no money to be frivalized on ANYTHING if we want to make it through the month. i have been contemplating the suave challenge. now i am a cosmo so i believe in the power of professional products! and not only do i believe i pay wholesale for them! thats still more then the cost of suave ... a lot more. so what if i needed shampoo and conditioner this month about how much would i save by doing the suave challenge? around $15-$20. how much would i save over a year if i did it all year? $150-$200 on just shampoo and conditioner. interesting isnt it? would my hair feel great and look great? who knows i have never done it ... am i going to do it? at least this month i sure am, i cant afford not too!

other things going on ... we are headed back to normal sort of.... i have been really sick with an ugly cold virus thats turned into something more i am sure for about a week. just barely coming around the bend. kids are doing great, healthy, happy and attending school for the most part! had SEP's this week and we are proud of our smart well behaved kiddos and i am so proud of myself for actually having and giving the time to homework and violin as of late. house is always clean, lots of people looking, no offers. almost already sick of being back on the market in such a short time. aunt is very sick in her last weeks of battling cancer, dad may come to visit. busy with consults, designs, and work for studio stems. writing english papers and trying to understand math. questioning wether i really have the smarts to get through lame school so i can be a nurse. nate is busy with his scouts and had a blast with them last weekend on a klondike campout. he is also busy with wrestling & stock. what else ... hmmmm i am sure i have forgotten a few things.