FUN!
It has been a fun, busy week and a half! We went to St. George and Southern California
for spring break. It was a wonderful getaway
and we had a great time! Highlights
include road bike riding in St. George, seeing family, Disneyland, Huntington
and Newport Beaches, Hollywood and American Idol! My brother Coltan works for FOX so he hooked
us up with VIP passes at AI. I know,
that is pretty stinkin’ cool! If you
would like, Troy put together a little video of our trip. You can view it at:
http://web.me.com/frasman1/williamsons/Spring_break_2012.html
Also, I got a picture with Steven Tyler, so I think I’m
pretty cool!
I realized that it is really hard to eat healthily whilst on
vacation! I did pretty well though. I did break down and drink a coke (not diet)
at Disneyland after 14 hours. But all in
all, I am pretty proud of the new and improved healthier eating Alayna!
FAMILY and FINANCE
As I have taught finance classes the past 10 years at the University
of Utah, I have had the opportunity to read and study a lot and also develop my
own personal financial philosophy.
Something that I teach my students is to invest for the future but also
not forget about now! I disagree with
some of the famous financial advisors out there that teach people to basically
live off of rice and beans for years until they get out of debt
completely. While I do not disagree with
the satisfaction zero debt will bring, many people who do that focus so much on
NOT spending that they don’t have any fun.
Often times, this is the 10 or 15 years that their children are in the
home. Now more than ever, I profess that
you never know what tomorrow will bring.
If we put off having fun, making memories and being happy until later,
it is a mistake! I am actually happier
now with cancer than I have been ever before.
(And I do still have a lot of house debt that used to keep me up at
night!) But now, I understand what is
important and that most things really don’t matter. Creating memories, friendships, and love with
those around you is most important. Don’t
put it off until later! Nothing, in my
opinion, is more important than spending time with your spouse and kids! Now, don’t run out and get in a lot of debt,
just be reasonable in ALL things.
We also celebrated
Easter. We had a chance to think about
all that Christ's resurrection means and also think about Joy, Troy's mom, who
died five years ago on Easter. We are so grateful for the knowledge that we
will all be together again, thanks to Christ's sacrifice for us!
FIGHT
On the cancer note, I did go to Huntsman yesterday. They did labs first and had results by the
time I met with Dr. Glenn. The bummer is
the cancer still exists. Not that I
thought it would miraculously disappear, but I have daydreamed about that a couple
of times! However, the good news is that
I stayed stable. My nodes don’t feel any
larger and my white counts stayed about where they were last month. They are a teensy bit higher, but they fluctuate
daily, so they don’t feel like that was anything concerning at all. I go back now in two months, unless I have
any reason to contact them sooner. When
I go back, they are going to do an additional blood test to check for specific
cells which will hopefully help them “predict” how my cancer may act. But for right now, it is doing exactly what I
want it to; which is NOTHING!!
Troy went with me and discussed my healthy eating
strategy. Troy, Dr. Glenn, and her PA
Renae all felt like I was healthy before and didn’t need to be so extreme. HOWEVER, this is the one way that I feel like
I am FIGHTING and obviously with my lab results, it didn’t hurt me, so I don’t
intend to change. Once I explained my
thinking to all three of them, they told me as long as I get enough protein
than there is no harm and they made sure to tell me desserts are OK. I KNOW!
I still eat them, just more like twice a week instead of multiple times
daily! I think Troy is worried about me because
I’m being so diligent, (which is not like the girl he married!) but honestly, I’m
not turning into a freak. If any of you
notice me being freakish, please feel free to point it out!
So, to sum up this post, eat healthy FOOD most of the time,
enjoy your FAMILY, have FUN, and ROCK ON!
