Party H'orderves, mom, and a huge juice box

Nothing new to report in this household. We are so boring. The last couple of Friday nights, we've stayed in and gone to bed around 11pm. Path-et-ic.

I, however, am planning an Ugly Sweater Party this Christmas. Pretty excited about that. We are going to go to Value Village and find some nasty sweaters. The catch for this party is, if you don't wear an ugly sweater, you have to wear the 'Party Pooper' sweater that we provide for you. Baha, I thought it was sheer genius. I've already started to think about the menu. Last March we threw a fiesta in which everyone helped to contribute something, making it less expensive for me, plus then everyone felt included. So I think I'm going to do that again, only this time everyone has to bring something already cooked/baked/prepared and ready to eat. I'm going to try baking some tarts. Maybe a berry tart, pecan pie tart, and maybe something with pumpkin? Not exactly set on that yet. Got any ideas for me? I will probably have it start when it gets dark... so 5pm.... that way the little kiddies can come. Something I didn't really think about at last years soiree.

I've got some updates on my mom, thanks for asking. She was diagnosed with Single Cell Lung Cancer. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds better than Double Cell or Tripe Cell, if there is such a thing. She had an MRI and Cat-scan last week, and the results are in... it's limited! Which means that it is only located in one of her lungs, and her shoulder, so not terminal. She is 100% curable. I'm so relieved. I started stressing out, but I'm good now. She also, has quit smoking! It's a really big deal because she has smoked since she was my age-ish. She has tried many times before, but was never able to give it up completely. I'm so proud of her! I'm sad that it took something so traumatic as cancer to give her the push she needed, but nonetheless, I'm so proud! About 17 years ago, she also quit drinking and has been sober since. She is officially my hero!

Ugh, and... I've been sick. I hate September because I always get sick in September. It's always a horrid month for me, every year. This September has been especially difficult for me. 1. my mom found out about her cancer 2. my ex-best friends birthday (it's hard to forget someone like that) and 3. the flu. I'm starting to feel better, thank goodness- it's only been. . . . 4 days now. Monday I woke up feeling miserable... sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, headache, body aches, and the cherry on top... a fever of 101. I planted myself on the couch mid afternoon when I decided I was going to pass out, and didn't move for the rest of the night. Tuesday and Wednesday were similar, but I had more energy and didn't feel so bad, and now I'm just sneezing and stuffed up. Warren was so sweet- he took me to the grocery store down the street to get out of the house for a little while, and bought me the biggest juice box ever.

And, I downed that baby, all 970mL, that night. I really had to pee in the morning. Anyways, that's all I've got for ya today. Oh, I learned how to make pretzels. I had no idea how technical those things are... it was a ton of fun and now I feel awesome. Check out my foodie blog here. 

Anyone need a hair cut?

I saw this giveaway on one of my favorite blogs- so check it out at Sweet Basil. I've seen this salon and before, and oh my gosh. It should be called a day spa. Thought I'd pass it on for all my Utahan readers!

Could someone else please announce that they are pregnant?!

So in the last month or two, I've had an over abundance of friends announcing that they are expecting. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally psyched for them! I try to keep up on those friends in particular, call me a freak. I perv their blogs probably twice as much as normal- and I try my hardest to comment on anything and everything. I just like to be involved in other people's lives, I guess. So congrats to the following, and in case I leave your name off, I promise it's not because I hate you, I probably just forgot, or I don't know yet ;) (In no particular order)

John and Valorie Sallay {and good luck with the delivery!}
Claire and Brian Curtis
Hilary and Brian Booth
Liz and Russ Stirling
Emily and Shea Smith
John and Katy Metzger
Lisa and Nate Saunders
Michele and Ryan Johnson
Reconda and Jake Meier
Shantel and Greg England
Stefanie and Andrew Reese
Will and Tania O'Brien
Tannie and Richard Datwyler
Tara and Jon Evans
Maddie and Mike Winters
Mandy and Paul Munns

Congrats everyone, and good luck with everything! And if you are wondering when a baby Fairbanks will be making his or her debut- you can be assured that there are no plans.

Canada- the Icey Desert of Nothingness

I just HAD to tell you that the current temperature in Salt Lake City is 81F. Want to know what the current temperature in Calgary is? Okay, I'll tell you. It's 39F! Kill me now.

Thankful Thursday

I'm feeling a bit blue today. I bought a new sweatshirt that I decided I couldn't live without- usually buying new clothes and shoes can help me feel better about myself, like a self-esteem booster. But it's affects were minimal. I guess I have good reason, with my mom being in the hospital and all. She started Chemotherapy yesterday, by the way. They decided the day before yesterday to to start it- because it was so soon I'm postponing my travels for a few days so see how the first few days ago, so I can know what to expect when I get there. What's frustrating is that I don't know what emotions I'm feeling. I can't tell if I'm sad, mad, annoyed, worried, scared- I just cry sometimes- so that's why I decided to take part in the Thankful Thursday's posts created by Kenzie (she did some blog stuff for me for my foodie blog). Being thankful for things seems to remind you of all the great things you have in life.

1. Modern medicine and free health care

2. Shoes to keep my feet dry when it rains

3. Friends and family, of course

4. Gossip Girl and Gilmore Girls season DVD sets to keep me sane during the day

5. An oven, so I can bake things that make me fat

6. Warren's job

7. Music

8. IKEA

9. Chapsticks

10. and my Scentsy, to make my house smell good.

So, there ya go! Hope you all have a fantastic Thursday! Hey... it's almost the weekend!

Bad News Bear

For those of you who don't know, my mom was diagnosed with cancer a few days ago. I'm really scared- not because of the actual illness, but the treatment. I hear chemo is rough. I don't know anything about cancer, or anything about how it's treated. It's scares me, too, because I know sometimes no matter how hard you fight, you can still lose the battle. It's taken me a while to really wrap my mind around it all. Sometimes not admitting it, makes it seem less serious, ya know?, which is why it's taken me so long to post anything in regards to it. Anyways, if you have any words of advice or encouragment or know anything about chemotherapy, please comment.

Also, I'm trying to get as many followers as possible on my foodie blog- please go there and become a follower. I'm hoping to be able to start doing giveaways and maybe even do something for cancer victims/survivors in the future. It would mean a lot to me if you all became followers! www.kelseycancook.blogspot.com .

Camping the Fairbanks way

I have to start out telling you how much I hate camping. It's not the sleeping in a tent and peeing in a bucket that I hate, it's the animals. I really don't like wild animals. From the pictures that you'll see, you'll notice that we are a mere 40 feet from the foothills, which just happen to be full of animals. I cried the first night when a chipmunk ran in front of me, I cried again when the coyotes came out and howled at our tent (we had glow sticks inside), and I cried yet again when the wind started blowing making the bushes make noise. It was a rough first night.

We camped at Bear Lake, on the Idaho side (represent!). It was a fantastic day when we arrived from Salt Lake; so warm... I loved it. We played in the water until the wind started and made our ears hurt- then we got hungry so we went into town.
When you are camping with Kelsey, there a few things you can be sure of:
1. You will be camping in style. Your tent will always match your car. Always look fabulous is my motto.

2. You'll always make a new friend.

3. You'll have lots of modern entertainment, which includes but is not limited to a dvd player, ipod, and card games.

4. Your location will be someplace awesome, like right on a lake.

5. You'll come home with a nice tan.

6. I'll find a way for you to wash your hair, again, always look fabulous.

7. And last but not least, you'll get lots of pictures taken of yourself- some cute, some maybe not so cute.

Here is a list of the animals I had some sort of contact with:
A bald eagle (I had never seen one in real life before)
A chipmunk (not so friendly)
Coyotes (shudder)
Deer (good thing I was inside the car)
and a Black Bear (I about had a cow when I spotted this furry giant on the side of the mountain, again, good thing I was in the car or else I would have collapsed on the ground and probably been eaten). Hope you enjoyed our camping trip because you can bet your bottom dollar that I wont do it again, ever!

Our Western American Tour

Sorry this is sort of a repeat from Facebook- but you'll survive, right?
Well, on with it then! Warren and I had the great opportunity to go on a trip before the snow started; we suggested many different places, such as Hawaii, Florida, Chicago and New York. But we decided it would be more worth it to see friends and family. So we hit the road, and headed to Boise, Idaho to see my family. Notice Warren's pillow case.

My sister cut my hair, and then curled it, which is why I look somewhat like Shirley Temple in these last few pictures. It was good to see my family, especially my grandma who is still in physical therapy from her fall. She's recovering well and I couldn't be more proud! My niece and nephew are growing up so fast, it breaks my heart sometimes. My little sister has started driving- scary thought! I miss them all so much!
From Boise, we drove to Logan to see our friends Matt and Kate. It brought back a lot of memories for us. I miss it a lot sometimes, but that's just life I guess. We spent time on campus reminiscing about our school going days- I wanted to hit up Aggie Ice Cream, but we never made it over there.

I got a glitter tattoo, cute right?!
From Logan, we drove to Provo to see my favorite cousin, Adrian! She is so pretty, her hair is always looking fabulous. It makes me jealous. We decided to hike the "Y", it's one of my favorite past times, and Warren had never done it before. I be lying if I said it was easy.

From Provo, we went to Salt Lake City to see our friends Georgio and Carla. Warren's biggest thing was he wanted to go to a nickelcade. Being the sweet awesome wife that I am, I let him do just that. Since everyone else wanted to go, I decided to go as well. It wasn't so bad.

 The next day, we went to Temple Square, Costa Vida, and the Drive-In movies!

Up next... camping!