Summer Vaycay 2009

The Washington Coast
(this is my artistic beach shot)

Then up to Seattle:

We purchased some of these:



and got to see some great places like the Aquarium:

the Children's Science Center:

Pike's Place:

Harbor Ferry Tour:

The Space Needle:

(our own Wall-E)

The Science Fiction Museum:

(this is for anyone who, like me, watched Buck Rogers in the late 1970's/early '80's. This is Twiki. And, yes, he is a total rip-off to Star Wars' C3PO)

Sleepless in Seattle:
(Thanks Dawson, Jenn, and Evi for having us)

The boys and their Uncle watched the Yankees beat the Mariners:Finally, we visited our College friends

who took us out on their fishing boat.

Summer Fun - CFO Style

Summer Summary '09

Summer ended up being busy... which was a good thing.

Here is a small sampling of what happened (some of you might recognize your photos...Thank you for being there with a camera when I wasn't)

C was baptised. It was a long 2 weeks of birthday celebrations. In June, it rained a lot and I thought we were going to go stir-crazy.

Then a wonderful thing happened....

Grandma & Grandpa W came to visit for a few weeks!!!

Grandpa was busy building us a cool and organized garage:
They are wonderful grandparents and took the kids out to do fun things:

The kids played with friends and cousins.

With two boys we play lots of sports. We finished playing soccer (no pictures), took up golf (no pictures) and started the baseball season. E pitched some for the Yanks...

I went to NYC with my friends: the blond, the redhead, and me the brunette. (Incidentally, we did enter a bar but only to have a good Philly cheese steak and a diet coke.)

The CFO and I biked some on the tandem. And, sadly, he busted his road and mountain bikes.

We attended the CFO's High School Graduation.

We also visited with our Idaho friends .

We played lots of baseball.

"Congratulations, your son has made it on the All-Star team. You owe 30 more dollars."

So, we played more baseball. I must have spent a small fortune at the snack bar.

We celebrated the 4th "small-town" style...with giant reptiles, watched a parade, a candy CANNON, and fireworks.

Our All-Star team won the championship.

C's team also was ranked 1st and they played championship games.

(They took 2nd.)

We played at the beach.

We played in the water and boated.

This is how you surf when you live in the mountains:

In the middle of all these activities, the CFO changed jobs and began training, which he has blogged about.

Then, as our final hurrah, we took a family vacation to Washington/Seattle.

I guess you now know what my next blog will be about.

Miss Me?

Whomever coined the term:

"The lazy days of summer"

was a MAN

with NO kids!

A 12 Year Era-Finished

No, the mascot isn't dead (she will be 12 this year, however). Rather, the CFO has changed employment. After 12 yrs with the same company (8 in Idaho and 4 in Utah in Oncology) I have changed employers. The last 12 years have been very good to us but it was time for a change.

I have gone to work for a Utah based company that patented several different gene sequences and gene mutations for different types of cancers. I will be selling the genetic tests that analyze a persons genes to see if they have a mutation which would predispose them to an extraordinarily high chance of having a specific cancer. With breast cancer for example, if a person has the mutation, their lifetime chance of having breast cancer goes from about 8% to about 90%. We have tests for people with family histories of Breast, Ovarian, Endometrial and Colon Cancer.

I will be selling the tests to OB/GYN's/primary care docs and asking them to screen patients for a family history of these 4 cancers. If the patient has a significant enough history there is reason to be tested. Of those with a significant family history, about 10% will actually have the mutation. Either a positive or negative result is extremely valuable. If the result is negative then your chance for breast cancer goes from 90% to 12% and the patient is followed and screened the same as the normal population. If the result is positive then the patient has enhanced surgical and screening options.

The reason I am posting this much information is because I am stunned at the number of people that, as I have explained what I am doing, have expressed concern about their family history. Most don't know that this type of testing is available. If this is something you are interested in I would be happy to discuss it with you. I'm not trying to get more sales through my blog, but I am quickly becoming passionate about the value that this information provides to a person who is truly at an extremely high risk.

The CFO