I love anniversaries! I love them so much I have figured out how to have two. We were married last year on November 20th, two days before Thanksgiving. So, we will celebrate (well, as soon as I convince Daniel) on November 20th AND the Tuesday before Thanksgiving! It's perfect. Can you believe we have been married for over a year now? Wow!! To celebrate, Daniel surprised me with a room at the Marriott (thanks Nancy!) and a NICE dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Those of you who know me know that I LOVE food, and this food was beyond words. You are all just going to have to go there. I'm seriously in love with it.
Do you know what the best part was? Every time the waiters came to bring food, fill up the water, etc... they would say "More water, Mrs. Hedlund?" Ahh! I had never been to a restaurant fancy enough where they all know your name! It was so fun.
We also tried our cake. Big mistake. It was crunchy, it wasn't crunchy a year ago... enough said.
So, in light of the Thanksgiving holiday and our anniversary I would like to name a few things that I am grateful for about this past year:

• Getting married to the most wonderful person that I could have ever imagined. When we got married, I had no idea the depth of his character and how it would be tested this past year. I was pleasantly surprised and feel lucky he's my husband.

• I'm grateful for our experience with great doctors. We have the chance to rub shoulders and be treated by brilliant doctors who are among the best in their field. How grateful I am for people who have dedicated their life to study Sarcoma for the sole reason of saving Daniel's life and others like him.
• A family who has been overwhelmingly supportive. Both sides, in their own ways, have never backed down in the love and support. It is one of the few things this past year that has been constant and we are grateful. Our extended family has been especially wonderful. Thank you!
  

• Our cute apartment! I love having my own little (and I mean little :) house to come home to. Dan and I both sigh with relief as we walk through the doors. It means we're home. The best feeling was to come home after a long stay in the hospital.
• The knowledge we have that our Heavenly Father is in charge of everything. It's comforting to know that no matter what happens, He is very aware of our circumstance and will send us the help we need. We're grateful for all the help He has sent us this year.
  
• As weird as it sounds, we really are grateful for work and school. There was a period of time where we didn't have jobs or school and it just made us appreciate them even more. We appreciate accomplishing something and heading towards a goal. Dan and I both love our jobs right now. Dan's still at the MTC and I'm an aide at the health center.
  

Hope you all are enjoying your leftovers from Thanksgiving! I know we are!

Okay, I can't hold it in anymore... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

So, my husband might not approve of this, but I can't hold it in anymore. I'm ready for Christmas! My house has been decorated for a week and now I have decided to decorate my blog. It's just too exciting.

I blame this on my mom. Christmas was such a happy time growing up. She made everything so special and every inch of our house was covered in pine trees and garland. Three weeks is just not enough time to do all of the celebrating that I want to do! So we will now start celebrating!!

This is kind of a random posting, but I just wanted to post a few pictures. Sorry these are so outdated. Enjoy!

This is Dan and I with our pumpkins we carved at Jim and Bekah's. It was so fun!

And this is Dan and I at a Jason Mraz concert. I know it sounds like we're obsessed about him... well, actually, I think we might be.

and finally, this is a picture of some of Dan's visitors

Thank you so much for all of you who came to visit in the hospital. I can't tell you how much it helps Dan... and me too! It breaks up the time in the hospital and gives us lots of reasons to smile. We love you!
Thanks to all those who sent us cards and who had us in your thoughts. You'll never know how much you bless our life.

Life is wonderful, life goes full circle...

That title is from a song by Jason Mraz (he is our favorite!). He's one of those artists that just put you in a good mood when you listen to him. On the way to the hospital this morning at 5:30 am, Dan and I were blasting this song and singing along. Sometimes we all need to remind ourselves that life really is wonderful. Parts of life might not always be wonderful, but at the end of the day we're alive, we have wonderful friends and family, and we're being watched from above.

Anyways.....

I would just like to take this opportunity to announce to everyone that my husband is CANCER FREE! Well... the scans in 6 weeks will verify my hypothesis, but as far as we're concerned today, he is cancer free.
Dr. Karwande took out 25 nodules from Daniel's right lung today. The surgery was a complete success and Daniel's strong body is recovering beautifully. This surgery was very short. Dan was in there from about 8:45 am to noon. The short amount of time it took was a very wonderful surprise for us in the waiting room. Dan woke up and was quickly made very comfortable. We had a surprisingly pleasant and fun afternoon joking around with everyone there (both sets of wonderful parents, Lauren and Jim).
All of a sudden, Dan started to have a sharp pain on the top of his shoulder. What an odd place for a pain! The anesthesiologist thought that maybe the source was the chest tubes they put in his lungs to drain out all of the fluid. He said they might be rubbing up against the top of his lung and creating some pain. Those will come out soon, but in the meantime, they gave him some morphine to supplement the epidural. The pain disappeared after a nap and Dan has been great ever since. He has just been very tired.
Right now he is peacefully sleeping... and given the circumstances, life couldn't be better.

I just want to thank you all for your prayers on our behalf. I wish I could come hug and kiss each one of you. I sincerely give all my thanks for your prayers. Because of you, Heavenly Father has poured out His blessings for us today. We love you all. Please keep the prayers coming, as we find out the pathology of those nodules in a couple days. This will tell us how much of those nodules were dead cancer cells. We are looking for a very high percentage!
We truly are being blessed, there's no other way to explain it.

P.S. - We're at Timpanogos Regional in Orem. Daniel LOVES visitors... hint hint :)

What Will You Do?

So, my English professor posed a question for us this week. With daylight savings tomorrow, we are all presented with an extra hour of time. A wonderful and enticing gift from summer. I just have one question for you:

What will you do with your extra hour?

Let me suggest a few ideas:

1. Play a game of Yahtzee... it's a classic that never gets old
2. Dust off your journal and write down some goals
3. SLEEP! (the most obvious choice, but somehow often overlooked)
   
4. Watch an episode of House. I know you'll love the show just as much as I do
   
5. Turn off everything except a favorite CD and sit there and listen to the whole thing
6. Bake something sweet
7. Call your mom

As for me? I will probably use the hour to decorate my apartment for Christmas!!! I'm so excited that Halloween is finally done and now we can start the bestest part of the whole year. Only 54 more days!

Oh, and some of you have been asking about Dan's next surgery. It is set for this Friday, November 7th. Your prayers, as always, are so appreciated. Prayers are so needed. They bring comfort and provide Dan with the physical healing he needs. I know the reason he has done so well up to this point is because of prayer. Thank you all so much for the faith you show when praying on our behalf. It is so humbling and we appreciate your thoughtfulness.