A couple of weeks ago, a few of the ladies from our church came over to our house bearing a gift - they had sewn a beautiful pink and black quilt, with quotes of inspiration on various squares throughout the front of the quilt. They asked if I would please give it to someone they thought would benefit from the comfort it could offer, made with love. I happily accepted it knowing how much comfort our friend Lisa found in the prayer blanket made by Nick's aunt and the prayer blanket and quilt Nick received, also from his aunt and from family friends.
Today we were inspired to meet a new friend, Joann, who is also undergoing treatment at Huntsman. Our nurse, Katie, introduced us and as we handed Joann the quilt, tears streamed in surprise and thankfulness. I admitted I had nothing to do with making the quilt, I can barely sew on a button - I was just the happy messenger. It was a good day for all of us.
Nick, meanwhile, went through two types of chemo all of last week - one in pill form, the other by iv in the outpatient clinic. This week he is only one one - the iv - again daily through Friday. He seems to be doing very well, just fatigued. Next week on Nov 3rd, he will have a ct scan of his abdomen, mri of his head and neck and finish with a chest x-ray. The following week on Nov 10th, we will meet with Dr. Andtabacka to discuss the results and all the details of the surgery in Boston (he is the Huntsman surgeon coordinating with the other surgeon at UMass). We have a lot of questions.On Monday, Nov 15th, Nick will have a laproscopy to see what an actual camera can pick up in that tummy of his... if the cancer hasn't gone crazy, we will head to Boston the next day or so. We should have an idea when we have the results from Nov 3rd so we'll have a little time to make some tentative travel arrangements.
This is why I'm not too crazy about November this year. The good thing is that Nick gets to take a break from chemo for awhile. Hopefully, we hope to be back home before Thanksgiving, take off to Newport Beach for some much needed r & r the week after and then Nick has plans to go to Vegas the first week in December for the national rodeo finals.
That's it for now! Thank you all for the love and prayers!
Lori
We then woke up Saturday and were off to visit the Benjamin Franklin Museum, but not before we had a Philly Cheesesteak. The museum had a flight simulator, which I had to do. Carly decided to be my co-pilot which she found to be a little more than she expected. Everyone outside the simulator could here Carly's screams and my laughs but it was all smiles when the doors opened back up. People were laughing when we came out..... it was great.
We then took off for the hockey game........ which was amazing. Why, you may ask? Well let me tell you:
He simply told the reporters to "MOVE" as he walked over to me and shook my hand. At 6'6" and 220 lbs, he towered over me. I honestly don't remember the words he said to me.... probably due to his intimidation factor (he is also known as one of the most "aggressive" players in the league) but he was a super nice guy and even took a couple pictures with me before talking to the press, which he called "vultures". He then waved and said "good luck" and was off to ice his knees some more I assume. Soon after, I took pictures with another player on the Flyers due to his ironic name.... Kimmo (Chemo) Timonen. He was a nice guy, too, but didn't say much. 
It was a great experience and I definitely won't forget it.... especially Pronger. Thank you, Lee, Michael & Matt for making this happen!
Nick felt good enough to go watch his buddies play on the Univ of Utah hockey team both Friday and Saturday night,earning two wins!
The weekend began with Lee and I driving out to the lake to meet everyone. We didn't hesitate to begin fishing late that afternoon even though Mateo and Buttons had not arrived yet. Unfortunately, I did not catch anything that night..... actually I didn't catch anything that weekend. Dean did let me reel in fish he hooked on Saturday night so that was cool. I guess I was not cut out to be a fisherman.... I will stick to ropin' steers in Moab.
What I did get out of the fishing trip though was some good laughs at dinner and regained stamina and appetite that I needed. Mateo and Buttons also brought a couple gifts that I did not expect..... One being some awesome sunglasses (I love sunglasses) and a certificate to get my Kayaking Instruction Certification, which would be awesome to do next spring because then I could get paid to do the thing I love.... KAYAK. 
So lastly I want to thank Lee, Jennie and Dean for getting me off the couch to come experience and awesome weekend fishing, surrounded by the people I love. Can't do much better than that.
The chaos was paramount but the excitement uncontained. Nick and Carly were able to have their slow-pitch face-off game. Carly had hoped to stack her team with her friends from the SLCC softball team (their coach caught wind of it and said "No way!") so Carly had to scramble to make a team. She didn't have much fun at first, striking out her first 4 times at bat. The umpire of the game was kind and said to her as she dragged her bat behind her, walking to the plate, "Aw, c'mon kid, 8th time is a charm! Get in there and hit it!" So she promptly hit a triple, redeemed herself as a ball player and gave props to the ump as she rounded 2nd base. Her team still got creamed but the smiles never left their faces - well except Carly when she was up to bat again.
Saturday morning teams continued to play, eventually ending up back at Cottonwood to play the championship games. We were thrilled to have Corey & Lisa Nielsen from First Descents join us, driving from Colorado to be with Nick, who came to watch the final games later that evening. 
Nick's aunt Chris & uncle Stan also flew over from California and his grandparents flew in from Washington to participate in all the fun.