I cant believe it is coming to that year mark since I found out that I had cancer. The first time I went into the doctors and was told that I was indeed going to fight this fight I was presented with the opportunity to run in my first ever "Race for the Cure" event. So to all you wonderful friends and family please join me on May 10th @ Cal Expo! This was such an incredible experience. I loved seeing all the people running for this cause. I especially loved having all my girl friends and Sam there supporting me. If you have not done it before this should be your first!
We did come up with a crazy team name.....BOOBS GONE WILD!!! When you go to register go under this team name. Here is a link to go to for registering.
http://komensacramento.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=265447&u=265447-208074657&e
=1593073098
If you have any question Amy Wadman (Patterson) is the team captain. We would love to help you out if you need any information.
I wanted to thank Amy and Sarah for being so awesome and honoring my fight! You are both such sweet friends and I am so grateful for you support. I hope we can make this a wonderful moring and have lots of fun running together.
OHh.....I really would love everyone to run the 5K if you can...YES we will be walking. There is no way you will be seeing me running the whole thing!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Race for the CURE!!
Posted by Alena at 10:50 PM 4 comments
Thursday, February 14, 2008
School started again! I was going to take chemistry and biology but many things got in the way... could not add, needed chemistry for biology and bla bla bla..Well after I sat in chemistry for 6 hours on the first day of school and talked to the professor after class I burst into tears.(after I left his office) The teacher would not add me and I was falling apart. I was trying to get into Davis as soon as possible and I already felt set back from not going to school last semester. I was quite angry that things were not working out my way. I went to the counselor to set up a plan instead of going home to cry. Well...the final decision after talking with her for 2 days and a couple of hours was to forget about Davis and go to Sac state. I was going to drop the horticulture thing. As i was picking out my classes in preparation for Sac state i stated to think about horticulture classes. I began to cry as I saw pest management, Plant Id, auto cad for landscapes and propagation. I cried to myself, "I want to be a horticulturist!" So I decided to take the classes that makes my heart sing. Here I am next to a Holly. I love learning new plants. Every week we have a quiz on new plants. On their name and cultural needs. I have never been so happy to do my homework. I have been having so much fun with my classes and I am glad that I am enjoying school so much. I dont think I would be saying the same about chemistry and biology.
So this picture does not really show how much my hair has grown as well as i would like it to, but it really has! I actually got the curling iron out on Sunday and flipped out my sides! It was amazing to actually attempt the womanly world of tools for beauty enhancement.
It is nice though to not have to do much with my hair. It pretty much is what it is.
Posted by Alena at 11:35 PM 11 comments



I came home from school one day and decided it was the perfect day to put a garden hat on and go for a walk in the woods! I packed up my homework, random books and paint and
walked right into bliss. As a child to be I would be found gallivanting here among the swollen streams and grass covered terrain.
It was so nice to take a breather and remeber the sweet things in life. I enjoyed wonderful conversations with Kai my nephew. We watched the cows graze in the distance. Earlier that day a cow got out and we had to coax the cow back over the fence. It was a sight to see. Especially when it went out into the road and there was 4-6 cars trying to put this big girl in her right place. It seemed like the whole neighborhood was out! It was just running down Olive ranch rd. and I was in my car trying to block it with another womans help in her car and then I would get out and try to scare it back up the street. I always loved doing this. Chasing cows is fun! After that eventful moment I nestled down to homework and the sunshine.
Spring is on its way. Soon I am going to get the garden ready. It is time to plant seeds inside for all those garden lovers! Kill those weeds in the old garden by putting a plastic down, and after amend the soil for some delicious home grown vegies and fruit! Only a few more weeks of potential frost! I cant wait to pop cherry tomatoes in my mouth as I pull weeds! LOVE IT!! Oh and if you dont have a garden spot then make a container garden. It is just as great and yields the same great summer vegies.
Posted by Alena at 10:53 PM 3 comments
Monday, January 7, 2008
Our new friends


L.A. was a trip for family, relaxing and new friends. These wonderful people in these pictures are the Stolworthy's. I met Shelsi online a few months ago while being sad because my hair was not growing back after chemo. While searching on the web for some hope I came across Shelsi's face in a google search. We corresponded via email and I felt that I needed to go down and visit her and her husband Eric. Sam and I woke up
Thursday morning to start our drive out to their house. We had a great time sharing pictures and stories. We went out to eat, Trader Joe's and to yummy frozen yogurt. Eric came home from work and then the girls went to work in the kitchen. I had a great time cooking with Shelsi and I enjoyed that the men were having a good time talking in the other room. I am so proud of those
men for their incredible courage and faith in caring for us women. They both have stood next to us and helped us feel beautiful and strong through our individual journey with cancer. We all enjoyed out meal together and after dinner it was time for memorable photos. We took the nice ones and then went to town with Shelsi's wigs. We laughed so much while we entertained one another with funny faces and attitudes. I have had just an incredible time being friends with Shelsi. I know that the Lord wanted us to be friends. There is no doubt about that. My friend Hilary knows a friend who is connected to Eric's family, who kept telling Hilary that Shelsi and I should talk, but by the time that Hilary told me she had already made the connection that she was the girl that I found online. It has been amazing to speak with her and read her path and her understanding of this life. I want to give a big THANKS to Shelsi for her strength and courage. It inspires me and helps me understand my savior more and what I had to go through. I look forward to being life long friends with the Stolworthy's. Sam and I enjoyed their company so much and we wish that we could live closer so that we could be around each other all the time.
Posted by Alena at 5:37 PM 4 comments
A pretty Sam

For some reason every time I see Sam in a wig it make me laugh beause it looks like the hair goes with him. It cracks me up. So, this is by far my favorite picture of Sam. We had so much fun playing while Shelsi and Eric
Posted by Alena at 5:30 PM 1 comments
The master piece

Here is our sand castle. We named it the blood flow of england. It was fun getting sandy and playing like kids.
Posted by Alena at 5:25 PM 0 comments
The beach day

Sam, his mom and I went to L.A. this past week and had a great vacation. It started off by going to his Aunt Bethanie her husband and two kids, Max and Lily. We went to the a wonderful place to eat called Taco Loco and then went to the tie pools. We saw some cool things in tied pools that I have never seen before. We saw a sea hare and an octopus!
We built a huge sand castle and left after dark.
It was so nice to take a break from work and relax before school starts next week.

Posted by Alena at 5:07 PM 3 comments