“You tried your best and failed miserably. The lesson is: never try.”

Sometimes in life it is unfortunate that you can try your best and still your best isn't good enough. It is a hard pill to swallow. We've tried very hard to all stay healthy while Amanda is going through chemo and has some of the lowest counts she's ever had. We have to be very careful during this phase as we've tried throughout the entire treatment. We sanitize everything, sometimes more than once. We don't go anywhere we don't have to and we stay away from crowds. There are few people invited over to the house and there are many restrictions about their health and who they have been around. There is a lot of flu stuff out there and we don't want any. We try and we try, but Mary Ann has found herself banned from the house yesterday.

As hard as she's tried, and she's more careful than all of us, she came down with something nasty yesterday morning. She has been so sleep deprived lately that it is no wonder. She was throwing up through the morning yesterday so she locked herself in her room until she felt well enough to pack her and Will up and take her to her parents' house. It is very hard for me, Erin, and Amanda to have Mary Ann and Will out of the house. They are handling it very well.

I am often amazed at how well both Amanda and Erin understand these things when it comes to not being able to risk getting sick. Today I took the day off and took the girls out for lunch to get them out of the house. We went to a park for a little while and had to steer clear of all other kids and only stay for a little while. The girls have been so cooped up that they need to get some air and play outside when they can. I must have gone through half a bottle of hand sanitizer following them around squirting them every 5 minutes.

After the park I talked the girls into taking a small nature walk. And I do mean small. I'm feeling very cooped up as well as it seems the only place I go is to work and back home. It felt good to get out and walk, however, you can only go as far and fast as a 3 year old will allow you. I wanted to get out and hike through the wooded area above Kaysville but soon realized that where I can tromp through the girls could not. It was a very nice warm day and I had more energy to get out than the girls. We ended just walking a little ways down a trail and the girls were collecting rocks down the path.

We are getting close to the maintenance phase of Amanda's chemo and having her get back to school and more normalcy. We have to be very careful over the next few weeks that we don't have any setbacks. Hopefully it won't be too long of a separation from Mary Ann and Will and she just has a quick bug that the rest of us can stay away from.

For those of you Simpson's fans out there, you'll recognize the quote. It is how we feel sometimes.

Never try sound bite  Homer Simpson sound bites