Relay for Life

The American Cancer Society hosts Relay for Life across the country every year. Since my family found out about it someone has participated. The first was in 2007 the day after my father passed away. Last year it was on the one year anniversary of his passing. This year here in town I just found out it is on Friday. I of course am working and won't be able to attend. My brother already has a team back home for the June 6th I don't know if I'll make it to walk, but I will be there in spirit. I hope that through my participation I can honor his memory and support 2 members of my community that are currently battling this disease. One a wife, mother, friend, fellow teacher, and former co-worker. The other a 9 year old third grader at my school. Let's hope we find a cure for this horrible disease. Click on the picture of my Dad and I to donate to the American Cancer Society in honor of someone you know.

It's my 2 year Blogoversary!

For those of you stopping by for the first time today welcome!

I CANNOT believe it's been two years since I started this blog! It all started as a way to keep my family up on how our house building was coming along. Since then it has morphed into a blog about life in general. I have LOVED getting to know so many people out there in the blogosphere. You all have made this such a fun road. We have been through so much together from building a house, infertility discussions (which now have their own blog), trips to Idaho, Indiana, and San Diego, my father's passing, computer crashes, and much much more. I thank you for sticking with me and joining me in the journey!

So Cheers! Happy Blogoversary to me!

One of my Longest Friends

I had the great privilege about a month ago to see one of my best friends EVER! She is the spunky red head I spent most of my teenage years with until she moved off across the country! But that's what happens when you're not out of the house yet :) We only live mear hours away from each other now but have only seen each other a handful of times in the last 5 years. She now has an adorable little boy and we had a blast spending a few hours together shopping and having dinner together.

We ate dinner at Chili's and as you can see... the little one seems to really enjoy the ranch dressing... I couldn't resist taking pictures of him!

Her little boy LOVED John so he even had some company :) while we caught up on each other's lives.

She's off across the country again this summer, but hopefully we'll be able to see each other again when she gets back. It was SOOOO great to see you! I love you my dear friend!

The Amazing Maddie Spohr

I don't know her or her family in "real life" and only read about her story last week. That is why I've taken so long to post this... I feel extremely out of place. But when the tweet came on Tuesday night that she had passed away I cried. I'm sure John thought I was crazy... I mean I really didn't "know" them. However, I cried anyway. From what I know Maddie was born extremely premature, she was on oxygen quite often. Her mom had taken her to the dr. because she thought she had RSV again. The doctor admited her to the PICU to be monitored and hooked up to a ventilator. But her little lungs couldn't handle it. She returned to heaven at just 17 months old. I can't imagine what her family is going through. I will probably never have to know. What I do know is that the Spohr family needs as many thoughts and prayers as they can get.

When I first viewed the story of Maddie's premature birth I was simply amazed that she had made it so far. I was amazed at this little girl's strenghth and her family's determination. Maddie, you will be missed, but I know you're happy, safe, and whole now.

To her family... I know you will see her again. Families are forever. I hope you are able to feel the loving arms of the Savior wrapped around you. He will carry you through this if you let him.

To the all of the internets out there... You amaze me!
We've crashed all of the pages while we tried to share our love and condolences with the family.
On Tuesday afternoon Maddie's March of Dimes contributions were not quite at the $3,000 goal.
Today it is over $21,000.
Your suppot and love are amazing. I'm so grateful to know that WE really can do anything. If you can please click on Maddie's button and donate to the Spohr family to help with services for Maddie. They need $7,000. I know we can do it. Every little bit helps.
Thanks for showing me what WE can do!

Funeral arrangements have been made for Tuesday. They have asked that all in attendance or attending in spirit wear purple. I guess I'd better find me some purple before Tuesday!

Other Maddie Links
For Maddie
March of Dimes
Remember Maddie

The Monster Plant

This will probably be one of the only times I get to say "I told you so" to my husband. SO I must relish the moment :) Here's the story... There was a plant in our front yard last spring that I really didn't like and so I asked him to tear it out but he didn't. Then all summer long it continued to grow and grow and grow. It took up almost one whole hillside in our front yard. At one point I remember saying "It's going to take over everything and kill the palm trees" I was really just trying to get him to take it out... So instead of taking it out he went and really pruned it back so it was back to its original size. This spring he decided he would tear it out for me and this is what he found... Yes it is as big as he is!

And this chunk of the root was growing into one of the palm tree root balls...

I love you John... But I told ya so :)

Sea World San Diego

I think that besides my bed Sea World may be my favorite place. I mean where else can you feed dolphins, seals, sea lions, see polar bears, walrus, otters, various pets, flamingos, penguins, beluga whales, manatees, pet sharks, sting rays, sea cucumbers, anemones, star fish and meet Elmo, Big Bird and SHAMU!?! Needless to say, we spent time there on 4 of our 5 days in San Diego... It was so great. We didn't rush, or worry, we relaxed, enjoyed, and spent time with each of the things we wanted to see. Not to mention that like on the rest of our trip we took a ton of pictures. So here ya go.

Click the link if the slide show isn't working... I'm running out of patience. It's time for bed!
http://s276.photobucket.com/albums/kk25/etb2001/San%20Diego/?albumview=slideshow&mediafilter=images

Our California Sunset

So, I have a ton of catching up to do. We've done so much lately, and I have so many blog worthy things to post about. So this week I will spend some time trying to finish posting about our San Diego Trip (I have a few specific posts of funny things that happened). Here are pictures (yes there's even more) of our Sunset watching over the Pacific Ocean at Misson Beach. and for those of you that wanted pictures of us... there are some, but the wind was raging and we were taking our own pictures of us so... they're not the best, but fun to remember that day anyway.

The Wild Animal Park

Here are our pictures from the Wild Animal Park. We didn't see a whole lot here because they took the tram away that went around the whole park. They still have a shorter tram ride that just goes around the African part of the park, and they added an elevator so it doesn't take a hour to hike down to the lions. All this means is that we missed the elephants and tigers. I also missed the zebras so the one picture I was asked to take I didn't get. However, we did see the Lions, a few of the new babies, and lots of giraffes. The lions put on a great show for us! Take a look...

Diarrhea Coke

So this week was the local Rural Electric Company's meeting and this year it was here in town. They had huge blow up slides for the kids, free dinner, tractor rides, door prizes and their annual election. The highlight of the evening happened early on when a couple of my neighbor kids ran by. One was 5 the other 8. The 5 year old boy had a Diet Coke in his hands. As he ran by us he was yelling at the 8 year old girl that he was drinking a "Diarrhea Coke" to which she quickly responded "It's not diarrhea Coke, its DIET Coke". Oh so funny... It almost made my whole week I laughed so hard! The joys of working with kids!

Girls Night Out

We (Sarah and I) have decided we need a Girls Night. So we are going for pedicures and Dinner Friday after school (time will depend whether we have PD or not). If you would like more details e-mail me or leave me a comment and I will e-mail you. Please come, we'd love to have you. Consider this your official invitation! We can't wait to start spring break officially!