15 years

Been a long time at the grindstone.

First Trip To The Boathouse and The MUNY

Saw Beauty and the Beast

Fourth of July part 1

David Caught It!!!

May 23rd cards vs Diamondbacks 10inning Peralta's foul ball immediately prior to the game winning homerun! What fun!!

Anniversary Weekend - Giant City State Park

Amazing

Easter Hike

> Almost six miles and seventy stairs registered on the Fitbit. My IT band on both legs are completely shot and David is nursing is lower back. Otherwise it was a great way to work off the breakfast chocolate bunny!!!
>

Funky Glassy Feet

New shoes used to make me so happy. Now I have to pay extra for less neon and new laces that aren't neon!!

These new shoes were a splurge because my right foot had been really bothering me. Finally went to the podiatrist and she found a shard of glass that had been stuck in my foot for months and I had no idea!!

At Attention

I have changed my office to a stand up desk. Loving it! Feel ten years younger not sitting on my grandma duff all day long!

A Fright To Remember

For those of you that don't talk to me very frequently, you may be wondering where I have been. Or perhaps just assuming that we have had a really boring month or that my camera was broke. But the truth is we have been very preoccupied. To ease the readers, I will start with the finish, neither tumor is cancerous.

The week before Christmas I woke up with an itch "bug bite" on my right chest. I had scratched it silly thru the night and it was a bloody itchy mess. So I grabbed the hydrocortizon and a band-aid and itched my way thru the day. A rash began around it. It doubled every couple of days. At the same time a pain in the center of my right breast began. A couple of days later an orange size swelling in my right underarm. At this time the rash is the size of my palm and my boob is killing me.

So the day after Christmas, I went for a mammogram. Oddly the tech had more questions about the rash than my breast pain. So of course I had to google "breast rash" when I got home. And there it was a rare breast cancer called inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) --- manifests itself with a rash, swollen lymph nodes, severe itching. Prognosis --- very bad spreads in weeks to other parts of the body and most don't make it past 2 years. Fright!

So my OB is a great friend of mine, so i texted him and he said get in first thing Monday morning. The mammogram came back with lump in the rigth breast the size of a walnut. So back to the hospital for more mammograms and ultrasounds. Great news, the tumor "broke up" after a devil machine smashed the heck out of it and only a tumor the size of my thumb is left. And traditionally a tumor that breaks up then it is non-cancerous. So a follow-up in 3 months to watch it and hopefully it will be gone.

But everyones attention was still on that rash that would not go away - not with cortizon, not with fungus cream, not with a strong antibiotic. The reason being IBC does not usually have tumors (I wish more woman would know this!) So off we go to a breast specialist for a biopsy. Good news, she says the rash is not in the pattern of a IBC and she is fairly certian it is not IBC. But what is it then? To the top of the rash is a tiny white spot, I assumed it to be the "bug bite". This is what she chose to biopsy.

By the next morning, the rash is gone and the lympnode shrunk! Praise be to God. Great news! Yesterday I get the call, not IBC (yeah!), not a bug bite (really?) but a non-cancerous tumor in a my nerve ending. She gave me some technical term, but I will have to get it from her in writing as I have already forgotten it! But she did say it was just a fluke, and nothing to worry about.

So.... two tumors and neither are cancerous - I don't know why God is so good to me but this was a fright that neither David or I will every forget. It has changed our outlook on what are priorities really are in life. I expect that this experience has set us in a new direction for us and our family.

Monica's Health

A non-stop downhill spiral is all I can think to describe it. Two months ago, I came back with high cholestrol and sadly the meds are packing on the pounds. I made a decision to quit them and the weight gain has stopped. But with my thyroid and adrenal issues, losing weight is such an uphill battle. I keep pushing but I am now 100 lbs overweight and this is something that is very overwheling some days. I beleive in the power of prayer over everything, and ask everyone I know who reads this blog to please pray for me and my health. Thank you.

Paint Night

Nicole was in town and we had a blast at Paint Night. She is such a stunning and sweet young lady!

Yep We Climbed to the Top - Cliff Cave Park Hike

Paint Nite With The Girls

My girlfriends at work and our daughters had dinner at Soho and a PAINT NITE. This is mine.

This is Aleys with the teachers.

This is Aley with bbq fingers pretending she is fingerpainting!!!

Hispanic Festival - YUUUUMMMMM Good Food!

Heritage Festival at Faust Park

Days of the New

ALS Bucket Challenge

ALS Bucket Challenge at the Massie's

Thanks to Drew, Sydney, Katherine, Jennifer, and Kim for the inspiring nominations!

We have challenged Tom Thomas Haley, Josh Holman, Alexandria Holman (after little Christian arrives), Lisa Moore, Brian Wood, Fran A Frances Werner, Mary Mottert, Mary Corey, Courtney Floresca, Brian Hayes, Daniel Irvine, Dom Forhy, Jon Rullkoetter, Betsy Hayes Catalano, William & Lucy and all the 646 CUBSCOUT LEADERS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSzahaKkez4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH3l6mbAqW4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R0jqyPIjHU

Special Visitors

As we pulled in the driveway from our roadtrip, our best friends were pulling in from out of town to spend the week with us! We loved having 'Little' Monica and Abby for the week. The kids went to Laumier Sculpture park during the days for Art camp. A very inspiring and hands on experience!

Monday night we went to the Muny to see Suessecial.... awesome! And of course we started of the theatre night with dinner at the Boat House and a paddle boat ride!

Tuesday was Aley's 22nd birthday. Where has the time gone? What a great lady she has grown into!

"On Thursday we had a blast after camp at the Science Center and Zia's for dinner!"

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"The Monica's designed and decorated a great cake for Garrett's closing baseball practice!"