a breath of air

today was a good day for our ella girl. she got to have her tonsils and adenoids removed! she also had tubes put in her ears. apparently, her adenoids were so gigantic that her airway was 100% blocked. the tonsils were also huge and extended way down her throat. so, we are hoping this girl will be our happy girl once again, now that she'll be able to sleep through the night. a new webkinz is a must, when tonsils are removed! thanks aftie!
good thing we have such a great dad to take care of us.

pinky (ella's bear) got to go to surgery with ella, which was the next best thing to having parents in surgery with you.

we love our sweet girl and hope she is feeling better right away!

and runnin' runnin' and runnin' runnin'

after talking to my friend, raquel the other day, i felt a giant wave of motivation to get running again. raquel used to live here while her husband was doing a residency but has since moved on to greener pastures. raquel first amazed me with her running skills a few years ago, but my amazement has increased since she shared her triathlon goals with me the other day. she did a mini triathlon over the 4th of july and is training to do a triathlon in september. this girl is amazing!
i asked raquel for training/motivation tips and began running because of her and a few other runner friends i had. she helped me so much! the other day on the phone, she asked if i was still running and i had to tell her that i had recently fallen off the wagon. she reminded me that when i first began running i could only run for about 5 minutes at a time. and then she reminded me how impressed she was that i had run some races.
so, i'd like to state for the record that i began running again this very evening. it wasn't a 5k, but it was a pretty good start. and boy did it feel good.
the past month or so has been a bit crazy and i realized tonite how much i need to run. probably now more than ever. maybe i can sweat the cancer out! wouldn't that be great if you could really do that?
just as an update...prior to beginning radiation, i had a consultation with the radiation oncologist to discuss the radiation treatments, etc. he had me do an MRI just to be sure that all the cancer had been removed. i was a little bothered that the MRI hadn't been done prior to the surgery, but whatever. he said it was just a precaution and 90 percent chance there wouldn't be anything. well, they found more cancer. so i am now scheduled for another surgery in august, but trying to get in to see a breast cancer specialist at roswell cancer institute for a second opinion.
i still feel quite positive about the outcome, but have been frustrated that i'm not done with this already. i have a friend at church that is going through radiation right now and it's been nice to share notes on our different situations.
also, a big thank you to everyone for your prayers. i have truly felt peace and comfort and i know that has come through the prayers offered on my behalf. my tennis friend told me that she would be praying for me. i told her thank you and that i believed prayer really works. she told me in a very quiet and sincere way that she also believes in prayer.
i know that not everyone believes in prayer, but they should!

hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the walls, the floor, the shower, the bathtub. it's all going. i could not be a happier girl. bless you ryan. bless you.

the art

this is the award-winning picture. for some reason i couldn't post it last night, but wanted to show it anyway. we think it may have won because she colored in a background.

award winning colorer

i can't believe i forgot to put this on the blog...

before the end of school, afton received an award from the local american legion post (i think) for placing in a coloring contest! ry and i were able to attend the assembly at school. it was an exciting day for aftie, because she didn't know until that morning that she would be receiving an award. hooray for beautiful coloring!

oh boy...

tonite during family home evening i was trying to share a message about self-reliance and gardens. i said that gardens are great because you can freeze the extra vegetables you don't eat right away and use them later on in the year, and that can save you money, etc etc...(blah blah blah, i'm sure)

afton quickly piped up, "save money. live better. walmart". and then about fell on the floor laughing. such a comedian. i think we need to have some stricter television viewing policies put in place around here.

fur-cation

that's what ryan's colleagues nicknamed their week off without pay. most people call it a furlough, but since we're all looking on the bright side of things and using it as an extra week of vacation, it's now referred to as a fur-cation!

so, for our furcation, we headed to st. louis. ryan's parents are relocating to st louis and we thought we could help them explore the city.

we did a lot of fun stuff, but the best part of the whole trip was seeing ryan's family.

we got to see baby mya for the first time! she is soooo darling and we love her already! and we got to see auntie angie, who we always love to spend time with. isn't she lovely in purple?

we went to the zoo and had a fun day there seeing all kinds of animals. afton's favorites were the flamingos. ella got to touch a stingray at the stingray exhibit! in fact, she touched stingrays at least 7 times. she's much braver than her mom. we also loved seeing the hippos swim under water. that was my favorite!

we went to see the arch. i was far more impressed than i thought i'd be. it is beautiful! all that shiny steel...
we actually took a little ride up to the top. don't ask me to go with you though, because i won't do it again.

and ryan's dad found this funny little vehicle. we all rode up and down the mississippi riverfront
laughing and having a great time! afton loved to be the person driving.

we had such a great time with grandpa, grandpa, auntie angie, uncle brad, auntie emily and baby mya! we love our family and wished everyone had been there.