Happy Father's Day!

Today was a great Father's Day....I am so blessed to not only have a wonderful Dad of my own, a great father-in-law and an absolutely AMAZING father to our children.

The day started off with being able to watch one of my very bestest friends, Christie be baptized on her daughter's 2nd birthday. What a journey Christie has been through and we give all of the praise to our Father in Heaven. Christie is cancer free and doing wonderful! YEAH GOD!

My mom made her delicious lasagna and we had our families over for dinner. It is always good to spend time together, and I think I often forget how very lucky I am to have my dad living so close by. I am so thankful he is here to be a part of our kid's life and I think I forget to tell those I love dearly how much they mean to me and how thankful I am for them....so I love you dad!



And of course, I again must brag on my husband and what an amazing father he is! I could not have asked for a better daddy to our kids and today, Carson and I were able to pray over Cy at our church service. To hear your child thank God for their daddy because "he plays with me and that he is best daddy in the whole, wide world....now that just brings tears to my eyes.

How am I such a lucky girl to have been given to the best dad to take care of me, not only as a little girl but as a "big" girl. To have a father-in-law that raised a wonderful man that is the best father to our children! WOW I am blessed!

New Mexico

The kids and I just got back this week from New Mexico. We had a really fun time, but we all really missed Cy and it is always good to get back home. We started our little road trip by going to Carlsbad to watch Logan and her team the Intimidators play in a tournament. I loved watching them play and it really made me miss playing. Her team did really well considering there were over 30 teams there. Mom and Dad also went to Carlsbad so we were able to take Carson and Brantley to the cemeteries and show them where my grandparents and sister are buried. Brantley thought it was neat to see her middle name and we were able to remind her that she was named after Amber. Carson really wanted to try to find his name to see his name and I tried to explain to him that he the 5th C. W. Hill and we probably would not find his exact name on a headstone.

We then drove to Albuquerque on Sunday after two games, to see Rayna and her family. I was so excited to meet her little one, Asher and he is such a happy, little guy. We always have a great time together and it is hard to believe that we have been friend's since about our boys' ages. We did some shopping on the square in Santa Fe and Old Town, went to the Aquarium and of course, ate some amazing food.

On Tuesday night, we had a mini Del Norte High School Reunion and it was fun to catch up with some old friend's and meet their children. We all laughed about how times have changed and how we cannot believe that we have been out of high school for 16 years.....where does the time go? Everyone loved Carson's Texas accent! I guess I don't realize he has one...but everyone else does!

Second Chances

Thank goodness for second chances....or maybe this will be my third, fourth, fifth chance to really start a blog. This is something I have wanted to do but seem to never get around to it....so I will give it another shot. I think it will be great to have and hope my kids will enjoy looking back and seeing what life was all about....I know I enjoy remembering things from the past! This will be trial and error as I try to get pictures up but I will have fun learning! Cheers to another chance!

Can it already be?

Well it is now already the middle of January and I have not done a very good job blogging!  I am proud to say that I have kept up with taking a picture everyday...although they are not all in a book yet..... at least the picture has been taken! 

Christie had her first chemo treatment today and I stayed with her...just did not want to leave my precious friend.  Being at the cancer center makes your awareness for cancer so much more.  I guess I have been living in a bubble and have not really thought about all of the people that are affected by cancer...man it really does stink!  It is one of those things that you are not really aware of until it "hits close to home."  Christie NEVER ceases to amaze me and you can see Christ through her in EVERYTHING she does.  She is such a blessing to me and I cannot imagine not having her as a friend.  She has taught me so much in the last month since her diagnosis.  She has been such a vessel for God and I am totally blown away by the way she has handled everything.  She continues to lift me up and I really think it should be the other way around.  I wish she was not having to do this at all but now her testimony is going to reach so many people and that is God's will.  

They found out yesterday they are having a little girl.  I cannot wait to hold this little girl and tell her how wonderful her mom and dad are and what an impact they have been in our lives.  We know she is already "kicking some cancer butt" and is quite the fighter right along with her mom.   

We have been doing lots of pee pee dances at our house as we work on potty training with Brantley.  She is doing a really good job and I actually think there might be a light at the end of the "no more diapers" tunnel.  That will be a good day but makes me sad on the other hand because that means by baby is REALLY growing up.  Brantley is so darn cute but sometimes she definitely makes me question our parenting ability.  She can be not to nice to her friends and I just don't know what to do?  I can't wait till I can look back and think about this "stage" and remember when I was so worried about her "aggression" but for now I just have to continue to remind her OVER and OVER again to be nice to her friends...she may not even have any left:)

Carson continues to do well and loves playing on the Wii.  He is actually really good at tennis...maybe that is sport we will look into.  He continues to love school and everyone loves him. He has lots of friends and never gets in trouble.  Man I am going to miss him when he starts school this year!  

I plan to get better about posting pictures but got to figure out what I need to do!  Till next time......

Happy New Year's!

I cannot believe that it is already 2008.....how time flies. I hope this year is full of many more blessings on family and friends. I cannot help to think about this next year and what it holds since the past 3 weeks have been so heavy on my heart. I can hardly wait to hold Baby Devitt and for my friend to be to be told she is cancer free! There will be dancing on that day! We will continue to lift this precious family up and thank him for this family and they way they are ministering to us during this time.
I really feel the need to start this new yera by de-cluttering my "life" and get some things done....so I told Cy about making a list of our goals for the new year.....maybe it will be easier to work off of a list. I always say I am going to write things down but never do...so maybe we can start off doing that this year.
My RANDOM list so far this year is:
focus more on God and how he wants to use me and continue to develop a more personal relationship with him.....
scrapbook tons...they are so important for me and for everyone to be able to look at see the times we had together as a family and so that everyone knows how important they are to me!
scrapbook some more.....
do a 365 day picture journal......I have two pictures so far....:)
lose weight, of course....
work out regularly.....
paint my bathroom and laundry room......
do Brantley's room with real furniture......
go on a family trip......
have more patience with certain people.....
tell my husband how great he is everyday.....
treasure the times with my kids even when they are driving me crazy......
make more gifts for friends.....
clean out closets......
go on another girlfriend trip.....
develop and deepen friendships and be OK with losing some as well......
cook more new new things for my family....
do less impulse shopping and more saving......
get a new TV for the living room.....
finish baby books.....
blog on a regular basis.....
So this list does not look that hard...does it....? I just pray that this next year our family will be kept safe in his arms and that we will not forget to see the little things that sometimes we overlook!
HAPPY NEW YEAR's!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! We had a great day today and once again I am reminded just how blessed we are. Carson and Brantley most have been really good as Santa was pretty good to them! I know they had a fun day but I just want them to never forget the real reason for Christmas and celebrate the birth of the one who brings us hope!
Speaking of hope.....my heart has been very heavy and sad since Christie had her mastectomy on Friday and we learned that she also had cancer in her lymph nodes. We had been very hopeful that the doctors would have said differently but they did not. It makes me so sad for her but her faith is amazing and she is has touched so many lives through this trial. She is such a sweet person who has taught me so much and she was an answered prayer to my life. We know the road is going to be difficult but she will one day be able to say she is a breast cancer survivor and I am going to be right there beside her on this journey!
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas....still cannot add any pictures but hope to get that fixed soon. May we never forget the REASON FOR THE SEASON!

Forever Changed

Where do I begin...this week has not been good. One of my dearest and bestest friends, Christie was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is only 29 and 9 weeeks pregnant. She is scheduled now for a mastectomy on the 21st. It just really stinks and our lives will forever be changed because of it. She is an awesome woman of faith and will continue and has blessed so many through her courage. She is truly one of the most sincere people I know and she is geniune in all she does. I am so glad that I have her family as our friends as we prayed for friends like them and they have really blessed us. We joke about her having great boobs after this journey is all said and done and how jealous I am really going to be. I have found this week to be very trying and questioning why this is happening and why now. I know that our GOD IS BIG and Christie and her precious baby are going to be OK.....but I just get so sad because I don't want my friend to have cancer...but you can bet that I am going to be praying non stop and will proudly wear a "my friend beat cancer" shirt and might even end up with a new tatoo.

Carson and Brantley continue to be wonderful and really bless my life. They are ready for Christmas and Santa and oh how I remember the anticipation of Christmas Eve...getting up in the middle of the night to see what Santa brought us.

Christmas Dreams party is this week and I pray that each youth attends and is blessed because of it. This week has again put so much in perspective.....to remember the reason for the season.

Brantley is also having her 3rd set up tubes (maybe 3 can be her lucky number) on the 18th and they are also going to do some allergy testing. Hopefully these ones will work for longer and she will get rid of any discomfort she might have. We will pray her through surgery as it is always scary when they take her out of your arms, makes me think of how Mary felt holding her baby boy that was going to die for the rest of us......

Till next time