A Little Cotton Lovin'

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

July 26th, Derric and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary! We really wanted to go back to Punta Cana like we did on our honeymoon (pictured above) but we decided to go to Vegas instead..... We have a friend getting married in September so we are going then to celebrate so we kept it pretty simple. We tried to the traditional something "cotton" idea since it's the second year. So, I came up with a candy basket with "Cotton Candy". Derric is the BIGGEST candy head I have ever met so it was a perfect match! He gave up and got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers! I love flowers so that was great. We went to eat at a nice Italian Restaurant in town and let Hank go to Gramms and Grumps house for the night, we had a great time together.

NEGATIVE!!!

Need another reality check??? Well, if you haven't been following the sweet story of Kate McRae you should be, this sweet precious little girl found out last June she had brain cancer. On her way to a waterpark with her brothers and sisters, Kate's mom noticed a tremor in Kate's hand and immediately took her into her pediatrician...... Kate has been fighting this for 13 months now. Read below.

Written by Kate's Mom in her journal entry today Friday July 30, 2010:

Today has been full of nervous energy as we found out early this morning that most likely we would not hear the PET results until Monday. I kept starting projects and then would find myself unable to finish them, leaving small messes everywhere. I then decided to organize and rearrange the girls room, only to get all of the stuff out and decide to stop. So Liv and I left the house for a little bit. I needed to escape my newly made messes.

For 13 months we have fought, prayed and asked God alongside many of you to wipe this cancer from Kate's body. For 13 months we have watched Kate change before our eyes, her beautiful hair falling out in clumps, her eyelashes slowly disappearing. The healthy tan turning into a dull, pale white. The sparkle in her eye quickly replaced by an at times vacant stare. Brain cancer threatened to take so much. The greatest of these being our precious daughter. Our Kate who brought life to our family, a sass to everyday activities and snuggles to quiet night talks. 13 months ago one scan changed our life forever.

And tonight 13 months later, one scan again changed our lives. The results were in. I answered the phone, held my breathe and silently pleaded with God. I then clearly heard the word "negative". Negative!! The tears came fast and furious. God was giving us more time. More time with our daughter. Even the words "cautiously optimistic" didn't dampen our excitement. Had we found out defintively that the cancer was still there, medically the hope of beating it would have been overwhelmingly slim. And we also knew that negative meant "nothing they could currently detect". And we knew cautious would always be a word equated with this horrific cancer. But tonight we heard the words for 13 months we have so desperately longed to hear, "negative". The mass that remains was negative for cancerous activity. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. And thank you for being so faithful to pray alongside us.

We will update more as we speak with Kate's neuro oncologist. The journey remains far from over. And yet, tonight we heard an answer to all of our prayers.


PLEASE PRAY FOR SWEET KATE!

Strike a Pose!

Me and my college roomates or should I say cheermates from Blinn got together this weekend. Our families have blossomed and it is so neat to watch everyone of us grow in different ways. We met in College Station and had lunch at Shipwreck Grill (delicious) and then went bowling at Grand Central Station..... Tayden and Hank had a wonderful time talking up a storm and taking each others toys away from one another. We have another get together in the Fall for the Scarecrow festival, can't wait. When we 3 get together it feels as if we never misssed a beat, truth of it is... we only talk like once a month. Here are a few pics from our reunion!

Gotta love the FREE socks!

Totally Hot!

Chanae, Amanda, and Me
Derric, Chanae, and Gatlin

Bubba, Tayden, and Amanda


Hankster

Too pooped to play!

Swimming With Grandpa

I love swimming, Grandpa and I got to swim together a few weeks ago! He is so much fun, he let's me kick, and splash, and he even throws me up a little. Grandpa says I can come over and swim anytime I want to, he loves me a whole lot. Here are a few pictures of our last swim together, I went non-stop for about 45 minutes so Grandpa might need a rest for my next swim....

Sweet Harughty Boys

So our A/C is broken, so sad...( tear, tear). So instead of lugging all of our stuff to our parents houses, we went to Lee and Jennifer's house since they have a baby too, and all the gear! It has made it so nice for us. I have watched 6 episodes of Prison Break (my new t.v. show from Netflix) and gotten a little of my sewing projects started (messed up, and more than anything on a bit of a learning curve). Hank and Hayes have even started to nap at the same time. We have been here since Friday and we will finally get back into our home tonight after our new 3 TON A/C unit arrives. Thank goodness I can buy them at my work for cost, those suckers are expensive and so is the install. Guess we won't be making our anniversary vacation to Vegas, haha! Here is a sweet picture of Hank 7.5 months and Hayes 2.5 months. We had to put Hank's arm behind the pillow so he wouldn't grab Hayes hair and make it cry for the third time!

Almost 30

From the fullness of his grace we

have all recieved one blessing after another.

John 1:16


On July 6th, I turned 28.... Wow, that's really close to 30 isn't it? I am totally blessed old or not to have a wonderful family and friends to celebrate with. My mom's birthday is the 11th so we celebrated together. We went to eat at the very yummy Lupe Tortilla where they have the best Beef Fajitas EVER...... They started there business in the year I was born by a little family in Addicks, TX they have a cute story check it out. Here are a few pictures of the night
"Eees gooood homes".

Meghan made these center pieces for the table for me and my mom

(her vase had a D for Donna), she's so sweet!

Me and Derric

Christina and Matt (Derric's brother)

Stevi (my sister) and Richard

Reid, Hank, and Pax


Jennifer and Lee (Derric's brother)

Logan and Meghan

Loretta and Al ( the famous Taylor Mae's parents)

My mom opening a card.

Hank and Taylor

Sweet Babies.

My precious cake, thanks Babe!

It was so wonderful to be old and loved anyway!

It's A Yo Yo Kinda Day!

I totally heart Yo Yo's they are a fun little way to add fabric to anything to make it pop and be fun! Check out how easy they are to make and all the fun things I like that you can do wtih them.

Hair Clips....
a necklace....
add on to your little black favorite that is getting pushed to the back of the closet.
On a dish towel...
or even a scrapbook page!

First came love, then came marriage.....

Make a picture collage

An Out of the Park kind of Father's Day

So it is really cool that Derric and Lee are such close brothers, and it's even more cool that now they get to raise their sons five months apart together. They already talk about the little league the boys will play in and of course that they want to coach the boys together! So naturally it was only politically correct to take them to their first Astros baseball game on Father's Day together! Here are a few pics of our first Father's Day with Hank and Hayes!

Make a free digital scrapbook