Thanksgiving 09

We spent Thanksgiving at Chris' great aunt and uncles home near Kings Dominion. We had a day full of shooting, rocket launching, food and family.

If you look closely you can see the ejected shell at around 1:00 above my head! Great Shots!
We then headed down to Corolla in the Outer Banks for a post Thanksgiving vacation with the Andresen's. We went to a great little aquarium, ate LOTS of amazing food, and did some great shopping.. Coach outlet???? I was able to pick out my Christmas present from Chris!



Tomorrow kicks off the 2 swim meets that are 4 days each. December 14 will be a day to look forward to. We will be here for Christmas Day and then we head to Indiana to spend time with my family and celebrate New Years.... look out 2010!

More pics from Tgiving (October)

Family Reunion

Chris and I just got back from our trip to Indiana. I went to Lafayette on Wednesday and Chris joined me in New Castle on Friday. We ate a lot, visited with a lot of family and tried to stay warm. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

Uncle Chris and Emily

Uncle Dan and Emily

Uncle Chris and Emily

Falkor and Emily (look close - Emily has her arm on Falkor.. too cute)

Holding Falkor's paw

October already?

Where did time go?

Things have finally gotten back to normal after our quick trip to Indiana. Grandpa's service was beautiful and over 300 people came to the visitation. It was so nice to meet some of his friends that knew exactly who we were, but we weren't sure who they were. :) They would come over and introduce themselves and tell us how much Grandpa would brag about us.... especially Emily (of course). I can not brag enough about him! Grandpa was a Shriner and used to transport burn children to hospitals in Ohio and Kentucky. He was a FreeMason, and he served in World War II. He did so much in his 87 years, and I am so proud to call him my grandpa. He will be sooo missed.

Chris and I have been extremely busy. He is in school two nights a week, I am teaching for GMU twice a week plus my regular 40 hour job, and teaching swim lessons one day a week. He just started football again and with group projects we are lucky to see each other on the weekends. This is actually my last free weekend, next weekend starts the meet season. We will be participating in the Human Society walk in DC next Saturday, and then I leave Wednesday the 14th to go to Indiana and Chris joins me on the 16th. The following weekend (10/25) is our ANNIVERSARY... wow, 1 year! November is a busy month too... a wedding and Thanksgiving!

Our sweet sweet neighbor Kim is moving to Virginia Beach, so we are desperately looking a dog sitter that loves Chase as much as she did. One of my lifeguards is going to be watching her for the second time when we leave in October, but we have 2 more trips in November that are stressing us out a little bit. I am an anti-boarding person because of a dog that I used to have came back from being boarded and was never the same. Chase is almost 7, and has never been boarded, so I don't want to try that out! I am currently looking at some "open" kennels in which all the dogs play in a large area all day and then sleep in rooms together at night. However, I am afraid that she might not pass the "personality test" because of her traumatic experience (she got attacked by two larger dogs and was bitten) and since then she is fearful of larger dogs. We will have to try it out and see if she passes.

Till next time!

Grandpa is with his love

Grandpa Barber passed away early this morning, most likely in his sleep. My phone rang around 158am, and I looked at the caller id and braced myself as I said hello. It was my parents, and I knew what was coming. I wasn't prepared, I knew it could happen, but I didn't think this soon. Chris and I just purchased our tickets to Indiana for an October trip, and I kept telling Grandpa that I would see him soon, but I never wished it was this soon.

I laid awake until 5am and then decided to just get up and go to work. I showered, and then laid down again. I finally fell asleep, but the whole time I dreamt about what was going on.

Grandpa LOVED his granddaughters. He finally got three boys officially last month, and a cherry on the top was the birth of baby Emily in May, making him a Great Grandpa. He was onry, fiesty, stubborn, whitty, smart, and mostly SOOO full of love. Losing someone so close and so important in my life is not easy and I am definitely having a hard time dealing with it. Chris and I are leaving in the morning, and I am bracing myself for what lays ahead for all of us. I am so happy that he can finally be with his one true love, and they can be together again, hopefully keeping a good eye on all of us.

If you read this, I just ask that you keep us in your thoughts and pray that we find peace in all of this.

Grandpa

Grandpa had his first round of chemo last Thursday and so far so good. They don't think he was able to battle the congestive heart failure/double pneumonia without the chemo. In other words, they thought the cancer wasn't letting his other areas heal, so they gave him the chemo. He is still eating, but very little, on oxygen 100% of the time, and still is doing breathing treatments. We don't see an end to the hospital stay at the moment, but he was able to enjoy visitors including little Emily.

and because I can't resist her sweet lil face... more pictures of Emily at Amandan's Wedding Reception

Vegas Baby and Grandpa Update

@ the Bellagio

Lucky Larry's Lobster Mania

M & M world... good thing dad was there to help!

The Girls

The Boys

@ our $3.95 breakfast... it was good!

New York, New York

We are back from Vegas, but not back with extra money. After losing a little we decided it wasn't THAT much fun to lose money and stopped after two days of trying.

We arrived on Tuesday morning and hung out at the pool and lazy river. We had dinner at Fiamma Trattoria with everyone there for the wedding. I think there were over 20 people. On Wednesday we traveled to The Little White Chapel where we met Elvis and Amanda and Dan got hitched. Elvis liked dad a lot and as you can see by the pictures, dad enjoyed him as well.
Thursday we toured multiple hotels, saw a show at the MGM called Crazy Horse, and it was horrible.... so bad that Amanda and Dan walked out! We all left on Friday and headed home. (more pictures to come...the computer was slow)

There are a lot of great pictures on Facebook too...especially from the professional photographer.

Grandpa Barber
His cancer is back.... unfortunately that means that he will have to start chemo. He had a port implanted Thursday (to receive the chemo), has his pacemaker checked on on Monday, and starts his first round of Chemo next Thursday. For those that read this, keep him in your prayers. I have never known him without hair, so that alone is too hard to take. We hope the chemo works or at least helps him feel better. He is only 5'2 and 126 pounds at the moment, and shrinking daily because the smell of food makes him sick. The dr's have given him a pill to help with the smell of the food and has allowed him to eat more than before.
This morning he was rushed to the hospital because he couldn't breathe... I am so thankful that Amanda and Mom are with him!