relay for life

While in college I took a course entitled "Death & Dying". Yes, I actually took this class, and I yes I really enjoyed it. During this class we had to create a "family tree" of sorts that made us talk to our families about death and to actually find out how members of our extended family had died. In doing this project, I discovered something I found quite alarming...cancer is quite prevalent on both sides of my family. Although until that point cancer had only touched my life in one way...my grandma had been diagnosed with breast cancer, but she had battled and won. Then as some of you know, in December of 2004 my grandpa was diagnosed with lung cancer. He battled with everything he had, but a short 7 weeks after his diagnosis, the cancer took his life.

On August 4 I will be participating in the Relay for Life. The Relay for Life is an overnight walk to raise money for cancer research. If any of you out there would like to donate money to this wonderful cause please email me using the link to the right (thanks Dale :), and I will contact you with more details. I know a lot of you that frequently read my blog are individuals I will be walking with that night, but for those of you who are not, I'm asking you to look into your hearts and donate to this more than worthy cause.

I'm usually not one to ask people for money, it actually makes me quite uncomfortable, so you have to know how much I believe in this to be asking.

I can only hope that one day, my daughter will not have to know what its like to lose someone to cancer. That is something that will only be possible if we continue to raise money to fund research. Then maybe one day all of our children will grow up in a world where cancer is just something they read about.

how did mom have 2 of us so close together??

So, I told you the other day there was an incident at the grocery store this past weekend. So, now that I can think about it without my heart beating at an alarming rate, I decided to share my little story. Saturday mornings Bob usually golfs with his dad and brother (when we're in town, which lately has not been that often), this Saturday was no different, other than the fact that we were having guests pretty much all weekend long, starting shortly after Bob finished his round of golf. We spent much of the week preparing for our guest, cleaning, doing laundry, making grocery lists, and deciding what foods to make. Friday we ran out of time to actually do the grocery shopping, so I decided that I would take Brianna on Saturday while Bob was golfing,(Side note...Bob does 99% of the grocery shopping in our house) as I needed to go out to get some things anyway. So Saturday morning, Brianna and I headed off to Super Target, figuring we could kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Unfortunately, by the time I had gotten everything else on the list, there was no room in the cart for any sort of groceries, and during this time, Brianna thought it was fun to take things out of my purse, play with them and then drop them on the floor. Needless to say, mommy didn't find this game so fun. I must note that she wasn't screaming, crying, or anything else, just dropping things, so I was a little upset with myself for feeling very frustrated with her, but I was really only frustrated because everything was taking me 5 times longer than normal. (I realize this happens when you have kids, so stop laughing at me) Anyway, I had decided to skip the groceries and wait until Bob got home to send him out after groceries or to have him watch her while I went back out to get the groceries. On the way home, we passed the grocery store and I decided I was already out, the list wasn't that long, I should just get the groceries now and be done with it. So, we got out to get groceries. This was a mistake. After about 1 hour in the grocery store to pick up about 30 things, we finally headed to the checkout line, my patience very thin...again, not because she was doing anything wrong, just because it took so long, and the dropping game was getting VERY old by this point. The checkout lady asked if I had a Jewel (thats the grocery store) card, and of course I do, its right there on my key chain....wait....where are my keys? Oh no, Brianna must have dropped them...I am frantically looking for them, when I spot them...the are stuck between her belly and the front of the cart, whew...crisis averted. So then the lady asks for my ID to purchase the beer I was buying (and at this point really wanted to open!) just a second, its right here in my purse...wait....where is my wallet? Oh my gosh...she really did drop my wallet!! I'm frantically looking in the cart as I'm getting annoyed looks from the people in my checkout line. Nope...no wallet. I grab Brianna out of the cart and start running up and down the aisles looking for my wallet...there is nothing, I go to customer service, ask if anyone turned in a wallet...nope, nothing like that here. The manager asks me if the wallet could be down Brianna's outfit, again with an annoyed look on her face, I wanted to punch her in the face....hello, its a wallet...its not small! I again start looking up and down the aisles, go back to customer service...again nothing. I go out to my car, in tears to look there, nope nothing...meanwhile I call Bob and he is on his way to the store but won't be there for about 30 minutes or so. Oh, and did I mention that during all of this I'm also carrying Brianna who now weighs over 20lbs and also that I got maybe 3 hours of sleep the night before...I'm tired. I tell the manager my husband is coming to pay for the stuff and she asks if I want to keep looking in the aisles, what else am I going to do? So I ask again, are you sure no one turned anything in...holding out hope that there are good people in the world. So she goes to check...oh...here it is! I let out a breath, and realize I've kind of been holding my breath for the last 30 minutes. She hands it to me and says "I don't know if anything is missing" I anxiously open it, afraid of what I might find, or not find...and there it is, my driver's license, my credit cards, my atm card, my cash...all where I had left it. So back through the checkout we went.

So to that wonderfully kind person who turned in my wallet, thank you. You made one very frazzled mommy very happy. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

I guess it made it all worth while when on Saturday night Brianna said her real first word...mommy.
Yeah right in my dream world, well, she did say her first word, but of course she said daddy! She can say nothing that even remotely sounds like mommy.

But it was actually very cute, she was sitting on the couch with me, Bob was sitting on the floor in front of her when she tapped him on the shoulder, he turned around and she said da-deeeee!

OK, sorry for the long winded post, but its my blog and I'll make my posts as long as I want to! :)

father's day, old friends, & of course...golf

First of all, I want to say Happy Dad's day to all the dad's out there. The word father always makes me think of this quote "Anyone can be a Father, but it takes someone special to be a dad" (or it goes something like that) and the following people are definitely special enough to be dads. First of all to Bob, you are such an amazing daddy to Brianna. She absolutely lights up when you are around (as you do around her) and seeing you with her makes me love you even more (and I didn't realize that was even possible!) I know I never tell you enough how much I appreciate everything you do for us, but we both love you so much, and I'm amazed by you everyday! You are a wonderful husband and father and I love you more and more every day. To my dad, I don't even know if I could ever have the words to thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for me (and my family). I know you think the stuff you do is "no big deal" but it means a lot to us, and we could never repay you for all you've done. I'm sure I don't say this enough...but Thank you, and I love you. To Bob(my other dad), from the moment I met you, you welcomed me into the family with open arms. You do so much for us, from watching Brianna, to mowing our grass, and all the things in between, we appreciate it more than you know and we love you so much! Both of you (dad & Bob) are wonderful Grandpas to Brianna, and I know she will feel as blessed as I do, having had such great relationships with my grandpa's, and such wonderfully precious memories.

As I was writing this I realized that I never said thank you to the mom's in my life at Mother's Day, so I guess now is as good as time as any...as long as I'm in the sappy mood! To my mom, you know I love you lots! :) You're always there when I need to talk to someone, to complain, or to tell my funny stories to, or just to chat about nothing. You do more for me than you know, and for that I'm truly grateful. Nancy, you too, have welcomed me into the family and made me feel at home in your home. We both appreciate how much you do for us and for Brianna. We love you lots! You are both such good Grandmas and Brianna is so lucky to have you, and you have both been so wonderfully supportive while I have been figuring out this whole motherhood thing for the last year, and that means the world to me. And to my grandmas (both by blood & marriage), I love you all so much!

OK, now that I'm done with the sappy stuff... :)

This weekend was such fun (for the most part...there was an incident at the grocery store, but I don't have the energy to post about it now...maybe tomorrow).

Sunday, the Carroll family came over for lunch, along with our buddy Garth, who was staying here for the weekend, and then of course we watched the final round of the US Open. Sunday night a bunch of Bob's golfing buddies came over so they could hold their fantasy football draft. Yes, it is June, and they are talking football already. They are a little crazy about the fantasy football, but it was great to see all the guys. Holly and I left the boys to their draft and went to see "The Break Up", which we both enjoyed, and Brianna stayed here and kept an eye on the boys! :)


Yesterday, both Bob & I took the day off, so we attended the Knosher Golf Outing (this is a Knox Alumni event, for those of you who don't know) Bob played and I walked & watched. Knox golf was such a big part of Bob's college years (although if you know him at all, this is not a surprise to you) These guys are some of Bob's best friends (and also mine too) and they are the nicest guys anyone could hope to meet. It was such a blast to hang out with all of them and talk about old times, there were lots of laughs! :) And of course the day was topped off by the fact that the team Bob was on won! (well, they won the gross score). Needless to say a good time was had by all.

Well, I think I've rambled enough for tonight.... Lots of love to you all...

have you missed us?

Yes, I know...I know...its been a while. But I've finally got some new pictures. Brianna is getting pretty big now, and while she's not yet crawling, she sure does seem to get into a lot of stuff! This past weekend Brianna & I went with Amanda and her mom to the Wilton tent sale (if you don't know, Wilton makes cooking/baking supplies) I was thinking about what kind of cake to make Brianna for her birthday and while walking up and down the aisles I spotted a 3-D duck. Well, Brianna saw it and immediately got this huge smile on her face and was laughing and playing with the box. I almost couldn't get it away from her to pay for it! So, I bought it and decided to do a trial run to see if it would actually work for her birthday. It actually didn't turn out half bad. It will hopefully be decorated much better for her birthday( I only had chocolate frosting in the house), but Bob made me take a picture of the practice one before he started eating it!

Anyway, I've got a bunch of stuff to do around the house tonight, and its almost bath & bed time. But there are some new pictures in the June 2006 album. Hope everyone is having a nice summer so far. Our love to all!!

2 in one day...aren't you lucky?

As I said in the previous post, it was a long week last week. Besides flying back Monday morning and going to work, we took Brianna to the doctor, because she's had a rash that we couldn't get rid of and also started wheezing a bit on Friday. Well, by the time we got her to the doctor on Tuesday, her wheezing had worsened, and she almost ended up in the hospital because her blood oxygen wasn't going up. In the end she didn't have to go to the hospital, and is doing much better now. She is on a few medications (she also had an ear infection), but is doing much better. So, like I said...long week.

So, as you can see we got Brianna her own little pool yesterday. She's a little too young to use some of the stuff, but she seemed to like it. We don't have much planned for today, probably taking Brianna back out into the pool. Well, I guess I should get some stuff done around the house. Have a great day! Love to you all!

GW Graduation

I know, I know...so its taken me a week to get this stuff posted, but give me a break...it was a long week. We had a great time in D.C., although it was much too short. Graduation was really nice Former President George H.W. Bush & Former First Lady Barbara Bush were the commencement speakers. Their speech was actually pretty entertaining. It was a beautiful day, and of course I got sunburned, but it was a great time anyway. There are a few pictures from graduation and some from Brianna swimming in the hotel pool, which she loved! :)

Congrats Brian on your graduation!!

Congratulations Dawn, Jim, Cameron, & Clare on the birth of your daughter (and little sister) Sophia Marie! We are so happy for you. Can't wait to see pictures!

on our way out the door....again

Hi all, this is going to be short and sweet. We are leaving for DC in 3 hours (and still need to pack), but I just wanted to let you know that there are new pictures in the May 2006 album. Hope you all have a great weekend! There should be new pictures from DC and graduation early next week. We don't fly in until Monday morning, so give me a couple of days! :) Our love to all!

new pictures....

Just wanted to let you know that there are new pictures of our cutie pie in the May 2006 album. I was playing around with my camera, thats why all the pictures are in black & white or sepia. But I really love the way the pictures look in those two settings. She is such a little angel...well most of the time :) I hope you enjoy her new pictures. Lots of love to you all!

a stroll down memory lane..

So, it was another weekend out and about for the Carroll family. Last weekend Brianna spent the weekend with Grandpa Bob & Grandma Nancy, and this weekend she got to spend some time with Grandpa Lester & Grandma Susan. I had Friday off as Alli and I had planned to travel to Knox to see our Knox Moms. We had a great time and it was so good to see them all again. We spent a lot of time in that office and we miss them all so much. So it was great to catch up and talk about old times, and it gave Alli and I a great chance to catch up, because we don't get to see each other nearly enough. Anyway, I had a great weekend hanging out with Alli, seeing our Knox Moms, and strolling around good old Galesburg. I think we need to make this an annual thing.... :) We hope everyone has a great week...our love to all!

greetings from iowa

Just a quick note to let you know I've added some pictures to the May 2006 album. I will have more to add once we get home. But hopefully these will appease the masses for the moment. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Lots of love to you all.

another weekend in the books...

Hello All! I know its been a couple of weeks since I posted, but like always things are quite hectic. You would think now that tax season is "officially" over work would slow down, but no such luck. In fact I just got home from the office. We got back from St. Louis about 7:30ish, at which time I drove over to the office to do a bunch of filing that had been piling up for about a month now. Unfortuantely, the filing turned into me having to reorganize the cabinets, etc, etc. So, four and a half hours later I am finally home, and get to go back in a few hours...yippee. Besides that, we had a very good weekend. We were in St. Louis for a wedding of some friends of ours from Knox. The wedding was beautiful and we all (Ben & Amanda rode with us too)had a great time. We stayed with Angie, Nick, & Braden on Friday night (well it was actually Saturday morning by the time we arrived), so it was great to be able to see them for a little while. Brianna got to spend the weekend with Grandpa Bob and Grandma Nancy, and it sounds like they all had a great time as well. :) There isn't too much else to report with Bob and I. Since this is actually posting on Monday May 1, I guess I should be the first to wish Bob a very happy birthday! Brianna is getting more teeth!! Her top two front ones broke through last weekend. She has actually been really good with these two too, so we're very lucky on that. Other than that, there isn't too much new. She is still growing like crazy and will be 9 months old on Tuesday. Time sure does fly. She goes to the doctor on Wednesday, so we'll see how big she has gotten in the last 3 months. She has been picking things up like crazy. If you notice her tongue in the picture to the right, I don't know where she got that from but she has started doing that all the time now. She is such a little ham, as you can see. Still no crawling, but her legs are getting stronger, she'll stand against the couch for quite a while. I gues there isn't really any more "Brianna News". There are some new pictures in the April 2006 album, from the wedding, and of Braden, and a few of Brianna. I got a new camera for our anniversary/mother's day, so this was the first weekend I got to try it out. Hope you enjoy the pictures. OK, thats all for tonight, I should get to bed, so I can get up and get back to work! :'(

Brooks & Erin~ The wedding was beautiful...thanks again for inviting us! We hope you guys have a great time on your honeymoon!

Bob~ Happy 26th Birthday! & Happy Anniversary on the 3rd. We love you lots! :)

happy easter...a day late

Well, I got the blog fixed and have uploaded the pictures. Hope you enjoy. There are new pictures in the April 2006 album both at the beginning and the end. I'm not sure why they didn't all stay together, but they didn't, so just scroll to the end to see the rest of the new pictures. Anyway, I'm not going to write any more, I'm exhausted and Bob needs the computer to do some work. Hope you all had a good Monday and have a great rest of the week! Our love to all!

happy tax day!

OK, so I tried to remove the counter and somehow the top of the blog got all screwed up, and it is really bothering me!! Unfortunately, I won't be able to fix it until I get home tonight. Hopefully I'll get home at a decent hour so I can fix that and also get the new pictures up. I hope everyone had a good Easter! Ours was pretty low key, Bob, Nancy, & Grandma came over for lunch/dinner, it was a nice little gathering! I can't believe its Monday again...ugh! Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I will be fixing the page, because it is very, very annoying and that hopefully tonight there will be new pictures posted!
Love to all!

early easter

So, since I heard a lot of you complaining today about us (me, Angie & Nick, and Dale & Suzanne) not having enough new posts, I thought I'd better get one up here. But just in our defense, we could not post at all, then where would you be? :) Anyway, we made a little trip to Iowa yesterday to attend Felton's Easter today. It was so great to see everyone! We definitely don't see everyone nearly enough :( We had a great time and Brianna enjoyed meeting all (well, alot) of the Felton clan, including the 6 other babies that were there. There are 7 kids under a year old! Caden was born in May of 2005, Anna in June of 2005, Brianna in August of 2005, McKenna & Braden in November of 2005, Noah in January of 2006, & Kelsey in February of 2006. The one room in Denny & Glady's house looked like a nursery. You have never seen so many carseats and diaperbags in one room! :) There are also three more babies due this year. Dawn & Jim's little one in May, Jeff & Susan's & Adam & Traci's little ones both due in July. So the Felton clan is ever expanding, but everyone is loving it! Well, I guess I should get going and get to bed, need to get to work early tomorrow! It was great to see a lot of you this weekend and we love you all! :)

There are new pictures in the April 2006 album.

time flies...

So it seems like just yesterday that I was graduating high school, heading off to college, turning 21, graduating college, getting married, having a baby. And now, I've been out of high school 8 years, out of college 4 years, married for 3, my baby is 8 months old, and I have turned (as of 7:13 this morning) 26. I am officially closer to 30 than 20! Yikes, where does the time go? Well, enough about all that, There are some new pictures of our cutie pie, check them out in the April 2006 album!
Love to all!

quick note

Hi all, I know its been a while since I've posted, but things have been quite hectic around here. Nothing really exciting, just lots and lots of work. Oh, excuse the dirty laundry in the background of this picture, but hey, what can you do? I think 12 people dump their laundry here, because there is no way the three of us can produce this much dirty laundry. Sorry but I don't have too many new pictures, like I said, its been busy. Speaking of Miss Brianna, she is 8 months old today. She is growing so fast. She still isn't crawling yet, but is getting close. We were back in IA last weekend, and it was great to see some family & friends. Other than that we haven't done much besides work and sleep. Tax season seems to be a killer this year, and even though the 17th is the official deadline, we'll have tax returns to do until October probably, but at least it won't be 12 hour days anymore. Well, I told you this would be short...I hope to write more soon, and I promise to take some more pictures soon! Hope you are all doing well. Our love to all...

the good life

As we sit here eating dinner, watching Harry Potter, with Brianna fast asleep in her crib, I can't help but think about how very lucky we are. I was giving Brianna her bath tonight, and actually letting her play in the tub, without hurrying through the whole process, because we needed to get ready to leave for somewhere or needing to hurry to get her ready for bed. As I sat back and watched her play, laughing and splashing and reaching for her tub toys, I realized that it was moments like this that make life so wonderful. Its strange that such a run-of-the-mill thing brought this on, and I guess not many 25 (OK, almost 26) year olds would find a night of baths, bedtime stories, and Harry Potter exciting, but to me, this was an absolutely perfect night. I guess maybe I've been working so much that I was thinking of these things as just things I needed to do, without really enjoying them. I don't mean to take these things for granted, but sometimes after 11 hour days, I just want to fall into bed at night. But then I see that little girl smile at me, and the stress of the day just melts away. I know these things all the time, but sometimes you just need a moment like the one I had tonight to stop and say "this is the good life".

Dawn, Jim & Baby~ You are in our thoughts and prayers, we love you so very much!

best buddies

OK, so I couldn't get the picture to post but in case you haven't seen the pictures on my sister's weblog, you should check them out in the March 2006 album. Brianna & Braden's pictures are adorable. (not that I'm biased or anything) :o) I hope you're all having a great week!

Welcome home Miss McKenna! We hope you're settling in to your new home, and we're sure your mommy and daddy are having the time of their lives with you at home! We love you all so very much and can't wait until we get to see you and finaly meet McKenna!

Miss Kelsey, you should tell your mommy that she needs to start a weblog too, so we can see pictures of you as you grow too. Tell her to get with the program! :0) We love you guys and hope you are doing well.

Night All!

(I got it to work this morning!)

on a roll...

Two posts in 4 days, wow...aren't you the lucky ones. :o) I've added a few new pictures into the March 2006 album. There hasn't been too much going on here, so I don't have a lot to report. I spent all day Saturday at the Spring Resale that Step By Step PTA organizes. It was absolute madness! I got there at 6:45 to work the resale which started at 7:15 and there were people lined up around the building. They do have lots of nice stuff, but it was insane!! Needless to say I was exhausted when I got home, was home for about 1/2 hour, then went to church. Bob played basketball on Saturday morning, then golf in the afternoon with his dad, as it was beautiful here, so Brianna got to spend the day with Grandma Nancy. We were all pretty exhausted from our respective days out, so I think we were all sleeping by about 8:30 last night. Haven't gotten a lot accomplished today, I did bring some work home, but haven't mustered the energy to actually do it! Maybe I'll start soon. ;o) Well, I guess thats about all. Hope you all had a great weekend, and are all ready to start a new week! Love to you all!

Miss McKenna is very close to coming home, keep praying that she'll be home very soon. Dale, Suzanne, & McKenna you are never far from our thoughts, we can't wait until you have that beautiful little girl home with you, we love all three of you!

Happy Birthday Mom! We hope you had a great day! We love you!

finally....a new post

I know...I know...its been a long time. What can I say, we've been busy! :o) Plus, there isn't a whole lot exciting going on here, I've been working like a crazy person, and we've been gone the last few weekends. The last weekend in February we went to Angie & Nick's for Braden's baptism. He has gotten so big! It was nice to spend some time with them. Although, the Thursday before we left we took Brianna to the doctor as she had been very wheezy and not sounding very well. She ended up having a double ear infection, which we wouldn't have known about had it not been for the fact that we decided her wheezing needed a doctors attention. She seemed perfectly fine and didn't do anything abnormal that would have caused us to believe she had ear infections. Anyway, she was put on an antibiotic for that and then 3 different meds for her wheezing. She wasn't a very happy camper the weekend of Braden's baptism, partly from the meds and partly from her schedule being all mixed up. She ended up having to be put on a different antibiotic for her ear infections as the first one didn't help at all. But she is doing much better now. She has 2 more days of the antibiotic left and a few more weeks of one of the meds for the wheezing. But like I said, she is doing much better now. We had the kids's (Brianna & Braden) picture taken together on Monday. They were so adorable, and the pictures turned out fabulously! We can't wait to get them back, you would swear they were twins, because they are the same size!! :o) Last weekend Brianna and I took a trip to Iowa. I met up with some friends from high school for the weekend and Brianna got to spend some quality time with Grandma Susan and Grandpa Lester. It was a great weekend, except for the awful weather that showed up just in time for our drive back to Illinois! Oh well, we made it safe and sound. Other than that, I guess there isn't too much going on. I've added some new pictures, click on the March 2006 link. I know they aren't all from March, but give me a break! :o) Next week is corporate tax deadline, so don't expect too much out of me before then. Sending you all lots of love!

Happy Birthday Mom on the 12th!

Congrats Audrey & Seth on your tiny little bundle of joy!
Kelsey Ann born 2/24/06 5lbs 3oz 18 inches
She is an absolute doll!!