Lent

Lent season starts today.  I am giving up sweets/treats.  I found myself lately after every meal wanting a piece of chocolate or some sort of treat.  So since we are supposed to sacrafice something...I thought that would be a good choice since I am alwasy craving it.  So here we go...40 days with no sweets/treats.  That means no bite size candy bars after lunch while @ work, no ice cream, no handful of chocolate chips after dinner, no cookies, etc.  This is going to be really hard but will be done.

I will apologize in advance in case I am cranky during the next 40 days from lack of sugar :)

Engagement Photos

We had our engagement photos taken last August.  We decided that since we were having a fall wedding, that we wanted summer engagement photos (we both are not fans of winter).  We decided to take them downtown Stillwater.  It was such a fun day and we really enjoyed them.  The photos are by the amazing Kimberly Williams Photography.

Here are a select few of our favorites...

We of course had to have our baby girl in a few of them...we love her so much :)

21 is a significant number in our relationship for many reasons...and it also will be our wedding date!
October 21, 2011

DIY Wedding Veil

Another DIY project I can cross off my list.  I always new if I were to wear a veil on my wedding day...that it was going to be a long one.  I never even looked anywhere for a veil because I didn't want to spend the amount of money they sell them for.  I think it so ridiculous how much they sell a veil for when you only wear it for a couple hours (if that).  My mom came to visit and pretty much made the whole thing.  It was super easy to make and cost a total of $3.50.  WOW...talk about budget saver :) 

Right now it is considered cathedral length.  I have not tried it on with my dress yet so I am not sure if I will keep it this length or make it chapel length.

Sorry the pictures are so crappy...it's from my phone.  My mom and I couldn't figure out a good place to take the pictures either.  Oh well...you get the idea.

Follow up

So I had my follow up appointment @ the dermatologist yesterday.  The biopsy came back negative...meaning it was not cancer.  My doctor did mention that it was pre-cancerous though.  The cells in the mole were changing.  Thank gosh they removed it.  I just found another mole on my toe that I will have my doctor look at when I go in for my next skin check.

Everyone should go get their skin checked yearly for any odd looking moles.  As a woman, you could have your regular doctor look over your moles at your yearly check up.  That is where I had my skin check that found the mole that was cancer 4 year ago.  Checking your own moles monthly is something to do also.  Look online for pictures of moles so you know what to look for when trying to find any suspicous looking ones on your body.

Both moles that I had removed on my body were small...about the size of ball point pen tip.  That was it.  Regular check ups are good and ALWAYS WEAR SUNSCREEN.  I've learned that being tan is not important in my life.  Living a long life...pale & cancer free is alright by me!

Girls Weekend

Tate was gone coaching @ state wrestling this weekend.  It was the perfect weekend for girl time.  One of my bridesmaids was coming home from California to visit.  I decided since she was home that I would have all the bridesmaids order their dresses.  Here are the BM dresses that I decided upon that all the girls loved.  This is the color I picked also.

I had most of my BM's over on Friday night.  My bestie brought her daughter, my godchild, with so it was fun to hang out and play with her.

Here Mya is getting to know Rylee.

Here are all the girls on Friday night.  I was laughing because Rylee kept making noises while we were waiting for the timer to go off on the camera.  I couldn't hold it in because she was being so funny.

On Saturday we went and ordered the dresses.  The weather wasn't the greatest and parking near the bridal shop was horrible...but we eventually got in and ordered the dresses.  Some of us girls then went to lunch @ the Wild Onion.  They had the best bloody mary bar. 

That Saturday night, we had a get together at a friends home since our friend Molly (one of my bridesmaids) was home from California.  I miss her so much and I can't wait to go visit her sometime soon.

It was a really fun weekend and so great to be able to see all my fabulous friends in one weekend.  Mya and I really did miss Tate though.  One of his wrestlers got 6th and the other one did not place.  He had a great weekend also.  I now look forward to spending more time with him now that he is done coaching for the season.

Now time to melt this snow and bring on spring :)

Life Adventures

Tate and I have many dreams and goals that we would like to do and accomplish in our lifetime.  I thought by posting about one of them...TRAVEL...then it's documented and we can come and look at it to remind us.

Tate and I love to travel.  There is this huge world out there for us to see and we are so excited to be able to travel throughout our lives.  We recently became a part of a travel club that allows discounted travel.  This was a perfect fit for us since we love to travel and now can do it at a discount.  I am a person that loves to save money and will go out of my way to be able to find ways to do it.  There are many ways to save money out there...you just have to find them :)

We are going on our first cruise this spring and are very excited.  The cruise is making a stop in Cozumel, Mexico.  Neither of us has ever been to Cozumel so we are excited that it's stopping somewhere new for us.  I really hope I like it because I would like to be able to go on more cruises throughout our life together.  Here is a picture of our ship...SO HUGE!!!

Some places that we have traveled together are:

Florida Keys

Miami

Montana ski trip

Las Vegas

I've realized after looking at my pictures that I really need to take more when I do go on vacation and take better pictures. 



We know that having kids can really put a damper on traveling, but we hope to make our children a part of the adventure also.  Being a part of this travel club, we hope to vacation at least twice a year.  Whether it be a small weekend getaway or a week long trip to another country...we want our kids a part of it.  Yes there will be some trips we will want to be adult only...that is what our kids grandparents are for :) 

Some places that Tate and I would love to travel are:
Nashville, TN
New York City, NY
Los Angeles, CA - where I hope to attend a taping of the Ellen show (love her)!
Napa Valley
Seattle, WA
Colorado
Orlando, FL - Disney World (I've never been)!
San Diego, CA - going to the zoo would be a must!
New Orleans, LA
Hawaii
Alaska
St. Lucia
Australia
New Zealand
Fiji
Paris
South Africa
London
Amsterdam

There are more places but I can't think of every place right now.  I can't wait to post about all the different vacations that we take.  Coming up...cruise to Cozumel :)

Melanoma

It all began in September 2006. I had gone in for my routine 'girl physical' and asked the nurse practitioner to just take a look @ my moles for any that look concerning.  This is something that I periodically had done because my mom had asked me to.  I always thought it was just a routine thing but nothing would come of it.  The nurse was checking my breathing with the stethoscope on my back and noticed a small mole that she thought I should have removed.  She just happened to 'glance' at it at that moment.  I said ok.  I set up an appt with my family doctor after my appt.  I was going back in about a 1.5 months to have it removed.

Early November 2006 came and I went in with my mom to have the mole removed.  I wasn't worried about anything.  I just thought that it was precaution so that it wouldn't become anything in the future.  I wasn't worried about the results.  I didn't worry about anything.  My parents called me a week after my appt and told me that they received a call from my family doctor.  The results came back.  I had skin cancer.  I was so scared.  I just started crying.  I was told that I was going to have to have surgery to remove some skin where the mole was to see if it had spread at all.  They talked about having a skin graft taken from my thigh to use as skin on back, depending on how much they had to take.

Surgery was set up for late December 2006.  I graduated from college that month and then headed home for Christmas and now...surgery.  I had surgery before Christmas.  I was told they would not have to do a skin graft at all which made me feel so much better.  I had surgery and was told that the cancer had NOT spread and that they got it all off!!!!  I was elated.  I was going to have this big, ugly scar on my back...but I didn't care because I no longer had skin cancer.

Since December 2006, I go to a dermatologist every 6 months for skin check.  I check my lymph nodes every so often for lumps. (I found one lump and had surgery in May 2009, but it came back negative.)  I NEVER lay out in the sun.  I wear 50+ SPF sunscreen anytime I will be out in the sun.  I have pale color skin and am very happy about it.

The interesting thing about me getting skin cancer was that I was the one girl in my group of friends that wore sunscreen when out in the sun (only SPF 15..but it was something).  I hadn't been in a tanning bed since my first semester of college.  I feel like I took precautions...but the damage was already done. 

You may wonder why I am blogging about this today.  Well I went in for a routine skin check yesterday @ my dermatologist.  I have a few moles that concern me and the dermatologist will always look at those more closely with a device he has.  There was one on my pinkie finger that just appeared in the last 6 months.  He looked at and decided we should remove it.  I, once again, was not worried and still am not.  It worries me that I am not worried about it.  I get the results on Monday when I go back in to get my one stitch out.  I pray that it comes back negative.  I pray that the disease will never cross paths with me again.  I pray for all those out there currently battling the ugly disease. 

But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.
Luke 9:11