I'm Thankful...

That I got breast cancer. Crazy right?  And yes, I am crazy...but let me explain.  (no, it's not just because of my "free" tummy tuck & amazing new girls!)  This is the month of "thankful" statuses on Facebook.  I love it.  It's so much better than all the whining & complaining--which I've been known to do from time to time, of course.  Now, I have never participated in the "thankful" statuses & I don't know why...other than I just don't.  It's not that I'm not thankful!  In fact, every night I pray to God thanking him for ALL the blessings in my life--my family, friends, job I love, roof over my head, MY HEALTH!  Yep, I even say thanks for my health.  And that's kinda funny considering the other day I was having a weird stomach pain & told my boss I was ready to pass on the torch for mysterious body malfunctions!  I'm over the poking & the cutting...but I'm also thankful for it.

School started here at the end of August.  Since the beginning of school this year, I have been contacted by 3 different women in my life regarding their recent diagnosis of breast cancer.  These three women have chosen to keep this diagnosis relatively private & even tho they are on Facebook, you wouldn't know the personal health journey they are taking right now.  And each of these women come from three totally different paths in MY life--none of them even knows the others. They came to me with questions, but I also believe with HOPE.  And that right there is why I'm thankful.  I've been in their shoes.  They've got a scary journey ahead of them--some don't even know all the details of what that journey will entail yet.  It's so long right now that they can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.  But that's where I'm standing.  And as long as I'm here, they can get there too.  At least, that's what I hope they're thinking.  I hope that's why they've reached out to me. With that being said, I certainly don't have all the answers...but I have a boob expert in my back pocket as I am so thankful to have an amazing breast pathologist for a sister.  And, she has always been there.

Breast cancer sucks.  ANY cancer sucks.  Big. Time.  But there's support out there--there's HOPE out there.  My heart is so heavy for these 3 women right now (all mothers...all with children elementary age or younger), but I know they'll be okay. I'm so thankful they knew they could talk to me.  I'm so thankful for doctors like my little sister who make it their life to study & research breast issues.  God puts us in a place at a certain time for a specific reason & while that reason may not be revealed immediately, it's really on purpose.  I am thankful I was in that doctor's office on July 7, 2006 and I'm thankful that I got breast cancer.

Good-Bye Summer...

It's time to say good-bye to Summer 2013.  We took our bi-annual camping trip with the Carsons, and some additional families this past weekend.  There was much fun & laughter had over those 4 days & 3 nights.  And fortunately for you, I did gather some quotes which made it to our regular "Camping Top 10"...except this time, there was so much good stuff being thrown around that we made it to TWENTY!

I will preface this Top 20 with this--we have some kind of friendship here with these folks.  We all have family by blood who we love & adore. But we also have that "family" that we choose--these folks are part of our chosen "family" and we are so blessed to have them in our lives.  We have known each other anywhere from 10 to 14 years (and in John's case, NINETEEN YEARS).  We're excited that our children are growing up together (and we're growing OLDER together).   Makin' memories...that's what it's all about.  Enjoy!

                                     Carson/Wealer/Armstrong/Tubb/Zegel 

                       Labor Day Weekend Camping Trip 2013 

                                               Top 20

20.  Um...tag you're it.  My swamp butt itches & I need to go wash it.

KC offered support while Ryan was fixing a broken "arm" on the camper.

 19.  If you weren't a cancer survivor, I'd kill you right now.

18.  I don't know what you want for your top 10 because I'm pretty friggin' funny!

Too cute for words--a picture full of some of my favorite Wealers keeping cool in the pool!

17. If you don't have frank & beans, don't intervene....

Boys working together to fix the broken stuff...and enjoying it.

16. Could you go tell your boyfriend to change his tampon?

15.  Sneakers, a diaper & a helmet...you been drinkin'?

Cute Luke in his camping gear!

14.  Ask Satan for the salt & pepper.

13.  I'm just gonna sit here & be sexy...

My Peeps

12.  He just put it in her mouth & she said "mmmm, that's good."

11.  It's YOO-HOO you idiot!

10.  You're acting like a boob so you got the dog with the boob.

I can't put an appropriate caption on this picture because so many things are happening--let's just say this is the end of Day 3!  

9.  "When I go camping, the first thing I like to do in the morning is go on a trail run," said no one ever.

Lumberjack Uncle John

8.  Jenny "My Nipples Fart Because They're Part of My Butt" Wealer

7.  If you squeeze it, I'll pinch your leg!

This girl knows her way around a pond & a fishing pole!

6.  You bite me, I'll bite you harder.

5.  I'm gonna poison your food for going on a walk!

4.  My boob looks saggy because my 2 is lower than your 1.

The shirts say it all...

3.  It's easier to be nice to strangers than you all!

2.  KC, don't wander off!

Celebrating Ally's 10th birthday with an Oreo Ice Cream cake!

1.  Boom.

Joey volunteered to take the gaggle of children fishing.  What a good man.  Boom.

I'm already excited for Memorial Day weekend 2014!

Super Dad's Day

So, my hubby got the short end of the deal this Father's Day when I scheduled Jackie & myself to be gone all day on a girl scout trip.  He's always a good sport, though, and didn't mind terribly when we decided to celebrate a day early.  It started with an early rise to cook breakfast.  I am a sweets-in-the-morning kinda girl.  I love me a chocolate muffin or donuts, danish or coffee cake.  Joel, however, likes his eggs, meat & potatoes.  So, I found a breakfast pizza with crescent rolls, cheese, hash browns, sausage & eggs.  (I found it on pinterest, printed but did not pin so I cannot seem to locate it again right now. :/)   But it was PERFECT--easy peasy & so so yummy!

Next we gave him his gifts.  Since his birthday was just a month ago & I may have gone a little overboard, he'd already asked for nothing.  But...that's not gonna happen.  So, we did a little something.

Jamison & I found a couple plastic beer mugs at Target that were screaming "Daddy's Summer Lawn Mowing Beer Mug" so we picked them up.  Then I was piddling around on Pinterest & ran across this idea...and paired it with a super hero questionnaire (I also found on Pinterest, but printed without pinning) and we ended up with this adorable Super Dad gift for Daddy.

Daddy's Super Dad Box of Beer
 (We did not follow the blog example exactly--Joel got the contents of his bottles to enjoy on his own!)

Daddy reading the bottle tops.

 Now, my favorite part of this gift was having the kids fill out their questionnaire about their Super Dad.  I helped Jamison with his ONLY by writing what he said--word for word.  I had a difficult time keeping a straight face, and then an even harder time waiting to share this with Joel on Saturday.  I will keep this till the end of time.

Are YOU 16?

There's never a dull moment around here.  It's our first day of summer break, and we had the following conversation at lunch.

Jamison:  Mommy, are you 16?

Me:  Yes, honey.  I AM 16!

Jamison:  How old is Daddy?

Me:  He's 16 too.

Jamison:  Are you bigger than Daddy?

Me:  Yep.  I am actually bigger than Daddy.

Jamison:  Then why aren't you stronger than Daddy?

Jackie:  (as she rubs her belly) Jamison, you can tell Daddy eats more carbs than Mommy & Mommy runs.

Jamison:  Ooooohhhhhh.....

I'm not sure how Jackie's explanation actually answered his question but it did satisfy him.  And I'm not gonna argue...she IS kinda brilliant.

My Brad Pitt

I was watching the Today show this morning & they were talking about Angelina Jolie again.  If you've been living under a rock & you don't know why she's been in the news lately, you can read about it here.  I respect her decision to be proactive--I applaud her all day long for taking it public & being so real about it.  Joel & I joked when the story first came out that we'd love to see how long Brad sticks around after...we have the same running joke at our house about us.

Then Hoda & Kathie Lee were talking about how happy the couple looked together during their first public outing since her surgery.  Kathie Lee described them as "truly in love, not just lust."  And they put Brad on a pedestal for staying by her side through the whole thing.  He's so amazing, he loves her so much, you can see how happy they are together--even more so now than before.

Time Out.

Now I'm not saying that theirs isn't true love.  I'm not saying that Brad hasn't been an incredible partner through all of this.  I'm not saying that they aren't more happy now than they were before.  I don't know them.  But Hoda & Kathie Lee don't know MY "Brad Pitt".  The reality that Angelina's surgery SUCKED balls isn't something I will argue.  I'm sure it did.  In fact, I know it did.  And I know because I've been there.   And you know who else has been there?  Joey.  More than once.

I joke that my body looks like Frankenstein, but it's more like Humpty Dumpty.  Last night we were looking at my torso alone--it's like a treasure map!  Look, there's the scar from my "free" tummy tuck (aka DIEP flap surgery).  That one was the drains from the first mastectomy.  Oh that one?  That's from the gallbladder removal.   That's the 11 hour SGAP surgery scar right there.   And that one is where they cut a new hole for my belly button.  Oh and those are the holes from the drains x4--for each surgery in that location.  Yep, I could go on and on and on....

My "Brad Pitt" tells me I'm beautiful every single day.  He did it before 2006 & he's done it every day since. Every.Single.Day.

He told me I was beautiful while I was while screaming profanities in post-op while laying on a "pillow" made out of a pillow case stuffed with towels.  He told me how beautiful I was while feeding me ice chips on a plastic spoon when I was too nauseated to eat anything else.  He told me I was beautiful as he emptied & measured the fluid from my 2-6 drains, depending on the surgery.  He held my hand & said "How you feeling beautiful?" every time I woke up from a drug-enduced sleep.  He shampooed my hair & held my drains while  I was in the shower & told me how beautiful I was as he helped me dress so we could leave the hospital post surgery.  There's something about a man who still truly thinks your beautiful even after he has witnessed you birth three children, have your stomach & butt marked up for surgery, your breasts removed and pass a kidney stone the size of Montana!

So, Brad Pitt, you are one sexy man.  You are a good man for standing by your girl & professing your love for her post double mastectomy!  You have women swooning all around you even more now!  But...you got nothin' on MY "Brad Pitt".  Angelina is a lucky girl.  But, not as lucky as me.

Who Wants to go Camping?!?!

It seems I've been absent from my blog for almost a year & it was this past weekend's camping adventure that brought me back to it.  I had to create another TOP TEN list & I will waste no time gettin' to it!

The big difference between this post & my previous top ten Camping is Fun!, is that we had the Hoffmann family join us this time.  What wonderful memories were made with the 3 men folk cookin' us great meals, and 8 wee ones to run around playing together!  Life IS good!

Memorial Day Camping with the Carsons & Hoffmanns:

10.  Is this elf's house?

9.  You'll be hearing from my divorce lawyer.

8.  If you take them off their leashes & let them just sniff each other's butts for awhile, they'll calm down.

7.  I'm sorry, I was just doing my Shakira real quick!

6. I've had 3 cups of coffee, one Coors & a Benadryl...what could go wrong?

5.  Your new chair is really comfy & it's a nice night...watch it or that's where you'll be sleeping tonight!

4.  I'm only crabby when I don't feel good, or you're around...

3.  I'm so glad you don't have cancer anymore so you can be less self centered.

2.  If you had hair, it'd be on fire right now!

1.  I'd rather have another vasectomy than spend 10 minutes talking to her!

When's the next trip, friends??