GREAT NEWS!!

I went for my oncology appointment this afternoon... Dr. Voelzke walked in the room and said, "I have an early Christmas present for you!" and I said, "I take it that means you have some really good news for us?"

The PET scan came back with nothing more than the CT scan from a couple weeks ago showed... the lymphoma is only in the nodes on both sides of my neck. And... my bone marrow biopsy came back clean! He said I am only considered to have Stage 1A cancer...basically the lowest stage you can have. It was caught super early! Praise the Lord!

I'll still undergo chemotherapy, just not as much as we were originally thinking... so that is GREAT news. I will only do 2 rounds of chemo and then have some radiation when finished with the chemo. A "round" of chemo is basically 28 days (1 month) -- so I'll have 2 months of chemo where I go every 2 weeks. In basic terms, this means I'll have 4 actual times of going for chemotherapy treatment. He said each treatment lasts approximately 4 hours. My first chemo treatment will be next Monday, December 29th.

He's already prescribed the BEST anti-nausea meds on the market... he said they are one of the newest approved, and best... apparently they must be super because the cost of them sure is. If you don't have insurance, the retail cost is about $400 for THREE pills. That's insane. I have GOOD insurance... my copay -- you won't believe it: $9.00!

Oh, another excellent thing: Because I'll only undergo 2 (possibly 3 at most) rounds of chemo, this means my chances of remaining capable of having more children are really good and my eggs shouldn't be affected... The doc told me that I could possibly try to have another baby as early as 3 months after going into remission. I'm so excited to hear this since I was worried what the chemo would do to my eggs and if we'd be able to have another baby someday!

Praise God for this wonderful news and for excellent health insurance. I am so blessed. Even more than the insurance, I am blessed to have so many supporters praying for me and sending me tons of good vibes. Thank you all!!!

Surgery, Scans, Tests, Biopsy... Ugh... Thankful this week is over!

This week has been busy, busy, busy for me... but the good news is, I made it through and can enjoy the next few days doctor-appointment-free! I don't go for another appointment until I meet on Monday with my oncologist, Dr. Voelzke, again.

Tuesday afternoon I went to Hutcheson and had the surgery for my port-o-cath. It went smoothly, as expected. My aunt Claudia and cousin Ryan took me there since Lee had something he had to be at for work early in the afternoon and then Lee showed up a bit later to be with me and then to drive me home. I got to the hospital at 1:30 and they did an EKG and started my IV and all that pretty early... most of the time there I spent just waiting in the day surgery room watching t.v. and waiting for them to take me to surgery.

Me sportin' my snazzy hair net before the surgery

My IV... eeew

Me & Claudia


After the surgery, I was in recovery for about an hour waking up... then they put me in a hospital room for an hour or so to monitor me and let me eat some dinner finally. I was soooo hungry as I hadn't eaten since midnight the night before. It was brutal not eating for so long! Lee and I filled my pain meds Rx on the way home and I went home and went to bed pretty early.

Wednesday morning we had to get up super early and had to be at Memorial Hospital at 6:45 for registration and my first test, a PET scan at 7:00. Before the PET scan, they started an IV and gave me the glucose stuff in the IV. I had to lie down for an hour before they could do the scan and let the stuff get absorbed into my body so the images would turn out correctly. After falling asleep there for a while then lying awake waiting for them to come and get me, it was time for the scan. It was only about 20 minutes, but it was kind of tough. The PET scan machine had a larger "tunnel" than the one I had gone in for the CT scan a week or so ago... so I started feeling a little claustrophobic. I just kept my eyes closed and kept praying that I wouldn't have a major panic attack and kept thinking happy thoughts of Logan. It seemed to help and before I knew it, then it was over.

After that, they wheeled me up to the respiratory testing area for a Pulmonary Function Test -- basically, I had to breathe in and out of a machine and they check your lung function. It's a pre-test for screening your lungs before beginning chemo.

Then I got wheeled to the Pathology department for the worst part of the day... and probably the most horrible thing I've endured so far since learning I had cancer: the bone marrow biopsy. After more blood work (yay, so much fun... as if I haven't been poked with enough needles and given enough blood for lab tests thus far) I had to wait for an hour in the waiting area. Once they finally called me back, they let Lee be in the room for the beginninig part of the procedure, then for the "nasty" part they made him leave. I had to lie on my stomach and the doctor put lidocaine (numbing stuff) on the area to be tested... and that hurt just a pinch, but nothing bad... then he put another shot of lidocaine deeper to the membrane just over the bone and that hurt kind of bad since it was much deeper in the tissue. The next parts really didn't take very long, but hurt like hell. I was fairly numb, but the pain from the pressure and pulling was intense. I thought I was going to cry, but I toughed it out and didn't cry, just groaned a little bit. I could feel the suction of the pulling of bone marrow out... it felt creepy and icky. Then he had to get a small sample of bone so he kind of twisted around for a bit getting some bone particles... yeah, it was nasty... thank God it was over pretty fast... it was sore as heck afterward and is still pretty sore. I spent the rest of the day in a wheelchair at the hospital since it hurt so badly to walk.

Lee and I hit up the cafeteria and had some lunch... I was so hungry at this point since, again, I hadn't eaten since midnight the night before. I chowed down some pizza and a sub sandwich.

My echocardiogram wasn't scheduled until 3:00 but at 1:00 we headed to that department anyhow since a nurse at another area had told us that we could probably get in there earlier. They let me in for the echocardiogram at about 1:30 and it wasn't bad at all. It was just a basic ultrasound of the heart. After that, we finally got to leave.

I pretty much went to sleep as soon as we got home. I was exhausted and took a 4 1/2 hour nap from 3:30 til 8:00. I got up and ate some dinner and watched a movie with Lee until 2 a.m. even though I have no idea how I stayed awake that long to watch it. I kept feeling like I was going to doze off since I'd taken a pain pill... man, I slept so great once my head hit the pillow.

I've been pretty sore today still where I had the port-o-cath put in... my chest is very sore still... and my backside where I had the bone marrow biopsy is sore too. I feel like an elderly person the way I'm walking around all crippled-like. At least now the tests and scans and things are behind me... my staging is all done. Now I just meet with Dr. Voelzke on Monday to see when I start chemo and see how long my treatment will be.

Thank you for all of the cards you've sent to me and for the sweet words and much-needed prayers. You all are the best friends and family a girl could ask for!

Met with the surgeon today...

I met with Dr. Heithold today for a pre-surgical consult. He's the general surgeon that will be doing my surgery to insert the port catheter IV thingy (like my technical name for it!?)

He went over the procedure and even brought in one of the things to show Lee and I what it looks like. It will be completely under the skin, on my left side of my upper chest, right under my collarbone. In the center there's this "gel-like" feeling pad with little nobby things so when I go for chemo the nurses will be able to find it very easily and know where to insert the needle.

The doctor was going out of town later this week and my oncologist wanted this done before I meet with him on Monday... so I have surgery scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at Hutcheson to get this thing put in place. I can't eat or drink anything after midnight tonight and the surgery won't be until 3:00 or so tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to be starving by tomorrow night! Luckily I ate a huge dinner fairly late this evening so I hopefully won't be ready to chew my own arm off tomorrow morning! I have to have a ride home from the hospital, obviously, since I'll be put under with a light anasthesia... so I'm sure Lee will have a good ole time messing with me and my drugged-up, groggy self tomorrow.

I'll keep you all posted on how it goes and I'll get a picture of it in my chest to show off what it looks like. It's the hottest accessory to have, and, I guarantee, you'll all want to be sporting one of your own after you see mine!!

As always, thanks so much for all the prayers, cards, comments, e-mails, phone calls, etc. It means so much to know I have so many friends rooting for me during this difficult time. I love you all.

So many appointments...

Gretchen from Dr. Voelzke's office (my oncologist) called me this morning with all the dates and times for the procedures discussed yesterday. There are so many different procedures to get done in the next week. It's pretty overwhelming, but has to be done.

Monday, the 15th, I go for a consult visit with the surgeon who will be doing my port/catheter connected to the main vein in my chest. He won't be doing the port that day; he likes to meet with the patient first. Gretchen said that she told him I needed this inserted before the 22nd since that's when I meet next with my oncologist. So I'm thinking I'll have the port put in sometime shortly after that by the end of the week.

Wednesday, the 17th, will be a really long, grueling day for me. I have to be at Memorial Hospital at 6:45 a.m. for hospital registration and then will undergo the rest of the preliminary tests and the biopsy needed to begin chemotherapy. First, I'll have the PET scan so I won't be able to eat or drink anything after midnight Tuesday night. After that, I'll get the Pulmonary Function Test to check my lungs since they'll need to be monitored along the way since one of the chemo drugs has a tendency to cause lung damage over time so they'll be monitoring them closely. When that's done, I'll head to the Pathology Department for the bone marrow biopsy which I am so not looking forward to. When that's over, I'll have an echocardiogram done, again to monitor my heart in the same way as the lungs since one of the other chemo drugs can cause tissue damage to the heart over time.

Friday, the 19th, I have an appointment that was set up a few weeks ago with my primary care doctor just as a follow-up to the blood work and things he had done then. I'm going to call the office and see if this appointment is necessary and may end up cancelling it. I don't think there's really much for my main doc to do at this point since the Hodgkin's is being cared for by my oncologist. But I'll check with them just in case to see if he needs/wants to see me... he might, just to check on my general well-being while going through all this.

Monday, the 22nd, is when I'll meet with Dr. Voelzke again to go over the findings from the tests perfored at the hospital and then we'll discuss and plan my chemotherapy treatments and when they'll begin. The chemo could start as early as the 23rd, but I'm hoping to see if he'll let me start the therapy the following week, after the Christmas holiday is over. I'd really like to enjoy Christmas with my family without fear of being sick from my first round of chemo.

I've been "window shopping" online and found a few wigs that I think I like. They are styles that look similar to my real hair. I'd like to have a wig ordered and in hand before I lose my hair and really feel like a freak.

Today has been all right. I woke up early after not getting much sleep since Gretchen called pretty early. After I spoke with her, I couldn't go back to sleep since my mind was reeling with thoughts of all these tests and things and I had a little breakdown. I cried and called my mom just really upset. I want to be strong and I'm generally a very independent person. It feels so out of character for me to ask for help, so I know I'll struggle a bit with asking the family to help with Logan and other things around the house once I get treatments and have sick days and weaker moments. My mom told me it's okay to not be so strong, and it's okay to ask for help. That's what they're all there for. My grandma said that cancer is a "family thing", something that affects the whole family, not just the person diagnosed. She's right. I'll have to learn to let my guard down and just ask for and accept the help. Lucky for me, I have the greatest family in the world, and a loving, supportive husband and beautiful son to keep me motivated to fight to live. That's all the motivation I need, just looking at my little boy, knowing I can and will fight this for him.

Thank you so much for your prayers and good thoughts in this time when I need them so very much.

1st Appt with the Oncologist Today

I met with my Oncologist for the first time today. He's really, really nice, and seems to be very thorough. I'm so relieved that I like him and he seems to know exactly what precautions and steps to take to see that we really get this thing. He seemed optimistic that, no matter what stage this cancer is, I can beat it. He said Hodgkin's is one of the most curable cancers and they have excellent treatment options for it.

I'm still in the "staging" process where we're determining just how spread out the cancer is. The CT scan was a good indicator that it's not too bad, but he wants me to have a PET scan which will give him much better, clearer, more defined results. Also, because of the itching and hives being a B symptom of Hodgkin's, he wants me to also have a bone marrow biopsy to be sure it hasn't spread into my bone marrow. That part sounds a little scary and a little painful, but it has to be done.

He said it's general rule with this cancer to use Chemotherapy to treat it, and possibly Radiation. I can't remember all the technical names for the drugs in my chemo blend being used, but because of one of them, he said it's much safer to administer it using a port/catheter connected to a larger vein rather than the smaller veins in my arms. The port will be a little oval shaped thing placed just under the skin in my chest, and that's where they will administer the chemo.

My next appointment with him is on December 22nd. He said before that appointment that I will have the PET scan, port placement, and bone marrow biopsy all done. That means in the next week and half I'll undergo those three things. It sounds like a lot to do before then. I'm already sick of doctor's appointments and this is just getting started.

I did ask him about the possibility of becoming sterile and not being able to have any more children because of the drugs and he said it IS a possibility. There are options I have (possibly freezing eggs is one of the options I guess) but we'll talk about those more before I actually start chemotherapy. Also, one of the risks of one of the chemo drugs that will be used is possible damage to lung tissues and heart tissue, so before I will start treatment, I'll undergo a lung test and also an echocardiogram and my heart and lungs will be closely monitored along the way.

I don't feel too bad tonight, just tired and a little drained from the emotion of all this. I am really glad to know he's doing these additional steps to be more certain of how serious the cancer is. I was a little apprehensive about the appointment, but now I feel good about things and that I have a good Oncologist.

That's all for now. It's a lot of information to take in for one day. I should hear back from the lady at his office who will set all my appointments tomorrow and she'll tell me the specifics of when/where I go for all the things I mentioned above.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers!

Feeling optimistic & a huge thank you!

I just want to say thank you so, so, so, so much to all of my friends who've taken the time to send me a quick little message or e-mail. It means so much to me that you're thinking about me and praying for me and sending good thoughts my way. There is much to be said about the outlook we take on things. I really feel like "attitude is everything" and by staying positive, things will take a positive turn and I'll have a good outcome.

It feels like, for the past several days, all I've been talking about with people is what's going on with me. To some, maybe it's weird to want to keep talking about this since it's such a scary thing. But, for me, I'm finding it's really theraputic to discuss (even though it does still seem surreal to me) and it's a relief to talk with those close to me about my fears and worries and what's on my mind. I need an outlet to vent my feelings, frustrations, and worries. Thank you all for even taking the time to listen to me and for just being so supportive.

Before this, I never knew anyone personally who had received a cancer diagnosis. I never knew just how scary it was for them. Mostly, I never realized how even the smallest gestures or what may seem like the most minute phrases truly mean to someone who is ill. It's got to be hard on the healthy person's end as well... I imagine it's hard to find words that you feel truly convey how sorry you are to hear the bad news about someone and to find a way to tell them you care. I just want to say, it doesn't really matter what you say, no matter how silly or small it may seem. Just taking the time to say, "I'm thinking about you" or "I'm praying for you." means SO much.

On that note, enough mushy stuff... I got a beautiful Christmas Cactus plant delivered from the local florist shop today from my mom and stepdad, John. I was filled with such joy to see this. It really brightened my day! Here's a picture of it... I can't wait to see it bloom!!!



Thanks again to all of you. I love you all so much! Please remember to always look for beauty in every day. If any good can come out of me having cancer, it's that I'm looking at EVERYTHING in an entirely different way. I'm "stopping to smell the roses". Here's a picture I snapped earlier this evening of the purple-ish pink sky as the sun was setting through the woods across from my house. I thought it was so pretty and just wanted to remember that moment.

The "C" Word

Thursday, December 4, 2008 is a day I'm sure I'll never forget. It was only a few days ago, so, of course, it's fresh in my mind right now. Unfortunately, it will stay vivid for me and my close family and friends for a long time to come.

A little background for those who I haven't kept in close enough contact with lately--

I've been having many health issues for about the last year or so. It all began in late summer of 2007, when my baby was about 8 months old so it was September or August. The first sign I noticed that something weird was going on with me was when I began waking each morning, after a good night's sleep, to a horrible itching in the palms of my hands. At first, I figured it was just dry skin causing me to get itchy. This went on for a few days, and over the next several weeks the itching got more intense to a point where it was burning and, in a half-asleep state, I was scratching continuously at myself. It only got worse, and after about a month of that turned into a red, bumpy rash. The rash progressively spread from my hands and feet to my arms and legs, and eventually, when at its worst, was covering my whole body. During this time I was taking Benadryl, an antihistamine, to help control the rash and hives. This was not making things any better. I later discovered antihistamines were making this worse. I would have good days and good weeks where I'd be nearly rash and hive free. This never completely went away, but I learned to live with it.

I mulled it over with my doctors and in my mind and had come to all sorts of conclusions about what the cause could be. These realizations proved to be a total sham each time. This went on and on and on. I won't get into details any more... it happened so much I learned to live with it. I eventually just figured I had heat-induced, chronic urticaria (hives.)

In February of this year, I noticed what seemed to be a gland in my neck that was enlarged/swollen. Normally, you can't feel your glands unless you have a cold or infection or some reason for them to be swollen. I've had glands get bigger in the past and they would always go back down in size after a cold or something was gone and I was feeling fine. This time, this gland didn't go down in size. I went to see my doctor about this. She prescribed antibiotics and had me take a round of them to see if that would reduce its size. She said it's normal for glands to swell up occasionally and not go back down, and it was probably just an infection. When the antibiotics did nothing for it, she referred me to a surgical specialist for a possible biopsy. He also tried a round of antibiotics first. Again, this did nothing. He then did a fine-needle biopsy, and that did come back clean. However, the ultrasound and CT scan I'd had done did show a cluster (not just one) of lymph nodes swollen in the right side of my neck. This concerned him and he wanted to do a surgical biopsy and remove the largest node for closer examination. I had the surgery all scheduled, and "chickened out" so to speak. At this point, no doctor had done any blood work on me and the fine-needle biopsy had come back clean so I felt certain this was unnecessary.

I went on living with the itchy hives and the swollen gland for a while longer. I finally had a break-down in October or so and realized I just could NOT go on living like this with this horrible rash that was affecting my daily life and my mood and making me feel hideous.

During all this time, over the past year I've noticed I just haven't been "me." No one knows their own body like they do, of course. I just knew SOMETHING wasn't right and though I wasn't feeling ill, per say, I was tired a lot more than I used to be and just overall had a feeling something serious was wrong. I just knew I had to get to a doctor that would help me diagnose this so I could get on with my life.

I found a new doctor, whom I absolutely love and truly seemed concerned and wanted to help me get to the bottom of all this. He had me visit with an allergist, and that turned up nothing serious to alert them to the cause of this rash I was living with. I had also told him all about the enlarged lymph node.

My new doctor performed the lymph node biopsy in his office the day before Thanksgiving. I had my stitches removed this week on Wednesday (the 3rd of December) and the pathology report had not come back from the lab yet. They assured me they would call me as soon as they had the results. All this time, I still felt like it would be fine and nothing serious. I truly was NOT worried about it being something horrible.

I got the phone call that would change me on Thursday. The nurse from my doctor's office called and said the results came back abnormal. She sounded very calm and did not tell me much over the phone, just asking if I could come in "today" for more blood work. I'm not an idiot, and I got off the phone after agreeing to come in as soon as I could get myself and Logan ready and out the door... I hung up and it hit me that this was serious. Doctor's offices don't call you in that SAME day unless it's urgent and, usually, bad news. The whole way there, I think I was still in denial... I kept that thought in the back of my head that perhaps they really did need more bloodwork and that maybe I was freaking out prematurely.

I got to the office and waited in the area for a short while. I went into the exam room with the nurse and she did the usual blood pressure and temperature checks, etc. and she had my file in front of her. Either I was in fine tune to her every emotion or she really did seem a little tense, I don't know... but I felt like a bomb was about to hit me. I said to her, on the verge of tears, "Dawn, how bad is it? Is it really, really bad? Do I have cancer?" She calmly told me to calm down and not freak out or fret. She then said a phrase to me which sounded like it happened in slow motion... even now, as I replay it in my mind, I hear it in the same slow motion. "You have Hodgkins Lymphoma" and then I lost it. I broke down, crying and sobbing and just a mess. She didn't need to go on, though I think through my tears I could hear her explaining to me that it was, indeed, a cancer of the lymph node system.

The rest of the day was a blur as I talked to the doctor and Lee came to the office and met me there and we cried and I went home to tell my grandparents and call my mom and the rest was just a depressing, totally freaked-out day. At this point, all they had was my diagnosis. They did not know how serious this was -- in other words, they didn't know if I caught this early or in the later stages. That's the part that was hardest to deal with over the next 24 hours. I hardly slept Thursday night as I lay awake wondering if I was too late and was in stage 4 and it was going to be a horrible, difficult fight. I tried to think positive, but when you get told you have cancer, it's impossible to not think the worst. I have a little 2 year old baby boy who needs his mommy. I can't bear the thought of his life without me. I prayed hard and knew in my heart of hearts that I had to be positive and optimistic and I had every reason in the world to fight my hardest fight for this: Logan. He NEEDS me. I need him. I can't let Logan grow up without me, the person who loves him more than anyone can ever love another human being. The thought of him growing up and never knowing me or knowing who I was or how much I loved him... well, that thought is just too horrible to think about.

(For anyone interested in more information on Hodgkin's Lymphoma, also known as Hodgkin's Disease, HERE is a really informative link.)

The GOOD NEWS:

Thinking optimistically, there ARE some good things to keep in mind --- Hodkin's Lymphoma is cancer, however, if you're going to get a lymphoma, Hodgkin's is the best to get -- it's the most treatable and most responsive to treatments. If caught early on, it has an over 80% survival rate. AND the fact that I'm young, I feel, will be on my side since I'll be stronger to fight this.

The other awesome news:

I went Friday for my CT scans for them to determine "staging" -- in other words, they wanted to see if this was just located in my neck or if it had spread farther to my chest or abdomen. I got a call last night already from the nurse at my doc's office -- the results came back already and it was good news. It seems we caught it really early, and it had not spread to my chest (the next place is usually spreads to is the nodes in the chest area) -- the only other spot they saw was the opposite side of my neck from where I had the biopsy done. So we caught it really early-- it's only in my neck... which means, it'll be easier to treat... I'll probably be looking at much less in terms of treatment.

I meet with the oncologist on Tuesday. He'll go over everything with me and tell me where we go from here. I'm GUESSING radiation is going to be his choice for treatment... but I'm not certain... there is a possibility I could undergo chemo. At this point, I have no idea and just have to wait to talk to him. At least I've been able to breathe a little sigh of relief this weekend in knowing this was caught early and I CAN and WILL beat this cancer!

PLEASE, everyone, keep me in your thoughts and prayers and send lots of good vibes. I would most certainly appreciate it. I love you all!

Night Out

Lee and me went out with our friend Jen and her friend Kenny to Electric Cowboy on Saturday night... here's a few pictures from before we left the house:





And here's one of Me & Jen with my friend, Mike, a.k.a. the babysitter/manny

I BaROCKED the Vote -- and HE WON!

Unless you live under a rock, then you know our new President Elect is...

BARACK OBAMA


I'm so happy that I can finally say "MY" President because I actually chose/voted for this one! More than happy for myself, I'm really excited about what this says about our country as a whole. We've come a long way from the days of slavery, predjudice, and mistreatement of minorities. I am not living in a world of sunshine and posies, and yes I realize there is still predjudice and hate in this world (though I truly wish there wasn't... one can dream, right?) This election just says so much about the USA and how we're finally ready to step forward from the mistakes of our past and accept something new.

I'll be honest, a few months back when Barack Obama was chosen for the Democratic nomination, I had low hope of him actually winning the election. I really figured that our country would not elect him because he's [half] black and we just weren't ready for a black President. I'm sooo glad and proud to say that I was wrong and we are ready. We Americans can handle change, oh
YES WE CAN!

Congratulations to Mr. President-Elect Barack Obama, his beautiful wife and girls, Vice President-Elect Joe Biden and his family on your big win! MOST OF ALL, CONGRATULATIONS, AMERICA, ON YOUR VOTE FOR CHANGE! I have a feeling the next four years are going to look up... after all, it can't look much worse than it's been the last eight! :)

My Halloween Dinosaur

Last Halloween, Logan was only 10 months old. We dressed him up as a teddy bear and took him out trick-or-treating in his stroller. He, of course, really didn't know what the heck was going on, but it was still fun for us. Parents love showing off their cute babies in costume and we were no exception. This year, though, Logan seemed to really get into Halloween.

His costume this year was a blue dinosaur, and it was CUTE!

Thursday night (10/30) I took Logan trick-or-treating at our friend Laura's kids' elementary school with my friend Mike who babysits her kids while she works her second job. Her boys Austin, a.k.a. Elvis, and Nathan, an Incredibles super hero, had fun and Logan tagged along. They walked the school halls and the teachers gave out candy. Logan wasn't too sure about it until he got a lollipop and then he was all about the candy. Afterward, we took the kids out for dinner at Cici's Pizza which is always a hit.

Friday, Halloween night, my parents and Lee and I took Logan to a nearby subdivision where the residents always get really into Halloween and decorate and make it nice for the kids. We got out of the car and it was like "candy-trick-or-treating-Halloween instinct" took over... Logan knew just what to do. He started running for the first house he saw. It was really cute and he had soooo much fun... he also got a LOT of candy for a kid that's not even 2 yet!! We went out for dinner to Don Lolo's Mexican restaurant and then went home and Logan went straight to bed. He was worn out from all the Halloween festivities. It was a great night!

Here's some photos of our little dinosaur... isn't he cute?! Raawwrrr!

2nd Presidential Debate TONIGHT!

Even though I've already 100% decided who I'm voting for... and Lee has too... we're still excited to watch the 2nd Presidential Debate tonight! Don't forget to watch and then go vote on November 4th -- remember, EVERY vote counts!!


I bet you can't guess who we're supporting! Here's a hint...

Happy Birthday, U.S. Navy!

Saturday night was the annual United States Navy Ball. It's a fancy dinner and ball done every year to celebrate the Navy's birthday. This year was so much fun. It was held on the Chattanooga Riverboat downtown. Lee and I went with another gal from his work, Laura, and she brought our good friend Mike as her date. We all had a blast. The dinner was yummy and the dancing and socializing was great. It was so nice to get out and have a good time without a toddler under foot!!

Stupid me, in our rush to get out the door on time, forgot to bring my camera... but here are a few shots taken by the photography company hired to capture the event:

Grandma's Birthday, Our Fence Construction, & Random Photos

It's been a while since I updated (shame on me!) so I figured I should share a bunch of recent pictures. These are all from within the last month... Grandma's 78th birthday was on September 7th so there are a few pictures of her with her cake. Also in September, Lee constructed a privacy fence on the side of our house... he built onto my grandparents' fence (they live next door) so we'd have a closed-in area for the dogs to play and run and do their business. It was a big job, he took a week off work to do it, but I think it turned out fabulous! Throughout this I also added a few cute shots of Logan being, well, Logan!!!

It's been a busy month -- I hope you enjoy the photos of our family!