Becoming Aware

I have had a lot on my mind today. I have been thinking about a friend of mine that has just started her fight with Breast Cancer. I know we have all known someone or have heard of someone that is fighting this disease. It seems that it's becoming more and more common though...too common. When I went to lunch with this friend a couple months ago the last thing I ever thought she would tell me was that she had cancer. Today she went in for surgery to have a mastectomy and will start chemotherapy in a few weeks. I stopped by my moms today for a minute because she had some of her friends over that I haven't see in so long. One of them also had a battle with breast cancer, it was so wonderful to see her. I was watching t.v. today and turned on Oprah...her show today was on this very topic. I couldn't keep my eyes off of it. I went into the grocery store today and the whole front of the store was covered in PINK. I've always loved this color but it struck me differently today. There were a couple girls in front of the store selling root beer floats for $1.00 and it's donated for Breast Cancer. I've always loved yummy treats and for a buck~how could you pass up that? But again, it struck me differently. When October comes around we usually think about fall, pumpkins, candy, costumes, trick or treating, etc. What I've come to learn is that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. What I have come to learn is that we must be aware of what is going on with our bodies. We must pay attention to them and become more responsible with ourselves. We can't always think that this could never happen to me...because it can. The more aware we become the more empowered we become. Today I really felt myself wanting to do something...wanting to help in some way. I'm not able to do much of anything really. But donating a dollar or two at the grocery store can help, it all adds up. Putting a little post up on my blog can help. Trying to encourage people to get checked...do your self exams...if you have a history in your family~you need to get checked. This disease effects thousands and thousands and thousands of people each year. We all need to become more aware and pay attention to our bodies. For the month of October that is what I'm going to try to do...this month I'm going PINK.

The phone call

I didn't think this day would come for a least a few years. I'm glad I'm writing about this so I can remember this day for always. Tyler had a half day today and got home around noon. We had only been home a few minutes when the phone rang. I picked it up, said hello and waited..."hello...hi...is Tyler there?" The voice was so quiet and shy. Next thing I hear is another person get on the phone and it's a friend from church. She then tell me that Lily really wants Tyler to come over and play today. Little Miss Lily is in Ty's school class and his primary class at church. She is the cutest little thing and so sweet. She just got shy and wanted her mom to ask me if Tyler could play. I thought how nice for someone to invite Tyler to come over and play. Yesterday Ashlynn went over to one of her little friends to play too. I love that my kids are at the age where I can have them playing at someones house and I don't even have to worry about them...it's SO NICE!! A bit of freedom every now and then is bliss! Tyler has been invited to play a bunch of times but this is the very first time that my phone rang and it was a girl asking for Tyler. So here he goes...my little man is growing up.

Long Overdue

So weeks and weeks ago my sister passed on a "TAG" about Tyler from her daughter Payton. My sister probably has been thinking that I never even saw that post of hers or that I didn't care. Not true, not true. It has just taken me this long to respond because I never have Tyler around the same time that I'm on the computer. I have finally snagged Ty down in between his busy 1st grade schedule. So Tif and Payton...here ya go!

1. Name & Meaning Behind it~Tyler Gene Campbell, his first name we just have always liked...his middle name is after Dave's dad.
2. Age~6 years old
3. Birthdate~May 23, 2002
4. Nicknames~Ty...Tyman
(the rest of this is in Ty's words)
5. Favorite Activities~"Family Home Evening, play freeze tag at school, ride my bike, play baseball and letting my dad help me play football when I grow up. "
6. Favorite Foods~"I don't know. Alfredo! Peanut butter and jelly and RIBS...wings...and fried chicken with the bones."
7. Favorite Music~"Stop and Stare and Big Girls Don't Cry"
8. Favorite Toys~"Cars from Lightening McQueen, monster trucks and my race track."
9. Favorite Books~"Cat and the Hat and Junie B Jones".
10. Favorite item of Clothing~"Tony Hawk shirt!"
11. What makes me happy?~"The world...everyone in my class at school...Lily and Sydney and myself and my mommy and daddy."

12. What makes me sad?~"When some people die or when I have no one to play with."

Some of those answers I was pretty surprised at, especially the FHE! I'm not going to tag anyone else but you are free to do it yourself if you'd like. It was nice to sit with Tyler and hear what he had to say. We love our Tyman and are so proud of him.

He is such a sweet boy and a good friend. We are pretty lucky!

Good company...good food:)

Over the years Dave has been building up this reputation for cooking some good food. Dave has a lot of passions in his life and one of them is slow cooking meat in a smoker for hours and hours. When Dave's sisters came into town we all just started talking about food and what we would make for meals each day. It was a given that Dave would be smoking some food for everyone...not just one meal...many meals! Dave has been so busy this year with the office that he hasn't used his smoker once! That is pretty crazy. But we made up for it in no time at all. One night he cooked ribs~one night it was pulled pork that had been on the smoker for 18 hours~one night was salmon....hot dang it was so good! Everyone was in heaven for days and Dave was getting many pats on the back for all his hard work! We made a couple batches of homemade ice cream and chocolate chip cookies. We definitely weren't watching our calories this week! What would be the fun in that? You can never go wrong with good company and good food!

Labor Day Fun

Dave's twin sisters came to visit with their families for about a week. We were so excited for them to get here and could barely stand it! When we lived in Iowa we would see Casie and the kids all the time...they were only 6 hours away. My kids have missed them so much! When Kirsten told us she was coming we couldn't wait because we hadn't met Brandon yet...the latest Campbell addition! It was a great trip and we had so much fun. We are so grateful that they were all able to come and spend time with us. It's so great because my kids just cling to Jeremy and Kenzie and I really don't even have to pay much attention to them. They all just play and play and play. It really clears up some of my head space and it was so nice! Brandon was just the cutest little thing ever and made us all just crack up! Such a sweet little boy. We had a great week and miss them already...hopefully they come back soon...Hint Hint. :)

I'm tired....!!!!!!

So......I have been going to Physical Therapy since June and I was hoping when I started that by now I would be good to go! But NO. Who would have thought that it would take me this long to recover. I was told that I will be in therapy for the next SEVERAL months! What does that mean? That could mean anything...2 months, 3 months, 5 months...I have no clue. I really feel like my life has been taken over by this...3 times per week...2-3 hours each day. It's not like I'm going there and getting pampered either. I get my butt kicked every time and come home feeling like a sweaty pig. I just felt like I needed to play a little sympathy card because I'm TIRED!
I guess the up side to this whole thing is that I'm learning tons of cool stuff in working out and it's really like I have my own personal trainer. I am getting stronger and that's good. I told my therapist that I needed to be given a Gladiator name or something. Ha ha!! I am just hoping that when I'm finished that I will be leaving with a rock hard bod and feeling good. I can dream right?

Back to School

I can't believe that it is already that time of year and especially that we have been back home for a year now! Time really does fly by so fast! We all have been very excited for Tyler to get back in school...especially me! Last Monday it was Meet the Teacher night at school and Ty was so excited to meet Mrs. Casso. He has a few of his good friends in his class that were in his class last year. His teacher seems great! Wednesday was his first day back and I now have a 1st Grader! How does that happen?! My little kiddies are growing way too fast on me. At least I have a couple years until I have to do this with Ashlynn. Fewwwwww!

Arizona Parents of the Year 2008

For the past month or so we have been keeping this HUGE secret from my Grandma! My moms Indian sister Sylvia found out that they didn't really have any good nominees for this award this year. So Sylvia told them that she knew of a great nomination...her foster parents! Then the work began~Sylvia and my mom were trying to gather as many letters from people of why my grandparents should win this award. After they turned everything in they found out that they had WON! What a surprise this would be for my Grandma! Even though Grandpa passed away this past year we know he was there watching and that made it even more special.

Getting Grandma there was the real trick! Her birthday was right around the corner, so my mom called her and said that they wanted to take her out to a fancy lunch on Saturday and to dress real nice! She was very excited but had no idea what was really going on. When they got there my mom had to fill her in on something because we were all there. She thought that she was just a nominee for the award and that we were all there to support her. She had no clue what was going on until after we ate, the 2007 winners spoke and Sylvia got up and started reading letters. She was so surprised and had not clue what was going one. It was such a blast and a very well deserved award for them! It was fun to be around the family and visit. Laird and Kristina were able to come down from Utah and it was so good to see them...I just LOVE them! We were able to hang out with them more that night at my parents. On the way home Grandma goes..."I still don't know what I am...what does this mean?!" I said, "Grandma...you are this years Parents of the Year for the state of Arizona!" She just giggled and said, "WOW!" What a great day it was!

Saturday Mornings

A couple weeks ago I was helping out two of my sisters and had their little kiddos here. They sure are a lot of fun and keep me running! The kids LOVE having them over and they just like to run around the house...literally! Eventually I had to set up a boobie trap to keep them in the kitchen and not get into the rest of the house. Those darn kids are too smart already...Larz figured out how to wiggle his little way threw and then Kylee followed. Blast! It was funny though watching them and I always love having them here. We just stayed in our PJ's into the afternoon and watched cartoons and ate. That's what Saturday mornings are for anyway right?

An Ashlynn funny...

We had my niece spend the night while my sister Age and her hubby went camping with some friends. This morning I was changing Kylee's diaper and Ashlynn was just sitting by me watching. Since we are out of diapers in our house Ashlynn is fascinated with the whole thing because she loves to put them on her dolly's. Anyway...as I was about to put on a new diaper Ashlynn says with excitement..."Oh look mommy I have one of those!!!! Kylee and I both have one of those!!!" So funny.