Slacker

Well, I have done it again. I've let the blog go by the waste-side. Anyway, here is long post of pictures from our summer so far. This post doesn't even include pictures from our recent trip to San Diego (more to follow).
So these first few was from weekend trip to Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota. I had no idea that the Mississippi river began in Minnesota, here at this st. park.

Scott and our friends little girl, Macy infront of Minnesota's largest and oldest white pine tree.



Walking across the Mississippi.




Our dear friends. Thanks to them for showing us a new part of this beautiful state.


Mom and Dad's visit up north.

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Como Zoo in St. Paul. Which animal do you suppose was our favorite?



Made our appearance at the Anoka Co. Fair.
A Kenny Chesney wanna-be performed. Was actually a decent band.

Even had a rodeo.

Would you want to mess with this teacher???

Dad said he used to work on a tractor like this one when he was younger. The fair had some pretty cool old farm equipment that he really enjoyed.

Luvin' Some Lake Time

Ahhh...it's official, summer in Minnesota has begun! There aren't too many things that rank higher for me than the good ole' lake (I'm high class, I know). I love the hot air, cool water, and the stiffness after my first ski session of the year. I do know I sure don't ski as long as I used too, but at least, i've still got it (or at least I think so)!
We spent Father's Day up at Scott's folks' house. It is a pretty sweet gig. They have a wonderful house right on the lake. What else could one ask for? The Lord blessed us with amazing weather this past weekend. I look forward to many more!!!!

9 baby ducks with their mama

Duke soaking up some sunshine as well

Duke, earning his keep, and keeping the sweet ducks off HIS property

I even showed my husband up and caught the one and only walleye of the weekend!

Some some random pictures(mainly for my Bobo)of flowers out of my garden.

Update

Well, here is the update on Scott's dad, Rich. After additional testing and scans, the cancer in his lung has spread to his spine and ribs. Not to be confused with bone cancer, his diagnosis is still small cell lung cancer that has metastasized to his bones. The oncologists have increased and changed his chemo regimens. His prognosis for a "recovery" status has dropped from 75% to 30-50%.
We continue to pray daily that if it is God's will, he be completely cancer free. The liver ultrasound was negative for tumors. The spots they saw were only cysts. Praise God! As always, additional prayers are welcomed and greatly appreciated.
May everyone have a wonderful Father's Day this Sunday, and take time to enjoy every moment God blesses us with the amazing men in our lives.

A Prayer Request

I have a special request. For those of you who don't know, my father-in-law Rich was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in Feb. He has under gone 3 bouts of chemo and radiation with high hopes that they caught the cancer early and is in a limited phase. The MDs were hopeful that this type of tumor responds well to chemo.
This past week, he under went a CT of his chest and abdomen to see if the tumor shrunk. Unfortunately, his left lung is still collapsed and they were unable to see if the tumor was present. In addition, there are suspicious spots on his liver and spine. Of course with my experience, I start to think the worse. Rich now has undergone additional test to see if in fact theses "spots" are malignant or merely cysts.
We pray daily that God's will be done, but selfishly we want these tumors all to disappear. Please join me in lifting up Rich. He is such a strong, positive man, but I know deep inside he is battling and scared. We can never have enough people praying for him. Scott has been amazing through all this as well. He is handling this much better than I would.
Thank you all! I will keep you posted, we will find out Tuesday the results and get a new game plan.
God Bless!

Catching Up!

Wow, time sure does fly by when your having so much fun. The last few weeks have been super busy. I am officialy on my last rotation for school. That sure sounds good to say! Only 6 more months to go.
The weather has been great up here. My flower garden is ready to take off. I will post pictures when they are in full bloom. It looks punny compared to my Bobo's though. I was in Texas this past weekend for my cousing wedding which took place in her backyard. It was like what I picture heaven being like. My camera ran out of juice so I will have to depend on family sending me pictures to post. Words cannot describe how beauiful it was. God has certinly blessed her with an amazing talent to tend to HIS flowers.
The following pictures are of this past weekend. I was able to spend one last weekend with my little bro. He and his wife are leaving for Japan on June 17th for 3 years! He is a Marine and will be training and flying the C-130's. We are soooo proud of him and will miss them dearly.
Since we were able to have most of the family all together, we decide to celebrate Mabry Lynne's 4th birthday a few weeks early. She already thinks she is 4 and nobody is going to tell her different. She also had her first dance recital. They were precious. Marly Ann is one of a kind and sweet as can be. I just love her unruly curly hair. It fits her personality to a tee! It was such a blessing for us all be together, even for a little while.






PawPaw teaching Mabry how to swing the golf club.

We sure will miss this guy!








Okay the next few pictures shows just how "red-neck" we really are. I finally downsized from an SUV to a car (which I love), so we are super excited to have an economical vehicle to go to the lake in. Scott keeps his boat up there, but forgot to take the rest of his fishing rods up there. Yup...you guessed it. In the Passat they go. Poor Duke, he no longer has free range in the car, and must stay confined to the blue blanket. Anyway, "we got her done."




School friends
God Bless and have a safe and wonderful summer!

March Madness

Even though my bracket this year was a total flop, March still managed to be another exceptional month, especially for my sweet hubby. Seeing that March is his birthday month, he really had a fun time.

Celebrating Scott's birthday at a Brazilian Steak House. Very yummy!!!

Scott has been working really hard, and has looked forward to this day for a LONG TIME. He is finally the proud owner of a new fishing boat. It doesn't do a lot for me, but he reassures me that it will pull me skiing. That's all I really care about. Now if only the ice will thaw, we can get it in the water and play.



Just hanging out in the truck.

I rounded out the month by passing a required pre-board exam. That was a huge relief and weight off my shoulders. Now I am in Park Rapids, a small town in north-western MN, doing my rural rotation for 3 weeks. I miss being at home, but am getting great experience with epidurals and spinals. It is a facility very similar to what I will be doing in Sweetwater. Only 9 more days left up here. It snowed another foot this week. That kinda put a damper on my great month, but this can't last forever.....or can it? Spring, feel free to show up anytime now!!!!

Happy 2009!

Oh yeah that's right, it's been 2009 for a while now and I'm just now blogging my first post of this year. Needless to say, I've just been sitting around watching soaps and painting my nails.
Here's a down and dirty re-cap on the last 3 months. For Christmas, we went to Texas to hang with the Weaver's for a week. It was nice to escape the weather up here and sit out on the back porch in 70-80 degree weather. Sorry no pics from Christmas. January flew by. I started a new clinical site in St. Paul which is a 40min. drive one-way for me. Sitting in traffic is like nails on a chalk board to me. It drives me crazy. Clinicals are moving right along and I only have 9 more months now till graduation. Someone said, "oh that's not too bad, it's just like being pregnant," because I know what that's like!?!?!
February has been just as busy, but this last week I escaped reality. Scott and I have had this trip to Mexico planned since November. I said, no matter how busy I am or what is going on, we are getting away from school, work and the snow for a week. So we did. Hope you enjoy our pics from Playa del Carmen, Mexico (with my new camera!!!)




Anyone notice the rat/kangaroo-like rodent by the shrubbs? They were nice, but everywhere.




Yes, I did have to study in Mexico...that should really be out-law'd

My sweet husband, totally surprised me with this georgous bracelet when we got there. He's sooo good to me!

These 4 ladies made me think of my Study Buddies and where we should all be when we are there age....hanging out together on the beach somewhere!

I don't think he was too mad that we left him for a week.

BTW: We got 6 more inches of snow the day after we returned to MN. I think that was God's welcome home gift to us!