Wedding

It occurs to me that I didn't post pictures of my oldest son's wedding. Keep in mind that it was a very simple civil ceremony. A good friend of ours from the Fire Department performed the ceremony in his home. This picture was taken in front of the court house.

This one was taken during the ceremony. They couldn't stop grinning! It was so cute.

This was the cake cutting at the reception. We had a reception for them the evening they were married. As you can tell Nick decided to go very casual! LOL

Thank goodness they didn't smash cake on each other!

They are such good kids. It is still up in the air as to when Nick deploys. Currently he is un-deployable. He has a crown that broke when he was in basic training and the replacement is lost in the Army's vast unknown. He must have it seated before he can deploy! If he is left behind in the rear detachment he will deploy 1-2 months after the platoon leaves. So....this leaves everything up in the air. Will Melissa come home as planned or will she come home later than planned? All very frustrating for both of them. But like everything it will work out in the end. Enjoy all the pictures. If I was supposed to give you some of these pictures and haven't please let me know and I'll get you copies ASAP!

Cruising

I have paid my deposit to go on a cruise next March! We'll be going on a Wester Caribbean Cruise from Tampa sailing on the cruise ship Inspiration. Many thanks to M-C for setting this up! For those that don't know M-C is a wonderful woman I met several years ago on RCS, she and her husband moved to North Little Rock while her DH taught at the Law School in Little Rock. Sadly they had to move back to FL only a year later. But, we were fast friends and developed a wonderful friendship with Debbie. This will be a wonderful cruise as we will be scrapbooking and enjoying each others company. Debbie and I will be sharing a room, she's used to the sound of a CPAP as her DH has one; hopefully she doesn't snore! LOL I am looking forward to being in the company of so many talented ladies and seeing their scrapbooks!

Dogs???

This is often where you will find our "baby". If you look really close you will see a little pile of dirt by her elbow. While I love her to death it's like a little dust devil visits her and she leaves little or in some cases large piles of dirt where ever she sleeps!

Daniel let Joy out of her crate after we came in from having dinner. I stayed outside and talked while Alan had his "post dinner smoke." Joy came outside, walked into the mud/water (did I mention we've had LOADS of rain here lately?) after I told her to move she sat down in it! LOL Sadly I didn't get the sitting down part, but you can see by her leg just how deep the water was.

Now she is drinking out of the muddy water hole. What is it with dogs??? Why do they feel the need to drink out of something so nasty?

But apparently it was delicious!

I've even notice that the cat who will not drink out of his clean water bowl doesn't mind drinking after the dog, nor as it appears after the rabbits. That's the rabbits water bowl he is drinking out of! What's up with that?? He also drinks out of the scummy pond, the bird bath (but only when I haven't cleaned it out yet), or like the dog he drinks out of pools of muddy water. Go figure!

Our Little Lap Dog

Is that not the cutest tongue? It is always out and it's so soft, I'm surprised it doesn't dry out! LOL Oh, and for the record, those little beads on the floor that you probably see, those are what was in her baby that she ate.

Here are a few pictures of our "baby girl". Keep in mind she won't be 8 months, yes that's MONTHS until the first of April. Daniel loves to pick her up and carry her around the house. I wonder how long he'll be able to do that????

Here is my lap dog! I have friends who have dogs that weigh a measley 3.5 lbs, (Love you Cindy!) or 50 lbs (Love you Deb), my parents have a dog that weighs probably 60-70. (Love you Mom and Dad!) But those dogs don't fill up a lap quite like Joy fills up my very large lap! Let's say it all together, AH, isn't she adorable!

Military Ball for JROTC, Central High School, AR

Well another year passed and our kiddo had a military ball. It was more of just a dinner and award ceremony as the last time this was held, 2 years ago, the Principle didn't like the way the kids were dancing so they weren't allowed to have a dance afterward this year.

This is a picture of Daniel and his date, Brittney. We love Brittney to death. She is a very sweet young woman and is just as nice as they come. She is very goal oriented as far as her schooling goes. They have attended several functions together over the past several years.

Daniel won several awards. 1.) Air Force Association 2.) Distinguished JROTC Cadet of the Year 3.) Group Commander 2008 -2009.

In order for Daniel to win the last 2 awards he had to work really hard and be very dedicated to JROTC. We couldn't be prouder of Daniel! He's our favorite At Home Son!!! Love ya Baby!

OOPS, I Forgot Something Important

This surgery the Dr. thinks I should have should buy me 5-10 years before I need a total knee replacement. That's a long time when you consider I'm only 38. In my research this surgery has bought on average 10-15 years, depending on how active you are.

The Follow -up

Well, today is 2 weeks and 1 day post surgery. How do I feel? Well, actually not too bad. I still have allot of pain and I do mean allot. However, I have range of motion back and I walk with very little limp. The ladies at Dr. Crowell's office mentioned that right off this morning. I am also not using my cane, YIPPEE!!!

Dr. Crowell is of the opinion that I need to have a high tibial osteotomy. This essentially redistributes where the weight bearing is for the knee. They take a wedge out of the tibia then pull together the edges. I looked it up http://www.kneesociety.org/index.asp/fuseaction/site.kneeOsteo The surgery looks painful and the recover doesn't look like a picnic either!

I will return to see Dr. Crowell in 4 weeks, in the mean time he will be contacting Dr. Vanderschilden. (at least that's who I believe he said) He works at UAMS and is apparently a good Dr. but I've heard that before! LOL Oh, I drifted, so sorry! Anyway, Dr. Crowell will contact this Dr. and see if the thinks I am a candidate for this surgery and then find out if he would take me on as a patient. Then if he gives the go-a-head we have to work and try to get Workers Comp to approve it. I hope they will as it is one doctor referring to another doctor, it won't be like I am the one requesting. If we get past that hurdle then we have to work on getting WC to approve the surgery. I am praying that all goes well!!!!

The surgery has a very long recovery. I won't want to have it until after Nick leaves for Iraq, but want to have it as soon as possible after. Why? He wants us to be there when he boards to plane. He says the family can wait with the soldiers while waiting for the plane to be loaded. I of course want to be there to see him off.

So that is the scoop. I'm sure I left stuff off. If I did, just let me know or ask and I'll tell you.
Have a wonderful day!!