Family time

We had a great visit with Grandma Martinez and Judy. The girls all bonded quickly and we enjoyed their visit. All the girls came away quite spoiled with gifts and activities! One of the highlights was watching Katelyn and Grandma Martinez get their pictures taken together at Studio One in the mall. They looked like models on a photo shoot! It was so fun and the pictures turned out fabulous.

From left is Judy, Grandma Martinez and Katelyn.



Grandma Martinez, Jadyn and Katelyn




I was able to enjoy a weekend at a beautiful hotel with some of the ladies in our family who could get away. It was my off week of chemo!! We had a great, relaxing time, and I had a VERY good facial. One of the rooms in the spa was a "slumber room". It was dark, with a soothing fountain and super-comfortable lounging chairs. I definitely "slumbered".

On the left are myself and Sandy; my Grandma and mom are on the right.



There was also great food. During breakfast, a magician roamed amongst the tables and came to ours; he amazed us all! We are still trying to figure out his tricks.



One of the other nice things about the hotel was everything we wanted to do was indoors. That is a great thing because it has been raining non stop here in our area! We have had more rain this year so far than the average for the entire year. Here's a view from the hotel room of clouds rolling in yet again!




I start round 5 of chemo today. I had a good visit with my doctor (Hayley) who was pleased with my progress. In general, I have very little side effects to medicines she gives me. Sometimes she shakes her head saying, “No mouth sores, no tingling in the hands and feet? None? Nothing?” It is moments like this where I am so thankful and humbled at what little complications I have. At times, when I am feeling down, with a raw stomachache from chemo, I wish I did not have to ever feel like that again. But, then, days like today, I am feeling good and get to hear that I could be feeling a lot worse. Thank you God for big blessings. I can be thankful for chemo that works, and smart doctors who prescribe it. Mostly, I am thankful for one who gets me though the bad days. I serve an amazing God!

We had a fun 4th of July with family and friends. A lot of us went to the local parade downtown in the morning. A friend of ours always wakes up very early to save some great seats for the parade. The past two years we have joined them, and Jake wakes up early too. He says that it is pretty special to be up that early (5 AM!) and watch everyone setting up their seats for the parade. He also gets some good quality guy time!

Therefore, our seats were great: we had a great front row view, we were in the shade, had no rain, and we made some fun memories. 14 of our family were able to enjoy the parade this year. My favorite memory last year was when a clown came up to us and SO seriously said, “This is not a joke, where is the end of the parade?” I guess if a clown needs to ask a serious question, one must preface it with saying ‘This is not a joke!’ We could hardly keep from laughing. Well, this year, every time we saw a clown, I looked to one of my aunts and said, “I am not joking!”



More good memories were the flying Elvis’ on mini motorbikes, and critiquing the floats as we are planning to enter a family float next year (all 30+ of us, so get ready!) I am SO kidding!



Aunt Jacque with Kaylee and Zander



Jadyn and Bryn



Cousin Ryan in from New York



Family at the parade, cousin Mark (in yellow) is visiting from New York too!



Hope, Matt, Austin and Baby Ella




After the parade, we had a nice lunch at my Grandma’s house, followed by setting off fireworks. Usually we go watch fireworks, but we had the opportunity to set them off ourselves at Zander and Kaylee’s Nina and Grandfather’s house. It turned out to be so much fun! Jake and Matt (my sister Hope’s husband) were busy keeping all of us highly entertained. We have our favorites picked out for next year (the butterfly, the bumblebee, and the cuckoo are some) and hope it can be a new tradition!

Watching the fireworks!



Ryan, Katelyn and Corbin



Sparklers!--We were very careful--no burns!




Aunt Pam and Mark



Aunt Sandy and Jadyn




We are busy firming up plans for our first ever all-family vacation to Oklahoma next week. There will be 31, 32 of us…I loose count! We have 5 cabins by the lake. Right after I send this blog, I am going to make sure they are not flooded from all this rain we have received lately. My doctor said when I told her where we were going, that she heard every city in Oklahoma had been declared a national disaster area!! I’ll let you know ☺