I am finally starting to get excited for the holidays.  All it took was purchasing a three pack of various 'Holiday Candles' yesterday and I'm there.  We have Peppermint Something-or-other burning right now, filling our noses with little tastes of heaven.  It makes me so happy!!  I am amazed at how just a scent can take me to a completely different place and change my entire mood.  It's made me realize how quickly everything is sneaking up on me.  Thanksgiving is next week already!  Only 11 days away to be exact.  Christmas is right around the corner.  We have big meals to prepare for, company to get excited about, and lots of gifts to start buying.  Guess I'll be making a giant To-Do list, and burning lots of candles in an attempt to not get crabby while working on it.

Foodie Day

I once heard that New Orleans has more Festival days than they do days of the year.  I believe it.  This weekend was the Po-Boy Festival.  It was fabulous!!!  For those who don't know, a Po-Boy (Poor boy) is the local sandwich of choice here in Louisiana.  They're the best, most original Subway sandwiches you'll ever eat.  And today we saw more varieties of them than I've ever seen before. We went this afternoon with a few friends and ate to our hearts delight.  About a mile of Oak Street was lined with tents from various restaurants and shops around town selling their signature versions of the sandwich.  There were plenty of delicious Po-Boys with every type of meat from deep fried oysters, deep fried or BBQ shrimp and hot sausage, to Root Beer glazed ham, slow roasted duck, prime beef debris, and tempura soft shell crab.  I LOVE the food in this city and it's days like today that make me want to live here forever and ever and ever and ever.

Dog days of...Fall?

Today, while all my lovies up north are reveling in their first winter storm warnings and accumulating ten inches of snow, we are LOVING fall.  This is one of the best times of year here in New Orleans.  All the windows and doors are open and we're soaking up as much warmth as we can before it gets cold.  The dogs love this especially, because we just leave the back door open and they run in and out all day.  Lucy decided it was warm enough that she needed her pool filled and sat in it staring at me until I finally went and got the hose for her.  Here is what has ensued since:

She's been out there for the last hour now, running in and out of her pool, digging at the sidewalls, creating splashes to bite at, and is probably getting quite pruney.
Meanwhile, Ariyah has been steering clear of any possible splashes, happy with just enjoying the sunshine and her sticks with a little tastey dirt.

New Title!

I am quite proud of my new name badge - all my dreams are coming to fruition.  Slowly, but surely. 

 *Happy Sigh*

Frontier Bound

I am in Hyden, KY and having a great time so far!  It is so amazing to be with so many other women who have the same passion and have worked so hard to get to this place - a new beginning for the rest of our lives.  My cup is full, and I couldn't feel more blessed to have things work out so perfectly.  God's timing and plan is always perfect.  Now, onto a packed week of orientation...

Three shy of 100

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!!

This year my Grandma Koehler turns 97!!!  You seriously would never know how old she is by watching her.  I am so proud to have her as my Grandma and I pray if I am still alive at that age, I am still doing my own laundry, trying to sneak off and drive to the grocery store alone, and taking care of myself the way she does.  Her spunk and attitude keep me laughing on a regular basis, and she has left a wonderful legacy to this family with her strong faith.  So, here's to another great year Grams, we love you!

Nothing New

And we're perfectly ok with that!  Scott had an Ultrasound of his neck and CT Scan of his chest and neck this last week.  Both came back negative.  The nodules in his lungs have not changed size, and they couldn't find anything new!  It seems that his Calcitonin is still elevated like it was in July, but it has not increased any more since then so we are happy about that!  Whatever little bit of cancer went through a growth spurt to cause the elevated level has decided to lay low for now.

I will be flying to Kentucky on Monday morning for my school orientation.  I'll be there for the week and I'm getting pretty excited.  As you may remember, I was accepted this summer for the fall class, but decided to defer due to us thinking Scott needed surgery.  They graciously pushed me back to the winter class and now I start on January 10th.  This next week I'll be meeting the faculty and staff at the school, as well as the rest of my classmates, who I will be communicating with online during school.  I'll also be meeting my advisor and registering for classes.

And, for the last little bit of good (depending on how you look at it) news - I am planning on giving up my full time position at work at the end of December!  We were thinking I would need to stay at least part time to keep my benefits because the health insurance has covered Scott's cancer testing/treatment/surgeries so well this last year.  Benefits re-enrollment was last week and we were shocked to find that if I went to part time and kept benefits I would be paying OVER $800/month for Scott and I's health insurance.  I would almost be working solely to pay health insurance!  SO, we are going to be changing to insurance through Scott's job, and I no longer have to work even part time, if it seems too stressful once school starts! This has been a little black cloud hanging over my head since getting accepted to school and I feel so relieved to have the option to not be forced to work 20+ hours on top of my 40 hours of school each week.  We'll see how everything goes once classes start and go from there, as far as figuring my schedule out, but for now it's nice to have options.

It's official!

Kinzie is now a Mackey!

We couldn't be happier and we love you lots sweetheart!

Adoption Day!

Today Scott's older brother, Kurt and our sister-in-law, Adrienne, finally have their family court hearing to adopt Kinzie!  She's been a part of this family for over two years, since she was just a few weeks old, as a foster child.  After today we hope to really, really be able to officially call her ours!  Please pray things go smoothly and quickly!

Happy Halloween!!

Antoine Dodson & me!

Members of the Tea Party - we even made tea bags and wore them on our backs

Roller Derby girls!

My friend Marissa & Kaytlin came from WI for the weekend

We are now off to enjoy NOLA in the sunshine for the day.  Hope you all had a great weekend!

A little behind:

Sometimes I get so behind on blogging that I just don't even know where to start.  Because to tell one thing leads to another, and then another, and pretty soon we have a whole freaking book on our hands and everyone is bored by the details.  SO, I will summarize.
1.  Last Wednesday we drove to Little Rock, AR.  In a minivan that we rented.  With the dogs.  It was a hoot.  Not really.  Eight hours on the road and I got my first speeding ticket ever.  Ugh.

2.  Last Thursday we had testing for Scott.  In Little Rock.  They were interested in Scott for a study drug.  They wanted to screen him and so they did a bunch of testing.  Things got mixed up, tests got ordered wrong and he ended up spending a total of  5 1/2 HOURS in the MRI machine.  His blood tests came back pretty good - the calcitonin is holding steady, he is a little less Hyperthyroid (closer to normal), the bone scan was negative for cancer, the MRI of the head was negative, and we're still waiting on results from the MRI of his entire body.   Needless to say we are having doubts about this study now that we are seeing how unorganized things seemed to be.

3. Friday we drove to Tulsa (four more wonderful hours in the car) and spent the weekend in Oklahoma.  We went to OSU Homecoming and got to see lots of friends which was a blast!  We also got to spend a good amount of time with the family and our Tulsa friends.  All in all it was a great, busy, fun weekend.

4. Tuesday we drove allllll the way back to New Orleans.  The dogs did great and spent the trip staring at (and sometimes jumping and biting at) light spots that moved across the ceiling of the van.  Scott and I spent the trip talking about lots of interesting things in life - including how sick of the car we were getting :)  We made the trip in 10hrs and 10mins and are quite proud of our time - even with almost three stops!  We're quick man.

5.  We've both been working since we got back.  We work tomorrow, then my friend from college flies into town and we go to a Halloween party! I need to get my costume ready now, so that's all folks!

P.S.  Next Tuesday we are having more testing done here in town that the study didn't cover (an Ultrasound of Scott's neck, and triple phase CT of his chest and liver), as Dr. Moley has recommended he have these.  Hopefully they're clear!  And then we'll be done with stuff for another three months :)  If not, we go from there.

Instructions on how to have a good time - From Lucy and Ariyah

1) Make one dog (Lucy) stand on owner's bed in play position 

2) Have another dog (Ariyah) race up and down the length of the house repeatedly with her butt tucked, past the first one (Lucy) as fast as possible.  

3) Every now and then add a bark to make sure everyone knows this is the best. game. EVER!

Disclaimer: This game works best in a shotgun house.  Must have at least two dogs.  Dogs must be able to bark and growl for extended periods of time to show delight and disrupt any work being done by owners.

Update on Scott:  It is time again for repeat testing!  October 21st (next Thursday) is Scott's follow up day.  We're going to be having all the regular blood tests, as well as some additional scans done to see where we're at with cancer.  Or hopefully our lack there-of, right?  :)

Date Night

We've still got it.  Last night Scott and I had an all out date night - a really fun, live like we're college kids again date night, complete with pizza and music.  After I worked my 12hr shift yesterday (which included delivering a beautiful baby boy named Tye, who decided he just couldn't wait for the doctor to arrive), I rushed home to quick clean up in time for us to grab dinner before the show.  One of our favorite bands, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, was in town and we've been looking forward to this for the last few weeks. A groovy new band, He's my Brother - She's my Sister (who have a tap dancing percussionist), opened for the Zeros and we really like them now as well!  We stayed out late and danced the night away until 2am - even after the piece of glass I got lodged in my big toe and Scott almost getting punched in the face by some little twerp who kept trying to shove in front of us.  It was an exciting night and we had today off to sleep in until the afternoon.  I love our lives.

Light at the end of the tunnel

A week later and I am finally starting to feel better (after sleeping the day away on the couch again yesterday)!!!!  This plague lasted for over two weeks for me. I've only had two uncontrollable coughing fits in the last 12hrs (better than the hourly sessions we were experiencing), and I'm finally starting to cough stuff up, instead of the dry smokers cough.  I'm trying to stay positive with all the loss of productivity and chapped nose I experienced, but the only two good things I could see to come out of it were:
1.  Weight loss of > 3lbs, due to not having as much of an appetite aaand
2. A more toned tummy from my constant core workout.

Let's just say there are better ways to get those results in my book, and I'm happy to see this virus heading out the door.

Sick

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted in ages, but there's absolutely nothing to write about.  I'm sick.  Scott's sick.  We have some nasty virus that will not go away!  So, until we recover and are among the living again, doing something more interesting then calling in sick for work (me - Scott still has to drag himself there) and drinking down bottles of Nyquil (and Barley Green mom, don't worry), that's all I've got.

Pictures...

Hey everyone - scroll down to our posts from Argentina if you want to see pictures from our trip!  I've been adding them slowly and will add more tomorrow or Monday, so check back if you want more :)

Happy Saturday!

For today we've decided to finally buckle down and be productive....or not.  It's wonderful to have a morning of peace with no agenda except for sleeping in as late as possible and chewing on lots of raw hides.  *Happy Sigh*

Reunion

I spent the afternoon and evening with some of my favorite ladies and their babies.  Life is really, really good :)

Happy Birthday

to my beloved Grandma Knapp, who is 85 this year!!!! 

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family and I'm so glad I could be there to celebrate with everyone!

P.S. Happy Birthday to Erica and Kate too  :)  Love you!