Thank You Note

Some of my friends post pictures without words on Wednesdays... I couldn't wait until Wednesday as I will be unloading my stuff into my new home in Westminster, CO... so...

Rest in Peace Sweet Angel

Today we celebrate the short life of Zoe, a student that I had the honor to work with this past year. Zoe's mom had been told that Zoe probably wouldn't live a month after she was born, and yet this January we celebrated her 8th birthday... She passed away in her sleep sometime in the night of July 10 and morning of July 11.

When I first read her background, my initial thought was honestly, what can I do to help her?? But she helped me more than I could have ever helped her. Her and her mom... Her mom is a wonderful lady, full of ideas that can help any student, regardless of their abilities. I had loads of ideas of how we could address the needs of Zoe, but no ideas as to how to implement the ideas. Our amazing OT came in and created a program for Zoe and implemented a lot of the ideas that I had!

Zoe couldn't talk using full words, but she could vocalize... you knew when she was happy by her squeals and her smile... when she was in pain by her facial expressions and when she was comfortable. We worked on using various vowel sounds and using a switch to control a toy...

I will never forget the lessons that I learned from this little girl... how every student in her class was touched by her presence... those students in her class learned how to love and respect a person with disabilities.

I have always been told that I will have the misfortune of seeing my students/patients/clients pass away, but I never thought it would be 6 years into my career. Although I am sadden beyond words, I am comforted knowing that Zoe will not suffer any more and that she is in a better place... it is also comforting to know that her precious mom will be able to continue to show her love for children with disabilities and keep Zoe's memory alive.

I can only hope that right now, Zoe is in heaven chatting some angels ear off and running and playing like she couldn't do here on Earth. She will definitely be missed by everyone that knew her!

New starts...

As some of you know, I have had a really rough year this year with my job and politics. From my viewpoint, all the teachers that I have worked with have liked working with me and if they have had concerns, have come to me... however... from my supervisors viewpoint (in her office away from the district) I am a very different creature than what I think of myself and others think of me... This year I have been told that I am unprofessional, I don't work well with others, I am difficult to work with on a team, I don't understand my role as a SLP in the school setting or my job in general, I don't communicate well with others or follow outside advice when working with students to name a few.

After shedding more tears than I care to count and drinking more bottles of rum than I should have, I am ending my career with Mtn BOCES and am moving on... on Friday, May 28 I was offered a SLP position in Westminster at a school that is 2 years old. This school has a very strong special education TEAM (yes I said TEAM) with programs for children with autism (programs being language, social skills, and pragmatics to name some), a mild-moderate program and a severe needs program. I am extremely excited about being part of a team that functions as just that, a TEAM. A TEAM that works TOGETHER to diagnose a child rather than as individual pieces and one person makes the final decision... a TEAM that writes collaborative goals and teaches together!!!

My new principal sounds very nice and she is excited to have me on her team next year. Now the search is on to find a place to live and to figure out when Ian and my babygirl Kodi will be joining me!!!

Thank you for your thoughts, prayers and continued support this past year. I don't regret moving to Colorado for a minute and honestly I wouldn't change a thing that I did this year either. I did my best to work with the team at all my buildings and to collaborate and co-plan with other professionals. From what I have been told, and what I have read in the letters of recommendation that I have received from teachers, I collaborated, supported and communicated with the team more than some of my other counter-parts.

I'm moving on...

Update on 101 Things in 1001 Days...

First let me start by saying, I did the math wrong when I first tried to figure out my end date for this project... somehow I managed to do 1101 days NOT 1001... so...

Start date: Feb 10, 2010

End date: Nov 5, 2012

Progress on my goals... 93 days later...

Life:

3) Train Kodi to stay, heel and COME when commanded -- waits and comes most of the time

4) Do laundry weekly, fold and put away after finished --started bi-weekly, but putting all away...

5) Keep house cleaner- vacuum, dust, clean rooms weekly -- started and improving

8) Have ONE night during the week for a DATE night -- improving

Organization:

11) File statements and receipts monthly -- March & April...

13) Paint bedroom in OK for Kenz -- walls painted, design left

15) Decorate room in OK for Kenz -- plan in mind... need to paint

Technology:

22) Update blog at least once a month... -- so far so good...

23) Read Nikon camera user's guide -- started half way finished

Relationships:

No progress made in this area :(

Health

34) Drink only one soda/day -- almost there...

37) Compete in a 5K run -- Full Moon 2010 43:23!!!!

40) Try 15 new recipes -- lasagna, cheesy noodle bake, chicken fried steak, fried chicken, fried chicken fingers/tenders

Career:

42) Organize Autism info into one file --started Feb 2010

44) Organize Personal Library Index of books --started March 2010

Education:

No progress towards goals... BUT... 2.5 grad hours completed through Adams State University

Adventures

No progress but will start working on it this month!!!

Travel

62) Organize information (type up) for travel notebook -- started Feb 2010

67) Go on 5 roadtrips with Ian (Ok does NOT count) --1/5 Estes Park

Hobbies

68) Read 100 books --10/100

69) Learn to knit --started 02/10 knit, purl, some basic combo stitches

70) Knit something functional --"coin purse" 02/10, pot holder 03/10

Photography/Scrap Projects

No progress towards projects...

Other

98) Open savings account in Co -- opened 02/10

Full Moon Follow Up...

After going for ONE "training" walk/jog while in Colorado before heading home for a week and the Full Moon 5K I set off to try to accomplish a very amazing feat, at least for me... 5K in 45 minutes or less... Jason (stupidly) agreed to do the 5K with me and Val on the pretense that I didn't leave him behind... well... I left him behind... but not too far behind... I managed to jog about 75% of the first kilometer... walked most of the second, jogged part of the third... most of the fourth and the last quarter mile of the 5th... my official time was...

DRUM ROLL please... 43:23...

I will post other pictures after I send them from my phone to my computer...

Oh and Jason wasn't too bad of sport about me leaving him behind... he finished 48:50 or something like that... Val finished 38:24 or something like that... not bad for our first times!!! After the run, we (Jace and I) went to Zio's for dinner and Sangria's and back to my parents house to pass out!!!

What a day! What a run!!! My next 5K I hope to run more and be faster than 40 minutes...

Full Moon 5K...

I should preface this blog with a note saying, that although I had said that I wanted to complete a 5K iin the next 1001 days, I didn't necessarily mean in the next 90 days... my goal is to be able to RUN the entire 5K...

Last night, Ian and I get a text from Val asking us what we were doing on May 8... we both were dumbfounded and told her we didn't know... so... she follows up with a text asking us if we wanted to run (yes she said RUN) the Full Moon 5K with her on May 8... Ian immediately replied with "HA!" in a text (and outloud) as I started to laugh and said, "You gotta be kidding right?" (You see, the last time I did any long distance walk/jogging was probably over a year ago...) And no, she wasn't kidding... and after talking to her on the phone I decided I do walk/jog the Full Moon 5K while I am home next week.

So... since dinner was setting up (I made homemade lasagna) and I had some time to kill I went for a little walk/jog... I went 2.4 miles (about .5 of that was jogging) in just about 37 minutes... not too bad considering that a 5K is only 3.2 miles... so... my goal is going to be completing the 5K in 45 minutes...

Yea... we shall see... my legs aren't as sore as I thought they would be... yet... but... my knee is throbbing!!!! Hmmm....

Wish me luck!

He loves me! He really does!

So the past few weeks have not been the easiest for me, professionally... I am not going to go into details on here, at least not yet. But needless to say, things have been rough for me. Throughout this entire process, Ian has been amazing and incredibly supportive of me and my career, regardless of where it might take me! I know that he loves me and that he doesn't like what is going on or the idea of me moving somewhere away from him, even briefly. In some ways, this unfortunate situation is actually bringing us closer together.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I continue this path in my life. Things are uncertain, but I am certain that I will overcome this situation and will be a better professional because of it!

I will keep you updated on this topic as things transpire...

On a different note, I have taken up a new hobby... knitting... I have officially finished a 8x8 potholder for my grandmother in what I think is the "seed" stitch, but I could be wrong... it is an interesting pattern... I still have so much to learn, I hope that when I go home in 2 weeks that Ian's mom will give me some lessons!!!!

Oh, you didn't know I am coming home?? Yea... Kelly (Ian's sister) is graduating from OSU with her Masters degree in Geography. She is amazing! She is graduating with the highest honors possible!!! (I can't remember if that is cuma sum laude or magna cum laude.) So I am flying home to spend the weekend and first half of the week with my family and Ian is going to be joining me via roadtrip with the puppy to celebrate with Kelly in her success!!!

Since time is short, more than likely we won't be able to catch up with many people... however, I will be back in June to spend most of the month at home and possibly July... kinda gotta wait to see how things play out!!!

But all in all... HE LOVES ME!!!

Denver Aquarium

During Spring Break, Ian and I decided to skip town and head to Denver for the night. We made arrangements for Kodi to go to a local boarding/training facility and off we went!

We made it to Denver with very little to report, other than stopping to get gas in Edwards and finding out in Denver that the gas cap was dangling out the side of the door... just 100 miles later... Our hotel was pretty cool and in a great location! We were literally next door to Invesco Field and across the highway from Elitch Gardens and the Downtown Aquarium. We had an amazing view of downtown and the roller coasters from our room!!! The hotel, by any means, was not a 5 star, but it was cute and had character. For starters, it was circular, with a restaurant/bar on the top floor!!!

Wednesday afternoon we decided to visit the Denver Downtown Aquarium. Here are some of the pictures that I was able to take before my battery died in my camera! I will post more once Ian uploads his pictures...

Outside the aquarium... the underwater adventure begins!

I couldn't help myself when I realized that Ian was going to have too much fun taking pictures in the aquarium! At least he was able to play with his camera, something he hasn't been able to do for a while!!!

I was able to hold my camera just above the glass to get this little guy sticking his head out of the water to say hello!

My seahorse. I thought it looked so pretty in the red stuff!!!

Ian standing under the "dinosaur" remains...

The usual hold the camera out and take our own picture routine...

Ok so I started to (as Ian would say) "dork out" on the starfish! There were so many colors and sizes and some looked like they were bumpy while others looked fluffy and others still another texture! This one was a medium sized one in the massive tank.

These guys were sooo pretty! I don't think that the camera did them justice!!! The red was almost crimson and the blue, oh my goodness... it was a deep blue!!!

Ian under the bubble in one of the tanks... he's a goof!!! But I love him!!!

My 30th Birthday... in pictures...

For my birthday... I went to a 3 day conference in Denver... yes, I chose to go to a conference Thursday - Saturday, the weekend of my birthday... Ian rescued me from the conference in a snow storm on Saturday and swept me off to Boulder for Saturday night. We went to Olive Garden, one of my (former) favorite Italian restaurants for dinner. Then we went back to our hotel to hang out and relax for the rest of the evening...

Valentine's day found us leaving Boulder and driving to Estes Park for a romantic day/night in a neat condo/suite. Estes Park was really cool, I want to go back soon!!! Ian took the time to stop in Breckenridge on his way to meet me in Denver to get my Valentine's Day gifts... I got the most awesome sock monkey hat and glove set!!! (Pictures to follow soon).

Before leaving Estes Park on my birthday, we stopped and had old time pictures taken!!! I will scan them and post them once we have my scanner/printer set up in our new and improved office!

Jeri, me and Traci at Bella Mia's for dinner! I love my teacher friends!!!

Tracey 2 and Traci 1... the BEST preschool teacher/therapist team EVER!!!

Jeri and Traci! So cute!!! Gotta love my 3rd grade and pk teacher friends!

Traci toasting the group. She looks so pretty in her dress!!!!

Berkeley and Russell. I love my new cousins! They are great!!!

Me and Ian... Too cute!!!! I love him!!!

Christmas 2009 in photos...

So... finally... I am uploading pictures from Christmas... I didn't take as many pictures at Christmas as I would normally, but with two sick kids and being drug in at least 5 directions at one time... not to mention a freak blizzard on Christmas Eve to top off the holiday week at home!

Ian playing with my new camera on our drive home from Colorado. He (and I) thought the sunset looked pretty neat in the mirror.

McKenzie on her way to the doctor... Kodi though that her lap looked like a good pillow to rest her head!!!

Ian and I were able to go see Ana in "A Christmas Carol" at the PAC. This was her first theatrical production!!! She had to choose between "A Nutcracker" and "A Christmas Carol." I was so proud of her! When she came out on stage and saw me I had tears in my eyes! I couldn't believe my little Ana was so grown up!!!

This school year, McKenzie decided to take up playing the violin! I still need to upload the videos of her playing! She is so intent on being perfect and playing the songs the best she can!!!

Christmas Eve at my parents house! Of course I am wearing the Santa's helper hat...

While Kenz wears the reindeer antlers! She has always liked the antlers!!!

Since 2000, we have taken pictures on the stairs, in front of the tree and in front of the fireplace... this year, since both Syrina and Kenzie were sick, we didn't get our complete photo session, but I did manage to get these few shots before we all left the house!

Me and Kenzie... We have had this particular pose taken since she was 1 year old!

Me and the sickly Syrina! Teenagers... what can I say?

A better picture of me and Syrina. We didn't get to have the hugging picture we have liked the past few years... or wear the shirts that we picked out... grrr on being sick!

Me and my precious girls!!!! They are stinkers!!! But I wouldn't trade them for a minute!!!

Kenzie Ann being a stinker! We thought the picture was kinda funny with her trying to escape my hug!

So mature... 15 and going on 30...

I had to get ONE picture of us on Christmas!!! Blizzard or not... I gotta have my pictures!!

Kenzie's birthday! She likes her bear hat I bought her in Breckenridge!!! She prefers to wear the hat over all of her other hats and hoods!!!

HOME sweet HOME!!! After a two day drive, we finally made it back to our apartment! Kodi wasn't quite as cooperative when we tried to take a family photo... go figure right?

Picture Update... well overdue...

Here are some well overdue pictures that were FINALLY uploaded from my new camera!!!

My 30th birthday... we ended up at Riverside for dinner after we got home from Estes Park.

Winter X Games in Aspen. Good time, real cold... better vieweing from home...

New Years Eve... we started out in Aspen for the fireworks, then headed to Riverside and Bistro... I love my awesome scarf that Sherry knitted for me for Christmas!!!

My one and only snow day of the year... going for a little hike over by the dog park...

Taste of Basalt in November... Had a great time with Traci and Alex!

March 2010

Blog readers... please let me know if you are reading my blog... comments or emails are appreciated! I totally feel like I am blogging for myself these days!!! I enjoy reading my friends blogs and try to comment at times so that my friends know that someone out there is keeping up with them!!! Please share the love!!!

Thanks!

Tracey

101 Things in 1001 Days

One of my friends had posted a list of things she wanted to accomplish in various areas of her life over the course of 1001 days, this sounded like a good idea so I started to think about things that I wanted to accomplish in my life over the course of 1001 days...

Green to the right of items are items that I have started and/or have completed! I will post updates monthly of things I am working on!!! Hopefully even lists of the things I have read or made or even tried to cook!!!

Making a list of 101 things that you would like to accomplish or change in your life isn't as easy as it sounds. It took me several hours of reflecting on my life and the various areas that I would like to improve upon and the things I would like to accomplish. Here is what I came up with:

Starting date: Feb 9, 2010 Ending date: Feb. 15, 2013

Life:

1) Move into a bigger place by July 2010

2) Move all my stuff from OK to CO by Aug 2010

3) Train Kodi to stay, heel and COME when commanded

4) Do laundry weekly, fold and put away after finished --started

5) Keep house cleaner- vacuum, dust, clean rooms weekly -- started

6) Attempt to purchase a home

7) Close out storage unit (OK)

8) Have ONE night during the week for a DATE night

9) Have ONE weekend a month as a DATE weekend

Organization:

10) Find a system to organize my personal paperwork

11) File statements and receipts monthly

12) Set up craft area in office/spare room

13) Paint bedroom in OK for Kenz

14) Sort through my stuff at my parents house

15) Decorate room in OK for Kenz

16) Organize Kenz's room in OK

17) Set up family history information filing system with mom

18) Help mom organize MaAlan's storage unit

Technology:

19) Back up photos from my laptop- make CDs for me Summer 2010

20) Reformat laptop - Summer 2010

21) Make Syrina a photo cd of her life by Summer 2012

22) Update blog at least once a month...

23) Read Nikon camera user's guide -- started

24) Purchase own MacBook/Pro by Feb 2013

25) Scan MaAlan's recipes

26) Make CD of MaAlan's recipes

27) Start scanning my baby/childhood pictures

Relationships:

28) Have Girls Night Out once a month to scrap/hangout

29) ????? - To Be Revealed Later

30) ????? - To Be Revealed Later

31) Have girls come visit in Co

32) ????? - To Be Revealed Later

Health

33) Eat a salad at least once a week

34) Drink only one soda/day

35) Drink only juice/water for one week/month

36) Walk-jog for 30 min/day 3 times a week

37) Compete in a 5K run

38) Workout 3 times/week cardio

39) Work out 2 times/week for weight training/toning

40) Try 15 new recipes -- 1/15

41) Eat at home 5 nights/week

Career:

42) Organize Autism info into one file

43) Start reinvesting in 403B again

44) Organize Personal Library Index of books

45) Gather more information on Autism/A.B.A/Behavior Specialist

46) Create 5 units/lesson plans for 5 books PK-K

47) Create 5 units/lesson plans for 5 books 1-2

Education

48) Find a grad program (Spec. Ed/Autism/Behavior Spec/Reading Spec)

49) Start 2nd Master's program

50) Complete Spanish 1

51) Complete Spanish 2

52) Complete 12 hours towards Master's degree

Adventures

53) Learn to ski

54) Get a weekly ski pass

55) Build Winter Wardrobe

56) Sky-dive or paraglide once

57) Purchase snowshoes

58) Snowshoe hikes once/week during Winter

59) Regular hikes at least once/week Spring-Fall

Travel

60) Renew passport

61) Get 3 stamps in new passport

62) Organize information (type up) for travel notebook

63) Print up travel notebook information

64) Travel to Scotland

65) Travel to France or Spain

66) Go on another cruise

67) Go on 5 roadtrips with Ian (Ok does NOT count) --1/5

Hobbies

68) Read 100 books --3/100

69) Learn to knit --started 02/10

70) Knit something functional --"coin purse" 02/10

71) Improve photography skills

72) Finish Syrina's quilt

73) Piece together Kenzie's top of quilt

74) Quilt Kenzie's quilt

75) Finish Kenzie's quilt

Photography/Scrap Projects

76) Update girls photo albums (07-09)

77) Finish vol 1 (09-10) scrapbook

78) Make hardback book (09-10)

79) Start/Finish vol 2 (10-11) scrapbook

80) Make hardback book (10-11)

81) Make calendar 2011- us/parents

82) Start Finish vol 3 (11-12) scrapbook

83) Make hadback book (11-12)

84) Make calendar 2012- us/parents

85) Start/Finish vol 4 (12-13) scrapbook

86) Make hardback book (12-13)

87) Make calendar 2013- us/parents

88) Start vol 5 (13-14) scrapbook

89) Update girls albums 2010-2013

90) Make scrapbook for parents

91) Make scrapbook of ????? (TBD)

92) Make hardback book of ????? (TBD)

93) Update MaAlan's scrapbook

94) Make photo book for Syrina

95) Make photo book for Kenzie

Other

96) Trade in "sports car" for "family SUV"

97) Put at least $50/mo in savings

98) Open savings account in Co

99) Close TPCU account in Ok

100) Accomplish at least 80% of list

101) Make new list! :)

Hello the big 3-0!!!

Last Monday (aka President's Day) I celebrated my 30th birthday in STYLE!!!

Prior to my birthday weekend, I went to Denver Thursday-Saturday for an amazing conference on Inclusive Education for children with disabilities. The conference was amazing and I had the chance to hang out with Kim and Traci outside of work!

Ian picked me up from the special education conference in Denver and whisked me off to Boulder for Saturday night and then Estes Park for Sunday/Monday! I am so lucky (at least I think I am) to have a long weekend for my birthday!!! Gotta love Valentine's Day and President's Day!!!

Boulder is a cute city, note it isn't a town... it is an actual city! It kinda reminded me of a smaller Tulsa, regardless, I was thrilled to be in a place that had stores that NORMAL people could afford to enter and shop! We ate at Olive Garden, a place I have been wanting to visit since we went home for Christmas. Only problem was that dinner didn't stay with me for long... actually past the parking lot... unfortunately I had a slight coughing fit and needless to say, before we pulled out of the parking lot, I had an empty stomach! We didn't go out after dinner since it had been an incredibly long day of driving for Ian (snow storm and a sidetrip to Breckenridge for my Valentine's Day gift) and a long day of conference listening. Our hotel was awesome, although I wish we had had more energy to go enjoy the hottub that night!

Sunday we woke up, visited Barnes & Noble, then headed off towards Estes Park. The Stanley Hotel is as beautiful in person as it is online and in photos!!! We still need to go through the hotel and take the official ghost tour at the Stanley. But I digress. We stayed at the Wildwood Inn in a 1 bedroom condo/apartment with a hottub in the living room, fireplace, huge bedroom with king bed and a full kitchen. We walked around town for a little bit, bought some new rocks and fossils for our collections then bought groceries for the night. For Valentine's Day we decided to have our own romantic night in, instead of going to a restaurant. We cooked steaks on the George Foreman Grill, made some mashed potatoes, and had some wine for dinner. We watched some incredibly addictive T.V. shows before enjoying the hottub in our room!

For Valentine's Day, Ian gave me the BEST gift EVER!!!! He stopped on his way to Denver at Breckenridge at the shop that we always visit and bought me a sock monkey hat and glove set. The gloves look like sock puppets!!! The set is sooo cute!!! For my birthday, Ian had arranged for me to have a massage and facial with his cousin Berkeley! I get a day of being pampered by one of my favorite people in Basalt!!!! I am so incredibly lucky!!!

Before leaving Estes Park, we stopped in town again and had our picture taken at the "old time" picture place at the "saloon." I feel like I am the luckiest girl!!! Thirty is going to be fun!!!

We celebrated my birthday for the entire week! We had dinner on my birthday at Riverside with our favorite bartenders, Dave and Donna... then on Friday had dinner with Berkeley, Russell, Traci and Jeri at a small Italian restaurant in El Jebel!

Good-bye 20's... HELLO 30's!!!!

February...

Welcome to February... once again, I am sick on the first week of the month... for the past 5 years I have managed to get an upper respiratory infection or bronchitis/pneumonia type virus the week of the 100th day of school!

This week has been a stressful week. Not only have I been sick, but I had a meeting with my supervisor with BOCES (my employer) on Friday. I found out that it has been requested that I be removed from the school I have been serving since August. I am thinking that a lot of the issues are more political than directly aimed at me professionally, but it is still hard to not take what has been said to heart. I have thoroughly enjoyed working in that building with so many wonderful kids, teachers and para-professionals. I am going to miss them terribly. I hope that the decision to place me in 3 middle schools (grades 5-8) and 1 high school isn't set up for me to fail. I know I am a good speech therapist and that my heart is in the right place when it comes to my kids.

This week is going to be a weird week. I am starting my new assignment, going to Denver for what I hope to be an AMAZING conference on Inclusive Education and then to Estes Park with the boy for my 30th birthday!!!!

I will post soon with my 101 things that I hope to accomplish in 1001 days... thanks to Bethany for the idea!

Happy Holidays!

This past week, Ian and I made the 15 hour drive back to Oklahoma to visit our families for Christmas. We had a wonderful time getting to be with our families, even if it was only for 10 days! While we were home, Oklahoma was hit with a blizzard. Yes, I said a blizzard!!! Who would have thought that we would come home from Colorado and actually have a WHITE Christmas!!!

My nieces have grown so much and are still as precious as ever! Kenzie has started learning how to play the violin at school. So... on Christmas Eve, Ian and I got our very own, private violin recital! I will post pictures and videos soon!

Kodi enjoyed playing with Zoe and Gracie at both of our parents homes. I think she is in withdrawal now that we are home and she just has us to entertain her.

The drive home was as uneventful as the drive to Tulsa, which was a blessing after the snow, sleet and ice we had experienced. I am looking forward to New Years Eve in Aspen and a wonderful 2010!!!

It is so nice to look forward to a new year rather than dreading what is to come! How things have changed in my life from this time last year to today! God has a way of bringing people together and putting us where we need to be at the right times.

I hope that everyone has a blessed and happy new year! I will see you in 2010!

December Update

So life has been rather hectic and crazy for us lately... hence the monthly updates!

We had a snow day last week after it started snowing on Monday. Apparently it dumped between 4-6 inches (or more) in various parts of the valley. I didn't mind as it meant that I got to spend the day at home with Ian and Kodi! We went to the dog park and played for a bit before going for a short hike.

This week we are preparing to come home to Tulsa for a week to visit our families. So much to do and so little time to get it done around our jobs and all. We did manage to get our Christmas cards out this week... Ian got the pictures uploaded and "cleaned up" in photoshop so we could print the pictures and stuff the envelopes! He is wonderful, have I mentioned that lately?

Reasons to be thankful

November is traditionally the time to count your blessings and share with the ones you love the things that you are thankful. So here goes...

* I am thankful that I have the most wonderful man in my life... he is understanding, patient, loving, caring, and even a bit goofy... he understands me and knows when to give me a hug and reassurances and when to just let me vent... He even tolerates my crazy, random, OCD tendencies!

* I am thankful for my adorable puppy Kodi, who is growing like a weed!!! She is so much fun and such a happy dog!!! I can't imagine our lives without her!

* I am thankful for my family, my blood family, my extended-adoptive family, and Ian's family. I have never felt so loved before in my life. Ian's family has accepted me and made me feel like one of the clan, something that I haven't felt by a significant other's family in a long time. My blood family can be dramatic at times... but they are my family and I love them. My adoptive family (and you know who you are) love me for who I am and for that I am thankful.

* I am thankful for my grandmother, although no longer with us in life, she is still with us in spirit. I made her fried chicken the other night and it turned out wonderful!!! I didn't even cry as I made my grandma's famous fried chicken.

* My friends. I have the craziest and most diverse group of friends... and I love them all!

I know that I have left a lot of people and things off this list that I am thankful for, however, those things are no less important to me than the things that are listed.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Updates soon...

Hey everybody! I am sooo sorry that I haven't updated lately... my life has been sooo crazy! Kodi is definitely keeping Ian and I on our toes! She is a cutie-pie and is growing like a weed. I need to convince my other half to upload pictures from his camera to his laptop so I can steal them from him and update them on here and on facebook!!!

In other news... I am now a contract therapist for a small town nearby... google Marble, Co... population 85... one room school-house, literally... and I am serving students that are attending private schools that are eligible for speech services in Aspen/Snowmass.

Christmas... hopefully I will have our Christmas pictures printed soon... we need to get our acts in gear and start sending home our gifts so we have less to pack in my car for the drive...

Keep your eyes open for picture updates soon!!!

Much love to all my Oklahoma family!!!

Kodi Bear Stiller

Welcome to the family Lil' Miss Kodi Stiller! This week Ian and I "rescued" a little puppy that we have officially named Kodi. She is adorable and so far pretty laid back and easy going. We have found that she is VERY smart and is very curious about the world.

We got her from a guy in front of the grocery store on Monday, Oct 5, 2009. She looked sooo precious that we couldn't say no! The next day Ian took her to the local pet store to get her some goodies. Apparently one of her siblings had been in the store and was not in as good of condition as our precious angel.

We took her to the park the other day during my lunch hour. She is sooo tiny!!! We were told that she is a chow-shepherd mix... however... we are starting to question that label. Her tail curls like a chow (or like an akita or any dog in the spitz family), she doesn't have the purple on her tongue like a chow, nor the really long hair... her paws are tiny as well... she is fuzzy and cute and has a little white spot on her chest. She looks like a little bear, hence the name...

Last night Kodi let us sleep through the night. This was a first time experience for Ian and me. To say the least, we were beyond estatic that we only had to wake up at 5 am and then again at 9 am to take her out! I guess the meds from the vet are helping her. The vet said she didn't think that her label was accurate either for her breed. The vet also doesn't think that she is 9 weeks old as we were told... she is thinking that we are closer to 8 weeks old than 9. She was tested for parasites and bugs at the vet, only to find out that our lil' girl had a host of parasites living in her intestines as well as some sort of bacteria growing there. She is now on 2 different medicines and a bland diet and she is doing great!!!!

Ian has some other pictures on his camera that haven't been uploaded yet... so be prepared for more adorable pictures of our baby girl to come!!!!