He Is 3!

That is right I said my baby is 3! Don't let him know I called him my baby because he HATES being called a baby. He is definitely a big boy now. We had a little "party" for him at Young's Dairy Farm on Wednesday since Travis and I will be working Friday. Rachel was in town so we were able to include them in our birthday fun. The boys took a little time when we first arrived to check out the farm animals. Braeden asked where the giraffes were I sadly had to inform him that giraffes don't live on the farm.

How cute are these two little men?

Smile little birthday boy!

Braeden and I had fun riding the cow.

Can't forget to check out the tractors when you are on the farm.

Drive that tractor Gavin!

Here are Braeden's birthday "pupcakes."

Here are my cupcake farm animals. I think the cows turned out the best.

The barnyard crew.

Gavin helped Braeden with the one last candle.

Gavin liked to eat without his hands...just like a barnyard animal.

Awwww....he was sooooo cute. After his party he made sure when we got home to thank us for the presents and for going to his birthday party. How sweet is that?

Here he is in his three year picture being super cute.

Happy Birthday sweet little man.

Aunt Rachel Visits

My friend Rachel came out from Wyoming for a quick visit and while she was here we got together so the boys could play. The boys started their playtime with a short wagon ride to the park so they could run wild.

Braeden and Gavin chillin' with chips in the wagon.

Gavin was leading the way up the rock wall.

Braeden was close behind showing he could do it too.

I love it when Braeden goes down the slide.

Braeden thought it was funny that he could shock Aunt Rachel.

These boys have so much fun together sliding, running and lookin cute.

The zoo was the next little play date we had together. We had so much fun riding the train and checking out all the animals.

Braeden and Gavin were super excited to see the giraffes.

It was even more exciting to feed carrots to the giraffes.

Awwwww....Rachel and Gavin are sooo cute.

Cheeser beezer!

Look at the giant turtle named Braeden.

The boys weren't afraid to ride the elephants.

Everybody having a good time with the camel.

The last day we took the boys in for their annual picture taking session. As usual it wasn't as easy as you would think it should be to get a couple of pictures taken but that's the joy of little boys. After a little of work and just letting the boys do their thing we did get some cute pictures.

Preach On

Pumpkin Hunt

This weekend Travis and I thought it would be fun to take Braeden out on a pumpkin hunt. We had originally planned to go to Young's Dairy Farm to find the perfect pumpkin. Luckily Friday night we decided to check out what time they would close only to find out that they stopped allowing pumpkin hunting on Oct. 14th. Dang it! We checked out a couple of other places online and finally decided to make the journey out to Brumbaugh Fruit Farm.

Here is a picture of my two little monsters at the farm.

The boys favorite part of the trip was to go down the giant slide. I think they went down about 40 times.

See how much fun they are having. They were both too afraid to do it by themselves so Braeden sat on Travis's lap.

Braeden finally decided that Travis was ready to go down by himself. Braeden came down first to show Travis that it was ok.

"See Travis, I told you it wasn't scary!"

After going down the slide the boys raced off to the corn maze leaving me in the dust.

I finally caught up with them and Braeden did hold still long enough to snap a quick picture with me.

After successfully completing the corn maze we hopped aboard the hay ride and headed back toward the front of the farm.

"Who's ready for a hay fight?"

"I'm gonna get ya!"

"Take that!"

The winner is...Braeden!!!!

As you may have noticed there are not any pictures of a pumpkin hunt. That is because there was not a single pumpkin left in the fields to pick. They did have a couple when you first came up to the farm but they were like ten bucks. Are ya kidding me? We will just pumpkin hunt in the Meijer produce department. Although we left without a pumpkin the boys did have an excellent time.

Birthday Boy

Here he is.....the birthday boy!

Thursday Oct. 16th was my little honey bunches of oats 32nd birthday. I know I should have posted something that day to inform everyone that it was a super special day but I was busy getting everything together for his birthday supper. By getting everything together I mean getting my hair done, making dinner, making cupcakes and doing the dishes about 20 times that night. Last night we got together at his sister's house to have another little birthday celebration. We started off with some pimp chips and dip as prepared by Travis's brother-in-law Bobby. As you can tell it was a hit with both Big and Little Travis.

Even the little ones were chowing down on the chips.

After chips and dip we had an enchilada dinner which was AWESOME as well. The cake followed shortly thereafter. Braeden thought that Travis might need some help with the tea lights so he was happy to lend a helping hand.

By the end of the night we were basically stuffed and Braeden was refusing to leave so I think all in all it was a good night. The birthday boy made out pretty well in the gift department so hopefully turning another year older wasn't too much of a downer. So I will say once again...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!

Skin Cancer

In July while in for a check up with my doctor I pointed out that it seemed a mole on my leg had changed in color a little and wanted to know if I should be concerned. My doctor said that the area looked a little dry but because of the size of it she wanted to send me to a plastic surgeon to have it removed. My first appointment was on Aug. 29th where Dr. Chami went over the size and color with me and advised me that he would remove it because it had been increasing in size. About a week later I was in the office having the mole removed and chillin' on my behind while my darling Travis took care of me. That surgery had been on Tuesday Sept. 9th and on Friday of that week I received a call from Dr. Chami's office asking me to come in. I knew that it wasn't a good sign if he was calling me in soooo soon after the surgery since I already had a followup appointment for two weeks later. Travis met me at the doctor's office where I was told that the mole that was removed was a malignant melanoma. The good news was that we caught it very early in the first stage and the area around the mole was cleared. Although it seems that they got it all with the first surgery I would have to go back in to have more of the area removed to be safe, taking all tissue and fat down to the muscle. Surgery was scheduled for Oct. 9th and everything went very well. I have had a lot more pain with this surgery but Travis has been a huge help taking care of my every need. I was also lucky to be able to have people to watch Braeden while I am recovering. He went to Grandma Taylor's house on Wednesday night and Donna picked him up Thursday and will keep him until Sunday. I am feeling a lot better today and hopefully all will be well with the tissue that was removed and I will be done with all these surgeries. Here are some of the pictures from my cancer removal journey.

The mole that needed to be removed. I know my leg is blindingly white but I never wear shorts. I feel that if you have legs this white it is your responsibility to prevent blindness of others by wearing pants.

This is the scar and bruise after my first surgery.

Here is the same scar after the stitches were removed.

Here is the aftermath of the most recent surgery. I thought my leg would have a large dent in it but it really isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Obama National Anthem

Now that is funny stuff!