Carcassonne Game Night!

We had a great time playing Carcassonne with Joel & Jenny last night! It is somewhat similar to another of our favorite games, Settlers of Catan. Yes, we know--we're all board game geeks....but it was a lot of fun! Dave won this time, but we look forward to a rematch soon!

Not in the car!!

It's been a while since I've written anything in our blog, but I feel compelled to address an issue that affects many of our male readers. Farding. Many of our manly concerns could be completely resolved or even be made non-issues if women would just curb or learn how to time their farding properly. We could severely limit female motorist accidents and maybe even get to events in a timely and unhurried manner if women would just fard at home with plenty of time to finish instead of farding in the car- and how rude can you be if others are present in the vehicle?!?! Like this morning on our way to church (of all places!) Bethany decides to fard at least half of the way there.
Now many of you might be wondering why am I throwing my lovely wife of five years under the bus like this? It's simple: farding is a distraction that gets in the way of good conversation, and heaven help the freeways if she is doing it while driving. Now farding as opposed to a similar issue many women have with men (and NOT to be confused) is defined by Webster's as: "To paint (the face) with cosmetics."
Here is a common farding kit (the very one my wife used this morning):

Guys, tell your ladies in the most polite way that farding will not be tolerated in the car and, if they want to linger on it, they need to get it out of their systems at home.

p.s. Many thanks to Rush Limbaugh for bringing such a serious issue to the table.

Thankful **Updated**

As most of our four (or five) faithful blog readers know, I had surgery on my thyroid last Friday. The week before school began, my doctor noticed a lump on my thyroid, so I went to a surgeon the following week for what I thought was to be a biopsy. After being in his office for only about five minutes (in which he referred to my "lump" as a "TUMOR" several times), he told me that, due to how quickly the lump appeared & my family history with thyroid problems, he recommended not doing a biopsy, but instead scheduling surgery as soon as possible. At this point, I don't really remember what happened, but there were a *lot* of tears. The surgeon kindly asked me why I was crying (as if I ever need a reason), to which I somehow replied (through gasps of air from all the tears) that finding out you have to take a week off of school for surgery (on the first day of school, nonetheless!) while you are trying to do fertility treatments is just *slightly* overwhelming!

So, after a day of praying and talking with family & friends, Dave and I decided that, yes, it would be best to have this taken care of, so we scheduled surgery for Friday the 5th. I have never had surgery (or even stitches!) before, so I was very nervous leading up to Friday. But, I was amazed at how peaceful I felt once I got to the hospital...we are so thankful for the many precious friends & family who were praying for us!

Since finding out I had to have surgery, my biggest fear had been that my voice would be damaged in surgery, even though Dr. Lorimer reassured me that laryngeal nerve damage is very rare. I was far more scared about losing my ability to sing than finding out that the lump was cancerous....so, there was MUCH rejoicing in the recovery room when, first, I realized I could still hum, and, then, when my family came in to tell me that my lump was benign!

After a somewhat-eventful night in the hospital, we came home on Saturday afternoon. My mom, who is truly the nurse extradordinaire, has been amazing. When I thanked her (once again) for all her help, she actually said, "This has been fun!" I must also give a huge shout-out to Dave who has been so wonderful taking care of me...he is an expert at changing my dressings, and he even watched "High School Musical 2" with me last night! (A bonus to this whole ordeal is that Dave is working in town this week, which means he is home every night!!)

We are also thankful for our amazing friends who are bringing us dinner every night this week! Wow!--this is by far the most home-cooked meals we have eaten in a very long time! :) Both Dave & I have been absolutely overwhelmed by how many friends and family have cared for us so much these past few days, and we are truly thankful!

**Wednesday morning update**--We just got back from the doctor, where I had my stitches removed. The surgeon shared the pathologist report with us, which showed that I had a smaller lump (next to the large one that they originally found) which was cancerous! He said it was "serendipity" (which we know is truly a miracle) that essentially the larger, benign lump led us to the smaller, cancerous one. (It was removed in surgery, as it was on the left side.) We are even more thankful that we had the surgery done...for if we had just had a biopsy of the larger lump done, it would have come back as benign, and we would have never known that there was a cancerous lump right next to it! Wow!!--we were truly in shock at God's goodness as we left the doctor's office today...what a mighty God we serve!!

Another Reason Why I Love Fall!

Each fall, I have to celebrate the return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte to Starbucks! My first Pumpkin Spice Latte for this fall was especially good because Heather brought it to me at our house, since I am housebound due to surgery...definitely a special delivery!

Quick Trip to Steamboat

After work on Friday afternoon, we flew to Denver and then drove to Steamboat for a wonderful weekend with the Rinns! We absolutely loved being back in Colorado again...the cool weather felt wonderful! After getting in around midnight on Friday night, we woke up on Saturday morning to a delicious breakfast (as always!)...including fresh carrot juice!
There was an air show in town, and Dave & Susie noticed this in the sky!
We spent most of Saturday relaxing & reading at the house. Later in the afternoon, Dave & Tim went to check out the air show, and Susie and I went shopping downtown. :) On Saturday night, we all went out to a delicious Mexican restaurant in Hayden.
We also got to see Jon and Kristy's new condo in Oak Creek and spend Sunday evening with them! This was the first time the 4 of us had hung out together as couples, and it was so fun!
On our way back to Denver, we stopped to see Michael where he works at C.B. & Potts. Though our time was too short, it was great to see him for a little while!
And...we saw a Caribou in the airport and couldn't resist! ;) How I wish there were a Caribou closer to us!
Even though our time in Colorado was much too short, we had a great time with our family. We are so excited to see them again soon...when we host this Christmas in Texas! ;)