School Registration

I cant believe that it is already school registration today, that summer is almost over and that I now offically have a senior in high school! Nothing like coming to that realization to make you feel older than you already do! So having the girls register in Alamogordo was not part of our "plan" but here we are. We had planned on me already be settled in with a job and a house by this time and thats not the case. After a tearful talk that other night, Nathan and I have decided that I will no longer look for jobs and go to interviews in Santa Fe until next year. With the girls starting school already, its just not what we want to do at this time. The only way I will possibly take an interview is with the Labs in Los Alamos or a stellar position with the state. No more searching and applying until about April of next year. I can now just concentrate on the kids, fixing the house, the wedding and getting Jo ready for graduation! It will be hard on all of us and not the way that I wanted to start out our marriage, but we have done it for over 2 years already and this will only make us stronger as a family and will make us cherish the time that we do get together.

Pics from 7-20-11

Here are just a few pictures from our day in Santa Fe on Wednesday. It was Jordyn 17th birthday and also Nathans promotion ceremony. We had a wonderful lunch at Rio Chama Steakhouse and then went walking in the plaza, where the girls found some silly things.

Nathans parents and also his neice, McKenzie, joined us for the days festivities.

Pre-Application for Marriage License

We did it this morning.... we submitted the pre-application for our marriage license in Clark County!!! We are about 56 days away! We cant wait to celebrate this momentous day with the girls and our family and close friends. We have family already making airline and hotel reservations and we are finishing up some last minute details and decisions and its been such a fun process for us both. So far we have kept our sanity and just had a good time working on projects for this day. I just talked to my good friend and photographer, David Thompson, who will be our amazing photographer for the day. His work is totally amazing and I am so thankful for him and I cant wait to see him and catch up. I know he will catch some beautiful images of the first day of the rest of our lives. Thank God for PhotoShop which he will use to make me look tan, tall and skinny!! LOL. I cant wait to see the girls in their beautiful black dresses, all dressed up and even Lola in her surprise "kicks", since she doesnt do dressy shoes. Still have many things to finish and check off "the list" but we are well on our way to our goal.

Lab Results

Allorahs last appointment with Dr. Pachman in Chicago was about a month ago and I finally received some lab results on Wednesday morning and then Dr. Pachman called me herself last night. It seems that she is impressed with Lola's recent labs. Her muscle enzymes are doing well and so is her liver enzymes, which had been on the high side for some time. This last time we were in Chicago, they started to decrease her Prednisone which was necessary to help lower her blood sugar and get her diabetes in control. It has been working and her glucose has been better and we are finally down to 7mg. a day. The Prednisone is a double edge sword, it helps control the inflammation that has wrecked havoc on her little body but at the same time there is so many side effects that she has experienced from being on this medication for 10 straight years, osteopenia, cataracts, diabetes, fatty liver syndrome. It has been tough but hopefully now some of those issues will start to repair themselves with her being on a lower dose and continuing to taper. Lets keep our fingers crossed. I informed Dr. P of this recent issue we have had with swelling and irritated lips. They look like they are just really chapped and they are starting to really concern me. She is starting to get real self conscious of the appearance. We thought maybe she was allregic to something she ate or to a lip balm that she used or lotion or something, but we havent changed anything like lotions or soaps or detergents and it still stays, we even tried giving benadryl with no change. So Dr. Pachman suggested to call her pediatrician or dematologist and see what may be going on as this doesnt sound like a JDM issue. Hopefully this is just a simple problem that can be easily remedied.

Road Trip

Me and the kids will be heading to Santa Fe this evening and meeting Nathan and his parents for the NMSP promotion ceremony tomorrow morning. It is also Jordyn's 17th birthday, so text her, call her or post "happy slappy birfday" on her facebook wall. Her gift is en route and wont be delivered until tomorrow evening, so that stinks, I was hoping to have it today so that we could give to her tomorrow when we take her to lunch at Rio Chama Steakhouse. :) Oh well, we will be back tomorrow night so it will be here when we get back home. I hope she likes it.
So it will be pizza, wings and poolside when we get into Santa Fe tonight. We found a pizza joint in Santa Fe that does gluten-free pizza for Lola and she is just beaming about this. The Rooftop Pizza does GF crust so this is a plus. I can almost taste the Dions and chelada. C'mon 5 o'clock!!!

Wonderful Weekend

It was a great weekend. Nathan was home and we relaxed and relaxed some more. Saturday was a perfect day to take the girls to Ruidoso for lunch.

They enjoyed some sushi and then we went to Sweet Retreat for a caramel apple. We have such a great time together and its so hard for him to leave and go back up North without us.

Hopefully soon there will be a perfect job offer and we will be making a move for a new chapter. I can't wait!
So today marks exactly two months until our wedding! I can't believe it's gone by this fast. On Friday we get to register for our wedding license on-line thru Clark County. This is all coming together perfectly!

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Poor Diesel Bentley

Yesterday morning Diesel started this tremor/seizure thing that has us so concerned and scared. We gave him a bath and then let him inside to rest and relax. While I was taking a shower, Nathan noticed that he started twitching his head while he laid there. He got up and asked Jordyn if he had been doing that and she told him that she had never noticed it. We just kind of blew it off as him being a little wet and cold from his bath and being inside where the air conditioner was hitting him. We took him to lunch and then for a drive up to High Rolls and then headed home. We got home and he was resting and then Nathan noticed that he was doing it again, he was moving his head side to side as if saying, no, no, no. He was alert and oriented and didnt lose control of his bladder or bowels, but it went on for a few minutes. We just laid there with him and tried to get him to snap out of it. We scoured the internet and see what this could be. It seems that this is a problem that some bulldogs get, nothing can be done since its not a "full seizure". It happened a few more times through out the day. We even gave him a handful of sugar since it could also be due to low blood sugar. We are just keeping a close eye on this and hoping that with maybe a new diet of adding extra calcium to his regimen that this may help. We just hate seeing him not 100%. Allorah and Jordyn were so sad last night when we told them and Lola's eyes started watering thinking that he might die, we just reassured her that he is ok but just needs to be loved on when he is having these "episodes".

Promotion Ceremony

Nathan got an email from the Chief at headquarters this morning and he received his orders to be present for the awards ceremony in Santa Fe on the 20th of this month for his recent promotion to Sergeant.

I am so proud of him for this accomplishment and he really loves his new position in Espanola. With that being said, a sense of anxiety has crept up on me. He had asked me when he received this promotion that I have the honor of "pinning" him for the ceremony. I gladly accepted as this is a big step in his career and I am there to support him 110% and show him that I am his biggest fan and cheerleader but as my closest family and friends know, I have a fear of getting up in big crowds. I wont even leave a class, seminar, meeting, to go to the restroom even if my eyeballs are swimming! I have this huge fear that I will trip and fall and then everyone will laugh at me! I know its silly but what if that happens while we are walking up to the stage? I will embarrass him in front of all of his co-workers. The fear has started to mount within and I am feeling that I may puke that morning! Maybe some self-hypnotherapy might work, or some liquid courage! Just kidding! Poor guy, I will be a mess that morning, on "his" day! :)

Weekend Update

What a nice and relaxing weekend we had. Even though the girls didnt join us and we missed them terribly, we were able to relax and just unwind. On Friday I headed up to meet Nathan in Santa Fe, but on the way, I stopped in Albuquerque for my first laser tattoo removal treatment. Lets just say that I had a momentary lapse of better judgment many years ago and thought it would be fun to get a tattoo on my ring finger. Well the "art" lasted longer than the nuptials, so that hideous thing needs to come off and what better timing than before September 17th!!! It wasnt nearly as painful as I thought it would be, just a few zaps and literally 5 seconds later, my first treatment was done. I gotta go back in 4 weeks for the next treatment. I am so excited to get that thing removed! So then I hit the road again and was off to Santa Fe. We were able to look at a few condos/townhomes and get a good idea of where we will plan to live when I finally get a job and we move up. I'm thinking it will be easier for the kids and I if we find a place that has gated security, a pool and a gym and we did find a few cute places. So thats a bit of weight off my shoulders. Nathan and I went to eat at a few neat places. On Saturday we were going to head to the Santa Fe Wine Fesitival but we thought it would be better to just head over to Whole Foods and get some fresh fruit and beers and lounge by the poolside. Which we did and it was awesome! Then we got dressed up fancy and we had reservations at El Meson, a Spanish restaurant downtown that serves Paella and tapas and homemade sangria. They had flamenco dancers and singing going on too. The food was pretty good, expensive, but good, it was the service that was horrible!! We wont ever go back there. It seems that nothing compares to Rio Chama! Yummmmmmm. On Sunday morning we woke up and went to our favorite breakfast place, the Guadalupe Cafe. They have the most amazing homemade cinnamon rolls, but they were sold out before we had a chance to enjoy one! Boooooooooo! We saw a few other places and then we headed up to Espanola. Nathan took me to Los Alamos where the fire has struck and it was so sad. The smoke was terrible and after about 30 minutes in the area, our throats got itchy and irritated and be started having a headache, so we headed back down and finished off with sandwiches and a movie. I woke up early Monday morning and headed back to Alamo, as me and my mom threw a surprise 40th birthday party for our dear friend, Lydia. She was so surprised and cried like a baby! :) It was a good time for her and her family and I was happy that she enjoyed. It seemed that she had never had anyone throw her a party!
So that was our weekend and back to the grind on Tuesday. I had my tooth extracted and boy that was horrible. Either Im a big baby or it was really that painful! Probably a bit of both! So now it has to heal and Im tired of eating jello and soft mushy food, I need substance!! Tacos, chips, salsa, you name it.
As far as the wedding plans are going, we are now 73 days away! Formal invitations went out yesterday to close family and friends only. We decided from the beginning that we didnt want a circus and thats why we decided Las Vegas. Something small and intimate and yet fun and maybe a little crazy. We are both so excited and cant believe that it is almost here. I am keeping my fingers crossed for smooth sailing!