Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Baileys are Back to Blogging!!

Okay, first come my apologies. It’s been just over a year since we last posted anything. YIKES!! I can give the excuses but honestly, it was laziness. I’d love to get back into blogging so here’s a fresh start to round out 2010.

For a quick overview, last Halloween we were Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and LOVED having all the family over for such yummy food. Christmas Eve we went to my sister’s house to see my family. Christmas morning we flew up to Washington and surprised Eric’s family. It was one of the best surprises ever!! We rented a car and literally knocked on his mom’s door. It was very fun to spend some time with Eric’s family for Christmas. In January I had my tonsils removed. It was a worse situation than we planned for but I’m much better off without those darned tonsils. So grateful for Eric’s cousin Kacia who came to visit us and helped care for me while I recovered. In February my old high school won the State Championship. YAHOO!!! After coaching those girls and becoming so emotionally attached to them, it was great to see them experience the ultimate win. Having been a part of a State Championship team at Seton, it brought back some very fond memories of the good old days. I was very proud of the team and happy we were there to cheer them on. This past February we also purchased a road bike for me. Eric has been a cycling enthusiast for years and inspired me to try my luck at it. In the past few months we have come to love riding our bikes together and Jarem is very fond of his trailer. He gets so excited when he sees us put our cycling clothes on. He is a great teammate on the Bailey cycling team. LOL In March we went to the Black Eyed Peas concert. That is our favorite group and the concert was AMAZING!!!! BEPs were definitely the highlight of our month!

This past May our baby boy turned two! I guess we have to stop calling him a baby now. Jarem is the joy of our lives!! We have been so blessed with such a perfect little boy. He loves trains and anything else with an engine for that matter. He is a boy through and through. He loves when we rent books from the library and his favorites right now are Dinotrux and Hot Rod Hamster. He does great at school and we’re so proud of his language skills. His vocabulary is astounding for his age and we honestly wonder where he learns some of the phrases he uses. He is just so darned cute!!! He loves to swim but unfortunately has been struggling with some ear problems again. His tube already fell out of his left ear. It was again earlier than we hoped it would come out. The doctor will keep a close eye on it for the next few months. We’re going to pray that he doesn’t need another surgery!

In June we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. We got the greatest gift possible for our anniversary, keys to our new house! We sold our house in Queen Creek and have moved to Gilbert. We are so happy with our new house and feel blessed that we were able to sell our house in Queen Creek. We save an hour in commuting each day. That extra time together is invaluable to our quality of life. In July we participated in the Seattle to Portland bike ride. As I mentioned earlier, my cycling career began early in 2010. The culmination of my career was July 17-18 when we rode our bikes from Seattle to Portland in 2 days and logged over 200 miles and 15+ hours on our bikes. I never in a million years thought I would be able to complete this ride. It was a lofty goal and honestly I never saw myself crossing the finish line. With the support of our teammates on United We Ride, I exceeded all of my expectations. It was challenging yet exhilarating. I am so proud of myself!! Spending that time with Eric and having his support are what got me through the weekend. He is my partner in everything I do and I appreciate him so much. He is spectacular!!

July was spent moving and adjusting to our new house. We were preparing, cleaning and packing with every spare moment we could find. I’d love to say that we’re completely settled but there are plenty of projects lying around for us to complete. I know we’ll get to them eventually. For now we’re keeping busy and enjoying life all the while.

In August my beautiful mom turned 50. We had a fantastic party for her themed after the TV show The Amazing Race. Just over a week after her birthday, we got some startling news: she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Just over a week after her birthday, we got some startling news: she was diagnosed with colon cancer. At the hands of a world-renowned surgeon, she had her colon removed on September 7th which was also my birthday. Her successful surgery was the best birthday present I could have hoped for! While she had a few bumps along the path of her recovery, she is now home and healing well. We’re very blessed that her cancer was caught early and was only in Stage 2. We will find out in the next week or so what the plans are for her chemo treatments. Since they were successful in removing her cancer, it is possible she won’t need any chemo at all. Fingers crossed! For now we’re focusing on supporting her and being there for anything she needs. She’s the most amazing mother! She has always been so supportive of us and has a generous heart. It’s nice repaying her for her unconditional love with some much needed quality time together. Her strength and courage are awe-inspiring. It’s times like these that we rely on our faith and our Father to guide us.

I think that about catches us up on the major happenings in the past year. I know there’s plenty I’m missing like our trip to Disneyland but the gist of the matter is that we’re happy, full of love and feeling ever so blessed. I continue to work for US Airways and Eric is striving at The Phoenix Zoo. We are still able to carpool most days despite Eric being back in school at ASU. He is taking 10 credits this semester. He is my hero for working so hard for our family. I love his big thinking ways. I’m so lucky to have him in my life and by my side.

It’s good to be back! We'll try to post some pictures and video links for some of the things from our recap. More to come soon…

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What a strange coincidence. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer right after her 50th birthday party. I'm glad your mom is doing well!