Nick and CeCe got married!

The last stop on our 10 day trip was Simsbury, Connecticut. That part of the trip was actually the only one that had been planned since about September. The DC trip didn't come up until the middle of October and of course we didn't plan on Niagara Falls until the day we left to go up there.

CeCe was a beautiful bride and Nick a handsome groom. Nick is my friend, Lee's oldest son. He met CeCe (her full name is Catherine Cecelia - I don't know if that is spelled right), last fall and they knew pretty quickly that they were THE ONES :-) CeCe is not only beautiful on the outside but on the inside as well, Lee is quite the lucky lady!

The wedding was at The Riverview and it was a beautiful venue. I had a great time just being a guest this time. Although of course I had one of my cameras with me and managed to take a few shots. I tried my best to stay out of the way of the paid photographer, I know how frustrating it is when the guests with cameras are in the way. I didn't get yelled at so I guess I was out of the way enough :-) Here's a few shots from the wedding the rest are in my facebook album http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=119474&id=701749222&l=de3ec6a574

The Kiss!

Dave and Jack

Lee and Dave with Jack

Lee dancing with her handsome son, Nick

Admiring the ring

Lee with her daughter, Gina

Dave and Lee

Niagara Falls

Brad and I woke up on Thursday, said good bye to Ryan who had to head back home to work, and we had to figure out the rest of our plans. We didn't have to be in Connecticut until Saturday so what to do? Why go to Niagara Falls of course! We had talked briefly about it before the bone marrow thing came up and at that point decided we couldn't do it. After they changed the donation date to the 4th we didn't think much about it then either. So, Thursday morning we realized that it would be the perfect time to go. We drove up on Thursday. It was a beautiful ride, although it probably would have been prettier a couple of weeks ago, we still enjoyed it. Neither of us have ever been to this part of the country before so we are enjoying it. We went to the falls today and they were absolutely stunning! God is so awesome to create such beauty for us! I was disappointed that we couldn't go to the Canadian side. I have always wanted to go into Canada - especially since I was born there - and to be this close and not get to go was a bit disappointing. Neither of us had our passports because we hadn't planned on coming here when we left Virginia. But, we still had a great time and have really enjoyed this little diversion. Tomorrow we head for another beautiful part of our country - Connecticut. Looking forward to Nick and Cece's wedding!

The National Zoo

On Tuesday we went to the National Zoo. We got off the metro and ate at a cute little Italian trattoria on Connecticut Ave in DC. It was quite a trek up a hill to the zoo but after resting a few times we made it. I mainly wanted to see the giant pandas, and luckily they were near the entrance. We wandered around the giant panda area and I was getting increasingly frustrated because I thought we weren't going to see the pandas. We walked long enough and finally found the indoor exhibit. I loved seeing the pandas, they were so cute!

Arlington National Cemetery

The first two days we were in Washington DC it was rainy and miserable so we didn't do anything much but hang out in the hotel room. On Sunday we did go to a huge mall in Tysons Corner. We needed to do a little wedding gift shopping and it seemed the perfect time with the weather being so bad.

On Monday we headed out to Arlington National Cemetery. We have been to DC a few times and we had never been to the cemetery. We really loved it. I was beginning to feel a bit fatigued from the shots but they had a trolley so we rode that for most of the visit. The Changing of the Guard ceremony was so impressive and awe inspiring. Those soldiers looked so young! They were just babies! We went there first because that was the most important thing we wanted to see. Other areas of interest were the eternal flame where President John F. Kennedy is buried and the white wooden cross that marks Robert Kennedy is buried.











More photos can be found in my facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=117743&id=701749222&l=557ba17bb2

Be the Match

(I wrote the first part of this the night before I was to donate but our internet connection wasn't very good so I finished it tonight 48 hours after donation) Last July while I was visiting with my mom in Tennessee, I got a phone call from the Bone Marrow Center. I was a match! Wow! That was quite exciting! A match for what you say? Well, my cheek swab showed that I matched a 50 year old man suffering from a form of leukemia who needs a bone marrow transplant to save his life. Wow - again! I cannot imagine my ever having the opportunity to save a person's life - what an honor! How did I get on this registry to be matched to begin with? That happened about 4 years ago when Brad was skipper of VRC-40. He arranged a bone marrow drive in the squadron - giving his sailors special liberty for anyone who signed up on the registry. So, our whole family went in and registered too. It was so easy, the flight surgeon just swabbed my cheek with a cotton swab and I filled out a health questionnaire. That was it - until last July.

Tonight I find myself sitting in Washington DC getting ready to donate bone marrow tomorrow. Most people think that they put you out and put a needle in your hip - not so! Although there are some bone marrow donations that still use that method, the method that is being used with me is called PBSC or peripheral blood circulating cell donation. I started on Saturday the 31st getting a shot of Filgrastim in each arm. I did that for 4 days and on the 5th day (Wednesday, Nov 4th) I got my last two shots and then they hooked me up to an aphresis machine. This machine moved 18 liters of blood out one arm into the machine where it separated the bone marrow cells and also some plasma and then pumped the blood back into my arm. I was very blessed and had very few side effects. The shots can give some pretty miserable side effects but I mainly was very fatigued and a bit of bone pain in my arms, back and sternum but nothing that Extra Strength Tylenol couldn't take care of. The actual donation left me pretty weak but two days after donation I am feeling pretty good with just a bit of fatigue left. It is a very simple process and it didn't cost me anything but time and a little discomfort. I highly recommend getting on the registry. The more that are on it the more people can be saved. Brad insisted on taking a couple of pictures of me during the donation so I will include them but not because I like them - I actually hate the pictures but it shows how easy it was. We watched two movies and it was over! I went back to the hotel room and slept a little while. Brad and Ryan, who had come to spend time with us, went to Arlington Cemetery. That's it. Brad and I did some sightseeing on the days that weren't raining while we were here and those blog entries will follow.

The bag is the bone marrow cells

I wouldn't look at Brad cause I didn't want my picture taken.

Be the Match! www.marrow.org

First Annuall Pumpkin Carving Contest

I came up with the idea of having a pumpkin carving contest and Savanna agreed it would be fun. So last night was the best time for everyone to be able to be here. Matt, unfortunately, agreed to go to Busch Gardens, with some friends,at the last minute so he couldn't join us. We invited Dave and Lee to join us and Savanna invited Lance. We started kind of late because Savanna didn't get off work until 6:30 and Ryan didn't leave work until after 7. So, we went ahead and ate and started gutting the pumpkins before Ryan got here. I had made a big pot of chili and we had some queso dip and Lee brought some yummy cornbread. After we finished eating we headed outside and started on the pumpkins. I had forgotten about the yuckiness of the insides and the smell too. It has been quite a while since we have carved pumpkins. Brad cleaned out my pumpkin and Dave cleaned out Lee's - yes,we wimped out. So, then the designing process started. It took a bit before we were all ready to start but we slowly decided on our designs and began. Dave and Savanna used patterns, I think Brad did too but he free handed (knived) his onto his pumpkin. They all turned out pretty neat - mine excepted it was lame! But, I was also taking pictures too, so I carved in between picture taking. Heres a few of the pictures that I took - more can be found on my facebook gallery

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112505&id=701749222&l=6f8a20c831

Lee and Dave

Yuck!

Savanna, Lance and Brad

Roxie getting her some Lee love

Ryan contemplating his design

Dave working hard

Brad and Lance talking bikes while waiting for Savanna to finish her pumpkin

Working on her hard design

Almost done

All seven pumpkins

Savanna's weekend

Since I have decided to update this blog more often I am searching for things to say :-) Imagine that! Anyway, I haven't taken any family pictures lately but Savanna had a fun weekend and took lots of pictures so I snagged a couple from her Facebook account. She went to Lynchburg, VA with the college group from our church. They went to a thing called "Scaremare" which is a ministry put on by the students at Liberty University. Then on Saturday they went hiking and to an apple festival. So, here are the three pictures she took (she took more, these are just the ones that I snagged). She had a great time and her shenanigans would make her Ward family proud :-)

Savanna and Samantha Hoover. Sam's parents are in our (Brad and me) Sunday School class.

Sam and Savanna

Walleed and Sam. Walleed is close to having his medical degree. We are thinking about inviting him to our pumpkin carving this Friday just so Ryan will have a doctor on standby. He is known for cutting himself when he uses knives. LOL