Prayer request for my friend Susan

My dear friend Susan, who is 28 weeks pregnant, was admitted to the hospital this morning. Susan has complete placenta previa (the opening of her cervix is completely covered by her placenta) and developed some complications of that last night. Susan and baby Carlee are both doing great but the doctor put Susan on complete bed rest for the duration of her pregnancy. I can only imagine how difficult this will be for Susan and her husband Craig!!! Please pray that Miss Carlee can continue to grow and develop in her Mommy's belly and that Susan and Craig will feel God's hand on them through the rest of this pregnancy.

March of Dimes Walk

Today was the March of Dimes Walk at White Rock Lake. I walked with several girls from the NNICU for Parkland's team! There were quite a few people who work in all the departments throughout Parkland who were at the park to walk today and support March of Dimes! Parkland's donation goal this year was $60,000 and so I hope that we reached and exceeded our goal. Parkland has an amazing woman from March of Dimes that works at the hospital named Dora. Dora is a true blessing for the staff of the NNICU and for all the families who have babies in the NNICU. This year Dora invited several past "NNICU graduates" to be on our team and walk with us. It was great to have those people with us reminding us exactly why it was that we were there today!

Here is a picture of all the NNICU people plus some of our graduates before the walk started

NNICU Graduate Families

Beth and I

Brooke and her husband with their baby

Danny, Cheryl and Matthew

Veronica and Julian

Amanda and Cody

Leslie was walking for Lupita (Lupita got an ear infection and couldn't be there today)

The Start/ Finish Line

Me, Veronica, and Cheryl starting the walk

On our way

Beth and Leslie

We finished!!!

After the walk was over we went back to the tent and I was surprised by the Carmona family being there! I walked today for their son Ricardo (Ricky) who was born on June 12, 2007 at 24 weeks.

Ricardo lived for 44 days and I was his Primary Nurse (meaning that everytime I worked I took care of him). I became very close to this precious boy and his family and have stayed in touch with them since. On August 26, 2008 Martin and Martha Carmona welcomed their 2nd son, Alejandro into the world. I was blessed to be in the delivery room with the Carmona's when Alejandro was born and got to celebrate with this family their new miracle. I have talked to Martha several times over the last few months checking on the family and Alejandro but have not seen any of them since they left the hospital. It was so great to see this family again! I will always remember and love Ricardo and the Carmona family. I walked today for yall and for all the other babies who won't ever walk.

Martha and me with baby Alejandro

Our weekend and Mikka's Wedding

My family was all in town this weekend for my cousin, Mikka's wedding! My parents, Seth and Bailey all drove in Friday night and spent the weekend at our house. Gregg had to work Friday and so I went and met them at Chili's for dinner once they got to town. After dinner we went back to my house for the night. This was the first time that I have seen Seth and Bailey since the divorce and so getting to spend this time with them was especially special. Saturday morning my Mom, Bailey and I got up and went to McKinney to take breakfast/ lunch to all the girls as they were getting ready. While we were doing that my Dad, Seth, Gregg, Uncle Kevin and cousin Brady all went to Bass Pro Shop in Rockwall to do some shopping. It makes me so happy that Gregg is so comfortable with my family and can hang out with them like that!

Mikka and Chris were married Saturday evening in a really sweet ceremony at Katie's Garden in McKinney! The weather was perfect for an outdoor wedding and everything was just beautiful! Mikka and Chris exchanged vows and rings with each other and Chris also exchanged vows and gave a ring to Jadyn (Mikka's 4 year old daughter). This part of the wedding was very special for them but a little hard on our family- When Seth and Brandi got married Seth exchanged vows with Bailey and also gave a ring to her. Bailey leaned over to Seth and said "I remember when you gave me my ring Daddy." That brought tears to my eyes. I pray that she knows how much Seth and our whole family love her.

Mikka and Chris exchanging vows

Jadyn Blair

The KISS!

Mr. and Mrs. Chris James

Leaving the ceremony

Jadyn was so excited about getting to ride in the carriage!!!

The reception was in the ballroom at The Grand Hotel in downtown McKinney. The hotel was beautiful and the ballroom was decorated so pretty. The food was amazing and we had a lot of fun spending time with everyone and dancing!!!

Mikka and Chris's 1st dance

Mikka and her Daddy dancing

Gregg and Bailey dancing

Seth and Mikka dancing

Mom and Dad dancing

Grammy and Gramps won the "Married Couples Dance Off". They have been married 54 years and are still going strong!!! Here they are explaining the secrets to a successful marriage!

Sunday morning we all went to breakfast together and then went to visit my Great Aunt Cleacy before everyone left town. Cleacy is 96 years old and like a 2nd Mom to my Dad. She lives in an assisted living home here in Dallas. It was lunch time when we went to visit her so we didn't stay long but I know that the time my Dad spent with her was special to him.

I could tell that Bailey was really affected by the wedding this weekend and I think that she is struggling with this divorce a lot more than any of us realize. My parents and Seth say that she often makes comments about family and love and they know that she is hurting. There was even a time this weekend when she said to my Mom and I that she "didn't know what her Mom liked anymore". It breaks my heart to hear these things from her. I know how hard Seth has been working to prove to her that he loves her and that he isn't going anywhere. I pray that this is all a phase for her and that she knows how loved she truly is.

Gregg and I had such a great time this weekend with my family and I am so glad that they were all able to come in for Mikka and Chris's wedding! We love yall and can't wait to see everyone again!!!

Last (but certainly NOT least) day in Big Sky

Today is our last day in Big Sky, Montana and we are really sad to be leaving! This place has been incredible- the people are so wonderful and very nice, the weather has been fantastic, and the skiing has been absolutely perfect!!! I keep begging Gregg to let us move here but he says we can't afford it so I guess we will pack our bags and go back to Dallas (and reality) tomorrow :(

We started our day today skiing the East side of the mountain! (After Gregg made us breakfast in the condo!) We met up with Scott, the fiance of the trip coordinator, who Gregg and I have become friends with and off we went!

New and old friends- Mush, Cheryl, Scott, Chels, Gregg, Mary Beth, Porter, and Mike

This afternoon we had reservations for the Zip Line!!! (Big Sky put in a zip line about 6 weeks ago.) We met with our instructors at the bottom of the mountain and got into our harnesses, then we took the ski lift up and skied about 3/4 way down the mountain to the zip area where we took off our skis and finished getting into all our gear.

Aren't we cute in our helmets?!?!?

We got to go on 3 different zip lines that took us through the trees and over a couple of different ski runs. The zip line was so much fun and quite an adrenaline rush!!! There was even a professional photographer along for the trip so we have lots of pictures of us on the zip line!

Gregg trying to flip upside down on the 2nd line
Gregg Zipping
Chelsey trying to flip upside down

Chelsey zipping

TUFF Group Picture

We also went tubing this afternoon which was lots of fun! Gregg and I were the only "grown ups" tubing and we were the only people there without kids.

Tonight was the Awards Ceremony for the races. TUFF was presented with a 2nd place plaque for our division! I was nominated to go pick up the award since I had given in and raced this year! This is TUFF's 4th Council trip to participate in and we have placed all 4 times! This is actually our first year not to get 1st place but with only 8 racers this year we just couldn't compete with the bigger clubs! Next year we plan on being back on top!!! Three of our members (Mush, Cheryl, and Mike) also got medals for their race times and Mike got a bronze medal in the individual races! Congrats everyone!!!

Gotta go pack now so that we can get in bed- we are leaving for the airport at 4:30am- YIKES!!! So long from Montana!

Our night

Tonight was the Texas Ski Council (TSC) Farewell Banquet! Normally the farewell banquet and the Race Award party are combined into 1 party but this year they decided to separate the parties so we got to go to this tonight and then tomorrow night is the awards party for the races today.

Tonight was a lot of fun! All the clubs were together to celebrate the week in Big Sky! We had lots of good food and great drinks! And there even was a DJ and dance floor! The leaders from each ski club were recognized for all their hard work along with the TSC Coordinator for this trip and the people from Big Sky that have been our sponsors this week.

Mush and the other Club Leaders being recognized

JD dancing

Club Race Day!

Today was the Club Race Day! I was convinced to race last night and let me tell you my heart was beating fast today! We got to the slopes around 9:30am so that we could make a couple of runs and warm up before it was our teams turn to race. I really enjoyed myself this morning and worked a lot on my technique and making smaller turns like I was going around the gates. We made about 4 runs down the mountain before the races began and I was feeling pretty good but still pretty nervous.

Gregg and I both sat out the race day last year and so this was the first time that either of us had run gates or participated in a race. Our club was the last to go today- meaning that the course was pretty skied out and there were a lot of ruts around the gates where everyone else had skied making the course a little more difficult. Gregg and I were the first to go from our club. I let Gregg get a little lead because it scared me to be right next to him and then I started down the course. I really struggled through the first 3 or 4 gates because they were close together and it was really rough and then I fell down! I got back up, determined to finish the course, and sailed right through the rest of it. I finished the course in 86.59 sec- the second lowest time of those that completed the course- but I finished!!! There were a lot of people who didn't finish the race or were disqualified so I was very proud of myself overall!!! Gregg finished in 45 seconds and did really good also! I think that our team is going to end up in 2nd place for our division- pretty good since we are the smallest club here and only had 8 team members race!

me at the bottom of the race course- I fell trying to take my ski's off!

Race times

Gregg and I's times (#264- me, #265- Gregg)

Irving Fire Department TUFF Members- Mush, Cheryl (wife), Gregg, Porter, me (wife), and Jorge

This afternoon we all skied together which was a lot of fun. We skied for another couple of hours before calling it a day and heading to "Whiskey Jack's" for some hot chocolate. Gregg and I are back at the condo now and are relaxing before going to the Farewell Banquet tonight! (I will post pictures and details on that later!)

Tomorrow is our last full day in Big Sky :( We have reservations at noon for the zip line which I am SUPER EXCITED about!!! After that we plan on skiing a little more and then tomorrow night is the Race Awards Banquet.