Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Family Pictures 2012 :)
Has it REALLY been 2 years since our last family pictures??? It sounds so funny to say "Family pictures" when we don't have kids! But a family is a family no matter how small :) My amazing sister-in-law Anna Quillon took our pictues 2 years ago and agreed to do our pictures again this year. I am so happy with how they turned out! Although we did not get Harley in as many picures as I wanted, I am thrilled we got the pictures we did!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
So many wonderful happenings in my life!!!!!
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| YAY FOR WEDDINGS!!!!!!! |
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| Kendall, Kaylyn and Corin |
Paul and I will be in Missouri in 45 DAYS!!!!!! We are so excited for our trip to see my family! I have been craving St. Louis Pizza and Wings! Paul and I are pretty convinced we are going to have to stop and get a pizza when we get into St. Louis. The next 44 days can't go by fast enough!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Well... it finally happened! I am officially 29 years old... boooo! I am happy to say I believe I only shed 2 tears though :) That's a huge improvement from last
year, haha! For my birthday this year, Paul and I went to the beach! Virginia
Beach to be exact. It was so beautiful while we were there. We had a great time floating around in the ocean for several hours and then headed to the hotel to
swim in their indoor pool :) It's amazing how relaxing it is to know we don't have dishes to do or a dog to walk/entertain, etc. After swimming we showered, changed and headed to Olive Garden for dinner. Oh my gosh I ate so much food! The Tour of Italy is my favorite thing to eat there and that's exactly what I got!!!! Paul insisted on ordering the bow-tie cheesecake to share and I thought I was going to explode right there at the dinner table! We had such a nice time at dinner! After dinner we enjoyed the peace and quiet of our hotel room. Our bed was AMAZING!!!! It felt like we were sleeping on a huge pillow! If I could have strapped it to the top our our Corolla without anyone noticing, I would have done it in a second. That bama was awesome! Sunday had breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel and headed back in Lake Monticello (Where we live) It takes about 3 hours to get to the beach from our house. We spent the rest of the evening watching movies and relaxing at home together :) I could not have asked for a more wonderful weekend with my amazing husband.
I forgot to mention... Paul had BEAUTIFUL pink lilies sent to me at work the day before my birthday! He had such a sweet note attached to them :) I've love watching them open up as the week has progressed! Now they are on their last leg... so by the end of the week they will be going in the trash. I'm going to press some of the peddles before I throw them away though! Put them in my journal!
My AMAZING/WONDERFUL/AWESOME Sister-in-law Randi came to our house while we were gone to house sit and entertain our puppy. We call Randi Harley's girlfriend. I swear, when we ask him "Where's Randi", he looks around like he's trying to find her. He sure does love her! Randi's boyfriend Jonathan spent a lot of time here with Randi and Harley and I know that made Harley as happy as a pig in mud :) Thank you two so so much for being so great with him and never turning down an opportunity to spend quality time with our hairy child :)
Paul bought me a VERY cute pair of rain boots the Monday after our trip. I took Labor Day off since he already had the day off so we could spend an extra day together. With our schedules, we only have 3 days off a month together so when we have the chance to have a 3 day weekend together, we take full advantage of it! It's sad when I'm excited to have 4 days off together in the same month, lol :)
I finally found a way to upload pix onto my blog from my laptop. A virus screwed up my laptop BIG-TIME several months ago and it's finicky when it comes to pictures. Anyway... long story short... I am actually able to upload the pix of my incision from my Melanoma surgery back in July. I need to take pix of the scar and post those. Maybe this week when I have time to get my hands on the camera. For those of you who have been asking: I am doing really really well! My scar is driving me CRAZY though. It itches like you would not believe and the only thing I have found that gives me any relief is Gold Bond Medicated Powder. If I rub it on my leg after getting out of the shower, I am able to make it several hours without any annoyance. From time to time I can feel the scar pulling and that actually hurts. I have bumped it into beds, etc at work several times and it H.U.R.T.S! From what I understand, it's totally normal and will get better as time goes by. Paul said he had the same problem with the scar on his leg after his motorcycle accident. Apparently it's nerve endings..blah blah blah! I have an appointment to meet with my dermatologist sometime in January... or is it February??? Not exactly sure :) Sometime around then, haha.
Things are going really well in Virginia :) Paul's job is great! A little over a month ago, he applied to be on the Defensive Tactics Instructor team and was accepted! YAY for my MAN! He has to spend 7 business days at the police academy for training. He was scheduled to go at the end of this upcoming week but due to a lack of officers taking the class, it has been reschedules to a date that is TBD. It was a bummer finding out he will have to wait to go to training but it's still a huge success :) I am so proud of him. The past week or so we have also been discussing whether or not he should apply for the Riot Squad in his department. It's a new government funded program in larger police departments all over the US. He would have to travel to Alabama for training sometime next year. I believe it was Friday when he actually submitted his application. He will be interviewed for the team. Hopefully that will take place in the next couple months so we will know if he will be heading to AL in the spring/summer! I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for him!
My job is great... which is a strange way of putting it when I work in a Hospice House! It has been a very very very busy few weeks and I think my charge nurse and I are BOTH ready for a long vacation :) I could not ask for a better job right now in my life. I feel so blessed every single day that God lead me to such an amazing job. I truly love hospice work and feel like this is my calling in life! There is no better feeling then working with a person/family during such a difficult time in their live/lives. Every single day I love going to work!
Today we celebrated 2 years since we adopted our beautiful baby boy Harley! We are so thankful to have him in our family. He is my bestest little buddy and I am so thankful Paul convinced me 2 years ago to give that skinny, ugly little dog a chance! Once we put some weight on him he sure turned into a beautiful dog!
Upcoming News: Paul and I are FINALLY heading to Missouri!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!!!!!!!!!! We will be leaving Charlottesville, VA around midnight on November 12th and will HOPEFULLY be at my dad's house in Columbia, Missouri by 5pm on the 13th. We are stopping somewhere around St. Louis to have lunch with my friend Julie and her daughter Kate. By the time November comes, It will be 18 months since I have been to MO and 18 months since I have seen my dad. I am really looking forward to the trip. I am so excited to see all of my grandparents, spend some much needed time with other family/friends and meet my mom's friend Jay. Paul and I will be spending an evening in CoMo with my dad and I'm excited for the quality time with him. I'm thinking Fiddler on the Roof will be in order that night!!!! I love watching that movie with my dad and Paul's never seen it!
Well everyone, that's all I can come up with right now :0) Life is pretty freaking amazing! I can't believe it's already the 9th of September! The year will be coming to a close before we know it. I'm fine with that though, after the hot hot hot summer we have had this year, I'm ready for winter and all the wonderful cold weather and/or snow that comes with it! Apparently VA is going to get hit hard with snow this year! I'm ready :0) BRING IT ON!
G'night everyone. I hope this upcoming week treats you well and I hope you are safe in your travels!
LQ
Monday, August 13, 2012
Surgery is over, but I will always wear black for ME!
I'm sorry it has taken so long for me to post and update from my surgery. I won't bore you with the moment by moment details of my recovery so I'll try to hit on just the main things.
Surgery went as expected. I took the Valium and it knocked me for a freaking loop... to say the least :) It kicked in about 5 minutes after we left the house. We had a 20 minute drive to my doctors office. I ended up crying most of the way to her office. I had no idea why I was even sad. I think my emotions were on overload and my nerves were finally shot. When I got to the doctors, apparently everything became funny, lol. My mom had to tell me to quit laughing. Although the Valium was helping me stay relaxed it for SURE did not help with the pain. I felt like my leg was on fire while they were administering the numbing medication and the idea that they were cutting into my leg was a little too much for me to handle. Before going in for surgery, mom gave me a sock monkey. She said I could keep it over my eyes... that's exactly what I did with it.
Recovery was a bit of a roller coaster. I found out day 2 that the Tylenol 3 they gave me was making me really emotional and angry. By Saturday afternoon I had to stop taking it. It made my face feel funny and I found myself crying in Gap after Paul called me to tell me he found a suit he wanted to buy. Mom asked me why I was crying and I told her I was mad at Paul for wanting to buy a new suit. HAHA... totally not like me!
I was under strict instructions to rest for about a week. Yeah... that did not happen. Friday, after surgery, I came home and slept a lot. Mom and Paul took care of everything for me. We ordered pizza for dinner and watched the Olympics. Saturday I was already tired of sitting around the house so mom and I drove into town and went shopping at the mall. Paul went to buy his suit and then met us at the mall. It was shopping with mom and having dinner with Mom, Paul and our friend Todd. I could NOT walk Saturday without being in horrible pain and my leg cramping really bad so I snagged Paul's crutches from his motorcycle accident and off I went. If you think I'm not graceful on my feet, you should see me on crutches. It's quite a site. I think Paul was convinced I was going to kill myself. My mom was afraid I was going to do something and hurt my leg, or tear open my stitches. Sunday we went to my in laws for dinner, Monday the 3 of us hung out at home and did not do much of anything and on Tuesday mom and I drove to Short Pump, VA to do some shopping for her trip to Utah. By Tuesday I was walking around pretty well. It felt so great to get out of the house for the day :) Wednesday mom and I got up about 8 am and started cleaning the house. We were scheduled to have an open house that next weekend while Paul and I were on vacation. We cleaned from 8am until about 10:30pm with a break for Lunch at Chic Fil A to support marriage between a man and a woman and to do a little last minute decoration shopping for my 2 bathrooms. Thursday I had to have mom at the airport at 5:30 am :( I won't lie... I cried from the airport all the way across town to the city bus shop where they do repairs on police cars (I had to pick Paul up from there). I have missed my mom so much over the past 7 months. I can't wait til the say I live close to her again. I can honestly say if it was not for my mom, I don't think my house would have been nearly as ready for our open house/vacation as it was! Thanks mom for everything you did!!!!!
After dropping mom off at the airport, I picked up Paul and we had breakfast at Burger King. We decided since we had to be at the D.C. by 4am the next morning to catch a 6am flight to Denver, Co, we would stay awake until about 4pm and go to sleep until around midnight and leave then for DC. We were so tired by the time we got home at 8:30 that we both crashed... but were wide awake by 1pm. We ran some errands, packed out bags and laid around the house until close to midnight. We left for the airport and EVEN with stopping for breakfast, we were at the airport by 2:30 am. Southwest did not open until 4am so we tried to sleep on this bench looking thing for a bit. The bench turned out to be the a/c register and I woke up about 15 minutes after falling asleep totally freezing my rump off. That was an epic fail! So, there we were... wide awake. We checked out bags and went to wait for our flight. Once we made it on the plane I think we were both asleep before the plane hit 30,000 feet. Sounds nice, doesn't it???? Apparently I tried sleeping in every position possible. I slept on Paul's shoulder, with my head against the seat in front of me, with my head in Paul's lap, etc. I woke up with such a horrible kink in my neck! It honestly just went away a couple days ago. I woke up when the plane landed and was down right sick. I told Paul he had to take me seriously if I told him to pull over after we picked up our rental car. Thank goodness the guy at Avis gave me some headache meds. They saved my life!!!!! We picked up our rental car at the Denver airport and off to Wyoming we went :) Oh my gosh it was SO beautiful in Colorado and Wyoming!!!!!! The air was so amazing and thin. I kept saying "I love the way the air smells". The drive to Cheyenne was wonderful. No traffic and we took pictures of everything we saw along the way. Once we got into Cheyenne, we found the P.O.S.T. It's where police officers go to take their written test. While Paul was testing, I chatted up a storm with their secretary. I'm proud to say Paul got a 90% on his written test. I knew he would do well! After the test we found the Culvers and had lunch. They have the most amazing butter burgers!!! We also split a banana split. I'm sorry all you St. Louis readers.... Ted Drews has NOTHING on Culvers!!! It's so nice to finally be able to say that without having to witness the dirty looks! It's just how I roll ;) lol. We spent Friday driving around Cheyenne. We bought Paul a pair of running shoes and we were like kids in a candy store every time we'd find a new western store! I bought a new pair of jeans and an awesome blue plaid button up shirt. We found our hotel which ended up being right across the street from the mall. We had to check in at the diner next door and I can honestly say the hotel was so nice and clean and the free breakfast at the diner was AMAZING!!!!!! We will for sure stay there again when we go back to visit. Although we tried our best to stay awake Friday night to enjoy the sites a little more, we ordered pizza around 6 and were both fast asleep by 7:30pm and slept until 7:30 the next morning. Saturday we drove to Laramie, Wy. We wanted to see the University of Wyoming. We stopped by the team store and bought some fun things like t-shirts, sweat pants, this and that! Paul did a ride along with the Cheyenne PD and while he did that, I did some shopping and hung out at the hotel room. We had dinner at Olive Garden and I swear I ate my body weight in salad and pasta. It was SO good! Sunday we went to church, ate lunch at Culvers and mostly spent the day relaxing. We ordered pizza for dinner and watched the Olympics. By Sunday, we were shopped out and there is only so much you can see in Cheyenne. We did go for a drive that kinda spooked us both. I guess you had to be there. It was very Children of the Corn. Monday we woke up early, snacked on the way to the airport and made it to our gate WAY too early! We were glad we left when we did though b/c the engine light and the traction light came on in our rental car. I was determined the car was going to break down and we'd miss our flight. Needless to say, we made it there just fine and our plane landed in D.C. Monday evening around 7. Our trip was so much fun and sooooo needed!
Tuesday I went back to see my Dermatologist to have my 16 stitches removed. She had my results back and told me everything looks good. I have an apt to have a full skin assessment in 6 months. I do have 1 spot on my hand that I am watching. I'm sure it's just a freckle... but now I am super cautious when it comes to anything that looks different. I am so thankful everything looks good. This was such an eye opening experience for me. I've realized that there are so many parts of my life that I take for granted every single day. I want my family to know how much I love them. Especially my amazing husband who has given me such a wonderful life over the past 2 years. When my Dr first told me I had cancer, the first thought that came to my mind was "How could God give me such a wonderful man, only to take me from this life at an early age". With everything I have been through in my life, I was determined this damn cancer was not going to ruin my plans. I hope and pray every single day that as I continue to protect my skin, I will be free from any more cancer. They say your chances of it coming back are high. I realize that... but I am still going to have good thoughts and live life every day being thankful for everything God has given me.
Well, I'm sure you are all bored stiff by now.
Love,
LQ
Surgery went as expected. I took the Valium and it knocked me for a freaking loop... to say the least :) It kicked in about 5 minutes after we left the house. We had a 20 minute drive to my doctors office. I ended up crying most of the way to her office. I had no idea why I was even sad. I think my emotions were on overload and my nerves were finally shot. When I got to the doctors, apparently everything became funny, lol. My mom had to tell me to quit laughing. Although the Valium was helping me stay relaxed it for SURE did not help with the pain. I felt like my leg was on fire while they were administering the numbing medication and the idea that they were cutting into my leg was a little too much for me to handle. Before going in for surgery, mom gave me a sock monkey. She said I could keep it over my eyes... that's exactly what I did with it.
Recovery was a bit of a roller coaster. I found out day 2 that the Tylenol 3 they gave me was making me really emotional and angry. By Saturday afternoon I had to stop taking it. It made my face feel funny and I found myself crying in Gap after Paul called me to tell me he found a suit he wanted to buy. Mom asked me why I was crying and I told her I was mad at Paul for wanting to buy a new suit. HAHA... totally not like me!
I was under strict instructions to rest for about a week. Yeah... that did not happen. Friday, after surgery, I came home and slept a lot. Mom and Paul took care of everything for me. We ordered pizza for dinner and watched the Olympics. Saturday I was already tired of sitting around the house so mom and I drove into town and went shopping at the mall. Paul went to buy his suit and then met us at the mall. It was shopping with mom and having dinner with Mom, Paul and our friend Todd. I could NOT walk Saturday without being in horrible pain and my leg cramping really bad so I snagged Paul's crutches from his motorcycle accident and off I went. If you think I'm not graceful on my feet, you should see me on crutches. It's quite a site. I think Paul was convinced I was going to kill myself. My mom was afraid I was going to do something and hurt my leg, or tear open my stitches. Sunday we went to my in laws for dinner, Monday the 3 of us hung out at home and did not do much of anything and on Tuesday mom and I drove to Short Pump, VA to do some shopping for her trip to Utah. By Tuesday I was walking around pretty well. It felt so great to get out of the house for the day :) Wednesday mom and I got up about 8 am and started cleaning the house. We were scheduled to have an open house that next weekend while Paul and I were on vacation. We cleaned from 8am until about 10:30pm with a break for Lunch at Chic Fil A to support marriage between a man and a woman and to do a little last minute decoration shopping for my 2 bathrooms. Thursday I had to have mom at the airport at 5:30 am :( I won't lie... I cried from the airport all the way across town to the city bus shop where they do repairs on police cars (I had to pick Paul up from there). I have missed my mom so much over the past 7 months. I can't wait til the say I live close to her again. I can honestly say if it was not for my mom, I don't think my house would have been nearly as ready for our open house/vacation as it was! Thanks mom for everything you did!!!!!
After dropping mom off at the airport, I picked up Paul and we had breakfast at Burger King. We decided since we had to be at the D.C. by 4am the next morning to catch a 6am flight to Denver, Co, we would stay awake until about 4pm and go to sleep until around midnight and leave then for DC. We were so tired by the time we got home at 8:30 that we both crashed... but were wide awake by 1pm. We ran some errands, packed out bags and laid around the house until close to midnight. We left for the airport and EVEN with stopping for breakfast, we were at the airport by 2:30 am. Southwest did not open until 4am so we tried to sleep on this bench looking thing for a bit. The bench turned out to be the a/c register and I woke up about 15 minutes after falling asleep totally freezing my rump off. That was an epic fail! So, there we were... wide awake. We checked out bags and went to wait for our flight. Once we made it on the plane I think we were both asleep before the plane hit 30,000 feet. Sounds nice, doesn't it???? Apparently I tried sleeping in every position possible. I slept on Paul's shoulder, with my head against the seat in front of me, with my head in Paul's lap, etc. I woke up with such a horrible kink in my neck! It honestly just went away a couple days ago. I woke up when the plane landed and was down right sick. I told Paul he had to take me seriously if I told him to pull over after we picked up our rental car. Thank goodness the guy at Avis gave me some headache meds. They saved my life!!!!! We picked up our rental car at the Denver airport and off to Wyoming we went :) Oh my gosh it was SO beautiful in Colorado and Wyoming!!!!!! The air was so amazing and thin. I kept saying "I love the way the air smells". The drive to Cheyenne was wonderful. No traffic and we took pictures of everything we saw along the way. Once we got into Cheyenne, we found the P.O.S.T. It's where police officers go to take their written test. While Paul was testing, I chatted up a storm with their secretary. I'm proud to say Paul got a 90% on his written test. I knew he would do well! After the test we found the Culvers and had lunch. They have the most amazing butter burgers!!! We also split a banana split. I'm sorry all you St. Louis readers.... Ted Drews has NOTHING on Culvers!!! It's so nice to finally be able to say that without having to witness the dirty looks! It's just how I roll ;) lol. We spent Friday driving around Cheyenne. We bought Paul a pair of running shoes and we were like kids in a candy store every time we'd find a new western store! I bought a new pair of jeans and an awesome blue plaid button up shirt. We found our hotel which ended up being right across the street from the mall. We had to check in at the diner next door and I can honestly say the hotel was so nice and clean and the free breakfast at the diner was AMAZING!!!!!! We will for sure stay there again when we go back to visit. Although we tried our best to stay awake Friday night to enjoy the sites a little more, we ordered pizza around 6 and were both fast asleep by 7:30pm and slept until 7:30 the next morning. Saturday we drove to Laramie, Wy. We wanted to see the University of Wyoming. We stopped by the team store and bought some fun things like t-shirts, sweat pants, this and that! Paul did a ride along with the Cheyenne PD and while he did that, I did some shopping and hung out at the hotel room. We had dinner at Olive Garden and I swear I ate my body weight in salad and pasta. It was SO good! Sunday we went to church, ate lunch at Culvers and mostly spent the day relaxing. We ordered pizza for dinner and watched the Olympics. By Sunday, we were shopped out and there is only so much you can see in Cheyenne. We did go for a drive that kinda spooked us both. I guess you had to be there. It was very Children of the Corn. Monday we woke up early, snacked on the way to the airport and made it to our gate WAY too early! We were glad we left when we did though b/c the engine light and the traction light came on in our rental car. I was determined the car was going to break down and we'd miss our flight. Needless to say, we made it there just fine and our plane landed in D.C. Monday evening around 7. Our trip was so much fun and sooooo needed!
Tuesday I went back to see my Dermatologist to have my 16 stitches removed. She had my results back and told me everything looks good. I have an apt to have a full skin assessment in 6 months. I do have 1 spot on my hand that I am watching. I'm sure it's just a freckle... but now I am super cautious when it comes to anything that looks different. I am so thankful everything looks good. This was such an eye opening experience for me. I've realized that there are so many parts of my life that I take for granted every single day. I want my family to know how much I love them. Especially my amazing husband who has given me such a wonderful life over the past 2 years. When my Dr first told me I had cancer, the first thought that came to my mind was "How could God give me such a wonderful man, only to take me from this life at an early age". With everything I have been through in my life, I was determined this damn cancer was not going to ruin my plans. I hope and pray every single day that as I continue to protect my skin, I will be free from any more cancer. They say your chances of it coming back are high. I realize that... but I am still going to have good thoughts and live life every day being thankful for everything God has given me.
Well, I'm sure you are all bored stiff by now.
Love,
LQ
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
This is MY ribbon!.
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| This is MY ribbon! |
On Thursday June, 28 I had a biopsy done on my left leg. On July 3 I got the call from my doctor telling me she received my pathology reports and the biopsy was positive for Melanoma.... Cancer. I was sitting at work when I got the call from my doctor. I had missed a call on my cell phone and when I listened to the message, Dr. MaGree asked me to call her on her cell phone if I could not call back until after the office had already closed. I could physically feel my heart sink into my stomach as I was listening to the message. I called the Dr back and left her a message with my office number on it. She called back several minutes later and started off the conversation by saying "I'm sorry to have to give you bad news over the phone, but with tomorrow being a holiday, I did not want to wait to talk to you". Yes, I'll be honest and say I had a mini meltdown at work. The worst feeling was knowing I was getting such horrible news and Paul was not there with me to hold my hand. Dr. MaGree and I discussed my options and we decided I would schedule my surgery for as soon as possible. Paul and I had already booked our flights to go to Wyoming for a few days the 1st part of August so I decided to have my surgery on July 27th so I could have a week to recover before heading off to Wyoming on vacation. I am so thankful my mom is able to come to Virginia to help me out for a week before she heads off to Utah to spend a week with Emily :)
I'd also like to say I TOTALLY flipped out during my biopsy. I stressed out so bad I made myself ill. Dr. MaGee thought it would be a good idea for me to take some Valium before my surgery since it too will be local anesthesia. I am doing a trial run tonight to see how it makes me feel. That way I will know how much to take to make me feel good without overdoing it and not being able to walk out of the place on my own :)
Well, that's all the Melanoma updating I am able to do tonight! I'll post again hopefully Friday evening after surgery! Wish me luck!
In Other News:
Since it is now the end(ish) of July and my last post was April 2nd, I guess I have a lot of catching up to do! So... here goes. I hope I don't miss anything important!April 9th, I started a WONDERFUL job at Hospice of the Piedmont in Charlottesville. I am a CNA in their Hospice House! It's a house that was built back in like 1920 and it's a BEAUTIFUL area of Charlottesville. We can only hold 8 residents and the only staff there in the evening is me and my nurse Wendy (who I love). I went in for my 90 day evaluation a week ago and I am proud to say they are very impressed by my work. It's not hard to do a good job when you actually enjoy going to work every day :)
Paul hit his 1 year mark with the Albemarle County PD April 21 (I think). His PD ordered 3 new radars this week and Paul was given one b/c he writes more tickets than anyone else on his shift! THAT'S MY MAN! I can't explain how proud I am of Paul and all of his hard work!
April 3rd was Paul's birthday :) (Sorry if I am repeating stories from my last entry). We decided it would be fun to drive to Harrisonburg for dinner at Long Horn Steakhouse! Well.... long story short.... although the drive was BEAUTIFUL, we made it there only to find out the building was under construction... or should I say demolition! We laughed so hard when we realized we drove over an hour for steak and ended up eating at Buffalo Wild Wings, which we have here in Charlottesville :) Ha ha! I did decorate for Paul's birthday this year! He was at work and I thought it would be a lot of fun to have him come home to the house looking all birthday festive!
July 9th was our 2nd wedding anniversary :) Awwwww Love! Can't believe it's been 2 years already. Sometimes I feel like we just met and other days I feel like I can't remember a time when we were not married. Since there really are no words to express how I feel about being married to Paul... I will just say this. When I was a little girl and I dreamed about my prince charming... I never in my wildest dreams ever thought he actually existed! I honestly don't think 2 people could be more perfect for each other than Paul and me.
Last year for our Anniversary he surprised me with my Kitchen Aid mixer and this year was just as wonderful! I have been REALLLLLY wanting the perfume by Coach called Poppy! It's way out of my perfume budget so Paul bought it for me as one of my anniversary presents! I was SOOOO excited when I opened that coach bag and found it tucked away in it's little white box :) I wear it every day and am in love... YES!!! IN LOVE with it! I had also told him I wanted a wristlet from Coach but when he went to order it, it was on back order and NONE of the Coach stores in our area had it. So, instead of waiting for it to come in months from now, he told me I could pick out a different one in the store. I ended up getting the CUTEST little wristlet and I actually like it more than the one I had originally picked out :) I don't want anyone to read this and think everything I own is Coach!!! haha! Totally NOT! These are the 1st 2 things I have ever owned by Coach :) For Paul's anniversary present I bought him a paisley silk western scarf and a scarf slide. He honestly picked them out AND ordered them but I would not let him have them until our anniversary! He's not a fan of surprises so I pretty much have given up trying to surprise him and let him buy whatever he's been wanting!
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| Tell me it's not CUTE! |
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| YAY for pretty presents :) |
Upcoming Events!
On August 3rd (1 WEEK FROM FRIDAY... YAYYYYY) Paul and I are leaving on our first vacation alone. The only times we have traveled together has been to see my family in Missouri! We thought it would be fun to take our first vacation to Cheyenne Wyoming! Paul's never been there and I've only driven through once or twice. We have our flights booked, rental car reserved and our hotel booked! While we are there we will be looking at a few apartment complexes to see if there are any that we like, Paul will be doing a ride along with the Cheyenne Police Department so he can pick their brain about the department... pro's, con's, etc. We will be attending an LDS Ward while we are there and pretty much spending 3 days looking around the town to see if our dream of living in Cheyenne could actually be a reality.
Well everyone, That is the happenings of the Quillon home :) I will update more on Friday or Saturday... depending on how I feel after surgery! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!!!!
Liz
Monday, April 2, 2012
April brings flowers (outside), warm weather and job changes!
I would like to start off by saying I HATE the color purple (Well, I love the movie The Color Purple, anyway!) BUT the Mormon Tab Choir women wore purple... lots and lots of purple... at General Conference. Soooooo, I am typing in purple to honor those women and their amazing talent.
General Conference was AMAZING. I watched most of the 2 sessions yesterday and although they were good too, today was special. So much of what they said was exactly what I needed to hear. I love hearing the General Authorities of the Church emphasize the importance of the family. All aspects of the family! The role the children play and each individual parent. But, most of all I loved hearing them talk about the importance of the relationship between a husband and a wife. I loved hearing them talk about how neither partner is dominant in the relationship. How there should be kindness toward each other, no harsh words and an equality between husband and wife. I watch daily so many relationships in the world fall apart. Relationships are torn apart due to money, too much "guy/girl time", not enough together time, intimacy, trust, dishonesty, a lack of showing your partner that you love and cherish them, lack of friendship between the couple, differences in how to raise children, job loss, working too much, working too little, "he said/she said"... truly, the list could go on and on. I constantly hear from friends/co workers/ friends of friends complain that "so and so cheated" or "I just can't trust him/her". How sad of a life that must be. I have 2 moments that will stick with me for the rest of my life. 1) While visiting my friend Marcie, we (with her husband) were discussing the important of being married to your best friend. I will never forget when Marcie and Chris both said that although they enjoyed their time with their other friends of the same sex, at the end of the day they enjoyed being with each other more than anyone else. I knew from that moment that what they had was exactly what I would strive for in my own life. 2) My mom and I were discussing relationships and I made the comment that "every couple fights, no relationship is perfect". I'll never forget her response. She told me "why does a relationship have to be hard? you should strive for the perfect marriage". She could not have been more right. I look at my husband and I's marriage and there have been plenty of times we could have argued over one thing or the other. He could choose to get mad every time he comes home from work and I have failed to put away the clean clothes, or do the dishes. I could choose to get angry if he fails to take out the trash or if he tracks dirt through the house when I just swept the floors. We could chose to allow the fact that our dishwasher went out a reason to get on each other b/c that's money we did not want to spend. My point is, so much of the things that make a relationship fail are things we choose to allow into our marriages. I look at the General Authorities of the Church and I admire the way they treat the women around the, especially their wives. Do we honestly think they got married and life was a barrel of peaches from that day on? They had/have large families. With Large families come large expenses and their choose to have their wives stay at home to raise the children. I am sure there were literally a million things that could have torn them apart as a couple. And YET, when President Hinkley's wonderful wife passed away, we are told that President Hinkley cried every single day for the loss of his beloved wife. How beautiful that story is. Every single person should strive for a relationship like that. I know I do.
Ok, enough of my relationship rant!!! Onto brighter things in life. I was offered a wonderful job about 3 weeks ago. I came to the point with my previous employer that I could no longer allow my character to be questioned so I hit the pavement and started looking for a new job. I was only working 2 days a week PRN anyway, so anything would be better than what I was currently being offered. On a whim, I emailed a copy of my resume to Hospice of the Piedmont here in Charlottesville and shockingly, I got an email back from the head of their HR dept telling me that the only job they had available was a full time, Mon-Fri, 3-11:30 pm shift at their Hospice House. Although I was not really looking for something full time, the more I thought and prayed about it, the more I knew the Lord was giving me a wonderful chance to make some good money and allow Paul and I to build our savings account so when we are EVER able to move, we can do it cash in hand and not feel the financial pressures that typically come with a big move. I will be starting orientation on April 9th and will be working 8:30-5 for 2 weeks and then will start my evening shift. This job is going to be so different than anything I have done. The Hospice House is an actual house. It's a home that was built in the early 1900's and was donated to HOP when the couple passed away. It can house 8 residents at any given time so during my shift, it will be myself and 1 nurse. My charge nurses name is Wendy and she's 27 so we are right at the same age. I believe this is going to be a wonderful opportunity for me.
Paul is doing amazing at work. We found out a few months ago that they were interested in sending him to Radar Instructor School. This would be a wonderful skill to have on his resume. He is anxious for the Dept to find a school he can attend. He is currently (and I cannot see it changing in the near future) #1 on his shift for writing tickets. Although many citizens would think that is not something to brag about, it shows management that he's a go-gett'er and those are the kind of cops that get to keep their jobs. I will never complain about him looking good at the dept!
Married life is WONDERFUL! We have really made the most of the warm weather we have had recently. We take time almost every day to take Harley for a walk, we spent an afternoon at a friends farm playing with their goats and shooting our guns. We have done so much outdoor work this spring so far.
So far not bites on the house. We are still hopeful and prayerful that the house will sell asap so we can move onto bigger and better things, but the market is still so bad out at Lake Monticello. We can't let it get us down b/c as of right now, there is nothing we can do about it. Just keep making improvements on the house where we see fit and keep our fingers crossed that someone will love it when they come to see it.
Well everyone, I have written a dang book and I am sure you are bored. I hope you are enjoying this amazing spring!
LQ
General Conference was AMAZING. I watched most of the 2 sessions yesterday and although they were good too, today was special. So much of what they said was exactly what I needed to hear. I love hearing the General Authorities of the Church emphasize the importance of the family. All aspects of the family! The role the children play and each individual parent. But, most of all I loved hearing them talk about the importance of the relationship between a husband and a wife. I loved hearing them talk about how neither partner is dominant in the relationship. How there should be kindness toward each other, no harsh words and an equality between husband and wife. I watch daily so many relationships in the world fall apart. Relationships are torn apart due to money, too much "guy/girl time", not enough together time, intimacy, trust, dishonesty, a lack of showing your partner that you love and cherish them, lack of friendship between the couple, differences in how to raise children, job loss, working too much, working too little, "he said/she said"... truly, the list could go on and on. I constantly hear from friends/co workers/ friends of friends complain that "so and so cheated" or "I just can't trust him/her". How sad of a life that must be. I have 2 moments that will stick with me for the rest of my life. 1) While visiting my friend Marcie, we (with her husband) were discussing the important of being married to your best friend. I will never forget when Marcie and Chris both said that although they enjoyed their time with their other friends of the same sex, at the end of the day they enjoyed being with each other more than anyone else. I knew from that moment that what they had was exactly what I would strive for in my own life. 2) My mom and I were discussing relationships and I made the comment that "every couple fights, no relationship is perfect". I'll never forget her response. She told me "why does a relationship have to be hard? you should strive for the perfect marriage". She could not have been more right. I look at my husband and I's marriage and there have been plenty of times we could have argued over one thing or the other. He could choose to get mad every time he comes home from work and I have failed to put away the clean clothes, or do the dishes. I could choose to get angry if he fails to take out the trash or if he tracks dirt through the house when I just swept the floors. We could chose to allow the fact that our dishwasher went out a reason to get on each other b/c that's money we did not want to spend. My point is, so much of the things that make a relationship fail are things we choose to allow into our marriages. I look at the General Authorities of the Church and I admire the way they treat the women around the, especially their wives. Do we honestly think they got married and life was a barrel of peaches from that day on? They had/have large families. With Large families come large expenses and their choose to have their wives stay at home to raise the children. I am sure there were literally a million things that could have torn them apart as a couple. And YET, when President Hinkley's wonderful wife passed away, we are told that President Hinkley cried every single day for the loss of his beloved wife. How beautiful that story is. Every single person should strive for a relationship like that. I know I do.
Ok, enough of my relationship rant!!! Onto brighter things in life. I was offered a wonderful job about 3 weeks ago. I came to the point with my previous employer that I could no longer allow my character to be questioned so I hit the pavement and started looking for a new job. I was only working 2 days a week PRN anyway, so anything would be better than what I was currently being offered. On a whim, I emailed a copy of my resume to Hospice of the Piedmont here in Charlottesville and shockingly, I got an email back from the head of their HR dept telling me that the only job they had available was a full time, Mon-Fri, 3-11:30 pm shift at their Hospice House. Although I was not really looking for something full time, the more I thought and prayed about it, the more I knew the Lord was giving me a wonderful chance to make some good money and allow Paul and I to build our savings account so when we are EVER able to move, we can do it cash in hand and not feel the financial pressures that typically come with a big move. I will be starting orientation on April 9th and will be working 8:30-5 for 2 weeks and then will start my evening shift. This job is going to be so different than anything I have done. The Hospice House is an actual house. It's a home that was built in the early 1900's and was donated to HOP when the couple passed away. It can house 8 residents at any given time so during my shift, it will be myself and 1 nurse. My charge nurses name is Wendy and she's 27 so we are right at the same age. I believe this is going to be a wonderful opportunity for me.
Paul is doing amazing at work. We found out a few months ago that they were interested in sending him to Radar Instructor School. This would be a wonderful skill to have on his resume. He is anxious for the Dept to find a school he can attend. He is currently (and I cannot see it changing in the near future) #1 on his shift for writing tickets. Although many citizens would think that is not something to brag about, it shows management that he's a go-gett'er and those are the kind of cops that get to keep their jobs. I will never complain about him looking good at the dept!
Married life is WONDERFUL! We have really made the most of the warm weather we have had recently. We take time almost every day to take Harley for a walk, we spent an afternoon at a friends farm playing with their goats and shooting our guns. We have done so much outdoor work this spring so far.
So far not bites on the house. We are still hopeful and prayerful that the house will sell asap so we can move onto bigger and better things, but the market is still so bad out at Lake Monticello. We can't let it get us down b/c as of right now, there is nothing we can do about it. Just keep making improvements on the house where we see fit and keep our fingers crossed that someone will love it when they come to see it.
Well everyone, I have written a dang book and I am sure you are bored. I hope you are enjoying this amazing spring!
LQ
Saturday, March 3, 2012
March... already???
Where in the WORLD is this year going? I still feel like yesterday was Christmas and now not only is Christmas/New Years gone... but so is Valentines day and St. Patricks day is knocking on our front door!
I noticed I have not posted anything in 2 months and that is not like me! I'm thinking it is b/c nothing has really been going on in the Quillon home over the past 8 weeks.
We signed a new contract with a new realtor February 1st. Actually, it's a husband/wife team and they seem to really have their head in the game. We had 2 showings last Sunday so that was a nice change from our last realtor. Although nothing came from either showing, it was nice to see the interest. Paul and I need to sit down this week and decide on a weekend we are both home so we can schedule our open house. I'm anxious to get that out of the way. Near the end of January, the Lord blessed our little area of Virginia with amazing spring weather. We had about 4 days where it was in the high 60's and we were able to get all of the leaves out of our front and side yards. The back yard would have been impossible since it's totally wooded. It has made a huge difference in the look of the house.
Speaking of spring, our flowers are blooming in the front yard. It's so nice to have a little color around some of our trees. I am anxious to see the rest of my flowers come back to life. It has been such a snow-less winter... i'm anxious to see flowers again.
Speaking of snow, haha. 2 Sunday's ago we got about 4 inches of snow in just a few hours. It was so beautiful outside. We took Harley for a walk and he had the BEST time running around and shoving his cute little face in the snow. He did this funny thing where he's put his face in the snow, lay his body down on the ground and push with his back legs. I have never seen him have so much fun outside. Paul and I both commented that we were so excited he loved the snow... b/c when we are finally able to move out West, he will have to put up with a lot of snow. We really did have the best night with him.
Harley turned 2 January 21st. I wanted to have a little Birthday party for him but with our work schedules, etc we ran out of time. He was 7 months old when we adopted him. Can't imagine a day without him as part of our family. I don't know if there is another dog in the world that is truly loved as much as he is.
Work is going well for Paul and I. Paul is still loving his job with the County PD. He will celebrate 1 year there in April. My gosh it has been a fast year! They seem to really like him in that department. I remember when he came to me and told me that he was interested in switching police departments. I was really nervous for him to change jobs but he told me he felt really good about it. I am so thankful I trusted his decision b/c this job change has been such a blessing to our family in so many ways. I have been at my job for 10 months now and it has been wonderful for the most part. This past week has been a weeeeeeeee bit stressful but that comes with any job. I am only working PRN where I currently am so I have decided the time has come to look for something more full time and keep my PRN status at my current job so I can work a weekend from time to time when Paul works if they need me. I hate looking for new jobs. I know the Lord will put the right job in my path.
I really don't know much else right now. I hope everyone is enjoying some beautiful weather and that you all had a wonderful Valentines Day!!!
Love,
LQ
I noticed I have not posted anything in 2 months and that is not like me! I'm thinking it is b/c nothing has really been going on in the Quillon home over the past 8 weeks.
We signed a new contract with a new realtor February 1st. Actually, it's a husband/wife team and they seem to really have their head in the game. We had 2 showings last Sunday so that was a nice change from our last realtor. Although nothing came from either showing, it was nice to see the interest. Paul and I need to sit down this week and decide on a weekend we are both home so we can schedule our open house. I'm anxious to get that out of the way. Near the end of January, the Lord blessed our little area of Virginia with amazing spring weather. We had about 4 days where it was in the high 60's and we were able to get all of the leaves out of our front and side yards. The back yard would have been impossible since it's totally wooded. It has made a huge difference in the look of the house.
Speaking of spring, our flowers are blooming in the front yard. It's so nice to have a little color around some of our trees. I am anxious to see the rest of my flowers come back to life. It has been such a snow-less winter... i'm anxious to see flowers again.
Speaking of snow, haha. 2 Sunday's ago we got about 4 inches of snow in just a few hours. It was so beautiful outside. We took Harley for a walk and he had the BEST time running around and shoving his cute little face in the snow. He did this funny thing where he's put his face in the snow, lay his body down on the ground and push with his back legs. I have never seen him have so much fun outside. Paul and I both commented that we were so excited he loved the snow... b/c when we are finally able to move out West, he will have to put up with a lot of snow. We really did have the best night with him.
Harley turned 2 January 21st. I wanted to have a little Birthday party for him but with our work schedules, etc we ran out of time. He was 7 months old when we adopted him. Can't imagine a day without him as part of our family. I don't know if there is another dog in the world that is truly loved as much as he is.
Work is going well for Paul and I. Paul is still loving his job with the County PD. He will celebrate 1 year there in April. My gosh it has been a fast year! They seem to really like him in that department. I remember when he came to me and told me that he was interested in switching police departments. I was really nervous for him to change jobs but he told me he felt really good about it. I am so thankful I trusted his decision b/c this job change has been such a blessing to our family in so many ways. I have been at my job for 10 months now and it has been wonderful for the most part. This past week has been a weeeeeeeee bit stressful but that comes with any job. I am only working PRN where I currently am so I have decided the time has come to look for something more full time and keep my PRN status at my current job so I can work a weekend from time to time when Paul works if they need me. I hate looking for new jobs. I know the Lord will put the right job in my path.
I really don't know much else right now. I hope everyone is enjoying some beautiful weather and that you all had a wonderful Valentines Day!!!
Love,
LQ
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