Originally it started out as 4. Jeff, Jason, Marcus and Cody have been friends since high school. What was 4 became 5, 6, 7 and eventually 8. The core 8, but it started with 4. You know how in Sex in the City Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte are the loves of each others lives, well these 4 will never admit it but they are similar. Our adventures are usually their show and they just let us 4 ladies tag along. Sure us girls like to take over and run things our way, but it is still the 4. The point I am getting at, is I cannot imagine life without the 4. Yet, somehow that is a very real possibility. One of the 4 was just diagnosed with Grade IV Glioblastoma. It is an ugly sounding word for an ugly disease. This however is not Cody's first go around with the word cancer. Shortly before I met my husband Cody had brain surgery to remove a tumor. This one was Grade III. Even with surgery, chemo, and radiation he was given the life span of 3 to 5 years. He defied the odds and made it almost 10 with no recurring tumor. During the last 10 years, with clean scans every 6 months to a year a person almost forgot that there was a possibility the cancer would return. It probably was my own wishful thinking or delusional thinking as some would probably say. Yet here we are and it has returned. The first time Cody faced this down he was 24, not married, and no kids. Still wouldn't have made losing him any easier. This go around he is 34, married, with 3 precious little souls that call him daddy. Besides, Cody, Husband, and Daddy he is also a Fighter and will give his all to fight this diagnosis ever step of the way. The rest of us will be in his corner the entire time! If you so choose you can follow his and my beautiful friend Holli's story at codyandholli.blogspot.com. The are truly amazing people and my life is much better, enriched, whatever you want to call it with them in it. Plus, they are Sawyer's Godparents. They really are the family one would choose and I am so glad we choose each other, or at least I choose Marcus. Here is to hopefully many more years with my chosen family because if I know Cody he is going to give Cancer a big middle finger and defy his odds once again. In the end it really is all up to God and if his army needs another fighter in it, so if you feel so inclined could you add them into your prayer circle or if you don't pray just wish them some good vibes? We all choose to believe what we believe but I can't imagine it will hurt that what ever higher being one may believe in that he/she knows how much Cody means to us!
Marcus and Cody dancing at Cody's wedding.
Cody and Holli in the Big Horns. Something was funny!
The 4 at Blackfox in the Hills.
Smoking cigars at Jeff and Em's Wedding.
An oldie but a goodie. The original picture of the 8. The first but certainly not the last.
Jeff/Em, Cody/Holli, Jason/Heidi, and Marcus/Jo
Time seems to move so fast these days and I cannot do anything to slow it down. Oh how I wish I could slow it down. My sweet baby girl will turn 1 in less than a month. When did that happen? And my sweet little boy will be going to preschool in a few short months. When did that happen? I know these times are supposed to come and go to make room for new times and it is all a big circle but I just wish I could slow it down and savor some of these times. Of course with the amazing times comes the not so amazing times. Does anyone else ever have those bad mommy days? The days were you feel like no matter what you do it is not good enough? You yelled too much, you got frustrated over the little things, you shook you head in despair. I hate those days and every time I have one I vow to do better but sure enough one will sneak up on me again. How do I stop them?
I write to God for the wisdom to know how to stop them and maybe they are not meant to be stopped. Maybe it is a part of my journey as a mother and learning to be a better one, but man this journey makes me feel defeated some days. For some reason I have this picture in my head that my children are going to grow up and only have memories of me yelling. I am not sure if this stems from my own childhood or where it comes from but I don't want those to be the memories they have. I want them to have the memories of me rolling on the floor playing animals, picnic's in the park, running through sprinklers, sparklers on the 4th of July. Don't get me wrong, I do not live in a fools paradise and think all their memories are to be happy ones, or that I will never yell. In all actuality I think sometimes there is nothing you can do but yell. Sometimes it seems it is the only way my 3 year old will listen. I don't know if I am making any sense or just rambling at this time, but does anyone else struggle with the mom guilt of yelling? Like I feel like I am crushing their little souls when it happens :(. I will continue to write to God for the wisdom I know he will bestow on me but it sure would be nice to know I am not alone!
It is May now. Our family is going to be moving soon. We are in the process of building a new house and needless to say we are beyond excited. After picking the kiddo's up Sawyer asked me if we could go look at the new house. At this time it is only a poured foundation, but it is a start. We have to be out of our current house on May 28th and are moving into a temporary twin home until our house is completed. It will be a bitter sweet day to leave our current home. This is where we came home as a married couple, brought both our babies home to, made a life, a family. This house has so many warm memories attached. I can only hope that it will serve the new homeowners well. In the end it is just a house and the people in it our what make it a home but I get sort of sentimental and cheesy about these type of things.
Anyhoo..I am tired and it has been a long day so short post for the evening. Oh, but recommendation..watch God's Not Dead..wasn't quite what I expected but a good message and decent movie none the less.
Jo
It is March. March. I cannot believe where the time has gone. Just like that Marcus and I were in Mexico. Just like that I was on the plane home. Just like that I was thrown back into the routine of life. I can honestly say the routine of my life is my favorite. I love the morning bottle with Hanna while watching the news, Sawyer getting upset because his waffle will not stay on his fork, the coffee ring my husbands leaves on the counter, and the dog laying in the most inconvenient spots possible. These are the moments I love. I work the late shift this week and thoroughly dislike it. One of my most favorite things is picking up the kids from daycare and listening to Sawyer tell me about his day. Who he played with, what he had for lunch, if he had fun, did he go outside, etc. No matter how my day goes when I get to pick those two littles of mine up life seems to stop and nothing matters but being in that moment.
Moments are a funny thing. As I get older I seem to continue to learn how precious moments are. I am not sure if it is just me or if this happens to every what used to be rational adult but the older I get the more afraid of everything I get. I will choose to believe that I am not the only person this happens to, mainly for my sanity. I suppose I should clarify when I say I am afraid of everything. I am afraid of very irrational things like my plane crashing, lightning striking my camper in a storm, walking with my kids and they slip through the railings of the bridge over the interstate. Like I said, I am not afraid of rational things. So a trip to Mexico without my babies and my irrational fear that my plane was going to crash was sort of a big deal with me. But with the grace of the good Lord and perhaps some assistance with Xanax I made it without incidence and calmly. Almost to the point where my husband might travel with me by plane again. Seriously, I think the plane thing is they just don't make sense to me how they stay up in the air! I know that it is physics and all that good stuff but I also know that the law of gravity says what goes up must come down. Anyway, the point is that even with these irrational fears it is the moments I am most afraid of missing. So with that I am doing my best to live in the moment and not let the fears rule them for me. Because of that I had wonderful moments in Mexico with my husband, my brother, my dad, my sister-in-law, and my extend step family. Because of that my in-laws got a wonderful week with their grandchildren. I am however happy to report I do not have time away from the littles until May so I am going to savor every single moment. Even the ones that involve time outs, tears, saying sorry, and frustration because even those moments are amazing. Remind me of that last sentence when one of these moments are upon me and I am thinking this is not so amazing!
Without further ado..some moments from Mexico
Me and my love on the beach
Back in the USA
Marcus's big purchase
A small slice of paradise
Brother and Sister and the out-laws
Congratulations Brock and Melissa! 03/05/2015
Off to the races! Life has been busy and so rewarding and with all that comes little time for blogging. That and I just wasn't totally in love with my blogging. Time to reset, I have recharged, and I am going to give this blogging thing another go. Mainly since I totally dropped the ball on the whole baby book thing it might be nice for my kids to have something that actually documented their early years. So, today marks the new blogger I have become, or the one I am going to strive to be. It is Valentines Day and I get to spend it with my loves. Generally in the past Marc and I have been snowmobiling but with a big trip to Mexico planned and paid for our dollars were slim. Not going to lie, I am okay with that. I like snowmobiling but it has certainly become something that I could for sure live without too. This year however it was spent watching my nieces do sports and quick hello's and see you later's with the family. Tomorrow is Monday and back to reality I suppose. The weekends just go too fast! I guess they go fast because they are fun, packed with activities and errands. Just Monday seems to sneak up on us way to quick. I wish I had the ability to stop time or bottle these moments. It seems as if I blink and they are gone. Just seeing the little adults my nieces and nephews are becoming gives me this huge reality check that these years where they get to be little, so innocent, needing you constantly are going to come to an end. Makes me truly sad some days. Yet I am excited for the future. To watch them grow and become these amazing human beings that I know they are meant to be.
Marcus and I jet off to Mexico in two weeks for some sun, some fun, oh and the main event is a wedding! My step-brother Brock is getting married to a fabulous gal named Melissa. Should be an amazing time but I am going to miss my babies like crazy. I am sure though Grandma and Grandpa Hunter are more than ready to have us leave so they can have an entire week loving and spoiling our kids, furry child included. We get to go with my brother and sister-in-law, my dad and step-mom, the step-siblings, and a handful of their friends and other family. Marcus and I honeymooned in Mexico and had a wonderful time, however by like day 4 we were wishing we had some friends with. So we are excited to go, relax, enjoy the family, and celebrate Brock and Melissa's happy day.
Hope this finds everyone well and stay tuned for more to come from the Hunter tales of life! Here are a few pics because no blog post should go without pictures.
Oh my, I cannot believe it is February already! Where has the time gone? Hmm..what have we been doing lately? We have been trying to keep up with a very curious, active, talkative (totally from Marcus), little boy. Sawyer will turn 15 months on the 14th of this month. Cannot believe he is already over a year old! We had his first birthday party at our house and it was a full house. We had both sets of my parents, Marcus's parents, all the cousins, aunts/uncles, Grandma's, and our wonderful group of extended family! Needless to say, the night was a blur of cake, presents, laughter, reminiscing, family, and wine. We followed that weekend up by opening deer in which I got to sit with my hubby and experience the kill. I have to admit it was pretty neat. Marcus laughed at me the whole time because I was pretty worried other hunters were not going to see my orange! We also got to celebrate multiple birthdays, starting in October we have Aunt Missy, Aunt Cassy, Cousin Mason, Cousin Avery, and Cousin Beckett(extended framily). November we have Uncle Mike, Cousin Devin, Grandpa Dan and Sawyer. December we have Cousin Jake, Godmother Holli, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Nanon, and Cousin Chase(extended framily). January we have Cousin Cory's, and Aunt Heidi's(extended framily) and we follow up in February with Grandma Linda's, and Cousin Ella's. We get a break in March, but are pretty much back at from April to February again! Marcus and I managed to sneak in a snowmobile trip to the Black Hills in January. Good trail riding, hot tubing, and amazing friends. We had a blast, tough to come back to reality. Marcus has been staying busy at work, which of course is a good thing. Seems the housing market has picked up some, so the more the build, the more he wires. Year end is always a busy time for me, and I have never been so glad to see January end and February begin. No more tax notice questions! Well at least until 5498 season! Marcus and I are jetting back out to the Hills this Presidents Day weekend for snowmobile trip round two. Pretty excited for the vacation and maybe to try my luck in Deadwood! Other than that, not too much happening with us. Sawyer continues to amaze me every day. We like to walk into daycare and really enjoys his friends. We don't hardly even bat an eye when mom goes. We have a couple new babies in the nursery and he is always there to lend a helping hand. He likes to help me unload the dishwasher, and shut doors. He loves music and likes to dance. He will pretty much eat anything you put on his plate, but loves his fruit. He has really gotten more affection with Boomer and always hugs him, and then tries to poke his eye. We still love our pacifier, but considering we quit the bottle didn't think he(really me) could handle taking both away at the same time! We are starting to work on it though. We read books each night before bed, and like to brush our teeth...as long as mom and dad don't try to help. We are learning to go down stairs, since we have mastered the up. I cannot wait for summer to break out his wagon and other riding toys, as well as not having to put on a jacket, gloves, and a hat. This seems to be up on his I do not like list, as well as getting the nose wiped(still!), Boomer's tail(he is perfect height to get it in the head), when mom picks up his toys, and the vacuum cleaner. We love unrolling the toilet paper, our baths, animals, music, fruit, our sippy cups, balls, Boomer, and much more. I love how his love list is way longer than his dislike list! Hope this finds everyone well, and catch up with you again soon!
Jo
Uffty, it has been awhile since I have blogged. It is a good thing this isn't my day job! One thing I have been discovering however, is how many day jobs it is for people. I hate to say it, but I have become immersed in the blogging world. I have found myself following a couple in-particular. http://rachelmariemartin.blogspot.com/, I love her blog. She is a mother of 7 and always has amazing things to say. I love that she is real and has the moments of frustration and after the moments of frustration the moments of feeling guilty about those moments of frustration. I have found that as my child gets older, and becomes more of a mover, more boisterous, more curious, my patience is becoming more thin. I hate that, here is this gorgeous little human being that is just trying to figure this big old world out, and here I am concerned about getting pizza dough rolled out. Reading her blog and realizing I am not the only one that has these moments of weaknesses and then feel guilty about them, makes me feel a little better. I am working on the patience thing and trying to remind myself that I really have nothing to complain about. That brings me to the next blog I seem to find myself reading. http://ohmydearone.blogspot.com/, talk about not needing to complain. This poor couple lost their little girl to SIDS. I cannot imagine the heartbreak and how they find the strength to go on. Reading this blog puts me in to check and really reminds me on an everyday basis that life is short and that there are a million things that can be worse than not getting pizza dough rolled out, dog hair on the floor, baby food in my face, and after reading this blog, I am thankful every day for baby food in my face. So, as I sit and blog about my uneventful, I can't help but think how lucky I am! Enough with the heavy...My little man is rockstarring life! He had tubes, and after having one more ear infection seems to be soo much better. He is starting to let go while standing a lot, so thinking some steps will be coming my way any day. He is always walking around furniture and seems to want to stand not sit. The bouncy has become ineffective and I need to make sure my eyes in the back of my head are open at all times! Some of his favorite things are, the dog water dish, the dogs bone, the dog, mom's shoes, the tv remote, the tv, his pacifier, his nicely folded clothes, his sippy cup, pizza, and mac & cheese. Some of his not favorite things, getting his nose wiped, getting his diaper changed, drying his head after a bath, when we take away the tv remote, mom's shoes, and the dog's bone away from him, and moving him from beating on the tv. He gets really excited when we get home and let Boomer out of his kennel. Boomer tends to be excited and jump up to lick, which gets Sawyer excited and he starts kicking his legs and giggling! Ah, I wish everyone could see it! Anyhoo...as we close out September, we have 1st birthdays to look forward to, Avery and Mason's birthdays, and trick or treating! Happy October all, hope the month is wonderful!
Jo
Ah, we have offically entered summer and camping season! Not to mention the other 10 things going on this summer! We started our camping season off in May at Lake Vermillion just outside of Sioux Falls. It was Sawyer's first camping trip and first beer with friend Beckett! A great time was had by all. Family came out Friday night to celebrate our friends birthday and the relaxation weekend was on from there. Memorial weekend Grandpa Bob and Grandma Linda game to visit, so on Friday it was dinner and nephew Cory's baseball game, Saturday was golf, which I really am horrible at, and then it was off to camp till Monday! This time we camped on some friends land. They have an amazing set up for camping and we love staying there. The next weekend, Sawyer and I made the trek to Huron for Cousin Amanda's wedding shower. It was a great shower and we can't wait for the wedding in July. I get to serve cheese cake, which with my chunky butt, do not need to be that close too! I guess I will have to practice will power..hmmm. The next weekend was my brother's 40th and lets just say I celebrated for him...not my proudest mommy moment, but I have learned and will not repeat! For Father's Day, we headed down to Yankton and there was a crew. We had 13 pads filled with family and friends. We were there from Thursday night to Monday, and couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous weekend for camping. The weather was amazing and certainly made the trip! Next year we plan on renting two circles, which will mean 18 pads! Let me know if you are interested in joining us! This last weekend we were in Mitchell for a wedding of some good friends of ours. Marcus was an usher and looked handsome in his tux...now I remember why I married him! Only kidding, I remember every day..it was an absolutely gorgeous weekend for a wedding and we had a ton of fun. We got to see some friends that we don't get to see very often but wish we did. Hopefully, with Mitchell not being to far away we can make some road trips to hang out! We are now getting ready to go camping for the 4th. Since I have been with Marcus, so for 6 years, each 4th we go to Lake Herman by Madison. His Grandparents come camping with us so it is always special to get to spend a whole weekend with them. Although, his Grandma's are tough Rummikub players and you got to watch them! We get to camp from Friday through Wednesday this year. I am excited to get to camp for such an extended period of time! After the 4th, we get to slow down for a couple weekends. We are home the weekend of the 6th, and on the 14th we will be celebrating Sawyer's baptism. I am excited to have family and friends be there to help bless our child. After that we are back on the road to Huron for Cousin Amanda's wedding, then Larson Fest, Yankton, Cities, Home, Home, Blackfox, Home, then Lake Vermillion...in case you lost count that puts into the third weekend in September! I keep saying eventually it will slow down, but I think it is just getting busier! I know that a time will come when weekends are spent at ball diamonds, or hockey rinks and I will miss all the trips so I suppose I should really be taking them all in now! Sawyer, is an amazing camper! He loves to be outside, swim, eat sand, go for walks, and sleeps soo good when camping! He could just sit and watch the bigger kids play and play. He got to go for a boat ride while in Yankton and I couldn't believe how content he was. He was soo quiet I actually thought something was wrong! Guess he just enjoys the water and the breeze! The summer has not been all fun and games. My grandpa had a heart attack and had to have heart surgery. He is doing really good, but I certainly didn't like him having surgery! My dad and step-mom are heading to Arizona and will be back for Sawyer's baptism and hopefully with my Grandpa in tow...considering it is like 110 in Arizona, 90 might be a nice change of temp for him! Well, I will get to the good stuff of pictures and such and will bore you with more ramblings later! Hope you are all well and drop a line, let me know how your summer is!
Jo
