Rare Friendships

You know in your life God provides you with those rare friendships that make all the difference. In my life I am happy to say that God has blessed me with my friend Ang. We were roommates in college, but have really watched our friendship blossom these last 5 and a half years or so. There are so many qualities that I love about this girl....she makes me laugh, lets me cry and is always there for me. Even though distance has always seperated us since college...that hasn't kept us from growing closer as friends (just ask don...how long the phone conversations can get ). :) I love this friend because she is the most unselfish friend in the world. So, when she told me she met this guy.....i couldn't have been more excited for her. Their engagement was a journey, but this couple hung tough and grew together. On September 16th they got married. I was honored to be a part of that day and so happy to see her and Danville so happy and in love. So, I do thank God for providing me with this rare friendship that keeps growing and changing. These are pics from the wedding day.

Having fun....at the hair salon of course...where else;)....we can make anything fun don't worry!!


The beautiful finished product.







How gorgeous is she....;)



Me and Carrie...bridesmaids.

Ang and Danville....the wonderful couple.

Yes, Don and I had a good time too!!!

I have a feeling that this is the first of MANY get togethers for these new friends!

Little worries....

Well, I didn't think I would blog about this issue...but I decided that you all would pray for this little one with me and maybe she would sleep better. 4 nights ago Taylor (our 4 year old) woke up...talking about scary dreams she was having. I didn't think too much of it....Taylor is well known for finding numerous excuses not to sleep, so I didn't think it would be a big thing. I was wrong. She has been waking up every morning since....talking about scary dreams that happen when her eyes close. Its so sad!! What are you supposed to say?

Sometimes I feel like the more you bring it up...the more she thinks about it, other times I am really curious about what she is dreaming about!! This morning an interesting conversation happened between Taylor and Maddie. They were eating breakfast....Maddie had just gotten up and was sitting by Taylor and I was making breakfast. Anyways, Taylor asked Maddie " Do you see the scary breaking when you close your eyes?" To which Maddie said "No". Taylor goes "I do".

So, tonight before she went to bed....we just tried to spend extra time with Taylor and make bedtime as peaceful as possible. After I read to her and tucked her in....Daddy snuggled with her and told her a story and then Taylor said to him " I don't want bad dreams." Don then told her that they could pray and ask Jesus to take away the bad dreams....to which she said "ok".

We will see how it goes....but pray for this child if you think about it. We are all praying for pleasant dreams over here!!

Never a dull moment

Well, "never a dull moment" was a phrase that my friend Ang and I coined....as soon as I married my husband actually. Being the wife of a youth worker is a job that you learn to be flexible and go with the flow. And then having toddlers and hotel Talley...that phrase basically sums up my life;) I wouldn't want it any other way...don't get me wrong, but this month has been crazy busy and I just think that phrase sums it all up.

Don and I got to go to Ohio for a wedding...two days after being home from OR and the first wedding. The wedding in Ohio was my best friend Ang and Danville!! It was wonderful to catch up with some old college friends, see Ang so happy, and have some actual real conversations with my hubby. It was a great weekend...the pics will come soon.

I am reserving this post of pics for what happened the day after we got home from Ohio. When we got home our Madison had a birthday party. Her actual birthday was on Sunday (Ang's wedding day). So, we celebrated on Tuesday. We decided instead of a big party to do a day at the zoo....we invited one friend and had two sets of grandparents to go with. Maddie was so funny cause she was VERY excited to turn the big 3!!! "How old are you Mad"....to which she always says " FREE;)"....at least that is how it sounds!!

So the day at the zoo was great....good weather, fun people and tired toddlers on the way home!! We celebrated some more when we got home with my mom (who just moved here by the way) and Don's mom and Step dad (who were here to take care of the kiddos while we were in Ohio).

Since, the birthday....Taylor and I have been sick and Don and Maddie are now starting to get sick today. This has been a very busy month...we are looking forward to next week...nothing big on the agenda which sounds good to me!

So, i leave you with pics of my "big girl". Maddie likes to say " I'm not the baby...I'm the BIG girl!!" So sad...she will always be the baby though...just don't tell her that!!




I asked Maddie to give me a big girl smile...this is what she came up with!!





Yummm...chocolate cake....



Maddie loves riding on the carousel...Taylor is afraid..so she rode the train and Maddie rode this!

At one point the animal jumped at the glass at Maddie...she was very surprised.

Daddy making music with the kiddos.

I know this isn 't the greatest pic...but check out Don's new power wheelchair. It worked great at the Zoo and gave him a lot of freedom...and me a break...imagine that. Maddie loves to go with Daddy on the chair screaming "faster faster" the whole time.



The big gift...a Mickey mouse Club house....it has occupied her for a whole week now...she loves it.

Ok...i have no idea if other moms struggle with this or not....at Taylor's party last May...Madison cried during present time and blowing out the candle time...she didn't understand why Taylor got to do all this stuff and not her....so I was a little worried to see how Taylor would do with Maddie getting all the presents....I am happy and proud to say though that Taylor was a great big sister the whole day and enjoyed handing Maddie the presents. She knew this was Maddie's special day. I guess it just makes me feel good that Taylor was able to do this.....I made sure to tell her what a great job she was doing!

Cannon Beach Trip

Hi Guys....we had a great trip!!!! The highlight of the trip for the girls was the BEACH!! This was the first time they got to see the beach and they LOVED every minute of it. The water was freezing, but they loved running away from it and screaming. The wedding was nice too and it was great to see Brad and some other good friends at the wedding. The girls were great...all week. They really just went with the flow and were cute as always. We enjoyed spending some time with family in Salem after the wedding as well. We are now home for 2 days and then we leave for Ohio for one more wedding!!! Here are SOME pics to get you all started...I am sure I will find more to post later!! Hope everyone had a great week!!

How adorable is this first picture....;)

The girls were SOOOO very happy to be with their Uncle Brad again...Taylor loved it!!

Don with his grandparents!!! It was wonderful seeing them again...fun as always.

Hugs from Aunt Sheryl!!



Special Hugs from Great Grandma Talley...so precious!!

The girls...preparing for their flower girl debut....How did they do you ask....well, they went down just fine. They got to the front and had half of the flowers left so they dropped them all over the groomsmen feet till they were gone. Then they came to sit with me and were fine, Don greeted everyone then prayed. As soon as he prayed the girls bolted to the front of the church...to do what you ask...pick up all the flowers on the ground of course!!! It was funny. Other than that they did great!!

Test Results

I wanted to update everyone on some of the initial test results we do have. Just so you know this is all just initial thoughts that the doctor had after reviewing the tests. The pulmonary function test indicated that Don only uses 50% of his lung capacity. This is caused by his muscle weakness in his chest which restricts his ability to breathe deeply. Because of this Don's heart works harder to compensate and subsequently his right atrium is enlarged.

The amazing part of all this is that Don has remained relatively healthy all these years without having any respiratory or heart problems which is truly a sign of God's hand in his life. Even the doctor looked at these numbers on paper and shook her head....looked at Don and couldn't explain how he was doing that well. She said she would expect him to be huffing and puffing and struggling to breathe based on the numbers in front of her....but sitting in front of her was a normal looking guy not struggling at all. Don and I honestly told her that God just protects and uses him. When there is no real medical explanation...you turn to the spiritual one.

Don also has osteoporosis which is shallow bone weakness. So, our next recommended step is to go do some testing at the University hospital here in Denver which is one of the top pulmonary hospitals in the country. They may know some more specifics about Don's disorder and be able to give us direction on where to go from here. So, until that all happens we just pray for his health continually.

On another note...Don has received his power wheelchair this weekend....he loves it, I am getting used to it....we are both unsure if we should take it with us on this next trip to Portland. We are all going to Portland on Friday for Brad (one of Don's old club kids and staff from Sacramento) wedding. Our girls are going to be flower girls for the first time and Don is officiating the wedding. So it should be interesting. The reason we question taking the wheelchair is because of how it is broken down...and being able to fit that chair AND our luggage and stroller in our rental car. Since we just got it I am on a learning curve on putting it together and taking it apart....on the chair don has now it takes me about 15 seconds...on the new chair anywhere between 2 and 5 minutes. I am just not sure a trip with everyone is the right place to "try" it out. So, we will see...we have to decide tonight!!!:)

Before all that happens though Don has to go to Steamboat Tues-Fri for meetings. So, this week will be very busy getting ready for the big trip and being by myself with the kiddos. I WILL TAKE PLENTY OF PICS AND UPDATE PROBABLY WHEN WE GET HOME!!!

have a great week.