HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe New Year! :)

Sickness part deuce!

Judd spent the entire night Saturday throwing up. :( Poor thing. I woke up Sunday morning around 7:00 not feeling well. By 9:00 I had thrown up once and took some medicine so hopefully I wouldn't get to the point where Judd was the night before! IT WORKED! After that, I felt much better. When I woke up from the medicine literally knocking me out, it was 1:00pm and I felt great! (Well, not great...very groggy...but not like I needed to throw up at all!) I feel very blessed to have gotten such a mild dose.

Just wanted to give a small update on the sickness. Be looking for Christmas pictures! I'll be posting them soon! :)

Family Sickness.

If you want it, come to our house! It started with Aaron & Turner I think...then Cassie & Gibson, then Austin, now Judd...and coming soon...ME! I'm just waiting on my turn at this terrible stomach virus. Judd has been throwing up all night. With Cassie, Aaron, & Austin it was just a 12 hour thing and it was finished...although you are extremely worn out the next day.

I'm really hoping that Mrs. Candy, Mr. Larry and I don't catch this terrible virus, although I feel it is inevitable.

I have tons of pictures to share but my camera is in my car and it's pouring down rain so you're just going to have to wait!

We had WONDERFUL Christmases with our families! It couldn't have been better! (Well, the stomach virus could have been taken out of the picture...but...oh well.)

A family friend has offered to give us an already trained black lab named Susie that he was getting ready to sell. Although I feel like we're adding on to the family very quickly...Susie needs a home and we need a void filled. She's a sweet dog and looks a lot like Reese! Reese was a small (about 50lb) lab, and so is Susie. Susie is also 50lb so she will fit in the duck vest we had for Reese. :( I'm still sad about Reese and it breaks my heart that she died so young, but we want to give Susie a good home where she'll get to hunt a lot! She apparently loves to hunt! Here is a picture of her from Daniel's (the family friend's son) facebook album.

Sorry if the dead bird grosses you out. It kinda hurts my heart! Haha!

Well, I'm listening to Judd toss his cookies over and over again and I think I'm going to go check on him for the 100th time. Oh PLEASE pray the rest of us don't get this! And I REALLY don't want Oakley to get it. He doesn't know to run to the toilet to puke!

EDIT: Right after I pushed the "PUBLISH POST" button, I started feeling a little indigestion...now I'm feeling super hot, my mouth is watering, and I'm a little achy. Oh no!

Update.

For those of you who care, Reese was doing so poorly this morning that we did not want her to suffer any longer. We had her put to sleep. I stood beside her the whole time so she wouldn't be scared. She went very peacefully and she doesn't hurt any longer. Judd and I are sad, but we are happy that she is not in pain. We were being selfish in our reasons for keeping her around until Friday and we just weren't comfortable with that decision.

I hope you all have a blessed, Merry Christmas filled with lots of happy memories.

Sad news.

Reese had another vet appointment today and we got some very dreaded, sad news. Her abcess had done nothing so Dr. Branch kept checking around. Judd said he was about to cry when he told him the bad news. Reese has lymphoma. It's very aggressive and has already spread throughout her body. Both sides of her face are completely swollen and her neck is starting to swell as well. The lymph nodes in her legs are hard and tender. As much as we love her, we're going to have to let God have her back. We wanted to spend one Christmas with her and since she doesn't seem to be in pain, we're going to wait until Friday to have her put to sleep. I've cried all day and Judd is completely heartbroken. He put so much time and effort into her...and she follows every step he takes. Only 1 out of 55 million dogs her age get lymphoma - that is why our vet was so reluctant to say she had it. He did xrays to rule out the other possible disease so we're positive this time. She seems to be going downhill very quickly so we aren't going to try to prolong her life anymore than past Friday.

Just wanted to give an update since yesterday we thought she was going to be okay. We would like to ask for your prayers in helping us get through this difficult time. Although she is "just a dog," she has meant so much to us. We raised her and cared for her and now she is leaving us at such a young age. She truly is part of our family.

We love you, Reese.

Happy Birthday, Audra!

Audra,

I hope your birthday was fabulous. Just so you know, I'm only late because you were late with my anniversary post...so ha! :)

You are my very best friend and I truly do not know what I would do without you. I'm so happy that we've gotten so close, and I wouldn't trade our relationship for the world. Deda & Mom were right when they told us, "One day y'all are gonna be best friends." We never believed them - but here we are! I hope we have many more birthdays to share with each other!

Judd and I look forward to every time we get to see y'all! We love you and can't wait to see you soon.

Relief!

We went to the vet today, and he does not think Reese has cancer. He says he believes it is just an abcess in her lymph nodes. He doesn't want to lance it right now because it is so close to her jugular vein and carotid artery that he said it's safer if we let it rupture and drain on its own so we know that it's going through her body safely. Our hope is to keep her infection localized (keep it just in that ONE spot on her face) and pray it doesn't rupture before we finish treating the infection with antibiotics, otherwise the infection could spread through her body by going through her lymphatic system. Anyway - bottom line - we think she's going to make a full recovery.

I cannot tell you how happy I was to see this dog. At first, I didn't think she even remembered us...but after about an hour, I realized she knew exactly who we were. She took every single step that Judd took in the yard today. She followed his every move. I think he was really happy to have her home, too.

You can definitely tell that she isn't feeling well, and the swelling on her face comes and goes with each shot she gets - but she's in pretty good spirits. She sleeps alot! The trainer said she'd lost a few pounds in the last week which was his first sign she may not be feeling well. He said that she was eating like normal, but still losing weight. Regardless, she's eating up a storm now that she's home. We're letting her stay in the house because it's so cold outside...although that doghouse Judd built is probably warmer than our house! We don't want to put any extra stress on her because it's making her hair fall out. :( Breaks my heart to see her feeling bad. We're keeping her in one room with the baby gate because Oakley obviously is not realizing that this female dog is his sister....if you catch my drift. Reese tolerates him on her leg until she sits down, then he gets a little too close! Ha! My poor Oakley - so mistreated.

Well I took some pictures of my poor sick girl. I'm a bad Mom, I know. It looks like she's holding a golfball in between her jaw and teeth. It is as hard as a rock!

On another note, all my Christmas presents are wrapped and under the tree! Yay! It's so nice to finally put some gifts under my bare tree. It's looked empty for a long time! I sat down on Friday night and wrapped every single one. I even made bows for the adult's gifts. (No kid wants to have to get scissors to cut the bow to get into their package...it's obnoxious! No offense if you put bows on your kids presents. :)) Look at our pretty tree all decorated for Christmas with presents and all!

As you look at these pictures, please sing the words of this song... "Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue. Wrap your presents to your darling from you. Pretty pencils, to write I love you. Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue." I know I sure sang it the entire time the pictures were uploading...Judd loved my version.

Well, it's off to pack & wash clothes for our trip home. I'm SO excited!! This is my absolute favorite time of the year!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Prayers for the pup.

We got some terrible news today that Reese might be seriously ill. The trainer asked us to come get her because she needs to see a vet asap. We're leaving here at 5am tomorrow to pick her up and hopefully will get back and she'll see the vet. We're not sure of ANYTHING, but the vet she saw at the trainer's said it looked like lymphoma (a type of cancer) but he usually only sees it in dogs that are older. Hopefully, it will be something curable and not painful for Reese. We're hoping that because she's only a year old, that cancer won't be the cause. Say a prayer for our sweet puppy if you can!



Her first night in her new home after her 1st bath!

Wondering what the white fluffball running around was doing...


With her Daddy & Papaw.

Sleeping with Mommy because she wouldn't stop crying!

All tuckered out.

Her first swim, ever!

Yay! So proud!

Fourth...

So Audra has tagged me to play this little game where you go to the fourth folder of your pictures, then the fourth picture from that folder...and without editing or cheating, post it. :) So here is mine.

Story: No, this wreck was not my fault! As you can see, I was hit! I was living in Starkville at this time and was headed back to my apartment from Judd's house. We had been home to visit my family in my car and Oakley and I had just dropped Judd off so he could head to class. It was rainy and my road had a speed limit of 45 which was entirely too fast for that road...especially in rain! It had lots of twists and turns in it and you could never tell if someone was coming over the hill. Well, I was headed down the road and topped a hill and saw a truck that was going WAY too fast and was obviously out of control because he was swerving all over the road. When I saw him headed right towards me, I tried to run up on the grass to get away from him but he hit me anyway on my back driver's side. That just happened to be where Oakley was sitting and thank goodness he was in his carrier! When the truck hit me, it pushed the back passenger's side into a telephone pole and spun me around. The truck then sped ahead and ran into a tree. I was very out of it for a few seconds as the airbags had all hit me in the head, face, and arms. The car was so smoky from the airbags that I couldn't see much...but I could definitely hear Oakley whimpering! I tried to open my door but it was jammed so I crawled across the passengers side and swung the door opened. The guy who hit me came running to my car and the first words out of his mouth were, "I swear I wasn't speeding, ma'am!" Being a little mad that he didn't even bother to ask if I was okay, I yelled at him and told him to go call 911 and said, "And I'm fine by the way!" :) So while he was off calling 911, I called my mom (who was 2.5 hours away) and she didn't answer. Then I called Judd. He picked up and was almost to class and all I could think to say was, "My caaaaaaarrrrr!!!" in an extremely whiny voice. I managed to tell him where I was and he was headed my way. Some nice people from the apartments across the road came and helped me until the ambulance got there. My neck and back were killing me but in my fragile state of mind, I wasn't sure if our insurance would cover me going to the hospital and I knew riding in an ambulance was expensive! *I really was not in the right state of mind!* Judd got there and talked to my mom who told me not to worry about it and to go to the hospital! So the nice people from the apartment across the way took Oakley for me and I got in the ambulance and called Daddy. Poor Daddy...I think I scared him. I cried for the first time while talking to him.

Wow...that turned into a novel. All in all, I was fine. The car was totalled. The guy's insurance had to buy me a new car. Everyone was safe! Leah & Ian brought me a huge Sonic Diet Coke. Mom and Dad came to Starkville in record timing and stayed for a few days. :) The End.

Just for enjoyment, here's the other side where I hit the telephone pole!

I tag: Leah, Jennifer, Rachel!

8 things

I stole this blog from Lori because it looked fun! :)

8 TV Shows I Watch
Law & Order: SVU
House M.D.
Gossip Girl
Grey's Anatomy (although I'm quickly losing interest with this new lesbian love stuff. It's annoying.)
Smallville
Jon & Kate + 8
Dr. G - Medical Examiner
What Not To Wear

8 Favorite Restaurants
Longhorn Steakhouse
La Cabana (or El Charro)
O'Charley's
Airport Grocery
Domino's
Sonic
Wendy's
Dales

8 Things that Happened Today
Saw Drew & Audra
Napped on the way home
Wrapped a TON of Christmas presents
Made sausage balls
Unloaded the car
Gave Judd his weekly shot
Saw my brother-in-law, Austin
Cleaned the house

8 Things I Look Forward To
Building a house
Getting finished with nursing school
Having babies
Christmas
Seeing Papaw in Heaven
Getting Reese back from the trainer
Being a mom
Seeing my kids grow up

8 Things I Wish For
Christian children with Christian spouses
Healthy children
Happy, long marriage
Long lives for all of my family members!!
My pets to live as long as I do (or at least die of old age!)
A conservative nation
To be close to my family
To go to Heaven (one day when I'm very old and gray!)

I LOVE Nashville!

Our fabulous hotel room. I highly recommend The Hotel Preston.


I also highly recommend Longhorn Steakhouse...YUM!

Isn't he cute?

I had a wonderful time with Judd! It's always nice to spend time with each other with the cell phones off! I love you, Judd!

Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

We made it ONE WHOLE YEAR! :) I love you, Judd.

(P.S. This was the best 1 year cake ever! Thank you, Deda!)

To My Sweet Judd.

In light of our 1 year anniversary, I wanted to make a post to my husband and tell him how much he means to me!

Judd, I'm so blessed to have you. You put up with every one of my annoying quirks...usually without complaint! You always volunteer (or do what I ask!) to help me when I need it. For all the times you went to the store to get me a Diet Coke on your way home, took my dog outside to pee, and got up out of bed to cut the fan on - I truly thank you. It is the little things that you do that show how much you love me. You've started helping me clean which you have no idea how much I appreciate! You always listen to me vent about school...which takes patience on your part, I'm sure. I wanted to write a list of my 10 favorite things about you... ;)

1. I love the way you hold your head out for me to rub your hair.

2. I love how you never get mad! It makes it harder for me to get mad AT you! :)

3. I love how much you love babies...you're going to make such a great daddy one day.

4. I love how you always say, "Don't spend too much money" when I go shopping.

5. I really love how you usually let me pick out where to eat. I know, I'm too picky.

6. I love how you make an effort to put up Christmas decorations with a smile.

7. I love how you compliment how I look on Sunday mornings. It always makes me feel so pretty.

8. I love how you always let me back up to you and put my cold feet on your legs when we get in the bed.

9. I LOVE when you purposely dance goofy in the car to make me laugh.

10. I love how attentive you are to me...you never cease to give me your attention (especially when I take the remote and cut the TV off myself! Ha!)

I just wanted to take a few minutes to tell you how much I love you. You are the absolute only person that I ever want to be with and I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together. I hope we have many, many years left. I love you.

Love,

Kacie

Pictures I Forgot to Post

Mr. Larry killed a 10pt deer!! Yay!
We had Audra's early birthday party!

Jorik had his early birthday party too!

Drew tearing open his first package!

Uncle Judd holding Drew. :) Doesn't he look cute?

This was just an assortment of pictures that I had forgotten to post before. :) Enjoy!

Sleeping Beauties!

Aren't they precious? :)

Be Kind!

Ya know, I put a lot of trust and faith into kind people. I'm one of those people with the mindset of "I'll trust you until you give me a reason not to." You see kindness all over the place, especially in the South...but occassionally you run into people who just aren't so kind. Now, I know they could be having an "off" day. But I'm going to be honest - even on off days, I try to be kind. I used to work in customer service and when you have a bad day - you put it aside and be kind anyway! Be considerate of other's feelings. Imagine how you would feel if you were in their shoes. Kindness is such a wonderful virtue to have. You may be the only kind person that speaks to someone in a day, so make it count for them. Okay, I'm finished now. :)

A Little Christmas Spirit!

These are some of our decorations for Christmas this year. I took pictures of some of my favorite ornaments, too.

This one is from the year I was born. Mamaw Betty gave me that one.Even though our Eggbowl game was pathetic...GO DOGS!Another from the year I was born!We made pottery at my bachelorette party. I made an ornament and had all of my bridesmaids sign it. :)One of the many "Our First Christmas" ornaments. I love them.One of the Macy's handpainted ornaments. We got three of them!Our tree with no star/angel. Stocking hanger!

Another stocking hanger.
The inside to the front door!My cute snowman. Me in my Mrs. Clause apron! You know that's hot stuff right there!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

P.S. Sorry - that background was killing me with the writing running off the page! I had to get a different one! :)