The positive news...

I have some "positive" news.

My Grandfather had a mastectomy this year. They found cancer in his breast. There is a gene called BRAC2 that is mutated in his DNA. He is doing well now, but my Dad and three other of his sisters and brothers went in to get tested to find out if they were positive for the gene. My Aunts, Uncle (and one cousin) found out that they were negative, but my Dad found out that he was positive.

I decided to test as a precaution. A week ago I found out that I am positive for the BRAC2 mutation as well. I will go into a breast specialist on the 17th to find out what the best options will be for my future. I have a very high risk of getting breast cancer because this mutation allows the cancer to grow instead of recognizing it as cancer and killing it. The reason we decided to find out is that I would like to take preventative measures.

The best way for me to lower my risk to what a normal person would have would be to do an early mastectomy and reconstruction. Here's where the positive part comes in! :) I have a lot of research to do, and a lot of prayers to say before we go that route. However I would rather go through a surgery like that than chemotherapy ANY DAY!!!!

The wonderful thing about this kind of communication is that I know that each of you out there can think a happy thought or pray for me and mine. This is going to be one big ride...I am lucky to have the family I do. Bill is an amazingly supportive husband and with the love of my beautiful children I will get through!

With that said...here's hoping the rest of the family that choses to take the test comes out negative. With knowledge comes ability...ability to make the best choices possible. I know that I could live my whole life without contracting cancer...but I sure have a high mark on my "maybe" scale. I choose to do everything possible to make that maybe as small as I can...and maybe let some other things grow! Ah- come on...that was funny!

Love to you all!

These boots were made for walking

Spark...here you go! She grew right into these! She does have a little red spot on her nose from a dive she took off the sand box at Grandmas house...don't worry...Neosporin will get her right as rain!

I think we need to take MJ to the dentist.

MJ and Jack

MJ's best buddy Jack came to visit from California! They had some really big cookies...

They painted a little (I think Jack was trying to show MJ proper brush holding technique)

They watched some TV...

And they found themselves in the toy box!

It was a great trip and we thank Abbey for bringing him along on her trip! It was great to spend time watching these boys play together again. They really didn't miss a beat.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have noticed that this blog is easy to keep up with, but just not something that I do often enough!

Here are some great shots we took of the kids in bathtime...the love is crazy! It is just amazing to watch the two of these kids look at each other and play! What a joy to be their parents!


Little miss blue eyes!
Mister green eyes- looks a little zoned right.

I gave in...

Well I did it...I finally gave in and am creating a "blog" (whatever that really means!) I got sick and tired of AOL kicking back my "old school" emails which in turn made me look like I had just forgotten to send out pictures...BAD AOL!

So I have a few to share from Halloween...that should get us started on the right foot! I have absolutely no idea how you would download these pictures yourself (Grandma and Grammy) so sorry if this format doesn't allow you to do so!


Here are the kids in front of the Hogwarts Express. Bill and my Dad did a lot of work to get the front of Don Carter's house to look as close to Harry Potter and Hogwarts as they could for Halloween night...and this is just part of it. These are all the little munchkins that we trick-or-treated with...Harper Tagg is hiding behind Jacob. I don't think the kids understood that we were wanting them to stand next to each other for the PICTURE! Go figure! The apparant disregard of the camera from Joshua and MJ (both batman as you can see...)was because they were still trying to figure out how Bill magically transformed into Dumbledore, and Sami is the "tooth fairy" in case you were wondering!

MJ didn't really take off his mask Halloween night...no matter how sweaty he got. He is his father's son!

Sami as the tooth fairy...she had floppy wings...so that we could put her in the carseat without having to take off a single stitch of costuming...I ain't just a pretty face!

This is one of my favorites! Grammy had a "special" suprise birthday party at her favorite winery, and the boys decided it was time to cut a rug with her. One of her favorite Irish bands is playing in the background...and this night was more fun than you could imagine! We even saw a real live stick bug...amazing!

Well, Bill is playing World of Warcraft right now so I can't get on the Mac to download more pictures. I will try to do that soon and update this lovely little webpage for you all to enjoy soon!

Love to you all!

Stephanie