Brother Sean, his wife Whitney and their baby boy Jayce came by one weekend to visit...he's so cute!  Finally got a smile out of him!

Then we had Gannon's best buddy, Brandyn and his brother Cayleb over so that mommy could go celebrate her 30th in Vegas! It was a lot of fun, but exhausting to watch 3 boys under the age of 5!

Then we had a farewell party at our house for Gannon's soccer team - I had prepared 3 pictures that all the kids and parents signed in honor of the two coaches and one for Gannon to take with him when we moved away. 

Gannon's teacher Wednesday and her beautiful little girl Genesis!

Phew! So close to being done!

Yes, I relented and Duke participated in his annual softball tournament in August down in Salem.  Now that Gannon is getting bigger, it makes it a lot easier to take him to these games than before since he can amuse himself and also interact with the other boys that are around the field. 

So we hung out with our friends Trisha and Jay along with their 2 girls and had a good time...though Duke had made reservations for us at the Rape-By-The-Hour motel that I absolutely refused to stay in, so I spent the better part of Saturday afternoon dealing with Hotwire to salvage what I could of our reservation and switch it over to another location.  SUCKED!  Saving a few bucks is NOT worth it people!  LOL

This is Gannon asleep in the car...we got him out of his car seat and he just slid down to the floor of the car and stayed that way.... kind of funny!

And of course, more soccer!

Lunch with friends...

We then went to the Clackamas County Fair and Duke once again won me a GIANT Husky dog (which I can't wait to bring to my next job if I ever get one!)....

Gannon LOVES riding horses...now that we are back in the Tri-Cities, we may have to buy some land and get some horses for him!

Needless to say, Gannon was peeved that we didn't pick HIS choice in animals, so he threw a major fit all the way home...but was soon satisfied with the frog he won.

The Three Stooges...LOVE YOU GUYS!

Uncle Pat, Uncle Mike and Daddy...

We attended Duke's company picnic once again this year (YES companies do still have employee functions!) and once again the day of the picnic was an abberation of week's earlier weather forecast - instead of hot and sunny, we had cold and overcast!  Amazing timing!   But everyone still had a great time...

And Duke's volleyball team won first place - then Duke won a GPS thing...LOL  He's a winner!

More soccer pics - I know everyone must be tired of seeing them...but I have to record our life events somehow!

Had to get my last surgery in to complete the circle -

And my pup, Neo...

I do have to put in a plug about how much I love iTunes - I'm too distracted during the week to sit down and watch TV, so it makes it so much easier to just buy the season and watch the episodes later.  DVR or not, I like to be able to go back and watch the shows later and ON my iPOD.

Okay, back to posting...I should be caught up soon...

More beach photos...the coolest thing was that we were able to drive onto the beach and "camp" out by our car, easy access to everything!

Hanging out in the tent while Duke and I sat outside making dinner...living the life!  Didn't expect the coast to be as cold as it was since we were dying back in the city! 

Some shots of the trees...that were blocking the sun, thereby causing us to freeze!

Dogs spent the night in the car...warmer for them...

Packing up!

We then drove up the coast to visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory...

Eating the cheese samples...

Then we went to visit another chees factory (didn't realize there were so many!) right next door and to have lunch - the Blue Heron...

Of course they had a petting zoo and of course, we had to feed them!

I guess we need a few more kids...

Another soccer game...

To cool off, we stopped at this neighborhood park where they had this great water feature...

I think I'm getting closer to catching up - here we are at our friend's Kori's house to celebrate her 30th birthday!

Baby sat Brayden - Gannon's little bud...

Brayden's a little fixated on the tv...

Visiting baby Emma...

More soccer photos...a very HOT day!  I can't believe kids are still allowed to play in this weather...

They loved their squirt bottles...

Saying good-bye at InFocus - 8 years!

Playing golf before my 7th surgery in 103 degree weather...can't believe it!

Wearing my "sleeve" to help with my Lymphedema...sucks, but I've been asked by people every time I wear it "who does your ink?"....

Getting ready for surgery number 7 - nipple reconstruction!

More to come!

  Celebrating my 39th birthday at home in style!

You can tell that we don't have a "9" candle...since Gannon is only 4...

  Tried out the driving range after my surgery...not a good idea!  Kept waiting for my implants to "burst"!

Then I attended the Relay for Life as one of the token survivors that my friend Kori asked me to do - so her fundraising was dedicated to me, which was great!  Had a lot of fun...

And my sweet hubby showed up as a surprise to support me in this...I'm wearing this medal they passed out for survivors...kind of cool...

Then Duke and I decided to go camping again - this time at the coast where I froze my ass off!!!!!!

Beautfiul day at the beach though...nice and warm though very windy!

When nature calls....

Enjoying the indoor pool....

Then back at the beach!

Dumbass drove his little rice rocket into the sand and got it stuck!!!!  Even with our Trailblazer and 4 wheel drive, we almost got stuck!

  That's all she wrote for this post!

Wow, where to even begin??????  Here is a quick timeline for the past 3 months...

July 2nd I was notified by InFocus that I was to be part of the lay-offs with an effective termination date of September 1.  Apparently there was no need for me to even be there any more and after 8 years, it kind of sucked, but then I think it was meant to be.  And after I just got back to work full-time after all that I've gone through!  I looked it as if I can beat and survive cancer, this is NOTHING!

So I had about 2 months left to be at the company and I decided that I was going to cut my losses early and just take as much of my PTO at one time as I could - meaning my last day on the job was July 28th.  On July 29th, I walked into my 7th surgery for my cancer treatment and I tell you I did NOT want to do it at all!  Now I am pretty remorseful of the fact I went ahead and did it because my recovery was wacked (had symptoms of really bad vertigo, feelings of blacking out, couldn't drive for a few weeks!) and I attribute the fact that I am now victim to Lymphedema because of that last surgery. 

Back to the timeline...

By August, Duke and I decided that with our lease ending at our house on October 1, and with me not having employment (which was the only real reason we stayed in Oregon to begin with), this was our opportunity to make a move that we had been discussing off and on for some time now and that was to move BACK to the Tri-Cities where my parents live.  Given the economic conditions of the Portland-Metro area, the lack of responses I was receiving on my job applications and inquiries, we made the decision to move because of a few major factors:  one, being Gannon - we want to make sure we can get him into a good school next year and to do that in Oregon, we would have to rent a shack in the district we needed to be in or move to Tri-Cities and afford a house in a good school district.  Second, I wanted to move closer to my parents as Gannon adores them, we have his "adoptive" grandparents in town as well, so he gets to be around a lot of family.  And thirdly, we would get the support we needed at this critical time that we wouldn't get any where else.  Thankfully my parents have graciously offered to have us crash at their home while we get settled and acclimated to the move and also to allow us some breathing room with our financial situation.  I have GREAT parents who have so much support for our family we can never ever thank them enough!

So end of August, we began packing, and then I crossed over my termination date and was out of InFocus forever.  Hard transition, but I believe deep down it was the best thing to have happened to me.  We packed up and moved ourselves across state lines as it was less expensive and it worked out - Duke would drive the UHaul over and we would load everything into the two storage units we rented.  Thanks to Jerry my brother who helped with the moving since I can't do much with my bum arm.

By the end of September, we were out of our old house, and into my parents guest rooms!

Many of you have asked about Duke and yes he still works in Portland, but drives back to the Tri-Cities every Thursday night to spend the weekend with all of us.  It is hard, but we need his job while I continue to look for a new job here. 

Gannon is doing fantastic other than the fact that he was severly traumatized in September when we went to the local Sausage Festival and he got lost - not I can't be out of his sight for more than a few minutes IN the house before he freaks out!  I'm hoping he will get over this separation anxiety sooner than later - we've enrolled him in swimming lessons to get him some kind of activity to do during the week and also get him a chance to meet some other kids.  He won't be able to play soccer again until the end of November, but that is okay, I think he will still be great!

Okay, so there you have it in a nutshell...still looking for a job so any leads let me know!

Back to the pictures...need to keep up on this...

Here we are at Gannon's last soccer game with his team in Portland...

We miss our Blue team for sure!

More to come...