2011 Recap - Part 1

January
So 2011 started off with me having surgery to remove my thyroid on January 4th. About 2 1/2 years prior to surgery I had found a lump in my neck and after ultrasounds and a biopsy it turned out to be a nodule on my thyroid. So I was told to just watch it over the next several months. Well a year went by and I didn't pay much attention to it because my life was consumed with being pregnant with twins and then having them. All the exhaustion and craziness that comes with newborns soon set in and I just didn't think about the lump. Last summer I had gone to the Dr. for a cold and while I was there asked him about the lump again. He decided to get some blood work and more Ultrasounds done. They found that I had more nodules on my thyroid and so I had a biopsy done on 3 different ones. 2 came back normal, but 1 came back with the potential of it being thyroid cancer. Dr.'s were pretty certain it was so the best option was for me to have the whole thyroid removed just to be safe. So I hugged and kissed my sweet babies on the morning of the 4th and headed out to the hospital. This was my first time to leave them overnight, so sad. Thank goodness my parents and Davin's mom were here to take care of them (and me) and I was only going to be a few minutes away! After many months of praying and prayers from family and friends the surgeons removed my thyroid with no problems and to God be the Glory the Pathologists could not find any cancer! Praise Him!! The Doctors were so surprised; oh what a great testimony to show of God's Faithfulness and Healing power!!

After the surgery I had to focus on the girls 1st birthday party that was coming up in just 2 short weeks. I decided to go with a pink sock monkey theme. The party was pretty simple and we just had some family and close friends come and be apart of this special day.

February

Davin has a work convention trip this time every year.  We missed it last year b/c the girls had just been born.  We've been to NYC and Chicago for this trip.  The convention we missed last year was in Orlando one of the only WARM places it's held.  This year it was in Vegas.  I knew it would be good for me to get away, but I was dreading leaving the girls for that long and to go that far away from them. 

We stayed at the Palazzo on the strip.  It was one of the nicest places I have ever stayed.  Davin just had to be in classes for one day and it really wasn't the whole day.  I met up with him and his group and their spouses for lunch at In-N-Out burger.  It was good!  Then when he went back to class for an hour or so, I went to the casino in our hotel with some of the customers Davin brought with him (they didn't have to go to the classes).  I'm not a gambler, but I thought since I was in Vegas I should at least try it once.  I did a slot machine and won a couple bucks, but then I played roulette and won $75 dollars!  I stopped there and I was happy with that especially since I had started with 5 dollars!  We were able to do and see a lot in our 4 days there.  That's the good thing about these work trips.  The company's that put on the convention have dinner parties each night at really cool places.  One was at the top of the Stratosphere.  After a little convincing I rode the ride that's on the very top of the building.  It just shoots you straight up and down.  It was scary, but I'm glad I did it. 

While there we also walked the strip and went into all the hotel/casinos, we saw a show, 'O' at the Bellagio, and it was amazing! We got to see the fountains too, so pretty. Davin and I rode the gondola in the Venetian hotel. And on our last day we actually went on a tour to the Hoover Dam.

It was a great trip and I was happy to have a break and not have any responsibility except for ourselves. We actually had to stay an extra day in Vegas b/c that was when like 33 states had snow.  So our plane could not make it to Vegas.  We were able to find a flight the next day to a different city from the one we flew out of, and then make it to my parents.  Thankfully the two guys that rode with us to the airport stayed another day in Vegas until they could make it back and they drove Davin's truck back for us.  So it all worked out and I only had to go one day longer rather than 2 days not seeing my babies.  I was SO happy to see them, hug them, and kiss them!  I know they had fun at my parents though!  We came back to some snow, but little did we know the next week we would have the biggest snow ever.

It was crazy!  Record breaking snowfall for us with over 24 inches of snow in places! We were literally snowed in.  The snow just kept coming and coming!!  Too bad the girls were too little to enjoy it.  After a couple days when we were able to get out more easily, Mandy's mom and Andrew's parents graciously volunteered to watch the girls and few other friends kids while all us 'big kids' went sledding.  It was a lot of fun.

Hopefully the next post will get me all caught up with this year!