This Time Around

Another beautiful weekend for the books, kids. I am sitting here now, tired, anxious for the week ahead. But feeling so very blessed. Blessed with the most beautiful family, hilarious friends, and wonderful support.

On Saturday my family celebrated Ryan's first birthday, which is officially on Wednesday this coming week. My sisters house was full of love from our family and her friends, everyone oogling over Ryan. He was a little overwhelmed with all the attention, but his giggles, clapping and smiles made it all worth it. I was so excited to give him my gift. I had printed off all the letters I've written him and put them together in a book. I also went in with Tom and have Ryan a wooden piano. Ryan loved it, which made my heart so happy I could have ran a marathon. 

It was a wonderful celebration and I am so proud of my boyfriend Tom for surviving his first family function. 

We came home after the birthday party and changed into costumes for a Halloween party. Sam did a fantastic in decorating and preparing food for our party. 

I dressed as Winnie Sanderson from the Halloween Classic Hocus Pocus. Tom dressed as the Green Power Ranger.

We had a few friends over, including some out of town guests like Lizz, Brett, and Sarah, three of sam's good friends from home. My brother and sister in law also came by since they were in town for the birthday party. My friends Christine and Paul, who just got married last month, came as well as one of my good pals, Alex. We all shared many, many laughs and sing a longs. I love being around fun people. We woke up laughing, even. I woke up in one of the best moods ever.

Today was really special. I spent most of the day at my parents house, soaking up the family time while I could. We ate my dad's famous chilli, played with Ryan, and helped my mom check some papers. Then we all got ready and headed off to a local park for a family phot shoot. My sister had been wanting to get professional photos done for Ryan's 1st birthday party, and when my dad was diagnosed we decided to make it a family affair. One of the Hugo moms, Anne Stafford, was our photographer for the day. She does beautiful work. I will be the first to tell you I hate getting my picture taken. I don't have the highest self confidence and I always feel really awkward. So I was nervous about the whole situation . But Anne made it fun, allowing us to relax. I ended up taking a few solo shots- being the only unmarried one there, I didn't have a partner. So aside from the immediate family photos, I assumed I was mostly there to help make Ryan smile. But Anne took me to have a mini solo shoot. I was taken aback by that, but I actually did have fun doing it. I felt special.

The whole shoot was so much fun. Ryan giggling , everyone happy and together. Anne sent my mom a message later saying she could see how much love our family had for one another, and honestly that's one of the biggest compliments someone can give me.

After our shoot, I had to jet off to youth group. We had a cool meeting tonight, talking heavily about remembering those who have passed on before us and remembering their legacy, while also stressing that we can be a light to others while we have the time here on earth. We actually used the song "This Time Around" by Hanson during our service. It's one of my very favorite Hanson songs, because of the lyric "All I know is that fear has got to go, this time around". It's a lyric that inspires me and sits heavy on my heart. I was hoping the kids caught that lyric, because it's such a simple reminder of how we should be living life: without fear. Keeping in mind that nothing is promised, so we should not let fear get in the way of living our life.

I hope by reading this blog you can see how truly happy I am to be surrounded by so much love. I will admit that late Saturday night I had one I my breakdowns, resulting in tears. But somehow today I woke up with an amazing attitude, so full of love and hope. I like that feeling better. It's more fun.