Only 6 more days!!!

This was the text I received from Erika today and it made my day! Only 6 more days until Addi and I will visiting Erika and Jack in Idaho and I can hardly wait to attend the temple with them one week from tomorrow! I'm looking so forward to spending time with them and traveling with Addison -- it will be awesome!

This week has been a busy one. I've been working Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this past schedule and it's nice to get them done all together and have a really nice long weekend. However, 12-hour shifts can be tough doing 3 in a row. Then yesterday turned into a 17 hour day because we had several deliveries and the floor was extremely busy. We have such a great group on our floor and it's nice sometimes to get to help when needed when everything gets kinda hectic...I'm just glad it's Friday and the weekend is here! We've got a great weekend planned -- Joey's off and we have the kids this weekend. Ward Conference is this Sunday and Addison has been asked to give a talk for conference so she's pretty excited about it. Then since it's Joey's birthday Tuesday and I'll be working I have a surprise for him. We're going out of town Sunday evening and coming back Monday night. I hope he'll like the plans I've made! I hope everyone has a happy and safe weekend and enjoys this beautiful weather we've been having today--I know we did -- we took the 4-wheeler to the hunting club and rode all over enjoying the sunshine and this 60-something degree weather. Have a great one!

It's a busy but happy time...

Where oh where does time go and oh how quickly it passes...There's been so much going but it is a happy time with all the "going-ons" in our family right now. It seems like only a blink since Christmas and it's been almost a month, can you believe it???

The last big occurence was Addison's 18th birthday and was that an awakening for Mom here...it's so hard for me to accept that the baby girl is growing up. She's such a great young girl and I so enjoy her company. She was sick this year again, though, for her birthday and I felt so sorry for her...Last year we spent nearly her entire 17th birthday in the Urgent Care at Moncrief (Fort Jackson) so she was a little bummed about being sick another year on her birthday. Late in the day on her birthday she started feeling a little better and went to work that night. I'd planned a "surprise" party the following evening for her which she found out about but still enjoyed a fun time with family and friends at the house for a birthday celebration! Ethan came into town for the day for her party and brought along his puppy, Amsterdam, who was the other center of attention for the party. He's such a cute puppy!

Addison was not the only one sick lately. Joey actually began our round of sickness and was so generous to pass it to the other two full-time residents in our household. We've coughed and hacked and coughed for about three weeks and it's the absolute pits! Poor Joey, though, to have to put up with my cough -- the most annoying of all and you know how it hits at night the worse...Well, we've tried all sorts of remedies -- the last couple consisting of coating the bottoms of our feet with Vick's vapor rub and sleeping with socks on (an old timey remedy that actually works -- told to me by a nurse co-worker, Connie!) and the last was a good dose of Buckley's Cough Formula medicine. Has anyone else ever tried this stuff? Trust me - if you ever try it you won't forget it! My boss, Phyllis, has also had the same bug we've had and someone at work told us about this medicine. Phyllis went straight to Hawthorne Pharmacy to get this "wonderful medicine". (You have to get it at specialty drug stores, ordinary ones like Walgreens or Walmart doesn't carry it.) Well, on the box it reads, "Tastes awful but it works." Warning right there in plain English but skeptical me takes it anyway -- it tastes exactly and looks exactly like melted Vicks vapor rub!!! Ewwwww-weeeeeeee!!!!! Yuck! You may as well swallow a Christmas tree because it's loaded with pine tree oil and cyprus something else...But yes, it did work at least for the rest of that work day or maybe my body was just afraid of coughing for fear of having to take more medicine again! Ha! Thank you, Phyllis, for the purchase and thank goodness that we're finally feeing somewhat better.

Another neat happening lately was taking Joey's parents out to Red Bowl to celebrate both their anniversary and Mrs. Hornsby's birthday. They are so sweet and we had a great time with them. I just felt bad that I was coughing the whole time and we rode in our little car so I know that I drove them nuts with my cough. They are such a dear couple and I wish them a very happy anniversary!

Joey's birthday is coming up on the 27th and I'm having fun planning a few surprises for his birthday. He is so amazing and always doing such neat things for me which makes it a little bit of a challenge to get one up on him as far as surprises. I'm hoping it will be his best birthday yet!

The other highlight of my life right now is the upcoming trip Addison and I are taking on the 29th. Erika and Jack are going to the temple on the 31st of this month and I am so happy for them and I'm so thankful I'll be able to be there with them for this special time. They are doing so well and I am so proud of them. They have so much going for them and we are all so excited about the baby due mid-May. Addison and I are going to fly into Jackson Hole and spend about 5 days with them. I'm excited for Addison to have a tour of BYU-Idaho, too, while we're there and I'm excited about seeing Jack's family, too, and spending time with them. He has such a wonderful family. His sister and mom are hosting a baby shower for Erika on Friday night while we're there and then we'll spend Saturday morning at the new Rexburg temple. It is so beautiful and I can hardly wait to see how it all looks there in the wintertime! We are looking so forward to this trip!!!

I hope everyone has a happy and safe week and enjoys a nice day off tomorrow if that's the case...I'm looking forward to spending the day with Addison tomorrow and finishing up college applications and essays and checking on scholarships...this in itself is a full-time job right now. If you have or have had a high school senior you know what I'm talking about....fun, fun, fun...It's a bit stressful trying to figure out where's she going but she does know what she wants to study, sort of...She knows it will be in the medical field and has narrowed it down to probably dental hygiene (about 90% sure) or nursing (maybe about 10%). We'll see what the future holds. As for now if I had only one wish it would be for time to slow down just a little and let the rest of her senior year creep very slowly...........

Addison's 18th Birthday

Addison's 18th Birthday got off to a rocky beginning because she was not feeling well, much like her birthday last year which was spent at the Urgent Care at Moncrief...sorry, Addison. Joey made her a wonderful birthday breakfast just the same and she perked up some. The following evening, on the 10th we surprised her with a birthday party with family and some of her closest friends. It was a good birthday after all and we were happy she was feeling much better for the celebration! Her big gift was the trip to Idaho she and I will be taking on the 29th of January!

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY, ADDISON!

Miss Addison Valana Chandler

Born January 9, 1991 at 11:39 AM

Weight - 9 lb. 1 oz.

at Palmetto Baptist Medical Center.

Grandaddy gave you your middle name "Valana" which combines Valencia and Lana (your Grandmother) whom we were staying with before you were born while your father was in the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf Crisis in 1990-1991. (He left in Aug. 1990 and returned in April 1991 when you were nearly 4 months old.) You were such a pleasant and happy baby always smiling and never meeting a stranger. You were a friend to everyone from the beginning.

It seems like only yesterday that you were born, Addi! You are such a beautiful girl and you always have been. You bring so much joy to your family and we all love you so much. Happy 18th birthday! You will always be the baby girl!

I love you so much, Addison. Love forever, Mom :)
P.S. For Addison's birthday present, she and I are going to be flying out to Utah then end of the month and visiting Erika and Jack in Idaho. It will be a blast!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Santa Clause made it! I was a little worried about whether he'd make it to our house or not but he made it and left everyone with just what they'd asked for! Addison's favorite gift was her new Blackberry phone and straightner, mine was my new digital camera and sewing machine (now I just need lessons!), Joey's was his new clothes (his Field & Stream deer shirt), and Ethan's was his puppy which he'd begged for. This was a favorite for all of us and a memory we'll long remember. It's a 6 week-old Jack Russell puppy which he named "Amsterdam" (huge name for such a small baby! Ha!) He's so cute and is such a little ball of fire already! Don't let his size fool you -- Ha! Ha! Addi was up at 4 AM and at 7 AM I couldn't the anticipation any longer and had to wake Ethan up for his surprise! It was a great Christmas morning!




Even Chloe enjoyed opening her favorite gift - a stuffed animal from Addison -- she knew just how to open it! It was too cute!In the afternoon Abby and Alex joined us to open their gifts and they loved what Santa had left, too! Abby's favorite she received were her LEHS hoodie and sweatshirt and Alex's favorite were his Playstation 2 games and his football.

Christmas evening we spent with Joey's parents and had a very nice time. We had great food and fun catching up with his family. They have had some sad times the past couple months. Joey's Aunt Laura lost her husband to cancer just about a month ago and his Uncle Tally lost his girlfriend to cancer the same week. Joey and his Uncle Floyd had a good time telling old stories and even a few jokes in between -- Uncle Floyd is a hoot to be around. I also enjoyed spending time with his Aunt Laura -- I always enjoy having her tell me some of her older nursing stories and how things used to be. She's a retired nurse and spent much time working in Labor and Delivery and in the Emergency Room. Things have really changed in the medical field in the past 40 years. She's so interesting.

It has been a wonderful Christmas for our family. We are all healthy and happy. We have our family and we love each other so much. It was our first Christmas as husband and wife and Joey has brought so much love and joy (and LAUGHTER!) into my life. Our children are all doing well and we have a good time together. Our first grandchild will be here before too much longer which gives a new meaning to the word "hope" to me. We have so much to be thankful for that have been given to us by a loving Father in Heaven. I love Christmas and this beautiful time of year when we celebrate the birth and the life of our Lord and Saviour. I love the feelings of Christmas and I pray that we can all carry these feelings with us into and throughout the coming year. From our family to yours -- Merry Christmas and best wishes for a wonderful and safe new year. With love, Valencia

Christmas Eve at Grandmother and Grandaddy's house!

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go.....Oh how we look forward to this wonderful time at Grandmother and Grandaddy's house (my parents). It is such a great time and the aroma of all the wonderful things Mom has prepared greets you at the front door first! This year, however, we really missed having Erika and Jack who are back home in Idaho with tons of snow and Ginger, Shaun, and the boys who were at home with pink-eye...they were all so very missed. The little ones always add so much excitement and I know Jack and Erika will enjoy a beautiful white Christmas in the west. It was a Hallmark Christmas, though, with all the Christmas joy at their home. Maddie and Will were so cute anticipating Santa's arrival later in the night and Cole, the newest arrival in the Dinkins family was so sweet on his first Christmas. We enjoyed feasting, sharing gifts, listening to Joey play and sing with the guitar and then a story of "Christmas Oranges" read to the family. Another highlight was Daddy and Mom opening up a box which appeared to be a Kitchen Aid mixer which she quickly said, "Oh, I already have one" only to discover pickled eggs, pig feet, and hot sausages for Daddy!!! It was so funny because Daddy loves these things! Ha! Then Byron took them outside to show them their other gift -- a new Van - much like their other one but in much better shape. They were so surprised! Byron always comes up with the neatest gifts and he has such a great big heart. It was such a fun Christmas Eve night and now...wonder if Santa will come????????????? I guess we'll have to see.....

Merry Christmas everyone!

The spirit of Christmas at work!

Phyllis (our Nurse Manager) and me at the Christmas Party!
Phyllis gets a treat at our Christmas get-together at LHOP!

Randa gets a neat gift during the "Dirty Santa" game at our party at LHOP!

Connie and Quincy dressed like twins for work! Are they so festive!

Patti and Micheal shagging the night away at the party thrown by Dr. Kraemer at the country club. Thanks, Dr. Kraemer for a great Christmas party!

The Women's Center Gang at LHOP!

Connie and I have a great time together -- she's so fun!

" The Christmas Scrub Club!"
Robbie is such a nut! She's a dear friend and so much fun to work with. We always try and keep the day fun -- no matter how busy it gets...

It's been fun with our group at work for Christmas. We really have an awesome group of people and I feel very fortunate to be in such great company. We do work really, really hard but the photos show that we do have a good time together, too.

Phyllis, Robbie, Beth, Mary Kathryn, and Sherrill

Without laughter how boring would life be!

Merry Christmas from the Women's Center!