Snow Skiing

Johnny and I randomly decided that we "deserved" a vacation for all the hard work we had put in this year. So, as we were driving to Oxford for the Ole Miss/LSU game, we booked a trip to Vail. We spent 5 days in Vail snow skiing and we had such a great time. We slept in each day, skied for 5 hours, ate cookies and drank hot chocolate, went to dinner and watched movies. It was the most relaxing trip we have taken in a while. Here are some pictures from our fun and relaxing trip!

arriving in Vail (at a tiny airport)

the view from our balcony

in Vail Village

on top of the mountain

my motto for the week was "slow and steady wins the race AND you don't break bones".

Johnny was a bit more skilled than me. He even did black diamonds, although I did conquer a blue. :)

freezing on the lift

Johnny on the lift

on the gondola headed to the top of the mountain

Christmas Cheer

Well, I started off Christmas break hosting a Christmas Shower for my bff, Kristen Turner. She is getting married April 17th and it is about time! ;) I am so excited for her. Marriage is absolutely amazing, and I know her and Tyler will love every minute of it. We had her shower at my sister Ashley's house. I didn't figure everyone would enjoy driving to Jackson (considering I am the ONLY 1 of our friends living here ha). Its going to be a short post b/c I am packing for VAIL! WAHOO! I can't wait to get there! Happy Holidays!

Kristen opening gifts

3 down, 2 more to go (to get hitched!)

me and the bride-to-be

all the ladies at the shower

the "spread" at the shower

P.S.

I completely forgot to mention.....I passed Block II. 2 blocks down, 2 more to go and we can get out of this miserable town. Hopefully our house in Oxford will sale this spring and we can move back to Tupelo in May! That is the game plan. :)

Snow in Jackson

Last Thursday my parents came down for a visit, to bring Missy and to bring our Christmas tree from Oxford so we could decorate it. While they were down here we joked that the "weather man" was calling for snow Friday night. We always joke to run out and get your "bread and gallon of milk". It seems like at the least "hint" of snow, people head to Wal-Mart and get the essentials. Like we will get 10 feet or something. Anyways, Johnny and I ate Mexican Friday night and then went to see The Blind side. Before the movie it was freezing, and when we came out, there was a blanket (a very thin blanket) of snow. And it was coming down hard too. I was like a kid in a candy store. Johnny kept making fun of me, but I was just so excited. It makes it really feel like winter. And, I told him it was preparing me for Vail next week ha! Even though in Vail it is like 5 degrees and 10ft of snow! Anywho, I had a blast watching it snow. However, when we woke up at 9:00am Saturday morning, 90% of the snow had already melted away. Sad! BUT, it still put me in the Christmas spirit. The house is decorated and tomorrow will be spent buying Christmas gifts. I LOVE this time of year.

My new Christmas "swag"...I'm quite obsessed :)

loving the snow

our temporary house on the hill

Hotty Toddy!

This past weekend we went to Oxford for the last home game of the season. I can't believe football season is almost over. Ole Miss played a GREAT game and we beat LSU. It was so awesome. Now, all we have to do it kill State again in the Egg Bowl......which I'm sure we will do (again) ha. If so, we will be headed to the Capital One bowl in Orlando and we are going. I am so excited! And if not Orlando, it'll be Dallas.....just as good. Disney World or great shopping?? Either will be great. Anyways, we had a fabulous last game weekend with all of our closest friends. We had dinner at Prime Friday night with Ben, Kory, Betsy and Paden. Then we were in the Grove for like 12 straight hours. It was amazing. But now we are back in Jackson (yuck) and I am back to studying (or procrastinating). I have finals the M, T, & Th after Thanksgiving so my break will not really be a break. It'll be just another week of studying. Ohhh well, 2 Blocks down and 2 more to go. Then we can get the heck out of Jackson! YAY! :)

A very happy hubby after an Ole Miss victory

Bonnie and me at our tent in the Grove

what would I ever do without Kory??

Melly came and visited all afternoon :)

Look who also came to visit....Katy Anna and Addy

after dinner at Prime

Where did October go???

So time is flying by while we are living in Jackson (Thank God). Last time I posted it was the middle of October, and now its already 1/2 way through November! CRAZY! We have have been super busy the past few weekends. Football, New Orleans, Johnny's 26th bday, and more Football! We visited some of our best friends (Hardie & Lacy) a couple weekends ago. We went to a Hornets NBA game on Friday night, their Engagement party on Saturday night, and on Sunday we went to a Saints game! It was an awesome weekend. I definitely enjoyed getting out of Jackson. The next weekend we headed to Oxford to be with our friends and enjoy the Grove, Square, and Vault-Hemmingway stadium. It was a nice added "treat" for Ole Miss to kill TN. :) Johnny's bday was Nov 12th. He had a wonderful bday. We celebrated with our families on Sunday for it also. We have such great parents and we are so thankful for them. Now, I am winding down a week of school, heading to Oxford on Friday and I am going to enjoy the small Thanksgiving break that I get. I have 3 finals the week after Thanksgiving so the majority of my break will be spent studying. Hopefully I can be "thankful" that I don't fail Block II. Until next time! :)

Johnny and I at the Saints Game

Paden, Betsy, Me and Johnny at the Saints game

tailgating before the Saints game

at Hardie and Lacy's Engagement Party

The Burks :)

Johnny and Hardie "courtside" at the Hornets game

Hornets game

Happy 26th Bday Johnny!

Me, Frances, and Ashleigh in the Grove

The Burks-HOTTY TODDY

Varsity Grill in Oxford

Kory, Me and Frances at Varsity Grill

Where has the time gone?

Its been well over a month since my last post. School has consumed 99% of my time. And when I am not doing school work or sleeping, Johnny and I have been having some fun on the weekends. A trip to Oxford, Tupelo, and a quick trip to Destin for me were well deserved. I had a BLAST on Margaret's bachelorette party in Destin. It was a much needed get away for me. I was on the verge of pulling my hair out with school. May 2010 cannot get here quick enough! We went to Oxford for the Ole Miss/Alabama game. The game was disappointing, but we got to see our best friends for the whole weekend so it was worth it. We can't wait to move back to Tupelo and be able to hang out with our friends all the time! Here are a few pictures from the past few weekends. Off to study!

Quick Update

I haven't blogged in a while. I have been so, SO busy with school. But I have lots to update on. Mainly, Missy is WALKING! Wahoooooooooooooooo! What an answered prayer. And secondly, I made a B on my first knowledge/comprehension test. Another wahooooooooooo! We had an awesome labor day weekend. Hardie and Lacy came up from New Orleans on Friday. They were our first houseguests in our new house (besides our parents of course). We went to Walkers again for dinner. It is just SO yummy. Then on Saturday we headed to Memphis. It was a great weekend in Memphis with some of our closest friends. I'll post some pictures later. :)

Some Updates

So, I haven't blogged in a couple weeks. I have just been being lazy with it. Last weekend, the Burks (and Davis!) came in town to spend Saturday and Sunday with us. We had a great time visiting with them and going out-to-dinner. Davis starts nursing school at Ole Miss tomorrow, so everyone wish him Good Luck! This past week of school for me was ROUGH. It seemed that everything I did was wrong. My treatment plan was probably subpar and my group grade will probably be subpar as well. This whole PBL style learning is not my cup of tea. But, I better get the hang of it or I will be getting a big "F" for Block I; which would mean failing the year. SO, lets just PRAY that I step it up! On a MUCH happier note, Missy Prissy is doing really, really well lately. She is standing up on her own AND she has sporadically been walking. One day she took like 3 steps. The next day she didn't walk at all (my theory is she was saving up all of her energy for yesterday). And yesterday she walked on 3 different occasions! One time she only took like 4 steps, then another time she took 10 steps, and then right before bed last night, my Dad called to tell me she walked the ENTIRE length of the garage WITHOUT any help (which was about 20ft long). PRAISE THE LORD! He did say she was a little "drunk walking" BUT, anything is better than nothing. And the neurosurgeon in Starkville did say that proprioception would be the last thing to come back. So the "drunk walking" should be expected. I am so proud of my little fighter! She is on a optimistic path to recovery. Thanks to everyone for the prayers and concern over my sweet Missy Prissy!! Oh, and last night Johnny and I went to Walker's Drive In and it was FANTASTIC. Oh my gosh, my food was amazing and the atmosphere is so quaint. We loved it. It is definitely on my favorite restaurant list!

Missy Update, Kory's Bday and School

So, this past weekend, Missy was discharged at 8:00am on Saturday morning. My parents picked her up and she was in great spirits. I left Jackson around 11:00am and headed to Tupelo to help nurse Missy Prissy back to health. I got to Tupelo to find Missy acting just like she always does.....just not able to walk. :( BUT, she is still as sweet and spoiled rotten as can be. Saturday night Ben threw Kory a surprise 25th birthday party. It was so fun! I was glad I got to see a few of my best friends before school started. I didn't get to stay too long because I needed to go take care of Missy, but Ben did a great job on ordering the cake AND keeping the party a surprise! :) Ohh, and he got Kory a new bassett hound puppy. I can't WAIT to meet her! On Sunday I "played" with Missy and just snuggled with her. I had to head back to Jackson around 1. :( I didn't want to leave her and I was pretty upset when I left. But I calmed down once I got down the road.
On Monday I started school, eeeeeeeeeek! I wrote my first Tx plan....it only took me about 11 hours and it only contained 1 disease state.....so hopefully I'll get quicker. ha! It hasn't been too bad yet, but we haven't even gotten in to multiple disease states with multiple therapies....so it's only going to get stickier!
But, on a more positive note, my parents THINK that Missy might be trying to "pee pee" on her own which would be FANTASTIC. I am trying to be optimistic, yet realistic. However, my Dad says when they do her physical therapy she seems to be "pushing" a little and "twitching" her leg. So, I am still praying her nervous tissue will heal properly, that her bladder control will return and hopefully walking will return soon too. So, just keep her in your prayers. She has a long road ahead of her! I'll post some pictures of her incision later in the week when I get a little spare time. :)

Update on Missy

So, Missy's surgery was 72 hours ago. Yesterday she had a GREAT day. She had deep pain in both legs and superficial pain in her left leg. I was ecstatic. Next thing to come back after pain sensation is motor function. Well, this morning at 10:15am the Resident that is handling Missy's condition called to inform us of her progress. However, this call was not about progress, but regression. Missy has lost all deep pain sensation. They are not really sure why, and they told me "not to panic". Ha, I guess they haven't picked up on my "obsession with my little girl". I have not had a good day. I guess I need to be prepared for "good days and bad days" however, this is a very serious set back. They were going to start hydrotherapy this afternoon to see if she would respond to that. Please keep praying for my little Missy. She needs all the prayers she can get right now. Oh, and Woody (our other dachshund) is extremely depressed. They have never been separated in almost 4 years and he is having a very difficult time with her being gone. He doesn't eat, he walks around looking for her, and then he just lays in the kennel. That's another reason I keep getting upset because I can tell how sad he is too. But, all we can do now is pray and hope that it's God's will for Missy to make a recovery. Thanks for all the texts and messages with concern and well wishes!

A Freak Accident with Missy

So Johnny, me and our 3 dogs moved to Jackson on Thursday. My Dad's workers loaded the truck in Oxford, drove down I55, and arrived in Jackson with no problem. We put the dogs in their new backyard and they were having a blast. They ran and ran and ran! It was so great to see them play. Missy was having the most fun of all. She chased a couple squirrels, ran through some mud and chased Max. She was so dirty we had to bathe her Thursday night. Well, we thought everything was going great. We put Woody and Missy in the kennel and went to sleep; only to wake up to Missy being very whiny and limping on her right leg. I let her out to tee tee and I could tell it was getting noticable worse. I took her inside and put her on the couch. I couldn't decide if she had stepped on something or maybe sprained her little leg???? I just didn't know. She laid on the couch for about an hour. I then proceeded to take her outside again and to my horror, BOTH of her back legs were completely paralyzed. She couldn't walk or anything. I then proceeded to FREAK OUT. I jerked the phone up and started to call the vet, only to realize we didn't have a vet here yet. So I googled "brandon ms vets" and a few came up. I found one near our house and we flew to the vet. And this is when it got even worse. After an X-ray revealed no broken bones or tumors, the vet informed us that Missy had either slipped a disc or had a full herniated disc. She had no "superficial feeling" and VERY little "deep pain" (which meant when you pinched her little toes, she didn't feel it until you really beared down on them). We had two option:

1. try IV and high powered steroids to reduce the inflammation surrounding her spinal cord and see if the decrease in inflammation would give her some movement and control of her legs.
2. go straight to Starkville to the College of Veterinary Medicine for a CT scan and spinal surgery.

Johnny and I talked and we opted for option #1. She immediately administered her an IV steroid and put her in the doggy hospital. They said they would call us this morning and let us know her progress. Well, this morning at 10:15a.m. Dr. Jones called to tell us that there was VERY LITTLE improvement and that we should consider going to the CVM in Starkville. With me getting hysterical (for about the 100th time in 24 hours) we loaded up and took Missy to Starkville. We had a consult with one of the vets and the surgeon. They took her back and told us the best and worst case scenarios.

Worst case scenario: surgery does not work and she is still completely paralyzed in both back legs and cannot express her own bladder. This would result in us having to putting her down. I can't imagine this happening b/c it would be so hard. Her little personality is still very much there even though she can't walk or urinate. She was still barking and growling at other dogs at the vet in Jackson and she was very alert the whole drive to Starkville.

Best case scenario: surgery works, she regains the ability to walk and urinate. However, she will always have some weakness in her hind legs. But hey, I can deal with that.

The surgeon called us around 5:30p.m. and told us that Missy made it through surgery fine. Her spinal cord was 80% compressed but they were able to clear the entire canal and relieve the pressure. Her spinal cord looked good, there were no bruises or tears and it didn't seem "damaged". She is on a fentanyl drip (which is about 200x stronger than morphine) and she is resting. Her prognosis is more optimistic since her concussion to the spinal cord was not near as bad as they thought. Please, please pray that her nervous tissue surrounding her spinal cord will heal properly and quickly. She will be in ICU until late Sunday and we will not be able to pick her up until at least late Wednesday. Please keep our sweet Missy Prissy in your prayers. She is a fighter, but she could always use a few extra prayers! :)

Weekend Pictures

Here are a few pictures from this past weekend!

the beautiful bride

Johnny, me, Bryan, Natty, Kory & Ben

the Burks :)

Ashleigh, me & Mel

Happy 30th Birthday Davis

after dinner at Romie's

before dinner at Romie's

A Wonderful Weekend

This past weekend we had a wonderful weekend in Tupelo with all of our closest friends. We started the weekend with dinner at Romie's with Natty, Bryan, Kory and Ben. After dinner we all headed to Park Heights Rooftop for "Drinks After Dinner" for Paul and Bonnie before their big day. The next day, we had a birthday lunch with the Burks and Davis for Davis' 30th Birthday!! What a milestone! Then, we headed back to my parent's house to get ready for Paul and Bonnie's wedding. After a very pretty ceremony, we headed to the reception with our "crew" from Friday night. The reception was beautiful and hot, BUT it could have been a lot hotter considering it was the end of July. Bonnie looked gorgeous and it seemed like everyone had a great time! On Sunday we headed back to Oxford. We didn't do much all day, just lounged around. And today, Johnny headed off to work and I began hardcore packing! BLLAAAHHH!
*my picture uploader isn't cooperating so pictures will be posted later tonight!! *

It's Getting Close

As most of you know, Johnny and I will be moving to Jackson (technically Brandon) in about 2 weeks. We have made 2 trips to our new house and unloaded a few boxes and some clothes. Our "big" move is on July 30th. :( I am not very excited about moving; mainly because it will be my toughest year of school yet. I will pretty much be M.I.A. until May 8th, 2010. After this year it will be smooth sailing with school. My last year of school consists of me working for FREE. I will do 8, five week rotations at 8 different pharmacy preceptor sites around Tupelo. Even though I won't be getting paid, at least I will be done with books and tests (until the NAPLEX, blaaah). Any who, enough about school. Our house is still for sale in Oxford. We really want to keep it for football game weekends, but then again, money in our pocket would be nice too. So, if you know anyone that might be interested.....send them our way. I am about to eat some dinner and pack some boxes.....so until next time!

our new house in Brandon

our house for sale in Oxford

Free Advertising

So, I thought I would share this with everyone because its free advertising for my Dad AND I thought y'all might know people that are moving to the Tupelo area and looking for a fabulous place to live at an affordable cost. My Dad recently built/is building some luxury apartments off Endville Road (like 1/4 of a mile down from TCPS). They are absolutely gorgeous and have top of the line EVERYTHING. Here is the link if you want to check them out and be sure to let anyone know that is moving to good ol' Tupelo!

http://www.grandoleoaks.com/

Lately...........

It has been a busy few weeks/weekends. We had a great time at Paul and Bonnie's "Stock the Bar" party a few weekends ago. The next night we went to Haley and Warren's wedding. Haley was such a beautiful bride. The next day we headed to Destin for a great vacation. We had such a great and relaxing time.

Here are a few pictures from the week.

at Harbor Walk

at the pool

after dinner at Marina Cafe

beaching it

at Haley and Warren's reception

Allie and me at Paul and Bonnie's "Stock the Bar" party

Johnny and me at the party

Once we were back from the beach it was back to work for Johnny and I actually started packing for our move to Jackson. For the 4th, we spent Saturday afternoon and evening at my parent's house with them and about 10 other adults and 15 children under that age of 10. My dad bought a TON of fireworks. Somehow Johnny and I got put in charge of shooting them. It literally took us almost 2 hours to shoot them all. They were incredible! We put Ballard Parks' firework show to shame (and I am really not kidding). The kids had a BLAST and we did too. Now, this week I have been in full packing/organizing mode and we are getting ready for the "big move". Hopefully it'll be a smooth transition. Say a quick prayer for us if ya think about it! :)

I'll post pictures from the 4th of July later this week!