You might be wondering why we have not updated this blog over the last five years. I wish I could tell you something exciting, like Ashley got a liver transplant, or our computer got stolen and we just got it back. But unfortunately, the only story I got for ya is life got in the way...and I totally forgot the log in information for this blog. It took me forever to find it, using yahoo...google...and other means I was finally able to log in again. With that said, now I can update ya'll on what has happened since my last post in February 2013. I don't want to bore you, so I will keep it short by just highlighting each year since the last post. Here it goes...
2013 - was a not so good year for our family, loosing our family dog, Ashley liver disease keeping us on our toes. However, despite the sadness, Ashley continued to dance for her High School dance team, the Seminole Dazzlers, and Brad continued playing baseball for Seminole High as well. Brad also started dating a beautiful girl named McKenzie and he experienced his first prom. McKenzie and Brad met in sixth grade and were good friends for a very long time. They went to each other's birthday parties and had many of the same circle of friends. Just for a recap, at this point Ashley is a Freshman in high school and Brad is a Junior. With Brad getting closer to graduating from high school, the college search began. He was focused on the U.S. Naval Academy and went to their Baseball Camp in the summer of 2013. By the end of the year, Brad had applied to about 7 schools, and was accepted to all but one and he received scholarships from all. By the end of 2013, it was decision time. So what college did he choose, read on to find out. As for me, I went back to work full-time working for a property management company in Winter Park, Florida and my husband I celebrated 23 years of marriage.
2014 - Ashley's health is still stable...we continued to monitor her liver and blood work every couple months. She still traveled to Shands Hospital every 6 months. But her beloved doctor, Dr. Joel Andres, was close to retirement so she started seeing a new doc who was trained by Dr. A. However, because of our close relationship with Dr. A., he continued to monitor her when he was available and we still communicated via email. It's hard letting go of a doctor who has cared for your daughter since she was born. Ashley is now a Sophomore in high school and is doing amazingly well with academics and is still on the high school dance team. Her dance team went to New York to audition for America's Got Talent. They had a brief cameo on the show but because of school commitments they did not continue with the show.
Brad is now a Senior and focusing much more on his academics while trying to spread his wings...he was preparing his mom for what was to come. In May, Brad graduated Magna Cum Laude and received a Presidential Scholarship from the University of Alabama. Now you know. Brad decided to go to the school that have been cheering for since my family moved from California to Alabama in 1972. ROLL TIDE YA'LL!
2015 - This beginning of this year was one of the worst years on record for our little family. In late January, I rushed Ashley to the ER for severe abdominal pain...we didn't know if it was her liver or a appendicitis. It was scary but my girl has a high tolerance for pain and walked on her own into the ER. Several hours of waiting, blood work, ultrasound and doctors, it was discovered that Ashley had Ovarian Torsion and she needed immediate surgery. By the middle of February, Ashley would have two surgeries, received a new diagnosis of mild endometrosis and learned that she had moderate to severe cirrhosis caused by her freaking liver disease, biliary atresia. We actually got to see pictures of her liver. I will post later pictures later. Also, after Ashley's second surgery and while she was recovering, we had to put down our beloved RagaMuffin cat, Skylar. Skylar was almost 12 years old and died of cancer and a heart murmur.
In the first half of the year, Brad was finishing up his Freshman year at Alabama. He made some academic mistakes during his first semester of college and corrected them by his second semester of college. He got a job working as an official for the University of Alabama Intramural Department and he and his girlfriend, McKenzie, were still dating. (McKenzie graduated high school in 2014 as well and ended up going to Samford University, just an hour away from where Brad was attending college). By the end of 2015, Brad decided to double major in Economics and Philosophy with a minor in math. At this point, his dad and I are trying to figure what he is going to be when he grows up
Brad dove into college life without joining a fraternity. He became part of the Pre-Law Club and Model UN (Brad did Model UN in high school as well). He was part of the Honors College and the Emerging Scholars Program. He volunteered by helping low income families prepare their taxes and he, of course, became a huge Alabama Football Fan. As much as I hated that he was 10 hours away, I was excited to hear about his new life in college.
Joey and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary by going on a Cruise...and we even left the kids alone for the first time ever for more than one night. Thankfully, we have great kids and came home to a clean house and no drama. We also came back to two new additions to our household. Ashley brought to kittens home from her trip to the beach with the excuse that she found them...but later I found out that she drove to the beach specifically to pick them up, hoping that her dad and I would say yes to keeping them. Of course, we did..and now we have three cats in our house, Blaze (boy tabby), Sailor and Piper. Sailor and Piper are sisters and are torties. I will post pictures of them later too.
Oh yes, almost forgot...Ashley got her first car for her 17th birthday.
2016 - What an exciting year for Ashley. She is now a Senior in high school and doing fantastic. She applied to about 7 colleges at the end of 2015. Ashley's dance team went to Texas for their National Championship and of course came in first in every style of dance. She attended her first prom and looked beautiful, I 'll post a picture later. It was during her Senior year that she decided that she wanted to be a nurse. She specifically wanted to be nurse for the CIA. Now that she made a career decision, we decided to visit several colleges. Ashley starting applying for colleges at the end of 2015 but we didn't decide on a school until early 2016. Ashley's top choice was the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB). UAB admitted her into their Freshman Direct Nursing Program and offered her a nice scholarship. The University of Alabama also accepted Ashley as a student for Fall 2016 and a scholarship as well. Our local school University of Central Florida came through with an offer and acceptance as did Florida Gulf Coast University, and Adventist University. Ashley applied at the University of Florida which was also her top choice due to the close proximity to home and her liver team. UF did not accept Ashley...thank goodness...no football conflicts in our house. Ultimately, we all agreed that the best school for Ashley was Florida Atlantic University. FAU accepted Ashley into their Freshman Direct Nursing Program with a very small scholarship. Now that we had a decision on where she would attend college, we prepared ourselves for her high school graduation. In May, Ashley graduated Cum Laude (.07 away from graduating Magna Cum Laude).
The summer after graduation, Ashley worked as a nanny for a family of three young kids, one of the children has special needs. Ashley loved every minute of her time with Cole, Anabelle and Luke. The family loved her so much they tried to talk her into not moving away for college. Oh and they were Alabama fans too!
Ashley totals her new car while driving in a torrential downpour and she didn't see the tail lights on the car in front of her stopped at an intersection. She was very upset at herself but thankfully she or friends were not hurt at all in the accident...just messed up the car and it cost more to repair than the car was worth. She started college without a car.
By the end of 2016, Ashley had completed her first semester of college with all A's and B's. She tried to do the sorority thing and being an ADpi and Phi Mu were her top choices. However, on the day the girls were to receive their bids, Ashley freaked out. She was afraid that the sorority would take her away from her studies and she really wanted to focus on academics. Ashley first year college roommates were awesome and they became fast friends; they were all in the nursing program as well.
I am still working in property management. At this point have had my real estate license for two years, been promoted and received at least a half dozen raises...but I was not happy with what I was doing. Not sure why I wasn't happy, I just continued to focus on work and my kids. Oh and Joey too.
2017 - Oh my goodness...I am almost caught up. Let's see 2017 started of well but ended with some drama.
Ashley and Brad continued to amazingly well in school...one better than the other but we won't go into that here. Ashley's health is stable. a. Ashley is still on path to become a nurse. Fall 2017, she was on the Dean's list at FAU. Ashley decided to run for student council by becoming a member of the House of Representatives. She is still loving college, her friends and even applied for a job at the local hospital. (She didn't get that job because they could not work around her classes). Ashley volunteered to be a shelter nurse during a Hurricane at one of the local high schools near her college and she went on her first medical mission trip to the Bahamas. During her medical mission trip, she visited a local children's ward, was able to view an autopsy, give blood pressure and glucose readings to the locals and help as Christmas party to some the local kids. I think she also painted an orphanage. She so enjoyed the experience, that she immediately decided she wanted to do it again.
In July 2017, just one week before Ashley's 19th birthday, Joey was in a very bad one car accident that totaled his car but by some miracle, he survived. He was in the hospital for a few days...he had five broken or cracked ribs, lacerations on his chin, elbow and hand, a very badly bruised him and broken ankle and heel. He needed surgery to repair the ankle and heel. He was not able to walk or drive for about 3 months so he was not able to work. So now with Joey's car gone, Ashley car gone, and Brad is Tuscaloosa...we became a one car family. But I was happy Joey was alive and thank God every day for saving his life.
By Christmastime, we learned that Joey's mom was dealing the end stages of Alzheimers, and the family had to make a tough decision to move her into a nursing home. It was hard seeing my mother-in-law in the state that she was in...she had no memory of us and she looked so frail. When we visited her, she thought Joey was a boyfriend, and as she is hugging Joey, Joey introduces me to her as his wife and she immediately lets go of him and says I am sorry while looking at me. It was cute, funny and sad all at the same time. Ashley was so kind a gentle with her...she thought Ashley was her nurse. Maybe my mother-in-law remembered more than we thought.
As for me...I quit my property management job in June and decided to become a full time real estate agent. I assisted my new broker, Emma Reichert, with the sale of a house and I sold my first house in August. I love being in Real Estate. I love the flexibility and meeting new people. But more than anything I love helping first time home buyers find a home. I am not making much money...yet. But I am happy. So if you move to Central Florida and need a Realtor, look me up. I currently work for a small boutique company located in Oviedo, Florida called ER Real Estate Group.
Next up....2018. You will have to wait for that update. Don't worry I won't make you wait 5 years. Just a day or two. And I promise I will share some pictures as well.
2013 - was a not so good year for our family, loosing our family dog, Ashley liver disease keeping us on our toes. However, despite the sadness, Ashley continued to dance for her High School dance team, the Seminole Dazzlers, and Brad continued playing baseball for Seminole High as well. Brad also started dating a beautiful girl named McKenzie and he experienced his first prom. McKenzie and Brad met in sixth grade and were good friends for a very long time. They went to each other's birthday parties and had many of the same circle of friends. Just for a recap, at this point Ashley is a Freshman in high school and Brad is a Junior. With Brad getting closer to graduating from high school, the college search began. He was focused on the U.S. Naval Academy and went to their Baseball Camp in the summer of 2013. By the end of the year, Brad had applied to about 7 schools, and was accepted to all but one and he received scholarships from all. By the end of 2013, it was decision time. So what college did he choose, read on to find out. As for me, I went back to work full-time working for a property management company in Winter Park, Florida and my husband I celebrated 23 years of marriage.
2014 - Ashley's health is still stable...we continued to monitor her liver and blood work every couple months. She still traveled to Shands Hospital every 6 months. But her beloved doctor, Dr. Joel Andres, was close to retirement so she started seeing a new doc who was trained by Dr. A. However, because of our close relationship with Dr. A., he continued to monitor her when he was available and we still communicated via email. It's hard letting go of a doctor who has cared for your daughter since she was born. Ashley is now a Sophomore in high school and is doing amazingly well with academics and is still on the high school dance team. Her dance team went to New York to audition for America's Got Talent. They had a brief cameo on the show but because of school commitments they did not continue with the show.
Brad is now a Senior and focusing much more on his academics while trying to spread his wings...he was preparing his mom for what was to come. In May, Brad graduated Magna Cum Laude and received a Presidential Scholarship from the University of Alabama. Now you know. Brad decided to go to the school that have been cheering for since my family moved from California to Alabama in 1972. ROLL TIDE YA'LL!
2015 - This beginning of this year was one of the worst years on record for our little family. In late January, I rushed Ashley to the ER for severe abdominal pain...we didn't know if it was her liver or a appendicitis. It was scary but my girl has a high tolerance for pain and walked on her own into the ER. Several hours of waiting, blood work, ultrasound and doctors, it was discovered that Ashley had Ovarian Torsion and she needed immediate surgery. By the middle of February, Ashley would have two surgeries, received a new diagnosis of mild endometrosis and learned that she had moderate to severe cirrhosis caused by her freaking liver disease, biliary atresia. We actually got to see pictures of her liver. I will post later pictures later. Also, after Ashley's second surgery and while she was recovering, we had to put down our beloved RagaMuffin cat, Skylar. Skylar was almost 12 years old and died of cancer and a heart murmur.
In the first half of the year, Brad was finishing up his Freshman year at Alabama. He made some academic mistakes during his first semester of college and corrected them by his second semester of college. He got a job working as an official for the University of Alabama Intramural Department and he and his girlfriend, McKenzie, were still dating. (McKenzie graduated high school in 2014 as well and ended up going to Samford University, just an hour away from where Brad was attending college). By the end of 2015, Brad decided to double major in Economics and Philosophy with a minor in math. At this point, his dad and I are trying to figure what he is going to be when he grows up
Brad dove into college life without joining a fraternity. He became part of the Pre-Law Club and Model UN (Brad did Model UN in high school as well). He was part of the Honors College and the Emerging Scholars Program. He volunteered by helping low income families prepare their taxes and he, of course, became a huge Alabama Football Fan. As much as I hated that he was 10 hours away, I was excited to hear about his new life in college.
Joey and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary by going on a Cruise...and we even left the kids alone for the first time ever for more than one night. Thankfully, we have great kids and came home to a clean house and no drama. We also came back to two new additions to our household. Ashley brought to kittens home from her trip to the beach with the excuse that she found them...but later I found out that she drove to the beach specifically to pick them up, hoping that her dad and I would say yes to keeping them. Of course, we did..and now we have three cats in our house, Blaze (boy tabby), Sailor and Piper. Sailor and Piper are sisters and are torties. I will post pictures of them later too.
Oh yes, almost forgot...Ashley got her first car for her 17th birthday.
2016 - What an exciting year for Ashley. She is now a Senior in high school and doing fantastic. She applied to about 7 colleges at the end of 2015. Ashley's dance team went to Texas for their National Championship and of course came in first in every style of dance. She attended her first prom and looked beautiful, I 'll post a picture later. It was during her Senior year that she decided that she wanted to be a nurse. She specifically wanted to be nurse for the CIA. Now that she made a career decision, we decided to visit several colleges. Ashley starting applying for colleges at the end of 2015 but we didn't decide on a school until early 2016. Ashley's top choice was the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB). UAB admitted her into their Freshman Direct Nursing Program and offered her a nice scholarship. The University of Alabama also accepted Ashley as a student for Fall 2016 and a scholarship as well. Our local school University of Central Florida came through with an offer and acceptance as did Florida Gulf Coast University, and Adventist University. Ashley applied at the University of Florida which was also her top choice due to the close proximity to home and her liver team. UF did not accept Ashley...thank goodness...no football conflicts in our house. Ultimately, we all agreed that the best school for Ashley was Florida Atlantic University. FAU accepted Ashley into their Freshman Direct Nursing Program with a very small scholarship. Now that we had a decision on where she would attend college, we prepared ourselves for her high school graduation. In May, Ashley graduated Cum Laude (.07 away from graduating Magna Cum Laude).
The summer after graduation, Ashley worked as a nanny for a family of three young kids, one of the children has special needs. Ashley loved every minute of her time with Cole, Anabelle and Luke. The family loved her so much they tried to talk her into not moving away for college. Oh and they were Alabama fans too!
Ashley totals her new car while driving in a torrential downpour and she didn't see the tail lights on the car in front of her stopped at an intersection. She was very upset at herself but thankfully she or friends were not hurt at all in the accident...just messed up the car and it cost more to repair than the car was worth. She started college without a car.
By the end of 2016, Ashley had completed her first semester of college with all A's and B's. She tried to do the sorority thing and being an ADpi and Phi Mu were her top choices. However, on the day the girls were to receive their bids, Ashley freaked out. She was afraid that the sorority would take her away from her studies and she really wanted to focus on academics. Ashley first year college roommates were awesome and they became fast friends; they were all in the nursing program as well.
I am still working in property management. At this point have had my real estate license for two years, been promoted and received at least a half dozen raises...but I was not happy with what I was doing. Not sure why I wasn't happy, I just continued to focus on work and my kids. Oh and Joey too.
2017 - Oh my goodness...I am almost caught up. Let's see 2017 started of well but ended with some drama.
Ashley and Brad continued to amazingly well in school...one better than the other but we won't go into that here. Ashley's health is stable. a. Ashley is still on path to become a nurse. Fall 2017, she was on the Dean's list at FAU. Ashley decided to run for student council by becoming a member of the House of Representatives. She is still loving college, her friends and even applied for a job at the local hospital. (She didn't get that job because they could not work around her classes). Ashley volunteered to be a shelter nurse during a Hurricane at one of the local high schools near her college and she went on her first medical mission trip to the Bahamas. During her medical mission trip, she visited a local children's ward, was able to view an autopsy, give blood pressure and glucose readings to the locals and help as Christmas party to some the local kids. I think she also painted an orphanage. She so enjoyed the experience, that she immediately decided she wanted to do it again.
In July 2017, just one week before Ashley's 19th birthday, Joey was in a very bad one car accident that totaled his car but by some miracle, he survived. He was in the hospital for a few days...he had five broken or cracked ribs, lacerations on his chin, elbow and hand, a very badly bruised him and broken ankle and heel. He needed surgery to repair the ankle and heel. He was not able to walk or drive for about 3 months so he was not able to work. So now with Joey's car gone, Ashley car gone, and Brad is Tuscaloosa...we became a one car family. But I was happy Joey was alive and thank God every day for saving his life.
By Christmastime, we learned that Joey's mom was dealing the end stages of Alzheimers, and the family had to make a tough decision to move her into a nursing home. It was hard seeing my mother-in-law in the state that she was in...she had no memory of us and she looked so frail. When we visited her, she thought Joey was a boyfriend, and as she is hugging Joey, Joey introduces me to her as his wife and she immediately lets go of him and says I am sorry while looking at me. It was cute, funny and sad all at the same time. Ashley was so kind a gentle with her...she thought Ashley was her nurse. Maybe my mother-in-law remembered more than we thought.
As for me...I quit my property management job in June and decided to become a full time real estate agent. I assisted my new broker, Emma Reichert, with the sale of a house and I sold my first house in August. I love being in Real Estate. I love the flexibility and meeting new people. But more than anything I love helping first time home buyers find a home. I am not making much money...yet. But I am happy. So if you move to Central Florida and need a Realtor, look me up. I currently work for a small boutique company located in Oviedo, Florida called ER Real Estate Group.
Next up....2018. You will have to wait for that update. Don't worry I won't make you wait 5 years. Just a day or two. And I promise I will share some pictures as well.
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