There's been...

a death in the family. Just heard about an hour ago that my brother's mother-in-law went to be with her maker this morning. She was ill for a very long time with emphysema and other medical issues. Please pray for May; along with her dear husband Len and the rest of the family. She had two other children along with my sister-in-law and seven grandchildren.

15 years...

and counting. Tomorrow I start the first day of my 16th year of being cancer free (15 years ago today was the big surgery).

I don't usually...

post this soon after another one, but just had to tell you the weekend I had. Again, I went up to Apple Valley and saw my aunt and cousin that are up there (high desert, about 1.5 to 2 hours east of L.A. - little over two hours north of here). Needed a weekend getaway. It was nice. I'm used to having all of my cousins and their families there, but understand that that can't happen very often because of schedules.

Another cousin (the younger brother of the one in A.V.) just bought a house in the mountains. So next month, I'm going up to a housewarming/open house he's having and will see just about the entire family (which'll probably end up being about half the people there). There's a few birthdays in that family in October, so we'll also be celebrating those as well.

If you haven't noticed, I LOVE talking about my extended family. LOL

Ok, so...

today wasn't the best of days. My mom's first cousin died extremely suddenly a week ago Monday. Today was his funeral/memorial mass. It was so cool to meet family that I hadn't met yet; this was on my maternal grandfather's side (Roger, the one that died, his mother was my grandfather's sister). Very cool to meet 'em. It's a shame that we don't see THAT side of the family as often as we should, especially since some of them live here in San Diego County. I did get to see the cousins that I see ALL the time (the ones from my aunt that lives in Apple Valley); a lot of them came down for the funeral.

Other than that, everything's fine. For the last few weeks, it has been HIDEOUSLY hot here; but it started cooling down yesterday - thank god.

My nieces start school tomorrow; one's in high school, one's in sixth grade and the baby's in first. My other niece and nephew started back yesterday. They're in second and fourth grades respectively.

Nothing new to report...

Not much...

new going on here. My oldest niece starts high school in two weeks. When the newest "Harry Potter" came out, she spent all night reading it (yes, she's done...took her all of nine hours). Just had to very nice family gathering yesterday at my parents house; all 13 of us. I have a prayer request though...I think I said that my dad has early signs of dementia (has for a while now), so it's getting very tough on the family. My dad may not be able to drive for too much longer; my siblings are having to shoulder the burden of taking my paretns places now (mom can still drive, but she's got some medical issues also).....we're definitely being tested right now. Can you please pray for us, that we get through this?

Other than that, everything's been great.

WOO-HOO...

I am officially off the Coumadin. Had a doppler study on my leg and the blood flow is excellent!! I shouldn't need to go back to this doctor unless something happens. Mine and my family's prayers were definitely answered (not to mention my friends prayers). Thank you to everyone who prayed for me.

This month...

isn't too exciting for us (other than celebrating this country's birthday; and counting out blessings that we can live in such a great country). There's a ton of birthdays though...my mom, dad, brother and aunt. I might also make the trip to L.A. that didn't happen in April.

Pretty good healthwise as well. Leg's just ok though. I hope to get off of the blood thinner at the end of the month when I have my (hopefully) last appointment with the Vascular surgeon (I'll have another ultrasound just to see how things are)

Hope everyone's having a great summer so far.

We celebrated my parents birthdays separately (usually we celebrate them together, since my mom's birthday is July 12 and Dad's is the 18th). It was very nice. For Mom, we went to a very nice restaurant called Carver's (formerly Hungry Hunter); it was just the six of us - no in laws or nieces and nephew; I think the last time just the six of us had dinner together was when we lived in Los Angeles 25 years ago - and for Dad, we went to my brother's house for a very nice BBQ. My oldest brother and his family couldn't make it due to prior committments (not to mention my niece being in the hospital - she's fine though; couldn't find anything wrong - just growing pains).