Rondi sings "I'll Be There"

If you're new to this blog, I must tell you, Mandi and I love to do car karaoke. And fortunately for you (or unfortunately in all cases), we also record our "singing". So please sit back and enjoy this tasty little treat.

Cousin Bake-Off 2009

So I may or may not have taken about a "two hour walk" yesterday to spend some time with the family. I made sure to bring the camera so you guys could witness the craziness that goes on when we all get together. In total, there was I believe 36 people there to celebrate Thanksgiving. Last year we started a "Cousin Bake-Off" where cousins who choose to participate enter a dessert to be judged by moms, aunts and grandma. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my Easy Bake Oven with me to the hospital so I wasn't able to partake in the competition this year.

The competition is about to begin.

Can you feel the anticipation in the air?

Here's (part of) the panel of judges: Aunt Pat, Aunt Janna, Aunt Ruth

This is some kind of french chocolate cake entered by my lil' brothers.

How creative is that? It's a corn on the cob made with cupcakes, yellow frosting, yellow jelly beans and a yellow starburst!

My family is Dutch (if you couldn't tell by the cake model after a wooden shoe)...and yes, it says Congrats Ron & Mandi! Of course, this was my pick to win :)

Looks a lot like Mandi & I don't ya think??? This was baked by my cousin Jon.

Little turkey cupcakes submitted by my cousin Janee (who also did the corn on the cob).

Let the judging commence! That's my grandma on the far right and my mom on the far left.

Alright! Dig in!!!!

If you didn't think that my family takes this "bake-off" seriously, this video will change your mind...in fact, it may change your life.

Funny Thanksgiving Cartoon

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!! We all have sooooooo much to be thankful for, well, I know that I do! I invite you to look back through some of my Thankful Thursday posts if you'd like to see all that I am thankful for. Enjoy your family and make some memories!!!

Something is Better than Nothing!

Want to know the key to healthy lungs? Just do something! I don't care if you can't work out for 30 minutes, start with 5. Can't run a mile? Start with 20 feet. Believe me, I was the king of "if I can't do it right, I won't do it at all". That attitude is exactly why I had my lowest lung function ever last January. If I couldn't work out 5 days a week, I wouldn't just try to get in for 3, I would do ZERO! You tell me, what's better? Walking up 1 flight of stairs or sitting on the couch? We all have a lot of stuff going on in our lives, but the small investments we make in our health each day will pay HUGE dividends in the future!

So the question is, what will you do today????

Top Ten Things I Need in the Hospital

Here are some of the things I need/use/crave when I'm in the Hole:

So what am I missing here? Anything that I need to be craving/using/needing that I'm not? What about you guys, what's on your list???

You Can't Always Be There

As some of you know, I am having Thanksgiving in Shanghai with my family (my parents live there), so I flew out of Phoenix on Saturday morning. Most of you are quick on your toes and have realized that I am going sans Ronnie, and worse yet, I’m leaving him all alone in the Hole. I must say, I feel a little guilty. I already felt guilty leaving Ronnie back in the states for the holiday of thankfulness. I would love for him to be able to join me, but the last (and only) time he was in China with me, it ended in a 50 day hospital stay. So him coming along really wasn’t in the cards. To add insult to injury, Ronnie came due for a tune-up...and there was NO way I could back out of my family trip. So where does that leave us? With a little guilt and the reality that we can only do so much when it comes to planning our lives around CF-related occurrences.

In an ideal world, we family and loved ones would be able to drop everything when it was tune-up time and spend all day and night with our CFers. I know I’d love nothing more. But unfortunately the reality is not as awesome. We all still have to be at work on Monday morning, have prior commitments, have kids to shuttle around, have chores to do, and in my case, a trip booked for months. This all sounds good on paper, but it is a little harder to grasp when you’re sitting on a 13 hour plane ride feeling guilty that you’ve left your fiance of one week sitting in the hospital without you and you’re missing him TERRIBLY (and it’s only been 24 hours since you’ve seen each other).

The only thing that makes me feel better is knowing his family is in Tucson and knows just what he needs when he’s in the hospital. They bring him dinner every night, come over to watch TV, play games, etc. I have to remember that they took care of him for 29 years, and can easily take care of him for a week while I’m out of town. Knowing there’s someone else to pick up my slack makes me feel so much better when I’m feeling guilty, and wishing I was there with him.

Have you ever wanted to be with your family member or loved one and just couldn’t? What did you do to avoid the guilty feeling? And what do you do to make sure they’re still cared for?? CFers- clue us loved ones in, how does it make you feel?