Happy Happy Birthday...

AUNT VICKI!!!! Hope it's a great day!

We love you.

Pictures Past

**Workout challenge - 30 minutes of cardio today! I ran for 30 straight minutes for the first time since getting out of the Hole. It felt terrible and glorious all at the same time :)

____________________

Just recently got our hands on these pictures that were taken quite some time ago. Thought you guys would enjoy them :)

Thankful Thursday: The Vest & Quiet Mornings

**Workout challenge: I did the following in 30 minutes with only a max of a 10 second break in between sets - 

25 pull-ups, 50 push-ups, 50 jumping jacks, 50 box jumps, 50 step-ups, 50 squats, 100 curls, 50 tricep extensions, 50 forearm curls, 50 shrugs, 50 lat pull-downs, 50 chest press, 50 chest pull down, 50 seated rows, 50 front shoulder raise, 100 lateral raise, 50 incline chest press

You certainly don't have to attempt to complete that entire workout, but I would encourage you to do something active today for 30 minutes!!

________________________

It's thankful Thursday time! We all have so much to be thankful for and we love to take this opportunity just to write down each and everything that comes to mind. Please take this time to share with us what you're thankful for as well. If you have a blog expressing your thankfulness, please share the link! Without further ado, here's what we're thankful for:

Mandi's List:

I'm thankful for friends with adorable babies. This morning we're watching my friend's daughter while they move from their old house to their new house. Their little girl is just about the sweetest little love their ever was, and such a joy to watch. It's so great knowing you can have friends watch your baby - I know she'll return the favor at the drop of a hat.

I'm thankful for Ronnie's vest. Yes, it's great that it keeps him healthy, but their are alternatives to that. I'm especially thankful because it's a dream sleep machine for Mckenna. And on days when she's tough to get down for a nap, it works like a charm. She sleeps the best her first nap of the day...and that's with her daddy while he does a treatment!

I'm thankful for nice weather. As some of you know, I work from home. And I may be the only person on earth blessed enough to get to sit outside, in my bathing suit, in March, catching some rays while I work. Some of you may be thinking "umm dumb dumb, haven't you heard of a little thing called skin cancer?!" The answer is yes, but I have a friend's wedding I'm in in a week and trying to get rid of my terrible tan lines from my racerback tank tops I worked out in all summer! Then I'll pull my towel back into the shade.

Ronnie's List:

I'm thankful for a hard-working wife. Mandi never stops. She's is constantly working to improve her family's life or improve the lives of others. I still don't know how she juggles it all, but she manages to do it all while keeping a smile on her face. Our family, house, business, life would cease to function without Mandi. SO thankful for my wifey.

I'm thankful for hard-working brothers. As I stated in an earlier blog, my little brother's car accident ended up being a blessing for myself and my other brother Andrew. We've all been able to hang out this week and my little brothers have took it upon themselves to build up some garden beds and get everything ready for some planting. They've been running to Home Depot, doing research and putting in some serious sweat equity!

I’m thankful for quite mornings. Mandi and I have been getting up a little earlier the past few mornings to spend some quite time together doing our devotionals, bible study, coffee drinking, breakfast and gardening. It’s been really nice to experience the cool air and quite times in the morning with my wife.

So, what are you thankful for today?

The Impact of an Accident

This blog is actually less about the accident and more about the impact of that accident (pun intended)....

Mr brother, Grant, and his friends were on their way to California for spring break this week and got into a car accident on the way. Before you panic, everything is okay, but the car they were driving is now inoperable. They were coming up from Tucson on I-10 through Phoenix and got into the fender bender at the same exit you would take to get to my house. Kind of crazy right? My brother called me to see if I could pick them up while they figure out the plan. I was not able to to do because we're down to one car and Mandi was out with it at that time.

Side note: We're down to one car because my other brother, Andrew, is using our Corolla while his car gets fixed in a body shop - yes, he was in an accident too (not his fault though)

The boys ended up throwing around a football in a truck stop parking lot waiting for Andrew to pick them up when he got done with one of his clients. The whole group came over to watch the Arizona-Colorado PAC-12 Championship game (I'd rather not talk about it). It was of course nice to watch that game with both of my brothers and was the first time this season I was able to do so (usually it's just Andrew and I).

The car got towed back down to Tucson and then the following day, Andrew took the whole group to a mid-point between Phoenix and Tucson so they could get a ride back home.

Soooo, what was the point of all that? If you're still reading, thank you for bearing with me. Here's the point: Grant called me a couple of nights ago bumming out about his spring break trip being ruined because of the accident. He asked if he could drive back up to Phoenix and just spend the week with Mandi and I. Uhhhh, yeah!!! See what happened there?

Grant might not be doing exactly what he thought he'd be doing this week, but he's still having a great time. We've been able to hang out a bunch in the last couple of days, and do some stuff together that rarely get the chance to do. He really likes gardening, and it just so happened that this week was the week that I was setting my all up for the spring/summer! My brother Andrew helped me get started on Monday and then Tuesday, Grant helped me knock it out. Sometimes, even though things don't happen or workout the exact way we were picturing, they still tend to workout. I know that Grant is enjoying himself and we are certainly feeling very blessed to have him around.

Which leads me to my final point - there are times in our lives that may seem like a low point, but we must remember that it can still be an opportunity to bless others. Sure, I was bummed that Grant wasn't able to go out to California for spring break, BUT I feel so lucky that I get to spend the week with him. His misfortune has turned out to be a blessing to me and my family and, as I believe he'd agree, him also.

It's so easy to get stuck into thinking about how are present situation is affecting us, and us alone. It's a big world out there though. We may be going through a bad season for the sole purpose of showing someone else a good season in their life. Something in our life may become a burden only to lighten the load of someone else. It's always good to take a step back and look at various ways our own struggles can actually positively impact the lives of others. 

If we're able to do that, we just may see our car accident as a huge blessing.

The Best Medicine Ever!!

**Workout challenge - At the gym I decided to go as hard as a I could for 30 minutes with only giving myself a max of 10 seconds to rest in-between sets. The result was 30 minutes of huffing, puffing and coughing. Here's what I ended up doing:

25 pull-ups
50 curls
50 tricep extension
50 side lateral raise (each arm)
50 front raise (25 each arm)
50 lat pull-downs
50 chest pull downs
50 straight arm push downs
50 chest press
50 overhead tricep extensions
50 step-ups
50 pushups
50 v-ups
50 jumping jacks
50 mountain climbers
25 pull-ups

I would encourage you to be active for 30 minutes today. If you're wondering why in the heck you'd ever want to do that, be sure to check out the video below...
**

This is one of the best videos I have EVER seen. It talks about a treatment that is basically a cure, or at least the best medicine, for most conditions/ailments out there. I've actually been able to undergo the treatment myself, and it's done wonders, for not only my lungs, but for the rest of my body as well.

Watch the video and then tell me - when does your treatment begin???



If you're not convinced to start this new "revolutionary" treatment today, then I'm afraid nothing is going to convince you. I don't care who you are or what you have going on, we ALL have 30 minutes in a day to devote to this medicine. It comes down to whether or not we choose to take it. Yes, it's tough. Yes, it's painful. No, it's not fun. And no, you won't like it...at least for a while.

I know when I started taking this new medicine I gagged so much I threw-up. It made me extremely short of breath to the point that I had to stop 30 seconds into my first treatment and reassess if it was really for me. I pushed through however on the back of all the wonderful stories I had heard of other having such great success. I myself had had the same success, but it had been so long, that I wasn't sure if the treatment would work anymore for me.

Fortunately, this is a med that no one is allergic to. The pharmacy will never be backordered. You don't need a script. Heck, you don't need anything but two feet, some heart and a dash of fight.

The need for this medicine is common to all of us; the determination to take it however is for a few of us.

Nighttime Waking

You may think this is a blog about Mckenna and her nighttime sleep habits. However, this blog has nothing to do with Mckenna, and everything to do with my hubby.

As some of you may have read in the past, Ronnie sleeps with oxygen at night. A few years back, he told his doctors that he often woke up with headaches, so they did a sleep study and found that his sats were dropping at night...hence the headaches. So ever since then he's been sleeping with 2 liters of oxygen, breathed in through a nasal cannula. Ever since he started sleeping with oxygen he sleeps so much deeper, better, quieter and wakes up with no headaches.

You may ask yourself, "quieter?!" And the answer is, "yes...quieter!" I'm sure most of you CF spouses, and maybe some parents, can related. There is a certain "snore" that Ronnie does sans oxygen. It's a half snore, have gasp sound, that is loud enough to make it hard to sleep. He's slightly loud when he's sleeping on his sides and really loud when he's on his back.

So I'm sure you're wondering why I'm posting this and what it has to do with me. I am the oxygen police. In the night if I hear loud breathing, I reach over and feel his face to see where the cannula is; when I get back into bed after feeding Mckenna, I feel his face; when I go to the bathroom and come back to bed; I check his face when I hear a "pufffshhhhhhhh" sound (which is almost alway the nasal cannula blowing into his eyes); I feel his face when he's breathing really loud. I feel his face and wake him to fix his oxygen at least 2-3 times a night. I do it for him (so he sleeps better) and I do it for me (so I sleep better not listening to him). Annnnd I also do it because when he's slightly awake I can say, "snuggle me," and he will! Hehe!

What's the point of this post? There isn't one. Other than maybe if you or your loved one wakes up with headaches it may be a good time to do a sleep study. And I'd love to hear from those of you who wear oxygen at night...where all have you found your nasal cannulas? I'm often shocked where I end up finding Ronnie's. Anyone have tips for keeping it in place?