Aiden in BlueBonnets!

A couple of weeks ago I took Aiden down to Ennis to get some pictures of him in the bluebonnets. My mom has several pictures of my brother and I in bluebonnets so I wanted to get some with Aiden. Of course, he wouldn't stand still for two seconds. These pictures are my attempt at getting some. He wouldn't sit in them or stand in them. All he wanted to do is run after my aunt's dog. I must have taken 50 pictures and they all pretty much looked like this. There are a couple of good ones with his hands in the air. :)

Cheers To 30 Years!

Aaron turned 30 this month! We celebrated with family on Thursday night. I made his favorite dinner. Now I know why I only make it once a year. It took several hours and there was a huge clean up. It was worth it to me. I wasn't able to do it last year because I was in the hospital. When we sang happy birthday to Aaron, Aiden lit up, he thought we were singing to him. He loved helping his dad blow out the candles on the cake. On Friday we celebrated with friends at PFChangs. It was going to be a surprise for Aaron but I think he already knew. I can never seem to keep a secret from him.

Relay For Life 2010! Manda Strong

Relay for Life this year was incredible. The weather was perfect and we had a huge turnout. Team Manda Strong raised over 2000 dollars for America Cancer Society. Yea! I felt so honored to have so many people out there cheering me on. Thank you to everyone that supported our team in some way. This event will be a passion of mine for the rest on my life.

I was asked to speak at one of the relay for life events this month and was approached afterwords by a mom who's daughter was just diagnosed with the same cancer I had when I was five. I was able to meet this young lady at Relay for Life. She was an amazing girl with a great attitude and spirit. I am happy to say that we hit it off and I will be taking her lunch at the hospital sometime this week. Praise God for his direction in my life.

Bitter Sweet Memories!

When I looked at my blog tonight for the first time since........ Jan. 09 I immediately began to cry. I'm still teary eyed right now typing this post. As I went through all the pictures and relived all those special times Aaron and I had together I realized that in that very moment I had no idea what was about to happen to me. My life was going to change forever! It was bitter sweet! My life changed forever in a great way, my son and not so good way, cancer.
Instead of reliving through that hard time and catching everyone up to speed I'm going to start from this point on. Fresh! And what better way to start than with Relay For Life!!!