OMG!!!!!!!!

Well.... this is the day I have dreaded for a long time!!! My son has received his DRIVERS PERMIT!!!!!! YIKES!!!! I knew it would eventually come but I am just not ready to have him behind the wheel of a car!!! For now I am letting Pat teach him all the driving... I would end up doing more harm than good, I am just way too nervous at this point!
Other than that news everything here has been pretty much the same!! The biggest news we have gotten is my Mom is CANCER FREE!!!! WOOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!! That is the best news EVER!!!! Also, my Grandma recently found out that she had breast cancer but last week had a mastectomy and it looks like they got all the cancer and she won't even have to go through Chemotherapy!!!!! We are so thankful that Mom and Grandma are both heading towards a cancer free healthy life!!!!!
Well... more to come soon...

It's A Girl!!

Well... we finally did it, we have our adopted our little girl!!! OK so it is a four legged little girl but who cares... we love her anyways! Her name is Bella and she is a German Shepherd mix 2 month old puppy!!! She is so freakin cute! She has long legs and big paws so she is going to be HUGE!!!!! It has been quite an experience having a puppy in the house but I am sure we will get used to it soon :)



Here's our girl!!





Bella trying to crawl into her bag of dog food!!!!

RELAY FOR LIFE!

We did the Relay for Life over the weekend and I have to say it was a BLAST!!!!! This was the first time I have ever done it and I absolutely loved it!!!! There were a couple of emotional times but it was also a very rewarding experience that I will never forget!! We are already planning next years Relay!!! The relay goals were to have 150 survivors and raise $30,000. We had over 200 survivors and raised over $60,000 total!!! It was the biggest relay ever for Las Cruces!!! There were several vendors there with food, drinks, souveneirs, etc... Starbucks even gave away coffee at midnight... it was great!!!! Here are some pictures from the Relay and if anyone reading this has never done Relay for Life I HIGHLY recommend it... you will have so much fun!!!!

No Excuses!

OK so I have been terrible at keeping this up.... I think I say that almost every blog! There are no excuses.... I just have not done it!!!!
My Mom is doing MUCH better. She has her FINAL chemo treatment next Wednesday... she cannot wait!! The doctors are very confident that they got all the cancer!
My Dad is doing good.... he is busy designing a website for our upcoming Photography business.... when I say upcoming I mean in the next year maybe... depending on how fast I get my school done!!!
The boys are back in school THANK GOD!!! Mikie is in 8th grade and Patrick is a Junior! YIKES!!! How did that happen.... I still see myself as the girl living on Desmond Rd eating sour grass up on the mountain and begging Ballard to get us Skittles!!! How the heck did I become the mom of TEENS???? Anyways, both the boys are doing good and so far are really liking school!
Pat and I are busy as ever with work and just everyday life with teens. We just celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary on August 24th and I can honestly say we are still just as happy today as we were 6 years ago on our wedding day!!!! Actually... Happier!!!!
Well that is about it going on here! For those of you that have not heard my family is doing the Relay for Life through the American Cancer Society on September 5-6. My Mom and my cousin Carolyn are flying out for it too!!! I CANNOT WAIT! I will have PLENTY of pictures to post of the event once we do it!!! If you have never participated in the event I highly recommend it.... you have tons of fun plus you are raising money at the same time for the American Cancer Society!!! For further info go to relayforlife.org.
OK, that is about it from good ol Las Cruces!!! I shall return soon!!!!

Weekend at the Lake

So we just got back from a weekend at the lake and for once I took hardly any pictures.... don't ask me what my problem was, I just was not in the mood!!! Some photographer I am!!! Anyways, like usual we had a storm that hit us around 5pm on Saturday but only lasted about 30 minutes so it was not too bad!!! Like always I got sunburned but not too severely! We had a lot of fun, the 4 of us went along with some friends of ours that had a boat so we had the boat plus the our two waverunners! My dog Sallie actually liked riding on the boat with her friend Nacho (her pitbull "boy" friend)... unfortunately I got no pictures of the two of them on the boat!!! Anyways, that is about it from the Sullivan Clan....

Here is a little tubing going on!!!


Sallie and her friend Nacho!!

Yep... Definitely getting the Gray Hairs Now!!!

Well.... today marks a very sad day in the Sullivan household. It started off just like any other day, we got up, did a little housework, Patrick left for work... you know, just normal stuff!!!! Then it happened! Patrick put a down payment on his first car!!!! YIKES!! Well, as if I was not stressed enough now I have to think about my teenage son driving! Mind you, he does not have his license yet but he does not have too much longer before he gets it. How is it possible that these boys have grown up so quickly.... I mean I am not aging so how is it possible that they are :) Patrick is a good kid and I know he will do just fine driving but I now understand why my parents were so stressed when we reached driving age!!! Of course I had the luxury of practice driving on good ol Desmond Rd!!!!!

Our Trip To Arizona

Well we are back from our trip to Arizona and it just did not last long enough.... of course vacations never do!!!! We had a blast though! We had our entire family together which has not happened in many years!!!! We mainly hung out at my parents house and played in the pool but we spent a few hours down at the park and took some pictures of everyone..... no telling how long it will be before we are all together again!!! It was so awesome to see everyone but it was so sad when we all had to leave!!!! Below is a slide of some of the pictures that were taken when we were there but there are SOOOOOOO much more.... stay tuned for updates!!!
OH, the people in the Whole Family picture are..... Mom, Dad, Rick, Hannah, Jayna, Kali, my Grandma Betty, my Mother in law Carol, Patrick, Mikie, Pat and Myself!!

Here I am AGAIN!!!!!!!

OK... so I am not doing so good at updating this thing lately! SORRY!!!!!! I have received emails from people yelling at me about this then last night my mom starting giving me a hard time about it so I figured I better get my butt on here and update!!!


So, my mom is doing better... she had her surgery and after 2 long, agonizing weeks in the hospital she was finally released!!! It was a good thing they released her when they did... she was threatening to run away from that place at any moment! After doing the biopsy on the mass they discovered that it was cancer, however the doctor is very optimistic that he got it all out during the surgery but he is still having her do chemotherapy as a preventative measure. She had her first chemo session last week and had a few days of feeling sick but is feeling better now!!! We are all feeling good about her prognosis and we just know that she is going to be ok and back to herself in no time!!!! My Dad is doing great, feeling pretty good and being a good caretaker for my Mom. He is starting the same Photography school that I am in so I am pretty excited about having a study partner during this school!!! My family along with my brother and his family will all be in Arizona next week so my parents are REALLY looking forward to that! It has been almost 6 years (since my wedding) since we have all been together!!! That is just WAY too long!!!! And of course... we are planning on doing a ton of family photos so I will get those on here as soon as I get back into town!!!

(This is one of the last pictures we had done with all of us.... this was taken in 2001!!!

Yep, definitely time for a new one!!!!!)

The boys are doing good... they are out of school now for the summer. Patrick is working full time and Mikie has gone to Arizona to stay with my parents! He was only out of school for 2 days before he left for their house... I guess he was anxious to get out of New Mexico :)


Pat and I are just working and looking forward to our vacation time next week. I am taking 5 days off and Pat is taking 10 days.... HMMMM, must be nice!!! All I know is my house better be spotless everyday if he is going to be home while I am working... that is not too much to ask, is it???


OK, well that is pretty much the update so far. I will try to get better at updating this thing.... I hope everyone is doing great!!!!! Take care :):)

Here are the newest pictures of Patrick and Mikie, taken on

May 10, 2008!!!!

Update on Mom!

Well... my mom has been in the hospital for a week now and still has not had the surgery that she was originally scheduled for. She was due to have a hysterectomy on Monday, 4/21, to remove the huge mass that is on her ovary. Last Thursday she went to the doctor and they discovered that she had blood clots in her leg so she was immediately admitted. Finally.... after a few different procedures she no longer has blood clots in her leg. The surgery has been rescheduled for Monday so in the mean time she is going nuts sitting in this hospital!! Her spirits are pretty good... she is still having some pain but for the most part she seems to be holding up pretty well! I will update more once she has her surgery and I know more. Thank you all so much for having her in your prayers.... that means so much to all of us!!!

Here is my mom in the hospital with what my dad calls "her new best friend" (The pain meds!!)

Goodbye our dear friend

On March 31st we lost a very dear friend of ours! Chano is the brother of my husbands best friend.... but he was more than just a friend, he was part of the family! His passing was sudden and such a shock however we know that he is now in a better place and with his Mom. We love you Chano.... we will miss you forever!!!

Happy Birthday to my MOMMY!!!!

I have to say I have by far the world's BEST MOM!!!! She is the strongest person I know and she has gotten me through some really tough times over my 31 years!!! She is my best friend in the world and I could not imagine where I would be today without her!!!! Happy Birthday Mom.... I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!

Here is my mom and I on my wedding day. This is obviously not how the picture turned out but I was having a little fun with turning it different colors.... what can I say, I get bored easily!!!!

Another old picture but I love this.... and it is a very rare picture of my parents with the entire family!!!!!

Another Update!

Well it has been a couple of weeks so I guess I better do a little update on things. Nothing too much has been happening here! Mikie had his follow up appointment on Friday and everything is great! He is back to being obnoxious again and eating everything in sight!!! His incision looks like a little scratch now.... hard to believe just 3 weeks ago he had surgery!
Patrick is doing wonderful! He is leaving on Thursday for Arizona to spend a week with my Mom and Dad over Spring Break! Mikie says he enjoys being the "only child" while Patrick is gone but I know he misses the heck out of him whenever he is gone! I know I sure do!!!!!
Pat and I are just about the same..... the adoption stuff is just about final. We finished the home studies and now just have a few more papers to turn in and have our final home inspection and that should be it! We are hoping to have our approval letter arrive sometime in April. Once that happens then we just pray and hope we will soon have our little bundle of joy!!!!!
Anyways, that is about it here in the land of the Sullivans!!! Sorry there could not be more exciting news to report....

Happy Birthday Hannah!!!!

My sister in law is having a birthday today and since we cannot be with her we wanted to send a little message to her through this wonderful invention called a BLOG!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!

(OK I know this picture of Hannah is over a year old but I really like it..... it is a good picture, that is what matters)

My Poor Baby!!!

So Monday morning started out as just a normal Monday.... I was cranky because I had yet another week of work ahead, the coffee was not brewing fast enough and I was running late! Next thing I know Mikie came out crying that his stomach was bothering him. At first I just passed it off as some kind of stomach bug since Patrick and I both had that last week. I had him lay down on the couch and told him he could stay home. As time went by the pain was getting worse so I got him dressed, took Patrick to school then headed to the Emergency Room with Mikie. Within a short time we were back in a room and the doctor was already seeing us (that pretty much never happens in our ER, we usually wait at least 2 hours before we even get back to a room). Right away the doctor suspected it was his appendix but he was ordering a CT Scan just to make sure. After about an hour waiting for the results the doctor was back and sure enough it was his appendix. Mikie was doing pretty good until he found out that he had to have surgery... then the nerves kicked in. Of course I dont know who was more scared, him or I. That was absolutely the worst feeling, seeing my "baby" lying in a hospital bed getting ready to go under the knife! Well, he got through the surgery with no problems and only had to spend one night in the hospital. He is still having alot of discomfort and is moving about as fast as a 90 year old but he is showing improvements. Here is a picture of him in the pre-op right before they took him in for surgery.

Another Blog... can you believe it????

OK, so I am being told that I am slacking off on my blog again so I figured I would get just a little bit of an update in....
Pat and I have been attending parenting classes for our adoption and for the most part they are pretty fun! We have 2 more left then we are done with that part. We still of course have 1 or 2 more home studies and a home inspection then we just have to do that dreadful waiting to find out if we are approved! I am feeling pretty confident though so hopefully everything will be just fine!!!
Patrick is doing great! We had a meeting at his school last week to map out his classes for next year. He loves to cook and has decided to take culinary arts classes for his electives. He is already an awesome cook but these classes are going to be so good for him! AND the good thing is he will want to show us what he has learned so I might be able to get out of cooking a few times a week!!!! He has his first "real" girlfriend which is of course giving me a few grey hairs but she is a real sweetheart and over at our house almost every weekend!
Mikie is already starting to count the days until summer vacation! He loves school and gets excellent grades but in his words "my tank is running on "E" and I just need a break"! That kid cracks me up! He only has 1 more year left of middle school then he will be a Freshman and that is just breaking my heart. He is still my baby and and it just does not seem possible that he is growing so fast!!!
Katie and Aiden are doing good. Katie has been going to school.... I know she is pretty stressed with school but she does not have too much longer. Aiden just turned 1 on February 1st. Unfortunately we were not able to make it to Phoenix for his birthday but we are hoping to get out there sometime soon so we can see them.
I know I have already said this but I will be keeping this updated weekly (give or take a few days). Once we are done with these parenting classes then I will have more time after work to work on this. Hope everyone is doing well..... Michelle :)

OK... So I kind of slacked off on the blogging!!!!!

Well, I obviously did not keep my promise of keeping up with the blogging!!!! Life has been completely insane here, I am just so excited I am getting time to write this blog now!!!! Well, after the holidays when life is supposed to be slowing down it seemed to really speed up for us!! We have started the process of adoption which turned out to be ALOT of work but it will be so worth it in the end. We are still at the beginning stages of it all like home studies, parenting classes, etc. but we have really been moving pretty quickly and hopefully within the year we can welcome a new child to our family! On top of doing all of that we still have our normal lives of working full time plus having the joys of 2 teenage boys in our home! Anyways, I am making it a point to try to update this blog every week and I am going to try my hardest to keep that goal!!!! Here are a couple of pictures from Christmas Eve.... I will get more recent pics posted when it is not so late.

Happy Holidays!!!

Well.... it is only a week until Christmas and believe it or not I am finished with my Christmas shopping!!! That has NEVER happened! I am usually the crazy lady running around Walmart on Christmas Eve shopping for something I saw there a month before but decided to wait to buy it because I had PLENTY OF TIME before the holidays!!! Then of course what I had seen a month ago is gone so then I frantically run around trying to find a whole new gift!!! YES, I procrastinate!!!!! Well not this year!!! I am so proud of myself! Not only did I finish my Christmas shopping but I managed to get all my housework done. AND Patrick and I worked on the yard picking up leaves!! As you can see in the picture we had a few.... believe it or not that patio table and chairs is sitting on a deck..... I have never seen so many leaves in my life! Anyways, these other two pictures are from my work Christmas party on Friday night.... I dont have any Christmas party pictures with Patrick, he was too busy playing the Wii with one of his friends in another room AND it is like pulling teeth getting him to have his picture taken. Have a safe and Happy Holiday!!!!!

Aiden meets Grandpa

Pat finally got to meet his grandson, Aiden, over Thanksgiving weekend. As you can see in the picture Aiden thinks Grandpa is a pretty cool dude. Unfortunately it was a very short visit because we had a plane to catch but since Aiden is already 10 months old that visit was long overdue!!!

I know.... this was a long time ago!!!

Yes.... I know this was 5 years ago but this was the happiest day of our lives so we decided to share a couple of the pictures with everyone.

This is new to me!!!

Hello everyone- I am constantly getting requests for pictures of the kids, us, and updates on our family.... well, since I am really bad at doing something as simple as emailing a few recent pictures I decided I would try the blog thing. NOW the challenge will be actually keeping this thing updated!!! I guess we will see what happens. Hope you enjoy this :)