We love you Tucker!

Ryan and I spent our first weekend apart this weeked as a married couple. I went to be a maid of honor for my best friend, Julie's wedding in Texas this weekend while Ryan spent the weekend at the beach with his parent's and brother adam since he couldnt get off work in time to go to Texas with me. When we returned from our trips we got the sad news that Tucker had not been doing well over the weekend while my sister had been watching him. He wasn't eating very well, which is not like Tucker at all. His health got really bad Monday night and he was having a lot of trouble breathing and wouldn't eat much at all. By Tuesday morning he was really having trouble breathing and wouldn't eat much. When I got home tonight he couldn't walk out of his crate and I had to carry him to the car. I took him to see his favorite girls at the vet. He of course, in his normal Tucker fashion ate up all the attention they were giving him but we could all tell how uncomfortable he was. He had xrays done and they showed us that the cancer had spread all over his lungs, a tumor was pressing on his trachia and esophogus which was making it hard for him to eat or breath. Poor thing put up a tough front until he just couldnt handle it any more. Ryan was at the fire station but had told me earlier in the day that if it was bad he didnt want him to suffer just so he could be there. So I could tell it was time to let him be at peace and stop suffering. Poor Doctor Murphy was about as upset as I was! They have all taken such good care of him and believed in him when other vets didn't and took chances on him when other vets advised not to. They were his angels here on earth. Now he is up in heaven with Maggie and he is waiting on us.
He started out as Ryan's dog, he was with Ryan before I was but he touched so many of us and brought so much laughter and joy into our lives. I always joked that I stole him from Ryan. Ill never forget him running circles in the field chasing the model air planes Ryan was flying or playing in the snow or the way he would sleep on his back with his paws in the air or how his eye brows would move all the time. My favorite memory of him is when we took him to the beach right after his leg was amputated and he just rolled in the sand like it was the best feeling ever. I am so glad that he got to do all that. He was such an amazing boy and we miss him so much already. Poor Hoyt doesn't know what to do without him. That was his buddy. When I came home tonight without Tucker Gracie and Hoyt both sat still beside me while I fed them and ate very quietly without fighting over food and were very calm and stuck to my side the entire night. I don't know if this is true but they really did seem to know that something was wrong and that I needed some extra comfort. The calmness in them is something completely unusual.

We love you and miss you Tucker!

Engagement Pictures

Please go to our photographers website and check out our engagement pictures! They turned out so good! Now we have to pick out which ones we like best!

www.allurephotous.com

Click on the Left hand side where it says proofs and ordering. Then when the new window opens up you have to enter your email address twice and your name. Then be sure to click on the upper left hand side to see all of the pictures he took.

Three More WEEKS!!!!!!!!!

WOW!!! Everyone told me that it would fly by, but I didn't realize it until the other day when I was looking at the calendar and realizing that this Saturday will be three weeks until the big day!!!!! I am so excited, people keep asking me if I am nervouse and I really am not! I mean I am nervous about the weather (but I know I can't do anything about that!) but I am not nervous about getting married, I am just excited! The last five years being with him has brought me so much joy, contentment, laughter and excitment that I can only imagine how much fun we are going to have in the future! I am ready for 5:00 May 2, 2009 because thats when the fun really starts! He will officially not be able to boot me out the door every night at 10! =)

These past few weeks have been really busy... Ryan had his bachelor party in March and then I had a wonderful shower given to me by Maxine, Grace and Emily! Be sure to check back later this weekend for some pictures of the shower we had so much fun at! Then last weekend I had a wonderful bachelorette weekend with my wonderful girls! They all went through so much and planned everything out great! It was so much fun and I want to go back next year with them! We have to start an annual trip! If the boys can have their weekends at the beach or race then we can have our weekend at the beach! =)

This weekend is Easter so we are staying home and working on getting everything looking good for the "Stock the Shed" shower that the Grubbs Family is throwing for us next weekend! Poor Ryan has to spend his "last" four day weekend cleaning and moving some of my stuff into his house! I think he'll survive! I might even let him have Sunday afternoon off to watch the masters... if hes good! =) (Im only kidding Ryan!)

Please check back later this weekend for some updates and I will post some pictures... I know I am terrible at posting on here!

We hope you all have the best Easter possible! I know this one is going to be so special for Ryan and I... next year we'll just be two old married people! =)

Busy Weekend

We have a really busy weekend coming up! Ryan is leaving tomorrow morning for his bachelor party! He is so excited! He is going to be able to meet up with a bunch of his buddies that he grew up with and they are going down to Myrtle Beach for a fun weekend of golf, hanging out, and BOY stuff. =) I am really excited for him! he doesn't get a chance to see his friends as much as he would like since they all live in different areas. They are all a really great group of guys who have been so so nice to me and welcomed me into their "mob" (Joe's word, not mine!). I feel so privileged that they have been so welcoming to me, I have a feeling they don't do that for just anyone. I am glad they think I am worthy of Ryan!

I was supposed to be in Fayetteville, NC Friday, Saturday and Sunday in a Fire Inspector Level III course but it unfortunately got canceled and the makeup time is... May 1, 2, and 3rd! I couldn't believe the luck! I, of course, am not going to the makeup class so unless I can find another class at a different location I am not going to be able to sit for my Level III test until December of this year. Since I am not going to Fayetteville this weekend my mom wanted to get a chance to spend some time with me before the wedding so she and I are going to drive down to her place in Emerald Isle (don't worry guys... its no where near Myrtle Beach!). We are going to be working on the wedding stuff. We have a bunch of projects that we are going to try and get done and just have a relaxing weekend. My sweet sister has agreed to watch the dogs for me this weekend. Thanks Kim! Tucker requires a little extra attention since his leg has been gone, well really the only thing you have to do is yell at him to slow down! He chases Hoyt around the yard and gets along great. When it rains or is a little damp he slides and has fallen a couple of times on the concrete under the porch. He hasn't shown any other symptoms of being in pain or uncomfortable. He is really doing wonderful. It has been so great to see him out at the lake swimming and doing all these things we didn't know if he would ever be able to do again.

We hope you all have a wonderful and safe weekend!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Whew! I knew that planning this wedding would be time consuming but I don't think I realized exactly HOW time consuming it would be! Ryan teased me at the beginning that if I kept up that speed of planning that I would be done with the wedding planning way before the wedding! This is one time that I get to say... he was WRONG! However, I am so glad that I have such great helpers! My mom and Nancy have been SUCH a big help! Along with our friends, my family, his family and all our wedding vendors its really coming along together great! I am so thankful for everyone putting their time and effort into helping us out with these wedding plans! Ryan and I are in the middle of our wedding counseling classes and we are constantly learning new things about each other, even when we think we know everything about one another! I have to say that I am so lucky to have Ryan as a fiance and future husband. All of you that know Ryan know how particular he is about his house. Well since we got engaged his house has been the storage place for all the wedding stuff. Not only that I have now started to move some of my furniture and things to his house a little at a time and so its been a bit of a mess. He has been really understanding about it (instead of dying like I thought he would!). Also, he has been so helpful with the wedding stuff. He gets very bored with the wedding talk but when he sees me working hard on something (and its cutting into his relaxing on the couch time with me!) he jumps right in to help! All joking aside, he has really been a lot more understanding and helpful than I ever though he would be. I am very impressed with how he is handling it and it just reminds me every day how lucky I am. I love him very much! I can't believe its less than 7 weeks to go!

I fixed the pictures!

I know, I know... the pictures I posted a while back were REALLY small... Im still not sure what I did wrong but I finally managed to figure out how to make them the right size, I really don't know what I did to fix the problem!

Just a few updates....

Ryan has been a little under the weather with a sinus infection lately. Everytime one of us gets a cold we ALWAYS get a sinus infection afterwards! (Very normal the doctors tell me) About a month ago I got a really bad cold and then I got better, right after I started feeling better he got my cold, then I got a sinus infection after he got better from his cold and then he got the sinus infection. Hopefully we are done with all this craziness!!!

We have been busy trying to get all the invitations together to get them mailed out. Still trying to nail down a videographer but other than that most everything is done except for the minor things!

We are so excited and we can't wait!

Updates

As I promised a LONG time ago I am finally getting some pictures up from some of the wedding things we have been doing...



Cake tasting with Nancy and Kim (my sister). My mom was out of town and hated to miss it but she got to go to the other cake tasting with me!



Ryan and I opening our first wedding present!



Ryan and I went last week and picked out our wedding bands!



Last night Nancy and Tommy took Ryan, my mom and I out to dinner to celebrate our engagement! We went to dinner at Diamondback who is also catering our reception! It is going to be delicious!




All of us at dinner.



Nancy, Ryan, Casey and Tommy



Ryan, Me and my Mom



Ryan and I



Ryan and I



How sweet!



Kiss on the cheek!

Busy weekend!

This weekend was so much fun! Ryan, Nancy, Tommy and I all went to the bull riding on Friday night. We had a blast as usual! It was so much fun. Ryan and I go every year! Saturday Ryan had to work but I went with my Mom and Nancy and we met for lunch and went to pick out invitations! We always have so much fun! I came home and took care of Tucker, poor thing fell again on Saturday and has a big bruise! He doesn't know he has to slow down! Ryan had a good day Saturday too, his best friend Joe was in town from Charlotte and came by to visit him at the fire station with his dad. Ryan was really excited that he got to see him! We had to miss April and Charlies party on Saturday which we were really bummed about! Ryan had to work and I needed to watch Tucker after his fall to make sure he was doing OK. Sunday I woke up with a little cough and wasn't feeling so great but we went had to go to church anyways! Sunday was the first day of our marriage class at church! It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be! There was three other couples in the class with us and we got to interact with them and get a bunch of opinions! It was nice to be with a lot of people that are going through the same things we are right now. One of Ryan's good friends (and groomsman!) Tyler Talton, is in that class too! (His dad is going to marry us!) We are so excited for Tyler, his fiance Jen was really nice and I can't wait to get to know her more!
This week is going to be pretty busy! We have a bunch of things to get done. We are going to try and go out to eat at Diamond back one night this week with my mom and Nancy and Tommy. I can't wait!
We hope that every ones first month of the new year was a good one! We are counting down the days, hard to believe that tomorrow it will only be THREE more MONTHS until the BIG DAY!!!!!!!!

Tucker is home!

Tucker had surgery on Tuesday and I brought him home on Wednesday! His wound looks terrible but he doesn't know it! He has been dragging us everywhere! He doesn't know what SLOW DOWN means! He is so funny, still the same old Tucker! He follows us around everywhere and won't use the ramp I got him so he doesn't have to hop down the steps! I follow him around everywhere to make sure he doesn't fall and bust open the wound but so far he has been doing great, even on the hardwood floor which he slides on a little!
I am so happy that we did this, the first night was TOUGH! He whined and panted all night and didn't get any sleep... neither did I! We talked to his vet and we changed his meds around a little and gave it to him right before bed and from what I hear he slept all night! He is showing off for his dad... the first night he was home Ryan was at work and I slept on the floor beside him and he whined all night! However when his dad is home he behaves like an angel and I wasn't there to see it!





Tonight Ryan and I are going to see Bull Riding! SO excited! Its my favorite thing to watch!
We can't wait for the wedding, we have just about everything figured out for the wedding. The only thing we are lacking is a videographer. My mom, Nancy and I are going Saturday to pick out invitations! We just finished addressing all the save the dates and they are going out in the mail tomorrow! I can't wait for everyone to see it! We are so excited for everyone to come to this wedding... its going to be a blast! Nancy and Tommy's farm is so beautiful and we are going to have a great band and good food and lots of fun! We are so excited to see everyone! I have some pictures of us registering I am going to post on here this weekend... it was so funny! Ryan wouldn't turn over the scanner... I think he thought I may get too much girly stuff!

News on Tucker

Well, the biopsy came back positive for osteosarcoma, one of the most common bone cancers in dogs. Tomorrow Tucker is going to have his leg amputated and then he is going to recover a few days at the vet and if they feel like it has not spread to his lungs he will get started on some Chemo. If it has spread to his lungs he will just get to come home and enjoy the rest of his time with us! This is not going to cure him. He will still have cancer. Unfortunately osteosarcoma is a very fast spreading cancer. We would never allow Tucker to suffer but as of right now he is the same old Tucker, when I went to visit he was running around his kennel and jumping up on me (balancing on his only good back leg!)It was a hard decision to make but as the vet told us, "he is doing really well on three legs now!" It helps a lot that our vet is so supportive. They are coming in early tomorrow to do Tuckers surgery! No one can tell us how long he will last with this but they can tell us that amputating his leg will help him live a better quality life and will take away the pain he is experiencing now. All I know is that me and Ryan together can do a lot of spoiling in that time!

We will keep you updated!

Please pray for our Tuck Man

Hi everyone, I know I have been terrible in adding posts lately. We have had a ton of stuff going on and it seems I never have a chance to sit down and add posts.

I promise this weekend I will add a bunch of new posts with pictures for them.

Right now Ryan and I are having a tough time. Our dog (technically it was his dog before we met, but its a big joke that I have stolen him from Ryan) Tucker was playing in the yard on Monday with our other dogs and my moms dog and all of a sudden he started yelping and howling. His left rear leg was just hanging. Ryan and I immediately took him to Union Cross Animal Hospital where I used to work (they are so great!). Dr. Murphy and all the girls took him back and tried to get an xray. They couldn't get a great shot because he was in so much pain but they could see that he had broken his femur. They took some blood work and the next day sedated him and were able to get a better xray. They could see that he had broken his femur completely and had bone fragments in the leg. None of the doctors there could understand how he broke his leg so badly just playing with the dogs. They were concerned that he may have a pathelogical break (a tumor or something wrong with the bone that weakens it). I told them that, Tucker was the dog that jumped out of the back of Ryans truck as he was driving! How could he survive that with no broken bones and break a leg playing with the dogs! They sent the xrays off to a radiology specialist to have her read it and see if she thought their was any tumors. She did not see any. We then took Tucker to Dr. Vernon at Kernersville Animal Hospital (they are great too!)to do the surgery, he said they would put a plate on the bone and pins. They did surgery on him this morning. Ryan called me at 8:15 with the news that Dr. Vernon had found a spot on his leg that he thought may be tumors. They took a sample of it and sent it off to be biopsied and since they didn't want to put a plate on it if it was cancer they just wired his leg to stabilize it. Hopefully by tomorrow we will have the results back for the tumor. It sure doesn't look good if it is cancer. Thats why we need everyone to pray for him.
Ryan has had Tucker since 2001. We started dating in 2004 and he has always been Ryan's buddy. I have gotten as attached to him as my other dogs. He is my buddy as well, all he ever wants to do is be with you and make you happy. We laugh at him because you can leave the door open to the basement (where his crate is for when it is too hot or cold for him to be outside) and he will run inside and get in his crate. Infact, Monday before all this happened we were out in the yard with him and Hoyt and we were playing with Hoyt and Tucker was sitting by the basement door waiting to go inside. He loves to be with people. He is so laid back, I tell everyone that he is the only one of the dogs that has any sense! He is our buddy and I don't know what we would do without him. He is the reason I saw Ryan for the first time (Ryan brought him in to Dr. Dixon's office where I was working at that time).
Please pray for him, and for Ryan. I know this is difficult for us. A lot of people don't understand how attached you can become to dogs, but they really are a part of our family. Anyways, please just keep them in your prayers. Thanks! Ill keep you updated.