Has it really been a year and a half since I've posted to this blog?!  Doesn't seem possible....just goes to show you how quickly time can get away from you!  As I look at the date on this last post I remember what took me away from blogging in the first place - Owen's diagnosis of Prostate Cancer.  Looking back so much has happened since July of 2010!

First off Owen is fine - thanks again to all our family and friends who gave their love and support.  Owen had surgery in September 2010 and has since had a full (and Cancer free) recovery! And although they will continue to monitor his PSA (prostate specific antigen - blood test used to detect Prostate Cancer) - we have no reason to believe that he won't remain Cancer free.

Hannah is now midway through her 7th grade year and doing very well.  It's hard to believe that she'll be an official "teen" in less 8 months - although judging by her attitude those teen years have already begun!  Really though, in all honesty it hasn't been bad - she can't help that she comes by it naturally :)  She took a year off from competitive gymnastics last year (6th grade) and has recently begun competing again.  I'm not certain she will continue past this year - I think she's experiencing growing pains - being an older gymnast in a level with some younger girls.  The last meet we attended @ Furman University in Greenville, SC did much to boost her confidence - she achieved 1st place in 2 events, 2nd place in 2 events and 1st place overall in her age group (12 yo).  We'll see if she continues after this year.  Some days she's very gung ho about going to the gym, other days not so much...  Spending 14+ hours a week in the gym leaves her little time for anything else other than school work but we'll see - as I said some days she loves it some days she doesn't.

Here's some photos from the meet @ Furman University:

Balance Beam - one of her first place events

I was trying very hard not to have lens envy while taking these pictures!

Flying through the air with the greatest of ease?

LOVE this photo!

Happy girl - very proud of her!

Patrick has turned into quite the character.  He is a 4th grader with the mind of someone much older.  The things he remembers is just mind boggling - and scary, LOL!  You better not tell him anything you don't want to have repeated to you a day, week, month or year down the road because it will come back to (haunt?) you!  He has given up soccer and baseball for tennis - a sport he loves.  He plays tennis after school on Mondays and Wednesdays and is always disappointed if it gets rained out or he can't go for some reason.  Patrick has always been a team player and enjoyed playing soccer and baseball but I think tennis just fits his personality better.

His other love is playing the guitar - he started playing guitar just over a year ago using the Baby Taylor acoustic guitar he received for his birthday from his Aunt Melinda.  His number one request for Christmas was an electric guitar.  And he was very specific (as he always is) - it had to be red and it had to be a Fender!  Nothing else would do.  He sits down every afternoon/evening and just plays away on his guitar!

When he's not playing tennis or guitar you can usually find him outside with Owen.  This past hunting season he was in the deer stand with his Daddy 99% of the time - if he was out of school he was hunting.  And if he's not hunting he's fishing!  This past summer at Litchfield (our favorite place to spend our summer vacay) Patrick landed a huge trout - one big enough to stop people driving by:

Besides tennis and guitar Patrick also auditioned for a play last year put on by the school district we are in.  He went to auditions, got up on stage all by himself and sang a song from "Seussical".  Can't believe he did that - not something Owen or I would have ever done at his age (9 at the time).  And he got the part of one of the Wickersham Brothers in the play!  For 3 months he went to practice Mon-Thur for 3-4 hrs each night also practicing on some weekends and days off from school.  We were so proud of his dedication and bravery, LOL!  It was so amazing to see him up on that stage.  The play ran for 8 nights and was just amazing.  If you've never seen "Seussical" it truly is a great play - brings back alot of memories from all the Dr. Seuss books we've loved over the years! (and if I can figure out a way to get those pictures from Shutterfly onto this blog I'll share them!).

As I said Owen had a Robotic Prostatectomy in September of 2010 and has since made a full recovery.  He continues to work as a Dermatology Nurse Practitioner @ Anderson Skin and Cancer Clinic.  After a 9 month hiatus Owen has returned to the tennis courts.  He had to stop playing due to his surgery but got back out on the courts this summer.  And of course he still enjoys spending as much time as he can either hunting or fishing.  He still misses the salt water but we have adapted to the lakes we have here.

In October Owen took a trip out west to Montana to go hunting for Mule Deer....and was successful in shooting quite the trophy buck - which will be gracing a wall in our house sometime in the near future!

And Me?  I'm still playing tennis 3 days a week (most months) and am still loving it!  Still looking for the day when I can make Owen work for a win against me....feel lucky when I'm able to win a game or two against him.  When I'm not playing tennis I'm usually in the car taking kids back and forth to school, gymnastics and tennis.  Hard to believe I put 26,000 miles on my Denali the first year I had it!  I can remember the days (not in the too distant past) when I didn't put more than 7,000 miles on a car in a year.  And just for fun I'll share a few pictures of Owen and I:

This was taken in October 2011 @ my (gasp!!) 30th reunion for Windsor Forest High School - really?  30 years?

Owen and I at the Georgian Terrace Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia

And finally our last bit of news to share :)  We are awaiting the closing on 213 acres of land we are purchasing here in Anderson, County.  It's an area across the street from a man made lake here in Anderson (Broadway Lake).  The land is perfect for Owen - populated with deer, hogs, turkeys and ducks.  There's a natural duck impoundment on the property.  On one border is Broadway Creek which feeds into the Lake.  And there is a very cool house on the property.  It's origin is unknown but it appears to have been constructed sometime around the late 1800s.  Unfortunately it burned sometime ago - there are trees growing in what used to be the bottom floor of the building - so it hasn't been habitable for a long time. 

Owen and Patrick standing on the front porch in front of what was once the front door.

Hannah and Patrick standing by Broadway Creek

This is a HUGE oak tree we found on the property - that's Owen standing in front of it

He can't even get his arms half-way around the trunk of the tree

For those of you who really know me did ya think you'd ever see me stomping around in the woods wearing camo cowboy boots?

The area around the burned out house is surrounded by huge black walnut and pecan trees

View of the lake from the highest point on our property

The remains of the old house.  Nothing left but brick, burned wood, trees, and vines

Foundation of the house - this is what I assume used to be a crawl space under the house - you can see where the house was built up on top of granite slabs

Standing outside to the left of the front door looking up - 2+ stories with fireplaces on all stories in each room

corner room - note the tree growing

windowsill - what little wood is left on the house is completely charred

another view into a room choked with vines and trees

This gnarled mess completely blocks the doorway to this room

This is the remainder of the back exterior wall of the house.  There is a room to the right (foreground).

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A look at the stones making up the foundation of the house

For now the property will be for recreational (read "hunting") purposes only, but I won't rule out building a house on it in the future.  If you had asked me 3 weeks ago if I would ever build a house I would have told you no.   Funny - if you had asked Owen or I 7+ years ago if we would ever live anywhere else but Savannah our answer would have been no.  Yet here we are just shy of being in our house for 7 years.  Funny what life has in store for you!

Thanks for reading the update (sorry for the book!) and I promise to do a better job keeping our friends and family more up to date with what's going on here.  Remember - our door is always open - stop by anytime!

Hugs!!!!
Owen, Cathy, Hannah & Patrick