Cancer

It's amazing to me how many people I know that have or have had cancer. Even more amazing to me is the number of people I know that have kicked cancer to the curb and are either in remission or "Cancer Survivors". All types of cancer; colon, prostate, lymphoma, leukemia, brain, the list goes on and on.

I have known four people in my lifetime that have had a cancerous brain tumor. The first was a good friend and classmate of mine. We were 16 and she was (and still is) an amazing miracle. A year or two later another student from our school had a similar tumor and recovery. The third person was a neighbor as well as the father of two of my students. They found the tumor during my first year of teaching. He has had a long road but things are going fairly well now.

The fourth person is someone I've known his entire life. I was "sandwiched" between him and his older sister. The sister a grade ahead of me in school, and he a grade behind me. They found the tumor a few years ago after he had a series of terrible headaches. Only 26 years of age and fighting cancer.

The Lakeview Softball Tournament is a late summer tradition that goes way back to before I can remember. In recent years it had faded away as the "founding fathers" of the Lakeview Softball team I grew up watching all reached "retirement" age. A few years ago it was re-established and organized once again. One of the highlights for me was watching my father come "out of retirement" and play so that Lakeview could field two teams. He even donned his old school softball pants the second night. I love my family and watching my dad, two brothers, and husband play on the same team was so wonderful, even if their team did get eliminated after two games!

The proceeds of this year's tournament will go to my classmate and childhood friend to assist with medical bills. I was asked to take the footage and put together a video since he was unable to attend this year.

So, without further ado...

Lakeview Tourney

Just a quick post before I head off to bed. Recently I (Jodi) have been working with video footage from the 2011 Lakeview Softball Tournament. I really like to make videos using both motion and still photography and although I would not claim to be excellent at it, I learn a bit more each time I work on a project. Usually when I have a task like this I jump right to it and work until its completed. This time was a bit different (more about that in my next post). I struggled to compose the video I envisioned and had a hard time deciding on music, which is VERY unlike me. I did eventually end up with four videos. Two are just uncut footage because I like to add it to the completed DVD. The one I will share tonight, er...this morning, is a video done from a preset that I used to get the creative juices flowing. Though I don't totally love it, it has some fun elements. Okay, enough talking...here's the video:




I promise I will post again very soon and post the other video, explain a bit more about this project, and talk about why it was hard to get these videos put together. Lots on my mind and in my heart but it will need to wait for a more awake time!

Those promised pictures...

As promised, pictures of beautiful Glacier National Park. George and I took the trip last summer. The pictures don't do it justice. I promised some photos...here they are. So beautiful. I would definitely suggest visiting the park if you get the chance but make sure to bring a sweatshirt! Above George looks at the majestic mountains in the first part of the trip that caused him to fall in love with Montana. (I keep telling him he has to visit in the winter as well to make a fully informed decision about the state.)





I will leave you with my favorite...

Exciting Day

I have been really bad about blogging through the school year. But now it is summer! (Cue cheer sound effects!) I was planning to upload some of the promised Glacier photos from last summer....but the inter-web is being stupid at the moment and does not like to have to work very hard. Hmmm, that reminds me of someone I know who is currently on summer break!

Since I cannot upload photos this is just a post to say "I'm still alive!" and to promise a post or two in the near future. In the meantime, I am going to a Taylor Swift concert tonight!!!! I'm super excited about it. I will try to get some photos taken and posted of that as well. So, as Miranda Priestly says on The Devil Wears Prada "That's all..."

School Daze...

Ah, it's been awhile! Oops :) I should have blogged about our trip to Glacier National Park and our visit in Montana with family there. I should have blogged about the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. I should have...but I didn't! So, maybe those entries will come later! For now, I thought I'd upload a more recent picture of our "babies" and update on our everyday life.


Okay, first of all our dogs are doing well. Lola continues to frustrate us one moment and crack us up the next. She is truly the oddest dog I've ever met! So very weird...
They only thing they are unhappy with is that we are back in school which means they have reduced freedom during the day.

We are having a wonderful school year so far! The Senior class this year is a lot of fun and has really set a positive tone for the whole school. We both have pretty good schedules (well, as good as it gets I guess) and except for a few minor complaints, we have had a terrific first month.

College football season has begun again, so George believes all is right with the world. Saturdays are full of football for George and sleeping/cleaning/boredom for Jodi. Oh well...such is life and although I (Jodi) hate to admit it, I love this time of year--football and all.

Beyond that, life is normal again and 6:45 a.m. feels too early every morning :) We are enjoying occasional Fridays off creating nice three day weekends...this weekend is one of those! So, happy weekend everyone.

Family Vacation

My parents decided that our whole family should take a little vacation together this summer to celebrate Jon's separation from the Marine Corps. They decided to take us to Minneapolis for a Minnesota Twins game (we are all Twins fans except George). The Twins are now in their new stadium, Target Field. We had a wonderful weekend together and I'm so thankful for a great family! So, here's the trip in pictures:

We walked to a local Irish Pub for supper...we didn't want to deal with parking but we ended up having to deal with cabs because it began to storm, and I mean STORM while we were eating and continued to rain (we sat in the pub for quite awhile trying to wait it out). We got to see the stadium as we walked to the pub though so it was fun (and the pub became absolutely crazy after the Twins beat the White Sox 3 to 2 on Saturday night).

We spent Saturday night at Normandy Inn...and had milk and cookies at 10 p.m. Jon had a buddy from the Marine Corps. that lives near the Twin Cities that met up with us (his father came too) for supper at the pub and then came back to the motel to visit.


Sunday we got up and headed to the stadium early for the game. It was great walking around and then just hanging out before the game began!

We ate lunch at the stadium...here the rest of my family is sitting in their seats eating/getting their picture taken! We had GREAT seats...right behind the Twins Dugout close enough to see facial expressions on the field. It was awesome!

Here I am in my Twins gear...including my new Joe Mauer t-shirt (Jon couldn't resist being a bit immature and giving me "bunny ears").

Joe Mauer himself :o)

The game was wonderful with the Twins winning 7 to 6 in the 9th inning. They led at the beginning, trailed by 3 from about the 5th or 6th inning on...and then won it in the 9th...super exciting! It was the first walk-off win at Target Field so we witnessed history!

We converted George into a Twins fan...

It was a great weekend! Thanks Mom and Dad :0)

Fourth of July pics

Okay, I promised to post some pictures from our 4th of July/Welcome Home Jon party. First of all, it was a great time! We had around 40 people or so come for a cookout and fireworks. Despite the enormous amount of flies, the night was fairly perfect. The weather cooperated perfectly and we (George and I) were very happy with the way things went! We've decided we might be getting the hang of entertaining and we are enjoying having people over.

Okay, so the pictures...

"Baby James" enjoyed the fireworks...

And so did the adorable Lilly...

We had a beautiful sunset (which is normal in Lakeview, we have lovely sunsets almost every summer evening).

George hands out sparklers :)

A group of people visiting after supper (waiting for dark).

George sitting with a bunch of the guys shooting off bottle rockets!

George did an enormous amount of grilling which was fabulous. He is great on the grill, I'm a lucky girl :) All in all, it was a really great evening! We are planning to do it again.