Ryan Hess is a friend of my brother Mike. I just heard about his diagnosis and hope that by posting this I can help out some how. I can't imagine how hard things are for them right now. If there is any way you can help, please do. They are an incredible family.

***FEDERAL EMPLOYEES- PLEASE DONATE LEAVE TO RYAN HESS***

My name is Margie Hess, my husband Ryan was diagnosed on June 12, 2009 with a rare and aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Since this is an aggressive form of T-Cell Lymphoma, his doctor has put him on an aggressive chemo regimen that will result in him being unable to work for the next 4-6 months and possibly longer. At the time of diagnosis he was finishing up his 1st year as a Podiatry Resident at the V.A. in Tucson, AZ. Ryan is a devoted husband and father of two children, Hallie (5) and Max (2). By the end of this month (June 2009), Ryan will use up the last of his vacation and sick leave and will have to go on unpaid leave. Ryan is the sole provider for our family; I stay at home with both the kids. Without him working we have no income. I need to stay home to help care for him, so I cannot get a job right now, either. As difficult as it is for our family to have to ask for help, we have realized that we must do so at this time. We were told that any federal employee (ie: military, Border Patrol, DEA, FB I, Dept of Justice, EPA etc. EXCEPT Post Office employees) can donate vacation time to be used as sick leave for another Federal employee. We would be so thankful for any number of extra paid days we can accumulate. Thank you so much.

How can you help if you ARE a Federal Employee?

Go to your HR department and request to donate leave to Ryan Hess who works for the VA. (Your HR person will know the form that needs to be filled out- each Federal agency has their own form to donate leave)

Once filled out and signed, the HR person will then need to fax or e-mail the form to:
OLIVIA McCLURE – Benefits Specialist (TUCSON V.A.)Phone #: (520) 792-1450 x 6076Fax # : (520) 629-1849E-Mail : olivia.mcclure@va.gov

ALSO, for those who are federal employees, please print out this message and post it in break/lunch rooms to help get the word out as well as emailing it to co-workers!

How to help if you are NOT a Federal Employee:

PASS this along to ANYONE and EVERYONE that you know and then ask them to pass the message along. Post it on blogs, Facebook…whatever you can think of.

Thanks again everyone- this will help SO much!GO TEAM RYAN HESS!(E-mail teamryanhess@gmail.com to receive updates or to send a message!)

Our Summer Bucket List

We decided to create a Summer Bucket List of things for us to do before the summer kicks the bucket. Okay, well it was more my idea put Chad consented. He's a good sport like that: ) I'm writing them here so we'll have a place to look at them and we'll be more accountable this way too.

Chad and Vandi's Summer Bucket List
(in no particular order....)

Lay on the roof in the rain (don't worry we'll watch out for lightening)
Go mud-digging (and just incase that's a SV term it means going fourwheeling in the mud)
Climb to the top of the mountain in the back yard (straight up)
Go to the Logan temple together
Put together an Ultimate Frisbee Game
Write our names in the sand at Bear Lake
Make a new dish and dessert together
Swing on the Osmond Elementary swings together
Get some cool family pictures taken
Get some pictures of the girls printed and framed
Fly kites with Emyri
Sneak up to the place we had our first kiss and get a pic (its "no trespassing" now)
Play night games (are we absolutely too old for that?)
Do something big for someone else
Read Jesus The Christ together
Write a song together

Wish us luck. It should be fun: )

Brinley's Blessing Day

Brinley was blessed on June 9th. I felt better about the fact that it took us three and a half months to get her blessed when I found out the other baby being blessed that day was born only a week after Brinners: )

Fortunatly, her blessing dress still fit and she looked adorable in it. The bad news is I left our camera at Aleesha's that day, so we have yet to get a picture of her in her dress. In fact, I better get on that soon before she's too big to even fit in it! haha

The blessing really was awesome. I asked Chad what it was like to give your baby their blessing. In his brief way, he turned to me and quietly said, "It's neat", but the look in his eyes said so much more. And I'm glad he gets to have that experience with our babies. I get to carry them inside me, feel their movements, bond with them in ways that he quite can't. I think it's so neat that he gets to bless them and continue to bless them throughout their lives. That will always be something that is part of their relationship and I love that.

It was a good day with it's own little tender mercies and miracles. One of them being the way Brinley suddenly and quietly fell asleep during the opening hymn and and slept peacefully through her blessing. Not always an easy feat with Brinley: ) Chad was worried that she would cry and scream through the blessing....cuz our Brinley can scream! But it turned out perfect and meant so much to all of us.

What a neat day.

"What Heaven Sees In You" is a special song for me and my girls. I listened to it a lot when I was pregnant with Emyri and it's one I sing to them almost every night.

Finally Netters...I complete your tag: )

5 things - Tagged by RaNette

5 things I was doing 5 years ago (2004):

1. Finishing up my first incredible year at Snow College
2. Moving home for the summer to work at the Care Center
3. Missing Chad.....writing Chad
4. Finished an awesome training camp for the institute council
5. Playing my guitar

5 things on my to-do list for TODAY

1. Play outside in the sun with my little family
2. Get things ready for our BBQ tonight! : )
3. Work out
4. Plan the nursery lesson for tomorrow
5. Call Deb to see how she and the twiners are doing.

5 things I would do with a million dollars

1. Invest it, save it, and live off the same budget I do now. (I had to dido this one from RaNette)
2. Go back to Chad's mission together and build Pablo a house.
3. Pay off Aleesha's medical bills; )
4. Hide money in my friends and families houses for them to later find.
5. My guilty pleasure would be to buy myself, Chad, and the girls a whole new wardrobe!

5 places I've lived

1. In the same sweet fixer upper for 18 years : ) (That'll always be home)
2. in an over-priced one bedroom apartment
3. in a third floor college apartment with five other girls in E-town (oh the memories: )
4. A moldy, low roofed basement apartment (oh the memories!)
5. On a house boat in lake mead for a week

5 jobs I've held

1. Lawn Mower and maintenance worker at the Box-H
2. Car Hop, Shake Maker, Burger Flipper at the Red Baron
3. CNA at the Care Center
4. Cashier at Nield's Market
5. Currently I'm a full time hot mamasita

5 things I want to be doing in 5 years

1. being amazed with another baby
2. completing my Social Work licensure and looking into my
3. writing more songs
4. still be laughing at everything Chad says
5. making memories with my hubbers and girls

Soon Enough....Soon Enough

I just want to apologize for all of the blog addresses that I don't have on the side bar over here. I've been wanting to reorganize my list for a long time now, but I can just imagine how long it's going to take.....so I have yet to face and conquer the beast! : ) But know that I have my ways of getting to your blog. And soon enough, I will even have your link posted!

ok....another link post. Lame I know, but it's summer and everyone's looking for a rockin' swim suit. Check out Lime Rickey. They have some fun stuff. And I promise I'll get a normal post in one of these days!

These guys are so cool. Since I discovered them I've been going through their "missions". I just think it's cool that someone actually does the things that I think of but never have the guts nor manpower to do: ) The best thing is that their scenes just usually make peoples day. I imagine the bystanders rushing home to tell their family and friends, "You'll never guess what happened to me today......." Cheers to causing a scene for all to enjoy!

This link has one of my favorite missions: Food Court Musical