Fundraiser for my BFF

As many of you know, one of my best friends has been battling Stage IV cancer of unknown origin for 3 1/2 years now.

I wanted to let you know about a book I have created on Shauna's behalf. It is an 8 1/2" x 11" soft-bound printed book that combines many of Shauna's amazing Galapagos photos with selected writings from her blog. Many of the writings are from her experience with Write Around Portland.

With her permission, I am selling copies of this book as a fundraiser for the Shauna Berglund-Immel Lifeline Fund. My cost for the book is $22 plus shipping (approx. $2). Any donation in addition to the $24 will be donated to Shauna.

This book has been a labor of love and a celebration of my friendship with Shauna. I would be greatly touched to share this book with all who love and support Shauna.

If you would like to order a book, please contact me via email:

parisdukes@comcast.net

You may make checks payable to me, Paris Dukes, or send payment via paypal at jandpdukes@comcast.net. My address is:

12235 SW Fulmar Terrace
Beaverton, OR 97007

I will forward any donations (not including the price of the book) to the Immel family as the orders come in.

Thank you for your continued support. Your donations will be greatly appreciated. Please contact me with any questions.

Fondly,
Paris

Today I am Thankful...

Over on Facebook, there was a challenge to post one thing that you are thankful for each day before Thanksgiving. It has been such a blessing for me to think about all of the good things in my life, especially when things have been so hard for many that I love.

I hope each and every one of you have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day. May you have a wonderful day!!

Here are a few things I am so thankful for....

• My husband. He is my rock, my best friend, my true love.
• My daughter. She makes me so proud everyday. Being her mom is the best job in the world.
• Living in Oregon. My beautiful home sweet home.
• My friends and family. I am so blessed to know such love and kindness.

Much more to be thankful for, but those are some of the biggies :)

Happy 15!!!!!

Happy 15th birthday to my baby girl. You are the best thing to ever happen to your dad and me. We love you with all of our heart and soul. You make our lives complete. How did you ever get to be so grown up and lovely? It happened in the blink of an eye, and we have enjoyed every second. You make us proud everyday, Natalie Jayne. xoxoxoxo

Where do I start???

Life has been a blur since August.... wondering how to put it all into words.

We had a great time at USPC Western Championships. The rental RV worked out great and Nat did a great job as both a member of a Quiz team and as Stable Manager for a Show Jumping Team. She made lots of new friends and had a fun time!

I had several interviews for part-time employment... and did not get any of the jobs. Thinking there was a reason for that. I think you will agree when you keep reading... although a pay check would be really nice about now.

Memo did not sell yet. The funny (?) part is that she has been AWESOME! We are thinking that giving her a break from showing this summer, lots of bareback work, and Natalie growing a ton has helped them both! They have had some amazing rides so we are just kind of going with it right now. We had to suck it up and buy a (very used!) horse trailer (lost our ride to PC meetings) so that should give us lots of freedom to get out and do some schooling shows and clinics. Looking forward to some fun horsey times this fall. And yes, I am learning how to drive the horse trailer and we all survived the inaugural voyage. Go me.

Natalie is now a FRESHMAN in high school! How did that happen?? She is at the same school... ACMA... and continues to love it. She is very buried in homework as she is taking three honors classes this semester.

And now onto the not-so-fun stuff....

My dear friend Shauna was admitted for a short stay in the hospital the beginning of September. On that same night, my dad went into cardiac arrest and was taken to the Salem Hospital. Crazy, crazy night. Short story: he went into cardiac arrest four times and they brought him back each time. Since he was not conscious, they tried a hypothermia-type treatment where they cooled his body off for 24 hours, then warmed him up gradually. It helps to prevent any swelling of the brain. It worked like a charm... he was awake and talking almost immediately after warming up. No signs of brain damage. They did discover a major blockage in his heart.

Fast forward a couple weeks more, Shauna was back in the hospital for two weeks. At the end of her stay, my dad went in for triple bypass surgery. Surgery was very scary with all of his risk factors, but he did very well and is now home and recovering.

Shauna is now home too, with a Palliative Care team in place. She is still doing aggressive chemo along with a hospice-type situation at home. Docs have basically shut down her digestive system and she is being nourished/hydrated intravenously by TPN. She has an NG (nasalgastro) tube in place to relieve pressure in her stomach and to get rid of the severe vomiting/nausea she was having. She is the strongest person I know... a true hero... to go through all that she has the past 3+ years. She is such a fighter, and is making the best of being tied down at home. Some days she has been up for visitors, and we even took a walk around the neighborhood last week. So good for us to have time together and get some fresh air :) I look forward to seeing her any chance I can... I really miss spending my days with her. Quite an adjustment for me as I got used to our walking, coffee dates and errands almost every day. I am so blessed to have her in my life, and look forward to having her back in action soon.

Life continues to be a roller coaster every day. I much prefer the high parts of the roller coaster to the upside down and downward spiral parts. Sometimes I get really, really down and find myself hiding out. I try so hard to be grateful for everyday and all of the blessings in my life... it is really the only way I have been able to (barely!) survive the chaos. Jim and Natalie are my rocks. I love them so very much.

Summertime

And the livin' is easy.

I'm guilty. I've been goofing off all summer. Not a good blogger at all.

We started the summer off with a FUN road trip! We spent a night in Reno, a night in Las Vegas, then hit the Grand Canyon. It was my third time there, but Natalie's first. What a sight to behold. It was nice to have Jim's parents along.

We headed back to Vegas after two nights in Arizona and had a great time with our family and friends. Luckily, we missed out on the really high temps. Not too bad at all.

Eventually we headed north to Zion National Park... another gorgeous place! It was fun to have Jim's parents, Jason, Marie and Gracie with us. We stayed at the Zion River Resort in cabins... kind of "fake" camping. Jim's aunt and uncle are camp hosts there... always fun to see them.

Our big hikes were The Narrows and Angel's Landing. LOVED The Narrows! It was wonderful to hike through the cool water when it was so hot. Still can't believe I did Angel's Landing... in the heat of the day no less!! Lots of water and stops along the way, but I made it without having a heart attack!

It is always hard to say goodbye to family. After a great breakfast and photo shoot, we headed north again to Bryce National Park. Unfortunately, we only had a couple of hours to spend there. We will definitely go back... stunning!! Our final destination for that day was Grand Junction, Colorado so lots of hours in the car.

In Junction, we stayed with our good friends, The Wilson's. They are really more like family. Rachel, Annie and Scarlett drove over from the big city to spend time with us! Talk about lots of fun and laughter. We had a ball!!!

We drove over to Gunnison for a day to see my nephew, Drew. He goes to college at Western State. It was great to see where he lives. Beautiful! We took a trip over to Crested Butte... another great Colorado town.

After two weeks on the road, it was time to head home. We spent the night in Baker City at an historic old hotel that had been refurbished. Such a cute little town!

The rest of the summer has been a blur. We are still trying to sell Memo... no luck yet :( Kind of weird to not be spending every other weekend at a horse event, but also kind of nice. We still spend plenty of time at the barn :) We had a great camping trip with the Thomas family at Stub Stewart State Park. Good times. We are going canoeing with my family this Sunday. In August, we are renting an RV and going to USPC Western Championships at Donida Farm. Natalie is not taking Memo, but will be participating in Quiz Rally and as Stable Manager for the Show Jumping team. Should be almost like a vacation not having a horse around!!

Will try to post again before autumn ;)

19 Years of Wedded Bliss

Last year, on our 18th anniversary, I told the story of our wedding. It was a rainy (monsoon!!) day in Las Vegas that I will never forget.

This year we already celebrated our anniversary a couple of weeks earlier by going to Astoria. What a great time!!

Trying out some micro-brews and having lunch at Ft. George Brew Pub:

Definitely a great place for a smooch... the Astoria Column:

A hidden away beach on the hike to Cape Disappointment lighthouse:

Enjoying a walk on Delray Beach:

The Cannery Pier Hotel was amazing, and we cannot wait to go back!! We had so much fun riding bikes on the river walk, going to dinner at the Bridgewater Bistro, walking through the farmer's market and so much more. A very romantic weekend together :)

Happy Anniversary to my best friend and soulmate. I love you with all of my heart, Jim. Thank you for being the most amazing husband I could ever dream of. You make everyday seem like our honeymoon all over again... I treasure every minute we have together. I can't wait for the next 19+ years with you, babe. Cheers!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

FRIDAY!!!!

It is FRIDAY and I'm a happy camper! The sun is shining... we are supposed to hit 86 degrees today. Summer is here... if only the school district knew that ;) Two more weeks of school... we are almost there!

Jim and I are heading to Astoria for the weekend to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary. Our anniversary is not until June 9th, but this was the only weekend that we had time to sneak away. We are staying at the Cannery Pier Hotel which looks amazing!!! We have heard that Astoria is quite the hip place to go these days... lots of cool restaurants and nightlife. Not to mention the trolley car and great hikes. Should be a romantic weekend with my sweetie :)

Last weekend was the USPC Oregon Region Dressage Rally... it was a GREAT rally with FAB weather!! Our club did the food for 60+ people, 2 meals for 2 days. It was a lot of work, but turned out great! Lots of good help and laughter :) Memo and Nat did great!! Memo loves being a fancy dressage pony in the sun at DevonWood :) Natalie's team ended up winning first place in both riding and horse management! It was awesome!! Natalie and Memo scored their first "9" on a dressage movement... a beginning halt at "x". Not bad for a wiggly little Arabian, and for doing First Level. A very successful, but tiring weekend.

My car is in the shop... again :( AAA had to tow it :(  This time they had to order a new ignition switch from Germany!! Holy moly. What a pain. I hate that my car is getting so old and so high maintenance :( I love my car. I have been a truck-driving momma all week. Jim has loved being able to ride to work on the motorcycle. It took some work to get it going again... two of his bikes have been in pieces in the garage for awhile waiting on various parts. He is so handy to be able to fix them himself :)

I hope everyone has a superb weekend!! I know that I will :) xoxo

Is this thing on?

I've been a bad, bad blogger. Again. But then again, I'm not so sure anyone even reads it anymore ;)

Life is super busy right now... end of school is nuts! We are definitely on the home stretch now, and I am sooooooo grateful. Really ready for summer!!!

Mother's Day was super special... each day of the weekend started with horse events, of course ;) Saturday, Natalie and I drove to Gaston for a Pony Club Standards & Ratings Clinic. CMPC made quite the showing... we are frustrated with how ratings go in our region so we want to know details and how to make it work for our kids. We got home around 1:3oish and enjoyed a quiet afternoon at home. Jim and Natalie made dinner for me while I lounged on the sofa. Heaven, I tell you! They gave me the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" so we watched that together. I adore that movie and bawled my way through it. Even Natalie was shedding a tear by the end.

On Sunday, we had a riding clinic up at Windsong by the same National Examiner who did the Standards and Ratings Clinic. She was very knowledgeable and had good feedback for the kids. Memo was super bad! Bucking, kicking out, rearing. Sigh. She agrees that Memo is not a horse suitable to continue with Pony Club upper ratings. I guess it is good to hear it from a neutral source. Still hoping that the horse-gods will help us to get her sold and find the right horse for Nat.

After the clinic, we enjoyed lunch on the patio at the Greenway Pub. Life is good when the sun is out and you can sip a Ruby outside on Mother's Day :) We had another quiet afternoon at home... just the best! Really enjoyed my time with my family and some extra spoiling and relaxation. I'm a lucky momma.

This week I am working hard to get the house cleaned up, get caught up on laundry and bills, and so much more in preparation for my trip to Colorado! I leave on Thursday morning and will fly into Denver. Rachel is picking me up from the airport so we can spend some time together that afternoon. She and Shan are leaving for the Grand Canyon that night so I'm so grateful to get to see her before she leaves. That night I am meeting up with some of my high school friends for dinner. Will be so great to catch up with Lori and Jeff! Then I am off to Fort Collins to spend the weekend with Annie, Ben and baby Scarlett!! Can't wait to meet sweet Scarlett Adeline... is that an awesome name or what??? I remember how hard it was when the grandmas all went home and Jim went back to work after Natalie was born... so I'm heading out to spoil the Markse's rotten!! Will cook, clean, and hold little Scarlett as much as possible so Annie can get caught up on her sleep :) I will miss Jim and Natalie terribly, but so excited to spend some time with Scarlett.

Off I go to get stuff done. Wish me luck and safe travels... you know how much I *love* to fly ;) xoxoxo