Tyson Hugh Hooper

Tyson Hugh Hooper
Our son, Tyson Hugh Hooper, was born with coarctation of the aorta, hypoplastic arch, and a transitional avsd. His first open heart surgery reconstructed his aorta and was on day 9 of life. His second open heart repair was not anticipated to be needed until two or three years of age. Ty had other plans. We spent the vast majority of his first 3 months of life at Vanderbilt as he went into heart failure and was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. As a result, the medical team concluded that he needed the repair much sooner than usually recommended, and at just shy of 3 months old Ty underwent his second life saving open heart surgery. God has already worked so many miracles in Ty's life and the life of our family and we know he is using our story. Because of this, we are grateful for Ty's special heart and feel beyond blessed that God chose us to travel this road. We ask for prayers as Ty continues to heal. We are praying for a full recovery and life without restrictions for Ty. We are praying for God to use our family and Ty for His glory.

Thank you to each and every person who supports us through prayer, giving, or just by loving on our family! We are humbled and blessed by all of the ways the Lord is providing for us and know that he is using Ty and his story to do great things!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Breakfast with my Family...

My sister and brother-in-law came to town a few weeks ago!  They are usually in the western half of our country trucking, so it was a treat to get to see them!!!  I snapped a few photos I wanted to share!
My brother, Ken and sister, Sarah (above)
Sarah and her husband Malcolm (above)
...and Mom and Dad with Kenslee, the latest addition to our family!  Isn't she a little butter ball?!?  Too. Cute.

And now I declare myself officially caught up... just in time for Thanksgiving!  :-)

Hope you all have a wonderful Turkey day.

I have so many things to be Thankful for.  I am unbelievably blessed!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Happy Halloween!

This year was the happiest Halloween yet!
We had a the cutest version of Mini Mouse EVER...



We started the night by visiting a couple VIP houses...
(AKA, Chris' family)
Then we went to Fall Festival at our church.
THEN, we went to Lauren's for dinner and trick-or-treating with the gang!
My pictures are out of order, but here they are nonetheless...
Me, Lily, and Chris at Lauren's
Those are ears on my head... just trying to get in the spirit! LOL

Megan and Jack while we were trick-or-treating!
He was a super trooper!
Lauren's brother Jason, his wife Crystal, and their daughter Zoe came down as well.  Her parents came as well and took care of the trick-or-treaters at her door while we were out roaming the neighborhood!
This is Lily and Chris at the Fall Festival at Church... aren't they sweet!?!
And the cupcake! LOL... the WHOLE reason she wanted to go to Fall Festival!
Zoe and Lily were big buddies all night!  Girl's have to stick together, ya know?!  Plus, Lily really enjoyed being the oldest and having someone to "take care of."  She's such a sweetie!
Dr. Love (Vance) and Lily!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Happy Fall Y'all!

I am finally caught up enough to post pictures from the right season! LOL!  Last month was the annual MTSU Homecoming Parade! 
It was a perfect fall day!  Beautiful, Sunny, and with LOTS of leaves to play in on Main Street in the 'Boro!

Lily had a blast in the leaves... she is dancing above, she ran, tossed leaves, giggled, and galloped her way through the Fall morning!
She is starting to look like such a big girl!  I swear sometimes I see a teenager in that tiny little body!
I wore everyone out with the camera, but it was just such a perfect day for pictures!
Lily and I in the leaves!

 
Lily and Vance had the best time of all.  Here they are on the curb waiting for the parade to begin...
...and really, really TIRED of waiting for it to begin! (LOL... this picture cracks me up!)
For the first year in her life, Lily's Daddy didn't get to be there! He was missed. But we had a great time with the Hutchings and the Nelsons!
Above: Amanda, Beckett, Patrick
Below: Megan, Vance, Web, and Jack

The best part of the day for the grown ups was being outside and enjoying friends and family...
...but for the little ones, it was, of course, the candy! 

Friday, November 12, 2010

Girls Trip 2010

I sit here sipping a glass of wine, wanting to post fall pictures and Halloween pictures, but I am playing catch up with my blog and I can't bypass important events that need to be in order!  (Yes... I am one of THOSE people that is organized and orderly and find myself annoyed when things don't make sense! lol.  So, of course, my "catch up" posts have to come in order and that means you'll see Halloween long about December!  :-)
So... I bring you Girls Trip 2010.
The tradition continues...


This year, back to Georgia!  Only this time we stayed on Tybee instead on in Savannah!  (In a SaWEET beach house for..... wait for it... FREE!!!!!  Moo totally got us the hook up!)  We had the most relaxing, fun trip!  Starting with a sunset trip to my favorite spot on Tybee.... AJ's ...at sunset!
We had a few brews and more than a few laughs...
...and enjoyed the beachy view of the sunset and the ability to finally TRULY unwind and relax and catch up on US.  It was simply wonderful.

Saturday held the most exciting part of our trip!  I private walking tour of Savannah with Bobby Davis!
It was the best money I have ever spent and the coolest thing I have ever done on a vacation!  We had Bobby (a self-employed, local)  all to ourselves for the inside scoop on Savannah and the best views, history, and little-known facts and spots!  So. Fun.
These two are truly sisters of my heart!

Sunday was spent doing NOTHING but SITTING on the BEACH!  My personal opinion... closest thing to heaven here on earth.  A cooler, a chair, sand, waves, sun.  What more does a person need... really.  LOL!
And... apparently my pictures are out of order, so here is another one of us in Savannah:
... and another in Forsyth Park... how beautiful!
Girls Trip 2010 was amazing... of course!
On the way home we put our "wish list" of locations in a hat and drew for our next trip.  Looks like next year we are headed to Hot Springs, Arkansas!  :-)  I sure do love my girls!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Chattanooga....

After spending a day downtown with friends (see previous post), the rest of the weekend was spent at Mom and Dad's relaxing and catching up!  Despite the cool weather of the beginning of Fall, Lily decided to brave the pool!  She didn't even care that  no one went swimming with her!  Mom and I talked by the pool and watched as she played for the better part of two hours!  She even mastered the diving board and had to show off for her Daddy and Papaw!
She finally got cold and gave it up!  She was shivering by the time she finally got out!
She is such a little water bug, just like me!  :-)


We went with our Sunday tradition and had lunch at the Deli!  Lily, of course, had to ride in the T-Bird with the top down and Grandmommy obliged!  They had a grand time!

We got to see Kenslee at lunch!  She is such a little chunky monkey and looks nothing at all like Bentlee!  It is so funny!  She's the happiest little baby - content to chew on those fingers!
I got to feed her...
Did I mention that she is a chunky monkey?
I love her round little cheeks and rolly thighs!
Papaw's a sucker for his granddaughters!

Grandmommy making Kenslee smile!

And last, but not least, Chris and I walked up to the pond and did a little fishing... and guess who caught all the fish!?!?!  That's right, Me!  I got 4 or 5 bass.  Okay, I didn't catch ALL the fish.... he got a couple too!  But I still out-fished him!  And I even took one off the hook myself (a rare.... very rare, occurrence!)

I love a good weekend with my family!  So fun, so relaxing!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Discovery Museum

One of our all-time favorite places to go is the Discovery Museum in Chattanooga!  I know I have blogged about it before, but seriously, if you live anywhere within a days drive and have kids... it's a must!  So earlier this fall, we loaded up and headed down to meet the Hutchings and the Fletcher's with all the kiddos to have a fun day playing and learning in Chattanooga!

We started by excavating and pretending to be archaeologists!  One of the things I love the most about Chris is what a wonderful Daddy he is!  He just loves to play with his baby girl!  He is never above a dress up, tea-party, or good game of school!  :-)
I love this explorer! ;-)
We just happened to be there in time for Lily and Vance to take a cooking class together!  It was so great, because they both LOVE LOVE LOVE to cook!  They made brushetta!

From left to right:  Web, Vance, Dawson, Lily, Chris!
I love this photo!  These are two of the three dedicated dads on our day trip!
We had a wonderful time with the kids and with each other!  We can't wait to do it again!