Stay strong

A tragedy has happened in my family.  My Uncle Noel, 48, passed away on Wednesday March 30th.  He was in the Philippines on a vacation, when a heart attack struck him.  It was all very unexpected.  He is the husband of my Aunt Edith;  father to my cousin, Julie; and grandfather of Kadyn.  I am doing my best staying strong for them.  My Aunt Edith flew down to the Philippines on Saturday to make funeral arrangements down there.  Julie and Kadyn will follow today.  My uncle will have his funeral and burial in his birth nation.  It is very weird and sad to me that he is gone.  It is like he was just here enjoying his favorite hobby of cooking in his kitchen.  I just think to myself that he is on a very very long vacation in paradise.  Rest in peace Uncle and my condolences to my aunt and cousin.
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On Friday morning, Cory went under the knife to fix his umbilical hernia at the VA Hosipital.  It was pretty minimal, but Cory decided to get surgery now, while he is young and fit, before the hole in his abdominal wall gets bigger.  I took the day off so I could help him.  The nurses and staff were very nice to me.  Apparently, Cory talked a lot about me in the operating room because the staff seemed to know what I do and who I am when they met with me.  I waited in the waiting room for about 2.5 hours until Cory was discharged.  He came out fine, thanks to the Vicodin.  Once we got home, he was very very tired.  The slept on the couch for a couple hours and then needed more pain meds.  Rachel, my friend and covolleyball coach, came over with food for us.  I am very thankful.

Cory is acting really normal, minus him being sore on his belly.  He is able to do everyday tasks, go to class and what not.  The doctor said he couldn't lift anything over a couple pounds for the next couple weeks, so that is where I muscle up.  Laughter also hurts, but it is so good for the soul.  His belly is pretty swollen, but that is a good thing.  Gotta get those blood cells moving to repair his body.  We removed the gauze and giant medical tape on Sunday and now there is flossy tape and glue covering his stitches.  It looks like the incision is about 2.5 inches long, ouch!  This road to recovery will be over before we know it, but right now it seems really slow.  In two weeks, he will have the stitches removed.

Well on the upside, we got Cory an early birthday present on Saturday.  Found a Canon 40D camera at the local photo store for only $595, pretty much brand new.  Only had 2,000 shutter actuations, which means it barely got used.  The 40Ds can go up to 100,000 shutter actuations before it gets beat up.  Shutter actuations on a camera are equivalent to car mileage on a vehicle.  We had to snag it because it was a great deal.  Now hubby has his own camera and we can have photo-adventures together.  He was able to practice with it at the photoshoot for 6 month old Keeley.  My first official shoot with my Epic Photography business. Lynnette, the mother, called us and found us via Yellowpages.com.  Check out the photo blog at epicphotographyak.blogspot.com.  I also purchased a nifty 50mm prime lens.  It is so fun and great for portraits.  The collection of equipment is growing :)

Cory's first dSLR camera

Cory said he had a lot of fun during the shoot.  I guess he sees why I like photography so much.  Today, I plan on giving Lynnette her edited photos.  She seems way excited, because she texted me yesterday about her anticipation.  I hope she likes her photos.  Cory and I got the edits done quickly, which will hopefully look good for our business.

Funny that we bought each other the same camera for each others birthdays, hehe.  He thinks that is it for his birthday gifts, but I have more surprises in store :)  I can't believe he will turn 27 on April 14th.  We met when he was 24 and I was 20.  Time sure flies.

On Saturday Night we went to the Japan Relief concert at Dimond High, which consisted of Taiko Drummers and some singers.  It was pretty cool to watch.  Cory practiced some more on his camera.  The money, when we bought the tickets, proceed to donations for the disasters in Japan.  Here are some photos from the concert:

On Sunday, my parents came over to see how Cory was doing.  Mom was so surprised to see Cory up and about like nothing happened.  They brought us some food and I served everyone my white chili with chicken for lunch.  It turned out great.  Yay for crock pots!

Cory and I were able to sign up for our fall classes on Monday.  I am planning on taking Intro to mathematical proofs, Linear Algebra and Fundamental of cell biology with lab.  Looks like I will be minoring in biology.  Cool.  Cory will be taking more accounting/business courses and calculus.

In closing here is a photo of downtown Anchorage, taken from Earthquake Park at 10pm.  Shows how bright our little downtown city is.