Extra pictures from Carson's Benefit dinner

Nicole and I

She came out to support her baby and say hi!

Some guests!
Nicole's Cousin and some of her friends

Nicole's aunt Roz and her Fiance

Richele and Rob (Nicole's mom and sister)

Great to see everyone having a good time!

Carson's Benefit Dinner

As you all know, my best friends son was diagnosed with ALL in August. Since this has taken place there have been many benefits for Carson to help The Seilers pay for medical bills. Being that Carson's prognosis will be a 3 year long battle (This is what the doctors told them to expect) they will have a long road of bills ahead of them. I hate to keep bringing up money, but I couldn't even imagine what expenses they are facing. We struggle with monthly bills at times.

Well, Stephine and I (she did most of the work) put together a Benefit Dinner for Carson in October. We had so many people support and donate some really great thing for the silent auction and raffle. We had a great turn out of approximately 180 or a little more. I would say closer to 200! We weren't expecting that and we couldn't be more happy with those who came to support this little guy and his family.

Here is a picture of the beautiful centerpieces that Fresno State put together for us!

This is the Auction board that Nicole's aunt did for the event! Thank you Roz!

All of these items were donated to us at no cost!
All the items that have an S next to them were for the silent auction and all the other were raffled off.

We can't thank all of these kind people enough!

Some of my great friends who came out to support! Seeing everyone come together and support those in need is overwhelming. It really made me cry seeing how much everyone cares. Makes you have hope in the world and those closes to you.
Nicole's mom and sister dancing the night away! We had a DJ and a dance floor for those who wanted to shake a leg. I was surprised that so many wanted to dance!
Nicole is also very lucky to have such a supportive family. They love her and Chad dearly, but they absolutely love the boys!

My family has been super supportive through all of this. I can't say that this hasn't effected us, because it has hit home like it was our own. I know that I can always count of my family to come through when it's needed. My brother Jeff in the middle back brought some of his friends, yes I said some to support the The Seiler family. I think they had a great time and they won a few of the raffle items and 1 of the silent auction items!

Thank you to all of you for coming and supporting!

I know we all had a large parties of family there and we thank you too for coming!

I can't even begin to tell you or where to begin when it comes to the amount of support. There were people I met walking around looking at Carson's posters up around Fresno while I was there. I would stop and tell them a little bit about him and they were very interested and wanted to help. Just spreading the word has brought so much for him. I told my brothers girls friend about Carson during lunch (this was the first time I had talked to her and met her) and with tears and lots of emotion telling her about Carson, she ended up getting 4 people to buy tickets at her work. For those people I am thankful! Thank you Kristle for being so supportive.

I also want to thank a few of my friends:

The Hargrove & Newton Family from Scribbles for making Posters and Tickets for this event.
The Diamond Gallery for donating a generous gift card to their beautiful shop.
Jennifer Wycoff Photography for donating a sitting fee. Someone will enjoy her work for a life time!
Larry & Chris Troglin for donating 2 very nice bottles of wine!
Jeff Garton for his Taylor Made golf bag!

Torninos for their generous discount on the facility and dinner.

For all of the Companies that allowed us to hang posters in their store windows.
Those are just to name a few from the board. We thank you all for your donations and knowing that it will help Carson is so full filling!

If you were not able to make, we missed you dearly!

Phoenix With Lindsey

Seeing Lindsey after 2 long years was great. I saw her last in Mississippi in 09 while pregnant with Tanner. We talk often on the phone, but it's definitely not the same. She is one person that I feel connected to and cherish our friendship so much. Its like we were sisters and separated at birth. I have a few friends I feel this way about, but her and I just get along so well.

I met her there to house hunt before their big move in November. Her husband was an IP (instructor pilot) while Jeff was starting and finishing pilot training in MS. He has now finished his orders as an IP and was selected to fly F16s. So he is now going to be going through the B course in Phoenix.

While we were there we got to go to a Stroller Strides class that she might possibly instruct, looked at a few house, shopped, ate, visited with a friend and danced our legs off.

The day we house hunted we happened to check out the base for housing before viewing a few around town. Well, she was so happy we did because it ended up being the best place for her family. So that made it easy while we looked at all the others!

On Saturday we worked out and sat around BSing about stupid stuff and catching up. That's the one thing I love about Lindsey, conversation comes easy. No judging, I learn from her and crack up at her. It was a good morning!
We then ventured off for some shopping and lunch! Girl time! We then met Kim who lived around the block from me in Tucson. We spent a lot of time together and our kids loved each other. Her and I were pregnant together for a few months before we finally moved back to Fresno. I am so glad we got to see each other while I was there with Lindsey. After we had dinner we ended up going out and having a few to many drinks and dancing! We had a great time and Lindsey ended up having to drive Kim home.

We had a lot of fun, but the next day wasn't! lol

I am so glad I got to see Lindsey and as we drive through to our next destination we plan on seeing each other again!

Until we see each other next time and she'll finally get to meet Tanner man!

We're Back

Hello there,
We are officially back from a month long vacation visiting friends and family in Fresno. We left on the 4th of October and came back the 31st. Just in time for trick or treating. We are still getting settled back in and cleaning up a bit. I have lots to tell you with lots of pictures.
I went to Phoenix, had Carson's Benefit Dinner, lots of boutique parties selling my Scentsy and was promoted this month! My brother had an awesome Halloween party that we got to dress up and attend! Other than that we ran around with our heads cut off just trying to see everyone!
I will post more later! I am off to clean toilets!
Someones got to do it..........

The 7 Year Itch

Happy 7 yr Anniversary to Jeff & I

Many, many, many more to come..........

I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance,

A garden full of family and friends.

I asked him what kind of wedding he wished for,

He said one that would make me his wife

~Author Unknown ( I changed some of it)

I can remember our wedding day like it was yesterday! I am so glad that I married my best friend and high school sweet heart.

We have been through so much in the last 7 years and I can't wait to see what the next few years will be like.

More traveling, hopefully another baby, buying a home of our own and finally settling in one spot in a couple years!

Love you so much Jeffrey & Happy Anniversary!

Welcome to our Team's Homepage

Welcome to our Team's Homepage

Please help Nicole and I support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in Lite The Night Walk Honoring her son and our dear friend Carson who is fighting Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
Please feel free to visit our team page and make a donation to support (LLS) in funding blood cancer research, education and patient services.
Click on my name Cindy Blaufuss and donate under my name! I am trying to reach $1000.00 dollars in Carson's name!
Thank you for supporting me in this effort. Our walk is on October 22nd!

Crater Lake

Finally getting to see this beauty was worth it. We drove up on Saturday to see it before the snow comes in. The boys and I will be heading to Fresno next week and won't be back till October 24th or so. By the time we get back here to Oregon, there will be some kind of weather preventing some kind of travel. I do hope we get to see it again though, when we were there it was super cold, windy and over cast. The sun would peek out for a bit and then return to the clouds. So for me, the lake didn't have that beautiful blue I see in everyone elses pictures. It was still beautiful though!

Oh yes he did! I didn't know it, but Jackson took two of his costumes with him, while Jeff and I were getting out of the car he stayed in for a few minutes and when he got out of the car he was dressed as bumblebee! As usual, I am behind the camera and Tanner was asleep in the car so we didn't get a family picture:( Maybe next time! Some facts about Crater Lake that I stole from their website:
It's depth is 1,943 feet, making it the deepest lake in the United States, and the seventh deepest in the world. It's some of the clearest and freshest water found in the world. I think I read that divers say they can still see at 420 feet. That is REALLY deep for diving. They also say that you can swim in the lake, but people only last for a few minutes. The highest temperature the lake reaches is 60 something degrees.
Crater Lake was formed when a massive eruption of Mount Mazama 7700 years ago caused the mountain to collapse, leaving a steaming caldera. (Volcanic basin)
The Lake averages more than 5 miles in diameter, and is surrounded by steep rock walls that rise up to 2,000 feet above the lakes surface.
Scientists have identified 157 species of phytoplankton and 12 species of zoo plankton in the lake.
The density and diversity of these minute life forms is restricted by low concentration of nitrogen in the lake.
There are 2 species of fish, rainbow trout and kokahee salmon in the lake.
The water volume in the lake is 5 trillion gallons (19 trillion liters)

Now, that I have updated you on all the fun facts of Crater Lake, here are some fun pictures! Jeff and Jackson at the very beginning of our trip around the lake.

Even though our visit there was short. We got to see a natural wild fire, a beautiful rainbow and beautiful red flowers every where. It was 66 degrees and rained on and off. So despite the rain and cold weather, we wouldn't have seen this rainbow. Makes you think that no matter how life is treating you these days that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Made me think of some people in my life and no matter how rough it is or gets, that our life's are beautiful no matter what.

I hope you enjoyed these picture! Hopefully next time we will see the sun and that turquoise blue water!

Hello, we are still here!!!

Our blogging has been pretty sporadic and less then I've intended since returning home from California in August.
I never did blog about our California vacation trip. That was 3 weeks and we did a ton of stuff. Water park with friends, lake with papa and friends, visiting lots of our friends and getting sick before returning back to Oregon. We also had a scare with Tanner a week and a half after his shots. He has swollen lymph nodes in his left groin area. I took him to the doctor and he mentioned Lymphoma! Lymphoma? Talk about scared out of my minds! I waited it out like the doc said because Tanner had just gotten his 1 year shots and then I came down with a major sinus infection. We thought it had to be from all those factors and his body was just fighting off whatever was going around, but why in just the one area and no other place. Well, we finally got in to a great doctor here and she did a blood test the same day we saw her and called within 2 hours for the final results. Negative! Yay!
We are just watching the lymph nodes now to see if there are any changes. She will check him again at his next well baby appointment in October.
If you have been following, my best friends son was diagnosed with Leukemia the day we returned home from California. This made Tanners situation more stressful for us.
So this is one of the major reasons I have not blogged about our vacation to Cali or anything else. Our lives have been consumed with Nicole and helping her cope with Carson and the future that is to come.
I think that now that all of the news and emotions have settled we are getting back into our normal routine.
I will be posting some things soon and we will be headed back to Fresno in a couple weeks again. We have a long list of events and can't wait. I'm starting to get cabin fever here!

My Fundraising Page

Do it for Carson!

Please be sure to check out my Web page for Light The Night! Join the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in funding lifesaving research and patent services! If I can do it, you can do it! Help me reach my goal of $100.00 dollars! I am halfway there so far!

We will be walking for Carson on October 22nd in Woodward Park. If you are local and would like to join our team and walk with us, I encourage you to do so. It would not only be for Carson, but for all of those kids who need us as well. Let's try to make a difference for them. Please let me know if you signed up to walk so we can find a meeting spot before and all walk together!

Maybe even make some shirts!



My Fundraising Page

Update On Carson (8-26-11)

Friday August 26, 2011
I was just informed by Nicole (Carson's mommy) that all leukemia cells are gone from bone marrow! Now he needs to start building back all his counts and immunity and keep fighting and responding well to keep the cancer out!
Thursday August 25, 2011
They also go great new yesterday as well. Carson's bone marrow results are showing all negative, which means it's definitely less than 5% but could even be under 1% or none. Remission here he comes!

They are so blessed and can't thank everyone for their help and prayers. Please continue to pray for him.

Nicole say, "she feels like she can breath again!" Please keep her in your prayers. She needs to be strong, get plenty of rest to stay healthy herself and to take care of her 14 month old son as well. She definitely has a full plate and long road ahead of her. These last few weeks have been really rough on her, but I do have to say that when I do talk to her on the phone, she is sounding so much better. She is fighting the fight and staying strong.

Update On Carson (8-19-2011)

Today is a good day for Carson. He had a blood transfusion scheduled, but when they tested his platelets, they found his body is making some on it's own! This is great news and his body is responding to the chemo. He is on track and the family thanks you for your prayers. He returns to the hospital on Tuesday for a spinal tap and for bone marrow. Please keep him in your thoughts, yesterday was a rough day. He wasn't feeling good and slept a lot:( Mom says, he's grumpy, but that's to be expected with the steriods.)

We love you Carson and miss you.

Did you guys know Jackson shaved his head for Carson! We are so proud of him!

Carson Seiler Benefit Donation Fund

Carson and his mommy

As most of you know my best friend's son Carson was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) last Monday. They are awaiting results from the bone marrow test to tell them the genetic markers of his type of (ALL). Tomorrow Carson will have another spinal tap to see what percentage he is at, hopefully it will be 20% or less.

Please continue to pray for him. He is doing great and they can't wait to take him home this week.

I have also set up a Carson Seiler Benefit Donation Fund for the family. If you are interested in donating money to help pay for Medical Expenses, I encourage you to do so.
It's so refreshing to see so many people wanting to help those who they've never met before. Please help my friend in saving her son.

Please feel free to visit any of your local branches:
Wells Fargo
Account # 8558168186 (Nicole Seiler)
If you are an existing Wells Fargo client you can transfer money online.

Thank you for your support and keep Carson (bubs) and his family in your prayers.

Prayers Are Needed

Please pray for my best friends son who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on Monday. He is just a week older than Jackson.
He was admitted on Monday to Valley Childrens Hospital and Tuesday they performed many tests. They took bone marrow and spinal fluids. Marrow is what gave him his diagnosis and the cancer has not gone in to the spinal fluid, thank god.
Tuesday night was his first round of chemo and tonight again. Everything is looking good and spirits are high. Although this is so hard on mom, dad and family, they are staying optimistic.
Please pray for them and hug your children tight. We never know what can happen.

Klamath Falls birds & Extra Pictures

On Thursday we attended a Birds of Prey show given by the Badger Run Wildlife Rehab volunteers. We didn't know this, but they give shows here at the Running Y every Thursday and they bring different bird/animals every time. I think this will be our new Thursday activity when we return from Fresno.

They brought a Swainson Hawk (picture below) who was hit by a car. He can fly, but will never be released back in to the wild do to long term injuries. They said that most birds that come in their sanctuary are either hit by cars or electrocuted. If you want to learn more or read about the Swainson Hawk just click on the high lighted name above. Here are just a few facts about them: Slightly smaller than a Red Tailed Hawk, They are low flying birds, they feed mainly on large insects like dragonflies, grasshoppers, etc. They are also pretty smart birds do to them following tractors and wildfires to feed on injured animals.

Jeff and the boys taking a picture with the Great Horned Owl.

This guy was pretty cool and unfortunately he was electrocuted and had to have one of his wings amputated. It's so sad to think that these birds will never fly or live in the wild again. To have these great wings for soaring through the air that will no longer feel the air flow through them breaks my heart. They are so beautiful.

Just a few facts about this guy: it's horns are neither ears nor horns, just tufts, their eyes are as large of humans, they do not move their eyes, they move their heads 270 degrees, their hearing is better than the vision, their right ear is slightly higher than the left so they can pinpoint horizontal and vertical direction of sound.

This little guy was my favorite He is known as a Kestrel. This is the smallest of the falcons. This little guy was hit by a car and lost an eye and injured his wing. Being that these great birds are known for spectacular vision, he is no longer a great hunter. Some fun facts: their long tails are a good way to distinguish them, keen eyesight, almost near ultraviolet vision, they are divers, they can hover and pounce, also known to ambush their prey. This bird is also known for its ability to take down sparrows. They hover is the air watching and then dive bomb the small bird knocking it to the grown. Could you imagine?

OMG! I do this every time! I just deleted a picture!

I guess I will just have to tell you about him, Red Tail hawk. The one we saw was also hit by a car and had a paralysed wing. We always see these in our backyard here in Klamath Falls. They live in the trees off of our patio and boy do we get some great shows! Facts about this beautiful bird: known as the chicken hawk, but rarely preys on chickens, most common of the hawks, their feather are sacred by some tribes and are used in religious ceremonies, use their wings less to conserve energy and they also hover, travel 20 to 40 mph, when diving the exceed 120 mph and are very vocal.

The 2 pictures below are just a couple things I wanted to share with you. The butterfly was to pretty to not take a picture. I got so close and it just stayed there. I wish all the spider webs weren't there though!

This was a sign in the park and thought I would share with you!

Ok, I am officially tired of blogging for now! I hope you enjoy some of the information I provided for you!

Home Sweet Home

The living room picture I forgot to add. Sorry they are a little out of order.

Here she is! Our Home Sweet Home for the next 5.5 months!

This is the front of the house as you can see! Looks small, but it's 2200 sq ft and pretty big!

Our back patio. No backyard in this place, but our view is awesome!
This is out of order, but when you walk in the house this is to the right along with the laundry room.

This is what we see everyday when we look out or sliding glass doors leading to the back patio.


This is the upstairs area which is just a master bedroom with connecting master bath and 2 bedrooms for the boys and another bathroom for the boys (they don't use) and most of the time the door is closed. To many bathrooms for me to clean! lol



(picture above) The french doors are our front doors that lead in to the kitchen/entry way.
(picture below) Master bedroom & bath that we have made a storage/playroom for the boys and the stuff we aren't using.

this picture shows you all the hallways downstairs. To the far left is the downstairs Master bed and bath. Stairs leading to the upstairs bed & bathrooms. Far right leads you in to the laundry and anther half bathroom.
I am standing at our back door looking in to the house. Our living room!

Kitchen and dinning area.

I thought I uploaded a picture of the living room, but I guess I didn't. I will add that at the top I guess. It's worth it because of the great view we have and the fire place.

12 Months Old

Our little man is 1! I can't believe it. I feel like I had him just a few months ago and all his babyness is still so new. He has been the best baby and we have enjoyed his first year so very much. We are so sad to see him grow up into a toddler! Jeff and I always kid around, but we really wish we could stop him from growing! We would really keep him this small if we could.

Here are a couple pictures of our little guy on his actual birthday!

Grandma and grandpa were helping me keep him still and making him laugh for me! Papa always does such a good job! Tanner is IN LOVE with my dad and when he is around he wants nothing to do with us! Little stinker!
This month in review:
Still taking 2 naps and sleeping all night. Even with all of the moving and readjusting he has not made a peep at night or during nap time!
I think I have a Jeffrey baby! He was so picky at the beginning of the month. He wanted to eat, he didn't want to eat. He wanted milk, he didn't want milk. So frustrating. I think he's figured it out though. He has been a really good eater for the last week and a half.
I stopped nursing him on the 12th of June.
Took 3 steps on the 11th of June and officially started walking on Monday the 20th.
this month we has been saying Hi or Hey to people as they pass. Just some other words he says or it sounds like he's saying: there, that and bye bye.
Jeff and I say this all the time, but we think Jackson is pretty smart. We say the same thing about Tanner. I know everyone says this about their kid/kids, but I think they are pretty darn smart.
Jeff was helping Jt put on his socks and shoes the other day and Tanner crawled right over and started helping him. Literally picked up the shoe and tried to put it on Jts foot. He just does some strange things for a 1 yr old. He puts his toys back, plays roll back (started this when he could sit up) and can already throw a ball. Crazy!!! Very observant!

Hopefully he get my athleticism and Jeff's brains!

I hope you've enjoyed his monthly updated and pictures! I am going to miss doing them!

TaNnEr'S 1sT BiRtHdAy

I know...I know... Time flies when you have 2 kids. I feel like we are running behind time, but the time just keeps speeding up.

We had Tanner's 1st birthday at home with our families. It was nice to just have the family and visit before we left for Oregon. I tried to make it as simple as possible, but not feel like I was taking away from T. I don't think it's fair that Jt got all the perks and T gets the shaft.

I didn't go all out for a cake. I made these adorable cake pops and cake cones. I follow this blog called Bakerella and I also have her book that has some great creations for all events. I chose to do the ice cream cake pops. Xnay the ice cream! They turned out great and everybody loved them, but said they were really sweet.

Here's our little birthday boy! He was so cute and wore this hat all day! I was worried about the price and thought I can't believe I am buying this and he won't even wear it! Well, he did and loved it!
Had to have our family picture! This is as good as it gets for this event!

After opening all of his gifts he sat on this particular one and he probably could have played with it for hours. When I pulled him off to do the cake smash he screamed. He was literally mad and threw a fit!


Once he saw the candle he was happy!

Oh did he love it!

mmmmmmmmm.......

I think I'm full....

We had a great time and we are so glad we got to see everyone and share this day with them. Tanner had a great time and loves all of his gifts. He really needed them. All he played with were Jts toys. Now he has his own and likes them a lot.

He sure is a blessing and we love him dearly.