It's been a while...

Cousins! Kyla, Gabriel, and Mya

More Cousins! Kyla and Ryan

Swimming in Maui

Ryan Kyle and Uncle Kyle.... Can't believe he's 5 already!

Taytum on the beach in Maui

Kyla getting ready for the wedding

I won't say that not much has happened since my last update about 3 months ago, because that would be a fib. We have all been plenty busy doing all the stuff that keeps us...well, busy.

Kyla is enjoying second grade and has been doing really well in all her subjects. She really likes to read. This has come as a bit of a surprise to her dad and I as we both despised reading as children. She is also part of the Choir Club at school and participated as one of the Munchkins in the Wonder Wizard of Oz in her school play last November. She must take after her mom's artsy side. In addition to singing and acting she is also taking ballet and jazz class at the studio that I teach and and is really starting to enjoy it. Phew! Makes my life easier (and cheaper at that) as she get to take classes for free being that I work there. She plans to try out her soccer skills this summer as well as participating in her third year of Music and Dance Machine.

Taytum is growing like a weed. She must have the Knowles genes and will probably be the tallest Embley yet. Not much competition when the person to beat is only 5'7. She started preschool in May at Anchor Lutheran where Kyla and her cousins Mya and Gabe go, and is loving it. We have seen remarkable improvements in her language skills as well as her counting and alphabet. She is learning to be patient and self sufficient. She continues to be strong willed and very out going. She LOVES to read, or should I say make up stories. She will hold the book up for all of her stuffed animals to see and then by looking at the pictures she will make up her own version of what she thinks is happening in the story. She continues to make us laugh with her witty statements. You just never know what shes going to say.

Kyle is working like a mad man. Most recently he has been working on all the improvements to the fire stations around town as well as the new local homeless shelter. He has also been reffing a lot. This year he has even started doing some Junior games. This is the league that most boys play for when they are about 16-19 years old right before they go to college. He has also been doing a lot of high school games. All in all, he is really enjoying himself. I think he has finally found his niche. He was invited to go the the national tournament in Virgina in March as well. This is a pretty big deal. They pay for all of his air, hotel and car as well as paying him for his games worked. He will be about 6 miles from Washington DC, talk about lucky!

As for me, I am taking a little break from performing right now so that Kyle can pursue his refereeing. It has been nice to have my weekends back again, but definitely miss my Momentum friends. I am still teaching two classes a week at Alaska Dance Theatre and am really enjoying my classes. It's a new studio to me and quite different than my old studio that was much smaller in every way. I am sure it will take me a little while to get use to the way they do things and I am sure in due time I will learn to love it there too. Not much new to report with the ol' noggin. As of my last check up from the neck up, all is doing well. I am indefinitely on a couple meds due to some nerve damage on my scalp, but I feel that is a small price to pay for getting my life back. The meds are working out great, and the Dr says well just play it by ear for the future. My last MRI showed that the cyst is gone but the "cave" that it made is till there and will never go away. Dr. Bernard determined that the cyst must have been there for a long time and my brain had formed around it. Not a big deal. I just have a big "lake" back there know, I can live with that :)

In January we all flew down to Hawaii to witness and take part in the wedding of Kyles cousin TJ and his half a lifetime girl friend and now wife Jamie. What a Blast. Every night we converged on the lawn and had a BBQ with the whole family and the kids got to play with their cousins. The wedding was beautiful and personal and I think I speak for all four of us when I say we were honored to be part of it. Kyle was a groomsman, I was a brides maid, and the girls were both flower...well bubblegirls (we couldn't throw flowers because of the venue so they blew bubbles). Everyone had a great time. We only got to stay a week, which is a little short for us, but Kyle and I are planning a 10 year anniversary trip in July so we decided we better keep this one short.

That's all for know

Hope this finds everyone well.

Almost Halloween!

Tayto and Grandpa Tim

Sisters!!

Riding her bike!

Date night

First fish of the summer

Sisters!

Memorial Weekend!

Face Painting- Peas and Carrots

Pretty Princess

My Ladies!

family pictures 2010

Click here to view this photo book larger

Kyle

Enjoying a afternoon nap while hunting
Kyle and the girls- 6 wheeler ride
He blends right in
Love this one!
Kyle and Larry

Starting from where we left off...

Kyle and the rest of the manly men had yet another sucessful hunting trip proceeded by an even more sucessful fishing season. He also completed another great year of refereeing hockey in Anchorage, Eagle River, and Fairbanks. He really seems to be enjoying it and the guys above and along side him really like working with him. While working a tournament in Fairbanks in March the USA hockey official invited Kyle to come and referee with him anytime. He mostly worked the high school games this winter with a few of the competitive teams thrown in there too. Everyone wants to know when he is going to start reffing the Aces games...He played on one team this year with a bunch of his buddies, they play once a week and they always have a great time. I think he is really looking forward to fishing season to being. He is still happily working at Circle Plumbing.

On the evening of March 21, the Embley family suffered a great loss. Grandad passed in his sleep and went to be with Thelma. He had been ill for a few months and after the loss of his leg, his health began to decline quickly. The hospital sent him home to live out the remainder of his days at home surrounded by his family and friends. They say that death brings people together and this was no exception. Despite the circumstances we had a great time going through old pictures and laughing at peoples hair cuts, prom dresses, Halloween costumes, you name it. It was a bonding experience and a great reminder of good times that were had, and that even though Grandad is gone we still have each other. He has been missed everyday since his passing and as long as we continue instilling the things we learned from him in our children, he will never be far from our thoughts.

Mama Jess

Well, here you see my little friend, and by little I mean the size of an orange and by friend I mean enemyReady to go!

At this point I was out of it, but you can see that they didn't cut my hair at all, I got this sweet do instead. (I skipped a pictures at this point, if you want to see it, let me know I'll send it to ya. It's not for the faint of heart tho)
After surgery...I did this A LOT! Don't worry, I was feeling pretty good at this point

This is the only part of my scar that shows. It just peeks out about an inch from my hairline.

Here's the whole thing. It's a bit of a challenge to find in all my hair tho.

WooHoo, Happy Halloween from Ronald McDonald and the Hamburgler

Christmas and Kyla's mad photography skills

Back to dancing, and man did it feel good. This is a workshop that my company did with Katherine Kramer
More Dancing!
My BFF's Michelle and Kimberly after Chelsea Handler
Road Trip to Whittier
More BFF's + Uncle Mike
I heart Her
...and her


So, since my last post, kind of a lot has happened. If you haven't figured it out, my surgery went really, really well thanks to the the amazing Dr. Estrada Bernard. The cyst ended up being a bit bigger than we thought and it was also not really willing to come out (it was attached in a few places) but after some coaxing, it is finally gone. All the tests came back good, and hopefully no more major complications from here on out, well at least nothing I can't deal with. I won't bore you with the details. Dr. "B" says I am doing great, actually he said "Top of the Class," I'll take that as a compliment. Since about 2 months ago (which was 4 months from surgery) I have hardly had any side effects at all, minus a little pain where the portion of my skull was removed, there appears to be some nerve damage that we are hoping will eventually correct it's self or heal. We will see.

After about a 3 month break from dancing, Dr. B was really excited for me to get back to dancing to test out my new balance. At one point before my surgery he told me, "Jess, You have felt poorly for so long, I don't think you realize how bad you feel." He was so right. Anyone who has had vertigo knows what it's like, but the difference is amazing. I felt like I had hang over symptoms ALL the time (dizzy, headache, pukey, tired, just plain sick.) The cyst was located right in front of my cerebellum, that was what was causing all those problems. Any how, I fell so much better, it's like having my life back again.

I feel like I should take this time to thank EVERYONE who helped out in their own special way during my recovery. I would make a list, but then I'd forget someone....but here's a few of the big ones...
Becky- my "nurse." Poor girl would not allow me to be alone for a minute. She sat at my house with me the first couple weeks and watched me sleep, or brought me movies, made sure I didn't fall in the shower, changed my ice pack, brought me water, drove me to all my appointments and the girls to school...what ever I needed, she was my girl.
Heidi, Larry, and Jeannine- They kept the girls so that Kyle could stay at the hospital with me, and kept them even after we got home. It's was a relief knowing that the kids were not only being taken care of, but having a great time too.
Mom, Dad, and Em- Came and sat with me everyday in the hospital and at home. Mom and Em made sure everyone was updated on my status by hacking my facebook account. :)
Mike Dupree and Ken prayed there god fearing booty's off for my fast and safe recovery. (I'm sure there were more of these people, thanks guys)
Sher Canady- Meals on Wheels organizer extraordinaire. Had meals brought to us by various different peeps for the first 3 weeks after we got home. Thanks to my other mother!
And last but not least...
My Honeybunny- who sat with me for 5 days in the hospital, holding my hand and never leaving me alone. Not to mention the first few nights, when I am pretty sure there was no sleep to be had. I can't imagine what that must have been like for him. After we got home, not only did he go to work all day, but he did all the thing's that I always did too. I was pretty worthless for 4 weeks and he never said a word about the work load of double duty.

Enough of all that. I hope this finds everyone well and healthy....now on to the next one

Kyla D,

Gramma and Kyla after her first performance at the Performing Arts Center
Mya, Kennedy, Laritza, and Kenton waiting for my little star after the show
Camping at the lake (ah man, I can't wait to go back)
Straight hair

Peas and Carrots
Kyla and Mya with the new baby Ava
Face painting at the fair
Can't remember why, but we were at the mall
Church Hair
Peas and Carrots on Hawaii Day at school
Kyla and Uncle Mike
Flowers from Auntie Heidi on VIP Day at school
Kyla and her future prom date, Kenton
Nice Glasses :)

Well, first grade has come to a close and man have we seen some amazing improvements in Kyla this year. Any one remember quiet and shy Kyla? Well, she's still pretty quiet but that shyness is pretty much gone. Kyla is still enjoying her school, and learning so much. She is quite the little reader, and she actually likes it. I say it like that, because her mom and dad weren't much for reading at her age, but not Kyla. They say all kids are different....

What a difference...Kyles Grandad Embley died a few months ago. The morning after he passed I told Kyla " Grandad passed last night." "What?" she exclaimed. I was worried she was going to be upset. Later that morning I got an email from her teacher stating that that morning promptly after reaching her classroom she proclamined to the entire class, "My Grandad went to Heaven last night!" She later draw a picture of a boat and named it Grandad. It's funny how children grieve, but she seems to be doing really well with it all. She wanted to spend every waking minute over at his house right before he died. I'm not sure she knew he was going to pass soon, but she knew she loved her Grandad and needed to spend as much time with him as she could. She's a very special little girl and even though I am her mother, she teaches me new things everyday.

She is going to do Music Machine again this summer and has decided to do the Dance Machine (which makes her mom very happy) too. I think she is looking forward to summer, as we all are. It was a cold and dark winter, bring on the warm weather!