1 year checkup

Katie, Robb, Grayden and Lisa are headed to Mayo tomorrow for the 1 year check up. Please pray for safe travels and that she comes back with a great report just like her 3 month check-up.

Happy Birthday Katie!!!

It's Katie's 24th Birthday today and I tried to hack into her blog to post this but I couldn't figure out her password! I just wanted to post a few pictures and say a few things. Katie is a year and 3 months older than I am. And I have always looked up to my older sisters for different reasons. I have always shared a lot of the same interests with Katie. Katie and I played the same sports through middle school and most of high school. We had a lot of fun practicing at home together. We played many games of PIG together. The three of us (Lisa, Katie and I) always came up with the strangest things to do. Most of them I am not going to say because they are so embarrasing. But we did random things like we acted like we were the Babysitters club, like the books. And we did gymnastics in our basement with Couches, and Couch Cushions and gave ourselves scores. We even have videos of it. I will stop so I don't embarass both of my sisters!

I'm not good with words when I write like she is , but when I think about all the things she has been through the last few years, I just think of one thing and that is how strong she has become through all of it and how proud of her I am for not losing sight of her faith.

Here are a few pictures when we were kids and one of her senior prom. They are scanned so they didn't turn out the best.

(Lisa, Me, Katie)

Cutest thing I have ever seen!

Our nephew Grayden is almost 4 months now!! He is such a good boy and we love every minute we get to spend with him! We got to babysit him last week Friday and just had so much fun with him! The picture above is one of his 3 month pictures that Katie took. We definately wouldn't mind babysitting every weekend..hint...hint!

Also this past Saturday, my sister Lisa and my mom went to Michigan City for some shopping!! We did really well!!! Old Navy (Outlet) had 40% off everything plus Lisa and I had a Stuff and Save bag which was an additional 20%!! Loved it!!

This holiday weekend we are headed to Shipsee with the whole extended Rietman family. It is about 35 people. Hopefully the weather is beautiful so we can spend some time at the cottage too!!

My Birthday

This year on my birthday the Rietman's went to Craig's Cruisers for my birthday. We had left over cards from a K & R Summer Outing last year and we were trying to find a time that we could go. We had the yummy buffet, rode the go-karts, played laser tag and had a lot of fun!

Dad, Robb, Katie, Me, and Kyle (you can only see his shirt and half his head)

We also went to Skiles with the Roelofs on Thursday. I love their pizza!!!

We had a busy 4th of July out at the cottage and also went to the Grand Haven fireworks with a big group of Kyle's high school friends. It was good to see everyone again!

The fun we had tonight!...and some pictures

We were a little late in switching over our spring/summer clothes out of our spare closet this year. So that was tonight's job!!!It took us about 2 hours. We got rid of a lot of clothes that we will be bringing to Love Inc. Here is the picture of what we had to sort through that was in both closets..

And a picture of Kyle fishing...




And of our nephew Grayden. He is already a month old!!!!

On June 5, my Dad's business K & R celebrated its 20th Anniversary of being in business. To celebrate we had a Customer Appreciation Day. Here is a picture of most of the employees. I am very proud of my Dad and how far the business has come, and Kyle and I both have the wonderful priviledge to work for him!

I'm still around....

Again, it has been a while since I have posted, but I have had a good excuse... at least I think so. Kyle and I have been very busy this past month with getting my parent's cottage ready. Kyle helped with a lot of outdoor work including laying sod and putting in underground sprinkling this past weekend and it is finally done for the most part. We spent most of the weekend there and rode sea-doos and got the pontoon boat in the water! We have also been waiting for the arrival of our newest nephew who was born on May 12, we are so excited to see him grow in the years to come and spoil him!!!

He is so precious!

Introducing Grayden Robert ...

More pictures to come....I'm sure!!!

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!!!

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Happy 6 month Anniversary to Paco

It has been 6 months today since the kidney transplant took place!!! Right now, 6 months ago, I believe I was in my room sleeping and sleeping and sleeping, when Katie was probably awake and playing checkers with Dad. Okay, maybe not that soon(but I don't remember). In a way I feel like the transplant was years ago because Katie is doing so well and back to her old crazy self!!I am so grateful that God gives us two kidneys and that I could share one of mine with my sister.
Ironically enough, I went to the Secretary of State today for work and it was "buddy" day there today. Which I guess is the day that they promote being an organ donor and getting your name put on the registry for organ donation. A lady was at the entrance and catching everyone that passed by and gave them a brochure and a packet of wildflowers to plant. I kindly said that I was already on the registry and that I actually donated one of my kidneys six months ago today....soooo....I didn't get any pretty flowers to plant :( LOL!!!

On another note, our basement is almost finished which has been exciting to see!! I haven't been able to do the wash though now for about 2 weeks because our washer and dryer have been unhooked because we got tile in there and was painted. Final coat was done last night so I can hopefully do the wash tonight!!!

Some Florida Pics

It was so good to be able to get away for a few days and relax in Florida. We had good weather except for Sunday when the guys went to the Daytona 500. But overall, it was a great vacation! We went out to eat everynight and for Valentine's Day we went to Giordanos.

Sidenote: Kyle is doing "The Biggest Loser" competition at work and so far he has lost 20 pounds!!!!

The Countdown Begins!!

The countdown has begun for Florida!!! Normally I start countdowns when the event is 2 months or so away, but we have been so caught up in other things that I haven't really counted down the days as much as I used to. So right now it is 4 days 21 hours 45 minutes until we leave for Florida. My parents are there right now , and I am so ready to go now because this will be the first family vacation for Kyle to go on with my family!!! This vacation is much needed for my family( at least I think so!) We have so much to celebrate and be thankful for... Now I just need to make it through the work week and we will be in sunny Florida(at least I hope it is.)

Last Friday, Katie and I were treated to massages at Design One in Grandville. After the transplant (or before, I don't remember), we were given a gift certificate from our insurance company that I work with for work. It was so sweet of them to think of us and treat us to that. What a thoughtful idea! Our bodies needed it!!! I have never had one before and it felt great!!!

Also, several weeks ago when I had my little skiing incident and had a concussion, they did a CT Scan at the emergency room to look for any bleeding, etc. They found a little spot on my brain that they said had nothing to do with the concussion and wanted me to get an MRI done. They thought it could be an arachnoid cyst, but just wanted to be sure. So I scheduled an MRI and it so happened to be on a Saturday that they could do one, so I went with that so that I didn't have to miss any work. Anyways, the results came back and it is an arachnoid cyst that is in the middle of my brain. But really it is nothing serious, it is just something that could have been there for years and wouldn't have known about it if it wasn't for the CT Scan. It is just something that needs to be checked out every year or so just to keep an eye on it.

They also said that it isn't something they would take out now, they would only take it out when the cyst gets to be about 7-8 decades. So that would make me almost 90. So I don't think we need to worry about that:)

4 months since the kidney donation, and everything is going great with both myself and Katie!!

Thank you!

I just want to thank the people that commented on my posts about Dawson. I was really upset at those comments and it made me feel better that other people understood where I was coming from. I was so hurt when someone that probably doesn't even know me was saying that they hope I never have kids. Dawson is at a new home. We were very happy with the person that we brought him too. He had just put one of his Yorkies down and he just loves them and feel in love with Dawson. How can you not with that cute face!! We know that this person can give him so much more attention than we could because this guy was on disability and is able to be home with him more than we could.

Thanks again for the comments that you made!

Busy last few months

I finally feel like things are starting to slow down after the new year! A lot has gone on in the last couple months. Let me just fill you in on a list of things that have happened, some not so normal!

1) Kyle had Salmonella for about 3 weeks (when he finally decided to go in)

2) I got a concussion from skiing, never going again.

Missed a few Christmas parties because of it:(

3)Went away for our anniversary.

4) Katie and I had our check ups at Mayo with our hubbys, and everything looks great!! IGA did not come back in the new kidney. We were gone for 3 1/2 days there. We did get to go to IKEA though on the way back, which was great!!!

5) Kyle and I started going to MVP Athletic Club in Holland. (Kyle is doing The Biggest Loser competition at work, so we thought that would be a great way to get our exercise!)

It is nice finally to start getting back on track now. Although we do leave for Florida on Valentine's Day with my family. But that is okay, it's VACATION!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!

Check up!

Kyle and I, along with Katie and Robb are leaving tomorrow morning for our 3 month checkup after the transplant. We are driving there so pray that the weather is good and we have safe travels. Also pray that the tests all come back good and everything is still peachy with Paco!!!