Coming Soon: A Good Night's Sleep

On Wednesday, January 7, I am getting the Pillar Procedure. Many people have asked what this is, so I thought I'd post this blog about it.

The Pillar Procedure is a simple, effective treatment for sleep apnea and snoring. It is less invasive and less painful than other surgical procedures and is completed in a single, short office visit.

Most patients soon report a drastic reduction in snoring. In clinical studies, nearly 80% of patients' sleep apnea was reduced. Patients also experienced less daytime sleepiness.

The Pillar Procedure addresses one of the anatomical components of sleep apnea and snoring: the Soft Palate.During the Pillar Procedure, 4-5 tiny woven inserts [see illustration above] are placed in the soft palate to help reduce the vibration that causes snoring and the ability of the soft palate to obstruct the airway. Once in place, the inserts add structural support to the soft palate and, over time, the body's natural tissue response to the inserts increases the structural integrity of the soft palate.

Pillar inserts are made of material used in implantable medical devices for more than 50 years. They are designed to be invisible, and should not be felt or interfere with swallowing or speech. Many patients resume normal diet and activities the same day.

Christmas Pictures

While on vacation in November, we tried to a find good place to take pictures for our Christmas card. We never really had one that we liked for the card, so we asked our friend Amber to take our picture. (For anyone who needs a great photographer, her website is onemomentintimephotography.com.)

Also, we've been reprimanded by many, many people for not including Jack Bower in our picture this year. If you're one of the ones upset by his absence, please know that he will definitely be a part of our family picture next year! :)

All She Wanted For Christmas ...

Since all of the Burnetts & Knowles would be together for Christmas this year, my mother-in-law, Loretta, wanted to have a family picture taken. She said this was really all she wanted for Christmas. She didn't tell any of this until we got into town, and believe it or not, all of the girls had burgundy tops and all of the guys had black shirts. So we got dressed in our color-coordintated clothes and got our pictures taken at PictureMe at Wal-Mart.

This will always be a special memory of all of us together.

Our Family

Bottom Row: Rachel Knowles, Grandma (Juanita Burnett), Elden Burnett
Middle Row: Annette Knowles, Loretta Burnett, Stacy Burnett, Becky Burnett
Back Row: Scott Knowles, Travis Burnett, Chad Burnett

Mom and Dad Burnett

The Knowles

The Siblings

The Tulsa Burnetts (with baby Brett)
Love this one!


Three Generations

Miss. Rachel with straight hair.

Party Time

Last night Travis and I celebrated our friend Ryan's birthday. He is a DJ on The Wolf and graduated from USC School of Cinema/Television. So for his 30th birthday his wife wanted to have a Hollywood themed surprise party. It was a lot of fun. Travis went as Austin Powers (with a red goatee), and I went as Amy Winehouse (post rehab and with a little more meat on her bones).

Amy Winehouse post rehab ;-)

Austin Powers ... notice the hair on his chest. Ya baby!!!!

Austin and Amy
(Since there's a Christmas tree in the background, maybe we should
use this as the picture on our Christmas cards.)

The birthday boy with the Amy Winehouse wig.

Check out my facebook page for more pictures from the party. :)

Fall Colors

I love autumn. In Texas, we get to see the leaves change colors for about two weeks ... if we're lucky. This year, they began changing while we were on vacation. The day we got back, I went outside and took pictures of the trees around our apartment complex. I knew if I waited, I would miss getting any pictures of the colorful leaves. I was right ... most of these trees are now bare. I'm glad I made the effort to capture they're beauty.

Crazy Stuff

Lately, I've had some pretty crazy things happen.

#1
A few weeks ago I received a thank you card in the mail. It was addressed to Mrs. Stacy Pack and it had my address, but it didn't have the apartment number. I opened the card and there was a nice note to "me" from some people I do not know in Indiana. They were thanking "me" for helping with a contingency plan. Inside the thank you card was a $25 American Express Giftcard. I tried to call the people that sent the card. I also tried to call every Stacy Pack in the area (I could only find one). No one answered or returned my call. I kept the giftcard.

#2
Monday was my first day back to work after our vacation. On my desk was a package from a bookstore. It was addressed to Stacy Burnett and had the church office address on the front. In it was a book that I've wanted. There wasn't a note or a card with it. I have no idea who sent it to me. The very strange part is that not many people knew I wanted this book. In fact, only my family and George Thomas knew that it was on my Christmas list (as far as I know). I asked everyone I could think of if they sent it to me and as of right now no one has fessed up to ordering it for me. So, now I'm looking forward to reading Deck the Halls by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark.

They say things happen in threes. I am really looking forward to #3.

Anniversary Trip | Day Seven

This was our last full day of vacation. We went to Mount Vernon and walked through all three floors of George and Martha Washington's home. We walked all over the grounds and saw his original grave and his final resting place. Mount Vernon is absolutely beautiful.

Standing in front of
George and Martha Washington's house.

The view from the back of the house--the Potomac River.

It's us!

Dana and Charles

Travis standing by a tree in front Mount Vernon.

Later that day we went to Old Town Alexandria for lunch. It's so beautiful, especially this time of year. We had lunch at Union Street Public House. It's a great restaurant and Travis got to eat A LOT of seafood. He loved that. :)

Dana, Charles, me and Travis standing in the

main entrance of the Union Street Public House.

A very cool chandelier in the restaurant.

We ended the evening playing Canasta. We played three nights in a row and each night the girls would win. That just about drove the guys insane! Then, finally, they won the very last game! The guys could go to bed happy.


This was the end to an amazing anniversary trip.

My Favorite Picture So Far

Hershey, Pennsylvania

Anniversary Trip | Day Six (Thanksgiving)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've had a great day relaxing, eating, watching football, eating, playing games and eating!

Dana and Charles' House

Dana and Charles' House

Trees in the backyard.

More trees in the backyard.

Trees at sunset.

Trees at sunset.

A barn we saw on the way to Dana's house.

Buddy the dog.

Cousin Daniel and Uncle Warren

Aunt Joyce and Cousin Dana

Travis watching the first football game.

Travis watching the second football game (Go Cowboys!).

Anniversary Trip | Day Five

Today was very laid back. We got up early and left Philly for DC. We were in DC last June/July and walked the mall, saw all the monuments and toured the Holocaust Museum, so all we had on our list to do was tour the Capitol and maybe the Washington Monument. To make a long story short, we ended up driving around all day and doing a DC tour from our car. I've had a cold all week and it got the best of me yesterday. My sweet husband didn't "make" me walk all over the city. We did get to see a lot, including the White House and the outside of the Capitol Building (from every angle).

The most interesting part was driving around and going to places that you wouldn't normally walk to. We definitely ended up in the ghetto part of DC. I even met Bon Qui Qui (and all of her friends) when we stopped to use the bathroom at McDonald's. WOW ... that's all I can say!

We decided to come to my cousins' (Dana and Charles) house early, but got stuck in traffic for hours. There was a bad wreck and three lanes were closed. We did arrive in time for dinner and stayed up late playing pool and Canasta. It was great to spend time with family.

Pictures taken from the car on our “tour.”