The Blues

So, I sit here tonight feeling lonely, sad, scared, grateful, tired, proud....you name it, it is all here. I just can't stop thinking about all the people that I love so much and that I miss. It is so hard to be here all by ourselves so far away from everyone. We miss them all so much. I look at my daughter's pictures everyday and pray they are happy and doing well. My heart aches to have them gone. I sometimes wonder if we will ever be able to move closer to our families....until then though, we try to hang on and do the best we can. I am so grateful for a husband who has become my best friend. I can talk to him and love him and exercise with him. He has a soft shoulder when I need a good cry and the priesthood when I am feeling down or scared to make me feel better. I can never express my love enough for my family.

Our summer went by way to fast and I told myself I was going to post something every week. However, I spent that time playing with my family or spending time with them. In a nutshell, I will say it was an awesome summer! Boyd relunctantly gave up his room and moved back in with Skyler so the girls could have a bed to sleep in. It was great to have them home. Britt helped her dad all summer with the Cinderella videos and Cortnie found herself a job at Payless Shoes (and was able to transfer when she went back to school). Rob worked extra for the school district and I worked the least amount of hours that I could so I could be home as much as possible.

We were able to take Boyd to EFY again (although Rob and the girls stayed home). It is such a spiritual high for him and he loves going. Skyler and I spent the week doing things with my sister and the rest of the family. It was so relaxing and such a good time. Rob took the boys to scout camp again and Skyler was old enough to go this year. He is such a good scout leader and loves to help the boys. Boyd overcame lots of fears as he did Project COPE this summer. He was able to walk the monkey bridge, climb huge trees and zipline (pretty good since he is not great wtih heights). He made his father cry - he was so proud of him. We also took our anual camping trip with Rick and Tina in July. This year we went to Pine Vally though and again had so much fun. We were only 100 yards away from the lake, there were lots of trees, and no rain this year. My sweet little niece learned that her Aunt Wendi is wonderful and now calls me DeeDee. In fact, when I say her just a couple weeks ago, she came right into my arms saying...DeeDee. She has me wrapped around her little finger. And, a huge surprise was when my brother sent me a text with a picture of his new little daughter saying "this is not a joke...surprise." He decided it would be cool to not tell any of us that they were expecting again until the baby was born. Candice says she was held hostage for 4 months :-). Only Coby could pull that one off.

So,life is good right now. I am trying to focus on the positive and wipe away the sad feelings of the night. I want to be happy. I want my family to be happy. I am going to Hawaii in 16 days with my husband, Rick and Tina. I can hardly wait. I am nervous to leave my children alone for that long though, but so anxious to spend time alone with Rob and have no worries about work. I am so blessed....

Happy Mother's Day

Just wanted to post a quick note to say Happy Mother's Day to my mom. She is an awesome woman. Even though her body is not what she would like it to be, her mind is that of an angel. She will always be my mother and my friend. I love her so much and want her to know that. You will always be my angel mom....forever!

All Together Again

Yeah! Wahoo!! Hip, Hip Hooray!. We are finally all back together again for more than three days. We will be able to drive it each other crazy for three months. We will see how long it last before the first quarrels break out or the first tiff over the bathroom. No matter what though, I am so way excited to have all of my children home. We can actually say family prayer tonight with every here. We can play, we can laugh, we can work. I am so looking forward to a great summer!!

One here and one more to go

It is starting to feel like heaven again on earth. We went to Utah last week to bring Cortnie home for the summer and we only have 9 more days until Brittnie will be here. Then we will be a complete family again for the whole summer. I can hardly wait. I love having my girls home and having girl talk once in a while. Living with all boy is no fun.

Our trip to Utah was fast and furious. We arrived around midnight on Thursday night. After a short night sleep, we spent the day helping Cortnie pack and clean her apartment. That is always fun. She said it was almost done when we got there but I am not sure what was done. She did work hard though and we got done by dinner.

The next day we spent with our family. We had an Easter egg hunt for the kids and Cortnie did one for the adults. It was pretty funny watching all these adults climb in trees trying to get Easter eggs. We had a nice BBQ dinner and just talked. I always love to be with family. I wish we would have had more time, but I cherish the time we did have.

FOUR MORE DAYS!

Yeah! Only four more days until Cortnie comes home for the summer. I can't wait to go to Utah this weekend to help her move back home. Britt will be wtih us too and we get to share one day with our family having Easter fun. After that, only two more weeks until Britt will be home too!! I can hardly wait....

Our Goofy Scouts

So, this is what Rob got to spend his past weekend doing. These four crazy boys spent the night on Friday night working on their woodworking merit badge. It was hilarious to watch them with the power tools - especially as the sander would shake their entire bodies. Then as they used the super glue, you would hear "oops, too much glue" and they would wipe it off with their fingers!! Eleven year olds! The next morning Rob took them all to Lowes for another workshop. They worked hard and made two projects in two days. My wonderful husband loves working with the scouts and I think he is excited to have some newbies. He is so good with them and makes me proud.

Life is Good

Life is good right now - actually it is great! I have the most wonderful husband and children anyone could ask for. I take them way too much for granted everyday. I just wanted to take a minute to tell them that I love them and are so glad that they are mine forever. We are so blessed with jobs, a home, great friends, cars (even though with gas prices we can't afford to drive them), food and so much more. We also have the gospel of Jesus Christ which is great. I am so thankful for that all that I have. We are happy and life is good. I am way excited for my daughters to come home for the summer. We will have a full house again but I love having them all home. We have a very busy month with trips to Utah and scout activites, but we will survive. It will be a wonderful month in the end. Thank you family for being so great...and to Rob for being my best friend