Moving On....

Well, it's done,. . . Alison has moved to SLC to start her new life! We started moving her on Friday...only to put it off till Monday. None of us, including Alison, were looking forward to her leaving our home. We are all excited for her, but will miss her and her crazy hilarious antics around here! She is seriously a very funny human! I have often wondered if people that know us think its weird that Ali and I spend so much time together. Its not the norm I know.....but ....Im so glad we arent normal! :) I feel that we are really lucky since she has no sisters, and I have only one daughter, that we just happen to get along so well and also love to do the same things and enjoy being together. It began with her involvement with dancing when she was three years old, carpooling three times a week to dance class with her and her friends. Then, add soccer to that at age five, with more friends and more carpooling and games, and then at age eight add horses and horseshows and practice and training and miles and miles of laughs and great times! I spent countless hours sitting with her waiting her turn to dance at the dance competitions talking and laughing as we enjoyed watching the other performers. Many times while driving the girls to soccer games I was subject to their torture as they put signs on the car window that read things like " our driver farted!" while all holding their noses, or "our driver thinks your hott!" We spent hundreds of hot dusty hours waiting her turn to show at the horseshows, grooming, saddling, warming up, practicing test questions etc., loving every single minute of it. I cant even imagine the amount of hours weve spent shopping and going to lunch together! There have been countless nights sitting on her bed or mine talking till all hours of the night about problems or fun experiences or anything else there is to talk about! There have been wonderful hilarious stories shes shared of her time working at the resthomes and many funny stories about her training with Patrick or funny things she and Kramer do and say with, and to each other. I could go on and on. So... thats how we ended up spending so much time together. The picture I posted of her on her horse is on the wellsville mountain horseback ride we went on saturday morning. We have been riding quite a bit this spring. The other picture is a favorite of mine that was taken after one of Nicks soccer games. In September both of those two will be out of our home! I know it will be hard, but I am so happy for both of them and what the future holds for them. Life is change and often change is hard, but its also good and we need change to progress so, like it or not my kids are moving on.

Good News!!!!

Nick is going to Piura Peru! Woo Hoo!!! :) He leaves September 9Th. We are so happy and excited for him! He wanted to go Spanish speaking so badly! We have heard from several people that Piura is a gorgeous place, and that the people are wonderful. He will go to the MTC in Provo for three weeks, then to the MTC in Peru for six more weeks, and then on to Piura. We had a ton of people come over to watch him open the letter, plus had five cell phones on speaker for other family members and friends to hear as well. It was really fun! Nick is thrilled! We are so proud of him for making the decision on his own to serve a mission. Bret and I feel that its a personal choice and we try really hard not to make our kids feel pressured into having to go on a mission. We encourage them, but ultimately want it to be between them and the Lord. Again, we are so proud and grateful that Nick made the choice to go. We also have great news about Alison. She interviewed for an internship/job with IHC Urban Central Region on Monday, and recieved a call from them yesterday that they loved her interview and were excited to have her join their program! When her internship is finished, she will have the opportunity to choose between four different hospitals for permanent employment! She gets a really good wage while interning then, when she finishes, she gets a great raise! She is thrilled! We are so proud of and happy for her! While Alison and I were in SLC Monday, we went to see Jessica's cute, cute, cute, baby Issac! What a doll! Jessica looks great, and so does Miles! Ha ha....ok... Miles isnt getting much sleep either , so for all hes been through too... he looks great! :) We are so blessed in our family and our extended family. I am so grateful to have good news all the way around!

What a headache!

I've had a headache off and on for several days, and today its back. Alison had a migraine two days ago and has had a headache ever since. So, we are both popping Ibuprofens and moping around the house. I told her I'm pretty sure we are both suffering from lack of sleep which brings headaches on. I remember when I was little and heard adults talk about headaches thinking, "I wonder what a headache feels like?" Geeze, I wish I didn't know! Oh well, there are worse things we could be suffering from, so I'll stop my whining! Tomorrow is a big day for our family with Jessica having her baby, and Nick possibly getting his mission call. I hope all goes well for Jessica. Its so much fun having babies.... Im jealous! Miles and Jessica...your life will never be the same! :) Its so much fun being a parent...sometimes its really really hard, but mostly just tons of fun! If Nicks call comes tomorrow, the post office will contact us early in the morning to see if we want to pick it up or have it delivered. So, we hopefully will have two exciting phone calls tomorrow! There are a couple people that think Nick will go to Chile, another two think Italy, one said Spain, Bret is hoping for Brazil, some think stateside, and I think he'll go foreign, but I dont know where. He doesnt care where, but he would like it to be Spanish speaking. I would like him to go to Canada, Spanish speaking...lol...if there is such a call! Anyway, we shall see soon enough. Good luck Jessica, and Nick... I love you tons!

Mothers

Yesterday was Mothers Day. Im so grateful for my beautiful mother and everything she has taught me. My mom has changed over the years, as have I , and so has our relationship. We 've always gotten along great and we probably always will. The older I get, the more I appreciate her, understand her, and forgive her. The forgiveness isnt for anything she did bad , but rather, for things she has no idea about, things that I have wished she had done over the years. At this point in my life, instead of being resentful, I do those things I wished for, for my kids. None of us are perfect, and I know my mother did the best she could. She is a great mother and I love her. Im also very aware that Im not the perfect mom and that I have and will make mistakes too. Every mother does. With that being said, I had a terrific Mothers Day! I love my family so much! They all made sure I had a nice day. I love being a mom! Love it, love it, love it! My hope is that I have been all that they have wished for in a mother , and that when they think of me it brings a smile to their lips and puts a huge warm fuzzy zinger in their hearts! :)

Get a clue!

With NINTENDO, XBOX 360, the Wii...etc at our house, you would think we have plenty of awesome games to play right? We do, and yes I do play them, but what did we do last night? We had take out Chinese food and played Clue. The board game Clue! Bret was a party poop, so it was just Alison, Kramer and me till Benny came home, then he played with us. We had a blast! We played till 2:00 a.m.! Lol, crazy stupid fun! I think sometimes we forget that the old school games that sit in the closet collecting dust, can be equally, and sometimes even more fun than the high tech games we have now. Here it is 11:00 p.m. Saturday night and theyre calling me to come and play Clue again, I can see that its going to be the weekend game :)! Gotta go..

Graduation!

We had a busy weekend with Alisons graduation from the Weber College Nursing program. Thursday night we went to a dinner at USU held in the graduates honor. It which was really nice. We arrived early to take photos with a couple of Alisons friends, one of which was moving back to Washington right after the dinner. Friday morning we had to be at the Dee Events Center in Ogden for Commencement at 8:00 a.m. Uhhgg... that was so early! Afterwards we went to breakfast, then had to be back at 12:30 p.m. for the Convocation. They were both nice programs. I'm so proud of my little nurse Nancy! When we returned home and just as we were getting to our driveway we saw our horse Janie trotting along the side of our house loose! Talk about timing!!!! It was a good thing she was the only one out because I don't know how we would have ever caught the other two! They would have run away as fast as they could go....but Janie is too old to do that. It was only a matter of minutes till they would have been out too. By the time we got her put back in the pasture and changed our clothes it was about 4:30. We were all hungry and decided to go to dinner at Chili's. Nick had to go to work and Benny didn't want to go , so Bret, Alison, Kramer and I met Bryce and Amber out there. We had a terrific time! Cute Ben was working and gave us half off of our bill. I don't want him to think he has to do that for us or that I go there for that purpose! I really appreciate it, but it makes me feel bad because I know he does that for all of our extended family, and I worry that there might be some that take advantage of it! I never ever want to be in that category! Actually, I avoid eating there alot for that very reason, and I love Chili's! After dinner, we drove to the movie theater and they all got tickets for the Wolverine movie. Bret didn't want to go so we didn't get any, however, I ended up going to it with Benny over in Brigham. Oh Hugh Jackman is one fine piece of male flesh! mmM , mMM, MMM!! Sitting next to my son for two hours watching handsome Hugh was a very nice way to end a very long, but great day!