The very first man I ever loved . . . My dad

 

I cannot really beleive he has been gone for 8 years.  

How I miss him.

Just thinking about my dad.

I'm a Mormon . . . .

How grateful I am for the gospel in my life.

I love General Conference weekend 

WATCH CONFERENCE

I love my crazy busy life . . . .

Just Thinking . . .

about how much I miss some very special people in my life. . . . 

late at night when all the world is sleeping , I sit and reflect upon some special people in my life.

 No matter how busy my life is, there is always a place that is empty because I miss you.

What about love ?

So this week in my Marriage and Family class we are studying different love styles.

 It has been pretty interesting and none the less very eye opening. 

I am LOVING school !!!! Kind of addicted to learning.

Now if I can just get someone to come and clean my house !!!

It was the best of times . .

and it was the worst of times. Honestly, as a parent I have felt the happiest of emotions and the saddest of emotions. The ultimate roller coaster ride. 

Honestly some days I wish I could go back to the days when my kids where just little. Life was so much simpler then. 

But I am sure that I am learning and growing as a parent in ways that I could never imagine. Some days I am tired of learning hard lessons and some days I wish that I wasn't the easy safe target for the ones I love to take it all out on. Please don't get me wrong. Life if filled with happy times 90% of the time. 

But on days like today, I think I would just like to runaway.

I am grateful to know that I am not alone and that I know where I can turn for peace

Lack of blogging

Surprise, Surprise but this is why

I returned to college this semester (after skipping a year) 

I have found what seems like the perfect schedule and I am loving it

 I only have one regular on campus class once a week

The other classes are online and flex classes where we meet on campus 6 times during the semester.

It has taken some fine balancing but things are coming along and working out and I have almost found that I am addicted to learning new things.

I knew if I was going to be able to do it I would need to have classes that really interested me. 

I have some fabulous classes. I started slow - I have 3 full semester classes

Digital Photography (finally learning to use my SLR)

Microsoft Word 2010 (this class is blowing my mind with everything I am learning)

Marriage and Family (really enjoying this class)

Then this week I add 2 late start classes

Microsoft Excel (I figure I really need to learn spreadsheets. I am guilty to fault at asking Janna to always create my spreadsheets)

English 102 (I know it is sad I have never taken this - I am excited - it is a semester long research paper and I have the same teacher I had for English 101 that I loved)

So the balancing act is constant - but I am loving it and getting more done,  because I am having to use every minute of my time well.

Debating about cutting my hair short to save time. But then I think of the up keep of short hair and think I might be better off on a daily basis, but then I have to find time every six weeks to get it cut.

I am torn.

I have been putting some of my pinterest ideas into action and I am excited to share some photos soon.

Reunited . . . .

This photo makes my heart happy. What outstanding young men. Reunited after all 3 completing honorable missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.

Matt. Coy and Dylan

Happy Birthday to "2" of My Most Favorite Gals

23 years ago today I gave my mom one of the best birthday presents she could ever ask for - her 2nd little grandbaby born on her birthday !!!

Happy Birthday Morgan and Mom - I love you both sooooo much !!!!

He's Home . . .

Not sure if the word Bittersweet describes the feelings. The rollercoaster of emotions is almost too much to explain. Thank you Pam for chiming in yesterday. With this being my first missionary I was not even prepared for the rollercoaster of emotions. The excitement at the airport was so amazing. My heart swelled like I had never imagined. To see my strong and faithful missionary return with honor was probably the ultimate parental pay day. He was so happy to see his family. He was completely overwhelmed with gratitude. He is so incredibly humble and sincere and loving. All attributes he brings home from the amazing people of Peru he has served for the last 2 years. He did well as we spent time talking about his mission and going through pictures. 


We were not in any way prepared for what was to come. We met at the Stake Presidents office for his releasing. He spent about 45 minutes in with the stake president and then they invited all the family him. President Lewis spoke of what an incredible missionary he was. What an incredible man we have now in our presence. He then had Dylan share his testimony. Words cannot even describe the power of the spirit in that room. I have never heard such a powerful testimony. Now for the hard part. President Lewis released him and told him it was time for him to take off his name tags. My son broke down and cried like a baby for about 15 minutes before he could do it.  It was so hard to watch him. He loved everything about his mission.


He is incredible. Sent away a young man and got back the most incredible man I could ever imagine. Not to mention he is about the most incredibly handsome missionary I have ever seen. Beyond words. What an incredible experience. What an amazing two years. The hardest part is that it is over and it is time to move forward with your life. Not an easy thing to do when your heart is hurting and longing for your mission, your friends, your mission president, the people, the culture and most of all Peru. His emotions are on the surface. How happy I am to see him love so deeply. We will need to keep Peru alive and well in our home. Thank goodness for face book so he can stay in contact with everyone. We are going to love having him home. I am sure we will only be able to keep him here for a couple months. He always thought he would stay in AZ and go to school on his in state scholarship but he  wants to be with his friends at BYU. And I can totally understand that. He loves these boys like his brothers. I know that the Lord has a hand in everything. I cannot even begin to thank the moms of the Peru Lima East mission for raising such incredible young men. 


I know we will make it through these next couple days and weeks. I am grateful for the heads up on the transition back to civilization and I am grateful he has 3 weeks till school starts. 


If we are not friends on face book , we have pictures on his blog.

Loved this . . .