My many blessings...

I have spent a lot of time in the last few days, reflecting on my life and the legacy I want to leave behind. My Aunt Jan lost her battle with cancer on July 24th, but her legacy that all things are possible with God, really has hit home in last few days. I just wanted to take a moment to thank God for my many blessings.

1. My loving husband, and how everyday he makes me want to be the best person I can be, and how much he loves me.

2. My son Andrew, who is trying to overcome the grief in his life at such a young age, and the sweet way he smiles at you.

3. My son Ethan, who wants to protect everyone in his family, yet secretly wants to cuddle up on the couch with you.

4. My son Alex, who's loving disposition shows through to everyone, even when he's having a temper tantrum.

5. My beautiful daughter Taryn, who even though she got the drama queen gene from me, is still the most special girl in my life. I love they way she has such self confidence telling you "I KNOW' when you tell her she looks pretty today.

6. My fantastic family, even though we are pretty far from "normal" I wouldn't change a single moment with them.

7. Wonderful friends, the Fab Five, the people from H&H, Kearney, and Constellation, who have partied with me, cried with me and supported me in some way.

8. The fact that I know, that I am healthy and happy and enjoying life.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the things that make me feel blessed everyday, but I just wanted to reflect and say Thank you to the special people in my life and how I feel blessed just having them around.

"If you Love Life, Life will Love you Back"

My Aunt Jan...

I just wanted to write a quick note and post this site about my Aunt Jan.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/janallen

It is a great site for a loved one you have that is ill. She is a very special lady and if you get a second, read her story and the comments people have left for her and you will see what I mean. Please keep her and my whole family in your prayers.

On a brighter note, my sister celebrated her 10 year cancer-free day yesterday! I remember that time in my life like it was yesterday. I am blessed to have her in my life!

A lot of love out to my friends and family, it is days like today that you realize how important the people around you are!

Class of 1998....

This weekend was my 10 Year High School Reunion. It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since high school!!! We started our weekend with drinks out at Bandit's in GI. We definitley packed them in there! I couldn't turn around in Bandit's without running into someone else that

graduated with. So I spent most of that night running around and socializing, leaving my husband to fend for himself!

On Saturday afternoon we had a tour of the old high school, that crowd was a little more mellow, probably because we drank so much the night before, everyone was hung over. When the tour was over, Dave and I decided to go and grab something to eat at Amigos (another hangout from the high school days) and apparently that was something that everyone else thought of too, because when we were done eating about 10 more people that were at the tour walked into Amigos! We went back to my Dad's to get ready for the dinner. We had a nice turn out for the dinner and I won an award for the graduate with the most kids! Big shock there! :)

The best part was just getting to hang out with some old friends like my good friend Michelle and Roth who was my date for my Senior Prom! We all decided to take a cruise for our 20 year! I expect to have just as much fun!

I also got to spend some time with 3 of the girls that make up the Fab Five, and it was great to see them as well! We ended Saturday night with a 1:00 am visit to Perkins, which is something I haven't done in a very long time! It was a great weekend, but I am so tired!!!!

My sons, baseball stars....

Ethan and Alex had their last baseball game last night. I was so proud of them and the season they had. It really was amazing to see them grow as baseball players. I have sat through 3 seasons of baseball with them, starting with T-ball and watching every member of the team run after the ball to this season where I watch them keep their heads in the game, cheer on other teamates for a job well done and be overall really excited about baseball.

Alex got to be the pitcher last night and he was so excited. He threw some good pitches and even managed a couple of strike outs!
















Here they are "baseball ready" as there coaches called it. It's wonderful to see them so excited about something that could take them very far in life. (Ethan is at shortstop, Alex is farther back at Center field).

I am so proud of them!

Have a super weekend!







P.S. On a side note, Dave got a letter in the mail today saying he had made the Dean's List! Yippee!!!!!!

Vacation......

Ok, so its not a real vacation, but it's close enough for me...
After tomorrow's baseball game (the last one) Andrew, Ethan, and Alex are off on a whirlwind of grandparent visiting time. So Dave and I are down 3 kids! In our house when you go from 4 kids to just 1 it is a VACATION! No more arguments, yelling, running through the house at full speed. Well, at least Taryn doens't make quite as much noise as the boys do but she can hold her own. All the boys are first going to their birth mom's parents house from Tuesday night-Sunday the 22nd. Dave's mom is going to pick up Andrew on the 22nd and Ethan and Alex are going to stay at Dave and Sandy's. We are picking up all the boys on July 3rd and going out to visit my grandma out in Imperial until the 7th. On the way home we are dropping Ethan and Alex off at Dave's mom's and Andrew off at Dave and Sandy's and then they will all be home on the 13th of July! So it will be almost a month before they are back home.
I'm glad they get this time to spend with all their grandmas and grandpas. That was my favorite part of summer vacation!

Have a great week!

Back to the grind.....

Today, school started once again. This quarter I am taking Statistics and Principles of Marketing. The marketing class doesn't look like it will be to bad, but I am (as always) a little nervous about Stats. I think I will be spending some time at the Math Center for this class.

On another note,

Those of you who are parents: Do you ever feel like banging your head against the wall? Now that summer vacation has started, if I hear the words "I'm bored" come out of my kids mouth again I will probably lose it. Plus, we have had so much rain that my backyard looks like a swamp so them going outside is not an option. Poor Dave, here he is, going off about 4 hrs of sleep at night, (if he's lucky) and the kids are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I have a feeling it's going to be a long summer!

Have a wonderful weekend!

YIPPEE!!!!!!

I know my last post was about being sad, but today I found out I got a C in Intermediate Algebra. For those of you who know me, you all know how much I struggled and cried over this class! God Bless my future Brother-in-law, who helped me through these last 2 chapters, (he just graduated and is going to be teaching Math, why anyone would want to do that, I don't know). But, I am COMPLETELY done with Algebra!! Only one more Math class to go (Statistics)!!!!!!!

On a side note, my husband Dave just finished another quarter of school with a 4.0 GPA! I am so very proud of him!!!!!!!

Have a very happy Memorial Day!