Monday, April 5, 2010
Whew!
It has been a whirl wind of activity lately. First we were getting Tyler ready to leave for his mission. Slowly at first but then went into a higher gear at the end of February. He also turned 20 at the end of February. I am now short one teenager. At the beginning of March we stepped it up. At the same time we found out that my father has pancreatic cancer. His age and overall health rules out surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation (pretty much the only treatments available). So, while getting Tyler ready to leave, I was getting ready to leave for Ohio.
Tyler's leaving was bittersweet. Sending him off was hard. But the fact that he is going on a mission is so amazing. I am so proud of him. It's hard for me to believe that my son is on a mission. He left 17 March. He flew from Albuquerque to Salt Lake City. He was met at the airport by his uncle. I was so happy that my brother, David, was able to pick him up and drive him to Provo. He was unable to come down to Albuquerque to spend time with him before he left because of work and then at the last minute going to Ohio to check on my dad. They were both disappointed. But in the running around to get everything done for his mission, he forgot to call and make arrangements for the shuttle. My brother got home the Monday before Tyler left so he was able to pick him and spend a couple of hours with him. They were so happy to have that little bit of time together. Tyler was also able to spend a little bit of time with a good friend who goes to BYU. He was really happy about that too. So far the hardest part has been the limited communication. I am so used to calling him or texting him when he is not home. I thought that I might have been over doing it with messages to him through www.dearelder.com LOL. But come to find out, he likes them a lot. It's a great site. Love it. Tyler leaves for Canada tomorrow (6 April). He has loved his time at the MTC. He has already made some great friends. He is very excited about getting to Canada.
After Tyler left I had finish getting ready to leave for Ohio. We were supposed to leave the Monday after Tyler left but because of sheer exhaustion and weather we ended up pushing it back to Friday. So glad that we did because I got my first e-mail from Tyler and his driver's license came in the mail on Thursday. So I was able to get that in the mail and was at home with my husband when the first e-mail came. That was great. But we did run into wind and rain on the drive. And it was cold until the last day. We hit a tumbleweed a couple of hours out of Albuquerque and bits of it made it all the way to Ohio. LOL. It was a good trip except for the wind and one brush fire. LOL. Hopefully we will have better weather on the way back. One can hope.
Now I am in Ohio for I don't know how long. I enrolled Sophia in the school that I went to when I was her age. That's kind of neat. The school has changed a lot. The town has changed a lot. Sophia likes seeing all the farms. She is amazed at all the farms around here. LOL. I am loving seeing all the green!!! Miss the mountains but love all the green grass and trees. And the dirt is black, not red or light brown. LOL. I love being home but not loving the circumstances. But trying to make the best of it. I wonder how many of my projects that I brought can I get done? Might have brought too many. But we will see. LOL.
Tyler's leaving was bittersweet. Sending him off was hard. But the fact that he is going on a mission is so amazing. I am so proud of him. It's hard for me to believe that my son is on a mission. He left 17 March. He flew from Albuquerque to Salt Lake City. He was met at the airport by his uncle. I was so happy that my brother, David, was able to pick him up and drive him to Provo. He was unable to come down to Albuquerque to spend time with him before he left because of work and then at the last minute going to Ohio to check on my dad. They were both disappointed. But in the running around to get everything done for his mission, he forgot to call and make arrangements for the shuttle. My brother got home the Monday before Tyler left so he was able to pick him and spend a couple of hours with him. They were so happy to have that little bit of time together. Tyler was also able to spend a little bit of time with a good friend who goes to BYU. He was really happy about that too. So far the hardest part has been the limited communication. I am so used to calling him or texting him when he is not home. I thought that I might have been over doing it with messages to him through www.dearelder.com LOL. But come to find out, he likes them a lot. It's a great site. Love it. Tyler leaves for Canada tomorrow (6 April). He has loved his time at the MTC. He has already made some great friends. He is very excited about getting to Canada.
After Tyler left I had finish getting ready to leave for Ohio. We were supposed to leave the Monday after Tyler left but because of sheer exhaustion and weather we ended up pushing it back to Friday. So glad that we did because I got my first e-mail from Tyler and his driver's license came in the mail on Thursday. So I was able to get that in the mail and was at home with my husband when the first e-mail came. That was great. But we did run into wind and rain on the drive. And it was cold until the last day. We hit a tumbleweed a couple of hours out of Albuquerque and bits of it made it all the way to Ohio. LOL. It was a good trip except for the wind and one brush fire. LOL. Hopefully we will have better weather on the way back. One can hope.
Now I am in Ohio for I don't know how long. I enrolled Sophia in the school that I went to when I was her age. That's kind of neat. The school has changed a lot. The town has changed a lot. Sophia likes seeing all the farms. She is amazed at all the farms around here. LOL. I am loving seeing all the green!!! Miss the mountains but love all the green grass and trees. And the dirt is black, not red or light brown. LOL. I love being home but not loving the circumstances. But trying to make the best of it. I wonder how many of my projects that I brought can I get done? Might have brought too many. But we will see. LOL.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Contest at Chicken Stitches Blog
I found this blog a couple of months ago and just love it. It's by a lady who lives in New York City. She is Jewish and originally from Russia. She loves to knit and crochet just like me! She is having a contest on her blog to celebrate her anniversary in the blogging world. You can win some beautiful stitch markers, row counters, and yarn. What could be better? LOL. Check it out. There is a link to on my side bar. Just click on Chicken Stitches. She has some interesting stories, pretty projects, and beautiful kids. :0)
Last Week Of January
Where does the time go? Already at the end of the first month of the year. Almost 6 months since I last posted. A lot going on I guess.
Sophia started 1st grade in August. She's loving it. She has a great teacher. Sophia loves her. She gets upset if she has to miss school. She is reading and writing better and better. Makes things a little bit harder for Bernie and I if we are trying to hide something. The days of spelling things out to each other are about over. But it is so much fun to hear her read. She loves to write too. She loves notebooks. She has a couple of composition books that she used to color and pretend to write in. Now she writes stories. Some of them are a hoot. Maybe I should start posting some of her stories. Probably be more interesting than what I post. Sophia also lost her two front teeth right before Christmas. I finally had a kid that could sing "All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth." It was cute. She is still doing gymnastics and is loving it. But we decided not to do cheer leading. One thing at a time right now. She is growing and learning and is a great kid. Cute as can be a getting funnier and funnier and goofier and goofier.
Tyler has spent the last 6 months getting all his paperwork and interviews done to go on a mission. It seemed like a never ending process. I also think that he drug his feet for a little bit because of the enormity of the prospect. But he got everything done. He got his mission call 14 January. He is going to Edmonton Canada and leaves 17 March. We are very excited. He will be the first one in our family to go on a mission. Surprisingly, I'm not really nervous. Of course as a mom I will worry about if he's warm enough, getting enough to eat, and stuff like that. But overall I'm really not worried. I know that he will be taken care of.
Tyler also went on Trek this summer. For my friends who are not LDS, Trek is like a camping trip with the addition of reenacting the crossing of the plains by the handcart pioneers. They live and even dress as they did in the 1800's. It was a great experience for him. He had a great time. He was tired and hungry but had a great time. The area that they were at was gorgeous. He said that as they hiked along, he loved to look around at the scenery. They had great couple as their Ma & Pa. Cathy & Josh Skousen. Tyler was already good friends with them and made it nice for the Trek. At the end of the Trek Cathy pulled me aside to tell me how amazing Tyler was. She told me about how one night they were sitting around the fire talking about if they could have anything from home right then what would it be. She told me that everyone was saying things like their bed or pillow, stuff like that. When they got to Tyler, he said he would want his little sister. They missed each other so much when he was gone that week. We got to greet them as they came into "Salt Lake City". It was great. When they first came down the hill I tried to pick his group out. I was looking for our bishop. He is very tall and often towers over others in a group. So I thought that I could spot him easy. It was at this point that I realized how tall Tyler really is. He is not that much shorter than our bishop. They were almost right in front of us before I spotted them. He looked so grown up all of sudden. He had a week's worth of beard growth on him and looked so tall and tan (when we got home and he took a shower we realized that the tan was dirt LOL). Sophia ran to him and he scooped her up and just held her for the longest time. It was so sweet. Bernie and I did not get to really hug him or talk to him right away. He just wanted to hug Sophia. I can't be 100% sure but I do think that a couple of tears fell from his eyes as he just held his little sister. Sophia cried when he left for Trek and bugged me every day about when we were going to go pick him up. She did the same thing when he went to EFY two years ago and was gone for a week. I have no idea how Bernie and I are going to remain sane for the two years that Tyler will be gone on his mission. Sophia is going to drive us nuts. But it will be hard to see how much she's going to miss him. She has only been away for him for a week twice. And those were hard weeks for her. Will have to make her some sort of countdown calendar that will be fun but at the same time not overwhelm her about how long two years are. LOL. Wish me luck. LOL.
One of our dogs, Schatzi, had puppies at the end of September. She had 7! That is a big number for a mini schnauzer. She did great. It was an experience. I never helped a dog deliver puppies before. Neat but gross all the same time. Schatzi did great though. I am so grateful that I had my friend Jess here to help me. They are all very cute. She had 3 girls and 4 boys. All of them black with various white spots except for one. He is salt and pepper like his mama. With everything that has been going on here we have not advertised them yet. Getting that taken care of now. Hopefully will have them sold soon. One of the girls has already gone to Texas. So we have 6 left. They are cute and all but I am sooooo ready for them to find new homes. 8 dogs in one house is a bit too much. We considered keeping one but now we think 2 is enough.
Well, that's about it for general updates. Will try to post more often. Have some finished knitting projects that I need to take pictures of and post. Will be doing a lot of knitting for Tyler the next 2 years. Have to make sure that he stays warm.
Until next time...
Sophia started 1st grade in August. She's loving it. She has a great teacher. Sophia loves her. She gets upset if she has to miss school. She is reading and writing better and better. Makes things a little bit harder for Bernie and I if we are trying to hide something. The days of spelling things out to each other are about over. But it is so much fun to hear her read. She loves to write too. She loves notebooks. She has a couple of composition books that she used to color and pretend to write in. Now she writes stories. Some of them are a hoot. Maybe I should start posting some of her stories. Probably be more interesting than what I post. Sophia also lost her two front teeth right before Christmas. I finally had a kid that could sing "All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth." It was cute. She is still doing gymnastics and is loving it. But we decided not to do cheer leading. One thing at a time right now. She is growing and learning and is a great kid. Cute as can be a getting funnier and funnier and goofier and goofier.
Tyler has spent the last 6 months getting all his paperwork and interviews done to go on a mission. It seemed like a never ending process. I also think that he drug his feet for a little bit because of the enormity of the prospect. But he got everything done. He got his mission call 14 January. He is going to Edmonton Canada and leaves 17 March. We are very excited. He will be the first one in our family to go on a mission. Surprisingly, I'm not really nervous. Of course as a mom I will worry about if he's warm enough, getting enough to eat, and stuff like that. But overall I'm really not worried. I know that he will be taken care of.
Tyler also went on Trek this summer. For my friends who are not LDS, Trek is like a camping trip with the addition of reenacting the crossing of the plains by the handcart pioneers. They live and even dress as they did in the 1800's. It was a great experience for him. He had a great time. He was tired and hungry but had a great time. The area that they were at was gorgeous. He said that as they hiked along, he loved to look around at the scenery. They had great couple as their Ma & Pa. Cathy & Josh Skousen. Tyler was already good friends with them and made it nice for the Trek. At the end of the Trek Cathy pulled me aside to tell me how amazing Tyler was. She told me about how one night they were sitting around the fire talking about if they could have anything from home right then what would it be. She told me that everyone was saying things like their bed or pillow, stuff like that. When they got to Tyler, he said he would want his little sister. They missed each other so much when he was gone that week. We got to greet them as they came into "Salt Lake City". It was great. When they first came down the hill I tried to pick his group out. I was looking for our bishop. He is very tall and often towers over others in a group. So I thought that I could spot him easy. It was at this point that I realized how tall Tyler really is. He is not that much shorter than our bishop. They were almost right in front of us before I spotted them. He looked so grown up all of sudden. He had a week's worth of beard growth on him and looked so tall and tan (when we got home and he took a shower we realized that the tan was dirt LOL). Sophia ran to him and he scooped her up and just held her for the longest time. It was so sweet. Bernie and I did not get to really hug him or talk to him right away. He just wanted to hug Sophia. I can't be 100% sure but I do think that a couple of tears fell from his eyes as he just held his little sister. Sophia cried when he left for Trek and bugged me every day about when we were going to go pick him up. She did the same thing when he went to EFY two years ago and was gone for a week. I have no idea how Bernie and I are going to remain sane for the two years that Tyler will be gone on his mission. Sophia is going to drive us nuts. But it will be hard to see how much she's going to miss him. She has only been away for him for a week twice. And those were hard weeks for her. Will have to make her some sort of countdown calendar that will be fun but at the same time not overwhelm her about how long two years are. LOL. Wish me luck. LOL.
One of our dogs, Schatzi, had puppies at the end of September. She had 7! That is a big number for a mini schnauzer. She did great. It was an experience. I never helped a dog deliver puppies before. Neat but gross all the same time. Schatzi did great though. I am so grateful that I had my friend Jess here to help me. They are all very cute. She had 3 girls and 4 boys. All of them black with various white spots except for one. He is salt and pepper like his mama. With everything that has been going on here we have not advertised them yet. Getting that taken care of now. Hopefully will have them sold soon. One of the girls has already gone to Texas. So we have 6 left. They are cute and all but I am sooooo ready for them to find new homes. 8 dogs in one house is a bit too much. We considered keeping one but now we think 2 is enough.
Well, that's about it for general updates. Will try to post more often. Have some finished knitting projects that I need to take pictures of and post. Will be doing a lot of knitting for Tyler the next 2 years. Have to make sure that he stays warm.
Until next time...
Monday, July 27, 2009
Last Week of July!!
Can't believe that it is the last week of July already. The summer is almost over and I have no idea where it has gone. I have not completed half the projects that I wanted to get done. Still have some outfits to make for Sophia. Luckily it stays hot here until the end of September so she should be able to wear them for 2 more months.
Tyler is progressing with his mission paperwork. He has his dental clearance done and has an appointment in August for the medical clearance. He will be ordained an elder at the end of August and he and I started Temple Prep class yesterday. Can't believe that it's actually going to happen. I am excited for him. I will miss him but it will be an amazing experience for him.
In a few short weeks Sophia will start 1st grade. She is growing so fast. She loves school and can't wait for it to start. I can wait. The house is so quiet during the school year. I know that I should enjoy it and I'm sure I will one day. LOL. The big thing with her right now is going to be trying to get her back on a school like schedule. She has been staying up late and getting up late. Need to use the next couple of weeks to get back into the early to bed early rise mode. Don't want that struggle when school starts.
Going to try to take some pictures of the kids this week and post them. I still need to scan their school pictures from last year. Sophia got the cutest outfit from my mom. Need to take some pictures of her in it. It's really cute.
Until next time...
Tyler is progressing with his mission paperwork. He has his dental clearance done and has an appointment in August for the medical clearance. He will be ordained an elder at the end of August and he and I started Temple Prep class yesterday. Can't believe that it's actually going to happen. I am excited for him. I will miss him but it will be an amazing experience for him.
In a few short weeks Sophia will start 1st grade. She is growing so fast. She loves school and can't wait for it to start. I can wait. The house is so quiet during the school year. I know that I should enjoy it and I'm sure I will one day. LOL. The big thing with her right now is going to be trying to get her back on a school like schedule. She has been staying up late and getting up late. Need to use the next couple of weeks to get back into the early to bed early rise mode. Don't want that struggle when school starts.
Going to try to take some pictures of the kids this week and post them. I still need to scan their school pictures from last year. Sophia got the cutest outfit from my mom. Need to take some pictures of her in it. It's really cute.
Until next time...
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Summer
I can't believe that summer is almost over. Seems like I have been busy but I also feel like I have done nothing. I have been doing some sewing. Found a website with a tutorial on making a little girls dress out of an adult's button down shirt. http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=170402.0
I bought a couple of large men's button down shirts at the thrift store and have made Sophia a some cute little summer dresses. Did not follow the directions exactly because she wanted to keep the front pockets. So they turned out wider than needed. I made a little pleat and now as she grows I can let it out. And when it's too small for a dress, it can be a cute shirt. I need to take some pictures. They turned out really cute.
Also made us matching dresses. Turned out cute. I think that mine makes me look a little frumpy but it is comfortable and it is really cool for the summer. We wore our dresses to a picnic and I stayed nice a cool the whole time. I was even running around with Sophia flying a kite. So the dress is great for summer.
I have a lot more sewing to do. Trying to use all the material that I have bought over the last couple of years. My goal for the summer was to not buy any clothes for Sophia. She had a lot of pants that fit her fine except in the length so I just cut them off and put a hem in them. Other ones that are too short in the middle I am trying figure out how to make them into skirts and dresses. Her short/pants drawer has no more room. LOL.
Tyler has started to get everything together for his mission. He has his dental clearance, an appointment for medical clearance next month, and then it's interviews. He wants to be able to leave mid October. He is getting really excited and a little nevervous. So am I. But I am very proud of him to be so determined to go. It will be great and scary and great for him.
So I guess I have not done a whole lot but just a bunch of little things. A lot of busy work. :0)
Cheerleading
In May Sophia had her first Cheerleading showcase. She did cheerleading just about the entire school year. She absolutely loved it. She will probably go back in the fall. The showcase was really cute. Her team came in third for their group. She got a medal and a trophy. It was really cute to see all the little girls cheering. Sophia loved that she got to wear make up and I did her hair with the curling iron and lots of hair spray. She felt all big and glamorous. Maybe it's just me but they don't make Aquanet the way they used to. Could be that it needs humidity to develop the shell. LOL. Just don't have the humidity here in New Mexico that Ohio did when I was teenager and would lacquer my hair with it. LOL. It was a lot of fun for all of us (not sure Tyler enjoyed it that much but he did take the pictures). Just wish that the showcases were not on Sundays.
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