San Diego Fires

I got a call from my mom just before 8 this morning about the fires in San Diego. I didn't even know there were fires and my mom said my Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles had all been evacuated. I talked with her later in the day and she said they were all ok but that the fires were bad. I got online and have been watching NBC San Diego news since then. I can't seem to turn it off. I keep trying to imagine what people there are going through. It is weird to see names of cities and streets and such that I recognize and it is almost surreal. I am sooooo grateful that my family is all ok, but keep praying that they will have homes to go home to. My grandparents have lived in their home for over 40 years, my grandpa built the home. I wonder what they took with them. I can't help but think that their whole life is in that house, all the memories they have from living there. I have so many memories from being there throughout my life and it is sad to think of that all gone. I know it is jsut a building, just a house, but to me it is one place I consider "home". It really makes you ponder.....

Some Heroes Come Home

The water cannons spraying the plane!
We missed you Adam, THANK YOU!!!
Here he is greeting neices, nephews, and siblings.
We got to go on the plane, with our own "tour guide", Adam. The kids loved it!

On Friday afternoon we were lucky enough to go to the Utah Air National Guard Base and witness the arrival of my cousin, Adam, and his unit home from Irag. I checked the kids out of school because I thought it would be a great way to teach them a little about the sacrifices our soldiers are making for us each day. It was an amazing site: all the families (wives, husbands, kids, parents), friends, other service men and women, all waiting with excitement to see their loved ones. These men and women have been gone since Sept 11, 2006 and I don't know how the families do it. They sacrifice so much for me, for you, for each of us. Many of them miss births of their children, or neices and nephews; they miss all the everyday events(that we take for granted) in their families lives. Their families here at home miss them everyday and I have no idea how they do it, especially the moms. How do they stay strong for their children and take care of everything everyday alone........
These soldiers are heroes and I think their family members here at home are heroes too! Thanks Adam for serving our country, for helping to assure our freedoms, for sacficing for us, for being our hero! Thanks to Katie (his cute wife) for sacficing for us as well, you are an inspiration!

Jenna & the pugs...

Our neighbors pug had puppies 8 weeks ago. It was her first litter and she had 7 puppies, they are soooooooooooooooooo cute. Jenna has been going to see them every few day since they were born and begging to have one. Mike will not give in even to her cute little face and sweet pleading. I am glad, I don't really want a puppy right now anyway. These pics are from last week when they were 7 weeks old. I think they like Jenna as much as she loves them. The on on her lap sat there for about 5 minutes just still and peacefull. Aren't they so adorable?

Dinner for "B"

Here are a couple pics from our dinner out the other night for Brandon. The first is of his best friend Lane and his wife Devra and the second is of my Sister Krista and my other 2 brothers, Devin and Griffin. We had a good time just hanging out and talking about some of our memories with Brandon. We all miss him a lot! He was such a fun person who would do anything for anyone. I was trying to think of a memory to share with all of you and I wish I had a picture to share of Brandon break dancing. Do you remember in the 80's when it was huge? Well, Brandon was quite the break dancer. I remember watching him and his friends out in our front yard perfecting their skills. I know we have home video of it somewhere. Anyway, that is definitely one memory that makes me smile!

Brandon enjoyed hunting and didn't get his first deer until just a few weeks before he died. He was really sick and weak but a friend took him and he got his deer. My dad just gave us some summer sausage made from Brandon's deer and it is pretty good. It's just nice to be able to have memories and think about him and not cry everytime. We love you and miss you "B"!

Jenna

Here is a picture of Jenna at the zoo enjoying her yummy ice cream cone.

Mars!

Here is a picture of the kids on "Mars" at the planetarium. They look right at home, right?!?! Maybe that is where they came from.......that would explain a lot.

I'm Back!....(almost)....

From where, I am not quite sure. I feel like I have been in some sort of funk, but in reality I think it is just a new phase of life that I am trying to deal with or adjust to or whatever. In the last month I have had lots of different experiences or events going on. First, I had fall break at school which was only suppose to be 2 days off, but I ended up with only 1 class the whole week. It was great, I got to spend extra time with Jenna (which we both desperately needed). We went to the zoo and played lots of games. Her favorites right now are Dora Candyland and any memory game, which she kicks butt at. She plays with Mike's mom when she is there while I am at school and she wins everytime (and Mike's mom doesnt' let her, jenna has an amazing memory). I also got lots of extra study time in which leads to my next "event", my anatomy lab midterm practical. I have never in my life had a test like this or been so freaked out and stressed about a test before. There were 30 stations set up with 2 questions at each station and we got 2 minutes at each station. Each station had a bone or a slide or a muscle pinpointed in the cadavers, etc. Then we had to answer different questions, such as which bone structure is this, which muscle is this, what does this muscle do, what type of tissue is this, where is it found in the body, etc. We had been given a list of over a hundred different bones and muscles to memorize and I am not so great at memorizing and recalling info. from my brain. I have never studied so hard in my life and I am glad I did because it really paid off. The day of the test, I was sick I was so nervous, but when we went in and started I was actually able to recall the info I needed, I felt so relieved when it was all done and I ended up with an 85%, which I was very happy with! So after stressing over this test and another test and staying up until 12 or 1 everynight studying I think I wore my self out and ended up with strep last week. I don't usually get sick, especially strep, so I am hoping this is not the start of more. It's funny because when I was going to college the first time (right out of high school) we stayed up later than that all the time (not usually to study) and I was fine. I guess maybe old age has something to do with it or maybe the stress level is a little higher now than way back then. I have to actually want to do well in school and have to really study to do so.
Anyway, we have been trying to spend more time together as a family and as a couple. We went up the canyon one night and roasted hot dogs and marshmellows, we went to the planetarium, and we have been playing more games together. It has been great! This week we went to dinner with family and friends to "celebrate" my brother Brandon, who died 2 years ago from colon cancer. Today we are going to the airport to witness the arrival of my cousin, Adam, who has been serving in Irag for the past 15 months. I am excited for the kids to see these great men, these Heroes who have been sacrifing for our freedoms. I think this "place" I have been is just life and the everday "normal" events that are part of life: school, family, friends, death, war, freedom, America. I am grateful for all of these aspects of my life and feel very blessed to live where I do and know the people I know and to be able to do the things I do. So I guess I am back, although I am not sure I really ever left.....