Recalling 2001

2001 was kind of a crazy year for us. It started out with Joe joining the Army. I think he signed in February. We were told that he would have to report and be sworn in in March so, we decided that it would be nice to see family before he left. We went to Spokane to see my siblings. That was in early March. We were there for a week and that is when I decided that I would like to move home to be close to them while he was in boot camp and training. We came home from our trip to have enough time to get him ready to go.

He left the second week of March. It left me with a lot to do. We had given notice on our apartment so I had 2 weeks to get us packed and our stuff put into storage. It was hard not having him there with us. Cordin was about 10 months old when Joe left. Cordin had a really hard time. He used to wake up in the morning and sit on the end of the bed waiting for his daddy to come back from the bathroom. When Joe left, he didn't get to say goodbye because he had fallen asleep. Looking back I would have done it differently and woken him up to give Joe a hug and kiss goodbye.

Our plan was to go to Germany. (Boy, that is so not what happened)! I was able to get everything ready with lots of help from Joe's family. My grandma found us a little one bedroom furnished basement apartment in Cheney. It sucked, but it was a place over our heads for the 3 months that we had planned on being there. Everything was going pretty smoothly until Joe called me and said that there was a hiccup in his paper work. He was promised a certain type of job and because of an indiscretion in his past (won't go into that) they were not going to give him said job. They gave him three options, he could rejoin as...1. infantry man...2...calvary scout...3...he could make it so it was like he never joined the Army and could come home. That was easy for me...COME HOME. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do. I talked to his dad and a brother in law and we all fasted and prayed about it and the end result that we all got was that Joe should come home. So he did. It only took the military 4 weeks to send him home. He got home on April 30th which was nice, he was there for Cordins first birthday (May 1st).

The summer was pretty lame. We were now stuck in Cheney. Joe was out of work. We had a little in savings which is what we lived on. We weren't sure what we should do. At the end of the summer we moved into another one bedroom apartment. Joe enrolled in school at SFCC and started on his career path. I was able to be at home with Cordin. I babysat for a friend to earn a little extra income. That helped some. As the fall came I found out I was pregnant with Gabbie.


That fall the terribly sad event of 9/11 occurred. I know that the Lord was watching out for our family. I have no doubt that if Joe had stayed in the Army as a Calvary scout he would have been one of the first soldiers over seas. I am so grateful that Joe was able to come home. I really admire, respect and am eternally grateful for what our military does for us, but it was a blessing that Joe was with us, even if it didn't make sense at the time.


The end of the year was pretty quiet. We spent it with my family. The holidays were nice as I recall. Pretty laid back but very nice. I think that all of my siblings were there. That was the first time in several years that that happened. We were able to be together and make memories. Those first two years of marriage we not a walk in the park. There were some rough patches in there too. I just choose to look back on the more positive stuff.

years Past

My dear friend Maggie has been reviewing her past decade year by year. I really like the idea so I am going to steal it and do the same. Love you Maggie. Your so smart. Let's see what I can remember.


2000
We were living in SLC Utah. The year started out with me being 5 months pregnant with Cordin. I was also working in a day care center at the time. Joe worked for Marriot vacations or something like that. He was also going to school to get his MCSE certificate. Joe and I had been married for 8 months. We lived in this really nasty basement apartment. It was a missionaries apartment before we moved in. It was infested with ants. I really hated that place. The landlords did nothing to improve it, but it was our first home together so there are good memories.



In March we were given the oportunity to move into a house (renting) that was next door to my sister in law Jeri. It was out in a little town called Cedar Fort. A very far and long drive to get anywhere. I don't know what we were thinking when we did that move. But, it worked out. I stopped working in April to get ready for Cordin's arrival. On May 1, 2000 he was born. It was a real eye opener to have a baby. Joe would say that I suffered from post partum depression. I probably did. That first month after he was born is kindof a blur. We celebrated our 1 year on May 18th. We didn't do anything though because we were both so out of it from sleepless nights. Good Memories!


In June Bryan and Rachel were married and we got to come up for the reception in Cheney. Shortly before that, Joe lost his job and we were looking for work. Thankfully we were able to stay in the house we were in. Joe came home to Utah after the reception to look for work and I was able to stay for 2 more weeks with my family. I remember that it was nice to rest and recooperate. I went home and we had a very hot and miserable summer.


At the end of the summer Joe finally found work for a company that did support for Microsoft. He had finally finished his MCSE at that point. We moved to Springville in October another basement apartment, at least it wasn't bug infested. Our landlords we an older couple. I remember that the day we moved it started to rain and we couldn't afford to get a uhaul so our neices boyfriend at the time had an open trailer that we used. Everything got soaked! It was a crazy experience. I don't know why we didn't cover stuff up with tarps. How stupid were we.


The rest of the year pretty much went without any major hiccups. I remember being happy and thankful that we had a home and that Joe had a job. We spent the holidays with Joe's family. It was pretty low key. That was 2000. Next installment to follow shortly.

Guess what I can do!

On the 22nd of this month Brynwen turned 10 months old. The day before that she started to crawl. She is still getting the hang of it but she is moving and getting into everything. Her favorite room to crawl to is the bathroom with the kitchen being a close second. It has been fun watching her discover new things. She can now follow her brother down the hall and into the other room. She really likes this. She loves to crawl under the computer desk and sit under it. She is just so darn cute. She talks up a storm and is trying to say small words like dadadada and mamamama. When ever Joe walks into a room she lights up and gets really excited. Her arms start to fly and she bounces up and dowm. She loves her daddy and wants him to hold her all the time. She can also get on her feet and hands which tells me that she will probably want to start walking sooner rather then later. She has been trying to pull herself up but doesn't quite have the upper body strength yet. It's only a matter of time though. I plan to have some pictures and a video to upload as soon as I install the software onto my computer...I've been lazy about doing it.

I know I say this a lot, but I can't believe how fast the year has gone. I can't believe that my baby is so close to being 1 already. I wish...well it doesn't really matter what I wish. When it comes to time it always goes way to fast.

On a side note...we got two new kittens on the 23rd. They are really cute and very active. I don't know what I was thinking. Orange and white kittens, they are into everything. They are brother and sister and play together all the time...usually it is in the middle of the night and on my bed. They are really cute though and I will have pictures of them soon too.

Gideonism

I love Gideon. He is so cute and full of energy. He came running out of the bedroom after watching Spongebob and says, "WEEEEE, I love that show it is awesome!" He just cracks me up with all that he does. What a sweet boy I have.

The New Year

WOW, it's 2010. I can't believe that. Where does the time go? It just seems to fly by. I can't believe that I will have a 10 year old this year and that I will be celebrating my 11Th year of marriage. In a lot of ways it feels like I am still that 18 year old with lots of hopes and dreams still waiting to be fulfilled. Then I look in the mirror and see the 34 year old looking back and my reality sets in.

2009 was a good year. We had lots of neat things happen in our family. We had lots of babies born this year. The major one for us being the addition of Brynwen in March. We had weddings happen. We had lots of family come and visit this year which was great. I think our whole summer was filled with family visits. The kids really liked it when their cousins came and stayed with us. We had some illness but nothing to major. We survived the swine flu. All in all our year was a success. We are all happy and healthy. We are grateful and blessed. I love that we are all together and that we have the opportunity to go through this year together. I hope that everyone has a wonderful 2010.

Tis the Season

I'm so excited for Christmas. I can't believe that it is only a week and a half away. The time is just flying by. There is so much to do and I don't feel that I have enough time to get it all done. I've been wanting to do some baking, but with little kids and work I don't know if it will get done this year. I've also been trying to get my sisters gift done so I can wrap it. That's another thing that has to happen wrapping all the gifts. I really only have Wednesday and Saturday to try to accomplish all of it. I feel a little overwhelmed. In a good way though.

I just love the atmosphere of Christmas. The lights and sounds. The music. The goodies. It is so much fun. I can't wait until the 23rd. I have until the 28th off of work and it will be nice to just relax a little and have some fun. We are heading down to Tri-Cities on the 23rd to spend the holiday with my brothers and sisters. It is going to be so much fun to have everyone together. It has been quite awhile since we have been able to accomplish this. Nothing says Christmas like good food shared with good people in a good environment. Christmas should be a blast. Hope you all have a great holiday too.

What better way to start the holiday season then with elf yourself. I think this will be a new tradition in our house. The kids get a real kick out of it, so do I. Just want to wish you all a happy and safe holiday season. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that. I don't know if I will have time to post much as the month progresses but I will try. Love to all of you out there!