Adam+ Mary = Charlotte

I keep forgetting to put up this post! Mostly because I want a picture to go with it but I will have to add that later. Adam and Mary are going to have a baby girl Charlotte on Jan 5. Mary is Adam's fiance'. He has been dating Mary for several months. She has 3 children already and they are cute as can be. Andrew is 10 yrs old, Elizabeth 6 yrs old, Emma is 5 yrs old. So with Mary that will give me 4 more grandchildren!! Mary is good for Adam! She keeps him sober and focused on other things besides himself! He has a chance to have happiness and I hope he takes it and runs like crazy with it. I am excited to have a grand baby close by to hold and see! I have really missed my grandkids especially since we were all together this summer! I am happy that Adam has a family who needs him in their life!!

Change is in the Air!!

With fall comes the change of leaves and the grass and well you know! Also with fall comes General Conference. This Conference was big and will mean big changes for our family. With the new ages of
missionaries moved down to 18 for boys and 19 for girls means that I will have 2 (3 counting Corbin, our adopted son, Nick's friend) of my kids out very soon!! Tori has started her papers and plans to leave in March. She is finishing up her externship for Le Cordon Bleu and will graduate in Jan , and then work to save up for her Mission. Nick will put his papers in in Feb so he can leave the end of June!!! WOW! I haven't had a missionary since Adam and well now I get to have two together pretty much!! I am so excited for them and the opportunities that they will have! They will both be amazing missionaries and will have the most special time of their lives! Nick has already been a 90 day missionary and gone to the Missionary Prep Class so he is on his way! Just had to share this amazing news that makes me smile( for the most part til I remember that they will be gone and I start to get sad for a sec but then remember the Lord needs them for a time!). I am so happy that they want to go and serve their brothers and sisters and be on the Lords time!! Can't wait til Tori gets her papers in to see where she ends up going!! She could be coming to your neck of the woods!! We will keep you posted!!!

Summer at last!!!

Well here is summer! I have to say I have been waiting a long time for summer to come because it meant that we were all going to be together for the first time in a couple of years!! It was great but not long enough! We flew Nick out early and sent Cassie out with my dear friend Laura Arballo to Utah to spend time with Andrea and her kids and Travis and Oriana. We knew that they would take as much time as we would give them to spend in Utah with family and friends. I have to say the house was very quiet without them and not sure I am ready for that just yet!

It was fun to get us all together! We had as much fun as we could! We didn't get to do all that was on our lists but we went to church at our old ward of 18 years and had Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma over for dinner! We watched pictures and some short movies of things that have happened over the past little while, we got our "Family Picture!!!", had girls breakfast time at Village Inn, some hiked the Y, others went to see Spiderman, watched movies, road 4 wheelers, ate great food, had smores, road horses, swam in the pool, went to BYU bookstore and got all kinds of BYU attire and decals, went to the Cabin for the 4th ( grandma and I went to Denver for Shelly's and Mark's Wedding which was really nice)( we got to see Penny and Cindy as well as Eric and his kids!!!) there was a lot of fun to be had and not enough time but we are glad for the time we got to spend together. We love our family and look forward to the next time when we can all go again. Maybe in the mid west next time!


We also made the decision to sell our house! It was a hard one and we have worked on the house actually to the point that I kinda like it now( I haven't really been a fan of it). If we ever move back to Utah it will be in the country and not in the Orem/ Provo area! Its just too crowded and busy for us anymore! Oriana and Travis live in Payson and it was just about our speed. Hollister is smaller than Payson and we love it here but Payson was really great.

Our garden is doing really great! I have had tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, zucchinis and corn on its way!! I have to say I really love that. Ben fixed a drip system for all the plants and I don't even have to water them! Just weed and there are fewer weeds cause the water only waters the plants!! I am hoping the gopher will save me some of my plants so I can bottle some of the tomatoes!

Well I think that sorta gets you up to date! Tori is moving out here in Aug to do her Externship! We are excitied to have her out here and Nick's friend Corbin is coming out here to live until he gets tired of us and the sun!! Life is ever changing and we are so blessed with so much and are grateful for all we have!!! Thank you all for who you are in our lives and how you make us better!! We love you all!!!!

Life just keeps happening!!!

I know its been since Feb that I have posted. Not that anyone has really had anytime to read or worry about this especially me. I must say I have noticed a few things about myself and others around me that makes me sad, happy and humble.

First off I was able to go to Ohio for Andrea's baby Evie to be born on Feb 17. While I was there after she was born they found that she had a hole in her heart. A pretty good sized hole and little Evie was such a trooper through the whole ordeal. That was in Feb then in April she had her surgery. Most of you already know the deals of this so I am not going to post about it now other than I have been overwhelmed by the love of family and friends and complete strangers who have included Evie in their prayers. I think I was most amazed by the people in Andrea's life that are not members of our church. Can I tell you how refreshing it is that so many people that knew her and a lot that didn't, were not afraid to ask and then tell us they would pray for her. There are so many good people in the world and living in Utah I wasn't able to see all the others there are because my world was so small.

I am glad that I moved and sad that I left people behind who I had known for many years. I feel bad that I haven't heard from them and they haven't heard from me. It makes me sad that we are TOO busy to even drop a note  to say hi. I promise to do better, for how can I feel sad if I haven't done it myself. I think it makes me sad too that life is so busy that I am writing this instead of calling a friend or writing a letter. Maybe its the first step to stop and realize that time is going by too quick. When I lived in Utah I was busy with family and didn't worry too much about doing much with my friends there and well to be honest they were busy with their families too, which is how it should be, but I think I am just a little sad that I didn't do more. I think its too easy these days to communicate with just a text instead of a real phone call to say Hi, how are you, I miss you! I think that makes me want to do better and not get into the easy trap because it doesn't take as long and well we all know there just isn't enough time in the day.

I don't mean for this to be a blah post but it really has been on my mind that people are important and much more important than we realize and if we aren't careful the time we thought we had will be gone and we will be wishing we had taken the time to make the call, or write that letter. I know I will be doing better in that area, I have to!

 At the end of March Nick and Cassie were in their High School Play " High School Musical". It was a big surprise that Nick wanted to try out. He had never let on that that was something he was even a little bit interested in but it turned out he did a descent job as the lead "Troy" and Cassie was one of the basketball jocks so she was in a bunch of scenes with Nick. It was a lot of fun to see them in the play and it was great to see them enjoy themselves.

Also Mom and Oriana and Travis got to come out and see the play which was great fun for us and hopefully for them as well. We sure do love visitors!

I do love it here. I know I have said that before but we have truly been blessed since we moved here. We sure have had to struggle with no money and having to sell things so we could buy groceries but things are getting better and the stress of money is easing up a bit and we are able to make it, but being in a small town where everywhere you go you meet nice people and you get a chance to stand for something is well a breath of fresh air and I like me better.

We have started a garden too. While I was still in Ohio some 60 plants that I had ordered from a guy at church came in. They came early and I wasn't here and so my awesome husband planted  40 tomato plants, 20 onion plants, and 20 pepper plants. When I got home there was my garden all nice and planted. We  have since added 12 corn plants and 2 squash plants. Our neighbor also brought over some more tomato plants and pepper plants too so we have a ton now. Its pretty cool to look out there and see them all. I hope they make it and we have tomatoes this summer.

Well that's about all for now. I will leave you with some pictures of the garden so far. I know you are dying to see them!!!

TC and Cora

So we are here in California with no family around. We were so lucky to have Oriana and Travis come for Christmas and then this weekend we have TC and Cora here because her brother Danny is getting married on Saturday in the Oakland temple. Today was really the only day we could do anything with them cause they really are here for the wedding! Well Cora lived in Southern California a long time ago and she really wanted to take the kids to the beach so off we went. It was a warm day in Hollister so we were hoping it would be warm at the beach and we were not disappointed!! It WAS Great!!!! The sand was warm and everyone had a great time. I was told to post pictures so here we are!!! They all had a fun time and we are so glad we went!!!

Thirty two years Ago today!!

Thirty two years ago the cutest, chubbiest baby was born into our family. He was already half grown at 10lbs and he had the prettiest smooth skin. Adam came to our family. He was the best little baby and a good brother to his family. He was a gentle soul and was kind to his friends at school too. So what happened to that cute little boy? What happened to my Adam. The one who would always smile and tell you" things will be ok Mom". He went on his mission and things were good and then he started to change. What does a mother do to help? He is now an alcoholic and there is little I can do. I watch him try and try to over come it, but he continues to hide and drink himself into the pain that he has to return from. So as I drive away from the hospital emergency room where I left him for them to deal with his symptoms of with drawl, I find my self in a flood of emotion. Sad I can't seem to help him, angry that he has done this yet again, helpless because its never ending, mad at myself for the feelings I feel!!! I don't know why he has this in his life. I know that he doesn't want to drink most of the time, but when he does its like clock works, he disappears to his room for about 3 days and no one sees him, then he emerges stressed because he is coming down from the alcohol and he can't handle it. Sometimes we go to the hospital and they just babysit him while he comes down, other times he is able to walk a lot, take warm baths a lot and just try to overcome what he has done to himself yet again. I have become harden to it. Its like ground hog day over and over again. I can repeat the words that he will say to me. How sorry he is and how he hates what he does to himself, how he can't continue, yet before long the whole thing starts all over again. I know the routine, its an ugly dance and I hate being apart of it, but I have no choice, he is my son and I love him. There are times when I am so angry that he has done it again. There are times when I am cold towards him, mostly to protect my inner self from falling apart and dissolving myself. I can't help me, he is the only one that can do that. I am just a spectator watching him. So sad that today he didn't even know it was his birthday til I told him. So sad that he is in the hospital coming off yet another binge of drinking and another failed attempt at staying sober. I hope this next year, Adam is a better year for you and that you can find your peace in your life so that alcohol will no long be your escape!!!!!!! Happy Birthday!

First Christmas in California

Well here we are in January and I am writing about Christmas! Better late than not at all. I have been waiting for help with posting some pictures I don't have access to so until I get it this will be picture less =( 
Christmas was great!!! We had a very uneventful Thanksgiving because it was just the 5 of us. It was nice but just a super nice Sunday dinner. Well Christmas was so much better because Oriana and Travis came and spent the week with us. It started out that on Dec 22, I get a text saying is it ok if we come earlier to your house? I say of course you can and have your birthday here with us, YES YES YES! I was so excited, it wasn't even funny. Dad and I headed to the store which is about 20 min away and had planned on getting home with plenty of time before Oriana and Travis got there, after all they were about 8 hrs away. I had Cassie make Oriana's birthday cake for the next day because she didn't know that they were coming that day, and everything was put into play. Well as we were driving home I get a text saying they were 10 min away from our house! What? How could that be? Well they had gotten up super early and headed our way. We were about the same amount of time from home and I was oh my goodness they are going to beat us home. I called her right then and come to find out they were just in front of us on the road. I had them pull over til we got there and they were able to follow us home!!! It was SOOOO cool! We had such a great time with them. We ate, played, site seeing, ate, played and just had soooo much fun!!! San Fransisco was great and going to the Redwoods first was awesome too. We just didn't have a blah moment. It was fun to have fires in the back yard and roast marshmellows, play ping pong games, play skipbo, bake treats, watch movies, watch Modern Family, and just have fun. Travis still has to come back to go into the Ocean. Nick didn't go with us to the ocean and so they didn't get each other to go in but that will come. We sat around the fire and listened to dad tell the Christmas Story. It was great. We did miss having little ones around to do the nativity. Next year we hope to have little ones around. Christmas here was great. It was 60 degrees and really, outside it didn't feel like Christmas. It was great to go to church and hear beautiful music about the birth of our Savior and to feel the love he has for us. I missed all my other kids and hope they had great days as well. We were able to talk to a few of them. It was a great day!

On another not,e that I didn't want to forget, was the blessings that come when we least expect them. I have been working part time to try and help pay for our huge electric bill which no matter what I do it still ends up being around $500. I have tried everything but we have too many electric using things in this house to bring it down much and when we do the gas for heating goes up. Oh well, I have given into the fact it will be ours for as long as we live here. Well after many months of trying to catch up on bills and making some headway, 2 of our children's cars decide to break down within a week of each other. Each one had no way to pay for it and needed it for work so we had to pay. Total was over $1100! Holy cow how was I going to pay for this. Lucky or not we had just gotten paid and so I was able to pay for the repairs but what about the bills that needed to be paid. I was saying my prayers and not more than a few minutes later my prayers were answered by an angel from above. A unexpected gift from someone who knew we needed help!! They really didn't know how much it helped and eased a huge burden and made the stress of the holidays less. We will be forever grateful for the good hearted people there are in the world. We have been blessed more than we can ever repay to those angels in our lives!!!

Well I am grateful to the New Year where I can try to be better than last year and serve more. I read an awesome book from a dear friend called " The Message" by Lance Richardson. It's a true story about his experience in the spirit world while he is in a coma. It made me really think about things a little different and made me more at peace. It also made me want to do a lot more for others and help my family do that as well. I have already felt that in moving here but now more so in everyday life. Time is short and we have a lot of work to do to change the world we live in. I am so grateful for my Family. They are my life and why I do what I do. I love them all. Happy New Year and I hope we make this a great one. Sorry this is so long but I guess I had a lot to say!!! Pictures will follow as soon as I can corner Cassie into helping me!!!