I'm so glad when Daddy comes home

So Father's Day has come and gone, but I wanted to take a moment and write down my thoughts on my fabulous husband and daddy to my kids. They are SO glad when he gets home every day, running to the door and meeting him with hugs and smiles. He's always so willing to listen to their day, even when he's exhausted and starving and just wants to sit down. They love him so much, and want to spend every minute they can with him. He loves to play with them, their newest "thing" is playing tag in the yard with them. Gavin loves playing the Wii with him, and Maci loves snuggling with him watching a movie or playing in the yard with him.

Chris has been such a trooper through the last couple years. What he is doing is HARD, and he's been working part time as well, which only a fraction of the other students are doing. He's worked so hard at doing well in school so that he can further his career and provide for his family, while he's doing something he loves. I'm so proud of his accomplishments so far and know he's going to help a lot of people in his life.

Chris has been my best friend for a LONG time, long before we got married. I'm so glad that I get to go through my trials and hardships with him, as well as our happy times and joyous occasions. He makes my life so much better, and I'm so grateful that he's mine for eternity!

So, Happy LaTe Father's Day babe, I Love You!

And we're back. . .

Since being home, we've kept busy doing fun things for the summer. We've been to the Nixa pool several times, Table Rock Lake several times, playing in the hose A LOT!! and having friends over. Our good friends the Eckersley's moved last week :-( They will be missed! but we wish them well with their new endevours, wherever they may be. We hope to see them still as they're living with their parents in Branson for the next couple of months. Nixa won't be the same without them!!

With the Eckersley's moving, came the loss of Chris's job. EHN, their company, closed down. So, Chris is now jobless, but in a way this is a blessing. He's so busy with school, it was becoming increasingly clear that the work load at school, client load, and working part time was just too much. The last week Chris worked I literally could see his brains oozing out of his head. So, for now, he's not going to work. With his current school and client schedule, we're not sure what he could find in way of a job anyway. So we're praying hard and cutting back and hoping that somehow we'll make it through without that extra income. The last couple of weeks have been much better, although still stressful for Chris, but I think it's the right decision for now, at least until his thesis is done in Dec., that he focus on school. That job was such a blessing for the past 2 years though, we're so grateful for it!!

The pregnancy is still going great. I've felt terrific the last couple months, and am just now starting to feel like I'm getting bigger, maybe swelling a little bit?! which isn't fun, but could be worse! The baby is moving a lot and the kids love to feel her kick. I can't believe she'll be here in a little over 3 months! it's gonna be a huge adjustment, but we're excited and ready, kinda ;-)

We celebrated July 4th with some of Chris's friends from school, who were nice enough to invite us over. Thanks Mike, Katie, Kylie and Robbie! We had a great time, did some fun fireworks that actually shoot in the air, and saw a great show right out back of Mike's apartment in an adjacent golf course. It was a great show! Monday after the 4th, Chris had school and clinic off! So we headed down south to Eureka Springs, AR. It's a beautiful little artsy city, reminded me a lot of Park City. We explored the shops, got some fudge which I promptly ate pretty much by myself, saw the Crescent Hotel, and ate at a little Italian place, which we will NOT be frequenting, if you get my drift. But overall, it was a fun day of driving and discovering new places.


So far, it's been a spectacular summer, and we're going to enjoy the next month before school starts again for the kids!

Utah Trip 2010

We had such a great time in Utah this summer. We started out the drive at 6pm in the evening, and arrived in UT around 3 the next afternoon, driving straight through. The kids did great and Chris drove most of the way. We drove the trailer with his motorcycle on it for his big Moto Trip 2010 with Josh and Joel! I should make Chris do a whole post on that part of his journey. Needless to say they had a fantastic time!!

Highlights of our trip were as follows
*Mikayla's graduation, am I really old enough to have a niece graduated?! At least she's not MY daughter :-)
* Allysa's baptism
* Lots of outings, Boondocks w/Grandpa W., Pirate Island w/Grandma W, SLC Temple and lunch at the Church Office building w/Grandma and Grandpa B, Legacy Center, Thanskgiving Pt, and more I'm probably forgetting!
* TONS of cousin time. Anne's family was living at my mom and dad's while they found a house to buy, so we got to see them A LOT. The kids had such a ball, mostly playing out in the water, if it wasn't snowing that day ;-)
* Snow!! yes, about 3" of snow fell on May 24th, not completely unusual for UT weather, but definitely more snow than we'd seen in a while! This happened to be the day Chris was supposed to leave for his motorcycle trip. They waited out the storm a couple hours till after lunch, it cleared up and melted away, and they were off for their great adventure!
* Several outings with Mary, Maria, etc + kids, it's so good to catch up with old friends!
* IKEA need I say more.
* Relaxing evenings with both sides of the family, chatting and just hanging out.
* Boren Carnival, where we had a new event, an egg drop off the roof! Funnest event of the day, and both Maci and Ali's eggs survived the drop!
* Highland City Splash Park
* Lucky enough to meet Baby Elijah, Anne's newest addition, one day before we left!
* Having enough time to start and finish a rag quilt for new baby!

We had such a great time, and it was hard to leave. Katie drove back with me since Chris had to come back shortly after his motorcycle trip. She was a great help and kept the kids fed and entertained while I drove (she drove a little too :-) She got to stay a few days after we arrived back home so we could show her around the Ozarks. We had a great time at the Discovery Center, down in Branson, at Table Rock Lake, and of course had to take her to Andy's! Thanks Kate for making sure we got home safely!!