A Busy Summer

Chelsea and Malakai arrived Wednesday night, we are getting things ready for his first birthday.. His Great Nana and Grandpa are coming up for the big event! After everyone leaves Chelsea and I are driving to Washington so we can visit some friends! In July we are going to try and go to Idaho to the see the "Wild Bears" not sure what else we are planning on doing, but I am sure we will find some things to keep us busy!

Malakai 9 months old

Malakai loves when Uncle Brian gets up in the morning to play with him....... He loves Ella the cat... ( I think it's because she is nicer to him then the dog and she doesn't bark!) But really Ella loves him too.. She doesn't even mind when Malakai pulls on her ears!

We took Malakai swimming, he didn't know what to think at first, but then thought it was pretty fun! The best part of the whole night was the shower, he thought that it was pretty funny! He loved his Valentines Card with all the money in it.. Smart kid huh? It has been so fun having Chelsea and Malakai here with us, they are heading back home on Monday, he has done some many "first" since he has been here, he started crawling all the time on his hands and knees, he started pulling himself up, he gets into EVERYTHING.. and he learned to climb the stairs that go into the kitchen.. He was really proud of himself for that one! It is going to be sad to see them leave but we will see them next month when we meet up in the Bahamas for our visit with Chris, we are all so excited about going! Then in May Tobias will be deploying for 2 1/2 months so they will come back and stay with us.. We will have his first birthday here in Utah!

On another note, I went back to work last week after being off for 6 weeks due to my foot surgery, it has been so hard being back to work, and my foot hurts worse then it did before the surgery, so when I went to see my Dr. the other day he said he wants me off of it for another 3 weeks! So starting today I am home again, I have decided that if this 3 weeks does not help I am going to give my notice and just be a stay at home wife for awhile and then maybe in the fall I will start looking for a job where I don't have to be on my feet as much!

Bahamas' Here We Come

Ok so it is really going to happen... We are heading to the Bahamas' come April 13th.. We have all the plane tickets bought, the hotel reserved, passports ordered, and now all we need is April to get here!! How exciting it is going to be to be there with our whole family... Sorry kids but there will be family pictures expected.... I just figure it is the least they can do for me... Now here are some new pictures of Malakai.. Just about the sweetest and cutest baby out there.. ( not so sweet when he is trying to bite his mommy, guess he wants to try those teeth out)

Surgery is over

Well I had my surgery and now it is just the resting and waiting game, which most people know I am not very good at, today was my first real day home and I was already going stir crazy.. It is going to be a very long week, but hey its a test, if I can pass the week test then I know I will be ready to either go part time or just become a stay at home wife and clean and cook... ( stop laughing, it could happen) but I thought I would start posting some of our cruise pictures, we are looking forward to going on another one, but first we are off to the Bahamas' April 14th, it is going to be so much fun to be there with all our kids.....

Ending the Year

Well we are ending 2008.. what a amazing year.. We have really had a good year, Gary and I both have good jobs.. Ok Gary does, I just have a job.. I was able to travel and see Chelsea and Tobi often, plus they have been able to come home as well.. and the best part of the whole year was having Malakai come into our lives. It is hard to believe he is now 6 months old, and is probably the sweetest baby ever.. he has 2 teeth now, and when they were in before Thanksgiving he was rolling over.. now from the pictures he is trying to pull himself up to learn the crawl.. It is a great joy, being a Grandma!

Chris came home from the middle east and was home for a little over a month, I know he went stir crazy, but it was great having him home before he headed off to the Bahamas' where he will be for the next 2 years, it is always a fun time when he is home, he makes us all laugh and have a great time..

Matthew is still here in Utah with us, and working full time.. It started snowing this morning so that pretty much gives him time off since he is a sheet metal roofer.. He travels when the company had jobs out of state, but for the most part he just works around here in Ogden.

Brian is moving back next week, he will take some time off from school and work for awhile, and then finish up his school, not sure what he will do once he is finished but it will be nice having him home for awhile he has been in California for the past 2 and a half years.

Gary and I took a trip of a life time, we along with my 2 sisters and their husbands went on a cruise in November, it was so muh fun, we were gone for 7 days, and can not wait to do it again soon. If Gary would of got his way we would of been going again in January!

I am stepping down from my job, the end of January.. I have decided the stress is not worth the pay! I am having sugery on my foot ( way overdue) in January, and I am not sure how long I will be off of work, after I get the go ahead to go back, I will go back part time, I was thinking about looking for another job doing something different but I am thinking it is just easier to stay with Sears and work part time, but we will see how things go with my surgery, I don't want to go through this surgery to just mess my foot up all over again..

almost crusing time

As soon as Saturday arrives we are out of here!!! We leave early Saturday morning heading to Florida and then Sunday morning we will board the ship and head on our way!! I am finally starting to get excited when you plan this a year in advance it takes awhile for the excitement to build, but I finally think it has hit me that in 5 days we will be out of here.. I broke my big toe about 3 weeks ago and still have trouble getting shoes on, so come friday we will see what I can get on and what I can't, I may just be packing flip flops... and the best part of the whole cruise thing is when we return we will be greeted at the airport by Chelsea and Malakai, what a fun way to end a exciting week!
Now for some more really great news... I have to keep saying it so I don't change my mind or allow others to change it for me... But I put my notice in at work and January will be my last month!!! I might consider staying on part time, but I will no longer be a department lead! I just have finally had enough of all the bull that goes on around there and the lack of support and all the other fun stuff... I just hope who replaces me has a strong back bone to deal with most of the idiots that work there... I can count on 1 hand how many people really have your back and try and make things better for you, but when you have 2 handfuls that don't it pretty much weighs out the 1 that does! So anyway I am excited to just stay home or go visit friends that I have not seen in years and Gary is excited that when he takes time off from work, that we can go and do things.. He is already looking into another cruise!!!

ALL THE FUN

Well the past couple weeks have been busy and full of fun.. We had so many people come here and help us celebrate with Chelsea and Tobi and Malakai.. We had a reception /BBQ for Chelsea and Tobi to celebrate their wedding and 1 year anniv. That was on Saturday and then Sunday Malakai was blessed and later that afternoon we had a baby shower for him.. From there we all just hung out and had fun.. Chris was home from the middle East enjoying ( well maybe not enjoying) a month of leave before he headed to the Bahamas' for his next duty station. My sister Kristi and two of her kids along with Brian ( he hitched a ride with her and took a break from work) he is still living in Santa Barbara and going to school.. Matt was only here for a couple days ( he lives here in Utah with us but had to go to California for work) and of course Chelsea and Tobias and Malakai are here from North Carolina where they are stationed on Pope AFB. My Sister Treasea her 8 month old granddaugther Madi and my mom and my other nieces 2 year old also came from Washington. My best friend Shannon from Oak Harbor was here and just left this morning. My other good friend Nancy and her son Jeremy came from Wyo. that was so much fun hanging with her and Shannon. And then there were Ashley and CeCe Chelsea's friends from Oak Harbor.. And yes they all stayed here with us in our home... the only ones left are Chelsea and Tobias and the baby.. they will be here until Wednesday morning when they have to fly out.. it is going to be a very sad day..I am going to try and download some pictures if I am smart enough....