One year later.....

A whole year has passed since that last post.  So many emotions then.  We still miss Maryland.  A piece of our hearts will always be there.  We don't even miss the area that much, just our friends and best neighbors.  One year.  365 days since I blogged.  I don't know if I can cover a year in one post but I would like to record my feelings on the happenings of the last year.  March was hard, Joe was my only friend besides sweet Amy who probably thought I was a little whiney and kind of a downer at the beginning of our friendship.  Lol.  Thankfully she hung in there!  :) I was looking for jobs and not finding anything.  Joe was concerned about my sad-ish state and encouraged me to get out of the house and meet some people.  I felt like I had tried at church but hadn't gotten very far.  So I decided to volunteer at the only place I knew of which was the thrift shop on base. That decision changed my whole last year!  :) I met new friends and had something meaningful to fill my time. Mostly I met new friends.  What a blessing!  I became a co-chair (think assistant manager but without the pay) ha ha!  I am on the thrift shop board and also sit on the spouses club board to represent the thrift shop from time to time.  These 4-5 women that I work with at the shop have become some of my dearest friends here.  I am so thankful for them!!!  In April I was called to be the ward camp director and was then given a stake assignment to be the head YCL counselor at camp.  SO FUN!!!  Loved all the ladies and girls I got to know through that time of serving the Lord.  July brought a new job!  I landed my dream job as a newborn photographer with a company called Mom365.  It was a dream!  Photography and tiny babies?!?  The best!  One drawback I had to work every other weekend at least Saturday and  Some Sunday's though I never had to miss church it wasn't my fave.  After not working for 14 years it was hard to get over not having my weekends full of family time. Got called to work in nursery at church wasn't thrilled but was happy to serve where the Lord asked me to, ended up loving it.  Those littles are so dang cute! 

  August we traveled back to Maryland to pick HD up from his mission!!!!  So fun to see our friends and to get to hug my sweet boy!  He was as awesome as ever and it was so near to hear his stories and to have him speak fluent Portuguese for us.  I am sure he felt a bit like a circus act when he first came home.  :p. 

He and I at the airport

Our family back together! 

Same sense of humor came back from the jungle.  :)

We spent two and a half weeks with the kids and enjoyed every minute before they were both back off to college.  Darn successful people anyway.  Lame.  Haylee also started 8th grade and joined a million activities.  Ok only like 4 but it seems like a lot. September was just school as normal busy volunteering and working.  Fun high school football games and loving small town life!  At the end of September Haylee and I were in sacrament meeting and imagine my surprise when they are reorganizing the stake YW presidency and they read my name over the pulpit asking the ward to sustain me as the 2nd counselor in the stake YW!  I almost fell over.  They had motioned for me to stand and I did and I tried to stay composed and not freak out.  When I sat down Haylee said "you didn't even tell me!" I told her "news flash they didn't tell me either!"  She thought it was hysterical and could not stop her shoulders from shaking with silent laughter.  I was just shaking!  Lol.  I had no idea what to do.  Do I tell someone? Do I need to tell them now that I had no idea? Did they read the wrong name? A hundred thoughts raced through my mind as I tried to focus on the sacrament. During the sacrament the stake high counselor and one of the stake presidency members realized their mistake so they got up and explained to the congregation that I had not been formally extended the calling and then asked me if I could meet with them after sacrament meeting. That's when I realized they did mean to read my name and that they sustained me all across the stake that day!  It was a lesson in attending your meetings people can you imagine if I hadn't gone to church that day? No one would have known that I didn't know!  It was a unique experience for sure.  :). In October my friend Amy asked if I would like to come work for her and her hubby (out stake president and dentist) they needed a dental assistant that could fill in for sick people and when someone took maternity leave.  I said yes and then a few days later said no.  I felt I couldn't give my all to that job while working at the hospital and I wasn't ready to give up my baby job (it didn't really occur to me that I could).  In November Haylee made the winter guard team (flag spinning) and I realized if I was working on a Saturday I would miss her whole competition!  I am not a mom who misses things.  The dental office gig would be super part time and at most a Monday -Thursday 8-5 job.  Also, it was a "real" grown-up job!  They would train me and pay for me to get certified plus cover all of our dental costs not paid for by insurance!  Deal!  I have been working there since December and I LOVE IT!  Who knew I would love teeth? Crazy but it is such a great fit for me.  I love the work and the patients and my boss is pretty awesome too.  ;) 

December both kids came home for two weeks and my dad came to visit.  Joe's sisters were both at the farm Christmas Eve so we spent the day there.  We had a blast.  It was so great to have everyone here.  January was dental office work and guard competition for Haylee along with her landing the role of Juliets nurse in the school production of Romeo and Juliet.  She is really excelling here and I love the things she is involved in. Look at the young women in our ward!! 

There are so dang many!  It is awesome! Our ward is huge and definitely feels like our family now.  Joe's closest friend just happens to the the stake president (yes also my boss) which is an awesome thing.  We love the Heath's and are so thankful they befriended us when we moved here!  (I tried to get their middle kiddo hooked up with HD but that smart girl decided to serve a mission!) :) February is going well.  I went home for my moms retirement.  She flew for Delta for 45 years!!!!  Amazing.  She loved her job and it was hard for her to leave but it was time.  She felt peaceful about her decision and it was wonderful to celebrate with her.  

Getting her queen robe, crown, flowers and scepter.  Rick even rented a red carpet and a limo!!  

Mom with her sisters

So much fun!  Sierra has had a rough February but I won't go into that in this post. To sum that up 5 trips to the ER in 3 weeks with kidney stones, partially dislocated jaw, and a hard scary fall on some ice.  It has been TOUGH.  Through it all though we have both seen the tender mercies of the Lord and we are so thankful!!!  

I was able to be at one ER visit with her. Poor girl. This kid spends a lot of time at the docs.

Today Haylee competed in the Science Olympiad regional tournament.  She competed in three events.  Picture This -didn't place, Mission Possible -she had to build a Ruth Goldberg? Machine. She placed 4th and will compete in state and her third event was Reach for the Stars and she took FIRST! -she will compete at state in that event too!  We were so proud of her!!!!  She loves science Olympiad and works really hard.  

Ok friends you are caught up.  We'll sort of, this is the best it's going to get!  :) maybe I'll keep up on this now and maybe I won't.  My hope is I will.  I need to document things better.  Hugs to you all! 

Two quick happy pics to end: 

D and sis while I was in Utah last weekend.