And finally.......

Sunday evening Jennifer was set apart as a missionary! It was a great experience and again I am happy I could be there for her. She will be gone 18 months serving in the Fort Worth area and I am so happy for her! She has spent months preparing for this and was more than ready. We will miss her!

from left to right: Cheryl (Zach's mom), Jennifer, me, Jenn, Teale (my neice and Jenn's daughter) Christen (Zach's sister) and Scott (Zach's brother)

Denver Temple

One of the main reasons I chose this weekend to make a trip home was to be there to support my sister in law, Jennifer. She reports for her mission tomorrow and I am so happy I was able to go through the temple with her, help her pack and have nice long conversatons. I know I don't have many pictures, but I have a history of either not having batteries that are good or forgetting the memory card. I had the memory card, but the batteries were dead! The best place to get a picture is in front of the temple, but a bride and groom were out front and we didn't have time to wait for them to be finished. I was also happy my sister, her husband and my parents were able to down to Denver with us as well.

My grandparents and great grandparents

My parents took me to the cemetery where my grandma was buried last March next to my grandpa. My great grandparents are also in that same cemetery so I was able to see both since I was not home in 1998 when my great grandma passed. It gave me some closure since I was not able to be there last March to attend the funeral. I was very close to my grandma and we wrote letters back and forth throughout my life. I would call her on the phone when letters became too difficult for her to write and she would listen when I needed advice or just someone to talk to. I am grateful I was able to call her one last time about a week before she passed away and will always remember what she told me in that short conversation.

Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandmas and Grandpas!

Cody and his cousin Wyatt. I am not sure Wyatt was so thrilled to be sharing nana's toys with Cody. He sure is a cutie and a bundle of trouble just like Ryan was!

This is my nephew Brandon who is absolutely amazing on the piano! I was in the other room and thought the kids were hitting the prerecoded buttons on my mom's piano, but it was Brandon playing! I can't wait for him to give a concert when we come back this summer!

Cody and Tiny. Yes the name does not fit and in fact Cody asked "Mom why is her name Tiny when she is big like a horse?" He did get on her back one night all by himself although Tiny wasn't too into that!

Cody and I have made it back to Jersey after our quick weekend visiting family back in Wyoming. We had a good time even though the days were few and are excited for July when we get to go back! Cody did really good on the first flight, not so great on the one coming home. As soon as I got on the plane I realized I had forgot his blanket at home! This is a big deal since it's his comfort to sleep or just when he wants to "get away". He will cover himself up and that makes him feel better. So Zach called his mom who talked to my sister, who called my mom who then called Zach's mom to figure out what could be done. In a matter of hours my mom had made a new train blanket that was the exact fabric of the first one she made that he is so attached to! Of course he still didn't sleep well since it wasn't his own bed and he would wake up in a panic looking for me. Beyond all that we had lots of fun!

Wants vs Needs!

The other day I made the horrible mistake of telling Zach there was a 65 mustang on the lemon lot on base. He immediately had to see it! It's not worth what the guy is asking, but that doesn't stop Zach from wanting it. Later that evening Zach and I were talking and he said "You know I just want to much." I'll agree with that! So then we talk more and I decided he wants to much, but I want TO DO too much. For instance there is a 1/2 marathon I found out about that runs along the Jersey Shore. Now is this something I really have time for.....no, but I am so competitive with myself I really want to do it! I printed the training schedule, but with subbing, Cody's 5 therapy sessions a week, piano lessons, scouts, running the house, being Zach's secretary and all I just don't know where I would squeeze in preparing for a 1/2 marathon! And I also have been researching going to school more. Do I have time for that (or money for that matter)? Of course not, but I loved going to school and am so eager to get my special ed degree. I want to catch up on scrapbooking and I want to decorate my house. Again two things I really don't have time for. Why can't there be more hours in the day so I can do everything I want to do? And why can't money grow on trees so Zach can have everything he wants?

(insert sigh here)

Well that's life. I'll survive, really I will. And someday I will have enough time to do what I want.........right?

Citizen of the Month

Tyler came home from school Monday and told me that every month teachers can pick students that they feel made the most improvement in their school work and displayed being a good citizen by helping those around them, being friendly, etc. For the month of January Tyler was chosen! He was very excited. He gets to have his picture displayed on the Citizen Board and yesterday he had a pizza party with the principal. I am really proud of him. He had a bit of a struggle when we first got here since the curriculum is quite a bit harder than what he had in Germany, but he managed to pull all of his grades up into the 90's and he continues to do better on tests and quizzes. His teachers told us that this new curriculum is all about a higher level of thinking and this age is hard for kids to move on from the concrete way of thinking especially those that have not been challenged that way. There are some quizzes they take a couple times each week that work on this skill and Tyler is getting 100's on almost every quiz! That's a huge improvement! He is also learning to study for his tests even if he thinks he knows it all! He has worked very hard and it was great to see him so excited about being chosen as Citizen of the Month!

Jersey Shore

Since we moved here people keep asking if we have been to the beach! Uh it's winter so no we have not.....until now. The bug museum was pretty close to the water. Actually we are like 30-40 minutes from our house to the water so we decided why not go check out the Jersey Shore. Now the beach we went to is not one I would go back to even in summer. It was pretty dirty and just not very pretty. There was a boardwalk with closed stores of course and an amusement park right on the water! I am excited to go to Atlantic city, but that will have to wait until it is warmer.