Past, Present and Future

So as promised, a few pictures from the Sentinel High School Class of 1999 Ten Year Reunion!!! I have to say that all in all it was sadly disappointing. It was fun to hang out with the girls again and I am glad that I went. I'm not sure what I expected to get out of it, but I'm pretty sure that whatever it was I didn't get it. Or maybe I did! A chance to really see who I was and who I've become. It was almost as if some of the people that I went to school with were still living like they still were. I'm so happy with where I am at and what is to come for my family in the next 10 years.

Speaking of the future - Terry and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary on Tuesday! It really is hard to believe that 8 years have already gone by. I feel like we are still in our "honeymoon" stage and people often mistake us for newlyweds. We have to laugh at that as we tell them about our 6 children!!! But truly, I love him more every single day. He is the best friend that I have ever had and he makes me happier that I could have dreamed of. I get to be held and loved and told that I am beautiful every day of my life and I can't imagine anything better than that. As I said in my card to him this year, someday when were are old, wrinkly and fat I will still look at him and love him just a little more each day. I look forward to the next 50 years with the best man in the world!

Today was officially Elly's last day of Kindergarten - until next year. For those of you who don't already know we have decided to continue on with another year of kindergarten . We actually made the decision last fall. She in a summer baby and won't turn 6 until next month so technically we enrolled her a little early. She went to a half day school this year and will go to a full day class (at big sister Madyson's school) next year. I was really struggling with my decision at the beginning of the year not sure if I had made the right choice or not. But our little Elly fit right in and did soooo well! I just got her final report card and she is at or above grade level in just about everything! I actually questioned sending her on to 1st grade next year but we think that one more year will give her "age" a chance to catch up with everyone elses. We are so very proud of her!!!

As I sat rocking my baby to sleep tonight I got a little weepy. Jordyn loves to be rocked and sang to at night. She is also 2 1/2 years old and I know that pretty soon she'll be a big girl that no longer needs mommy to rock her to sleep. It is thrilling and bittersweet to watch your children grown up. Seeing them experience all the miracles of this life is priceless. You feel so proud to see them become more and more independent but can't help feel a little helpless. There was a time in life when they depended on your for their every need. It is so hard to let go of that...... I feel like I am entering a new stage in my journey as a mother and I am both sad and excited. I look forward to the new things that we will be able to do together but I will miss the things that we no longer will do. But for those of you who have read the book "I'll Love You Forever" I think it'll be okay if sometimes I sneak into their rooms at night, get them out of bed and rock them in my arms singing " I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be". And for those of you who haven't read that book - DO IT!!!

Love to you all!

-Amy

10 years later...

So tomorrow I will load up the family (yes - all 7 of us) and head over to Missoula, MT. Why? Well, my 10 year high school reunion is this weekend. Seems kind of strange to me how fast (and sometime slow!) the last ten years have gone by. I thought it would be fun to remember some of the "major" life events that have happened in the last 10 years so here goes......

My beautiful daughter Madyson was born

I married the most wonderful man in the world! (PS - We will be celebrating our 8th anniversary next week)

I have moved 7 times!!!! YUCK!

I lost 40 pounds!!! - and have been battling with 10 of them ever since - lose, gain, lose, gain.......

My sweet little Elly was born.

I bought my dream car (My candy apple red Durango)

I bought my first house.

I sold my dream car :( and bought a mini-van - SAD day!!!

I got pregant with my "surprise" baby!

Baby Jordyn arrived!!!

I went through a VERY tramatic and life changing event with one of my children - An experience that has forever changed who I am.

Two of my stepchildren have moved in and now permanently live with us.

For the past 6 years I have been involved with in an incredible women's ministry and for 5 of the 6 years been in a position of leadership within this organization.

Wow - I guess it's not so hard to imagine the time flying by when I actually look at where I've been and what I've done. Though my life has definitely not taken the path that I planned it has been fulfilling and amazing in ways that I never dreamed of. I look forward to seeing the people that I went to high school with and where their lives have taken them. It will be fun to see who married who, who has kids and who is just the same as the day they graduated! I'll post some pictures next week.

Here's just a few fun pictures that I took. When my mom was here last weekend we got to have a fun girls night out. We went to dinner at PF Changs and then to The Melting Pot for dessert. I had so much fun with her!!! She loved the chocolate fondue (but probably not as much as me!!!).

The other pictures are from the massive water fight that the boys got into a couple days ago. The girls eventually got in on it, although they did take it much easier on them.

Also - a new Elly-ism for you! (Inspired by my friend's The Miller's

- We were driving yesterday and Elly was sounding out words. She has begun to read and wants to know how to spell everything. She noted that the words beer and beard were the same except for the D sound at the end of beard. After some serious contemplation she asked " Mom, do you grow a beard if you drink beer?" I told her no, but that there would be a lot of teenage boys drinking a lot of beer if that were true. Heehee!

7 days until the kids are out of school......... With 6 kids and me alone in the house for the summer I'm sure I will have all kinds of stories to share with you. That is if I survive it!!! Pray for my sanity!

-Amy

8 months later.........

So, my motivation to keep this blog up to date has been sadly lacking!!! I do think about posting often, I just don't follow through. So sorry to all you out there that enjoy reading this. I do have great excuses (tons and tons of them!!!) but today is as good a day as any to hop back on the blogging bandwagon.

I think about the events of the past 8 months and feel extremely overwhelmed with trying to remember and write about each one! So for the most part I'm not going to! I have however jam packed this posting with lots and lots of pictures for you all to enjoy!

I will mention, for those of you who don't already know, that two of Terry's son's now permanently reside with us here in Washington. They moved here on Febuary 1st of this year and it has been a challenge and transition to say the very least. We will be filing for full custody of them this summer and though it is not an easy or fun choice to make it is something that needs to be done. Despite what they may think they are truly much better off here.

Terry's oldest son, Chance, graduated valedictorian from Natrona County High School in Casper this month. He will be visiting us for a while this summer (I don't know where he will sleep or what he will eat!) and then heads of to Penn State in August! It is funny to think that the mischevious little boy I meet 9 years ago is now a man headed of to some prestigious college! Actually, it makes me start to feel a little old.

Chase will finish up his sophmore year, Cameron 7th grade, Madyson 3rd grade and Elly half day kindergarten in a couple of weeks. The poor kids don't get out for summer break until June 19! What happened to being released Memorial Day weekend and starting up again just after Labor Day??? Oh well, with 6 kids in the house all day long this summer I will be grateful for the expedited vacation!!!

As for our little Jordyn, she turned 2 in January and is now talking up a storm. People are continually amazed by her large vocabulary! As I stand there beaming with pride she sweetly tells me to "shutup! An affectionate term that she has recently learned from her big brothers. We're working on the one!

I have really been enjoying the beautiful weather that we are having here. After the crazy long, cold winter we had the sun feels sooooooooooo nice. I actually got out and worked on the yard today. Yes, I did say that I worked on the yard! Weird huh! I am not a fan of yard care, gardening, etc.............. I don't plant or grow much of anything with the exception of the tulip bulbs that I planted last fall. I was SOOOOOOOOO pround of myself when the little green patches started to sprout out of the ground this spring. I was actually quite amazed that something that I touched was really growing. I had picked out this bag of beautiful dark purple and pink bulbs from Costco. I assumed it was a "mixed" bag. I planted half of them to the right side of my stairs and the other half to the left side. After weeks of anticipations they finally bloomed and to my horror my "mixed" bags was sooo not mixed. All the flowers on the right side were dark purple and all the flowers on the left side were pink. Hmmm - all I could do was laugh at myself and remember why it is that I don't garden! Heheheh - such an "Amy" moment.

Last weekend my mom and I, along with my aunt Sue, aunt Pauline, cousin Kathryn, cousin Katie and a few other of their friends went to the Women of Faith conference here in Spokane. I really needed a "spiritual pick-me-up" and that it was. Sometimes I get so caught up in the business of my life I forget to take each day as the gift that it is. I say that today knowing what the last few hours have entailed (puking, picking up kids from the school clinic, crying, 3 poopy diapers, various snot nose wipes, cooking, cleaning, on the verge of tears more than once) and what the day still has left to throw at me. Yet here I am - living, breathing, saved and free! I am the beautiful daughter to a KING. He knows my every joy, struggle, fear, pain and weakness and He loves me just the same. He knows that I yelled at my child today and he forgives me. He knows that I look at my legs in the shorts that the 85 degree weather has forced me to wear and wish they looked differently and he reminds me that I am exactly the way He created me and that I am and will always be beautiful in His eyes. He knows that that I have hopes and dreams for the future that I sometimes want to give up on because on that day I can't seem to see past my circumstances and He reminds me that "in this world there will be trouble, but fear not, for I have overcome the world!!!" Yes, today is a good day. Tomorrow will be a good day too!!!

I love you all! Hope you enjoy the pictures! And I will give it my ALL to do better and updating this page! I love keeping in contact with you all and miss you very much!!!

-Amy

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Black and orange day at school. Also our pumpkins this year... Snow White, Jasmine, Aurora and Ariel!

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you all had as much fun as we did last night. This is just going to be a quick hello! Attached are some pictures of the kids in their costumes. Pretty cute I have to admit! I guess this means we are officially into the "holiday season"! Wow, it came quickly this year! Can't wait to see many of you at Thanksgiving later this month! Until then, take care and all our love!!!!!!!!!!!!! PS - Aren't our Disney Princess pumpkins AWESOME!! I worked hard on those!!! :)
-Amy

Just some extrea pictures!

Just a few more pictures for you - back to school and such! Don't miss my blog below!!!!

I'm BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! Summer has already come and gone and no updates from me. Well, with three kids and random stepkids throughout the year needless to say I have been busy. I'll take you through the last through months as best I can remember..... which unfortunately is not what it used to be. June was half over before the kids even got out of school. Gotta love the schools over here - they start late and get out REALLY late with about a million unnessesary days off in between. Cameron went back to Casper to spend the summer with his mom and Chance came here to spend his last summer with us. He turned 18 on July 7 - and official adult! One down, 2 to go huh? Actually he was great this summer. I really enjoyed spending time with him and seeing how he's grown up into a pretty impressive man. He's in his senior year now and getting everything in order to go off to college next fall. He's recieved letters of interest from MIT, Harvard and Yale - SMART kid!

Elly also had birthday in July. She turned 5 on the 20th - and ever since has been asking when she will be 6! My crazy little girl had a small birthday party with a few friends and then later on in the summer her and Madyson got to enjoy a pool party that I purchased at our annual MOPS auction.

The last week of July was our "vacation". With gas at $4 a gallon it was much of a trip but we did get to spent a fun week in Montana. We went to the water park with Grandma, visited Terry's relatives in Butte, went up to the lake, and took some time to just relax. I had to give Terry a hard time when I would wake up early in the morning and he was nowhere to be found. Turns out he was down at Liquid Planet with his laptop getting "a few things done"! Work, work, work........... he deserves a break.

Chance went back to Casper in August to start football practice and Cameron was supposed to come back here. Well, he ended up convincing his mom that he should stay with her. Against our request she decided that she was going to keep him. It is so frustrating putting in all the hard work and then see it just slip away. She made many promises regarding his behavior and help for him. We have yet to see any of them put into action. Please keep Cameron in your prayers - he needs some stable role models in his life and it appears that we are not supposed to be them. He's a good boy, just getting a little lost right now. He is 12 right now and I fear for what is to come when he is 16 or 17!

Chase has been in the Wyoming Boys home for last few months. I think that most of you knew about this. If not, surprise! Just kidding. It was actually a strange answer to prayer. He had gotten in way over his head and at that point this may have been his only way out. We have been worried about him for so long! Terry received a letter from him a few weeks ago and he sounds so different. We are optimistic, yet realistic. We do realize that it is easier to say all kinds of great things than it is to actually do them. We are just hoping and praying that this change is real and that we get to see the "old" Chase again. The boy is so full of life it is devastating to see him so empty. He too can use all the prayers he can get. I will update you on his progress when I get more news.

So here we are, into September alreay. Actaully, it is almost over! WOW how time flies. The girls started school a few weeks ago. Madyson is now in 3rd grade and Elly started kindergarten. We had intended to do one more year of preschool for Elly but finances and the price of EVERYTHING continuing to go up just made that impossible. I enrolled her into a half day program at a different school since our school went to full day kindergarten this year. She is doing really well and not struggling as of yet. We intend to have her complete this year and then go ahead and put her in the full day kindergarten next year. We feel like that will be much easier on her and that she will not even feel like she is "repeating" the year as she will be at a new school (Madyson's school) with all new friends. But then again, maybe she turn out to be a super genious and just sail through this year and go staight on to high school. You never know!!! :)

Little Jordyn is doing wonderful! She's starting to talk up a strorm, repeating everything that you say. You gotta be REALLY careful theses days! Ha ha! She still pretty small - she'll be 2 in January but only wearing mostly 12 mo. clothes. She my little mini! She's healthy and strong, just petite say the doctor! She brings me incredible amounts of joy! I'm been stressing a lot lately and she seems to know just the right moment to come wrap her little arms around me and say "squeeze"! My kids are the best!

I'll be heading to Dallas on Wednesday for 5 days. I'm attending the MOPS conference and leaving Terry and the kids alone. I don't even let myself think about what they will be dressed in or what they will eat for dinner - I just want them all to be alive when I get home. I love my husband dearly and I know he will do fine, he's just not me..... But hey, so what if it's McDonalds and pizza for a week - as long as they are there to hug me when I get home I could care less! And there are worse things in the world than mismatched clothes and dirty dishes!

Hope this update finds you all happy and well. I miss you all and think about you often in my crazy, busy, wonderful life! LOVE YOU!!!

My Crazy Family

Hi everyone! Here it is, another couple months later and I'm not getting any better at updating this thing. Just thought I'd share a few photos with you all. My crazy hubby (ie Speed Racer), Elly's last day of school, Madyson and Elly's beautiful makeup job and a couple of the baby shower I threw for Marisa last month. Yes, I made that cake. Cute huh? Marisa had a beautiful, healthy baby girl on May 29th named Haley. I'll be making a trip to Montana in a couple weeks so I can get my hands on her! It's strange not being the one having the babies.

I keep hoping the weather is going to let up so we can all get out and start enjoying the sun. Not looking like that is going to happen any time soon. Hope all is well with everyone.