Update...

It has been to long since I have posted. Life moves so quickly and is so wonderful!!! All the children keep growing and I can't believe how amazing they are. Being a mom is fabulous! John is busy with NRCS and works in St. George each week. I miss him, but am so grateful he has a job! Emma is busy being a Junior. She is such a good student. She want's to go to BYU. She will graduate with an Associates in Child Development and with the new announcement on missions is now planning on working after graduation until her Birthday in 2014 and then going a a mission. Spencer is in 9th grade. He is so happy to be in High School. He is an amazing student. 4.0. He loves to play basketball and is working hard for tryouts in Nov. He is such a leader. Andrew is 5th grade and is homeschooled. He continues to be a very positive and happy son. He plays the piano and really wants to play football (hum...i must think about this...) Esther continues to be a miracle. I am so thankful for her and the wonderful blessing she is in our family. She is making great progress in her speech. She is working with a speech pathology master student at the BYU Clinic. She goes to a preschool with other children in our ward (all the moms take turns hosting it) It is very fun! We had a wonderful summer with tirps to ST. George and Disneyland. We also had the blessing of going to the LA, Redlands & New Port Beach Temples. We went home the back way up over the mountains on the Top of the World Highway in Southern CA mountains and thru Big Bear Lake, CA. Amazing and Beautiful!!!!!! We have enjoyed the time we have all spent together this past summer. Now fall is upon us and we are looking to the holidays and extended family activites.

Baseball and Boys

The boys began in January practicing for Baseball season. It was a full schedule through June. John coached Spencer's team, the Cardinals and Andrew was on the Dodgers. It was fun to see the boys progress and grow. They love baseball!!!!
Spencer loves to watch it as well. I hear all the stats of the teams he likes. It is fun to see him and Andrew talk and throw the ball and hit the ball together. They are great boys and grwoing up so quickly. In August the boys were invited along with the Cardinals team to visit the Orem Owls baseball game. They were able to meet with the players and go out on the field with a different player and stand with them during the National Anthem and then have a picture taken with the team and some of the players. It was a wonderful experience. I love baseball fields. There is an excitement and happiness that comes to me as I sit on the ball fields each season. What a wonderful place to spend time and watch my boys. I am already looking forward to next season.

100 Years of Scouting

My Scouts....John is an Eagle Scout and the Order of the Arrow. Spencer is a Tenderfoot and is working on his 1st and 2nd class scout ranks. Anderw is a Wolf in about two weeks. Aren't they handsome!!!!!!.

Andrew wanted to do a cake for the celebration of the 100 years. We had a picture of the guys printed on edible paper and the decorated the cake around that. It turned out pretty good and was fun to do and eat!

It has now been a whole year since I last posted...Lots and Lots of changes. We are now living next door to my parents. It has been a blessing to be close to family. They are all wonderful and we are grateful for them. Our home in Georgia is still or home. With the housing market the way it is we are not able to sell it, so with help from the Lord we have been able to find some great renters. It has now been rented for one year.


John is doing great in his work. He has had many great experiences and is also now teaching an early morning Algebra class for SLCC. This has been a blessing for us. I appreciate all he does for our family.





Emma is back in Ballet and is doing great. She is so happy and is doing really well in school. She is in 8th grade and will begin Seminary next year. She is already registered. She is growing up to fast.





Spencer is doing great in Scouts, school and has been preparing for Baseball season. He has tryouts this month and is looking forward to the season beginning.






Andrew loves Cub Scouts and will be receiving his Wolf advancement and a gold arrow point. He will also begin piano lessons next week. He is doing really good in school, expecially his reading.







Esther continues to be a miracle and we feel so blessed and grateful for the power of the priesthood in her life and ours. She loves to sing and read books and she loves her baby doll and her purse.






Me, I continue to be busy with homeschooling, young womens and being a wife and mom. I love life!!!! I have learned so much over the last several years and I am just so grateful for all the little things that make up my amazing life!

Hi Everyone,

We have now been in Utah for 4 months. I am very thankful we are here. We had a wonderful trip out west and took pictures of all the big rivers we passed. My parents were with us and it was fun to drive with them. It was sad to leave our home and have wondered how it would fare while we were away. We had a wonderful holiday season with all our family and celebrated Emma's 13th birthday.

Because the market is not great at this time, we have decided to rent our home in Georiga, I neve thought we would have to do this, but it feels like a good choice. We are excited that maybe we will be able to purchase a home here in Utah. That will be fun for our children, but it will be sad to leave my parents home. It has been a blessing to be here with them. The kids love them and it will be difficult to leave. (at least we won't have a 4 day trip to visit) The kids would love to live next door if at all possible or as close as they can.

John is enjoying his job. He has great job security, he is working on road projects in Utah and with the money from the federal govt. he will have a job forever. ( this is good, but also not so good...)

Spencer and Andrew begin baseball this month and are excited, Emma is beginning ballet again and Esther is 1 in 3 weeks. Time is going so quickly.

I am grateful for all the blessing we have been given. I know and have felt the hand of the Lord in our lives. He is so gracious and good and blesses us, even in trial. As Pres. Monson taught in Oct. Conference we should "find joy in the journey". It is the only journey in mortality we will have. The journey is not easy but the rewards for our "reconciling ourselves before God" are eternal.

Thank you, all of you for your prayers and support.

A Few Last Activities

We had to take a trip to the Blue Willow Inn. It is in Social Circle, GA. They have a world renowned southern menu. The restaurant is in an old Antebelum (sp) home. It is beautiful! This is where we have had our special family Christmas dinner each year. The food is delicious and very southern. We will miss the drive in the country and the fun times we have had here.

Pictures of Esther

Esther and her dad.

In the fall leaves.

I was asked to show her hair after the curlers so here it is. Also the one of her in the pink pjs is from my mom they are from Alaska. Doesn't she look so cute?!

A Job is Found.

As most of you know, John has been looking for work the past 4 - 5 months. He has sent many resumes out and had quite a few phone interviews and face to face interviews. Well, in September he sent out a resume to a company in Salt Lake and they called a week later and had a phone interview with John. A week later they called to arrange plans for a face to face interview on Oct. 1. John flew to Utah and had a great interview and we felt that this would be the job, but it took forever to hear from the, and then once we heard an offer was coming it took another two weeks to get the offer. We accepted the offer and on Monday, November 10, 2008 we are moving back to Utah. We are all very excited. We are putting the house on the market and pray it will not take to long for it to sell and hopefully we will be able to find a new home in Utah very soon.

It has been an interesting year and there have been many challenges, but we have "enjoyed the journey". We look forward to being closer to family and friends in Utah and for the new friends we will make. The Lord has been so good to us and the blessings, even in our trials, have been amazing. Thank you all for your prayers, support and kindnesses these past months. May you all be blessed for your goodness. We love you all!!

Happy Birthday Andrew!!!

Andrew celebrated his 7th birthday on Oct. 8. He had a wonderful birthday. He wanted to go to Stevie B's and have pizza and play games. So that is what we did. It was a fun evening. We then came home and had birthday cake and opened presents. It was really fun. Andrew is in 1st grade and loves to read. He is doing great at reading the big words in the Book of Mormon. He loves to play games on the wii and Star Wars and Lego games on the internet. He is kind and hepful and loves to hang out with his brother Spencer. I love you my Andrew! You are a wonderful son!

Happy Halloween

We wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. We saw this on the Neil Boortz website and wanted to share it. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywuW9OWhLos

Our Handsome Spencer

This is Spencer at the beginning of 5th grade. He is now a Webelo Scout and loves it. He is working hard andis a great helper. I love you son.

More Pictures

Our Model

Emma was in a fashion show for Standards night. She modeled casual/school clothes. She looked beautiful and had lots of fun.

With friends Lyndy (L) and Courtney (R)

Field Trip North Georgia

School has begun

Another year of homeschooling has begun. Andrew is in 1st grade, Spencer is in 5th grade and Emma is in 7th grade. For Spencer and Andrew I continue to use my own curiculum with emphasis in reading, math, comprehension, writing and science with current and past history. Also, anything the kids desire to learn about. Emma has begun BYU Homestudy. She loves it. She is currently taking English, Math, History and Art.

We went on our first field trip Friday. We visited Hillcrest Apple Orchards in Ellijay, GA. It is in the North East part of Gorgia and is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is a beautiful place. We purchased a 1/2 busshel of Honey Crisp apples and will be making apple butter and an apple crisp (for John) this next week. We also visited the petting farm where the kids held baby chicks, petted and played with goats, a baby cow and loved the kittens. We also went on a wagon ride through the orchard. It was really fun. Then as moms part of the field tirp, we had a picnic and went for a beautiful ride through the mountains. We stopped at a few over views of the valleys and then a spot on the Applichain trail. It was cold and the kids were happy to put the heater on and watch a movie towards the end of the ride until we were home. Thanks John for the great adventure!

Esther update

First curlers
Cuddling with my brother Andrew
Helping mom hold my bottle
Smiling for the camera

Esther is 6 months on the 1st of Oct. She weighed 10 lbs 9 oz. and was 24 inches long at her check up in mid Sept. Her hair continues to grow and she smiles, has begun cooing, holds toys and likes to sit with help. She smiles at everyone and loves to arch her back and look upside down. Andrew likes to scare her and make her jump, Spencer loves to hold her and Emma loves to show her off to her friends. I love having another baby and seeing Emma, Spencer and Andrew enjoy her. What a gift she is!

jobs....jobs....jobs...are there any jobs?.....

What a trial of our faith the past several months have been. The job market for land development and for engineers with the experience that John has is not good. He has applied for several jobs here in Atlanta area and sourrounding states. The job in NC did not come through. He has applied for several jobs in Utah and sourrounding states. He has had several phone interviews as well as face to face interviews, but nothing yet...except he is flying to Utah for a job interview with Parsons-Brinkerhoff in Murray. He will be interviewing on Tuesday (Oct 1). We feel very good about this job opportunity. The phone interview went well and so we are hoping that our prayers will be answered and that this is the job.

In spite of all the difficulities and challenges that have come from no work, we have been greatly blessed. The Lord has sent angels and blessings from heaven. We still have our children, testimonies, home and marriage. The things that really matter have not changed, but our dependence on the Lord has increased and our faith has deepened. He has not left us comfortless. Please continue to pray for us. We love and appreciate all of you and we have felt your love and support.

NC Trip

Interviews

John intervied with a company in Raleigh, North Carolina last Tuesday. We decided to all go with him. It was a beautiful drive, but we had a few scarry experiences and felt as if firey darts were flying at us. It was interesting, but we kept looking forward and hoping the interview would go well, and it did. John felt very positive about things. They are looking to open an office in the future, in Salt Lake. Yea! Maybe a transfer would happen if this is the company we go with.

We stayed in an RV park in Smithfield, NC. It was beautiful! The Raleigh area is only about 2 hours from Wilmington, NC (the beach) and as we spent one day looking at homes and getting a feel for the area we were pleasantly pleased.

After the trials of getting there, we had a wonderful experience at at the Raleigh Temple. As we were visiting the grounds, the Temple President came out and invited us into the waiting area. It was a beautiful and peaceful experience. He spent about an hour visiting with us. He told us about the growth in the area and that the wards there had at least 100 children in the Primary and large and strong youth programs. The chruch building next to the Temple was home to 4 wards with a new chapel being built about 10 miles away and that there would soon be some wards split. It was wonderful to hear that. No matter where we live, we hope to move to an area where the church is strong and there are lots of youth/primary age children. I know we will be blessed. We still have our hearts on Utah, and if not now then sometime in the future.

On Monday John has an interview with a large company in Atlanta, they also have offices in the West. So as I said before, if not to Utah and the West now, then a future transfer. Don't give up hope.

Beautiful!

Emma gave her first talk in Sacrament meeting. She was very prepared and looked beautiful! I asked her if she wanted any help and she said, "no mom I can do it". Well, it reminded me of when she was three and was giving her first talk in Primary. I was conducting the meeting, and stepped up to help her and she turned around and said, "no mom I can do it myself". Some things just don't change. She is still as independent as ever and I think she is a beautiful young woman and I am so proud of her and the good choices she is making. Love ya Emma!