OFF TO CALIFORNIA~

A huge change has taken place. Casey moved out to Riverside California on April 17th and will be out there until the end of Aug. He went out for work, he his managing a summer office for Siren Alarm and hoping to sell as much as possible to help us catch up from the last two years life's lessons. Me and the kiddos are traveling up on Fridays and coming home on Sundays. The time is short but we really enjoy seeing daddy. Halli and Camry will be done with school on May 21st so this will help us be able to have a more flexible schedule.

I am so proud and grateful to the kids. Before the summer started we sat them all down and explained what we were doing in great detail and why. We told them we didn't have a choice for this to work or not and that we really need this to be a family team effort. We explained that daddy's job was to stay and work in California and that mommy's was to stay and work at home and that the kid's job was to help mom in every way, being nice to each other, helping out with the chores and packing the car and most of all being as understanding as possible to the fact that we can't see daddy until the weekend. The first week was FANTASTIC they did all they could to help out and understand that daddy was working for us and that they wanted to help work for him in a sense, by keeping the peace and easing moms load. I know there will be times when we will really have to rely on each other and upon our loving Lord who has blessed us with this opportunity. I have told Casey over and over though, I am in the best possible place for this situation. Our neighbors and ward members are amazing and I know that I have so many wonderful people that I could call at any moment if I need help. That relieves me so much just knowing that.

Those of you who don't know Casey's job that he is doing now is just similar to what he was doing 3 years ago. He did that job for nearly 9 years and loved it. He was very committed, dedicated and hard working. So much so.... he was gone more than not. This time around however with the past 3 years having taught us a lot of FANTASTIC LESSONS it has brought on a lot of different goals for this summer than previously before and I must say that my husband has been the cutest ever. I have had many ask me how much we intend on traveling back and forth this summer. At first I would tell them that I would just have to see how much my kids could take in between visits, after this week I now telling everyone that I will have to see how much my HUSBAND CAN TAKE. He calls often telling me how much he misses us and wishes we were with him. I can really tell in his voices that he longs to see us all again, even hours after we have left. It feels so good to be LOVED and WE LOVE YOU HONEY~

Some WONDERFUL new NEWS!

For those of you who haven't heard yet we are happily expecting our 5th child Oct.25th. I am currently 14 weeks along and doing great! Yes, I know this may be a huge shock for some of you since we just had Livy last August. We just knew that our family wasn't complete and that we had another little one ready to join our family. Halli's response when she found out was,"what you just did that 6 months ago, how did that happen"? We are all very excited and we shall see if we continue the track record of girls for our family.

A LOT OF CATCHING UP TO DO!!!!!

I can't believe it has been since Feb. since I last posted. We have had a lot going on. The thing that has taken up a lot of my time is homeschooling my daughter Camry. She was having a very difficult time with 1st grade and I decided it would be better to take her out instead of her being so overwhelmed and discouraged all the time and play catch up at home and then have her repeat 1st grade next year when she is more ready. There are days that I have really loved it and there are days when it overwhelms me a little. I am doing a program that's offered through an online public school course. The program absolutely amazed me with how much school supplies they sent me; a computer w/printer and very detailed material for every course in school. Boxes and boxes of stuff. The only difficult part is that I have really had to get use to is that they require you to put in at least 4 hours a day of school. I have found that 3 hours is great and 4 is a lot more difficult to get in. However I am very happy to say that Camry has learned to read, and complete some good math problems. She is really happy to see how far she has come and so am I.