Friday, July 2, 2010

It's been a long time!!!

Wow! I know that time flies, but seriously, I haven't posted an entry since November?? What the heck have I been doing? First things first...Thanksgiving happened, then Christmas, then recovering from said holidays, then birthdays started....and now it's July!!! I am amazed at how time seems to be flying at super sonic speed for me these days. I'm vowing that for the rest of the year, I'm going to try and post somewhat regularly to this blog-we'll see how that goes.

Some thoughts on how the past few months have gone...

Thanksgiving was filled with emotion. We have had the pleasure of having Andy, & Josh and Erin and now their family, celebrate with us for the past several years. They truly are part of our family and will always be. Anyway, this past Thanksgiving, we knew that it would be the last one that we would share together, as they were all moving away. I am so thankful for the time that we WERE able to share and am really wondering how Thanksgiving 2010 will be...We also were blessed with having the Moran's and the Riddle's families share in our day. I love how we keep managing to add "new" members to our ever-growing family!

Christmas was amazing! Having worked in retail for as long as I can remember, it was very different to have no job to go to during the holiday season. I started decorating immediately after Thanksgiving and I have never enjoyed it more! In the past, it seemed to be something that just had to get done-I didn't have much joy in the process. This time, it was so different-I enjoyed and treasured each and every box I unpacked and I was so happy with how everything turned out. I was able to do all of the little touches that I had always wanted to do, but never had the time. The other benefit to not having a job was that we actually had lots of people over to celebrate with-I wasn't exhausted and was actually able to entertain joyfully!!! It made me realize how much I sacrificed all those years...not good. Seeing Christmas through the eyes of the grandkids was also a special treat.

The New Year brought much sadness as the Williams family moved back to California. It's July, and I still miss them and think of them every day. It's not often that a family can touch your life and your heart in such a wonderful way. I'm very pleased that their new life is going so well for them...even though I still think they need to move back here ASAP!! Yes folks, I can be very selfish...

Al turned 55 in February and I did the same in March. How can we be this old??? Geez, I remember thinking that 30 was totally ANCIENT at one point! The good news is that you're only as old as you feel, and I still feel like I'm 18...yay!!! Yes, and sometimes I still ACT like it...sorry!

April brought Maddy's 4th birthday and little miss Bella turned 2. It has been such fun to watch these two little princess' grow up. They are going to give their parents a lot of grey hair in the future I do believe!

I did something for the very first time in May...I actually went away on a mini vacation all by myself! The Quinalt Beach Resort Casino in Ocean Shores, had given us some free nights to stay. Al was unable to go, so I went alone....and I LOVED it!! I absolutely love to be at the ocean-it makes me feel amazing. I left the windows open in the room the whole time, so that I could always hear the sound of the waves. I read, watched movies, thought, prayed,walked on the beach, gambled a bit and had a great time. I was aprehensive about going alone, but it turns out that I like being with me after all!!

May also saw the boys have their birthdays. Shaney boy turned 7...WHAT??? How can that be possible? Seems like yesterday that I was rocking him to sleep and singing "You are my Sunshine" a million times. (quite a few of those times, Jammy fell asleep as well....) Tyson James turned 4 also. I'm so looking forward to watching these little red-heads grow up.

Tonya Jean turned 31 in June-how the heck can I have a 31 year old daughter? If you didn't already know, Tonya and I had our battles while she was growing up. We butted heads on pretty much a daily basis and it made both of our lives very difficult. However, I have to say, things have turned out very well! I consider her to be one of my best friends as well as a wonderful daughter. Do we still drive each other crazy? Abolutely! It's one of the things that I love about her...She still has the ability to make me laugh harder than anyone I know. I am enjoying seeing her with the boys and how she's such a good Mom to them. It's also fun to see how she's growing and changing and maturing...well, sort of!!!!

OK, so that about wraps up things to the present...I hope this makes those of you happy who are always on my case about updating this blog!(you know who you are!!!) Till the next time...