Both of the girls did extremely well at school this year. Honor Roll and all. We are so proud of them both. Grace is hoot and is excited to be in 4th grade this year. Even though I think she would be better suited for 5th. (size and brains) Emma graduated from the 5th grade and is SUPER excited to finally be in middle school. Justin and I wish we could say the same. Time is going by WAY TOO FAST. :(
This is a picture of the Middle School Emma will be going to.
WE HAVE MOVED.....
Back in October, Justin and I decided to get out of debt as much as possible. We have a big financial goal that we really want to accomplish as soon as we can. That meant we needed to make some big decisions. Selling our house was one. It sold in a MONTH! The realtor was SHOCKED it sold so quickly. It was just confirmation to us we were doing the right thing. It took it till the end of March to close. By February we already had a new home...we down sized a little to 3200sf, added a huge pool, an acre of land and moved our office out of the home into its own space on the property all while saving over $2,000.00 a month on the mortgage. We are LOVING the new neighborhood and the new place. It has been such a blessing. It is also a one story and I have to say I had forgot how great that is. :)
GIRLS CAMP 2012......
This was my last year as the Stake Girls Camp Director. Getting released was a little bitter sweet but I enjoyed it 100% while I got to. This year we stayed local. Wheew! It made so many things a lot more easy. It was another fantastic year. I have a real love for the girls and will miss working with them.
GRANDMA ELLA PASSED AWAY....
I got home from Girls Camp on Friday and that Saturday night was woken up at about 2:00 to a phone call telling me that my Grandmother had passed away. She had suffered a long battle with Alzheimer's. I will miss her so much. She was a wonderful, but tough, woman. She had taken care of over 100 foster children plus had 9 babies of her own. As sad as it was to let her go, I am excited that she has now joined her eternal companion and 4 of her children in Heaven. Justin was asked to be a part of her services. He did such a beautiful job. I love how much he loved her too.
STAKE YOUNG MENS PRESIDENT.....
The same day I was released from my calling, Justin was called as the Stake YM President. He also is still serving on the High Council and is now the Senior High Council man. Justin was very nervous (really just SHOCKED) about the calling at first but one activity with the Young Men and he was so excited to work with them. He has such a concern and love for them. I personally feel the Lord new what he was doing when he had Justin called to the position.
WE SAW FOREST GUMP AND PAULA DEAN IN SAVANNAH....
For Memorial Day we decided to go to Savannah. WOW! The historic district is just beautiful. We stayed one block from Paula Deans restaurant. We took an historic guided tour and a GHOST tour. Grace got to go to a bakery that was featured on the Food Network. (She is a F/N junkie.) She is always asking if she can visit all the featured places. So you can only imagine haw excited she was to go inside and then to have her picture taken with the baker. Mom and Dad were able to go with us. It is always great to spent time with them. They just love the girls so much and spoil them rotten. I consider that a blessing and not a curse. :)
Lady and Son's (Paula Deen's) Resturant & Menu....
This is where the opening scene of Forest Gump took place (the bench was removed) ....
A NEW TAHOE FOR US....
We loved our old Tahoe so much..... we got a new one! We love it just as much!
WE VISITED NAUVOO AGAIN....
Justin and I headed up the Nauvoo trip again this year for the Stake. We had 25 youth go, all between the ages of 16 - 18. We have amazing youth and had amazing adult leaders too. It was fun and so spiritual. I am so grateful to the early Saints and Pioneers of the Church.
LOTS OF VISITS FROM THE FAMILY......
We LOVE it when family comes to Florida to visit. This year, Jimmy and Tammy (and the girls) came and stayed a week with us. We just love them so much. They are an amazing family. My girls love that they have such wonderful cousins. Even though we live so far from each other they are always texting, Skyping, talking on the phone.....etc. to keep the relationship close. We went to Disney this year and spent the night a Disney Hotel. We also went on an airboat ride and almost got eaten.
A week later my cousins from Indiana came down. We had a ton of fun with them. We dont get to see them as much so anytime we get to see them, it is a real treat. They have 5 boys. Can I just say the pool was a HUGE hit! We went to Orlando again with them and stayed at the resort. We also enjoyed spending the 4th of July watching fireworks together.
A SUMMER SON....
This summer we have Alex living with us. Alex's parents just moved to Ohio and he was looking for a job and a place to stay in Florida. We were able to provide both. We are so glad he is a part of our family this summer. He is a great Young Man. Our girls totally feel like they have an older brother and torment him all the time. :)
A TOTAL WRECK AND NEW TRUCK...
Unfortunately our truck was in a pretty serious accident. It rolled on I-75 and was totalled out. (Sorry to all those who were stuck in the huge back up.) Amazingly, NO one was hurt. All we can say was the "Hand of God" was helping out. Turns out, we were very blessed, because with the Geico Insurance check, (our truck was in great shape and paid for) we were able to pay cash for this truck.....
Wanna see what our other truck looks like upside down????
