The Drive Was a Long one!

Julia is hiding under the blanket.

I was wondering why Cody was so loud and hyper!

I drove 3 hours, Brandon drove 27. He wanted it that way. Ok, I say.

We stopped in Salt Lake to say hi to Brandon's cousin Kara. She's recovering from neck surgery.

While stopped in Salt Lake we also had lunch with two of my brothers and their families.

The trip to Michigan was very long. The kids actually did pretty good. I loved all of the wind-mill fields we drove past. I also loved seeing all of the rivers, and corn fields. I would never attempt that drive alone with the kids. If we go home to visit without Brandon, we are flying!

A Week In the Life

So, we moved out of our home in Henderson on May 28th. We had a ton of help from Alisha, Jennifer, and Stephanie (thank you!) to finish up the packing and then cleaning the entire house. Brandon had a lot of people from the ward come and help pack up the moving van. I was so glad to see Teresa and her kids one last time. During our last few hours cleaning and packing, my friend came to say goodbye and brought a little gift. I was brought to tears as I realized we wouldn't be in the same ward anymore. We will always be friends though! Brandon and I drove to St. George Friday night. Saturday, Brandon and his dad started out for Michigan in the moving van. Brandon and his dad got to stop in Iowa and eat at places Brandon's dad ate at on his mission. They also visited someone Brandon's dad taught on his mission. Brandon spent the week living in a motel, driving around a giant moving truck, and waiting for the house to close. The closing kept getting pushed back, but thankfully, closed and was final the same day Brandon had to return the moving truck (thank goodness for huge blessings!). I have spent the week taking the kids to visit grandpa and grandma Coon, hanging out with grandma Bonewell and TJ, going to the lake and rec center swimming with the Turnbows... all the while feeling like a single parent (I'll have to post pictures later when I get my computer unpacked). Late last night, Brandon flew into Las Vegas and I had to go pick him up. As I came up over the hill and saw all of the Vegas lights, I felt like I was coming home, and felt a wave of sadness as I realized we really had moved out of our home. I told Brandon our bedroom in our Detroit house is going to be decorated like the desert to remind me of home. We still have a few more days in St. George to play. We will be leaving on Thursday to drive to Michigan.

Graduating and Movin' on

After many short nights, and long hours studying, Brandon is graduated from medical school!

Brandon was in the front row of graduated on the stand. He got board, so he started texting everyone in his family silly comments while trying to hide his phone with his program. He may be a Dr., but he is still a kid at heart.

Afterwards, we had a family get to gether at our house.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

For our 7 year anniversary, we went to the top of the Stratesphere. I was so scared even looking down through the glass. There is a new ride that actually lets you free-fall off the edge of the building. I got a little sick to my stomach to watch people jump off the side of the building. Eventually, I agreed to going on a ride that teeters over the edge 115 stories up. I was scared to death, and to top it off, Brandon wanted to be in the front row! It really felt like our seats were going to go flying off and splat down below. After that ride, we went on the "Big Shot" twice. I felt pretty brave to even agree to go on it. I have the picture to show how chicken I really was.

After the rides, we went in the fancy restaurant at the top, and ordered a dessert and listened to a live band. It was a very exciting date. I love you babe!

Denton's Done with Preschool!

Denton loved preschool at the rec center. He made some good friendships and he LOVED his teacher, Miss Jessica. He learned a lot of helpful songs about the months, numbers, letters, and the parts of his face! I can't believe my little guy is ready for big kid school!

Going Away Party

I threw myself a going away girls night out. We had a yummy time at Applebees and then went to the movie "Back up Plan". I had such a fun time! I'm glad for all of the wonderful People I got to be friends with.

We are home owners of a house we've never been in :-)

Last weekend Brandon and I flew to Detroit and spent 3 days looking for a house. We put an offer in on a house but an investor came in and paid cash and got it. We had a great real estate agent who got a feel for what we were looking for. After we got home she continued to send us fact sheets of different houses. I found one I was interested in and asked the agent if she would walk through and take pictures for us. When I saw the pictures, I knew we couldn't pass on this house. We put an offer in and got it! It's 4 bedrooms and 2 baths with a basement! It will be nice to have our own house that we can paint and decorate it however we want. I still wish we weren't moving so far away, but I think it will be a fun adventure. Here are some pictues (don't be jealous of all the green grass :-)




This is our house!

Back of the house.

View out our front door.

Full basement for the kids to play in!

Living room.

Upstairs bedroom.



Upstairs bathroom.

Upstairs Nursery. Not Green!!! (Result of sun shining into camera at weird angle.)

Downstairs Bedroom. (Bedrooms have wood floor under the carpet like is in the living room, so we will probably rip the carpet up.)

Other bedroom on main level.

Main level Bathroom. (The wall paper is going to go and we are going to put tile down.)

Easter 2010

We had a really fun Easter. The kids enjoyed looking all over for their Easter baskets. Denton asked why the Easter Bunny didn't hide uncle TJ's basket. Thinking on the fly, Brandon told the kids that a long time ago, when he was a little boy, Grandpa Coon had tried to catch the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny didn't like that, so as a punishment, Grandpa Coon and all of his posterity would have to search for their baskets on Easter morning.

We had so much fun coloring, hiding, and finding Easter eggs at Grandpa and Grandma Coons house. We went to Grandpa and Grandma Bonewell's and did egg relays and an Easter Egg hunt.

It's not by accident

I had a brief conversation in the hallway at church last Sunday with my stake president's wife. She told me this story: Her husband was transferred here for his job. She did not want to come. She moved her with a less-than-positive attitude about being here. The first Sunday they lived here was stake conference. In stake conference, the stake president asked a question, "How many of you feel like you have to live here because of a job?" She thought to herself, "That's me. That's the only reason why I'm here." Immediately, the stake president said, "You are wrong if that's what you think. The Lord has a purpose for you here. You are not here by accident, or because of a job. You are here because the Lord brought you here and there are things you can do and people that you can touch that no one else can." Her attitude changed after that and now her husband is the stake president and she is very respected in the ward and community. I now have a better attitude about moving to Michigan.