A new era

 This week has been a very emotional one for me.

So many emotions felt.

Joy,

Pride,

Thankfulness,

Sorrow,

pain,

ache.

We are so happy that McKay has chosen to go on a mission.

But this ends an era for me.

An era of child raising.

Our children are all adults,

have all made their own choices,

and are gone from the home.

I am so excited for McKay,

I hope he takes advantage of these next two years,

and grows as a man,

and grows in the gospel.

I hope we as a family can all support him in his endeavors.

He flew to Salt Lake to visit with his Sister and her family,

and his brothers, and our extended family for a couple of days.

Wednesday, he entered the MTC.

I believe he will be there until the 10th of February,

and then will leave for Milwaukee Wisconsin.

We decided not to fly to Utah with him.

We said our goodbyes in the airport here.

I came home and cried for hours.

Everything at home reminded me of him and 

how long he would be gone.

He tied up all his loose ends.

He gave away most of his clothes,

packed up his video games,

made a farewell video for his youtube channel,

and got me set up to digitalize all of our home videos

using his equipment while he is gone.

The last thing for him to do was get his hair cut.

Which I think was his hardest thing to do.

I threw away most of our presweetened cereals,

most of the sugared snacks,

all the ice cream,

most of the chips and salty snacks.

I washed his bedding,

and cleaned out the bathroom of all he left behind.

I no longer have to straighten the towels in his bathroom,

or close the curtains on his tub and shower,

or wipe the hair and toothpaste out of his sink.

There are no clunky shoes at the doorway,

I used those big shoes to slip on and take garbage out,

or to check the mail.

No skateboards to constantly put away.

I can't blame the creaky noises of the house on him anymore.

And around noon, I have a hankering to go and wake him up for work.

I have one less to cook for.

On the bright side,

we can eat broccoli now.

The first day he was gone we had broccoli cheese soup

with no complaints!  YAY!

I can walk around the house in my underwear.

I can leave my keys in my purse.

(He always got after me for not hanging them on the key rack!)

and I can drive MY car again!

And best of all we are saving $900 every six months on car insurance!

Over the course of his mission, 

this will pay for 8 months of his time away!

Good things . . . . . . . Bad things.

Joy . . . . . . . . Pain.

Would we know one without the other?

Thanks Halley for the pictures of the MTC drop-off.

Ryan took a little time off of work to say goodbye.

Halley said Ryan got a little teary eyed,

and she felt bad that she did not!

Ariana took the easy way out.  No goodbye for her!

There he goes!

Halloween

I like to have dinner in a pumpkin in the fall.

You make a rice/sausage casserole,

hollow out a pumpkin,

Put it in the oven and cook it slow and low . . . . . 

The sunken, baked pumpkin. . . . . 

with the cooked goodness inside.

For Halloween, guess what I was?

So in our house, the adults dressed up for Halloween,

and the kid . . . . . . . Did NOT!

Thanksgiving visit

Halley and her family came out to visit us for Thanksgiving.

I really didn't get a whole lot of pictures taken,

I just tried to enjoy our time together.

We went swimming.

The camera lens kept fogging up!

Here is Ariana and Halley,

Ryan and Ariana.

My cousin Michelle came with their family also.

One of the cute things Michelle said when she say us

was that our curly hair made her feel at home!

Yep, we are a curly headed bunch.

We also went to the Baltimore aquarium.

This was after the aquarium.

Michelle and Sophia.

Sophia called Lincoln and I 

Grandpa and Grandma!

Great Grandpa, Grandpa and Ariana.

Great Grandpa and Ariana.

Lincoln and Ariana.  She loved the lights on the Christmas tree.

Putting up the Christmas tree!

Such a sweet little gal!

Brother-sister time!

Ariana and McKay.

My dad and Lindo, Michelle's husband.

Dad and Trudy taking a "Selfie."

Lincoln's yearly Thanksgiving nap.

Zane broke his collar bone on Thanksgiving morning.

The desserts.

The food.

Making gingerbread houses.

McKay's house.

Ryan's house.

Halley's house.

The whole crew.  Love this picture.

Look at those eyelashes! 

We miss all of our family who is away from us!

So glad that we got to spend 10 days with Halley and Ryan and Ariana.

With the Neighbors

We have some really great neighbors.

We love to get together for block parties in good weather,

and in the cold weather we bring our activities

indoors for game night!

We had such a great time with them.

We need to do this more often.

They introduced us to a super fun game.

Telestrations.

(I went out and bought us one!)