This is the last pictrue of Mark and his parents and his brother and sister. It was taken at Layla's 2nd bday party. Such awesome people!

The last few days at work have been slow. The week between Christmas and New Years usually is. It is a nice break from what we normally have going on! I am enjoying getting caught up on paperwork that has been sitting around for far to long. I know it won't last. As soon as the New Year rolls in they will be up and at it again!

I do however have that week off work. I leave on Friday night to go to NC to stay with Mark for a week. Johnny is going with me. Along with his girlfriend and another friend of theirs. I am going to throughly enjoy that week off. I will sleep in every day and just relax and enjoy it! I am looking forward to it. Only two more days of work and I gone!

Tonight on the way home from work I had to stop and get some face make up that I had run out of. I also stopped and dropped off several bags of clothes that have been in the backseat of my truck for months to the Salvation Army. Now the truck is all empty and ready for the drive to NC. When I got home Johnny and I fisnished taking down the tree and put away the rest of the Christmas decorations. I am now in the process of packing clothes for the trip. Hopefully I will be all ready by the time I go to bed so I won't have to worry about the rush pack job tomorrow night. I must be all done by the time I leave for work on Friday since we will be leaving as soon as I arrive home from work on Friday. Keep your fingers crossed that I get out early and can begin the drive a few hours earlier than anticipated!

Well the dryer just signaled me that it is done so I am off to do more packing. Talk soon!

So very odd coming back here and reading the last entry I made. Very bittersweet. We lost my father-in-law, on October 25th. It was very sudden. I am very thankful that I had been going over there as much as possible to visit. I got the call at 3:00am. You always know when your phone rings at that hour that it is not going to be good news but I wasn't ready for that news. Is anyone ever ready for that? I don't think so. I had to call my husband in NC to tell him the news. What a difficult 12 hour ride home that was for him and my son. My father in law was a wonderful man and I miss him dearly. This Christmas season has been difficult to say the least. My Mother in law is struggling. She is a very strong woman but I have to say that in all the years we have been a family I had only seen one of my inlaws without the other one time. They were always together. 55 years of marraige. Please keep her in your prayers.
I have missed journaling. It is funny how other things can take over your time so quickly if you let them. I am not even really sure what it is that has taken up so much of my time. I just seem to not think about journaling or if I do think about it I am not near my computer and I say, oh I will do that when I get home and then I don't do it.
Mark is still living in NC and working on building the hospital there. It has been almost 14 months that he has been there. My youngest son, one of the twins, is now living there in NC with him and working on the job with him. He is in the apprenticeship program (plumbing) and is finishing up his bachlors in construction management. The other twin is still at college here in Mi and is finishing up his degree in sports management. They are busy boys.
Layla and Aiden are both doing wonderful. They had a wonderful Christmas! They are 2 and 7 now. I just love having them around me!
We did have family pics done this year. I will have to post a few soon so you can all see how big they have gotten.
Well I am off to bed. I will write more soon I promise!

I sure am going to miss summer when it is gone. I can already fill the chill in the air in the mornings when I get up for work. Sunday night I spent the night at the camper and it was pretty chilly when I woke up for work. I actually thought about turning the heat on in the camper for a few minutes to get the chill out. It was just a thought though, I didn't actually do it!

Last night I did go to the camper for a little while but came home to spend the night. Tonight I am gonig to stay at the camper. I sleep better there.............not sure why. I woke up at 3:45 a.m and was not able to go back to sleep for the last 45 minutes of my night so I got up and got ready. So I had a few extra minutes and decided to get on here!

Tonight I am picking up Kristen after work and taking her to see her grand parents. (My in-laws). With Mark being gone she does not see them enough so I like to make the time to take her over to visit. They love seeing her and I know from experience that you always regret the time you didn't spend with them when they are gone. She does not complain though. She likes to visit them. I like spending time with them also. They are getting up there in age and have had alot of health issues lately.

Lots of meetings at work today. One of those days I don't look forward to. Meetings are probably my least favorite part of my job. And there are four of them today. I like to be out on the floor and be busy. Makes the day go by much faster. Hopefully the time will go by quickly even with the meetings.

Well I guess I better get going. I have to stop for gas this morning. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Well here are a few pics from NC and also from Layla's 2nd bday party. I took my grandkids to NC to Papa's beach house for vacation. Robbie and Kristen and Kristen's boyfriend, Ian, went also. We had a very good time and I was very sad to come home. Mark is still living in NC. One of the twins, Josh, moved there also. He is working with Mark and will do an apprenticeship with his company for plumbing and finish up his construction management degree there in NC.

John is finishing up his senior year at Central and then he will move to NC also. Not sure where at in NC but his girlfriend Shannon is going to be doing her graduate schooling there so they will be moving there. Apparently that is where they want to live. I am thinking that a move to NC is the future for me as well. I do like it there but it is scary to think about moving so far away from everything I have ever known.

Layla had her 2nd bday August 3rd. We had a party for her here at my house. It was alot of fun and Layla loved it! She is getting so big. Talking and all now.

I have spent alot of time at the camper this year. It is very strange there without Mark but I have alot of friends there and my BIL is there also. He helps alot with the camper for me and he likes being there as well so it works out for everyone. I can't believe that it is getting close to the end of summer already. It goes so fast. I know there will be a few months of nice weather left but summer vacation for school is almost over and that is when it always feels like the end of summer for me.

I am slowly learning to live with out Mark here. It is very difficult and I feel for all families that have to live this way no matter what the circumstances are that put them in this position. I wish Mark could just walk away from this job and come home to live but he can't. I don't see him moving back here permanently at all. With the kids all moving out of Michigan and the job scene being so much better there I think the move will be to there for me. I am not sure when. I would like to see Kristen out of high school first but that is still three years away. So we shall see.

I have been doing alot more reading than I had been since Mark has moved away. I have always been a big reader but it took me alot longer to finish a book when Mark and the kids were home with me. I am enjoying that part of not having everyone around!

Robbie took the test to go into the Navy and passed it so he will be going into the Navy. We are not sure of the date that he will be leaving yet though. I am very nervous about this! Not sure how well he is going to handle being in the Navy. Time will tell!

Well I need to get motivated for the day. Hopefully I will get on here more often to update!

Our vacation was wonderful. I am ready for another. Acutally I am just ready to be with my husband all the time again. This is so difficult to live apart like this. It seems like we have two different lives. Two more years of this may be more than I can take. We have been trying to figure out how to fix it but there seems to be no solution for the time being.

Other than that things are pretty good. The boys are going to be done with their junior year of college soon. I am excited for them to be home. My oldest son has already put the dock in the water. I can't believe he did it already. The water is still so cold! But he wanted to surprise my husband and got it all in. He also cleaned out the garage and did the spring cleaning on the yard. It all looks so very nice! I am working on cleaning out the house. There is so much stuff we don't need that needs to be gotten rid of. I will be working on some of that today.

I got a Nookcolor and I love it! I am addicted to it! I already have tons of books on it.

Well I am off to start my day. Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Snowy Monday

Yes we got more snow! It was almost all gone from the beautiful weather we had last week but last night we got dumped on! There was almost 10 inches of snow on the ground when we woke up this morning! Marks flight was cancelled. He did get on another one that was only two hours later but it made for an exciting morning. Driving to the airport in that weather is so much fun. Driving anywhere in that kind of weather is fun. But I made it to the airport and then on to work. A drive that normally takes me about an hour and fifteen minutes took me three hours this morning! Oh well we both made it safely to where we needed to go. I can look forward to Thursday so much more now. It was sunny and 84 there today and should be that kind of weather for the entire time we are there. I am looking forword to it very much.
It was so nice having Mark home for the weekend. We got alot of stuff done on the house and we got the hot tub fixed! YEAH! I was so sad that it had been broken for the last week and I was unable to fix it. But it is up and running now. We actually had a fire last night and went in the hot tub while it was snowing. So nice! Aiden was here this weekend also. He went to the airport with me to pick up Mark and he was so cute! Just waiting and waiting for him to come out of that terminal! We had a really nice weekend. Manda and Zac and Layla came over to see mark on Sunday. I can't wait for summer when everyone comes over on the weekends to hang out on the water. I miss having my kids all together. Doesn't happen often enough in the winter.
Well have a great evening. I am off to tan and buy a few things that I need to take with me.

I am so happy today! I have the day off work and Mark is coming home for the weekend! I can't wait to see him. We have no big plans but that is ok. Aiden is so excited to see him. I am picking Aiden up and taking him to the airport with me this evening, he wants to be the first to see his Papa! Not sure what else the weekend will hold but it will be good. He will go back to NC very early Monday morning but the good news this time is we leave for Florida on Thursday night! Yes it is time for a short vacation. We will be there till Tuesday. Kristen will be going with us and we will be going to Disney. I have not been there in years and I am looking forward to it. The weather channel says it will be nice there! I can't wait! Well off to do some house cleaning and to eat breakfast. I am starving! Have a great day!

My Sophie girl went to heaven today. She was in so much pain. I stayed with her till the end. She looked so relaxed and pain free. I will miss her every day.

Easy Sunday

Today was a very quiet day again. I went to church this morning and then I took Jeremy, Kristen and Jackie out to breakfast. That was the extent of my day! I took a two hour nap though. I am feeling much better that is for sure. I hope I still feel this good tomorrow morning when I get up for work. I am going to go to bed early tonight also. I usually stay up way to late and am dragging all the next day. I am going to try to get to bed earlier from now on. I am running on empty most of the time and that is not good.

I have my lunch all packed for tomorrow and the coffee pot is set. My clothes are all laid out so I am ready for the morning.

I am taking Kristen to visit my inlaws tomorrow night for a little while. They love it when I bring her over there. Not sure what is for dinner tomorrow night yet but I will come up with something I am sure!

I hope you all have a great day tomorrow.

Well I can say that this has been a very difficult week for me. Work was stressful and I miss my husband very much. I only got to exercise one day. That wasn't so good but I did follow my eating plan. I still have a cold and cough which I just can't seem to shake.

I have been watching movies and relaxing all day today. No grandkids this weekend, just resting and doing whatever I want.

I bought a book Sunday at the bookstore. It was on the clearance rack for real cheap. It is called 501 movies you need to see! I will see how many I get through in the next two years that hubby is gone. So far I have watched two.

Top Gun, always loved this one and after watching it again this week I have to say I still love it. The other one I watched that was in the book was Saturday Night Live. Now I have to tell you that when this movie came out I went to see it several times cuz I loved it so much. Today I didn't think it could possibly be the same movie I loved so much. It was almost comical. Seeing John Travolta dancing away like that was just amusing! My how times have changed and apparently how much I myself have changed!!

I had been given two movies for Christmas and I had not watched one of them yet, Sex in the City 2, I watched that today also. It was cute. I love Sex in the City. This one was not in the book. I also watched What happens in Vegas, with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kuschner. That one was kinda cute also.

I am setting up my NetFlix so I can get the movies that are on the list. Pretty silly but I have way to much time on my hands!

Well I will write more tomorrow, hopefully I will be in a better mood.

So this is what Aiden looks like after a night of being sick. Aiden and Layla were both here last night, spending the night. Aiden woke up sick in the middle of the night. Layla slept through most of it but at 4 a.m. when Aiden was up getting sick she decided it was time to wake up for the day! So now Aiden is set up on the couch and sleeping soundly for the time being. Layla is watching over him and playing with her toys. Grandma is half dead! A nap sounds awesome but is not going to happen for a bit. My son, Jeremy's dad, will be up soon and then Grandma will be taking her little nap. I think tonight my shows will be recorded and I will be going to bed early.

I had wanted to take the kids to church today. I don't think they will be going with me. Jeremy will have to watch them while I go today. I also have to go into work for a few hours to catch up on some paperwork. I won't be doing that until later this afternoon when both the kids have gone home. I think that I will have to hit the gym for a shorter walk on the treadmill today after church. 30 minutes will be all I do today!

I was supposed to be driving Josh back to Grand Valley today but his father is going to be taking him instead. I was kinda sad yesterday about it but this morning I am feeling like it is a gift! My house will be back to being very quiet by this evening. I will enjoy it for about three nights worth of quiteness and then I will not be so very happy again.

Well Miss Layla is done playing with her blocks and wants to wander out of the office so I am off.

It always seems that something gets in the way of keeping up with things!! This one was totally legit though! Everyone is my house caught the flu, including myself. YUCK! It even made it's way from my house to my daughters and all of them got it too! My son, Jeremy's girlfriend also had it and now it has made it's way to her parents and thier house also. This stuff is wicked. And it is also VERY contagious. I guess I got my daily exercise for Tuesday and Wednesday by runnning back and forth to the bathroom to be sick! Thursday and Friday I was just to plain weak to do anything more than go to work. Excercise was out of the question! Today I am back to the plan though. At least this time I didn't scrap the plan all together for 6 months. Just for the time I was sick and I am back on track. I will be going to the gym today to get on the eliptical trainer for at least 45 minutes. If I feel strong enough after that I will go for an hour. I lost 8 pounds but I don't think that is quite the way I wanted to do it!
Today I am also going to go into "clean up" mode here in the house. Things were definatly left a mess while we were sick. Today................whipping it back into shape and making sure those bugs are gone out of here!
Tomorrow the twins go back to college. I will be driving Josh back but John will be driving his car back. Josh's car is not working, thinking it is the starter. I called today and had it towed to the repair shop and will know on Monday what is wrong and how much it will take to fix it. I will be happy to have that burden off my plate. I have been stressing over it for weeks. I think I should of just taken care of it myself from the beginning, instead of letting Josh mess around with it. I'm all about having them learn how to do these things on thier own but it sure does stress me out! Now he will be able to be back at school and work without worries!
Well I am off to start cleaning and then get to the gym. I hope you all have a good day!

Well I almost forgot to make my post for the day! I am worn out. It is hard getting used to getting up in the morning at 4:30 am after having 10 days off! I am very glad I have a job to go to each day no matter how difficult it is to get up to go to in the morning!
Today I took my lunch with me to work. Grilled chicken breast and endamme salad. Very good and healthy. After work I came home and made dinner for the twins and myself. Beef tips with noodles and gravy. They loved it. It was good but I only had a small serving. Then off to the gym I went. 45 minutes on the treadmill. My legs and butt are now killing me! So it is off to bed with me. A nice early night. I think it's what I need.

So part of my plan for the year is to take better care of myself. The first part of that is to get at least some form of exercise each day. For someone who has run 5 marthons and one half marathon I am WAY out of shape. I know that if I make some big life changing resoloution I won't stick to it. I will get frustrated and give up. So starting little. Just some form of exercise each day. Yesterday it was walking on the beach. Lots! It was warm out there and the ocean was wonderful to see. I love being around the ocean. I am thankful that when I go visit Mark I will be able to see it each time I go. Which means about once a month or once every two months I will get some time at the ocean. Something to look forward to. When we first got there, there was alot of snow on the ground still. It was gone by Thursday. Friday and Saturday it was very warm out. I even saw the sun!

Tonight I will be putting on some warm clothes and going for a walk in the neighborhood. I am hoping for 20 minutes to half an hour.

We drove 9 hours today to complete our drive home. I managed to get the Christmas decorations and the tree down today also. I did vacuum part of the floor. So many needles. I didn't finish it all but I am done for the day. Tomorrow is back to the grind at work but I will be able to finish up the vacuuming and put the furniture back where it belongs tomorrow night. And if not, well then it will still be there Tuesday night! I hope you all have a wonderful day getting back to your normal schedules tomorrow.

Happy New Year Everyone!
2010 was not the best year for me. Most of it was spent apart from my husband because of his job. This year will not be any different in that aspect, in fact I will see him less. The difference is going to be in my attitude and the way I spend my time. I am going to have a much better attitude about the whole thing and I am going to spend my time doing things that will make me a better person instead of the grumpy mean person I was becoming.
Part of that process is going to be writing in this journal each day. Lets call in a 365 project! I will make a post each day telling about the good things in my day that day!
Right now I am in North Carolina visiting my husband with my step daughter and her friend. We have been here since Monday and we are throughly enjoying ourselves. I am getting to spend the first day of the year with my honey and I got to bring in the new year with a kiss from him. So I have to say the year started out great! We will be leaving later this afternoon to begin the ride home.
I hope you all enjoyed your "bringing in of the New Year" no matter what you did.
May 2011 be a wonderful year for us all.
Happy Birthday Dad. I miss you more than words can say!