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!