Curb Side Drop Off

Brooke, (Hermana Deem) as she is now known, entered the MTC on Wed 23 Sept 2009 at 12:45 pm just two days after her 21st birthday.

The rules have change for dropping off missionaries. Each missionary gets one car of people to take them in. They have an assigned time to be dropped off, and you literally get as much time at the curb as it takes two Elders to unload their bags from your car. We weren't there 3 minutes.

We had of course said our goodbyes and had taken our last pictures before we drove through the gate. She was so excited and ready to finally be going on her mission that it was exciting for me as well. She will be an amazing missionary.

A few hours after I said good bye to Brooke, I had to say good bye to Brittney and baby Avery again. It was so much fun having them come to be with Brooke for her birthday and then go to the MTC with her.

Brooke will be in the MTC until the last part of November then off to Mendoza Argentina.

Mission Call

Brooke got her mission call today when she was home at lunch, went back to work, got off work and drove from Logan, Utah to Rexburg, Idaho to open it with her sister and us on Britt's web cam. She will be serving in the Argentina Mendoza Mission leaving on 23 Sep 2009. That is so soon! We are so excited for her. It is finally a reality after so many years of preparing. She will be an amazing missionary!
We love you Brooke

My Nana used to say...

When I was growing up I remember my Nana saying that time flew when you were old. I didn't think I was that old, but I don't know where this past school year went. It really did fly by. I can't believe the boys have already been out of school for 19 days. Taylor is in summer school (his choice to get ahead) taking a science class that was offered to incoming freshman so that they would be able to take more advanced science classes earlier and more of them if they choose to. Taylor is the only one in the class that is an incoming freshman all the rest of the kids are retakes from last year. He is counting down the days until it is over. Even though he chose to go it is a really long day for him. The class goes from 7:25 am until 1 pm. He has an hour break and then he is off to SPA (Summer Performing Arts) from 2:30-6:30pm. His group is performing Bye Bye Birdie this year. He also has a summer mowing job, so Taylor is keeping himself very busy this summer. When he is not going to school or SPA he is playing basketball in the driveway.

Marshall is working at JCPennys this summer, and playing soccer. He ended up having a great track season after all of the cancelled meets. He was able to vault 13'. That is a foot and a half higher than last year. He won the Gerrells meet here in town and qualified for state. He took 6th at state with a 13' jump! This is a video of his 12'6" jump, I guess I missed the 13' jump.

Summer? I hope we do get some summer weather soon. We have only hit 80 degrees one day so far and the next day the high was 57 and has not reached 60 since.

I was so excited to plant some bulbs last fall. I love tulips so I planted white tulips and purple hyacinths around the trees in our backyard. I was anticipating a beautiful garden of flowers this spring, but every time I looked at them the leaves were broken off. I kept getting mad at the boys for running over my flowers. One day I examined them more closely and come to find out the bunnies had eaten them. I was so mad, and even madder to find out that my nice neighbor feeds them. So much for my flower garden.

picture fun

I don't have time to sit around and play with pictures, but I have been having fun making some collages. These pictures are from our San Diego trip.

What a Life!

Postponed

Today is 9 April 2009. Today is suppossed to be the Central vs Red River Dual Track Meet at Cushman Field. Marshall has really been looking forward to another track meet. They don't get to vault very much, since it is so wet outside all of the spring sports are trying to share the three gyms they have at Central.
I took these pictures of the track this afternoon. I don't think the track meet is the only thing that has been postponed here in North Dakota, I think Spring has been postponed, actually I think spring has been officially cancelled this year!

This picture is looking through the fence at the track

This is the parking lot at Cushman Field

This is the field where the throwers throw

I got my day at the beach!

I was able to go with Jeff on a trip to San Diego last week. It was absolutely fabulous. Our friends on base kept Taylor since he goes to school on base, and Marshall slept over at a friends in town. He would come home from school, take care of the kitty, eat dinner, do his homework and then head to the Hollingworths.

When Jeff went to his meetings in the morning I would go on a walk along Mission Bay. It was beautiful. I love palm trees and I took a lot of pictures of them. One day on my walk I came up behind a guy who had a bright green parrot on his shoulder. Another day I walked almost to Sea World (probably about 2 miles down the bay). One day I saw a surf fisherman catch a big fish.

We ate at the In N Out one night. We love that place, and one day ate world famous fish tacos at Rubios.

We were able to go to the San Diego Temple which just happened to be about 5 minutes up the road from where we were staying. It was breath taking in and out. What a treat. One day we went down by the ocean to see an aircraft carrier. The USS Midway. We got to the ticket booth 10 minutes after it had closed for the day so we didn't get to take a tour. We took a lot of pictures though.

We ate dinner on the pier at a fish market. It was so yummy.

Well, I could go on and on about all the fun things we were able to do. It was such a fun time. The last time we went away alone was ten years ago. Jeff took me to Hawaii when he had a conference for the AF. I think I need to go on all of his business trips now :)

The last morning before we left we went back to the dock and walked along the pier. It was so beautiful that I wanted to have someone take a picture of the two of us, so we asked a gentlemen sitting on a bench if he would be willing to take one. He took the camera and since it doesn't have an optical view finder he was having a hard time. I told him to just make sure that we were on the screen. This is our picture :)

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe that Brittney is 23 today. Happy Birthday Britt! I love this picture of Britt. She is snuggled in a cute sweater and shawl that her Nanny made her :) Wow, check out the 80's couch that she is on!

I could use a day on the beach!

I want to be someplace like this background right about now! We have lived in North Dakota for 6 1/2 years now and only one other year have I felt so desperate to get out of the cold!
Why I am happy here I am not really sure. Well, maybe I do know. Let's see. The schools, UND Hockey, tortilla soup at The Red Pepper, our friends, my new house, the Summer Performing Arts program for Taylor, and there is even a mountain (if you want to call it that) for the boys to go skiing and snowboarding.
I am getting out of here. Jeff gave me my birthday present today a little bit early. A ticket to California. He is going to San Diego for some meetings and is taking me with him!!!!!!!!!!!

The Eagle has landed, finally

Sixteen months after Marshall completed his Eagle Project he was finally honored and awared his Eagle along with a Bronze Palm (I don't have enough room on this blog to go into all of the reasons why it took 16 months) The ceremony was really nice and it was exciting for him to finally receive it. We did miss all of our family who had come to be with him for this special occassion, and his leaders that have helped him along his trail to Eagle that have since moved because of school or the military.

I know some of these same picutres are on the ward blog, but I wanted to have them on our family blog as well. Thanks Dan Ward for taking the pictures :)

Marshall has worked really hard for the past nine years to get to this point. He earned 36 merit badges. We are so proud of him!

Taylor is on his way as well, I just hope it goes a bit smoother than Marshall's did :)

Predator on the loose

On 6 Dec 2008 the Predator unmanned aircraft arrived at Grand Forks AFB and will begin operations in Jan 2009 for the US Customs and Border Protection. Jeff has worked for the past year to bring the Predator to Grand Forks so this was an exciting day for him! He is an Operational Manager for the US Customs and Border Protection.

It's too quiet

As I finished off the last of Brooke's wheat flakes cereal this morning, I realized how quiet it was in the house, and how bare it looks with all of the Christmas decorations put away, and all the baby toys stowed until Avery comes again. I miss her little squeals and her huge grin.

It was so much fun having everyone home for the holidays! Ping Pong games, rubik's cubing, some serious games of Trouble, and trying to stay warm in the frigid weather of North Dakota made for some great family time! These kids make Jeff and I so happy :)

Brooke was able to be here for three weeks. I miss her so much already. She has returned to Utah State to finish her sophomore year.

Britt and Paul flew standby to Fargo, so when they didn't make the return flight last Sunday I wasn't too sad to have them for a few more days. They are gone now as well, back to Rexburg. Britt started school on Wed. She will graduate in July.