We're moving...again!!

Well, today's the day. I can't believe that it's actually here. We're so excited about the new house, but we're going to miss Chris, Mindy and Hannah. We're trying to talk them into moving closer to us, but I'm not sure it'll work! It's been fun spending time together, but living together is definitely making it harder to leave. We've had so many people ask us questions about how it works with all of us under one roof. Most people seem to think that it's a little crazy, but that's just because they don't understand. It worked great for us, but I guess you just have to have the right kind of friends. So, I just want to say thanks for your generous hearts. Thank you for opening your home to us and being so selfless. We love you guys!! (That's about all of that I can handle!!) There are so many people that we're going to miss at church. It's hard to leave family, and that's how I feel about our church family. We're going to miss you all!

I really should be getting ready, but I found out yesterday that we won't have phone service at the house until late August!! I'm hoping that changes, but if it doesn't, we probably won't have internet or cable either. So, I'm hoping to post some pictures of the house soon, but it might be longer than I like.

Weary traveler

Well, I made it home from Puerto Rico late last night. We had a great time, but I'm so excited about being home. I get to go see the house today and do our final walk through. It's a little nerve racking for me to do it without Keith, but at least I have a list of things to check out. He's the attention to detail one, not me.

I kind of thought that flying more frequently would make me less afraid to fly, but it has done the opposite. I pretty much prayed my way through both flights yesterday. The first one was pretty bumpy, with one gasp moment when we had some pretty big turbulence and the plane not only bounced up and down, but also side to side. We didn't scream collectively like before, but most people around me were a little shaken. A good flight to me is one without any bumps. Impossible.

I know there are people out there who are world travelers and love it, but I'm not one of them. I'm happy to stay in my little part of the world and experience what I can by driving. I'm very happy to be home where I can understand what everyone is saying. People here say excuse me and smile in passing. Believe it or not, most people here are more modestly dressed too! That's kind of scary! So, I just want to share a few things I learned while in Puerto Rico.

• turn lanes are merely suggestions (you can turn any direction from any lane)


• modesty is over rated, or at least that's what most people think


• if you only speak english and go through the drive thru at burger king, they'll ignore you until you leave (to be fair, we weren't in the tourist area so they probably didn't know any english)


• my hair is even more frizzy and uncontrollable in puerto rico, if you can believe that (i've given up trying different products, and i'm sticking to a ponytail)


• people don't move over on sidewalks, i guess courtesy is over rated also


• when driving, don't hesitate. decide you're going to go and stick to it


• remember those old cigarette machines that used to be in restaurants, (like shoney's)? they have those in the hotel


• some stores in the mall give a 20% military discount(that's way better then anything at home)


• the police (and ambulances) drive around with their lights on all the time


• people drive really crazy here, seriously


• it really rains in the rainforest

El Yunque (Caribbean National Forest)

This is from the top of a tower somewhere in the rainforest. You can see the coastline in the distance.






Keith and I drove to the rainforest today. It was really unbelievable. The road up into the rainforest was intense. It was narrow and very curvy. There wasn't always room for two cars, and there is no such thing as right of way. Right of way means you win a game of chicken. Anyway, it was really beautiful. We were planning on hiking to two different spots, but we got rained on during the first one, so we only did one. I don't mean just a little rain. I mean soaked to the bone. There wasn't a dry spot on us anywhere. (It was like riding the grizzly river rampage at Opryland and then walking around in the rain.) We still enjoyed the hike, but there wasn't much of a view, only clouds. Luckily the rain stopped long enough for us to get some pictures.

It is still raining here and storming too. We're really close to the airport so we can see and hear the planes taking off. They haven't stopped taking off even though there's thunder and lightining. That really scares me for later this week when I fly out. I really hope it's not storming.

House update: I just want to add an update to this post. We have our walk through on Friday the 27th, and we close on Tuesday the 31st. I think we're going to try to get enough stuff moved during the day to be able to stay there that night. I can't wait to post some pictures of the house with us in it!!

San Juan, Puerto Rico

I can't believe I'm actually here in Puerto Rico with Keith. We're having a great time. We went to the mall today and did some shopping, and tomorrow we're going to the rain forest. This is the view from our room. The weather has been pretty nice so far, but it's more humid here than at home. I've never been out of the county before, so it's strange to hear everyone speaking another language. Luckily most places have at least one person who speaks English. I decided to get my hair cut while we were at the mall. It's sad that I have to travel so far just for a hair cut, but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunitly. They had one girl up front that spoke English, but the lady that cut my hair didn't. The only things she said to me in English were, "cold water," and "blow dry." Anything else we communicated about was with gesturing. The hair cut turned out well and I feel much better. It's weird without the kids. I miss them, but I'm also enjoying time without them. I know they're having a great time with Keith's parents. They probably don't miss us at all!! Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll have some great pictures of the rain forest to share tomorrow.

Grand Canyon

I'm a little late getting these pictures of our trip to the Grand Canyon on here. It was really hard for me to choose which ones were my favorites. When we first decided to go to Arizona for Keith's graduation, I knew right away that we would have to go to the Grand Canyon. I couldn't be three hours away and not get to see it. Well, the drive was definitely worth it. It was absolutely unbelievable. Words cannot describe it. Neither can any picture, but I had to share them anyway! We all had a great time, but we only had a day to see it and that wasn't enough. I would love to go back and go hiking or take the helicopter tour(I'll start saving for that part now). Chloe could only tolerate so much, and by the end of the day, she was asleep in the car. Keith and I would take turns going to look with the boys. I'm sad that not everyone will get a chance to see the Grand Canyon. Of course we all know that it's big, but seriously it was beyond anything I could imagine. We got to see a California Condor too. They are very endangered birds that are trying to make a come back. They have a nine foot wing span!! The last picture is life size. Pretty crazy!

Poor boys...

We rented a Maxima in Arizona. It was really nice and it's always fun to drive something different, but it really made me grateful for my van. Chloe tormented the boys almost constantly. Sometimes they brought it on themselves, but other times they were leaving her alone and she would just pinch, pull or grab whatever she could reach. They really couldn't get away from her, so I felt bad for them. They would play with her and it would sound so sweet until one of the boys would scream in pain. You can see the joy on her face in the last picture where she is pinching Brady. I think we're all glad to be back in the van where she can't reach them!!

Please pray...

While looking at blogs of people I don't know, I came across a blog for a little baby boy named Ethan who has leukemia. He was born in Dec. '06 and was diagnosed in Feb. '07, as a two month old. His dad has started a blog to inform and update people about his son's condition. I went to it and couldn't help but be touched by it. ethanpowell.com I know that God has power that we can't understand, and I believe that He can heal this little boy. If you don't go to the site, at least say a prayer for Ethan and his family. There's no such thing as too many prayers. I just had to share this with you all. I don't know this family at all, but neither did the person whose blog I found it on.

Vacation Pictures

This is pretty much all you see in Phoenix. The mountains are really pretty, but I could do without everything else. We definitely saw a lot of cactus(or cacti, whichever you prefer.)


We had a great vacation in Arizona. It was unbelievably hot (I think it got up to 115 degrees), but all we did outside in Phoenix was go to the pool, so it wasn't too bad. Our flight there was not much fun. We landed at the hottest part of the day, so we had quite a bit of turbulence. We were bumping along and all of a sudden, the plane just dropped. It was like we were falling out of the sky, and everyone screamed. That shows me that it wasn't just me that was freaked out! Anyway, it lasted only a second or two, but it felt like much longer. ( I was dreading getting back on the plane to come home, but it wasn't as bad.) Anyway, the heat was really crazy. It is a dry heat, so we didn't sweat like you do in the humidity, but it was like being in an oven. It felt thick, if that makes any sense. A breeze would come along and we would think that would help, but that just felt like a hair dryer! I definitely couldn't last long there.

Here are some random pictures of our vacation. The kids loved the pools (there were four, but we only made it to three). We spent as much time as possible in the pool for a couple of reasons. One is because it was too hot to do anything else, but the other was to wear the kids out so they would sleep good!!



It doesn't look like Avery has strep!

Keith's graduation

So, Keith has officially graduated. Actually, he's had his diploma for over a month, but the ceremony was just last week. As you can see, his parents were able to join us in Phoenix. They surprised Keith at the airport. The ceremony only lasted about two hours, which isn't bad considering there were about 1200 graduates. We were there over fours hours total, which was a little long for the kids, but they did great. I'm not sure how I would have done it by myself, so I'm thankful that Granny and Pops were there to help!!

I love being reminded that we live in a small world. As we were leaving the stadium, I ran into a girl I knew from high school!! She had received her masters also and was there with her husband. They live in Texas now, so it's not even someone I would run into at home. I haven't seen her since high school, so it was really crazy that we saw each other in Arizona!

Part of the fun of graduation for the boys(all three) was getting to see the University of Phoenix stadium. I wish we could save our seats for the super bowl next year!! This was the first class to graduate there, which was neat to be a part of that. You could text a message saying congratulations or whatever you wanted and they put it up on the big screens. Keith's mom sent a couple and we were able to get pictures of them. Keith's name has been on the big screen, so I think that makes him famous!! I'm really proud of him and all that he has accomplished. I know it's been much harder for him because he's had a family to support while going to school. I think the best advice Keith and I have to offer anyone coming out of high school is to finish college before you get married and have a family. I don't have any regrets about the way we've done things, and I wouldn't go back and change anything, but it does add extra challenges.

Keith, I just have to say, Way to go baby! I'm so glad that you were able to take part in the ceremony this time. You're the best!!

Here in Arizona

So, I have pictures to post and things to share with everyone, but I just haven't made time to do that yet. Keith's laptop hasn't worked since we got here, so that hasn't made things easy. (Thankfully Pops has shared his computer, but they leave tomorrow, so I'll be out of luck.) Anyway, the one thing I want to share right now is that Avery has strep throat. It doesn't even surprise me anymore, but it's still frustrating. I'm thankful for good insurance and walk-in clinics.

20,000 reasons why I don't like fireworks

Alright, I don't actually have 20.000 reasons, but I have one good one. My two year old daughter is still awake because all the idiots around here shooting fireworks. Yes, as you can tell I feel very strongly about it. I really don't mind fireworks, in their proper place, but that place is not in a neighborhood at ten o'clock. It's not like everyone has their own 20 acres and it doesn't affect other people. Seriously, as we speak it sounds like a war in my (borrowed) backyard. Honestly, if I thought it was just a couple of days during the year, then it wouldn't be too bad, but we have to put up with it for two weeks before and two weeks after the holiday. Here's another thing that gets me. People around here don't buy just any fireworks. They buy the really big ones that cost a small fortune and are quite loud. When I was a kid, I never knew anyone who spent that much money on fireworks. I guess that's what I get for living in one of the wealthiest counties in the country, (but only for a little bit longer!!) I know hate is a strong word, but the past four years of putting up with this have really made me hate fireworks. Okay, I'm done, for now. I'll try not to rant and rave anymore. Occasionally, I just need to get it out, and blogging about it is much better than going outside and yelling at people!! (especially since I don't really live here!)

Saturday

We went to a family get together at my cousin's house on Saturday. It was really fun to see everyone. The kids had a blast on the giant slip'n slide, water balloons and go kart. On the way home from that, we drove by the house so the boys could see it. They enjoyed seeing everything, but they really liked playing on the big piles of dirt. I know they are going to be sad when the piles are gone.

Almost done...

It's hard to believe that the house is almost done. I'm thankful that we have a bunch of stuff going on this month to help get my mind off of the house. I think it's going to be harder for Keith because he won't be able to see it every other day! So, I guess there won't be too many more posts about the house. I can't wait to post about moving in!!