I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

This weekend Bill came home for the first time since he left for college in Sept. I don't know who was happier to have him home, my dogs, or ME!! I thought poor Sadie was going to have a heart attack she was so excited to see him.

I'm am going to take a minute to be sentimental.... Read this carefully because it doesn't happen often.

While I have hated having Bill gone, I am a little grateful for this experience. It has made us both really appreciate each other, probably me more than him because he is naturally kind and loving. I have really realized how much I appreciate and love him. I look forward to every minute that we spend together now when I see him. We are kind to each other, we don't let things bother us. Our conversations are more meaningful and we say "I Love You" a lot more. More than that though I have realized what a great man and wonderful Husband he is. It is funny how you don't realize how much you depend on someone until they are gone. This weekend Bill helped me with so many of the things that "being a woman" I just couldn't do. For instance... I was trying to winterize my home and take the hoses off the spicket and I could not for the life of me get the sprinkler off the hose it was on there so tight. I twisted and twisted and got angry and even cursed but I physically did not have the strength to do it. Bill gets it off with one twist. He also climbed up on the roof to cut some of the tree branches that were hanging over the house. He made dinner on Sunday which I really appreciated because it had been a long week for me. He also helped Ashlee do a science project that would have taken me a lot longer to help with. Most of all though I was just happy to have him there with us.

One of the things that I thought was so special about his visit happened at church however. When Sacrament meeting was over all of his Young Men flocked over to him to say hello and catch up with him. It was so great to see. I told him that was his reward for a job well done. His Young Men loved him and it was great to see they missed him.

Now I won't see him till Thanksgiving. Three long weeks that we will both have to endure

Snow White, The Evil Queen, & The Two Dwarfs

Snow White and The Evil Queen

We went to our Ward's Trunk or Treat Last Night. I must have looked really bad cuz no one knew who I was until Little Snow White called me Mom.

ITS HARD TO BE THIS EVIL BUT SOMEBODY HAS TO DO IT

Snow White and the Two Dwarfs

Sadie and Polly were not cooperative with this years costumes. They did not appreciate the beards...however Sadie did say it was a step up from the Fairy costume last year.

A Little Girl and Her Horse

On the first day we arrived here in Montrose over a year ago these horses were at our back fence. Ashlee immediately fell in love with them. A year later this horse (Ashlee has named her Felix) still comes to the fence, naying as she comes, for Ashlee to feed her carrots or apples. Ash adores this horse. It is so sweet to see that even as Ash grows older she still becomes a little girl as soon as these horses come around. I am glad to see she loves animals as much as I do. They bring so much joy to life.

But They Love To Swim

Just wispering the word "swimming" will jolt Sadie and Polly from a deep sleep. They love the water. Infact when we went to Bill's Dad's house earlier this month we took the girls for a walk and within two seconds they were in the pond. If we even drive by the river here in town Sadie has a coronary in the back of the truck she gets so excited and Ashlee's friend lives right next to the fishing pond which makes drop offs and pick ups difficult. So I can't for the life of me figure out why all the pouting goes on during bath time.

Choir Concert

Last night was Ashlee's Fall Choir Concert. I didn't know until I got there and saw the program that Ashlee was scheduled to direct one of the songs and also had a solo. She did an awesome job and her solo was great. The funniest part of the concert was the last song at the end where a bunch of white kids tried to get some gospel swing into their song. But even funnier than that was how the dancing section came to be. I guess that during class for the past month they would practice and since Ashlee was standing in the front of the teacher she would dance during the end part. The choir would laugh and the teacher would say " I am so happy you kids are getting into this song" Little did she know Ashlee was dancing behind her back making everyone smile. Well one day during the class the teacher turned around and saw the dance. She loved it and decided to have the choir do it in the concert. It was funny. I am thankful that Ashlee shares her talents and her fun personality with others. She is a great leader and I am proud of her.

Car Accident

Notice the lug nuts are still attached
This is the indention that the semi tire made in Bill's car. Right near the gas tank.
Here you can see the tire just ripped off the car but not blown.
If you look close you can see a white line in between the windows. That is where the bottom of the trucks trailer hit Bill's car as he was pushed against it.

Bill was in a car accident on the way home from Utah on Conference Weekend. He was about 10 minutes outside of Pocatello heading north on I-15. While passing a semi-truck his right front tire broke off of the axel and slammed into the semi, almost throwing him underneath it. At the last minute the semi's tire smacked into the back of his car and pushed him back out. The Highway Patrol and the witnesses say they have no idea how he survived becuase of how he was thrown against the semi. Bill was very shaken up throughout the day on that Sunday and the Monday after. He knows that he was protected by Heavenly Father and feels very humbled that he was saved. I am grateful that the Lord watches over us and protects us.

Volleyball Tournament

This Volleyball season has been rough for Ashlee. All summer long she worked so hard to improve her skills so that she could make top team. (Middle school everyone makes a team but they break it down to A & B teams.) During tryouts this season she was awesome. She was within the top 5 of all the girls there. When it came time to split the teams, however, the A team coaches daughter and the daughters friends (who cannot even return a serve) made the team and Ashlee was placed on the middle team. (After speaking with a few parents I guess this is something that coach is famous for) Ashlee was devastated and spent the weekend after tryouts trying to decide if she even wanted to play this year. After a lot of thinking, and me telling her that she shouldn't give up on this just becuase of that coach, she decided to stick with it for the season so that next year she would still have the opportunity to play in high school.

Her coach for the B team told Ashlee that they chose her to be the team leader, and Ashlee really stepped up to the plate. Many times the season was frustrating for her because she had to be patient with many of the girls on the team that were not at her level. The other girls on the team really worked together and this past Saturday they had the 8th grade tournament. The B team ended up winning 1st place in the tournament while the A team took 2nd. Ashlee was so excited and so was the team. I am proud of her for sticking the season out even when she was dealt an unfair hand.