Fast Forward

I'm not even sure if anyone reads blogs anymore, but I did enjoy writing them once upon a time.  So, I think I'll try again to pick it up and keep it as sort of a diary for myself.

The boys are growing so fast.  I went to hug Jared today and realized how "thick" he's becoming.  Kristopher is taller than me when I sit, and Kolbein just turned five.  My baby is FIVE ?!  I find myself asking the age old question, "Where is the time going?"  No answers of course.

That being said, we are still on Dad and Mom's property.  We lived with them until last year when the shop in the back was turned into a large apartment.  At the end of July, Jacob and a few friends went up and grabbed our stuff from the storage unit in Idaho.  And we settled in by a the first week of August 2012.

I/we were overjoyed to see our OWN stuff again!  They had been packed away for four to five years and some things I forgot I even had.  Other things, like baby exer-saucers and highchairs, we were able to find other homes that could use them.

School started in September, and the usual busy holiday season ensued.  Not too much of note happened between then and the beginning of spring.  Spring, though, was a touch more adventurous.

Jacob's friend, wanted (badly) a traveling companion while he went to Europe for a month and decided Jacob was the guy he wanted along.  So, Jacob went along for two-and-a-half weeks touring Germany, Austria, and a few other day trips to Paris, France and a few other places.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity with a friend native to that part of the world.  He couldn't forgo that, especially when our friend was very generous financially.  That is the extremely short version of it anyway.  :)  

A few days after he got back, we left for a "JIAGAP" (initials of all Jacob's siblings) reunion in Mashpee, Massachusetts at Arthur and Hallie's place.  That was so much fun and so good to see everyone in one place for longer than an hour.  It had literally been years since that happened.  We really got to visit with each other and  kick off a new beginning of sorts.  My sister in laws are wonderful AND I got to play with all my nieces and nephew!  The kids were so good!

I came back with Grace, Adrianna and Peter, while Jacob stayed and visited for a few days with his other half-sister, Linda Glimpse who I finally got to meet last fall.  She's awesome too, by the way!  I hope I get a chance to know her better as well.

Jacob got back Wednesday, and THEN I left Friday bound for College Station, Texas to see Tanner, Noelle and the girls.  I stayed a week and got to see first hand their crazy lifestyle they live while he finishes college at Texas A&M in the chemical engineering program.  Talk about learning to be flexible as the classes change, Noelle works, and the girls go to school.  (I still sit in awe when I think about it!)

It was fun playing taxi for them.  :-D  I feel very lucky that we found time to visit, tour the campus, tour some good shaved ice, tour the town a little, and we even made it to Houston and Galveston.  (Katie and Reagan, I am still thinking of a way to pay you back for that last ride you made me go on.  lol)  I even got to kill a cockroach!!!

 I miss them already and so wish I could make it out there when he graduates in December! Yep, my little bro is finally graduating!!!  It's been a long, intense and crazy haul for them all!  A battle really.  Well fought and victory won.  I think it's been eight years of schooling?  Proud to bursting!

And another note:  I did not expect to like Texas so much!  That is after I got over my initial fear that nature was out to kill me.  I even wore my socks OVER my pajama legs while sleeping under a comforter so spiders wouldn't crawl up them in 90 degree weather.  If you know me and heat, that says something.   No, Texas is a beautiful place, and the people there are so nice!  Would love to visit again.

Well, that pretty much brings us up to the beginning of this summer of 2013.  The final event I'll mention for this page is that Peter, Jacob's youngest brother, is getting married September 14th!!! Susannah is an amazing girl!  Love her already.  More on this in the next posting.

I, once again, have procrastinated long enough.  I have to work on bringing the rest of our things back over to what was for the last seventeen years, Dad and Mom's house.  Yes, we are living back in their house since they moved to Silverton and are living with Grandpa and Grandma Howell.  Tessa and Steve are getting ready to move into the shop in back.  It makes sense, really, because they run the greenhouses sitting next to it.

All that's been an adventure this summer as well.  More like a lot of work.  lol  We did take a break from all the fuss this past week and went camping.  First time since Idaho when Kolbein was little.  One word:  Awesome.  It was much needed.

See?  I've already lined up another blog/mini novel.  I'll insert pictures later.   Until then..must...back away...from...keyboard...