"The Whirlwind" - warning: long post

It feels good to be back on blogger!! It's been so long since I've been able to enjoy reading updates on my friends and family and sharing about what our family has been up to. I could have shared so much along the way... but to catch up on everything now would be impossible, too much has happened since my last post (May 14th!) . So... I will share bits and pieces of the whirlwind, but apologize in advance for the length of this update. That's what happens when you go a whole month without posting! :) So.....

Ciara graduated on May 16th and it was a great day! Her reception was really nice and we were blessed to have so much family there to help us celebrate. Here are a few photos of the graduate:

Mama steals a photo with the grad before the ceremony

Diploma in hand... she's a happy girl!

Our family at the reception

Ciara and her cake

Most of our out of town relatives left Sunday afternoon, then on Wednesday night my uncle and cousins from Nebraska came for a visit as they passed through on their way to Colorado. It was fun catching up with them, and I'm so disappointed that I didn't even get a picture of the adorable twins, Parker and Sienna. Guess I was too busy to think about it! ha ha.

Memorial weekend Luke and Brandon went golfing with a couple of my uncles and had a good time. The girls went shopping with Grandma Barbie. Well... Luke was running errands around town and called to announce that "there are the cutest puppies in front of the Orscheln Store." Oh geesh, do we need a puppy? So he tells me all about them and convinces me to go over and look at them. CUTE CUTE CUTE. This litter of pups was an accident and it was obvious that the owner could barely take care of the parents of these pups much less the 10 new arrivals that were 8 weeks old. Blue Heeler/Doberman mix. We chose a female. The thought process on the new pup was that our big outside dog, Trixie (the australian shepherd/border collie) needed a companion. She always looks so lonely and we thought a puppy would bring new meaning to her life and someone to snuggle with and play with. Enter "Snickers".

Just after we brought Snickers home, the big day finally rolled around - the day that I would transfer ownership of my Soap business. On May 27th the new owner came down from Colorado Springs to do some training. We trained Wed, Thurs, and Friday. We really did have a lot of fun. Jessica is a wonderful person and I feel like this was more than a business deal... I made a good friend! :) At the end of the day on Friday we began packing everything up. Digital scale, stick blender, oils, butters, fragrances. WHEW! There was a lot of stuff!! I put in close to 40 hours in 3 days down in the soap shop, but it was worth it. Luke and the kids helped me carry all those boxes up the stairs and into the garage so it would be ready to load when the new owners got here with the U-Haul. We had some fantastic team work going. I packed up the final items from the store room and we hauled it all out. We took a few pix along the way to document this huge life change.


Silly fun in the soap shop - I took this picture of us :)

The new owners pack their first internet order


The family is ready to go!


Going, going, GONE!

I am truly enjoying the freedom of not being the boss and making all the decisions. I find myself more relaxed and my home cleaner. The family is even being fed more organized meals, which I think they're enjoying. :) We turned the soap shop into a hobby room and it looks great. We're looking forward to hours of fun down there scrap booking and whatever else we feel like. Hey, maybe I'll finally get that quilt made for our bed that I bought the fabric for 3 months ago! :)

Back to the Snickers story... it turns out that Trixie didn't view Snickers as a companion, but rather a nuisance. She was jealous that we paid attention to Snickers - and while she did play with (tolerate) the puppy some... she mostly just ran off to do her own thing as usual and left the puppy barking/whining - which of course got the little indoor dog, Sugar, barking and whining. UGH. Things weren't working out. So, we got lucky and were able to move Snickers to the farm with my little cousins. She will be loved there, no doubt and seems to be very happy.

So what's next? I have interviewed for a part time administrative assistant position at FHSU, and should find out in the next few days if I'm employed. :) Luke is performing the wedding ceremony for my cousin and her fiance' this coming Saturday, so we will be at an out of town wedding. It's always fun to be with family, so that should be a good time! What's really special is that Jessica was our little miniature bride at OUR wedding. Oh how the time flies!! Then... on June 24th our family leaves for a MUCH needed vacation. We will drive to Denver and fly into Los Angelos. Spending some time in San Diego and LA... then finishing the trip by taking in the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur, Colorado and staying the nite in Castle Rock, nearby. Sunday we'll drive home and I'll have more to share! Can't wait. But until then... we'll enjoy our new 20 foot above ground pool. I'll leave you with one last photo until next time. Hope you're enjoying your summer too! :)