TRAVELING BLUES

(I finally downloaded some pics so I can begin to post some things.) Rob has been traveling so much lately, so when he's home all we are doing is playing catch-up on everything! So my blogging has suffered. The kids miss Rob so much when he's gone. Gage continuously asks what day he is coming home and then each day says, "Is it Friday yet?" When Bella wakes up, she asks for Dada first thing. I miss him too and wish he didn't have to go.

We had Mike and Lora over for dinner and it was really fun. The kids love Uncle Mike and Aunt Lora and Bella will go to Lora happily - which makes me happy! We have been planning Grandpa's Surprise 80th Birthday Party. On Monday (August 11th), Mary Kay and Nathan invited us over for Family Night. Rob left town on Sunday and wasn't coming home until Friday. Mary Kay is so good about inviting me over when Rob's gone to help me pass the time and have fun. We had a yummy dinner and the kids played non-stop. Every once in a while, Bella would come running to me from whatever room they were in with a huge smile on her face, just to make sure I was still there. Her run is hilarious...one of these days I'll catch it on video and post it. We watched the Olympics (we love the Olympics!) and visited. Paisley slept the whole time so I had a really nice break. We're so lucky that the kids have their little cousins to play with. Rob is the baby of his family, so all the cousins on his side are older. The youngest cousin is 16 (I think). But they still love to be around their older cousins (I think Gage even has a crush on some!)

Gage is still entertaining us at every turn. He is always looking for ways to make us laugh and tells jokes that don't really make sense, but we laugh anyway. He is sort of regressing on some things, though. He insists on taking off all his clothes to go to the bathroom and then throws a fit because he "can't put them back on....I promise!" He used to feel so proud undressing and dressing himself and now he always wants us to do it. When I tell him that we aren't going to help, he throws a HUGE tantrum. Just another phase! But he is still a fantastic helper. He and Bella are really into pulling out all the utensils and playing with them. Each day they come up with a new game or story for the utensils. One night, after a long day, I came up to the kitchen to find Bella had gotten into the crackers and they were all over the floor along with the utensils. I gave a heavy sigh and said something like, "Oh, come on, you guys", and Gage immediately jumped up and said, "Don't worry Mom, I'll clean it all up" and he did. It was wonderful. He just seems reluctant to be a "Big Boy" and do things for himself. Probably because I am more anxious for him to do things for himself! It's really fun to see Gage and Bella play together. She is his biggest fan, and he is hers too. They go throughout the house just playing and making up games and laughing. It's awesome. I think he can't wait for Paisley to get old enough to play. Sometimes he forgets that she is just a little baby and tries to include her. He has recently taken to one of Bella's dolls and says that she is his baby and he carries her around. Best of all, he'll sit on the couch and lift up his shirt and "nurse" his baby. He'll sit there for like ten minutes, pretending. Sometimes he'll cover himself and the "baby" up with a towel to be modest. Rob doesn't like this role-play, but I think it's hilarious.

Bella is so much fun. She seems to have five new words each day. It's cool to see her discover and explore new things and see the little light bulb over her head as she figures things out. She is into EVERYTHING and loves making messes. I cannot take my eye off of her or she'll be pulling out every drawer, cabinet, roll of toilet paper, makeup, clothes, etc. She is into climbing up on everything and has had two bad falls. It hasn't scared her away from climbing yet. It's so interesting how every child is so different, even in the same family. Gage never got into ANYTHING and he never was a climber. She is also obsessed with cleaning. She'll say, "wipe", and demands you give her a baby wipe so she can walk around and clean everything she can reach. She loves to have wet paper towels to clean her hands and face and all the tables. She will say, "wash hands" all the time. When I hold her, she plays with my hair so sweetly. She is so sweet to Paisley...she'll kiss her gently and say, "Hi, Baby!" very excitedly. When Paisley is sleeping, she puts her finger to her mouth and says, "sshhhhh".

Paisley - I still just want to eat her up. She is chubbier than ever and so happy. She is a dream baby - I'm so lucky. She gives big smiles constantly and loves to grab onto my shirt or my hair. Her eye color is gray for now. Gage's eyes did the same thing - they didn't turn to brown until he was about 8 months old. I think that's going to be true for Paisley as well. Rob is still holding out...in fact, we have a bet on it.

Each day just flies by and I wonder what I got accomplished. I wish there was more time in the day......don't we all?

TIDBITS

Finally!! We are getting rain right now as I type this. We just stepped out back to see it and feel the cool (yes, I said cool) wind and rain. It is so nice! It's coming down really hard with thunder and lightning and Gage is scared. The girls are sleeping through it, thankfully.

Today, I was in the kitchen making dinner and Bella opened the cupboard and got into a box of cookies, all by herself, pulled out a big fat cookie and turned around to see me watching her. She had a little startled look on her face and then worriedly said, "Taco" (that's what it sounds like when she says thank you). I started cracking up and thought it was too funny to take it away from her. It's fun to see her personality develop. She's doing this funny little "sleeping" act now when you come around the car to get her out of her car seat. As soon as you open her door, she closes her eyes tight and rests her head on the side and pretends to be asleep. Her favorite song right now is "Wheels on the Bus" and her favorite part is "The people on the bus bounce up and down" to which she does the actions. If you stop singing it she does the sign language for "more" and says more, more, more. Even when you run out of verses she insists on more so you have to make some up to appease her.

A funny little poop story of Gage's: He knows how to wipe by himself, but sometimes he'll ask for help and lots of times he wants one of us to come in and watch him. This is a habit I'm trying to break. Tonight, he called me in and was talking me through the wiping: "So you take the toilet paper and fold it up, then you start at the bottom, and wipe up - like this. Voila! (as he shows me the toilet paper). He actually said, "Voila!" We have a hard time making him keep his clothes on. That boy loves to be naked and has no modesty. Scary!

Yesterday, he and Bella were taking a bath and his head was down and he had tears in his eyes. When I asked him what was wrong, he said he was sad because he missed Grandma, Daddy's Grandma (that's how he differentiates between the two Grandmas). He said he knows she's in heaven but he thought she'd be back by now and when is she coming back? I explained to him that she's not coming back but that he'll see her again someday, but he doesn't really like that answer either. Man, it's hard. We went to eat dinner with Grandpa Powers on Friday at his favorite-Denny's. The waitress there knows him and knows exactly what he wants and how he wants it. We then went to his house after dinner and got to visit a little with him and Terry. It is still really strange to be in the house without her. Her chair still sits there, empty now, and all of her things are still everywhere. Rob has a hard time going there and not getting emotional. I do too, for that matter. But Grandpa told me that he is doing better and better with it all, except that he's lonely. I keep trying to convince him to come and stay with us, but he's not quite ready to leave the house.

Last night, for the first time, Paisley laughed! I was tickling her tummy and then walking my fingers up to her neck and tickling her neck and that's when she started laughing. Such a cute and infectious laugh (what baby's laugh isn't cute and infectious?). She is a delight and I just want to eat her up! And, just for our own record, her eyes are still blue. On Saturday night, Alyssa and Trevor were here because we were going to dinner and a movie with them. Trevor was holding Paisley (which he loves to do and I think it is so sweet) and out of the blue she started crying really hard. She was kind of off her routine that day and I knew she was overtired and it finally caught up with her. Rob came out because he said he had never even heard Paisley cry before. (She is an extremely happy baby, but she has cried before - just not often. And all mothers of newborns out there reading this can now release their daggers.) I think Trevor felt a little bad and I hope he won't be nervous to hold her again. We went to eat teppanyaki and to see Batman: The Dark Knight. Dark is an appropriate adjective for that movie. It was good, but I thought it should be rated R instead of PG-13. Even Rob agreed. But we would have been happy to see anything..it was our first movie in the theatre in a LONG time and a really fun date.

We had a really fun visit with Aaron, Chloe, and Lily. Annaliese wasn't able to make it because of a school obligation and we missed her. Gage and Bella LOVE when the girls come and play with them non-stop, which gives us a chance to sit and visit. They went swimming, jumped on the trampoline, and played on the swingset even though it was REALLY hot. Rob took one of the days off and we all went bowling. Alyssa came too. There is a new bowling alley right by our house and it is so nice. It was so much fun for us all. They also have a huge arcade area, so we played some games there after bowling. Alyssa, Chloe, and I had to pry the kids (by kids I mean Aaron, Rob, Lily and Gage) away to go eat lunch.

NO MICROBURSTS, PLENTY OF OUTBURSTS

All of our hard work is paying off...Gage is finally staying in his bed ALL NIGHT and he hasn't been wetting the bed either. It's so nice to not have to do that laundry! He is very proud of himself too, so hopefully that will help it continue. Today, he put his Spiderman bag on his shoulder and said, "Bye, Mama! I'm going on a mission!" I asked him where he was going on his mission and he said "India!" I asked him what he was going to do in India and he answered "I'm going to India to help people build houses." So cute! He also said today that he wants another baby, but it HAS to be a boy so he can have a brother and he wants to name him Gage.

Bella's outbursts continue but I am confident that I finally know why. A lot of people have asked me how she's dealing with the new baby and I have always said that she's doing great, loves Paisley and is so sweet and gentle with her, that she doesn't seem phased at all. But I believe I was wrong. She is very sweet and gentle with her, but I think she is having a hard time. She is SO extremely attached to me. Even when I'm in the same room with her at home, she has to be touching me, or holding onto my leg. When I feed Paisley, she comes and sits right next to me and kisses Paisley's head. When Gage sits next to me or hugs me she gets really upset, hits him, and pushes him away from me and then climbs on my lap and cuddles. She cries excessively at any little hurt or fall that she used to smile and clap her hands about just to get attention. She does this a little bit to Rob, but mostly to me. I am going to make a special effort to spend more one-on-one time with her to help her through this "middle-child" syndrome. On the bright side, she is making leaps and bounds with her talking. She still LOVES books and she will identify lots of different things and animals. Her latest big achievement is "octopus". She will point to it and say, "Boc-ba-pus". I look forward to her being able to communicate her frustrations better. Gage was saying full sentences at this age which made it a lot easier to deal with his tantrums! Bella loves Daddy so much and he gets her to say and do the funniest things. In this picture he's teaching her to say, "West Side..." Those of you who know Rob will understand.

Paisley is still such a happy, content baby. She is consistently sleeping from 7pm until 6:30am and taking 3 to 3 1/2 hour naps. Sadly, though, we think she is losing her blue eyes. They now look more grayish and could still turn brown. Not that there's anything wrong with that!! Look at the chubbiness in the bath picture....love it!

We had a nice visit from Uncle Mike and Grandpa Powers on Saturday. Aunt Lora had to work, unfortunately. They brought us In 'n Out Burger and stayed a while. Bella wanted Grandpa to pick her up, but she is way too big for his back. I love it though because it gives him such a charge. He held Paisley for a while and said that Grandma would have eaten her up. I took a few pictures of them so that she will be able to see how much he loves her when she gets older. Uncle Mike reminded him of all the reasons he should stick around. Aaron was here too, and Rob asked his Dad how old he thought Aaron was. He guessed 26!! That was a nice compliment to Aaron and Grandpa couldn't believe it when we told him he was 40. I said, "Doesn't he look good?" And he gave one of his little phrases he uses: "I hope to tell ya.." He then asked Aaron how old HE looked and Aaron graciously replied "65." Grandpa got a pretty big kick out of that!

Courtney came up Saturday too because she won tickets to the Diamondbacks game that night and invited me to go along. Rob was so great to take on all three kids and let me go have a nice, relaxing dinner and then to the game. We had AWESOME seats...right behind the Diamondbacks dugout so we were eye level with the field and very close. I wish I had brought my camera. We had to pay extra attention when the left-handed batters got up (and there were tons) to watch for foul balls. There was one line-drive foul that we had to lean and duck to avoid. It bounced around our area and then a little boy picked it up. He was so excited. I thought about how much Gage would enjoy the game and decided I would look into getting tickets for us to go. It was nice to hang out with Courtney and we had a great time.

We have been enjoying the blogs from Mom and Dad. They finally made it to Hyderabad, India, and their stories are exciting and crazy! We look forward to hearing more from them and can't wait to see them on Skype. If anyone's interested, their blog address is: http://www.ladukeoldies.blogspot.com/.

We keep seeing on the news all of the damage the monsoon storms are causing throughout the valley, but we've hardly seen a drop. We get the big, gray stormclouds and the high humidity, but NO RAIN here in Gilbert. We are hoping to get some this week, minus the damage.

"....A FEW SPECIAL YEARS"

We had a really nice visit today with Addie, Cameron, Callie, and Avery. Cameron had a meeting in Phoenix and they came over and hung out for a while. We talked, laughed, and reminisced some and Gage and Callie played. Bella was very clingy and wouldn't go play with the kids easily as she used to. She is really going through some stuff right now that I hope is just a phase. But she is also so sweet, friendly, funny, and very entertaining as she learns more and more words. She is saying a lot of words and even more that we can't understand yet. She will look you in the eye and say something so pointedly that we can't decipher and she must feel so confused about why we aren't responding correctly. She had her first day in Nursery on Sunday and it was....interesting. She was very nervous at first and I had to sit in one of the tiny chairs right next to her. Then, when I thought she was into what she was doing, I got up to check on Paisley and Bella freaked out. It's not enough that I was in the same room as her - I had to be sitting right next to her! But she did really enjoy herself; puzzles, snacks, music, singing, dancing, toys - what's not to like? It's a kid's paradise in there. And she was very sweet to the teachers and the kids, so that was refreshing. It'll get better......?? It's a good thing that Paisley is such a good baby. I don't know how I would handle it all if she wasn't. She never cries. She is so happy and content as long as she is fed. And as you can see from the pictures, she is very well-fed. She gives us the biggest smiles all the time that just melt your heart. Occasionally, she gets slightly fussy if she's tired, but if you just give her a pacifier she'll go to sleep. And for three nights in a row now she has gone to sleep at 7pm and slept all the way through to 6:30am!!! I have been reading this book called The Baby Whisperer and it is awesome! The toughest part about it is finding the time to read it!

I actually wish I could spend more time just sitting and holding Paisley. With Gage, that's all I did. I remember having feelings of guilt if I put him down and I shared those feelings with my mom. She wisely advised me that I would need to get over that. It would be nice if someone could take care of all my responsibilities and I could just play and cuddle with them all day and use their nap time to read or blog or do fun activities that I want to do. As Addie and I discussed today, you can't be selfish and be a mother. It makes you a better person. I often wonder what I did with all my free time before I had kids. I cherish my role as a mother and everyday I wish I could freeze time so that they don't grow up. They are just so precious at these ages. One of my favorite movies is Hook, a modern remake of Peter Pan, and there is a great moment where Moira (the mom who is married to a grown-up, work-obsessed, stuffy, uptight, Peter Panning who doesn't remember he is Peter Pan) is pleading with her husband and father to her two young children: "Your children love you, they want to play with you. How long do you think that lasts? Soon Jack might not even want you to come to his games. We have a few special years with our children, when they're the ones that want us around. After that you're going to be running after them for a bit of attention. It's so fast Peter. Just a few years, and it's over. And you are not being careful. And you are missing it." That just says it all to me and it is one of my favorite all-time quotes. If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend it.

Gage continues to entertain us. I bought him these bedtime training pants online that promised to feel and look just like underwear, but hold in moisture. Well, we tried them on him and they did NOT look or feel like underwear. Just look at the picture!! They are ridiculous! We were all cracking up about those. We just decided to go cold turkey and have him wear underwear at night and he's doing pretty well! We just have to make sure he doesn't drink anything for at least an hour before he goes to bed. He is such a good brother and loves his sisters so. He is so concerned for them and worries if they cry or get hurt. That's not to say that he doesn't provoke the hurting or crying at times like every big brother should. And he is a wonderful help to me, running little errands around the house for me and doing his chores.

Paisley Stats:

At her two-month checkup she weighed....are you ready.....14lbs 2oz!!! And she is 23 1/4". She is (obviously) in the 95th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. On June 18th, just shy of two months, she rolled from her tummy to her back twice in a row. She has continued to do that frequently, though not every time. I'm amazed she can roll that chubby body!

BITTERSWEET

The last couple of weeks have been packed with LaDuke family activities in preparation for the farewell of Mom and Dad. We started with almost all of us going to Snowflake on June 21st to hear them speak in their ward. Both of their talks were so good - it left me wanting to hear more. It was a packed house with all of us there and all the little cousins. Two of the families (including us) got hotel rooms because of the lack of space at Mom's and Dad's. We had a lot of fun being together and enjoying the cooler weather. I took Gage and Maya on a hornytoad hunt to no avail. Then a little while later, Daddy came in to get Gage and show him the local hornytoad that hangs out at the end of their sidewalk. He was so cute (if you can even use that word for hornytoads), but too spiky for us to pick up. The kids watched this terrified little creature for a long time until we convinced them to give him a little break.

Mom and Dad came down on Wednesday, July 2nd to spend more time with all of us and prepare to report to the MTC on July 7th. Our good friend, Shelley Frost, came over on Thursday (my 34th birthday) to babysit so we could have a peaceful, quiet lunch with them. Then Rob did Daddy duty with ALL three kids so I could go shopping with Mom and Alyssa. It was a lot of fun, but SO FREAKING HOT!! Then Mom and Dad babysat so Rob and I could go to dinner. It was a really nice day and I felt very spoiled.

The next day was Gage's 4th Birthday and 4th of July! I have always loved 4th of July and even more so since Gage was born. It's fun to pretend that the fireworks are all for him! I made him a Spiderman cake and he got a ton of presents from his friends Lincoln, Jake & Megan Schmitt, Quentin Ferrier, The Frosts, and all his cousins. They played, swam, and made a huge mess! Thankfully, Gage wanted pizza for his birthday dinner, so that made it REALLY easy for me. We then went to the Johnsons to watch fireworks from their driveway. All the family came except for Bella, who was sleeping, and Papa, who was babysitting (ha! ha!) They didn't start the fireworks until 10pm because of the wind so the kids (and adults) were getting anxious. But as usual, they were worth the wait.

Saturday, the 5th, we all went to Nathan and Mary Kay's house for some delicious food and fun visiting. As each day passed so quickly with all the fun, I continued to dread the inevitable departure of Mom and Dad. I took a lot of pictures and some video and thought all the while how much all these little ones will change in 18 months. We may even have some new little ones by then. Gage will be 5 1/2, Bella will be 3, and Paisley will be almost 2.

Bella went to bed early as usual without a clue and Gage actually came to tell me he was tired and it was time for him to go to bed. Do you believe it?? I explained to him again that he wouldn't see Grandma and Papa for a while and to give them big hugs and kisses. He got emotional which made us all emotional. I tucked him in and was still teary and he was comforting me saying, "It's ok Mama, I'll help you feel better." Precious, precious. I stayed up talking with Mom and Dad for a long time until Dad went to bed. Then Mom and I stayed up until 1:15am talking. I knew she had to get up at 3:30am to get ready for their flight, but I had a hard time bringing myself to end this tradition for a while. Once again, Shelley, saved the day by sitting at the house while the kids slept so we could take them to the airport. Alyssa, Trevor, Rob, Paisley and I helped them check in and walked them to security where Mom said she wasn't going to cry. (She had already had several tearful goodbyes with the other kids the night before.) No such luck - Alyssa, Mom, and I were sad and Dad kept saying, "Oh, come on....it's gonna be ok." We know he's right, but it's still hard. We mill miss them so much, but we know they are doing a wonderful thing. Bella woke up asking for Papa like she always does when they come, but she soon forgot. I'm glad she isn't old enough to be as dramatic as Gage yet!!

CATCH-UP

I think I'm about the worst blogger ever. My last blog was in September of 2007. A lot has happened since then and I won't even attempt to fill in the details. I am starting fresh....again.

Big news first: We had another baby girl on April 24th, 2008. Her name is Paisley Faye and she arrived via C-Section at 6:31pm. She weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 20" long. Her middle name is after her Grandma Una Faye Powers who passed away March 4, 2008. Paisley was scheduled to come on April 25th, Grandma's birthday, but she was a little anxious. Grandma wanted so badly to meet this new little baby...she loves them so! We are all obviously very sad about Grandma and we miss her so much. It's hard to lose a mother and it's hard to lose someone who thinks my kids are as great as I do. She adored Gage and Bella and couldn't get enough of them. She was always bragging about them and saying how smart they were. They never did anything wrong in her eyes...even when they were having tantrums. She and Gage were special buddies and he misses her a lot. She would always say to him, "See ya later, alligator!" to which he would always reply, "After while, crocodile!" She loved that and so did he. So now if he hears someone say that he gets excited and reminds me that Grandma used to say that. He knows Grandma is in heaven and he's always asking me questions about it that are hard to answer. I literally don't know the answer to most of his questions, but will try to come up with something to satisfy him. He's always asking me if she can see and hear him and I tell him yes, so I'll catch him talking to her at random times. The most recent time was when he was playing in Bella's room and he said, "Hi, Grandma! I'm just playing with my toys and being nice to my sister. I miss you! I love you!" We told Grandpa this and he cried. She was a wonderful, spirited, positive, encouraging woman who raised a good son. I am grateful to her for so many things and I will miss my friendship with her.

Paisley is a really good baby. She is very happy and smiley. We're holding out hope that she may end up with blue eyes, but you never know. If she doesn't, it's ok too. I think my brown-eyed kids have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. Gage and Bella love their new baby sister (who looks so much like Bella did as a baby that I often call her Bella by mistake). They kiss her and hug her, wake her up when she's sleeping, suffocate her when she's nursing, pick her nose for her....the typical sibling activities. Really, she is lucky to have a built-in protector (Gage) and a built-in best friend (Bella). Gage tells everyone who holds her that they can't take her home. For that matter, he tells everyone who even stands close to Bella to get away from his sister. I love it! We just blessed her on Sunday, Father's Day, but I haven't downloaded the pictures yet. One step at a time. When I do, I will post them on a future blog. I took a lot of great ones of the whole family.

My Mom and Dad are preparing to leave for their mission in India. I still can't believe it....India!! Mom and Dad???? Really?? They report to the MTC on July 7th. They will be serving a humanitarian mission, which I think is fantastic. They will be so good at it...the people will love them. I am going to miss them TERRIBLY. I can hardly stand to think about it. Thankfully, we can keep in touch with Skype (webcam) and blogging, etc. All this change..I hate it. First, Rob's mom passes away, then Billy and Alicia move to Montana (that's a whole different story), and now they are leaving for 18 months to India! I keep saying that it's too much for Gage to deal with all in one year, but the truth is that Gage is fine. It's too much for ME to deal with in a lifetime! I have loved having all of us in Arizona for a time and I really didn't want it to change. I love the get-togethers and the little cousins all playing with the big cousins with Grandma holding the babies and Papa plugging his ears. Life goes on, I suppose!

Well, this is just a little update on the goings-on in the Powers Family. I am setting a goal to blog once a week and I intend to achieve it. I have been inspired by Addie LaDuke and my friend Karla Narducci who are both so talented and original in their blogs. Mine will pale in comparison - I still don't quite know how to put all the fancy designs and videos and fun stuff.

Here's to the first of many to come......

We meant to post something weekly, but it's been a month now! Life is very busy, as it is for everyone. First and foremost, I finished the half marathon!! And I didn't get picked up by the van. My time was really bad though because the last 4 miles I barely walked. My feet were so blistered and painful. They're still not fully recovered. But that just proves that I didn't train enough, so it's my own fault. It was a lot of fun though overall and I'm really glad I did it. But not glad enough to do it again! The most rewarding part was shuffling through the Phoenix Airport, looking crippled and tattered, to find Rob, Gage, Bella, and Maya at the top of the ramp waiting for us. They were holding a sign that read, "Good Job Mommy" and Gage ran up to me for a hug. That was a nice surprise. Now we are training for a sprint triathlon in November in Casa Grande. Rob is doing it too so it should be really fun.

Gage started soccer a few weeks ago and somehow I managed to volunteer as the coach. The games are pretty funny...none of the kids really know what to do and they sometimes cry if the ball is kicked away from them. But they are getting a little better each time and seem to be having fun, although Gage says sometimes that he doesn't want to play. I think he's letting his frustration get the best of him. I have no idea where he gets that from!! Ha ha!

Bella is doing her own version of crawling now. It looks like a caterpillar and is pretty funny. She may or may not crawl the correct way, but for now it is hysterical to watch her. Gage never crawled the right way either..he did the army man crawl. She is just barely cutting her two lower baby teeth and she's almost 9 months. We don't mind because we love that gummy smile still. I had my first embarassing moment when your child says something honest and inappropriate. I took Gage's glasses in to get repaired and there was a saleswoman in the store who kept smiling at him and commenting on how cute his glasses looked. I said to him, "What do you say?" and he responded, "Thank you, you look like a witch!" In his defense, she did resemble a witch and I just quickly tried to pretend he was talking about something else. I hope she bought my distraction.

Rob's business is going well and keeps him busier all the time. He is still traveling quite a bit but we are hopeful that will slow down in the next couple of months.

We started our softball team again through Gilbert. Go Ligers!! Our record is 1-1, but we should have won the first game too. I'm sure that's what everyone says. It's a really fun team and Rob will actually get to play in a game next week.