Letters from Dave while on his mission. I am not throwing these away, but still wanted to document them here. Dave wrote me every week while he was away. What a faithful friend!

 

I finally threw away all of my college work. It was really hard to do, for a couple of reasons. #1 I loved school and I always enjoy going back and looking over my work. I am kind of amazed at myself when I do. I was a good student and I like to have that evidence that I was good at something once upon a time. I am not really gifted in house cleaning or decorating, dressing or any of the things that "show" right now. Parenting is so hard and you can't really see the results day by day.  College you constantly measure progress and looking back it is a very satisfying time.

I went through all of my old college work and took a few random pics.

bio chem

I would often print out the AIM sheets which track progress toward a major and be sure I was on track to graduate.

genetics

ecology - one of my favorites

regular chem

yes, I took bowling in college.

tons of organic chemistry

This was from a project I did in 7th grade for the science fair looking different water, from a lake, from the tap, orange juice, coke. We measured ph of each of these. I still remember doing this project.  My dad worked in water pollution industry and so I liked doing something that related to his work.

houston trip

Last weekend Dave and I went to houston to look at housing and schools. Our biggest concern was finding a school for Calvin.  We found something for him, found a house to rent and drove around a bunch.

Clare and Lexey's school will be this school. It's different from what we're used to because it's all indoor and the kids wear uniforms (white or red polo with navy or blue jean bottoms).  Also the kids can go to school early and have free breakfast every day before school starts. That'll be interesting!

Houson has magnet schools which are school with an emphasis in certain areas. This school is a magnet school in math, technology, science and engineering. Truth be told, I would have preferred the music magnet school one neighborhood over but this will be fine for a year.

This is the little house we found. We got it from a friend of a friend of a friend. A medical family rented it this year for internship and so the timing is great for us to slip in and rent it as soon as they move out. It is smaller than we are used to so we are working hard to purge a lot of our junk. Getting rid of stuff we don't need feels really good.

The house has a little back yard and a little patio. With our deck here which we have loved, we liked having the little patio where the kids can ride scooters.

The kitchen is small but more updated than the others in the neighborhood.

We had a successful weekend in Houston and while I was there I was feeling really good about all the wonderful people we met, and all the progress we made in making plans to move there.  However, ever since getting home I feel sick about leaving San Diego and am having lots of doubts about the sanity of my choice to move away from paradise!   I saw this little quote on Dr. Laura's facebook (yes, I love Dr. Laura) and thought it is applicable to me today. Even though I feel like backing up, I will keep moving forward.  Houston was not at the top of my list or Dave's in places we wanted and yet everything is coming into place so well.  I know that there is a reason we should be there and that Heavenly Father will look out for us.

Speaking of moving forward the rat room in the garage is SO CLEAN.  I have been cleaning out the garage. I am making great progress.    We filled two dumpsters this week.  Just a handful of items to sell or get rid of and we'll be good to go.  We are also doing some work in the yard. We have neglected it for years (due to not being able to afford the water bill and gardeners, both of which were necessary) so we are doing some fix up now.

more memories

I had some awesome friends over the years.  I filled two trash cans full of letters that I threw away this weekend. Here are some things I was reminded of while going through all of the letters.
I had files for each of these categories, plus a few more not really necessary to write down.


Jana Kohler (smythe). We were BFF's and then she moved to Utah after our freshman year. I missed her. We wrote for a long time after she first moved. It is so funny reading the letters. They are full of "I love you. I miss you. You're such a good friend..... oh my gosh, you know who I kissed... you know who is so cute? You know who I really like?"  too funny for words.

Laurie Kawasaki - my BFF from freshman year. She was from a small island in Hawaii on Lanai. She  came home with me for Christmas break freshman year since she lived so far away. She was a wedding planner lover but claimed she'd get married last. Well, she got married first. After dating Curtis for just a few weeks. I thought she was crazy but they are a great couple!

Aurelia Stone - chile mission and general friendship.

Andrea Zwick and Andrea Roeder - middle school friends

 Sarah Vesey - was one of my BFF's in high school. She was/is a smart good girl with a nice family. She is such a sweet friend. She sent so many cards -- good luck on the AP test's, happy Valentine's Day, Merry Christmas, Happy Easter etc. She was definitely one to remember holidays and special occasions and able to say I love you.  I have many memories of Calc study sessions and late movie nights at her house.

This was a hilarous card from a goofy friend. I should try this with my kids one day.

Poway Girls - AT girls camp we had nicknames. Mine was George STraight. The other girls had country names too - Merlow Brown, Vince Gill, Reba McEntyre..... The girls were Adrianne Brown, KAtie and Jamie Neuenswander,  Cami Konold.


Mom and Dad - I'm going to keep these letters, but just in case they end up lost I should document them as well. Mom and Dad both used to write me in college and send $ or little gifts.  I sent a lot of cards home to my paretns during that time too. My mom had been diagnosed with cancer just a few weeks before I left for school, so I'd send her cards and notes. Plus by the time I left home I was really starting to like my parents (esp. my mom) after getting past the years of battle of wills in high school!  To my dad, I'd mail bills and grades. I guess he mentioned to my mom once that I only sent him bills and sent her nice love notes.   Dad sort of sent me business stuff too - my ballot, informational news type stuff which was always nice and interesting.

Wickmans- Pat Wickman is one of my favorite people in the world. Growing up she most definitely was my MOST favorite person in the world. I learned a lot of great things from her. I should probably have an entire post about my life at the Wickman home. I'll save that for another day. Right now is for letters. I have more letters from the Wickmans than from anyone else. She was great at notes.

This one is from Justin Sabin. A good friend for many years.

When I was about 10, we went on a family vacation to aspen grove and I met a friend, Jenni Meachem who I kept in touch with for 8 years 'til we went to college at BYU.  She was from colorado. We also had a Meacham family in our ward at home, with a Jenny, so it was kinda funny.

conference weekend

The kids really enjoy conference weekend. We get treats, sit around in PJ's and write letters, fill out packets that we print online, etc. IT is pretty good and while I don't think I learn as much as I could if I watched alone I don't think it's really the point to watch alone when you have a family. So, we listen when we can and then I can read conference when it comes online and in the Ensign!

 

After being inside all day the kids were ready to go play. It was fun to meet the cousins at the park

 

Clare decided to stay in her PJ's the entire day!

It's fun to see these two cute little ones play together!