Kathy's perspective

Wow, I'm so new at this blogger thing! Where to begin.............life has been truly amazing and very hard as well. Let's see....well most who may view this blog know me from Tucson! We lived there our whole marriage. I actually grew up in Marana starting at age 6 and attented Estes Elem., Roadrunner Elem., Marana Junior High and Marana High School. We first lived on a farm and lived down a mile long pecan tree lane. It was fun. We had a in ground swimming pool! We had lovely cows from the dairy living next door as well. We also had chickens, ponies and a garden. It was a lot of fun. Then came the day when my parents moved us out to no man's land where my dad ran the mine. Yep, he was a miner and mined limestone mainly. I grew up around dump trucks, loaders, airplanes etc. We had a lot of roaming freedom too. Oft times, Dad would take us flying down his private dirt air strip and take us in the twin engine push pole to view the scenery and the land. I loved living on that mountain. It was gorgeous and peaceful. The sunsets were breathtaking and the view envigorating. I felt free to jog without the onset of lookers too! I was a runner believe it or not and did track in high school. I was in pretty good shape too. I could do the splits during marching band and all! Yep, then came gravity! LOL!! Actually, my goal is to get back to jogging again soon. I just need to stop these start/stopping and just go!! Not getting any younger but seeing those around me and older people as well put their heart into exercising is my inspiration!! Well back to the mountain....I lived there for several years with my family with many great memories!! Then came the day for me to go to college. It was too far to commute, so I moved in with my older brother Mark and his new wife, Alayna. I had my own room in the two bedroom apartment. What a great experience. Then they needed to move on to new adventures and I got to live with my sister, Terri, husband Brian and little nephew, Alex for over a year. I also got my first job ever as a student office worker at UMC in Tucson. It was a great learning experience. I went to school full-time, worked part-time in a great atmosphere and had the liberty to do the institute activities. I was more of a social thing than I am now! After some time passed and a broken engagement (which was the right thing), I felt it right to serve a full-time mission! Yep! I was what I called myself as the M&M gal. I went to the bishop and kept saying, "Do I go on a mission or do I do the marriage thing"? M&M I called myself. Well after some serious prayer, I decided to go the mission route. I ended up being called to serve in the Baltimore, MD mission. This was such a learning experience. During this spiritual roller coaster ride, I learned so much about the love that the Savior and Heavenly Father have for each of us. I need to remember that more now than ever! I'm almost 36 years old now and the mission was over 12 years ago!! The mission came and went! I was at the time corresponding with my former home teacher during it all. Soon after I got home from my mission, I had the opportunity for my ex-fiance to try to begin anew but it wasn't meant to be. I even had another guy date me and thanked me for helping him in his decision to marry this one gal. Well, glad I could help (he wasn't my type anyways). And through all this, Sterling patiently waited on the sidelines for me to figure things out. Soon enough, came the ring and then ironically, the official proposal in the temple! That was sweet. The ring is such a wonderful reminder as well of his love/inspiration for us to marry. Sterling had a certain design picked out and when he went back to the store, no such design existed...so he created a design that they then made. Awesome!!! It was sparkling so much, you could see it glisten in the dark! We got married just a few months after my mission. I came home August 1997 and we were married on Nov. 21st, 1997. Then we had little miss Katelynn on Oct. 7th, 1998! Yep! She was a joy to come our way. We spent our first six years in a nice single-wide trailer that we owned. The rental was cheap for the land and we loved our little place. We had a screened in front porch and saw to it that we plant a small patch of grass. We have always been into planting flowers and established some rose bushes and a palm tree. This was our abode. Then the time came to move on to a bigger home, especially after the arrival of McKenzie on Oct. 19, 2001 and I was about to burst with Audrey. Well, before we moved into our new place, we had moved in with my sister, Debbie/Ryan and kids for a few months. Then after Audrey was born (Sterling helped to unload into the new place while I was in the hospital), I came home with a new one in tow and was welcome into our cute manufactured home. It was interesting at first because there was a pathway of boxes everywhere! This wouldn't have been such a challenge except for the fact that I just had a C-section. But like all things, we made it through and soon made this place our home for the next few years. Interestingly enough, I always felt like we wouldn't be living out there in Continental Ranch for very long. I couldn't envision our kids growing up out there. I love the area. So, what would our new adventures be???? Well, a few years after living there in the manufactured home in Twin Peaks, times became more financially tough and we felt it best to sell. The cool thing is that we got the place for the foreclosure price and were blessed to sell it for much more because the market was climbing. It worked out very well for us and the new owners that live there today. It has already been over 3 years ago. Our new place was in an apartment in the Butterfield Ward. This was an adjustment going from having our own walls to sharing. But this was a very nice apartment with 3 bedrooms. We also had a large grassy area right in front too! This was a good learning/growing experience for the short 6 months that we lived there. We soon found a nice rental home when the apartment mentioned that they were going to become condos. We moved off of Avior Dr. still in the Butterfield Ward!! YAY! I was very fortunate to have two sisters, their families and our parents in the same ward. At first it was a ? on how things would work out with so many family members in the same ward. But it worked out great!! I felt so bless. My sisters are some of my very best friends!! And to be able to visit with my parents so often was great!! This lasted for a little over 3 years and then......... We moved out here to Queen Creek! It was always nice to come and visit my brother/sis-in-law and kids to go to the temple! I never thought we would end up living here. But here we are. What brought us this way? Sterling got laid off from his job of almost 13 years last August 2008. He couldn't find a good job for over 7 months. Fortunately we had a severance but that ran out etc. Family in Tucson had offered their homes to us and our bro. here in Queen Creek did the same. After prayer and much thought, we felt best to move out to Queen Creek to live under my brother's roof. That turned out to be a really good experience, even if our living room was actually in the garage! LOL!! Mike (my bro.) actually made sure that he had the garage door insulated with padding/carpet laid out on the floor. He was going to make sure that our place of escape was comfortable, especially since it was March and Summer would be approaching. He even bought a swamp cooler to help us out as well. For the most part a simple fan did the trick. Sterling and I had our king size bed in the garage, Meagan's crib and our couches as well as the tv etc. It looked like a one bedroom apartment. McKenzie and Audrey had their own spot up in Hunter's room, while Hunter slept on a chaise in his father's office. Katelynn and her cousin, Sydney, shared a room. Brenna and Dani were able to stay in their own room still and of course my brother/sis-in-law, Lacey had their own space as well. We worked together and it was very good. The kids went to different schools ironically because Ellsworth was all full. So, my girls went to Simonton. This was hard because it was only for 2 months to finish the school year off. But they managed well. Then a miracle happened....my brother wanted to purchase an investment property while the market was great. Miraculously the house we are renting from them now came on the market and they were able to snatch it up the second time it came back on the market. It was a screaming deal and we are the beneficiaries of some great rent and more square footage that we have ever had before!!! We are here. While living with my bro., Sterling was able to find a job! He has been working there ever since. It's been a tremendous blessing to us!! Though Sterling could care less about sales, the company is good over all! We are sticking it through and awaiting some new adventures. I am currently taking part-time classes. I just finished Bio. 156 and Psych. 240!!!! I am now taking Bio 201 and Hum 250 online!! I am on the waiting list to get into a nursing program out this way. The wait may take 1 1/2 years, but that is ok. So, we are just taking a day at a time here as well. Some days are better than others. I can honestly say that the home doesn't feel like a temporary motel anymore, especially since it's looking more like home and we are starting to get to know some people. Things always takes time. Though we are spoiled and just 1 1/2 hours away from the majority of my family, this has been a time for some serious soul stretching. I've never (aside from my mission) lived away from home before! So, this is a good experience. I just barely gotten to the point where I don't break down and bawl everytime we leave Tucson. I feel a heart tug for the good old days, family and friends but a comfort/peace from above!! Life is an amazing journey!!!! Well, I wrote for quite a while now!! I think it's time to call it quits for tonight. I think I may make Sundays my day to catch up on my blog??? We'll see, since I'm new to this. I also want to post some more pictures too! In the meantime, take care! Like I always write in my journal at the end............. Love, Kathy