What I'll Miss the Most...

Her laugh. Gram had a great laugh! Dave was so good at making her laugh...loved it!

Wow, she could cook! She always was cooking when we were over there--breakfast, lunch, & dinner. She insisted. And she ALWAYS had the best treats.

Her pretty hair. I don't think her hair ever looked bad.

The cards she'd send to us with "presents" at EVERY holiday, even if it was a little one.

The little pictures she'd draw for us in the holiday cards she sent...turkeys, clovers, hearts, pumpkins, etc. The last one we got had turkeys on the envelope and in the card. :)

(Kabree 'Rose' Day'ton' Sterzer)

How she was always worrying about us. I always told her "not to worry" but I'm grateful that she loved us so much that she did always worry about us.

Her being at every important thing that's happened in our lives. She never missed anything! My last 2 b-days in TX were the first ones IN MY LIFE that she hadn't been there to help me celebrate, and it was my fault! (b-days are big in my family!)

She took the entire family out when we'd get together. A fav was Papa Tom's in IF, or anywhere we wanted to go when we went to visit. She always got pizza with sliced tomatoes on it.

I'd secretly catch her reading her scriptures or saying her prayers. What an example!

Our weekly if not bi-weekly phone calls. She'd call us to see how school, work, dr appts, & church stuff was going. Or just to talk. I called her on my way home from the hospital often. I miss these calls A LOT. A lot.

Her hugs, my Rosie O'Neal nickname, her stubborness, her pink lipstick, her garage sale finds.

She spoiled us...seriously, we were spoiled!

She treated David like he was her grandson before we were even married. She told me before she died what a good man he is, that she loved him like he'd always been her grandson. :')

She helped raise me. She literally was like another mama to me.

Mostly I'm gonna miss her.

Our Grammy passed away on Christmas Eve. Needless to say, it was a hard Christmas! What a blessing we were able to be in Idaho with our family when it happened. Grammy was an amazing woman, and we feel so blessed to have had her as a part of our lives. She taught us so much, and we have TONS of wonderful memories to remember her by. We're going to miss her terribly, but we know that we'll see her again. Families are forever!

WE LOVE YOU GRAMMY JANE!!!

Here's to 2010!

Out with the old, in with the new. We've decided to give 2009 a permanent title for the record books. 2009 is officially "The Year of Tuff Stuff". Seems only fitting...it really was a tough year. We look back and see this: lots of funerals, lots of tears and heartache when dealing with "tuff stuff", being away from family, being in limbo with where we're going with our lives, getting diagnosed with Hashimoto's, etc. BUT, 2010 is here! This is a new year full of new beginnings. And it's going to be a good year. We'll make it be a good year...I think it's time for a good year. So here's to 2010!

STERZER TO-DO LIST

1- Run a hilly 5K in a triathalon with friends (Dave's team took 5th...Niiiice!)
DONE!

2- Harvest a pea...the only pea...the only thing to harvest...from our garden
DONE!

3- Go find some hot air balloons just lying around A-town
DONE!

4- Make a b-day cake for Kabe without her help
DONE!

5- Be in a chocolate pie eating contest so you won't want to eat choc pie ever again (Kabe won)
DONE!

6- Visit the American Quarter Horse Museum

DONE!

7- Cook our first whole turkey and have Thanksgiving dinner while being brave because we're all alone for Turkey Day for the first time ever (It was wonderful! We fat-dogged it for like 8 hrs after cuz we ate too much)

DONE!


8- Sight in Dave's rifle so he can go hunting
DONE!
9- Shoot a deer

Still workin' on this one

10- Shoot a turkey (how about 3 in one shot?)

DONE! DONE! DONE!

11- Get a sweet new niece, Hadley Sue (Amy had her! YAY! 4lbs 9 oz & doing awesome)

DONE!



12- Pack it up so we can go to Idaho for Christmas
Work in progress...
13- Wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

DONE!

14- Realize how wonderfully blessed we are

DONE!

I (this is Kabe) love the holidays! I love the warmth that comes from celebrating the birth of our Savior, from spending time with family, from giving to others, from the beautiful lights, from the love everyone seems to have. I always get way emotional around Christmas time for some reason. I don't know what it is, but I'm pretty sure I tear up at least every other day, if not every! I'm a mess at church, when I talk to Dave about Christmas/life, and I even teared up when I saw a house last Sunday that was decorated with gorgeous lights. David and I saw the movie The Blind Side last week and I bawled thee whole movie! Forget staying dry while I'm visit teaching, or after talking on the phone to family. But the best part about this whole I-can't-control-my-emotions-during-the-holidays thing is that it's all for HAPPY emotion. I LOVE IT! It's embarrassing, but I love it. I hope everyone can take a bit to enjoy the wonderful feelings, reflection, and warmth that encompasses this time of the year. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL!!!!!!! Mucho Amore, and for some of you, we'll see you soon!

PS--Had a slight malfunction with my blog list, so if you're reading this and you don't see your name in my blog list, please let me know what you're blog address is again. I've blog stalked as many people as I could find off family's blogs, but I'm having a hard time finding everyone. THANKS!

Spoiled

David went to Madison, WI this past week for the World Dairy Expo. He called every night to tell me about all the crazy stuff he'd seen that day. He even recorded a video of the craziness for me to see. I thought I'd share it on here for you all to see! (you can thank me later) Ohhhhh to be a prize winning cow with superior genetics and worth lots and lots of money. And I thought I was spoiled...

In Loving Memory

August has been a hard month! Looking back now, I'm thankful for everything that came about. I really think it's made me evaluate where I'm at with life, and what I need to change to be better. I think when bad things happen, people have a tendency to think like this. But I guess I needed a jumpstart to do better.

It was hard to be away from David while I was in Idaho. He's my best friend! I missed him sooo much! But as I said in my last post, I don't think it was a coincidence that I was home in Idaho when we found out that 3 of our family members from there in Paul had passed away. Tender mercy! What a blessing that I was there and on break from school.
My uncle Ron, and my two cousins, Jed and Jordan, were tragically killed in a plane crash on August 7. What a huge blow to the Mingo family, and everyone who loved them! Of course, memories flooded in for all of us...memories of Uncle Ron teasing us and joking around and how he'd come watch me play b-ball in high school, of Jed telling about his adventures and how he loved flying, of Jordan when he stayed over at our house growing up, his sports records, his cute lit'l family. It really made me grateful for our families. Everyone really pulled together and you could feel the love pouring out to my sweet Aunt Regina, for Jordan's wife Shelley and their 3 kids ranging from 4 yrs to 4 months, and for all the Mingo girls. I can't imagine losing your husband and your 2 sons. I can't imagine losing your husband with 3 little kids at home. I can't imagine losing my dad and my only two brothers! I just can't even imagine, but I know that Heavenly Father must have something really important for them to do on the other side. What a blessing it is to know of the Plan of Salvation, to know that we will see them again!

None of us know what our mission is here on this earth, and we don't know when our time here will be done. I just hope that I can live in a way that I'll be prepared to go, no matter what. These three amazing men were prepared and ready, and I know they're doing amazing things on the other side of the veil. I feel very blessed to have known them, and to have been able to have them as a part of my life. My prayers continue to go out to all the Mingo's and their families. And I appreciate the prayers, love, and words of comfort to my family, too. So please go and give your husband or wife, your kids, your mom and dad, your brothers and sisters a huge hug and tell them you love them! When I finally saw David after all this came about I hugged him harder than I ever have! If you're reading this, then please know how much you also mean to me! If you'd like to get some inspiration, visit the blog that was created by Shelley's family during this whole ordeal. It starts from the very beginning when the men were still missing, to when their plane was found, to the funeral, up to now. Shelley has even written some posts that will bring you to tears...she's an inspiration! http://www.wherearethemingos.blogspot.com/ If anyone would like to make a donation on behalf of Shelley and her three kids, please go to that blog and scroll down til you find donation info on the right-hand column.

To Uncle Ron, Jed and Jordan: Thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for all the fun memories! Thank you for strengthening my testimony and helping all our families rally together. Thank you for helping me remember what's truly important in life. We love you and you will be greatly missed! God be with you til we meet again.

This picture speaks for itself

Shelley with her three sweet babies

My aunt with all her daughters

They were buried right by my grandpa's grave.

Fun July

July was awesome for David and I! David's trip to Idaho, the 4th of July, David's birthday!! It was great. I finished my summer semester, thus ending my first year of the program. YEEHAW! I got 6 weeks off, and it was much needed. We were able to go camping in Colorado again with the Dorsey's and it was a blast. We did some hand fishing in the creek, hiked over to New Mexico, played some mean games of golf, got hooked on Arrested Development, searched for Water Dog Lake (never found it), and ate yummy yummy camp food. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends! Man we love camping! I feel so close to my Heavenly Father when I'm up in the mountains, breathing in the fresh air and taking in all the beautiful scenery. It was a great trip.

The weekend after we went camping, the Dayton's came to town! YAY! :) We were sooo excited to have company, even better that it was family. As always, the time flew by. But we loved having them there with us. I think we had a smoothie from Bahama Bucks almost everyday. We shopped, swam, got rained out of EVERYTHING, shot skeet and tried out Dave's new 22, sewed, went puddle jumping, and even went pig hunting. We ended the week going to David's work party at Wonderland, an amusement park here. I even convinced Ky to chop her hair off! It was a great week full of fun and laughs. As a last minute decision, I drove back home to Idaho with my familia because David was headed out to Cali for a work trip the next week. It was sooo great to be home! I'm pretty sure we canned over 50 quarts of green beans one day. It was awesome! I wish we could go home to Paul and Rigby more often to help out, that's for sure. 3 days before I was to fly back to Texas, we found out that my uncle and 2 of my cousins (his 2 sons) had been killed in a plane crash. It was such a blessing for me to be there with family while we all went through that terrible tragedy. It's definitely a comfort to be with the ones you love when something like that happens. HOWEVER, it about killed me to be away from David during all that. I missed him sooo much! I was able to stay another week and thankfully he was able to fly in for the funeral. Not gonna lie, it was really hard for us to go back home to Texas. But we're back and into the swing of things yet again. We can't wait for Christmas to come so we can go visit our family again.
As a side note, at the first of August, I found out I have hyperthyroidism. At first I was really annoyed, and thought yep! Just my luck! But I see now I was looking at it wrongly. I'm sooo glad they found the problem. I was in for a yearly checkup and they randomly found that my thyroid was really enlarged. What a blessing! Things could have gotten so much worse for me before we found the prob, so wow! Thank heavens for good doctors who really care about their patients! It explained a lot of things, and as of my lab work from this week, my medication is working.

Summertime!!!

June found the Sterzer household busy and it's yet again time for me to play catch-up. Gotta love summertime! I'll cut to the chase and give the rundown on all our happenings.

* We planted our garden. :) YAY!
* Had another tornado scare on a volleyball night. They were going to make us play still! There were torando sirens going off, it was raining like crazy, and the sky was green. NOT COOL!! They finally cancelled after we'd driven almost all the way there. I thought we were gonna be like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz and get swept away.
* We visited Dave's sis and her fam in Dallas one final time. They leave in like a week for Germany. We're gonna miss our fellow Texas familia, but we had a great time visiting with them.
* Went to Canton, Texas with the Parker's for our first ever 20 acre flea market. It was awesome! Got me some great flavored vinegar. (I know it sounds weird)
* We replanted our garden. :( Booo!
* David flew to Minnesota & Wisconsin for a work trip.
* Dave was in another golf scramble for work in Lubbock and his team won! Yeehaw! He got a $100 gift certificate to the country club where they played. It was great!
* We finally got a new camera. HALLELUJAH! (I'm singing that like the song)
* Finally went country dancing with some friends. All the people there were cute lit'l old couples. Gotta love it! :)
* We replanted our garden yet again. (yeah, this is getting frustrating. For some reason, our thumbs are brown instead of green this year.)
* My friend Lynsey and I finally launched our company, Duck Pickle Designs. There's a store here in Amarillo carrying our stuff, and a store in Montpelier, ID carrying it also. Needless to say, we've been sewing for hours and hours. But it's been so fun and we're proud of ourselves for how we're doing so far. I'll post picts of our stuff and put a link to our blog later. Yes I know, many of you are probably in shock to think that I sewed something that could be sold. Don't worry, I'm still in shock, too. Lynsey carries the team :)
* David flew to Pennsylvania and New York for work. He's so lucky he gets to see all these new places! (Do I sound jealous? Hmmm. Ok. I admit it. I totally am!)
* Dave also got to fly home to Idaho from NY for his Stokes family reunion and was able to spend the 4th of July with his familia. He had a great time seeing all the fam, especially his grandparents! He spent a day with the Dayton's also, and they celebrated his birthday and my Grammy's. I'm so glad he got to go, but holy cow it was thee longest week EVER! I missed him terribly. I sat all by myself in the dark sometimes feeling sorry for myself, hahaha. He finally got home on his b-day, thank goodness!
* While Dave was gone, I got locked out and had to call a friend [bless her heart] to bring her ladder so I could climb through my window. EMBARRASSING. Also, somebody knocked on my door in the middle of the night one night...yeah FREAKY! I slept with a knife and screwdriver beside me that night.
* I finally was able to surprise Dave for his b-day. I made him think he was getting a new golf club, but actually got him a 22. My dad and brother helped me out and got it for him up in Idaho. My dad covered it with car mats, half of a bottle top, and duct tape, so it was wrapped up all nice and crazy to throw him off. It was priceless! Thanks guys! :) They skyped me so I could see him opening it. Again...priceless. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID! I LOVE YOU! This year I made him a golf ball cake with a little putting green. I love making cakes.
* I'm in my last week of school for the summer and then I get 5 weeks off. YAY! One year down, one more to go.

That's the wrap! Have I mentioned that I love summer? So happy summer to everyone! Hope you all are healthy, happy, and that you had a great Fourth of July. How blessed we are to live in this wonderful country.