Staying Busy

To help these next three months go quickly, I'm keeping busy with fun projects like this.

Mom and I made a cake out of twinkles to send to Ash for her B-day. We sent a picture in the box, just incase the cake doesn't make it in one piece.

I love how it turned out!

Other fun things I have planned so far...

September

*Wedding Cupcakes

* Hang out in Boise with my big siss, and make TWO adorable birthday cakes for her little munchkins.

*Throw a baby shower for a friend from church

* Children's Museum, going to the park, and playdates for Danny as much as possible!

October

All I have planned for October so far is to make a wedding cake for my cousin Jeremy (on the Leonard's side).

And who knows, maybe I'll show up on Ben and Cindy's door step in Arizona one of these days!

Goodbye Nick

Well the goodbye is over. It’s kind of a relief. When I dropped him off we both said “See ya tomorrow!” and he jumped out of the car. Neither one of us wanted a sad, drawn out goodbye. Pretending like he wasn't really leaving for three months helped a little.

I panicked and got out my phone to take a picture of him walking away. I do weird things sometimes. I thought it was just blurry from the tears in my eyes, but no, it turned out horrible. Ha ha! Can you find Nick? He's wearing a black shirt and white shorts.

Nick kept telling me to think about happy things. So when I’m sad I think about how excited we will be to see each other when he’s all done. That will be a wonderful day!

I made the beautiful drive home through the Gorge, and like I had planned, and cried all the tears I wanted. It gives me a headache to hold back tears for too long. It’s better not to hold those sad emotions in anyway, don’t you think? It didn’t help that I was sending him RIGHT into Hurricane Irene! What a horrible coincidence that the hurricane was coming to Newport that same weekend! Aaahhh!

Just so you know, he made it safely with no delays in flights or anything. He said his flight was one of the very last to come in, and the airport was VERY empty when they landed. That’s because everyone was told to evacuate for the storm :(! I get to talk to him one more time today before he hands his cell phone over. Hopefully I can keep my blog updated on all his coming adventures.

Danny is doing good, considering he is such a daddy’s boy. He asks for Nick sometimes, but he hasn't cried yet when I tell him dada went bye bye. Over the past two weeks he’s been wanting his “mamma” more. Thank goodness! I think it’s one of those tender mercies Heavenly Father sends in times of need, and I am so grateful.

I stopped at a store on the way home to get Danny a present (a big red ball!). I don’t usually buy him toys for no reason, but it felt good that day : ).

Well that’s enough sadness. This blog is called “Happy Days” so I promise there will be happy posts from now on! I feel better today than I did yesterday, so I know it will just keep getting easier. I'm planning on putting a count down on my blog to show how much longer until he's done.

Thanks so much for all the love and support!

One more day 'til goodbye...

Nick is leaving for 12 weeks of Officer Candidate School tomorrow.

People keep asking, "Are you getting sad?"

YES. Quite sad, and nervous, and determined to get everything cleaned and organized, for some strange reason.

It's like nesting, but not. No really, I'm NOT.

It must just be the way I deal with stress. That and eating chocolatey things.

I'm so glad that OCS was postponed until now so that we could have the summer together. Danny has changed a lot in the last three months, and I'm so SO glad Nick has been here for it. It will be fun keeping him updated through letters about all the new words and cute things Danny learns.

Last night we had a little goodbye dinner at Nick's parents house, and I asked Jordan to take a few pictures of us.

We're not dressed up, and none of them are perfect, but I think that's why I love them so much!

Thanks Jordan : ).

Danny really didn't want to hold still.

Almost got away!

Aww, there we go.

Danny pulling my hair (as usual).

Bubbles! Or "bubboes!" as Danny would say.

Last try.

Like I said, not perfect, but pretty cute!

Danny with his "Dadda."

I asked Nick if I could take him to Portland tomorrow. I just want one more day with him. It's been a busy week for Nick getting packed, filling out paper work, studying, and EVERYTHING it takes to get ready. We haven't had a lot of time to ourselves, so I'm looking forward to the drive with him! Saturday morning I'll drop him off at the air port and drive home by myself. I usually try to avoid long drives alone, but four hours of driving and being able to cry as much as I want sounds kinda nice. I don't like to cry in front of people.

Boy I will miss him.

I'm not sure what to say when Danny asks, "where's dadda?" He always says that when Nick isn't in the room. It sooooo sweet. I know we are going to be ok though. I've felt at peace inside about this for a long time now.

Well that's all I have to say about that right now : ). Wish us luck, and any prayers you would like to send our way would be very welcome!

Leonard Family Vacation Highlights

All of us Leonard's got together to celebrate Liz's 50th Birthday which was way back in June. We don't all get together very often, so I had been looking forward to this for quite a while!

Day 1

Playing by the lake

This is Danny's face when he goes around water. He's not sure what to think about it yet.

But he sure likes the sand!

And the award for cutest couple goes tooooo...

Carl and Jordan celebrated their first anniversary, so they brought their cake top of course!

Here's what it looked like. Carl was scared to eat it, and I don't blame him.

I can't believe it has been a year! It feels like Carl has been a part of the family for much longer though. I love being around them, and seeing their love for one another.

Here's what it looked like a year ago. Definitely the BEST cake Nick and I have ever made!

Day 2

Sunset Dinner Cruise

If you're ever in Coeur d'Alene, and don't know what to do, I would REALLY recommend doing this for dinner. It was two hours long, they serve great food, and the view was amazing!

Chris and Stephanie

Aren't they cute? It is always so fun to see these two. They live in Utah, so it is a rare occasion to be with them. Danny had fun playing with them. They will be great parents someday!

My favorite picture from our trip.

Danny had so much fun on the dinner cruise. He's really in to pointing out boats on the water, which is funny because I don't think he realized he was actually on one : ). He was wide eyed the whole time!

The whole crew (except Liz. I think she was getting a drink of water). Steven's face is funny!

Dan and Liz taking in the beautiful view.

We are so grateful for their willingness to take us all on vacation. I can tell their favorite thing in the whole world is to be with their kids and grand baby. They do so much for us, and all they ask in return is quality time together.

Steven and Jordan. Soon to be pen pals.

Steven is getting his papers ready for a mission.

Close tie for cutest couple ; ).

We ended the day by celebrating Carl's B-day! Thanks Carl for having a birthday, so that we could have ICE CREAM CAKE!!!

Day 3

Silverwood

I didn't get very many pictures on this day. It's hard to carry a camera when you're getting wet!

Danny still wasn't a fan of the water, but he LOVED watching the roller coasters zoom by. He would wait so patiently for them to come. I've never seen him so still while he's awake!

Day 4

Jet Skiing!

Most of us had never been jet skiing so we had a blast. Nick stayed out on one pretty much all day. The first time I went out with him, I wouldn't let him go over 30 mph. But Nick of course had to test my limits, so by the end of the day we were going 40 and 50. It was so fun!

We took some family pictures of all of us. So if my hair looks good, I'll be posting those later ; ).

I've decided that Coeur d'Alene is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

(All of these pictures were taken with my i-phone. Not bad eh?)

It's Harvest Time Again

It's been harvest time around here for about a week. I know it can be pretty exhausting and BORING, so I've been taking Danny out to visit. I haven't lived at home during harvest for a long time. I kind of feel like a little girl again when I go for rides: ).

It was fun comparing last year's and this year's pictures. My how Danny has grown!

Danny's favorite thing to do at the field is ride the grain trucks.

Especially if it's "Doe's" truck.

One week down, two more to go!