They signed up for a three year tour in Germany and
will return to the states in January 2014.
In March - Aubrey turned the BIG 18! Happy Birthday Aubrey and welcome to
adulthood! This is the baby before and the beautiful girl now! I love this girl!
In
May, Aubrey graduated from High School at Chandler High - and completed
her certification at EVIT for Massage Therapy. A high school diploma AND the
means to support herself? Awesome job Aubrey!
I am very proud of you.
I am very proud of you.
In June she received her license and is now a practicing Massage Therapist.
In
July - Cameron had a big quarter-century Birthday! Happy #25 Cameron! Cameron got to spend his birthday with his dear friend Scott and his darling family! Great times - Great memories!
Scott's two adorable children and the BIGGEST kid ever!
And we got news that a new baby was on the way - Congratulations Nick,
Jenny, and Jaxon! That Jenny - She's so crafty!!
In
August - For Aubrey's Graduation gift, she was given three choices on how to
celebrate...A cruise, a trip to Las Vegas to see Enrique Iglesias, or a trip
Southern California to Enrique...and she chose....Door #3, a trip to Los
Angeles to see Enrique and J-Lo...and who showed up at the concert? PitBull! Super
exciting time for these guys.
This
trip also included a day at Disneyland,
a
day at Universal Studios,
and a day at the Beach - Malibu and then on to Santa Monica. Aubrey took her
friend Jessica with her, and Mitch enjoyed some of the festivities as well. Now
that Aubrey is 18, she had her first hotel stay on her own.
Mitchell celebrated his 16th birthday and joined Aubrey at the concert and a day at Universal with Mom as his birthday treat!
Nick and Jenny celebrated birthdays during
this month too! Happy birthday to all three of you!
September
was also a very big month for me....I bought a house in Mesa...and I am loving
it! It's a nice little house in a super quiet neighborhood...I needed some
peace in my life and this house is quite peaceful.
October
Jaxon turned 3 - Can you believe it? He is a true toddler now - Mom and Dad
gave him a super duper party at an indoor party house
Race track and all! Go Nick Go!
November brought Thanksgiving - with a few heartaches. Early in the morning,
I had all of my food started and getting ready for the day when Cindy called
and asked what my plan was for the morning. She said she just got a call from
Mom's Assisted Living place and was told that Mom had fallen and they were
taking her to the emergency room. I didn't want Mom or Cindy to spend the day
alone in the ER, so I joined them in watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade
from Mom's hospital bed...and introducing Cindy to "Song Pop". Mom
was discharged in the afternoon and we still had time for a nice dinner at
Chris's house. Happy Thanksgiving!
Just after Thanksgiving I got some surprise news - An offer of a work
assignment to Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands! I was told I had to make a
decisi0on in 30 minutes, but honestly I'm pretty sure it only took no more than
30 seconds to make that decision. I am leaving January 20th and will be in
Germany to welcome Baby Lillian to the family!. Also - I will be there to spend
time with Nick before he deploys to Afghanistan in May...This is a 9 month
deployment and of course way too long for Nick to be away from his newborn
baby, his growing little boy, and his beautiful wife. Mitchell has decided to
join me on this adventure. He will be taking all of his high school courses
online through Chandler High School so he won't miss a thing and will return to
Chandler high for his senior year. We both know how fortunate we are to have
this experience and we are really looking forward to learning all that we can
about these new cultures, the history, geography, the people, and of course the
food that this European adventure has to offer.
In December - I spent a week in Washington DC preparing for my Overseas
tour. I will be delivering VA/DOD TAP briefings to soldiers that are out-processing
from the military and moving into veteran status. There are approximately 15
Army, Air Force, and NATO bases that I will traveling to during my tour from
January to June. What a great opportunity! I can't wait to go!
December brought all of us back together for Christmas. We celebrated our
family Christmas at our new house - with all of the extended family and friends
as well.
All the girls!
Mama and her boys!
After
Christmas – the big kids all had their night out – but so did grandma and the
grandboys! Aunt Cindy and uncle John
went with us to the Zoppe Family Circus.
It was a super cute circus that the boys just loved!
Cito
loved all the amazing tricks!
Jaxon
saw a girl doing tricks – standing on a man’s head so he thought he’d try that
too!
They
both loved Nino the clown and Cindy and John bought the Nino hats!
Cito - Livin' Large in the Man-Cave!
Grandma's House - Whetre Cousins Go to Become Friends!
Toy Box, Kitchen, and the fold out Couch/Bed!
The Bookshelf!
Jenny and Lillian were the guests of Honor at their Baby Shower. All of Jenny and Nick’s family and friends
came to wish them well on the arrival of Baby Lilliam – or as Jaxon would say “Baby
Lillilam”.
Lots of party fun! Holmani and Papa were the too!
Lots of present for Lillian!
And to finish 2012 and ring in 2013 - Tommy proposed to
Kendra! We've been waiting for this moment for quite some time - but no one
more than Kendra I am sure! Congratulations - it is so nice to continue seeing
the family grow!
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