May 2022

Lots of goodbye this month...

At the beginning of the month, I took the girls to Louisiana to visit my best girlfriend, Jennifer. Our dogs did not get along! But Bryan was working on getting his parachuting license and wouldn't be home to watch him. So I had to bring Howie with us. Otis is really sweet, but definitely a protector. 

In the morning, we went to the Armadillo Stampede 5K in Leesville. The girls rode their bikes while Jennifer, Ryan, and I ran. Kate took off and I was running after her panicked she would get hit by a train, that I ran my fastest ever, until a train made us all stop. Ha! I ended up with the first female finisher and got to eat breakfast for free at the May Day Fest.

After we cleaned up, we went downtown to enjoy the festival.

Jennifer made us do this crazy awesome video!

The girls got some awesome face painting and slushies. It was really HOT! 

And then we went over to Jennifer's friend Zandy so the girls could create a cute little Mother's Day artwork for me. Isn't she the most thoughtful?!? Thanks Jenny!

The following weekend, our family flew to Utah for Bryan's mother's funeral. She passed away on the 4th of May surrounded by family in her home in Highland, Utah. I will forever be grateful for Debbie teaching Bryan good work ethics and strong mindedness. She had such a strong personality and I can see a little bit of her in all 11 of her living children. She is survived by 46 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren (probably more than this). If you knew Debbie, then you were sure to know her whole life story. She had a smile in her eyes and an enormous amount of energy. She was steadfast in her faith and the glue that held the Ahlborn family together through the years. I am grateful she is at peace after a tough battle with cancer. She will be sorely missed by all. 

She had a beautiful funeral service. The 11 siblings were finally together after 20+ years. Most of the grandchildren were able to make it out to the funeral as well. Stratton, Becky, Rachel, and Aunt Julie were the speakers and they all did a fabulous job describing their mother/sister. We were able to have a goo day celebrating the life of Chammelia Deborah "Debbie" Ahlborn. 

Debbie's one wish was to have family photos completed with grandpa. The photos turned out really well and it was nice to see everyone together.

When our family returned back to Texas, it was my turn to say goodbye to all my friends and co-workers at Seton Medical Center. This is the first place I have worked for a consecutive 4 years. I worked with some really great people and am really going to miss the place. 

The girls had their last day at Northside Baptist Academy. They spent 2 years at this wonderful private school during such a crazy time (pandemic) in the world. I will forever be grateful for filling up the last available spots the week before school started! 

School ended early with a pizza party, bouncy house, and obstacle course.

Kate's teacher Mrs. Harvey

Jane's teacher Mrs. Oster

Saying goodbye to everyone is so hard! I wanted the girls to be able to enjoy the last day of school and so we had an end of school, moving, and pre-birthday party at our house after school. One last hooray! I ordered Chick-Fil-A and a water bouncy house and let the kids go at it. 

Jane wrote this cute story about her summer plans. I love it!

Another goodbye...

I am so grateful for Mrs. Christie! She was such a wonderful piano teacher for Kate and Jane. The girls did a great performance at the end of the school year recital. Jane played "The Cinderella Waltz" and Kate played "Almost There". 

We put our Harker Heights home for sale on Memorial Day weekend. Over the last 2-3 months, Bryan and I have been preparing for our move to Kansas. We sorted through our stuff, hosted a garage sale, starting using up the freezer and canned goods, and fixed up the house (all the important things that need to be done before a move). We will miss this place!

Saying goodbye to our great neighbors!

And of course my best friend!

We started our 3rd drive to Utah at the end of May- actually the day after school ended! The house was packed (mostly) and we were headed to vacation before the great move to Kansas. Time for a little fun! 

A stop at Wilson's Arch to break up the drive. Bryan and I have been up for 24+ hours at this point...

When we finally arrived in Utah, I think Bryan and I took a 4-5 hour nap. We were exhausted. When we woke up, my parents were home taking care of our kids that we had neglected (kind of) while sleeping. So grateful they house and feed us during our times of limbo. 

Memorial's Day was a bummer because it was cold and wet! We were used to Texas weather and Utah wasn't really showing signs of summer when we arrived. Bryan arranged for us to go to the Children's Museum with Becky and Lauren's kids. They had fun, until playing in the water area and getting too cold again...

March 2022

    March became a busy month juggling clinical instructor for the CTC students and working the other 3-4 days (plus call) in the surgery department. I think all of us were looking forward to Spring Break!

    Jane has been practicing piano with Mrs. Christie for two years now and shows great progress. She finished another level and had a little celebration with the teacher!

Bryan traveled to Washington D.C. to shake hands with someone important for winning The Best Medic Competition. He got to sleep in a fancy hotel next to the National Mall. He ended up running around 13 miles taking pictures in front of all the memorials. He got to meet up with his teammate as well.

Ever since Jane's new 1st grade teacher Mrs. Oster arrived in January, I've noticed Jane coming home with more arts and craft projects. This makes me happy because I feel like they may be missing out on a few things being in the private school system (especially now as I write this they are in a public school in Kansas with lots of special programs like gym, art, TEAMS, music, and library). NSBA just didn't have enough students or faculty to have specific programs. 

The girls also didn't have the opportunity to dress up for holidays like Halloween, Valentine's Day, or St. Patrick's Day. Both Kate and Jane LOVE celebrating the holidays, even if it is a t-shirt or some kind of fancy socks!

Bryan's mother hasn't been doing well over the last 3-4 months. She was diagnosed with cancer during the summer of 2021. We knew we needed to visit as often as possible because she wasn't showing signs of getting better. We visited after Christmas and decided to ski in Utah for Spring Break, which would allow us to visit with Debbie one last time. I am grateful my girls were able to see her during those two different visits to Utah. They noticed a difference in her appearance and health status from January to March. They were able to see and understand the destruction the cancer was causing to Debbie's body. They noticed her speech was different and she had trouble coming up with words. This brought a lot of questions from both Kate and Jane regarding death and disease and sometimes, I wasn't able to answer their questions. Watching them figure out life is hard, but also rewarding. 

Even though the visit was hard, it was nice to be able to visit with aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and friends.

Spring Break: We skied at Park City and Canyons,

we went bowling and played laser tag at Jack & Jill's,

the girls hot tubbed at the Linford's, 

and smothered the cats too!

Then we had to drive back to Texas. Our second trip this year. Lots of miles. And we knew we would be coming back again, but not exactly sure when...

We had a tornado scare in the Bell County area. Jane was very traumatized by the event. Art therapy seemed to be one way for her to express her anxiety. She did a great job with this picture, in my opinion.

We traveled up to Dallas for a job interview for Bryan. On the way up, I saw there was a tulip festival in Waxahachie. I made the family stop on the way home because I just LOVE tulips. The girls got to pick a few and pet some animals in the little pig pen. The best part was seeing a monkey at the petting area!