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He's Home!

James finally came home last night! He's not quite finished with Guard Duty, but he's able to come home at night. Phew! Originally, James was supposed to leave for Ft. Stewart, Georgia on Molly's due date. Our plan was that if she came early and James was able to get me home from the hospital and situated, he would go. The backup plan was that he had permission to go with his old unit out to Dugway a couple of weeks later. Well, Molly was a few days late, so Georgia was out. As much as I know we would have survived just fine had he gone, it was sure a relief to know he was only a few hours away and not thousands of miles away.

James left for St. George for guard-related activities on Tuesday, June 1st. He came home for a day, but then headed to Dugway that weekend. So I've basically been a single parent for 2 and a half weeks. We've spent a lot of time at my mom's house and that has been a huge help.

Last night I needed to finish a homework assignment, so James took Molly while I sat with the laptop at the kitchen table. She was starting to get really fussy at him, but then it got quiet. I went to check on them and found this:


I took a picture and went back to work, but pretty soon it turned to this:


James was so exhausted that he didn't even budge. I got Molly settled down, ready for bed, and then to asleep. Then, I got James to bed. Then, I finished my homework! Phew, again!

Gym Rat Beginnings

To celebrate being 1 month old, Molly got to attend her first basketball game tonight. We rode to Orem with my mom to watch Hunter play some summer exhibition games against Orem and Grantsville. It was fun to watch some basketball in June (besides the Lakers and the Celtics which I haven't really been following)! Molly was great. She liked all the noise. She is on a way to becoming a gym rat and cheering on her uncle.

Willie did pretty well, especially for playing in 2 games the same day of his first full morning of football workouts and weights. He's one of only 2 sophomores that played and he holds his own just fine (although he did fall on the floor tonight and he gets up about as fast as his sisters would have). The Hunter Wolverines won 1 and lost 1.

Did I mention that Willie - who I can now refer to on this blog as Uncle Willie - is the best kid ever! He is very responsible and just a good boy. He just finished three years of junior high with a straight 4.0 GPA and got a whole slug of awards at his 9th grade awards ceremony. He has also been teaching himself to play several songs on the piano via youtube videos and he has now decided (after 15 years and several uncooperative attempts) that he would like his favorite shorter sister to give him piano lessons. We have our second lesson tomorrow and he is doing well!

Meanwhile . . . in a desert far, far away . . . Dugway . . . James is watching beautiful sunsets.

4 Weeks is almost 1 Month

hi.

molly here. yesterday was my 4 week birthday and in 2 more days, i will be one month old! things are pretty good around here. pretty much, my mom and i just hang out all the time. my mom says i'm a good baby. sometimes i get kind of mad during the day or before my bedtime, but my mom says as long as i sleep really good at night that she doesn't mind if i get mad during the day. she loves me and likes to bounce me!

last night i didn't want to go to bed, so my mom and i stayed up really late watching episodes of the office on hulu. i like to watch tv because otherwise my house is really quiet. i also really like to listen to music. i like the classical music on the piano. i like the weird stuff on my mom's ipod. i even kind of like the crappy country music that sometimes i have to listen to in the car, but my mom told me not to tell anyone about that.

i've gotten to go to my grandma petersen's house a lot this week and even great grandma huber's house. my mom even took me to shopko, but she whispered to me, "don't tell your dad." my dad thinks there are too many germs there. he's probably right, but i'm tough and i promise i didn't touch anything. my mom had to go to the grocery store last night, but she left me with grandma and willie. grandpa went with her. grandma got me to sleep when i'm usually getting mad. that's probably why i got to stay up late watching the office.

i weigh 11.5 pounds. i've grown out of a couple of outfits already. my cheeks are getting chubby. my hair is still sort of curly, but it's getting kind of straighter. i like to take baths. i snort and sound like a horse when i'm sleeping. i am starting to smile more. i'm getting good at holding my head a little more and i can grab anyone's finger and hold on really tight.

i miss my dad. i love him. he'll be home soon.

France!

My cousin Peter is in France! He posted this picture. Can you read it? It says "Peter Stoker 05." Do you see underneath it? It says "HQP." That's me!

Peter and I went to France a few years ago. It was in 2005. I was still at Tooele Junior High and hadn't even met James yet. It was a good trip.

Something about a having a child has done a doozy on my brain, though, and I can only vaguely remember doing this, but Peter has been talking about it ever since he got accepted into this study abroad experience. He's told me that he was going to go back to the chateau - Chenanceau - where a bunch of us carved our names into something. I don't even remember what that something is that we defaced. Sorry. He wondered if our names would still be there. Lo and behold . . . photographic proof.

Chenanceau was probably the most elegant chateau that we visited. It was built over a river and is surrounded by a beautiful garden. There may have been lizards running along all of the walls here. Also, there may have been a little french girl using the facility (the lawn) here. I do remember that this particular chateau was used as a hospital during both world wars.

Somewhere at my mom's house is a fairly detailed journal of the trip we took. I need to find it and jog my sketchy memory.