My Happiness, My Joy

This is a picture of my family. We had pictures taken just before AJ left in December and I am so GLAD that we did. This picture says it all.
My family is my happiness, and my joy. Without them I wouldn't be anything. They have been my life, my job, my ambition for over 24 years. Each day brings new challenges and also many great rejoices. This last year has been so hard to have AJ gone but it has made us grow stronger and closer together, it has strengthened us. I can't say it has been great but I wouldn't want it any other way. Many times I find myself looking around and wondering why and I know it is because there is someone missing. AJ is with us wherever we go.
I truly am blessed to have the greatest kids. I must say they are not perfect but pretty close. There are days that I say is it all worth it but they keep reminding me constantly in so many ways that it has all been worth it.

Many years ago, I decided to stay home and not work and be with our kids as they grew up. At that time it was very hard for me because I am quite social, but I do not regret any day spending with them. They are my everything. Our family has been blessed so much by this great opportunity that I had to stay home. We haven't been the richest but we have always had what we needed and my kids know that mom is there for them. I hope and pray that I have done and taught them everything that they need to know for this life. I greatly miss my kids being small and easy to snuggle with and hold but I am so glad for the great adults they are becoming and the love that they share to those around them. I hope somewhere they have learned a little from me being there for them. I am very GLAD to be a Glad.

The Glad Life

Life around here has been crazy. We keep waiting for Spring and it doesn't seem to be coming any time soon, but we decided to take an afternoon and go up to Kolob Canyon. It was beautiful even though it is still really cold. What a beautiful drive.


Easter has come and gone and we did enjoy. My kids even though they are big still enjoy getting candy and having a Easter hunt. It was a great day to remember the resurrection of our Savior one of the greatest gifts we are given. This year Easter was also on General Conference weekend. What an extra treat. I can't remember a year when I felt we were taught better than this year. It was so great. I am always reminded of how much more I need to do as a mother and how much I haven't done but at least it gives me something to work towards. We all were thinking about AJ and hoping his Easter was great. He told us that he actually received an Easter basket from one of the families in Ohio. We also sent him an Easter basket. We sure miss our missionary, our AJ BEAR.

At our house it is always a tradition to have yummy treats for General Conference and it is also for Easter so this year we had an extra amounts of treats. What can we say. We all need to diet now.

Todd has been real busy with Sterling Scholar preparations for months now and it finally all came to an end last week. He has been having mock interviews, putting together his portfolio and many other things to get ready for it. We even bought him a suit. He looks so handsome. One of the last things we had to do to prepare him was to get his hair cut. He wasn't real excited about this but he knew it needed to be done.
Here are some before and after shots of his hair cut.

Before

After ( does he look happy about it???)

What a handsome looking guy. Todd is such an exceptional kid, young man. We went to Dixie State College last week and had a dinner and then program where they presented the Sterling Scholars that won for regional competition. Todd didn't win the regional competition but we sure thought he should have. You can tell he is a little stressed. He looks so awesome. Times like this is payment for moms. I can't believe that I have such an awesome young man. What would we do without him and his great desire to excel and give the best in every thing that he does. Todd you are a winner!!!

This last Saturday we also had the chance to go out and show how slow we really can run, just kidding. We had to do our annual 5K ROTC run. I actually felt like I had trained for it this year and it has been a while since I have felt prepared for it. It was a great run to do with my kids. We ran up Canyon Park trail. The bad part about that is it is almost all uphill and I am an old lady and those hills are really hard to run up. This is a tradition that we have been doing for about six years now.

I actually placed third place. That was kind of nice. This made me think twice about possibly doing the Cedar City half marathon in a couple of months but not sure I am up for it.

OTHER: A little more about life here in the Glad home. AJ is doing good on his mission. Our highlight is hearing from him on his email every week.

I have been trying to substitute and not getting as many calls as I used to. I really need something to do. I have been feeling quite lonely during the day and just not feeling needed. I hope to find a job for this next year, I hope you are all praying for me. I need something to keep me busy and I don't think getting pregnat is an option.

I am getting used to my braces, and I can actually eat. I do get tired of carrying around my food when I eat, always very self conscious of if there is food in them after eating out. I actually lost weight too. That is an added bonus.

We are starting to plan our graduation that is coming up in three weeks. Todd, Karrilyn and I will all be walking at SUU. I am getting my bachelors degree and Todd and Karrilyn are getting their Associates degree. This is such a big accomplishment for all of us. It will be quite an experience to have my kids get to graduate with me. I sure love them and I am so proud of them. Now for arrangements for graduation. I need to decide what to feed my family that is coming in for the graduation. ANY IDEAS???

In COLOR

Our family had family pictures taken and Mike and I also decided to have our picture taken together. I know that I have posted one of us but it was without color. I really love this picture of us.
I can't believe how much I TOTALLY love this man, even after all of these years!!!!