Greetings from Cleveland

*Quick note, the entries post with the most recent first so you may want to scroll to the bottom of the blogg and read up to see what you've missed!*

Well after being gone for over three weeks it certainly is nice to be home again! I miss my mom's cooking, seeing so many friends and family and living like I'm on vacation with lots of junk food and no exercise but all has to come to an end eventually! We had a fabulous trip to Utah. I saw both of my grandma's, and for the first time in over 5 years all of my siblings plus spouses were together! It was great. Then we went to a week long reunion for Tom's extended family. Tons of fun! We stayed at the Red Moose Lodge in Eden. After the reunion we got to visit a few friends and we saw BYU and their beautiful new buildings. Then the last night we went up to Snowbird with my parents to ride the tram, zip line and Alpine Slide. It was a lot of fun. It may be another year before I make it out there but we'll just have to wait and see. At this point it's easier for my parents to visit us so they are coming here for Thanksgiving and then we'll be looking forward to moving so I don't know if I'll be able to do a trip in a the spring, we'll see.

Speaking of moving, We got our packet from the Navy with all the info about applying for the AEGD. Tom graduates next May and then has 4 years to pay back to the Navy. For the first year he is applying to do an Advanced Education in General Dentisty. There are only a handful of places that he can do that. Two locations in San Diego, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, Great Lakes area and Japan. San Diego and Virginia will be our top choices. I am so nervous about doing all of this and dealing with detailer and such. I hate feeling like someone else has so much control of your life and saying one wrong thing can ruin everything… I know, I know, welcome to the military! I’m still getting used to this idea! We really want to go to San Diego but I’m trying to be prepared for anything. Really going somewhere else would be fine since we haven’t seen as much of the East coast as we would like to while we’ve been here. We apply by Sept. 6th and then find out hopefully in December.

And now for my exciting news: She did it… she really did it! Danica slept all night without waking up!!!! The first night we were home she did her standard waking up and at 3:00am I couldn’t get her to go back to sleep… in desperation we pulled Hayden out of bed (they share a room) put her in the crib and walked out and closed the door. Hayden took my spot in bed with Tom and I headed for the couch, expecting a LONG night… 20 minutes later she was asleep and didn’t wake again until 10:30am!! (That’s 8:30 in Utah time) The next night was just as great! After putting her in bed she woke up a few times but cried only a few minutes and after waking briefly at 2:00 she didn’t wake again until late into the morning! Then last night she didn’t wake at all… it truly seems like a miracle!! After her first failed attempt of crying it out that lasted two miserable weeks this really does feel like a miracle and I figure now that she’s got it I just won’t turn back and things should be good from here on out!!! HOORAY!!!!

As always, Hayden is hilarious. The other day he gave Danica a huge kiss and said “I’m pretending she’s my wife!” Then, he was hugging his toothbrush and said “Now I’m pretending this is my wife!” Another day he was sitting in the backseat of the car and suddenly said to me “Mom, if you were the sun and I was a tree and Daddy was the sky, we’d be best friends forever.” Random!

Okay, I'll stop writing now, I don't know if anyone is even going to read this, but hopefully they will! I can't wait to hear from all of you!

Tracey