Galloway Baby

I got a call and text message from Mike today announcing the birth of his daughter on Friday February 13th. Malyn & he chose to name her Brylee Paige. She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz., 19" tall. Malyn's mom was able to get there Friday evening after she was born, but needless to say everyone is very excited and doing well.
Mike's mom Kathleen is going on Monday for her turn. Malyn has set up a blog with lots of pictures, but you have to be invited to view it, so if your are interested give them a call. Here are a few that I was able to pull off.

Happy (early) Valentine's day

We hope you're doing well.
I want Anthony to know that we love & miss him. We are usually apart for V-day but I didn't send a package this year. I hope the pics will suffice. Since we had our early Valentine-Mother's day-Anniversary last month I guess we made up for it. All is well, constantly juggling our duties and daily events. We agree that this has been one of the more emotional times of all his traveling, up to this point. We have been apart many many times ranging from about 5 days up to two months. It certainly doesn't get easier with time. Though we definitely get used to it- because we have to. I thought it has hard to say good-bye when we dated. I guess we really never knew when we'd see each other again. That can add some extra emotional drama. I am grateful, proud & happy with Anthony & his accomplishments. We have our different roles to play in life & family and hope to do the best we can in each aspect.
Have a happy week.
Love, Chelsea

The close of another chapter in life.

I have such mixed emotions of the changes that are in store for me. After 3 1/2 years of once again being the Young Women's President at church, I was released last Sunday, and had our final program of New Beginnings on Wednesday evening. It was a time to get the girls excited about the new theme of the year, tied into the encouragement of them becoming the girl of there dreams. We had an outside campfire setting with all in their pajamas. The ceiling had stars & clouds hanging from it with quotes of encouragement. The new YW presidency participated in a portion, so that they could be properly introduced, since it is their New Beginnings also.

I realize that I have had many opportunities to direct these girls and with all the grand babies, my focus is truly changed. However, there is also a feeling of being disconnected from everyone. I'm sure this will soon pass. In the mean time my goal is to focus more on being a better wife, mother, grandmother, and become more spiritually prepared to meet my Savior. I have a long way to go I'm sure.

Last couple days in Georgia

I really tried to get the most of these last couple days with the kids. Saturday night was play time, and enjoying watching Ethan with mom and dad. Its hard to believe that he could go to sleep right after playing blast off with Anthony, however I did notice that he goes from full speed ahead, to a complete stop almost instantly.

Anthony left early Sunday morning for his pre-deployment. He drove with his group to Tennessee where he will be for the month of February. Chelsea, Ethan and I went to church, played, and enjoyed time to visit, then Monday was spent with more playing. After Chelsea got back from the chiropractor, we all went to the park for a picnic , then later in the evening out for a Mexican dinner and more visiting. In fact it really amazed me how much Ethan loves his personal space. While Chelsea and I watched a show, he played in his room without even a peep.
My flight was very early this morning so needless to say I threw off all schedules by having everyone get up at 4:15 am to take me to the airport. Hopefully not to cause to much ciaos for Chelsea the rest of the day. The flights home seem to go very smoothly and I arrived back in Portland by 11:00am as scheduled.

Hi from Georgia

Recently Anthony & I were able to visit Savannah for a get-away. The time to relax & focus on each other was wonderful.We enjoyed seeing the sights nearby & just being together without interruptions. We saw some tourist shops & read some of the history. There was a memorial for those who served in Vietnam as well as those of Irish decent. As you will see it's a gorgeous area. Thank you, thank you to Lorna for being willing to give us that time & for taking care of Ethan. He had a lot of fun with his Grandma. We were able to celebrate an early Valentine's, Mother's Day & our anniversary last week. He'll be missing a lot of family events while he's gone. We'll have to get the others next month..or in August.
Love,
Chelsea, Anthony & Ethan

My visit to Georgia

My week in Georgia is coming to a close, and it has been such a great time. When I was invited to come in November and booked my flight none of us knew that is would be Anthony's final week here with his family before going on his 5 week pre-deployment. He leaves tomorrow, and I feel bad that I took time away from Chelsea and Ethan. I really appreciate however having this quality time.
The first few days were spent with Chelsea showing me some of Valdosta, going on base to do the grocery shopping, and picking up lunch to take on base for a picnic with Anthony, since he had to work.
On Wednesday and Thursday Chelsea and Anthony went to Savannah Georgia to have time together, which left me to have grama time with Ethan. We had this opportunity to decorate the house, make Valentines, bake cookies, make a gumdrop tree, go for walks, play basketball, blow bubbles, watch Elmo, Ethan's favorite and hopefully creat fun memories. I know it has for me. Needless to say this almost two year old wasn't the only one who needed a nap mid day.
Anthony and I had time to go out on a tour of the base, for ice cream, and lunch another day.

It brings me great joy to know my children are happy & raising happy children. I just hope that each moment is treasured since time goes by so quickly,
and these precious little ones are grown up.













As you can see, boys truly will be boys.

Back to school

JoAnna, Rodney & Lauren left on there trip to school in Rexburg Idaho, which leaves the house and the pace very solemn. Rodney only stayed for a few days to get things settled before having to return here for his Marine duty which kept him in Portland for a week. It was difficult for Lauren to be without him, in fact it is the first time being away from home, and at a new school that made it all the more difficult. The good news with all the flooding going on in Washington was Rod's duty kept him here in Portland rather than the scheduled trip, therefore he could leave a few days earlier and surprise Lauren last Sunday night while she was at JoAnna's apartment for dinner. Its good that they all have each other close for extra strength and comfort.
JoAnna was so excited when she left here to get settled into her new apartment, however last Saturday she got a real bomb shell dropped on her with an eviction notice for the end of Winter semester. She signed the contract the end of May 2008 for both winter and summer, but in August the house was sold and has been renovated so they want allot more money for summer semester. The sad part was she only had a copy of the contract that she sighed, not the copy of the one with the previous owners signature, so they will not honor it. That is business. Needless to say what started to be an exciting adventure, soon turned out to be a nightmare that she is learning allot from., but with the help and support of Peter we are in hopes that she will win this battle. Who knows what will happen, but this is an experience that she will never forget.