European vacation (Scotland)

We left Atlanta and flew up to IAD on June 1st. We had a six hour layover in Washington, we decided to rent a car and drive over to our new house! David, Nathan and I got to go in it and look (AJ and Tessa wanted to stay in the car). They loved it! I'm so glad they did! After, we drove past the school the kids will go to and then got lunch before heading back to the airport.
We flew Air France to Paris before connecting to Glasgow. Air France was amazing! They treated the kids awesome! They got little gift bags filled with things to do and they served them their food first. The aircraft, an Airbus A380 was awesome! Each of the seats had their own screen to watch shows, movies or play games. The kids were great for the whole flight.
When we arrived in Glasgow, Llew, grandpa and grandma had already arrived and picked up the rental van. We were able to load up and head right to our flat in Edinburgh.
Saturday, we explored! We took a hop on hop off bus tour and got off at the castle. It was really fun exploring it. Tessa loved dancing with her Prince in the great hall. After the castle we got some lunch and took the bus tour again to see Hollyrood Palace, the queen's residence in Scotland.
It was a full day, but we all enjoyed it!

10 years 42 days

1059 Hillsborough Chase Kennesaw, GA 30144 was our address for 10 yeats and 42 days. We bought the cute blue and white house on April 19th 2007. On May 30th 2017 we handed the house keys over to a very nice gentleman named Willie Carson. It was hard for us to say goodbye to our home. Over the last 10 years, we had some sorrows, some trials, and some failures. But we also had many joys and much happiness. We repaired and renovated almost everything. We put a new roof, plumbing, siding, wood floors, tile floors, countertops, decks and more in/on. The house was our home, our babies grew up in that home, that is all they know. I remember standing on the stairs that lead to the upstairs and telling our realtor that "this is the one!".  It had it's flaws for sure, but it kept us warm, cool and safe.

The 4th CST

We had our last family day with the families of the 4th. We had a really fun day at Lake Point Station in Emerson. We played mini golf, laser tag, did a mirror maze and climbed. After all that we had pizza for lunch and cake for dessert. Just before eating, the unit presented David and I with an award each (my first ever) a --- and David received a ---.the unit also had a few going away gifts for us also. The NCO's gave him a huge metal 4 wall art piece ( which is very heavy) and the officers gave him a baseball bat signed by Nick Markakis and a game jersey worn by ---. Also in the shadow box were 2 signed baseballs. One was signed by all of the officers and one was signed by all of the NCO's. It was incredible! David also got a pencil drawing made by the commanders wife (Hope Thompson) and she made me a Georgia wall hanging that I LOVE! It was so sweet of the unit to send us off this way. We truly will miss them, they have been our family for the last 10 years. David got a job there as a survey team member right after he came home from his deployment. The team wanted a Russian translator, and David was that guy. He never once had the opportunity to use his Russian language skills, and we never planned on staying for to long. We saw it as a job until he could get the job he really wanted (which at the time was with a 3 letter agency). He became a  survey team leader, a medic and then the NMSO. He was able to start and complete his bachelors degree in Intelligence Studies and his Masters degree in Biology, and the 4th supported him the way. We wouldn't be on this path to medical school if we didn't get the support and encouragement we needed from his command and team. We will be forever grateful to the team, past and present for supporting us and being there for us through the joys and sorrows and trials of the last 10 years.

So proud

David and I were asked to speak in sacrament meeting, and they asked if Nathan would speak also. I wrote a talk for him and he got up, not scared at all, and read it so well. We are so proud of him! He is growing up so fast and is such a good boy. We love him so much!!

Nathan is a bear!

Nathan had his pack 675 (Cheatham Hill) rank advancement and Nathan has completed all of his requirements to move on to rank of bear! He also completed all of his requirements to earn his religious knot (which he will be awarded from our LDS pack 719). He loves cub scouts! We will definitely miss the friends we made in pack 675, some of them we have known since pre-k!

Aunt Caitlin's birthday bbq

We went to Aunt Caitlin's birthday bbq at her and Rory's new town home. It is beautiful. We all had a great time and uncle Rory grilled some awesome hamburgers!