Just a trip down Memory Lane of Dave and Melissa. I love you and miss you tons baby...

Our Little Ballerina

Our Future Missionary

Cory's 6th Birthday

Dad is really gone...

Okay, this totally stinks... I thought I would be stronger, but when it came time for him to leave today, I didn't do so good. I found strength in shoveling the sidewalks, chipping at the ice, and putting our past due Christmas garland away, as the tears dripped down my face and slowly froze. He is driving with another guy from work and so thank goodness he is not alone. They are towing Dave's Blazer behind the Yukon they are riding in. It will be a long drive for him...2,600 miles or so to Maryland. He should get there by Monday and he will then start work on Wednesday, the 13th. Dave and I hate being apart. The only other two times we have been away from each other in 12 1/2 years was the two years on his mission, and then when i was pregnant with Alaina for 5 months for some schooling in Virginia. We vowed then we wouldn't do it again, but here we are. Laina cried the whole time daddy was packing the car saying, "Daddy isn't going to live with us anymore? He is going to have a new home?" It about killed both of us... Cory tried hard to be strong saying, "Laina, he will be back for your birthday and i will be the man of the house and take care of you and mom." Many people go through this and props to all those whose spouses serve in the military. I couldn't do it as well as you all do. One thing is for sure, it will be one heck of a reunion in June when he comes home!! We love you daddy so much...

Halloween 2007

Dave is a great sport about dressing up for Halloween. I usually pick a theme and get his costume and he puts it on for our annual friends Halloween party and then to trick or treat. He is the best dad and husband a girl could ask for.

Cory and Alaina dancing

We were finishing up on the tan house and we had some Christmas music on and Cory and Alaina just started dancing. They must have been watching Dancing With The Stars with me and picked up a few steps... Ignore the fact that Alaina's skirt is a little big and falling off almost... P.S. This is a video. Push the big arrow button.

Our flip house

Last Feb. 2007 Dave got a wild hair to buy this trashed tiny little house a few blocks from our own home and flip it. So we bought it the end of Feb. and two days after we closed on the house, Dave was laid off from his job. It was kind of crazy but we dove into flipping this house. It of course was more work then we expected and we literally ended up gutting it to the studs and redid the entire house, except for the roof. Brand new plumbing, electrical, sheetrock, 2 bathrooms added on, two bedrooms added, new siding, new windows, new carpet, refinished hardwood, new tile, brand new cabinets.... The list goes on and on. It ended up being beautiful. Dave turned a one bdrm, one bath house into 3 bdrms, 2 1/2 bath house. He did an incredible job and i am so proud of him. However, it took longer then we wanted and the market crashed in July so we got jipped to say the least. Dave was finally able to get back on out at the site in May after the "freeze" of no hiring was over. It ended up being a very stressful year with the budget of the house. But thanks to many friends and family out there who lent a hand in helping us complete it in November. We sold it January 25, 2008 and that was a very happy day around our house! We will say we learned a ton during this experience and know what to do and what definetly not to do if we ever do another one.

Having to say bye to daddy

Okay so we are super sad around our house. Dave is getting ready to leave for his job this Friday, Feb. 8th. He is going to Maryland for two months and then on to Conneticut for 2 1/2 months. He is going to Nuclear Outages where they shutdown the site and pretty much audit everything and Dave is the Nuclear Police that make sure everything is done safely and correctly. We will miss him like crazy. Thank goodness he is going with a friend so he won't be alone. He will be staying in a motel most of the time. The one happy thing is that when he gets done in June, we will be going to Disneyworld!! Yeah! We are going to see where i served my mission in Kissimmee area and then onto the beach and Disney here we come.