"And here we have IDAHO!"

As I'm sure you can tell from the previous posts that we are no longer in the desert heat of Arizona any longer. We are now back in a "normal" climate again of which we are so grateful for. We LOVED our time down in Arizona and miss living right next door to my sister, but we are also grateful to be home again. Tyler graduated from Arizona State University back in May with his Master's in Real Estate Development. He has been searching for a job since even before school got out but nothing has turned up thus far.

So, as of yesterday he is self employed again and is currently a Real Estate Agent in Idaho. So, if anyone is looking to move soon or know of anyone who will be moving- Tyler is the man for you!! There is my plug! Email him at tylerjohnsonemail@gmail.com. Tyler has always wanted to be self employed, but we thought that he would work for a big company gaining experience first and then eventually be self employed doing his own development business. But, life doesn't always turn out the way we plan. So, for now Tyler will be selling homes and or land to support our family for the time being. He is a very hard worker and I know everything will work out, it just gets a little nerve wracking sometimes. He moved into his new office yesterday and got right to work. I am so proud of him because he continues to keep his head up and his feet moving in front of him to find something to do for employment and has not given up in any way. Thank you so much Babe for all you do!

We are currently living with Tyler's parents and loving being able to run and play in the nice big yard. The kids especially love living at Grandma and Grandpa's because they are loved so much and they get to play with all their cousins that live in town and come over to grandma's to swim and play. Now that the weather is finally hot enough to warrant wearing swimming suits, our daily routine involves swimming out in the pool. Emma has really come into her own and has taken to swimming really well. She can now swim under water without floaties or life jacket- which she insisted on teaching herself with an occasional help from mom and dad. We wanted to teach her, but she is so determined and so independent that when ever we tried to help it only made things worse. So, she decided to do it her self. One day she told me that she wanted me to teach her swimming lessons with her in the pool and me watching from outside the pool. Okay. That was fine with me because I am slowly learning that with Emma it is all on her terms. If it is her idea, she does it and things work very smoothly, but if it's not be prepared for WWIII. She is now brave enough to jump off the diving board and go down the slide all by herself. It has been so nice now that she is comfortable in the water and not scared of it.

Burke is also loving the water and hangs out on the steps or in the little unheated hot tub with his cousin and buddy Henry. They have a ball together which is a fun thing for Burke to have a good friend. They are exactly six months apart and they are about the same height and probably weight yet complete opposite in appearance. Total opposites. Crazy. Burke pretends to "swim" across the hot tub. He sees Emma getting a lot of attention for learning how to swim and so he wants to get in on the action too- it's pretty cute. He is doing well and has a ton of energy these days. I will give a better update on Burke tomorrow, but overall he is a new kid. He is definitely two. He is a hoot to watch him pretend play these days. We are so grateful for his life and his strong spirit which has carried him through many hard experiences.

My life consists of trying to keep up with sister and brother, making and going to appointments, and taking care of daddy bear and trying to stay sane along the way. Stay tuned for a more complete update about Burke's health and progress since his surgery in December and what his road looks like in the future!