The past 6 weeks have been pretty hectic. In June Nate's oldest sister Deborah passed away. She battled breast cancer for eight months. She had most of her family there by her side when she passed away. We bought a plane ticket for Nate to go and see her, but she passed away the night before he was scheduled to leave.
Nate got 8 days off for emergency leave. It was so nice to be able to spend time with family, especially for Nate. He was at basic training when Deborah was diagnosed with breast cancer and didn't really get to spend any one on one time with people while he was home for his Christmas break. He didn't get to see Deborah once she got sick so it was good for him to be close to his family and talk about all their memories of Deborah. I've only been in the family for 2 1/2 years so I didn't know Deb as well as everyone else, but I did know that she was an amazing woman. I loved talking to her. She also really helped Nate out with so many things in his life.
While we were in Utah we stayed at Nate's moms' house. Deborah's husband Mike and their 3 kids stayed there also. I was so thankful for the opportunity to cut Alexis' hair and fix Alexis, James, and Gabby's hair before the funeral. Fixing hair is such a simple task, but I was humbled doing it because I know it was something that their mom usually would have done.
After we got home Nate ended up getting dropped from his class. He was passing with a 2.4 (which I think is still pretty amazing considering all of the things that were going on in his family at the time. How do you concentrate on learning a crazy language when you're constantly worried about your sister. I'm really proud of him) but his school has a strict attendance policy so they had to drop him. There weren't any seats available in the next Farsi classes so right now they're just trying to decide what to do with him. His unit back in Utah has offered to put him in another language, so now it's up to the battalion commander to OK it. We're waiting semi-patiently.
In happier news, Payton took his first steps about a week ago. I thought he'd be walking all over the place by now, but now he refuses to walk. He's a stubborn little boy, sweet, but stubborn. Nate and I are both pretty stubborn people, so I guess he got a double dose.
Jackson will be turning 4 on August 29th. I still can't believe I have a child that old. He should be starting pre-school in August. I'm excited for him to go off to school on his own. He's going to love it so much.
We also had Nate's sister Maria and her husband Ben come visit this month. We LOVED having them here. We wish they could've stayed longer.
He turned around and looked at me for a minute, then got out of the sandbox and came up the stairs to get a better look at me. He went right up to the window so I crouched down and put my hand up to the window. Then he put his little paw right up on the window where my palm was. Then he just looked into my eyes for a long time. The mother in me wanted to go get him some food because he was so dang cute, but if I'd done that he probably would've attacked me, eaten the food, then brought back his buddies. So I just watched the cute little bugger for a while. He was looking around in my flower beds then all of a sudden he just ran away. I looked around and noticed a skunk had made it's way into my yard. I chose not to make friends with him. 
Jackson started pre-school last week! I took a picture of him before we left and another one after we got there. He was so excited to be at school that he couldn't even hold still for the picture. He really likes to be at school and loves his teacher. Her name is Ms. Pat, but he calls her Ms. Pet.
Payton had little interest in the sprinklers, but he did slow down and take some time during his exploration of the yard to pose for some really cute pictures.
These guys are probably the cutest boys on Fort Ord.
