Big News!

Well...as some may know, Kerri has been anxiously waiting for the day that her and Shannon and Adam would all be together again as a family. Adam went to Army Basic in April of 2005 and was in training until Oct. 2005. He then came home for a small two week break, most of which him, Kerri, and Shannon spent in WA with his family, and after coming down for a couple of days here...he flew off to Germany where he has been ever since. It is now (obviously) February 2007! They were expecting things to go smoothly and for Kerri and Shannon to be in Germany with him within maybe 6 months...did that happen? Not so much. There were passport issues, paperwork issues, etc. FINALLY Kerri and Shannon got their passports...and six months later their military orders. The next "official" step would have been to wait to be contacted by a military office somewhere, and have the military make travel plans for them, and tell them when they are flying out. That could've taken anywhere from 2 weeks to another 6 months. So....after they discussed it, and got paid, Kerri and Adam decided to purchase tickets for her and Shannon to Germany and the last week or so has been CrAzY! The night they got paid they bought tickets, made flight plans and Kerri rented a storage unit for their stuff until they get back from Germany in 1 1/2 years or so. The next day my dad helped her take most of it to the storage unit and called some military numbers for Kerri. He found out that it is perfectly OK for them to make their own travel plans, but they may or may not be reimbursed for it by the Army. He also found out that after she is over there, her and Adam can still arrange to have their stuff (furniture, boxes, household goods etc.) shipped over to Germany and they can just list Mom and Dad as the people to sign for it. So that should also (theoretically) happen within a few months. That same day she also got a call stating that the flight had been delayed from last Sunday (which would have been the next day) to this Saturday (tomorrow) It's been nice having an additional week to adjust to the "Oh my gosh...Kerri and Shannon are leaving. Really leaving! They are moving out...not going to be here anymore" shock factor. Most of the exciting stuff happened tonight though. Kerri got the rest of her stuff to storage and out of their old room, we moved Michael and Lexi into the room along with all of their stuff and so far Michael's old room has become a workshop for Dad to refinish an old dresser and to build a couple of things in. After he is done, it will be used for a variety of things. So...all in all...KERRI AND SHANNON ARE GOING TO GERMANY! They couldn't be any more excited (no, really, I think Kerri would explode or something) but we will definitely miss them and our fun family times together. Now I am off to go help Dad with the dresser project! FUN!

P.S. Kerri and Adam had been thinking about just paying for Kerri and Shannon to go over there on their own for a while, but decided to wait until they had their military orders and would be under military jurisdiction or protection or something...basically they figured it's best to wait to go to an overseas destination until the military knows you're supposed to be there and wants you there!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well, we haven't updated in a bit so I just wanted to say that Christmas went well and was fun...all the babies enjoyed ripping off the paper and Michael especially got the hang of it pretty quick! Then for New Years Kristen, Rick, Ericka, Shanna, Michael and Lexi went to Las Vegas to see Debbie, Jenni, Janell and John. We had fun there (we hadn't actually been to their house since we moved from AZ six years ago) and appreciate all they did for us and the time we got to spend together. On the way home Lexi FINALLY cut her first tooth!!! That wasn't the greatest car ride we've ever taken but at least we know she won't be toothless forever. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures from Vegas (or at least none that have been uploaded to the computer yet) Anyway...church starts early tomorrow so we're off to bed.

Testing 1, 2, 3...Testing

The Beginning of the Clayton Clan in 1983


The Clayton Clan's most recent and decent looking family picture...about 23 years later!

We did it!

This is Ericka typing...my mom asked me to try and figure out how to make a blog spot since that seems to be the preferred family friendly blogging site as far as keeping others up to date and all that. I came, I conquered, I'm going to bed...and possibly waking up for Institute in the morning. ;-)