All Safely Home

These three are my boys. There's a fourth one too..Chris Colegrove, but because he and Kylie are no longer together, it makes for a slight awkwardness in including him in the post. So, I won't. But he hung with the other three, but just not as much. And in fact, if I were to include the 'fourth', it would really be Kylie. But these three boys are my boys.
I taught them for two years in Seminary and they did most everything together from the time we moved here 6 years ago. Not so much at the very beginning when they found Jordan a little 'too cowboy' for them, but after awhile, they finally accepted him for who he was.
Ricky has always been considered the more popular of the boys, especially at school. He had friends both member and non member alike. Everyone liked Ricky. He also dated the Bishop's daughter, Katie, who also hung out with the guys for awhile until she chose to take another path. But Ricky was the athletic, popular at school jock - motorcycles, girls and friends.
Mark was always the braniac smart one, yet when he was with the others, they ALL lacked for common sense.(stories to be told later) Mark studied hard and always went the extra mile to get the good grades and scholarships for school. He loved hanging with friends and coming up with fun things to do and dated at times, but Mark's main love were cars. He loved cars...fast cars, sporty cars, expensive cars, racey cars...anything to do with cars, he was doing it.
Then there was Jordan...the hmmm, what would you call Jordan??? The misfit?? Jordan was socially awkward, couldn't even SPELL cool, never dated or wanted to date, FORGOT to turn in his school homework, didn't want to get hurt in sports, Kylie was his best friend but only after his horse. Jordan loved two things...Kylie and his horse. In most everything he was lazy except in training Kasey and spending time with Kylie.

Now, you put these three guys together, and have Kylie tagging along a year younger than the rest, and you have quite the group. But somehow, they fit, and for three solid years, did most anything and everything together.
How many of us know what 'cow-tipping' is??? Or how to make dry ice bombs and can find 100 ways to use one? Or fircrackers, bottle rockets and BB guns??? Don't get me started...the stories these four can tell would curdle your blood. But they've done it all, and more.
Jordan left first on his mission, in October 06. The mission calls came with Jordan going Calif - San Bernardino - then Ricky to Brazil and Mark to Calif, Los Angeles Spanish speaking. With Jordan leaving first, the other three were lost for several weeks until Ricky left late November. Mark left two months later in Jan of 07. Of course, Chris left in November also, by the time they were all gone, Kylie was one lost puppy all alone. She still had her senior year and one year of college before any of them would be coming home. It was probably most rough on her.
I wrote Jordan every week of his mission. The other three, Mark, Ricky and Chris, I wrote every other week their entire missions. I prided myself on keeping in touch and them with me.
And now, they have all come home, with Mark being the last to arrive this past week. He got home Wednesday under some very difficult family situations - illness, etc with his dad (no details now), but spent the first day with his family (although he did call me), but he finally came over Friday night. I was the first person he came to see after his mission - of course, Kylie and Ricky were both here too - so it made for a wonderful 3 hour reunion in which while here, Jordan called for me, but I had Mark answer the phone. Oh, how fun it was to watch the FOUR of them conversing through the phone lines between eachother laughing and talking. I cou;dn't have been more content since the night of the BYU/TCU game traveling home with my little family.
So, they are all safely home now. Some things have changed, Geez, Kylie's married and Mike was here too..and it was funny to see how Ricky and Mark 'eyed' him over, being the guy who married their best friends little sister. They seemed the same, yet slightly more mature as they talked about their missions - I could tell they missed having Jordan right there with them, but that will come soon enough. Just listening to them with Kylie, reliving a lot of memories was so fun.
So, I'm content...a little sore from running every day three days in a row, but not nearly as bad as I thought I would be. I've realized how much junk food I eat...and I'm lonely without it. I've realized also WHY I eat it...no issues with my mother or anything like that, I eat it because I'm bored. So I just need to stay busy. I've also learned what I should and shouldn't eat before exercising - no cabbage, (it tends to self propel you) and not too much water (I could have used a fire hydrant twice).
Yesterday, Del and I had a great day - we went to the temple first thing in the morning, came home and did housework together, then went grocery shopping together, laundry together and then watched the BYU basketball team beat SDSU together. It made for a really fun day.
And now today has been a very nice Sabbath Day. I feel blessed. Content. Isn't that how mothers should feel when their little brood is all home tucked safely in their beds?? Jordan away, but you get the jest of it....