What's Happening with the Hancey's?: July 2010

Our 2 weeks of swim lessons were fun! Ethan hadn't had lessons since he was about 4 and it was the girls' first time. They were ALL in class at the SAME time! (All in a different class though) Ethan was awesome and was the leader of his class. He has no fear and is such a great swimmer! Drastic change from when he was 2-3 and we were living in our apt in San Antonio. It had a beautiful pool that we couldn't enjoy because he was terrified of the water! Clara is normally pretty good in the water but when it came time for class she clammed up and wouldn't do anything. It was very frustrating! She said that she had fun, though. Meredith, well she was entertaining for sure. Everyday she would randomly just walk away from her teacher and class and lean over on the wall. I think she did it for the attention from her teacher because she would stop what she was doing and say "Come on Meredith! Come back to class with us!" When I would go over to coax her to go back she would say "I don't like my friends!" Silly girl. Finally her teacher got a clue and just ignored her and so did I. Of course when she realized no one was watching she went right back over to class and followed directions. She did have fun and learned several new tricks like putting her face in the water and her favorite, the alligator crawl. I enjoyed the time during class too because I brought my lounge chair and got to lay out in the sun and relax for about 35-40 min. It was wonderful! Here are some pictures that I snapped one day. I didn't take too many because that would disrupt my "me time" right? :)

(Blogger is being weird so the pics are small. Just click on them to view them larger.)

When I was 14 my mom and my step-dad decided they wanted to move to Nebraska. I had just made the drill team, didn't want to leave my other family or friends and pretty much threw a fit to leave. I had just "met" my dad not even a year earlier and wanted to stay because of him too. My home life with them wasn't good either and I didn't want to be stuck with them in a small town where I knew no one. I wanted to stay where I knew I could be safe and that was certainly not with them. I had recently met a new couple who had moved into our little church branch who were really nice, Jay and Kelley Workman. Kelley was involved in Young Women's so I had been out to their house several times. I'm not sure how it all happened but Jay and Kelley offered to let me live with them. I was so relieved and excited! They were so great to me and really tried hard to make me happy. I was just going through a rough time trying to figure out who I was and how to feel safe and I pretty much trusted no one. I only lived there a couple of months. I don't blame them for letting me go, though. I ended up going to live with my dad which worked out pretty well. I kept a good relationship with Jay and Kelley through my teenage years. I babysat for them a lot and respected them so much.

When I got engaged in '99 our plans were to get married in the Logan, UT Temple in June 2000. To make a long story short, neither of my parents came. I knew my dad just didn't understand us being married in the temple because he wasn't a member of my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) but my mom did understand. Even though she couldn't be with us in the temple, she should have been there. My little sister came which was very special for both of us. The only others who were there from my side were Jay and Kelley. They drove all the way from Texas to be at our wedding and it meant the world to me. Jay was one of two witnesses for our sealing and Kelley was my escort in the temple. I was so proud to have them there and it truly made me feel special. It made me feel cared about and loved which I hadn't felt from either of my parents.

When Ben joined the Air Force in 2002 our first base assignment was in San Antonio which was only 4 1/2 hours from my hometown of Livingston TX. This meant that we got to go visit more than we ever had since being married. During the 2 1/2 years we lived there we would go to Livingston every few months and always stayed at Jay and Kelley's. Those were the years we became close and I am so grateful now for that time. They always made us feel like family when we were there and always showed us a good time. Jay and I had lots of talks about life, parenting, church, etc. He loved to give advice and I loved to hear it! Once we moved from San Antonio to Ohio then New Mexico we only saw them a few times but still kept in touch well. The last time we saw Jay was February 2009 when we went to Livingston for my Granny's funeral. It was Super Bowl time and Jay had made TONS of food. He loved to cook and loved to feed everyone!

Jay was like a big brother/father figure to me and I will cherish the memories. In the past 3 years I have lost 3 of the most important people (besides siblings) from my side of the family. It's sad to say but I don't have much to claim from my side of the family so losing my dad, Granny, and now Jay has been devastating. Jay and Kelley have 5 beautiful children (ages 4-14) so if you're reading this please keep them and Kelley in your prayers. Here are some pictures from over the years of our visits with them. I have one pic from the wedding but my scanner isn't working. It's from far off so if anyone reading this has any pics of them from our wedding please let me know!