Back on the catchup track with NORA LEONA, our firstborn. Born December 1, 1979 in Rock Springs, WY (sorry about that, Nora), she is named after my and Rodney's maternal grandmothers -- Nora Louise Walker Van Valkenburg and Emma Leona Morris Fenn. (FYI: Nora's eldest and our 1st granddaughter has the other two names, Emma Louise)
Always the tallest is school (in 8th grade, she was taller than all the teachers ), Nora was ecstatic when she came home after her first day of high school and proudly declared, "I'm average!" Maybe in her height, but definitely not with the rest of her attributes. Always an excellent student, Nora was co-salutatorian in 8th grade and ranked 3rd in her high school graduating class. She played the saxophone in middle and high school band (3 yrs EAC Honors Band), varsity tennis all 4 years in high school, also played some volleyball and basketball, member National Honor Society and Academic Team, and held various student government and club offices. She received a Regent's Tuition Waiver to any of the 3 state universities but opted to attend the smaller Eastern Arizona College where she was awarded a full tuition scholarship. She graduated with honors receiving an associates degree in Small Business Management. She was unable to attend the ceremony because she had given birth to her first child the day before. She later attended Northern Arizona University and, as a working (try 2 AM paper route 7 days/wk in snowy, mountainous terrain in Flagstaff for 3 yrs) full-time mother and student, earned her Bachelor's Degree this past December in Hotel/Restaurant Management. After moving to Tucson midway in her schooling 2 yrs ago, she continued with on-line courses and extension courses at Pima Community College 20 miles across town while working 20-30 hr/wk as a cashier at Safeway. On top of that, her last semester she was very pregnant with twins! Because of that, she, again, was unable to attend her graduation in 7600' elevation Flagstaff (didn't want to risk having the babies born 12 weeks early). She quit her job 3 wks before the twins were born. She almost doesn't know what to do with herself now with all her "free" time.
Nora married her high school sweetheart on March 24, 2000, one month after his baptism. They were sealed in the AZ Mesa Temple on their 1st anniversary. She is the mother of 4 beautiful daughters -- Emma, Abbey, Isabel and Olivia. Nora is a very talented chef, especially baking, and would someday like to have her own catering business.
3 comments:
wow! What a woman....how is she doing by the way with the twins? Did she say it was a lot harder than with the other girls? My friend is expecting twins and she is scared out of her mind!
Because she already had two children and knew, basically, what newborns required, the hardest part was adapting to caring for two at the same time. Once she got the knack of nursing them at the same time and they, finally, got on somewhat of a schedule, it has become easier. Having Emma and Abbey as helpers is an advantage, too. She is beginning to wonder what it will be like when they begin to crawl and head in different directions and all her help is at school or work.
I have been on this computer for 3-4 hours today signing up my new e-mail and looking at this blog. I haven't been on a computer fro this long since doing my schoolwork. Uh-oh--getting hooked
Anyway, I have been saying lately to people that my 7-year old is harder than my twins put together. They don't really like to nuzzle tgether on my bosoms as they did when very little anymore because they are running out of room, so bed and naptimes are getting harder because I have to get them to sleep separatly. Looking forward to when they can sit in highchairs at dinner with us and join in the fun instead of just looking at our food.
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