My first blog post!

Family of love Thursday, August 7, 2008 My very first blog! :) OK once and for all let's get this out! I really want to blog yes I want to blog! I have a lot to say but Blogs really scare me. I always try to start one and I seem to mess them up. OK here we go!!!Let's start off our little Family.

Jade is 29 years old and will be turning 30 on Sept 27! Getting old huh dad? Jade was born in Pocatello, Idaho on September 27, 1978. His family living in Moreland (they are living there to this day) He was born into the Strickland family. This family consisted of his mom Jeanne, his father Tom and his older siblings. Crystal,Tommy, and Alison. Jade is the fourth child of a family of five. His little sister Anna coming 4 years later. :) Jade has always had a love for balls. One if his first words was ball. He has always loved throwing them! Let's not get ahead of ourselves that will come later. :) Jade has had a lot of hearing issues and started off life with a bunch if ear infections. He had problems hearing words correctly so he really pronoucned well but he would say words wrong because he heard them wrong. But once they got that figured out he got help. He got a set of tubes in his ears and from what I hear you are only supposed to get one set of tubes. :) So onto his love of balls. He grew up throwing balls and playing baseball. He always would practice on the sides of his house and he has even put a ball through the window. He has always been a good ball player. He started playing t-ball and realized it was a waste of his time. Hitting a ball of the t? what is that all about? So he started back into baseball when he was in little league and has played it up until today. He is now playing softball on a team for the Blackfoot city league. He loves the sport and has always been number 3 after his favorite player when he was young. He is short stop and does a amazing job! One thing I know about Jade is he is very accident prone. Having many accidents as a child and getting a bunch of stitches. Biting threw his lip. getting his head stitched up and his chin. No broken bones though. I have a feeling that God made his bones very strong for a reason!!!He does hit his head a lot and his skull is thick! haha!!!Jade started school at the age of 4. Not turning 5 till the 27th of September. He was one of the small numbers of kids that actually survived through the school system at being such a young age when he started. (McKay is taking kindergarten over for that reason, turning 5 just before the school year started last year). Jade is very smart and has a love for numbers and figuring things out. :). He graduated in 1996 and went to College that year. He did not do too well because he was just passing time really. He left for a mission in 98 to Ecuador and he grew to love the people like his own family and still keeps contact with a few of them. Jade did go on to do very well in school getting really good grades and graduating from a online college called AIU with his business degree! :)

Well this is where Melissa comes into the picture so let's start talking about me!!!!!!Hi!Well I started life out on a summer day. August 19. 1980! I am a product of the 80s. I don't know much about my birth being as I was only just born but I do know that Jade and I were both delivered by the same doctor. Isn't that cool??? My dad was going to school to be a architect and he was working for his farther at his business. They were Contractors. So my dad knows both sides of the whole building process. My dad started working for Wallace and Hudson a few years later. Anyway!! Well when I was younger I know I also had many ear issues and I had my first set of tubes in my ears when I was 18 months old. Yes I had about 6 sets in my lifetime. My sisters will tease me to this day about when I could not talk very well and I would call the fence the pence! Yes I did not understand that I was saying it wrong. But hey I was young.We grew up on Moonglow and if you drive past my old house it looks totally different.There are not many great and wonderful things I have to say about my childhood. I remember long days playing in the yard with my best friend OraLynn. We had a blast and that was most of my childhood. :) I actually graduated high school! WOW!! :) in 99!!! Then I decided to take a break and I worked at Tastee Treet for a little while. Oh the fun. After that I went off to Provo Utah and tried College out and Provo business college but I did not like it because there were just a bunch of old people and I was feeling that I was not getting the proper College experience. So I came home and then I moved in with my buddies close to ISU and started going to school.One Friday night my friends and I (as we usually did) got ready for a institute dance. I did not know that this night was going to change my life forever!!!While at this Institute dance a very good looking guy asked me to dance. After we danced my friend Telisha said hi to him. I was wondering how she knew him. Well this guys name was Jade and he was a guy that she worked with at Sears. I told her I would like to get his number so maybe we could do something. He seemed like a alright guy and you know being a young college girl I loved hanging out with the guys!!! :) So one night when Jade was supposed to be at work at AMIS. His car was not working. It had broken down at the institute. His car really was in good working order(at least the engine). Anyway so I caught him home. We talked for awhile and then he asked if I wanted to meet up the next Saturday to hang out. So I went to Sears and I talked to him. Yes I was pretty nervous because it was our hanging out. I get nervous like that around new people. Anyway so he told me he would come to a thing Doug Phillips was having. It was kinda a goodbye party because Doug was leaving for his mission soon. Well Jade did not show up and I was worried that I would not see him again. As I started forming a little liking to him. :) Anyway so we finally got together and hung out another night and it was a blast. So after this Jade and I were always together and then one day out of a joke we were talking about marriage and I told him I was going to call and tell my mother we were getting married! He was like ok. So I did and my mom said I am going to call Grandpa so you better be serious. Anyway so that is how it ended up. about 2 weeks later I had a ring on my finger. It was a great time!!! :) We were married on February 16, 2001 and I was so very happy to be Mrs. Jade Strickland. Jade got back from his mission in June of 2000. Wow not even a year later and we were married. As most couples do we had our struggles in the first 1-2 years of our marriage but we worked it out and are very happy to this day. I am very happy to be married to the man of my dreams to the man that makes me happy and works hard for my family. He is wonderful and such a awesome father!!I am thankful for the life that I have and the family I am blessed with!!!I will be back later to talk about the kids!! I spent way too much time on this one but its good and I will be back!!!