The Knight Tales

Happy 22nd Birthday Alli!!!

2011-02-03T19:41:00.002-07:00

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Today is my beautiful daughter, Alli's birthday!!! What an amazing young woman she is!! As I was putting together the slideshow and looking through pictures, I was reminiscing about Alli's childhood. Looking through her pictures I was reminded about different events that have taken place in her life. We welcomed her into our home, and were so excited to have a little girl. The two boys were quite a handful, and then we were blessed with Alli. She was such a happy baby! Always had a smile on her face. I wish I could have put all the pictures that I saw! She was always such a bright little girl. She always wanted to do her best. I was talking to my mom about Alli, and I told her that I never had to tell Alli to do well in school. Alli was always motivated to do well. I see that trait continuing now.

Her love for her family is alway there! She has always been protective of her siblings. Even though she was the third child, you would have thought she was the oldest. She has always been her brothers biggest cheerleader. She went to different events to support her brothers in whatever they were doing. She attended many lacrosse games to watch Craig play, and she went to Ryan's concerts to hear him sing. It's her love of her baby sister, Katie, that I think is probably the most touching. Alli is very protective of Katie. They have a wonderful relationship. Now that they are both attending the University of Utah, they are closer than ever! They ride together in the morning to school and talk about things that are going on in their life. I have never seen any sibling rivalry between them. I've never heard either of them complain about wanting something that the other one has. I used to think that they were so different, but as they are growing up, I see that they are so alike.

I know that I may be biased, but I'm the mom, and I'm supposed to be!! Alli, I am so proud to be your mom!! You are 22 today, and I can't wait to see all the wonderful things that you are going to do!! Plus, I know you will be an awesome doctor! Your compassion for others is so wonderful! I've watched you grow up and do so many great things! Between school and coaching the Viewmont High School girls lacrosse team, I know your life is busy and crazy, but you always make time for your family. We love you!!

January 19, 2010: (This is for Em.)

2011-01-19T17:19:00.010-07:00

On Tuesday, Doug, Alli, and I and the rest of the family, which includes my dad, my beautiful niece, Emily Jackson, Mike Skalla, her dad, and my other beautiful niece, Rachel and her cute hubby, Drew Parcell went to the BYU game to watch the men's basketball team play TCU. While I was there, Emily got on me about my poor blogging abilities. Yes, I basically suck at the whole blogging world. I love to read other people's blogs, but I'm horrible at keeping up on mine. So, Em, this for you!! Oh, by the way, BYU killed TCU!! Very good night!!

Anyway, to get current with all the Knight happenings, 2010 was an awesome year for our family. On June 26th, Craig married his sweetheart, Jeanette. It was a beautiful day!! I don't think I could have planned for a better day. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Later that day the reception was held at the Augustein's backyard. The yard was gorgeous!! I had so many people and dear friends help me put together this fabulous day! If I started to name them, I would be afraid to leave someone out. I will say though, I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends! It was such a great day of celebration! If I can figure out how to post the wedding video and the wedding reception video, I will post it!!

Here are a few pictures from the wedding:

Our family had two weddings this summer. Craig and Jeanette were married in June, and then my niece, Rachel married Drew Parcell on August 28th. It was a beautiful day!! My sister, Shannon, went above and beyond for this wedding!! Rachel was a beautiful bride! The reception was so fun!!

After all these fun parties, reality set in with dun, dun, dunnnn-SCHOOL!! Doug and I are now in the position to have all of our kids in college. Katie and Alli are at the University of Utah. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. The U is the enemy!! Doug and I both went to BYU and we love everything about BYU, but I will say the U has been a great experience for the girls.

Katie is thinking that she wants to study international business and then minor in French. She finished her first semester on the Dean's list!! She also joined a sorority at the U. She is a Delta Gamma and loves every minute of it!! Now she is starting her second semester at the U and is carrying a heavy load, but she is determined to do well! She is looking at doing a study abroad in France for the summer. I think it would be wonderful for her to do this!!

Katie is here with Julia Banato, who is basically her twin. They are in the sorority together and best friends!!

Alli is at the U and is a pre-med major. She is studying Health Promotion with an emphasis on EMS. She will be preparing to take the medical entrance exam this summer and hopefully, take the exam in the fall. I know she will be an awesome doctor. In order to help deal with the stress of her classes, she has taught herself to crochet. She actually learned by watching YouTube!! Amazing!! She made all of her Christmas presents to the family!! Such an amazing girl!!

Craig and Jeanette are both attending SLCC. They are hoping to transfer to one of the universities here in Utah or not. They are still trying to figure everything out. They are living in our basement until they decide where they are going to finish. It's been fun having them here. Jeanette teaches piano and voice, and is working at Cannonball. Craig is working as an assistant manager at a music store called Greywhale.

Ryan is attending UVU and is majoring in Construction Management. It looks like he is wanting to go into the family business, that being construction. He works part-time at Daw Construction Group.

Alli took up crocheting, I decided to also take it up. I go on Wednesdays with Alli to take a class with her. I finished my first project which was a dishcloth. Now I'm working on a scarf. Pretty basic stuff. It's fun and I enjoy spending time with my cute daughter!

This building has become one of my favorite places to go. One of my passions in my life is family history!! My friend, Tamara Hardy, got me into this. She was working on a family history class that she took through BYU and had to go to the family history library every week. I came with her in the hopes that maybe I could figure out some things about my family on my mom's side. I love going there!!! I feel like when I walk in I want to yell "Bring out your dead!!" Actually I feel like "Bring out MY dead!!" If you have never been there, go there!! Tamara had some work to do at home, so I decided that I would go by myself. In the car as I was driving, I kept praying and asking for help to know what direction to go in when I got there. I also talked to my dead relatives. I know that sounds weird, but I basically said, "if you want to be found, please help me find you!!" I got to the library and went to the floor that has all the books for the different states. I went to the New Mexico section and stood in front of the Santa Fe area and I just started pulling books. I looked through the first few. Nothing. By the fourth book, I hit the jackpot!! I sat there at a table and just started saying "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!!" to myself. An older gentleman and his wife were sitting across from me and he looked up and quietly said, "Did you find something?" All I could do was smile and nod "yes" to him. My heart was pounding and I wanted to jump on the table and yell "I found you!!!" It was the most awesome feeling!! It was at that moment that I really started to understand why family history is so important. I began to understand how the temple and the atonement all go hand in hand. I finished up at the library and went to go to my car. I sat in my car and thanked my Heavenly Father for helping me find some of my mom's relatives. Tears were streaming down my cheeks because I had such a great love for these people that I have never met. Since then I have made contact with a few of the relatives on my mom's side. It has been awesome!!

Knight Time...

2009-09-18T10:28:00.002-06:00

2nd Blog . . .finally!!

2009-09-17T18:19:00.011-06:00

Well it's been over a year since the last blog. I haven't gotten the hang of this whole thing yet, but hopefully I'll figure it out.

Things have changed since the last blog:

Craig is now home from his mission from Florida/Alabama. He got home in November right before Thanksgiving. It was a wild day. My dad had surgery the day before to have some stints put into his heart valves. So when we picked Craig up at the airport, we had a quick "Welcome Home!!" and then we drove quickly over to the hospital to see dad. Craig wanted to see really bad. It had been a long flight for him knowing that his grandfather was in the hospital. It was awesome for him to be home!!!

December 12th was a scary time for our family. That evening mom had a stroke. If it wasn't for my darling niece, Amy, I think we would have lost mom that night. This picture is of our family gathered around mom on Christmas Eve. It is our family's tradition to get together for a Mexican dinner and then have a Family Home Evening afterward. We had the dinner, and then we all went over to the hospital to spend the evening with mom. Dad read the Christmas story out of Luke, Shannon and Dad sang their duet of "When Joseph Went to Bethlehem", and then we had a mini version of our family talent show. I think by the end of the night mom was exhausted, but was happy. We were so grateful to be together as a family, even if we were in the hospital. I was very grateful for my parents that night. My dad has been awesome with my mom.

Currently, she is back home. She walks without any help. She does the laundry, and also does the dishes. Cooking, mostly falls to my dad, which is ok. Dad is an awesome cook!!!

I can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year!! No one is allowed to get sick or hurt!!!

Alli is currently at the U. I know. We are die-hard BYU fans!! Alli decided that she wanted to go to nursing school, and the U has an incredible program there. Don't tell anyone, but even though she goes to the U, she is still a Cougar through and through!! This picture was taken at Emily's wedding at the Salt Lake Temple. I like to refer to it as the "Wedding of the Year". (More on that later.)

Katie, our baby, is in her senior year at Jordan High School. She is a cheerleader and a "flyer" for the squad. I still get nervous when she goes up in the air, but her bases have always protected her and haven't dropped her. Well, they haven't dropped her in front of me!! She loves going to Jordan, and loves being a cheerleader!!

Here's my boys!! Ryan, our oldest is attending SLCC, but is hoping to transfer to the U or to Westminster next fall. His major is communications, which is interesting considering he is our quietest child!! He works part-time for Daw Construction Group. He is one of the kindest people I know!! Love you Ryan!!

I wanted to add one additional post to this blog entry--Futsetta!!! Craig learned to play the guitar while on his mission. When he got home, he together with his high school friends and created a band--Futsetta. This picture was taken in our back yard. They perform for the band's family members. I will admit I was nervous to hear them play, but was pleasantly surprised to find that they were really good. They write their own music, and have even recorded a CD!! They have performed in different venues around Salt Lake and Utah County.

Well that's some of what has gone on in the Knight family.

Until the next Knight Tale . . .

1st Blog

2008-09-23T13:18:00.001-06:00

Well I decided to join the madness of blogging. I've seen several other friend's blogs, so I decided to start one on the family. We usually have so many different things going with the kids, that I thought this might be a great way to document the family activities. I also thought it would be a great way to keep a journal of sorts on the family.

Just some info on the family--I'm Nancy, the mom of the Knight household. I'm married to Doug, the technical whiz of everything and anything that has to do with technology. If you have a question on something technical, he is your man. I'll probably have to defer to Doug on some of the technical stuff in regards to this blog, but hopefully I'll be able to figure it out.

Our oldest is Ryan, who is a return missionary from the New York Rochester Mission. He's been home a couple of years, and is attending SLCC. He loves computers, video games, and reading. He has a heart of gold. If ever there was a person on the earth with no malice, it would be Ryan. He always finds the good in people and in situations. I've never heard him speak negative about anyone. I know I'm his mom, but it's true! He has been working at Daw Construction Group and going to school. Construction, not a favorite, but it pays his bills!!

Craig is our second son, who is currently serving a mission in the Florida Tallahassee Mission. He has loved being a missionary. His love of the people in his mission has helped him be a successful missionary. Currently he is serving in Dothan, Alabama. Actually most of his mission, he has served in Alabama. The members have been wonderful to him. If he is sick or hurt, they are right there to take care of him. It is a wonderful relief as a mother to know that there are people who will watch out for your son. He has about 2 months left to serve on his mission. He thinks that he will finish up his mission in Dothan, which is fine by him. He loves the area and the people. Craig is also fan of computers, particularly Apple computers, video games (WOW), Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and comic books. He also loves Japanese anime! He loves to draw.

Alli is next in line, and she is blessed with brains and beauty! She has a gift for math and science. She is currently living down in Utah County and is attending UVU. Just recently she has decided to major in nursing. She is thinking of transferring to Westminster next year. Alli is the peacemaker of the family. She hates contention, and has a heart of gold. She has always been my biggest supporter of anything that I undertake. She also is a great supporter of the different activities that the different members of the family participate in. She plays lacrosse, and is awesome at it! She played for BYU's Women's lacrosse last spring and learned so much about playing on the college level. She is also a computer whiz. Obviously she got it from her dad!

Last, but not least, is Katie! She is a junior at Jordan High School. She is a varsity cheerleader for the school. She too, is blessed with brains and beauty. She has been given the talent of making friends quicker than anyone I know of! She knows kids all over the valley! Katie has a way of making people feel comfortable around her. From adults to small children, they all like Katie! She has a welcoming way about her. She's just under 5', but there is a lot of personality pack into a tiny package!

On the animal front, we have Porsche, a boxer, Hercules, a dachshound, Miss Kitty, the greatest gopher killer known to mankind, and Rufus, the latest kitty to join the family. Rufus has the poofiest tale that has a personality all it's own!