My girls…

Have I told you about my girls? It seems weird writing that…still not used to the fact that after five years I have a daughter-in-law and another on the way.

Let me tell you about my girls. Brittany Michelle is married to our oldest son Derek. She is twenty-four years old and is a native of Colorado. Brittany is a beauty and when she smiles she lights up the room! Derek and Brittany met while Derek was stationed in the Army at Fort Carson and married right before he deployed to Iraq. Derek has a wonderful family in Brittany’s family. Ericka, Brittany’s mom, lives very close to them, so they get together a lot. I feel so blessed that they are there to help take care of my boy!

Brittany has one older sister and two brothers and spent much of her childhood camping in the beautiful mountains of Colorado. She loves to be outdoors and my favorite picture is one with her and Derek standing on the mountainside, snow falling around them and an elk in the distance. They both have beautiful smiles and it makes me smile when I look at it.

Something I didn’t know about Brittany until our visit to Colorado is that she has a lovely singing voice. We were driving to her mom’s one night for supper and she and Derek were singing and I thought, what a lovely sound, to hear their voices blended together that way!

Brittany loves animals and currently they have two dogs, Jake and Lola. You can tell how much she adores them by the way they adore her! They were very loving to Jim and me, but the second she crooked her they went running to her. They are definitely “momma’s dogs”.

I thought Brittany was a picky eater and to some degree she is, but she amazed me by eating Eel Sushi…yuck! She loves sweets and as I’m writing this, I have just finished a batch of cookies to send in a package to them. I love cooking for her because she loves eating it!

Brittany and Derek are blessing us with our first grandchild in July, so if you try to reach me then, try Colorado…lol!

Karrie Anne Skinner is Craig’s fiancée’. They met their sophomore year at the University of Evansville and began dating their junior year. Last summer, Craig proposed to Karrie at Barnes & Noble in Evansville (another great story!) and she made all of us so happy when she said yes!

Karrie is a beautiful girl with an infectious laugh. Just listening to her laugh makes me want to without even knowing what she is laughing at. She is a music education major and plays the flute and piccolo along with numerous other instruments. Jim and I have attended a couple of her recitals and I must say we were impressed tremendously!

Karrie Anne is an only child but grew up with lots of extended family close by. This does not intimidate her in the least, as she definitely holds her own when she is here with 30 or 40 of us. Karrie grew up in Lowell, Indiana, which is a suburb of Chicago. She loves to take the train in to Chicago and shop or go to concerts.

Karrie loves to cook and garden, both of which we are happy to hand over to her anytime she likes…lol! She and Craig both love books and music and I love to watch them interact as if they have known each other a life time.

Karrie’s mom and grandmother have taken Craig right into their hearts so I never have to worry when he’s up north visiting. I know he’s well taken care of by the Skinner women!

God blessed me with children twice…first with my sons and then with my girls…I love you Brittany & Karrie!