My Crazy Life as a Hunter's Wife: My Daughter

Our daughter, Kj moved out of the state of Utah a few years ago. I could not believe that she was going to move so far away. I remembered how I felt when she just moved 30 miles away from West Jordan to Provo. That day as I was headed back home after moving her things, I sobbed the entire way and probably should not have even been driving.

She graduated from Utah Valley University with a degree in Elementary Education and taught second grade for one year. She was a great teacher and everyone at the school loved her, but she stopped teaching after that first year and brought sweet, adorable Jayden into our lives.

I thought being a grandma to one amazing grandson was the best, but being a grandma to two amazing grandsons was even better.

Then, Mark graduated from BYU and they moved to Cleveland, then Kansas City, then Bakersfield (where Carter was born), then Los Angeles.

They have been in Los Angeles for about two years now and it looks like they will stay there for a few more years, at least. She LOVES living in California.

I will admit that I like having her live in California a lot better than Cleveland (since it is closer), but it still just tears at my heart every time I have to drop them off at the airport after their visits. One of the perks of Mark’s job for three years was that they were able to fly to see us at no cost and were able to fly us to visit them. So, we saw them every few months.

At the end of June, Mark took a new position with the company because his 3 year contract ended in the division that he had been working in. When he told me about the process of finding this new position with the same company, I felt pretty proud of him because he has done so well with them and had impressed so many corporate officers that three divisions were going back and forth between each other trying to decide where his talents would best be focused. Instead of vying for him to work for their division, they were all trying to make sure that Mark worked in the best possible place where his skills and potential could be met. He truly is a very smart and talented guy.

Kj is a good wife to him and supports him in every way. He is really lucky to be married to her!

I feel like my relationship with her has always been a good one. There were a few times, of course, that we both frustrated each other, but 99% of the time, we get along and are pretty good friends. When she was younger, we would joke about having ESP because we seemed to be thinking the same things at the same time.

She has grown into a beautiful, successful, talented, amazing, awesome woman. She is the best mother that her kids could ask for. I find myself wishing I had been as good of a mother as she is and wishing that I had devoted myself to motherhood in the way that she has. She is constantly trying to better herself and it baffles me because she is so terrific, just as she is.

I love talking to her on the phone and texting back and forth, but I will admit that I miss her like crazy and just typing those words brings me to tears.

Now that Mark has his new position, I don’t know how often we will get to see them. He does not have travel perks anymore. When I took them to the airport this last time (at the end of June) I almost couldn’t handle it. Besides the fact that I had a day ahead of me that was already making me want to cry, knowing that they were gone again saddened my heart immensely. Even though I knew that I was very likely going to go to California at the end of August, I hved no idea when they will be coming back to Utah.

I do have to admit that having a visit in May and a visit in June was a good way for them to use up the last of their flying privileges and I loved every minute of their time with us.

In May we celebrated Jayden’s birthday, went to the zoo, went to Fat Cat’s, and played, played, played with all of the grandkids.