Hello from Texas

So, I conned Sara into letting Gwen and I be part of the blog, even though we aren't Nub Hoeltings. You know we should be. Things are going well down here. School is back in session and occupies most of our time. Landry went to kindergarten this year. It makes me so sad! I told Brad we should have another one so I won't be lonely. He said "We'll be having kids until our 70's if that's the case!" I promised to cut it off by 65! Garrison started 4th grade. He won't be able to get by with anything. His teacher is also his aunt! He plays flag football and really enjoys it. Mason is now Mr. Very Cool 7th grader. He is running cross-country and playing football. His team isn't doing very well. It's hard when you have mostly 6th and 7th graders, but are playing against 8th graders. I told him it makes the small victories that much more exciting. You should have seen us cheer when they finally got a 1st down! He is also busy with his show lambs. He got 4th and 8th at the Tri-state Fair in Amarillo this month. We will add 4 pigs next month. 2 for Mason and 2 for Garrison. Landry won't be able to show until the 3rd grade. He really likes the animals though. I think he spent more time with them last year than his brothers did. I am still working 2-3 days/wk delivering babies. I really love it. Plus, it gives me a chance to talk to someone! Brad is busy farming. Corn harvest is in full force and he has been busy sowing wheat. His nephews custom harvest his corn, which leaves him more time to take care of his other things. I'm excited because next year we are down grading from 8 sections of farmland to only 4! He works way too hard in my opinion. I tell him he is only 1 man. He doesn't even have a hired hand. But, I'd rather be married to a man that works too hard than a lazy one!!
In June Marcia married her long-time boyfriend, Bob Kern. Bob is a Nazareth boy she has been dating for 11 years. I wondered if they would ever get married. They live in Houston and are doing well. Bob is a chemical engineer and works for an oil company, Schlumberger, in their Chevron office in Houston. Marcia was working for Stanford Financial, but lost her job in February when Allen Stanford was charged with fraud and the government shut down his company. She waited until after the wedding to get back in the work force. She is now working for a temp agency doing some type of accounting stuff. Her main goal is to start her own computer consulting company. The temp job is perfect for her, because it gives her a paycheck while she gets her business off the ground.
The most exciting news in our family is that we finally have a Hoelting cousin. Courtney and Jack had a little boy! William "Will" Charles Armstrong joined our family August 18th weighing in at 7lbs 2oz. He is so sweet. I went down the day before he was born to help with the delivery. Then, I stayed through the week to get her started with the new baby. All 3 of them came to Nazareth for Lynsey's wedding and stayed for 10 days. The boys were excited to finally get to meet their new cousin. Landry keeps insisting that Courtney give us the recipe for baby milk so Will can spend the night at our house. He just can't quite understand this whole breastfeeding thing. He told Courtney "I don't have any of those, but my mom does. She can feed the baby!" He is also confused because he's seen the baby drink from a bottle. I finally told him that Courtney has a milking machine like the one at the diary for the cows. That seemed to satisfy him. To be 5 again!
We're so glad to be able to keep in touch with all of you! Hope to see everyone soon.
Love Ashley