Halloween 2012

I have decided that since I post pictures on facebook so much I am going to start posting the link here. So, here is the link to our Family Home Evening of carving pumpkins. On most of the pictures Cody decided to take over the picture taking because Jason was carving his pumpkin.  I think he is doing an excellent job behind the camera and I am so proud of him for taking that task on. We also make cupcakes but didn't have time to ice them yet.  That will be tomorrow night and then I will post pictures here. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151207851037492.490688.587197491&type=3
Let me know if you have troubles with the link.

Dates and other stuff

Life has been exceptionally crazy for us.

Some of it has been good and some of it has been bad.  It seems like the whole month of February someone was sick.  Wyatt was the last one to get it and has the hardest time getting over it.  I am so glad to have that part of things done and over with.

Last Thursday and Friday Jason and I were able to have date nights.  It was the first time in a long time.  Yes, they were military events but still so much fun.  Thursday we had a Chief Recognition Dinner.  It was intersting to be in a small room full of so many Senior Enlisted and officers.  It was also fun to know that one of the officers was concerned about me.

You see, Jason is a crew chief which means he works on airplanes (at least he did until he got TechSgt and we moved here where he ended up behind a desk).  Crew Chiefs are known for their...ability to have fun.

At the dinner I ended at a table next to Jason, 2 other airman from his shop and on the other side of me 3 airman from another shop (all crewchiefs).  Not a single other female at the table.  I wasn't bothered by it at all.  But I did catch my husband's commander look over a few times during dinner.  Later he came to the table and asked if I was okay (considering the company I was keeping).  I had to laugh and told him I was holding my own.  It was nice to be out with just Jason and no kids.  As long as Jason keeps up with positions here I am sure we will have many more of these types of dinners to go to.

Friday night was more casual and even more fun since we had friends with us.  This event was called Maintenance Professional of the Year. 

As you might imagine from the title, it is an awards banquet for the maintainers at the base.  It was a casual event, therefore it was a lot more rowdy than the Chief's dinner and a LOT more fun.

We also had a babysitter that wasn't a friend or family member for the first time.  It seemed to go well and when I asked if she would be willing to watch the boys for us again she said yes, more date nights for Jason and I, I think so  :)

A couple of the people we thought should have won an award did not.  But Jason's squadron did win the Spirit Award so it wasn't all that bad.

Of course, on Friday I received a call from the nurse at Cody's school.  It seems that he was playing on the monkey bars and lost his grip.  He face planted in what the nurse called rocks and Cody calls ice.  He looks like he was pelted with BBs.  Saturday he had a black eye and most of the side of his face was bruised.

Cody has been having headaches everyday since.  Last night was the worst of them.  I let him get some sleep but this morning I called to get him in to the doctor.  We ended up having to go downtown only to find out that he doesn't have a concussion or anything else wrong with his head.  BUT, he does have strep throat.

On our way home from the doctor's office we ended up at a motorcycle accident.  We didn't see what happened but we stopped to help until the professionals can get there.  I say we but I really mean Jason.  The oldest and youngest were with us and since Jason is trained and certified CPR and I am not he went to check on the motorcyclist.  Thankfully he was wearing a helmet so there isn't much head injuries but they found out that he can't move his legs.  I kept thinking about my dad and his motorcycle accident in 2007.  For those out there that pray please keep this airman in your them.  Oh yeah, I didn't say that, he is an airman working in one of the shops in Jason's squardron.  Jason did not know who he was but several others stopped and those who needed to know found out.  It was overwhelming to see the half a dozen or more other airman coming out to support each other.

Tonight and the next 2 nights I have classes I will be attending.  They are all hunter's safety courses and are 3 hours long.  I am so exhausted already that when I had to run to the store I grabbed a Dr. Pepper in hopes than I can keep my eyelids open long enough to get home safely from my class.  Most of the people in hunting areas go when they are young, 12+ so I am little hesitant about being one of 2 adults in the class (one of Jason's coworkers/friends will be there as well).

Needless to say last month and this week are going to be very hectic for me, especially.  I look forward to some down time when my sister, Carrie and her family, come to visit and we go to Wyoming to pick up Jason's antelope mount.

Last minute baptism

As most of you know our oldest son, Cody, turned 8 last November.  Our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, doesn't do baptisms until the child is 8 and old enough to make the decision for themselves.  There is more to it but that is the basis.

We have had a lot of stuff going on since November and it has been very difficult to schedule his baptism.  We were finally able to get Cody baptized yesterday, Saturday the 18th of February.

Because of Jason's work schedule we weren't even positive Cody would be baptized yesterday.  We had it tentatively scheduled for a week.  It wasn't until Friday afternoon that we knew for sure.  Friday morning Jason received an email saying he was going to have to work during the whole 3-day weekend.  Thankfully that wasn't the case.

 Jason and Cody all ready for the baptism.  This day took a really long time to arrive.  It was very much worth the wait though.  Cody is the first person Jason was able to baptize.  Now he is ready for the other two boys  :)

 

 The whole family right before the baptism began.  Wyatt of course, had to bring his Yankee blanket.  I tried to hide it but there is no hiding it from him.  He is actually reaching for it in this picture.  I am really hoping that he won't be taking it on his honeymoon some day  :)

 This is Bishop Davis.  Cody's baptism was his first as Bishop.  I feel bad for him because of how things got put together.  He has been really great in this whole process and we are so grateful to him for all he did to help us with Cody's big day.

 This is Sister Nope, Cody's Primary President.  This is also her first baptism as primary president.  She was really great.  We not only asked her to be there as the primary president but also to speak about baptism.

After the baptism we had some cookies in the cultural hall and played with some friends.  Of course my boys find the football that is hanging around.

Jason told me later that while he and Cody were changing out of their white jumpers and into their suits he asked Cody how he felt.  Cody replied, "I feel crazy" and then he said "I feel like I am going to be nicer to Wyatt".  That is so sweet, unfortunately it didn't last too long but everything was handled much smoother than they usually are.  We all were more patient and kinder to each other yesterday.  It was a beautiful day I will never forget, just like I haven't forgotten my own baptism that was just over 15 years ago.

I guess the water was a little colder than Cody had hoped.  As Cody stepped into the font after Jason, he said it was cold and hesitant to walk any further in.  He did great remembering how to put his hands and waited for Jason to say the prayer.  He knew to plug his nose and went into the water.  Right after coming up out of the water the first thing Cody said was that he couldn't breath and had to walk to the edge to feel a bit better.  Cody caught his breath and heading into the bathroom to change.

We are all so proud of Cody and the choice he made to be baptized.  I wanted to make sure this was his decision and not something he thought he had to do.  We asked the missionaries to talk to him to make sure Cody understood the point of baptism.  We told him several times that he had to make this decision.

We are also so grateful to everyone who attended Cody's baptism.  Having everyone there was  special and appreciated more than you could know. 

It was sad not having any other family there.  Because it was such a last minute thing aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma, grandpa and Nana weren't able to be there but I know they were all there supporting him in spirit.

On a side note, I asked Wyatt later if he was excited to be baptized, granted he does have 2 more years, he said no.  I asked why, he wouldn't tell me.  Then he said he would be baptized if it was only our family there to watch  :)

Tooth Fairy is busy

After having a gallon of paint for the bathroom I finally put some of it on our wall.  It was so exciting.  I know, that is silly to say but it was exciting.  I haven't painted a wall before, ever.  Nor do I recall ever living somewhere that didn't have white walls.

I did get a bit bored painting without help.  The time flew by but I was getting a little tired and Garrett woke up so I figured it was time to put the paint away for a while.  Once the painting is finished I will post a picture.  It may be one room at a time and slow in pace but the whole house will get done.

On other news.  Wednesday I went downstairs to wake the boys up for school.  Cody surprised me when he looked back at me with this huge smile and shoved his tooth in my face.  He kept telling Jason and I to look at his tooth so I was glad it was finally out.

When the boys arrived home from school Wyatt had a huge smile and pulled a tooth out of his jacket pocket.  Apparently Cody losing another tooth before him was just too much for him.  During rest time that day he decided it was time to pull out one of his loose teeth.  Needless to say the tooth fairy HAD to visit our house that night.  It seems that the tooth fairy needs NVGs though, or she is letting children keep their teeth nowadays.

Wyatt was so excited when he saw a dollar under his pillow.  That must have been the extra motivation he needed to pull the other loose tooth out of his mouth, again during rest time.  The tooth fairy probably doesn't want to come to our house again for a very long time  :)

I took two pictures of Wyatt tonight to show off his toothless grin.

Pictures and 2

I wanted to start off with some pictures that I promised in the last post.  So here you go:

Our little piece of South Dakota.  We are so happy to be homeowners.  More pictures of the inside to follow.  We basically have everything the way we want, except paint.

 Cody's first birthday party with his cousins.  We spent Thanksgiving with my sister, Carrie, and her family in Wisconsin.  We happened to get there the night before Cody's birthday and Carrie was kind enough to make a cake for him.  He loved it.

Cody and Wyatt proudly showing off Daddy's first Wisconsin buck.  Mommy had her first kill, ever, during this trip as well, just no pictures of it on the camera.

There hasn't been much snow to speak of this winter in South Dakota but the boys had fun playing in what we did have.  Still hoping to get a good snow storm to have fun in.

Cody's second birthday party with friends.  We had a sleepover with some of Cody's friend the weekend after we got back from Wisconsin.  They all had a blast and Cody was excited to share his birthday with friends and get all his presents.

Garrett has learned a fun new activity.  We believe he thinks he is older than he is and is already joining in on the wrestling matches.  It looks like Garrett is choking Cody (and he kinda is) but he was just trying to give him a hug  :)

My handsome boys on Christmas morning.  They were good sports about waiting until after church to open their presents.  I was so proud of them.

For a while we were having some really neat ice storms.  This is not far from our house on base.  I love what ice fog does to the landscape.

Again, wrestling but this time with their Christmas pj's on.

Poor Wyatt, we moved out of our base house on his birthday.  But we did what we could to make his birthday special and I think he approved.

Cody's first official pinewood derby car.  He was so happy to be racing.  His car is on the left (orange and red).  He didn't place but he was happy to participate anyway.

Cody showing off his car and trophy.  He received a trophy for being most aerodynamic.  What makes this trophy special is our Stake President made it himself with extra supplies from his house improvements.  Plus, he said Cody's was the best and most difficult trophy to make.  He was just so happy.  We are proud of him.
Oh and for those who are cub scout saavy, no, he is not in proper uniform.  We plan to change that when/if we get a moment to do so.

How was that for updating everyone with pictures?

Well, here are a few more from Garrett's 2nd birthday.  We actually did something very small, just us.  He was more than happy with that and confused with us singing and the candle we were wanting him to blow out instead of touch.  He is very fascinated with all this "hot".  One word he knows and glad he does.

Here are a few pictures of Garrett a few days after his birthday.



Catch up

 Ever since I met Jason I keep telling myself...I can't wait until next year when things start calming down.  That year arrives and nothing calms down, so I say it again and again no calm (at least it never feels like it).

Jason graduated from NCOA and we had a blast seeing him again and celebrating with him.  We got a nice break thanks to a wonderful family friend who watched the boys for us so we can go to the graduation dinner.  It was gorgeous in Colorado and we were so glad to have Jason home.

Then came the holidays, a trip to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, Christmas and at the same time a move.

As you all know we bought our first house in a small town just outside of Rapid City, SD.

Cody turned 8 while in Wisconsin and right after Christmas Wyatt turned 6.

I have pictures that will help explain all of our happenings and hopeful get them up soon.

We are having trouble getting Cody's baptism scheduled (we did but had to cancel due to Jason's work schedule).  I am hoping in a couple of weeks.  Also, now that he is 8 he has also been going to cub scouts.  Last Wednesday he got to officially participate in the Pinewood Derby.  He did not win but he did great for his first.

Today I am not feeling 100%.  I have so many emotions running through me.  I actually have been pretty emotional for the last few weeks or so.  So much change all at once is affecting me in a bad way.  I want change but some peace and quiet.  What I really want is change within myself.  Not that I consider myself a bad person but there is always things I wish I could make better.  With so much I want to fix about myself I am really having a difficult time focusing on just one thing and doing it.

I am also beating myself up today because for the 5 years I lived in Alaska I never took the time to visit some family I have there.  My Grandmother's younger sister moved to Alaska many years ago and had her family there.  So, when we found out about moving to Alaska I immediately contacted my mom about my Aunt.  We did send letters and exchanged Christmas cards but that is as far as it went.  I never took the time to meet her.  I just assumed there would be time.  Well, there is no more time.  I wasted it.  I received the news this week that she had passed.  She had a stroke she just couldn't recover from.  Her funeral is today and I just don't know how I am supposed to feel.  How does one react to the loss of a family member but one that you didn't really know?  I wish I knew the answer.  All I know for sure...in about 6 years when we move to Alaska for good, I will make the time to meet her family.