Spouses Appreciation Day

The Friday before Mother's Day is also known as Military Spouses Appreciation Day. That means that the base does everything in they can to give us a day to see what our spouses do every day. It is also a day that celebrates spouses and all their hard work while the spouse is working, deployed, TDY, or whatever acronym you can think of.  This year Ellsworth AFB, SD has a new commander.  With the new commander came news ways of celebrating the day.  This included asking the military members to share something about their spouse.  Jason did it and because he did I won't $40 to beginners yoga classes. This is what he wrote...

From Jason about Missy

My wife Missy deals with a house full of testosterone with myself and our 3 boys Cody, Wyatt and Garrett. Not to mention all of our men egos, attitudes and my hunting trips. I know she feels odd one out most of the time, but she handles things better than I ever could. Somehow she keeps things running in the house, with the normal day to day chores, shopping, appointments, baseball practices/games, church activities, planning, finances and still makes time to make cupcakes for the neighbors and is going back to college. All of this being a military spouse, which she is proud of. She asks me what would I do without her and I always tell her I would be fine, but we have been together for over 10 years now and if I didn’t have her, my world would fall apart and I know it. I tell her every day that I love her before I go to work in the morning, but that isn’t always enough. So, I try to tell her that more often. Our children and everyday lives seem to take up most of our time and we don’t get to do the things that we use to when we were younger. But we have both said we are stuck with each other no matter what. I’m proud of what she does as a mother in raising our 3 boys. I’m proud of her being a key spouse for my squadron and wanting to help out the other spouses. I’m proud of her making that leap back to college so she can get her teaching degree. I’m thankful to have married someone who is glad to be a mom, and a wife and someone who will put up with my everyday frustrations from work, my addiction to hunting, my mood swings and ocd. There isn’t to many wives that would put up with the things that my wife does and I’m thankful and blessed to have found her. It’s still hard to imagine that over 12 years ago we met in an online chat room and started talking and here we are today having lived in 4 different states, having 3 children, a home and friends and family spread out all over the country. Thank you Missy for saying yes, even though I didn’t get on my knees ;). I Love you babe!!!

South Dakota spring

I recently read a post a friend had written on Facebook.  She mentioned a blog she used to write in about her family.  That was until the kids got older and life got too busy to post.   After the last two days I realize how much the comment meant to me.  It has been a VERY long time since I have written in any of my blogs.  I write blog posts but those I sell, they are not about my family and the things I hold dear. This week started off as any normal week would for us.  Monday the boys went to school, Jason went to work, Garrett and I headed off to the gym.   When we left the wind was blowing.  It reminded me of something my dad said to me when I was a teenager.  "The calm before the storm".  In South Dakota there is no such thing as a calm before the storm.  Here the wind blows.  The meteorologists warned of a winter storm headed our way.  Considering we haven't had a winter storm to brag about since we have been here, we didn't expect much. Monday afternoon before the boys got home from school the wind invited rain to the party which quickly turned into snow.  Before I knew it we had a dusting of snow all over.  Before Jason got home from work there was snow on the roads and blowing everywhere.  By 7 or 8pm we knew the boys had a snow day on Tuesday and soon found out Jason did as well.   The wind was horrendous which made going out in the snow absolutely unbearable.  We tried, the boys and I got all dressed for the snow.  Wyatt was upset with some piece of clothing so he didn't go out at all.  Garrett and I last for about 2 minutes and Cody may have made it to 10 mins before we were all inside and Cody was begging for hot cocoa. We knew quickly that there was going to be another snow day for all again on Wednesday.  Wednesday was an amazing family day.  Filled with snowman building (by Jason and I since the younger two got bored quickly). snow ball fights, sliding on the massive snow hill that was created after plowing.  Which reminds me.  The grown boys got to play in the snow too.  Jason got to use his 4-wheeler to plow our driveway, tried to get some of the road and sidewalk but there was just too much.  He as well as another gentleman in the neighborhood tried to use their wheelers to rescue a neighbor who got is SUV stuck in the snow in his front yard.   We got to spend time talking with the neighbors, reminiscing about Alaska and just enjoying the day. Garrett and I spent all day, minus an hour or so for lunch, outside in the snow.  Because of it we have windblown faces.  Today Garrett and I still have bright red cheeks not to mention Garrett's Rudolph nose. All in all, those are the moments I will cherish forever.  There is nothing more special to me than sharing these precious family days with my family, as a family.

Today though, is another special day.  Even though my family (the one I created) are all going their separate ways today.  There is one special person I would like to celebrate. My Grandma Beadles is a special woman.  I will always cherish her and the memories I have of her.  I wish I could be with her today.  She hasn't had an easy life.  She did marry young to the man she will spend the rest of his life with, my amazing Grandpa Beadles.  Together they created a family of their own including 10 children.  Unfortunately they lost on son as an infant to SIDS and then a daughter to breast cancer.  My grandfather developed diabetes and my grandmother was there to take care of him until the day he lost his battle.  I remember that day so clearly. But their life together remains in the lives of their children, the grandchildren and their great-grandchildren.  So many I am not sure if I can count them all.  A great big family for two people who have been through hell and back. My grandma is 95 years young today.  We had the privilege of helping her celebrate her 90th birthday and I couldn't have been happier to be there with her.  This time I am half way across the country but in a couple of months I will be with her again and I can share with her I much I adore her and so glad to have her in my life.  Most importantly I hope she is there for many more years. I left California thinking there was a good chance I would never see her again.  Now that she is 95 and the day grows closer that I see her again I am excited.  But I also worry that when I leave California again to rejoin my husband in South Dakota that I may never see her in this life again. It reminds me to make every day special, every day is worth treasuring.  It is a lesson I try to teach myself all the time but one I struggle with.  It doesn't need to take a special occasion to make great memories.

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.