Christmas....

We were blessed to be all together for Christmas this year. The kids were just itchin' for Christmas to actually arrive this year....

Gabe and Layton opening their new Bow and Arrow sets.


Kaleb and the Batman Cave he had been dying for


Shaylee excited about her drawing set


Jaden and his new slippers


Carson and his space shuttle

We are expecting....a blessing

After our miscarriage in August we were anxious to try again. We are blessed to be expecting another little miracle the end of July 2011. What a blessing this little one is to us and we are so very excited!!

Not a very good picture but I was able to see the heartbeat. Sadly the dr. said Brian couldn't be in the room because we had Kaleb and Gabriel there and they don't allow children in the room for the first ultrasound. I was not happy because I wanted Brian to be there with me for it. (they had to do a full exam so Brian was waiting in the waiting room with the boys waiting for them to call him back for the u/s)

Making Pies.....

The night before Thanksgiving Shaylee and Jaden helped me make pies. I was up until 1am cooking the darn things but we had fun!! We ended up doubling the amount we planned because I made too much pumpkin pie filling. :) That's ok, there is NEVER a such thing as too much pumpkin pie!

Continue in Patience

New House....

Well we got a house on base. It is a town home, 4 bedrooms. It is a cute little place. The kids only requirement was that it had stairs. Layton requested that it be near the woods so that he could go explore. Well lucky kids it has both. :)



Back of the townhome, just a community back yard of sorts. It's ok because it gives the kids loads of room to run!! Also during the winter it will make for some fun sledding!

Layton's Forrest....he is super excited!









Another angle of Layton's forrest. He is so very excited as soon as we got there he took off into the woods.

Moving Day!!!

UGH!! I have to say moving on a whole, no matter how much help you have, is a daunting task! I am so thankful Brian is such a positive and supporting husband!! I don't know how he puts up with my pessimism?!?! Well they came on 9/23 and packed up the entire house. Then another crew came on Monday 9/27 and loaded stuff on to the truck.

When they arrived the truck was already about 3/4 full. They started trying to load our stuff in but it soon became apparent that it was going to be a very tight fit. I am praying that all of our stuff makes it ok with the amount of stuff they had packed in there YIKES!!! Mind you in the pictures they still had 6 mattresses left. They ended up wrapping them up and strapping them to the back of the truck. Now all we have left is to clear out all the stuff we didn't take and clean the house over the next three days. :)

Events of the past week....

Well this last week was pretty uneventful. I guess that should be a good thing. Brian came home monday from his hunting trip. We were all so glad to have him home, it was way too quiet without him here.

The kids are all doing good in school. I have yet to see carson bring home anything other than stacks of stuff he colored. He is just loving school though. I am thankful for the chance I have to be home right now with the kids. I love being able to be here for them when they need me.

I am still in the process of getting my Drivers Licence in my Married name. It hasn't gone well. My first attempt thinking the binder containing our Marriage Cert. was in the back seat I stopped by and went to get the Binder not knowing Brian had grabbed it on his way to work. They wouldn't let me do it without my Wedding Certificate, despite my two other forms of ID with my Married name on it. So attempt #2 I had the binder in hand walked in and all I could find was a copy of it not the original. They said I had to have the original. So attempt #3 I had the original in hand I walked in and the lady at the counter said "I know this is your 3rd time trying....but our camera's just broke so we can't issue you a new Drivers Licence."! I am starting to wonder if it is even worth it any more...lol!!!

Brian's last day of work was yesterday. He has been itchin' to get out of there for some time now. Our goal this coming week is to go through all of our stuff and get rid of things we don't need. I have tried to do that with all of my stuff over the past week or so. I am looking forward to having my family come down and spend a little time with them.

Fort George G. Meade

Are we there yet? Yeah I am itching to get gone!! Although I realize it will come faster than I realize. We are excited to start our new adventure. We head out of town October 2nd. It will take us 7 days of travel to get there. We are looking forward for our little cross country trek especially durring the fall. It will be pretty I'm sure.

We are crossing our fingers for on base housing. Right now we qualify for a 5 bedroom and we are 6/36 on the waiting list and the average wait time for a 5 bedroom is 730 days. Looks like we will be going with a smaller house. I have looked at housing off base. But the cost of housing out there is such that it would be better for us to live on base. Townhomes, 4 bedroom, are about $1600-1800 a month and a nice home starts at about $2200.

The kids are excited knowing that they can't start school until we find a place to live. On base schools, there are four Elementary schools, two Middle schools, and one High School. It is hard for me to think that Shaylee will be in High School next school year.

Images of Maryland

I have just for fun been looking at images of Maryland in the area we will be living in. Here are some of my favorites!! I was looking for fall pictures but a few others that I liked made their way into my favorites collection. :) I can't wait to get out there and take my own pictures!!

The Hunt

I don't understand it! Since my first encounter in 8th grade after just moving to Utah I have never understood what all the hype was about. Everyone was buzzing about "Hunters Safety" Course, Guns, the Deer Hunters Ball (or Beer Hunters Brawl as our family so lovingly called it), and the empty chappel at church on Sundays durring the hunt. They even had a week long "Fall Break" from school that just happened to be durring the hunt. I would laugh how the cool thing to wear for just a few weeks was anything that was bright orange and or camo.

So imagine my dismay when I found out my darling new Hubby was a HUGE fan of the hunt. NOOOOOO!!!! This time honored tradition that I mocked for years I now had to be a part of. I am slowly coming to terms with it. I love him and he does so much for the family all year long it is great that he gets to go out and spend time doing something that he truly enjoys. I hope he gets lucky this year and gets something. Not that we will get to reap the benifits of it because of our move to Maryland, but he really deserves it!! We sure miss him!!

Our Loss....

This past two weeks has been hard. We suffered a miscarriage. We were so excited about this precious little one it was hard for all of us. I know people say that "Things happen for a reason" , "You will have another one" or "It just wasn't the right time" Yeah, I know, but it still doesn't change the fact that my heart aches. Through a lot of prayer and pondering I feel peace about what happened. I am thankful for the way this little one has blessed our family in the short time it was with us. I am thankful for those who have been there for me through all this...my sweet husband, my mom, Kellie & Andrew, and Mary. I don't know what I would do without their support and understanding. I am so thankful how each of them has blessed my life.

Update

Brian is headed to Hawaii this week. I will miss him for sure. He is such a big help and support around here I honestly don't know what I would do without him. Probably mope around. ;) He better hurry home.

Soon we will have to start school shopping. School starts on August 11th. All the kids will be in school this year. I never thought I would see the day, too bad I have to work.

Moving to Ft. Meade Maryland

Well as most of you know we are going to PCS to Ft. George G. Meade Maryland in October. It is located between Baltimore and Washington D.C. . We are excited about this move. It was Brian's #1 choice. We are looking forward to having 4 seasons again, a change in scenery, and the many historical aspects of living out east. The kids are just as excited to be doing something new. We leave on October 2nd starting our 7 day treck cross country.

New Blog.....

Well since we will be moving out east I thought perhaps it would be good to start a Blog for our Family. Hope I can keep up on it....