My hot wife!!

Camara sent me these pics a little while ago. I think she looks so amazing!! I'm sure you can agree. My time here is real short. I can't wait to be at home. I really miss Camara and the kids and they miss me. Every time I go away I am reminded of what we have together.

Camara, I LOVE YOU!! You are amazing! Thank you for being such an awesome wife/friend/mother/person. I am so blessed to have you. You have made my life so awesome. I know you don't get alot of thanks for supporting me while I am deployed, but I hope you know how much I appreciate you.

-Joe

Thanksgiving 2008

Adam and Melissa
Loren and Meg


Both of these couples are our neighbors. Meg and Loren just moved in earlier this year and Adam and Melissa have been our neighbors for over 2 years now. They are both really good couples and we are blessed to have such good neighbors.

My little family on Thanksgiving

Lauren knows how to please mommy with a cute smile for picture time!

Lauren cutting the bananas for our jello salad with her safe cutting kids knife

Lauren and Nolan love helping out in the kitchen

Though Thanksgiving wasn't the same without Joe, we still enjoyed our day. We were invited along with one of our other neighbors, to go next door for dinner. Everything tasted really good and we really had a fun time. I made deviled eggs and jello/fruit yummy salad! It was so nice to have a year off from cooking. Lauren spent the day with her "sister" and best friend Jordyn and Nolan ran around chasing their cat and getting into everything! We played a few games of skip-bo and then had to call it a night when kids started crying. In the morning me and some friends are headed to the BX to start our Christmas shopping. They are handing out free $20 gift cards for the first 100 shoppers. The store opens at 4 and we are leaving the house at 2:45. I am planning on going to bed very soon! Joe comes home a week from today! I am so ready! I have lots on my calendar before he gets home, but Im sure it will all get done somehow. If it doesn't nobody will know, but me! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Explosion in my home town (Glenrock, WY)!

Reading the news today, I happened to see this:

A few miles from where I grew up in Wyoming, there was a tractor trailer traveling from Casper to Douglas and for some unknown reason exploded. What I thought was really amazing about the story was, when the trailer blew up the it flew a half of a mile away! Amazing! From my experience with hazardous materials in my job, that is a really big explosion! It was carrying 12,500 gallons of butane! Since I work with preparing chemicals for air travel everyday, this story was especially intresting (Not really a family related post but "close to home" to me).

-Joe

Link:http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2008/11/25/news/casper/355aad60e824d3558725750d00078cb4.txt

New bows!

I finally ordered some bows for my poor little girl. I have been putting it off because they are so darn expensive! I finally gave in. Here are a few of the clips I got for her. There will be more b/c they are so fun! I think next will be Christmas bows! I might be more tempted to learn how to make my own, only we dont have any craft stores nearby. I would have to drive an hour just to get supplies and that is just annoying. I'll just save my gas and let someone else put the time into it!

Innocence

I thought there was nothing more innocent than a 3 year old until I had a 3 year old with the flu. She is so sweet. She says some of the funniest things. She has been talking in her sleep a lot. She woke up at about midnight last night and thought she was sneaking into my bed. I was just lying down after reading and she tiptoed in and was trying to be sooo quiet. I moved and she froze! It was so funny. I soon handed her a pillow and welcomed her into the bed. Around 4am she was burning up. She woke up vomitting and I went in to get her some more Motrin. She asked me to hold her hair while the leaned over the toilet. She was constantly asking me for drinks of water....which is really good that she wants to drink. After we got back into bed she wanted to talk. She has been asking lots of questions about God lately. Her Great Grandma is getting ready to pass away so she has been very interested in death and what it's all about. She tells me all the time. "Mommy I want to go live wis Heavenly Father and wis Daddy and you and wis Nolan." I almost cry everytime she says that. It's so innocent. Im so glad that we know the truth. I

feel so blessed to have the gospel of Jesus Christ so that I can teach my children the fullness of the gospel. I am especially grateful for eternal families. Although death is so scary and extremely sad, it is comforting to know that we will all be together as a family again someday.

Tummy aches and runny/stuffy noses...eek!

Lauren crashed on my bed before I could even get a clean set of sheets on it.
This isn't very clear, but you can see a little bit of the remains of vomit that seeped through the sheets. I need a vinyl sheet under my sheets I swear! You know the kind for bedwetters!

For the past few days the kids have had runny/stuffy noses. Nolan started first then Lauren caught up a couple days later. Lauren is my puking child anyways so when she's sick, "watch out!" Though it gives me time to catch up on homework and much needed housework, I hate the kids sleeping all the time because they're not feeling well.

A beautiful day

Today was such a beautiful day. The kids enjoyed running around outside and playing in the leaves!

Yes, we skipped!

Huh?

Timed camera's are awesome!

My arms aren't long enough...We can't wait for Daddy's long arms again!

Mommy and Nolie

This is Nolan saying he is "So big!"


So this morning we woke up at 8:10. When I woke up the kids were still sound asleep. I attempted to get ready quickly and even woke up the kids and picked their clothes out. It was around 8:33 when Lauren was refusing to get out of the shower. I threw my hands up and said, "forget it!" So we stayed home from church and watched Living Scriptures movies. They are cartoon movies about the scriptures. We dont get nearly enough use out of them as we had hoped for $37.00 per movie! Im sure through the years we will get more use out of them though. Although I felt a little bad for skipping church, the guilt soon left me when we all lied down for a 3 1/2 hour nap! That's right....we went to sleep at 10am and didn't wake up until 1:30pm. Oh it was so amazing! I woke up and the kids were still sleeping. Nolan always wakes up when he hears me walking around and then Lauren wakes up to him banging his crib against the wall! I felt so rejuevenated after I woke up. I wanted to do everything. My best idea was to get the camera out and take pictures of me and the kids. It was so fun. The kids were so happy and so was I. I do look like crap in all of them since I had just woken up, but boy did I feel great! I am so grateful for my children. I am so blessed to have a wonderful family that I am sealed to for eternity. I don't express enough how much I cherish my family. They make me smile from ear to ear! I love them so much!

Yard work with flurries!

We were out doing some yard work this morning (yes! in the snow flurries!) I tried to get some good pictures, but I was a little disappointed with my results! Maybe we will try again later when I finish raking the leaves!

My baby boy

I love this boy so much. I want another one!

He loves Lauren's tricycle

Our first time falling asleep in the high chair

Nolan was reaching for something in the bathtub and fell in fully dressed and ready for bed. You can even see the red mark where he hit his head on the way in!

He thinks he is so cool when he stands on it!

Sneaky kids

Whenever the kids are quiet it usually means that they are up to no good. I try to enjoy the quiet and give them the benefit of the doubt. By doing this, I always end up kicking myself in the butt! When am I ever going to learn?

That would be Lauren using my stamps as stickers!

I forget to lock this door more times than not! Oh yeah that's definitely poisonous miracle grow in the background! Nobody turn me in please!

Our trip home

Eric and Michelle Wilson

Recently we went out to Chicago and Indiana. Our first trip was to Chicago to see my brother Eric get married. The wedding was very nice. Lauren was the flower girl with Zach, her cousin and also the ring barer. She was of course extremely shy, but it was still cute. It's amazing how expensive everything was for a 30 second walk down the isle! I am thinking I am going to get some more professional pictures of her in it and then let her use it to dress up in! What else can ya do with it other than sell it? While we were in Chicago Nolan had his 1st birthday! We were pretty busy with the wedding, but we took some time early in the day to go out to breakfast and to visit the mall. For the circumstances, I think he had an okay birthday! We celebrated later with a cake. After the weekend in Chicago we drove to Indiana to Mom and Dad's house. Not nearly as long as our trip to Chicago. The kids are awesome travelers anyways.

We had Lauren and Zach practice in the hotel hallway

Lauren was so nervous and Zach was a pro!

After the wedding waiting for pictures to be done

The next week was Halloween week. We did trunk-or-treat at the church on Thurs. night and then took the kids to Sweetser, where we used to trick-or-treat on Halloween night. And of course headed to Aunt Alices for her famous carmel popcorn afterwards. The kids got lots more candy the first night than the second. My nephew Gregory ate so much candy he threw up! Nolan was a lion the first night of t-or-ting and a giraffe the second. Lauren was a witch with her cousin Victoria and Grandma. Cassidy thought it would be funny to spray everyone's hair pink so we all looked dumb with streaks of pink. It was the kind that washes out, but if you aren't dressing up it looks gay! It's alright though, we got him back!

And this picture officially sucks because Cassidy decided to push me

My nephew Kenneth turned 8 on Saturday and was baptized the day after. He is so funny. My all time favorite quote was from him. He had received candy as a baptism gift from a friend at church. After her got it he said, "Man if you get candy for getting baptized I'm doing baptisms for the dead for sure!" Of course you need to be LDS to appreciate that quote. He says funny stuff like this all the time though. I love that kid!

We spent lots of time at the dining room table as always playing games. Mostly the "idiot game!" We all took our fair share of being the idiot this time! We even designated a trophy that the winner must take home! It's a super fun and easy game that will stay in our family forever! When we weren't playing games we were watching movies together or taking unneeded trips to wal-mart b/c really what else is there to do in "Marion?" We had a great time either way and look forward to our next visit back to mom and dad's!

The "IDIOT!"

Pictures of our week thus far

It got quiet and then I realized the basement door was open. I looked on the stairs and no Nolan....I proceeded to walk downstairs b/c there was no Nolie in any of the rooms upstairs...this is what I found! Nolan getting some exercise!

Lauren, my ballerina!

I tried something new this time! It's fun and fallish!

Lauren's song!

Every afternoon at 5:00 the National Anthem plays here on base. This is a time where everyone stops what they are doing to listen and respect the freedoms they enjoy each day. This freedom could not be possible without those who have served and are currently serving in the military. Lauren has claimed the national anthem as, "her song." Each day as the song begins, she runs outside and on her way says, "Mommy, its my song!" After which, she stands on the side porch each day rain or shine with her hand over her heart facing the music.

After the song, I chased Lauren around trying to take pictures of her. She kept running from me so I couldn't take her picture. We both had a good time with that! I feel like lately I am always getting on Lauren for everything and praising Nolan just as much as I "yell" at her. It makes me sad. I told my friend Cassie today that I feel like the mom on "Everybody Loves Raymond" favoring my second child. I hate being on her all the time. She is such a sweet child. I keep reminding myself that she misses her daddy and needs extra attention from me.









There have been times where she will purposely do what Nolan is doing just to get my attention. It breaks my heart when she does that. I think we need a mommy/Lauren date soon. I am going home in a few day so I think I might make it a point to leave Nolan with my parents so me and Lauren can go do something fun together. I love being a stay at home mom so much and know that I am so blessed to be able to do this for our family. Without all of Joe's hard work I could never do what I do.

Halloween Dress Rehearsal!

"Roar!"

There will be cuter pics later, but this will have to do for now!

Yep....hates it!

My scary little witch!



What happens when mom gets bored? I dress my kids up and take pictures! As you will see Nolan absolutely hated his costume....its the hood! Lauren didnt have her hair or make-up done, and there are a few embellishments we still need to add like a broom, jewlery, ect. Im so excited for Halloween. We will be with lots of family. This will be our first year since we've been at Whiteman that we have been gone for Halloween. This will be our second Halloween without Joe home though

: ( He will be home in 51 days though! It is going fast!