Our Journey to Forever

Summer Fun

2011-07-25T10:14:00.018-06:00

We've been having a pretty good summer. We decided to go to Utah for a month to be close to family. We stayed there for all of June and now we're back in Washington. We brought my little sister Savanna back with us to stay for all of July. Here are some of the things we've been doing....
Parks

Playing Outside

Playing Inside

Children's Museum

Homemade Pizza

And last but not least Oliver is now in a big boy bed and doing great!

New Post!

2011-03-09T08:22:00.013-07:00

Finally getting the chance to do a new post. Things have been really busy for me lately. But, Ben has been missing his son so much so this post is for you Daddy....

Oliver is now a one year old.
Here he is eating his birthday cake. He actually didn't really like it. He just licked all the frosting off the top. (It may or may not be because I left out the baking soda and didn't taste very good. Lol.)

Having a toddler keeps me on my toes. He has been walking since 10 months old and now he is EVERYWHERE. He doesn't like to be held and definitely doesn't like you to hold his hand

Unless of course if your name is Daddy. When Ben is home he doesn't let him out of his sight. The last time Ben came home Oliver held on to him so tight and would not let go. So sweet. It makes me sad they have to be separated so much. But we sure do appreciate the sacrifices he makes for our family.

Here is how we get him dressed everyday. (We have to manhandle him a little bit) It's fun. :)

This is for all of you Despicable Me fans. Our little minion.

When we go out to eat at a restaurant we are definitely the loudest table. He loves to drum with his crayons (or hands) and then when he is done he likes to throw them at us. Lol.

Both of our families came out to visit for Olli's Bday. It was really fun to have some visitors. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures when Ben's parents were here. :( When my Dad and his wife came out they brought a little bike for him that they could build together. Oliver loved helping Grandpa bang with tools.

Also, we got to show our families a little tour of the base. Here's Oliver and my Dad looking at the planes. You can see Ben's plane in the background.

We hope to see more friends and family in the future. We miss you all.

10 months

2010-12-12T16:38:00.015-07:00

Life couldn't be any better right now. Here are my 10 favorite things about Oliver being 10 months:

1. He sleeps through the night! Yay. (It only took us 10 months but we made it) One night Ben went in to check on little O and this is what he found

2. He's a good little cuddler

3. His cheesy little smile with 3 teeth on the top and 2 on the bottom. Lol.

4. His jokes. He likes to come up to me and whisper his sweet baby talk and then laugh out loud.

And here he is at our ward activity, the theme was a night in Bethlehem and he spent most of the night hiding under this table yelling at people for attention.

5. His curiosity. I turned my back for a second and found him with a mouth full of dog food and two hand fulls of food ready to go.

6. His hair. It doesn't matter how I comb his hair it always looks shaggy. Here's his first haircut.

7. His brains. We bought the expensive baby gate that has a door you can walk through so you don't have to step over the gate. Well Little O knows how to loosen the gate so the door is easy to open and then climbs right up the stairs. So much for baby proof.

8. He puts his hands up and reaches for you when he wants to be loved on.

9. His love for his mommy and daddy. Right now he makes us feel like we're his favorite and he's ours.

10. His accomplishments. This past week he just started taking his first steps. He's growing up so fast.

(Does he look like he's from the olden days in Bethlehem?)

We love this little man.

Happy Holidays

2010-11-26T18:48:00.001-07:00

October Fun (Picture Overload)

2010-11-17T18:11:00.020-07:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to do a post. We've been gone on vacation and then we came home and Oliver got the croup and turned into a major pill.

Here's just some of the examples:

-waking up at 3:30 in the morning and staying up for the rest of the day and only taking a 30 min nap for 3 days in a row
-when we try to put him in his crib to let him cry himself to sleep he just cries for hours until I give in
-spitting his food out and slapping it out of our hands
-not wanting to be held or put down
-refusing to sit in the bath which caused him to fall into the faucet and give himself a black eye
-and learning how to throw tantrums by screaming, crying and hitting

But it looks like he's finally starting to be nice to his mommy and daddy again. :) On a better note he are some of the fun things we did in October

For family home evening we went to a farm to pick out our pumpkins, go to the petting zoo and corn maze

We learned to help unload the dishwasher

We learned how to climb the stairs

We carved pumpkins

We learned to drive

We went to Disneyland

And we went trick or treating

Now we're getting ready for the holidays and having a good time back at home!

I Got Tagged!

2010-10-16T08:01:00.003-06:00

What is your dream job and why?

Being a stay at home. Staying home and playing with my little man all day is the best job ever! My second choice would be an accountant out of my home. I know you all think that is weird but I LOVE accounting.

What is your all time favorite TV show or movie?

Favorite TV show would most definitely be The Bachelor. And favorite movie would be a tie for Serendipity and The Notebook. (Can you tell I love romance?)

Where is your ideal place to live?

In a little village in Germany. With a house that looks like a Gingerbread house on top of a beautiful green hill. :) Maybe one day.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

smoking

What is the first thing you'd buy if you won a million dollars?

Pay off the rest of our debt and our house.

What is your worst fear?

Whales. I'm deathly afraid. Not joking.

If you could be any celebrity who would you be?

Audrey Hepburn

8th album 4th picture

15 hours before I went into labor. We took the dogs for their last walk before Oliver came at the park next to our house.

Fun

2010-10-02T12:46:00.006-06:00

We have been having so much fun these past 2 weeks with Ben being home.

We've been going to lunch with daddy

Buying new toys at the just between friends event

Buying Halloween costumes

And going to the fair, painting some more of the house, dinner with friends and many many more. We're always so thankful when we get to keep Ben home longer than 4 days.

Boo Boo Lip

2010-09-27T16:19:00.002-06:00

Daddy, don't make me sad....

8 months

2010-09-24T20:25:00.007-06:00

This is how we've been spending our days lately. Tired. Oliver is back to getting up multiple times a night and is up by 4:30 a.m. everyday. We went back to crying it out at bedtime and I think we're going to have to let him cry it out at 4 a.m. also. That's just too early to function.

On a better note he is so fun when he isn't cranky... He's now crawling EVERYWHERE! He gets into all kinds of fun stuff. He has his two bottom teeth and his top teeth should be here anyday now. He's 20.5 lbs. Loves watching Daddy play video games

I came downstairs one day after I asked Ben to watch him while I took a shower and this is what I found.

Here's a couple home movies for you....one with Oliver's favorite game peek-a-boo and the other is little man crawling.

6 months

2010-08-15T10:20:00.013-06:00

Stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 7 oz (50%)
Height: 26 In (50%)
Head: 45 cm (90%)

Oliver's weight gain has slowed down a bit now that he's trying to be a little bit more mobile.

Here's 6 facts about him:

He still is bald although his little rat tail in the back is growing beautifully (almost time for a haircut)

He does everything in his power to keep his clothes off

Everytime he smiles he sticks his tongue out

He still has blowouts (Don't you wish you were me)

He loves Rowdy (and putting his hand in his mouth)

And he's finally turned into a decent sleeper. Only waking up once at night (I finally let him cry it out to go to sleep. It's amazing how easy that was)

This is how I find him after he wakes up so we just took the swaddle away. Crawling here we come. We're halfway there.

Motherhood

2010-08-13T11:05:00.002-06:00

I love this short video. What a wonderful message to mothers.

July 4th

2010-07-07T11:08:00.008-06:00

Ben was able to be home on the 4th of July so we decided to go out to the golf course and watch the fireworks as a family. We had such a good time. They had a concert going, bounce houses, food everywhere, sky divers, parades and more. We didn't participate in any of the activities since it was Sunday but next year we will be sure to jump on that. They said they had over 3,00 people there that night. The best part of it all was it only took us 10 minutes to get there and there wasn't any traffic coming home. And, Oliver did great! The fireworks didn't start until 10:15 and he was able to sleep right through it.

The only problem we had was it was colder than we had planned so Ben and I were cold but I bundled Olli up real good and he cuddled in between the both of us under the blanket so he was nice and toasty. Next year we'll be sure to bring more blankets.

As for everything else, Ben's back on the road and I've been called to be primary secretary in our ward so that's keeping me really busy. Oliver is learning to sit on his own already.

He must've learned it from his bff Logan.

These kiddos were cracking us up. (Mom stop laughing, please help) :)

Hanging out in the sun

2010-06-24T21:14:00.009-06:00

We've been outside enjoying the sun....

4 months

2010-05-31T19:57:00.004-06:00

We've hit the 4 month mark. My baby is growing way too fast. His favorite things right now are bath time, stories, eating his hands, pulling my hair and babbling. Here are his stats from his latest doctor's appt.

weight: 16 lbs 2 oz 80%
Height: 26 in 70%
Head circumference: 43.5 cm 80%

He's starting trying to grab food off of our plates now and looked interested in our food so the doctor said we could start trying to give him solids. The first few times he didn't really like it but now you can see he loves it. He's trying to help himself. I can't feed it to him fast enough.

2010-05-25T14:03:00.006-06:00

We're back home from California. We had such a great time. We did Disneyland with Mike and Ash and Universal Studios by ourselves

We went to my dad's work and bought a new car with our tax refund :) 2010 Honda Civic

Oliver even got to sleep with us. He loved it.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-10T09:06:00.011-06:00

Happy Mother's Day. Ben made this the best first mother's day ever. It started with a new haircut and color. And Ben stayed home with Oliver. Just after that 2 hours of being home with him Ben now says it's much harder being a stay at home mom. He would much rather be the provider and go to work everyday. That always makes you feel good.

Then the presents kept coming. He brought home roses on Saturday.

On Sunday Ben got up with Oliver at 6 and let me sleep in until 8. (That was heaven) Then I got my next present this beautiful right hand ring. (Thanks Mari for helping him out) And we ended the night with a delicious steak dinner that was supposed to be a romantic little date at home but Oliver was super cranky and Ben and I had to take turns eating and then taking the baby. It's the thought that counts.

As for Oliver he showed how much he loved me by not wanting to leave my side and...

whoops spitting up all over after just getting changed.

Yes, that is spit up coming out of his nose.

But that's okay this smile makes up for all of it. :) Thanks Oliver and Daddy for making the best Mother's Day a mom could have.

Quiet Book

2010-04-19T12:22:00.006-06:00

This is going to be my next craft project, making a quiet book for Oliver. I always see people at church with these, and I thought it sounded fun to make. I like this girls barn idea and it's something Oliver would actually be interested in right now.

If anyone else wants to make one I got the idea from craftingchicks.blogspot.com and they posted september 09. (The hyperlink isn't working) And if anyone has any creative ideas let me know :)

2 months

2010-04-06T11:00:00.004-06:00

Oliver is 10 weeks as of yesterday. We had his 2 month check up yesterday as well. Here are the stats:

Head circumference 41 1/2 cm 90%
Height 23.3 inches 75%
Weight 14 lbs 11 oz a little over 95%

That's right, he's a chubster. Here are some of the fun things he's doing now:

cooing and squealing
drooling
smiles
rubs eyes while tired (which also scratches his face)
sucks on hand
pumps his arms and legs when he gets excited
and just started attempting to roll over

Oliver is such a joy to be around. I can't get enough of him. I'm so proud to call myself his mommy.

Easter Eggs

2010-04-03T19:46:00.005-06:00

Ben left Thursday for work so Wednesday we decided to celebrate Easter and dye eggs. We tried to wait until Oliver went down to bed to start. At 9:30 he fell asleep and I went to put him to bed, but he has a new trick. The second his head touches the mattress he opens his eyes and is wide awake. So he joined us.

(pretend you didn't see our dog on the table)

Hi Daddy!

2010-03-25T16:04:00.003-06:00

Hi Daddy, we miss you! Come home soon :)

Utah

2010-03-16T12:13:00.004-06:00

We just got home from Utah last week and we had so much fun! We wish we were still there. While we were there we had Ben's cousin Madi take family and baby pictures for us and here are some of the samples. I think they turned out really well. I always love the pictures she takes.

I love these ones. Oliver loved the camera. Lol.

Also, while we were there we were able to bless Oliver. That was such a special moment for our little family. This is a picture of him in his blessing outfit.

Now we're back home, back to reality. Ben's gone on another trip. They've bumped his trips up to 15 days at a time instead of 10 from now on and he has to take them more often. Oliver and I better start making some friends real quick. It's even harder now having Ben gone now that Oliver is here. I know it's harder for him too because he doesn't want to miss out on anything. Luckily, we have skype and we can see each other on the computer.

As for everything else, life is starting to settle down a bit for Oliver and I. He's sleeping a little bit better and going a little bit longer between feedings and taking naps! <~~~ Mom's best friend. Now if I could just get my house under control and if I could get 3 meals in a day. It's really hard to cook since he always wants to be entertained and held. I normally get in 1 good meal and the rest consists of snacking (usually on cookies or chips or whatever I can eat really fast). I'm realizing everything is a juggling act and I'm getting better at it everyday.

One Month Old

2010-03-02T19:19:00.007-07:00

Oliver is now a little over one month old. This has been the fastest month of my life. The days just fly by. I never knew how much work a baby was. I'm lucky if I get to take a shower and brush my teeth before 11. It's crazy to think I went from this (the day I went into labor)

to this handsome little man.

Here are some things about Oliver at 1 month:

-Still won't sleep very well at night. He wakes up about every 1 1/2-2 hours, which means I probably get a total of 4-5 hours of sleep a night if I'm lucky.

-Great eater. He now weighs 12 lbs. He was in the 75% at his 2 week check up but I think that's changed now.

-Likes to nurse at least every 2 hours.

-Only takes two or three 1 hour naps during the day

-Smiles and coos.

-Loves the puppies

-Loves to sleep in our bed, but we're mean and take him to his crib as soon as he falls asleep.

-He can get out of any swaddle we try regardless of how tight. We call him Houdini

-And loves to hear the scriptures at night before bed for story time

Just Daddy and Me

2010-02-07T17:25:00.009-07:00

Today is game day. Ben is a HUGE colts fan. We just sat down to watch the super bowl and we are so excited! I thought I would put some pics up of just the two of them.

This is how we eat ice cream together

This is me suiting up for the big game

But then I peed on it....but luckily Daddy bought me 3 Colts outfits. So here is outfit number 2.

Here's Daddy and me watching the game together. I was really tired.

But Daddy is a little too loud and kept waking me up. So Mommy took me. I wouldn't let her put me down so we're watching the rest of the game in the moby wrap so she can get move around the house.

One week old

2010-02-04T11:33:00.005-07:00

Look at those cheeks, doesn't it make you just want to eat him up?

No more pictures mom.

This has been the fastest week of my life. I feel like the days are just flying by. My mom just left yesterday. I'm so glad she was able to come out here for the birth and to help out. She was a lifesaver. Oliver has been a pretty good baby. He doesn't really cry that much except at the bewitching hour which is around 6. For some reason he's just had it by then. Other than that, I feel like I know his schedule pretty well. It's an endless 3 hour cycle. Change him, feed him, and burp him. As soon as I'm done with that he usually needs to be changed again. Lol. Then I have about an hour or two and then the whole cycle starts over again. He doesn't really like his bassinet that much so we're just going straight for the crib. He seems to do a little bit better in there. Last night was the first night we tried it and he woke up about every 40 min and would cry for 10 min and then fall asleep for another 40 min and then it would be time to feed him again. It was really hard to just let him cry but he has to learn sometime I guess. Ben has to go back to work on Monday and he'll be leaving on a trip really soon. So we need Oliver to like his crib before he leaves or there will be no sleep for me.

This is what a typical shift looks like. :) Even the puppies are tired. But like you all said, they won't stay this little forever so we're trying to soak it all up.

Birth Story part 2

2010-01-29T17:34:00.011-07:00

Okay so there I was telling them I wasn't going to make it and I was throwing in the towel and wanting the c-section and the midwives decided it was time for the epidural. Hallelujah! Those words were like music to my ears. At this point I didn't have any breaks in my contractions they were doubling up one after another. She told me unfortunately since I wasn't progressed very much I was at a higher risk of a c-section and having more complications but I did not care one way or another. This needed to end. They made my mom stay outside the room because they could only have so many people in there. Ben was able to come with me. He was getting really worried at this point. None of us knew if the epidural would actually work. He knew there would be pain but he said it was just breaking his heart. Since my body couldn't hold still they had to give me a spinal first to numb my back and then I could try and hold still for them. Luckily, the spinal did take the edge off and I was able to get an epidural about a half hour later at around 10:00 p.m. That kicked in so fast and I was gone. I just went right to sleep. They hooked me up with a little pitocin and oddly enough my body just took off and started progressing. By 3 in the morning I was at a 5 and they broke my water and at 7 they started setting up the room and at 8 it was time to push. They informed me the reason I couldn't progress was because I wasn't letting my body relax. Also they said he was face up and that's what was causing the back labor. The back of his head was against the bone. So now that he was face up not only did I have to push but I had to try a bunch of positions to get him to turn. Right as they were telling me this the girl next door was starting to push and she was screaming. That freaked me out. Here is a picture of me right before I started pushing. You can tell it was a long day.

This story is almost over. I pushed and gave it my all starting at 8:20 and he was out at 9:18. He had a little meconium so they had the pediatricians in there and handed him off to them right away.

We did get him turned a little bit but not all the way. He came out sideways with his face facing the right. Because of this and since he was such a big baby I did tear a little. But he came out crying his little heart out and healthy as can be at 8 lbs 10 0z and 20 inches long. He has fuzzy dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. He's as beautiful as can be and we just love him.

I'm healing incredibly fast and nursing is coming right along. I was able to come home from the hospital and fit right back into my pre pregnancy pants.

He's a good baby until the night comes and gives us a run for our money. We don't know how to get him to go to sleep without someone holding him just yet so that has been quite the challenge. So if anyone has any great ideas please pass them our way.

He's Here!....Labor Story

2010-01-28T17:39:00.004-07:00

As you've all probably heard Oliver Grey as made his debut! Sorry it's taking me a little while to get pics up and writing back to some of you. I have been wiped out. Who would have thought something that slept so much would take every second of your day? Good thing he's so cute. He's worth it.

I'll try and hurry to tell you the labor story before he wakes again..... :)

So everything started Saturday night really. Ben and I were preparing our talks for church, the next day in sacrament meeting. We were finishing everything up around 9 p.m. and I was saying how active he was in belly. Seriously, he was so so crazy in there I knew he was trying to get out but didn't think anything of it since I hadn't been having any contractions. Then we went to bed and at 2 a.m. Sunday morning I woke up in bed and felt a little funny. So, I got up went to the restroom in the dark and saw there was A LOT of blood in my pants. Now what? I took a deep breath and turned on the light. Tried to get cleaned up for a second and called labor and delivery. About 10 minutes after I woke up I started feeling contractions in my back only. They were coming every 2 minutes right away. They didn't feel too strong but I could tell they were slowly increasing. Labor and delivery said we needed to come in right away because of the amount of blood so at 3:00 a.m. off we went.

As soon as we got in the car I called my mom and told her I think it's time. (Worried she wouldn't make it) She reassured me she would be there. She called Southwest and got booked on the next flight to arrive at 11:00 a.m. And left her house 15 min. after I had told her. She's amazing.

So we get to triage and they hook me up to everything. Ask me about pain and I say it's about a level 1. I was joking and laughing but my back was a little achy. They checked and I was only 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced but my contractions were so regular they made us walk the hospital for 2 hours and come back and get checked. We started walking and after 20 minutes I couldn't walk or talk through contractions and they were really starting to get uncomfortable. Again only in my back though. After 2 hours we go back in and I'm still only a 1. Great. So they send us home at 8 and told us it could be days before he comes and he probably wouldn't come until Tuesday. The car ride back was uncomfortable but I was glad to get home to try and relieve some of the pressure. Laying on my back and sitting down felt like I was carrying a 300 lb weight on me. Right when we get home I get in a really hot bath. That's when I started to lose it. My sister in law Ashley called me and was trying to make me feel better (thanks by the way Ash) while I was sitting in there. I was crying and telling her the pain was so much already and I was only a 1. She told me some other things I could try and I tried some of those after my bath but they just weren't working. By this time Ben needed to go pick up my mom and I told him I would just stay home and try and take a nap. Off he went. My nap never happened but I was able to relax a little.

They arrived back home at 1 p.m. I was feeling a little better and my mom was rubbing my back during contractions while I was on my hands and knees. While she was doing that, Ben was enjoying his Colts game. Lol. He kept trying to show me replays but I wasn't having it. Ben gave me some toast to eat to give me some energy. Then things changed really quickly. At 4 p.m. the contractions were still coming 2 minutes apart but I couldn't get through it without crying. My mom said it was time to go. So off we went again.

The car ride was even worse. We got up to triage and they started asking me all the same questions but they could tell something had changed. One of the questions was is the baby moving? And I said, "I don't even know I haven't been paying attention we're not on good speaking terms right now." Everyone just laughed. So then it was time to get checked. I was only at 1 1/2 cm and 90% effaced. Are you kidding me!? I told them I wasn't going to make it. Luckily they realized how bad my contractions were and she said we'll get you some pain medication and have you take a nap and see what happens from there. But before I could do that they had to take all these blood tests and they brought someone in to try and take my mind off of the contractions so I could sit still long enough for them.

So they wheeled me in a quiet room and gave me 2 doses of morphine and thought those would do the trick. It was the strongest thing they could give me. Well that was a no go. I started to get delirious. For those of you who don't know back labor is the worst you could have. Ben kept saying it's okay it's okay and I finally said it's not okay. I'm really not going to make it. I started telling my mom I need a c-section I can't do this. It was only 8:00 p.m. So the nurses changed their plan asap.

Sorry but baby needs to eat.....I'll come back.

Guessing Game

2010-01-22T14:38:00.003-07:00

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday. Nothing new really. I'm now 80 percent effaced and still not dilated and the baby's head is at a -1 station. He's looking like 7 lbs right now. The due date is on Monday and I'll have my next appointment next Thursday if I make it that far (which it sounds like we will) and we'll set an induction date for that following week. So really I only have about a week and a half left to wait. I can do that easy.

I want to see what everyone's guess is for when he'll come, what time, how big, how long, hair or no hair and anything else you would like to guess.

My guess is he'll come Feb 1 at 3:00 in the afternoon. 8 lbs 2 oz, 21 inches with lots of dark brown hair.

Is he coming now?

2010-01-18T12:27:00.005-07:00

Ben officially got home Thursday morning so Oliver is more than welcome to make his debut but I'm thinking he's going to try and stay in for as long as he possibly can. For all of those that are interested.....I'm 39 weeks today, 50% effaced but I haven't started dilating yet. But the good news is his head is really low and they seem to think things can change very quickly. So we'll see. Regardless he should be here in 3 weeks or less. Can you believe it?!?

Yesterday we had a fun experience, Ben and I were at church sitting in sacrament meeting and when we got up to go to the next class I was soaking wet! I don't think anybody saw but it was still really embarrassing. My skirt was soaked and there was a puddle on the bench. Of course Ben and I immediately thought could that have been my water breaking? So I ran and hid in the car while Ben handled everything and we went home. I changed and we packed up the car and had everything ready to go. I was having regular contractions but they weren't strong at all so I knew those weren't real so we decided to kind of wait around a little, eat some lunch and I laid down. Nothing was happening. Then we kind of figured it probably wasn't my water breaking but Ben told me to call the hospital and see if they could give us some signs to look for just to be safe. Apparently, the nurses on Sundays don't like to talk and they kept cutting me off and telling me just come in. So better safe than sorry we went in. They did an exam and a couple ultrasounds and after an hour and a half they told us it wasn't my water breaking.

That's what we figured. So next appointment is this Thursday and we'll see if I've progressed any then. Until then I'll show you the completed nursery.

Here's his (and guests) bathroom. Designed with love by Ben. We call him our little monkey because he's always moving around so that's where the monkeys came from.

And I had to show this because I was so proud of myself for making it all on my own. My first sewing project, this nursing cover.

Don't come out until Daddy comes home....

2010-01-04T13:33:00.002-07:00

Do we all know the tune to the primary song "I'm so glad when daddy comes home, glad as I can be." Well that's the tune Ben has been using every night when he sings to little Oliver, "Don't come out until Daddy comes home." Ben left for his final trip before the baby comes yesterday. And guess what, I went full term today. He isn't scheduled to come back until anywhere from the 13th-15th. I'm not really too worried about it since most babies do come late when it's your first. But, since I'm expecting him to come late does that mean he's going to come early? I sure hope not. Ben gave me about 40 numbers I can call in case something does happen and they'll take care of me and make sure Ben gets called. Also, there's a few people from church that are aware of the situation that I can call as well. So here goes...pray for us that this little one will wait. My next doctor's appt is on the 14th and that's when I'll get checked to see if my body is progressing at all. As for right now they say he's already starting to drop. The head's pretty low. The midwife says he's probably going to be a small little guy at 6 or 7 lbs and healthy as ever. Today I'm starting to get the baby's and my hospital bag ready and start washing all his bedding and clothes. As for me I'm still feeling really good. My backaches have disappeared for some reason. I feel like I've been given a sleeping pill these last couple weeks. I get tired very easily. Last week Ben and I toured labor and delivery and it freaked us both out a little but it also helped us feel more prepared. I'll try to keep everyone updated more frequently now that it's so close and next time I'll put up some pictures.

8 months

2009-12-10T10:17:00.007-07:00

I am now officially 8 months along. Crazy! Time really is flying by. As you can see I haven't stopped growing to say the least. I'm now at the uncomfortable stage and it's only going to get worse from here. So far I've gained 20 lbs (which I'm not complaining, I'm happy with that number) but as you can see most of it is my stomach and in my chest which KILLS my back. Sleeping is a circus act in itself. I constantly need to switch the side I'm laying on but I need a mound of pillows for whichever way I'm sleeping. And just to turn over I almost need a little push to get by belly up and over. And the last thing is using the restroom a billion times a day. Other than those 3 things it's amazing. Ben just got home from another trip on Tuesday so yesterday we went out and spent the whole day together and had a baby shopping spree. We had so much fun. We've been saving and saving for Olli's fund so it felt good to finally get to use it. There were a few things that are IMPOSSIBLE to find. For his coming home outfit I need a little brown plain cotton beanie. They don't exist apparently. I can find them in every color but brown.

I ordered one 9 weeks ago and I guess they just took my money and don't care to give me the hat. Another one, plain white socks.

Again, they have socks of every design and color except plain white for babies. And lastly soothie binkies.

Everyone tells us these are the best, it's what the hospital uses. They are sold out everywhere. Except our last stop was grocery shopping and I thought I would just check and they had 4 packages left of the newborn ones. (They come 2 to a pack) Ben bought all of them. Just in case our dogs get a hold of one and we can keep some upstairs some downstairs. Some will get lost I'm sure.

As for everything else, we're doing really good. We're just about all settled in our new house. We have all our Christmas decorations up. Ben's home for now and he'll probably do one more 10 day trip before Oliver comes. Maybe two. Everyone has told him once I get closer to the due date they'll keep him on day trips so he can be home every night and can get home quickly if he needs too. So for now we're just enjoying the time we have just the two of us.

Baby Shower

2009-11-27T17:07:00.009-07:00

I'm back home from California and the best baby shower ever! It was so fun. It all started last week when I started getting all the big presents from family such as this adorable crib from my mom and Aunt Mari

super cuddly car seat from my dad and Flory

And then I flew out and headed to the party. One of my good friends Jamie made this cake all by herself. Isn't it amazing? She needs to do cakes professionally. She says it's just a hobby. (P.S. for anyone who hasn't heard the baby's name is going to be Oliver Grey)

She also made this baby blanket and a whole basket of first aid goodies. Very crafty.

Just a few other favorites were the Bumbo seat

USC Onesies

And the cutest little aviator outfit. Now we need to get a matching coat for daddy.

This little baby is going to be so spoiled. Thank you to everyone who came, I had a blast. Now it's go time. We've got 8 weeks to finish purchasing any other odds and ends, finish the nursery and unpack the rest of our house. Then I can meet my sweet little boy. I can't wait!

Dinner Disaster

2009-11-19T14:43:00.003-07:00

Since I'm now staying home and not working I've decided to make it a personal goal to get better at cooking meals. Since we've moved into our new house I have to say I've done awesome. Not only does Ben always have a meal ready when he gets home or soon after but it tastes great as well. But as of a couple nights ago my streak was ruined. I tried to make chicken fried steak. No go. The whole outside crust was completely burnt. The whole downstairs was one big cloud of smoke.

Now you would think we would just throw it away and eat mac and cheese but nope my sweet husband ate it. As did I. He was so funny he still found a way to compliment how good the meal was. Lie. But that's okay.

Nursery #2

2009-11-09T19:26:00.006-07:00

So after I finished the nursery I took pictures right away, posted them on the blog and went straight to bed. I was feeling pretty good about my accomplishment. Then the next morning I went in to look at it again and I hated it! The paint had dried much darker and it reminded me of a circus tent. So what's the logical thing to do? Paint it all over again of course. Yep that's right, the very next morning I repainted the whole thing in one day. (I blame my craziness on being pregnant) Now it's all blue with one tan wall and it looks much better. I wanted to hurry and fix it before Ben came back home. Now he's home and loves it. He was so excited that he put together the bassinet so there would be something in there for right now.

A quick update on Ben:
He just got back from his second trip to the middle east. He's been to both Iraq and Afghanistan now. He says it's so surreal being down there. When they land they have to get in their bulletproof vest and someone has a gun on them at all times. They get in and get out as fast as possible. His mission is always something different and he's just trying to get the hang of everything right now. He's home for now but probably only for a week or so. They don't tell us when he's going to leave again until 2 or 3 days before. So we'll party until he has to leave again and then I'll get back to work.

As for me, I'm now 29 weeks pregnant and feeling larger than life. Just call me Ginormica. Ü I feel like my stomach has stretched to its max and I really don't want to know how much more it can really stretch in the next 11 weeks. But I know it'll be worth it in the end.

House Pictures

2009-11-05T21:07:00.004-07:00

(kitchen/dining room)
We have the downstairs all set up besides hanging pictures and stuff. We definitely need some decorations. It looks really plain. But I still love it.

(Living room)

(Entry way)

(Downstairs powder room)

Nursery

2009-11-05T20:35:00.013-07:00

I finished painting the nursery today! It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, but all in all I'm glad with how it turned out. Here are the before pictures:

And here is the after. It looks a little darker than it actually is. I changed my mind on how I wanted to do it. It's hard to get a good picture because the room is so small so you'll just have to come and visit to get the big picture.

Now we just need to get some furniture and a baby in there. :)I did order his bed set and we should be getting it sometime next week. Here's a picture of it.

My poor puppies have felt neglected this week with Ben being gone and me working on the nursery and house. One day I lost track of time and forgot to fill up their bowls with food and as I was walking around the corner to look for them I found this:

Two empty bowls so nice and neat in the middle of the floor. Rowdy's new trick.

Welcome Home

2009-10-30T14:29:00.006-06:00

We are finally in our new house! Doesn't it look so great? We are loving every bit of it. We still have lots of unpacking to do but we'll get there.

I'll put some pictures of the inside sometime next week when we're a little more organized.

Also, I finished my first baby project. Oliver Grey's first blanket. I'm proud of how it turned out. I'm going to start on the nursery this week while Ben is out of town to keep me busy.

Don't mind me...I just woke up but I was so excited to show everyone.

Pregnancy Brain

2009-09-29T11:28:00.002-06:00

Everything is moving right along. I'm at 23 weeks now. I constantly feel him move throughout the day. He's a strong little boy.

-He doesn't like church or the temple (or he's really excited). Without fail whenever I'm there he will kick me the whole entire time and the second I leave he stops.
-He doesn't like me to sing "don't you wish your girlfriend was hott like me...." (I always get a big kick to the bladder with this one)
-He LOVES candy. (This is all I want to eat lately)
-He loves Rowdy and Rowdy loves him. Rowdy likes to come lay his head on my belly and the baby will always move his body closer to Rowdy.
-He sleeps most of the day and is awake most of the night

As for me, everything is still going great. I love being pregnant. Pregnancy brain has kicked in though such as:

-Cooking grilled cheese sandwich on the George foreman grill with one piece of bread on bottom, cheese and that's it. Then opening up the grill and asking how did the grill eat that top piece of bread? Then looking over and seeing that top piece still laying on the counter.
-Cooking frozen burritos in the oven for 45 minutes and when the timer goes off realizing you have to turn the oven on first. :(
-saying we need to buy some "wattled botter", thinking that was a real word
-then just the typical forgetfulness.

As for everything else, the countdown is on until we move into our new house! Only 24 more days. I can't wait.

Nursery

2009-09-15T13:23:00.002-06:00

I love this nursery by pottery barn. This is how I want to do his room but with little airplanes hanging from the ceiling. What do you think?

Baby Pictures

2009-09-15T12:52:00.004-06:00

Here are a couple pics from our sweet little baby. Doesn't he look so cute?

This is his side profile. His little hand is up by his face. He was very shy in the ultrasound. He kept trying to cover up whatever we were trying to look at.

This one is his first little footprint.

Now that we know we're having a little boy it seems so real. I am now halfway done and I know this last half will fly by with the holidays and everything. I can't wait to hold him. I get so excited everytime I think about him. I just keep thinking about having a tiny little Ben. It doesn't get much cuter than that.

The results

2009-09-10T14:11:00.004-06:00

All of you who commented were wrong except Ash. Lol. It's a little boy. Ben and I are so excited. We already bought a few first outfits for him. He looks so sweet and tender in his ultrasound, we can't wait to meet him. I'll try to get the pics up later.

It's that time...

2009-09-09T17:24:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow is the big day when we find out what we're having. Everybody take a vote on what you think the baby is.

Dog Park

2009-08-28T14:15:00.007-06:00

Since our house won't be ready until October we are finding new ways to keep ourselves entertained. We don't have t.v. or internet in our apartment and the dogs are loving it. Lots of attention for them. We found this awesome dog park that is just minutes away.

This park is huge! (acres and acres) No leashes allowed, and it's fully fenced! Lucky for us because our little Ruby is an escape artist sometimes.

There are lots of pretty trails in the park, so Ben, Baby, and I get our exercise walking for over an hour everyday.

The park is covered with rasberry and blackberry bushes. So, as we're walking we can have a little snack.

I like this :)

Its Growing......

2009-08-28T13:57:00.007-06:00

My bump is starting to grow like wildflower.

Meanwhile, Ben is starting to get his practice in holding a baby, Rowdy will have to do.

We Bought a House

2009-08-19T18:41:00.008-06:00

Ben and I made an offer on a house yesterday and we got it! We are so excited. We saw this house and made an offer the same day. It's 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. It's pretty cozy though. It's a little over 1500 sq ft. The biggest advantage of all is a decent sized backyard where our puppies can run and run. Unfortunately, the house is in the last stages of being built so we won't be able to move in until October 22 but that's okay at least we found one. Here are some pictures of the model we purchased.

Point Defiance Park and Baby Pics.

2009-08-12T22:11:00.013-06:00

Ben and I went to Point Defiance Park today on the Puget Sound. Amazing place, and it's only 10 min. away. Anybody who comes to visit, this is the first place we're taking you. All of these pictures are from this park.

Here is the Bing Crosby Flower Garden. Apparently, he is from Tacoma.

Then, we went for a walk along the water. The dogs loved this. Washington is very dog friendly so we could let them off their leash and they got a chance to run and chase the birds.

This is us still sitting by the water, and behind us was a forest. We thought that was cool.

Lastly, we walked through the picnic area on the way back to the car.

And I found the biggest Christmas Tree I've ever seen! I love Christmas.

Here's a quick update on the baby.

I'm 16 weeks and my belly just barely rounded out. This whole time my belly has looked like a pooch but just barely on Monday morning it turned into a small firm cantaloupe. I love it. You can't really tell in these pics though. Also, last night I felt the baby move for the first time. I was so excited. It felt like it did two little somersaults or waves going on inside. So cute. I can't wait for it to feel like the baby is doing this inside. Lol.

First days in Washington

2009-08-03T11:13:00.002-06:00

Let me just start by saying I love Washington. There is so much for us to do here and it looks just as I pictured it. I'm excited for all our future adventures together here. Now enough about that, lets talk about our first couple days here....

We drive 13 hours to get here from Utah. No problems. The dogs are being great and we split it in 2 days so it really wasn't that bad. Then when we get here everything changes.....

1. We got an awesome internet deal on a hotel that is pet friendly for $44 a night (cheapest we could find)but we check in and apparently they have a pet fee they don't mention which is $50 a night. (Now not so awesome $90 hotel.)

2. Then we dropped the dogs off and had a good time going to the base and other towns exploring for a place to live. The one place we loved is only building no already made homes for sale. Unfortunately, they said the earliest it could be done would be end of Jan. early Feb. (baby is due Jan. 26 ) That won't work.

3. After a long day we went back to the room and took the dogs for a walk and then at 9:30 Ben decided to go to Walmart to buy some groceries so we could save some money. He buys groceries comes out around 10 and the battery in the car is dead.

4. He tries to find someone to get him a jump. No one would help him. He called our insurance and luckily they sent someone out 45 min. later. After 3 jumps Ben finally made it back at 12:30 a.m. (With McDonalds for dinner and a movie for me, isn't he amazing?) But we had no dvd player in the room to watch it :/ so we watched it on the laptop with subtitles because you can't hear it. lol.

5. Next morning we get another jump, take it to walmart to replace the battery. There's a long wait but we have no choice and they say they'll call us so we just waste time in Walmart. Guess what, they never call we go check on it and it's been sitting there. (oh well, at least it's fixed.)

6. It's still pretty early and Ben's b-day is coming up and he wants a new phone so we go look for an iphone. Apparently Washington doesn't like it because we couldn't find it anywhere. No one would sell anything to us. Horrible service. Half of the time we would walk into a store and not one person would be in there. Weird.

7. Forget the phones, we realize our registration for the car is expired in 2 days so we run to the registration office, bring the title we have and it's the wrong one. We could only get a temporary paper registration until we mail off for our new title. And it would cost us an extra $23 on top of what we need to pay.

8. Ben's license expires on his b-day so we go to get a new Washington license, he can't have one until he proves he is a resident here. How does that work, since you have to have a Washington ID to be a resident? Weird.

9. As we were running all these errands occasionally I would run into some man or teenage boy who would try to hit on me. What kind of men like to hit on pregnant women? Gross. (unless its your wife, that's okay)

10. Ben was supposed to check in on this day (Friday) but when he called in turns out Friday everyone was off. Good thing he called in. Monday he checks in now.

11. We decided to go to Walmart again to get some stuff we had forgotten, and just our luck Ben was wearing a byu hat and the cashier said he didn't help mormons. But, he was just kidding I guess.

12. Then went home and went down to the front desk to pay for the internet so we could use it, turns out its free and everyone can get it but us. Joy.

13. Now I'm just grumpy, go to bed, wake up next morning to take the puppies outside at around 8 and I hear all these sirens. Turns out there was a criminal in our hotel and a guy is getting arrested right where I need to take the puppies. (Now I feel safe)

14. Last but not least, we go to church yesterday. I was so excited to make a friend and I had so many military related questions on decisions we should make so I wanted to get their advice. We even made sure to go to the ward right next to the base so there would be military. We get there, the bishop tells us Ben is the only pilot in the whole ward. Very few military. It was fast and testimony meeting and a lady got up and told us someone had gotten shot at her work that week. (freaky) I went to relief society there were only 3 rows in that room and the first 2 were all new visitors and half of them had just barely gotten baptized. The people were very nice but I don't think that ward is for us. The area is sketchy right there and I think I need to find a ward with more friends that I can make and more support for when Ben is gone all the time.

15. That is all I have for now. Ben and I thought all of this was very comical, and I would've blogged about it sooner but refer to number 12 (free internet didn't work for us)

Pregnancy Update

2009-07-10T13:39:00.002-06:00

Everything is still going great! So far I love being pregnant. This baby has been so kind to me. I have been blessed with no morning sickness and no sensitivity to smells or anything like that. I have had a few food aversions though.....

Baby does not like:

chicken
eggs
large amounts of beef
prescription prenatal vitamins <----- grossest stuff of all time! But I still gag them down

Baby loves: (pretty much my diet on a daily basis)

fruit
yogurt
pinkberry (frozen yogurt)
sandwhiches
cereal
pickles :)

This is a fun experience, I just wish Ben was here to enjoy it with me. Luckily I get to see him in less than a week now! It'll be two months since the last time we saw eachother. I'm excited to be with him and my puppies again when I fly out to Utah and then we'll be on our way to Washington finally!

Big News

2009-06-20T09:46:00.003-06:00

We've told our family so now we can let the cat out of the bag. Ben and I are expecting our first little peanut! We are so excited. I'm 8 weeks along and I'm due January 26th. My last ultrasound was at 7 weeks and unfortunately I won't be having another one until about 14 or 15 weeks because of the move. So pray everything goes well. :) I feel fine I haven't been sick or tired at all, so I've really been lucky.

Memorial Day

2009-05-28T07:02:00.003-06:00

We wanted to do something fun for the holiday so we decided to go to a water park called White Water Bay. We went with our friends Mike and Kim. It was so fun. I wish we were going to be here longer to do it again.

As for everything else, we are moving in less than two weeks. We had everything planned out perfectly. Ben was graduating June 9th the movers are coming June 10th and we were on our way to Dallas June 11th for Maddie's wedding on the 13th. Then on the 14th we would drive to Utah and hopefully arrive on the 15th and then I'm flying out to Cali for a month on the 16th from Salt Lake and he's flying out to Washington for his last training that lasts 3 weeks and we'll meet back in Utah July 16th. That is still how everything is happening except Ben just found out yesterday that he wont even get his first graduation flight until the 8th! So the earliest he'll be done is the 12th. Which means I'm definitely moving by myself, probably going to Maddie's wedding by myself and driving with my two dogs to Utah by myself and not getting that week and half with him. :( But it's not his fault. He would change it if he could. The Air Force likes to keep us on our toes :) Wish me Luck!

Surprise....

2009-05-19T20:25:00.006-06:00

Aren't you surprised there's a new post? I thought so. Life has been really crazy around here. I just finished school and I'm trying to get everything ready for the move. In 3 weeks we are out of here. Ben should be all done with Altus around the same time. We have been very lucky and he has been able to come home just about every weekend. This is what the dogs do every Friday just waiting for Ben to come home it's so sweet.

As for what isn't so sweet is this little guy. Don't let him fool you.....

Just kidding he is actually getting a lot better. For awhile there he was chewing 4 internet cables
3 blankets
1 water bottle we use to punish him with
every dog toy we own
3 arms of our chairs
corner of the table
food we leave for 2 seconds
just about dug up the whole entire backyard
howls at everything that moves
had 3 ticks in the last 3 days!
power cord
friend's power cord to Playstation 3
friend's glasses
stolen towels off the rack while we were in the shower
chewed through 5 pairs of my garments
1 pillow to our couch
ate half of our remote to our t.v.
about 7 pens
pees on Ben's side of the bed when he is punished
knows how to climb up anything that I hide this stuff at
likes to hide my garments and then bring them out when we have company
And last but not least he broke his chain collar while on a walk (he was that strong)

But I think he is finally growing out of his puppy stage. If I didn't love this puppy so much he would've been gone by now. But these last few weeks have been just perfect. I can leave him alone and not worry what will happen when I come back. Plus now we have this nifty little kennel we got them. They no longer sleep in our bed and I have noticed a very big change in them. Hallelujah. Now if we could just get Ruby a haircut everything will be great.

Wisdom Teeth

2009-03-22T18:46:00.001-06:00

This weekend was bittersweet. My good friend Kim watched our dogs for me while I went down to Altus to pick Ben up Wednesday night and I got to bring him home with me on Thursday morning. It was so good to see him. Unfortunately the reason he came home with me is because I had to get my wisdom teeth out Friday morning. I get so worked up about these little things that just have to be done. But Ben so kindly escorted me as he was making little comments such as "going under the knife", "being a victim", "you'll be so smoked after you won't be able to do anything". He was actually trying to make me laugh and some of them worked but I wanted to cry I was so scared. But as I got in the surgery room, they blasted some country music and put me on some laughing gas to make me feel better but after about 10 minutes my heart rate was still going crazy and I wasn't feeling any different. But once I got my IV I was good to go. I did come home and rest the whole first day but after that I wasn't very good about being on bed rest. I am so lucky. So far I have not felt any pain whatsoever and I barely have any swelling. Everything turned out great and I'm glad it's over. :) Now here's hoping I don't get dry socket.

She's Got "Whatever It Is"

2009-03-11T21:50:00.004-06:00

Hello Dedicated Bloggers! This is Ashley's husband Ben, and she would definitely kill me if she knew I was doing this. But since I'm a good 200 miles away for the next few months and wanted to say something nice about her, I hope she'll forgive me for embarrassing her a little.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you all how lucky I am to have such a wonderful woman in my life. Apparently you all believe she's pretty cool too or else you wouldn't be visiting her blog occasionally. But I'm taking this opportunity to express my admiration, desire, dedication, and above all LOVE for this incredible person who has blessed my life immensely. I know without a doubt, honey, that you have "Whatever It Is" that makes me feel your love no matter how far apart we are or how long we're separated. I can't wait to be home with you and the "kids" soon. Thank you for the best two years of my life and for those yet to come.

Love always, Ben

p.s. If you all haven't heard this song yet, listen to it. It's a goodin' Plus I'm sure it rings true for each of your significant others as well.

Romantic Getaway

2009-03-02T21:46:00.009-07:00

Ben and I just got back from an amazing weekend. We celebrated 2 amazing years of being married. The celebration started with these amazing roses that were delivered to me while I was at work and he was away in Florida. Then he came home and we went out to dinner just here in town and we rented a movie and just spent the night relaxing and sleeping in on Saturday morning. Once we got up we packed real quick and were off on our adventure.

First we had awesome massages.

Then we checked into our hotel room to get cleaned up for the night. We stayed at the Hilton. It was fun being in a fancy hotel and being treated so special.
(P.S. We don't sleep in different beds this is all they had available because they were having so many weddings that weekend.) lol.

Once we were ready we went to the mall which was so fun since that is where we first met was in a mall. Lol. We had a little shopping spree and bought presents for each other.

The perfect ending to the night was going to a nice romantic dinner at the melting pot (which is all fondue). We love this place. When we made our reservations Ben told the restaurant it was our anniversary so they put us in the back with a little secluded booth that was candlelit and very private with a little happy anniversary card. It was so sweet. We were giggling and laughing the whole night. It was like our first date all over. The fondue tradition is if you drop your food in the pot you have to kiss each other. So lots of sweet kisses and fun memories.

We went back to our hotel room and luckily we had a late check out so we slept in and had yummy breakfast in bed.

This weekend was so fun. I felt like it was a second honeymoon. Thanks for 2 of the best years of my life. I love you baby!

Graduation

2009-02-26T17:47:00.005-07:00

Life has been crazy around here. Ben graduated on February 13th and mom and dad came out and Jules and the fam. It was so much fun having everyone here. We are so grateful we have the chance to live so close to Julie and be able to see all of them for the holidays. We will miss them when we leave. Here are just a few pictures from graduation.

I am so proud of Ben for accomplishing this. This program was so hard and I know it feels so good for him to know he is done. After all this program trains the best pilots in the world and now my hubby is one of those pilots. :) Ben has already left for training earlier this week. He has about 5 months straight of training. So this is the beginning of a long separation for us because I have to stay and finish school in May. Our anniversary was on Tuesday and Ben sent me an amazing bouquet of roses at work.

The Verdict Is.......

2009-01-29T18:10:00.002-07:00

C-17 to McChord, WA!!!! Woo hoo, our first choice baby! Mari and Tyson here we come. We don't know when we're leaving yet we'll keep you updated.

Oklahoma City Zoo

2009-01-22T19:02:00.003-07:00

On Monday, Ben and I both had work off so we went to Oklahoma City Zoo with some friends. We had a really good time. We thought this picture explained the zoo well though. This was the first animal we wanted to see and as you can see in the picture the sign says gone to Tulsa. A lot of the exhibits were closed or if the animals were there, they were so far away sleeping. But, all in all we had a great time.

Change of Plans

2009-01-17T16:06:00.002-07:00

So these 2 weeks are not going to come quick enough. Friday night after Ben and I had been home for a little while, at about 7:30 all of the guys in the flight were called back to the squadron building to come in and sign something. Ben and I were on our way out the door for our weekly date night for dinner and a movie so I just went with him and waited in the car. 15 minutes later Ben came back out of the squadron building with a piece of paper. Guess what it was! Dream sheet number 2! Lol. The flight commander just kept thinking about our drop and he said he just wasn't happy with it knowing how upset all of the wives are going to be once they found out what their assignment was. (great) So the flight commander wanted all of the guys to fill out another dream sheet with every possible assignment on it that the air force has to offer and put those best to worst. He wants that list turned in on Tuesday and he is going to look through everyone's and try and request some additional assignments from the head honchos. Now he warned us that most likely nothing will change but this will make him feel much better that he gave it his all. Isn't he such a great guy. We know nothing will come of it because they only give what the military needs but it makes all of us feel much better. Besides guess what went up to number 1.......GERMANY, Yay! We'll keep you updated.

P.S. I know the picture doesn't have anything to do with it but I thought it was funny.

Final Product

2009-01-16T08:39:00.003-07:00

This is our final order. The dream sheet was due this morning so we didn't have much time to think or pray about it. Their are 19 choices and we have to put everything down from best to worst:

1. C-17 McChord, WA
2. C-17 Elmendorf, AK
3. C-17 McGuire, NJ
4. C-17 Hickham, HI
5. C-17 Travis, CA

(can you tell we really want a C-17, lol)

6. K-10 Travis, CA

7. KC-135 Pease, NH <~~~~~ I wanted to put this number 2 because of the location but as you can see I lost that battle. That's okay, I'm not flying it.
8. KC-135 Scott, MO
9. KC-135 Birmingham, AL
10.KC-135 McConnell, KS

11. T-1 Vance, OK <~~~~ this is for the instructor position here for another 3 years

12. E-3 Tinker, OK <~~~~~ this has our name all over it. Papa Kearns flew this and KC-135

13. E-8 Robins, GA

14. MQ-1 Creech, NV <~~~ these are the planes that you fly from the ground only. Not the most popular option but with this assignment we could be living in Vegas with Ash and Mike which would be so fun!
15. MQ-4 Beale, CA
16. MQ-1 Cannon, NM

17. AC-130U Hurlburt, Fl
18. NSA Cannon, NM
19. MC-12 TBD

These last three are the only ones we really really do not want. All of them you still are flying but Ben would be away from home so much and he would be right there in the fight. It's just a rough family life. But all in all whatever we get we know we're supposed to be there and it will be the best option for us. Wish us luck! Less than 2 weeks to go......

Dream Sheet

2009-01-15T19:05:00.002-07:00

Ben just brought home his air force dream sheet tonight. Which means, we got the list of the available assignments that we get to choose from. Unfortunately, there is no c-21 to Germany. :( that was our first choice. There is actually no drops for anything international. But that's okay because we still have a chance to go overseas later. Luckily our second choice is on there to McChord, AFB in Washington. Overall there isn't that many great choices but I'm sure whatever we get will be great. Cross your fingers for us. We're both writing our own list from best to worst and then we're going to compare and make the dream sheet together. I'll let you know what we put. :)

The end of pilot training

2009-01-11T16:58:00.004-07:00

So we are at the very end of pilot training. Ben has about 4 more flights and he will be finished. We find out our assignment in 2 1/2 weeks and we can not wait! For any of you friends here in oklahoma, if you would like to come out that night we would love to have you! We're going to go party after :) If you're interested it is January 29th at around 5:30. And then Ben gets his wings February 13.

Ready for Michelle's Wedding

2008-12-07T17:51:00.003-07:00

I am so excited for Michelle's wedding on the 27th of December. I just got my dress in the mail for it from layers clothing. I love this dress. Thanks Michelle for getting married so I have a reason to buy it :)

Thanksgiving for 2

2008-12-07T17:08:00.009-07:00

Ben and I couldn't decide for the longest time what we wanted to do for Thanksgiving. Since we got our t.v. early we didn't have enough money to travel anywhere so we thought we would stay at home and make our own dinner and make it a special night for the two of us. It was so sweet. I'm glad we have that memory together.

Also, a big tradition for me is to do a puzzle during the holidays. When we first started dating Ben didn't really enjoy this tradition but now he has really come to love it. Normally it takes us a few days to finish a puzzle but this one was of the presidents and he was really interested so he wouldn't let us stop until we finished it that day! Now who loves puzzles? :)

Early Christmas Present

2008-12-07T16:57:00.003-07:00

Ben has been dying for a new t.v. for so long, but since his parents introduced us to Dave Ramsey he knew we had to actually save for one as opposed to financing it. I made a deal with him that we could buy one the day after thanksgiving. Well once the black Friday list came out for bestbuy and we realized his t.v. wasn't on sale we decided we could forget the crowds and get it a little early. So here he is with his favorite show on his new t.v.

Sick in Bed

2008-11-04T18:06:00.002-07:00

Ben got the flu this weekend. Poor guy. He was so sick. He got sick early Sunday morning and has been stuck in bed since. Today he finally started feeling better. I just hope I don't catch it. :/

Halloween Weekend

2008-11-02T14:06:00.007-07:00

On Friday, Ben and I stayed home and passed out candy to all the little kids. On Saturday Ben had a class costume party so we decided to go to that. It was so fun. Everyone had such great costumes. They had a costume contest and Ben won for best individual. He deserved it. We went as The Grinch, Cindy Lou Who, Rowdy was Max (the Grinch's Dog) His costume is a little reindeer and Ruby was Santa's little helper. Ben was cracking us up all night long. He put face paint on and about 30 minutes into it his face was peeling. And it was supposed to come off with soap and water but we later found out it stained for a little while. Also, those socks he is
wearing are tights, which was a laugh in itself. When we were shopping I kept saying are you really going to wear those? He thought there would be no problem with them. He thought how hard could it be. Yeah well the whole night he kept trying to pull them up. He is such a great trooper. I love how fun he is all the time.

Conference Weekend

2008-11-02T13:56:00.003-07:00

I have a little catch-up to do. We had a few friends over for Conference Sunday and we decided to make some breakfast for them. I had to put this post to redeem myself. Everything turned out great! :) We made pancakes, toast and bacon.

I did it all by myself.

Vance 2008 Air Show

2008-10-04T16:15:00.006-06:00

This weekend Vance had their air show. It was really cool. The only problem was it was super windy (as it is everyday in enid, ok) This is a picture of us in front of the c-21. We would love to get assigned to this plane for a few years over in Germany.

But this one is by far Ben's first choice. The C-17. It is HUGE! Just seeing Ben's face light up every time he looked at it, I sure hope we get it. He loves this plane. So here he is in front of it.

Here we are crossing our fingers. :)

Here we are in the back of it.

As you can see this is what we spent most of our time doing :)Anyway it was really fun I'm glad we went. I'm glad they had the C-17 because that got Ben even more pumped up for our assignment. We just have a few more months until we find out. Our assignment night is January 30th if anyone is interested in coming out. We can't wait!

French Toast Disaster

2008-09-21T16:45:00.003-06:00

Today Ben and I decided we wanted french toast for lunch after church. On our way home Ben had asked me why I never made french toast for him before because he LOVES it. I reply,"I don't know you never asked." He says, "I didn't think you knew how to make it." Of course, I say, "it's french toast how hard can it be?" Long story short. It's hard! After my bread had globs of cinnamon on it and too much egg (to where the egg was actually turning white on the toast) I realized this is why I never make french toast. So here is a picture of my not so amazing masterpiece. That was my job to make and Ben made the bacon and eggs. Once he saw the french toast he said, "Would you like me to make the french toast as well?" Whoever said cooking was fun? They lied. I don't have a picture of his because by then we were so hungry we couldn't wait.

One more added to the Kearns Family....

2008-09-01T08:46:00.005-06:00

Ben and I have been so busy now that I'm back in school and he is back on the flight line in his new plane. We both are out of the house by 6 a.m and we go non stop until we finally get to go home at 6:00 p.m. And then we still have to walk the dog, make dinner, study for a couple of hours and then get ready for the next day and do it all over again. Let me tell you we are wiped out. There have been a few times when both of us would get a break at the same time and our time together was taking a wonderful nap. As if we weren't crazy enough we decided to get another puppy :) His name is rowdy and he is a miniature beagle. Pretty much the cutest thing ever. Don't worry Marc and Julie we'll make sure to get a dog sitter this time BEFORE we go to Dallas Lol. I know we should be adding children instead of more puppies but we just couldn't resist. For now they are our children.

Joined at the Hip

2008-07-24T20:11:00.005-06:00

Ben had track select this past Tuesday and this is the video of them telling what plane he gets selected for next. This was such a fun night. They played a little trick on him and his friend since they are always together. Pay close attention to Ben's face when they fake them out. It's great. By the way, the plane he got selected for is the T-1 which looks like a private jet. This is the trainer for heavy cargo planes.

A Great Book

2008-06-18T08:00:00.002-06:00

This is such a great read. Ben's parents gave this book to all of their kids. I just finished it this week. This book helps you learn how to budget and to pay off your debt so fast and teach you and make you realize you can't afford to be in debt the rest of your life. Since we've been married we have never had to live on a budget until NOW! :) Lol. This book gets you all fired up in paying everything off. If we go the way we're going right now we'll have everything paid for (pretty much student loans) in 3-4 years. But as we get better with our budget we're hoping in 2 years. I know a few more of the Kearns have gotten the total money makeover itch as well. I suggest everyone read this. It makes everything seem so simple and easy and makes you realize how ridiculous it is to finance or borrow for things.

2008-06-09T08:15:00.002-06:00

So this is one of my new favorite movies, although I don't know if I could watch it again. Ben and I watched this yesterday for the first time and I cried like a baby pretty much the whole time. If you haven't seen it yet you need to. It really makes you appreciate your spouse and makes you feel like you don't want to waste one more second without them.

Eventful Weekend

2008-05-28T08:00:00.002-06:00

So I don't know who has heard about this past weekend in Oklahoma on the news but this is what my weekend consisted of. Ben was out of town for a few cross country flights so I had the pleasure of sitting in the house waiting for these TEN tornadoes to come my way. Here is a couple videos of a few of them. These videos were taken about 10 miles away from my house. All of these tornadoes hit garfield county (which is where I live). Starting at about 2:30 the sirens started going off on base, so I turn on the news and needless to say it did not make me feel better. So I call all the members I know in the ward that live on base to see if maybe I could hang out with them until the storms are over and not one person was home!! Also did not make me feel better. So then I call Ben and tell him what is happening and he looked up on this special website for pilots that gives an accurate weather update and all he could say was, "honey, you need to stay in the house and when the sirens go off just go sit in the bathtub. Don't look outside just go." Lovely. So about 5 hours of the sirens going on and off Vance Air Force Base had dodged all of them. Thank goodness!

Our little monkey

2008-05-13T07:30:00.003-06:00

So last week as I was taking Ruby for her daily walks there were a few instances were a couple HUGE dogs kept getting out of their fences and charging for Ruby and I. This happened about 3 different times. (scary) I didn't understand how they were doing it. Anyway, a couple days later we figured out ruby was heat. Lovely. So I googled about it online and the very first thing it says is to NEVER take your pup for a walk when in heat around other dogs because it is very dangerous. Now you tell me. Anyway, along with those pleasures she has to wear a diaper so she doesn't bleed everywhere and she absolutely hates it. I think this video just explains what everyone feels when they get to that time of the month. This video cracks us up and hopefully you will too. This is how she is all day everyday with her diaper. We think she looks like a monkey.

Dreadful Dentist

2008-05-12T09:21:00.003-06:00

I am going to the dentist today for the first time in about 12 years. I know it's bad. Ben kept begging me to make an appointment and I finally did and today is the day. I am so nervous. I have all those knots in my stomach and will be so glad when it is over. As if I wasn't already nervous enough, as Ben was walking out the door today he said make sure you don't throw up or freak out when it hurts :/ should have never told me that.

Acrobatics

2008-04-23T16:41:00.002-06:00

For any of you who haven't seen Julie's blog yet, this is what Ben has been learning everyday in class. He loves it. Yesterday, he had another in flight emergency. (these seem to be more common then they should) Just as it shows in this little clip he was climbing and he had just started to turn upside down doing his spirals down and this huge emergency siren went off and it was this big thing because the engine wasn't receiving enough oil I guess. Anyway, it ended up not being a big deal and he is safe and sound. :) All of the other pilots are saying, "Man you ALWAYS get in flight emergencies, I'm never flying with you." Lol.

Poor Timing

2008-04-21T12:18:00.002-06:00

Just this past weekend I have come down with some kind of cold. No fun. Today I woke up feeling even worse. I feel so tired and nauseous. All I want to do is go back in bed or just lay on the couch. Unfortunately, it couldn't have been worse timing. This is my last week of classes so of course I have a billion things to do and not to mention I should be studying for my finals next week. Also on top of that, I don't know if any of you have heard yet but we're moving out of our house on Saturday and moving on base so I should be packing.

Family Visit

2008-04-14T11:47:00.005-06:00

My sister in law Julie and her 3 kids came up to visit us this weekend from Dallas. It was tons of fun. Ben and I are always excited when people come to visit especially because there really isn't that much entertainment. We got to go out to eat and we toured the base and went to see the planes uncle ben flies and try on some of his uniform. But needless to say it was a nice relaxing weekend. That is one of the things I am starting to love about Enid. It is so far to drive out to the city for some real entertainment and shopping that most of the time we just stay home and really get some quality time with our family and friends. That is one of the reasons Ben and I are trying to get stationed in Germany for our next assignment so we can live the quiet simple little village life. :)

Wise Words

2008-04-09T09:04:00.002-06:00

For my trip to California I decided to bring this book by with me because I was going to be traveling for about 6 hours each way and needed something to keep me busy. 5 people gave me this book for our wedding and I thought it was about time to pick it up. Now I'm really into it. Everything she says just makes sense and the best part is it teaches you how to have an even better marriage then you already do. Last night I was telling Ben a lot of the stuff I had read and he was just laughing and said, "why have we waited so long to let you read this?" It was cute. Anyway for anyone who hasn't read this book yet I suggest you pick it up. Ben and I both agree she gives a perfect picture on the differences between men and women. My favorite example so far (hopefully this doesn't offend anybody) was her explaining the differences how men and women feel loved. She described it as men need to make love and women need to talk. She said just imagine coming home and trying to talk to your husband and him saying I'm too tired to listen, not right now I'm busy, or you just talked to me last night. Lol. We were cracking up. But it totally makes sense. If any husband said that to his wife our feelings would be hurt so why is it okay for people to say that to their husbands? Anyway, that's just one of the samples.

The Wedding

2008-04-08T11:22:00.003-06:00

My dad is now officially married. I just got back from the wedding in California. It was really nice.

Flory made sure to coordinate a lot of things that he would like and this is my favorite thing she did. This was the groom's cake and it looks identical to my dad's race car.

Our Fallen Hero

2008-04-02T20:17:00.002-06:00

On Easter Sunday Sgt. Chris Hake was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Chris was born and raised in Enid. He was only 26 years old, recently married with a brand new baby who just so happened to be named after him. On Monday April 1st he was flown in to Oklahoma and as he was driven to the funeral home here in Enid every street was lined with people. I just so happen to work on the corner of that major intersection where they had all the troops lined up to salute him as they drove by. Right as I drove by to go into work I saw Ben right on that very same corner ready and willing to pay his respect. I went into my work and about 10 minutes later the funeral precession started heading through the intersection. It seemed as though time had stopped for that brief moment. We all immediately stopped what we were doing and lined up by the glass windows and just watched. We all had tears in our eyes as we immediately saw the troops standing at attention and everyone getting out of their cars and putting their hands over their heart with tears in their eyes. Flags were lining the road. Another thing that was very touching to me was an old man who had gotten there about 20 minutes earlier had parked in our parking lot and walked over into the grass median with his dog and just stood there with his tall American flag and an american flag bandanna tied around the dogs neck and it seemed as though they never moved. It was absolutely amazing. Today was Chris's funeral and the very same thing happened. I will never forget that day. God Bless Chris and his sacrifice for all of us. He will not be forgotten.

Here are some things his wife had said about all of this in the paper:

“I had no idea the type of support we have received,” she said. “Going down (Monday), and all the flags and everyone standing out there ... It’s something you would never dream about. It was amazing how many people were out there, I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself.”

“When the plane rolled up yesterday, everyone broke down. Having him here and touching the casket ... The ride to town was about the same with all the people out,” he said. “You can’t believe that many people would come out to honor your son and your husband.”

It's that time of year....

2008-03-31T08:12:00.003-06:00

This is my first tornado season and let me just tell you I do not like it. This is a picture of a tornado in Oklahoma in 1999. Last night was our third tornado warning probably the most severe storm we've had so far. Unfortunately, the storm didn't even start until 12 o'clock a.m. (by the way we had to be up by 6:30 this morning for work/school) which just so happened to be right as we were getting in bed. It was so loud. Our bedroom is the room closest to the backyard and we have 3 huge trees back there. We had hail the size of golf balls, very bright lightning that would light the whole bedroom up even with the blinds closed and just as we would get to sleep we would hear a roar of thunder that sounded like it hit one of the trees and snapped it. Then a few seconds later the room would light up again. A few times we had to get up and make sure the trees weren't on fire or anything. This went on for a long time. Then at about 2 o'clock the sirens went off because there was a tornado just outside of enid. So we had to stay alert in case we need to run for cover. Unfortunately, there are no basements here so we have to run into the bathroom. And of course the wind was blowing so hard that I thought the tornado was coming a few times. Needless to say it was a long night. I probably got about 4 hours of sleep and ben got about 2 1/2. When we woke up this morning it was bright and sunny outside but now the news is saying there's probably going to be another one tonight. These tornadoes need to get on the "right" schedule. This is the video of this tornado. This is only about 1 hour from my house.

Easter

2008-03-26T12:44:00.005-06:00

So for easter momma and papa kearns came to visit us and also Jake came and surprised us. (Sorry Jake I don't have a pic of ya.) It was a short trip but fun. It was nice to have some family out here for the holidays.

And since we don't have a child to dress up for easter we decided to dress Ruby instead. Ü Ok, I decided to dress Ruby to show just how cute she is.

Systems Failure

2008-03-12T21:56:00.002-06:00

So in case anybody was wondering Ben's first flight here at Vance went great. He did get a little bit sick but nothing to worry about he just has to get used to the plane. But today was his second ride. Not so great. As I picked him up from work today I asked him the usual questions how was school? Did you learn lots of stuff? and How was your flight? He said everything was great until I had my ride we had an emergency systems failure. So of course I'm like what does that mean? He said they were coming in to land and the plane wasn't indicating whether or not all the landing gear was locked into place so the instructor started freaking out right away asking all these questions (luckily Ben knew the answers to those certain questions) and the instructor immediately made a call into the tower letting them know their landing gear was not showing up as locked into place and he was pulling out and they would be circling waiting for another plane to come check everything out. So a plane comes right up next to them and goes right beside, then the other side, then under and last but not least on top and says everything looks to be okay. So the instructor makes the decision to bring it in to the runway to land. So then the radio tower calls out to all the planes and let them know they are closing down the runway and there would be an emergency landing and they'll have to wait until the coast is clear. So before I tell you how it went keep in mind the way they are seated is, Ben in the front seat (seeing all the action) and the instructor in the back navigating. As ben tells the story they were about 200 feet from the ground and the instructor tells him just so you know there is a good chance is the plane is going down and if it does it is going to hit straight into the concrete (As in the picture) maybe even flip over. As if he wasn't already nervous. Also the tower told them to shut the plane down as soon as they stopped and get out and the ambulance and fire truck would be there right behind them. So LUCKILY the landing gear was locked into place and they landed fine and Ben said maybe 10 seconds had gone by and the instructor was already out on the wing saying come on we got to go. Lol. Which Ben was just in shock at. And as fast as he could he pulled off all his seat belts and oxygen tubes and still had his mask on and was out there a few seconds later.

layers clothing

2008-03-12T08:26:00.008-06:00

So I'm contemplating signing up to be a host for www.layersclothing.com This is a couple of pictures from their site. All of their clothes are modest of course. Anyway, they don't have any hosts here in Oklahoma but before I do it I want to see what everyone thinks. Obviously you wouldn't be able to buy it from me since I don't live near any of you. Lol. But if I did would you be interested? That way I can get an idea if I'm the only one who likes the clothing or maybe others would be interested out here.

Day 0

2008-03-10T07:04:00.003-06:00

Today Ben has graduated to phase II of pilot training. There are 3 phases. The first one was 6 weeks of all academics and flying in flight simulators. Today is the first day he gets to start flying. It also just so happened to be his earliest day yet which seemed to be so convenient the time just moved 1 hour forward. He had to report at 6:00 a.m. this morning. They call this day 0. Weird I know. Apparently, these next 15 days are supposed to be the toughest through the entire program. Here is what some were saying in a magazine I was reading from the base.

"After that six-week period, students move into Phase II training, referred to as "hitting the flightline," and spend another five months applying their academics and learning how to fly military aircraft.

"It's like trying to take a drink from a fire hose," he said. "The first 15 days into Phase II you get everything coming at you at once at full throttle. Not only do you have the academics, but you have the stand-ups -- scenarios where instructor pilots quiz students on everything from emergency procedures to general knowledge -- to deal with. It is a real emotional roller coaster."

This is a picture at vance of the plane he is training in and I thought this picture was perfect since the sun has just started coming up at 8:30 and he had an early flight. This is how I imagine his first flight. What an awesome view of your dream.

2008-03-10T06:54:00.002-06:00

This past Saturday Ben and I finally got the chance to go do a session in the Oklahoma City Temple. We haven't been able to the past couple months so it was a nice experience to be able to go together. You don't realize how much you miss it until you get to go again. The temple is 2 hours away from our house which is not super far but it's quite a change from Utah. Since we don't get down there too much we made a day of it and visited some friends in the city and went out to eat. It was a nice weekend.

Our 1 year anniversary

2008-02-29T08:46:00.006-07:00

Our plan was to go away for the weekend but because of school and of the things below we just thought it best to stay here in Enid America. <----- (that's what the folks here call it) So we just spent a nice day on Saturday going out to eat and just relaxing by taking a nap and just remembering our perfect day last year.

I thought this would be a good time to show those of you who didn't get to see the pictures of our awesome hotel room last year and our goofy pictures to kind of get our jitters away....

I'm so thankful to have him in my life. We have so much fun together and many adventures. I look forward to our journey to forever. I'm proud to call myself his wife.

Sami

2008-02-29T07:42:00.011-07:00

Just as we thought our lives couldn't get any busier we had some friends who had to leave on a last minute 6 week assignment so they asked if we would help them out and watch their pup, Sami, for that "short" time. As you can see right here she doesn't look like a pup. :)

At least to us compared to Ruby

Before Sami came this is what Ruby would do all day since she didn't have a play mate

But now they are....

Tearing up our carpet...

Eating the wood off of our house....

Did I mention tearing up the carpet?....

And besides barking, pooping, whining, and fighting the only other thing is digging holes bigger than the size of ruby under our fence so she spends more time in the neighbor's yard more than our own. I have video's of that later. Ü Other than that we're enjoying our time with Sami.

So I'm calling a truce with Sami. (Kearns Home Peace)

No T.V.

2008-01-30T11:56:00.000-07:00

So back in November Ben and I decided once he started pilot training we would go exactly one month without t.v. because we felt like we couldn't get anything done because we had so many shows we wanted to watch and we just felt lazy. Anyway, to make a long story short our satellite has been broken for about 3 1/2 weeks as of now. Lol. The winds are so bad that it keeps blowing our satellite down onto the patio. So I think Heavenly Father has tried to help us keep to our promises. But to be completely honest we have spent so much of our time doing other things (such as studying) and we have had so much fun with each other playing games and having our own little "dates" at home.

First Day of School

2008-01-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

We have officially started pilot training as of last friday. This is a picture of Ben on his first day of school very early in the morning. So Cute :) This is a really busy time because Ben has class about 12 hours a day and I'm going to school full time and working full time at the moment. It's a crazy life but we have each other to get us through it.

Birthday Cake

2008-01-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking a little bit on my blogging so I thought I would do a little catch up. For my birthday in December Ben threw me a little birthday party and he also bought me a video camera that I had been wanting for a little while. I realized I haven't put any pictures up of the two of us so here is one from my birthday the first video with my camera :)

We Thank Thee Oh God For a Prophet

2008-01-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful man he was. He touched the lives of so many and will be missed dearly.

So Profound....

2008-01-13T18:06:00.000-07:00

Today in Sacrament Meeting we had a wonderful opportunity to hear from one of our Stake High Council men Bro. Lee Manzer. His talk really brought the spirit into that meeting and just helped a lot of us put everything into perspective. Our topic was conversion. He started out by telling us a story about a brother in the church who had once been in the military. The military was interviewing for an lds chaplain and for some reason they had picked him even though he didn't meet the qualifications, but they said if he was right for the job they could find a way to get past those qualifications. So, he began with his interview. The interviewer the Brother to tell him about the church and why he would be good for that certain position. Of course, he told the interviewer all about his callings and responsibilities, about his family and everyday life, and about the kind of person he has become because of the church. After he was done the interviewer asked him, "Do you believe in Christ?" He responded with, "Of Course!" He went on to explain how our whole church is based around the Savior. His name is in the title of the church, we close our prayers in his name, and we take the sacrament to remember him.

The interviewer then said well if the Savior is so important to you then how come in the 7 whole minutes you were telling me about your church you never once mentioned his name? This particular brother said he will never make that mistake again.

Bro. Manzer went on to tell us about how many times he has been in a fast and testimony meeting and never once heard someone's testimony on the savior besides in closing. He reminded us that a lot of times there are visitors and we can't assume they know of our belief in the savior. Also, I know I've made this mistake....when people ask us what we believe, the very FIRST thing that we should say is we believe in the Savior Jesus Christ and bare our testimony of him. It's no wonder we have so many people believing in the rumor that we are not Christians.

Anyway, he went on a little more about that but to me it just seemed so profound yet so simple. It also made me feel a little more comfortable baring my testimony and sharing with others what I believe. :)

Ice Storm #2

2007-12-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

Another day in the Oklahoma Ice Storm. This isn't such a bad deal, we're living the life right now. No school and no work, they all got canceled again. :) I thought this was pretty funny. The little dot following Ben around is Ruby.

Ice Storm

2007-12-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone has heard about the ice storms in Oklahoma, but it's true. Here is a picture of what we woke up to this morning. It looks just like snow but everything is just one big block of ice. If it weren't Sunday Ben and I were saying we should just go to the store and buy a block of ice and push each other down the street. We could probably go for miles. Apparently, it is so bad that church got canceled this morning. But of course we didn't find that out until we slid our way all the way down there and didn't see any cars :). Lol.

The news is saying the worst is yet to come. We're under ice storm watch for the next 3 days.....oh goody. Such bad timing, the week of finals. This town is only 10 miles wide but my school just happens to be on the opposite side of town :/. We'll be careful though.

2007-12-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

Isn't this outfit so cute, I want it... It's from Christataylor.com

Mama's Girl

2007-11-01T11:20:00.001-06:00

In Case you're all wondering how well we're getting along this should show you how close we are. lol. Ruby is such a silly dog. She gets restless and the only way she'll settle down is if I let her pet my head (weird I know) and then fall asleep there. Ben thought this was so funny so he took the picture. She also likes to sleep under my chin. It's just me she's like that with. And Ben wonders why I don't want her to sleep in our bed. :)

Just Because I was such a good wife....

2007-10-26T08:18:00.001-06:00

Just Because He Deserves It......

2007-10-26T08:14:00.001-06:00

I got him this sweet little baby girl.