aaron.anica.emily.isabel.claire

I know I'm a little late, Veteran's Day was a couple days ago, but I need to give a little shout out to my favorite vet. Last year was his first year as a vet and we took advantage of the benefits. A lot of restaurants give free meals to vets, so we found ourselves in Applebee's at the Gateway. It was rather crowded and we were seated in an area where a bunch of tables had been pushed together. As we sat down next to a bunch of people, it was obvious that many of them were homeless, which I must admit made me a little uncomfortable at first. As I thought about it, I realized that many of these people had probably served in Vietnam and could have been suffering as a result of experiences they had had while serving our country. It made me extremely grateful for the circumstances in which Aaron was able to serve and that he had the support of many of our friends and loved ones.  I was glad that these people could get a warm meal and felt emotional as I reflected on the ...

Just a little update on where we're at right now, Aaron completed his generals and just got accepted into the nursing program at Weber State University for the upcoming spring semester. We are excited and thrilled to be moving in a good direction! The plan is for him to complete his Bachelor's degree in nursing within the next few years, get some experience, and get into a Master's program to become a Certified Nurse Anesthetist. He is currently in the Army Reserves and a cadet in Weber's ROTC program, which means he won't be deployed again while he's finishing his Bachelor's degree. I am currently enrolled in the Master of English and Master of Education programs at Weber as I work towards a Master's degree in English along with a secondary teaching license. Other than doing hair in my basement salon, I am staying at home full-time (more on that later). Emily is in 3rd grade! (I know, where did the time go?) She is an awesome soccer player and loved...

Love this kid!

Potty training is one of those things that kind of makes me want to gauge my eyeballs out if you want to know how I really feel about it. Kudos to those moms that have all their kids potty trained by age 2 or before.  I am not one of them.  It could be a lack of patience. However, I am happy to say that for the last few months we now have a completely potty trained Izzy!  Just in time to have a few months free before changing diapers again. Apparently 3 is my lucky number because both girls were potty trained about a month before turning 3. I was on my own with Emily at this age and finishing cosmetology school, beginning my program for my bachelor's degree, and working 2 part time jobs, so consistency wasn't one of my strong points, but we made it through. With Izzy I introduced the potty and bought underwear when she turned 2, but she wasn't really interested.  I would keep trying, but not forcefully. When Aaron came home from Afghanistan, I was thrilled ...

When we found out number 3 was going to be a girl there were some mixed emotions in our household. Most of us were hoping to try something new and throw in a boy to the mix, but as luck would have it we get another girl. I think Izzy is impartial, but Emily had a breakdown and so we had a little talk about where we came from and how we chose to be together and to be a family of all girls and she would be the oldest because she is really good at being a big sister. I might have slipped in a promise that I might regret, when I told her someday we could get a boy dog. I have a feeling it wasn't necessarily my little explanation, but this little promise that made it ok with her to have another sister. I love my girls and wouldn't trade them for the world. I'm excited to have another one! I realize I'm going to have to be the one to stand up to them, because they have their Daddy wrapped around their fingers. Izzy put on a pink ruffly dress the other day and was twirling...

I gotta be honest, Disneyland is not my first vacation choice, but seeing Izzy skip for a mile on our walk up to the gates made it worth it. I love that upon entering the gates of Disneyland, Aaron exclaimed, "There's no way in hell I'd stand in line to take a picture with one of those characters!" Well he had to eat his words on the second day when there standing before us was Snow White. He showed Izzy and tried walking away to which she responded, "Can't I just talk to her Daddy?" He tried to suffice her by telling her she could see her right there and she got the pouty lip and teary eyes and said, "But can't I talk to her?" If Aaron has a soft spot Izzy knows how to hit it, so guess who stood in line for 20 minutes waiting to get a picture? :) Priceless, and so is the look on Em's face in this next picture Emily is lacking in her sense of adventure and after one terrorizing ride on Splash Mountain she was about spent. Lucky fo...

Aaron arrived at the airport around noon the day he returned home and after his big welcome home we loaded him and his years worth of belongings in the car to go to lunch. As we were pulling out of the airport parking lot, Em says to me rather loudly, "Mom is he going to shower before we eat?" To which Aaron responded, "What, do I stink?" I informed him that he had a slight BO smell and his response was, "Dangit, I tried really hard not to sweat on the plane!" While driving home late one Saturday night, I was trying to go over getting up for early church the next morning and said to Aaron, "Izzy's probably too big to put in the shower with you now, huh?" He looked at me with a half crazed look and said, "Um, yeah. I don't want her standing there looking up at me saying, 'Daddy what are those?'" Before I could respond, I heard giggling coming from the back seat and asked Emily what she was laughing at. "You m...