The Black Family

ALIVE!!!!

2010-01-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Just a littl e bitty post to let you know we are alive. I"ve just been too lazy to post anything. So maybe over the next few days I will compile a post of what's been going on in our lives and put up a few pics! But for now i'm going to bed :o)

I had a feeling this was coming!

2009-05-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, It's been a looonnnggg time since I posted. But nothing really eventful has been happening in our lives lately and we've been extremely busy. The kids all started swim lessons in March and then Christian signed up for baseball and Kaylie and Camren are playing soccer. Well with all the practices and games I haven't had much time for blogging.

So on Friday Kaylie and I flew out of Washington headed for Utah to spend time with some family and to go to the Taylor Swift concert with My sister in Law and Kaylies cousin. In the mean time back in Washington Pete went on a field trip with Camren and then decided when they got home to go check out the new playground by our house. Little did any of us know that our lives would change after that.

My sister in law, Melinda, picked us up from the airport at 12:30 and then we made our trek back to Smithfeild. She dropped me off at the salon so I could get my hair done (it's way less expensive here). They had a little sign that asked you to silence your cell phone so you could have a more enjoyable experience, so I did! Well while I was processing I decided to check my phone, I had a text message from Pete, Here is what I saw:

(The above pic Peter took at home right before they left for the hospital. The reason it is blurry he said is because Camren was shaking and so was he!) Needless to say, I thought OK either Camren is messing around with his Dads phone or..... that looks like a broken arm...... Then I received a voicemail (would have been nice to get that first) It was Pete he said he was on the way to the E.R. because Camren had broken his arm. Apparently while at the playground he had decided to do the monkey bars, not a new feat for Camren. Well they are pretty high up so he had asked his Dad to stand there in case he fell. Pete was trying to help him gain some courage and told him he could do it! So off he went, he made it across and decided to turn around for a second go. Well he swung out a little to far and fell. I guess he decided in the second he had, that it would be best to catch the whole weight of his body on his left arm and this is what he got:
Wow, can you believe that pic? It makes me have knots in my stomach just to look at it. I can't imagine the pain he must have been in. The picture above was taken in the x-ray room while they were x-raying. I felt so bad that I couldn't be there to hold my baby and make sure that everything was going to be o.k. But Pete did a great job. I guess as a mother though you just want to be there for you babies. The x-ray below is from the top view of his arm, I don't think it shows the break that well. But the next one:

This one is from the side, Oh my! That one gives me knots too! They told Pete it was almost a compound fracture. I knew this was going to happen someday, I mean it's Camren and any of you who know him..... Well lets just say he is a crazy boy! But he is so funny and is always making us laugh, but the last few weeks he has been an accident waiting to happen. Someone smashed his foot in the door at school and ripped his shoe and bruised his toe, then he fell coming up the stairs to the house and stubbed the same toe the next day and scrapped up his elbows, then he was at swimming and bumped his chin really hard on the side of the pool leaving a huge bump, and that was all recently in a 48 hour period, so we knew we had it coming.

This next pic is Camren sedated while they set his bones back in place. Can we all say Ugh. I know there was a reason Peter was there and not me. I mean I would have done whatever I would have to for this little guy, but I think during this part they would have had to sedate me too! I asked Pete why they were holding Camrens hand if he was asleep and he said that apparently because of the type of block they do, the patients body involuntarily moves and his right hand kept trying to grab his left so they had to hold it, his feet were moving too.

Another sedation pic, I'm so glad he won't remember any of that!

This was after he woke up and they had put on his temporary cast. It's made to allow for swelling and then we will take him in to get his real cast on Thursday. I'm glad I'll be able to be there for that. You know the fun part, picking out a color and signing it. Pete said Camren was such a trooper, the E.R. staff said they wished all their patients were as good as him. He wasn't really crying. He has always tolerated pain well like when he gets his immunizations, he jumps up on that table and doesn't make a sound. Now if only we could get his almost twelve year old brother to do that. I haven't quit decided if that's a good thing or a bad thing yet?

Camren is at home and doing well, he actually went to the playground (not something I would have let him do) the next day. He only went down the slide about 80 times but still he could trip and fall and and and.... Oh I guess it's a good thing I'm not there. But he was in some pain that night, I think from doing too much. He has already figured out how to play the x-box, since he broke his left hand and he is left handed and has been passing time doing that with his brother. I hope he heals quickly and we never have to go through this again! Peter did such a great job with him, he had put an ice pack on it and wrapped it in a homemade sling for him with one of my flour sack towels, I'm thankful that Peter was there for him and took such great care of our little guy!

Taylor Swift Baby!!

2009-04-04T01:00:00.001-07:00

SO Kaylie and I are going to the Taylor Swift concert in May. We are soooo excited, we'll be going to Utah so that we can go with My sister-in-law Melinda and her daughter Monica. We love Taylor Swift!! I'll post pics after the event! YAY ;o)

Our visit home to Utah

2009-04-01T01:56:00.001-07:00

So about two weeks ago we went home to Utah for Pete's brothers wedding. We were pretty busy trying to help get last minute thing's finished up! It was a great time though. Their wedding was beautiful and we are so happy for James and Jelli. We hope to get to know them as a couple better as time goes on! We only have a couple of pics, but here they are!

We also had Family pics with the Killam family at Wheeler farm, can I just say COLD! It was so cold, I think that's why I didn't really like any of the ones of our own little family, we look like popsicles! It was fun though and nice to have a new pic with all the additions added, OK there is only one addition but still. We also celebrated my Brother Williams birthday by going out to dinner, we went to Hibachi, without the kids, it was really nice to spend time with both our families, we miss them so much and are sad that we are missing out on so many thing's but one day we will live closer and probably want to get away ;o)Our trip home was slow going do to snow in one of the passes we had to go through, we went 4 miles in 2 hours. That was not fun but luckily we had left early because we wanted to get home around 8 but instead got home around 11:30. So not too bad!

Well there isn't much else to post about, the kids are still little stinkers. I can't wait for spring break to be over. Here in Washington you can't go out and play during spring break unless you like being cold and wet and we don't like either, or at least not in the same sentence, so the kids are pretty bored. I am determined to find some fun, inexpensive thing's to do so that we don't all go crazy!

Christians Presentation

2009-02-25T01:15:00.000-08:00

Christian was involved in the gifted program this year. One day a week he went to a different school where he was actually challenged. We're so proud of him and his achievements. One of his projects was to interview a family member and then give a presentation on them. He chose to interview his Grandma Killam, he did a great job and presented really well. So here are a few pics of him during his presentation! It was really funny, after he was done they had an open house for the sixth graders because they will be going on to Junior High and won't be coming back to Quest. Well a few of his friends decided to rate his Grandmothers fifth grade photo, on a scale of 1-10. They all gave her either a nine or a ten, Wow I bet that will make her feel good ;o)

Camren is V.I.P.

2009-02-25T01:04:00.000-08:00

Camren was chosen as V.I.P. in his class this week. He has been so excited about this. We made a poster that he presented in class on Monday and it was so bitter sweet to see him presenting his poster to his class, he is getting so big but he is still my baby. The bitter sweetness is that he is our last child to go through these miles stones and until our children have thier own (which better not be for another 20 years) we won't be seeing or doing these thing's for the first time anymore. Here is a pic of Cam doing his presentation.

What are we going to do with this child!

2009-02-13T01:09:00.000-08:00

FYI there are two more post after this one ;o)

So Monday afternoon we were in our room watching TV, Kaylie came to ask Christian to go downstairs with her and Camren because Camren was scared because he saw a shocky guy down there. Well I'm kind of tired of them always being scared of going downstairs by themselves, it's not a basement it's the main floor and they are perfectly safe. So I told her to just go with Camren, we'll a few seconds later she comes in and says "uh, Mom. You know my little finger handcuffs? Camren stuck them in the plug outlet" So I go downstairs prepared to take them out and there's Camren with the cuffs in his hands trying not to smile. Now we know who the shocky man was. I asked him if he was ok, his fingers were black, and he said "Ya" I asked did you get burned or shocked and he says "No". So to scare him away from doing this again I explained how dangerous what he did could have been, you know the house could have caught fire and that someone could have gotten hurt. Don't know that he gets it, most the time he only half way listens. But he did go to Lowes with Pete and got a new outlet since he had melted half the handcuff in the other one. Crazy thing is, is that usually when you stick something in an outlet like that it trips a circuit breaker and it didn't so we are thankful that it was just a little smoke and nothing more. Oh the joy Camren brings to our lives, we love him soo much and he's so cute but man first the TV then this and I'm sure there is more to come. Here are some pics for your enjoyment ;o)

Kaylie's Birthday

2009-02-13T00:56:00.000-08:00

Kaylie turned 9 on January 25! We can't believe how fast our kids are growing up! Her birthday was on a Sunday so we made french toast for breakfast and then she opened her presents and then it was time for church. Since her B-day was on Sunday she had her party the following Saturday. It was a glamour karaoke party. She and her three friends had a great time getting dressed up and Karaoking to Hannah Montana. We are so proud of Kaylie and all the accomplishments she has made. She has done really well in school this year and has made tons of friends since moving here to Washington. I think she's what they call a social butterfly. She's still got tons of attitude but we are learning to deal and hope it will only work to her advantage as she gets older. We Love you Kaylie!

Christmas 08

2009-02-13T00:28:00.000-08:00

So because I'm so far behind I figured I'd just put a few pics from some of the thing's we've done (which hasn't been much) in the past few months. We had a great Christmas until Christmas Eve, when our 6 year old Camren broke our LCD TV that wasn't even a year old yet. It was sort of innocent but needless to say I had to leave the house for awhile and cool off so I didn't get too upset at him. So the kids got an Xbox (just an original) for Christmas, we had previously had one that burned up but we didn't worry about replacing it because last Christmas the kids got a Wii, but they really missed the Xbox and we still had all the games and other stuff so when they were on sale for 29.00 we decided to get them one. Well that is all they did pretty much the whole day, until about 7pm. Christian got a new Wii game and they thought they would try it out. Camren is a little ADHD and didn't wait for Christian to put the strap back on the controller (who knows why it was off in the first place)They were playing a game of ski ball and when he went to roll his ball the controller slipped out of his hand and went right into the TV. Completely broke the LCD and it is not repairable. I know it's only a TV but still they are so expensive it was just a little frustrating. So a few words to the wise, WEAR THE STRAP there's a reason they have them and just get a junk TV for the kids gaming systems then your only out a few bucks. But we really did have a great Christmas, it was nice to spend time as a family. We missed our families back in Utah but that's something we've gotten used too!

Apology

2009-02-11T00:27:00.000-08:00

I just have to apologize to all our Family and friends. I have been a little under the weather, dealing with some teeth problems and haven't been able to put up any posts. I am waaay behind and hope to get a few posts up later this week! I love reading every ones blogs and feel bad for not posting more! Thanks for all your understanding.

Our Thanksgiving Feast

2009-01-07T15:11:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Utah with JoNaes family. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a blast being able to play with their cousins. We are looking forward to spending more time with family. Next year will be with Petes family. We are so thankful for family and all that they do for us! We love you guys!

Just Wondering???

2008-12-31T02:23:00.000-08:00

Does anyone even really read this blog? Just had to ask, didn't really know if I was wasting my time or not. Hope everyone enjoyed there Holidays ;o)

Snow, Snow, and more Snow!!

2008-12-23T01:18:00.000-08:00

So since we have moved to Washington, everyone here has said they hardly get any snow, and very seldom does it come before January. Well guess what? We've had snow, almost non stop since the 13th . School was canceled On Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday! Don't misunderstand, it's not like we had a blizzard maybe 2-3 inches before Wednesday, but they have nill to none snow removal equipment here so EVERYTHING pretty much closes down if you even get a skiff of snow. Needless to say the kids were thrilled, I'm trying not to go out of my mind and because Pete is 'Mission Essential" he still has to go to work. They even canceled church on Sunday! Weird to me but who am I? So we took the opportunity to spend some time together, so Pete and the kids went down to the park and built our little snowmen family and then we went up to the kids school where they have a huge hill to go sledding. It was a blast and we actually ran into a few people from the ward, so I think it was ok to go sledding on a Sunday? Well I hope you enjoy the photos! We also want to wish all our Families and Friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and safe New Year!!

What kind of shoe are you?

2008-11-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

I thought this was kind of fun! Hope you all enjoy ;o)

You Are Cowboy Boots

This doesn't mean you're country, just funky.
You've got a ton of attitude and confidence.

You're unique, expressive, and even a little bit wacky.
You wear whatever you feel like â€“ and you have your own sense of style.

You are straight shooting and honest. You tell people how it is.
Low maintenance and free wheeling, you're always up for an adventure.

You should live: Where you can at least get to wide open spaces

You should work: In a job that allows you to take change

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

Photo Tag

2008-11-17T09:49:00.000-08:00

This is what you do:

1. Open up your picture file

2. Go to the fifth folder

3. Open the fifth picture

4. Post the picture on your blog and write about it

This picture was taken in Oklahoma. We were on our way from Florida to Utah to visit family and stopped in Oklahoma to see our nephew and his mom. They have a few horses so they took the kids out and gave them rides. They also let them help feed the horses. They had a blast and it was good to see them. In the picture is My ex sister in law Deanice our nephew Kyle and Camren.

Camren Got His Tonsils Out :0{

2008-11-10T11:57:00.001-08:00

Camren got his tonsils out on November 6th. He was such a trooper. He didn't cry when they took him back to go to sleep, when they took me back to see him after the surgery I was the one crying, I felt bad seeing him laying there and he was shaking from the anesthesia but he was fine. I think it was just that he's my baby and I was really tired, we had to be there by 7a.m. which meant we had to be up at 5 so we could leave by 6. It took him about an hour or so to really wake up and he ate a little bit of a popsicle. The nurse had asked me if I wanted a wheel chair for him or if I was going to just carry him and I said I'll just carry him but when he was awake and she asked him if he wanted a wheel chair he was all about that, so we pushed him instead. He is such a sweet little boy and so tuff, it kind of stinks sometimes because you want them to need you and he's to tuff for that, oh well :0( When we were about 5 minutes from home he said to us "Can we go play at Carter's house?" Of course we didn't go play and he did really well the first two days but his throat has definitely been more sore the last two day's. I'm sure he'll feel better by the end of the week and be back to school by next Monday!

Carving Pumpkins

2008-11-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

We had lot's of fun carving pumpkins. Of course they don't like all the slime but that's what Mom and Dad are for right? While I was helping Kaylie get started Camren got hold of the camera so I put some of his shots in the slide show so you could see what a great photographer he is ;0) The slide show is kind of long but he took A LOT of Pictures.

Halloween!!

2008-11-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

The kids had a great time trick or treating with their Dad and our neighbor and his kids. We only got a few pics of the night but I'm sure that will be enough. Make sure you look below for more fun Pictures of us carving pumpkins :0)

Trunk ~R~ Treating

2008-10-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

Last night was our ward trunk r treating. The kids had a blast and got way too much candy. There were some pretty cool costumes out there. I wish I had gotten pictures but I'm not so good with the camera thing. There were sisters that were a washer and dryer, they had fabric softener on them and lint and detergent and all kinds of cute thing's, there were also a family with four kids that were the Star Wars theme, the oldest was Darth Vader, then Obi Wan, then Princess Leah, and their little one year old was Yoda it was sooo cute! There was also a kid dressed up as Obama, when he walked up to the truck we asked who he was and he said "I'm Obama the loser" I thought it was kind of funny but felt bad for him too! (No offense to any of you Obama fans) Anyway here are some pics of our kids and Pete, he even dressed up for the occassion, well kind of ;0)

Happy Birthday Camren :0)~

2008-10-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

Today was Camrens 6th Birthday! I can't believe my baby is getting so big. We didn't have a big party we just invited the neighbors and ourselves and had cake and icecream. But Camren loved it so that's all that matters.

Tag You're It ;0)

2008-10-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

My WOnderful, funny niece Hannah tagged me so heres my answers!

8 TV Shows I love to watch
1. Army Wives
2. Disney Channel
3. CSI
4. Without a Trace
5. But honestly I never watch t.v. I don't have the time
6.
7.
8.

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Happy Bentos (WA)
2. Applebees
3. Olive Garden
4. Chic fil A (FL)
5. Le Puente (UT)
6. Sconecutters (UT)
7. Panda Express
8. Charleys Steakery

8 Things I did Yesterday
1. Got kids ready for school
2. Paid our rent
3. Frosted cookies
4. Delivered cookies
5. Went to Library
6. Looked at my Facebook
7. Made dinner
8. Went to bed

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To
1. Trunk or Treating
2. Kids getting old enough to take care of themselves (we're almost there)
3. Getting rid of our crazy dog
4. Thanksgiving with Family
5. Being able to visit Family more often now that we live closer
6. Date nights with my Husband (we joined a babysitting co-op)
7. Being completely debt free (ha ha ha)
8. Trick or treat candy (we get to raid the kids bags he he he)

8 Things On My WishList
1. To be debt free
2. More quality time with Pete
3. More quality time with the kids
4. A house of my own
5. To get rid of the dog
6. To have Family come visit
7. To get my teeth completely fixed
8. A tummy tuck

8 people I am tagging
1. Kaylie
2. Megan
3. Kathryn
4. Tammy
5. Shontell
6. Mandy
7. Rebecca
8. Lydia

Christians Crossover Ceremony

2008-10-18T22:44:00.001-07:00

In June before Christian left to go to Utah to visit Family, and then move on to Washington, we had a crossover ceremony for him from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. One of the leaders did the ceremony for us and it was really awesome. I think it was a really neat experience for Christian and it helped to get him excited for Boy Scouts. Now that we're here in Washington the Scouts program is huge and there are quit a few scouts his age, in Florida he was the only 11 year old scout. He is really enjoying the scouting program! Here are some pics from his ceremony. I do apologize for the lateness of this but with the moving and our computer having issues I just couldn't get to the pics, so I say, better late then never ;0)

Ponce De Leon

2008-10-18T22:20:00.000-07:00

A few weeks before we moved from Florida Kaylie, Camren and I went to this really cool (literally) natural spring called Ponce De Leon, Pete had to work :0(. We went with our friends the Burts & my Sister-in-law Marilee! It was so awesome, there was a cave under the water, the only problem was it was FREEEEZZZZZING!! I screamed when I jumped in the first time because I knew the water was going to take my breath away. The temperature is always 68 degrees and when you're used to the warm beach water that is pretty dang cold. The water was so clear that you could see the fish swimming everywhere.

Hot Chocolate?

2008-09-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I stole this from a friend. But I Love the meaning behind it, and I especially need this constant reminder that life is what you make of it! Thanks Shontell!!

A group of graduates, well established n their careers were talking at a reunion and decided to go and visit their old university professor - who is now retired.During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. The professor had decided to offer his guests some hot chocolate, so he went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate. He brought back an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite....and instructed them to help themselves to the hot chocolate. When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand the professor said 'Notice that all the nice looking expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems....stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive, and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was HOT CHOCOLATE, not the cup...but you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other's cups. Now, consider this: Life is the hot chocolate. Your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate...man chooses the cup. The happiest people don't have the best of everything...They just make the best of everything that they have.'Live simply.Love generously.Care deeply.Speak kindly.Enjoy your HOT CHOCOLATE!

Almost all settled!

2008-09-20T12:35:00.004-07:00

OK, so I was waiting to put a new post up so that I could put some pics but, our computer desk didn't quite make the move so we need to buy a new one. Therefore we haven't gotten our desk top out because we have nowhere to put it and I don't know where the software for my camera is at to download it to the laptop so for now there won't be any pics. OK we did find a house, it is in Puyallup, WA. I think we were kind of led here, after we saw the house and the neighbors were so friendly it just felt right so we applied for it and they called us the next day and said we could move in the day after that. We applied on Wednesday they called us and said we had it on Thursday and we unloaded the truck on Friday. So fortunately for us we only had to live in the hotel for a few days. Now we are just waiting on the money the Airforce owes us for moving ourselves so we can get a new desk. The kids have gotten started in school and seem to be really enjoying it. They were over crowded and had to open a new 3rd and K class so Kaylie started her new class yesterday and Camren will start his new class on Monday and will also be going from being AM Kindergarten to PM. Oh well I guess I just won't ever get to the gym, I am definitely not taking him with me. We aren't quit sure what's going to happen with Cristian, because he was in advanced math in Florida and their schools are just more advanced then here, he has done all the math books they have scheduled for this year in 6th grade. He went last week and tested for the gifted program (I'm really not bragging, but I am proud of him and his abilities) and should know something in the next week or so. If they offer to have him in their program he can do what they call the pullout program where once a week he goes to a different school and does the gifted program (whatever that is) or he can do the self contained program which would mean he would go to a different school all together all the time and do their program all the time, the problem we see with this is that he won't be going to school with any of the kids from the neighborhood and will be less likely to make friends which was the problem we had in Florida, because he went to the Preparatory school and nobody really in our neighborhood did he didn't have any friends close by. They have also offered for him to skip to the 7th grade but after talking to his teacher we really don't feel he is socially ready to do that so they may let him go to the first period seventh grade math and then go back to his school for the rest of the day. He has a wonderful teacher who has not let this slip by at all, she personally went out and bought a 6/7 Algebra book and has been having Christian do that while the other kids are doing the other math. Anyway I guess only time will tell. OK so one of our neighbors is a member of the church and they told us that we had a really big ward with over 530 active members. They said that the seating went all the way into the gym so we were thinking maybe a few rows, Uh No our first week we were about 30 minutes late and when we got there it was filled up to the back of the gym, now it is a smaller building but still! And they were still passing the sacrament. There are so many kids they have 2 primaries, A & B. The Relief Society meets in the Chapel so the kids can use their room and apparently the Relief Society room wasn't big enough anyway. It's pretty overwhelming, so many people have introduced themselves and I can't remember half of them. I guess I will learn eventually. It's a huge change coming from FWB where the primary had about 30 kids if we were lucky and the whole Sunday school fit in the Relief Society room. We are looking forward to making new friends being able to explore this new country here and also being closer to family so hopefully we can go home for visits more often. Well when we get our desk and then get our computer all set up I'll post some pics of our new home and maybe some of the area. You can see Mt. Rainier pretty much from our front porch, I think were about 40 miles from it. Until next time!!

We Finally made it!!

2008-09-04T08:34:00.005-07:00

We have finally arrived at our destination in Washington! We got here at 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning, thank you all to our lovely moving truck. I told Peter we are definitely not moving ourselves from here when the time comes.
We stayed in TLF the first night and then we were homeless from about 11 to 4. We are currently in an extended stay hotel until Friday morning and will be homeless again for another day unless we find a house to rent before then. We found a house yesterday that we love, but until we get our Delocation allowance it will be a little difficult to rent a place, Peter went this morning to find out about all that stuff. The neighbors were so nice and the kids played with the neighbor kids there for about three hours while we all stood around talking. It was kind of strange. We had looked at one house and had seen a few on the internet that were in the same neighborhood so we decided to go take a look at them. Well we were sitting in the driveway looking at the houses on the internet, Peter had called the realtors and they weren't going to be able to show us the house until today, when someone knocked on the window. It was the neighbor from across the street and she was wondering if we were the new renters? We told her no we were just looking and she invited us in to look at her house because it was the same floor plan (it's actually a little different but that's ok) Then it went from there. There is even an LDS family 2 houses up from where we were looking so that's pretty cool and she said they have about 500 ACTIVE members which is a huge change from Fort Walton Beach! Anyway we hope to be able to move in by this weekend but will have to see with all the finance stuff. We hope everyone else is doing well, we really miss our friends back in Fort Walton but are trying to be optimistic that we will make new friends here too!! Until next time : )

Holy Moley!!

2008-08-26T20:06:00.004-07:00

OK, so we FINALLY made it to Utah, we are only a day and a half later then we expected. Our moving truck is not doing so great. It took us from 9:30 this morning until 6:30 pm to go 230 miles. We did stop for about an hour and a half to have lunch with a friend. But the truck had only been doing about 20 miles an hour up hills so we called Penske and they told us to take it to a mechanic in Beaver Utah, we had stopped in Richfield Utah for lunch. We got about 16 miles and the truck wouldn't shift gears and started acting like it was in neutral so we pulled over and waited about two hours for someone to come look at it, by then it had rested and went (But not very fast) the mechanic said it could be a clogged fuel filter and maybe there is something wrong with the transmission but this truck only has 38000 miles on it. Anyway we finally made it to Milford where my parents live only to find out that they have a major sewage leak and we can't use the toilet until Pete fixes it tomorrow so we came to the hotel to get a room for the night and his card was declined, come to find out we are at his limit and still have the rest of the way to Washington to go, however far that is? So nothing about this move from the time we got our orders has gone right, were we supposed to stay in Florida, I would like to think not! I was going to hurt someone if we did! I want to be faithful and hope everything will go OK in the long run but right now I'm starting to waiver! So if any of you reading this would like to pray for us that would be greatly appreciated! We will keep you posted on the rest of the move the best we can and let everyone know when and if we get there!

On the Move!!

2008-08-24T19:39:00.005-07:00

OK, so it's been a really long time since I posted but life was a little stressful and I had no idea where our lives were going so I didn't want to post until I knew for sure. Anyway, we were FINALLY able to leave Florida and we are now on our way to McChord AFB in Washington state near Tacoma. We're really excited about our move and hope that we will be able to make the transition as easily as possible since leaving was anything but that. We are in Albuquerque, NM right now and will be heading to Utah tomorrow morning. We're going to spend a few days there and then will be going on to Washington. We hope to be there on the 29th or 30th. We don't have a home yet so we don't have an address but as soon as we get that info we'll let everyone know. Well I'm going to get some rest the past few days have been really long and tomorrow is a 10-13 hour day. I'll try to post again soon!!

Re-Enlistment

2008-07-22T11:17:00.003-07:00

Hooray! Pete was finally able to re-enlist. It took all of 2 minutes. They just recite an oath and they are re-enlisted. But apparently there is a lot of paper work and that's why he had to wait so long to do it. So now we will hopefully get his hard copy orders and be able to get going on all the out processing stuff and make some more definite plans for leaving. We're almost 100% sure we'll be moving ourselves, which really stinks because it's soooo much work, but on the up side we should make a little extra cash to make up for all the trouble. Well that's all for now!

Happy Belated 4th

2008-07-08T10:04:00.003-07:00

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We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. It is kind of a strange holiday to us, living away from Family. There isn't any parade to go to, like when we are at home, and no big barbeque with the neighbors. But we still had a good day. The kids played at a friends house while Pete and I did..... Hmmmm what did we do? Oh ya, we were lazy for most the day and then ran a few errands. After we picked up the kids we came home and got dinner ready, the Missionaries and a few friends came over for a BBQ and then we went and watched the 15 minute firework show down town. I was lazy and didn't take any pictures but I'm sure you all know what fireworks look like. We all had a good time and are thankful for America and the freedoms we have here!

For those of you still wondering WHEN we are leaving here, we still don't have a set date. I do know that Peter is re-enlisting on the 22nd of July early in the morning and he'll hopefully get his hard copy orders soon after that, but we have friends that have been waiting on orders for awhile now so with our luck it will take them forever, or they will lose his information or something like that! We'll just pray that everything will work out and go as smoothly as possible (meaning we won't end up hurting anybody in the process).

Happy Birthday Christian!

2008-06-24T21:11:00.003-07:00

Today was Christians Birthday!! I can't believe he is already 11. It's amazing how fast they grow up! He went on his first week long Boy Scout camp last week and had a blast. He thinks he knows what LOVE is, he has a girl he likes but she is moving to Texas in two day's, they know they are too young to be Boyfriend and Girlfriend but it's still sweet that he thinks she's the cream of the crop! You never know, they may meet up again somewhere down the road after college and a mission!! He is such a blessing in our lives and amazes us everyday with his knowledge of the gospel and knowing what is right and wrong. He really is a great kid and a great example to our Family and his Friends, We would be lost without him. Kaylie wouldn't have anyone to pick on her and Camren looks up to him sooo much! We Love You Christian and wouldn't trade you for anything in this world!! We hope you had a Happy Birthday!! Here are some pictures of his not so fantastic Birthday party!!

No real news :(

2008-06-24T20:55:00.003-07:00

Well, Pete went to work on Monday and when he got home I was a little frustrated. You see he hasn't re-enlisted yet and his original enlistment is up November 19th of this year. He didn't want to re-enlist unless he knew we were going to be going somewhere else (being at a special ops base has be very stressful, with the deployments and the way his shop is ran, we just need to have a change of pace) So needless to say if he didn't get orders to somewhere else he was not going to re-enlist and was going to go to full time guard. OK so because he hasn't signed re-enlistment paper work we can't get his actual orders in hand and until you have your actual orders in hand you can't schedule anything for moving. So he has to go to a "Mandatory" briefing that is all filled up until July 10th and then he can't sign his re-enlistment paperwork until July 22nd. Then after that we can get his orders and make our plans for moving. The frustrating thing is that we HAVE to be to our new base no later then August 31st. Well for me a month is not much time, for those of you who are not military there is a lot of briefings and can I say "crap" that you have to do to move. AAAGGGGHHHH. Some day's I hate the Military! But on a good note I got an e-mail and there was this quote in it:

"The Lord gives us a spirit of hope and a feeling of comfort and confidence that we can overcome the obstacles we face. He has shown the way to gain strength during our struggles. With His assistance, we have the ability to succeed. Listen to His words of counsel and comfort: “Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world and none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost."

So I am going to put my Faith and Trust in the Lord that this is where our lives are supposed to be going and thing's will work out for us no matter how stressful it may seem! And apparently I am in need of more strengthening!

So this is where we're at, no definite plans, but we hope to be leaving here in enough time that we can stay a week in Utah on our way through to visit our Family and Friends.

We're Moving!!

2008-06-23T09:02:00.002-07:00

So here is our first post! I know it's about time huh? I'm having a hard time figuring out how to work this thing. I know you don't have to be a genius but if anyone would like to help me out that would be appreciated.
Well about a week and a half ago, Peter got orders to McChord AFB in Washington state. It's near Tacoma. We are supposed to report I think before August 31st. So I'm not sure what all our plans are going to be, how soon we will be leaving here. But I do know that we will be taking a few days on our way there to stop and see family & hopefully some friends in Utah. When I get the information on when we'll be there I'll let everyone know. We are excited about moving, we have been here in Florida for 5 years, but a little nervous too! This is our first PCS and we aren't sure how it's all goes. When we get there, there isn't going to be any housing on base so we will have to live off base for a while and that means I'm going to have to go to work to help make the rent since it's not cheap out there. I guess it's a good thing I got my Cosmetology license! Hopefully the schools will be as good out there as they are here, that is one of the hardest thing's for me about this move, Christian has been in an awesome school for the last three years and we had just gotten Kaylie and Camren in for this next year. That's the way the military works though, as soon as you start to get comfortable or a little settled in your life they up and move you! This is going to be a good thing and we really are excited to be going to a new place and seeing new thing's. Well that's all for now, I'll update when I get more info.