Ava's Baptism Song

Ava came to me a couple weeks ago and said "Mom will you sing with me at my baptism?" If you know Ava then you know she loves to sing. If you know me, you would know that this question horrified me. But trying to be a good mother, I said "If you really want to, ok"....I told her we need to pick a song and practice. We looked through, and listened to some songs, then decided on the primary song "Baptism". We practiced a few times then Ava turned to me and said,"I kinda want to sing by myself now" It was pretty hilarious, and I was so relieved I didn't even think of being offended. I'm so proud of her for being so brave to do this "by herself". I love her and her sweet beautiful voice. The spirit was so strong throughout the entire baptism. I know she will remember this special day the rest of her life.

Purple Class 13 24 Video

Yay!! My husband comes home in two days!! Its been a long 5 weeks! He graduates from Warrant Officer Candidate school Wednesday. I am so proud of him. This is his class slide show. He was in charge of putting it together, which of course means there are hardly any pictures of him but he did a fabulous job putting it together. See if you can find him!

WOCS Class 13-24 Class Song #1

Here is my sexy man singing for his supper. 2nd row from the wall 4th from the back. My favorite part is when they shout "Victory!" Because they get dessert. Haha love it!!!

Ava in Wonderland

My little beaner is turning 8. I can't believe it. She is so cute and spunky. She wanted a wonderland tea party for her birthday which worked out great because I just did a unbirthday party for YW, and still had most of my decorations. We had her party four days before her real birthday. On her real birthday we're gonna take her to get her ears pierced. I told her she could invite 1 friend(then told her what friend it could be)I'm so mean. But I don't believe in having a huge birthday party every year, mostly because I only got one every 5 years growing up so whatev. So she invited her cute friend Lorynn and these are the shenanigans that took place.

First we made tea hats out of paper plates and bowls

They turned out so adorbs.

Then they got Beau-TEA-ful!

Then we played pin the spout on the teapot

Then it was tea time!!!!!!!!

Cutest girls!

Jum-bo joined us.

It was all very dignified

We said things like "pardon me" and "I do declare"...

And used our best table manners of course.

Happy Birthday beautiful AVA!!!!!!!!!!!!

1st Annual Grape Slushie Games

Being that it is the last weekend before school starts, and we were feeling like pretty lame parents, we decided to have a fun/game day that will now be a tradition known as The Grape Slushie Games. For those that don't know Grape Slushie's is our family gang name. So hardcore. Stu and I schemed a little a compiled a list of some fun/cheap games we could play to let the kids earn Slushie Bucks(our bribing currency)to use in our Slushie Buck store. So elaborate I know. Anyway here are some fun snippets of how it went. Here we are at the opening ceremony in our matching grape slushie shirts the Drollette's made for us for Christmas last year....yes we are awesome.

Our score sheet...

First up was the pillow sack race

Next soccer goal

 T.P shoot: whoevers t.p broke off first won!

       

Water balloon toss

Pie eating contest:Before

After. It was close Ava won, Truman only ate the "sour cream"and Ella won messiest face.

You can't tell here but I immediately inhaled the majority of my pie, then could'nt stop laughing. I lost:(

 Lastly we had a shaving cream salon, Truman didn't want to play he was too concerned about getting more "sour cream"also he doesn't really like to get messy, and it was a "girl" game.

Scores. Everyones a winner especially me!!!     

Who are  the coolest parents now??

We are.

Fatty Fatty Boom Boom

When we arrived to Texas we realized we needed another vehicle to transport our family plus Trisha around. We came across a lovely dodge conversion van and made her ours. She was amazing. We named her Fatty Fatty Boom Boom  because the kids loved to watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on the built in tv/vcr while we went on adventures, and also because she was huge. Sadly we sold her a couple months ago, but we made this homage to her while we still had her because we loved her so much and I guess we were bored. This is both awesome and embarrassing to me so I hope you enjoy this(mom) I know you have been waiting sooo long for this..  

Details

We moved away from home almost 2 1/2 years ago. I would be lying if I said I was sad to go. It seemed like everything around us was falling apart. I wanted to get away. I didn't want to face the realities that had recently been revealed. I wanted to close my eyes and ears and sing "LA LA LA!!!"  When our orders came, I said, "Lets get the hell outta here." And we did. I was afraid of what would happen while we were gone. I was terrified my family would fall apart. I felt like I had uncovered a mess and then ran so everyone else had to clean up. I felt so guilty for leaving. But at the same time I felt the Lords hand in my life. I felt Him in the details of every moment that led up to this point. And I knew it was time to let go of the things I couldn't control. I have felt more, changed more, and learned more in these past 2 1/2 years than I thought ever was possible. I felt angry, alone, bitter, frustrated, and resentful. I felt like my childhood memories had now been tainted, in a way not real anymore. I know now that isn't true. And I learned to cherish those memories. I learned to forgive. To trust. To rely on Christ in my times of heartache.  I learned to see people for who they are, and to recognize the Lords hand in every acquaintance. He has sent people into my life that have helped me heal, laugh, learn, grow, and to help me realize how blessed I truly am. I have learned who I really am. I am the daughter of David and Jennifer. Their love (or lack of) for each other does not define me. I love my parents. They gave me life and my sisters whom I love and adore. They raised me in the gospel. They worried over me, prayed for me and taught me many valuable things. The good memories will always overpower the bad. I am the wife of Stuart. He loves me with a love I never knew was possible. He has held me through all my struggles. He gives me strength and shows me patience. He has given me more happiness through my children than I feel I deserve. He has taught me unconditional love. He made me a mother, which has been the biggest blessing in my life. My children are beautiful, smart, challenging, amazing, funny and precious. They have taught me more than anyone or anything. I am a daughter of God. For a long time I struggled with what that meant. If I really believed, or deserved that title. I know now without any doubt that is who I am. That all of the trials, heartache, happiness, joy, we encounter in this life stem from a loving God who is desperately trying to help us remember WHO we really are. I am thankful for all the things I have gone through that have helped awaken my spirit, to the knowledge of who I am and who I can become. This has given me so much comfort and hope. I know things with my family will never be the "same". I know there is still a lot of healing to be done. But I am facing the future with open arms. And it feels good.

Girls Camp +Camping

Hello. I just returned girls camp. I was called to be a YL mom(they call them staff girls where I'm from) It was a lot of fun. We went to Ft. Parker in Mexia, TX. We had cabins. With frigid AC units. It was great, until you ventured outside and melted from the heat. Or until you get drenched with water from your sweet little young women and have to try to eat your hot dog in the freezing dining hall shivering like a chihuahua. There was also a awesome old creepy cemetery we walked through everyday to get to the lake. The girls had their snipe hunt IN the cemetery. I was too scared/superstitious to join them. They looked so hilarious with toothpaste smeared all over their faces. Camp was a lot of fun, had many great experiences and got to know the girls in my ward better. These are my cute YW in my ward.

I also started No-Pooing my hair while at camp. Perfect timing since I could care less if my hair looked gross or crazy. Turns out its going pretty well and doesn't look or smell gross at all! here's a link to what thats all about if you are concerned/interested http://livinginanotherlanguage.com/blog/2013/05/22/i-still-dont-use-shampoo/.
The kids were super jealous I was going "camping"so I had the brilliant idea of having them come up Thursday night and pick me up from camp, then we could go camping as a family at the primitive camp spots. So they did. NEVER go camping in Texas in the summer unless you want to be drenched in sweat, mixed with sunscreen, topped with insect repellent. The bugs/crickets/frogs/demon spiders were sooo loud it was hard to fall asleep. And just before I was almost asleep Truman started saying, "I need to poo..I need to pee" (we just had taken him and so we thought he was just saying this because he does sometimes) Me in my sleep deprived exhausted sweaty state mumbled, "Just go to sleep you can poo in the morning" he then started whining and we hear SQUIPPLOOSHH runny poo everywhere!!! So disgusting. Stu and I jump up he carries him out of the tent as I try to wipe up poo drizzles. I felt really bad told Tru we were sorry and should've taken him. We wiped him down good with water and baby wipes and went to bed. The next morning we look at the spot we were cleaning him up at and there was a monsterous spider web and creepy huge spider not two inches from where we were standing. Yikes. Then we cleaned up camp and swam in the lake. The dirty muggy stinky lake. But it was fun. The End.

School's Out!

My little schoolies are out for the summer. Even though it's been a few weeks since they have been out, I thought I would post some cute pic's and tell a little bit about their class and school year..Eleanor graduated Pre-K this year. She was in Ms. Mayfields class and she loved it. Here she is all dressed up in her graduation gear.

 Her teacher always said that she is so quiet and shy in class..which if any of you know her, you know that is not the case at home. I'm pretty sure she just holds it all in during the day just to come home and release the kraken, to drive me crazy-on purpose. I love her still. She learned a lot this year. She is already sounding out words, and she can write quite a few. She is also boy crazy. Already. Heaven help me. Her favorite thing about school was when her teacher would dress up.

She was once Penny the Pumpkin, Tessa the Turkey, Bailey the Bunny, Cat in the Hat, Christmas Elf, and maybe a few more I missed. Her teacher was awesome, and spoiled her kids rotten. My favorite thing about her pre-k was it was all day. Sweet freedom.

Little Beanie completed 2nd grade with flying colors. She was on the A honor roll all year, and had perfect attendance. She is quite a popular little thing. She made a lot of good friends this year. Her teacher Mrs. Burke was awesome. She bought one of Molly's puppies from us, and she dressed up like Rihanna and did a sweet dance for the talent show. She also was a great teacher and Ava just adored her. Ava's favorite part about school this year was they had attenDANCE's once a month for the kids who didn't miss any school. They got to go to the cafeteria and have a dance party. Ava LOVES to dance. She was also in the newspaper club and did morning announcements over the intercom quite a few times. Love my little cuties and it's been a fun summer so far with them home!!

Future Pilots Wife

Yes! My super, awesome, smart, and might I add SEXY husband got accepted into Warrant Officer Candidate School. That means he will be a student in training to be a helicopter pilot for the Army. He worked VERY hard putting his packet together and endured many anxious and annoying moments dealing with the "process" but it all paid off in the end. I'm so proud of him and all he does for our family, and so happy he is finally able to work toward his dream of becoming a pilot. The school is at Ft.Rucker in Alabama, so we are starting to get ready to move. He starts school Sept.4th. So let the organizing/packing/cleaning begin!! We are all very excited to start a new adventure.
Stuart, I knew you could do it! So proud of you and I love you so much. I know you will be awesome at this and I KNOW that because of all your hard work and determination you will be able to eventually/finally grow a mustache pilot style. XOXOXOXO

For Your Entertainment

Ava has a school talent show coming up. Her class is doing the Harlem Shake(shhh its a secret). I found this on our photo booth and had to post. My crazy kids being awesome and naughty. I don't know what I was doing. Probably hiding. Warning you may want to turn down the volume in the beginning so your eardrums don't shatter from Trumans high pitched voice.

Happy Birthday Truman!!!

Let's all just take a moment and reflect on the state I was in three years ago today...

Yes. That is a forced smile. Yes, my belly was stretched to the maximum capacity. And itchy. Pretty sure I was a little(rhymes with itchy). But that was one of THE BEST days of my life because our little boy was born. I was terrified to have a boy. I honestly didn't know if my love for him would compare to the girls. I know that sounds bad, but all my fears quickly vanished when I held this chubby 8lb 11oz blue bruised face baby boy in my arms. I can't describe the love I have for this boy. He has brought me more happiness than I probably deserve. He reminds me of my purpose in life everyday.  I can't believe how fast it has gone...how much he has grown.. and how much we have changed for the better because he is part of our family. I love this kid so much. Can not imagine life with out him.
Happy third birthday Boomer!!!!!!!!!! We love you!

Went to Dinosaur World for his birthday(Ella lookin grumpy and neglected haha)

TEXAS

Alright. So I haven't blogged in a super long time. I decided since we will be transitioning soon that I'm going to start back up. We have been in Texas for almost 10 months. And it has been an adventure. I have compiled a list of things I love and don't love about Texas, and some random hilarious observations I have made. Just to give you an idea of what its like. And to be fair, I don't consider this town a "typical" Texas town (we live in Killeen), if we lived in "real" Texas I'm sure there would be a lot more loves than hates.
1. The roads. Hate them. If I don't make it out here alive you can probably blame the roads. Ridiculous.
2. Wild flowers everywhere-lining the highways, in the mediums. Everywhere in the country. Love.
3. The HEAT(no)
4. The humidity(no)
5. The thunderstorms(yes)
6. Whatever pollen, tree, or grass that are giving me the allergies from HELL can go straight there.
7.The people, ALL the people. There are a lot of them..from all over the world, and I love the diversity but really wish I could make it down a isle in HEB with out getting stuck in a traffic jam for 20 minutes.
8.Camping(love)
9. The pimpin' car that has "So fresh-so KILLEEN" in vinyl stickers on the back(love)
10. The pink minivan that's interior is entirely lined with shaggadellic white fur..dash board, steering wheel. So awes.
11. Whenever you drive to Austin there is ALWAYS a "amber alert" for a missing elderly. Every time. Cant they keep track of Grandpa?
12.Austin(yes)
13. My kids schoolmates have names like: Unique, Cha'niyah, Deqwane, Ja'korien, Chimkezirim, Princess, Tanischa, Markira and Markayla.(seriously love)
14. Eleanor now wants to go "wit" me, or play "wit" someone...don't know what to do wit dat..
15.Awesome garage sales all the time. Military people get rid of some good stuff.
16. Soldiers everywhere you look. USA!!USA!!
17. The few times we have ventured out to the country, the people are sooooo nice and friendly. They all say YA'LL, everyone is BABY, "come on back now" and the most precious little 5 yr old cowboy at his families feed store "Looks like we got another customer gran-paw...shoot" I died.
18.Chicken and Waffles
19.Hot wings
20. Killeen Wal-Mart might possibly be headquarters for "People of Wal-Mart"I avoid it like the plague. Sometimes I have no choice, and I'm pretty sure a always catch a nasty disease.
21.Gangs. Shootings behind my house. Shady people. Always packin' my pepper spray.
22. Love our ward, and friends we have made.
Ok thats all for now. I'm off to good ol' HEB. Please bless I don't die.