Ugg...

Ever have one of those days where you just want to crawl back into bed and never come out? I'm having one of those today. Getting ready for this trip next week is starting to stress me out. I have a list for everyone in the house (including the dog!!) and I am really starting to hope that I don't forget anything important. This is my first time flying with both girls and thankfully my parents and Brady's mom are all on the same flight with me or it would be insane. Can you imagine checking three bags, two car seats, and lugging two kids in strollers without help?!?!? That and one of the bags is for Brady. :o) So the girls stuff has to go in one bag. Ugg. Insane.

It will all be worth it to see Brady.

Update time

The last couple of weeks have been really busy for us. I have been singing in a women's group that preformed at our Stake Women's Conference this past Saturday and the rehearsals were pretty intense there at the end! The conference was awesome though and totally worth the work. School has started to pick up and I am really busy keeping things going at home and keeping up with my homework. The girls are both finally free of the cold/flu that has been making the rounds. Rory, however, is back to the bad diarrhea and rashes. I really wish I knew what the problem was so that I could really help her. For now though it is back to the Dr to see if they can tell us anything new. We also finally made it down to Nellis AFB to get my Military ID and get the kids and I signed up for Tricare. We will get full coverage starting March 1st. We won't be paying a DIME for health insurance anymore! The down side is that we have to drive all the way out to the base hospital to be seen by the Dr they assigned us. I figure that we had better get used to it now since we will be starting over in a completely new place in a few months anyway.

Brady is doing very well in Basic. This past week they had some tests, obstacle courses, and the gas chamber (tear gas). As always, Brady did very well on the tests, said the obstacle courses were "fun" and that the gas chamber sucked but he did just fine. So far he hasn't been sick, which is a huge blessing. If you get sick and they tell you that you have to miss training days you run the risk of missing something mandatory which you will then have to make up by adding time on to your basic training stay. Essentially you get recycled and would graduate later. Brady has been healthy so he is on track for his graduation. The last two weeks he has sounded like himself on the phone, which was nice. I get the feeling that he has settled in and can handle everything they are giving him to do. We still miss him like crazy, but the weeks are going by much faster than I anticipated and I am very grateful for that!

Yesterday afternoon, my friend Wendhy and I took the kids to Floyd Lamb Park to see the birds and for Wendhy and I to take some pictures in a more relaxed setting. Seems like I go from shoot to shoot, or assignment to assignment these days and I don't get to shoot for fun. Wendhy was feeling the same way so we let the kids loose and had some fun. The weather was amazing! I wish it was like this for more of the year. The girls had a good time and we all enjoyed the fresh air. Sadly this morning I am feeling sick. I had been hoping that I would get lucky and this nasty cold would pass me by, but it isn't looking that way. I was feeling pretty rough last Tuesday, but it was better by Wednesday. This time I think it is here to stay. :o(

Anyway, here are some pictures of the girls we took at the park. I will post some more on my photo blog since there is a TON of them. Enjoy!

The Mountain of the Lord

I finished this slideshow today. A group of us are preforming this song at a Women's Conference this Saturday and I have totally fallen in love with it. The song is called "The Mountain of the Lord" and is preformed by Jenny Jordan Frogley. She does all the parts herself and it is a cappella (which we are finding is harder to do than it seems!!). I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did putting it together! Sorry you will have to copy and paste since blogger is giving me issues when I embed today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncrdD9pzJdY

I can't wait to see this!

I am TOTALLY in love with Sam Worthington. Plus, well, I am a Mythology geek. I really liked the Original so really it is Win all around for me.

And we are back...

We just got back from a trip to visit my sister Whitney in Arizona. We always do a lot of work on their house when we are there. They have added on to their loft since the last time I was there, so we painted some book shelves for the new computer room and managed to get their guest room closet with a better organizer. We also fixed up my nieces room with some nifty stuff from Ikea. THAT was a fun trip. I had never been to Ikea before. It was AMAZING. We didn't actually intend to buy anything while we were there, but, well, that went out the window pretty fast! I have been looking for a platform bed for Cadence for about 2 years now. We found one! and even better it was only $99. For a full size platform bed with head board. I was stoked! We also picked up a couple of other smaller items that will make my sister's life and my life much easier. I am totally in LOVE with that place. We also got to hang out with the Benson's which is always a blast! I want to go back soon!

We have had a couple of letters from Brady in the last week, as well as the paper work that will get the girls and I on base and get me an ID. I am nervous and excited about this! Brady is doing well. His flight is doing very well, but they have to earn the right to call home every week. I hope that they can keep it up, because I REALLY like getting to hear Brady's voice every Sunday. Being the only parent is really starting to catch up with me. I am officially exhausted by the end of every day. I miss my husband really bad on Saturday mornings. I'm not sure that I will remember how to sleep in once we finally get him back. :o)

School starts this week. I am taking three classes, one online and two in class. One doesn't start until March though so that is nice. I miss school and I am looking forward to being a student again. I have found that I really enjoy the learning part of most things. Plus school forces me to get out and take more pictures, which, sadly, I don't do as often as I should because of the effort that it takes with two kids and all my equipment these days.

I also have some resolutions for this new year. One of them is two lose some weight. I am participating in a weight loss challenge with a bunch of other women and I think it is going to pay off. It is 12 weeks long and my goal is to get 1.5 to 2 pounds off in a week. I really like the experience so far and so I hope that, with this extra motivation, I can get some of this extra weight off of me and keep it off! Changing how MUCH I eat has been challenging. I really like to snack and so things can get out of control pretty fast!

Another resolution is to read my scriptures every day. I can usually do pretty good a couple weeks in a row and then I let other things get in the way. I am reading with the kids now and I think that will help make a difference. I also am starting Family Home Evening again. We were doing it for a while and then Cadence started to become very difficult about it so we started to slack off. Cady is much more into it now so I think it will be easier.

I hope that the new year is going well for all of you! :o)

Our family pictures...

These were taken over a couple of days since it is almost impossible to nail down the girls for any pictures, and a pain in the butt to do any with me in them. :o) I like the way they came out this year though.

Yay!

We got to talk to Brady tonight! All of 6 minutes. Brief but wonderful. He is doing well. He told us that he will be able to talk to us for a little while once a week from now on. I am very happy to hear this! He got to talk to Cadence and Rory and it was just plain wonderful to hear his voice and know that he is doing alright! We are so proud of him! :o) Anyone who would like to write to him, let me know I can send you his address. I was told to tell everyone NOT to send packages or food, as he is not allowed to receive them. :o)