Made it to the Desert

After a really long flight on a rotator, Dave emailed
this morning to say he made it. Here is what he had
to say about his new surroundings-
"I finally made it! This place is better in some ways
but generally It's pretty bad. My living conditions in
Iraq were much better. The roomate that is in my can
hasn't cleaned anything in a long time! I've got a lot
of work to do... The job doens't seem too bad and there
are some people here that I know from other
assignments."
You'd think after 9 deployments he'd be used to the
sand and stink....I think I'll be shipping some Clorox
wipes this week anyway!!!

Scaling Down

After reading my lofty goals for 2010 I
am tired already!!! I decided to scale it
down to smaller weekly goals. I am
still going to attempt to accomplish
the big ones, but these should help me
feel better about life! I plan
(note I said plan) to post them each week.
so here is week 1-

Week 1-
1. Walk on the treadmill 3x this week-
I have to start out walking- I am way
too out of shape!!!
2. take my kids to the movies- The new
Jacki Chan movie looks hilarious!
3. lose a pound!
4. Not lose my mind- this is appropriate
due to the fact David left for Kuwait this
morning!
5. read my scriptures every day! (this one
will help me not lose my mind!)

Funny Story

After reading Jessica K's blog today about being
part of the "skinny club", it reminded me of the
funniest thing that happened when I was pregnant
with Jaden. Before I tell this story- just so I
remember when I'm old- I need to say that I
gained another human in weight while I was
pregnant with Jaden. Not my best year, but oh well!
- Chloe (4 at the time), Jaxon (2 at the time) and I
were in the Vegas Airport on our way home from
Utah. We were taking a potty break during our
layover. To accomodate 3 bodies and all our stuff,
we went into the handicapped stall that was in the
dead center of the restroom. After I changed
Jaxon and Chloe went potty, it was my turn. I sat
down on the potty and Chloe proceeded to say- as
loudly as possible of course- "mama, your bum is
huge! it doesn't fit on the potty". At least 10 stalls
of women burst out laughing. I was horrified! You
would have thought that alone would have been wt.
loss motivation, but I was super pregnant and didn't
much care!! Aren't kids great!

Christmas Morning 2009

Christmas morning was so much fun!

The kids are all old enough to enjoy it!

They all still believe in Santa which is great!

We got to sleep until 6- we did have to send

Chloe back to bed once though. The kids

were thrilled with every gift. Even Herc and Boo

had a great Christmas.

Chloe's 8th Birthday

Poor Chloe! This year because it was her

baptism year I feel like we kind of

overlooked her actual birthday. We were

so focused on the baptism we didn't put much

effort into her birthday.

The gift giving was also spread out

over the month. She got tickets to Disney on Ice

and we went early in Dec. She also got a mani/pedi

which we did after Christmas. She did have a few

gifts to open on her big day, but we failed to take

pictures!! We also got one big cake for both

Chloe and Jaden. Bad parents!! I know!! None

the less, she is a year older! Happy Birthday

Chlo! We love you so much and are so proud of

you!!!!!

December 09

December has been a crazy month.

It was full of all kinds of fun activities though!

David has had a lot of time off in preparation for

deployment, and has spent it doing stuff with the kids.

David took Jaxon and Chloe to the bowling alley

for a round. They had a blast. Both Chloe and Jaxon

beat thier daddy fair and square! We spent one

Saturday at the squadron Christmas party! Also

pictured above is Jaden's best friend miss Rachel.

In preparation for Christmas, we spent a Monday

night decorating the tree. The kids loved putting

the ornaments on.

Chloe's Baptism

Chloe was baptized on December 26th 2009

by her Daddy. Her Gmp-Bishop Petersen

conducted the baptism and at Chloe's request,

confirmed her. It was such a great day! Both

of my grandparents, my sister and her family

and my parents were all able to come. I

love baptisms in small wards. It ended up

just being our family there for the big day!

Congratulations Chloe! We love you and are

so proud of you for making such a great choice!!

New Year's Resolutions

I am not usually one to formally write out
resolutions. It just reminds me at the end
of the year how much I stunk it up!! However,
I am feeling extremely motivated this go round!
We'll see if I manage to achieve my goals-

1. Spend more quality time with my kids!
2. Have a mom/kid date with each child quarterly!
2. Have less days without scripture reading!
3. Do my visiting teaching every month!
4. Attend the temple @ least 5 times
5. lose the last of my weight!
6. Run a 5K
7. Keep a clutter free home
8. Keep up with my laundry!
9. Have more meaningful FHE's.
(We are famous for popcorn and movie FHE!)
10. Date with David monthly- after he finally
gets back from the desert.
11. Read to my kids every night.
12. Give 100% to the things I can control- (prayer,
church attendance, tithing, scripture reading,
visiting teaching, reading to the kids...etc)
and not sweat the things I can't. - this one kind of
sums the rest up!

New Job!!

It's official! It got the job at Highsmith Rainey!!
only 15 min from home and a great raise!!! I
am so looking forward to being a clinical RD again!
I will miss my old boss and coworkers terribly,
but everything else about the new job is so much
better!! I start on the 19th!
Thanks to everybody for your prayers!
I know they helped A LOT! Now we just have
to pray we survive this deployment (David's
leaving next week) and that my kids get accepted
to private school!! Always something to pray for!!