Friday night was the military ball. After several (2-3?) hours of unsuccessful dress hunting that morning, I decided to go with a black stretchy skirt and a pretty comfortable top. Thankfully Jenna is staying with us and offered to do my hair and makeup, and added a flower to my outfit. And convinced me that I shouldn’t wear flats to a ball (although after all that dancing I was wishing I had stashed a pair of flip-flops in my purse).
The dinner was pretty good, the entertainment was John Schmidt(!!), and the dancing was a lot of fun. I think the band being named Article 15 made it ever more fun. They played good music, we had good friends to dance with, and they even gave away prizes (a few gift cards, some iPod shuffles and TWO Kindles! Unfortunately we didn’t win anything, boo – but the fact that they gave away such cool prizes was pretty awesome).
All in all, it was the best night out we’ve had in a while. (Thanks for watching the kiddos, Jenna!!) We got back just before midnight (so no turning into pumpkins!), and then Russ had to go to a 0700 formation the next morning for the parade. He made it, but just barely – and was super tired all day. But I like to think it was worth it!
Doesn’t my Lieber (my Love) look so handsome! Although I have to say I prefer dress blues. But that’s perfect, because if he gets promoted, he can get dress blues! Woohoo! And hopefully soon there will be SGT (sergeant) patches on his sleeves instead of those SPC (specialist) patches. Within the next year he will probably have warrant officer (or officer) ranks on his uniform. I am so proud of my hubby! He is such a good soldier and such a smart man, and I just adore him!
This weekend was a big one for us! Friday night was the military ball, Saturday was Governor’s Day, Sunday was my first day teaching Relief Society in our new ward, and Monday is the E4-E5 promotion board!
The military ball will get it’s own post, and maybe I’ll post over on My Soul Delighteth about teaching Relief Society.
Saturday morning Russ had to be at formation at Camp Williams at 0700 (for those of you who don’t speak military, that’s 7:00 am – and we live about 20-30 min away from Camp Williams, depending on traffic). We had stayed at the ball until about 2300 (again, that’s 11:00pm) dancing to Article 15 (the UT National Guard’s band). So we didn’t get home until around midnight. I don’t even remember what time Russ got out of bed, but I don’t think he left until around 0630. I won’t ask him how fast he drove (he took his motorcycle) but he ended up getting there on time.
On time for some waiting. They had a formation at 0700 and then released every body until they had to form up again around 0930 for the parade. If you are unfamiliar with the Army (or the military in general) their motto is “Hurry up and wait.” You might think that it is “Army of one” or some such nonsense, but it really is “Hurry up and wait.” That’s what they always do. Form up and then wait for forever for nothing. Or something. But they have to wait. Wait wait wait wait. But you better be on time to wait.
I didn’t get to Camp Williams until about 1005, a few minutes after the parade started, but I think all we missed was a prayer and maybe the national anthem or something. We got there just as Governor Hubert was speaking. We had to park all the way in the farthest north corner of Camp Williams, but the army was cool and picked us up with a van and dropped us off right by the parade. On our way down to the parade grounds three C-130s did a fly over. They were pretty close to the ground, and the kids got a kick out of it (Joseline thought it was a little loud).
We got to the parade grounds and found a seat just about in time to watch the soldiers parade around.
Now, a military parade is not like a Fourth of July parade or a Homecoming parade. Basically the soldiers form up with their companies and in their units, and in their battalions, and they march past the Governor and salute him so he can “inspect” them. I’m sure he doesn’t really do much inspecting. He probably just smiles and looks pretty for the cameras. Mostly a military parade is just for show – but it is a cool show, and a powerful representation of our military. There were so many troops there. It was the entire Utah National Guard – Army and Air Guard. It was crazy. The Guard also had three Black Hawks fly over during part of the parade (just before the Air Guard marched by, I believe). The kids loved that, too.
I didn’t get a good picture of Russ because I was too busy trying to point him out to Vincente. By the time I remembered that I need to take pictures, I had to take them of the back of his head.
Russ was the third from the front on the second row. You can see his beret where the arrow is pointing.
The band was great, and the soldiers looked fabulous.
After the “parade” they had a fair type thing where all the units and battalions sold food and the Guard put up a zip line and a bounce house. They also had a lot of booths advertising all of the services the military has for families. I signed up for the FRG for our unit, talked to some Military OneSource folks, and got information on the local Family Assistance Center. We also signed up for the Enlisted Association of the National Guard. Apparently they are the people who lobby our politicians to keep the benefits for the Guard soldiers.
They also had an Apache helicopter and a Black Hawk medic helicopter the kids could get around, touch, and (for the Black Hawk) get in. The Apache folks were a little more touchy about the kids getting in the cockpits – but I think that’s because Apaches have guns, and the Black Hawk didn’t. The pilots were all really nice and talked to us about their helicopters.
Vincente loved being the helicopters and decided that he is going to join the army and fly helicopters when he gets “big like Papai.” Cute kid. I told Russ that I secretly hope that Vincente will join the National Guard when he is old enough. No matter what else he chooses to do for a career, I would absolutely love for him to be a citizen-soldier!
The last thing we did was head over to the 19th Special Forces Group’s tent where Vince tried his hand at a paintball gun. He was actually doing pretty well. He was aiming. Russ said Vince couldn’t figure out just how to use the scoping bars (or whatever Russ called them) because he was consistently hitting the wrong spot so he probably had the target through part of the scope and not the whole thing. Anyway, after hitting a few targets and some unsuccessful attempts at shooting the rest he told Russ he was done, so Russ finished out – left handed. And of course took each one out in one shot.
Joseline mostly sat in her stroller and enjoyed a cookie. She tried the bouncy obstacle course but ended up getting stuck. She liked the helicopter, but I think what she liked most of all was being with Papai. She’s super attached to that guy.
In preparation for Independence Day (and because Vince love swords and fighting and armies and war…. son of a solider? I think so) we talked about Captain Moroni for Family Home Evening a few weeks ago. We even made our own standard of liberty.
We re-enacted the scene of Moroni tearing his cloak and fastening it to a pole and talked about why he did it, and why they fought.
Then we talked about the founders of our country, what they did, and why they fought. We recited the Declaration of Independence (well, this part: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”) and talked about George Washington and what the American flag means, and how it is like the standard of liberty that Captain Moroni made. We hung our standard of liberty and an American flag on the wall for a little while (until the tape failed and they fell down).
Playing soldiers wouldn’t be complete without making helmets and having swords. Russ has a super cool sword he got for Christmas when we were first married, and Vincente has his little foam sword Grandpa Victor got for him last summer (because Vince kept trying to use the knife sharpener for a sword…) and we made helmets out of boxes and tinfoil. They were awesome.
I’m glad we got to talk to Vincente about both the standard of liberty and the American flag and what they stand for. The kids love pointing out American flags (almost as much as they love pointing out the temple) and always tell me when they see one. We’re trying to teach our kids that there are times when fighting is okay – but it is only when we are protecting our freedom, our families, and our religion.
I am so grateful for the example of Captain Moroni – especially for my children because we are a military family. We can help them understand that their Papai is fighting for a reason – that we don’t just fight because we want to, we fight to preserve freedom – and freedom is indeed a very important thing to fight for.
The first weekend of June is our neighborhood’s annual Fun Run. It’s free, fun, and mostly just for kicks.
This is our first year to participate, but I am sure it won’t be our last. It was really a lot of fun to get out with our neighborhood, and the run was around our neighborhood, so it was perfectly safe for the kids.
They had a 1/2 miler, a 1 miler, and a 5K. I would like to do the 5K next year, but this year I just did the 1/2 miler with the kids.
This year the run was on a drill weekend, so Russ wasn’t there, but we had a blast anyway!
Vincente ran almost the entire 1/2 mile (I was so proud of him!) and I ended up carrying Joseline for most of the 1/2 mile – I figure that carrying a 20-something pound two-year-old would make up for the fact that it was only a 1/2 mile.
Don’t you love it! And look at that Army haircut (he wanted me to cut his hair like “Papai”)
Vincente at “parade rest” – don’t you love that serious “attention” look? What a kid.
And then when people noticed his haircut he would say “You can call me ‘Papai’” Ba ha ha ha! Such a funny kid!!
I’m feeling good and loving how our life is going right now, which is no excuse not to write blog posts. Part of the lack of blog posts might be that I still don’t have our camera (hopefully I remember it get it when we visit the in-laws for Easter).
Why am I so happy? Well, let me tell you what’s on my “happy list” right now:
- I’m getting stronger (I got to a power pump class at the gym on Tues and Thurs, and I can feel the strength and stamina I’m developing. Now I just need to start running again, since the weather is good)
- Russ and I have better gospel discussions and are more unified as parents and spouses. We have Family Home Evening, family prayer, we read scriptures together as a family, and are working on worshipping better on the Sabbath day.
- We are one step away from getting our foster care license! (home study tomorrow!)
- The military (finally!) paid a huge chunk of Russ’ student loans (almost HALF of the loan!!) and will make another payment this fall, and the fall after that.
- The military fixed our address in their system (finally!) and we are now getting paid enough to cover our housing expenses!
- Russ will be coaching Vincente’s T-ball team this spring, which starts next week!
- We’ve been to the eye doctor, I’ve had my first yearly exam (ever!), and the kids are getting caught up on their shots (we’ve been a little lazy about following our alternative schedule – but most of that has to do with moving around so much), and I’m going to the chiropractor regularly again, so my hips are feeling a LOT better.
- We’ve been getting a lot of work done on the yard (I thought that I had posted about how it looked before, but I can’t find the post – so here are some pics of last fall):
The lawn is getting really green, and we have cleaned up all of the weeds and trees (well, the big ones). My plan for next week is to mow the front lawn, then weed & feed. Then in a month I’ll re-seed the parts of the front lawn that need help. The backyard is being re-seeded, and we expanding the dog run so we don’t feel so bad about keeping them cooped up. Plus, we’ve been taking them out on walks/runs/dog park visits more often so that they can get some much needed exercise. And I’ve also done a few home projects – I replaced the water line to the fridge, so we can finally use the water and ice maker in the fridge. I also replaced a motion sensor light on our back deck. The sensor was defective or something, because it would turn off and on and off and on… sooo annoying. I replaced it with a fixture that didn’t have a motion sensor, since we only want the light to be ON. We’ll hopefully be adding some motion sensor lights to the corners of the house soon. We’re also going to replace the light at the front door (which is completely broken…) and put motion sensor lights on the side of the garage door.
We’re going to replace some light fixtures and fans around the house, and replace the doors and door hardware (these two things will happen in the next few months). And this summer we’ll put in tile in the dining room (which is currently carpeted) and replace the tile in the kitchen.
We have to do things piece by piece because our cash flow is relatively low (some day Russ will be promoted). But we feel blessed because we have very little debt (and we’re paying that off) and some savings (which we’re adding to) and very low expenses, so we’re able to accomplish a lot of the things that we want to, even with our limited income. I’m always astonished with how much we are actually able to do each month with our limited paycheck. It always seems to be more than it really is.
Well, that’s why life is good here. I hope life is good for you, too!
Russ became a “real” soldier on September 30, 2010. By real I mean, he finally had all the training necessary to do a job in the military. The picture at the top was at his company’s award ceremony the night before graduation, at which Russ received several awards, including the GAFB (pronounced “gaff-bee” – weird, I know... military... go figure) – the German Armed Forces Badge – basically you qualify by doing really well on the APFT (the physical fitness test) and by shooting a bunch of stuff, and by in general being a good soldier.
These two pictures are at the actual graduation. It was short and sweet, just the way I like it. Vincente played Monkey Preschool Lunchbox most of the time (man I love my iPhone...) and Joseline mostly just sat around. The cutie. We are so proud of our Papai! He is such a great soldier and has done a lot of good stuff! And we are sooo happy he is done with all of his initial entry training!
Our Halloween festivities officially started on the 23rd when we made some Halloween decorations -
The classic magnets-on-decorative-stones project (I have decided that I am going to make “themed” holiday magnets for our family magnet board – which will be one of my “snowy day” projects later this winter – the yard comes first!)
These smiley-faced-googley-eyed spiders. The kids had a blast making them, and they were so easy. Just some big pom poms, pipe cleaners cut in half then hot-glued to the pom poms. Add some embellishments, and you’ve got the cutest spiders on the block!
These cute little Halloween jars inspired by my friend Katie. Nabbed the jars at DI for $.50 a piece. I wanted to make a few more, but towing small children through the glass aisle at DI = trouble, so I grabbed the first ones I saw and ran. They should have candles in them, but we don’t really have any furniture in our living room, so I didn’t have a place to put them. I’m hoping to put up a bunch of floating shelves in my living room (because I don’t particularly care for furniture anyway). Another “when-it-gets-too-cold-to-work-on-the-yard” project.
Last but not least, my “BOO” letters. Grabbed these from a clearance bin at Michael’s for about $.50 a piece (they’re about 6” tall). The O’s were actually Q’s – just used the handy jigsaw and some sand paper, and voila – you’ve got O’s. I tied some hemp through them and had them hanging on the door. I wish I had snapped a picture of them hanging on the door. It was actually pretty cute. Eventually I want to make a huge generic wreath to hang outside and change the decorations on it to match the holiday/season. Yet another “when-it-gets-too-cold-to-work-on-the-yard” project.
Later in the week, we broke out the decorations and costumes. The kids had a blast trying on old costumes. I can’t believe the Turtle still fit Joseline. And of course Vince wanted to be Dash again as soon as he saw the costume.
Luckily we had several Halloween festivities to attend, and his Optimus Prime costume took longer than expected to create (read: wasn’t finished until 5 minutes before the ward Trunk or Treat) – so he got to be Dash twice, and Optimus Prime once.
Our first activity was Trick or Treating at Camp Williams with all the Guard families. It was pretty awesome. Joseline, as you can see, was a ballerina. Vince was Dash. I was – me – and Russ was in the “Chair Force.” If you don’t get it, don’t worry – military humor. Anyway, he wore his old BDU’s (the Air Force only got ACU’s last year... heh), and his hat cocked back on his head, and taped over the :”US ARMY” and wrote “US CHAIR FORCE.” It was pretty great.
There were some fun costumes and displays at the Guard Halloween deal. Vincente was a little nervous at first, but we kept reminding him that it was all pretend, and he didn’t need to be scared. He would repeat it to himself, and to us, “They’re just pretend, so I don’t be scared.” And then he would go get some candy.
We got to one room where the candy was in a coffin. Under the candy was a (obviously fake) zombie. When Vincente was hesitant to grab some candy, I reminded him, “Remember it’s just pretend.” And then I added, “It doesn’t even move.” Bad idea. Just as I said that, and Vince was reaching for the candy, some dumb soldier thought it would be a great idea to pull the strings that were apparently attached to the head and hands of the zombie. Vince lept to the floor away from the coffin, screaming. Joseline screamed, started crying, and held on to Russ with a vice grip, and of course, Russ and I jumped as well. Stupid jerk. We made sure to get extra candy from there. It would have been hilarious if my kids weren’t 3 and 1. Maybe if they were 10 and 8 it would have been kind of funny. It would have been hilarious if they were teenagers. But c’mon, babies!? Really.
Vincente’s costume was a hit for the second year in a row (better this year with freckles – more like Dash, less like Mr. Incredible). Joseline charmed everyone because, well, she’s just adorable. And everyone loved Russ’ “Chair Force” costume. After we had obtained a sufficient amount of “loot,” we returned to Russ’ offices and watched the rest of How to Train Your Dragon (perhaps one of Vincente’s favorite movies, even though he had only seen it once in the theater) and filled our bellies with all the good stuff from the kid’s candy. Hey, what’s Halloween for as adults if not to pillage your children’s candy?
Friday night took us down to Provo to the Coyne’s rockin’ Halloween party where we brought some Crunchy Bones. I thought I had taken a picture of them, but can’t seem to find one. Bummer. I even made a coffin for them out of cardboard. They’re basically the best Halloween treat eva. The party was great, Vince and Joseline (or should I said, Dash and Ballerina) donned their same costumes, Papai went as a detective, complete with hat, side-holstered gun, and trench coat. I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture. It was pretty cute. I wore my old hippy dress. I thought my short hair wouldn’t really work with the hippy thing, but it actually looked fine.
The third, and crowning event of this Halloween season was our neighborhood ward’s Trunk or Treat. Vince wore the fruits of mine and Russ’ hard labor for several hours leading up to the Trunk or Treat.
Optimus Prime.
Complete with Vince-provided sound effects. He would move his arms and make “robot” sounds. I’ve included some here for your listening pleasure:
After the “Trunk or Treat” (which ended up being a “walk around the gym and treat” due to the rain) Vincente declared “I want to trick or treat outside!” Well, his costume was a little cumbersome, so I offered to give him a ride. Before he even reached the end of the Church sidewalk, he decided that maybe a ride was a better idea. So I drove, Russ picked Vince up and carried him to the houses, Vince put on the charm and got candy. I drove them to the next house (if the one next door wasn’t giving out candy).
Vincente really enjoyed it, and actually got pretty good at walking in that costume.
We did pretty well in the candy department – and had a few trick or treaters ourselves that night. Not many, because we were all out when most of them were coming around the neighborhood... and it had been raining all night. Next year will be better, hopefully.
It looks like our neighborhood gets hit pretty well (I saw at least 10 groups out just the night of the Trunk or Treat, and it was raining. So I imagine there will be more next year.)
And I just had to share this last picture... Joseline kept watching Vincente step into the boxes that made up his costume, so when she found this empty light bulb box laying around, she decided she would be a transformer, too. Heh. Cutie.
I was getting all my photos off of my iPhone in preparation for an update (which I still haven’t been able to get to work... darn iTunes...) and I realized that I haven’t been blogging in a while, but life has still been going on.
I want to post all of the pictures all at once, but that would be a blog post with too many pictures. So, I’m going to give you some highlights, and then tomorrow after church while the kids are napping (cross your fingers) I’ll try to wade through everything... whoa. It’s a LOT of stuff....
some sewing of aprons
playing in buckets full of water
this sweet face (and another one just like it)
a lot of free play
outside free play!
and so much of this
it makes me want to lay down and do nothing right this minute
But you’ll get it all in blogged form with nice layouts and full narratives starting tomorrow. I’ll probably “program” them to post for my Tues/Thurs “this life” posts so you don’t get overwhelmed.
Also, Wednesday Wanderings comes back this week with a review of the Sierra Vista Public Library! (story time on Tuesday mornings! Hooah! And I also found out that the post has a Family Fitness Center – so we’ll be checking that out on Monday – and it will probably make an appearance on the blog next Wednesday).
It’s good to be back in full swing – getting used to another new normal (it feels like my normal changes each day... of course, the only constant thing is change, so that makes sense!)
Doesn’t my Lieber (my Love) look so handsome! Although I have to say I prefer dress blues. But that’s perfect, because if he gets promoted, he can get dress blues! Woohoo! And hopefully soon there will be SGT (sergeant) patches on his sleeves instead of those SPC (specialist) patches. Within the next year he will probably have warrant officer (or officer) ranks on his uniform. I am so proud of my hubby! He is such a good soldier and such a smart man, and I just adore him!
Russ was the third from the front on the second row. 
Vincente at “parade rest” – don’t you love that serious “attention” look?
