Our 24th of July Fun!!

Since we missed out on the 4th of July festivities, I wanted to make sure that we had a really fun 24th of July!! So the night before we went and watched a pageant put on here in Grantsville about the pioneers. It was great!! My mom and little sister were in it and did a fabulous job. It was fun to watch them, but really made me wish that I was in it!! Maybe next year I will be!! The next morning (July 24th) we got up early and headed over to the Days of '47 Parade in Salt Lake! It was awesome, like always!! I love that parade for some reason! Maybe its because I know that one of the members of the First Presidency will be in it, who knows! But anyways I just love it!! Parker and Chloee did really good too which made it all the better!! Here are a couple of pictures:

Look at my cute little pAtRiOtiC girl!!!



Look at that face! You can NOT deny that he is
aDoRabBle!!




Our SWEET kids!!






Parker and I eNjOyiNg the parade!





After the parade we went back home and had a yUmMy lunch and then just relaxed for a bit!! That evening the two stakes in Grantsville had a combined cookout and pioneer carnival. It was a lot of fun but was very HoT! As soon as we were finished there my sisters (Heidi & Ciara), the kids and I headed over to Salt Lake to brave the masses of people at Liberty Park for FiReWoRkS!! We parked a ways a way and then just walked so that we didn't have to fight the traffic....there were SO many people there!

Heidi and I watching the fireworks!! The fireworks were great! We set up our blanket in the middle of the street and sat and waited with eXciTeMeNt!!







Poor Parker...He was SO excited to watch the fireworks and waited and waited....only to fall asleep literally 2 minutes before they started!! Poor kid! It was just too late for him!

What a Whirlwind!!

Where did June go?? I'll tell you where...it went to Kentucky and then to California!! But that was just the last half of the month! The first half was spent in anticipation of June 17--the day I got to see Travis again!! So let me tell you about that trip first! Travis graduated from Basic Training on June 17th, so of course I had my tickets purchased well in advance!! But then we decided it would be best if I didn't travel alone, so we got my mom a ticket the week before. Because of the timing, we weren't able to get on the same flight, so we just met each other at the airport in Louisville, KY on the 16th. That evening we found our motel, and then ate dinner at Cracker Barrell (Yummy!!) We had a nice relaxing evening, other than the volcano of emotions that I had to deal with! I don't know if you've ever experienced the overwhelming feelings of excitement, anticipation, nervousness, pride, etc. all at once, that I felt that night, but let me just tell you, it was pretty intense!! I kept having little "eruptions" where my whole body would shake and I'd get the butterflies, and just have to squeal!! It was like I couldn't contain my emotions!!

Anyways, Thursday morning came, and it was finally the day I got to see my Baby Love!! My mom and I made sure that we got up early to get ready and leave with plenty of time so that we wouldn't be late! The graduation was scheduled to start at 9:30, but we were quite early!! So we got a seat and waited for a little while, then at about 9:00 we started to hear the sweet sound of a bunch of soldiers singing cadence!! That's when the tears came! He was close enough that I could hear him! The emotional eruptions were kind of constant at this point!! It was such an amazing sight to see all of the soldiers marching together in formation. What was frustrating was knowing that he was one of those soldiers, but not being able to tell which one he was!!

The actual graduation ceremony was good. I tried so hard to pick him out of the crowd, but I just couldn't find him. (Dang this bad eyesight of mine!!) Luckily after the ceremony, they all marched in front of the audience!! That is when I finally saw my sweet Travis! (Although it took me a few minutes to realize that it really was him--he looked so different!) Then we had to go wait in line to check them out for the day. That was torture, because they were standing right there only a few feet away, but I had to wait to get my arms around him. It was worth the wait though!! I love him so much!! He is my everything, so embracing him for the first time in 10 weeks was like heaven!! Here are some pictures:

The whole company in formation! (Alpha Company)


Travis' platoon! (1st Platoon)


There's my Baby Love!! Gotta love those glasses!! (BCGs aka. "Birth Control Glasses"!!)


Our first embrace--Heaven!!


We had a great day together! Travis showed us where he did some of his training, etc. We also went to the Patton Museum there at Fort Knox. There were a ton of tanks! It was pretty cool!

Look at how skinny my soldier is!! Outside the Patton Museum.


Such a handsom man!!


Saying goodbye again at the end of the day was not so much fun! It was really hard to leave, knowing that I wouldn't see him for another 9 weeks.

Here is our last picture of the day. This uniform looked like a tent on him because he has lost so much weight!


The next day Travis was off to Ft. Lee, VA, and we flew back home to Utah. It was a really quick trip, but it was amazing to be able to spend the day with Travis!

Here are a couple of random pictures from our trip:

Playing checkers on the porch of Cracker Barrell, just to say we did!


Our beautiful rental car! I LOVED this car!!!

Without Travis :(

Well it has been 7 weeks since Travis left and it's been a rollor coaster. The first few weeks were completely fine, because I was used to him being on the night shift, so it just felt like he was at work. By about week 3 I started having meltdowns at least once a week:( The majority of the time I am really fine, but I have my moments where it hits me how much I really miss him and I just have to cry! I have been trying to keep myself really busy with crafts, projects, being mommy, etc. And so it's usually the quiet times that I get down. I've noticed that night time and Sundays are the worst for some reason. I have kind of been slacking on the things that I need to be doing to come closer to the Lord, so last night I re-commited myself to being valiant in reading the scriptures, praying, having FHE, etc. So hopefully these next 3 weeks will be better! I get to see him in 24 days!! Woohoo!! Even though it is only for 9 hours, I am so excited!! Then while he is at AIT training, it should be a little easier because he will be able to call me!! So the last two months won't be as bad either! Yeah!

So Travis is doing good! All of his letters are really positive. He said that he hasn't been singled out, which is great! Before he left everyone he talked to told him to just try and stay under the radar and he'd be fine! Unfortunately there are several other guys who didn't get that advice and ruin it for the whole group. Oh well, that's part of being in the military! He's been enjoying shooting the m-16, but said he hopes to never have to do the gas chamber again! Of course he's been losing weight, which he's really excited about! Last time he told me, he was down to 187!

He keeps telling me that this will be but a short moment in our lives. I just need to remember that! I'm so glad that I have eternity to spend with him!!

Stats!

A month ago today both of my kids had checkups at the doctor. I thought I'd better share the stats (even though its already been a month, and they've most likely changed!) Chloee weighed 14 lbs. 7.5 oz. and was 24 in. long. Parker was 31 lbs, but I'm not sure how tall he was(oops!) He absolutely HATED getting weighed and measured, not to mention getting everything else checked, and finishing off with a shot! No fun!!

3 Years!

A little over a month ago my baby boy turned 3!!! Where did those three years go? It is crazy that he is already 3! We celebrated his birthday early as I mentioned before, so on his actual birthday we just had a really relaxing day! Mimi gave him a really cool bubble wand that makes huge bubbles, so after church we played with it for a long time! Luckily it was a beautiful day! Here are some pictures:

Just waking up, and already checking out his gift!


BIG Bubbles!


So cute!


Gorgeous Aunt CC!


Can you tell he had a fun day? Look at those dirty legs! My little orphan child!! He was trying to pop the bubbles by throwing the ball at them!!


After a few too many bubbles! ;)


Blowing out his candles!


Happy Birthday my sweet boy!!

Rolling Over!

Chloee rolled over from her back to her tummy for the first time on Saturday, May 1, at my friend Betsy's house. Woohoo. Four days later and she has got it down really good, and decided to try rolling from tummy to back. She only did it once, but it was still exciting!

I have lots more to blog about, since it's been a month since my last post. But it's getting late and I'm tired, so I'm going to go to bed, and I'll tell you more about Parker's B-day, surviving without Travis, projects, etc., later!

Easter!!

We had a nice relaxing Easter this year! I LOVE when Easter falls on Conference weekend!! We got up and let Parker look at what the Easter Bunny brought him, then we ate breakfast, and headed over to Mimi & Papa's house to watch Conference. It was great!! In between sessions we hid eggs all over the living room and dining room for Parker to find. We would have done it outside had it not snowed in the night...Yuck! He loved finding eggs. We also had a yummy lunch, and then watched the second session of Conference. We just relaxed the rest of the day, it was great!!

Chloee with her basket! Can you tell how excited she was!! NOT!!


The kids' baskets!


Parker checking out what the Easter Bunny brought him! He really was excited!!