Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Love my husband, in-laws, & Italy

Where to begin...

Lets start with the hubby and all the beautiful things he's sent to me this past year. I've received a jewelry box, two necklaces, pillow cases, wall hanging, and a beautiful wooden wall hanging as well. He has also sent me eye liner. I know what your thinking but its way better and goes on smoothly.

Hand woven and dyed pillow cases


Hand carved jewelry box

Wall hanging

Beautiful necklace
 I'd have to say that I'm a pretty lucky girl to get such beautiful things from the hubby. I know that a lot of these purchases meant that he wasn't going to get much sleep. The only time for him to go shopping for them was during the day and since he worked nights he slept during the day.

On top of that my in-laws went to Italy for three weeks. Knowing that Italy is the one place in the world I want to visit they bought me gifts. I love gifts! My mother-in-law, Marjorie, bought me two wall hangings. One is of Italy and one is of Toscana (Tuscany) which is the one area I want to go the most. I also got spaghetti seasoning, pasta, a key chain, calendar, bookmark, and best of all a hand painted wall hanging. My father-in-law, John, is an avid picture taker like me and got some amazing shots. I was actually surprised to see him in a few shots since neither one of us can ever be seen in family photos because we are always the ones taking them. 

Tile painted with a scene of Tuscany and set into a wooden frame
Pompeii, Italy
So beautiful and I can't wait to make a trip out there. This means I'm going to need to do a lot of saving because my trip is going to be at least 2 - 3 weeks so I can see everything I want. Who knows when I'll get to go back again. Now to start learning Italian so things go faster, smoother, and easier when we actually get to go.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Ants, plants, & Duggars.

The drought is causing so many problems. My beautiful yard went from being green and beautiful with tons of plants and flowers to dry, brown, and crunchy. The only green in my yard is around the pool where the water splashes out. Its so hot and dry that even my burning bush is literally burning. With all of this the little black ants think they need to come in the house to cool off and get some food and drink. I put out some Torro so hopefully that will kill them off.

We got the cutest plants today at Wal-Mart which is a surprise because they are usually dead, dry, and ugly but I think these look good. I love having fresh flowers and plants in the house. Not only do they look good but they help clean the air. I'm thinking I may need to purchase more. :)
My new beautiful plants

Makala and I got the third and fourth seasons of the Duggars so were having a marathon right now. I love getting to spend some time with her and need to find a time to take her to get a pedicure before school starts. She is Middle School this year which is still hard to believe.
Movie time

Sunday, July 22, 2012

March - July Recap

Well I'm getting a little better at remembering to update this blog. Its only been a three month gap since last time. :)

Lets back up a bit:

March: Luke turned 7 years old in and it doesn't seem possible. He finished the 1st grade and was able to graduate from the Reading Recovery Program and is kicking some butt in his reading this Summer. We are still trying to figure out how he eats with all those missing teeth but some how he does it. :)

Luke's new bike for his 7th birthday.

The toothless wonder.
April, May, & June were busy months with us preparing for school to get out, trying to figure out what to do for the Summer, and watching as many movies as we can. Sadly we have not been able to do much because the weather is just unbelievable. We don't make plans any farther out than 2-3 days because we just don't know what the weather is going to be like. Since we've been stuck at the house a lot because of the heat we decided to buy a pool and its been a great investment for us. The kids have become little fish and have amazing tans. Abby can now swim underwater without holding her nose which if you know her is a huge step. Sammy still does the plug my nose and touch the water with my face then come back up really fast thing. :)

Well this isn't our new big pool but it did get us through till we got our new one.
July:
Well there is only one thing to say about July: BIRTHDAY'S!
Our sweet yet ornery little Abby turned 5 years old on the 7th, and our sweet and very helpful Makala turned 11 years old on the 9th. I can't believe how fast our babies are growing up. They had a great turn out at their birthday party and got lots of goodies. We had to rush it at the end because a huge storm started rolling in and the wind was blowing all the decorations around.

She's growing up so fast.

Our newest little fish.
 With the girls birthday party over is was time for the big kids to get ready for church camp. Makala and Luke spent the week at Dry Gulch USA with the youth group at Church. They had a blast and are ready to go again next year. They went swimming, tubing, horseback riding, hiked, made crafts, bumper boats, go karting, canoeing, and so many other things. They also had daily worship at the Chapel. They both said their favorite thing was the horseback riding and have both asked for lessons.

Getting ready to leave for camp

New Life kids ride in style
Getting ready to go down the slide

Alex & Makala - Found out they were attached at the hip the whole week

Luke riding Monte

Makala on Ben

They rigged it so he could ride by himself

This is gonna happen for real in 4 years when she gets her permit
Whew! I'm tired just thinking about July and all the things we've done. We also went to the lake with my family on the 4th of July and rode jet skis and went out on the pontoon. Kids had a lot of fun and were tired by the end of the day. My mom took Luke that week so he went home with her. Erica wanted to take the girls home to have a sleep over, so it was just Sammy boy and I that night. We spent the evening cuddling on the couch and watching cartoons.
Loving it but hating that she had to wear that life jacket
Pay no attention to the hair
Super tired boy. I may have let him eat on the couch since no one was home. Shhhh.. ;)

Love this picture


Well that about wraps it up for now. Oh, wait!!!!

I can't forget to post a picture of the love of my life. Isn't he just the cutest thing ever!
My hubby = HUBBA! HUBBA!



Thursday, April 5, 2012

Well I'm no good at this....

I said I would keep up with this post and I didn't. Apparently my life is just a little more busy than I though. Here is a recap of everything.

We are currently 7 months into a year long deployment. Just a short 149 days to go till we can see Mike again. We chose not to do R&R because it was so hard on the kids when he left. He's keeping busy over there and we are always busy back here.

The kids have about six weeks of school left and then they can sleep in like they try to do every morning. I have to get a swing set for them to play on so they don't get to bored this Summer. With me having the day care we are limited to doing stuff on the weekends. We plan to make a fews trips to the zoo and to Animal Paradise for sure. Might even drag Mema & Papa along for the ride. :)

Mike and I are Mexico bound in September. After 12 long years of never doing anything together we are finally taking our very first vacation together with NO KIDS!!!! I'm not gonna lie, I'll miss them like crazy but after another year long deployment we very much need this.

Well that's all I can think of for now. I'll update later. Maybe. :)