Dr Seuss Day

In honor of Dr.Seusses Birthday, Alden's school encouraged the students to dress up in their favorite Dr.Seuss character, today! Can You see a Resemblance?!?!?!?!?! Alden's Cat-in-the-hat decided to try a fashionable "Green" instead of the same ol' boring red! (a girl's got to mix it up a little, don't you think?)

Godspeed, Our Friend!

Yesterday we said goodbye to our closest friend here at Ellsworth. Allen embarked on his 7 month Tour of Duty deployment to the middle east. With us moving in the next few months we wont be here when he returns--this made the goodbye all the harder! Thank you Allen for all the memories. Your family has definitely made this assignment memorable. We'll never forget your willingness to try something new (especially when it came to trying Trace's deer entrees) You were always a good sport! I will never forget:
- Our first camping excursion to Hot Springs,
- Sylvan Lake,
- Thanksgiving,
- Christmas,
- Deer mountain,
-the numerous game nights, and of course your Margaritas and "odd" sense of humor!

You will be missed!! Stay Safe! You're in our prayers!!

Sam and Alden....sitting in a tree.....

These two CRACK me up! They are either the Best-of-Friends or Mortal enemy's! One minute they are professing their undying love for one another,the next minute they are fighting like cats and dogs! I am not sure what was going on in this picture but I LOVE Sam's facial expression! Yes....we will be displaying this picture at their wedding,someday!! HA!!

Litte B-Man!

Okay...that is so MEAN! I wasn't aware that this was going on!!!

The FAM!

oh my goodness. I look so bad! I hate having my picture taken...it doesn't help that I have major eye bags!

Snow Play

The Cabin

Weekend

This weekend our friends, the Husted's rented this beautiful log cabin home. They generously invited us to join them for a long weekend as a last hoorah-rah-rah before Allen deploys later this week. We had such a great time! The home was absolutely gorgeous! The view was spectacular! Of course, we were in good company---so it was bound to be a good time!

Friday we hit the slopes... I hadn't been skiing since college (which was a really looong time ago!) and even then I wasn't very good! So... the girls and I and the Husteds took private lessons. It's pretty embarrassing when half-way through the lessons two more instructors had to be called in for reinforcement! We figured it probably had to do with all of our different skill levels. We got a good laugh at the fact that Cindy and I ended up with our own instructors! I guess we were the remedial students of the group and needed some one-on-one instruction! The girls did FANTASIC! As soon as their lessons were over they were zooming down the mountain like they had been doing it since they could walk! Alden went down the wrong side of the "Bunny Hill" this side had a very steep incline and she had a total wipe out and was finished for the day! Mariah on the other hand skied all day long! In fact, by the end of the day her dad had her skiing the black diamond course! I am not surprised! I figured he would talk one of them into going up with him. Although I figured it would be Alden—she’s the one with the natural athletic ability and has absolutely NO FEAR! In her defense though she had been recuperating from step-throat and was a little "off" all weekend. I think if she felt better she would've kept trying.

Saturday we went tubing. It was the coolest thing! I have never seen anything like it-- you attach your tube to this pulley type thing and it pulls you and your tube up the mountain and then releases you--similar to a ski-lift but obviously you never leave the ground. That was a lot of FUN!...well until....Beckett and I were sitting at the top of the snow bank and this obnoxious group of people came barreling down the mountain and just about went over the top of us! Thanks to my quick reflexes I was able to save myself and our son! I was deemed HERO for the day!

Now it’s back to the old grind. Bummer! I wish we could just play all the time! Wouldn’t life be so grand?!?!?!?!

Stay Tuned for Pictures…

Happy {Un}Birthday!

We celebrated Mariah's 10th birthday last night as we will be out of town on her {Real}Birthday the 23rd. She wanted an Ice Skating party and I have to say it was the easiest party--EVER! It was nice to not have to worry about entertaining them. We had to almost pull them off the rink to come eat! They all had a good time!

Happy Feet

They all got new Valentine socks for Valentines! (exciting, I know!) But I had this picture in mind. Alden's came in a pack of two. Plain white ones and white ones with red hearts. She chose to wear the plain jane, white ones!! I said, "I thought you had on your valentine socks?" to which she replied. "I DO!"

Happy Valentines Day!!!

That's my Girl!!!

I am so excited!
Our local radio station held a Valentine card contest where kids were to send in valentines. The DJ's would pick a winner and host their valentine party at school co/sponsored by Coca-Cola, Domino's Pizza, Eilleens Colossal Cookies, & Party America. They announced the winners this morning....... and MARIAH and her class was ONE OF THEM!! I am absolutely thrilled. Her class worked really hard and Mariah was up late Thursday night putting on the finishing touches so that we could deliver it to the radio station on Friday. (to meet the deadline.) Alden also made one..(well, she helped me create one for her, ha!)as she wanted to enter too! So, as excited as I am for Mariah, I am a little sad for Alden. I had said all along that if only one of them won it should be Mariah as she put in the most effort! When they were working on these Thursday night they were bickering back and forth on who had the "fancier" one, I told them that only one of them could win! I asked if they were going to be good sports if one won and the other did not I said: "you're going to be "HAPPY" for the other, right?" to which they both replied: "NO!" OY!! I took some pictures but didn't get a good one of the inside of Mariah's. As she was opening it(outside the radio station) to show me-- the wind caught it just right and it tore! We had to do an emergency repair before dropping it off. YAY MARIAH! You Go Girlfriend!

Be still my beating heart!!

Friday was the official ceremony where Trace was awarded his Airman's medal.

The Airman's Medal was established by Congress on 6 July 1960 to take the place of the Soldier's medal which, up until that time, had been awarded to Air Force personnel. The Soldier's medal was established by Act of Congress on 2 July 1926, for award to any member of the Armed Forces of the United States, or of a friendly foreign nation, who while serving in any capacity with the Army of the United States distinguished himself by heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy. The degree of heroism, while of a lesser degree than that required for the Silver star, must be above the call of duty and clearly set the individual apart from his comrades. Award of this medal is not intended to be made solely on the basis of having saved a life. For acts of lifesaving, or attempted lifesaving, it is required that the action be performed at the risk of one's own life

It was awarded to Trace for saving a Jordanian officer who had gotten caught in a riptide and was drowning while swimming in the ocean during his deployment to Liberia, Africa this summer.

The girls were able to attend the ceremony and they were awe struck.(okay, so was I!) Mariah said she had never seen so many people in camoflauge all together in one place! Lt General Siep from DM flew in to award Trace his medal (how cool is that?)On the way back to school Mariah said she was so happy for daddy that durning the ceremony she felt like crying!! Me too, honey...ME TOO! We're very proud of him! He'll aways be our HERO!

Love of the game...starts early!

Future Quarterback, Perhaps? hmmm? How about them Giants??? *woot*woot* What a great game! I love watching games that are so close and I was glad the Giants won (sorry, NE fans!!) I always like to see the underdog come out on top!!

Park Continued...

A Day At the Park!

My friend Cindy wanting to hone in on her photography skills asked if my girls would be willing subjects for an afternoon photo shoot in the park. My girls not ones to EVER turn down their picture taken were willing and ready. So, with Cindy's Cannon Rebel in hand, 2 cute girls and 3 cute boys we were off! It was a little colder than we had anticpated so we didn't get to stay long but in the short time we where there she got some great shots!

I DID IT!

Okay, So I did it! I jumped on the blog bandwagon! I never thought my life was all that interesting enough to warrant one! Being away from home and a little homesick ---not knowing when we'll be home again has changed my mind. I want to be able to chronicle our life--no matter how ordinary it may seem. I hope in doing so we'll still feel connected to our family and friends. I hope you'll read along and join us on this journey! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride! I can't gurantee that you'll be entertained but you just might be amused!!! :)