The Call of Duty

(Uzbekistan 2005)

For the third time now, we hugged Heath good-bye as he left for a 4 month deployment. Neither AJ nor Will can comprehend the time of this separation, thankfully, but Ryan is taking it pretty hard. I am so thankful that he will just be in South Carolina for some of his time away...and that truly, we are blessed and lucky - among our peers - to only be separated for 4 months. The countdown is on 119 days left!

Fun in the Sun!

mmmm cake!

Ryan helped to put this cake together - one candle for each of my babies, since "there's no way we can fit 34 candles on this cake!"

It's actually about 10-15 degrees cooler here this week than it was at the same time last year...let's hope that trend continues! Funny, how your perspective changes to think that 95 degrees is cool weather!

Kindergarten Graduate

Another year come and gone...another reminder that our kids are getting older, that we're getting older. Kindergarten was a great experience for all of us. We LOVE Ryan's teachers, principal, and school. It almost makes me want to stay in Phoenix...almost.

Fun with Friends

Obama Drama

So I didn't vote for the guy, and I can't say I'm a fan of his....but hey...he's got one sweeeeet ride! Heath hooked us up with a tour of AF1, which was so incredible! It was really neat and rare opportunity to tour the Presidents' (Obama, Bush, Clinton, and Bush) personal airplane. We saw everything from his bedroom and shower and office down to the inside of the refrigerator. The staff on board was amazing cool and gracious; they answered all of Ryan's questions and even let him call my sister from the 'Presidential Switchboard'! To see the names on the president's speed dial was surreal! And, NO, Oprah was not on it...at least not the top 10.  

I was so impressed by the courtesy and professionalism of the entire white house staff, AF1 crew, and all other 'presidential assistants'.  It was such a neat experience for both Ryan and I!

Ryan the troll

Ryan's class put on a production of "The 3 Nanny Goats Gruff". He was a troll. It was SO CUTE!!

Disney

It's been so long since I've posted on here.  The combination of us being crazy busy, and, me spending a little extra time on Facebook instead of blogs is to blame! We took a week long vacation to Disneyland in March and had a fantastic time. We are all looking forward to our next Disney adventure!