See you soon!

Nick left yesterday. It was a sad day, we will really miss him. He is such a great husband, father and best friend. We headed to the airport at 1:00pm and stood around waiting for final formation which was at 3:30. It hit me like a ton of bricks when I had to watch him go around the string barrier that separated family from soldier. As he stood in formation he would occasionally wave and throw the I LOVE YOU sign up in the air. The kids and I would do the same. It was hard to think that that was the last time we would see him for a very, very long time. We watched the plane fly off and took a deep breath and headed home. It begins, one year and counting. Be safe Nick and come home soon!!

Brayden showing me that he is going to be tough while dad is away. His face isn't so convincing is it?

School Begins...

School has officially started for me. I went back on the 30th of August and the students came back on the 2nd. It is bitter sweet! I love teaching, but this year is a little more overwhelming with Nick being gone and the kids going to daycare. Luckily the kids love it. Jaycie, who I was most worried about, can't get enough. She can't stop talking about all the new kids she is meeting and new songs she is learning. She is in the 3 year old class until December and then will be bumped to the 4's. Brayden is also going to daycare three days out of the week. He is in kindergarten this year and gets to go to the school I teach at,which is really nice. He had his first day on the 7th and he had a blast. It is a good thing my kids are so social and happy. This job would be really tough on me if they hated being away from me. Sadly the days I am home they wish they were going to daycare so they could play with all their new friends.

Brayden was so nervous about the first day of school. Before we headed out the door his one main concern was that kids would not like him and make fun of him because of his glasses. My heart sunk. I made him go look at himself in the mirror so he could see how incredibly handsome he is with his glasses. He made a few "I am cool looks" and we were ready.

Nick being gone is a little harder than I thought. I miss him a ton and feel a little awkward in social situations. I didn't think things like that would bother me but even as simple as going to church I feel like something is missing from me. The first three weeks have been okay and they went very fast. I am glad that I work, and the class I got seems great. We are very excited that Nick gets to come home this weekend. We will enjoy each second we get together before

he leaves again on the 20th for the year.

You Go Girl!

Jaycie got a bike from a neighbor down the road that was too small for her grand daughter so she wanted someone else to enjoy it. The bike is pretty big with no training wheels and Jaycie really wanted to ride it. I told her she couldn't ride it until she learned how to ride her little bike first. Well, apparently that is all she needed. She was determined she was going to learn to ride her bike without training wheels and she did. After a few tosses into the grass, I moved onto the cement just hoping she wouldn't crash too hard and she took off. We practiced in the road a couple of times, she did so good. I am impressed that a 3 year old can be so determined.

Our neighbors Lacey and Skyler were over helping while I was videoing. You will just have to ignore the screaming mother in the background. I got a little excited for her.

Summer Fun!

Before Nick left we did a lot of camping and playing. Here are a few of those pics.

Our Bear Lake Trip with Lacey and Skyler. We camped at East Beach and then played on North Beach the following day. It was a lot of fun. Shawn and Mariah ended up having a family reunion that same weekend and amazingly we ended up parking right by each other so Brayden and Zach were able to play all day. Brayden was excited to have a boy to play with.

Jaycie with Abigail and Emalyn. Jaycie is only about 6mo older than Abigail. She looks like a giant next to these two.

Skyler built this amazing sand castle. The kids wait all day for Skyler to give them the go ahead to crash it.
Yeah! Skyler was finally able to part with his masterpiece.

Deployment!


Nick is being deployed with the HHC 116th Calvary Brigade out of Twin Falls. He will spend the year in Baghdad in support of Operation New Dawn with his Brother Shawn. We are all very excited he gets to have this opportunity, but he will truly be missed. Brayden seems to be doing okay with the idea for now, he keeps reassuring me (and himself) by saying "We'll be okay, won't we mom?" As for Jaycie when you ask her if she is going to be okay she very solemnly says "no, daddy I am not okay." It is very hard to explain to them how long he will be gone. A year is very hard for the kids and I to grasp. It is a good thing for friends and family.

Flag Football!

Brayden just finished his flag football season and loved every minute. He actually did a great job. He made more than one touchdown each game and did awesome at blocking. I was a little afraid he was playing too rough but Nick very kindly informed me not to correct his behavior "He's a Natural." OK, but this is flag football, not tackle! Oh, well he really was very good at it.







We are proud of you Brayden, you are a great sport.

SUMMER VACATION PART 2!

The Beach and Sea World!

After going to Disneyland we drove to San Diego to go to the beach and Sea World. The kids loved the waves at the Beach. Brayden actually went out into them and Jaycie just ran away as they approached. She jumped over a few little ones but was a little nervous about going in too deep.

After cleaning up after the beach we went to the San Diego Pier and walked around the little shops and saw all of the huge ships. It was very neat.

Jaycie had fallen asleep right before this picture, so Nick is trying to hold up her head. It reminded us of The Princess Bride when the Giant is holding up the Man in Blacks head. (You've been mostly dead all day). We at least thought we were funny!

We went out to eat at this really cool fish house where we got to sit out over the ocean. It was so neat. There were ships passing through the whole time. We did have a few birds come to visit which was quite disgusting. The dinner cost us a fortune, but it was fabulous.

The following day we headed to Sea World. We were able to get in free because of the Military it was awesome. The kids loved seeing all the animals. We watched the new Dolphin show, The acrobat show, the seal and otter show, and then of course the Shamu show.

The kids loved being able to touch and pick up all of the crustaceans. Their favorite was the star fish.
These Sea Lions were Nick and the kids favorite. I thought they were so obnoxious. They made the loudest most annoying begging noises. They would get right up to the glass and "aaarrrrt" as loud as they could. Then they would clap and wave. Nick thought they were hilarious so he had to buy the food and feed them. They laughed and laughed at those things. I was just grateful to move on to something else.




Nick is so afraid of sharks. He hated the shark exhibit, he was walking so fast, nearly running out saying "what if the glass breaks, we will all be dead." Jaycie had to cover his eyes to protect him from the many sharks floating around him. So Funny!
We got out of Sea World at 6:00pm and headed straight to St. George. We didn't get there until 2:00 am. We were so exhausted. It was nice having the kids sleep through the whole drive though. That following day we hiked the red hills, played in the splash park and swam. It was a very nice relaxing day.

We had such a great time, but it was time to go home. We were ready! What a great Summer Vacation!