My cute kids

I have to be honest and say that I have been just a little stressed out these last few weeks. With the possibility of a government shut-down ( no pay to military) not selling my house yet, having to keep my house perfect with 4 kids, and oh ya, moving in 8 weeks. Things have been a little crazy lately. I decided one night that we were going to go outside and have a fun night and just play, and I took some pictures of the good things in my life. These little crazies are the best people I know. When I look at these pictures I smile and all the stress goes away. I have a feeling I will be on this blog looking at this post a lot. These are true pictures to show what my kids are like. Jax the little sports player who is way to big to stop for mom to take a pictures, Shade who is a ham and would not stop making faces, Aynslee the little model who has crazy hair trying to keep up with her brothers, and Blaze who is always into something and LOVES to laugh. I love my babies. Click on the collage and you will be able to see their cute faces better.

Funny kids

I am not sure what I am going to do with little Aynslee Lyn. She has turned into quite the funny little girl. She is so witty and comes up with the most amazing conversations just on the fly. I thought I would share one conversation she had with a lady I don't even know. We have a car pool group for pre-school, and the friend driving to pre-school told me story as she was dropping Aynslee off at home. My friend had to run to base to pick up one of her friends and they all stopped to get the adults something to eat for lunch...... the conversation is between my friends friend and Aynslee. I don't remember the girls name so we will call her Mary...

Aynslee: Can we have some of those apples?

Mary: Sure, but make sure you share them with everyone.

(The kids finished eating the apples)

Aynslee: Can we have some more?

Mary: I don't think so honey, I am sure your mommy will have some lunch for you when you get home.

Aynslee: Nope, my mommy and daddy are dead, you are all I got lady.

Where does she come up with something like that?

Ok, this next one still cracks me up. I grew up with two older brothers, so I feel SO sorry for Ayns. I totally understand how she wants to be like them, and play with them so bad, and when they finally ask her to play it is like the best prize in the world. Well, this shows how awful brothers can be and what a let down it is in the end for a little girl. Still funny though.

Jax: Hey Ayns, want to play something with me?

Ayns: YES!!!!

Jax: ok, repeat after me. I Ayns

Ayns: I Ayns

Jax: am dumb

Ayns: am dumb

Jax: and stupid

Ayns: and stupid

Jax: Ha haha ha haha

Ayns: Ha ha ha, hey wait! That's mean!

Jax: HA HA HA HA!!!!

Me: he he he

I LOVE my kids!!!

The grand ole opry!!

For our anniversary celebration, we decided to go to Nashville Tennessee. I have always wanted to go there and it is only 5 hours away, so we finally did it. Zach's parents were in town, so they graciously watched our kids for us for a night. We had such a great time. We got to our hotel and decided to walk around a little and wanted to find the Grand Ole Opry so we got a shuttle from our hotel to the Opry Hotel and walked around in there for a while. It is beautiful with flowers and plants throughout the whole thing and a path to follow and even a river you can boat down that goes through the middle of the hotel. We walked about 1 mile inside and then took a wrong turn and ended walking about 3 miles to the Opry when it was really one 1/4 mile. It was ok, because while on the walk we actually got to talk to each other and hold hands and not push a stroller, carry someone or listen to whining. It was a nice walk. We ended up getting tickets to the Opry that night and we got to see so many great people but the best were Rodney Atkins, Blake Shelton and Carrie Underwood. The Opry is an AMAZING place. I would LOVE to go back again. The concerts were so good and everyone sounded perfect. It was so good that I had no idea that 2 hours had passed. I was so sad it was over. Then, we decided that since we didn't have to rush home for the babysitter, we went out to eat at 9:30 at night!! I know, we are crazy. We each promised each other we would order something out of the norm. We went to a VERY expensive VERY fancy Italian restaurant. It was SO worth it. Zach ordered Sea Scallops with sweet potato ravioli, and I have Gnocci with wild mushroom ragu with pork tips. SO worth the money! It was called Ravellos if any of you go to Nashville soon. The next day it was raining SO hard so we decided to just call it a day and go home early since we couldn't really do anything in the rain. It was just fun to be in he car together and only take potty breaks when we needed them and buy any candy I wanted and eat it all. That right there almost made the trip. It was my first time leaving all my kids overnight so it was a little hard, but it was also the best thing ever just being able to be with my husband alone. Here are some really bad pictures I took with my phone. I took over 50 pictures, but only a few worked, but good enough.
BEST TRIP EVER! Thanks Zach for the amazing 2 days.

Us after the Opry

Carrie Underwood

Blake Shelton

Rodney Atkins

The Grand Ole Opry. It is an amazing place. It is cool to know that so many great singers have been here. We also had great seats so it made it even better.

We took a million pictures of us together and decided that they were not good at all so we took individual pictures and are calling that good.

Zach in front of the great Opry doors

Inside the Opry hotel. So pretty!

Looking like a tourist.

The big 10

This is us 10 years later. We have changed just a little.

Don't forget to turn off my music on the side bar. The video has music.

On March 2 Zach and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary!!! I honestly cannot believe that it has been 10 years. It has gone by SO fast. We really didn't do a lot on the actual day because we had a trip planned for the weekend. A post to come on that.
My wonderful husband was SO great to me and picked out 10 gerber daisys (my favorite), each flower color represented something in our 10 years together. How sweet it that? Then, he got me a beautiful diamond anniversary ring. I am such a lucky girl. All he got was a stinking gun that he had been talking about. I know, not as romantic as he is. Guys are hard to shop for!
These past 10 years have been the best years of my life. Zachary is my best friend and I feel so blessed to be able to spend my eternities with him. I can't wait to spend my 20, 30, 40 and more anniversaries with him. I love you ZRoy!!

ps the video is a video that I made for Zach while he was deployed. I don't have any pictures of us before 2008 on this computer so I just used this video. The first half is us dating and our wedding, then it goes into our kids. The 2 we had when he was gone. Feel free to watch it and enjoy how much we both have changed.

P90X

Some of you my know that I have been doing p90x. I LOVE it!! I have to scream out to the world that I FINISHED the 90 days of the program and I only missed 2 days, Christmas and Jacksons baptism. I think they are ok reasons to miss, and they were my yoga days. It was SO hard at the beginning, and I really didn't want to finish, but as I got better at things, the more I liked it. Good old Tony Horton knows what to say to keep you coming back. Now, for the questions you are all asking.....how much weight did I lose? Well, not much, only about 5 lbs, but I was not looking to lose any, I just wanted to tone up. So, ......did you tone up? YES!!! I have arms that Jax is afraid of, a stomach I don't gag at anymore when I see it, and I lost a TON of inches. I have been so happy with the results. I can honestly say that I have never been in this good of shape my entire life. I can do pull-ups, and crazy push-ups that I never thought I would be able to do.
Now that the program is over, I have a problem. I really love the workouts, I love how they hard they are, and how I hurt after because I know they are working. What I don't love is how long they are. Each workout takes almost 1.5 hours with the warm-up and cool-down and abs ripper x after the workout. It takes so much time away from my family. My poor family has put up with SO much. They have been ignored and yelled at and had to sit by and watch me working out 6 days a week for 3 months, AND talk about it non stop. It is all you think about plus you are sore, so.....it pretty much takes over your life. I am not sure I am willing to let it rule our lives much longer. As for now, I am still doing it even after the 90 days because I can't seem to let it go, and I don't know what else to do that will give me the same results. I want to stay toned. I guess I am looking for some suggestions. Does anyone know of any other workout that is just as hard, but wont take over my life? I would post pictures, but I better ask Zach first if it is ok, the pictures are pretty skimpy in clothing and I am not sure I want the world to see. I do recommend it though if you have the time and desire.

Baptism

It is official. Jackson was baptized on Saturday Feb. 19th. I honestly can not believe that I have a son old enough to be baptized. It was a very special day for all of us, and everything was perfect. We had so much family come and celebrate with us. My mom and dad, my brother Matt and his family, my sister Courtney and her girls, my sister Sonnie, and Zachs brother Jed all came. Zachs mom and dad had planned on coming, but they got sick the day before, so they will come out next week. The program was beautiful, and the baptism was perfect and the food after was great. It really was a great day. He was spoiled rotten and loved by all. You can't ask for more than that. We are so proud of his decision, and know that he is going to do a lot of good and grow into a strong man in spirit and mind. We love you Jax man. Thank you to all of you who came to make it such a wonderful day for all of us.

The "right before" picture

Very proud parents

The family

Life moves on......again

I have to brag a little bit on my wonderful husband Zachary. A few weeks ago Zach and I had to make a tough decision. We knew our time in Columbus was coming to an end and had to decide what our next move was going to be. We thought going back to the B-1 was a sure thing, and just had to decide if we wanted to move back to Rapid City or Abiline. When we were talking about it one day, we both felt like we should try something else. Out of the blue Zach came home and asked me what I thought of the B-2. I really didn't know much about it, but honestly felt good about it. It happen to be , that during the same exact month that we had to get all of our paperwork in order for the B-1, the B-2 was going through a hiring process that doesn't happen very often. Zach applied, and was asked to go to Missouri for an interview. They only took 21 people out of over 60 that applied! He went through a week long process and after 2 VERY LONG weeks of waiting, we found out that they took 15 people to fly the B-2 and: ZACH WAS ONE OF THEM!!!! We are so excited. I am so incredibly proud of him. We will be moving to Whiteman AFB in the Kansas City area in June. We are looking forward to this next adventure.