Adams et cetera

Change of scenery

2011-09-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

WOW what a whirl-wind a month we took a last minute trip to Houston over Labor Day weekend because we knew we would be moving that next weekend. It was a great experience to see where Trav grew up we were actually able to walk through one of the homes he lived in because the man that lived there was selling. I wanted to cry for Trav for the sense of nostalgia, just from seeing where he grew up and the rooms I had only seen in home videos.

The following week was crazy packing and closing out utility accounts but we got though it. When I was explaining to Miles that we needed to pack up our suit case because we were moving he packed on for himself with all his toys. I had to take a picture, he makes me laugh!

We drove Uhaul and towed our car behind so Miles was able to ride up front with Trav and me he thought that was pretty cool.

We drove through some pretty country the swamps of Louisiana:

Over the Mississippi river in Baton Rouge:

We had Meiko up front with us and Miles loved holding her on his lap.

Mississippi was beautiful as well mostly forest and farms oh and tons of butterflies everywhere, mostly on the front of the truck.

Pretty river and little bit of Tennessee mountain - I have to say Tennessee is so pretty and the people very nice. I could live there but I know I would still miss home.

Loved this sign for Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, VA. So appropriate I had just told Trav I was very hungry and we needed to stop soon.

We reached 10.1 average for MPG in the Uhaul and we had to document the momentous event!

We finally reached Maryland and crossed the Potomac river, again very pretty.

We have been in Maryland for a couple weeks now we arrived September 12th, we drove 1600 miles in 3 days with Miles and our new puppy in the cab of a Uhaul truck. Since we have arrived we have moved into our new apartment that is in a condo complex in a town north of D.C. called Olney.

Trip to Utah for 4th of July weekend

2011-09-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

We had a long weekend a head of us and all of us being home sick decided to drive 1300 miles home to Utah and surprise our families. We had fun on the 22 hour drive we were crazy and drove straight through, whew never again! One of my funniest memories from that trip was Trav's large bottle of water he found this big jug for $1.30 and that was his drink for the entire trip to Utah.

Miles was such a good boy he had fun in the back seat just chillin and playing on the ipad. I don't know if he would have be so good without that to entertain him.

We arrived very early Saturday morning so Trav could go golfing with his Dad and Steve so off Trav went to golf on no sleep. I took Miles up to my Mom and Dad's house to take a nap but once we got there I ended up talking to my Dad then Miles and I went outside to help him with his Saturday yard chores. I loved spending that time with my Dad I missed him so much and it was great to catch up with him.

We all met up at Jeff's house on Saturday afternoon and it was priceless to see Miles play and interact with his cousins. He had so much fun he did not want to leave.

Sunday we went to my parents for lunch to Allen and Marketta. It was great to see them again and had a blast talking and laughing with them. Miles played with my Mom most of the time and I know she loved that and it makes me feel good to see them together. She misses him so much.

We stayed until Sunday afternoon then we had to head back so Trav would be able to check back in on Tuesday morning.

Thank you to are whole family for letting us just drop in on your weekend, love you all!!!

AIT is it better than BCT...NO!

2011-03-01T19:14:00.001-08:00

BCT Graduation 2/11/11

2011-02-18T11:45:00.000-08:00

Graduation today was awesome I arrived at the auditorium an hour and a half early hoping to get a good seat but everyone else had the same idea. There were people lined up by 7:30am and the graduation ceremony did not begin until 10am. After waiting for over an hour to get in the auditorium to get a seat they finally opened the doors at 9:30am all the soldiers graduating that day were seated at attention (sitting straight up with palms flat on thighs). There were over 150 graduating today. I love our country and I know that we are a religious people even at a military graduation they open with a prayer. They had two speakers and honestly I hardly remember everything they said I was just so anxious to see Trav again. The three things that stand out to me about the graduation were; 1 - singing of the Army song, 2 - Trav standing to walk across the stage to shake his Drill Sergeants hand, 3 - when the soldiers shouted out the soldiers creed.

I am an American Soldier.

I am a Warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.

I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the
United States of America in close combat.

I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier.

After the graduation was complete they marched the soldiers out while they called out a cadence. I was then free to leave and head back to the barracks to pick up Trav for the day. Here are some pics from his drill pad right outside his bay before we left for the day.

My handsome soldier husband!

Sappers 1st Platoon in formation after graduation

Trav and Mark Caldwell his Mormon buddy

Later that night when I had to return Trav to his bay I did not want to leave him I sat on his bunk with him until the Drill Sergeants kicked all family out for the night. Trav flies out Saturday morning at 6am for San Antonio and Fort Sam Houston. So exciting that he is moving on!

I am so very proud of you Trav, I love your always and forever.

Easy Company Family Day...

2011-02-10T19:40:00.000-08:00

Ok so I left my camera in the bag I was going to bring but switch the last minute, of course right?

Today was an awesome wonderful day. I was so anxious to see Trav today I was awake by 4 o'clock this morning. Trav was one of the few that received a promotion today and since it was so cold they moved family day inside and only had those that were being honored or promoted as part of the ceremony. When I first walked into the conference center I was worried I would not find Trav, they all look so similar in their uniforms and shaved heads. I finally spotted him and I had such a sense of relief of seeing him again and knowing we would have the day together, I wanted to get started right away. But we could not leave yet they had to go through the whole ceremony still. I was able to pin Trav's new rank on him and give him a big hug. There were a couple of good demonstrations; they did a grappling exercise and PT routine as well as a combative exercise. It was nice but I was just ready to get to Trav again and be able to have some alone time. They instructed us to travel back to the barracks to pick up our soldiers and sign them out (funny I had to sign out my 40 year old husband like he was a teenager). When we reached the soldiers bay they were in formation on their drill pad and the Drill Sergeants had them call out the soldiers creed. Wow, that was loud but very cool, I actually had to hold back tears. I was able to go in with Trav and see where he has been living for the past 3 months and it was exactly as I imagined it stark white and cold little bunks and lockers.

After leaving we went right to the PX to get Trav a laptop for him to take to San Antonio so we can hopefully video conference soon. We bite the bullet and got him a Macbook Pro, very cool computer and since this will be our main computer once he is done we figured it was a good investment. Hopefully we will not have to deal with the viruses and spyware we were always dealing with on our PC. So, to test out our new computer we did our taxes and ordered room services. I know very romantic but all we wanted to do was spend as much time together as possible.

After we were tired of the computer we just laid in bed together and talked and it was so great. It is awesome how we have been apart for so long and every time we are together it is just comfortable and feels so right. We talked about Miles and how big he is getting and the changes he has been going through. It was hard because I know how much Trav misses him but I also know how much he wants to hear about him. We called Miles a couple times to check on him and say hi, it was great for both of them. I just hope that in the coming weeks Trav will have more freedom to call and talk to his family.

Tomorrow is Graduation and I will try to get some pictures on my phone, I just don't think the quality will be very good. I wish Trav could get his phone at graduation because his phone takes much better pictures than mine but I just can't leave without getting a picture with Trav in his dress uniform. He looks very handsome. I am so proud of Trav I know he would not be going through all this is if weren't or Miles and me. He is such a good husband and father, I will always be grateful to him for the sacrifice he is making for our family.

Love you always and forever Trav!

The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected. ~Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

2011-02-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

I finally received another letter from Travis this week, stinking weather in Oklahoma delayed all the mail. Anyway we are so on the same wave length that is why the quote from Nicholas Sparks.

In a letter I had written him a few weeks ago when the moon was full I quoted a song. I was looking at the clear sky and the big bright moon and thinking about Trav I knew he was out in the field that night and was hoping he was looking at the same moon. The song was "Somewhere out there" from the mouse movie in the '80's.

Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight
Someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight

Somewhere our there someone's saying a prayer
that we'll find one another in that big somewhere out there

And even though I know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star

And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky

Somewhere out there if love can see us through
Then we'll be together somewhere out there
Out where dreams come true

Ok so now that you know the song that is what I sent Trav and told him about the night sky and the beautiful moon. I was crying when I got his letter because he said he remembers that night and when he got my letter he knew we were connected. He said that night he was thinking about me and could feel me near him. He kept looking at the moon and could swear he could see my face and he felt me beside him. That night they were it was so cold and miserable and that is what helped him get through it.

When I wrote the moon letter I was trying to be light hearted about it but I could swear I felt him too and that is why I wrote about it. I quote the song becuase my life is just a string of songs I truly feel everyone has their personal sound track that should play for them at all times. Mine is always on but like a crazy person I am the only one that can hear the songs. Right now my song is Carrie Underwood, Temporary Home. Ok I won't write out the lyrics but it is a good song and appropriate to my life right now.

Love your forever and always Trav!

Just a few days away...

2011-02-05T22:34:00.001-08:00

So close to seeing Trav again, I leave Wednesday 2/09 and will see him Thursday 2/10 on family day. I wish I could bring Miles he misses his Daddy so much, every night Miles asks if his Daddy can come home and he does not like me to leave him either. I think he is afraid I will leave him as well; his little world is getting turned upside down with all the changes. We just need to get our little family together again.

The hymn 'Did you think to pray?' is in my head all the time and it is so appropriate. I have a little plaque that says, "When life gets too hard to stand, Kneel." I had forgotten about this plaque until the other day when Miles almost broke it and I had to pick it up. And I have found myself on my knees a lot this week.

Hymn 'Did you think to pray?' reads:

Ere you left your room this morning,
Did you think to pray?
In the name of Christ, our Savior,
Did you sue for loving favor
As a shield today?

Oh how praying rest the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day.
So, when life gets dark and dreary,
Don't forget to pray.

When your heart was filled with anger,
Did you think to pray?
Did you plead for grace, my brother,
That you might forgive another
Who had crossed your way?

When sore trials came upon you,
Balm of Gilead did you borrow
At the gates of Day

One of the scriptures at the end of this hymn is Mark 11: 24, "Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

I had a bad day so I knelt down to pray but could not feel that peace I was searching for; I was on my knees pleading to feel love, comfort or a sense of warmth from my Father but nothing. What a horrible feeling!

Our family life has been turned upside down but prayer has helped me tremendously and I realized I have been living off of Trav's faith. He is so strong, his faith unshaken and he has been living in Hell for the past few months. Every letter I receive or a rare occasion when I get to speak to him he keeps me afloat. I know that without Heavenly Father we would never have made it to this point. This is what keeps me going my wonderful strong husband and his faith that our Father is there for us. I cannot let him down and lose my faith, I am always afraid of disappointing him.

I decided to try my prayer one more time and to only think about the good things in life and not listen to the other crap in my head. Oh was I overwhelmed - the feeling I received was enough to keep me going until I can see my Trav again. While I was praying I thanked Heavenly Father for so many things. My husband and my son were number one on the list they are my whole world my true north and they keep me rooted. I am so thankful for the job that I have and the flexibility I have to take care of my son, Miles has been sick since Trav left I have been to the doctor 3 times for him and once for me, all in January. So it averages to a doctor visit every week I don't know how I would have done that without a flexible schedule. There are so many things I am thankful for and I don't need to list them all out here but that is what helped me to get out of my funk. I hope I can keep feeling and not fall down again.

Trav got hurt last weekend and we now know that it is a complete tear of his bicep tendon. He is still scheduled to graduate and will be moving on to San Antonio next weekend. I want to be with him so bad I wish I could move to San Antonio along with him but if it is meant to be then Heavenly Father will make it happen. Again, I am so thankful for all that my Father has done for me and my little family. Keeping Miles safe and watching over Travis, giving him the strength he needed to finish strong.

I will post pictures from Trav's graduation - I cannot wait to see him in his dress blues. Oh, I know he will look so handsome.

Christmas Eve cookie making

2010-12-24T19:29:00.000-08:00

We went up to Grandma Marcia's to make our Christmas cookies this year, I really miss my kitchen and equipment. Marci was nice enough to let me use her Kitchen Aid and use all her utensils. We made some fancy cookies and the girls got creative.

Kayla made an Asian snowman.

Karl gave her snowman sunglasses.

She also made a dinosaur cookie.

Aren't these two of the cutest little cookie makers ever?

We don't have any fancy cookies like the kids but we take some interesting pictures.

Kayla made a mouse cookie, very cute!

Miles frosted his own snowman cookie, notice Katelyn in the background she is licking the frosting off of her cookie.

Busy Bees

Merry Christmas!

The count down is on...

2010-12-17T09:50:00.001-08:00

Trav gets in tomorrow afternoon I am so excited. Also, I am anxious to hear if he qualified with his pop up target training. I received a letter from him yesterday and it was so funny he asked that I bring a big bag of Peanut M&M's to the airport when I pick him up.

Soon very soon we will be together again even if it is for a short time.

13th anniversary...

2010-12-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

Trav and I celebrated out 13th anniversary apart this year but he was able to call me on our anniversary because if falls on a Sunday this year. I was hoping his unit would have phone privileges this week so we could talk to each other. It was so good to hear his voice and be able to get real time information. We were able to get his flight booked for Christmas block as well so all in all a very good weekend.

This week Trav will be working on Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM) and they have to stay out in the field over night. I received a letter later this week where Trav is telling me it was so cold that night he froze his butt off. They test your eye's to see which eye is your dominate and Trav apparently is left eye dominant but he was having a very hard time zeroing in on his target shooting left handed. He asked his Drill Sargent (DS) if he could try with his right but he told him to keep trying. They broke for lunch so when he got back he moved down the line to a different DS section and made the switch to his right hand and was able to zero in right away.

The week of 12/13-12/14 they will be learning how to shoot at pop-up targets. Qualification day is Thursday, 12/16 and soldiers will need to shoot a minimum of 23 out of 40 targets to qualify and qualifying is a graduation requirement. If Trav does not qualify he will be recycled when he gets back from Christmas break.

Happy anniversary my love! Good luck in the following weeks week - I am so proud to be your wife and I know you are the best husband in the whole world.

Let your light so shine...

2010-12-01T21:25:00.000-08:00

I love the scriptures I have been reading a lot more since Trav has been gone I guess since I feel comforted when I read. Kayla and I have continued out family reading in the Book of Mormon but when she is working late or gone for the night I have been reading in the New Testament. I love reading about our Savior. I know the gospel is true and with out Jesus we would not be able to return to our Heavenly Father. This separation from my Husband would be so much harder with out the gospel and the truth I know. I know that Heavenly Father does not give us any trials that he knows we cannot bare.

I have several letters from Trav I need to update everyone on. He has been in his actual platoon for a week now and they are scheduled to do the gas chamber on 12/02 since I am updating this blog late I can give you the down low. So speaking of trials, man this was one for Trav he does not like to have anything on his face or covering his mouth .

Soldiers are "asked" (I use this term loosely) to remove their gas mask while in the chamber and be "asked" to say anything from the soldiers creed, to their full name or whatever the instructor wants them to say. The purpose for this is so the soldier can breath in some of the gas and know what it feels like. I will tell you that Trav handled this like the MAN he is he did not puke but did have the tears and snot to deal with. He said the hardest part was not wanting to bolt because he felt like his throat was closing off.

Later in the week 12/3 the soldiers were instructed in map reading, land navigation, and compass use. These skills were put to the test at the Land Navigation course, where soldiers were divided into groups and must navigate their way to a series of points. He did not have a lot to say about this but he does seem to be in better spirits lately.

I know that all the support the family is giving him is helping him get through this and with out that and Heavenly Father's help in keeping his body functioning he would not be able to persevere.

Thanks everyone!

Letter from Trav...

2010-11-29T21:40:00.000-08:00

I got my first letter from Trav today. I was so excited to finally get something from him now that I have his address I can send all the letters I have written him. He has been sick for a week now and it is really dragging him down.

I have been sitting here for a solid 10 minutes wondering what to write about his letter a lot of it is pretty personal so I cannot share it all. I would like to stress that he needs prayers and needs his faith renewed.

Again I am at a loss for what to say I miss him so much and I just want to hug him and make it all better. I am so sad that he is so far away and I can't pick up the phone to talk to him. The funny thing is that when I tell people about how he is doing I end up having to sugar coat what I know. I feel like I don't have anyone I can turn to, everyone else needs to be comforted that my husband is gone, ironic isn't it?

I am grateful for Jeff he helped get Trav's ticket home for Christmas without his help I don't know how we would have gotten him home. He will be here December 18th to January 2nd I am super excited to see him again.

Here is his address in case anyone sees this blog and wants to write to him:
Adams, Travis M.
6076 Rothwell
Ft. Sill, OK 73503
1st PLT. SAPPERS

Happy Thanksgiving...

2010-11-26T14:17:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. I am so glad that Kayla had to work Friday and was able to be with us on Thanksgiving. She was suppose to go to her Mom's house for Thanksgiving but she will go next week. Marci came up to my parents house as well and it was nice to have her there. I really miss Trav but it made it better that Marci and Kayla were both there with me. Since it was Thanksgiving I thought Trav would be able to call so I had my phone with me all day. It was driving me crazy waiting for him to call I waited all day and finally at 6pm I got a call from him. I was able to talk to him for 20 minutes.

I miss him so much I wanted to be strong for him but as soon as I heard his voice I started to cry. Trav is so strong but as we were talking to each other we were both crying. He is doing well but he is having a hard time kicking the cold he came down with last week. He is not getting much sleep because the only get 5 hours per night but that is only if he isn't on "fire watch." When they have someone that is on suicide watch they call it "fire watch" and there is at least one of them in Trav's unit. In the 3 weeks he has been gone he has only had a couple nights where he was able to sleep the full 5 hours. His body is pretty run down and he is sore everywhere. He is strong and he wanted me to tell everyone he loves you and thanks for keeping him in your prayers. He really needs all the help he can get it is getting really tough and he is pretty home sick.

I know I have a great husband and I am so proud of him and the sacrifice he is making for our family. I feel guilty having all the privileges I have knowing he is suffering. I wish there were something I could do for him I feel so helpless. All I can do now is keep praying for him.

Private Adams sighting...

2010-11-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

Trav called tonight I have not heard from him since Monday. They gave him 5 minutes to call home and let us know he was there and safe. Unfortunately he is pretty sick he is not getting much sleep which does not help. They have a guy in their unit that is on suicide watch and he was on watch last night and only got 3 hours sleep. Man I miss him I keep thinking about all he is going through and how uncomfortable and worn out he must be. It sure was nice to hear his voice again though.

I should get his address soon so I can send him some mail I can't wait I have so much to send him already. I try to write every day so I can keep him informed and send him some encouragement. Not sure when I will hear from him again so that sucks just hope he gets feeling better soon and he can keep up his energy.

Keep him in your prayers.

Missing my hubby...

2010-11-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

Trav has been gone for one week and one day and I am already missing him like crazy. I have been able to talk to him every day since he is still in the reception battalion but he should be shipped over to basic training today or tomorrow. Once he is in training he will not have as many privileges (as if he has a lot of privileges). Last night may have been the last time got to talk to him in weeks or even month or more. It really hit me last night when I got off the phone with him and I am struggling today.

I am so proud of him this is so much harder on him to be away from his whole family and have to deal with the crap that comes along with boot camp. I know it would be easier for him if he did not have a family like most the young guys there. Most of the guys there don't have any thing to worry about. He was telling me last night that every day there are more and more people trying to get out. They fake seizures, fainting or illness to try to get sent home. There are others that have gone AWOL or try to come up with excuses for them to be sent home. Trav is such a strong person though he is really trying to focus on the end goal and just bust through.

Marci and I had a great talk last night. It was telling her that I know this is what we should be doing because Heavenly Father has made it possible for this to happen. If we were both still working and had a house payment Trav never would have gone back to school. If Trav did not go back to school he would never have had his job with the Air Force on Hill. If he never went back to school he never would have joined the reserves to help pay for school. Hindsight is 20/20, right?

When discussing all that has transpired in the last 2 years with Marci she reminded me of the talk by Hugh B. Brown, The Currant Bush. If you have not heard this talk or had a chance to read here is a short synopsis - He talks about how when he moved to Canada he purchased a farm and on this farm was a currant bush that had grown out of control it was over six feet high. He being from Salt Lake City and raised on a fruit farm knew what he had to do to the bush to make it produce fruit. He went after it with some shears and after cropping it back to nothing but a little clump of stumps he thought he saw on top of each little stump what appeared to be tears. He asked, "What are you crying about?" and he though he heard that the currant bush talked saying, " How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree..." He answered by saying, "I am the Gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn't intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, 'Thank you, Mr. Gardener for loving me enough to cut me down, for caring enough about me to hurt me. Thank you, Mr Gardener.'" He then goes on to tell of his life in the Canadian Army and how he was passed up for a promotion because of his religion and after a few bitter moments he asked God how he could do this to him and the words came back to him - "I am the Gardener here. I know what I want you to do."

I am so glad I have such a great family and they are such a support when I need it. Thanks Marci for being there and reminding of the story.

Miles 3 year pictures...

2010-11-16T12:16:00.000-08:00

Miles haircut 10-30-10

2010-11-14T12:34:00.000-08:00

Miles first haircut was quite the event. We waited 3 years for this to finally happen and by the time the date we could cut it was here it was an emotional time for him and me.

He was afraid of the chair at first and cried...

He soon discovered he could see himself in the mirror...my boy loves to pull faces in the mirror.

He had pretty much calmed down at this point and was having fun.

He is so cute!

Look at all that hair!

Finally! My handsome boy.

Miles and Katelyn Saturday 10/16/10

2010-10-18T10:33:00.001-07:00

Miles and Katelyn love each other but only get along half the time they are together. We were able to watch Katelyn and Brooklyn on Saturday and when we had dinner their conversation was so cute I wish I had my camera.

Katelyn to me, "Stacie, this dinner is so good. You are a good cook all you dinner is so good."
Me, "Thank you Katelyn."
Katelyn to Miles, "Miles, do you like noodles?"
Miles, "Yeah, sure." (this is his standard reply)
Katelyn to Miles, "This dinner is so good, do you want to eat your noodles?"
Miles, "Yeah, sure."
Katelyn, "Sister likes noodles too."
Miles, "Yeah he is eating"
Katelyn, "No, she is she not he."

I wish I could remember the whole exchange but for the most part it was Katelyn talking our ears off about the food and how much she loved it. Miles with his short answers and replies about Brooklyn eating and mixing up that she is a she. That part was the funniest Katelyn was so appalled that Miles was calling her little sister a he.

I had to share - thanks Katie and Steve for letting us take care of you precious girls we had so much fun. I love having a baby around again, another funny part is I gave her a plastic spoon with her noodles. LOL! Trav saw it and said, "Do you really think she will use that?" Of course she wouldn't I just forgot what age she was and silly me gave a baby a spoon to eat with.

Happy Birthday Miles 10-01-10

2010-10-14T09:02:00.001-07:00

Hooray!! Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Grandma Marci made Miles a cute Monster Mutt monster truck cake, thanks Grandma!

Katelyn and Miles and of course all of Miles monster trucks lined up, he is so much like his dad.

Miles and Katelyn playing with Miles new monster truck track.

Driving with Miles...

2010-07-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

Trav got a great job he works on Hill AFB for the Air Force as an Equipment Specialist. Needless to say we need to have daycare for Miles. Tiffany has graciously accepted the responsibility, thanks Tiff! A perk to the long drive is that I get to spend my mornings and afternoons with Miles now.

We have a blast on our drive down to Tiff's and on the way home. He is so funny he talks to me almost the whole way but the other day he was yelling and singing then he would just stop and say, "Mommy, I love you." We have some fun conversations.

I tried to video this while I was driving so I was not able to get the best video since I had to watch the road but I had to post this on the blog.

Happy birthday to me...yeah right!

2010-07-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

OK so today is my 34th birthday and the last year I can say I am in my early 30's. That sucks! My husband is so sweet I woke up this morning to a full tank of gas in my car (which was empty when I went to bed), a bouquet of flowers and a sweet card.

Love you Trav, I don't deserve such a good man.

Happy 4th of July!!

2010-07-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

We got together with the Adams fam on the forth this year and out of all the pictures this is my favorite. It is classic Trav! Love ya Trav.

Miles disappeared for a while and we could not find him I was pretty worried for a little bit but we finally found him on the front porch with Katelyn the two little hoodlums were throwing dirt from Grandma's pots all over the porch.

My sweet boy after the dirt you would never guess he was so mischievous.

Miles loved Jacob's bike I guess the little tricycle is not going to cut it next year. He kept calling it a motorcycle it was pretty funny.

Katelyn and Miles love each other I hope they always stay close friends.

Tiff and James cute kids (Olivia, Emma and Jacob) in their 4th of July garb.

The boys made up a crazy game they call it "The Rules," one person sits and tosses the ball to the person in the back of the line. They then have to bounce the ball on their head and pass to the person in front of them until it gets back to the person that threw the ball. We had a blast watching and they had even more fun playing. It was hilarious.

Had to show Grandma's fireworks.

And of course you cannot have the 4th of July fireworks with out a little pyro-Jackson.

Uncle Don Clark, September 27, 1927 - June 27, 2010

2010-06-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

Don A. Clark (September 27, 1927 - June 27, 2010)

WEST HAVEN –

Don Abe Clark, 82, died Sunday, June 27, 2010 at his home in Ogden. He was born September 27, 1927 in Duchesne, Utah, a son of William Julius and Pearl Hatch Clark. He loved Vernal where he was raised.
On January 6, 1951, Don married LaRee Redford in Duchesne. Their marriage was solemnized on June 22, 1974 in the LDS Temple. LaRee was the love of his life and gave him six children.
Don served his country during World War II. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and served in various callings including Scoutmaster and Bishop. Don worked for Hill Air Force Base for 34 years as an aircraft mechanic and inspector. He was a master of all trades. He taught his children and their spouses many things.
He lived a full and active life. He enjoyed spending time with family, fishing, hunting and meeting his friends at Moore’s Café. Don loved the outdoors and passed that love down to his children. He felt most alive by a lake up in the mountains and fishing on the boat with his wife LaRee. Even being out in his yard brought him joy. He loved his children and grandchildren so very much.
Don was a true cowboy who worked hard his whole life. He was organized and never procrastinated a day. He believed in God and held strongly to his beliefs and convictions. He was strong and kept fighting up to the very last second he was here on earth. He will be dearly missed.
We are all grateful that he is at peace and reunited with his loved ones who have passed before him. Now he can do all the things he loved once again. Oh the joy they must all have to see their dear brother, son and friend again. Dad had a great sense of humor – he loved to joke and tease anyone around him. He was always singing his own little tunes, with his personal and clever lyrics: “My sufficiency has been suffonsified”.
Surviving are his wife of 59 and a half years, LaRee, of Ogden; six children, Thomas Abe (Catherine) Clark, William Von (Cindy) Clark, Shelley LaRee (Alan) Payne, Sandra Lee Clark, Shauna Lyne (Bryan) Crowell, Susan Leslie (Jason) Tams, 19 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Also surviving are two sisters, Arlene (Ed) Stewart and Delora (Darwin) Oaks. He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers, Von, Gerald, Lyle and Sheldon Clark, his sisters, Elva, Elizabeth and Delilah, and grandsons, William Von Clark, Jr. and Sheldon Thomas Clark.

My awesome, wonderful, amazing, handsome, terrific, superman husband...

2010-06-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

I have to say I have the best husband in the entire world!! I don't know where I would be or how I would survive without him in my life. This is a man that is so unselfish that he is willing to work a full time job, go to school and join the Army Reserves just so I can stay home and be a mother to our son. We are most likely a year away from me actually being able be at home with our little guy but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The last 2 years have been toughest in my life with unemployment, leaving my son to return to work, selling our house, and figuring out childcare. Trav and I have had our ups and downs but we made it through together. We still have some hurdles to get over before we can breath easier but man to finally have a plan feels great.

I am scared to be without Trav while he is in basic training and then when he goes for job training early next year. The thought of being apart hurts too much to think about right now and I don't even want to touch on him getting deployed to Iraq. I rely on him so much for everything. I think about taking out the trash, paying bills, lawn care and grocery store runs and that stresses me out. But, last night when I was lying with Miles I just started to cry thinking about how I will not be able to cuddle up with Trav at night or talk to him whenever I want or need. He is my best friend my everything and I need him so much.

I know this is probably too much to share on a blog but I know that if I don't get it down somewhere I will just let it fester inside. I really want him to know how much I appreciate him, how much I love and admire him. He is such a good dad and husband and he deserves so much happiness and I hope that I make him as happy as he makes me.

I love you FOREVER Trav!

April showers bring May flowers?

2010-05-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

05/21/10 - 05/23/10

Road trip! We drove out to San Diego to see Paul, Katie and Lily. Paul and Katie were sealed in the San Diego Temple Saturday 05/22. What an amazing experience I think I cried the entire time but once they brought little Lily in and placed her on the alter with her Mom and Dad I lost it. The spirit was so strong you could feel that this was the right place for all of us to be sitting in the temple on beautiful day witnessing a miracle. Thank you Paul and Katie for letting us be apart of that experience we are so proud of you. Love you guys tons! The funniest thing about my picture taking I don't actually have any of Paul and Katie, go figure.

Here are some great pics this one is from our hotel window.

Trav and me in front of the temple.

They were refurbishing the temple so there was scaffolding all over it.

LOL, Me.

Ok another story...

We rented a car for the trip because we did want to take our car with 270,000 miles on it and we did want to take the chance of anything going wrong. We picked up the rental and transferred everything over from our car but we missed one item. Trav's church shoes were on the floor in the backseat of our car and we missed transferring them to the rental. On Friday night we found out that Katie was going through the temple to receive her endowments so we decided to surprise Paul since we told him earlier that week we would not be able to make it to San Diego. We got dressed for the temple but Trav was missing something...his dress shoes. Wow now what well Trav is have his gold running shoes so he was a good sport and donned his running shoes. On the way down to the car I asked him if he had his recommend and he handed it to me and after looking at it I discovered his recommend expired before mine in March! Ok so what else can go wrong at this point right?

We drove all the way to San Diego to be there for Paul and Katie and now Trav has no dress shoes and no recommend. He is never getting in the temple or so we thought. We were planning to carpool to the temple with Tiff and James so we went to their hotel room and when they saw the shoes Trav had on they had a great laugh at his expense. James then had a great idea to let Trav borrow his black Crocs which would blend in better than the gold running shoes. If anyone knows Trav then you know how he feels about Crocs, he thinks they are gay.

So here we are all ready to enter the temple in Crocs with an expired temple recommend. On our way to the temple we have been trying desperately to reach a member of our bishopric. Murphy's law, none of them are answering their phones. Trav finally get a hold of the first counselor's son Ryan and has him track down his dad. By a huge miracle Trav get in and makes it just in time for the start of the session.

Here is a picture of Trav in James' Crocs.

Trav, Nate, Tom and Jeff.

Trav and his wonderful mom Marcia

After the temple we went to the house Katie's family stayed in and Miles got to swim.

All that was available was a girls floaty and my son with his long curly hair got to look like a cute little girl.

Kayla showing off her massive bicep, notice Jackson laughing and Spencer is just confused.

Jackson showing us what a real man looks like.

Spenc finally gets it...

Pretty Lily

Ok yeah I need a girl too

Another story from our trip was on the way home we had quite an eventful night. We left pretty much right after Lily's blessing on Sunday at 5pm we thought it would be best for Miles. He was pretty good in the car but we did not want to take a chance. We drove straight through but once we got to Vegas we needed a little pit stop. We did not want to deal with the strip so we tried to find a gas station off the strip. Trav pulled off the freeway after we passed all the cassino's but unfortunately picked the wrong part of town. While he was pumping gas he was hit up for money twice. I was hungry and Miles wanted chicken nuggets so we decided to head over to the McDonald's across the street. WOW what a scary place. It was so sad I was like I walked into a movie about the ghetto. We could not get out of there fast enough.

After Vegas we thought we were home free. I fell asleep around 11pm but was woke up by Trav yelling, "Oh my Gosh!!" I was so shocked I don't think really grasped what was happening. There was a pick-up truck flipped over on his top in the middle of the free way north of Cedar City. We were going 80 mph and almost hit them it was so dark. We were able to avoid the crash and turned around to try and stop the other cars from hitting them too. Trav ran out to help them get out of the car while I called 911. When Trav got to the truck there was a 15 yr old boy trying to pull his dad out of the truck and his 4 yr old brother was still in the truck. Trav and another bystander pulled the Man and his kids free and got them off the side of the freeway. After they laid the man down they thought they had better move him further away from the wreckage and 1 minute after that a car that did not see us flew through the crash and ran right over where the man had been laying. I was able to tell 911 dispatch where we were and got blankets and a fist aid kit we thought to bring with us for some reason to the victims. We were stopped for a total of 45 minutes but that night will haunt me for a long time.

We were so blessed this weekend with Trav being able to get in the temple on an expired recommend, crazy Vegas and the accident we were able to avoid. God was looking out for us that night because right after the accident we hit a snow storm in MAY. We were going so slow and could not see anything it was really bad. Then a semi passed us and we got behind him and stayed there all the way to Provo. I don't think I was ever so glad to see home and my own bed before.

05/29/10

Miles was so sick he had a fever and was pucking all day when he finally wanted to eat all he wanted was a bread stick. The closes thing to a bread stick I had was this big sandwich roll I was so glad to see him eat something I gave him the whole thing. You can tell he still did not feel well.

Poor little man.

04/05/10

Miles hair is getting soooooo long I was trying to get him in the tub but he loves to run around without clothes. Check out the big hair...

I love this picture he looks so cute but the hair!

04/06/10

Cute pics of my sweet baby boy. He is growing up too fast.

04/09/10

Miles loves to ride on the lawn mower with grandpa.

We went to check on him and found him like this...

Yes he is asleep!

04/21/10

Travis turned 40 this year we had a fun party at his mom's house. Happy birthday my love! You are the best husband I could ever want. I am so proud of you and you will never be too old for me.

My handsome birthday boy.

I picked up a red velvet cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory, YUM!

WOW look at all those candles...40!

See Trav's face this is when he saw all the candles.

He blew them all out in one breath no oxygen mask needed...yet.

Miles liked the cake.

The kids needed to work off all the energy from the cake.

Our sweet boy!

Happy Easter...

2010-04-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

Miles and I colored eggs...well I guess I should clarify I colored eggs while Miles instructed me on the egg color. We did get him some fun stuff for Easter but he happened to see almost all of it before Easter so he has been playing with the new cars for a couple weeks.

We went up to Grandma Marci's house and decorated Easter cookies with all the cousins.

Here are some cute pics of my boy...

Miles and Olivia

Miles would rather eat his cookie with out the icing.

Crazy Miles

2010-03-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

03/27/10
Trav went golfing and I was home alone with Miles and we had to get out of the house. We decided to go to the Hill Air Force museum. Miles loved it we walked around the museum 3 times and had to hit the gift shop where he picked out two new planes. It was nice to spend the day with my little man. I love him so much and I am always shocked by how fast he is growing up.

He has started the funniest thing his little hands are now his "babies" and he calls them that all the time. It is so funny he will come running up to Trav or me and say, "Oh, my babies look at my baby hands." He is so funny I don't know where he gets this stuff. I also love how when he sees animals or babies he always says, "Oh, puppy so cute." He is so sweet most the time. He does have his moments of melt down though when I have to stop myself and remember what a sweet boy he can be because in that minute of him losing his mind I don't know what may have possessed.

Another one of Miles favorite past-times is to get his own food too. He will get whatever he wants to eat and make himself a meal below is a picture of what he some cereal he wanted to eat. Who needs a bowel when you have a couch?

We got Miles some Breathright strips since he always seems to have a stuffy nose he will not keep them on long enough for them to actually help him but he does like to put them on and pull them off.

Then just this weekend Kayla and I were watching T.V. and Miles wanted his own chair. So, he pushed the office chair over from the desk and laid down in it. This does not look comfortable.

03/09/10 Great Grandma Alice LaVerne Fenwick Funeral

2010-03-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

My Great Grandma Fenwick passed away this month her funeral was Tuesday, March 9th. I love my grandma and am happy that she is no longer suffering. I am comforted to know that she will be with my Grandpa again they have been apart for so many years.

One thing that is good about funerals is you get to see members of your family you have not seen for a while. I was able to reconnect with my cousins Brett and Mark Fenwick both great guys.

Alice LaVerne Carsey Fenwick 1915 ~ 2010

Alice LaVerne Carsey Fenwick, 94, passed away on March 5, 2010 of causes incident to age.She was born April 21, 1915 in West Jordan, Utah to Ernest Carsey and Alice Spiller Carsey. She married Joseph H. Fenwick October 17, 1931. The marriage was later solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple on June 2, 1960. She has three children: Donna Jean Rubert, Clearfield; Joseph Chad (Lynnette) West Valley; and Stephen (Debbie), Centerville. Joe and LaVerne built one of the first homes on Sycamore Lane (1200 South) where she loved to bake cakes and cookies as well as can fruit and different kinds of pickles for her family. LaVerne was a life long member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a member of the Bountiful 4th and 7th Wards for many years. She enjoyed working in the Salt Lake Temple doing sealings with Bishop Clifford Johnson, a long time family friend. She is survived by her three children, 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and six great-great-grandchildren, brother-Lorin Carsey, sisters-Janean Childers and LaNette Anthony. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, stepfather-William Hamilton, brothers-Delbert and Vern, sister-Rozena, and a great-grandson.

Kayla's 18th birthday party 3/06/10

2010-03-16T20:38:00.001-07:00

So now I know we are old Kayla is 18 wow where did the last 13 years go. I met Kayla when she was 5 years old and she was the sweetest little girl just a little peanut. She has not grown much and her personality has pretty much stayed the same too. She is an amazing girl and I am so proud of her and the choices she has made in her life.

Happy Birthday Kayla!!

My uncle Robert was in town and was able to come to Kayla's party- Love you Rob!

Grandma Marci and Aunt Tiffany made an amazing cake for Kayla and it was delicious too.

Thanks for all your hard work ladies!

Check out the duck tape wrapped gift that was classic.

Stacie's ski trip 3/01/10

2010-03-16T20:32:00.002-07:00

I went skiing up at Snowbird with my friend Nela she is a much better skier than me but she and her Dad put up with me tagging along. It was such a nice day and the snow was great.

Nela and her Dad

Nela and Me

Some great pics from the slopes

Stacie's Ski tri

2010-03-16T20:32:00.001-07:00

February in a flash...

2010-03-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

02/07/10

February started out fun here are some fun pictures from our family's super bowl party at Jeff's house.

02/14/10

Trav and I took a trip to Denver later in the month so Trav could take his test for to get into the Colorado State Trooper program. We has so much fun this was our first trip away from Miles and we missed him a lot but it was worth it. We went on a sleigh ride up in the mountains in Frisco, CO on Valentines day. We went with Derek Lewis and his wife Lavonya.

Us at dinner - it was served in a big tent by a bunch of ranch hands very rustic.

Here is Derek and Lavonya

Derek's Brother John and his wife

Derek's Cousin Tommy and his wife Valencia (two of the funnest people I have ever met)

Wow I am behind...here is January in a flash:

2010-03-16T19:22:00.001-07:00

New Years eve was spent playing Qualf and Steve had to put on lipstick, LOL!

01/02/10 Miles in the tub, check out that hair!

01/03/10 Another great hair pic for Miles it is getting so long. I am not sure if we will be able to hold out for T.J. October is a long way away still.

01/23/10 OH my goodness! look at that mass of hair. See it is out of control!

2010...

2010-01-26T20:39:00.000-08:00

OK so I will confess I am not the best blogger out there I can barely get in a blog a month and to be honest it hardly has enough substance for even a headline. I vow to be better at keeping up on my blogs this year. The decision to blog was so I would not have to scrapbook. In theory scrap booking seems like a fun creative way to keep track of family memories but who has the time or patience needed. after spending 3 hours on just one page and still not liking the way it looks. I have always had ideas of grandeur of wanting to be the best even though I still have not discovered how I can be the best at everything all at once.
My other goal this year is to run at least one marathon. I plan to start with the Ogden half maybe a sprint tri here and there then the Top of Utah marathon. Sounds like fun to me!!
Trav has decided that he wants to learn to fight so he and Steve have started taking MMA classes. I think Trav has hit his mid-life-crisis stage (he turns 40 this year shh). I am excited for him though he is really pumped.
Miles goal is to get toilet trained. He does not know it yet but it will happen.
Kayla's goal is to well I don't know possibly graduate without her brain turned to mush and find a job she likes better.

Anyway happy New Year!

Christmas was...

2010-01-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was fun but surreal (sorry Trav I know you hate that word but it fits). We were missing half our family Kayla and Karlee were at their Mom's for the week of Christmas. Christmas morning was anticlimactic to say the least. I had to wake Miles up and then get him excited about his presents. This year was better than last year for him he at least understood that the gifts were for him. We really missed the girls this year it just was not the same.
Kayla came home the Sunday after Christmas and brought Karlee home with her so we did get to spend New Year's Day with them both. We stayed up late and had fun playing Wii with James, Jenna, Matt, Andrea, Jackson and Kris.

12 years with the love of my live!

2009-12-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our 12th wedding anniversary and I can hardly believe it has been 12 years. I have the the best husband in the world. What man on Earth would want to be home with a 2 year old, do laundry, change dirty diapers, clean and cook -- lol, OK so not cook. We do have a lot of fun together and it has only gotten better first with Kayla coming to live with us then Miles joining our crazy clan. I just want him to know how much I love and appreciate him. I really do I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be able to call him my husband.
For our anniversary I thought it would be a good idea for us to do something Trav likes to do because he always want to do stuff for me. I asked him if he would like to go to Wendover for the weekend. So we decided that we would take a little money and if we could turn it into a little more money we would stay the night. Well of course our little money turned into almost no money so 45 minutes later we were heading home. I know Trav would have had more fun if we would have won or at least been able to play a little longer but I think the drive was the best part. We talked the entire time the way there and on the way back.
I love you Trav and I have loved every minute we have been married and I would do it all again a million times over.

New Miles and Kayla pictures

2009-12-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

We had Hollie (an amazing photographer) do Kayla's senior pictures and Miles 2 year pictures at the same time. It was so cold out side that 15 min and Miles was done but the pictures turned out great.

How gorgeous is our girl...

Check out the amazing eyes

I love this one of Miles he looks so sweet

Miles is so handsome he was really cold at this point but he still looks cute.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T12:53:00.000-08:00

I am very thankful for my Husband! He is the best man I know he has been so great through this last year especially these last 6 months while I have been working again. He is such a great Dad and I know his kids love him very much. I want him to know how much I appreciate him and all he does. I know it is not fun to do load after load of laundry and take card of a crazy 2 year old. He keeps the house nice and tidy too which is quite a feat with Miles around.

I am so thankful for Kayla she is such a great kid we could not ask for a better teenager. She is so busy but she still helps us with Miles all the time. She is always asking us to go out so she can watch him for us. I love her very much.

How can I even put into words my love for Miles he is the answer to a lot of prayers and blessings. He is so much fun we just laugh all the time with him and all the new fun stuff he learns. His latest is "Watch this Mom!"

I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father and all he does for me and my family. I know that Jesus died for my salvation and he lives again so that we may live again too. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and I am so thankful for that knowledge and the hope that it gives me in our trying times.

New Moon girls night out...

2009-11-20T11:20:00.000-08:00

Tiffany invited Kayla and me to see New Moon with her Ward and we had a blast. We all wished we had taken a camera to document the event. It was quite the experience there were booths around the lobby with drawings, pictures and vampire makeup. Almost everyone there was wearing a New Moon tee shirt. Kayla wore one of her new tee shirts but after getting to the theater wished she had worn her "Jacob" tee shirt. We were able to buy some collector cups Kayla and I were originally going to share a drink but she could not decide who she wanted Jacob or Edward so we bought both. It was a great time and I was so much fun to spend the time with Kayla.

Sick Kayla and CRAZY Miles...

2009-11-16T15:39:00.000-08:00

Kayla has been sick for a week and I think she has coughed up her lungs about 3 days ago. I feel bad for her she has not been to school or work for a week and I am sure she is have a ton of homework to make up. We were going to get her senior pictures done this week but since she looks like death warmed over we have rescheduled for next weekend.

Miles is crazy as ever with crazy hair. He is so funny he will ask for Cheetos or yogurt and when I give him some he says, "Thank you mom." He is getting so big. When I get home from work he gives me a big hug and says, "Hi mom, I missed you" and "Love you Mom." He is so awesome I could never have guessed what an amazing little person I had inside me when I was pregnant. Now to see how he is growing and learning new things all the time it just keeps me in awe.

I asked Trav to send me a picture of him today so he told Miles to say "cheese" for the picture. and he said "cheese...mom" and smiled for the picture. Gotta love the hair.

Halloween weekend...

2009-11-02T14:37:00.001-08:00

Every Halloween at Datamark is quite the event you have to experience it to get the picture of what happens. Decorations galore everyone is encouraged to decorate infact they give prizes for the best decorated cubical/team area as well costumes and team costumes.

This year we had an out house:

The Simpsons Moes tavern:

"Honey I shrunk the kids!"

Super Mario Brothers:

Later in the afternoon kids are invited to do some trick-r-treating and Miles was a little leary at first but after a few minutes and once he got away from the scary areas he had fun. By the time I was ready to go home he was not and he wanted to pull me around to show me the cool stuff he found and get more suckers.

Here is Miles in his Devil costume he would not put on his hood but he looked cute anyway.

Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

We carved pumpkins last night and had a pumpkin shake YUM! The mummy pumpkin is Trav's, the monster pumpkin is Kayla's and I carved the Boo pumpkin. I did a little Jack-o-lantern pumpkin for Miles since he is too small to carve one on his own still.

Miles likes the "Punkins"

Here is one in the dark with Miles

Trav had to take the picture so the family pumpkin pic is short one Dad.

Kayla's ugly pumpkin

2009-10-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

You know how when your kids are little and they bring home the ugliest pictures and drawings you still treasure them like they are an original Van Gogh? Well poor Kayla brought home a pumpkin she painted in Mutual and it was so ugly. I am sure if she were younger we would have gushed over how cute it was and what a great job she did in painting. Instead my first question when she told me she painted a pumpkin was, "does it look stupid?" Then Trav wanted to throw it away because he thinks it looks dumb.

Anyway here is Kayla with her sad pumpkin:

Miles crazy sleeper

2009-10-13T20:32:00.001-07:00

Nap time is not a fun time for Miles usually Trav has to take him for a ride in the car to get him to fall asleep. I think I spoil him. He lays down with me and falls asleep when I sing to him but Trav does not do this and it is harder for him to get him to take a nap. Today Miles wanted to lay on top of the couch cushion so Trav put him up there. Then Miles wanted the blanket over him so he pulled the blanket up and fell asleep.

Blanket over his face even Trav had to pull it down some so we could see his face. LOL!

Miles 2nd Birthday...

2009-10-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

Miles turned 2 last Thursday, October 1st. WOW I cannnot believe my baby is no longer a baby. We had a party for him on Saturday most of his Uncles and Aunts, Grandma Marcia and Grandma and Grandpa Pack.

Miles had a "Cars" birthday party and Grandma Marci made a cool Lightening McQueen cake.

Miles is so funny he gets shy now and when we were singing happy birthday to him he had the funniest look on his face.

Here are some more pictures of the party and all Miles fun presents.

Miles tattoo

2009-09-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

Miles with his new tattoo, you can see he was very excited to get the tattoo.

Still happy...

Close up...

We are such mean parents!

Moved an entire household in just THREE DAYS!!!

2009-09-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

We sold our house well at least have it under contract. We had to be out by last Friday because the people moving into our house wanted to be in last weekend before we closed. We agreed to this for some crazy reason. We had literally three days to move our entire house hold to my Father-in-law's basement. I don't think we have ever made more trips to the D.I. than we had last week. I am not sure but this is one of the hardest things emotionally I have had to deal with in a while. We went to our Ward one last time Sunday and I think Kayla and I spent the whole time trying not to cry or trying to stop crying. I will miss the Ward. I will miss my house. I will miss my neighbors. I will miss having my own kitchen. I already miss my bathroom more than I though I ever would. This is an experience I know none of us will forget. I am so grateful that our families came together to help us out in our time of need. I don't know how we would have ever been able to move everything and get the house ready in the time we had. We did not have anything packed or ready for the move since we were not certain it would happen. In fact we did not have any hope that the appraisal would come back at the amount we needed. When we got word that it was with in $2,000 of the offer we had to jump at the opportunity.

I know we are moving in the right direction I just need to keep the faith that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and that eventually we will get back on course. We were reading the Book of Mormon every night before we moved but in the chaos that happened we have not been reading like we should and I feel the difference. I am missing the spirit again and I want to get that back,

Miles is loving living with the dogs he wakes up asking for them falls asleep talking about them. He loves animals so much. He is so fun he repeats everything he hears. It is funny because he will start talking to me and just jabber away but then he tells me something I can understand and I am surprised. I miss being home with him I hate that I cannot be with him all day to teach him more and play with him more. I feel like my time after work is so short before I have to start getting him ready to go to sleep. I think his tub time is my favorite. He talks the whole time and will be so funny he likes to "swim" in the tub. Last night he slipped and hit his chin in the edge of the tub and after that all he would talk about was his chin. He cut it open and it was bleeding pretty good so I put a band-aid on his chin and he thought hat we pretty cool.

Kayla seems to be adjusting pretty well to the move she has Homecoming this week so she is pretty busy with everything she has going on at school. She was asked to the dance and has been getting everything she needs ready for that. Thank goodness she does not have to work this week I think I would have stressed us all out.

Anyway I will keep the faith and be more diligent about reading the scriptures and I know that everything will work out for the best.

4th of July weekend

2009-07-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

I had Friday off from work for the 4th of July so we thought we would go to the zoo. We have been talking about going for a while but we were not sure if Miles was old enough to get anything out of going, but he had a blast.

We stopped at the monkeys first and he laughed at them and thought they were pretty cool. It was pretty hot so most of the animals were trying to keep cool. The bears were so cute they were playing in their pool and wrestling, Miles was excited about that.

Miles loved the giraffes they were so pretty and he has never seen anything like that before.

Tiffany and James came with us and it was fun to see how excited the girls got over the animals. Olivia was excited to see the Gorillas and Orangutans. But Jacob was the craziest, we thought he was going to jump out of his stroller a few times.

Here's a pic of Kayla and Olivia.

We went on the train right before we left it was nice to sit down after all the walking but the ride was fast and short. I think Miles thought it was cool to ride on the train he really did not pay any attention to the animals we saw while on the train.

Photos from the train.

Typical Adams family photo.

Family pic where Trav is actually not pulling faces!

James, Tiff, Olivia, Emma and Jacob

I forgot my camera most places we went this weekend so the zoo pics are courtesy of Tiffany. We had a barbecue at Trav's Mom's house on Saturday with the family that was fun and the food was really good. We had a whole bunch of salads and that is what we ate the most we had so much left over meat. I think when it is hot you just want something cool and light, and the salads hit the spot.

I love the 4th of July I know it sounds weird but that is my favorite holiday. I love the barbecue, fireworks and warm weather. We had a few fireworks but the real hit were the smoke bombs. All the kids ran around with them and Miles raced after them running through the smoke. Kayla and Jackson were playing pyro they wanted to set everything on fire. After all the fireworks were lite she and Jackson tried to burn up all the cardboard shells. Crazy kids!

Sorry no pics from Saturday because of course I forgot my camera again.

Girls weekend in St. George...

2009-06-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

I went down to St. George with my Friends - Natalia, Rachelle and Jen. We had so much fun and I don't think I have been this sore in a long time. This was just the kick in the pants I needed to get my butt in shape.

We arrived Thursday night 06/11 and stayed up until 2am talking then we woke up around 8am and went for a 13 mile bike ride up Snow Canyon. That was so pretty I have not been up there before and the day was perfect it was only 80 degrees, which is cool for St. George in June. I have not been on a bike outside in over 16 years so my tail end was getting pretty sore. Well around mile 7 I got hot and could not get my heart rate down and lost my breakfast, yummy! We headed back down and that was nice down hill almost the whole way and the air hitting me felt really good.

We got back to the house and showered then headed out for pedicures. OH that was nice I love to get a pedi! We had lunch at Pizza Factory, YUMMY bread sticks!

Then headed back to the house and relaxed by the pool. later when it cooled down we went rollerblading. I have not been on rollerblades since the summer before I had Miles so it took me a while to warm up again but I got the hang of it pretty fast. Brittany lives down there so I invited her to come rollerblading with us. That was fun until I ate concrete! I was fallowing everyone through a tunnel but I was behind them since I had just gotten off the phone with Trav. They were about 20 yards ahead of me so I did not hear them say to step over the grate. I was catapulted forward and landed on my face I had a black eye and a bruised cheek. Not FUN.

Jen and Rachelle Showing off the guns

Natalia and Rachelle showing off the booties

The next day we went to Zion we hiked all day first we went up to the Emerald Pools then to Observation Point it was so beautiful. I love Zion it is just so pretty and there are some really great trails. It rained on us coming down from Observation Point but the weather was great while we were hiking up.

Jen above the upper Emerald Pool & Natalia and Me in front of the Emerald Pool

Jen and Natalia Posing & Crazy Natalia

I love the cactus flowers, so pretty! So beautiful up there I love it

Lunch on Observation Point and this little guy was trying to steal our lunch.

Memorial weekend

2009-05-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

When I was little my family always drove from cemetery to cemetery to put flowers out on graves but since I have been out on my own I have not been to a cemetery on Memorial day in years. Mostly I thought a lot about my Grandma Redford she was really the only grandma I had a relationship with and she passed away a few years ago. I thought about my older brother who did not live a week and how it would have been nice to know him now. All the graves we visited when I was little were for my grandpa's and my older brother that died before I was born so I did not know any of them. I know my Mom & Dad still visit graves on Memorial weekend but I just don't want to get caught up in the mayhem.
We had a family Barbecue at Jeff's house on Monday and that was fun for the kids. Miles thinks he is a big kid and wants to do everything they are doing. He wanted to swing, climb, slid and jump with them and was getting pretty banged up but he loved every minute of it.
While all the kids were playing their games the adults were playing on the basket ball court and that was fun to watch too. Kayla is so cute she wants to be athletic but the poor girl did not get any of those genes. It was fun to watch her and the other girls try to shot the basket and rebound their own shots. There was a lot of screaming and frustration coming from them. I of course stayed out of that craziness I know I am not athletic and I choose not to embarrass myself.
Well I guess geting together as a family is a pretty fun way to spend Memorial weekend I still remeber my loved ones that have pasted on and spent time with my loved ones that are still here.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Kayla & Miles on the tramp

Sam with his tongue stuck in a pop bottle

Everyone playing 90 and Miles had to shoot baskets too.

The kids just chillin on the swing

Miles thinks he can do everything the big kids can do so he climbed on top of the jungle gym and he loved swinging with Katelyn. Uncle Paul was nice and helped Miles down the slid.

Musical Miles

2009-05-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

Miles loves music he loves to listen to music or play any musical instrument. He will climb up on the piano bench and just start playing and sometimes sing. He has been fascinated by guitars since he was able to crawl. Trav has been sending me pictures of Miles while I am at work and he sent the cutest thing last week I just had to post it.

When we had a family get-together a week ago Uncle Jeff brought his guitar. He and the boys were jammin' in the front room and Miles joined in with them.

I am so glad that he loves music it has always been an important part of my life and I am so excited to teach him to play the piano and watch him learn other instruments as well.

Working agian...

2009-05-22T10:25:00.001-07:00

So Trav was laid-off from work the first of December and we have both been home since I stopped working to stay home with Miles. The few months I was home were the best, I loved it. The only thing that would have made it better would to have been independently wealthy so we did not have the stress of where the money is coming from. Job prospects were scarce so Trav and I both were looking and we figured whoever found a job first would go to work and the other would take care of Miles. I am pretty sure Trav really wanted to be the one who got a job first because the prospect of being Mr. Mom was not appealing to him and wouldn't you know it I was the one to land a job first!
I actually started work last week so Trav has had 2 weeks of being Mr. Mom. He has been doing great and I think Miles is starting to get use to it but it has been hard on all of us. I miss my little guy a ton but I feel better knowing he has his Dad with him.
Trav has been adapting well, he helps out a lot he does laundry and keeps the house clean as well as the yard work. I have a super awesome husband!! I love Trav so much and I am so proud of him for rolling with the punches and being a good sport. I know he hates the diaper changes and he has no choice but to change them now that he is the primary care giver to our son.

Thank you Trav you make my job a ton easier and less stressful with all you do everyday.

Congrats to Karlee!!

2009-05-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

Karlee called last night and she was so excited she made the dance team for school next year. She had try-outs yesterday after school and she waited around after to find out if she made it and she did! We are all so proud of her and we are excited to go and watch her perform too.

Rock & Roll?

2009-05-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today Trav decided he would take our neighbor up on their offer to give us a big rock from their back yard. We have been wanting to add a big center rock to our flower garden in the center of our front yard but today he got the bug to move the rock. He called his brother Steve and asked if he would come and help him move the rock he also told him to bring a friend to help if he could. below is the the whole ordeal in pictures.
Before the rock:

Trav, Steve and Tyler (Steve's friend) moving the rock:

The rock is in the flower bed but not quite in the right spot:

Finally finished with the rock in place and I think it looks beautiful:

While all the fun with the rock was happening Katelyn (Steve's daughter), who is just one week younger than Miles, was here to play. They had a blast "jumping" on the tramp, I use the term jumping very lightly in their case. Miles likes to run to the end of the tramp and jump into your arms but sometimes it looks like he is going to run right off the tramp and jump off. Below is a video of the kids on the tramp but I almost drop the camera at one point because Miles is playing dare devil.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2009-05-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

We are not Mexican but it sure is fun to say Cinco de Mayo and we love Mexican food. I think we will have tacos tonight to celebrate Mexico's Independence day.

We have been trying to be better at reading and the other night I was tired and asked Trav if he would read. Funny thing happened Trav read for the first time and I feel asleep, roles reversed.

We aren't doing well at holding family home evening, we have plans to but we always end up doing something else but at least we are doing things together as a family. Last night we went grocery shopping together then headed to Grandpa's to watch the Apprentice. We missed watching it on Sunday night because we have made a goal to not watch T.V. on Sundays.

We did finally get some flowers for the pots on our front porch and a new pot for the walk way. We had some left over dead plants from last summer in our old pots that were looking pretty sad. Trav, Miles and I went and picked out a new pot and some plants to fill our two other pots and they look so pretty now.

Blog Away!

2009-05-01T11:10:00.001-07:00

Okay so I am sure I will be really bad at keeping this up but I want to try the whole blog thing. Tiffany has shown me what fun it can be so I hope I can keep up. What better day to start than the first day of the month. My goal is to be able to keep better track of my family's adventures, accomplishments and events. We are in the process of selling our house, I am probably going back to work and we have a fun 17 year old (Kayla) to rein in all the time, a sweet 12 year old (almost 13) (Karlee) as well as a 19 month old (Miles) that destroys everything. So why not blog and write down all the craziness we call life.
Yesterday Trav and I went on a real date, Kayla was nice and watched Miles for us and we went to lunch and a movie. I think lunch was more fun than the movie, we talked and laughed but we could not do much of that during the movie. We saw the "Soloist" it was a good movie so don't get me wrong I just like it when Trav and I get to talk and have fun together. Kayla is so sweet she always wants to watch Miles so she actually did want us to go. Trav and I are attending the Strengthening Marriage class at church and we realized we don't date anymore so we may as well take advantage of having a live in babysitter and go out more often.
Trav and I are reading "Broken Things to Mend" by Jeffrey R. Holland and that has been rocky so far since Trav falls asleep after the first page but it is a great book. I love to read and I read all the time but mostly fun books so when I do stop to read something of substance I realize that I miss the part of nourishing my spirit. We have made a goal as a family to have family home evening every week so I hope we can stick to it, there always seems to be something that gets in the way. I have a testimony of the Gospel and of Jesus Christ and I know that if I follow the commandments we will be able to clear any hurdle put in our way. I love my family very much and I am so proud of them.