Tora! Tora! Tora!

Today was the Yuma Air show. It was a huge event and everyone had lots of fun. David left at 7:30am with my dad to help him set things up. My dad is in radio so he has to attend every big event in town. Anywho... I kept getting text messages from David about a super cool sonic boom, and other things. We finally decided to go around 11:30am. Timothy stayed with Grandma since we didn't foresee him handling the sun and heat for too long. Good thing too, because it was HOT.

The airshow was pretty cool. They had several jets do tricks as well as some acrobatic planes. We were able to take Alexis into an old bomber plane. She was so scared at first but very proud of herself having made it through. I can't imagine how it must have been to actually be fighting in one of those planes. The bombs set inside the plane and a small catwalk went down the middle of the plane between the bombs. If you weren't careful you could have fallen out of the plane mid-air. It was super tight in there. Some of the gunners had to sit indian style in a little pod and just shoot. That was their entire job. I can only imagine signing up for that job... David said you'd get that job if you had good aim. Guess that makes sense. Picture of the plane is below:

Towards the end of the air show they broke a world record for the worlds longest continuous firewall. It was 10,000 feet long. The movie clip says 8,000 but they corrected it. The fire wall was part of a reenactment of the attack on Pearl Harbor. They dropped bombs, narrated the story and had the air raid siren blaring. It was a little to real for me and brought out some interesting emotions. I can't imagine the fear and terror of that day. I guess that means they did a good job.

The fire wall was amazing. Before you even saw the flames you felt a wave of heat. The flames reached about 150 feet into the air and it was so massive that you couldn't even see all of it at once. Pretty incredible.

All in all, it was a pretty cool day, and Alexis had a blast. Mission complete!

PS. Tora! Tora! Tora! means Attack in Japanese...

The Best Six Years

Sometimes when I look back I have a hard time remembering what life was like before marriage. I remember that it was lonely and frustrating. I remember I learned lots about what I did and didn't want in an eternal companion via ex boyfriends. Then I remember being asked to be David's best friend forever (BFF in today's terms). Now six years later I am grateful I said yes. David is my other half. We are two very different people, and we have our times... but I can't imagine my life with any other person. He is my hero and helpmate.
At times I think I forget to tell him just how much he means to me. I let the honey-do list take over our lives and think about all the things that need to be done, instead of spending quality time with him. He is patient with me and my inability to wait. I have a need to plan everything NOW and he helps bring me back to earth, to realize that some things just take patience and faith. He is a good man, father, husband, brother, and son. He is an amazing person. I am in awe of who he was, is, and can become.... and that he is mine... all mine.
Thanks for all you do David! Happy sixth anniversary...

Two weeks and Counting!

Hooray! Need I say more! Two weeks left! David has been working so hard and soon he will be done with his Pharm D program. Well... I take that back. He still has to pass his licencing examination and finish his senior project. But the end is in sight.
We are still living in a world of uncertainty. We still don't know where we'll end up or where David will get a job. We have been looking at the Phoenix and Spokane area. I guess time will tell and we'll see what happens. We still have our house in Tucson and the housing market is a mess, so I am worried about David getting a job far away and me having to stay in Tucson alone with the kids until the house sells. I've been hearing of people trying to sell their house for over a year... please no! Ugh!
I am excited to get back into my own space again. It has been good to spend time with family... but I think we all need our space. I am ready to do my laundry whenever I want, cook whatever I want, and do whatever I want. Things have all worked out good with all the aforementioned areas, but it is interesting how much you create your own schedule when you live away from home. Everyone has their own way of doing things.
It has also been hard, because Alexis has no little friends here. She is excited to go to the Z-O-O with all her friends. She is also confused about where home is. She keeps asking if our house is in Tucson. I assure her we still have a house. She does, however, want to take Grandma's "park" (swing set) and chickens with us. She loves the animals, garden, and play area. Going back to Tucson will be an adjustment for her with attention too. She has all sorts of "mothers" here. My sisters, and mom all do lots for her. She'll have to get used to just me again. And I don't plan on catering to her every whim. Should be interesting to see how it all pans out.
I am excited though to see where we end up. I am excited for the future. I am not a very patient person, and want to know now how it will all turn out. I guess it is like a suspense novel... I'll just have to wait and see...

Happy First Birthday Timothy!

Happy First Birthday Timothy! It seems like you just came to us. How time flies... I guess it just says how much fun we are having. You had a fun party... let me rephrase... fun parties! You are such an amazing little man. You have the wisdom of ages in your eyes, but the love only a child can give. Your personality shines through more each day. You have become such a little chatterbox in recent days. It is a delight to see you grow and progress. The world is such a playground to you. You find joy in the small things... like dirt... Oh how you LOVE dirt. Eternity still seems to short a time to spend with you! Happy Birthday!

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What a fun day we had with Timothy. Alexis was so excited about the party. She had been planning all week and every day would ask if today was the party day. This morning she was elated to hear that "today was the day". When Timothy awoke, she ran over to him, with such excitement telling him "Happy Birthday big boy Timmy!" She genuinely loves her brother, despite the constant fighting. She gave Timothy big hugs and was ready to start the day with cake. She was disappointed that she wasn't getting cake for every meal of the day.

We had a fun gathering of family. We had a BBQ followed by chocolate cake. We tried white cake last weekend and all Timothy did was toss it on the floor. I decided that maybe if it looked like dirt he may be more inclined to eat it, so I made a chocolate cake this time. It worked. He loved the chocolate cake. He must get that from David... because it sure isn't from me.

I found a cute idea for a bug cake and made this fun caterpillar cake for Timothy. Lots of sugar and gooey goodness. It was super fun to watch Timothy with the cake. We lit a candle and he actually attempted to blow it out! He is such an observant kid. I took video of it, but can't get it to load on the computer without crashing it. Poo!

Timothy was then spoiled with lots of fun new toys. Poor kid was a bit over stimulated. So many new and fun things. My sister Mindy and her husband Peter got him a Harley push scooter. He has lots of fun on it, but I hope he doesn't think he's getting a real motorcycle any time soon. He also received a car and garage plus a tool kit.

It was a good day. Alexis now has to learn that some toys are for her and some are Timothy's. She still has the mentality that sharing means that everyone shares their things with her... and not necessarily the other way around. So much left to learn and teach. I am grateful for the opportunity though. I love my family.

Enjoy some fun pictures.

What a fun day!

Whirlwind of Events

So I have been helping my dad at work here in Yuma and right now the office is quiet, so I thought it would be a nice time to catch up on everything that has been going on. We have been so busy with so many fun things.
The first weekend in March we drove up to Phoenix for a baby blessing. David's sister Marsha and husband Jason had a little boy at the beginning of February. We were able to see him for the first time. He is a cutie and Alexis was so sweet to him. She was singing him songs and tickling his toes. She was so excited to meet her cousin. Timothy was just excited to play with cousin Gavin's toys. The blessing was nice and while at the church I saw an old roommate's husband and an old friends brother (Alex Avans). Lots of old memories.
After the blessing Gavin shared his love with his mom in the form of green goo... Nice! Family pictures never really happened though. Oh well. Above is a picture of Timothy with his great grandpa Taysom. A great generational picture for sure.
Also the weekend we were in Phoenix, we had a pre-birthday party for Timothy. It was good practice in opening paper and eating cake. Timothy loves to play in the sandbox, so I thought it would be fun to make him a sandbox cake. He didn't want much to do with it though. Most of it ended up on Grandpa's floor. He likes to squeeze things in his fingers... so it was also lots of frosting between the fingers. He is such a fun little guy.

It seems like all we do is have parties as of late. Below are pictures from my Mom and sister's birthday party. My mom and sister both have a birthday at the end of February so we had a big party. Alexis insisted on... or course... a pinata. We made one out of an oatmeal bin. They tried to make it look like a "three toed sloth". Katelynn (my sister) "loves" three toed sloths. We beat up on that pinata good and still no candy came out. It was indestructible. When we finally cut it open and pulled the candy out, it was mostly dust. All the hard candy was a powder. Very sturdy pinata indeed.

Here is a classic picture of Timothy getting into more trouble. He loves to crawl into things and through things. This is him after he has pulled all the magazines out of the table and crawling though his newly created cave. He is becoming quite the climber. He was able to climb on top of an ottoman. We have been placing the ottoman in places to create a "cage" of sorts for him to keep him in certain areas or rooms... and now he can get out. He is also trying to get out of his pack n' play crib. I can only imagine what is going to happen when we get him back in his real crib and he can get some leverage. We may have to find other sleeping arrangements sooner than we thought. Alexis was not like this that I can remember... I guess it is a boy thing...

And now on to my little "OCD" Alexis. She is like me when I was little, so my mom says. She likes to organize and sort things. She loves to make things match. With her clothes I say to find something that matches and she comes back with olive green shorts and a lime green shirt. I guess they are both green... but I don't think they match per say...

Below is a picture of her madness. She will line up all her people and animals. This particular time she is making two lines... one of the boy dolls and one of the girl dolls. She said they were going to dance. I guess I found it humorous that Noah was dancing with Cinderella, a farmer dancing with Ariel, and a construction worker dancing with Belle. It is also a bit funny that all the guys are short and the girls are all SUPER tall.

Alexis has such an imagination. I am glad she is discovering the world around her and exploring everything. She is such a smart little kid. She does try my patience, but I guess I need to realize it is her figuring out her independence. I treasure these days of self education and exploration.