Random January Pics

It's April 2018 and I'm getting ready to have my blog book made. As I go through old pictures I love finding gems I missed before, or that maybe in 2014 I didn't think merited their own post. Here are some of the fun, random pics I missed.

Mike's training "mission"

From January 16-19th Mike was able to go on his first oceanic training mission as a pilot with the Air National Guard. Instead of going somewhere challenging like the desert, or even somewhere run of the mill boring, their unit went to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. Four days of flying airplanes and playing on the beach doesn't sound too rough to me.

Here are some of the pictures he took. Some of the activities he did while there included touring Pearl Harbor, snorkeling, watching surfers on 30 foot waves and I'm sure relaxing.

Here are a few pictures of the time spent working. They got to taxi out behind a group of F-22's.

Pictures from his long walks on the beach and snorkeling

Pictures from the USS Arizona. I would love to visit here someday. (Hint hint)

Random picture on the price of milk. Our gallon a day habit would really add up.

 A few weeks ago as per tradition Mike and some of the other new guys pranked a senior officer by wrapping his desk and everything around it in wrapping paper. They went to great lengths to make sure small items, including pencils were meticulously wrapped as well. Before they all left they signed official forms stating what all their license plates were so the maintenance guys would know their cars would be parked long term. When they got back all of their cars had been wrapped like this. Durfey didn't lock his, so he also had a car full of thousands of packing peanuts.

As Mike likes to say, thank you to all the hard working taxpayers for paying for this trip. Next time I'm hiding in his luggage. 

Congratulations Andy and Aimee!!!

I started this a couple weeks ago but put off posting it until I had some of their official pictures. I'm guessing being in Alabama for pilot training puts my need for blog pictures on the back burner. :)

Last weekend Mike's younger brother Andy married Aimee. (Uncle Aimee to Adam) It was a beautiful wedding and a special day for everyone.

Here are the kids before the wedding. Sarah and Amelia were flower girls and Steven got to be a ring bearer.

Aunt Mary played the piano beautifully

After the ceremony the wedding party and guests got lunch at Ruth Chris Steak house. It was DELICIOUS!

Mike had to be to Wheeler Farm by 4:30 for pictures so the kids and I dropped him off and then fed the geese. Feeding the geese during the winter is always an adventure because they are more aggressive. The kids all fed them a bag and then begged for more. I bought another bag and then put Adam up on the patio while I ran to get my phone to take pictures. The geese were scaring him, which is why I set him up there. As I'm running back I hear him crying. His brother and cousin had decided that instead of throwing the feed off the patio like they were supposed to they would sprinkle it around them. Poor Adam! I set him on the bench and he was okay. He's not a fan of geese, but they kids had fun.

Another week has passed since I started this post, (it's now January 26th) but I finally have some of their wedding pictures. They are a beautiful couple. (They'll make cute kids someday, hint hint) :)

The Beautiful bride

They had Keven's daughter Amelia carry his picture down the aisle and set it on a chair. Even though this was a day of happiness, everyone that loved him was sad he couldn't be there. 

The cute flower girls

Amy wore her mom's wedding dress to the luncheon

The handsome Starley boys. Kevin's absence was strongly felt

We love Amy and are glad to have her as a part of our family. Congratulations you two!

Skiing with the kiddos

Mike and I decided that a great way to ring in the new year would be taking our kids skiing. Sarah had been a few times with my mom, but the boys had never been. Since my parents gave the kids a ski equipment rental for Christmas we needed to but it to good use. New Years day is a busy ski day so we got up there as early as we could to beat the hung over crowd. :) (early with kids isn't that easy so it was 10 before we were on the slopes) Our friends the Smiths joined us as well.

Sarah already had the basics down so we sent her to ski with the Smiths and Mike and I each took a boy and began. I started with Adam and Mike with Steven. Since I started skiing when I was really young I thought teaching would be easy-ish. Not so much. I skiid with Adam between my legs and he quickly decided that he didn't want to learn to ski, he just wanted to go down the hill as fast as he could. When my arms got tired Mike took over and I taught Steven.

Steven struggled in the beginning as all new skiers do. We only had one edgie wedgie and we put it on Adam's skis first. When we switched it to Steven's skis it was like a magical transformation. We dubbed him the "Edgie Wedgie King" and instead of wanting to quit, like he'd asked for, he insisted on skiing when the rest of us were done. 

 Once we put on the edgie wedgie it was my turn to ski with Steven

 By this time Sarah and Adam were done, but Steven begged Mike for one more run

 After Adam's legs got tired he and I hung out at the lodge. I bought him a bag of Cheetos and he spent the next 30 minutes telling a nearby table of teenagers the different shapes of his Cheetos. (Thankfully they were all clean descriptions)

 The kids have been asking weekly when we can go again. I just with skiing were cheap so it could be a weekly thing. :)

Happy New Year! New years resolution and new calling

Happy New Year! Although there were plenty of good things that happened in 2013 I'm happy that it's over and looking forward to starting new in 2014. Mike and I stayed true to our New Years tradition of being in bed by 10 PM. We've been awake at midnight maybe five out of our ten years together. Maybe next year we can be in bed by nine although the kids are already begging to stay up until midnight.

I don't usually make New Year resolutions, but I thought of a change I wanted to make and figured this would be the best way to do it. If I make it public then I'll be sure to follow through. I am going to be a better Aunt this year. That may sound too simple, but it's something I've been thinking about. I'm going to make sure I send birthday cards to all my nephews and nieces on their birthdays as well as call them. I get together with my sister Kristal, because she lives in Utah, but unless I happen to see my other nephews and nieces around their birthdays I don't do anything. So there you go. Family, I will be better. :)

Today I started my new church calling. (assignment) I get to teach Sunday School to the 12 year old class. I found out today there are 21 kids in my class. Only 15 come to church regularly, but that should still make for a full class. I love working with the youth and am looking forward to teaching them. After I had them introduce themselves one of the girls asked, "Are you the one that passed out in Sacrament meeting?" Ha ha. After I said yes some other kids said, "That was you?!" "I remember that!" At least they know who I am. (In case you don't know that story you can read about it HERE) The new curriculum is, "Come Follow Me" and I like the way it has the youth take a more active part in the lessons.

Today was a great day and I'm looking forward to what 2014 has in store.

Andrew is the new Onin

I love our little story telling Steven. He never has a shortage for words and a lot of what he says has us laughing. When he was about three he always told stories about his friend Onin. (pronounces Aw-nen) Onin was a trouble maker at his house and always seemed to talk Steven into doing things he shouldn't. His parents were strong disciplinarians, but he still taught Steven all sorts of mischievous things.

A few weeks ago I needed to be somewhere slightly earlier than when Steven needed to be at school so he went to a classmates house. He was there maybe 45 minutes but has been telling story after story of what he and Andrew did. Apparently Andrew has an elaborate trap building set they used on his mom. He is a master Minecraft builder and taught Steven the ins and outs of the  game. (I doubt many kids his age are as skilled at the game as he is. Whether or not that's a good thing) They played a dozen different games he told me about and is more interesting than any one I've heard of.

At first I thought the stories were true and then I realized we had another embellished friend on our hands. I can't remember a lot of them, but I'll have Steven tell me some tomorrow and write them down. We had to remind him that it's okay to tell us made up stories but he has to make sure we know they're made up. Whenever Steven wants to interject himself into a conversation he just says, "Oh year, Andrew...." and he is instantly part of every story.

There is never a dull moment with our funny little dude!