My new peice

Here Is the weapon they issued me today. I am so glad they did not make me carry around a m16 this time. I will not miss that mussket.  

they are here

Remember I said we had a photo shoot with Jaymee? Well, she mailed the disk to me, and it came today. Excited is an understatement. You can see some of her favorites on her blog here, and here are a few of mine. It's not easy for me to choose, but I doubt you want to see 30 some pictures of us on one post. :) 

Jaymee had the idea to play some street hockey. This not only made for super fun pics, it also loosened up the kids for the other photos. Thank God the puck didn't fly into Jaymee's million dollar camera. She was freakin me out laying on the ground and shooting.

This has to be one of my favorite new places to do our pics. 

This one is my new ALL TIME favorite (please note, this does not discount the love I have for the rest of the photos). I just adore my silly little guy.  

SQIIIIIIISH! They so love their Daddy.  

We are the "lucky" ones. Because we are basically family, Jaymee felt comfortable putting our kids up high, in a window, standing on a very small ledge. She really does know how to get the best pictures out of our kids. 

Ethan's "bunny ears" are hysterical. The boys had so much fun, they laughed almost the whole time. 

You can see the before picture of this on Jaymee's Blog. I'm telling ya, she knows how to get Ethan and Elliott in the best moods for pictures. This one makes me laugh though because of the fish hook Elliott has on Jason. 

Jason was being such a goof. We pretty much laughed the whole time too. We just aren't very serious people. 

And we barely even got in one kiss and we got attacked by the kids. This picture pretty much sums up our everyday.  

Jaymee and I have basically the same taste, so all the pictures on her blog are also ones I would have chosen. I can't wait to get these printed and up on the wall. Thanks again Jaymee.

A few pictures from the trip to tx

 All dressed up ready to play hero.

 We flew down in 2 flights of three helicopters. We were number three in the second set. Out the window you can see number 2.

 This is us lined up in Cheyenne WY. It was one stop of many for fuel. We stopped in Billings MT, Casper WY, Cheyenne WY, Colorado Springs CO (where we stayed the night, Dalhardt TX (they gave all thirty of us free lunch drinks and desert!!!!) Amarillo TX (we stayed the night there because of maintenance that needed to be done, Abilene TX, and finally Fort Hood TX.

 Above is a picture of the helicopter in front of us flying over the mountains to the west of Denver CO. This is where our stabilator jumped out of auto mode (which we reset,) and we lost one Main generator, Luckily the helicopter only needs 1 Main generator to fly.

 This is us parked in Colorado Springs, CO. We got to see Vice president Cheney take off in a jet before we took off.

And finally this picture is of burd number three in the second set flying over the Palo Duro Canyon out side of Amarillo TX. We moved to position number two because of our generator problem.

and just like that......

The day came, and even though we have known about it for a while, it was like is snuck up and smacked us right in the back of the head. Jason's second deployment has begun. 

The boys still don't really understand what is going on, so they just enjoyed getting pictures taken.

My friend, Kay, brought duck whistle things and little flags. That kept the kids occupied for a while.

Ethan wanted a picture with just me and the boys. I love it!

There was some time before everything got started, so Jason took the boys out to the helicopter and they got to try on the helmets. Apparently those helmets are pretty heavy. Elliott could barely hold his head up.

Ethan is so "GQ". Guess what he wants to do when he grows up. Lol. Just kidding, he wants to play hockey. 

Here they are in formation. Jason stood right behind the flag, and they guy holding it was super tall, so it was a challenge to get a picture of Jason at all. 

After a few speeches from the Governor, the General and the Captain, we got to say our final goodbyes then the bagpipes started up again, and they headed out to the Blackhawks to get ready for take off.

It was a gorgeous day. Elliott figured out how to play with his shadow while waving his flag. The flag is see-through, so the colors showed up on the ground. I love how the picture turned out.

There he goes. That is Jason hanging out of the window. That's his job, to make sure they aren't going to crash the helicopter. It's kind of a big deal. :) 

They flew off, then came back around........

and that was that. What an awesome sight. I can't even put into words how proud I am of Jason and all of the other soldiers. 

Jason and I were asked to be interviewed for the news. I'm not going to lie, it was hard to talk about the deployment without tearing up or crying, but it turned out good. Thank goodness for editing. :) Here is what the news ran. I already shared it on Facebook, but I wanted to put it on here so we have it forever. 

my mission.......a nook cover

Jason got his nook a while back, and he loves it, especially now that he has Angry Birds on it. Haha. He has been looking at the covers, and I knew I could make one if I just tried. People are selling them like crazy on Etsy, but I wanted to do it myself. I'm like that. So I took an old torn pair of Jason's ACU's and made this. YAY ME! Awesome huh? The velcro to hold it shut is from a sleeve of his uniform (yes, I'm serious, I'm that awesome). 

The back is a pocket from the pants (yeeeeeees! for real). 

And it's even functional. Go me, go me, go me. :) 

The inside is a felt material, but the hooks to hold in the nook are made from the hems on the uniform. And yes, Jaymee took that pic that is on there. One of our all-time faves!  

In between the layers is a plastic to keep water from getting into the cover, and a layer of batting for a little padding in case it's dropped. This has to be my greatest sewing masterpiece so far. It works GREAT. The hooks even hold in the nook like they should. *pat on my back* The best part, Jason loves it. Mission accomplished. 

short trip

On Monday, we headed to Billings to visit and have the FABULOUS Jaymee Foster do a photo shoot for us before Jason leaves (more to come from that later). Erica made us a fabulous dinner, and all the kids got to eat and hangout together (kind of disappointed we didn't get a pic of them all). After dinner, Erica kept Raigan, and we went with Jaymee to our photo shoot. It was a blast! By the time we got back, it was bedtime for the kids and our bedtime was shortly there after.

Elliott and I got up with Carson and Erica before they headed to gymnastics. Elliott and Carson played for a bit in the fort. It was too cute.

After they got back, Carson got out his firefighter hat and boots, and Elliott promptly took them over. He was really excited about them.  

They all were hugging here. Elliott had the giggles.  

Carson tried to pretend he hated me and that he had no clue who I was. That's ok, I still got my hugs and kisses in. I tried to get a picture of him and me together, but he still wanted no part of it. Elliott, on the other hand, wanted to be in every picture with his big goofy grin and fireman hat. 

Erica finally bribed Carson to smile with a chocolate. YES! I did bribe a toddler to pretend he liked me while I snapped a picture for proof later. :)  

The boys had a crazy game of Connect 4. It was fun to watch them. 

Their favorite part was watching the pieces fall out.  

We had a really long trip home and it rained the entire way. It was miserable, but we still had smiling faces when we arrived. :) Gotta love these boys.  

Thank you SO much Erica for lending out your downstairs to us and always making us feel so comfortable and at home. And thanks to Jaymee for your time and talent. We love you both.

just sew sew

Last week was my friend Andrea's birthday, and I made her a little ruffled zipper pouch. I didn't take any pictures of hers, but I loved the fabric and colors. It was so cute I wanted my own. :) My colors and fabric are totally different, but I love it. I was scared of the zipper, but now I'm a pro.

It even has credit card (or coffee punch card) pockets on the inside. Fancy Schmancy. 

I have been dying for a cute spring skirt. I don't know why, I rarely wear skirts and it's even more rare that I have a reason to. But with fabrics like this and the sun shining the past couple days, I couldn't wait any longer. I am SO happy with it. 

I repurposed a long sweater into a shrug. Not too bad for my first try.  

Jason wants a cover for his Nook, and I am supposed to be working on a quilt made from his cut up ACUs. Guess I better get back to it.

Happy Sunday.