Christmas Cooking

Today we made our Christmas goodies for Family, friends and work. Kimber got to help Grandma Neff while I worked today. When I came home, Kimber was the master at pouring the chocolate and nuts into the fudge, and then helped me make peanut blossoms. She was great at helping me measure out the flour, as well as roll the cookies and places the kisses on them. Nicole's job today was the taste tester; she stole a loaf of Cranberry bread from the cooling rack and started eating it. It was a lot of fun doing this with family rather than all by myself.

Also... Today at school, I started telling the kids that I was moving and would not be here next semester. They seemed rather upset. Some started plotting duct taping me to a chair, others told me I should leave Randy to stay. I was very flattered. I thought they all hated me because I got them into trouble, but apparently I am "kewl."

I did get my final grades today for school. I officially passed!! I had 2 Ps and 2 Bs. The "P"s are for my pass or fail classes!! I am a little disappointed I only got Bs, but... I am done and that is all that counts! I am done with my Early Childhood Education Associates!!! I still need to finish my Bachelors, but I have about 10 years before I am going to get started on that.

Well, we have 6 days until my family starts the drive to Kansas. I am excited and very sad. I have been blessed with creating some dear friends, and it is going to be hard to leave them....

I still need to update more details on past activities and I have pictures, but... this is all for now!

hmmm... lots of time has gone by

Well, lots has happened... and I will post pictures later and update more detailed, but a quick catch up... We closed on our home November 3rd, and have been living with my in-laws. It has been fun. The girls LOVE being with Papa and Grandma everyday, I think they are going to miss their greetings the get when they come home.
Halloween was a blast... well, for most. Kimber and Daddy trick-or-treated the street. Nicole made it to 2 houses before she threw up.
Thanksgiving we spent with our dear friends the Frys and Burtons, and then also drove to Anchorage to see my sister-in-law and her family.
Randy got his Job for the Air Force!!!!! He is active duty as of the 20th of April when he enters Basic, and he will be training for F16 avionics. It means I have to be separated from April until about September or October, but I will be able to visit after the first 2 months.
Now... We are two weeks away from driving down the Alcan, I should be finishing my finals that are do on Monday, but that is what Saturday is for. I am excited and sad all at the same time. I have so many people here I don't want to leave, but I know the Lord wants us to do this. So... I will come back and visit, and count my blessings to have the love I do here.

I will update more... probably in 3 weeks with pictures of previous events, the drive, and Christmas! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!!

Sale Pending

Our house had an offer made, and through counters we agreed on a price! I can't believe it!! I have less than a month to move out of my house, and it is hitting me, that although I prayed for this, I really am going to miss my house. I am also a little more nervous about how the military is going to work out... With selling our house and not knowing what is to come just yet... kinda scary. I was up half the night thinking to do's and where to start. I am so grateful for my in-laws that are going to let me live with them while everything works-out, and then continue to Kansas if things progress nicely with the military.
This waiting game is going to be fun. My little girls are going to go crazy with me as we adjust to everything. I am hoping they wont notice how many toys are going to be packed, and have patience with my while I try to pack, and prepare for school as well. But! It is one less worry for me, and a comfort to know the house is taken care of.

On other notes. We took the girls swimming last night. Kimber got to wear swimming wings for the first time, and if she picked up her feet to float it was awesome, but if we put her in the deep end she kinda freaked, but did work her way to us for support. Nicole just loved the water... after the first shock. She was tipping over her "lily pad" that we put her in, and when she was in the shallow end she was walking and bouncing... if she tripped and went under she just thought it was funny!
Randy got his truck running this week! It was quite a bit of excitement... to get it there it caught on fire, and had some other mishaps as it all went together! But we are all excited he has his truck up and running!
The girls are finally feeling better. Life has been not overly exciting because Kimber and Nicole have been sick (Kimber mostly). Nicole did have her 18m well baby check and is 26 lbs 2 oz, 34 inches long (that is 90 percentile for height and50percentile for weight). She got pricked a while bunch, and didn't really care for that.

Well... that is our exciting moments of the last week. Hopefully this week we will all be healthy and can go play a bit more!

Update...

Nicole was super sick and cuddly, Kimber wanted a chance to hold her to help her feel better!


It was raining!!! Kimber played in the rain for about 5 minutes before she was too cold. The day after the rain we had termination dust half way down the mountain... winter is coming quick!



Bath time fun.... we have been doing this lots, because they have been making lots of messes!




Randy working on his truck with our friend Robin Worch. They changed the engine from a diesel to a gas. Lots of fun!


We have been border-line crazy busy. It seems funny, because I have nothing to do but house work after lunch most days.... but we have been finding stuff to keep us busy! Kimber is loving having a preschool with her friends 2 days a week. And I think the babysitting situations are finally figured out. We are so blessed to have so many people helping take care of us, and providing service. Thank you everyone!

We are very excited for Randy to come home on Sunday!! I get to have my sweetheart home!! It is time to winterize the house, and try to pack a bit more, in hopes my house will be sold or rented soon.


I will update again soon!

Mosiah... an answer to prayers (more of a journal entry...)

long story short... I am a little overloaded, and stressed right now. I don't know who realy cares, but it is my life, and I feel like I cant do it anymore. I am forgetting important things, and not sleeping becuase I am too stressed and constantly worried. I love Randy, but just telling me to calm down, doesnt work. How can I? There are too many things that need to be done, too many things I dont have answers to... Well, tonight, I kinda had a break down (yeah, It happens more than I like to admit.) After realizing I cant doing it on my own and crying for a while, I finally started to pray... I honestly don't know if I have the faith I need to really hear the answers, but I prayed. There is nothing else to do at this point. As I cried to my Father in Heaven the only thing that came to mind was to read my scriptures. I have never been the best at reading and studying my scriptures on a regular basis... But they were there by my bed. So I picked them up not knowing where to even start. My patriotically blessing was sticking out, so I read that first, it gave some comfort, but I was still doubting my own faith, so how are the blessing promised supposed to happen if I am not faithful enough... crying some more I opened my scriptures... My mind turned to Alma, I don't know why (beside guidance from the spirit) and decided to start in Mosiah. The answers I got our unimportant for this blog, but I wanted someone to know, that I KNOW my heavenly father listens! Just the words aren't the answer, but how perfectly they fit to my issues are... just what I needed. I still have a long way to go. This doesn't "Fix" anything, but maybe it will help. I am still overwhelmed, but maybe I have more faith to ask my Heavenly Father for help.

September 11th

Tomorrow will be busy, so while I have a few free moments tonight...
I did not lose any one I was close to in the attacks of the 11th, but I still vividly remember that day, and the days that followed. I am very proud to be an American, and I am very proud of our troops who fight for our freedom, and the freedom of others. My heart goes out to all the families mourning the lost of family from the attacks or from the war. It also goes out to all the families with out a parent as they fight in the middle east now.

Thank you so much for your Service!

Alaska State Fair 2009: Get Happy!

This year we had a lot of fun at the state fair!! I went twice before Randy came home, once with our friends the Victors (Monica and Miles) and than once with Rick and Julie (my in-laws). We had a lot of fun. With Monica we went an saw the animal exhibits which included the petting zoo, live stock,

and reptiles!

The Reptiles were awesome! The girls loved them! Nicole really liked the Turtle.

She even loved all the live-stock, but when we put her in the petting zoo, she got kinda scared and clingy.

When we went with Rick and Julie we took the girls on the rides and returned to the live stock. Nicole loved the turkeys. I was so worried she would get her nose bit. Kimber really LOVED the rides, but really seemed to enjoy petting the goats, and sheep again. She also go to see some baby chickens hatch. (Rick has all the pictures from this day, my battery was dead.)

When Randy came home, we went one last time (10 am am t0 1 pm) and did the rides again so he could play with the girls. Kimber really liked the roller-coaster type ride we did,

and Nicole loved the slide

but didn't like the Viking boat swing (she panicked).

We got there early enough we missed the crowds. We also walked to the other end of the Fair and did the National Guards Opstical course (twice).

Kimber had a lot of fun and really liked getting her face painted!

When we were looking at the live stock, Randy was trying to explain to Kimber that Christ once road on a donkey (pointing to the two there.) She responded, "AH! Really? What was its name?" Randy told her he didn't know, so she asked "Was it a daddy donkey or a mommy donkey?" The things they don't teach us in seminary... ;-)

Nicole enjoyed her self, but ended up getting cranky and falling alseep. It was a lot of fun, everyday!