The 12 pounds of Christmas

At Hill Air Force Base, where I work, we don't celebrate the 12 days of Christmas. We celebrate the 12 POUNDS of Christmas. Each work day in December, except Friday, one person in the office brings something for the rest of the office to snack on. Well today was my turn. I took my sister-in-law's chocolate fountain and tons of good food. I couldn't decide on healthy, salty or chocolaty type foods so I took a little of each. We had grapes, strawberries, bananas, pineapple, oranges and clementines from the fruit department. Then for the dessert department we had cinnamon bears, cream puffs, rice crispy treats, marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate chip cookies and pretzels. Many of my co-workers commented on how nice it looked and how great it tasted so I took a photo and I thought I'd share.

But as you can see...if you eat like this for a month you'll gain 12 pounds just like I am on my way to achieving the 12 and probably then some. Today I actually skipped lunch because I ate too much junk food all morning long. Unfortunately, my boss is TDY to Virginia so he wasn't there to taste the goodness. But don't worry I texted him this picture just so he knew what he was missing out on!

My new closet

So I’ve been so handy lately and that is not generally me. I finished installing our floor about 2 weeks ago and vowed to myself no more do-it-yourself home improvement projects until winter (when I have to be inside). That vow didn't last too long. About 5 months ago we went to IKEA and we bought some stuff to organize our closets and we made another trip on Labor Day and I bought some more. Well I decided to tackle the project. I always start strong and then finish wishing and promising I’m not ever going to do anything like that again. My closet is not that big but it is really deep so I decided all of my clothes were about to burst out if I didn’t do anything. So I split my closet in half and put two smaller places to hang clothes and with the other half I installed a pants hanger, tie/belt drawer, sock basket and another shelf. I’ve pretty much filled up the entire thing and am wondering if I made anymore space or just made it a little more organized or maybe I should get rid of some clothes?? Oh well another home improvement project down the drain… there will probably be more in a while (I’m thinking basement office or more closets). Until then NO MORE projects I promise! But I always feel proud to have completed something I wouldn’t normally do. Do you see my dilemma??

Before

All my junkFinished ProductAll my clothes put away

Just another Birthday

So I am officially 27! Whoopie-do. To me it was just another day. I woke up, went to work, then came home. We did go out to dinner which is unheard of on a week night. After dinner Kayla gave me some really nice things (shoes, air compressor) then we went to bed because we were going to Idaho the next morning. When you are little you look forward to birthdays all year long but when you get older you just want them to come and go and have nobody make a fuss. Oh well we all get older at the same pace -- one day at a time!

TDY

For those that might not know TDY means Temporary Duty Yonder. That means I am in the city of California Maryland attending a class and not at my regular desk at Hill AFB. I left last Sunday morning which was hectic because Saturday was graduation and Kayla had a wedding shower for Anna Parker at our house so we were rushing to et the house clean and food cooked in between all of the festivities of the graduation. I didn’t get my bag packed until about 11 pm and had to be at the airport by 6:30 am. Wyatt wasn't much of a helper to get my bags packed because he would unpack everything I packed. Then he'd jump in there and play around. I didn’t forget anything but I hate being rushed. Well I made it to the Baltimore airport but my luggage didn’t. So my options were to drive the hour and a half to the airport and have them bring it out in two days or wait in the airport for two hours and take it with me because it was on the next flight. I chose to wait and they gave me a voucher for food, so I went and ate dinner free…then they gave me a $150 travel voucher because of my willingness to stay and not be so mean. I didn’t really have anything to do. My suitcase came in on the next flight, I picked up my rental car (a dodge caliber – sparkly blue) and made my way to my hotel. I am so glad I had my GPS. I would recommend it to anybody because it is a life and time saver!! Such a great invention and well worth the investment!!! My hotel room was a smoking room with two double beds but on Wednesday I got to switch to a king suite! It is twice the size, a huge jetted tub (Kayla loved it) and a couch, chair, table and non smoking!

Graduation (yes again)

I know I already posted about my graduation but here are the pictures. It was so great to actually have the official ceremony. There were actually tons of people there. I was really excited to get my name called and my hood placed on. Right after they read my name they read my mom’s then they mentioned we were a “mother and son team.” It was neat and several people chuckled. The group picture is the group of contracting people that I did all of my classes with and work with everyday. They are great people and were equally as excited as I was. I am so glad it is over!! After graduation we ate at Golden Corral with my family then went home where Kayla was waiting with balloons and a gift. She got me a Nintendo DS. AWESOME!! THANKS!

Father and Son's Overnighter

Wyatt and I went on the Fathers and Sons overnighter to North Fork. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go especially taking a 21 month old. But we did it. I was so concerned that Wyatt would get really cold, or cry the entire night. Well i don't think he got cold because he spent the entire night flipping and flopping out of the sleeping bag and off the air mattress. Needless to say... I didn't sleep a wink mostly because i was worried about him getting cold but it didn't help that i kept getting kicked and that my air mattress went flat about half way through the night. I am glad it was just an overnighter because i wouldn't have made it any longer. It was fun to play with him on the swings and T-Ball but that is all he wanted to do. I think we might try it again a few more times this summer.

School’s out FOREVER!!

So on the 12th I had my last class for my Master’s Degree. I am so glad it is over. I thought I’d have tons of spare time to do whatever I wanted but; I think I always did whatever I wanted, now I don’t have to feel guilty about putting off homework to do it! I don’t really feel that much smarter. That’s not to say I didn’t learn anything from my program but I think it will serve me better in the future. Now that I can do more stuff with my free time I think I want to learn to play the piano and read a few more books. I have tried several times to learn it on my own but I need someone to teach me. Generally speaking I am not a leisure reader but there are a few things I’d like to finish. So that is on my list of things to do now that I’ve GRADUATED!!!

Miss Utah 2007

For work i am involved in a group called National Contract Management Association (NCMA)and we had a luncheon last Thursday with Jill Stevens, Miss Utah 2007. Aside from being beautiful she was an excellent speaker, a diverse person, and very friendly. She shared her experiences as she was in Afghanistan as a medic and she also shared her experiences as a pageant Queen. Both sides of her stories were excellent. She said she was the most tom-boyish person she knew and she wore boots not high heels. But thanks to a friend she was coerced into running for Miss SUU and she won. That is how she got involved in the pageant thing. She was part of the top 16 in the US and was voted "Americas Choice." She was just a really great person to talk with and had a great view on life as she related it to her military experience. Keep focused on your target, set new goals, try new things and you'll be able to hit your target most of the time. The experiences you gain will be invaluable and life's lessons just for you.

Happy Birthday to me, I turned 26

So I guess you could say that I am getting older. But it will always be a relative term. By that I mean if you are older than me you'll always be older than me, and vice versa. This birthday just kind of felt like any another ordinary day. Although, it was nice to hear from friends and family wanting to wish me a special day. I didn't do anything to celebrate -- rather I was at work all day then school at night. I did take my office bagels and they devoured them. When I got home from work Kayla had made me a special birthday treat. It was a carmel corn cake. It looked really cool and it tasted good too. The only thing about living with two people is that you have to eat everything yourselves and you can't pawn it off on the kids yet because he can't eat it. So I ended up taking it to work and it was AGAIN devoured by them. Overall, my birthday was great although it was just another day.

I Finished HARRY POTTER 7

So I have been in Port Hueneme California since the 24th of July for my job and i have been reading Harry Potter to pass the time when i get out of class. First off, to me, this was probably the best book I've read. It picked right up and started tying up all the loose ends. J.K. Rowling did a very good job with the series and especially this last book. I am not a reader but i have read all of these books. To prepare myself for this book i got online and read a cliff notes version of book 6 so i could remember what had gone on. I am really glad that i did. Also while online i decided to read a couple of spoilers (this was before the book was released) but none of the three that i read were true so it must of been a bunch of hype. So everyday after school i would come back to my hotel room and read the book in my chair. It would get so good that i wouldn't want to put it down. The book got a little slow for me in the middle because it felt like they kept doing the same thing over and over and over and over (i guess you get the point) And probably the one part i didn't really care for was the epilogue. Of course it was written 8 years ago or whatever but i just seemed like it wasn't part of the story line. I am really glad that it didn't get spoiled for me from the news or anything and that i could read it for myself. I am not going to give it away but those are just my thoughts. Highly recommended from me to anyone. I cant wait for Kayla to start reading it so we can talk about it!

Yes I am still alive

I bet you might be thinking no posts…what happened to him. Well nothing has happened to me but I just have been extremely busy and I can no longer access my blog from work to update it. But I’ve made it up by going back for last weekend and writing a little about camping. After getting home from camping it was clean, laundry, school and fixing the water pump in the Jeep that has kept me so occupied. I love to go camping but you almost need to plan an extra day of vacation time to come home and get everything put back together. Besides that I needed to finish my mid-term for my class and in the back of my mind was that I needed to fix that stupid water pump. But everything now is going the way it should, at least for now.

Father’s Day Fun

So it was my first actual fathers day(last years counted but Wyatt wasn't born). It was good too. I got a bunch of new work clothes from Kayla and Wyatt. I haven’t purchased any new work clothes since we’ve been married so I figured it was time. I got 3 pairs of pants, 3 polo shirts, a button up shirt and a pair of army shorts. Kayla did a pretty good job of picking out my shirts, but I had to pick out my pants. I am generally very picky when it comes to clothes but I think I am getting to the point where I could care less (but I still care what I look like). Kayla went to girl’s camp on Thursday so Wyatt and I went and bought me a blower. You know a gift to me, from me. Kayla wasn’t too happy but I think it works great and saves me from sweeping up all the grass clippings and such. I love it.

Yesterday we celebrated with my family at our house. We had a BBQ and Grandpa and Grandma Sherrod came over. It was good. It was also Cody’s 25th birthday he is now the same age as I am, but only for 2 months. We gave my dad and grandpa a picture of Wyatt and Hadly. They were dressed in the camouflaged clothes that he gave them for Christmas. I’ve decided pictures are a great gift because they have to like them and it is something they don’t already have but they can replace them whenever they get new ones.

For my father-in-law we ate dinner at their house and he got a new swing set. He never wants presents so he just buys himself whatever he thinks everybody else would enjoy. All of the grandkids were so excited about this one!! I helped put some of it together. Wyatt is too young to play on it right now but one day he’ll join the others in being as loud and carefree as possible while playing on the new swings.

Brushing at an early age

Every night before I go to bed I brush my teeth. Wyatt is usually lying on the bed staring at me with the deer in the head lights look like WHAT are you doing. So of course he wants to play with my toothbrush. When I give it to him he wants to chew on it for a second then he wants to brush my teeth for me. So we take turns brushing each others teeth. It is so much fun to watch. I think maybe his next toy will be a toothbrush. It always calms him down, he thinks it is the funniest thing in the world and it will give him incentive to brush (when he gets teeth).

10 Months for Wyatt

First off -- Happy 3rd Birthday to Cousin Jeffrey yesterday and Happy 70th Birthday to Grandma Sherrod today. And Happy 10 Months to Wyatt. Things are flying by so fast and he is one of them.
It seems like just yesterday, but it was actually 10 months ago, that we were getting things ready for Wyatt. We had the room ready and all we needed was a little body to put in it. At first he was so fragile and so precious but now he is so mobile, not as fragile and still as precious. On Saturday I had to lower his crib because he was able to sit up in there and we were afraid he might just pull himself up and over.
Wyatt is crawling and trying to pull himself up on everything. The only problem is that he doesn’t get his knees close enough to do it. All he does is get within arms length of whatever, pulls himself up, then is stuck because he doesn’t have enough strength to pull himself up to his feet and closer at the same time. At this point it is sheer chaos because now he can’t go up to his feet and he can’t let go because he will fall to his face. That is exacly what happend last night while at Jeffrey’s birthday party. He let go, fell down and whacked his head on the leg of the chair. He has a small bruise but it will go away soon. I guess we just need to keep an eye on him and make sure he is blocked off from falling down the stairs AGAIN or falling off the bed AGAIN! That little wiggle worm!