Dressing up

Tonight for Family Home Evening we talked about Helaman and the stripling warriors. So thanks to the dollar store, Hinckley got to dress up as Helaman. He loved it!

He dubbed Chandler as a warrior


FAV PIC OF THE DAY

The other day when I was getting ready for the day Hinckley came in and decided to dress up with a few of my hair accessories.

Can you see the black feather thing on his head?

Replacements

Since Troy has been gone 2.5 months we have started to adjust without him here. I mean it has taken us that long because we have been so busy trying to see the Arizona house and packing and moving and getting settled here. But I have noticed a few things in a big way that have changed that I didn't think would be "replaced".

1. Would you ever consider a king size bed too big? NOT ME, I am too big of a girl and my husband is too big of a guy to not sleep in a king size bed. But I can't sleep on one. I would rather sleep on a couch or a twin size bed. Even now the twin size bed seems too big.

2. Troy and I would always debrief at the end of the day usually while we laid in bed at night. What has replaced my conversation? The TV, actually that is ironic considering we haven't had TV in our house for 3 years! I just can't fall asleep without conversation.

3. I would always hold Troys hand... While driving, at church, walking in the grocery store, at bed time, etc. Now I find my hand just kind of there without any place to go. I usually grab Hinckleys hand, shoulder or arm... It makes me feel better

4. Troy would always bathe the boys and put them to bed for me. I would sometimes join in on the fun of bath time and of course putting them to bed. But he was the best story teller and prayer giver and so patient when Hinckley wanted to talk his ear off. What has replaced that? ME! I mean really you wouldn't think of it as a big deal but that was my break every day I could count on. Its super hard to adjust to doing it!

5. Yes I have very emotional and sometimes hard days. Usually its just a few moments and I am ready to move on but what would help me feel better? Troy.... Now I usually hit my knees and pray or cry in a pillow or just bite my lip and try to work through my thoughts in my head.

6. Troy and I have a very good way of knowing what the other person is thinking and just being able to talk and talk and talk. I miss that.. like A LOT! I feel very alone sometimes... Okay like ALL THE TIME. What has replaced that? Absolutely nothing. I really kind of expected some of my old friends and family to call once and a while to see how things were going. With an exception to a few friends thanks Shelly you are the best and LaNelle you can always make me smile and mostly other military wives thanks Rachel, Melissa and Kristina, I have not heard from any friends and only a few family members. I know it sounds crazy and maybe I would be too wrapped up in my own life that I wouldn't care if my family member or friends spouse was gone for a year but I would pray that i would call at least once and a while or text. If you ever have a feeling to call or text somebody JUST DO IT PEOPLE!

7. Who finishes my dinner plate if I didn't eat it all or my kids didn't finish their plate? Umm... the trash can.

8. Who scratches my back when I can't get the itch or pops my back? Ummm.... lets see sometimes I try to get hinks to scratch my back it doesn't work very well.

9. Who tells me I am beautiful every single day and picks me up off the ground when i am feeling blue? Well, my kids sure do help sometimes but its not the same.

There are a few more but I guess I will stop whining on how much I miss my husband. I am blessed really I am. PLUS I get to see my best friend/back scratcher/hand holder/bed snuggler/dinner plate finisher/best friend/lover in about 3.5 days! HOLLA!

A 4 year olds dream come true

My Dad called home from work on Friday and asked if we wanted to take the train to Santa Fe on Saturday. It took Hinckley about 1/2 a second to say, YES YES YES! With Chandlers cold I was a bit worried about taking him out but we decided Hinckley was WAY too excited that we just had to go. So here are a few pictures documenting our fun little adventure. Hinckley woke up at 6am because he was so excited.

This is Grandpa and Hinks waiting at the Los Lunas train station.

WE could hear the train and see the light
Finally on the train! We sat on the top of the double decker train. Hinks didn't mind riding backwards.
The crew minus me
This picture makes me laugh...
Love it! We thought the motion of the train would put him to sleep. Not so much the case.
We saw a lot of junk yards on our train ride and some pretty crappy parts of town.
This was on the shuttle in Santa Fe. We were headed to the plaza. We went to the market there and they all this wonderful fresh vegetables and fruit! All sorts of art and flowers and such. It was a busy busy part of town. Hinks got that balloon sword. We ate some yummy pastries and breads. Can you believe people can use food stamps at the farmers market? Thats crazy!
On the shuttle and yes it was freezing there!
When we got to the plaza they had this dance group called Baile Espanol. They had these adorable little children perform and other dancers of all ages.
CHANDLER LOVED watching them dance. Do you love the snot running down his nose? He would not keep a hat on... I need to find one that duck tapes to his head!
A picture of my parents watching the dance. The trees were turning colors it was beautiful!
One of the dances the ladies threw out roses. Hinks caught like 3 of them, he gave one to Grandma and one to another little girl close to him and he kept one. I got hit in the head twice when they were tossing them out in the crowd... But we all had a good laugh. PS Fav pic of the day!

Notice the dancers in the background.

Chandler reaching for some popcorn!

Exploring Albuquerque

The week we were in the hotel I decided to get the boys out and take them to the aquarium. We were told it was pretty fantastic. And let me tell you it did not disappoint. Besides a group of 20 moms who were in some playgroup thing ahead of us, it was a blast! Here are some pictures! I took them with my cell phone and they did not turn out well but at least we had something! We ate at the restaurant there. I was skeptical at the price and food but really we all three ate for $14 with tip. Not too shabby!

Here is the huge sting ray pool

More sting rays

FAV pic of the day
Hinks showing his brother the fish and the scuba diver in the corner
The sharks as we ate lunch

Hinks showing you the little trains he got at the gift shop

Birthday BOY!

This is Chandler at about 9 months old. Isn't this picture precious?! Well, he is even more precious now at 12 months! I haven't taken him to get his check up and shots because we haven't found a doctor here yet. I know I am a bad mom! But who takes their kids to get their 1 year old shots on their first birthday? NOT THIS MOMMA!

Chandler woke up with a runny nose on his birthday and I think Hinckley woke up on the wrong side of the bed! With both boys cranky we decided forego the trip to the childrens museum and hang out at home. We ate yummy chicken and rice for dinner. Went on a walk and opened presents. And of course ate cake!

He sure has grown so much in the last year! He can say I love you. It sounds more like I WUV EWE. He loves to wave good-bye. He loves to eat noodles. Still hates his car seat. He loves to walk or run! He loves to push things on the floor still but loves to stand and push things (like the vacuum, broom, anything that is tall enough he can push.) He LOVES his daddy bear and that is the only thing that will make him happy when he is beyond sad. He has his first official cold. BOO! He loves to TERRORIZE HIS BROTHER. Hinckley is so good about taking the beatings. Chandler loves to turn the TV off when Hinckley is watching it. Oh its a riot! Oh and nothing entertains him longer than a minute.

Eating our yummy chicken and rice

Singing Happy Birthday and Chandler dancing

Chandler and the presents

New warm clothes and
Eating his yummy cupcake
I don't think he like getting sticky
Okay really didn't like getting sticky
Then he decided to play

An Answered Prayer

Saturday the 8th was our last day in Tucson. We were living in the hotel and trying to tie up loose ends at my parents house. Living in a hotel for a week with 2 young kids is really hard, just for your information. In Tucson they have this place called the Tanque Verde Swap meet. Its a great place to buy fresh fruits and vegetables and other such things... that is during the day. You avoid this place like the plague at night. Well I really wanted to get this cover for my van dashboard. They make them super cheap there. So I take my boys and I pick out the color and everything and they tell us it is going to be an hour wait. So I walked around with the boys for a while (I didn't have my stroller so I was carrying my heavy one year old) and then we decided to wait in the car. I turned the radio on to help pass the time.

I waited an extra ten minutes or just to make sure it was done. It was just turning dusk at the time so we hustled in and as I walked up to the vendor she started apologizing saying she ran out of the color I wanted. She asked if I wanted a different color and said it would take another hour or so. Well, there was NO WAY I was staying there when it hit dark so I told her I just wanted my money back. She asked if I would come back tomorrow or next week. I said we were moving tomorrow. Then she told me she would mail it to me free shipping and add a logo or name on it for free. So I agreed. (BAD IDEA)

So we marched back to the van and I was relieved to get out of there. As it turns darker the hoards of people come and the line to even turn into the swap meet is like 30 cars deep. I buckled in the boys and went to turn the van on. NOTHING. I mean NOTHING. I panicked. I thought okay Heavenly Father please help me. I waited a few minutes and I tried again.... NOTHING. I called my parents who were finishing up at the house... At this point I was in complete tears. My boys were hungry and tired, I was scared to death. My Dad said he would head out to come see if he could help. (They live 30 minutes away plus traffic I knew it would be a long wait). All I could do was pray, I prayed and prayed and prayed. I had a lot of expensive things in my van (2 portable dvd players and my gps, our gun-I was actually glad I had it, and a good amount of cash for our trip) I was so scared of getting robbed or something. Bad things happen in this part of town at night.

We waited and waited and waited. I kept telling myself if somebody came to their car close to me in the parking lot that looked friendly and I had a good feeling about them I would take the courage and ask if they could help restart my battery. NOT A SOUL CAME WITHIN 40 feet of me the whole almost 2 hours we waited for help. NOT A SOUL. I was jittery and on edge of every sound around me. I felt like I was a moving target just waiting to get hit. To me that was really truly a miracle. I was thankful I was protected and my kids were protected. Another miracle was my boys were calm and happy despite being exhausted and starving. But the biggest miracle of it all was the second my dad drove up the people who parked right next to me walked up and were getting ready to leave. Now lets recap... Not a soul left in the 2 hours we were sitting there waiting... NOT A SOUL. To even find a parking spot that late let alone right next to me was a miracle. There would have been no way that my dad could have jumped started my van had the truck not moved because of the way the parking lot is and where I parked my van.

Miracle indeed and I feel that God had his hand in the fact that my family was protected and that the people showed up at the right moment. I feel very blessed that my prayers were answered.

Family picture at the patch

Forgot to upload this one!

Pumpkin patchness

So I decided to take the boys to a local pumpkin patch. we drove over to it and was sadly disappointed. There was a 7 year old manning the pay station. You had to pay $6.50 a person just to be on property plus pay for your pumpkins! So we decided to venture out and go to one further away. We drove FOREVER and by the time we got there I WAS SO NOT impressed with it but we had driven so far we decided to stay.

We paid our $10 to get in, go through this crazy corn maze and pick out pumpkins and pet some stupid animals. Oh and we had to pay for our tiny pumpkins too. I got so dang lost in the maze with a map I decided to follow these people who were following the map to exactness. We picked 2 pumpkins out of like 20 they had in the patch went on a hay ride and had to walk 1/2 mile with 2 pumpkins and 2 worn out kids to pay $4 for our stupid pumpkins. I was so done with by the end I just threw the money on the table and walked away. The line to pay was 30 people and that was people wanting to get in!

There is another one here that is suppose to be pretty cool. Maybe I will get the courage to go to another one and maybe I will bring support or back up because going by myself was so not fun. Have I mentioned lately how much I miss my husband? Well I got a few pictures so maybe I can look back on it someday as a memory.

PS I am so not a Halloween fan. Why do we have a holiday all about dark and scary things? BRING on the Holidays full or thankfulness and the Savior.

In the middle of the maze. Completely lost

He found his pumpkin!

And Hinckley helped find one for his brother

He was trying to do the I LOVE YOU SIGN with his fingers.

On the hay ride

He would not let go of his pumpkin.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

Highlight of the day was watching Chandler react to the petting zoo. He kept making funny noises and grunting and saying BAAAAA. SO adorable. I think I have video I will try to upload.

Okay you really cant see from this picture but everybody here thinks its the coolest thing to write on their car windows to cheer on their favorite sport athlete. I mean its cool and everything but for high school? Really? Its the black compact car going straight.