Updates on Ben

Ben was in Kuwait for a time before he went on to Iraq. He said it was really set up for "creature comforts", tents with movies running 24/7. Big screen tvs with comfy seating areas. A massive, fully loaded gym. All of this wonder, however, was in the middle of nowhere in the desert with tents and more sand than any one person can stand. He said even with goggles u still manage to get sand in your eyes. He flew to Camp Slayer in Iraq a few days ago. He is still getting settled in there. I have a few pics of him I will upload and as soon as I get an address I will post it here. In the meanwhile he does have access to a computer so you can email him!

Colorado is Beautiful!

I grew up in Utah...so mountains were part of my world every day. My kids don't remember (or in Olivia's case its actual) being around the mountains. As we were driving in toward Colorado all of the sudden I could see the shadows of the mountains in the distance. As I pointed them out to the kids they were soooooo amazed! Kellie could not believe you could have mountains right next to a big city! She has decided this is the perfect place to live. One of the first things we did was visit Red Rocks Park here in CO. Ben brought me here when we came to visit his parents before the kids so it was a nice memory for me as well. The kids were so amazed to see all the beautiful and amazing rock formations. We then took a big hike up the mountain to get to the Red Rocks stage where amazing artists have come to perform...like U-2 and Sting. We had a great time together. Here are some pics!

Our Road Trip To Colorado

Ben's dad and step mom offered to have us come and stay with them near Denver CO. It is a great opportunity for us to save money and for the kids to get to know these grandparents a little better. Along the way there isnt a lot to see. However the kids were amazed by the solar windmills.....just the sheer volume of them. They go on for miles and miles. We also stopped to see some horses and just clowned around on the way down. We bought a kids bop Halloween CD and had fun singing GHOSTBUSTERS, Addams Family, Witch Doctor and Purple People Eater to name a few! Here are some pics of us along the way!

Yes, He is Really Going!

Well I've been a bit behind as we have been really busy! We sent Ben off (rather unwillingly) a week and a half ago. It was really tough as they kept changing the date he would deploy. When we finally got official word it was 4 hours before he had to report! We took the kids out of school and we all went to lunch! We opted to not take the kids to the bus area as Ben was in charge of the soldiers in his unit that were deploying that day and we wanted to keep it as distraction free as possible. The kids said goodbye to Dad at the hotel. It was so sad...I don't think Olivia quite got how long a year really will feel like. Josh as usual held it in. Kellie wouldn't let him go. She just sat there and hugged him for the longest time. We all bawled like babies. I took him to the area where he would leave from....it was typical Army...hurry up and wait. I was grateful some of the soldiers needed me to pick up a few things from the PX before they left...it was a good distraction. First it was amazing to see the huge pile of bags waiting for the trucks. Then a big line of buses came and we knew he would be leaving soon. A kiss goodbye and he was off. WOW! This is going to be a long year! I've attached some pics of right before he left!

WHAT is that SMELL????

Ok moms....you have to admit this has happened to you at least once. All of the sudden this smell appears, seemingly from nowhere. You search high and low and can't seem to find the source. This time mine was a traveling smell. I would think I isolated it and then searched the entire area....to no avail! I finally got a call from school....it seems Joshua had been allowed to have a special drink on Friday for getting 100% on his spelling test...so his teacher sent his milk home with him! Well his backpack sat in my car for the entire HOT weekend. The teacher had tried to pinpoint a foul smell in her room on monday but couldn't find it either...UNTIL...Tuesday when his milk exploded in his backpack! UGGHHH!! No more mistake...I got a call from school saying they had taken his backpack outside of the building. As soon as we got there we threw it away in the dumpster. MYSTERY SOLVED! I had to laugh thinking about all the searching for that traveling smell....never would have thought to look there...just books and papers. AWWW the joys of motherhood!

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY??????

August is a busy month for us and Birthdays. Kellie, Josh and I all have birthdays this month. Joshua was born one day shy of Kellie's second Birthday. So, ever since her third Birthday, they have shared a party. Now, before you give me heck...I promise they get special attention on their ACTUAL birthday. Their party is always at a place of their choosing. They each get to invite their own friends, get their own cakes, have their own theme. So really they get to have a lot of attention that day too.

This year we had it at the local skating rink......at BOTH of their request. We did this a couple of years ago in PA and it didn't go well. Neither of them skate well....But, they pleaded and I figured they were a bit older and perhaps it would go better.

Josh wore his skates for about five minutes....fell every time he tried to stand up! Kellie fared a little better mostly because her friends egged her on. Then champion skater....three year old Olivia showed them both up. She refused to let us hold her hand. She did hold onto the side wall....and got back up on her own when she fell down. She is so stubborn (YES can you believe it...even more than Kellie and Josh) !

Anyway they still had a blast...we reserved the game room so Josh and his buddies played Nintendo, XBOX and Wii. Kellie honed her skating skills. Eventually Olivia took off her skates and then would unexpectedly dash on the rink in her tennis shoes, causing countless skaters to dodge to miss her and fall themselves.

It was really nice to have Ben there as the kids thought he would be in Iraq on their bdays. They were thrilled! I have pics I will get up as soon as I can figure out my new camera phone.
(It may be awhile) ;-)!!

In the Swing of things

We are finally settling in a bit, no longer living in temp housing. We decided to rent an apartment rather than a house as we wanted to have the pool for the summer. We will only be here til Ben leaves in October so its ok for a short time frame. Most of our belongings are still in military storage. We just got out the necessities to live for a few months.

Ben is enjoying his job, he is a natural leader so he is really taking to being one of the higher ranking soldiers here. He is known as the NCO who "gets stuff done". We have heard many rumors about where he will be serving and when they will be leaving....we are trying not to get too caught up in it. It has changed so often we figure we will believe it once he has orders in hand.

The kids are doing well. School starts really early here (mid August) so they are actually looking forward to school starting so they can make more friends. Meanwhile we have been regulars at the library story time and free summer movies. They all completed the summer reading program and earned a free kids meal at Applebees and a free ice cream.

We love and miss you all soooo much!