Sweet Justice!!!

Ok, so anyone with boys will know exactly what I am talking about...
As all boys do when they are really little, sometimes when they get their diaper changed they feel the need to "tinkle" mid-change. And, if you have been as lucky as I have, of course their aim is perfect and it shoots right at your face, your hair, all over your clothes right after you've changed them to go out somewhere, or my personal favorite, right in the exact spot on your pants so it looks like you, you know what! Well, today I got my revenge...
As I was changing Kaden's diaper (that right there tells you how well the potty-training is going) I had his legs lifted up to wipe up his dirty buns. While I looked up to talk to Sam I hear Kaden go "Oh, Oh!" I look down at him and his face and shirt are all wet with droplets of water, or tears, maybe?? Oh no, it was not tears!!!! When I realized what had happened, which hasn't happened in a long while, and that he was the target of his own perfect aim, and not me, I couldn't help but bust out laughing - ahh, sweet revenge! Of course he thought it was pretty funny too, so we both had a pretty good laugh together. So, to all you frustrated moms out there, who are tired of being the subject of target practice - there is hope!! What goes around, comes around!

Happy Birthday, Katie!

Today is Katie's birthday! Katie is my little sister, and she would have been 29 today. She died 9 years ago due to a skiing accident. She was in her freshman year at BYU, and I was a junior. She was fun, happy, beautiful, smart, and full of life! It was kind of a running joke between us that all the guys wanted to be friends with me, but they all wanted to date her. Yes, I was even a little bit jealous of her at times - who wouldn't be! Every year on her birthday I have the same thoughts: What would her life be like now? Whould she be married? How many kids? Whould she be rich and famous as she always wanted to be? I'm sure in some way she would have had it all - she was Katie after all, and things always seemed to work out for her. Regardless of how her life would have been, I know she is happy now, and I know she is watching over us. I know she will eventually have everything she ever wanted and will not have missed out on any of life's wonderful experiences. She was special, and wonderful, and I love her more than I can say! Yes, we had our fights and our arguements, we were sisters after all, but of course I loved her despite our differences - those differences are what made us special to each other. You can always count on a sister - you know the good and the bad about each other, and still know they love you no matter what and will always be there for you. Of course I still miss her and think about her often. Life is never the same when you lose a loved one, it just takes on a little bit of a different perspective. Some days are better than others, and most days you can smile at the memories left behind.

So, today, in honor of Katie, the kids drew pictures for her that we mailed off to Heaven, and we sent her a balloon for her birthday. We sang happy birthday before we let the balloon go, and by the end, Sam was the only one singing - the boys were distracted by then, and mom was crying. The kids had fun doing it, and it made the day special for them - and a little healing for mom. It is important to me that they know who Katie is and how wonderful she was - that way they will know exactly who she is when we all see her again in heaven!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my sisters and I from a very long time ago. Luckily I have 3 sisters, and I love them all!
Happy Birthday, Katie! We miss you!

The Third Footprint

One pair of footprints, or should there be three?
One for the Lord, one for you, one for me.

Three sets of footprins were seen in the sand
When we walked by the Lord and he held our hand.

When only two footprints were washed by the tide,
The Lord carried you and I walked by your side.

And then there were times when just two pairs you see,
That you did the walking and the Lord carried me.

And whether you carried me, or I carried you,
The Lord was with us all the way through.

But when only one set of footprints were washed by the sea,
Where were you, and what happened to me?

Those were the times, and you know that it's true,
That you carried me, and the Lord carried you.

(Katie wrote this poem as an adaptation of the poem "Footprints". I have always loved this poem and think about it often. It demonstrates just a small portion of her many talents!)

The best phone call I've had in a while

Just as I was sitting down to my computer, racking my brain and trying to come up with something noteworthy to share with everyone, I got the best surprise of my day! My phone rang and since I didn't recognize the number, I debated whether or not to answer it, not really in the mood for telemarketers. I picked up the phone anyway, and a familiar voice was on the other end. He was purposely being coy, making me guess who it was. It didn't take too long for me to realize who it was - my brother Donny! Yes, he called me out of the blue from Afghanistan! It was about 2:00 am on Sunday morning there. He said they haven't really been up to much, and have had a lot of time on their hands lately. Judging by the pictures he just emailed, right before he called me, they are definitely in need of something to do! He said that he just got a new vest and they all thought it would be funny to take a picture that looked like something out of "Red Dawn". This one of just him reminds me a bit of "Rambo", right down to the bushy curly hair and the cool army-issued glasses! When they have this much time on their hands, I think it's about time to send the troops home! Donny is actually going to be coming home on leave at the end of October. He will be able to spend Halloween with my parents and my sister's family down in Texas. After a few days in Texas he will go up to Utah and hopefully go out with a few girls my cousin has lined up for him. He sounds a bit ready to finish up over there and to move onto the next phase in life - including dating and marriage. His tour ends in February of next year and we are all very anxious for that day to come. He never complains though and is always up beat and positive whenever he emails or calls. He just takes everything in stride and does what he has to do. I couldn't be prouder of my baby brother - he is definitely not a baby anymore! Love you, bud!









This is his home, or "qalat". He lives down where the two bottom windows of the picture are.

This is Donny's unit. As you can tell, he is about the only one who hasn't been able to grow a full beard. That would be the Bills genes at work!

Too Close for Comfort!

Tonight as we were finishing dinner, Gavin looked out our back door and was pretty concerned that the sun was gone. We told him it was just playing hide and seek behind the clouds and would come back in a few minutes. We've been having a lot of afternoon rain/clouds lately, so no big deal, right? Wrong! A few minutes later we heard some pretty loud thuds hitting the house. We looked out the glass door and noticed some golf ball sized hail - yes, they were that big - coming down pretty hard. I decided to go check out what things looked like out front, and was soon followed by the whole family. We were having fun watching the hail come down, trying to keep the boys under the patio so they didn't get pelted, then as we turned around we noticed a big tornado off to the side, which seemed pretty close to our house. If we didn't think it was so cool, we probably would have been scared - especially if we had known exactly how close it really was. Then, once that one fizzled out, another one touched down right behind it! When we turned on the news we found out that 3 tornadoes had actually touched down within a half an hour, all no more than 20 miles from our home! Luckily it seems that not much damage was caused by the tornadoes. It just goes to show you that you never know what to expect on a lazy Sunday afternoon!

This is the first tornado we saw:
























This is the second tornado:

When it rains...it pours!

Life is funny. It seems that at one moment, not much is going on, every day is about the same, then the next, everything seems to be happening all at once! It would be nice to spread the excitement out a little to break up the routine a bit. Well, as you've noticed not much has been happening lately, but this week we seemed to get our fair share of the excitement.
Sunday we went up to Estes Park to meet up with a dear friend of mine who now lives in Texas. She and her husband are up there this week for a family reunion, so we thought we'd take the opportunity to visit her since she was so close. We got to see her darling little boy for the first time and of course get filled in on life's little details that we've missed since a year ago, when we saw each other last. Melissa and I were friends in High School in Germany. She even lived with us her Senior year. She is definitely one of my oldest and dearest friends. A "kindred spirit", if you will. It never matters how much time we spend apart, we can always pick up right where we left off. Thanks to Alex and Mike for being such good sports while we had our girl bonding time!
Our next big event came on Tuesday, our 8th Wedding Anniversary. Where does the time go? Seriously! Anniversaries are great - not only is it an excuse to get dressed up and go out-without the kids, but it also gives us a chance to sit back and remember why and how much we love someone without all of life's craziness getting in the way. Mike and I took the chance to spend a bit of quality time together hiking through one of the Colorado State Parks not too far from our house. It was so nice to just have the chance to spend time together doing something that we both love to do, but honestly haven't done since Sam was born. Right now we really don't get to spend much time together. He works way too much, and unfortunately we don't have much choice in the matter, and with school starting up next week, those few moments we do have will be even more scarce. It was great to have at least one day - or even a few hours - to spend together without worrying about the daily stress. We even got to extend our date into a nice dinner. Gee, who knew it was fun to hang out and talk with your spouse! Thank you so much, Heidi! Again, what would we do without you?!!






















And last, but definitely not least, Wednesday was Sam's first day of kindergarten. I can't believe my little girl is so old! She, of course was so excited and has been talking about it for weeks! We got her a little outfit and everything, which, of course, she also had to have a necklace that matched! Yesterday morning she came into my room all dressed and ready to go by 6:30 am. Too bad she had to get undressed to take her shower. Mike went into work late so he could help take her to school. He stayed in the car with the boys and I took Sam into school. We were a little early so we waited for the bell ring. As soon as Sam heard that bell, she popped off my lap kissed me and with the biggest smile said "Bye mom!" and rushed into her classroom. That's when my tears started to come! I tried to hold them in as much as I could so I wouldn't look like a dorky mom as I walked past all the kids coming into school. As soon as I got into the car, I felt safe enough to let the tears go. Mike already knows I'm a dorky mom, so it was ok to cry in front of him. Of course she had a great time and loved every second of it! This morning when she got up she was already trying to put on the same outfit she wore yesterday. (It took a little while and a bit of an argument, but she and I finally agreed on something for her to wear.) As we were driving to school today Sam asked if I was going to cry again, and I told her probably not, that I would try to be brave. She said "Oh, good mom, I'm so proud of you!". Yeah, that's my baby, my little 5 year old, going on 20!