New Zealand Shout Out!

I have to give a BIG shout out to my girl in the land down under. Not Australia, though. The the other one down under. The cooler one. New Zealand.

A few days ago, I got a package from her. It was these super cute kiwi socks for me and Kendall!! Jen understands that I have an obsessive fascination with New Zealand, and that I would really, really LOVE kiwi socks, and that I want to get Kendall in on the same obsessive fascination.

Also, before Jen moved there, she let me and Melissa go through some stuff to see if we wanted anything. I picked out these small wooden Ikea picture frames. I didn't know what I would use them for, but I knew they had potential.

Then it hit me. I've been wanting to do a family collage. We have this really long wall, and I decided that would be the perfect place for it. I think I'm painted out, so I didn't want to paint anymore walls, so to achieve color, I decided to just get a bunch of frames and paint them different colors. This is where Jen's frames come in.

With the frames she sent me, plus the ones I had lying around the house, I only had to buy one frame, which was awesome.



And if you think I'm talented enough to paint that "Family is Everything," well, you're right. I am that talented.

Okay, maybe I bought that phrase from Uppercase Living. But, I like to think I'm that talented.

Oh, and one more thing. I was reading Haley's blog, and I got inspired to try this December Photo Challenge. I really am going to try. I mean, I've been blogging every day now for the past few days anyway, so what's the difference?

Any day now...

Kendall is so close to walking. Since taking this video a couple of days ago, she has already progressed so much!

She now stands on her own without pulling up on anything. She's been doing this randomly for a week or so, but today, she's been doing it very regularly.

Every now and then she'll take a step or two right after she stands, but we've come to realize that this girl is going to walk on her own terms. I really think that the only reason she's not walking, is because Grant and I are always watching her. If I'm not watching her, and then I see her out of the corner of my eye standing and taking a step, as soon as she realizes I'm watching, she stops, falls down, and crawls away. Little Miss Independent. So now, whenever she stands and looks like she's about to walk, we turn our heads, and corner-look at her to see what she does. So far, she hasn't taken anymore than 2 steps before falling down.

It's so much fun to watch, and we get so excited for her when she does take a step!

The 'Wood

Bright and early this morning (or, more accurately, dark and early, since it was 5 am), I braved the crowds at Target to get a $25 mixer. Thank goodness no one else seemed to want the same thing I did, because I really didn't have to deal with the crazies in the electronics department.

Later today, we hiked the Hollyridge Trail, which takes you close to the Hollywood sign. Driving through certain parts of LA, you can definitely see it, but I wanted to get close to it. So I found this website that had a very detailed explanation of how to get there, and how to follow the trail (it's actually really funny, if you read the trail description).

Driving to the trail took about 45 minutes, and as we got closer, I realized how smoggy the day was. We've been having really clear days, but this wasn't one of them.

Anyways, we got Kendall packed up in her backpack, and off we went. Right after we went up our first hill, we could see the sign. As we walked, we got closer and closer. I like how Kendall's looking at the sign in the picture with all 3 of us.






Part of the way up, hikers and horses share the trail. The smell was lovely.



Also on the trail, you could look out and see the Griffith Observatory, which really wasn't that far away. I think we'll try to hike there sometime, too. In this picture, you can kind of see the blue dome of the observatory. Like I said - smoggy day.



And if you look really closely in this picture, you can see downtown LA.



Forty five minutes was pretty accurate. It took us almost exactly that to get to the top. Once there, we were looking down on the sign, from behind. I really wish the day had been clearer, because the view would have been incredible. The sign is actually fenced off, and has security cameras all around it, so we got as close as we legally could.





It was such a cool hike, and Kendall did great - only getting cranky as we were going back down. After the hike, we went to In-N-Out Burger so all-in-all, it was a great day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Some Cuteness

A long time coming

Grant likes my hair long. I promised him a while back that I would grow it long for a while. That was maybe 2 1/2 years ago.

That seems like plenty of time had passed. I warned him on Sunday that I had made up my mind, and that I wasn't sure when it would be, but it would be soon, so he should just come to terms with it. "Soon" probably came a lot quicker than he thought, because yesterday when he came home from work, he seemed kind of shocked.

Unkie John

Today, Grant's brother John, starts his journey to Iraq. He'll be deployed for about 6 months. He was supposed to have gone the day after Ryan died, but obviously, it got postponed because of that. We're so happy that we got stationed at the same base he was at (again), and even though our time together is getting cut short, the time that we've been together has been great. I'm so happy that he and Kendall have developed a really special bond, as seen in these videos.





We'll miss you, John! Be safe, and come back soon!!

Pensacola

Well, I'm finally getting around to putting up pictures from our time in P'cola. This posting will mainly be centered around the time with Pinky and Susan came.

Susan is from the Gulf Coast, so the beaches and the scenery was nothing new for her. But Pinky had never been to this part of the South before, so we had to take her to the beach. We walked out on the pier, that I had never even been out on before (the pier I had been on got wiped out by a hurricane back in the 90's). It was a super windy day, but beautiful.

Here's a picture of me, Kendall, Pinky, her unborn wind-baby, and Susan.



This was also Kendall's first time to Pensacola Beach. She, like Pinky, was fascinated with the pretty water and the soft sand.




After the beach, we headed to a popular restaurant - McGuire's Irish Pub - for lunch. This was my favorite place to go when I lived there, and Grant would take me there every year for my birthday. All three of us got the fish & chips, which were fabulous.



Back at my parents house, Kendall liked playing with Pinky's wheels, while my niece and nephew were trying to get her attention.



And here's Susan, getting in some last-minute play-time with Kendall before her and Pinks headed back to Albuquerque.



I've said this before, but the fact that they came all the way to Pensacola during that time meant so much to all of us.

I'll be available for autographs later...

Once me and Jennie Garth make our TV debut together on Tuesday, you'll all be kissing up to me, I'm sure.

Okay, here's the explanation...

The Bonnie Hunt Show wants military spouses to be in the audience for their Veteran's Day show. The Spouses Club on base sent out an email to all of us, giving the contact information. I called - and I'm in!!! The show will be taped on Monday, and aired the next day. If you go to the website for the show, it says that Jennie Garth is the guest!!! I'm so extremely excited!!!

An Update

We had Ryan's memorial service, and it was great. Everyone who spoke, the message given by the pastor, the turnout of everyone - it was really an incredible thing! We still can't believe that he's gone, and we're still having a hard time understanding why (medically). But, we do know that God is in control, and He does have a plan for this, even if we don't know what it is.

It was such a special treat to have Pinky and Susan from Albuquerque come. Since Pinky just went through this a little over a year ago with the passing of Brent, she was especially an encouragement to all of us.

Once we get home, I'll post some pictures of our time here. Speaking of that - for those who are wondering when we're getting home, we think we'll be here until next weekend.

Please continue to pray for us, as the reality of this whole situation really sinks in.