Merry Christmas

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! We stayed home this year, in Florida. We really didn't want to travel twice due to our upcoming move in January so we decided to just start having our own little Christmas together as a little family. We spent Christmas Eve with some really special families in our ward. We had great food, played Christmas Bingo, and talked about how we were going to stay in our pajamas all day the next day. (Top Row: Tennille Anderson (the hostess), Awesome Missionaries, McKay Burton. Bottom Row: Nicole, Whitney, Scott, Tyler, and Rhiannon Anderson)

I was up at 4:00 am so anxious for the kids to wake up. I even woke up Kevin and he wasn't very happy about that. They finally woke up at 6:00 am. Santa had left their presents on the coffee table and they were so excited to see them. Joey got a Batman cave that included the villains and Batman and Robin. Emma got her first Cabbage Patch Doll.

Emma, "WOW!" Joey, "For me? For Joey?"

After Joey got his big present, we had to twist his arm to open all the rest. He did not want to open any other ones so we had to give him some appealing ones so that he could see that it was worth opening. Emma was all for opening presents.

"Thank you, Miss Fallon, for my Batman helicopter. The Batcave has a helipad for it so its perfect."

"Thank you Grammy and Papa for my tool box"

"Thank you Tia Karina for my play mat"

"I love my new dress, Tia Karina"

He totally knew he was getting this.

I got an awesome DSLR camera. I had to do some bargaining to get it. See these next 6 months suck for Kevin because he has to buy me something for Christmas, Valentines Day, my Birthday in March, our Anniversary in May, and Mothers Day in May. So I made a deal that if I got a camera, he wouldn't have to buy me anything until next Christmas. He totally fell for it :)

"Thank you, Miss Fallon, for my tea seat. I love that it talks"

"Gracias, Guela por toda mi ropa de dormir. Son bien calientitas. Me haces falta!"

"Guela, me encanta dibujar en mi nuevo libro! Como supistes que eso era lo que queria?"

"SCORE!"
We have made some awesome friends over the years and they know me better than I know myself. The Rigbys in Michigan sent me a chocolate milk mixer. Its really cool. You pour in the milk and chocolate and turn it on and it spins it for you. No lumps or settled chocolate at the bottom of the cup. Mmmmm. Thanks, Blossom and Emeline!

Miss Dixie is coming in January to watch the kids while I run the Marathon. She was sweet enough to get our both boys backpacks with their names engraven so they can use it traveling to Orlando. Thanks Rochie!

"Hello, Grammy and Papa? Thank you so much for my new phone! I needed one because no one would share theirs with me! I love you, Grammy and Papa."

We started a new thing where we would only get our children 3 presents each year. We didn't put a budget, just 3 presents. We figure that the Savior received three gifts from the Wisemen so we took the opportunity to share that with our children and teach them about the Savior's birth. They were still so grateful for what they got. And they, as you can see, were spoiled by many of your generosities. Thank you so much. We love you all dearly.

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and were able to get some good memories with your families.

Happy First Birthday

We cannot believe that its already been a year! Time flies so quickly when you are having fun. Emma was born a year go today. She has been such a blessing in our lives. She has so much love and sweetness in her countenance and personality. But she is still feisty. She already fights with Joey over toys and hates to have her diaper changed. Now that she walks, once she sees me grab a diaper, she walks as quickly as she can in the opposite direction. She is top heavy so sometimes she falls and when I get her, she thinks its the funniest thing in the world. She loves to take pictures, is really enjoying story time, and LOVES to eat. This girl loves food. She will eat hers and mine, and Kevin's, and Joey's. We call her Bougaly Wougaly Bear (came from Monsters, Inc) and we love her.

Happy Birthday Emma!

Fly Me to the Moon

The T-34 is the training plane that Kevin is learning how to fly in. He also learned how to fly a TH-57 Helicopter. This picture above is right before his "Cross Country" flight to Oklahoma City. He did three flights out there and three flight back, did some aerobatic loops and barrel rolls, did not throw up, but came very close.

Naval Air Station Whiting Field had a special event and they flew in different aircrafts so that the pilots in training can see the different aircrafts available and speak to different pilots. They opened it up to the public and many were able to see the inside of these amazing planes. The plane above is a Helicopter. It is a CH-53E Super Stallion (correct me if I'm wrong) and it is the largest and heaviest helicopter in the military (and loudest). Joey was very impressed by this one. He picked this one out of the 10 different ones and kept sitting in that seat, but when he went to finish his tour, the pilots promised to save him this seat. And he did!

Trick or Treat

Halloween was so much fun this year! Emma was a pumpkin and Joey was Batman. Emma made us nostalgic because she looked so much like Joey when he wore that same pumpkin costume at 3 months old. And Joey made us sad that he is growing up. He still loves Thomas the Tank Engine, but now he is getting into Super Heroes and those are signs of Big Boy Behavior.

This is Shaun Tureson. Him and Joey play together weekly and its fun for them. Joey loved his costume SO MUCH he wore it to bed once. He kept yanking at the face mask and it ripped. That is why he looks like he is having technical difficulties.

Emma was a good sport and wore her costume all night. She was so cute.

"Where's all the candy?"

These are some amazing children in our ward. We went trick or treating with them in their neighborhood and it was a hit. All the children behaved and had a lot of fun. (Left to right: Aiden (who is normally a very happy toddler), Tyler behind Aiden, Dakota, Carter, Emma, Joey, Nicole, Whitney (Joey has a crush on Whitney ;)

EMMA's FIRST WORD

(You have to pause the music to listen)

Joy School Update

We have been so pleased with the Joy School curriculum offered on http://www.valuesparenting.com/ I am not ready yet emotionally to send Joey out to preschool but I know he needs the structure and learning experience. This gives me the opportunity to spend some valuable time with him and be able to teach him good values at the same time and keep him home.

The month of October was fun because we did a lot of Halloween and Fall activities. We carved a pumpkin together. My first pumpkin carving experience. Emma watched and picked at the fiber of the pumpkin and Joey was thrilled to just be playing with knives! Yikes!

The finished product!

I had to show you this cute little face!

We have a flannel board that we use for story time. This story was about a sad little pumpkin that did not get picked at the pumpkin patch. It was a hit!

I am not telling you a lie. I promise. Emma must have had such a long day at school that she literally fell asleep just like this. Yes... I did move her and put her in a crib but not before I took a picture.

Navy Ball

We had such a good time at the Navy Ball. I had been looking forward to going to my first Ball for such a long time. Probably since Kevin was in Medical school. The price was right and so was the company. Justin and Fallon Tureson are good friends that we met in Maryland. Justin is also doing Flight Surgery and Fallon and I play and scrapbook together a lot.

The ball was held at Naval Air Station- Whiting. They had a few keynote speakers that really helped us feel American pride. (Please excuse my memory and lack of names- its midnight). They had a toast that would single out each branch of the military and different causes and missions and it was great to feel and see the camaraderie.

After the presentations and dinner, they had a dance and I LOVE TO DANCE. Thank goodness I married a man with moves. He was such a good sport about dancing everything from the Macarena (above) to Lady Gaga. It was a lot of fun to dance with my Sweetheart.

This is Kevin's Commander from the helicopter Squadron that Kevin was in during his helicopter training. He was so nice to us and was really grateful to have the Flight Docs (as they call it) there to support the pilots. We are definitely very supportive of the pilots. They train very hard, study hard, and are very committed to their work. It will be great to be assigned to a squadron in the future and support them as they complete their missions.

Remember Souja Boy? I still do :)