As easy as riding a bike or flying a plane?

"Come on, Daddy! You can do it!"

Kevin comes home on the weekends (three hours southwest is Yuma) and this weekend we decided it was a good start to teach Joey how to ride a bike. Grandma Mora (Maria) got Joey this bike for his 3rd birthday but he was too little. He now reaches the pedals but is still learning how to turn the wheels. Kevin wanted to teach him how to do so, so he got on the bike and started to teach Joey how to pedal. Joey was so cute because he used the same words Kevin told him to encourage his Daddy!

"Come on, Joey! You can do it!"

Kevin came home with some great pictures of a flight he took this week with another Squadron. He was able to go up in a Harrier. Its the coolest aircraft because it takes off and lands vertically. I wish I could tell you more but it is top secret, classified, level 1 information. And... I don't know much about it. I'm gonna have to make my husband blog like other husbands I know in Michigan so he can desribe what he is doing.

I am glad he is having fun, but he is excited to finally start seeing patients and practicing medicine. He only has to fly 4 hours a month to stay qualified, but he is excited for ever minute he gets.

Lily Madison Winegar

Lily Madison Winegar joined the family in December. She is David and Ana's fourth child. She is also the 16th grandchild on the Winegar side of the family. She is the sweetest thing in the world. Hardly cries, falls asleep as soon as you hold her, and has gorgeous eyes. We are happy she is here. Her blessing was the first Sunday in February and being the masochists that we are, we decided to get in our cars (AGAIN) and drive the 12 hours to Manteca, CA to be there for her. So far we have not missed one baby blessing or baptism on both sides of the Mora and Winegar family and we are not going to stop now.

While there we visited the Jelly Belly factory. They have free tours, and free samples, and a free goodie bag at the end. We love the word FREE!

This is the sample bar. They had every sample from coconut to dark chocolate to pears to strawberry jam to.....

Skunk, pencil shavings, barf, rotten eggs, ear wax!!!! It was quite the feast!

We had to wear these silly hats to prevent hair from entering the work line but we were not allowed to take pictures of the work line. BOOO! That bear in the back is made completely from jelly beans!

The following pictures are Kevin sampling.....

Dog Food...

Ear wax....

Rotten Egg...

and Barf! He has no shame!

After the Jelly Belly Factory, we toured the Travis Air Force Base Museum. It had huge airplanes out side and fun simulators inside for the kids to pretend in.

Sunday was the blessing and it was an excellent day. It had been raining for forever in CA and we got lucky to get good weather. David did an amazing job at blessing his little girl. She is a lucky little princess.

Emma, Ana, Lily, David, Logan, and Elizabeth

Us with Lily... makes me wonder if I should have another one... no not ready yet.

Grammy and Papa with grandchild # 16, Lily Madison or Lily Bells according to Elizabeth.



The very talented Ana, with help from her very talented mother, made Lily's blessing dress. She had a home made dress, a home made bow, and a home made blanket. Beautiful treasures to keep and hold dear. Ana used her wedding dresses to make this sweet little blessing dress. She was the perfect little poser while I was taking pictures and followed me with her eyes every time I moved. She is such a doll.



Poor kids! You probably think we are such horrible parents making our kids be in the car for so long, but they were such great troopers.

Now back to reality. We got back to AZ and did house chores. We love AZ because the weather is amazing in the winter. The kids helped Papa spray weeds, rake leaves, and mow the lawn. It was really cute.

That's it! No more road trips or regular trips... that is until we hit NYC in April! I sure miss my Mom and Dad! Plus its my 10 year High School reunion. Boy am I getting old!

On the Road Again....

So we have been married close to 7 years and have moved from CA to AZ to MD to FL and now back to AZ! Kevin is officially stationed in Yuma, AZ. We applied to be on the wait list for housing on base and we have a 6-12 month waiting period. On top of the waiting period, there is a possibility of Kevin being deployed. Because of those factors, we decided that it would be best for the children to have stability and for us to stay with Kevin's parents in Queen Creek, AZ (3 hours north of Yuma) until housing becomes available. But if it becomes available and Kevin gets deployed, than we will just stay here until he returns. Oh the joys of the military! We prayed about it a lot because we are not excited about the separation, but he will come up on the weekends, and I will go down there whenever there are any functions that require me to support Kevin. We feel our marriage is strong enough to survive the separation and have committed to stay close to the Spirit to give us the strength that we need.

We left Milton, FL on Friday the 29th. We stopped in New Orleans, LA for lunch. It was raining so that was the most we could do. It is a beautiful city with a lot of potential. You can still see a lot of the devastation from Katrina, but the people there still had smiles on their faces and you could feel the hope.

The best picture we could take because of the rain of Bourbon Street.

Ok... its not my biased opinion- I promise. But the kids did so good during this 3 day trip. We drove about 8 hours a day and stopped for potty and food breaks. They watched A LOT of movies, slept, played, colored, or just sat in silence. They had their moments, of course, but nothing that wasn't resolved immediately.

Jean has a brother in Pasadena, TX. We stopped to have dinner with him and visited with his daughter, Kim, and her family. It was nice to see them and capture the moment.

We got very familiar with the hotel carts. Joey loved being the passenger.

On the grounds of the Houston, TX temple.

Houston, Texas Temple

I have this goal that I would love to be on the grounds of all the temples in the world. There are many that we have been fortunate enough to have time to enter but otherwise we just make sure to stop and walk around the grounds and take pictures. So far we have visited and or entered 21. I know we have many more to goal, but we are willing to keep it up.

We became official Mormons and purchased a minivan last summer. Its awesome! We are not ashamed! We lowered the back seat and made a little bed in the back. When the kids got anxious, it became their playground. When we were tired of driving, it became our bed.

This is the San Antonio, Texas Temple

This is Neil and Jean at the Alamo

Lidia and I grew up together in NYC. We were in young women together, went to girls camp, mutual, dances, etc together. She is older and was always a good example to me. We went our separate ways, she went on a mission and got married. I went to BYU and got married. Well, she married a Dominican who served his mission in the Dominican Republic. I married a white boy who served his mission in the same Dominican mission and they knew each other! It is such a small world! She lives in El Paso, TX while her husband, Francisco, is a Military Police at an Army base. She made yummy Dominican food and an excellent coconut flan! See you in September for the 1/2 Marathon, Lidia! No backing down!

I love this face! Don't you?

So 7 state lines and 3 days later we made it to Queen Creek. The Frias family came over to visit and we were so happy to see them. It is great to finally be around family. We love our friends, but family is so important and its great to watch little cousins play together. If only there would be a way to combine the East and West Coast than the world be a better place.

This is the moving truck arriving with all of our stuff. Don't be too astounded. There are 3 family loads in there. Ours only takes a 1/3 of the truck. But it was still over 10,000 lbs of stuff. Ohh goodness!

AeroMedical Officer Graduation and Winging Ceremony

The 7 months in Florida were in great anticipation to this special ceremony. Because the Flight Surgeons learned how to fly, they received gold wings. Their gold wings are different than pilot gold wings. The career pilots have anchors on their wings. The flight surgeons have an acorn. Here is a short summary of the meaning of the Winging Tradition.

"The wings awarded to the Navy Medical Department officers who have completed the prescribed course of instruction are modeled after the wings worn by other US Navy designated flight personnel. The distinguishing feature is the central corps device. Flight Surgeons' wings have the Medical corps insignia as the wing centerpiece with an acorn superimposed on the oak leaf. The significance of the oak leaf to the healing art precedes the appearance of the more traditional caduceus by centuries. The awarding of the "Wings of God" is a symbolic milestone reserved for those who have successfully completed both a stringent academic syllabus and a demanding program of Navy flight training. The wings represent the ultimate sign of credibility to the line community these officers will serve."

Kevin's father, Neil, placed Kevin's wings on him. It has been great to be by Kevin's side and support him, but its not very often that he will get awards like this, so we felt it was important for his parents to take part of it too.

On stage, left to right: CAPT Richard A. Beane, Joey, Me, Emma, Kevin, Jean, Neil (Kevin's parents).

On the other side of the stage, Kevin received his a Certificate of Completion. Left to right: CAPT John Heil, Me, Joey, Emma, The Honorable Juan M. Garcia III (Assistant Secretary of the Navy), Kevin, Jean, and Neil.

This is Brennan. He is the cutest kid. He and Joey were good friends. They had their moments but they always looked forward to playing trains together. Brennan is now in Oahu, Hawaii while his Dad is a Flight Surgeon there for 3 years.

Our great friends came to support Kevin (Lacey, Ayden, Me, Joey, Kevin, Emma, Neil, Jean, Rhiannon, Tyler, Scott).

Proud Father and Son! These two are two peas in a pod. Its great to see them together. They get along so well and can pretty much finish each others sentences.

You know, I didn't even take a picture up close of the wings cause I am a loser, but if you look up close to his uniform, you can see them above his ribbons.

Every Thursday, we got together and scrapbooked for the last 7 months. It was great because our kids would play and we would be a great support to one another. I will deeply miss these amazing women.

Now its off to the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona. Kevin will be the Flight Surgeon for roughly about 200 Marines. They are his primary patients. He will keep them fit to fly, go with them on deployments, and be a support to them. He is now condsidered an Attending Physician! We are so pleased with you, Sweetheart!