Kichen remodel (sort of)

BEFORE

BEFORE
AFTER

AFTER

I decided a while back that I wanted to repaint my kitchen cabinets. I hated the color and i thought what better time to do it then when Ray is gone! So, my mom drove down for a couple days and we got started. I am so thrilled with the outcome that I felt compelled to show you!

Stock Show and Rodeo

Here is Connor sitting on a bull
Time for a nacho break. Petting animals is hard work!!



Feeding the llamas!
Petting the animals at the petting zooWatching the rodeo
Riding the ponies

Connor loves animals. So my dad got some awesome ticketsto the rodeo last weekend. We had a blast. Connor rode a pony, fed animals in the petting zoo, saw some baby pigs and chicks, ate some nachos and sat on some really big tractors. We ate some dinner then headed to the rodeo. I still can't believe he sat through the whole thing AND loved every minute of it. We sat in the very front row and everytime a horse or wild bull ran by, dirt would fly up and hit us in the head or land on our drinks. We had a great time and look forward to taking daddy with us next year!

Rockstar

Once a month Connor and I go to our friends house to watch a movies and eat pizza. My friend's husband is in Iraq too and her middle son Payton is in Connor's class. So we went this past friday and Santa brought Payton a set of drums and an electric guitar. At first Connor wasn't so sure about all the noise, but by the end of the night, the boys were jamming out. I told Payton that he and Connor should start a band. He responded by telling me that they allready were a band and the named their band "The Darkness." So funny the way their minds work. Guess I should start looking for a drum set.....

In other news, Ray called today. They are actually getting some time off these days. The celebrated 2 birthdays this last week so that kind of changed the atmoshere a little. They found out this week that they will get to watch the Super Bowl (2am their time) AND each solider will get 2 beers. This is a huge morale booster for them and they are pretty excited. Ray and I have decided that we are going to take Connor to Disney World the week of Thanksgiving this year. The military has a huge promotion going on for soliders that have been to Iraq and we are very excited! Guess that's it for now! Enjoy the pictures!

No news is good news

Here they are in KuwaitAt the range with his 9mm

Ray called this afternoon and we talked for almost 2 hours. It's funny, you think you have all these things to tell the other person, but you never remember when you're on the phone. He told me about work and I told him what crazy things Connor is doing these days. It's getting pretty cold there which he said is kinda nice. He sent me a few pictures so I thought I would share them with you.

Hope your new year is going great!

Holiday's in Iraq

I found this the other day after several people asked me what Ray and the troops eat for the holidays. Remember, this is ONLY for Thanksgiving. Click on the picture to see it bigger. :)

Happy New Year!

It's now January 1, 2009 and Connor and I have done absolutly nothing. And it was kind of nice. We were both asleep before the ball dropped. I have some "intentions" instead of resolutions this year. So I took some time today to write them down. Hopefully, I can stick to them. The next major task I must tackle is getting our new carpet. I have it all picked out and ordered. However, I am puting it off because I don't want to clean out all 3 bedrooms and closets. UGH! So during the month of January, I will be cleaning and going through things that we probably don't need anymore and throwing ALOT of things away! Another one is to cook more at home. It is really hard to cook a good, healthy meal for 1 person, so I bought a new freezer that sits in our garage. I am cooking meals several times a week and freezing them in my new freezer. This is allowing me to actually see what's in there instead of digging constantly in a freezer chest. It really is making life easier. And, I can stockpile all of Connor and Ray's favorite things. Another is to take time out for myself. I am starting by hiring a cleaning lady. This will save me time and stress. It's just getting harder and harder to clean after a very energetic little boy. So, with these things I hope to make some progress!

Ray and I have been talking about twice a week and we email everyday. He had today off and spent most of it sleeping and going to the gym. He is eagerly counting down the days until he is home on r&r. He is really enjoying all the great things that people have sent him. I was told to say thank you to everybody.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!