More of the Gardens

I love this area of the Garden. McKaylie told me she wanted to go to the fountain she went to with Grandpa. This is that fountain. She remembered going here a year ago when they came to visit us.

I couldn't get a smile, but I still like this picture.

In theRenaissance Court

This is Friendship Pond. It's said that if you hold hands with someone and walk all the way around the pond, you'll be friends forever and ever. It was a beautiful area of the gardens.

This is one of many bridges in the gardens. We happened to end up crossing this bridge many, many, many, many times yesterday. Just a note: My kids are standing on the edge of the bridge, so I was half freaking out trying to get this picture. I was yelling up at them to get off the edge while trying to hurry and take the picture. There is a fence up there, but in the back of my mind I saw one of them lean over to "look" and then there was a splash! NOT how I wanted to end the day!

July 4th

Inside the hanger bay on the USS Enterprise

Just like most of you, on July 4th, I think of the many blessings I have because I live in this country. I think I took many of those blessings for granted before we were in the military. We joined the military mostly to have a secure job and to pay for college, but there hasn't been a day in Chad's career that I'm not proud of what he does and have respect for him as a sailor in the United States Navy. I see people make sacrifices for this country everyday and I am very grateful for each and everyone of those people and their families. Since we've joined the navy, I have a new respect for the military and what they do and why they do it. We have amazing freedoms here, freedoms that I've learned to appreciate and to give thanks for daily. I want my children to grow up knowing that they are blessed to live in this country and that many, many men and women have given all that they had for us to have those rights and freedoms. Not just the soldiers and sailors, but their families as well. I want them to understand how important it is for those soldiers and sailors to protect the liberties that we enjoy and at times take for granted.

We have a sign that hangs in our house with the american flag and a picture of Chad in his uniform on it. It says, "Daddy keeps us safe and makes us proud". And I believe that; Chad works everyday to help keep us safe and protect our liberties and we are proud of him for it, just like we're proud of all military and their families. Happy Independence Day!

Too much technology.......................

I realized that there may be a little too much technology in our house when this happened..........

I was removing the old nail polish from my toenails with nail polish remover (duh). McKaylie came and sat down with me and asked, "mom, will you delete the nail polish on my toes, too, please".

What happened?

Do you ever have one of those "moments" with your kids when you look at them and they look so big? It's like they changed over night. I do, actually I do a lot, maybe that' because I have 4 kids and those "moments" come at different times for different kids. I don't know, but what I do know is that looking at this picture yesterday, was one of those "moments" for me. When did this happen? Where did my little kids go? Why are they doing this to me?

Baby ducks..............

We went and fed the ducks a few days ago. I was so glad we did, too. There was lots of baby ducks. There was several little families, some with older ducklings, and some with very little ducklings. It was lots of fun to watch the mama ducks care for her babies.

There's also lots and lots of turtles that will come and eat the bread too. AND ther's lots of fish, great big fish that will come and eat the bread. When I say big, I mean BIG. I was told that some are 10 pounds or bigger! I also learned that there are catfish, large mouth bass, and carp in this lake. There's probably more, but that's all they knew about. It's illegal to fish here, but I'm sure there's lots of people who are tempted.

The down side of this trip, was that I also learned that there are snakes there, lots of snakes and some of them are water moccasins (sp?) We go here fairly often, so that is not what I wanted to hear!

Craziness................

This last week has gone something like this:

I sent Myshel to girl's camp a week ago. She had a great time. They even got to go to a water park that's near their campground twice. She went on an on about everything they did, especially the cute lifeguards and rangers that were there!. (I think I heard a little too much about the cute lifeguards and rangers) I was very glad that she had such a great time. While she was there, the other three played in the pool, we went to the zoo (it's like our home away from home sometimes, which is fitting considering the little animals I live with) played games inside while it rained and on and on.............. Friday- I was sick.............Saturday- Myshel came home from camp with an attitude and a bag full of laundry..................Sunday- was realatively calm, Noah went to his class for the last 30 minutes, so that's something............Monday- Myshel and I fought about her deciding that she's not going to Junior University, with absolutely no reason to back it up, we did some crafts in the afternoon since it was still raining. The rain started on Friday...................Tuesday- still fighting, still raining and the natives are getting restless..................Wednesday- stopped fighting, stopped raining and Myshel decide that she would go to JU, Junior University, not because of anything that I said, because of a 5 minute phone call with her friend. I don't even care what her friend told her, at least she went. She still complained and I had to pull her off my arm, but she's there. I sent the other three outside to play in the puddles at the playground because they were driving me nuts! And I am in here checking my email and writing my blog.....................exhale.


Oh, I almost forgot. 5 of Myshel's 10 sunflowers have bloomed, McKaylie's marigolds are all blooming now and I have 3 new rose buds on my little rose bush!

Camp

Myshel's been home from camp for less than 48 hours and I'm beginning to think that camp should last just a bit longer.................like 3 months longer!

Growing Up is Hard to Do..............

I've had people come over and comment on the pictures that we have in our house. Mostly the ones of Chad and I when we first met or were first married.

The comments usually go something like this, "I can't believe how young you look", "how old were you in these pictures, anyway", "wow, how long ago was that". You get the idea.

After the last "encounter", I was telling one of my friends who lives in another state all about it, maybe even venting a little. She laughed at me! Some friend, huh!!

But she did remind me that we all change. We all get older. We all grow and mature. And that's ok. After I thought about it awhile, I agreed that that's all true. I'm glad I'm not the same person that's in those pictures.

I'm glad that I have more experience, more maturity, more love and more faith than I did back then. It would be nice, however, to have the figure I had back then and the energy.

I'm sure that Chad would agree that he'd like the hair he had back then, too! But, all in all, I am happy with me, right now and I don't long to be that girl in the pictures. I'm pretty happy with who she became.