Time...

Where does the time go, geez.... well it has been a long time but I just wanted to write a little bit. We are moving, finally. It took forever for orders to come in (begininng of June) and when they did come in it turns out Dwayne's next set of training does not start until the end of September. So... September 1st we are on our way to Virginia Beach for about 8 months or so and then after that time will only tell. We are very excited to see the east coast and enjoy all the new surroundings. We are so excited to continue to live about 5 minutes away from the beach, this time one with waves so I'm sure there will be some surfing in order for Dwayne. BUT... we are sad to move even further from family and friends, AND.... the offer is always there for anyone who would like to come visit.

We have had so much fun here in the Chicago area, there is so much to do and we have truely enjoyed ourselves. We plan on taking full advantage of the time we have left to see a few more things that we haven't had a chance to yet. One of the kids favorite things to do is take the train to Chicago and then ride the water taxi to Navy Pier. So we will definately be doing that at least one more time.

We just got back from our second trip to Nauvoo. Dwayne's parents had scheduled a trip to visit his brother David and his family, who live near St. Louis, so they made the trip up to see us (since unexpectedly we were still here...). It was so fun to have Grandma and Grandpa visit. The kids loved having cousins to play with and we enjoyed visiting with David and Cilia. After a fun 4th of July weekend we headed to Nauvoo (thanks for planning it Cilia). We were able to see the paegent as well as enjoy all the other activites there. We truely enjoyed seeing the sights, enjoyed a temple session (thanks David and Cilia for watching the kids), and saw a few shows (its hard with a VERY busy 15 month old). We were able to camp again, it was good to get out and use our camping gear. It was humid but we survived and enjoyed ourselves. We were also able to enjoy the pool at the hotel everyone else stayed at, it was nice to swim, cool off, and relax.

It is such an great thing to visit these places and remember the sacrifices that were made.

Hopefully I'll get some pictures posted soon.

Catchin' Up!

Wow, I can't believe its almost December!

Late May the kids and I moved to California to live with my sister Karissa and her 3 kids. Jesse, her husband had just been deployed to Afghanistan. We figured since we were both by ourselved we may as well keep each other company. We had so much fun and the kids with in a couple weeks were acting like siblings. It was good to have someone to be around who was going through the same thing. So this is my shout out to my little sister... Thanks for all the fun. Every where we went people would stare at us, it was pretty amusing. Imagine... 2 women, 2 newborns, 2 3 yr olds, a 5 yr old, and a 7 yr old. We were quite the sight!

We were able to go to Sea World, Lego Land, the beach, the fair, swimming, we took a trip to Utah for Savannah's blessing, and Yuma (man that was a long drive, cracks me up thinking about it) to see Angela as little red riding hood in 'Into the Woods'. We also went off roading after a long trip just to throw off the kids. One time in particular that makes me laugh is all the kids had a melt down in the car after we bought some doughnuts and we told them they had to wait until we got home. We also had WAY too many visits to Urgent care. Let's see it involved, 3 staples for Adelynn, 5 stitched for Nolan, a very yucky mouth virus which cause very painful mouth sores for Nolan and Keyshon, some glue on Karissa's foot because she put her foot through a glass table, and a couple yucky colds for my little baby, so sad, but its totally cracking me up thinking about it now.

Haning out at home.

Typical sight in the car on our many excursions.

Cousins and Grandpa

The 3 cousins. Kira Ann, Dallin, and Savannah

We had a blast with Greg and Angela and their family for the 4th of July

Playing in the sand

Me and my cool little man Dallin

Keyshon and Nolan

Adelynn and Kendra

Waiting for the fire works to start.

Nolan, Keyshon, and Mia silly kids!

Adelynn, Nolan, Kymani, and Keyshon at the pool

Kymani and Adelynn at the Beach

Adelynn, such a pretty girl!

Nolan and Keyshon at Legoland



the 4 kiddos at legoland


Grandma and Dallin

Boot Camp Graduation

Well lets just say being away from Dwayne for 2 months was pretty brutal. I don't know what I am going to do when he gets deployed but we've agreed to not talk about it until it could actually happen. I was originally going to take the kids with me to his graduation but in the end just Dallin and I went. It was such a good time and sooooo good to see my hubby again, I mean come on, who can resist a man in uniform :-)

Love you Dwayne and I am so proud of you!

What we do while daddy's gone...

Its bathtime almost everyday!

Another one of my little man!
My 3 little munchkins. I love you guys so much!

Zoo pics

3 of the 4 new moms. Me, Roxanne, Megan

We also went to the. It was a warm day, but the kids had a blast seeing the animals and playing in the water features they had there. Adelynn got to see her favorite animal at the moment, the Giraffe. 4 of the giraffe's came over to the fence and just stood there. It was awesome.

The zoo and my boys!

The 3 most important and amazing men in my life.

Nolan and Jaxon on the tractor. Nolan was obssesed with all of the tractors.

We had fun at the Easter pageant, this is me, Dwayne and Dallin.

Our little man, such a cutie!

Before Dwayne left he was able to spend some quality time with the kiddos. He took them to the Aqualplex and camping. He is such and awesome dad! The kids were in heaven!