Christmas 2010

Quick Recap of Christmas 2010 - Mark arrived here in Virginia a few days before Christmas and we surprised Max at his school with Santa "delivering" Mark in a huge box for him to unwrap in the lobby of his school. This surprise took lots of planning and a few phone calls to the North Pole but, it all worked out! We enjoyed having Justin with us throughout the holidays as well. The boys are all getting so big!!

Baby Jesus Watch Guards

This past weekend we drove out to Winchester to find our Christmas tree, decorations, lights, etc. We were able to find most of what we were looking for and once I got everything up to the apartment, Max says, "mom you are really strong!"

Tonight for FHE, we covered the baby Jesus story. Thanks to a friend who shared a tradition with us a few years ago, I am having Max lay a piece of rafia in our version of a cradle / manger every time he does a kind deed. Then, when baby Jesus comes on Christmas morning, he will have a soft place to lay his his head, etc. After I got Max to sleep tonight, I came back in to the living room to find that the army guys were on night watch for baby Jesus! I love it. I'm so grateful for those who are on night watch in Afghanistan. May there be peace among the land tonight.

Walking Pace

I realize that I have not been working full time outside the home for several years now but, I truly believed that I have a decent walking pace. And, I very well may. BUT, the walking pace in Washington DC / Metro stops is incredible. I see people every day passing me up in high heels, military boots, sneakers, flats, slip-on shoes, etc. I realized quickly that I am not going to attempt the walk from garage to metro, metro to the office and back in heels so I'm either in sneakers or in flats. And yet, I am still getting passed up! I've decided it must be my stride afterall, I do have short legs! So here's to picking up the pace and burning a few more calories!

Spanish Speaking Max

Tonight I took Max with me to vote (always a privilege). Afterwards, we came home and as I was fixing dinner I heard him singing:

Buenos dias
Buenos dias
Como estas
Como estas
Muy bien
Muy bien
Gracias
Gracias

Sung to Frarijacka (sp?) ... I think the third line is muy bien ... but, he is still singing and currently in the bath tub. Love it! Soon I'll have no idea what he is saying!

Halloween & the ER

Sunday morning Max woke up with a swollen face (right side), crying in pain and a fever! So, off to the ER we went to find out what was going on. I figured there was an ear infection in there but, why was his face swollen? Sure enough, the ear infection was well on the way, his right tonsil was inflamed, and some lymph node in the cheek was inflamed and holding on the infection which was swollen and causing the majority of the pain. Just as the doctor was checking him out, Mark called so I was able to fill him in on everything that was happening. Thank heavens for antibiotics and Motrin to the rescue.

I had not planned on having Max go trick or treating since it was Sunday and really we don't need any more candy .... he was happy to put his costume on and answer the door. He must have asked me a dozen times, when are the trick or treaters coming mom? Finally between 7 and 8 pm we had about 15 kids come through. A little different from the 400 we used to get in Winchester.

Today I had to take the day off ... which I was bummed about because I am trying to save all my time for January when Mark comes home, to take Max back to his Dr's to see if there was improvement. Thank heavens the med's are helping. We'll be back to school and work tomorrow as he is not contagious! Despite pain, vomiting, fever, strep throat tests (otherwise known as the stick in the throat test) Max still managed to have some fun on Halloween.

Halloween Week 2010

We have been celebrating halloween all week long! Max has participated in two trunk or treats, a halloween party and parade at school, three trips to pumpkin patches, painted pumpkins for our front porch and ate a yummy scary pumpkin pancake for breakfast this morning! Here are some pictures of all the adventures!

Pancakes with Halloween Faces ... yummy whip cream & candy corn

Beautiful Fall Flowers & Pumpkins

Maxs' ghost face!

Pumpkin Faces!

We saw some pretty interesting looking pumpkins


VERY BIG pumpkins!

Still with the ghost face ...

Really unattractive pumpkins...

White pumpkins ...

Blue pumpkins ...

Having fun climbing all over the pumpkins

Scary tunnels to climb through

And the scariest of them all .... "The Master" otherwise known at Darth Vader!

Tonight we are watching The Nightmare Before Christmas to finish out our scary week! Happy Halloween to all and enjoy eating your kids treats!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Tippets!

Grandpa Tippets celebrated his 73rd birthday this past week while he was here in Virginia. We celebrated with yummy Pumpkin Pie from Costco and of course his best little buddy, Max was so excited to help Grandpa open up his present! Grandpa received a digital photo frame that had TONS of pictures from Scott & Angela and our camera that were taken this past summer in New York. A fun way to see lots of pictures all the time without taking up too much space! Great idea Angela!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

I'm Thankful For ...

This past monday night we had a family home evening lesson on "I'm Thankful For" with Grandma & Grandpa Tippets. We wrote down various things we were thankful for, taped them to leaves and placed them all around our fireplace. We taught Max that when we say our prayers, sometimes, we can just tell Heavenly Father everything that we are grateful for and not ask for any blessings. We went through lots and lots of blessings, from toys, indoor plumbing, family, gospel, airplanes, swimming pools, good health, etc.

Tonight after work, Max and I went to Michaels to get a couple of things for our wards trunk or treat party tomorrow night. While there, somehow Max convinced me to get him a new light sabor for halloween. Tonight while saying his prayers, Max told Heavenly Father, thank you for the "best light sabor in his entire life!" I had to hold back a little chuckle but, at least he is getting the concept for thankfulness and gratitude.

Here are some of our "fall thankful" leaves.

Oh So Long ... Again!

My blogging days may be coming to an end. I seem to run out of energy or time pretty early these days ... then I feel guilty! Ughh.

Our life has taken us back to Alexandria, Virginia and I started work full time at the end of September. I left Wyoming back on Labor Day and drove across the country by myself leaving Max with mom and dad Tippets. The drive was not bad ... the start of 4 weeks of setting our life back up. I listened to books on CD and the time really went quickly. I stopped in Ohio for a day and a half to visit with Scott, Angela and the kids. I had fun helping Angela with Scentsy then later that night we all went to watch Makenah in the marching band at her high school football game.

Once I arrived in the Virginia, my priority was to find us a place to live. I wanted to come back to Kingstowne since I would be close to the metro and I still have friends in this area who could help me with Max if necessary. I found us a great little apartment and then a few days later, I found a great school for Max to go to. The school opens up at 6:30 am and closes at 6:30 pm. They feed him breakfast, snack, lunch and an afternoon snack. He is learning Spanish, making new friends and enjoying his new routine. Once I secured our new apartment, next came the moving and storage units. Thanks to three wonderful men from Winchester, we were able to load a 17' U-haul truck COMPLETELY full and get it all moved to the 3rd floor. I was grateful that none of us passed out or had a heart attack that day but, I'm SURE we all lost 10 lbs that day! Multiple trips back and forth to Winchester and finally our apartment was starting to feel like home. (Note: we still have 4 storage units!) Three walls painted, pictures hung, curtains up and food in the cupboards ... all ready for Max & G&G Tippets to fly out!

I was soo excited to have family come! They arrived at Dulles airport around 12 midnight which made for a very short night. My alarm goes off around 5:15 am and I'm on the metro by 7 am. Early and long days .... makes bedtime an early welcome!

Mark continues his work in Afghanistan and has both good & bad days. His co-workers are getting ready to turn-over once again. His first commander from a year ago is coming back by the end of the month and will be there with him until next summer. Mark is excited to have him coming back and really enjoyed working with him. In the mean while, we are still trying hard to find him a full time job here in the states. Hopefully, we can find him something soon ... even if it means coming home early.

Mom and dad Tippets went on a cruise to New England and enjoyed some wonderful fall foliage. After their cruise they came back to Virginia and we celebrated dad's 73rd birthday. We had a wonderful pumpkin pie from Costco and enjoyed it ALL weekend. They are now back in Utah and of course we are missing them.

Life is running at a fast pace. Max is 4 1/2 years old and learning SOO much. He has an incredible memory and wants to know so much information. Every night he asks me to tell him a story about Heavenly Father, Jesus & the Holy Ghost. Then recently he will ask me to tell him about when Jesus died on the cross. He is so curious and learns so well. I am so proud of him and I'm so glad he is here with me. I'm sure I could not be getting through these days without him. We miss Mark terribly and count the months until he is home again.

Toy Gun Holster Production

Yesterday we went to Afton to pick up a GPS that I could use on my trip across country next week. While we were there Max found several toy guns that he wanted. Once I convinced him that we had no room in the car for the kind of gun "that the army guys use to protect dad" we settled on the $1.49 pistol. He is on high alert on guns these days since the other day a skunk got in to one of my dads traps here in our yard and Grandpa had to shoot and kill it.... another whole stinky story! When we got home, Grandpa thought long and hard on how he could design and make a holster for Maxs' new gun. After some thought, Grandpa cut out the pocket of some old jeans, had Grandma sew it together, add an extra belt loop, add a little cardboard to help make the gun slide in easy and wa-laaa ... you have a fantastic gun holster for a 4 1/2 year old! See detailed pictures below. My thought was, somehow, I have got to configure this all in to this years Halloween costume!

Production at the kitchen table.

Adding the right size of cardboard for a perfect fit!

Grandpa adjusting the holster with belt.


Ta-da! Finished product!

Gun & Holster in use .... of course only at snakes, spiders, ants, flowers & trees!

Such a happy boy ...

Oh the joy ...

PS - I did convince Max to leave the gun & holster on the table for bedtime last night vs. sleeping with it all! These are the moments we'll miss once we are back in Virginia!

August R&R ... Good News!

We had a quick trip back to Virginia to spend 10 days with him while he was doing his medical tests for his 9 month extension. While we were there we got to visit with many friends, go to the national zoo, go to a water park, visit our storage units, play a competitive game of Risk, visit with Justin, go swimming at our hotels, visit the Natural History Museum, eat Godiva chocolate, visit Tyson Corner mall, ride the metro, oh .... and visit the FBI building in downtown DC! In fact, during our trip to the FBI office building ... I had a job interview and was hired! What a surprising week for all of us!

My new career with the FBI will begin at the end of September and I can hardly wait! I will be SOO busy in the next four weeks as I will start my drive back out to Virginia, find us a place to live, line up pre-school, go through storage units and set up our home! Max will hang out with Grandpa & Grandma for a few weeks until I can get ready for him to come out. Mark is working his way back to base and will work for another 9 months if all goes well with his tour orders. While we are sad to say good-bye once again, we are planning to see him for Christmas or early January depending on his schedule.

We got to see ..... Lions at the National Zoo...

Dinsosaur bones ... Max inside the head

Maxs' favorite Old Testament story ... Daniel & Lions Den ... he was so excited to these guys!

Eating pizza with Justin at California Pizza Kitchen ....

Mark & Max at Chili's ... eating out for 11 days total does get a little old!

Swimming! We did lots of swimming at our hotels & at Water Mine, a park in Reston.

Lots of fun in our hotel room and lots of great cuddle time with dad!

Max & Mark enjoying lots of loves!

We Are Off ...

Tomorrow Max & I are headed to Virginia to spend the next 12 days with Mark. This is sort of an unexpected trip so we are very excited. Mark has decided to extend his tour in Afghanistan for another 9 months. Because of the extension, Mark is required to complete another series of medical tests and doctor visits. So this trip will involve visiting several different doctors but, we are still happy for the visit. This extension will take us through mid-June of next year. We have many reasons for the extension but the biggest two are financial and no job state-side. We are still hopeful that a job will come to us and we continue to apply for jobs weekly for both Mark & I. In the meanwhile, we are grateful for the job Mark does have and will continue to pray for the employment blessing here in the states and for Mark's safety. We are also hoping to see Justin while we are in Virginia. He should be returning from Canada this week so hopefully we can visit with him later this week. Until we get back on the 27th ... enjoy your weeks!

Oh sooo Good ....

Our second picking from the raspberry bushes this week. Oh how they tasted SO good on ice cream tonight. Wish you were to have some with us!

ATV Riding - Greys River, Wyoming

Yesterday, Dad treated me to an ATV ride up the Greys River Canyon. We went with 6 others and met up with 3 other couples along the way. This was my first time driving an ATV and we were out for 6 hours! Today .... I had some sore muscles! Mostly in my back and arms - I would imagine from holding on! I got my machine up to 36 mph and that was plenty fast for me! We got rained on for about 20 minutes or so but, for the most part we had a beautiful day. I was surprised how "exposed" I felt ... meaning no seat belt, windshield, and how cold it was! Thankfully I had on four layers ... as you can see below I was a little bundled up! The ride was beautiful and a lot of fun! I'll definitely have to add this to a must-do with Mark. Here are some of the pictures I took along the ride.

Lincoln County Fair - Best of Show!

Last week we went over to Afton for the Lincoln County Fair. The fair lasts all week long with so many things to see and do! Each city has a "booth" that members of the community can enter various items in to be judged. Everything from blankets, quilts, weavings, vegetables, flowers, food of every kind, photography, etc. Dad entered his Wyoming Cowboy lap blanket and won blue ribbon along with Best of Show! We spent plenty of money on rides and later that night we went to the horse pull competition. This was a first for both me & Max. There were three categories of horses, light weight, medium & heavy weight. The horses started out pulling 3000 lbs and then after each group of horses completed that weight another 500 or 1000 lbs were added. The heavy weight horses pulled over 7000 lbs of weight! It was amazing to see these horses hard at work .... and for what? The owners of the horses received a belt buckle ... but dad says the real reward is the bragging rights for the next year! Here are some pictures from our day at the fair.

Horse pull - the horses pull a sleigh full of the weights

placed by the local high school wrestling team.

These horses are warming up.
So Max could not ride the ferris wheel by himself, so mom climbed on too!

Merry go' round.

The train ... Max had a blast! He rode it 4 times!

They had a live animal area - some could be petted - some not!

Turtles & lizard - max did touch both.

Alligator

And last but not least ... BEST OF SHOW!

Congrat's Grandpa Tippets!

This blanket (along with all of dad's creations) are done on sticks. Check out his new blog site that he is getting up & running! Western Weaver