Clint and His Promotion

For those who know us they know we have been in the Army for a long time. CLint joined the National Guard two years before we got married. He stayed in that for another year and a half or so. When we found out we were pregnant with our Tim we decided that the choice to make would be to go Active Duty so we would have a steady paycheck and good medical coverage. ;) So we did that. At that time Clint was an E4. We entered Ft hood, Texas June of 1999. In December we had Tim. We were at Fort hood for the next five and a half years. In December of 2005 We reported to Baumholder Germany. Upon arriving we learned Clint was on the list for e-5. That was fantastic news. For three years we stayed in Germany. Diring that time while Clint was deplyed in 2005 he went to the E6 board. He has been promotable ever since. We are admin you see so you have to have the maximum ammount of points to get promoted. When we arrived here in New York part of the plan was to do an exchange of military experience to college credits so that Clint could finally get promoted. It is about $250 to do this. Well Clint deployed again in August and the first of September turned in his stuff to NCI. He got it back and would earn more then enough credits to max out the points for E6. he did the point evaluation last month. So now the big unvailing. On the first of December Clint will be pinned a SSG and E6. I am so proud of him. I am so proud of all his accomplishments. i appreciate his dedication and the way he tries so hard for our family. I just wanted to share this with you. Enjoy your weeks and remember to let love fill your lives always!

The Goal

So I have set a new goal. After all the fun pictures from the past two months I have made a decision. I am going on a diet. I just do not like to look in the mirror right now. I do not like curves that are not supposed to be there and marks that are not supposed to be there so I am going to change it. I have set some specific goals to be able to accomplish my 40 pound weightloss goal. Those are I am cutting sugar. I am not drinking soda, or at least trying to have very little of it. I am cutting portion sizes and am watching for signs I am full. I am also doing at least 30 minutes of exercise daily and makeing sure I take I multivitamin and get my water too. I think I can do this. I have plenty of time but am starting with no excises now. Hope I do well. I will journal my progress in my blog here so if you are interested you can come here and see how far I have come. Since starting this at the beginning of the week I am down just over a pound. I think that is a good start although it may just be water weight but it makes me feel better anyhow. Votes of encouragement from those of you reading would help so do not hesitate to tell me what you think. Anyhow so that is it. Have a lovely day. Be Healthy and Be Happy!!!

Thoughts on a Beautiful Thursday

Clint has now been deployed for about five or six weeks. We are doing well. The boys are on a routine and life is not too bad. It is interesting to me that most of the time we do just fine, but other times we just really do miss our Daddy and husband. The nights I think are the worst, when the boys are long gone to bed and I just want to talk to someone. Sometimes I write in my journal, other times I just sit and think, sometimes I find solace in my scriptures. Each day is different. Each is an adventure. I think I am doing well, but I think I miss Clint more during this deployment then other times. I do not know what the difference is, but I think it is just that I have been through it quite a few times and know how long twelve months really truly is. The boys are older in this one so they have been quite a big help although I know it is very hard for them too.
I made it to the bus stop today on time. The kids did not whine at all. They cleaned up their breakfast, brushed their teeth and got ready for the day. They were even smiling nd laughing. Makes me realize how strong my family has truly become through it all. Now if I could just get myself motivated on those not so lovely days we would be golden.
My brother had a baby girl on the 22nd in the wee hours of the morning. I am an aunt again. Not that that has anything to do with Clint's deployment but it does help me to recognize God's hand in our life. ..... A couple weeks ago on a Sunday we had Ward Conference. Talk about needing to be there. For those of us who have children and husbands gone we feel at times it may be easier to sleep in. That was the case that Sunday. Steven and Timothy however would not hear of it. They wanted to be at church so off we went. I think the Spirit works through my boys on me sometimes because my head is too hard to get through. Our Stake President and his councellor were speaking. I have never met President Mulchek before, but I was truly amazed. I have really watched people in my life. I look at auras and can just feel a strong spirit. Well I looked up at the podium and all I can tell you is this wonderful righteous man glowed. He glowed so bright I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I took off my glasses and rubbed my eyes to make sure. No they were fine, it was him. I usually do not take notes at church, but felt inspired to do so. His message was just what I needed. It was that Forever really is not so far away. I needed that. I needed that experience. After sacrament President Mulchek went around and shook every person's hand. Amazing! He was so sincere and so loving and we all knew it. I know that I needed to be at church that Sunday. I needed to feel that spirit. I needed to know that I really did not have to wait so long to have forever with my family. I also had an interview with President Gilchrist his councellor after church. Just another wonderful amazing man that made me feel at ease as I renewed my recommend and once again felt my Heavenly Father's love. Anyhow I do not know why I decided to blog this, but I did. I am so grateful for a Father in Heaven who loves me and lets me be happy and inspired when I need to be, even when I do not feel like I need it.
Well so that is my thoughts for the day. I am going to go make cookies for my boys now. I would like to have a nice sweet afternoon when they return from school. We shall surely see.;)

Pics of Adirondack Camping Village in Lake George, Ny

So all of these pictures are part of Our R and R adventures. We went camping in the Adirondacks and had so much fun we did not want to come home.

Just Five More Minutes That's All!

So today was just one of those days at least the beginning of it was. Started out that way. Let me tell you about it. Okay so my alarm normally goes off at 6:40AM. I must have been tired from the previous day so it was hard to wake up. i decided I would sort of stretch and doze for just five more minutes. After all I do this all the time. I dozed off and then unfortunately I was really tired and fell into a deep slunmber. The phone rang at 7:10 Am. Thankfully Tim heard it and I got it. It was Clint calling before he went to get his mail. I am so grateful he called. We would not have woken up and since the boys' bus now comes at 8:05Am they needed to get up or they would not have had time to make it. Lovely isn't it. I got the boys to the bus just in time. Some mores were getting a good giggle and they have all decided to ask me each day what I have going on for the day so I do not forget and I get to the places I need to be on time. We shall sure see.
i am so grateful for Clint that he will call and check on me when he knows I have just had a hard day and may need help to get a move on. I am grateful Tim heard the phone ring and I am glad that after that incident the day has ran incredibly smoothly.

Forgotten Appointments

So I think I am forgetting my mind lately seriously. Having major issues with the memory. So today was quite a busy day and will only get busier, funny thing is that as of yesterday at 8 pm I thought it would be boring, easy going and all out dull. When did it becaome so lively? Last night at 9:30 pm the missionaries called. Funny thing really, occured right then i remembered that I signed up to feed the missionaries. Oopsie, but that is not the half of it. At that moment a few other memories came to my mind. I suddenly remembered I had a primary presidency meeting scheduled at my house as well as lunch at 11:30AM. Well that is not too bad too appointments I had forgotten about but there was more. I had forgotten that I also had an appointment for visiting teaching, this one I did not remember until I pulled my roster out at the presidency meeting. I had written the appointment on the roster. Gosh that was a smart one wasn't it. Then as I am putting the roster away I see my message light is on on the cell phone so i check it right quick. I forgot that Tim had an appointment at the dentist at 9 AM this morning and they called to tell me that they wee worried that I was going to miss it only I never checked it until my meeting. HaHa! Now do you think I have the worst memory ever. I bet you do? Here are the other two forgotten appointments. I forgot that I had told a friend i was going to walk our twelve mile trek this morning. Good thing it rained so I did not overlap that one. The last forgotten appointment is the visiting teaching and I hope that it does not overlap dinner with the missionaries. Life is crazy when you are having fun. Maybe that is it or maybe it is just that Clint is gone so I have no one to remind me that my head holds my brain and it really does sit on my shoulders. Anyhow lets hope I do not forget something else this week. Do not count on it though, we all know I am not a miracle worker.