My first baby girl.

Yes, I'm going to talk about my dog....

but just real quick.

Bailey has been an outdoor dog since she was 3.  When Kylie began crawling, I couldn't stand the dog and cat hair generated by her and Alby (RIP son...I know now you aren't coming home) getting on her hands and knees.  It was just gross, so outside they went.

Well, here we are 5 1/2 years later living on the surface of the sun and it would be animal neglect to have her outside, so back inside comes Bailey.  The dog hair situation hasn't changed, so I vacuum and dust mop every 24-36 hours.  I have LOT of floors to clean so its no simple task, but its okay because deep down, I do love my doggy.

Bailey is getting old so we decided to purchase her her very own orthopedic dog bed, and not just any bed, but one that was up in the triple digits in cost.  She's a Golden so its in her genes to have hip issues, and we thought this would help the transition to "indoor dog" status.

Here is her throne, complete with chew toy...

and here she lays, no where near her bed.  

We consistently have to tell her "on your bed".  She will even lay right by it!  She prefers the tile in the kitchen, I know because its cooler, or on the carpet.  We DO have nice, plush carpet so I can't blame her.  Seriously though, I would have used that money on my OWN bed.  We need a new comforter.

Um, is that a nail file!?!  Why yes it is!  Half of the downstairs is wood and we didn't want her scratching the floor, especially because we don't own the house yet.  We tried using soft paws, but that was a joke.  She'd spend hours chewing them off.  It only helped me find her poop in the back yard easier because it was speckled with hot pink.

So we finally gave up, carefully removed the few she failed in taking off herself, and Jonathan used my last nail file to give the dog a pedicure.  She thoroughly enjoyed the attention and now has the softest nails in the house.

Bailey does love being inside.  The kids have played with her much more than when she was outside and Bailey gets in on the evening wrestling matches.

She runs circles around the dog pile and barks her little head off!

It is obvious she is trying to protect the girls, but refuses to hurt Jonathan.  I still remember back when I was pregnant with Kylie and Jonathan and I were goofing around and I sat down on the ground laughing (I needed to take a seat because I was 40 lbs heavier!) and Bailey backed up, sat IN MY LAP and barked at Jonathan.  She even nipped at his rear end!  He wasn't hurting me, but she was being protective.

And no, she will NOT end up back in our bed.  She's not an 8lb puppy anymore!

Anderson Dairy

We took another field trip with the military play group to the local dairy in town.  There are no cows, however they do make all sorts of food in the "dairy" food group on their property.  The tour of the dairy was really short and I am quite certain there wasn't much learned by the kids, except there is a scary, stinky smoke machine that goes off near the freezer section of the tour, but more importantly, they get free ice cream.

Walking in

Watching the talking cow.

Milk!

They did listen intently, but again, I know they are thinking "where's the ice cream".

SCORE!

Cookies & Cream.  Even the mommies got to indulge.

After the tour, I asked Kylie "so what's in ice cream".  She'd always respond with 2 of the 3 correct ingredients...she'd say "milk, sugar and butter" or "milk, sugar and cheese".  Gross honey.  Its milk, sugar and cream.

A decent smile out of everyone, and faces towards the camera....a good day.

Children's Museum

Mindi purchased an annual pass to the Lied Children's Museum in town, and the cool thing is that in addition to herself, she can bring along 7 people.  So, the girls and I get to tag along for free!  It didn't work out on our first visit due to sleepy kids, but I'll most likely pick up Starbucks for she and I as a "thank you" for the free entertainment.

I have not been to many children's museums, so I'm not very experienced in the area, but this one was very cool.  It had lots of great activities and the kids never got bored.  They got tired and therefore didn't act like the sweet princesses I know are were just dying to come out, so when tears began to flow, it was time to leave. 

There was a big rope maze that they had to move from start to finish.  Mindi caught either Kylie or Ava (can't remember which one) unattaching them self when they got tangled up, but after we told them to quit cheating, they got the hang of it!  It was like an immunity challenge on Survivor!

The kid sized grocery store was a hit!  I won't lie, it got to be quite chaotic!

Don't let the fruit and veggies fool you ...there is ice cream hiding in the bottom of her basket.

Mindi's little Drew ringing someone up.

Next it was onto the mechanic shop.  I'm not quite sure this is exactly what I had in mind for my daughters future career.

Changing out the noisy muffler.

The bubble section was awesome.  The bubbles worked every time...not like the lame ones you get at the dollar store and the cheap-o wand never makes good bubbles!

Inside a giant bubble!!

She would have given anything for that hose to work so she could squirt me right in the kisser!

They had a big stage and lots of dress up clothes-but of COURSE they wore nothing but princess stuff.

Inside the hurricane wind tunnel.  The wind got up to 80mph.  Should have brought our brushes!

Mindi in with the kids.  She has pic of Juliet and I....Juliet was NOT a fan!

The singing room helped perk up a few grouchy gals.  And yes, every one of my kids chose to put their mouths on the microphone!!!  I told them to back it away from their mouth, but it was like a moth to a flame.  SICK!!  

And I think I'd rather them be singers in the future over mechanics.

Kylie Stuff

Kylie is the only one of our girls that regularly (maybe 3 times a month) comes into our room during the night scared because of a bad dream.  She whimpers on either side of our bed until we wake up and ask her "what's wrong".  She'll sadly say "I had a bad dream".  She then gets to snuggle in our bed on her daddy's side, because I do not sleep well with the kids, then daddy tells her to go back to bed, and she always goes.  Well, this happened a few nights ago and the next day Jonathan asked her about her dream.  They were on the couch talking and I was in the kitchen and I overheard what she said.  I looked up, horrified!  Without going into detail, certain family members were on fire and another had body parts missing.  We have zero idea where something like that came from, but obviously she has seen something that lead her down that path of thinking.  SO NOW, my sweet little 1st born wants nothing to do with her own bedroom.  NOTHING!!!  She begged and pleaded two nights ago to be able to sleep with her sisters and after some tears were shed, we gave in.  So now we have all 3 girls piled in one room (on air beds because we still have not closed on our house and refuse to have our stuff delivered until then) and we need to explore how we are going to set up their room.  Kylie could care less that she'd have her own room, WITH PURPLE WALLS, and her own bathroom that we promised her she can decorate when we move in permanently, but she doesn't want to.  We reminded her that she was so excited to have her own room because her sister snores and it wakes her up, but she didn't care.  Now she's in with both sisters, who both snore, and she's sharing a bed with Ava, but she doesn't care.  Obviously not owning this house yet has been a blessing in disguise because we've yet to buy her a bed.  We're guessing it is now going to involve bunk beds.  Thankfully we still have a little bit of time and we'll see if she changes her mind again, but eventually a decision will be made and there will be no going back.

Kylie also insists to us that she wants to be a chef when she grows up.  We haven't actually cooked much together since her new found passion began because my kitchen isn't conducive to kid help yet, but she talks about it a lot.  She asks during the day to watch Food Network, so I usually let her.  She told me the other day that her restaurant is going to have chicken and she proceeded to tell me the kinds of chicken that would be on the menu.  I know this all stems from "The Princess and the Frog" because Tiana, the princess, likes to cook and its her dream to open her own restaurant.  This is the movie that ALL my girls can quote by heart...pretty much the entire movie.

Kylie (dressed up like Mary) and Juliet watching "Paula Deen's Home Cooking".

First Air Force Friends

The Betzold family made their way down from Idaho to California (smart people!) and made a detour to come see us on the tail end of their vacation.  Last we saw them was when they were stationed at Hill AFB in Utah and we were in Idaho.  Casey and Jamy were our very first Air Force friends.  Jonathan and Casey both were sent to Nellis for "casual status" immediately upon their commissioning back in 2001.  Casey and Jamy had been married a little over a year (us about 6 weeks) and had their baby son, Andrew.  We became fast friends back during the time of 9/11 (Jamy and I hung out in their apartment together, freaking out, while the guys went to work on base, not knowing what to expect)...back when we were all poor as dirt on our husbands teeny tiny 2nd Lieutenant salary so we hardly ever went out (once we did go to Olive Garden, and another night they got a sitter and we went to the top of the Rio to the Voo Doo lounge then to a club called "The Beach") so we filled our nights with board games, usually Pictionary...back when the transmission on Jonathan's car died and we borrowed their truck, because they had 2 cars and we only had 1 at the time.  We had our first Thanksgiving as a couple with them and we then followed them to Columbus, Mississippi for pilot training where Jamy and I would go for walks around base at night and stop off at the shoppette to buy a candy bar to eat on the way back to our homes.

The girls so badly wanted Alivia (7) to stay for a sleep over and talked non stop about her the next day.  Sadly we directed them to the Aliante Station hotel down the road since we cannot accommodate guests yet on our home.  They had so much fun together!

The kids gathered around our giant kitchen table for dessert.  

Their son, Andrew, is now 10.  He was just 1 when we first met him and he was the sweetest baby!  I wanted to have kids immediately after meeting him, but we decided to get Alby instead (who clearly did NOT want to go back to Vegas since he's still on his adventure).

Jamy and I.

Casey thinks he'll be in town next January for a business trip so they are hoping to leave their kids with grandparents and come hang out with us again.  Since we all are making a tad more money these days, maybe we'll splurge and go to Olive Garden for dinner, or maybe we'll just stay in and play board games.

Chuck E Cheese

There is a military play group in town I joined and the first event we went to with them was Chuck E Cheese's.  I never went to a Chuck E Cheese as a kid, rather Showbiz Pizza.  Does anyone else remember it? 

It's been so dang hot that we can do absolutely nothing outside unless it involves a pool, so I thought it would be fun to fork out some cash and go to Chuck E Cheese's.  Every game was only one token, which I thought was awesome!  I got 50 tokens for $10 and that was PLENTY of tokens for games for the kids.  Mindi had coupons (of course) to get tokens for even cheaper as well as free tickets to redeem for prizes, so between the 2 of us, our girls had lots of fun.  It was certainly chaos, but thankfully Mindi's mom was there to lend another set of eyes.

So I guess this is all the animatronics now a days.  I was hoping to see an entire band, but just one little mouse was it!  This was no Rockafire Explosion.

The Pretties in Pink on a motorcycle thingy.

Juliet and Barney-she has no idea who he is (because he's not a Disney Princess).

So, uh, do you know what you are doing?

Serious concentration!

Juliet and Mindi competing...Mindi doesn't mess around even if its against a 2 year old.

A little water gun action.

The ticket eating machine was more fun than the games!  When all was said and done, we walked away with 3 blingy princess rings 6 sheets of stickers.  I'm sure we'll go back, but we were told to avoid this place on Friday nights as well as weekends...will do!

Grandpa Bob~1933-2010

The last time I saw my grandpa was back in 2006.  He and his wife Linda came to Idaho to visit the girls, Jonathan and I on one of their camping adventures.  They stayed in the Mtn. Home RV park and we took them to seen an F15.  Kylie is just a little over 2 here, and I don't have a photo of Ava with grandpa because, well, back in her younger days, she didn't really like anyone who wasn't me or her daddy.  Juliet wasn't in the picture until 2007.  They never got to meet each other.

I've never watched anyone die.  Watching the last few hours of my grandpas life was not only a spiritual experience (thankfully he knew his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and is in Heaven with Him) but one that made me realize how precious life is and how wonderful both family and friends are in my life

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My mom sent me a text early Thursday morning that grandpa was in the hospital and that he was unconscious and that the docs were running tests to figure out what was going on.  He had fallen the night before and was at the hospital in Carson City.  My mom continued to keep me posted throughout the next 48 hours....with no news yet.

Saturday morning while the kids, Jonathan and I were out running errands, my mom called and said things were not looking good for my grandpa.  She told me what the tests revealed-a Pulmonary Embolism-and that he probably wasn't going to make it. If the family wanted to come see him and say goodbye, they needed to come NOW.  Suddenly, his life was coming to a screeching halt.

We drove home immediately and over the next few hours, we decided to get in the car and all 5 of us drove to Carson City. A few tragic events have happened since Jonathan and I have been together and for one reason or another, I wasn't able to be home for them.  Since we were within driving distance, it was an easy choice.  We left at 3:15pm and got up there around 10:45.  I didn't really know what to think on the drive up.  It was nice having the girls as a distraction, whether it be to stop to use the potty or to change out their movie.  The drive up was quite beautiful and I just started to think more about my Creator.  I let my mom know we had arrived and I'd see her in the morning (she and my dad as well as my Aunt Val and Uncle Tom would be making their way up from San Diego on Sunday morning) but she told me she and my dad were on the road and they had a long night ahead of them.  They got to CC Saturday morning and around lunch time, we all headed to the hospital.  My aunt and uncle were a few hours away.

 Linda's son explained to us in more detail what had happened to my grandpa when we got to the ICU.

My grandpa had back surgery back on January 12th of this year and over the last 3 months, the pain wasn't getting any better, in fact it was worse.  Because of his severe pain, he wasn't getting up and exercising like he should have been.  Linda told us that he would spend his days moving from the bed, to the kitchen table, to his chair in the living room and back to bed.  He developed blood clots in his legs due to being sedentary and the night of Wednesday, July 7th, a blood clot "broke free" when he got up and went into the kitchen and caused a pulmonary embolism.  After he fell, too much damage was done to his brain.  My grandpa had a "do not resuscitate"order and after the family had said their goodbyes, they were going to be taking him off the machines that were life supporting.  He was still breathing on his own, but tests showed that my grandpa was not going to come back.

We left the hospital and went back to the hotel so everyone could rest.  I called my sister (she was back in CA and could not come on such late notice due to school and work) and after talking to her, my dad called and said they were taking grandpa off his machines.  Jonathan stayed at the hotel with the girls as they napped and my dad and I got to the hospital within seconds of each other.  My aunt and uncle arrived a few moments later and it was very hard to watch my aunt say goodbye to her dad.  It was nice seeing my grandpa no longer hooked up to all sorts of tubes and machines and he looked much more peaceful but with every breath I wondered if it would be his last.  The nurse taking care of him, Donna, was super sweet and was very caring towards my grandpa.  She told us that he could die within an hour or even up to a day later.  We hung around for about 2 hours...crying, praying, talking and even joking every now and then.  Everyone kept telling grandpa he needed to "go", but he hung on.  It was getting close to shift change and we were going to be asked to leave while the nurses passed on info to the incoming nurses, so we all left and went to dinner.

We left Monday morning, the 12th, to head back to Vegas.  My grandpa had made it through the night.  He was such a fighter!  My mom went and saw her dad one last time on Monday morning, and after a few more hours of family hanging around him, they left for lunch.  A few moments after everyone was out of the room, my grandpa breathed his last breath.

I've got a few memories of my grandpa that I'll cherish---I can picture the home he used to live in before moving up north and we'd go there for Easter and hunt eggs around his yard.  I remember he gave us Cabbage Patch dolls when we were kids for Christmas.  I remember the fake fire place in his home, as well as the squeaky floor in his bathroom and the wall paper on the wall in the dining room where we ate for holidays.  It was an outdoor scene-very green with trees...like a forest.  He always smelled of cologne-very manly, and I loved it!  When I was learning to drive, they let me drive their white Mazda SUV and I tried starting it when it was already running and it made an awful sound!  When he came to visit us in Idaho, he gave Jonathan a book about John Boyd, a famous US Air Force fighter pilot.  My grandpa was also in the Air Force back in the 50s before my mom and aunt were born.  He went to field training at Lackland AFB in Texas (where Jonathan went too...only 46 years earlier), and was stationed in Fairbanks, AK as well as Great Falls, MT as a crew chief.  He wasn't in for very long-my grandma told me he didn't like being gone for 4 months, then home for 3 or 4, then gone again, etc and my grandma had a hard time getting a job in Montana because she was a military wife and her status in town wasn't permanent so no one would hire her.  He got out of the service after a few years and he and my grandma moved back to southern California where he began his career as a police officer. (Thank you grandma for sharing all this with me).

His life after that wasn't perfect...none of ours are.  However, because of the choices he made, my grandma met my grandpa Bill, my mom met my dad, and my aunt met my uncle and our family is what it is today.  But the best thing is that he came to know Jesus later in life and today he is in Heaven with Him, which according to the scriptures, is where God wants all His children to be someday.  He is where I will be one day too.