Birthday Wishes

OK I'm not going to post pictures of me growing up. That would take too long. Especially since I would first have to obtain them from my parents.  First they'd have to find them. Then they would have to scan them in the computer and knowing them, they would post them on myfamily.com after touching them all up and then they would send them to me when they would get around to it. So I'll just wait until they do it on their own, or not and I will then inherit them. Anyway, today I had lots of wishes come true. First of all, I have been pretty sick the last few days. This morning I felt well enough to attempt work. Well, while there I kept wishing I could go home because I wasn't feeling well and my boss could tell, so he told me to go home early on him since it was my birthday and I must have looked pathetic. (Especially when he took us to Macaroni Grill for lunch and I couldn't eat much). Then I started driving home, where the storm hadn't started in Woodbridge yet, but was in full force in Manassas. Andrea being the good friend she is, advised me to stop somewhere. But, it was coming my way anyway and I just wanted to get home. So, I wished I would make it home, and I did as it ended. The worst part was on the Parkway, but it was fine, just drive slow with everyone else and turn on your flashers. Then later, Andrea answered my wish for help with my blog. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Andrea for the bloggercoutoure gift. I love it. I'm trying to fix my blog up now, so they have something to work with. Have to pull some things together picturewise too. I don't have any of Chris and myself recently though.  The last wish,  I really wanted Scouts to be cancelled tonight because it was Court of Honor and I felt like I needed to go since Brandon was earning his Life Award. I really was not feeling well. Felt like I needed to be close to the bathroom again. And guess what!! Scouts was cancelled due to power outages!!! Yeah!!! So, I stayed home in bed, relaxing, fixing my blog and drinking my Sprite from McDonald's (because I needed to feed my kids and couldn't think of food, so Kyle drove and I sat in the passenger seat) So there you have it my birthday wishes. How exciting is that?

 Oh, I almost forgot. One more wish. My room has been so hot lately. The fan has been on, I kept waking up in the middle of the night HOT. I tried turning the AC higher, but would just get colder everywhere else, so turned it back. Kyle was hanging out with me tonight and thought it was strange that my thermostat was reading 89 degrees in my room with the fan on and the AC on, so things clicked in his head that the fan was going the wrong direction. So he flipped the switch, and it started snowing in my room. MIRACULOUS!! Oh wait, that was not snow it was dust bunnies flying off the fan. GROSS!! But, the fan now goes faster too AND it is down to 76 in here now. Much better!! Thank you Kyle!

Blog frustrations

So, I've decided I am never changing my template ever again. Someone else is going to have to do it for me. I was sick today, so stayed home from work and thought I would give it a shot. What the heck, you back it up, you can always retrieve it, right??? WRONG!!! I backed it up, but it won't post my links to anything on the side anymore.  So, now I'm sick AND frustrated, AND a year older (tomorrow). How depressing. Any suggestions on how to retrieve my information would be greatly appreciated.

Kunz's for dinner (literally)

We invited the Kunz's over for dinner yesterday. Little did they know we were actually going to be serving Anna. This is where she was the happiest.  She knew what toppings were going to go with her so she put some hamburger bun in with her and then she topped her self off with a cup of water. She was so cute, we couldn't eat her. Evan is the cutest corn on the cob eater too.

Cunningham Falls

Memorial Day has come to be one of my favorite holidays. We started a tradition years ago with the Olson's to go camping. Well, the Kunz's and us had found this campground up in Maryland over Labor Day weekend a year and a half ago. It is a great campground. There's a lake, a short easy hike to the Falls, and a great playground for kids of all ages. Last year I took a group of families from our ward there and it became a hit. the sites are flat and clean and nice. Even the bathrooms are nice, especially for a campground. These are some shots from of the kids doing various activities. We did have a sacrament service there too. That was so awesome. We had speakers that I don't know if I've ever heard at church. (Like Gary Harris). We had a presidential fly by at our sacrament service too. They totally circled us. It was definitely us they were circling too. There was nothing else around there. This was at the beginning, so it didn't take away from the spirit of the meeting, which was very strong. It was strange not having Chris there this time. Hopefully we'll be able to go again this summer when he's back. Anybody want to go with us, let me know.

Shoot with the Marines at Al Asad

A few weeks ago I was invited to go shooting with the Marines Here at Al Asad. Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity. While some of the Marines I work with offered to let me use their assault rifles, I declined that option. This was owing to the fact that all of the Marines actually complain about going to the range. They say the experience is way too long especially considering the fact that they must wear all their battle gear. I simply did not want to be a part of anything that slowed the process down and made any of them more annoyed. This is a sound policy in my opinion. Anyway I have included here a few pictures of the Marines at the range, who I work with every day. As you may be able to tell, all but one of my shots hit in the prime target area. The only one that did not was still a head shot and probably would have been fatal. Not bad for no practice shots and no practice since last summer. I also did speed shooting with one of my magazines. All in all, I thought it was a good time. I guess if I was a Marine and I had to wear their heavier armor and it was the middle of the summer I would have been less enthusiastic. I also have dropped a few pictures I took to show what Al Asad looks like. I think it is kind of like a small scale Moab in some ways. It has shear cliffs surrounding a river/wash (wadi) valley. There is an Oasis which I mentioned in a previous post and those things combined give it a slightly more lush than expected appearance for the middle of the desert. I think it is quite scenic.

Brandon's Redecorated Room

I love paint and the different things you can do with it. This is my latest project. Brandon's room. It was a brown color before.  Just changing the color made his room look bigger, which is good because it's a small room. The only thing missing from the pictures are his drums. They will go under the hanging lamp.  After I paint my kitchen I will post a tour of my house so you can see the different things I've done in other rooms with paint. Or, you can come visit in person. Just give me a call, or just stop by. I love having friends over!! 

Dust Storm at Al Asad

So, we have had a few dust storms since I got here. They are pretty nasty affairs. The wind is not so bad but for some reason the dust gets all stirred up and blown around. About a week ago we had a really bad one. It got so bad at about 1030 in the morning that I could barely see 30 feet in front of me. The air turned the most stunning dark and intense orange I have ever seen. Lia ask to see a picture but I had to tell her I do not have one. I refuse to take my camera out during a storm like that. In fact I left it in my room inside a ziplock bag. The dust penetrates almost everything. My bed and floor were all covered in dust and it is a real pain to clean up after something like that. Well it turns out that this last storm was the worst storm that had been seen here for at least the last two years. I finally found a friend who had taken a picture from inside his hanger. This was well past the peak and was taken from under cover so that is why it seems like you can see farther than you really could and why the sky is not so intensely orange. Still you can get sort of an idea what it is like.