Festivities

Christmas Eve

Joe Harty and Ben Reay

Sam, Emeline, Joe, and Ben
Andrea and Bethany Luke

Christmas Morning

My Christmas Trees.

He didn't forget! When I went to the garage to find the presents Ryan had left for the boys, I found this. It made me cry!

The boys didn't forget to decorate.

Luke was really excited about getting a "giant" candy cane.

The boys' Christmas Tree.

I spoke to Ryan yesterday. It was already Thanksgiving there. I asked him if he was going to eat some "good" food and he said that Mike and him were going to get some pizza and head "home" to eat together. I was sad to hear that:( I wanted to send him some turkey from home.

Today we will have an unusual Thanksgiving. We actually had Thanksgiving at the Reay house hold before Ryan left. We had all the fixings that goes along with it. While eating we talked about the best Thanksgiving we had. It was back in Kansas. We had decided to stay home that Thanksgiving. I cooked everything on my own while Ryan entertained the kiddos. The food was so great! We all enjoyed the food on Thanksgiving day and a few days thereafter. I am Thankful for that memory.

The unusual thing about this Thanksgiving is that we are going to be eating Ham. Because we had turkey before Ryan left, Mom and Dad decided to have ham instead. A few years back I took a Anatomy and Physiology class at Idaho State. Since that time I have not been able to eat ham. I call it the "Cadaver" meat. The ham has a very close resemblance of the cadavers I worked on. Of course, I did not tell Mom and Dad that because I don't want them to not enjoy their meal, but man am I going to avoid eating this Thanksgiving. I guess it is time to focus on what Thanksgiving is really about! Hehehe.

OK, here it goes: I wanted to write only three things I am thankful for.

1. I am thankful that I have a Father in Heaven who cares and loves me. He opens doors when windows close in your face.

2. I am thankful for being born of parents who cared to teach me free agency and that even though I am a girl I am not limited to anything I want to do as long as it is righteous.

3. I am thankful for my fabulous husband, children, and friends. Ryan-abrigada por ser meu melhor amigo. Voce fez posivel que eu conhecesse o evangelho. Voce me deu uma oportunidade de progredir esperitualmente e fisicamente. Voce me amou quando eu estava so. Voce me deu o seu coracao para me acompanhar sempre. Por sua cause, eu numca estou so. (I hope Ryan will read this! hehehe Bethany, you can read it too. ROFL)

I know it is a little corny, but I just had to do it. Happy gobble gobble everyone.

Let the Count Down Beggin...

Oh! The joys of departure...It was a very cold morning. Ryan wanted the boys to have a normal day and so he took them to school as usual. After much tears, kisses, and hugs we finally dropped the boys off.

At around 10am he said his good byes to his parents and Luke.

He drove to the unit and I took the opportunity to take a picture while he was driving. That is how I always see him- driving us somewhere. Safely and patiently guiding us and directing us on the right path. I will miss that! I always take pleasure in being the co-pilot. The one who reads to the family while he keeps us safe from harm and takes us where we need to go.As we arrived there, I could see that many were already in the process that we soon would start. Last minute checks: all is well. I didn't want to forget anything. I wanted to remember to ask many questions and to say every word. I helped him with his duffel. Boy it was heavy!

With weapon in hand we kissed. "I love you forever". I know that Bethany said that only a vampire can love forever, but I think she is wrong! I will love you forever!

It was time. We needed to depart from each other. But he forgot his dog tags and orders at home. I had to go back home and retrieve it. I missed him getting on the bus. It was devastating to me not to see him loading up. I went home fast with the hopes that I would come back before the bus left. I was almost home when he called and said that the bus was leaving. I broke my heart to not be there. I went back to the unit and handed the orders and dog tag to someone who would take it to the air terminal-where he was. I went home:( That night I heard from him. He was somewhere East. I missed him all night. I miss him now. Come back soon King of Battle.





Note: the picture above was taken when he realized that he had forgotten his orders and dog tags. You can see us trying to figure out how we are going to retrieve the forgotten items and be with each other. I guess it is not possible to do it all.

The Day After

Ok, he left! And today is the day after it all. After dropping him at the unit in the morning, we stayed with him till lunch time to enjoy our "last meal" together. I was planning on going somewhere just Luke, him, and I , but because of that darn weapon he could not even get in the car. I am glad I packed a lunch for all of us. We ate lunch around noon and waited some more. They loaded their duffel and we waited some more. While loading his stuff, his watch broke. He decided that it would be better for me to go and put Luke down for a nap. I left and went to the PX to buy him a new watch. I cannot imagine him without a watch with all the dead lines he has to meet. No time for a nap Luke. Right after the PX we went to pick up the other boys from school. By the time we got home Luke decided to take matters into his own hands and fell asleep in the car. I waited for a call from Mr. R. The flight was supposed to leave at 1800 hours, but as the time approached 1730, I knew that it was not going to happen. At around 1750 he called and said: "Go to the Gym". I had called Laurie earlier to find out where the Gym was! Got Luke up, every boy in the car and headed there. We were there in less than 10 minutes. His bus arrived after us! We kisses and hugged. We said the "I love yous", and off he went. At 2354 I received a text from him saying that they finally arrived in CA. I texted back saying: "Luv u. Glad u r there safe. C U in 30 days."

Oven Baked Omelet

This is such an easy breakfast dish! I love baking things and this one just does it for me. Here is the recipe for it:

1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
8 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teas. hot sauce or dash of hot pepper.

Preheat oven to 325F. I use a 8-inch square baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
Beat sour cream and milk with wire whisk until smooth.
Add eggs, salt and hot pepper sauce; beat until combined.
Stir in you favorite omelet filling (ie. green peppers, tomatoes, cheese, ham, mushrooms, onions, etc.).
For the particular picture above, I added mushrooms, tomatoes, green peppers, and 1 cup of cheese.
Bake until knife comes out clean,or about 40-45 minutes.
Makes about 9 servings.

My kids only likes the oven bake omelet if there is no mushrooms. They love adding guacamole, or salsa on top of it.

Hurray For Toddler Independence!

I am so excited about Luke this days! A few days ago he decided to interfere with his meals. He would grab the spoon or fork when I was trying to feed him. That really irritated me because it would cause a big mess when I tried to pry the spoon/fork out of his grip. Well, Last week I decided to just give the stuff to him to see how he would handle. He really did wonderful. He now feeds himself and drink out of a regular cup (with only about 2 inches of liquid in it). I am still enjoying breastfeeding and so is Luke, but I foresee that stopping soon. I really don't want to give up breastfeeding, but he is not as interested as he used to be. REAL food is much more exciting to him now. We will see how that plays out.

Beginning of a new deployment.

We found out yesterday that Ryan leaves on September 5th. This deployment is in preparation for his year long deployment. He will be gone only 30-35 days and then will be home for about 25-30 days before the "big one".

Gila Dwellings

This past weekend we traveled to New Mexico. Silver City was our destination. We wanted to see the Gila Dwellings. We hiked up to it and it was very interesting. Here is some pictures from our adventures.

Terrible 18 Months!

I know that many of you don't want to see this, but I had so much fun taking pictures of Luke during his latest tantrum. It was fun to watch him see me pick up the camera and while in the middle of his melt down smile at me (because you are suppose to smile to the cameras!). For those of you who have little ones who has not entered this phase yet, enjoy while you can. For those of you who's tantrum days are long gone; go ahead and laugh at me, after all I asked for this! After almost 7 years tantrum free, here we are again. I just enjoy it so much (no sarcasm!). Remember, I do have a child that has no idea what a tantrum is. Ben asked me: "Momma, I think Luke is hurt!" Ben raised his eye browns when I told him that sometimes babies do that! The joys of motherhood!

Back to Schoool

Here we go again. We had been preparing for the kids to return to school for awhile now. We bought school supplies, we reviewed a few things from the previous and next grade, we bought them a few ( and I mean few!) articles of clothing, etc. But I don't think i was really prepared to have them gone again.

Last night, we took the time to remind Sam and Ben how important it is to do well in school no matter what grade they are in. We also told them how proud we are of them for taking their education seriously and show much we love them. Ryan gave them a Father's Blessing and repeatedly told Sam to remember who he is and not to be afraid of standing up for what is right. Ryan also told Ben that it would be a challenging year for him, but to follow Sam's example and know that his Father in Heaven is always with him. We were all crying by the time Ryan was done! Sam really treasures the blessings he has received from Ryan every school year.

This morning Sam got up around 6am, toke a shower, and got Ben up and ready. I came to see if they were up and they both had been ready for awhile. I overheard Sam tell Ben how it was going to be great in school today, that Sam was going to be there for him in case there were bad kids picking on him. Sam is now on 5Th grade and consider the 5Th graders the BIG KIDS in school. In his opinion, there are two kids of 5Th graders: those who protect and those who harass. He prefers to be the one who protects since last spring incident with a 5Th grader pulling down his pants in the play ground. I think I am OK with that!

Sam wanted to leave the house extra early to see his school friends. We got there about 10 minutes early and Sam went to find friends while Ben, Luke, and I went to find Ben's teacher. Ben was quiet, but excited. He has two friends he knows from last year and that made him happy. I waited till all the kids were gone into class and left with Luke. I got home and got myself busy cleaning and doing some organizing in preparation for deployment.

I feel sad not to have my little buddies here! They are such a big help to me. They brighten up my day. I told them in our way to school that I was going to miss them, but at that moment I really don't think I knew how hard it would be throughout the day. I love my boys!