First Football Scrimmage!

This is Cory's first year playing football. It's just flag football so we thought we'd sign him up to see how he took to it. We try to get him to play as many different sports as we can so he gets a taste for all of them. He was very hesitant about playing football because he does not like contact sports. He's always been afraid of hurting himself or someone else for that matter! He doesn't want to be the kid that has to push someone down to get what he wants. After explaining that it's not contact and that you just grab a flag he decided to try it out. He was placed on The Vikings and was pretty excited because all his friends were on his team (which we believe was a set-up and is completely fine by all us parents). His coaches are a little unsure but they are great! They are not the coach that stands out there to be competitive. They are truly trying to teach these kids to basics of football and they are also learning themselves!

Here are the Vikings doing some warmups

Learning some plays
On the line ready to play

A Tribute

This deployment was a rough deployment for all the Marines of 2/7. They lost many of their brothers. One of them hit Jason really hard. This was a marine he had served with in Iraq. They were not only brothers in arms but they were friends. He was an amazing marine. His name was Sgt. Matthew Mendoza and he was killed while on patrol in Afghanistan. As soon as Jason returned home he told me he wanted to get a tattoo to pay tribute to Mendoza. He went to the same guy that did my tattoo and had him draw something up. Jason told him what he wanted and this is what he came up with.

The Knight represents the warrior in each of them and underneath the Knight it says RIP

This is the Bible opened up to Phillipians (I'll have to get back with the verse) and underneath the Bible is Mendoza's name.

These are the cards. On them is an E and a 2 which represent Echo Co. 2nd Platoon.

This whole tattoo was dedicated to Mendoza and all the boys he served with in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Matthew Mendoza -- You are missed. Rest in Peace.

Knott What We Expected!

What was supposed to be a fun day at Knotts Berry Farm turned into a long drive home! We had planned this day with friends and it didn't quite turn out how we expected. We, our family, The Johnson Family, The Rathbun Family, The Kuhs Family and The Deering Family, all decided to take a trip and have some fun! The Rathbun Family had already made it to the park while the rest of us sat in traffic due to California's wildfires. We left the house around 8am and didn't make it to the park until Noon, it should have only been a 2 1/2 hour drive! We got into the park and the ash began to fall!! We didn't quite make it around the first corner when a piece of ash fell into Jenny and Brittany's eyes. We decided to hit up the gift shop we were standing next to to get each of the kids a pair of sunglasses so nothing would get in their eyes. After that, we met up with our other friends. Hit up one ride, played a few games then decided that the conditions were too much for the little ones. We parted ways with our friends and headed home after about two hours in the park! We left around 2:30pm and didn't make it home until 10pm! Again, this drive is only supposed to be a 2 1/2 hour drive!!! We ended up having to head south in order to go north to get home! It was a very hectic day but the way I looked at it....at least we had a home to go home to! As we drove up and down numerous streets trying to find a way out we saw people standing on corners watching as fires crept up over mountain tops coming closer to their homes. I pray those people still have a place to call home! The drive was nothing compared to what they must have been feeling and going thru! All in all, we enjoyed our time at the park and made it safely home. We'll try again another day, LOL!

I didn't take many pictures but here are a few from the day...

These are our friends...Jordan, Jenn and John on a wild ride!

This did like 6 flips in a row!!

Jason and Cindy

Jess and Cindy taking a quick pic before leaving!

Lucky to have these two!!

Aaron and Jason

When we got to the park the sky was blue. In a matter of two hours this is what it looked like!

This is one of the many fires...this one in Yorba Linda. 7 fire trucks went whizzing past us for this one!!

Please pray for the families in S. California. There are many fires and there still continues to be random ones breaking out. There has already been a lot of property loss/damage as well as deaths. Please pray for the families who have suffered a loss whether it's property or life. Also, pray for the firefighters...they need strength to make it thru! God Bless all those affected!!

Work of Art

Yes, Cindy has added another tattoo to herself!
This one has now become my favorite piece. Tonight, myself and two of my favorite girls left the kids (all seven of them) with Jason and
Josh!! It was Daddy Daycare here in our house, LOL!! This tattoo has two meaning behind it. There are 4 butterflies here. Each one represents every deployment Jay and I have been thru together. The colors in the butterflies are each of our birthstone colors. Caitlyn is at top with Blue Zircon, then comes mine with Amethyst, then Cory with Topaz and Jay with Alexandrite. This was drawn completely by freehand. I told him what I wanted, at least an idea of what I wanted and this is what he drew on my neck! He did such an amazing job! I love my new tattoo!!!

Happy Birthday, Cory!

Our son is growing up! Cory is turning 8 on Nov. 12th so we had a party for him yesterday. Just the other day we were putting his 2nd grade school picture into the frame and came across all the photos taken of Cory over the years. He has grown so much and gone from being our quiet little baby boy into this smart, handsome and very loving young man! This birthday was extra-special to Cory because his daddy was home. When Cory heard Daddy probably wouldn't be home for his birthday he cried and cried and when I told him Daddy would be home, he jumped for joy and squealed with excitement!!

Opening his gifts....

Nerf gun from The Johnson Family

A nerf gun from The Bourne Family!

A Camel Pack from The Rathbun Family!

A Football

Money in a trick card from Gage & Brooklyn

GI Joe stuff

A brand new Habitat skateboard from Zack & Krystle

New DC's from Mom and Dad

Surprised to get his pistol!

GI Joe guys

The Wii Cory's been asking for!!

Games for the Wii

Cory's cake

Singing Happy Birthday and making a wish!

Thank you all for coming! Cory had a wonderful day because of those who love him! This will be Cory's last birthday celebrated with all of these friends here in 29 Palms so it was very special this year.

Happy Birthday, Cory!!!

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday, Jason and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary! 9 years...wow! So much time has gone by and during that time our love for eachother has grown stronger with every passing day. I can remember the day we met like it was yesterday. We've been thru so many things together and celebrating another year together is the most amazing feeling ever. Getting married at 19 wasn't the easiest. Even after we were married there were still things we had to learn about eachother, which was made difficult by deployments. But even thru our roughest moments there was no doubt that we'd be together forever.

Jason made it home just in time to celebrate our anniversary which made this one very special. We thought for sure he'd be gone for it but the Lord blessed us and we were able to share it together! My best friend, Jenny, took the kids off our hands for a night. After dropping the kids off we headed down the hill to enjoy a nice, quiet dinner. We attempted to go to one of our favorite places but they were apparently closed down so we went to Olive Garden, which was just as good! We had a nice time just talking to eachother and laughing over good (and bad) times! After dinner, we headed over to the casino! One of our favorite things to do!! Didn't win much but we did gain back $120 of what we spent, LOL!! And on the way home I entertained Jay by singing and dancing to some 80's music, LOL!! Sharing laughter with him is one of my favorite things in life!

Happy Anniversary and cheers to many, many more!

Beautified!

She's almost 4 years old and just had her first trip to the beauty salon! Caitlyn's hair has become as thick as Mommy's so I felt it was time to go and get it thinned out a bit. She was really nervous about going but Mari was so good with her and Caitlyn warmed right up to her!

You can see here how unsure she was! LOL!!

But once she got in this chair she started to get excited!!

Here she is with her new hairdo!!

She ended up loving the whole process and said "I like getting snipped" LOL!!! That may have been the end of mom getting her hair done alone!!