10 Years...

Ian and I just celebrated 10 years of marriage. Because of a certain unnamed partners' hunting trip we could only find time for a short get away, but it was so worth it. We drove about an hour away from our house to the cutest little town called La Conner. We reserved"The Garden Room" of Katy's Bed and Breakfast. We have never actually stayed in a real B&B. It was so nice. Because it was a weeknight we had the house to ourselves. Besides the owners who were barely seen. We called them our personal house elves. With quiet knocks on the door we would find surprises like hot cookies and milk before bed. And the Breakfast was amazing. They were called Dutch Babies. I need to find a recipe for them and they could become a new Christmas breakfast around the Warner household. (We need to come up with a new tradition, since the last one involved nuts, so this will be it we decided!)
The first day there we only went out to dinner at a restaurant on the channel, then back to the B&B to the hot tub, and then we scrapbooked in our sitting room for a while. Ian even made a little album of the kids. It was fun. We intentionally wanted a room with no TV so we could just hang out. The next day we just went antique shopping and played tourist. It was right up our alley. In Wisconsin we had a little town we love to visit called Cedarburg, and in California it was Julian. So this is now our favorite place here in Washington.
Of course we were looking for some small souvenir for the kids to bring them home. When we went in a little shop called Crabbies, of course to live up to the name, they had a huge habitat for Hermit Crabs. Ian loved them, Me not so much. Their kind of creepy. But we both decided that the kids would freak out and be so excited. And really could you ask for a better pet. They don't smell, make noise, and pee on the carpet. We got 3 and the supplies to take care of them. The kids love them, To tell the truth, I am starting to not be so scared of them, and they are pretty cool to watch.
All together we had a great time getting away. It was so nice. I still cant believe it has been 10 years. It goes by so fast. I am more in love with Ian than ever. Here are a few of the pictures from our adventure. By the way, I used a program I found through a cousins blog called PhotoScape, you can download it for free. It was so easy to edit the pictures and put in the collage. It was a lot of fun to work with too.
I still have so much to post, our computer crashed last week and was in getting fixed all week. Luckily I had backed up all my pictures and all but maybe 10 songs I had recently downloaded from itunes. It is still a pain now though because I am having to reinstall so many programs to get things running right again. Hopefully I can find more time in the next few days. Since my dearest husband had left me to find bambi's daddy!

A long overdue update!

I realize that it has now been 3 weeks since I last posted. While Ian was deployed I found that I usually would post late at night when I should have been sleeping. Lately I have found more incentive to go to bed early. Thus the lack of posting! So now I am trying something different... Posting during nap time.

A LOT has been happening in this short amount of time, and we are all just enjoying being together. One of the first things that we did a few days after Ian came home was get Aspen a hair cut. She has been wanting to donate it to Locks For Love for months and I kept promising her that we would cut it after dad came home. And she kept me to it. Unfortunately when we got to the salon they said that Locks For Love was no longer accepting donations. But we were still cutting it. We also saved the braid and will be sending it to a different company that can make it into wigs. Aspen loves her new hair style, and so do we. She looks so much more grown up.

Before

After

Also the USS Abraham Lincoln returned to home port here in Everett, WA. We didn't go to see. I was actually grateful to not have to be a part of the mad house. After 10 years in the Navy, we have never actually had a homecoming on the pier yet. Maybe sometime in the next 10 years we will. This was a picture my friend took, I always love the look of all the men manning the rails of the ship, waiting to get off and see their families.


Garrett also played in his last football game of the season on Saturday. They played the #1 team in the league, Burlington. They were undefeated. It was a great defensive game and at the end of 4 quarters the game was scoreless on both sides. Burlington got the ball first in OT. They ran in a touchdown and scored an extra point (in Pee Wee's the extra point is also on the ground and 2 points is scored by kicking the ball. Since it is so hard for the little guys to kick the ball!) Next our team got the ball, and on the forth down a kid from our ward caught the ball in the end zone and scored the touchdown. So we were down by a point. But we have a great kicker. So we went for the win. The ball barely made it over the uprights, it was the greatest win in the history of football. I am certain. The other team will still go onto the playoffs and I am sure do great. Our boys don't get to go to the playoffs, but at least they know that they beat the best team in the league. It was so exciting. They will all be talking about it for the next year.

Garrett with the Coaches

Garrett, Justin, CJ, and Blake

They are all in our ward and make up half the Wolf Den at scouts. I am sure the den leaders will be grateful the football season is over. They had to make the meetings later to accommodate these stinky and rambunctious little guys after football practices!

I still have a few other things that I want to post. Maybe later. But this is all I have time for now. Thanks for checking in on us.

Thursday Night

It started just another Thursday in the Warner Household.

We were coming home after another late night of Football and Cheer practice. After I pulled in the driveway I noticed my friends Janelle, Cynthia, and Jonathan (Cynthia's Husband). This was my first time seeing Jonathan, since he had come home the night before. He is also on Ian's ship but was able to take leave from Hawaii. So I was welcoming him home, and obviously not paying that much attention to why they were all outside at that time. Ian had walked up behind me, with a dozen roses in hand. I was in shock to see him standing there. I think, NO, I know it is the best surprise I have ever had. Everyone was in on it, Ian thought he was so clever. I am so happy to have him back home. It still almost doesn't seem real, but then, it also feels like he never left too. We all stayed up way too late last night exchanging gifts, talking and of course cuddling up on the couch watching the University of Utah game that I had on my DVR from earlier that evening. Which they won, in a nail biter. It was great to be cuddled up with my husband for a good football game.
Here are a few pictures Janelle took of us last night. The poor babies in the car you can see them looking out at us wondering what was going on. And Aspen had walked up to the front door and missed it all until we finally realized it and went to her. She just ran down the sidewalk into her daddy's arms. So we missed that on camera.
I am pretty tired right now, and just rambling a lot. It has been a whirlwind of a day! I also want to get back to Ian. We have too much cuddling to catch up on. I will write more in a day or two when I can think more clearly. I just wanted to let you all in on my good news!

MRSA again...

I had to go and say that nothing really new was happening. So now I just jinxed us. I had to take Tilden into the Dr.'s today. He now has the MRSA infection. It is miserable. It is on his chin. It is very painful for him. I guess by this point I am becoming an expert on it, and I can catch it fairly early, before it gets too bad. But it still takes time for the antibiotics to work. I still dont understand how 'they' can say that it isn't contagious. When 4 people in my family have had it, plus my niece who was visiting me the month of June. When Lydia got it a couple weeks ago, the doctor insisted that no amount of lysol and disinfecting your house can change the outcome of who will get it. But from my own personal research on the internet, I have found that it is very common for families to continually pass it around. Talking to my mom today, she said that an elementary school in Idaho Falls had been closed because so many students have had this infection also. I also have learned that this infection is actaually new to the medical profesion over the last 3-5 years. So I am sure there is still a lot more research before they can understand it.

Either way. I am tired of us getting it. And I am sorry for my poor miserable little boy.

A little Bit of Everything!

CLICK ON PICTURE TO GET A BETTER VIEW!!!

So I got the pictures back the other day for Aspen's Cheerleader Squad. I was excited to see the picture of Garrett and Aspen. The photographer told Aspen to give a sassy look...well, she has that one mastered. But it definitely makes her look tougher than our football star. It rightly should! Don't mess with Aspen. I love this picture.

Other than that, nothing really new to report. Just the same busy, busy schedule. Lydia is feeling much better. No more nuts for her. (I still cant believe that I had that candy bar in my purse for her to get into in the first place!) Ian will be home in 12 days. His ship has actually pulled into Hawaii a few hours ago. He said while they were passing the USS Arizona and USS Utah he was able to take a lot of pictures. He called me from his cell phone. It was the first time in 6 1/2 months since I seen his name on my caller ID. We have been able to talk on a satellite phone most of the deployment, so that has been nice. In past deployments we didn't have the same luxury. It is starting to become more of a reality that he will be coming home soon. I am so excited. Now I just need to try to get this house a little more cleaned before he gets home. So he can think it was that way the entire time and keep that image of his 'perfect woman' in his head....yeah right!

But for now, I am going to go watch another Jane Austin movie. I have quickly become addicted to anything related with her name. Especially the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. On my netflix Que I have had a long list of classic movies rotating through my house over the last few weeks. I must be ready for my husband to come home. I cant get enough of the romance!

I Finished!

So my 6 Weeks to Hubby, I mean Kona challenge, I finished today, in just 4 weeks! YEAH!

I only wish that meant that I got my husband home sooner too. I will have to patiently wait for the next 2 weeks to pass.

At the gym today after I finished I had a huge grin on my face. I was so excited to realize that I had completed a goal that I set just 4 weeks ago. Thanks for all your encouragement. More than anything, I just feel good that I was able to finish it sooner than expected. It was a lot of fun to challenge myself everyday at the gym!

After 80 laps in the pool, I have decided that I love swimming and I will continue it on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Biking 110 miles is not as hard as it may seem. And running 26.2 miles feels like a ton more when you have shin splints!

Now I need to make a new goal....Any Ideas?

One Long Weekend...

So a lot has happened this weekend. I guess that is just the theme of my life.

The biggest thing, on Saturday night we were getting home very late from the kids football game, and my purse got left out on the floor. As I was running around to try to get everyone settled in, Lydia got into my purse. I forgot that last week a friends son was selling candy bars for a fundraiser, so I said I would buy some. The problem was that all of them had nuts. So I only bought one with almonds and put it up high in my purse, thinking I would eat it that night after everyone went to bed. The flaw with my plan is that I forgot about the candy bar all together. It ended up that Lydia got into it and started eating it, before I caught her she had eaten 2 squares. I was able to pry some chunks of nuts out of her mouth, but it was still too late. Her lower half of her face, her lips and mouth all broke out with hives. I gave her Benadrly and within 20 minutes I was very surprised that she was looking a lot better. (I still have never used the Epi pen, and I am a little nervous too.) I had her sleep with me that night, which ended up being a good idea. Early Sunday morning, she started vomiting. Within a couple hours she was uncontrollably vomiting. So I called the local ER and they said to bring her in. Through examination the Dr. said that she was still having a reaction to the nuts, and would until they pass. They gave her some medicine to help the nausea, the only problem is keeping that down. She doesn't. The suppository helped though. I was able to finally leave the hospital once they felt she was doing a little better. Unfortunately that didn't last long.

She still is very sick today, and keeping nothing down. It is very sad to see how miserable she is. By later this evening if she is still not keeping anything down I think I will have to take her back to the hospital she hasn't really had a wet diaper all yesterday and so far today.

As for the first part of the weekend Saturday we had a long day of football. It was classic NW weather (Rainy Downpour), the entire game. Luckily me and the little kids kept completely dry under the covered stands. As for Garrett he was drenched, but had a great game. He made 5 great tackles an help his team win 36-12. It was a ton of fun to watch. Aspen stayed much dryer, the cheerleaders have nice rain jackets. But she still managed to get wet some.

On a side note, during a temper tantrum of Lydia's at the football game she managed to knock my camera from my hands. It dropped and now my lens can't manually be turned. I called the man at the camera repair shop, and will be taking it in when Lydia is feeling better. So I am currently without a camera. Actually I have a camera that works, just no lens. My other lens has been in the repair shop for 5 months because Nikkor keeps back ordering the part. It looks like me and "Scott" at the repair shop are quickly becoming best friends!

And to answer my husbands question "So were you that mad at our daughter that you tried to kill her with nuts?" That was his very poor attempt of a joke on a horrible situation. And my answer was "NO, I never wanted to kill her." I do recall asking someone if they thought I could donate her to charity?

One last thing, I forgot to post my Kona totals last Friday, so here goes:

Running: 16 Miles (need 26.2)
Swimming: 63 Laps (need 80)
Biking: 88 Miles (need 110)

I was on track to finish this week. Depending on how it all goes with Lydia this week we will see if I can still complete it in 4 weeks total. Either way the original goal is 6 weeks, so I feel great about my results.

My Scrapbook Creations

So I have finally taken the time to start a scrapbooking blog.

It is still in its beginning stages. But you can check it out too.

http://kim-warner.blogspot.com/

I will try to update it with some of my favorite and new projects. I will also use it as a place to apply for new design teams and contests. Anyways, let me know what you think or if you have any ideas.

Anyone who lives in the Boise Area!

The Meridian Speedway on Saturday, September 20th will be collecting donations to help the family. I just though any of you in that area might want to mark your calendars and try to attend this, I copied the post from Whitney's blog:

http://www.idahoracingnews.com/node/247

Twenty-four year old Whitney Fuller, daughter of Stan Fuller and granddaughter of the great Morrie "Fireball" Fuller http://www.ihrs.org/history/stories/fuller/photoalbum/index.htm, has been diagnosed with colon cancer.
The Fuller family has been part of racing in the Treasure Valley since 1951. Whitney has two small children and a husband in the Navy. Her husband has been flown here to be with her and they will be living with her parents for the next few months.
There will be difficult times ahead for this young family and if you wish to help them, donations will be collected Saturday night at Meridian Speedway.
The Fuller family and Meridian Speedway thank you for your generosity.

Post script:
Stan Fuller is one of the directors and founders of the Idaho Historical Racing Society. http://www.ihrs.org/ Stan does a lot for the local racing community and his family needs your help. If you can't make it to the speedway on Saturday night you could contact Steve Towrey at Print Craft in Caldwell for information on how to donate. Brent Arte would also know. Or if you email me I can steer you in the right direction. brian@idahoracingnews.com
http://meridianspeedway.com/

Footbal is Life...at least for the next couple months!

So I haven't been great about updating the football stats. I guess there is no chance of a career as a sports announcer. But I wanted to let you all know now. The Mighty Cougars (not BYU...they are far from mighty in my eyes! GO UTES!) Anyways, the Mighty Lakewood Cougar Pee Wee team you know won their first game.

Game 2 they were not so Lucky, they ended up loosing 12-19. But they played hard. They played Sedro Wooley, and this team was huge. These are 1st-3rd graders and the max weight is 120 lbs. Their star player weighed in at 119 before the game (hopefully before playoffs he eats a few too many Kids Meals!) While most of our boys are about 60-70 lbs. Our team fought hard. But the 2 touchdowns were both made by boys in our ward, we were all very excited about that.

Last Saturday we had Game 3 verses North Everett. It was a battle the entire game, and I have to admit I loved the intensity (in a Pee Wee game!). Garrett made a huge block and tackle in the first quarter. It was very exciting. At the end of 4 quarters the game was tied at 6. North Everett got he ball first and went scoreless. It was our turn, and yet again a boy from our ward was the star of this game too with another touchdown.

On a side note, the cheerleaders are getting really good to. Saturdays game, was the first time I saw the crowd really getting involved and doing the cheers with the girls too. I forgot to take the camera out of the car. So no pictures. I will have many more weeks to do that though. The next 2 weeks are away games. I am not to excited about that. But they should be nice drives, I have never been to either cities and look forward to exploring the area!

6 weeks to Kona Weekly Update

So as you may remember last Friday I told you how I started the YMCA's "6 Weeks to Kona" I am changing it to my "6 Weeks to Hubby!" Well, with how the week has gone and missing a day due to Lydia's infection, I am pleased to say that I have almost made it half way in all areas. In just two weeks, and I have taken the weekends off.

Here are my totals to date:

Swimming: 45 laps (need 80 to make 2.4 miles)
Biking: 55 miles (need 110, so I am half way exactly)
Run/Walking: 11 miles (need 26.2 miles)

I feel good about my totals. It is really an exciting challenge. My friend Janelle and I are starting to see the reality of possibly someday competing in a real mini triathlon. I just don't know about the whole bike part. As I don't own a real bike, and didn't have plans to get one. We will see, maybe someday!

Until then, it looks like I only have a couple weeks to go. I will have to do something else the last 2 weeks before Ian comes home.

Ian's First Blog

So Ian has started a blog, I wanted everyone to get a chance to see it. It made me laugh and cry to see what he has done. Take a look at it.

http://kimsmanian.blogspot.com/

Or you can click on my sidebar where it says 'Ian's First Blog"

Little Lydia...

Last night I was putting Lydia's PJ's on and notices a red bump behind her knee. With a slight touch she was in a lot of pain, so I drew with a pen a circle around it and sent her to bed. This morning the the swelling and redness had gone outside of the circle by an inch on all sides. So I got her into the Dr.'s office and yes, she does have the same MRSA infection that me and Aspen have been dealing with. MRSA is a Staff infection that is resistant to most antibiotics. So it is very hard to treat. That is why I was on IV antibiotics in June and had such a hard time getting rid of it. Since then, when either Aspen or I have gotten it, we know the signes and have caught it early. I caught it early with Lydia too, so I am hopeful that the antibiotics that she has orally will work. By saturday if I dont notice any improvment, then they will have to give her IV antibiotics. I am fairly certain, that this will work. But there is always the chance. Other than the pain it is causing her, she is doing great. When I went to check on her and tuck her in bed last night though, I couldn't resist taking a picture of what I found. This is just too cute!

6 Down, 1 To Go!

As you can see by my title...No, Ian does not get to come home early. He was recently promoted to a different job, that is requiring him to not be able to leave the ship from Hawaii. So we will now go back to the original plan and pick him up at the Pier. I have to admit, having him home those 10-12 days sooner did sound nice, but I can handle this. Heck it's been six months already... What's one more LONG month? No really these last 6 months seem to have gone by very fast, and right now I am so busy that every day is over before I know it. So I am confident that this last month will be gone before I know it (not to wish my life away). He did email me some pictures yesterday, so I thought I would share one. He must not remember how to smile...because he looks so serious in all of them, but he still looks great. I love the navy Dress Blues uniform.

Camp McLeod

Last weekend Aspen had the opportunity to attend a Girl Scout Camp. It was 3 days of fun and adventure....with a lot of silly mixed in I'm sure! She loves being a "Brownie" and is excited for the start of another year or Girl Scouting. While she was at camp, she had lots of fun learning to canoe. She also learned archery, she didn't talk about it much, so I dont know how much she liked that. But I love the pictures. I asked her why she was wearing shorts over pants....and she said without a though, "they told us to dress in layers, because it was going to get cold that night." I am thankful to get pictures from it, as I was not there. Thanks to her GREAT leaders for all they do for the troop!

6 Weeks to Kona!

My local YMCA is sponsoring and event called "6 Weeks to Kona" Kona is the world series of Ironman Triathlons. It will be held this October in Hawaii. My friend Jannelle was the first one to tell me about it, and I was immediately excited about it. What it is, is you have 6 weeks to complete what they will be doing at the actual event. It sounded like a good challenge.

In total I will have to:
*Swim 2.4 miles (80 laps in the pool, 1 lap is back and forth across the pool)
*Bike 110 miles (It can be done on a stationary bike.)
*Run/Walk 26.2 Miles (I am going to try to do most this at nights when I am at the High School track when Garrett is at football practice and Aspen at cheer practice)

It is all in fun, and really I just thought it would be a great way to get back into my workout routine. (Plus I will get a cool T shirt when I complete it!)

I got sick in June. I didn't post about it, but I had Facial Cellulitis it was a MRSA infection. It was really bad and I ended up needing IV antibiotics every 12 hours to finally treat it. So that took quite some time to recover from. Then I was in Idaho for practically the whole month of July. Which by the way Aspen ended up with the same infection 3 times with while we were there. And once I returned from Idaho, I got the same infection again. This time I caught it a lot sooner, and had a much quicker recovery. So now for the last couple weeks I have been getting back into my old routines. And this challenge has helped encouraged me to get to the gym every day this week. (Starting Tuesday when the kids started school.)

So here are my totals for the week:
*Swimming: 23 laps (I don't think I ever swam before this. Now I love it. I will be keeping this up!)
*Biking: 27 miles
*Running/Walking: 3 Miles

I also have an added benefit to doing this now. This is the last 6 weeks of Ian's deployment, so the timing is perfect. But there is a chance he may be coming home a couple weeks early. (He is on the list as one of the Sailors flying home from Hawaii) YEAH! But I am not holding my breath until I know he is in the air. This is still the military we are talking about. Either way, I am actually trying to get this done in less than the 6 weeks, I just want to go as fast as I can. To make it more of a challenge.

Wish me luck, and hope I don't 'Break a Leg!'

First Day of School!

Tuesday was the Kids first day back at school. Garrett started 3rd Grade and is attending a new school. Here K-2nd is in one elementary, and 3rd-5th in another. I think it is great to divide them up like that, but I am new to the whole getting the kids on and off the bus at different times. So far I like it though. It gives us a little one on one time after school to talk about the day and have snacks together. Aspen started 2nd grade. And I am sorry to report had her first call home from school today (the 2nd day of school)!! She struggles with learning, she always has. She was having a hard time with the lesson, and then let herself get too frustrated. So then she didn't even want to try. The teacher asked me to talk to her about just trying to see if she can do it. We will have to see how it goes. Either way I am excited. It gives me a little more 'free' time. I will write more about what I am up to in my next Blog entry. It is definitely a challenge! More on that tomorrow though. For now I need to go get some dishes done.

Outside his school! He had to wear his new coat, even though it was a warm day! He picked it out this year.... a hunting coat, if you couldn't tell. (His dad will be proud!)

In his new class..he's growing up too fast.

Outside her school, notice the backpack matches the shirt. When she picked it out (because it matches) I asked her, "You know you wont be wearing that same shirt every day right?" But she quickly said she will be some of the time. So she had to have it!

In her class, ready to take on the World!

Why is life so busy?

It is after 1:00 in the morning. And yet again I am still awake. I really need to get some sleep, but I can't stop thinking about something. I feel like I want to be a good person. I want my house to be clean. I want my kids to be healthy, happy and good. I want to scrapbook. I want to do so many things. But are these 'things' really all that important? Yes they are, but there are so many other things that are MORE important. Over the last couple weeks. I have learned that another mom in my ward has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, it is incurable. She is only 24, her husband was deployed with the same battle group as Ian's and she has 2 children, about Lydia and Tilden's same ages. She is now living in Boise to be close to family through this all. If you would like to read more, she updates her blog regularly. Though it is hard to read at times. You can use the link on my page.

"The Dows"

I wish that I had been a better friend to her while she was here. So many times we said we should get the kids together to play...but life was too 'busy' and I never planned anything. That takes me back to the though of what am I making my life so busy with and is it really that important. I want to remember everyday to pray to God to guide me as to what is important that day. I hope we can all be better tomorrow then we were today. Please also add Whitney and her family to your prayers.

Football and Cheer!

Garrett Plays for the Lakewood Cougar's Pee Wee Football team and Aspen is a Pee Wee Cheerleader.

Today was the first game. They did great. And they looked cute too!

Garrett plays mostly Defensive Tackle. He says he loves to tackle people. He also played quite a bit of Offense today though. With winning 20-0 you can see why there would be so much more offense to play!

They both were exhausted when it was over. Today it was over 90 Degrees outside. Which is unusually warm for our climate. They did great though, and had fun too.

Here's to an undefeated season!

GO COUGARS!!!

LIFE...Is Busy!

So right now I am not going to get into everything that has been happening over the past few months. I just thought I would take the few minutes that I do have right now, and post what is happening now.

Garrett got back from Summer Camp on Tuesday. He was able to go to Camp Orkila on Orcas Island, in the San Juan Islands. He was gone 8 days, and he says he had too much fun to miss me. After seeing these video's I can see why. I would have had too much fun too. I am happy for him. He was able to try a lot of new things and he cant stop talking about all the different things that they did. Some of his favorites included; archery, gun range (BB), Get Dirty Get Wet (they were 8 year old boys, of course they love that!), Canoing, Dock Jumping and swimming! I personally loved the stories about the "Dork Dance" you will see featured in the video. Garrett wore one of his counselors hunting "Bush" costumes and ducked in a corner of the Dance hall and scared people. It sounds hilarious.

Aspen also just finished a week of Horsemanship Camp. Hers was a day camp, so she was able to come home at night, but her days were filled with riding and taking care of her horse, Gilligan. Today we attended her Rodeo and Graduation. She was awarded the "Camp Cheerleader" award. She had a great time. She was really proud of the fact that she had learned to put the bows in 'His' hair. I'm sure he didn't mind, Right!

YMCA Camp Orkila: Session 7 Slide Show Part 2

YMCA Camp Orkila: Session 7 Slide Show part 1

Happy 1st Birthday to you, and you and you!!

Sunday we celebrated Tilden's 1st Birthday! Along with 2 of his friends who have birthdays within a few weeks of each other. With all their dad's deployed, we decided to make it one big party. It was crazy and fun all together. Between diving into the pile of presents together, or smashing cake into their faces, it was a great time. Though Tilden technically doesn't turn 1 till next week. I still cant believe our last baby is growing up so quickly. The time is going by so fast.

Tilden Loved Opening all his presents. I think the wrapping paper was the best part!

Tilden, Lydia(it wasn't her birthday but she didn't know the difference!), Anthony , and Olivia all had a blast diving through the presents.

Try getting 3 babies too look at a camera with a party hat on their heads at the same time. I would love to see a picture if anyone could!

Tilden loved the cake. As you can see, he doesn't miss many meals. He even ended up stealing part of Olivia's when she wasn't looking.

Take a look at Ian...

I just wanted to let everyone know they could see a picture of Ian at work on his ship's website. Here is the website:

http://www.cvn72.navy.mil

Then click on Photo Gallery on the left side. He is picture 8 right now. It looks like he is talking into something, and wearing a camouflage vest. Picture 7 is of a CIWS mount. That is the system he works on. It is an anti missile defense system. So he has to make sure that it is up an working.

It was exciting, this morning, I got an email from a friend telling me to check out the picture of him. So I though I would share with all you.

Hopefully I will post more soon, there is always something going on around here.

Congratulations FC1 Ian Warner!

So, we found out this week that Ian has advanced to a First Class Petty Officer. It was very exciting, and we are so proud of him. It took a lot of work, but thanks to a good friend on his ship that he is currently on, they found a mistake in his service record, that showed he had earned it last year. But of course the military cant make things simple, so after months of waiting. We finally were told that it is official and he advanced. I am so excited for Ian, he has been trying to not get his hopes up too much, but it has been really hard to know that he had earned it, but there is always the unknown. I love you Ian, and appreciate all the hard work you do for our family!

Cupboard Boy!

Tilden has officially found the cupboard. He even pulled out a pan so he could fit inside. He though he was pretty hot stuff. It didn't help that his big sister Lydia was cheering him on the whole way. Either way, I love this picture, you really get to see a lot of his personality in it. He is such a happy little guy. I guess he has to be, it is too crazy around our house to have a cranky baby. He is just pretty content to go with the flow.

My little trouble maker...

After Lydia's nap we were making grilled cheese sandwiches. And suddenly she disappeared. Then it sounded like a circus upstairs, where Tilden had been taking his nap. Lids had climbed in his crib and was showing him how to jump. They were having so much fun. I guess tonight I will be lowering his crib. Isn't Tilden lucky to have a big sister to show him how to get into all kinds of trouble?

This is for you, Ian... We miss you!

A summary of life...

So a lot of things have happened since I was last able to post. March was almost one big blur, and I am glad that it is gone and April is here.

It started off busy. trying to get Ian ready for his long deployment with the military. Plus it was the end of Garrett's basketball season. And of course Girl Scout Cookie season. To say the least we had a busy time. We were managing fine, like we always do in life. Then of course, that's not how God works.

Two days before Ian's ship was scheduled to deploy, while Ian was getting Aspen ready for school. She started complaining about a pain, and was having a hard time walking. Within a couple hours, it was getting really bad with new symptoms. So I rushed her to the Hospital ER and after much examination and pain on Aspen's part, it was clear something was wrong. They called a surgeon in, and sent her to the operating room. They found a large growth on her Urethral that had hemorrhaged and was bleeding uncontrollably. It was removed and that night she was feeling much better. Though we were told, we needed to wait for the pathology test to come back before we could stop worrying. I am happy to say now, that everything is fine, and she is doing great.

Ian left as planned on March 14th. He should be gone for about 7 months. So that makes it mid October when we get to have him back again. One month has already passed thankfully, it is definetly harder than I remember it being. I miss him dearly. I hate praying that the days will pass quickly, because I don't want to wish life away. But I do want it to not feel like SO long. If anyone would like to email him, or mail him. I am sure he would love to hear from you. Just let me know and I can get you his contact information.

Anyways, about a week after Ian left, I realized that I needed a break. My kids had a week of half days at school coming up and then the following week was spring break. So we quickly loaded up our Expedition and headed east to Soda Springs, Idaho. (ie...Grandpa and Grandma's house!) We had a great time visiting though I am still unsure if it was Spring Break or Winter Break, there was so much snow there. The Easter Bunny came, so I guess it was Spring!

Garrett and Aspen both worked on a lot of scout projects and got a number of patches or things signed off. That is what we focused on a lot of the time to entertain ourselves. Lydia and Tilden were sick most of the time. Along with myself for the first week. Lydia got so bad that the Dr. had her getting breathing treatments every few hours through a nebulizer. That was an experience, trying to get a two year old to keep a mask on her face for that long. But she got more used to it, and started even holding it herself.

We ended up staying for just over two and a half weeks. It was really nice to be able to see our family and relax a little bit too.

We have been home now for almost a week now and today I would say we are finally getting settled in. The suitcases are almost all unpacked. As for the house I am not sure what normal is, but I guess this is it. Lets just say there will always be something to keep me busy.

Garrett today had a special experience. He was able, with 30 other kids from his school go to Key Arena and hear the Dalia Lama speak on planting the "Seeds of Compassion." Seattle has been planning this for a long time. They also saw musical performances, dances, and storytellers. All focusing on one goal, "The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes." I have had the opportunity to talk to him a lot about this, and I hope that it is something he can always remember and take with him in life.

Today, I also got a call from Jennifer, the owner of Lasting Memories, a local scrapbook store. The teacher for one of their monthly classes has decided to stop teaching, and she wanted to know if I would take that over. I am really excited, it should be fun. And with only being once a month, not too much that I cant handle it right now. It is a Scrapbook Club, so mostly it will be leading a discussion, and teaching a few techniques. I have been a member of the book club for over a year now, like the challenge of trying something new. I am also still a member of Lasing Memories design team. It is a lot of fun. I love sharing my talent of scrapbooking.

I think that is about it for now.
Kim

Okay, I need to get better at this...

So I had higher goals then I could probably accomplish. What else is new? But I can still try right! Everyday, I think I should at least post something new for everyone to read. But then the day gets too busy and I forget. Then the other day I was able to talk to Ian, (he has been gone for about 3 weeks) and he said that he looks at the site a few times a day just to look at the pictures. So then the guilt set in... and now I am recommitting to posting more.

We all have been keeping busy around here. Here is a little about what each of us have been up to...

Like I said Ian has been gone for about 3 weeks, but will be coming home on Monday. YEAH! Unfortunately he will not be home long enough, his ship will be deploying for the Persian Gulf mid March for Seven months. When Ian is around, besides working, and spending time with us, he has been enjoying fishing. Though I think he is crazy in this cold of weather.

Garrett is playing basketball for the first time this year. He loves it. Today he had a game and made his first basket during a game. He was so excited after it went through the net, he literally screamed in excitement! It was very thrilling.

Garrett is in the 2nd grade this year and doing really good. He was given an award last week in school for making the world a better place. Which he really does! He is a great helper and sensitive kid. If only he could just listen a little better. Maybe with time.









Aspen is a Girl Scout. And you know what that means...COOKIES! I don't think that needs much other explanation, but it is that time of year. So we have been keeping busy with pre sales. Today she was able to attend a cookie rally to make signs and get more excited about the coming weeks. It was a 'red carpet' event so she got to dress like a star for the day. My friend, Janelle came over and did her hair and make up. She felt very special.

Aspen is in the 1st grade this year, and getting really good at reading. She has always been quite a bit behind her peers, but over the past couple months, she has really doing very well in school.






Lydia is a sweet, mischievous trouble maker. She has always been a very good kid, and she still is for the most part, but with turning 2 this last month, she is starting to push the limits and test what she can and cannot get away with.

Lydia has never really been much of a talker. She has very few words in her vocabulary, so I guess that is why it is so cute to see her say cheese whenever she sees a camera close by. You can tell in all the pictures of her this last few weeks.










Tilden has been sick this week. He finally got what the rest of us have been dealing with. But, he is still just as sweet as ever. He is 7 1/2 months now, and gets around great. He is just starting to pull himself up on things, and for the first time (and only time) I caught him standing up to his toy basket. He had gotten there all by himself. Of course by the time I got the camera, he had fallen, But that's okay, I propped him back up, and snapped a few cute pictures.











I feel like I spend most of my days just running is circles, doing everything and nothing all at the same time. Most of the time things run pretty smoothly, but having Ian gone so much, it can be draining taking care of all the things a family our size demands. I have gotten to be really good friends with one of my neighbors, Janelle her husband and Ian actually work together. When our husbands are gone it has been nice to have another adult around to talk to and cook dinners together. She has a son about a month older than Tilden, so it is fun watching them grow up together. I try to scrapbook a little every week, but it is hard to get in that creative zone when there are so many other things to worry about. But I will never stop trying. What's wrong with a frozen pizza for dinner once a week? Okay maybe twice a week sometimes? Soon I will start posting projects that I have completed, and some things that I am working on. I always have a few in the works.

Okay so maybe this post makes up for the last week, but hopefully I can do better this coming week!

Here's to a Grandpa who keeps getting older... but acting younger!!