More pics from our trip…

and then my camera died. 🙁

In June, the boys and I headed to California with my mom.  This was a much anticipated trip.  We had a great time. We are much indebted to our tour guides and inn keepers, Jeff and Blanca.  They had our trip planned out and it worked out great. We went to see my sweet Grandma and really enjoyed our visit.  She is living in an assisted living facility, but it was hard to leave her there. I just wanted to snatch her away and take her with us.  After our visit with Grandma, we headed back to Glendale.  We went to Universal Studios and had a fun time.  The boys loved seeing all of their favorite characters.  The rides are a lot of fun although the Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster ride scared me! I screamed and screamed.  We headed to Hollywood and Highland and enjoyed being right in the heart of Hollywood. It was cool to be in the place that is so often shown on movies and TV shows.  We also went to the Hollywood sign. Billy really enjoyed seeing the sign and sat on a rock and gazed at it.  We also were able to be there for  a special occasion, the baptism of Hannah and Emily into the Seventh Day Adventist Church.  They were so excited to be baptized and it was nice to be there to share their joy.  We also got to see Hannah show off her acting chops in the musical Elijah and Emily’s prowess as a stage hand.  It was a fun trip and the boys are already asking when we are going back.

 

I really love to blog.  I do, but lately I haven’t been up to date on anything.  A lot has happened since the last blog post.  The people that own the house that we were renting decided to move back in so we had to move.  We had until the end of June to find another house.  We looked around at rentals in Edgewood, but there just wasn’t anything there.  Well there was, but  the houses were too small and they wanted more than we were willing to pay.  Then we briefly discussed buying a house, but not knowing where we might be in another year and half we decided against that.  So we made the last call and asked about base housing.  We didn’t think there would be any houses available. Summer is the height of moving season in the military so we didn’t have high hopes.  Well Bill called and there were two 4 bedroom houses available.  We felt like this was the right thing to do and now live on base instead on the other side of the mountain.  We hope to be able to get back to Edgewood because we really like it up there.  We also were given permission to stay in our ward so we get up a little bit earlier on Sunday mornings, but it is worth it. I love our little ward and am so happy our Bishop let us stay.  So that is our life in a nutshell.  In between finding a place to live, packing and moving, the boys and I went to California and Bill went to Scout Camp.  Oh and after we got back it was time for Cub Scout Day Camp and then my nieces were here for two weeks.  They just left today.  Whew…. then school starts in two weeks.  So I will attempt to update our blog and keep it updated on a more regular basis.

Sincerely, your humble blog correspondent.

Billy started his Cub Scout journey by joining Tiger Cubs.  I became the leader. It was not something I had planned on doing, but it worked out well.  I told Bill that people would automatically assume I was a scouter like he is because we have a son named after the founder of the Boy Scouts.  Baden became our Tiger Cub mascot.  He even wore his own tan scout shirt to meetings.  We learned a lot this year.  Billy built a rocket and a pinewood derby car.  We took a tour of the police station and the local newspaper.  We played games and made new friends.  Saturday was the Crossover Celebration in Tijeras, New Mexico.  Four of my Tiger Cubs earned their Tiger Cub badges.  They also worked on electives and many of them completed 20 or more.  Billy earned the soccer belt loop. He was so excited to crossover to Wolves.  I have to admit that it made me a little teary eyed.  Billy is growing up.  He will take a break from Cub Scouts until January when he turns 8 and then he will join our church’s pack.  I know he will be raring to go.

A whole month has gone by and I am a slacker.  We have been so busy.  For spring break we went “up north” to Salt Lake City well Layton to be exact and spent a few days with Bill’s sister, Melanie and her family.  We got there on Saturday, the 2nd and got up the next morning to head downtown to the Conference Center for General Conference. Bill, Jessica and I had the opportunity to go to the Sunday morning session. It was wonderful.  The speakers were great and the choir was absolutely amazing. They sound great on TV and on recordings, but nothing compares to seeing them in person.  The next few days were spent hanging out with Melanie, Doug, Seth and Olivia. We went to the zoo and had a good time.  It was a good day which is saying something because we had all kinds of weather when we were there.  I had never been to the Hogle Zoo and was impressed plus we get 50 percent off our admission since we are members of the ABQ Biopark.  🙂  Some parts of the zoo were under construction so it will be neat to go back and see how it all turned out.  Bobby, Bill’s brother, and our sweet niece, Addison joined us for the day plus Bill’s mom.  We went to the movies and saw Hop. Cute movie, the kids really liked it.  Then we headed to the Family Fun Center near Melanie’s house for a day of fun.  The kids had a blast.  Then it was off to South Jordan to stay with Bobby and Corinne and family.  Friday, we went to the Salt Lake Temple with Jessica.  It was one of the best days of our lives.  How awesome to be able to go through the temple with her!  When we were there, we saw a young man that had been in Bill’s scout troop in our ward in New Jersey.  He was being married that day.  We were able to go to his sealing, too.  It was so special and neat to be able to see some people we went to church with from New Jersey.  On the way home, Jessica said her cheeks hurt.  We asked why and she said she couldn’t stop smiling.  That made us all smile.  On Saturday, we headed back to Monticello.  Bill’s grandpa, Grandpa Dunow, was in the hospital. Before we left the next day, Bill was able to give his grandpa a blessing.  The Spirit was very strong in the room and it was later in the week on April 14th that he passed away at the age of 93.  We headed back to Monticello for the funeral.  It was simple and just want Grandpa would have wanted.  The graveside service included full military honors and it was very touching to hear Taps played for the last time.  We left for home on the 20th and Jessica came along with us.  We were able to spend the last few days with her before she left for her mission. She was set apart on Tuesday night (4/26) and left the next morning for the Missionary Training Center in Provo.   Our hearts are overjoyed and our blessings overflowing.

 

It was a busy weekend.  Bill and I went to see the Pink Floyd Experience on Friday night.  The band played for an hour and 45 minutes.  The Pink Floyd experience are  a group of guys that enjoy playing Pink Floyd music.  We had a good time.  Bebe and Grandpa watched the boys for us. Then on Saturday  Billy had his first soccer game.  He really enjoys being part of a team.  This is his first year playing and he is learning so much. Bebe and Grandpa Barnes were able to be at his first game and they enjoyed it a lot.  After the soccer game, we headed to The Pit for some bull riding. The PBR was making its 12th schedule stop.  My parents and I are big bull riding fans and Bill came along for the fun, too.  Saturday night was a lot of fun.  The Pit is a great place to be right on top of the action.  It was a busy weekend, but so much fun.

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Lately Baden has been very mischievous.  While I have been doing some spring cleaning, Baden has been up to no good.  The other morning I was in my bedroom trying to get things put away when I noticed it was too quiet.  I looked in his bedroom. I looked upstairs.  Then my olfactory sense started working.  I smelled chocolate.  Then I saw a little hand trying to close the door to the laundry room.  That’s when I found Baden covered in cocoa powder and trying to clean it up with the dust pan.  I couldn’t get upset when I asked him to take pictures for the blog, of course.  His punishment was to take a shower. He hates showers, but that was the only way to get all that cocoa off of him.  Onto the next day… everything was going pretty good.  Bill was flying late and the boys were watching a movie.  Baden wanted to watch a movie in my room so I let him.  After getting off the phone wtih Bill, I went to check on Baden.  There he was sitting on my bed eating Parmesan cheese with a spoon out of the container. Yuck!  I really do feed him, but I guess he really likes cheese in all forms.  Later that night, he decided he needed some ointment on his backside so he took matters into his own hands.  He had it on himself and the dog.  Poor Piper’s hair was standing up everywhere.  I  did get one picture of Piper.   By the time this happened, I wasn’t in a let’s take pictures for the blog mood.  It was late and I had reached my limit.  However, here I am blogging about my sweet boy that I must watch like a hawk.  Life would be pretty boring without Baden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday was my birthday.  It was a good day. I went out to lunch with Bill at one of my favorite places, Dion’s.  Then I was lavished with presents and cake.  The boys got me Just Dance 2.  Love those games. It is a lot of fun and the dance moves are harder than Just Dance 1. My mom and dad got me clothes (which I love) and two perfume bottles for my collection.  My brother, Jeff, and his family got me an Amazon gift card which will be put to good use probably filling my Kindle with books.  The ultimate present was from Bill who got me a Ruger .22 Rimfire pistol.  Now one of the things many people probably don’t know about me is that I love target shooting and I would love to start competing in competitions.  Well this gun will get me on my way.  I am really excited to get out to the range and fire it.  But the very best part of my birthday was the card that Baden got me.  Bill took the boys to the store to pick out cards. Billy got me a very cute Hoops and Yoyo card that sings, but Baden’s card takes the cake.

 

When Bill and I were engaged, he took me out shooting. I had never been and I had a blast.  After we were married, Bill got me a Ruger 10/22.  It’s a great gun to use for spinning targets, my personal favorite. For the first time, we took the boys to the range with us.  Mostly they played, but they wanted a turn too.  Bill helped both the boys.  Billy did pretty well and actually got to pull the trigger. He hit a couple of the targets, too. Baden was just excited to be doing something that Billy had done.  It was a fun way to spend Presidents Day and have family time, too.

I like snow. I like watching it fall and I love to see it before it is trampled and plowed, but the last couple of weeks we were slammed with snow.  Last weekend for a Valentine’s Day outing with my sweetheart boys, we went to the Rio Grande Botanic Gardens.  Yes, most of the vegetation was dead but it was great to run and play.  The boys love the Super Mario Brothers, so on this day Billy was Mario, Baden was Luigi and I was given the honor of being Princess Peach.  We had fun just being outside.  It was a gorgeous New Mexico day.  We will definitely be heading back when the flowers are blooming.