One of our favorite places to go while we have lived here is the Westmoreland Berry Farm in Oak Grove, Virginia.  The big attraction is not the miles of berry fields that can be hand picked no that’s not our style. We love the goats.  Billy wants a goat, but since that isn’t happening any time soon we head out to the berry farm for some fun.  It was the last day of the strawberry season, so Billy and I shared a loaded strawberry shortcake (strawberries, shortcake, ice cream, whipped cream and cherry on top) and Bill and Baden had a raspberry sundae.  The goats know what it means when a quarter is placed in the machine.  There is always one waiting and another one to butt the goat being patient out of the way.  Billy loves the goats and Baden just laughed and laughed. He didn’t really like his hands all yucky after they would eat the corn from them, but he got over that quickly.  The boys also enjoyed playing on the playground. After getting a few treats from the country store, we headed down to the road to the George Washington Birthplace National Monument.  It closes at 5:00 pm and it was 4:30, but we got to walk around and the let the  boys run.  It was a great day with the goats and General Washington.

On Saturday, we were out in the yard when Bill found a toad.  Billy was excited to see the croaker, but Baden was not sure about Mr. Toad.

Yesterday, we headed up to Camden Yards on the train.  The skies were overcast, but as long as it didn’t rain we were good. It didn’t rain and the sun came out! The Orioles played the Toronto Blue Jays. We had great seats seven rows behind the O’s dugout and they won! It didn’t look good for the O’s. Going into the seventh inning, they were trailing 8 to 3. Then they answered with  5 runs in the 8th inning.   Jays and O’s tied until the 11th inning. Aaron Hill of the Jays hits a two run homer, Jays lead 10-8. Then Nolan Reimold, who has only been in the big leagues two weeks, steps up the plate an hits a three run homer! O’s win, O’s win. 12-10! It was an awesome game.  I feel sorry for the people who left.  Billy kept asking is it time to go and when I would say no, he would point to the people heading to the exit. I explained to him a true baseball fan stays until the last out.  The boys were great.  Bill took the boys to play on the playground for a little while and for bathroom breaks all so I could bask in the glow of Camden Yards.  Baseball – I love it!

On  a beautiful, sunny Friday at the Dallas, Texas Temple, Bill and I were married.  The day was perfect. There were no clouds in the sky and the humidity was low. Just a perfect day to get married.  It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years.  Sometimes, especially the last few months, feels like we have been married for 30 years,  but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  We can finish each other’s sentences and we can each be thinking the same thought.  The last few months have been stressful with our impending move, but they only serve to make us stronger.  We have been blessed with two beautiful boys and they provide joy beyond measure.  So on this day, Happy Anniversary,Bill! LOVE YA BUNCHES & BUNCHES!

*Sorry for the lack of wedding photos, they are packed. 🙁

We celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, but I guess it isn’t to the same degree as others.  Bill does not like cards.  He thinks Hallmark and any other card makers have made up holidays so people will buy more cards. (By the way, did  you know that the week before Christmas and Mother’s Day are the busiest times at the post office.)  So yesterday with little fanfare, we celebrated Mother’s Day. We went to church and then had a great lunch before Bill headed out to the base for his alert shift. No breakfast in bed, but I don’t really have a  bed right now so no big deal. Plus I have never understood the appeal of breakfast in bed.  Anyway,  Bill and I got a Garmin Nuvi 760 GPS.  It’s way cool.  It has MP3 and Bluetooth capabilities.  We used it yesterday to find our way to church. 🙂  This present is for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and our anniversary.  The best gift, though, came from Billy. He has an awesome Pre-K teacher. She took a picture of each of the kids and then the kids painted a terra cotta pot with their fingerprints which were then made into ladybugs, caterpillars, etc…  Then inside the pot was a flower with Billy’s picture in the middle of the flower.  I know this sounds corny, but it made me teary eyed.  I love it!  His smile is so cheesy and just perfect.  It is a treasured keepsake.  So Mother’s Day was great and my boys are great.  They make me crazy, but most of all they make me want to be a better mom and I love them so  much.  

It’s been a week since the packers came. They wanted to pack everything. If it wasn’t bolted down, they wanted to put it in a box.  So we hope that everything makes it in one piece to New Mexico. Billy was worried about his toys and wanted to make sure they would be on the truck.  He was concerned other kids would be playing with his toys. I told him they are sealed in a box and will be there when we get to our new home.  When I was little I always thought unpacking boxes was a little like Christmas.  Things I hadn’t seen in a month or two were like new.  Of course, unpacking is also a great way to declutter and I plan on doing that too.  I decluttered a lot before we packed, but we still seemed to have a lot of stuff.  It makes me wonder where all of the stuff came from and why did I need it all.  We are “camping out” in the house.  Base camp is the guest room.  We have all of our essentials including the Wii.  Because if we didn’t have the Wii, we would really be roughing it and that would be no fun at all.

On Saturday, I went on a flight with Bill’s sqaudron.  I came home and Baden had on underwear over his shorts (see post below) and Billy came running to me saying look what daddy did to my hair.  Yep, he had a mohawk.  We are having a heat wave so it was time for Billy’s summer hair cut.  I guess he got a little fidgety and so Bill left it as a mohawk or at least that’s his story.  Billy told Bill, “Daddy, I can’t walk around like this.”  So he got a nice buzz for the summer. 

Baden is fascinated by underwear particularly Billy’s underwear. I guess it’s pretty cool with Spider Man, Spongebob, Transformers on it.  The other day I came home and Baden met me at the door with Billy’s underwear on over his shorts.  It looked so funny.  I thought Bill must have put it on him.  Nope, Baden got the first leg on and Bill just helped with the rest.  Today I was folding clothes, he grabbed a pair of underwear and put them on over his shorts.  We are now calling him Captain Underpants.  It seems to suit him.   I am sure that later these pictures may embarass him, but they are too cute not to share. 🙂