Christmas!

We started the day by opening stockings...each kid got their own mug, a coloring book and some other odds and ends. Rachel then made a great crepe breakfast (with sausage links...real sausage, not turkey. Sorry Alyssa!). After breakfast, we read through the Luke 2 account of Christmas. We felt it was impotant to make the kids wait for presents and not go rushing through them right away. They really got into the Biblical account of Jesus' birth, and though I'm sure they didn't completely understand everything, they were able to give a pretty accurate retelling of the story. After our time in the Bible we opened presents. There were a LOT of gifts and we thank everyone that sent something this year. We hope that each and every one of you had a great day with your families and that you were able to relax and enjoy your day! Merry Christmas!

Christmas cookies!

The kids had a great time with Mom making Christmas cookies. There were stars, stockings, Christmas trees and bells. It took a while to get the hang of NOT putting 3 lbs of frosting per cookie, but they did finally get it...and yes, they WERE delicious!

A little Christmas...

One of the grandmas said that she wanted to see a picture of the tree, so here you go Granny Grace! This is our tree...we think it's our best so far. It's hard to capture how nice it looks on camera, but here's a try. Also, we put up som lights outside this year...the kids think it's just the greatest thing ever.

A snow day???

Will wonders never cease? We awoke this morning to the sight of snow covered trees and about 5 inches of snow...and it's still coming down! Of course, this means that we all had to go outside and play. We built snowmen, snowforts and snowballs. The kids, especially Ethan and Kaylee, loved it. Snowangels were of course part of the fun. Even Momma went out and tried to paste Dad with a snowball or two. The trees in this area are NOT equipped to handle the added weight of snow, so it will be interesting to see the aftermath of the "snowstorm", but we are enjoying it for the moment at least.

Balloon Festival

Every year, hot air ballooners flock to New Mexico to take part in the many festivals around the state. Alamogordo has one, as does White Sands Missile Range. We got up early this year and took the kids out to watch them set up and lift off. The kids thought it was amazing to see and VERY loud! I personally have no desire to sit in a basket roughly the size of my computer chair at about 10,000 ft!

Packer backers

As you can see, the Packers are a family team...Rachel has her own jersey as well, but she had to take the picture! Rachel and I will be going to a Packer game against the Cardinals in Phoenix in January...we are obviously VERY excited about that!

Kaylee's 4th Birthday

Kaylee got to celebrate her birthday with her friends and family on Tuesday. There were pink cupcakes, pink ice cream, pink princess dresses...notice a trend? She loved the presents that she got from everyone! She got a camera from Mom and Dad, a magnetic doll with magnetic outfits from Grampy and GranJan, some new clothes from Gramma and Poppy and a new purse, lots of drawing materials and even a crown and wand. She had a great time and said to tell everyone "thank you"!

Been a while...

Sorry that it's been so long since we posted. I have been working night shift and Rachel has been busy being pregnant, taking care of kids, cleaning house and all that good stuff.

Anyways, we recently decided that we wanted to finish renovating, or at least giving a face lift, to our back yard. That included pulling up all of the old yard edger and replacing it with a composite plastic type of edge mold. It was had work, and as you can see we had lots of help. It's important to us to instill good work ethic and appreciation for labor in the kids, and that they certainly have...unless that means cleaning rooms. Anyways...Ethan and Kaylee definitely got their hands dirty and were a huge help. Here are a couple of pictures of them giving us a hand.

Little Airmen

Being in the Air Force is not a single person affair. The whole family is in the Air Force. No matter where I move, or what happens to me, the whole family is affected. Not that they mind. I mean, where else would they get to where this awesome hat?!?!?!

I thought everyone might enjoy seeing our latest family photo. This was taken up at some friends' house in a place called High Rolls. We love to go up there. Generally, the temperature is at least 10 degrees cooler, there are beautiful Aspen trees, deer and elk everywhere and lots of open space. It's amazing how quickly our kids are growing!

Future Pele?

Our church has been hosting "Mega Sports Camp", a youth sports camp/vacation Bible school. Ethan got to attend this year and took soccer lessons. Man, was he good. He loved every second of it, and I have to admit, the kids got talent!

Flying in a T-38

Today I got treated to one of the most amazing experiences of my life...flying in a jet. It is every Airman's dream to fly I think...you can't really help it. The most amazing thing is that you spend every day of your career supporting these aircraft, either directly or indirectly, and having the honor of flying in one was amazing. My aircraft was a T-38B...basically a trainer jet. The Air Force uses these jets to

keep pilots proficient and as a little lower cost alternative for flying hours to the bigger jets. You may recognize it as the "aggresor" jet in the movie Top Gun that Tom Cruise fights against! It was a TRIP!!! I loved every second of it and it definitely gave me a healthy respect for our pilots and what they do every day. It is exhausting flying and pulling G's. Every time you do your entire body clenches up to try and keep from blacking out or getting "tunnel vision"...and no, I did not throw up! I am so proud to have done it and very thankful to my awesome squadron for giving me the opportunity!

The first of many...

We decided to come back to blogger and do our blog on here. The Mac website was really nice, but we decided that we didn't want to continue paying for all the services that we got through it. So, along with an e-mail change, we will be posting pictures for all to see here at this site! Here are some of the kids in our first rainstorm of the season. It is always so exciting to get our first rain because that means the grass will be growing like crazy! Yippee. That is good for everyone else, but for me it means grass cutting! YES!!!