The Last 2 Years: November 2012

This was the first birthday that I celebrated with Aaron gone.  It was a Friday birthday even so I took a moment to be sad that we were not going to take advantage of Aaron being able to take me out fancy because it was Friday.  Fortunately I got over it.  I was, however, excepting 2 things:  a present or flowers from Aaron and for it to be low key.  I got one of them.  The flowers were beautiful!!

I started the day off locking my self out of the house.  This might seem silly but when you have a garage code, you don't really think about not begin able to get inside your home.  Problem was, Ainsley locked the door from the house to the garage without me knowing, so when I closed it, it locked.  I stressed about it for a bit, mostly because I had a lunch date with Kelly Bohnenkamp that I needed to get ready for but in the end, called my neighbor Chris who just took the door off and I was able to get back in.  Moment of panic over.

Kelly and I went to a deli downtown that didn't have my first or second choice of salad/sandwich, so I got my third.  It was good and all but really, if you are down to your third choice of something, there will be some disappointment somewhere.  I did make a small fuss about it being my birthday so I got a free cupcake and that kinda made up for lunch.

I can't remember if I got a massage or not.  I want to say yes but I would have had to find someone to pick up Camryn from preschool so really, your guess is as good as mine.  Let's say that tI did because that would be a fantastic birthday gift to myself!!

My friend Rachel Hammer made me a birthday cake and then her gift to me was to babysit the kids so I could go shopping by myself.  I got skinny jeans and some boots.  The skinny jeans were my first pair and I stressed about them mostly because I didn't think I could pull them off.  Ironic that right now I am wearing that same pair and love them as a favorite go-to pair.

I picked the kids up after shopping and enjoyed a movie and microwave popcorn.  I remember that I made 2 bags because I burned the first one.  Begin older and wiser, I realized even then that I can afford to throw away burnt microwave popcorn.

I also skyped with Aaron.

*Crossfit brownies for my birthday from Bryan Kemper:

*Birthday fun:

Holly Morgan, me, and Rachel Hammer

*Birthday flowers from Aaron:

At the end of the month the kids and I drove down to Ft Collins to spend Thanksgiving with the Rasmussens.  IT was awesome as always!!.  We went to a place called Sweatsville Zoo which is a metal works sculpture garden.  I'm always amazed at what artists think of to make out of everyday items.

*Sweatsville Zoo (Ft Collins):

The culminating event was a hike in the Flat Irons.  IT was the WORST!!  Disclaimer:  we have hiked our kids everywhere in all kids of environments.  Yosemite, Sequoia, Badlands, Estes Park... We aren't new to hiking.  This trip however, all kids acted like we were near killing them.  Luke and Quinn got the point of mutiny, there may have also been some tears, Camryn fell in a cactus and had spines in her leg.  Ainsley refused to walk so I carried her on my shoulders the then her feet fell asleep and couldn't walk, and Jonas cried for the last 1-2 miles because he was cold (which is was).  We survived though.... and will NEVER go back again!

*Flat Irons (Boulder, CO):

*Thanksgiving with Scott Alexander (Ft Collins)

*Alex turns 10! Swimming and Texas Roadhouse birthday:

Right after Christmas 2011 I decided it was time to get a new Christmas tree.  It was a 6.5 footer that we had gotten our first Christmas in Ohio because we couldn't do real trees in the apt because of the fire code (that kids is the reason we, to this day have a fake tree).  It's not a bad gig and I spice up the house with a Christmas tree cancel so it's like the real thing.  I digress.

I wanted a bigger tree because we have great big front windows so went for the 9 foot tree (maybe 10).  Two boxes came in January 2012 and we quickly put them int he garage.  Fast forward to Christmas 2012, Aaron is gone and I get the tree boxes out of the rafters (with help) and start to set it up.  It is huge.  I can't reach the top even with my step ladder and we don't have even close to enough lights!  We had to decorate the top separate and then attach it to the top to get anything on the top.

Luckily, it looks amazing in the front windows!

*Setting up the new and HUGE Christmas tree:

The Last 2 Years: October 2012

October was a big deal in that I had my first bout of DKA.

I woke up high, like in the 600s high and never came down.  Turns out that I had the flu and I was sick and throwing up all night Saturday and Sunday.  Dehydration plus vomiting is such a bad combination when it comes to diabetes!

I called the closest priesthood, who ended up being my visiting teachers husband Mike Archbold, to come over and give me a blessing.  This was good because then my visiting teacher got into action calling my other one, Nikki Schrubb, who called her dad an ER Dr and he came over.  We skipped church and the kids were riding bikes outside which is when my neighbor came over because that was unusual. Kelly came over, feed people lunch, changed Ainsley's diaper and double checkied on me.  Kay and Nikki  came over with dinner and then Nikki called her dad to come check on me, seeing hat tI was in pretty bad shape although i was convinced that  I was not fine but not hospital worthy.  Once her dad came over it was clear that I was and Nikki took me to the ER.  My mom had been in town and left Thursday and then flew back in Monday because I was in the hospital for 2 days.  Kelly spent Sunday night with the kids, Kay came over and got them ready for school and Nathan Parkin , the Elders Quorum President, picked mom up from the airport after Cody called him.

When all was said and done I had lost 15lbs of fluid in 36 hrs.  It took the ER 6-7 liters to reinflate me initially.  It took another week or so for my muscles to get back into form so that I wasn't winded walking up the stairs.  It took another week for food to look like something that I wanted to eat.

My biggest regret that I remember is not wanting to have the kids see me in the hospital.  Mostly, I was so tired and worn out that I just didn't want to deal with them.  I see that that was foolish, especially with Aaron gone.  They needed to see that I was OK. Cody Scheel, my home teacher was out of town in New Jersey with his wife but called me as soon as he heard I was sick and got people calling around to help with the kids.

It was a great example of a ward family pulling together when immediate and extended family are not available.

Other October happenings:

*More soccer:

*Hiking what we thought was the Strato Bowl with Hammers (we were not he back side):

*Sesame Street Live at the Civic Center:

*Flowers form my family and friends after the DKA:

*Alex earning his bear rank in Cub Scouts:

*A whole lot of Halloween:

 A Witch

Rock Star

Light-up Cinderella

Percy Jackson

*Football Playoffs:

*Carving Pumpkins the night before Halloween because mom couldn't get it together sooner:

The Last 2 Years: September 2012

I did not realize that so much happened in September!

*Last days of summer:

*First days of 2nd and 4th grade (August 28):

*Soccer:

*Camryn turns 5 and Marc Robinson gets older:

*Camryn starts preschool at Pinedale with Mrs Holly:

*Football:

*Grandpa and Grandma Petersen drop in for a visit:

*Ainsley turns 2!:

*Buffalo Roundup with Robinsons at Custer State Park:

September, as we hoped went fast.  We hit two months on deployment #2 and with the beginning of school, soccer, football, piano and dance, we weren't hurting for things to do!

Re-dedicated

It goes without saying that I've been away from the blogging world for about 2 years now.  Once in awhile I'll think about it, but never really get down to writing.  It's been such a long time and so much has happened.

Where will I even start?

Today my brother in law set me a link for said blog and I got to reading and looking through it.  It's not the fanciest or most creative but it is an actual working history of our family.  I enjoyed reading through the pages and realized something:  I've missed this.

So here I am, rededicated and recommitted to blogging.  If nothing else, it'll be fun to look back through in another 2 years when I quit again (kidding!!).

Best part of a long vacation....

... is the mental/emotional payoff at the end!

We also had a good time with our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins!

Ainsley did it! Really?

A few weeks ago I was typing away at the computer and Camryn comes down and starts telling me some story.  I'm not listening but putting in the appropriate "hummm..."  and " uh-hugh" when I start to smell baby powder REALLY strongly.  I finally look at Camryn and she is covered in baby powder.  It is puffing off her head when she moves, her black skirt is white and grey, she has to squint one eye... you get the picture.

Me:  "What happened?"
Camryn:  "That's what I'm trying to tell you.  There's baby powder all over my room!"
Me:  "What!?"
Camryn: " Ainsley did it!"

At this point Ainsley comes up from the basement in dress up clothes.  Not a hint of powder.

Me:  "So if Ainsley did it and she was down stairs, why are you covered in powder?"
Camryn:  "I fell in it." 
Me:  "Really?"
Camryn:  (looking at me, herself and then Ainsley)  "I fell a lot!"

you can see the now empty powder container in the background

I get up stairs and there is baby powder billowing in the air in their room and big container is empty.

Me: "You want to tell me what really happened?"
Camryn:  "Nope"
Me:  "Camryn?"
Camryn:  "Maybe I did this" (motioning turning the bottle upside down)  "and then this" (motioning swinging the bottle around in a circle)

Well  at least it's not Vaseline or Desitin. 

Ainsley's off the hook too.

An Undisclosed Location

Aaron has safely arrived at his undisclosed location in SW Asia.  I don't know why they don't say the Middle East but whatever.

Here at home we have made it through 3 days of the first week.  I give myself the first week to be sad for as long as I want; working out a new schedule for each day of the week without dad.  Then it's go time.  Sunday night I was apologizing to the kids for crying and Alex said, "It's OK mom, you cried way more last time!" 

Drop off time was 9:45 am at the squadron.  Because of the number of guys leaving, all their bags, and the smallness of the squadron auditorium, our goodbye was more of a "kiss at the curb" event.   We drove to the base, found our own private parking spot in the parking lot, kissed and hugged the kids then I walked Aaron to the door.   It was quick and sad but there is a point where there can be too much goodbye time so it was nice to get on with it.

not too bad considering all the crying!

the poster family for deployment

Once there Aaron said they had a short briefing and then it was on the buses to head to the deployment center.  They ended up flying out later that afternoon.  I got an email Sunday morning saying that they had landed. Let the count-down begin.