Nathan's Update

Here is a picture of Nathan at Church on Sunday at Basic Training. There are couple missionaries assinged to the base to be a support to the LDS people going through training. They took a picture of him and emailed it to us which was really nice.

I also was lucky enough to get to talk to him last Friday. He got a phone call to me because there was a little more paper work I had to get sent to him. He is doing great. He said it's hard but as long as you do what you are told then it's not too bad. He says church is the best two hours of the whole week. He also told me that every night there is a group of guys that come over to his bunk and read the Book of Mormon with him. I know this gives him a lot of strength. His Flight is a marching band flight and he will be playing the base drum at his graduation.

We miss him so much and are very excited to see him at the end of December. If I hear anything else I will give another update.

Goodbye to Nathan

Nathan left for Air Force Basic Training on November 2nd. We had to drop him off at a hotel near LAX and these are a few pictures of our last hour with him saying goodbye. It was a really hard day and each day continues to be hard for me but I know we will all make it through and it will be worth it in the end. I am so proud of Nathan for being so willing to work hard and sacrifice so much to serve his country and provide for his family. He is the best husband and father in the world and we miss him so very much!
Nathan trying to make Anna fly like an Airforce plane and me trying to keep a hold of her so she doesn't fall. Crazy Dads! Good thing there are mothers to keep the babies alive!

Our Family

Vampire Anna

Anna and Daddy

Halloween, Late

Here is our little mischievious tinker bell. I had so much fun making her costume but she didn't wear it for too long because our ward Halloween party started at her bedtime so it was a hard night. We had fun carving pumpkins and watching Halloween movies as a family all day.

Very Chocolate Cookies

Very Chocolate Cookies!

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes and is great for chocolate lovers, enjoy!

Ingredients: 11/4 cups margarine, 2 cups white sugar, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 2 cups flour, 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in separate bowl and then gradually beat into creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Baby Pictures

We got some family photos and baby pictures of Anna at JCPenny's a couple of weeks ago. Here are a couple of Anna. We get new family pictures every year at this time. We will get copies out to family for this holiday season, sorry it's taking a little while.

7 Months!

Anna is 7 months old now and is becoming very mobile. It is so fun that she can crawl around and get up and down by herself. She loves me to play with her toys with her and then she climbs all over me. She is also making lots of super cute sounds like bababa.

The other day I was thinking about how I like to tell everyone about every cute little things that she does and it dawned on me that most people probably don't care so much and it's probably just Nathan and I that think every little sound or face she makes is the cutest thing in the world. Before I had her people always used to tell me how they could just watch their babies sleep for hours and they got so excited when they could smile or learn anything new like that. I knew it would be fun but I honestly thought that people were crazy and that I would be different and not get so excited about every little thing. Of course I have now realized how wrong I was. I never thought I could get so excited about someone else and every little thing that they do but I guess this is the joy of motherhood and it makes it so rewarding.

We haven't been up to much lately except just hanging out as a family for the last couple weeks before Nathan leaves. I'm sure we will have much more to post as the holidays come up.
Our hike to heart rock in Crestline, California.

Nathan

Here is a post for my husband since I mostly only post about Anna. He went to his 15 days briefing for the Airforce today and he will be reporting to basic training on November 2nd. It is sad that we will be apart for 4 months but it will be a great blessing for us in the long run and I will get to go to his graduation at the end of December for a few days. The sad part is we will be departing again from one another the day before our second anniversary. We didn't even get to celebrate our first anniversary because we were traveling. Darn, hopefully the third will be the charm. Nathan and I also went country dancing a couple of weekends ago in Temecula. We went early and left when the partiers were starting to come and it was actually really fun and we learned some fun dances. Nathan also got to ride the mechanical bull and stayed on for the whole 8 seconds! Please excuse the bud light signs in the background:)

Anna at the Park

I took Anna to the park last week and she went on the swing for the first time. She seemed to like it pretty well, she just sat there very content but it was a little chilly that day so we didn't stay too long.

Family Time

We went to the lake to feed the ducks the other afternoon and here are some fun pictures. When we got there, there were only two ducks and when we left there were probably 20. I guess they told all the friends about the amazing stale bread.

Anna wearing Daddy's Jeep hat

Anna and Daddy feeding the ducks.

Some cute pictures of Anna sleeping. A few weeks ago she started sleeping on her stomach. She used to always sleep on her back but now she has to be on her stomach. Sometimes she can't even wait until she finishes her bottle, she just turns on her tummy with her bum in the air and trys to drink her bottle upside down, which doesn't work. The other night we put her in her car seat and put that in her crib to make her sleep on her back because she kept waking up like every half hour and we thought it was because her legs were falling asleep when she had them under her. When I woke up the morning her carseat was tipped back in the crib and she had turned on her stomach with her face on her matress and her bum still in her carseat. Of course I slightly panicked at first and woke her up to make sure she was okay so I didn't get a picture. She was so cute but now we just let her sleep on her tummy and she's doing fine.

When her pacifer falls out in the night she is now able to feel around, find it and then put it back in without even waking up, it's amazing!!

Motherhood truly is the greatest calling!

"Daughters of God know that it is the nurturing nature of women that can bring everlasting blessings, and they live to cultivate this divine attribute. Surely when a woman reverences motherhood, her children will arise up and call her blessed (see Prov. 31:28).

"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."