Happy 6th Birthday Adelynn!!!

Well I can't believe it, my little girl turned 6! Me and the boys made it back just in time for Adelynn's birthday. Daddy helped you make cupcakes for your class and they all loved them. The house was still in boxes and piles (the joy of moving in September). What a big girl she is.

Adelynn you are mom's big helper and you always have been. You were so excited to start school and we areexcited for this new phase of life, but mom is sad to have you gone all day! You continue to amaze us with your quick learning and willingness to help out, without an argument (usually). You are so good with Dallin and he loves his big sister. Nolan loves you too and has missed you while you are at school. You love art and anything to do with it. You can sit and color/create things for hours at a time. The newest thing that you said you want to be when you grow up is a Chef. We are so excited to see what this year brings and the many things you learn. We love you Adelynn! Happy Birthday!

We made it to Virginia Beach!

So we finally got to move and leave Great Lakes, now don't get me wrong, we enjoyed all the things to do around there and we loved our ward and all the new friends we made, but we were ready to move on and continue this exciting journey of being in the Navy. Our trip was interesting to say the least.... We were able to stop in Kirtland Ohio and visit the church sights there and then we did more driving and our GPS did not quite understand where we were wanting to go.... LOL let's just say we were driving in the dark through dark country 2 lane roads of Maryland with a 26' penske truck and our car, trying to find our hotel LOL. It was quite the adventure, besides that though everything went smoothly. Weather was nice nothing too crazy beside the HURRICANE that was supposed to be hitting Virginia Beach the day we were supposed to be there. Crazy as we are we decided to keep driving. We made it to our new house with no problems, but when we pulled into our street we were a little concerned. All the cars were parked up on the grass and behind the houses. Turns out our street floods when it rains. LOL! The next day we unloaded the truck with some help from some friends (the Rasmussen's) and the missionaries in our new ward as well as some other memebers from the ward. We definately appreciated all the help. We went tot he beach over the next couple days and the waves were bigger than normal because of the hurricane (it was actually down graded to a tropical storm). Here are some pics..

Goodbye old house...

One last view of the Chicago skyline...

Adelynn and Nolan in the truck with Daddy..

Hello Indiana...

The sawmill in Kirtland Ohio...

In front of the Kirtland Temple...

Kirtland Temple...

The beach aobut 5 min from our house...

WE LOVE the BEACH!!!!

Adelynn's 1st day of school 2010...

Adelynn's first day of Kindergarten! Yay for school! So Adelynn's school is about a couple blocks from our house, but because there are so many kids in our neighborhood that go to Birdneck Elementary they bus all of the kids. There is literally almost 1 bus per street. Very crazy and it's fun having so many kids around the neighborhood (well...most of the time LOL)

We love you Adelynn!

Time...

Where does the time go, geez.... well it has been a long time but I just wanted to write a little bit. We are moving, finally. It took forever for orders to come in (begininng of June) and when they did come in it turns out Dwayne's next set of training does not start until the end of September. So... September 1st we are on our way to Virginia Beach for about 8 months or so and then after that time will only tell. We are very excited to see the east coast and enjoy all the new surroundings. We are so excited to continue to live about 5 minutes away from the beach, this time one with waves so I'm sure there will be some surfing in order for Dwayne. BUT... we are sad to move even further from family and friends, AND.... the offer is always there for anyone who would like to come visit.

We have had so much fun here in the Chicago area, there is so much to do and we have truely enjoyed ourselves. We plan on taking full advantage of the time we have left to see a few more things that we haven't had a chance to yet. One of the kids favorite things to do is take the train to Chicago and then ride the water taxi to Navy Pier. So we will definately be doing that at least one more time.

We just got back from our second trip to Nauvoo. Dwayne's parents had scheduled a trip to visit his brother David and his family, who live near St. Louis, so they made the trip up to see us (since unexpectedly we were still here...). It was so fun to have Grandma and Grandpa visit. The kids loved having cousins to play with and we enjoyed visiting with David and Cilia. After a fun 4th of July weekend we headed to Nauvoo (thanks for planning it Cilia). We were able to see the paegent as well as enjoy all the other activites there. We truely enjoyed seeing the sights, enjoyed a temple session (thanks David and Cilia for watching the kids), and saw a few shows (its hard with a VERY busy 15 month old). We were able to camp again, it was good to get out and use our camping gear. It was humid but we survived and enjoyed ourselves. We were also able to enjoy the pool at the hotel everyone else stayed at, it was nice to swim, cool off, and relax.

It is such an great thing to visit these places and remember the sacrifices that were made.

Hopefully I'll get some pictures posted soon.

Catchin' Up!

Wow, I can't believe its almost December!

Late May the kids and I moved to California to live with my sister Karissa and her 3 kids. Jesse, her husband had just been deployed to Afghanistan. We figured since we were both by ourselved we may as well keep each other company. We had so much fun and the kids with in a couple weeks were acting like siblings. It was good to have someone to be around who was going through the same thing. So this is my shout out to my little sister... Thanks for all the fun. Every where we went people would stare at us, it was pretty amusing. Imagine... 2 women, 2 newborns, 2 3 yr olds, a 5 yr old, and a 7 yr old. We were quite the sight!

We were able to go to Sea World, Lego Land, the beach, the fair, swimming, we took a trip to Utah for Savannah's blessing, and Yuma (man that was a long drive, cracks me up thinking about it) to see Angela as little red riding hood in 'Into the Woods'. We also went off roading after a long trip just to throw off the kids. One time in particular that makes me laugh is all the kids had a melt down in the car after we bought some doughnuts and we told them they had to wait until we got home. We also had WAY too many visits to Urgent care. Let's see it involved, 3 staples for Adelynn, 5 stitched for Nolan, a very yucky mouth virus which cause very painful mouth sores for Nolan and Keyshon, some glue on Karissa's foot because she put her foot through a glass table, and a couple yucky colds for my little baby, so sad, but its totally cracking me up thinking about it now.

Haning out at home.

Typical sight in the car on our many excursions.

Cousins and Grandpa

The 3 cousins. Kira Ann, Dallin, and Savannah

We had a blast with Greg and Angela and their family for the 4th of July

Playing in the sand

Me and my cool little man Dallin

Keyshon and Nolan

Adelynn and Kendra

Waiting for the fire works to start.

Nolan, Keyshon, and Mia silly kids!

Adelynn, Nolan, Kymani, and Keyshon at the pool

Kymani and Adelynn at the Beach

Adelynn, such a pretty girl!

Nolan and Keyshon at Legoland



the 4 kiddos at legoland


Grandma and Dallin