Simple Pleasures

It's Getting Closer

2012-02-12T20:08:00.000-08:00

The days are just crawling by for us lately. That must mean we are getting closer to Daddy coming home. I can't even believe that it has been 6.5 months since we have seen him, or had his hugs or seen him playing with his girls. Em and I talk about his homecoming every day and we are beyond excited to be reunited as a family. It will be such an amazing sight to see his ship pull into port and the sailors manning the rails. I can't wait to see him coming down the ramp waiting to hug his girls. I get butterflies in my stomach even thinking about it. I don't know if I will cry or just be to overwhelmed to cry! What a great day it will be!!

Tractor Rides

2012-01-20T20:52:00.001-08:00

Tractor rides at Grandma and Grandpa's house are the best. I think Grandpa enjoys it as much as the girls. As you can see Clara especially enjoyed it. That girl loves to be outside. As soon as she hears a door open she beelines it to the door hoping to make her escape.
When Grandpa offered to get the tractor out for the girls they were so excited. He took them all over the property and they throughly enjoyed it. They wanted to go faster and faster and when he turned the corners it was cute to hear their little laughs.

Our One Year Old

2012-01-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

I know everyone says it each year of their childs life but I can't believe it has been a year and she is now a one year old! This year has gone by incredibly fast yet incredibly slow at the same time! We have missed daddy a lot during Clara's first year. I have tried to keep him in touch with everything she does. We are able to send pictures and videos often. Nothing compares to him actually being here to hold his little girl but I am thankful that he is not completely out of touch!

Clara is definitely different than her big sister. She started off on the small side and wasn't able to gain weight. After figuring out that she wasn't getting enough from breastfeeding and switching to formula she started to gain weight and has been on the right track since. She loves to eat and will eat just about anything you give her. She started crawling at 7 months and I thought for sure she would be walking by her first birthday. She did take a few steps while we were at my moms for Christmas but is not interested anymore. She mastered the stairs at my moms and can now go up and come down on her belly with no problem.

Clara simply adores her big sister and the feeling is mutual. I have to admit I didn't think they would be such good friends so soon. I never would have anticipated how fun it would be watching them together. They are crazy, funny, loud, adorable little girls. They will often get into screaming matches at the dinner table. Em will start with a loud burst and Clara will copy her and then it keeps going back and forth. I love that they get along so well that I try not to let the noise bother me too much. The other day Clara and Em were playing together in her room when I heard them just start busting up laughing. It made my heart so happy to hear that. Our girls are gentle reminders that we can laugh even in the hard times and together as a family we can do anything!

We love you Sweet Clara Alexandra and are so blessed to have you as part of our family!

He is faithful!!

2011-12-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

We are well into the holiday season and as I look back at what this year has brought for my family I have so many emotions! At the beginning of 2011 we welcomed our beautiful daughter Clara Alexandra into the world. Just 5 days later Zachary left for his first of many detachments which would eventually lead up to the deployment. We were dreading the day we had to say goodbye to him and wondered how we would get through this time apart. We were entering into a new world where it would be hard to find genuine smiles, joy and happiness especially during the holidays.

Looking back over this year though I have realized that God has remained ever faithful! When we have been at our darkest place He was there! When we thought we could not make it another day He was there! ‎"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!" Isaiah 43:1b

I am so grateful for the friends I have made in this journey. Friends who have been there and know the struggles we face as a military family. Friends who know when to step in and say you need to get out of the house and go do something! Friends who say let me take your kids so you can get a break!

Our parents have been there encouraging us along the way. They have stood right beside us supporting us, praying for us, talking with us, sending notes of encouragement and even coming to visit so I could get a break for a little bit. Without their love and support we would have a hard time going through this time in our lives.

I look at my girls and see their brave little faces and know the love they have for their daddy. Even Clara who has been apart from her daddy more than she has been with him gets excited when he sends her little videos and dances when he sings to her. My heart aches for them knowing that we will not be a complete family this Christmas season. A day has not gone by when Emily doesn't talk about her daddy. She has many plans for what she wants to do when he gets home. She has so much courage and strength! She prays everyday that daddy will be safe on the ship and that he will come home soon.

Even though I wish for nothing more than to be with my husband I know that God has a reason for this separation! Through this time we have seen our marriage grow into a deeper love and respect! We have realized areas that we need to work on in our marriage. We have realized that absence really does make the heart grow fonder. I am thankful for a husband who even though he is on the other side of the world manages to keep his family number one! Saying I love you just doesn't seem to do it justice!

So as I look back over this last year, a year that has held loneliness, fear, exhaustion, and despair, God has shown me companionship, peace, happiness, strength and determination! We do not know what the future holds for our family but we know that God will never let us go!

‎"On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." Psalm 62:7-8

Dairy Farm

2011-11-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago a friend and I took our girls to a local dairy farm so that the girls could learn where where milk comes from. I had been wanting to do this since we moved here because it is such a way of life around here. It was actually very interesting and we did learn a lot. About halfway through the tour a little puppy joined us so the girls we much more interested in him than the cows. But it was a fun trip anyway! They got to feed calves and see what the cows eat and also got to see the milking process. Clara did great the whole time and enjoyed looking at the cows as well. She really wanted to touch them but I was kinda grossed out about that. She was happy enough just sucking on her toes.

Our last Disney Day

2011-11-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

On day 3 of your Disney vacation we rode a lot more rides, ate a lot more food and enjoyed every last minute we could at Disneyland! I had planned to spend our last day only at Disneyland but after seeing how much Em loved Goofy's flight school we headed back over to California adventure at the end of the day so she could enjoy that ride a few more times. We saw a majority of the characters on day 3 and one of my favorite things to do is to get autographs. I bought the girls a story book on our first day and that is what we used to get our autographs. I did that before on Emily's first trip to Disneyland and I really liked doing it that way. It is fun to look through the autographs each time we read the story. Em was very happy to meet the characters this time. As long as they were not mad guys she was good with it. We rode all of Em's favorites on the last day and and the carousel for Clara. At the end of the day I let the girls pick out a few things and Em loved helping Clara pick out her new toys. We can't wait to go back next time and take Daddy with us!

Day 2 at Disneyland

2011-11-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

Day 2 at Disneyland was actually spent at California Adventure. Pretty sure Em enjoyed it the most. Between day 2 & 3 we probably rode Goofy's flight school no less than 20 times. We got fast passes for all our tickets and then when we got on from the fast pass we got stroller passes too. So Em got to go twice as much. We ventured over to Bugs Life but Em just was not impressed with the little kid rides and wanted to go back and ride the ride with blue tracks (Goofy's Flight school) She absolutely loved that ride and talks about it all the time. I think a close second for her would be Mickey's Silly Symphony Swings. There was no line for that ride so we were able to ride that a lot too. For Clara her favorite was by far King Tritons carousel. As soon as she sat on one of the animals she would just get all excited and smile the whole time. Another was the Little Mermaid ride. Clara slept through it the first time we went on so we rode it again for her. It was so cute to see her start to dance and to see the smile on her face as we rode through the ride.
Em is all about making silly faces for the camera. So whenever I tell her I am going to take pictures she strikes a pose. She is not satisfied until I take 2 or 3 either. Sometimes it is frustrating but that is her and I want to remember her at this stage and what a fun crazy girl she is. When I asked her to stand at the Hollywood backdrop she just went crazy and I was laughing so that made her be silly all the more. I love that girl and her fun personality!

A Day of Disney Firsts

2011-10-25T20:44:00.001-07:00

What a wonderful trip to Disneyland we had. The only thing that could have made it better was if Zachary could have been there. It was an awesome fun filled 3 day trip. We spent every last possible minute at the park, came back to the hotel to crash and then did it all over again the next 2 days. So thankful that my parents could share in this time with us. I could not have done it without them. Pretty sure my girls wore them out but I am sure they will never forget it either.

Day one was filled with many first:

Clara got her 1st visit pin
Emily ate her first of many Mickey ice cream sandwiches
Clara got her first pair of Mickey Ears
We rode our first ride which also happened to be Clara's favorite (King Arthur's Carousel)
We met our first character of the day (Pluto)
Emily rode her first roller coaster and is hooked for life
Clara met Pooh and fell in love

I was curious to see how Em would be with the characters because her last experience was not a good one. This time however she loved them. As long as they were not the mad guys she was happy to see them and get their autographs. I really wanted her to love roller coasters as much as her mom and dad and she absolutely loved them. Once she did her first one she was not that impressed with the rides in fantasy land. She just kept wanting to ride the fast ones. She loved thunder mountain, splash mountain but her favorite one of the whole trip was Goofy's flight school in Ca. adventure. I will save those pictures until the next post. My brave girl even went on Tower of Terror with me. It was not her favorite at all but I think if it wasn't so dark she may have enjoyed it more. I am so excited to have someone else to enjoy the roller coasters with. The day ended all to soon, as it always does at Disneyland but we had 2 more fun days ahead...

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-15T15:51:00.001-07:00

Fall is my favorite season of all. I love the colors, the smells, the coolness of the day, baking, pumpkin spice latte's and so much more. I love going to the pumpkin patch and this year we were able to enjoy the pumpkin patch in Southern California with the girls Grandpa and Grandma Walker and Uncle Caleb and Auntie Lauri and Nanny. It was really enjoyable to get away for the weekend and spend some time with family. The girls enjoyed all the extra attention and I enjoyed just not having to answer a million and one questions for the weekend. It was a nice pumpkin patch with plenty of things to keep us busy. We were able to enjoy a hay ride around the patch and Em even got to try out the pumpkin launch. We did a few hay mazes and well as a corn maze. Em did very well finding her way around. She also got to ride a pony for the first time. Em picked out a pumpkin for her and Clara and they are proudly displayed on our table.

Preschool

2011-09-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

This year after much prayer and research we decided to homeschool Em for preschool. Our first day was this last Monday and so far so good! Em and I are both loving it. We are doing school in the afternoon while Clara naps and it gives me the ability to give Em all my attention. She is already learning so much. She asks all morning when we can do school and is quick to clean up her toys so that we can start right after lunch. We are focusing on letters and their sounds along with numbers and a memory verse a week. Only 3 days into school and Em already has most of the pledge of allegiance memorized. She wanted so badly to learn it so that she could send a video to daddy and he could see what she is learning. I set up a little classroom for her and she is always playing school with her dolls when we are not having class. We have gotten together with a few other homeschooling families on base and are having fun getting to know them. So glad that I can talk with other moms and get advice on what works for them. I love the fact that I can be the one to teach her at home. I am thankful for a husband that supports this wholeheartedly and prays for us daily while he can't be with us! We love you Zachary and can't wait until you can be here to see your daughters learn!

Fishing Day

2011-09-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

While we were home in Redding a few weeks ago we were able to enjoy a day fishing. Emily had been wanting to go fishing for awhile now and I was excited to take her for the first time. They had a free kids fishing day in Mt Shasta were they stock the ponds so that the kids are sure to catch something. It was perfect because almost as soon as you threw the line in you had a bite. My dad came along with my sister and the girls to help. Pretty sure we could not have done it without him. Alicia and Dad put the worm on the hook and helped the girls cast the line, when they caught something they were able to take the fish off the hook and put it on the lead line while the girls caught more. I was the camera girl so I didn't get the opportunity to touch the worms or fish. Someone has to take the pictures though. Emily had such a great time and was so excited to catch her first fish. She didn't even have any issues with touching it. They were able to catch 2 fish each and Em tried and tried to catch her second fish but the fish just kept eating the worm and we couldn't hook it. It was such a beautiful day in Mt Shasta and I am so glad that we could enjoy with my Dad.

Cousins

2011-08-21T21:50:00.001-07:00

We were able to get all the cousins together for one last picture session before we are all separated by many many miles! Getting everyone to look and smile at the same time is quite the challenge! At least they are all in the same picture. So glad that the girls and I were able to come to say goodbye to my brother and his family! I have had too many goodbyes this year and it doesn't get easier. Excited they get to go on this new journey though!
It has almost been a month since Zachary left. We are still able to email everyday and I am so thankful for that. He is doing okay but missing his girls like crazy! His days pretty much consist of working 12 hours, eating, watching part of a movie and then going to bed, and repeating it the next day. He is very much looking forward to when they port so he can visit the country a little and have a break from his daily routine. We are desperately hoping that he has a chance to skype while in port too. We miss his face and I really want to hear his voice!
The girls and I are home in Redding for a few days visiting family! We are trying to squeeze in as much time as we can with our friends and family before we head back home!

A Beach Visit

2011-08-12T22:34:00.000-07:00

While we were in San Diego I really wanted to play on the beach for a little while. I miss going all the time like we did while in Pensacola. Emily absolutely loves the beach no mater what the weather is like. We decided to head up to Ventura to visit my Aunt and to play on the beach. Because of traffic things didn't quite work out as planned. We didn't make it to the beach until around dinner time and it was incredibly windy. So our beach visit only lasted about 30 minutes. But, for it being such a short visit Emily had a blast. She didn't mind the wind at all. She found many treasures on the beach. She decided to be brave and walk out into the waves and kept creeping out further and further, all of a sudden a huge wave came and knocked her over. She lost her bucket and was so sad. We saw it go into the waves and tried to get it but it was just too far out. She finally decided that maybe a friend would find it and then they could have it to play with. Clara didn't seem to mind the wind and was happy to just be outside and out of the car. I wish we could have stayed longer to play but we still had a 4 hour drive home.
Zachary and I have been able to email everyday so far. So thankful for that! He is doing okay and his days are just blending together. He told me today that he can't even remember what day it is anymore. He is working 12-14 hour days and is pretty tired by the time he gets off that he basically goes right to bed. We miss him like crazy and we are counting down the days until our reunion. The girls and I are staying busy and have a few fun things planned over the next few months.

Goodbyes are Never Easy

2011-08-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well, the day the we had been dreading came last week. It is never easy to say goodbye to someone you love with all your heart! I will say that I am glad that we can finally start counting down the days until we are in each others arms and together as a happy little family! We spent every possible minute with Zachary while we were in San Diego. We had to drop him off at the pier Thursday evening to help with the onload so we just hung out at the pier and every once in awhile he would come up on the flight deck and wave at us. It was nice to catch even a small glimpse of him. After he was finished working we were able to spend a few last hours together. We ended up saying our last goodbyes shortly before midnight. At that moment I just wanted to hold on forever! We gave each other one last long hug and then he slipped out of my arms and walked back to the ship to what will be his home for the next 7 months.
I am so thankful that our some of our family was able to be there with us. It was so nice to have their support and their continued prayers will be a blessing. We also were able to share this moment with the sweetest family, the Morrisons! Their husband and daddy will be on the same ship as Zachary! So thankful that I have someone to go through this with, shed tears and laugh with. Their 2 little boys, Ethan and Sean are best buddies with Emily. Emily just adores them and they are quite the threesome when they are together. Rhonda, we will get through this. Thank you for being such a sweet friend!
The morning that the ship pulled out of port we were able to go to the pier and wave to Zachary as he was on the flight deck. As the ship started to pull out we headed over to the beach so we could watch it head to sea. Catching our last few glimpses of the USS Stennis!
Let the Countdown Begin!!

Water Park

2011-07-25T13:19:00.001-07:00

We had such a great time at the water park on my birthday! We decided to go after 3pm because it was $10 cheaper and I had coupons. Turns out you can't use coupons after 3 but then we found out active duty was free so we ended up paying less than we thought we would. Both of the girls love the water and love to be outside. So it was perfect! They have a great kids area that is divided up into 3 sections. Em just kept going down the slides over and over again. Even after she got a face full of water she just kept going. She also had a blast in the wave pool. Zachary took her out and she loved jumping over the waves. Clara and I sat on the shore and she loved the waves splashing on her. Zachary and I took turns and enjoyed going down a few of the bigger slides. Mostly I think we both just enjoyed watching the girls have so much fun!

Daddy Time

2011-07-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

We are getting in as much Daddy time as possible

Swim Lessons

2011-07-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

Emily did another 2 weeks of swim lessons again recently and has really done well. It is so great to see the progress the kids had made since they first started. She absolutely loved it and loved doing it with her friends! In the beginning she didn't even want to put her face in the water but by the last class she was putting her whole head under water. The last day of class the teachers took the kids on the water slide. After the first 2 weeks Em was too scared to go down but this last time she decided on her own that she wanted to do it and she loved it. Daddy even stopped by on lunch break and the Em was able to go down again so that daddy could watch. The swim teachers were so great with the kids and had a lot of patience! I think that with a little more time in the pool she will be off swimming by herself. We have a great community pool her on base so I think we will be spending a lot more time in the water the next few weeks! Clara loves the water too and is very happy to sit in her float and splash away.

As the time draws near

2011-06-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

I find myself dreading the day he has to leave more and more as it fast approaches!

I have such deep admiration for what my husband does. I could never do what he does or deals with everyday. Especially since I would be terrified and would cry every time someone would yell at me.

There is nothing scarier than saying goodbye to your husband the day he leaves. Whether it is for one month, six months or a year or more. I can't explain it to you. Can not put into words how absolutely, positively, physically, emotionally, and mentally painful it is.

There is also nothing better than holding him in your arms the day he arrives home! It is pure bliss!

Some ask if this life is hard? Absolutely! It is hard because we never know when he will be home, he never actually has a day off, he deals with so much on a daily basis, yet still makes his family number one! It is hard knowing that he will miss so much of his daughters lives. He will miss Clara's first word, when she first starts crawling, her first Christmas. Emily loves her daddy and I am sure there will be many days when I will hear her say "I miss my Daddy really so much" and I know that we will cry but that is ok!

I can't say that I am going to be strong the whole time. There are going to be many days that I will break down and just want him home. There will be many days where I just wish that his stinky PT clothes were in the laundry needing to be washed, or his boots where sitting in the living room floor needing to be picked up, or I get his texts asking what's for dinner. I love us! I love the family that we have become! I love that we get better as the days go by! I love that he can still make my heart melt by just hearing his voice on the phone and simply saying " I Love you". Even when we bicker or need a break from each other for a bit we treat each other with love and respect! As much as I hate when he is away it makes it that much sweeter when he is home!

I am not going to be one of the ones that constantly complain that my husband is gone! I knew that this day would come. I knew the potential of him deploying when he enlisted! This is the life we are living at the moment! The path that God has chosen for us! And for that reason I do not have the right to complain! Complaining about it would just mean that I don't trust that God has an ultimate plan for our lives! We have the knowledge that we are right where we are suppose to be in our lives and as hard as it is going to be, God will hold us in the palm of his hand and take us to the day we are reunited again as a family!

*pictures taken by the lovely Ines Wilson*

Berry Picking

2011-06-14T16:08:00.001-07:00

I really do enjoy the small town that we live in. There are plenty of things to do if you look for it! We heard about this little berry farm in town and decided to give it a try. We found out it is the only one in the central valley that is a U-pick place. They do not use any pesticides on the berries and let you eat as many as you want while you pick. They were so many different kinds and all so yummy. The kids had a great time together and we brought home a lot of delicious berries.

Clara is finally gaining some weight! Over the weekend she gained about 4oz. She is drinking formula and eating avocado and bananas the day and I am still able to breastfeed her at night. Although I am sad that I can not breastfeed her as much I am thankful she is finally gaining weight. We go back in 2 weeks to make sure she is still gaining.

Swim Lessons

2011-06-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

It is only day 2 of swim lessons but I can already tell it was a good idea to sign her up for them. She is dong such a great job and absolutely loves it. Plus as an added bonus is wears her out and she sleeps so well at night. She gets to take lessons with 3 of her friends and they are all so cute together and encourage each other in the pool. It is also a nice time for us mommies to sit and chat for a little while. If she continues to progress and loves it still than I may sign her up for the next level. Daddy is sure looking forward to coming home and swimming with his girl!

Fattening Her Up

2011-06-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

Little miss Clara has not been gaining weight like she is suppose to lately so the Dr. gave me the go ahead to try some rice cereal. I was hoping to wait until Zachary got home so he wouldn't miss out on all her firsts but we needed to fatten her up before he got home. Thankfully daddy was in port the first time we fed her and we were able to skype with him so he could watch. I told Em that we were going to feed Clara and so at lunch time she gave Clara a little piece of turkey so she could eat with us. I quickly had to explain to her that we had to start with mushy food first since Clara doesn't have teeth yet and her tummy can't handle food like that yet. I let Em feed Clara the first bites so mommy could take pictures. She was thrilled and did such a great job! I think most of what Em put in her mouth ended up all over Clara because she spit it out. I love watching them eat their firsts bites of food and seeing their reaction to the new texture in their mouth.
We went back in for a weight check yesterday and she still is not gaining like she should so I am continuing the feeding schedule and going in every few days to make sure she is gaining at least some weight. She seems happy and not any more cranky than normal. She weighs at 4.5 (12.1lbs) months what Em was at 2 months. I think she is just going to be my petite one.

Sisters

2011-05-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

These two absolutely love each other. When Clara was born Emily wasn't that interested in her. She wasn't jealous of her she just didn't think that she was much fun. These days Emily can't get enough of her. She wants to hold her as soon as she gets up, is always laying on the floor talking to her, and whenever she cries she is right by her side trying to tell her everything is ok. I walk in the room the other day and see these two playing together and it just melts my heart. No one can make Clara laugh like her big sister. Looking at these two I pray that they will be the best of friends, always on each others side no matter what, be each others biggest supporters, and know that mommy and daddy love them more than anything. Our prayer for both our girls is that they have a passion for God a "soul that follows after Him" and a heart overflowing with thankfulness "always giving thanks to God for everything!" We have a huge responsibility ahead of us and pray that we can show them God's love daily!

Easter weekend

2011-05-05T15:59:00.000-07:00

Well I guess better late than never! I finally got around to editing the pictures from Easter weekend and posting them. We took so many cute ones and I had trouble narrowing it down so I am posting a lot. I figured no one would complain anyway. We had a great time with my sister and her family visiting for Easter weekend. The girls had a great time playing together too. The weekend wasn't without a few fights but I think we all managed just fine. They seem like typical sister...Hate each other one moment and are best friends the next! On Saturday we took the girls pictures in their matching Easter egg shirts. Wow, is it ever hard to photograph 4 little girls who were so excited to be with each other that the had no idea we wanted to take their picture. I am not one that has to have everyone looking at the camera and like to capture them in the moment but this was definitely challenging! I think my sister and I succeeded and were able to capture some good ones. Later that afternoon Alicia and I were able to escape for a few hours kid free and enjoy going to a few thrift stores in town. Amazing what just a few hours away can do for my sanity! Saturday evening they had a blast coloring Easter eggs. Alicia made them adorable spring aprons for the occasion! They came in super handy because Emily managed to spill a whole bowl of dye and it didn't get on her clothes at all. Sunday we got everyone up and ready in time for the 9:30 church service which was great! After that we came home had a ham dinner and let the girls search for their eggs. As always we had a very enjoyable time together!

Wishes

2011-04-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to capture this picture of Emily for awhile now. She loves to find wishing flowers! Every time she finds one she runs down a list of wishes from having friends come over, for Mr. Duits to get well, to be able to go to Disneyland soon or to get a new computer like mommies! I remember doing the same thing when I was little too. Such a fun spring thing to do!

1st trip to the dentist

2011-04-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

Em had her first trip to the dentist the other day! She did great and had no cavities! She did say that the toothpaste they used to clean her teeth tasted kinda nasty and didn't want to use that kind again. The dentist was great with her and mentioned to her that she might want to think about not sucking her thumb anymore because it will make her teeth worse. So without any prodding from us she has been remembering to take her thumb out of her mouth when she notices that she is sucking it. Then as soon as she does she asks if her teeth are still ok. She might make this easy on us yet! Now if we can just get her sister to quite soon that would be great! It is funny how as soon as we lay Clara down her thumb just pops right into her mouth. I know it is so bad but it is so cute too!

Home

2011-04-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

These girls are happy to have their Daddy home! I am pretty excited too! Now all the million questions and stories are directed toward Daddy for awhile instead of me. I do love all the funny things Emily comes up with these days it is just nice to listen without having to respond to each one of them. Zachary and Emily spent all day yesterday playing together and doing chores together. I love how she likes to help so much! Lots of time was spent out at the park riding bikes, playing basketball, chase and riding in her pretend bus to Grandma's house. She told me that first they went to Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house but they were at church so they drove over to Grandma and Grandpa Klocke's house instead.
Clara is loving the Daddy attention too. She has given him lots and smiles and laughs since he has been home. The pictures of her were taken when Daddy was leaning over her getting her to smile for him.
We are trying to soak up as much of Daddy as we can these days!

Enjoying the pool

2011-04-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

Despite the rain today we have had a gorgeous last few days. Perfect for a few days at the pool. At one of the community centers on base they have a toddler pool for the kids. It is great to be able to sit on the side and watch the kids play in the water. We are planning on letting Em have swim lessons this summer. Hoping that she is able to catch on and learn to swim. She really wants to swim in the big pool but with having to watch Clara it is hard for me to let her swim in there without her knowing how to swim. Emily loves the water and didn't seem to mind that it was a little chilly this day. Clara actually didn't mind the water but she was just as content to lay in the warmth of the sun. After just one day in the pool Emily already has a cute little tan line. We are looking forward to spending many days at the pool this summer.

Play Day

2011-04-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

Living on base here in Lemoore has been great! The housing area is beautifully landscaped, there are plenty of parks for Em to play at including one right outside our back gate that she can enjoy. Anytime she hears kids out there playing she wants to be right out there with them. There are sidewalks all throughout housing which makes it great for taking walks and bike riding, there are two community pools that we can use and I feel safe here when Zachary is away. Another reason I love living on base is all the activities that we can participate in. They really try and make it feel like a small community and I like that there is always something that we can do here. It helps keep us busy while Zachary is gone too. This last week as been so beautiful here! We were able to take a lot of bike rides, go on numerous walks and enjoy the pool. Clara even got in for a bit. She didn't mind it but she loved just laying on the towel soaking up some sunshine. On Saturday they had a spring celebration event, they do a theme at each event and this time the theme was a space odyssey. Em and I walked down to have some fun. There were all kinds of games she could play, bounce houses, a bungie trampoline jump, and a cake walk. We played the cake walk right away and she won the first round. She was so excited to be able to take home a big cake. We played the games several times each because each time you played you got a piece of candy. She wanted to try the bungie jumping as well. The first time she did it she was very timid and didn't jump too high but on the second go around she was loving it and was jumping as high as she could. We had a great time just enjoying being outside and having fun!

Crafting

2011-03-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

I have been having a lot of fun lately working on some projects that I have been wanting to get done. I have several crafting blogs that I love to look at to get inspired. I love crafting and making something for a lot less than you can buy it for is so rewarding. The first thing I made was my first upcycled project. I think it turned out so cute and can't wait to make more of them. Plus they were super easy to sew too. I made a cute little ruffle dress for my niece. I found a t-shirt for a few dollars at the store and then took old colored t-shirts and made the ruffles and little flowers and attached them to the shirt to make a dress. If anyone is interested in the tutorial I found here are the links

Dress

Flowers

The second project I did was to cover my lamp shade. I have had the lamp shade for awhile and knew that I wanted to do something to it but it sat there plain and boring for quite some time. Was going to cover it with fabric but then I saw this tutorial and thought it was perfect for my lamp shade. I ended up just tracing the outline on and then painting it because I didn't have the stencil film. There are quite a few mistakes but because of the ribbon you can't see it. I thought it turned out pretty good though. And now my lampshade is not plain and boring anymore.

My next project was the book slings that I made for Em's room. Her books had just been sitting on the little table in her room and were often just all over the floor. Now her books are nicely displayed in the slings and she can easily see which ones she wants to read without them falling all over the floor. I even managed to hang the brackets myself too. Used a drill and even had to put molly's in because there were no studs where I wanted to hang it. I am sorta known for putting a lot of extra holes in the walls when I use a drill so the fact that I managed to do this without any extra holes was pretty impressive.

I also included a few pictures of Emily's room so that you can see the bed that her Grandad made for her. We love it and she loves it! Right now she is all about sleeping on the trundle so we pull it out everynight for her to sleep on. I walked into her room the other day and she had set up a little tea party for her friends. She was making them a strawberry, cookie, cereal, hot dogs, chips, and soda smoothie. She said her friends thought it was delicious! I love how she got books so that her doll would be tall enough to sit at the table.

And because I know some would be disappointed if I didn't include any pictures of the girls here is one that I took when I found Em reading to Clara the other day!

Em's Birthday part 2

2011-03-27T23:10:00.000-07:00

A little behind in posting but at least I am still around! Here are the pictures from Emily's birthday that we had in Pahrump. It was great to be able to celebrate with so many family and friends. She definitely loved all the attention.

I think I am finally getting used to having another baby around. She is definitely different than Emily was. She seems to only like to sleep if she is in her own bed and not in the car seat. Makes it kinda hard to get any shopping done. I have learned to just be quick in the store and not linger like I want to. She is sleeping 10-12 hours at night. Not complaining about that at all. Love that my girls like to sleep like their mommy. Emily loves to hold her and sing to her. She will make up songs to sing to Clara when she is fussy and sing it over and over until Clara stops. She is such a big help and always wants to make sure Clara is happy.

The girls and I are trying to stay busy again while Zachary is on a Det again. Not loving the single parent thing but such is the life of a military wife. We are able to skype this time and talk everyday so that is very nice. Still trying to figure out what God has in store for our lives and what He is trying to teach us through all the separation. We continue to trust Him and know that He has an amazing plan for our lives!

Emily's Birthday Party

2011-03-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

For Emily's 4th Birthday we had a party at our house and invited some of her friends. The theme of her party was pink lemonade and so everything was pink and yellow. I made her the fabric banner which I will put in her room soon. She was beyond excited that so many of her friends came over to play with her. Each of the kids got to decorate their own cupcakes and they had a blast. Then they headed out to the park to play with the bubbles we gave them. It was so fun to see them all playing together. Em couldn't keep the smile of her face the whole day! She kept saying that it was the best day ever!

Dedication

2011-03-14T21:42:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we had the opportunity to have a dedication for Clara. We were able to have the dedication at Zachary's parents church. Although we have a church here in Lemoore that we like we felt it would be more special to do it at his parents church were we know more people and know that they are praying for our family. The day was made even more special by having both of Clara's grandparents, one set of her great grandparents, two aunties and one uncle there. I know other family members would have been there if they could have. We thank the Lord our families stand with us in bringing Clara up in a Christian home. The dedication of Clara is a commitment on Zachary and I to raise her in a Godly home, to constantly pray for for her, to acknowledge that she belongs to God and that we desire His plan for her life. Our biggest thrill in life will be the day when Clara gives her life to the Lord and we pray that she decides that she wants Jesus to be a part of her life at a young age.

Happy Birthday Sweet Em

2011-03-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

4 years ago today our sweet Emily Elizabeth was born! Life without her in it would definitely not be as funny. She cracks us up every day with her funny jokes and cute things she says. She is an amazing little girl and makes raising her a breeze. She is a social bug and calls all her friends her best friends. She will happily give you her last piece of candy and share all her toys with you. She loves her little sister and doesn't seem to mind when Clara cries all the time. We love you so much Emily and thank God every day that He put you in our family! Happy Birthday!

USS Stennis

2011-02-15T19:28:00.000-08:00

*edited to add* the last 3 pictures were taken from the Navy facebook page but I thought everyone would like to see them too

What an incredible weekend we had. Emily, Clara and I were able to meet Zachary in San Diego this last weekend while he was in port. It was the centennial celebration of Naval Aviation so the ship that Zachary was on came back into port. We met him at the ship and Emily ran straight into his arms and gave him the biggest hug ever. She talked non stop the whole weekend. I really had to be fast if I wanted to talk to Zachary at all. We would just look at each other and smile because we knew that she was the happiest little girl having her daddy around. On Saturday we were able to enjoy Sea World and the tickets happened to be free thanks to being in the military. The shows were great and Em loved the rides. Zachary and I had to take turns riding them however because we both were getting nauseous from them. Em thought they were fabulous and couldn't get enough of them much to our dismay. Being together again as a family of 4 was wonderful! On Sunday we were able to go tour Zachary's ship (the USS Stennis).
Usually they only let children 8 years and older tour it but they made an exception for us and allowed us to at least see the hanger bay inside the ship. I was not allowed to take my camera but we did have Zachary's little camera. I have no idea how to use his camera which is evident by the pictures I took but hey at least I have some pictures. It was great to see at least a little bit of the ship. The weekend went by incredibly too fast but we are thankful that Zachary will be home soon.

Sweet Girl

2011-01-24T19:12:00.000-08:00

Having a baby around the house is so sweet! (except for the lack of sleep that is) Emily has been great with her. She often goes up to her sister and gives her kisses and tells me that her baby sister is the cutest baby! She pretty much only refers to her as her baby sister and often can't even remember what her name actually is.
Clara loves to be cuddled. Much different than her sister who just wanted to be laid down in her bed to sleep. I think Clara would be happy if I just held her all night. She sleeps her hardest from about 3pm-8pm and then is awake for awhile and it takes some doing to get her back to sleep. She is eating well and should be back up to her birth weight soon. I can't believe how much smaller she was compared to Em. The doctors kept telling me that she was a big baby so I just assumed she would be bigger than Em. At her one week checkup she weighed 1lb less than Em weighed at birth.
Zachary update ~ We have been able to stay in touch with e-mails everyday and that has been wonderful! We have also been able to facebook chat a few days as well. So thankful that we can stay in touch as much as we do. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. We know God has some awesome things planned for our lives and we are trusting him to take us through these deployments. To say it is hard in an understatement. He misses his family like crazy and we miss him just as much. Can't wait for him to come home to love on his girls!

Daddy's Girls

2011-01-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

We miss you Daddy!

Clara Alexandra

2011-01-15T11:35:00.001-08:00

We are so excited to introduce the newest member of our family.

CLARA ALEXANDRA WALKER

January 13 2011

8lbs 4oz ~ 20 in. long

We all are already so smitten by her!!! Emily adores her and wants to share everything with her. She left her favorite friend Daisy with Clara the night she was born so that Clara wouldn't be lonely that night! I loved seeing her reaction the first time she saw her little sister. She was definitely in awe! Emily is such a big help as expected! We were able to bring her home last night and are adjusting to having a newborn in the house. So thankful that I have a lot of help right now! Little miss Clara seems to have her days and nights mixed up right now so that is a little hard. The next month should be a little challenging as Zachary is scheduled to leave on Tuesday for a work-up. Please keep us in your prayers as we adjust to this challenge.

Our time together

2011-01-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

Emily Elizabeth,

I know that our time together, just the three of us, is coming to an end. The last three and a half years have been the most wonderful time of my life and I am sad to see the days slip away when I can give you all of my attention and focus.
But, we are moving into something so exciting! You will be a big sister in just a few days and we will get to meet the newest member of our family. I know that we will love her just as much as we have loved and adored you. God picked her just for the three of us-she is going to change our lives forever.

Take heart sweet girl I will always be your mommy. I will always be there for you. Although our days will be more full, loud and busy, as our family grows, I will always remember the last few years and our special time together.

I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful time with you. You are an amazing, sweet girl and have made our lives full of joy!

Mommy and Daddy love you more than anything sweet Em! Thank you for allowing us to practice all our parenting skills on you as our first born and for allowing us to mess up sometimes. We are so blessed by you!

Love always,
Mommy

Snow Day

2011-01-05T22:32:00.000-08:00

I couldn't believe that it actually snowed while we were home for Christmas/New Years. Emily had been talking about playing in the snow for weeks and I was fairly certain that we wouldn't make it to the snow for her to play this season. It started snowing about 11:30 New Years Eve and I actually thought about waking her up so she wouldn't miss it. That thought quickly passed because I was too tired to attempt that and thankfully when we woke up in the morning there was plenty left. We went over to my parents for the traditional New Years Day festivities and the girls quickly went outside to play. Emily was thrilled and had a blast playing with her cousins and daddy in the snow. Daddy even helped them build a snowman and they each added their own little touches. Emily did wake up the next morning though and the first thing out of her mouth was "oh no, mom we forgot to give frosty his hat" It was great to see everyone having such a great time playing together.

New Bike

2010-12-25T19:17:00.000-08:00

About a month ago Em became really interested in riding her trike around and always wanted to go on bike rides with daddy. She would often ride about 1/2 mile one way to our friends house and then back again. She was loving it but we kinda thought she was getting too big for her trike. Well, she told daddy awhile ago that maybe she could get a bike for Christmas and buy some hello kitty stickers to decorate it. After looking online we found one that was all hello kitty and a hello kitty helmet as well. Her expression when she saw it Christmas morning was priceless. She absolutely loved it!! She has been out riding it all day today and even after dark in the rain. She and daddy came in soaked but she had a great time. Christmas through the eyes of a child is wonderful!!

Waiting for you

2010-12-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

Sweet Baby Girl,

I can't wait to hold you in my arms. Even though we have seen a few glimpses of your beautiful face thanks to technology in just a few short weeks you will get to see mommy, daddy and your big sister face to face. Your sister talks about you all the time and often blows kisses just for you. She can't wait to have you here to hold and to hug. She talks of all the things she wants to do with you, like sharing her toys and having you sleep in her room. She wants to take you on walks, introduce you to all her family, let you play with all her puppies, and give you lots of kisses. You will have the best big sister in the world sweet baby! We are beyond excited for you to join our family!

I must admit that I am feeling anxious about the changes that are going to be happening soon. Change is good, frightening and exciting. Starting in January things will be a lot different than they ever have. I have no idea if Zachary will be here for the birth of our daughter. He will be gone for a lot of 2011 and honestly it scares to death to have to take care of 2 little girls by myself! When Em was born I had the blessing of being surrounded by family that would be able to help out on a moments notice. Now with being six hours away it is a little too far to ask them to come watch the girls for a few hours while I catch up on some much needed sleep. Thoughts of failure as a mom, wife and friend often come into my mind as I think of next year. Can I keep up with 2 little girls and their needs by myself, how do I take care my husband as he is away from his family and longs to be with us, and how to maintain friendships that are so desperately needed while Zachary is away.

Perspective is a wonderful thing however, I need to keep in mind that these changes are just mini-transitions. Some more difficult than others, but still. Transitions will happen, and they will be temporary. Time is held in the hand of the Almighty! Nothing is a surprise to Him! He knows everything and is Master of All! Even the small events that surround my life! He controls all of time and circumstances!

So instead of focusing on worry, the things I am anxious about and the small inconveniences of life like not giving birth when I want too, falling short as a wife, mother and friend and not being the person I hope to be at each moment I need to remember the things that I do have and MILLIONS of things I am thankful for! The beautiful assurance of my salvation! The people that are so important in my life. My beautiful, healthy family! The pursuit of becoming the person the Lord wants me to be! God is good. He is better than good. He is amazing. When I keep this perspective in mind everything else melts away!

Psalm 95:3-6

For the LORD is a great God,

and a great King above all gods.

^{In his hand are the depths of the earth;}

the heights of the mountains are his also.

^{The sea is his, for he made it,}

and his hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

Thankful

2010-12-01T13:52:00.000-08:00

Thanks to cousin Lyndsay Walker who gave us the idea to create a thankful chain this year! We started our thankful chain on November 1st and ended on November 30th. Each night at dinner each of us would write something we were thankful for that day. I was surprised out how much Emily loved doing it! She never let us forget to do it each night and would grab the papers before we sat down to eat. She would often name 3-4 things she was thankful for. When we had company for dinner she made sure that they added to our chain as well. I will admit that some nights were hard for me to come up with something but we really do have so much to be thankful for. Some things that made our list were

family
cold weather
friends
Daisy
laughter
God is in control
Emily
baking
Emily found her kitten
Mr. Matt
good food
our baby will be here soon
pumpkins
God's faithfulness
Rest
My verse I am resting on this year

Now Glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.

Eph 3:20

Bravo Farms

2010-11-20T16:27:00.001-08:00

Last week Matt and Sarah took us to Bravo Farms. It is a little place not to far from here that makes their own cheese. They have a little cafe and a quaint place out back with picnic tables, farm animals and a huge tree house that you can play in. Still trying to convince Zachary he needs to build it for Em. Being the animal lover that Emily is she absolutely loves it. She had a blast feeding all the animals. I think her favorite were the donkeys and she kept saying "come here donks" so she could feed them.
We loved this little place and decided to take Alicia and Neil their the following weekend so that the girls could play too

Fair winds and Following Seas

2010-11-17T11:03:00.000-08:00

Zachary, Emily and I have been so blessed by the friendship of Matt and Sarah. It seems hard to believe that we only met 8 short months ago while we were all in Pensacola. When we left Pensacola we had no idea that they too would be stationed in Lemoore with us. And when I got a text from Sarah a few weeks after we left that they would be in Lemoore in about a month I am pretty sure I screamed a little with excitement. It was the last place they wanted to be stationed but we are so glad that God sent them here for the next few years with us. Over the last few months our friendship has grown so much! Matt is a talented guitar player and Sarah along with playing the piano has a beautiful voice. Many nights they come over and Zachary, Matt and Sarah play and sing worship songs together while Em dances. They love Emily and Emily loves them along with their pets Q-tip and Maggie. She loves to go over to their house to play with them and we are thankful she can get her animal fix over there.
Recently Matt left on his first deployment and we had to say good-bye for a time. To say it was hard is a gross understatement. We will miss him terribly and look forward to the day we can all be back together singing again! It is nice to know that come next summer he will be back when Zachary has to leave and Emily, I and the baby won't be as lonely.
We will take care of Sarah for you Matt while you are away and know that you are constantly in our prayers!! Fair Winds and Following Seas Matt!!!

Cinderella

2010-11-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Emily was so excited to be Cinderella for halloween. We got the costume several weeks ago and she has been playing dress up with it since. As soon as she puts it on she transforms into the role of cinderella. We must call her either princess or cinderella and she dances around the house as graceful as she can. She often tells Zachary that Mommy and her are Daddy's princess's to which I completely concur.
We had a great time for our halloween festivities. First going to church for the harvest fest where Em played games and enjoyed her treats. Then we came back to base and did some trick or treating with friends. Each time Em came back from a house she would get so excited about the candy she got and would say "look at what I got Daddy and Mommy." Being Emily she is so excited to share her stash with us and makes sure that we get a piece every time she has one. Not complaining about that one bit!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we were able to visit the pumpkin patch with some friends. The weather was a perfect overcast day and despite the fact the Em was not feeling that great we had a great time. We walked through the pumpkin patch first and Emily found 2 cute little pumpkins that were just right. She said that one was for her and one was for her little sister. I love that she always wants to include the baby in things now and always wants to share things with her. She is going to be the best big sister! While at the pumpkin patch we took our first hay ride and Emily got to play in the corn box. We ended the evening with a wonderful fire in our fire bowl and making smores.

Pismo Beach

2010-10-11T16:45:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday we decided to head to the beach for the day! Emily was so excited to be able to play with her beach toys again and see the ocean. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out! The weather was beautiful and the day turned out to be wonderful! We walked to the pier first and Em loved chasing all the seagulls we found. Then we headed to the beach to eat lunch and play. Emily collected all kinds of things and then built little sand homes for her treasures. The water was cold so we just put our toes in and walked along the beach. We could have stayed much longer but we wanted to get back so Em could go to Awana. It was a wonderful day and we can't wait to go back to play!

A wonderful rainy afternoon

2010-10-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

We have been waiting for the rain around here for a quite a long time! I think Emily loves it as much as I do. We were all hanging out inside and Zachary yelled out "Hey, it is finally raining" so we hurried and got our flip flops on and headed outside to play in the rain before it went away. As we were out playing a lot of our neighbors came out to enjoy it as well. It doesn't rain here very often but when it does it is a wonderful thing!

Emily's Hotel

2010-09-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

Growing up my sister and I used to build tents in our room or the living room as often as we could. We would build mansions taking up every square inch of the room and using every blanket we could find. Inside the tent there would be hallways, bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms. Sometimes they would even be 2 story if we incorporated our bunk beds into it. We would leave them up for days or a week depending on when mom needed her blankets back. We loved to sleep in them and bring our toys and books in to play with.
The love of tent building has now been passed down to Emily! Although for some strange reason she calls them hotels instead of tents. Anytime there are chairs and blankets in the living room she asks us to build her a hotel. She has now begun telling us how to build it and what blankets are best to use. And it is not complete without a door. Sometimes she will even grab her clothes to cover up any places that she deems needing to be covered up. She then grabs her friends, books and flashlight and spends a good long time in the hotel reading to them. She isn't one to play by herself very often and I love that this keeps her occupied for such a long time.

A few home decor projects

2010-09-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a few projects lately and having a great time doing it. I had been wanting a large wall clock for our dining room but all the ones I found were way out of my budget. So the next best thing was to make one myself at a fraction of the cost. I cut my own numbers and letters out of black contact paper using my cricut and bought the hands off ebay. The clock is 37" in diameter and I love how it is the focal point of the wall.
My next project was a pottery barn piece of art. The original piece of art is $329 and very much out of my budget. So after seeing how someone else made one I decided I could do that as well. All I had to buy was the piece of wood which was $7. I had every things else on hand. I used my cricut again to cut out the letters and numbers and after a little staining and painting it was all finished. It actually looks much better in person and I am really happy with how it turned out. I wanted mine to be a little more contemporary than the pottery barn version so I didn't stain it as much. My next project is to recover a lamp shade and hang up the art next to it.
Pregnancy update ~ I am 22 weeks along now and feeling more large than ever. Thanks to some meds I am able to make it through the day with only mild nausea and no vomiting. This little girl is a lot more active than Emily was and it is so fun to feel her little kicks throughout the day. Zachary got to feel her kick for the first time the other day too. We have yet to settle on a name although I definitely have one that I am trying to convince zachary is the best name.

Amazing

2010-09-08T12:05:00.000-07:00

Is there anything he can't do! When it comes to guys that are handy to have around Zachary is sure amazing! I don't know any other guys that can do everything from fix cars, lay tile, work on computers, do any home repair job, do any type of landscaping, build patio's, love their family second to God and be the best daddy in the world!
This last weekend Zachary built a beautiful deck in our back yard. We had been needing something to hang our porch swing from and this deck is perfect. It even has a sandbox for Em built in. It is great because we can close up the sandbox when not in use. We found an awesome deal on a fire bowl at Target and I am looking forward to cool fall nights where we can roast marshmallows for smores and sit around the fire with friends and chat. I just need to get a few plants to hang from it and it will be finished! Zachary did an amazing job and it turned out beautiful!

Sesame Street

2010-08-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

This last weekend while my sister and the girls we here visiting we were able to take them to see Sesame Street Live on base. Emily had been very excited to see the show several days leading up to it. She was convinced that she would not be afraid of the characters and would give them a hug when she saw them. As we entered the gym where the show was at she immediately clung to me and wanted me to hold her. We took a few pictures in front of a mural and she would not let go of me. When the show finally began she watched very carefully and eventually joined in with the dancing and clapping. Both of the girls had a great time and it was fun to see their little faces light up during the show. At the end we were able to go to the front to hug the characters and Emily decided a hug might be too much but she did let them shake her hand for a brief second. It was a fun show and even more fun that Anna and Alicia were able to go with us!

Sequoia National Park

2010-08-23T15:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend while my parents were visiting we decided to take a break from working on the new old chair and go for a picnic. It had been years since either my parents (they actually honeymooned there 42 years ago) or I had been to Sequoia National park and Zachary had never been. The park is only about 1.5 hours from where we live. Emily was so excited to go for a picnic and had an absolute blast when we were there. She pretty much ran wherever we went and throughly enjoyed being outdoors. She loved climbing on all the big rocks with Daddy and letting him hang her upside down over the little creeks. In the 2nd picture Emily is sitting in front of The General Sherman Tree. It is known as the largest tree in the world. It is about a .5 mile hike down to see the tree and descends about 200 feet. The walk was good but we decided to take the easy way out and take the shuttle back up to the top which Emily thought was great fun! It was such a fun day and even better that my parents were able to enjoy it with us!

Height above Base 274.9ft

Circumference at Ground 102.6ft

Maximum Diameter at Base 36.5ft

Diameter 60' (18.3 m) above base 17.5ft

Diameter 180' (54.9 m) above base 14.0ft

Diameter of Largest Branch 6.8ft

Height of First Large Branch above the Base 130.0ft

Average Crown Spread 106.5ft

The New Old Chair

2010-08-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

Emily's Grandma Walker had a really cute little rocking chair when she was little that was made by her dad. Emily has now inherited this little rocking chair and she is so happy to have her own little comfy seat to read books in. I love having heirloom pieces like this, something that will stay in the family for many more decades I hope! It needed a little loving so my mom and I tackled the job this last weekend. We added a little extra padding to the arms and added a few extra touches like buttons and cording to it. This is the first time my mom and I have ever reupholstered anything and it took a few extra days than anticipated but I think it turned out so cute.

Farmer's Market

2010-08-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

We had the chance to go to the farmer's market in Hanford a few days ago. We walked around and looked at all the delicious produce but didn't have the chance to get anything this time. Emily had a ton of energy this particular night and pretty much danced around the whole time. She even threw in a few break dancing moves for us. We couldn't leave without letting her ride the carousel and going down the slide. She was a little reluctant to go down the slide by herself but after the first time down she loved it. We ended the evening with a huge ice cream cone and had a wonderful evening together with friends!

Artist

2010-08-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

The walls in our house are painted and they look great! Adding color to the walls just adds so much warmth to the house. The walls however have no artwork on them and they are quite large and it would be expensive to buy large prints for them. I have seen the idea before to have the kids paint canvases to hang on the wall. I knew that Em would love the idea so we went for it. I have 6 of them for her to paint but I decided to let her paint 2 at a time so that she wouldn't get overwhelmed. I gave her a few different types of brushes to paint with and also told her that she could paint with her hands if she wanted too. She had a great time and we plan to finish the rest in the next few days and then put up her masterpieces!

Off to Grandma's

2010-07-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

Emily is off to Grandma's for the weekend! The house will be quiet, I get to sleep in, I am painting her bedroom and going through her toys, but I am missing her like crazy! I know that she is having a wonderful time and being spoiled like crazy but I just miss her voice and her hugs and kisses! Can't wait to see my sweet girl!

Moved In

2010-07-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

Can I blame my lack of blogging on being pregnant? Well, being pregnant, moving into a new house, getting all our household goods back after not having them for 10 months, trying to empty boxes and figure out where things will go, and having my amazing parents here to help with all the craziness. Yep, that is my excuse this time.
Indeed, we moved into base housing just 10 days after arriving in Lemoore. The housing subdivisions here are very nice and our house is just perfect for us. Because we are expecting another baby we were able to get a 3 bedroom place and we won't have to move to another house after the baby comes. The house is 2 story, has plenty of storage, and has 2.5 baths. It is much larger than our place in Redding and we are actually able to have a dinning room table which is wonderful! My awesome, amazing parents came down the day our stuff arrived and worked like crazy helping us unpack and figure out where to put stuff. This pregnancy has me wiped out and unmotivated to do much so having them here was great! I am sure we would still have a million boxes to go through if it were not for them. The only thing left now is to unpack a few boxes in our room and then add some color to the white walls. I am most excited about Em's room because I have picked out some bright fun colors for her room. It will be much different than her nursery and just right for a soon to be big sister!
Pregnancy update ~ going into my 14th week in a few days and still feeling pretty lousy. I have been taking some meds that help with the nausea and vomiting but it doesn't take it away completely. Emily keeps telling me that we should go to the doctor so that he can make me feel better. We got our first sonogram pictures a few weeks ago and we got one clear picture of the baby sucking it's thumb. It is already taking after big sister. Em thinks that we should have one boy baby for daddy and one girl baby for mommy. I keep telling her there is only going to be one baby but she is not convinced. Hopefully in a few weeks we will be able to know the sex of the baby so that I can either start washing the millions of girl clothes that we have or do some serious boy clothes shopping! Either way it will be tons of fun and January 18th can't get here soon enough!

What do you do...

2010-06-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

when you are bored in a hotel room...

You decorate daddy's back with stickers!

Em loves stickers and loves to put them everywhere. When we left Pensacola we had to peel many stickers off the walls, windows, and doors from all her decorating. We told her while in the hotel here in Lemoore that she couldn't stick them to the walls or furniture so the next best thing was to put them all over daddy. She thought it was so much fun, but what got even more laughs was taking them off daddy's back because it tickled him so much and she thought that was great!

It has been a week now since we have been in Lemoore! We are living in a hotel, trying to be creative with cooking things in a microwave and our griddle we brought in, finding fun things to do so we are not cooped up all day, and finding patience hard to come by. On Monday I have a Dr. appointment in which they will give me a piece of paper that says I am pregnant and then we can turn in our housing application. They did tell us that there is plenty of housing available and the wait won't be long.

These two

2010-06-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

are having a great time playing together!

Our vacation is quickly coming to an end and we don't want to leave! The last few days have been jam packed with visiting friends and family and we are enjoying every last minute of it! So thankful that we will be closer to home and able to visit more often.

Walker Sibling Quartet

2010-06-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

As many of my faithful readers now you will never be around a Walker for more than a few minutes before someone is breaking out into song. They are a crazy bunch and very talented! My music talent consists of recording them and then posting it for everyone to see. So for your listening enjoyment here you go....

Heading across the Country

2010-06-07T15:08:00.000-07:00

Well, we packed up and headed out of Pensacola last Thursday. Emily has been very excited for the past few days to go on our trip because she gets to watch TV while we drive. We started off and she watched one movie and one 30 min show and then said guys ( that is what she calls Zachary and I) I think I a done watching TV now. Zachary and I were thinking what in the world, we are only 2 hours into our trip and she is done with TV! We turned it off for her and she just chatted with us for the next 3 or so hours. Emily is really an amazing traveler. She never complains and just goes with the flow.
We are heading to Redding to visit family for a little bit and then we are heading to Lemoore to check into our first duty station.

Another day at the beach

2010-05-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

We are trying to get in as many beach days as possible before we leave the gorgeous white sand beaches of Florida. Last Saturday we headed to Pensacola beach. There was a red flag warning when we got there which means you aren't really suppose to get in the water. Because the waves were so large it was pushing all kinds of shells and jellyfish to the shore. I couldn't believe how many shells there were. We had a great time looking for many different types of shells. Emily however thought jellyfish were much more interesting and she collected quite a few.
It is going to be sad when we can't visit the beach everyday! It has become one of our favorite things to do here!

"A" school graduation

2010-05-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

Zachary graduated from "A" school last Tues-May 11. Emily and I were able to go to the ceremony! It was a small ceremony and only lasted about 20 minutes. It was great to see though and I am glad we went! Now we are just waiting for our orders.

New Orleans Zoo

2010-05-13T10:46:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful day we had at the New Orleans zoo last weekend. Emily and I went with some friends from church and had a great time. Emily would tell you that her favorite thing was definitely riding the zebra on the carousel. She giggled the whole time she was riding it! It was a great zoo and Emily saw all the animals that were on her list to see. We saw flamingos for Grandpa Klocke, a red fox for Grandpa Walker, an elephant which we were able to touch and she thought that was pretty cool, a monkey, giraffe, lion, tiger, bear and even an albino alligator.

Emily and the little friend that we went were so cute together. They walked hand in hand throughout the park and just loved being together. So glad we had this experience!

A visit with Caleb

2010-05-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

We had a great time visiting with Caleb last week. Emily absolutely adores her Uncle "Cabud" and couldn't get enough of him while he was here. She played with him non stop and loved every minute of it. Caleb is a great Uncle and puts up with all her craziness. Besides going to Destin for the weekend we also figure painted, went to the Navy Aviation Museum, did some geo caching in Alabama and when we were at home pretty much blew bubbles the whole time. Emily was thrilled to have someone play outside with her to blow bubbles. Thanks Caleb for coming to "sunny" Florida for a visit!

Weekend Getaway

2010-05-03T09:07:00.001-07:00

Despite the crazy weather we had a great time in Destin this last weekend. We headed down on Friday afternoon and went straight to the beach after checking into our hotel. As we were playing in the ocean it started raining and Em and I were getting pretty miserable so we headed back to our room to dry off. Apparently the boys had a great time as they stayed for another hour and a half out in the ocean. We went to Fudpucker's for dinner that night and had a great time! There is a gator mote at the restaurant that has over 65 gators and one albino gator. The food was great even the fried gator tail we had for an appetizer. Em kept saying more gato tail please!
Saturday was overcast all day but we still had a great time playing. The waves were pretty big so we ran over to wal-mart and bought a skim board and boogie board to play with. It was a great purchase because we played with them for the rest of the day.
It was a very windy day and I didn't know if it might rain at any moment so I was scared to take my camera out. At the end of the day I did grab my camera for a few shots though and quickly put it back in the car for safe keeping!

Beautiful Sunshine

2010-04-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

Not a lot has been happening around here. Emily and I have been enjoying the beautiful sunshine and spending a lot of time at the pool. She loves the water but she also loves to lay in the sunshine. Often times we will just lay on the chairs together and read or just talk about anything she can come up with. Lately she is talking about all the lizards and bugs she sees here. We are looking forward to having Uncle Cabud (Caleb) here with us for a week. Emily has been telling everyone that he is coming and she is taking him to the beach and to church. This weekend we are heading to Destin and staying for the night. I might talk Zachary into a romantic walk on the beach :)
Grandma Klocke sent Em some bubbles and she loves them. We used up the first bottle already and had to get another one. I wanted to play with my new lens so we went on a walk yesterday and played with bubbles along the way.
We should know in just a few weeks where we will be headed. Our prayer now is that wherever God sends us that is where we will want to be. The Lord continues to bless us in every way and we are confidant He will guide us into this next phase!

My Sailor

2010-04-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

My life as a Navy wife so far has been challenging, exciting, stressful, fun, and it has only been 6 1/2 months. Our time here in Pensacola will most likely be coming to an end shortly. I have loved living here and experiencing part of the south. We love our church family and will be sad to have to leave. I have made some friends here with other military wives and what a blessing they have been to me. I am really looking forward to seeing where our first duty station will be and experiencing new things once again.
I was so excited when I found this dress for Em and knew that I would have to take pictures of Zachary and Em together. I am in love with how they turned out. Emily is so in love with her daddy!

Emerald Waters

2010-03-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to the beach on the Naval base on Friday and as we were driving there one of Zachary's friends called and said that he was driving through Destin and it was gorgeous! We were almost to the base and decided what the heck let's drive to Destin. So we dropped by home to grab my camera and off we went. As we were driving there the ocean really didn't look like what we were hoping for. It looked much like it does here in Pensacola. But, then we drove across the bridge into Destin and suddenly the waters looked the most amazing color of turquoise we had ever seen. The water was perfectly clear and just so gorgeous! I can't even explain how beautiful it was! It was so nice to be out in the sun and enjoy the water. We found a nice spot and played for a little while and ate lunch then decided to pack up and walk down the beach a little ways. The water actually got a little warmer and Em seemed to enjoy it a little more because of that. We had such a great time enjoying the gorgeous beach and I really hope to visit it one more time before we leave.

Raindrops and Rainboots

2010-03-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

Emily loves to go puddle jumping! She got some new rainboots and tutu for her birthday and decided it would be fun to wear them them outside to play in the rain. I don't now about you but I for one think she looks adorable in her little outfit!
Zachary has finished his first of three classes. Still no idea how long we will be in Pensacola. Just taking it day by day. Hoping that it warms up so we can go to the beach more and enjoy the outdoors!

Emily's 3rd Birthday

2010-03-12T12:51:00.001-08:00

Emily's 3rd Birthday was great! So thankful we were able to skype with both families. It made it all the more special. After we got back from church Emily requested hot dogs for her birthday lunch so that is what we had. Not that exciting but that is what the birthday girl wanted. While Emily napped Zachary and I decorated so that it would be a surprise when she woke up. She was so cute when she saw it and just stared at it for a few minutes before she noticed the present and wanted to open them. This year she is really into Hello Kitty so she got quite a few hello kitty things. I made her favorite ice cream cake and she requested strawberries on it as well. It was delicious!! After visiting with Zachary's parents and then skyping with Abby and wishing her a happy 1st birthday we went to puggles where Emily got to take birthday cupcakes to share with her friends. This year was a lot more low key than the last two but it was a great little party and I know she enjoyed it.

Naval Air Museum

2010-03-09T18:45:00.001-08:00

On Saturday we went to the Naval Air Museum here in Pensacola. I honestly didn't think that it would hold my interest but I wanted to go there because it is just one of those things that you need to do while here. Well, I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was. Although I am sure Zachary could have spent several more hours there. They had a little play area for kids which Em loved and they had some planes you could get into and look around. The place is huge! I liked how you can go on the 2nd story and see the planes that are hanging from the ceiling a little closer. Many of these planes are restored from crashes, some from the bottom of the ocean and they actually find some of the pilots that flew these planes and get the history. Many of the pilots volunteer to help restore the planes to their original glory. All in all I am glad we were able to go and it was a great Saturday with my family.

Puggles

2010-03-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

Puggles is an Awana program specifically geared for 2 year olds. When I taught in Awana years ago 3 years olds was as young as the program went. I heard about the new program while I was at the in-laws this last year and was so excited to hear that our church here offered it. Emily absolutely loves it. She asks all the time when it is time to go to Puggles. She got her shirt last week and she loves to wear it. She is learning so much about Jesus and we love hearing her tell us about her night when we get her from class. As of late she loves to pray for our meals and at bedtime. It is so cute to listen to her talk to Jesus. Today at lunch after she prayed she immediately told Zachary that there is only ONE Jesus! Thankfully she is understanding that now! At home we are working on a verse for her to memorize. I am starting off with John 3:16 and she is doing well so far with it. I am starting out just doing the first part with her and then will move on from there. We are also working on the 7 days of creation. We are doing a craft project that goes along with each day and learning a song. She is having so much fun with it. I will post pictures of that later.
The verse Zachary and I have chosen to pray for Emily since she was born is Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our biggest thrill in life will be the day when Emily gives her life to the Lord and we pray that she decides to ask Jesus to be a part of her life at a young age.

Fun at the Beach

2010-02-21T19:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Pensacola! Em and I have been stuck at home all week since Zachary takes the car to class so my need to get out of the house was huge! We decided to go check out Pensacola Beach. I was expecting the water to be more turquoise but it reminded me more of west coast beaches. I guess that it was because of the rain and wind. We were told that in the spring and summer it is a lot more beautiful! Anyway we had a great time enjoying the sunshine, sand and water. Em loved having her daddy to build sand castles with and bury her in the sand.

Tea Party

2010-02-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

Em loves having tea party's! For quite some time she has always had them in the bath. Anything she can find in the bathtub will become part of her tea party. She even puts her toys into the cups and pretends to drink them. She is not content to have tea party's by herself though, she pours us a cup and insists that we pretend with her. A little while ago she learned that mommy likes starbucks and so now I get to have coffee with her every time she has a bath. She knows what her mommy likes!

Valentines Day

2010-02-17T11:59:00.001-08:00

Emily had her first Valentines Party at Puggles Sunday night. She looked forward to it all week. She colored on each of the Valentines she gave to her friends and loved that we were giving them candy too. When I picked her up after class she told me all about how she got a cupcake and juice at her party. We checked out all her Valentines when we got home and was so excited to see the different cards her friends gave her. She came home with a lot of candy and has been enjoying a little every day.

Zachary finally started one of the two classes that he has to do while here in Pensacola. This class is suppose to last about 4 weeks and then there will probably be a break before he starts his next one. So we are guessing that we will be here another 4 months at least but we still really have no idea. I am excited to see where we will be living next and to be able to have all my stuff out of storage. I am thankful that I brought all my scrapbook stuff with me. I have been getting a lot of pages done in the evening while Zachary is in class.

Emily's birthday is coming up and when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday she said cake, candles and a party hat! She also told Zachary that she wanted all her friends to be here. That broke our hearts since all her friends are not going to be able to come. We are hoping that it will be a nice weekend and we are going to go to Destin for the day and play at the beach. Hoping to make it a very special weekend for her!

Colors

2010-02-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

Emily loves crafts. She loves, painting, cutting, gluing, coloring... just about anything crafty she enjoys. I guess she comes by it honestly since I love all that too. We have been trying for quite some time to work on her colors but she has just not grasped it yet. So I came up with a few ideas to help her with colors and she loves it. First I let her cut up pieces of paper and then she glued them to a paper plate. Next we colored close pins and she pins to the corresponding section. She does real well with matching the right colors but it is the names that confuse her. Grandma sent her some little m&m's and so we take a few of those and put them on the matching color. Her favorite part is when I tell her a color and she can eat it. Since we started doing this a few days ago she has gotten a little better but she still needs to work on it some more. In the mean time we are having a great time with our little projects.

Lambert's

2010-02-01T11:14:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I was excited about in joining the Navy was the opportunity to visit places that I normally wouldn't have. We have been in Pensacola for a month now. We have visited many parks in the area, been to the beach a few times and now we have been to Lambert's. This restaurant has been featured on food network and is just a fun place to eat. It is the home of the "throwed roll" and Em loved that. They walk around tossing fresh out of the oven rolls to you. Em got the hang of it real fast and she would hold out her hands each time they walked by to catch one. She also loved the huge drinks they gave us. That girl loves to drink and she was very happy drinking her juice and eating rolls. They serve more food than you can eat and they have "pass arounds" basically they walk around and offer you a handful of sides. We loved the fried okra. Everything about it was good. So if you come visit us Lambert's will be on our list of places to take you.

Daddy and Em

2010-01-18T19:54:00.000-08:00

My mom got Em a really cute pea coat for Christmas with the request that I get some pictures of Zachary and Em in their coats together. So here you go mom. Em has been a stinker to take pictures of lately which I guess really isn't really any different than before. I was just hoping that she would have outgrown it by now and cooperate with me a little. Maybe I just need to bring out the camera more so she gets used to it. Oh, well!

a little photo shoot

2010-01-14T17:11:00.000-08:00

So there is a old abandoned gas station/auto shop on the way to the Naval Air Station that has been dying to be photographed. The first time I drove by it I knew I would be photographing it soon. It was the perfect fun colors of bright green and pink with pink polk dots. Perhaps the reason that it was abandoned was because of those colors and no one would actually take a car there for repairs for fear of how it would turn out. I couldn't let the opportunity pass me up and took Em out today to take a few shots. It happens to be on a very busy road and when I parked I noticed No Trespassing signs and Beware of Dog signs. I was a little embarrassed seeing as everyone could see what I was doing and I didn't actually hear any dogs so I went with. I promise Emily's life was not in danger. She did pick up a few bottles and was a little bummed I wouldn't let her play with them. Anyway no need to worry I did get a few cute shots. I love finding cool new places to take pictures

A short walk

2010-01-11T11:13:00.000-08:00

It has been quite cold her the last few weeks. Actually it has been freezing. There was one day last week that was a little warm and that day Em and I ventured to the park with some new friends. We had a great time being outside and enjoying the sunshine. But, now we are back inside trying to stay warm. Things here are starting to feel a little normal and I am trying to get used to the idea that this is actually home for awhile. I have this feeling in the back of my head like I am on vacation and that we should be going back home soon. I wonder if that feeling will ever go away. We have found a church that we really like. It is actually just right around the corner from where we live. It is a somewhat small church and Zachary and I both really like the pastor and the worship. This last Sunday we went to Sunday School and liked that as well. We decided to stay afterwards and go to the dinner that the church was having for the pastor's birthday. We met a few more people and just enjoyed the fellowship. Sunday night we decided to go to the Life group and let Em go to Awana. Awana has a fairly recent program for 2 year olds now called Puggles. I can't believe that she is old enough to start Awana. She seemed to really enjoy it and wants to go back next week. In fact every morning when she wakes up she wants to get ready to go to church. So cute!
In the middle of our apartment complex is a nice little pond with a few ducks. We decided to take a little walk on a somewhat warm day to see the ducks and find the little swing set they have as well.

~Our apartment sits to the back of this picture~

The Drive

2010-01-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

Being a California girl my whole life I was excited to drive across the united states to the east coast. Em and I left our home town of Redding, California on November 5th 2009 and drove (well my father-in-law drove) to Pahrump, Nevada where we lived for almost 2 months. After spending a wonderful Christmas with family we left Pahrump on December 28th and started on our way to Pensacola, Florida. The drive was pretty uneventful but good. I enjoy traveling with Zachary because we get a lot of time to just talk and neither one of us can escape. I took bonine the first part of the trip so I was pretty much out but the later part I was much more coherent for. Emily did awesome and was perfectly content to just sit in the back and watch her movies. Zachary and I pretty much have Monster's Inc, Finding Nemo and Veggie Tales memorized. The first night we stopped in New Mexico after driving about 10 hours. The next evening we were able to spend the evening with Nanny in Dallas. She made us a delicious home cooked meal and we were good to go the next morning. Having never been east of Dallas I was excited to see what the rest of the country looked like. I must say that it is a much prettier drive than the drive from Pahrump. It was so green and beautiful. It started raining just as we got out of Dallas and rained non stop to Pensacola. We stopped in Louisiana and enjoyed catfish for lunch at a great little restaurant. We finally arrived in Pensacola Wednesday night and stayed on base at the Navy lodge. Thursday morning we headed to see our apartment and it is a great little place. Emily was excited to see where she would be sleeping but more excited to be living with her Daddy again. Later that afternoon we headed out to buy stuff to live. We left all our stuff in Redding until we get to our first duty station. So for the mean time we are sleeping on air mattresses and living very simply. I will be very thankful to finally have my stuff again though. We are so happy to be living together as a family once again. Emily loves hanging out with her daddy and acts so silly when he comes home in the evenings. She just can't get enough of him and is constantly telling him that she loves him and it just melts my heart to hear. So far my take on Pensacola is that the people are super friendly, the town is spread out and there is a Wal-mart on every corner. I am looking forward to visiting the white sand beaches with Em this spring, meeting new friends, and finding a great church. Life is Good!

Gingerbread Houses

2010-01-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

I know that I am really far behind on the blog posting and many want to hear about life in Pensacola but I feel I need to at least post something about our Christmas so I know that it happened. As many of you know Zachary was able to be home for Christmas and what a great time we had. Em loved having her Daddy around and hardly let him out of her sight. This holiday season was very relaxing for me seeing as I didn't have a house to decorate, no parties to plan, very little shopping to do, I hardly picked up my camera to take pictures either ( i always regret that after the fact). I do however look forward to next year and having all my Christmas decorations, planning parties,baking, shopping and taking more pictures of our holiday season at our first duty station wherever that may be. One of the things I love doing during the holiday season is decorating gingerbread houses. So we bought 2 houses and went to work. The boys and Em took on one house and Lauri and I worked on the other. The boys were hilarious as they worked on theirs adding all kinds of things to their house including a huge American flag, fire hose and a snow storm that hit the back of the house. Lauri and I opted for more of a traditional look with an awning over the door, lamp post, and a pebble walk way. Em loved adding the sprinkles and eating the candy.

Boot Camp Graduation Video

2009-12-22T12:50:00.000-08:00

My amazing and talented friend put this video together for Zachary. It brought a few tears to our eyes as we remembered the events that brought us to the place we are now. I hope you enjoy it!!

A Christmas Picnic

2009-12-17T14:27:00.001-08:00

Em and I decided that it would be fun to have a little picnic under the Christmas tree. So we got out a blanket, grilled up some sandwiches, made some hot chocolate (which she likes to call her hot coffee) and enjoyed a nice Christmas picnic. When the food was gone she grabbed her microphone danced around and sang Christmas songs. What a wonderful lunch!

I can't believe it's Christmas...

2009-12-11T20:14:00.000-08:00

my favorite time of year!! Emily has been watching Veggie Tales Christmas and says this often. She is very much into repeating things that she hears. She sings in the car often too. It is so cute to hear her sing "God you reign" or "Holy, Holy, Holy" in the back seat of the car. I often wish I could stop and record it because I want to remember it forever. I love this girl!
She found a Charlie Brown Christmas card in Grandma's Christmas stuff, it is the kind that has a little recording when you open it up and this particular one has Linus explaining what Christmas is all about to Charlie Brown. She loves it and listens to it hundreds of times during the day. She now walks around saying "Glory to God in the Highest" I love this girl!!
After we put up the Christmas tree I explained to her that Christmas is about Jesus and it is when we celebrate Jesus' birthday. So now she likes to tell people that Christmas is all about Jesus. I love this girl!!
We put up the tree a few weeks ago and Emily loved it. She was really able to get into it this year and hang ornaments all by herself. She hung them all right in the front in one little cluster. Each morning when she wakes if the tree is not lit yet she asks me to turn it on and then sits on the end of the couch nearest the tree and snuggles in with her blankie to watch her show.
Zachary update ~ he got his Christmas leave approved and to bring Em and I back with him after Christmas!! So he will be coming on the 19th and we will leave to head to Pensacola on the 27th. We already have a really nice apartment there and I am so excited to be able to see him everyday again. It will be a little while before he can actually stay the night with us during the week though... more paper work needs to be signed after we get there for that to happen. At least we can see him everyday and for that I am extremely grateful!! Our apartment will be very empty while we are there as all out stuff will still be in California and we won't be moving it until we get out first duty station. So we will be sleeping on an air mattress and eating with paper plates and plasticware. That's okay though we will still make the most of it. I am looking forward to doing a little exploring with Em and visiting the white sand beaches.

The Coat

2009-12-01T15:14:00.000-08:00

My mom is a super talented seamstress. She made a lot of clothes for my sister and I when we were little (although I didn't appreciate it as much as I should of back then) She made all my bedding and matching curtains for my room when I was in high-school, she made my bridesmaid dresses, she made Emily and Anna Raggedy Ann dolls last year for Christmas that looked just like ones we had when we were little. She can sew just about anything. When Faith was Emily's age she made this adorable jacket and hat for her. I was so excited that it finally fit Emily this year. I for one think she looks so cute in it!

Zoo lights

2009-11-29T20:27:00.000-08:00

This last week for Thanksgiving we headed down to Phoenix to spend time with the family. We had a great time and Emily was so excited to play with her cousins Fella and Candle (aka Bella and Kendall) Thanksgiving day was the normal eat more than you should and then eat pie kind of day. It was great! Some of the girls were going black Friday shopping at midnight and I was crazy enough to join. I ended up only lasting until 2am and was too tired to keep going. Thankfully my wonderful father-in-law heard Em in the morning and came and snagged her out of bed and let me sleep in. That too was great!! Friday night we headed to Zoo lights in Phoenix. The Zoo uses 2.5 million individual lights for ZooLights. It was neat to walk the zoo at night and see all the displays. Emily loved it!
Zachary update ~ He is now in Pensacola and loving that it is not so intense as boot camp. It is still not fun but he at least has been able to take some naps and eat snacks in his room. I mailed his phone to him and now we can talk and text several times a day. It is so great to have communication with him now. He gets to come home for Christmas and then after that he will be taking Em and I back to live with him in Pensacola. There is a chance that he won't be able to stay the night for with us for awhile but being able to see him everyday would be awesome. We are looking forward to living in Pensacola and doing some fun things we would not normally get to do.

Boot Camp Graduation Weekend

2009-11-17T15:39:00.000-08:00

What an amazing weekend!!! We arrived in Great Lakes, IL Thursday evening. On the way to the hotel I got a call from Zachary saying that he was through with his battle stations and he was now a sailor! At that point he had been up for 36 hours. We were able to talk for about 30 minutes and he told me where he would be standing during the ceremony. We had to be at the Recruit Training Command Friday morning at 6:30am and graduation was at 9. We made it into the drill hall by 7:45 and the remaining hour and fifteen minutes were long. The moment they rolled up the big doors and we saw our sailors in their dress blues begin to march in was very emotional. I will never forget it!! Then to finally spot Zachary well that made my heart skip a few beats. I could tell when he noticed where we were sitting too because he got a little smile on his face. The ceremony itself lasted about an hour and a half and when they finally announced liberty I could not get down there fast enough. The hard part was keeping track of where Zachary was because there were over 800 sailors all trying to find family. But when I did see him and finally got to wrap my arms around him the there were many tears of joy. Honestly I can't even explain how I was feeling. It was just unbelievable that we had finally made it to this point and we were reunited again. When Emily first say her daddy she kinda looked at him a little funny and then realized that daddy was standing right in front of her and then she just wanted him to hold her. She couldn't get enough of him all weekend. Zachary wanted to get out of there fast she we didn't stand around much. We took him back to the hotel so he could put on civilian clothes again and just relax. His only request was to be able to take a nap and have Taco Bell and eat it very slowly. So Friday that is what we did. Because his division was first overall they got to stay out an extra hour. He needed to be back to the base by 9 each night. Saturday we went into Chicago and went down to the Navy Pier. We enjoyed Bubba Gumps for lunch and then back to the hotel for more nap time. Sunday was just another day to relax in the hotel and spend time with him before taking him back to the Training Center. I loved just sitting around hearing the many stories he had to tell. Dropping him off Sunday night was by far harder than dropping him off when he left for boot camp. I have no idea when I will see him again and have no answers about where we will be stationed or if I will be with him while he is in A school. He is suppose to leave for Pensacola November 18 and school is suppose to start December 1st. But with the military you just never now if it will happen or not. As soon has he arrives there he will start figuring out how to get Em and I there to live with. I pray that it will be soon!!!
Even though these last few months have been incredibly hard for both of us we are confident that we are where the Lord wants us to be. And hearing Zachary talk this weekend just reassured that for me. I am so thankful for a loving God centered husband. I have never been so proud of anyone as I am him. For him to go through this for our family is just amazing and I am grateful that he wants the best for us. I am so blessed to have him as a husband.

Pumpkin Spice Playdo

2009-11-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

I found a recipe for pumpkin spice playdo awhile ago and thought it would be fun to try. I love this time of year! It was cold and overcast today and I thought it would be a great day for it. So I made a batch of playdo for Em and some hot chocolate for me (a pumpkin spice latte would have been perfect but Starbucks was too far away) and we sat down and played for quite some time. She loved it and it smelled so good. Not like the typical playdo smell. She even decided that it would be fun to take a nap on the playdo. It was a great fall craft!
Zachary update~ In his last letter he said that he had the flu. He had a root canal last monday but said his mouth is still hurting. He said that all in all things have gotten better but he can't say he likes it. Only 5 more sleeps until we see him. I am beyond excited. The night before will be like a little kid on Christmas Eve. I am sure I will not be able to sleep.

Snap, Crackle, Pop Rice Krispies

2009-11-02T14:03:00.000-08:00

Once again my amazing sister whipped up these adorable costumes for the girls. I must say they are pretty cute. Emily's first time trick or treating was a success. I didn't really prep her before hand on what she was suppose to do and at the first house when the guy answered the door she welcomed herself into his house. I realized I maybe should have told her not to go into strangers houses and just stand at the door. She got the hang of it real quick though and was excited every time someone put candy in her bag. She was quick to say a BIG Thank You and would came running back to me and say mommy I got more candy. Alicia and Neil live in a great neighborhood that is just perfect for trick or treating. There are just enough houses for a toddler and she received just enough candy that mommy can enjoy some too :)
Zachary update ~ The letters that I have received as of late are sounding more positive than in the beginning. I am not saying he likes it but right now it is bearable and the end is very close. He was one of 24 chosen out of 600 to receive a military bearing award. I wasn't sure what military bearing was so I looked it up and it basically means they behave with a certain decorum and discipline. They adhere to the utmost levels of honor, duty, and professionalism in whatever they do. He had an interview with some higher ups and if he is chosen he will have breakfast with the admirals. He was also transfered from dental yeoman to yeoman over his whole division. We are down to 11 sleeps until we are reunited and I am beyond excited!!!!

Pumpkin Patch '09

2009-10-26T20:14:00.001-07:00

The pumpkin patch this year was a lot of fun. I was surprised when Emily said that she actually wanted to go in and pet all the baby animals. But I figured for $1 we didn't have much to loose. She thought the baby goats were really cute and kept wanting to hold them. They kept nibbling at her fingers and clothes and she would say mom they are tickling me. She spent a good portion of the time in there. After we were done with the animals we headed to the pumpkin patch to find the perfect one. She tried to pick up many that were just too big and finally found one that was just right. There was also a crate of squash and she picked one of those as well but she calls it her banana.
Zachary update~ I receive letters from Zachary once a week. I look forward to that day so much. Last Saturday I received a call from him and is was so wonderful to hear his voice. He had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled and today was scheduled for a root canal. He said it wasn't actually that bad and got to get some rest afterwards. We are down to 17 sleeps until graduation. That day can't come soon enough! He is scheduled to go to Pensacola after boot camp for 21 weeks. Really hoping and praying that Emily and I can move there shortly after him. Should be a big change from Northern California!

It's a Blustery Day

2009-10-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

I love days like today. It is cold, rainy and windy. It is the perfect day for homemade soup and delicious chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven. The girls and I were home by ourselves so we decided to bake. They were such great little helpers. Each taking turns pouring stuff in the bowl and stirring. There were many sneaky little bites of the dough as well. Em was trying everything from the brown sugar, flour and even licked some egg off her hand. (yuck!) They watched the cookies baking in the oven and were eager to have one after lunch.

Zachary update~ I have received 2 letters from Zachary but no phone call yet. I really really want to hear his voice. He is very homesick so please keep him in your prayers. He was able to go to church the last 2 Sunday's and that lifted his spirits. He is the AROC for his division. Not sure what that stands for but he sings the cadence while marching. His RDC's told him that he has a great voice and that has helped build his self esteem a little. He also got the "position" of dental Yeoman. He likes it because each evening he gets to take a 20 minute walk to the dental office to do some paper work. He said that it is 20 minutes that no one is yelling at him. We are down to one month from today until we see him. We have all our tickets booked and I can hardly wait to see my Sailor!!!! What a wonderful day that will be!!!

Scrapbook Retreat

2009-09-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had the chance to go to a scrapbook retreat again. My friend and I actually ran the whole thing. Other than the set-up, getting the meals prepared and take-down we got to scrap the whole time. It was wonderful!! Here are a few layouts that I did.

We are still set to close on our house on the 30th of September. Can't wait to be finally done with it all. We are getting the last of the big stuff today and taking it to storage. Emily is doing pretty well with daddy being gone. Emily loves her daddy videos and asks to watch them every day. The other day she said to my sister "do you know where my daddy at"? And as proud as she could say she told her "booot camp" Counting down the days until we can be together again.

Saying Goodbye

2009-09-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

Well the day finally arrived and I was really wishing that I could just skip over this particular day. The fact that Zachary was leaving didn't actually hit me until Sunday afternoon then whenever I thought about it I would just cry. Em and I took him to the recruiters office today and hung out for a bit before we said our final goodbye. Emily really didn't understand what was going on and when we left she just wanted to know where Daddy was going and said that she wanted to go back and see him. Then this afternoon while we were getting a Jamba she told a complete stranger that her daddy was at boot camp. Zachary made Emily some videos of him singing, reading and praying and today we watched one of him singing and she loved it. She sang right along with him and did the motions too. I think she is a little confused because normally we video chat with people on the computer and she thought she could just talk to her daddy.
On top of Zachary leaving today we are having to deal with some unexpected house stuff and it is really stressing me out. I am so thankful I am able to talk to him today to figure stuff out. I just so want to be done with the house and not worry about it anymore. I am hoping next week Emily and I will be all moved into my sisters and we can have our routine back to a little more normal. These next 9 weeks should be incredibly hard but I am trying to plan some fun stuff for us to do that make the days go by a little faster. Zachary bought Emily a little Navy teddy bear and he gave it to her yesterday. She loves her new little friend and has taken him everywhere with us today. He also surprised me and bought me a beautiful locket. I am going to miss him like crazy and can't wait to see him at his graduation.