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I am so far behind in posting that I am now going to play catch up....

Back in NOVEMBER, (I know I am so late), Troy reached the end of his first enlistment with the Air Force. The thought of separating with the military and moving back to Arizona seemed so great. With so many of our friends moving away the past year, I was loving the idea of being close to family and friends again. However, Troy and I were both in agreement that this is where we are suppose to be right now. I love being able to stay home with the kids and separating from the Air Force would not give us that option. To make a long story short, it didn't take much to decide the best thing for our family was for him to reenlist.
It was a great experience because one of our friends, a long time family friend of Troy's, was able to swear him in. It meant so much more this time around. It was great knowing we had the support of a good friend and the time he took to do this for us.

The swearing in...
...The happy family (and friend).

(Sorry for the poor quality of the picture, a good part of the reason Santa brought me a new camera.)

We have got another six years of military life ahead and we look forward to what those six years will bring to our family. We continue to meet new, fun people all the time and I know we will have long lasting friendships with a lot of the people we have come to know and love. You all know who you are! ;)

HUNTING

This past fall, Troy earned the title of "Big Game Hunter"! Many weekends were spent out in the mountains hunting antelope, deer and elk. Thanks to a couple of good friends, Troy had a great first hunting season. He was able to bring home all three animals and stock up the freezer. He vows to NEVER hunt antelope again because they stink so bad but I know he would love to go for deer and elk again. The antelope provided some very tasty jerky. The deer gave us steaks, roasts, ground deer, loins and stew meat. The elk gave us 30 pounds of ground meat and seven roasts. We are very excited for the meat in the freezer and thankful that Troy made it through without fainting, throwing up and no injuries in the process.

Digging out from one of the many time's they got stuck.

Troy shot his Elk, 50 yards from the truck. He took one shot and it stopped but was afraid it might run over the hill so he took a second and dropped it instantly.

Troy's Elk (bull-calf)

Troy's Deer, not the worlds biggest but we are grateful he shot this one because it was the only Deer they happen to see, his friends were happy because it was 30 yards away from the truck when he shot it, when it died it ran to only 15 yards away from the truck. Lucky boys didn't have to carry it very far.

Troy's first hunting shot was this beauty, 276 yards one shot one kill. His Antelope was in the valley right where the sun was starting to shine.

Taking a break to fish.

Troy's Antelope

Cowboys Game

I have to say, I am the COOLEST WIFE EVER!! :) For Troy's birthday I sent him off to Dallas for a weekend Trip with his dad to see the COWBOYS play in their awesome stadium!

The first of MANY pictures taken.

He was pretty ecstatic about this trip. I am sure like a little kid in a candy store.

Dez Bryant posed for the fans in between throws.

Dez Bryant catching a pass in warm ups. Look how high the man can jump, insane!

Miles Austin, warming up.

The monster screen. If you don't know about this, it starts at one 20 yard line and goes all the way to the other 20 yard line. This thing is HUGE!

He got a picture of the cheerleaders for me and the guys at work. Ha!

Troy and his dad hanging out. They weren't the best seats in the house but they were what we could afford.

Going for the P.A.T.....did they make it??

The boys were very disappointed that daddy was on an airplane without them so I asked Troy to take a picture of HIS airplane to show the boys. They LOVED it!

The boys, Emree and I watched the game at home with some friends and had fun trying to watch for daddy. Though I knew it would be impossible to see him, it kept the boys entertained for a while.

Bed Time Stories

The other night I was reading the scriptures to Sebastien and Manti before bed. Sebastien is very interested in listening and learning about the scriptures. Manti will sit for a couple of minutes before he loses interest. Anyway, the other night we were reading about Joseph Smith and talking about how he went to ask for Heavenly Father's help...before I continued reading I asked Sebastien "How do we ask Heavenly Father for help?" (hoping he might say "prayer") He said, "May I have a drink of water please." It was too cute and funny.

Their favorite story is about Nephi on the ship and the "big storm". If you ask Sebastien to tell you about it, he could tell you the whole story. I love being able to read the scriptures and talk about them with the boys. It is so fun to see them get excited about the scriptures. If we forget to read before they go to bed, Sebastien is very quick to remind me. Sometimes I wonder if it is his way of stalling bedtime but then I hear him talking to Manti about what we read and realize he really is paying attention.

"Newborn" Fashion Show

When my sister had her first little girl we thought it would be fun to do a little fashion show before she grew out of her clothes. It was a lot of fun then (8 years ago) so I thought I would do it for my little girl. I have to say it is much easier to do the fashion show with a second person...changing outfits so quickly, trying to get the baby to smile and getting a good picture before the baby gets mad or falls asleep is one tough job. Ha! Emree had some tiny outfits that I just loved and wanted to share with you.

This first one was a cute jammie set that Emree looked so cute in. As you can tell she is really starting to grow out of the hat...I was squeezing it on her head.

You may notice something that Emree LOVES throughout these pictures. I am not going to give it away, let's just see if you can figure it out.

I found these little rompers at Kohl's and thought they were adorable. I had to get them. Emree looked so cute in these and I am sad that they are now boxed up for the next baby girl. We will have to plan the next baby girl better so she can wear these summer outfits longer.

One of the FEW smiles I got out of her.

I love this picture. She looks like she is trying to be really sneaky about something.

This was one of my absolute favorite dresses she had to wear. Our good friend Kristine gave it to us and I tried to have Emree wear it as much as possible because it was the only "newborn" size dress we had.

Aunt Wendi sent this cute outfit up with Grandma and I couldn't wait to put it on Emree. The first few times she wore it, she was swimming in it. She ended up filling it out very nicely! :) This is another outfit I was really sad about putting away.

This is a good smile from Emree. She is this happy ALL the time. I love waking up in the mornings and seeing this cute little face!

This was the last outfit I could get her in before she started to get mad and tired. Her eyes started to get pretty heavy...they are slowly closing...

..and she's out...

..whew...that was exhausting! (She is wrapped in the soft, fleece blanket from Kristine. It is one of her favorite blankets.)

Emree has grown so much that the majority of her newborn outfits and jammies are now joining the boys baby clothes in storage. It makes me so sad that I have had to box them up.

I wanted her to wear this one forever!

So...were you able to figure out what it is that Emree LOVES??

Halloween 2010

I am a little behind in posting things so please forgive me. This year for Halloween I was a little on the cheap side. I didn't want to buy any costumes for the boys and I made Emree's. Emree was a little lady bug and I made her a little tutu. If you can remember, last year I made the boys' costumes and they dressed up as "Things". Lucky for me, I made them too big for last year and was able to squeeze the boys into them again this year. Their costumes were still a BIG HIT! We got so many comments about their blue hair and how cute they looked.

This year we took the boys to the medical clinic on base (this has become our Halloween tradition) and to the stake trunk-or-treat. The boys LOVED it, well of course, they got candy. Because Halloween was on Sunday we did not do any trick-or-treating but we did set up chairs and fun lights in the driveway and passed out candy before it got too cold. Sebastien had so much fun giving candy to other kids. He would run and watch for kids to come, then run back and get hand fulls of candy. He couldn't handle waiting for the kids so he would run over to them and put the candy in their bags. Manti was funny too, we would give him candy to give away and he had the attitude of "two for me, one for you"! I feel bad for the kids Manti was giving candy to.

I have been really bad about taking pictures lately and didn't get any of the boys by themselves but this is what we did get...

Our Family, Halloween 2010!
The "Things" with their friend "Spiderman"

Our little lady bug. She was checking out the tulle, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. She was funny because she kept grabbing, then pulling the tulle up towards her mouth.

Showing off her standing skills and the tutu. (It looks much better in person.)

This was the closet I could get to getting her to smile. I think she was freaked out by the tutu.

We had a very fun, happy Halloween. I now need to think about what I can make for the kids next year. I think it is more fun to make the costumes and see the kids running around then to buy them. Good thing I have a year to prepare because I will need it!

Mountains

We didn't get to do any camping this year due to the fact that I was too pregnant and I was not really feeling up to it. Before it got too cold we did go up to the mountains a few times just for dinner and to hang out and let the kids run wild. The boys always love being up there and it is even more fun when we have our friends up there with us. It is nice to just be out in nature, around a camp fire hanging out with friends. The kids don't usually eat much dinner but they LOVE the roasted marshmallows and starburst!

Mommy and the kids.

Daddy and the kids.

The two little girls hanging out. They are both so cute!

I have no idea what Sebastien is doing here...probably about to fall out of the chair.

The boys and their friends.

It was a lot of fun and it is a cheap activity to do as a family. I am really looking forward to next summer and hopefully doing it more often.