Summer-O-Skirts

So my sister in law is going for a summer of skirts. Last year I saw a blog that was called the Summer of No Pants. I decided this year I wanted in! I have a new sewing machine (a pfaff) and serger (a viking) thanks to a generous and adorable hubby and I am going to put them to good use. That combined with the fact that in the combined maternity wardrobe of me, my sister and a friend who was getting rid of clothes I had ZERO pairs of pants that fit. So I bought three and decided that would be enough to get me through until September.

Last year Christina gave me the Fashion Formula Skirts vol. 1. and I LOVED it! There are no pattern pieces and the skirts come out fitting great! I had made a few skirts last year but because I put elastic in the waistband they don't quite fit this year. So I'm making them with drawstrings which will fit during and after the baby.

 I have made 5 skirts so far that will keep me cool and stylish through the summer. I have a few more to make and I still need to take pictures of them all but I am feeling very accomplished, and LOVING my sewing set up that much more!

New ID Card

Tricia and Jeffrey met me at building 212 for a new ID card. Tricia's ID will expire soon after I leave for Afghanistan and it takes a special power of attorney to obtain a new ID without me present. The last two deployments taught me to pay attention to the small things that are easily pushed to the way side. Those small things become big impediments later on when thousands of miles seperate us.

Man Points

My man points have been up and down over the last few days. Last Friday, Tricia went to start the car in the garage and the engine would not turn over. I could not figure out what was wrong under the hood and lost a few man points for having no mechanical knowledge. I lost more man points the next day when my tinkering and staring at the engine got us no where. Our road side assistance covered the cost of the two truck coming our home to pick the Pontiac up in front of the neighbors. Major man point loss.

The mechanics at Midas quickly figured out that a corroded relay was the problem. They discovered the source so quickly that they did not charge me the full price for the diagnostic. Money saving, but not man point saving.

On Monday, Tricia went to start the car again and nothing happened when the key turned. I did not panic and blame Midas for faulty work. Sweet, a couple man points came back. I figured the problem must be electrical and investigated the battery. The battery is old, and has probably lived out its $79.00 life. I purchased a new battery at the auto parts store. It took only five minutes to install it and the car came to life. Sweet, major man points.

Another Blog Name Change

So our blog will be changing again, remember a few months ago we changed it to the Sergeant First Class, the dancer, and the bean?


Well now we'll be changing it again to

 The Sergeant, The Dancer, The Bean, and The Peanut. 

We will be adding another little addition to the MacNeil family at the end of September. 

We're all very excited about the new baby, Jeffrey has already come up with a few names (Kid, Lightning McQueen) and likes to talk to the baby on a regular basis. Cory will be deployed but we are hoping that his mid-tour leave will coincide with baby's arrival (though Sugar is training to be my back up birth coach).  I am very happy and glad the nausea is mostly passed though I am still extremely tired ALL the time! We felt like the timing was right for another baby and I am glad that Jeffrey is old enough to be excited about it.

Clean Teeth!

 So when I was growing up I HATED the dentist. (Let me preface that by saying I did not hate the dentist or any of his workers, I just hated the experience, the smells, the drilling, all of that!) When we moved to Colorado we moved to the dental stake Colorado Springs where everyone is very aware of everyone's teeth.

One of my best friends was a dentist and along with her husband had a couple of dental offices and did my orthodontic work for me. I decided that Jeffrey was in no way going to be traumatized like I was so I wanted him to be comfortable with the whole experience (especially since the kiddo is in for braces with the gap he's got in his front teeth). We scheduled his cleaning and he LOVED it, they let him push the cool button to make the chair go back, the scrubbed his teeth and made them tickle and he even got a prize at the end.

The pediatric dentist here in Manhattan isn't so great from what I hear and won't let parents go back with their kids at all. While I understand the logic (I don't like parents in my dance classes while I'm teaching) I know my child won't want to go with someone he has never seen before to a place he's never seen before. He needs coaxing and assurance that he's in an OK place and knows what to expect. So I decided while we were passing through Colorado anyway, we'd just schedule our 6 month cleaning with Dr. Lamoreaux again.

Jeffrey LOVED it again, he got to wear cool sunglasses this time to keep the light out of his eyes. We are still cavity free so fingers crossed that we can just keep going in for fun visits!

Trip to Utah

So with the upcoming departure of the Sergeant, the whole crew got block leave. We decided that we would take a short trip to Utah and Las Vegas. Since we're 8 hours further East it was probably going to be our last trip that way for a while.

 Our first stop on the way to Vegas was Cove Fort. I haven't been since it first opened and we were on our way to Disneyland. It was a Friday morning so we got a personal tour by one of the missionaries there. It was pretty cool to see again, we wanted to see the barn and stable, but it was too snowy and muddy to walk across the field, so we just saw the fort.

 Did you know there's a Zombie Apocalypse store? For all your Zombie Apocalypse needs.

 We stayed at the Luxor with Scott and Jen. It was fun! I felt like such a crappy travel companion because I couldn't walk as far as everyone else with my foot. The night we walked the entire length of the strip I had to take the bus back. It was the bus ride of shame. (Later I was talking to my friend who had the same surgery I did and she said it took her MONTHS to recover from it, so I didn't feel quite as bad). We saw the Tournament of Kings at the Excalibur...our dumb purple knight wasn't very good and kept cheating. We did see the fire guy from America's Got Talent.

 We also took a trip to the Gold and Silver Pawn shop from Pawn Stars on this History Channel. It was a LOT smaller in person than they make it seem in the show. We waited in the line out front and then walked through the shop. 1/3 of the space has merchandise from the store and that was where it seemed most of their business came from. We didn't see any of the main characters, but we heard they might only actually come in when they're filming.

 Back in Utah Jeffrey enjoyed time with his cousins A and E. They had a picnic with the basket of goodies that Sugar made for the girls around Jeffrey's age (remember he got the fishing creel?) for Christmas.

 Adorbs right? So cute! My mom has got talent that I envy so much.

 The night we stayed there for dinner we were there in time for scripture study. Jeffrey's favorite job was holding Sugar's shih tzu Wicket. Sugar got to hold baby B who has grown up SO much!

 Staying at Uncle Scott and Aunt Jen's house has it's benefits, like when Uncle Scott lets you play his drum set. Jeffrey got way into it.

We also got to visit Uncle Brian and Aunt Christina and cousin A. Jeffrey followed him around the room taking pictures and actually got a few. I thought this one was cute.

It was a fun trip (minus the blizzard we woke up to in Colorado on the day we were heading out to Utah) and we enjoyed our visits with family. I should have taken more pictures of all the fun things we did. Cory and I were able to visit the temple, I got to spend time with my BFF Mistee, and we enjoyed a real honest to goodness vacation in Las Vegas. It was great!

I also have to show this, the twins gave me all kinds of drawings when I got into town, this was one of my FAVS! It's an elephant (I think) and I was impressed with their artistic talents. (Jeffrey just scribbles a few lines and then moves on to the next thing.)