Fun Times

Jeffrey put himself to sleep reading Skippy John Jones. 

This is a test of the hand prints on the floor by a new soldier to the battalion. 

Jeffrey pretending to be Woody from Toy Story.

Jeffrey watches Little Einsteins while I do homework on the computer.

Halloween 2010

 When I asked Jeffrey what he wanted to dress up as for Halloween he told me he wanted to be Russell from up. So for the first time ever I made his costume.

Pretty good eh?

 Grandma MacNeil's funeral was the weekend of Halloween, the day we drove in we met my sisters at Gardner Village (one of my favorite places!) and walked around a little bit. Here's a few of Jeffrey's cousins.

 The twins were witches, Elena was Little Bo Peep (in a costume that my sister wore when she was little, it was also one of my clogging costumes), Jeffrey was Russell, and Liam was Shaun the Sheep! I have to point out something in the pic, Jeffrey stays still about as well as a flea and so I told Lizzie to hold his backpack so he couldn't get up. She did a good job!

 3/4 of the witches council (one member short). Sam and Cory had shirts that said "I live with a bunch of witches", and "I'm related to a bunch of witches". Yep, we're witches.

Pammy also wanted a picture of her family, so here they are. Photogenic all.

The cutest little mechanic I know!

I love this kiddo! He's my adorable nephew. He fills any need I have to hold a newborn and I get to hand him back at the end of the day. He's all dressed up like his daddy.

Yellowstone trip in September

 In September my family planned a trip to Yellowstone. My gram generously paid for us to all stay in the same cabin and most of the family (we three girls were single with our kiddos) was there together. I had a BLAST! It was so great to see everyone again, even if Cory wasn't able to be there. This is all the kiddos and Aunt Paige and Aunt Sherri at the Paint Pots. We ended up spending way more time there than we thought after Jeff's wife, Melissa, had to help give CPR to someone.

 Uncle Jeff generously offered to hold the leashes of the kids. Hehehe!

 Pretty right?

 Several years ago my family went on another trip to Yellowstone (I stayed home with Paige and Jeff because he had tickets to see Phantom of the Opera and took me!) and Quincy got this junior ranger hat. He brought it to Jeffrey the first day we were there and Jeffrey LOVED it! He idolizes Quincy and so getting a gift from him made his week!

 Paige and the gwirls!

 Quincy was a lifesaver, he would hold Jeffrey's had all the time and walk with him. Helped keep him from getting lost or falling into a geyser.

 Waiting for Old Faithful...which can be hard with 10 kids under the age of 12. But I came up with the idea to have them cheer and clap for the geyser to erupt. If nothing else it kept them busy.

 Old Faithful.

 Me and my travel buddy!

 The hike down from the upper falls. I was very sunburned from waiting for Old Faithful the day before. This is the hike where we learned that people are very generous with their food when you tell them you have a diabetic in need of sugar. (Even offering half eaten granola bars!)

 Mammoth Hot Springs

 Sugar, Jeffrey, and Me at Mammoth Hot Springs. Can I just say how much I love my parents? They are so cute together after 35 years and always up for an adventure.

 A petrified tree. It's a major tourist draw.

 Hello. I'm a cute little bear and I like to stop traffic for MILES around when I come out to play. People also get dangerously close to me while I'm walking across the street.

Hi, I'm a huge elk who also likes to stop traffic for miles around when I walk across a field. Check me out in all my majesty.

Zoo Trip with Friends

I haven't blogged in a long time, not because nothing has happened, but I honestly don't get on the computer more than once a week and that's usually just to print out coupons before I go shopping. But today is a catch up day.

 In September my Kelly friend asked us to go with her to the zoo to celebrate her baby's birthday. It was lots of fun! I love the zoo here in Colorado Springs. Jeffrey was watching the monkeys who were being very loud. I didn't get one of him plugging his ears but it was pretty cute!

 Playing on the ant at the playground.

Going for a brisk carousel ride. I swear this was the FASTEST carousel I've ever been on.

Our zoo has a big herd of giraffes and you get get these little crackers to feed them. Jeffrey thought it was HILARIOUS! Look at those blue eyes, man I've got a cute kid!

Back to Colorado

After a ten hour drive we are back home in Colorado. We had to celebrate and wind down with dinner from Chipotle. Tricia used her Chipotle application on her iPod to order while I did the driving for pickup. 

Going through the books I received from Grandma MacNeil's household items I found a copy of Call of the Wild, which happens to be the same book I am reading to Jeffrey while he takes his nightly bath. I switched out copies and will now be reading Grandpa Skip's copy.

I have already grown used to wearing Grandpa Skips Army Air Corp ring. When I was in the fifth grade I had an assignment to write a biography and I chose to write about Grandpa Skip. I spent several evenings interviewing him and heard many of his stories about his experiences in the Army Air Corp. The ring reminds me of those times with him and how much I learned about him.

Slowing Down

It has been a long time since I posted regularly. Life has been hectic with my current job, but things are finally toning down. I have two people at work assisting me. Neither are with me all the time, but having each there at least a portion of the day has been a huge help. I no longer have to stop in the middle of what I am doing to deliver paperwork to another building.

I will be starting a new class at the University of Phoenix in November. I have put off school for work long enough. I have given a lot to keep the schools flowing at the battalion. It is time to take some back for myself. I no longer arrive at work early nor stay late. I will be using the full lunch time to read through my text book so that I can get to the homework when I arrive home. I am even taking a full hour for breakfast and bring my scriptures along to read in order to start the day out right.

Still no firm word on changing MOS. I will just have to wait to see what the army can offer.

Shifting Gears

Work is still crazy busy. I do not know how I am expected to complete all the tasks that my job requires without an assistant. There has been talk of getting me a partner, but no one has materialized yet. I think that when it comes time for me to leave this job there will be a rude awakening for the battalion leadership. I doubt that the next NCO to fulfill this duty will put in an many hours as I do. The ball is going to get dropped big time.

I found out a few days ago that the public affairs job I was so excited for during the past year is not a possibility. Even though the job is still offered there are no more seats in the class for the entire fiscal year. I have a limited time in which I can reenlist, so waiting out the year for a seat to open or hoping for next year is not an option. I will be investigating what few other options there are for me. I know that I want to stay in the army for the next ten years to reach retirement, but I need to leave the army will a skill that will be applicable in my next career.

Bigger and Better Things

I am tired of getting the short end of the stick at work. On Saturday I finally made time to spend with the family and we went up to Denver so that Tricia could see some of the young dancers she has been teaching compete. I took Jeffrey to a near by lake to spend some time with him when I received a phone call from work telling me I needed to come to FT Carson in uniform so that I could spend the next 20 hours guarding a bunch of tents that had been set up in a training area. I then spent six hours of General Conference Sunday at work completing an online training course to qualify me to fulfill yet another responsibility.

I had planned on awaking early this morning to go into work early and getting a jump on things. Instead I slept in through PT time and did not leave the house until I had a good breakfast and cleaned out the master bathroom. I have been doing so much at work that by the time I do get home I am exhausted and do not have sufficient time to contribute at home in a meaningful way. No more. I know I have a big job and it will require some out of the ordinary hours, but I am done bending over backward to assist people who continuously bring late work to me.

Now that October is here I have put in my request to attend 46Q Public Affairs training. I should hear back from the retention NCO within the next 10 working days on a school date. I am ready to leave behind this schools job and move onto bigger and better things.

I Am Daddy

When Jeffrey puts on a piece of clothing or holds an article that is particular to a person he becomes that person. Here he is as Daddy in boots and wearing an old pair of glasses.

Remembering

Jeffrey and I were watching a show today that showed a picture of the Colosseum and he pointed to it and said, "Hey I ran all the way around there." He remembered me telling him about the trip and how while daddy took pictures, Jeffrey and I walked the entire circumference of the Colosseum. I'm sad that he won't remember all of the trips we took with him. I guess taking pictures and reminding him is the only way we can help him know right?

Bear World

So over Labor day we had been planning a trip to Yellowstone with my whole family. My gram was going to pay for an 8 room cabin where we all stayed each night. Two days before Cory told me he just wasn't going to be able to go. This job of his is crazy...and I was so upset about it but in the end, he would have paid for weeks had he gone, so Jeffrey and I went to Utah the night before everyone was planning to go. Uncle Scott and Aunt Jen let us ride in the back of their suburban (Uncle Jeff and Aunt Melissa were in the middle seat) and they had planned on making a stop at Bear World in Idaho on the trip up.

 As we arrived at the park there was a place where you could drive through and see all of the big animals that they had. This was one of the grizzly bears. They have cute ears round just like a teddy bear. But I don't think they would be as cuddly.

I haven't seen a bear in real life closer than at the zoo, so it was pretty amazing to see them. Even if they weren't like wild bears. (These bears lived a cushy life of bread and donuts).

This is my favorite bear of the day! Isn't he cute?

Melissa, Scott, Jeff, and Jeffrey

I was one of those people who leashed my child. But honestly I had to (it was me against the unequaled energy of a 3 year old) and he really doesn't mind it.

We decided to go on the curator tour which was on this HUGE truck we drove around the same path we had before only this time we had food for the animals to eat. We gave these blond haired, blue eyed deer hay. No donuts for them.

See how polite they are? They sit up and when I held up my last donut to throw out one of them even waved at me as if he was asking for it. Of course I gave it to him.

That was what the truck looked like (Sort of) and I wanted to take a picture of the picture...I'm too cheap to buy them.

Bear world also had all of these rides available for the kiddos to ride. Best part? They were free after you paid admission. Jeffrey rode to his heart's content (actually he wanted to ride all day, but we had to get to Yellowstone sometime!) and thanks to his willing Uncle Scott, he got to ride the tree ride too.

Big Enough to Work With

When Jeffrey was younger I was nervous about taking out my off camera flash around him and placing them on their tripods. One push or pull could send them crashing to the ground from a six foot height and that would be the end of a $450 flash. Jeffrey is finally old enough that I feel comfortable to use my flashes when he is around. I certainly keep my eye on him as he loves to touch and explore new things, but I have to start with him at some point or I would never be able to use them at home.

Work kept me on Friday until eight in the evening, but it was nice to go home and know that I could forget all about work having emptied my In Box and checked off my long To Do list.

Saturday Not at the Office

Finally, a Saturday on which I did not have to go to work. I certainly could have. There is plenty of work waiting for me, but I received specific instructions from the CSM not to work on Saturday.

Instead, I spent it mowing the lawn and cleaning up with Tricia in our own bedroom. Our cleaning was not done until we took a trip to the Good Will and dropped off a bag of clothes and a large box of books.

Our night was finished off with taking photographs of Tricia on the front porch, baking cookies, and watching The Two Towers.

One Year Later

A lot has taken place in my life since last year on 06 September when an RPG came through my vehicle. Were it not for the calendar I can look at, I would not think it had already been a year since that early morning.

I have gained a lot of life lessons from that experience and the events that followed after. The fragility of life is made bare when it is lost or taken suddenly. Life also has many opportunities to show its resilience and will to continue on. Here are a few of the lessons I learned.

Friendship is great. Thanks for coming to see me in the Hospital back in Germany, SSG Link.

Telling others you love and care for them is a daily priority. I am glad for every phone call made and letter sent from Afghanistan. The calls and conversations from and in Colorado are just as important.

I depend on others, even strangers, no matter how independent I trick myself into feeling. SPC Harlow put on my tourniquet, a chopper picked me up, SSG Yepez walked me to the LZ, F-16 covered our exit, and a surgeon performed on me at 0400.

Jeffrey and His Tie

Missing Out On Yellow Stone Park

The Brown family has been planning a vacation to Yellow Stone National Park for many months now. Tricia and I were very excited to be able to go since we first heard about the idea. When a date was finally selected, it happened to be over a four-day weekend for me, which means our six-day vacation would only take me away from work for two days.

For the first eight weeks that I was at my new job as the battalion schools NCO, I did not have a computer. Everything I do is electronic and on the net, so I have been way behind the power curve until very recently when a laptop was procured for me. I am so far behind the power curve that I had to make the tough decision to skip out on the Yellow Stone trip and use all six days to work. My job is quite reactive because I have to deal with people and items they bring to me all through the working day. I need to take advantage of the four uninterrupted working days to catch up while there is no one to hand me more work through the day. It was a hard decision to make, but this is a critical time to catch up and begin to get ahead so that I can be proactive at work rather than reactive.

I am glad that Tricia and Jeffrey decided to continue on the trip. I would have been super bummed if I were at work this weekend knowing that they were both at home waiting for me.

Not going to Yellow Stone did give me the chance to attend a chapel session at the Denver Temple. I recognized many people from my ward there and it was an uplifting experience even though Tricia was not there to share it.