Tagged again! Yea!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:57 am, to wake up my husband who was using my phone as an alarm which apparently didn't work because he wasn't up.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Gosh, I’d do both if I could afford them.
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Fireproof your marriage, highly recommend it to all married couples and those thinking of getting married.
4. What is your favorite TV show? Don’t get me started, Monday I watch HEROES.
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? On a good day, breakfast burrito (McD’s)
6. What is your middle name? I wasn’t given one at birth, so I took my maiden at marriage. I always wanted to be Delvonna Marie. All my girls have middle names! One even got Marie.
7. What food do you dislike? It changes with my moods.
8. What is your favorite CD at moment? Don’t really have one.
9. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota Sienna, the mom mobile!
10. Favorite sandwich? BLT
11. What characteristics do you despise? People who use their charisma to sell wickedness.
12. Favorite item of clothing? Non-maturnity and sliming!
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? I’d like to try Hawaii.
14. Favorite brand of clothing? I don’t have one, but if it is (see answer to question 12) then I'll love it.
15. Where would you retire to? Somewhere with a great climate and four seasons.
16. What was your most memorable birthday? So many to remember, probably 21, my friends threw me an “Old maid” party.
17. Favorite sport to watch? Not a big "watching" sports fan.
18. When is your birthday? August 4 mark it in your calendar! JK
19. Are you a morning person or a night person? I think I feel better before laying down.
20. What is your shoe size? 6, I used to be a 5 ½ before kids.
21. Pets? Not at this time
22. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with us? Not at this time, waiting to see how Greg’s military career will go.
23. What did you want to be when you were little? A Mommy
24. What is your favorite candy? Reese’s peanut butter cups
25. What is your favorite flower? Orchids and Rose buds.
26. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Friday, the 31st, pay day
27. What are you listening to right now? Brianna begging for a cookie. 28. What was the last thing you ate? The cookie Brianna was begging for.
29. Do you wish upon stars? Sometimes
30. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Burgundy and Purple
31. How is the weather right now? Warmer than I’d like for end of October, but it is Las Vegas!
32. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? My sister, Rose.
33. Favorite soft drink? Coke, I know...repent
34. Favorite restaurant? Olive Garden
35. What was your favorite toy as a child? Certainly not a Barbie, my mom wouldn’t let me have one, but if I would have had one it would have my favorite!
36. Summer or winter? Summer, until I moved to Vegas...here I like winter.
37. Hugs or kisses? That is a tough one, but I really do love kisses from my baby 38. Chocolate or Vanilla? Are those my only choices? Cherry
39. Coffee or tea? Just the smell of coffee makes me want to hurl. Especially when I was prego.
40. Do you want your friends to email you back? Of course.
41. When was the last time you cried? I got pretty teary in the movie I saw last…see question 3
42. What is under your bed? Alien dust bunnies! Baby shoes and other storage things.
43. What did you do last night? Caught up on a program I was behind on.
44. What are you afraid of? Not being able to choose for myself, losing my freedom because the majority didn’t see bondage coming.
45. Salty or sweet? Sweet and Salty
46. How many keys on your key ring? 1
47. How many years at your current job? How old is Joe? Seven years. 48. Favorite day of the week? It’s always been Friday, I was born on a Friday.
49. How many towns have you lived in? Military Brat, we’ve moved a lot. I’m going to say about 10 off hand.
50. Do you make friends easily? I enjoy making acquaintances, I have few close friends.

Now I tag Christy, Stacey, and Jennifer.

Name this Porter baby

Ok, so for those of you that can get this one right there will be a prize, I just haven't thought of it yet.

Can you tell which of my four children this is...I'll even give you a hint: This beautiful baby weighed over 8lbs at birth (that only rules out one of the four). You ask for another hint?? Ok, ok, twist my arm. Since the picture is in black and white and you might not be able to tell...this one doesn't have red hair. Now, if I give any more hints it wouldn't be fair.

Good luck to all that try, even mom and dad have trouble telling these two beauty's pictures apart.

Under My Umbrella

Under My Umbrella - Rihanna

Today we went to Katie's very fun Fairy Birthday Party.

"Itty-Bitty" went as the Binky Fairy but quickly found a replacement...

Candy!

Learning new things

I've decided to teach myself a few photo editing techniques. This of course means time away from other things I should be doing. What I need to learn is how to balance them all...

hmmm, no, I want to play.

Here are a few color on black and white I worked on tonight.

I'm in trouble now

I went to my friend Stacey's Creative Memories party a few days ago and got my purchase today. I'm so excited!! I will be able to do some really cool digital scrapbooking things! Honestly I was a little envious of how she "took-off" on her blogging. She will still blow me out of the water because she is just way more creative than I am, but now I have some "HELP." I'm sure if I sat down and really played with paint.net I could figure out how to do some fun stuff, but who has time to do that! This will just make my life a little easier (on the computer doing scrapbooking things anyway). Now if I could just find a program that would cook and clean!

Here is a sample of my practice run...it will get better.

Thanks Stacey (and Kendra Coffey, the Creative Memories consultant)!

Long awaited news

Well, today Greg got the military medical board's decision. Not good. They are offering him a severance with a 10% rating for his knee. Nothing like the retirement he was expecting. He was seeing red once they offered it to him. He also said he felt like they had left him in the middle of a battle with no help or backup (true military man!). He has until Friday to accept or reject the offer, of course he will reject it. Then he will head to Air Force headquarters in Texas, next week, to appeal, then wait again for another offer. We hope it will drag out till he has been in the military 16 years (November 22nd).

The advice he has received so far is to fight it, take it as far as he can. They are not offering any compensation for his sleep apnea which we feel they should but they say is something the VA will deal with. We believe it is brought on from his knee injury and should be grouped with the decision.

I am still in shock myself. Even his commander feels they are not doing good by him. "Thanks for your service/commitment to your country, sorry you got hurt, here's some 'insult to injury' money, good luck in life, bye-bye."

I do have to say that he is way better off than some of the people who get really injured in the line of defense, I wonder what they have to go through to get what they get. The husband of a friend of mine died a week after the military finally admitted that the cancer he had was in fact from Agent Orange. There was no time to fill out the paperwork for any compensation before he passed away. She only get's 1/2 his retirement as his survivor and no compensation for the Agent Orange connection to his death. The military only payed 80% of his medical bills, and his treatment was very expensive.

Yeah, we'll appeal and see where that goes. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. God is good and will provide once we do all we can.

Rant: Something is seriously wrong with the current set-up where the guys who really keep this country safe for democracy get paid/compensated crap, while the politicians make sure their own future is well taken care of and most of them have never served in the military. It would be one thing if they (the politicians) fought to keep the country "free" from enemies foreign and domestic, but it just seem that they are lining their pocket books (and those of their friends) with tax payers hard earned money, or selling the country to the highest international banker.

Semi side note: Greg is a three time war veteran and has been deployed more than he cares to remember (once would be enough for most of us to have nightmares and a new found appreciation for what we have here in the safety of our homes). I know there are others who have similar or even worse stories, but the long term effect it has on their lives should be better compensated!

Humbled by children

Today I have been humbled by my children.

I have been attempting to read the scriptures together with my children (as a family) which is hard when you have really little children and are doing it by yourself. I haven't been as diligent as I should be, and honestly have been feeling very overwhelmed. However, tonight Brianna came into the living room and told me it was time for scriptures. I told her to gather the other kids. She ran down the hallway singing, "It's time for scriptures!"

My heart was full and my spirit humbled.

We read, tonight, in the Book of Mormon, where Lehi felt it was important for his children to be brought up in the way they should go, and that they would not depart from it. And that because of his blessing to the children of his disobedient sons, they had the opportunity to not pay for the sins of their fathers. What a blessing!

I am feeling the weight of the spiritual upbringing of my children very strongly right now. Joseph is quickly approaching the age of accountability and I want him to be ready for the decisions he will be making in the coming years. He is one of my biggest hurdles when it comes to scripture time. I asked him five times to sit and not stand up and down on the couch. I disciplined improperly and impatiently tonight. He needs the role model of his father.

We are blessed through our children despite ourselves. I am grateful for mine. I am humbled tonight for I do not feel worthy to raise these precious spirits. What was the Lord thinking when he assigned them to me?!

I am walking away from tonight with a new resolve to continue in my pursuit of scripture reading together. Heaven bless these little ones.

Stop over

My brother Calvin, and his beautiful wife, came for a visit on their way back to Oregon from Mississippi. The kids had a blast visiting Red Rock Canyon, and a couple of other parks. Brianna couldn't get enough of her Aunt Becca. Calvin had to tell her that Becca was his kissing toy, not that that stopped my sweet kiss monster. Calvin and Rebbecca are alway teasing each other about who Brianna loves the most. This visit Calvin asked Brianna and she told him she loved Becca more. Ouch, but really, don't ask a question if you're not ready for the answer. I think he took it in stride and found another willing admirer in Kaitlynn who told him about 20 times in the car that she loved him.


They are a sweet couple. It was Calvin's first time meeting Elizabeth. They hit it off just fine. Although he did try feeding her to a dinosaur at the park...

One of every color

While getting my military ID extended a lady next to me wanted to chat.

Lady: "You have one of every color, don't you"?

Me: "Yes, I do, and they all have the same father"!

Lady: "I think you are one of the first people to talk back to me, most people ignore me".

Me: "I know, Vegas is a difficult town for making friends. What made me more approachable"?

Lady: "Well, you don't have your arms folded in front of your body for one thing".

Me: "So, if I did this," folding my arms, " you wouldn't have talked to me"?

Lady: "Yes, it's all in the body language".

She was so approachable my red head came up and pointed to her arm where she had a tattoo of a cartoon like bunny.

Red: "What's that"?

Lady: "That is dumb, dumb, dumb. Can you say that"?

I love that there are people who are fine with themselves and can make fun of the silly choices they've made in life. She said she got the tattoo when she was 14-15 and hid it from her mom for 3 years, just making sure to put a sweater on every time her mom came around. Once her mom saw it she told her that one day she would be a grandma and her bunny would sag with her skin and she could make it hop. She is still trying to get the bunny to hop. Her skin was not yet sagging though, maybe in a few years.

She was a very nice lady and helped the hour and a half wait time to go by pleasantly. She had two "Kyle Bush" m&m bracelets she had made for some other little girls, who had since gone, that she gave the girls to play with. Later she ended up giving it to the 'one of every color' girls.

What's going on, What's going on?

So, it looks like this is becoming a once a monthly blog now.

Update: We are currently about three weeks out from knowing if Greg will be medically retired or just medically released from the Air Force. We really want to be retired. Greg's re-enlistment date as come and past (Sept - 29), we have been given a three month extension on our IDs and medical coverage. Greg is currently looking to line up work for when he is retired/released.

I have been trying to de-clutter the house (this is a really hard job for me!). I can now officially get rid of all little baby toys, but they are so cute... This is my problem with everything. What if I need it one day? I admire the home-maker who's house is in order with only a drawer/room of clutter.

I have been working on my kids to understand that if they bring something out, they need to put it away, in the designated spot so they can find it the next time. I had baskets for gathering, thinking that would make it easier on cleaning up time, but they ended up being for their storage. They seldom put things back where they are supposed to, and then I get the never ending question, "mom, where is ____"? To which my reply, "I don't really know, I didn't play with it, maybe if you would have put it away where it is supposed to go you'd be able to find it now". I feel like a broken record! I think this must be a never ending job, like dishes, laundry, and cleaning.

Funny how we find ourselves saying the very same thing our parents did when we were growing up.

That's it for now, "LIFE," maybe I'll come up with something fun to post soon.