McTeacher Night

Last night was McTeacher night at McDonald's. The teachers and aides for Emily's school worked at McDonalds and part of the proceeds went to the school. It was fun getting dinner and watching grandma working behind the counter. Wendy thought that was the coolest thing ever! Emily also saw her friends, teachers, and principal clearing tables, greeting people at the door, and serving food. It was a lot of fun.

A Trip to the Salon

Emily has struggled to get to her AR goal this year so I made her a deal. If she made it I would take her to get a manicure and pedicure. She worked really hard and made her goal. I was so proud and decided to make a day out of her reward. We got a babysitter for Wendy and grandma, Emily, and I set out for I.F. We went shopping and then out to lunch. Lastly I took her to a salon to get her nails done. She was a little nervous at first but as soon as she relaxed she loved it! The pedicure was her favorite part. She wished she could have kept her feet in the water forever!

To make the night even better Jim, Nedra, Cami, Caden, Crista, and Andy met us in town for dinner. We had a lot of fun visiting and Wendy just loves Caden, or "that little boy", as she calls him. They play so great together. It was the perfect Saturday!

Letters from Daddy

This deployment has been nice because LeeRoy has had better access to the Internet. We have been able to e-mail and Skype often. Because of this we haven't sent many actual letters back and forth so the kids were extra excited when the mail came to find letters just for them from their dad. He wrote Wendy's letter in purple and Emily's in pink since those are their favorite colors. They felt so special and carried their letters around for days until I finally thought to take a picture!

I've Created a Monster!

One of the presents Wendy got for Christmas was a Dora Saves the Snow princess video game for the Nintendo Wii. I thought it would be fun for her to have a game geared specifically for her young age. Emily was excited to help her learn how to play. Wendy caught on pretty fast and quickly fell in love with it. She is always asking to play her "video game" and loves jumping all around doing the different actions required. She was definitely born in the right family!

Pictures from Iraq

Platoon Picture


Here's me on the plane to Kuwait. We had to carry all of our weapons on the plane.

Waiting for the Distinguished Visitors to exit from their meeting, or meal, or whatever. The majority of my day.

Standing pretty for the Distinguished Visitors that come to our Base.

Christmas in Iraq

Lori, the amazing wife she is, sent me a Christmas tree in a box! It was perfect! I only had to put it together 4 times in the course of me moving through different housing units when we first got on base. For Christmas Eve in Iraq, our platoon had a party. We had pizza, chips, and drinks, played video game tournaments, and board games. Then we did a white elephant gift exchange. I got to call my family a couple of times and the kids were so excited to see Dad on the computer again. Most of the day was spent relaxing and having some quiet time. I'm glad to be around people with the same values, morals, and good attitudes. The people here really make this place not so bad. The day after Christmas I got some free time and played Guitar Hero games that my lovely wife got me for Christmas. Not too shabby. I am, however, sick from all the candy that Santa Claus brought...



Our Platoon Christmas Tree Rescued from a dumpster and given new life as our Center of Decorations. Notice the American Flag Angel combination tree topper.

Me opening Teriyaki Beef Jerky as my white Elephant gift.

Christmas in Idaho

I told LeeRoy that I had a horrible realization as the girls were opening their presents this year. He asked what it was and I told him I realized that the toys don't come out of their boxes already put together and that the stack of boxes and wrapping paper doesn't just magically disappear by mid-morning. He got quite the laugh out of that one!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was different, and definitely a challenge but still wonderful. The whole month of December was full of fun activities and every night before bed the girls got to eat a chocolate from their countdown calendars and they took turns picking a Christmas story for me to read to them. This was a lot of fun and really helped us feel the spirit of the season all month long.

The week of Christmas Emily's school had a sing-in with each grade singing a song. Emily's grade sang "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". They did such a great job. It was adorable. In this video she is in the front row towards the center with the polka dot pajama pants, (it was also pajama day at school):



That week the girls and I also put together a gingerbread house. It was fun to do but I think we ate more of the candy than made it on the house! Mmmmmmmm


We spent most of Christmas Eve at my parent's house playing games, eating, and hanging out together. When we got home that night we tracked Santa's flight through Norad and laid out some water, cookies, and reindeer food for Santa. The girl's were very excited to finally go to bed!


On Christmas morning I was the first one awake and got to ring the bells waking everyone else up. I had the girls line up behind a curtain I had put up the night before before they came out to see what Santa had brought. Emily got a pink Ipod Nano and a Password Journal. Wendy got a Baby Alive. They were so happy! We spent the rest of the morning unwrapping presents. The girls loved everything they received. We spent the rest of the day with family and loved every minute!






The best part of the day was getting to Skype with LeeRoy in the morning and at night. The girl's were so worried about Santa finding him and filling his stocking so they were so happy when he was able to show them that his stocking did get filled. He was even able to open some presents with us.


Being apart on such a special day was not easy but we found ways to still make special memories and appreciate each other. We spent a lot of time talking about the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate it. I am so thankful for such a wonderful family and we are already looking forward to next year when we can all be together again!