It's Over...FINALLY!!

My darling husband survived and graduated at the top of his P.O.S.T. class! More importantly, he was able to pack up and move back home!! It was a day to celebrate for sure, and I haven't seen him looking so happy and relieved in a VERY long time!!

The kids and I surprised him and came down several days early to enjoy all the amenities of his hotel one last time and have more time with him. It was a fun week of swimming, going to the park, watching movies, and eating buffets!

The academy even surprised the cadets with several fun surprises that last week, including a helicopter ride!

The day of the celebration we arrived early so we could witness James being officially sworn in as a peace officer. I was even allowed to pin on his badge- that was very cool.

The ceremony was very nice. They showed a video with some footage of what the cadets learned, recognized each officer, and talked about the duty that they will have to serve and protect. It was nice... but a little long. Savanna had to take Emma in the back, and I could still hear her shouting, "Hi Da Da!" at the top of her lungs!

James and our Sheriff, Ian Parkinson.

These were the meanie officers who tortured the cadets for 5 1/2 months!

Emma Leigh loves the new shiny badge!

Both of our boys were elated by the whole event. It's not every day they get to go to a place with hundreds of men with guns and watch footage of police car chases and shootings. They both want to be police officers now...oh brother!

Back together at last!

James' whole family came to support him on this special day!

OK, this shirt takes a bit of explaining (not that it isn't totally true!). The last Friday of the academy the cadets had to be gassed and pepper sprayed. James described the scenario as a bunch of big, macho, almost-cops laying on the ground rubbing their eyes and screaming like girls, "It burns! It burns! I want to go home! I want my Mommy!" etc. etc. Days later he was still getting emails from fellow cadets saying, "It STILL burns!" It kind of became a joke and even the kids were imitating the cadets, so I had this shirt made for James. :)

I was expecting a big celebration after the ceremony. This long-awaited event finally came!! But all James wanted to do was pack up and go home. So his whole family came back to the hotel, and we had our van and his car loaded up in a little over an hour! We were home and in our cozy bed by 10pm. It was awesome. :)

James had orientation in San Luis Obispo for 2 weeks following the graduation. He was honored at an awards ceremony in our county for his promotion to Deputy Sheriff Coroner, and the kids and I attended that event as well. He officially hit the street today...so now the real fun begins!

James and the Undersheriff

This is the backdrop to the county jail...not too shabby! It was another beautiful morning!

I can't put into words how incredibly proud I am of my husband. This was probably the most difficult trial of his life. I am proud of myself and our kids as well. It really showed us the strength of our marriage and family that we could pull something this monumental off and end it closer and more grateful for one another than when we started. Trials make you grow stronger and better if you let them, but it sure is nice when they are OVER!

Now on to the next challenge...and then the next, and the next....we'll be ready!

March 10 - 16, 2011

February 2012

Forgive this long, mish-mash of a post (is mish-mash even a word??). This month has flown by! We have only 10 days until James' graduation! We are all so excited, we can't stand it. I feel like we are in the last stretch of a very long marathon. We are all tired and worn out, but we can see the finish line and it has given us a little boost to push through to the end!

So here is what our family has been up to these past few weeks:

For those of you who know me well, you know that one of my dreams is to live off my own land...I want lots of it with acres for my boys and dog to run, lots of fruit trees, a huge garden, chickens, maybe a jersey cow... and goats! Yes, I would like a little goat farm. At least enough to milk, and make cheese, and keep my pastures looking nice. In the meantime I will live vicariously through some good friends who are blessed with land (and this cool mountain goat)! These friends board and train horses and have a kid's day once a month where they can ride the horses and run around. It is wonderful!

Emma loves it because they have several dogs and she just chases them around for hours. She isn't too sure about the horses. We got her on the mini pony, but that was about it.

Savanna was recently called to be the Mia Maid president at church. She has had several presidency meetings and is taking her calling very seriously. She also had the opportunity to speak in church again, and blew us away with a beautiful talk on being a shining example to those around her.

Our sweet Emma has had an exciting month. She recently had two more teeth break through (one molar and one lateral tooth), and has FOUR more about to break through (3 of which are molars too)! Needless to say she has not been as happy as usual, but you won't see her grumpiness in any of the pictures here!

However, she has this terrible habit of pulling out her own hair! She mostly does it while sleeping, and I have been finding chunks of hair in her crib in the morning. It got to the point where there was a large bald spot right on the top of her head with longer hair on the sides and back. Mullets are not an attractive hairstyle on most people (I might even venture to say all people), especially baby girls! James offered to buzz her head to which I replied, "NO Way!" So I took her to one of those fancy, kid hair cutting places. The lady informs me the only way to even out her hair and have it not look so mullet-ish is to in fact buzz it! I about died watching her buzz off all the fine, blond, baby hair. She is still cute as ever, but is practically bald. It's a good thing hair grows fast! :(

BEFORE

AFTER

Still beautiful...

We have continued with our weekly family hikes! We headed way up Lopez Road to Hi Mountain Road and found a beautiful trail. The next week we went North to Bishop's Peak in San Luis Obispo. There were some incredible views from the top of the peak! There are so many beautiful areas to explore here, and the weather is perfect for hiking. We are going to take a long family hike every week. We all benefit, especially Marley.

Benjamin finished Basketball season. Overall he had a good time, although there were some punks on the team that weren't very nice to him. He says he still wants to play next year, so I guess it didn't affect him too badly. The coach had a big BBQ at his house and the kids had a blast. They have a huge yard with a dirt bike track, a zip-line, a trampoline, a clubhouse, and lots of animals. Super jealous!

Oh, and here is Emma AGAIN! She is talking up a storm these days, and wants to be outside all of the time! She says, "Desiiiiiigh" every morning after breakfast and takes my hand and walks me to the door.

Emma Leigh's first owie...so sad. :(

Emma is getting so big now that she has no room to stretch out her legs in her car seat! I think it's time to flip her around. I had to dig out all of her 18 months clothes. This pink dress and the Winnie the Pooh tennies were actually Savanna's at that age! I didn't save too much of Savanna's things, but I did save a few- it is so fun to see Emma in them!

We have another Shakeology-lover in the family! I can't drink one without Emma following me around saying, "Mmmm..Mmmmm."

I found her in my room, sitting on one of my pillows, with one of my old dolls in one arm and her big stuffed Elephant in the other reading an electronic book!

I am finally finishing some projects I swore I would get done with ALL the extra evening time I would have while my hubby was gone. I didn't realize that I would be absolutely exhausted most evenings and that the list I created was actually insane!! At any rate, I made these kitchen valances for my windows. It helps tremendously when the sun sets, and I can still see my crazy boys on the trampoline. Aren't I domestic?:)

Book worms. :) Speaking of books, I am half-way through an incredible psychology book called Mindset by Carol Dweck. Absolutely riveting. It's an in-depth study of how mindsets can actually determine your personality, behavior, and ultimate success. She also talks about how to change your mindset if it is not working for you. We've all heard, "Mind Over Matter" and know the value of our thoughts, but her examples and explanations have really enlightened me about HOW much my way of thinking actually affects my perception of myself, others, and my life as a whole. Good stuff. I highly recommend it!

Had to post this cute basket my MIL bought me for my farmer's market purchases! I use it every week!! I have another one that is black and white that is handy for just about anything, but mostly we use it to drag stuff up and down the stairs. :)

The boys doing one of my Turbo Fire "Fire Drills." I have one more week of my 90 days of Turbo Fire. Will post some results and pictures over the weekend!

February 2012