Holiday Kickoff Party

This last weekend I threw a kickoff the holiday's party for some of my fellow Navy wives.  It was a small group of gals and their kids and it was a ton of fun.  Parts of the house looked like small explosions had gone off by the end of the day, but it was all worth it.  I didn't take too many photos, but here are some the ones that I did take.

Kids playing in Kaden's room.  His room got hit bad with all of the kids playing in there.

We did cookies for the kids to cut out and decorate.  From left to right the mom's: Brittnay, Wendy, and April. 

More doing cookies

Annabelle saw the camera in my hands and had to ham it up for me.

Doing the Gingerbread cookies

Here is the final product of the sugar cookies.  This is what happened when we let the kids do the cookie cutting with limited supervision.  But those cookies had personality.

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day.  A day where we honor and show our thanks to those serving in the military or retired from the military.  But we should also keep in mind to say thanks to their families.  While the wives didn't sign up we too serve this country by proudly supporting our husbands through their deployments, keeping them in our thoughts and prayers daily all the while the rest of the nation continues to go on and forgets that we have military deployed in forigen countries and on the seas.  The families make a sacrifce that only those who are the spouse and children can understand.  We lovenly miss our sailor (soldier, marine or air force) show them support and put on that brave face for the world to see.  So on this Veterain's Day I say Thanks to Jay and all who proudly serve in the military and a special thanks to their wives (or husbands) for their support of those military men.

More Decorations shots

Here are some more shots of my decorations:

Here is what it looks like at night.

I had enough lights left over to do the master bed room.  I love the soft glow of the lights.

Decorating for the holidays

Since Jay is deployed this year and we'll be going back to Utah for Christmas I decided to decorate early this year.  Plus I am throwing a party for my fellow navy wives this weekend and I wanted it nice and festive for that event.  I spent all last Saturday decorating for it.  Here is the first batch of pictures:

I hang lights along my celing every year.

Here is Kaden helping me set up our tree.

I love Nativity sets.  Jay is trying to add to my collection.

This is my favorite Natvity set that Jay gave me for Chirstmas 3 years ago.

My other favorite, this one plays Silent Night

Annabelle discovered that stockings make great shoes.

Tragidy at Fort Hood

While I may not be a Army wife, I am a Navy wife and this affects me because it is a military base.  When an horrific event like today happens the different branches of the military become one in standing together for those who were gunned down.  The tragic events that have unfolded today at Fort Hood are absolutely awful.  Our bases are supposed to be safe and secure from attacks and today that wasn't the case.  Please pray for the families of those hurt and killed during the horrific events of this day.  I truly hope nothing like this happens ever again on any other base. 

Lessons

There have been many events in the last few weeks that have impacted our lives in ways that we still don't fully understand.  One earlier this week is a lesson I'll never forget.  I was litterally at a crossroads of choosing to continue on the stance of letting the PC (political correctness) group continue to have power or taking a stand that would quite literally change my life forever.  I took a chance and stood up for what was right and over night my life changed.  For days I was wondering if I made the right choice, even though I knew I had Jay's support in the choice I made and his full backing, until today.  All day long at church one lesson after another, one speaker after another just resonated with me and the choice I made.  The Lord made it quite clear to me that the choice I had made was the right one and that He will guide me in this choice as well as give me the strength that I will need in the coming months. 
The choice: Stand up against those who feel religion has no place in this country.  Stand up for religion was my choice.  For too long the PC group has said that the constitution states freedom from religion, well that is a lie.  In the Bill of Rights article 3 it states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
I took a stand and have already paid a great price.  I have been attacked for the last several days for my stance and lost a few friends along the way.  But that was a price I was willing to pay to do the right thing.  I KNOW that I made the right choice, the Lord helped me see that quite clearly today.  And its a lesson that will change, and has already started to, my life and my family's lives for a long time to come.

Food Storage

I know many of our family do food storage as do we.  Well today in church a site was given that gives great information about doing gardening and food storage.  http://www.providentliving.org/  It is a LDS site which has incredible information about storing food and for how long and everything.  The gardening secion looked great too, especially since Jay wants a garden really bad and this gives some great tips as to how we can do one on our back porch in planter boxes.