New Babies!!!

My sister-in-law had her baby while I was home! Everyone was so excited cause they didn't find out what they were having, so it was big surprise. They really wanted a boy to help offset the 2 little girls they already have.

They got what they wanted! They named him Benson Boyd Kent. He was just over 5 lbs and about 20 inches long. He was already eating very well and gaining a little weight, which is good cause he's gonna need all the strength he can get to survive the not so gentle loving his two older sisters have been constantly giving him.

Chocolate Lover

This little darling is a girl after my own heart. 

We both love us some chocolate! 

Especially German chocolate!

I'm gonna feel deprived when I won't be able to get it regularly.

Birthdays

I don't really feel like telling about my trip in chronological order, so you're gonna get it in crazy madness ways that suit my jumbled sleep mind right now (jet lag is no fun). And since there were at least 6 birthdays while I was home I'm gonna talk about those.

My nephew, Riley, turned 5. And I got to help his mom make the cake. He wanted an octopus cake. He even helped decorate it!

I think it turned out really cute!!!

I decided that I wanted to go see the movie Frozen in theaters and since he's a very big movie lover I took him for his birthday present. 

He loved it! And so did I!

My niece and nephew have birthdays within a week of each other, so their parents decided to do a combined birthday party for them. 

She made some pretty awesome cakes too!

 Hudson's motor cross cake.

Saylor's Minney Mouse cake.

I can't believe how old they are all! I still remember holding them all as newborns. It is so much fun to get to know them better as they get older. 

Going Home Part 2

After the making it back to the states and sleeping in the airport (or at least trying to) things got a lot better traveling wise. The friend I was traveling with and her daughter were both able to get some much needed sleep. Our flights were early so we got home sooner, which when you're bouncing on the seats with excitement about finally getting home, is always a good thing. Our rides were both there before we got all of our luggage so no long waits in the airport. I made it back to Rupert before dinner. And stayed up all day! Granted I crashed around 8 pm and was up at 4, but such is the life of a jet lagged person. 

Everything worked out wonderfully, timing wise for all of my family (still located in the area) to get together that weekend. It was probably the best welcoming I could have asked for. And it helped me decide how I wanted to spend my time there. I decided to spend it with family first and foremost, and friends would be more of an after thought. And I'm happy with the results of that decision and have no regrets. 

Going Home

I had the opportunity to go home for the entire month of November this year. Ricky had couple of TDYs right after each other and rather then spend my time home alone and miserably lonely, I decided to fly back to the states to be with family. It was a much needed trip, not only for me, but for my family as well. It's been over a year since I was able to see any of them in person.
Before I even left for the airport, problems started. So right then and there I decided my mantra for this trip would be, "Be the leaf." It's a quote from a show I watch and basically means that I just need to go with the flow. It helped me calm down when anything that would normally be stressful and freak me out came up, and I was able to deal with each issue that came my way. There were a lot of issues throughout the duration of that trip, including but not limited to, the threat of not getting seats on the plane, the 2 year old I was traveling with getting sick and throwing up 3 times on the airplane, the flight coming in late, sleeping in the airport because getting a hotel room for 4 hours sounded like a stupid idea. And that was just the first day of traveling. 

Projects

So I've been really enjoying crocheting and have been making a lot of hats but I wanted to branch out and try something a little harder. 

Ta Da!

I made mittens!!!! 

They are pretty awesome, and I'm very proud of myself for completing them!

Now to decide who to give them to.

Bigger and Better

We got a new (to us) freezer! It's so wonderful. I know it's weird that having more freezer space is so exciting, but you try storing food and not having enough room for ice cream. That is not ok for this girl.  

But now there is tons of room for not only ice-cream but also for freezer meals! (hurray for lazy cooking days)