OVERDUE: Update from Idaho

This post is loooong overdue! And ironically, so is my sister. haha.

Well, let's start at the beginning shall we?

October was probably one of the longest months of my entire life, but we ended it with a banging Halloween.  Don't I have the two cutest little bugs? Amaya was a ladybug and Oaklie was a caterpillar. Amaya really liked going trick-or-treating and she thought it was so neat that she was dressed up! The next day she went and got her costume out of the hamper and toted it around the house. Oaklie slept most of the day, no big surprise there!

This was the best group picture I could get. Amaya is staring off into space. What a nerd! Amaya was crying because I was making her sit still to take a picture haha.  And the third one is Oaklie doing what she does best.

 After Halloween I had the pleasure of moving AGAIN! Dallas and I have moved FIVE times in the two years and some odd months we've been married.  Three have been while I was pregnant and three have been while Dallas was out of town. Joy. But after yet another glorious move, I got to go meet up in New Orleans with Dallas.

It was great. We did a lot of this:

(being dorks)

And this:

If I could choose three words to describe our three day adventure it would be amazing, fantastic, and awesome.  If I could choose three more? fabulous, delightful, spectacular.

I don't recommend planning a vacation to New Orleans.  We had a blast just hanging out because we hadn't seen each other in a long time, but it's a pretty sketchy place.  Dallas said it reminded him a lot of Europe because it was a mix of really old buildings and new ones and it was really dirty.  We stayed in the French Quarter so we saw a lot of that. The picture above is the perfect example of New Orleans.

We kept tripping (especially me) because all of the sidewalks looked like this!

Eventually I had to come back to Idaho and to reality, but it was a great time! Thankfully we have tons of people who helped us make our trip work by helping us move all of our junk and taking care of our girls. (Thanks Mom and Dad for being babysitters!)

We had a great Thanksgiving over at my parents house! All that pie was for six people and a toddler. Yum!

And here's a little bit of what we've been up to lately:

We hope everyone is having a great holiday season! I'm sure not liking this snow, but since I live in Idaho, I don't really feel like I am allowed to complain :)

Amaya:

It seems like Amaya learns something new every day.  She just learned how to say "No." Except all she says is, "Nyo, nyo, nyo, nyo, nyo." ALL DAY LONG! It's funny, but terribly grating.  She just graduated to nursery and she's doing GREAT! She practically leaps out of my arms when we reach the magical room and all I get is an afterthought of a goodbye wave as she toddles off toward the toys.  Nursery has been awesome because she does so much better during sacrament meeting.  She sings all the hymns with me and sits on my lap most of the meeting.  She's still taking great care of her baby doll and her baby sister.  She loves to give Oaklie kisses and loves.  She's a great little girl and I love her so much!

Oaklie:

Wow, Oaklie is a good little baby. I'd like to take all of the credit, but she was honestly born that way. She's been going to bed around 8:00 pm and waking up at 6:00 am to eat, then sleeping in until 8:00 am.  It's been sooo nice! She's full of smiles and is still rolling over and she is such a good sport when Amaya smothers her with kisses and accidentally sits on her. She's getting to be quite the chubber as well! Lot's of people have told me that she looks like Dallas, and I see it a little bit, but she's definately her daddy's girl because her body tempature is at least 3 degrees above everyone else's.  She's a little toaster oven and it's awesome to cuddle with her in the cold winter!

Carissa:

I'm also doing well. Everyone else has been really happy lately, which makes me happy. I'm just working on finishing up my classes this semester and trying get our new place all unpacked! Of course, I miss Dallas like crazy and I can't wait for him to come home, but we have been soooo blessed while he's been gone that it's impossible to just complain about it all of the time.  So many people have done so much for our family, the amount of love we have felt from friends and family has been overwhelming.  We are so blessed and are so thankful for our Heavenly Father and His promise that He will be with us in our trials.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." --Matthew 11

Be sure to check out the update from Dallas here. He has officially graduated to his own post!

11/11/10

Happy Veteran's Day
"In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children." --Alma 46:12

"Please know that we love and appreciate you and that we pray for you, and that we send our blessings for your safe return." --President Uchtdorf

Happy Veteran's Day to all of our veterans.  We love and support you and are grateful for your sacrifices so that we can be free. 

 

"All gave some, some gave all"

To see last year's Veteran's Day tribute on my blog, click here

***pictures of Halloween and my New Orlean's trip to come!***



Soldiers Angels

I know a lot of people who don't have a family member in the military want to show their support for our troops but don't know what they can do.  There's a fantastic website I found called http://www.soldiersangels.org/ for deployed troops who don't get packages, letters, or love from home.  You can adopt a soldier or donate items or money to help our soldiers know that people at home are thankful for them, it doesn't need to be a time consuming project.  I already decided that when Dallas gets home we will always have an adopted soldier. It makes me so sad to think that there are men and women who are defending our freedoms who won't even get a Christmas package this year.

Just a sidenote: I don't like when people turn their blogs into a place to whine to the world, but I will say this: I don't understand what it is about our country that people think they have to be in the military, or be close to someone in the military, to be patriotic.  I don't understand why you have to have a justification to put a yellow ribbon on your car.  I felt a lot of the same way before we found out Dallas was leaving, like that I couldn't say I was proud of him for his service of thankful for it because I wasn't here when he was deployed the first time.  I'm not sure why I felt like that.  In a way, some military families can be a bit snooty.  "Oh, you say that you're proud to be an American? You don't know what that means.  I've lived it. I know what sacrafices it entails." (complete with head bobbing and finger waving). Anyway, all I'm saying is that I think we all can be thankful to live in a free country, just like I support the fight against cancer even though my mom doesn't have cancer, or I donate to March of Dimes even though none of my babies were premies.

 So don't be scared to say that you're patriotic if you are!

What's in a name?

What's in a name?

I saw this on another blog awhile ago and I thought it was adorable  I love when names have special meanings or reasons behind them. Helaman named his sons Lehi and Nephi because he wanted them to live up to their namesakes and be righteous like them, so I thought I'd share the meanings behind the names in our family.

Dallas T

Dallas' dad served his mission in Dallas, Texas, which is why he is named Dallas :) The 'T' stands for Tony, his dad's name, and Texas. Pretty cute, huh?

Amaya Belle

I used to babysit the cutest little girl named Amaya and I always loved that name. Luckily Dallas agreed. :)

We really wanted to name one of our kids after Dallas' mission, but we weren't too fond of Geneva.  Dallas spoke French on his mission, and 'Belle' means beautiful in French.  When I was little, my mom always tell me that it was important to be as beautiful on the inside as I was on the outside, so 'Belle' is to remind Amaya that her dad served a faithful mission and that she needs to always be beautiful where it counts--inside.

Oaklie Talitha

Oaklie was another name that we just really liked. After we chose it, I thought it was really neat that it had “Oak” in it like Elder Oaks, but Dallas told me you can’t say they’re named for someone if you named them before you thought of it :)
Talitha, Oaklie’s middle name has a longer story to it. It comes from Mark 5.“22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live."
Elder Howard W. Hunter said,  “These are not only the words of faith of a father torn with grief but are also a reminder to us that whatever Jesus lays His hands upon lives. If He is allowed to lay His hands upon a marriage, it lives. If He is allowed to lay His hands upon a family, it lives.”

"36 … [Jesus] saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.

37 And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.
38 And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.

39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.

41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment."

I've always loved that story and we thought it was a wonderful name for Oaklie to have to remind her that if she will allow Christ to lay His hands upon her life, she will live.

Updates from Mississippi/ Updates from Idaho

Yay! Finally a post about Dallas! I've been begging him to send me some pictures and he finally did.

Dallas is doing really well in Mississippi.  He's staying busy, which is nice, and we usually can talk on the phone and text several times a day, which is great. So far I've sent him two packages.  I told Dallas it was kind of fun because it's like having a missionary without having the stress of. "Does he like me? What if he's writing other girls? What if he wants to date other people when he gets back?" Dallas told me I was a nerd.  Don't get me wrong--him being gone is NOT like a missionary in a lot of other ways...like the fact that he carries a gun instead of a Book of Mormon, we're married and have kids, and I think once he's over there I'll worry about him more than if he were in Kentucky knocking doors. Anyway, off topic, onto the pictures!

Dallas said this was his sad face because he misses us. :)

Dallas' bed--I made that blanket :)

One of the buildings there. I asked Dallas to send me all of these random pictures because I like to be able to visualize things when he says funny stuff like, "I'm going to chow."

The bathrooms and where they sleep are seperate buildings, so they have to walk outside in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and apparently there are skunks everywhere.  Dallas has had a couple of near death experiences.  The little black speck over by the building is a SKUNK! 

Dallas (obviously)

I'm so glad he's having a good time and making friends! Even though I HATE this deployment most days, it has definately been a blessing, because we have grown so much as a family, and have been able to see so many people around us grow, and I couldn't be more proud of Dallas and the amazing person he is. 

On our very first date, I asked Dallas about the Army, his first tour to Iraq, and why he decided to join in the first place. He told me that he just realized that a lot of people had worked and sacrificed so that he could live in a free country and it just seemed like the right thing to do to sacrifice a little so that his kids could enjoy those same blessings.  I'm very grateful to be married to a man who not only says a lot of amazing things, but is willing to live them.

The other day I was walking back to my car from class  and I got caught in some freak rainstorm.

As you can tell,  I wasn't very happy about it.  Later that day, I was driving and I noticed the most beautiful rainbow.

People always say that after the rain comes the rainbow, but sometimes you can see the rainbow before the rain lets up.  It reminded me that we can be grateful for and recognize and enjoy our blessings, even when it's raining. I've learned to live the saying, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." As much as I wish it were next year and Dallas were home, I'm glad it's not because I'm able to watch our little girls grown up right now and I LOVE it.

 sleepy heads

I haven't been very good about taking pictures with my camera lately because I usually snap them with my phone so I can send them to Dallas right away, so enjoy some of our low quality mobile updates.

 That's not my pee--it's Oaklie's.  Gotta love being a mom some days.

I spotted this guy in Sunday School and had to sent a picture to Dal.  White shirt, tie, black slacks, and FLIP FLOPS! Dallas text me back and said, "But yet you had your phone..."

Amaya's been cutting more teeth, so we spent some time on the couch watching Nemo.

Amaya thinks that Oaklie is so neat. She thought it would be SO COOL if they had a slumber party together.

Side note: That blanket was made for Amaya by her great-great-grandma. Grandma Neville died when I was five but I remember going to her house and playing with her poodles when I was little.  My grandma gave me that blanket--the very last one left of Grandma Neville's that hadn't been given away--at my baby shower for Amaya.  Pretty neat!

Oaklie has been full of smiles lately.  I have some really cute pics of her on my camera but they'll have to wait for another day. Poor Oaklie got shots today and hasn't been very happy, but she's still such a sweetheart, even when she's sick.

Amaya is such a dork. She definately keeps me entertained.

Sisterly Love