The Palace and Half-Marathon

Here is a portion from the email Dallas sent me the other day:

life is wonderful and although i miss all of you a lot i am thankful that i can be here right now. most people would think i was crazy for saying that because to be honest there isn't much going on at all. you will see what i mean when i send the pictures. but there is a lot of political stuff that is being taken care of by higher ups, so that means we get to be security for the fobs and we get to take them from place to place. like i have mentioned before iraq is not what it use to be. it is pretty cool to see how far the people have come in this country in the last five years. yes, it is still full of garbage and dirty little kids but people just seem more happy in general.

 this is in saddams palace. it shows u.s. bombs dropping down on women and children. the guy really liked us!

 this use to be the theather that soldiers could watch movies in before the palace became off limits.

this is one of saddams hot tubs. i figured i needed to sit in the same place that he did. i am glad that i didn't have the same water he had used.



 

this is what a 500 lbs bomb does to a ballroom

 

 this is where the 500 lbs bomb came through

view from the top of the palace looking out over baghdad

 

The front of the palace

this is what we do. we go on tours and workout. just kidding we do some work..

The area where we live

Here's part of the email Dallas sent yesterday

well today i did one thing that i never have, a ran a half marathon and it was pretty fun. i ran the whole thing. a ran a pace of 7:55 mile pace. my goal was at least an 8 minute a mile a pace, so i was pretty excited. yes i know i am suppose to be being a soldier but i had some time to run 13.1 miles. that is about the excitement for me, which is good. thanks again for your support for us and for my family.

before the race with guys in my battery

 

Mile 1

Mile 4

Almost done

all done and there was a lot of mud

one of the guys in the race--it was the disney 1/2 marathon.

after the race and with our new shirts from disney, we ran it with the disneyworld community in florida

Christmas

This year we had a fun Christmas. Dallas' parents came up from Utah and we spent Christmas Eve with them. Amaya was the angel in the nativity which she thought was pretty neat, especially when Uncle Tyson lifted her up so she could be the "flying angel!"

 Dallas sent these Christmas pj's for the girls. They love them!

 Christmas morning Dallas' parents and sister came up and we were able to Skype. I made Dallas a quilt (which I forgot to take a picture of). Dallas gave me the necklace in the bottom right hand corner--I love it!!! Oaklie got a jumper which she loves, and Amaya got a kitchen set.  Now Amaya makes us breakfast every morning :) It was so fun to be able to talk to Dallas, Skype is such a blessing.

 Christmas night we spent with my family. The bottom left picture is Amaya in the crib from her grandparents that is supposed to be for her baby. The bottom middle is Oaklie and her new cousin Paxton, and the top middle is Oaklie camping out in the tent Uncle Nate gave her :)

Us going to church the day after Christmas. The picture below is of Amaya and I last year. Oaklie fit into the dress this year and I was amazed at how much they looked alike when I compared pictures (please don't compare pictures of how I look!)

Merry Christmas

I woke up early this morning and I had some time before the girls woke ups, so I watched this video. It really touched me and reminded me about sacrifice and our Savior.  We don't just celebrate that a baby was born today, we celebrate a man that lived, sacrifices, atoned for our sins, died for us, and lives again.  He sacrificed everything for us; his life, his spirit, he suffered for every one of our sins.



Christ said, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." This video really got me thinking. I've felt rather guilty lately that I haven't had the time or the capacity to serve like I wish that I could. But it reminded me of another scripture about walking faster than we have strength. I wish I could go volunteer in orphanages in South America, but right now I'm needed here at home. The people in this video only had one day to give, and that is what they gave. There were other who could volunteer there several days a week, but I know that the Lord accepted these people's sacrifices with joy because it was all they could give. The Lord has said this, "And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost” 3 Nephi 9:20.

This year, I hope that Christ will accept my sacrifice and know that I love Him.  I want to give more, but I hope He will still accept what I have to give. Merry Christmas.

From Idaho to Iraq

Idaho

This is poor Oaklie passed out yesterday after the shots she got for her four month appointment.  12 lbs, 14 oz (31%) and 24 in long (52%). She is such a little shrimp! Pretty amazing considering that Amaya was over 16 lbs at this age! It's so fun to see how different each child is.  She is such a little sweetie pie and we have had so much fun the last 4 months!

We had a fun party over at my parents' neighbors last night and Amaya met Santa Clause. A lot of little kids are scared of Santa but Amaya is a little trooper.  She loves meeting new people and is definately not stranger wary, which is such a blessing!

 After sizing up Santa, she decide he was an okay guy.  She was definately won over by the candy cane!

 Amaya and Uncle Nate. He was just looking for an excuse to sit on Santa's lap,

Can you tell this was an Idaho Santa?

Iraq

 Keeping a strick diet.

 

A really small Palace. Right!!!!

 The classic war picture of soldiers and the sun going down.

 My Platoon with our sweet shades that someone sent to us. They are Nike.

 The Vietnam Vet, Me, and My Mexican. This is my crew, SPC Sutton, myself, and SPC Vargas. They both work really hard and are good guys.

 Another day on the job.

I promise I went to the Water Palace and I didn't just steal the picture of it off the interent. I have the evidence to prove it.



While You Were Away

This post is dedicated to our favorite Dad!

Oaklie 

She is such a sweet little girl and is getting funner by the day! She is so patient when Amaya tries to play little mommy and loves her big sis! Oaklie has just started laughing and giggling.  She has a big jelly belly laugh! It's so cute.  She can roll from her belly to her back which comes in handy since she hates tummy time. And she is one heck of a sleeper.  8:00 pm-8:00 am. I really can't claim any credit here, I think Oaklie was born pre-programmed, she is such a sweetie!

Amaya

She is such a funny little girl! She learns something new everyday and loves to copy her mom and take care of Oaklie.  She is starting to say a lot of new words.  Some of her favorites are "Oh-ee" (Oaklie), "Peas" (Please, she knows she can get almost anything with that word!) "Oh, wow!" "Nose" (she then sticks her fat little finger up my nose!) and "DA!" She loves talking to Dallas on Skype and being a dork. They make silly faces and say hi! Yesterday she was freaking out when I was trying to IM him without her "helping". She thought I was being SO mean! All she wanted to do was talk to her dad! I pulled out a video of Dallas reading a story and she watched it 5 times in a row, totally content. She is such a sweetheart and definately entertaining.

 I gave in and bought my girls some matching outfits. I think they look so cute in them, but I couldn't get a decent picture of them together!  The bottom left one is with family, the baby in the middle is their second cousin, who happened to also be wearing black and pink!

These two girls sure love each other a lot. Oaklie saves her biggest smiles and loudest laughs for Amaya. Amaya loves to take a break from terrorizing the house to come over and give Oaklie hugs and kisses, These were taken this morning while I was getting the girls ready. As you can see, Oaklie was done and I was about to start on Amaya. I can't wait until these two are big enough to play together--I think they'll be best buddies!

Below is a video overload. I can't email Dallas videos because they are too big for email format, so I included them on the blog. 

1. Amaya cooking

2. Amaya's latest and greatest love is Sesame Street! Don't tell, but she is getting a DVD for Christmas!

3. Amaya doing Zumba (if you're only going to watch one, this is the one to see)

4. Some more sisterly love. Oaklie is so patient!

5. Giggly Girls (my favorite of the bunch!)

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