Christmas Day-2012

We had a nice little Christmas at home yesterday in our new cozy little home.  Just the five of us.  After opening a few gifts,  I made Jesus a Birthday cake, had a nice dinner and read the Christmas story by the fire place.  We topped off the evening watching "War Horse" all snuggled on the couch. I absolutely Love this time of year.  It's always a little bittersweet because I have such fond memories of Christmas' past.  With my family and with all my cousins coming to Grandma's house.. singing Christmas Carols and playing games till the middle of the night. The next day we usually drove snowmobiles all over pulling an inter tube and freezing our buns off! Maybe we'll make it back up to the winter wonderland next year. Here's to making new memories, now and throughout the year to come! *cheers from my coffee cup to yours*

(click to browse large pictures)

Add caption the boys hate taking pictures.. can you tell Carley's loves them :)

oh I take that back.. they were actually happy to show off their new 49er caps!  And Stetson insisted on wearing his backwards!

Christmas part 1

 On December 23rd we had a small party at our new home.  My granmda Bev and her husband Bob drove down from Wickenburg.  Sean's aunt Denise and Daughter Tracy and Uncle Panos came from Surprise.  They also brought two of the cousins, Chase and Payton, for our kids to play with.  We had a nice visit and enjoyed eating and stuffing our faces with all the goodies I had made during the last several days! Sean made a nice fire that we all enjoyed while the guys watched football. 

Getting ready...... while the guys gold pan in the front yard. 

Carley topped the tree the night before

 Krispies with peanut butter and marshmallows

Homemade pumpkin pie of course :)

Stetson spent his money from Papa Eric on toy cap guns

we made peanut brittle, chocolate crack, almond bark suckers, krispies and gingerbread cookies! :)

Blueberry torte was another recipe from my grandma Marlyc Vig.

Denise and Panos handed out gifts to everyone. Was such a nice surprise!

one of the gifts was a bug collection kit.  One for each of them so they can all hunt together!

Christmas Movies from Chase

Carley and cousin Payton

The boys played Battleship for a couple of hours, the game he picked out with his money from papa Eric

all the kiddos :)

Building a fence- a family afair!

We decided to put up a nice fence for the horses and Emily the cow.  

Sean couldn't find the supplies around here so we ended up ordering the wire and then driving to Blythe, CA to get the posts.  A couple days before Christmas Sean started setting some posts while I finished up my Christmas baking.  I took a break to snap a few pictures of the beginning stages with the help of three mischievous kids! This all took place right before Sean's digging bar fell and cracked Carley's head open :(  

These are the kind's of pictures that I love- they tell the story of family togetherness in the quiet beauty of the country life.  

Just a happy girl, enthusiastic about helping her Daddy!

Me, helping to make it straight!

digging in the desert sand box... boy fun!

on the job conversations can be quite serious!

Trying to dig a hole....

The handsome boss man!

working together... or under foot? Maybe both!

Colton dug a huge hole and was very proud of it. Not letting anyone knock dirt back into it.

Just a somber pose for the camera lady

I love how my manly man is always building to perfection. Can't wait for the finished product!

Settling in....

Just a quick update on us Kings!  We have been back in the new house for about 10 days now. Definitely not quite ready for Christmas but we are settling in well and enjoying all the space of country life. Our two mares Kareemaa and Amber are settled in nicely at the neighbors house until we get our fence built. Our fencing supplies are due to come in today! The kids are super excited! Uncle Panos and Sean will be working on the corrals by the end of this week, while Denise (Sean's Aunt) and I make Christmas cookies and Lefse'! 

Today I met up with a local home school group in Tartesso... which is a nice community about 15 minutes from our house and about half way to Buckeye. They have their own school and church. I met the Pastor's wife today and she invited us to service on Sunday.  They also invited us to their home Bible study tomorrow where they do a devotional and pray for specific Missionary families.   They seem like a really nice group of families and they already look forward to coming out to our house for one of the many BIG bon fires that Sean likes to host! Colton already has a new friend Names "Si" :)

Here are a just a couple pics of the children enjoying their new home and horses!
Make sure you email me if you'd like our new address and home phone number and also let us know if you are traveling Interstate 10!  We only live a few miles from it and would love to have company!

My new front yard!

God has been blessing our family over and over again. Each and every day I am so amazed by His provision.  We hit the road in Texas not knowing where we would end up exactly or when we would have time to find a place.  Our plans ended up changing after looking at two different homes. The first was a definite NO but the second one met ALL of our needs!  When we stepped out of the car both Sean and I knew it was the place for us! We had to find a place with at least 2 acres but I'll go into detail about how it fit our needs later. This house had only been on the rental list for ONE week! So, instead of heading straight to California for Thanksgiving we decided to snatch it up and get settled for a couple days.   The house we found is nothing special to most of you.  But it seriously meets all of our needs and I don't think we could be any more pleased.    This is what I get to wake up to every morning!  No, there is no grass here in the desert but it is definitely a beautiful sight in many ways! Supposedly there are wild burros and mustangs in those mountains. We also have lots of rabbits and coyotes.  No, we haven't seen any rattlers yet but I have been showing my children youtube videos hoping to instill some fear of those satanic creatures! Praying they stay far from my babies!

Arizona!

We made it here safe and sound and took our time driving!  Thank you so much to those who kept us in their prayers as we traveled! We definitely had the hand of God protecting us.  Also, Thank you to ALL of our friends that helped us pack and get everything loaded and out of our home in time for our inspection!  We are so grateful!

 We stayed at a couple different hotels but didn't get to swim or enjoy them too much. Just got good night sleeps!  I had fun driving the U-haul as it brought back memories from my old truck driving days :) 

So far we love it here!  Lots of pretty mountains. Something we have missed in Texas.

I do already miss my friends in Texas. God had blessed us with such an amazing church and friends!  Praying that we get plugged in and find a new church family soon! 

We are looking at homes to rent. Hoping to get something soon! Then we will be off to Cali for Thanksgiving! I have some pics to post from the trip but I need to get them off my phone and rotated. Off to visit my Grandma Bev today! 

Fall Pictures- Part 1

So I got a late start this morning and by the time we starting taking pictures it was 10 am and in Texas that is just too late to start taking "FALL" pictures.  It was actually cloudy but of course the minute we started shooting the sun popped out and 5 minutes later we were all sweating!  So here's a couple from part 1... hopefully we can try again tomorrow and get an earlier start :)

Even with Carley's messed up hair and sweat running down Colton's face.... and a 3 year old that had to pee... I must say, my kids are pretty darn cute if I don't say so myself  :)

Rocket Science Project with Daddy!

 Sean decided today that he would do a project with the kids. Colton had gotten a rocket for his birthday but I guess he needed a launching pad.  He  took the boys to Hobby Lobby and got what they needed as well as a couple extra rockets, since they had to buy a whole kit. Here are some pictures of the excitement!

(click on pictures to enlarge)

and just a side note (Sean is the best teacher ever)

 

 He even had Carley's interest!

 Colton is telling us where it's going go...

 Stetson says,

 " it's going to shoots up high, like this "

 setting up the smaller one first...

 Dad is showing us where it may go with the direction of wind etc..

 Get ready..............for

 take off.....

and yes, way to fast for me to catch on camera!

 we were able to see where it landed pretty easily.... so everyone 

ran to find it!

This last one was pretty large. But I didn't get a picture of it on the stand.  

Although the take off was super cool we didn't see where it landed cause it went way to the 

right of where we were standing and we never saw the

parachute.  We did go look for it but there is no telling exactly where it went. 

We have one more rocket with two engines that we are waiting to set off until we are near a much larger and more open area. It's the actual one that Colton got for his birthday from Jaelynn and Kylee.

Change... is it ever easy?

I really use to enjoy blogging but lately I feel like my mind is so dead from being around talking, screaming, chaotic and sometimes really sweet children! I wish my mind had time to clear and think of nice poetic sounding stories to post.  Maybe I am just NOT a writer and maybe I'll just stick to short, simple and straight to the point!  

The time is drawing near!  I can not believe it's been three years since our family began the adventure of ARMY LIFE and now it's all about to come to an end! Three LONG years ago... I was 6 months pregnant and for some CRAZY reason when Sean mentioned joining the Army I was excited! Yes, scared but also excited, excited to serve our country and have a steady paying job with FULL benefits. Not so excited to go through childbirth without my amazing and loving birth partner!  Going through childbirth, many birthdays( including my 30th), two anniversaries, moving, several long distance trips and not to mention many sleepless nights with sick kids ALONE!  Excited?? why?  OH almost forgot.. countless tourterous trips to the grocery store with three children three and under.... with every passing month... and every month of added age... shopping strips did eventually get better!!!   Of course I'd do it all again.. because I love my family and I love my husband and oh yeah.. I love my country :) To keep it all in perspective, I wasn't really alone... I had my kids, my family, my friends and most importantly my Jesus! Sean was alone and lonely A LOT during those first two years as well. I must say though, that absence really does make the heart grow fonder!  We are more in love today than ever before! He truly is my best friend and the one I long for each and every moment of every day!  

 As I type this, Sean is in the garage packing up all his gear to turn in for good!  It seems so surreal. It was only 12 months ago that Sean stepped off the plane and back on US soil from his year long deployment to Iraq! This year has flown to say the least.  WE are so excited to move on to our next life adventure in Arizona, where we will continue raising our children!  Yes I said A-R-I-Z-O-N-A one of the other hottest states in the nation!  Sean got new orders and I can't say a date but the move is very soon and I will be spending the next few weeks packing and preparing for the the long haul. 

The next couple weeks are going to be spending a lot of time packing of course but also spending as much time with our friends here as possible!  We have really made some of the best friends while in Texas! Mostly of whom go to Skyline Baptist Church!  They are truly our family! If ever I need anything... there are countless people I could call at any given time! We plan to keep in touch with everyone. We love you ALL!  If any of y'all are reading this, please try to keep in touch with us as well. Continue to follow my blog.  I will definitely be posting a lot of pictures from our move and new home and of course the kids and horses :)  

Ooops... that wasn't short... I should have known better!

Stay tuned....