Drenched From Head to Toes

Dallas just returned the other day from being five days out in the field. He showed up on our doorstep at 9:30 Tuesday night drenched from head to toes from the pouring rain; the girls screamed with excitement and my heart skipped a beat...my true love was home! Dallas means the WORLD to our four children and myself, without him we are just incomplete.
This time around I seriously was not ready for another five day adventure without Dallas. The constant pouring rain did not help matters because it limited our "things to do list". Fortunately, we made it through.




Here is a picture of some of Dallas' Army gear nice and muddy. I washed the rest because I am such an awesome wife!

BYU Football

Dallas and Ammon enjoying a game of BYU Football! Go Cougars!

Born To Be Wild!

Dallas and Ammon were both in desperate need of a haircut, so Dallas got to it. He enjoyed cutting Ammon's hair and Ammon enjoyed smiling for the camera! I love the way these two interact!


Dallas and Ammon before the haircut. Ammon couldn't stop smiling for the camera.



Dallas and Ammon with their mohawks! I think both look adorable! Ammon has the perfect hair for a mohawk.



The boy's with their shaved heads! I miss Dallas' curls and Ammon's straight hair! I love them both very much!

"My Country, 'Tis of Thee"

Last week Dallas was away doing his first BOLC III field training, which consisted of six days not including the Saturday and Sunday before he had to work until 7p.m. So, the kids and I had to fill our days with things to keep us occupied. Instead of taking a ten minute drive to the Post Office, on Post, I decided it would be more fun if we walked. Sophie lovingly refers to this walk as "the journey" and that is exactly what it was! On the way we talked about Army life and how hard it was to have Dad gone for so long. The girls missed their Dad and so did I despite it only being a couple of days! Dallas and I have been apart for weeks and months at a time, not by choice, but because he had to do some sort of training for the Amy. I informed the girls that their Dad would be gone more frequently and that next year he probably would be deployed, which meant he would be away from us for an entire year. This saddened Sadie and Sophie of course and they asked if he would ever come home and I replied, "yes." I explained to them that their Dad and I prayed about the decision to join the Army and I believed from that moment on that he would be protected from harm. I continued to explain that we should be proud of our Dad for protecting our freedom and all the other soldiers who have given their lives for our country.

I still have many more field training exercises and deployments to go, I am not looking forward to them, but I know Dallas is doing what he is suppose to be doing and that brings me comfort. He is a wonderful born leader. I can see the greatness in him and it brings me joy to see his excitement!

My faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what keeps me strong. My determination to live the Gospel and keep my Covenants is what binds Dallas and I, we are best friends and we are in this together!

Sophie lovingly saluting the U.S. Flag! She did this on her own.

Sadie and Sophie saluting the U.S. Flag.

Posing for the camera. It was a slow day, none of us had showered, as you probably can tell Sariah is still in her pajamas!

Sadie's Summer Birthday Celebration

Sadie's 3rd Grade class celebrated summer Birthday's last Friday and Sariah, Ammon and I were invited. We had a wonderful time visiting with Sadie and her class. This was the highlight of Sadie's week at school!


Sadie and Sariah enjoying their goodies!

The entire class, including Sariah and I, sang "Happy Birthday Cha, Cha, Cha" to Sadie and her two classmates, it was precious! We also played a Science Quiz Game that literally jump started my brain!

I captured this look of pure delight on Sadie's face...I love it!

This in a reenactment of the previous picture! She was so excited!

Ammon and Sariah playing in the back of the classroom. They behaved so well, I was extremely proud of them both!

The Smell of Fall

Sadie had this wonderful idea of gathering up as many leaves as possible, her goal was to recreate a giant pile of leaves similar to what we had back when we lived in Wymount (BYU Student Housing). So...Sadie gave everyone a job. The children were all assigned to pick leaves and place them in the pile while she raked as many leaves as she could. My job was to hold Ammon and take pictures for the blog.



This old wagon became very useful when gathering leaves for the soon to be "ginormous" pile.

Sadie made sure I was taking pictures for the blog!

Ammon being cute and cuddly.

Sophie smiling for the camera!

Melanie Whitehead, Sariah's best friend who is also three years old.

Sariah saying, "cheese" for the camera!

The hardworking gang! The Gilmore and Whitehead children.

Sadie recruited Dallas in raking up the leaves, he loves this sort of stuff.

Dallas handed out grocery bags to each of the children, they were to fill the bags!

Sophie and Sariah laying in the leaves.

Sadie enjoying the pile of leaves!

This was the last evening we spent with the Whitehead children, who we grew to love and enjoy! They became our friends when we didn't have any and vice versa! We sure miss their sweet spirits.