Stacy :)

Me? Where to begin ... this has been the most challenging deployment that I have ever been though: EMT class, college courses, fire academy, volunteering, Yogi, Dani's challenges, Dakotah's challenges, and just plain life :) I am proud to say that Lusterville made it through and the police weren't involved, not even one time, well except for Kotah's dump truck accident and traffic tickets!!! Ok so the police were involved a little but could've been worse. :) I am so glad that this deployment is over and Don is home to help me through the speedbumps that come our way. Although I did get a new car, since we are definitely not a Bravada only family :) Don got me a 2012 Sonic and I love it!!! It isn't what I wanted, as I wanted a truck and Don wanted a jeep but it gets 35 miles a gallon in the city and 42 on the highway! We decided that a fuel efficient car was what we needed because it's nothing for me to drive 100 miles in a day when I am running errands and taking kids to appointments :) Over the last year I finished the fire academy and also finished my EMT course. The EMT course was challenging but it is my proudest accomplishment :) I was volunteering as a firefighter but quit when it was time for Don to come home because I just didn't have enough time to keep up with everything going on and to volunteer. I miss it though, as I loved doing it. I am unsure, at the moment, where I am going from here. I need to sign up for some more college courses and decide what I am going to do with my EMT training. I am thinking I am going to try and volunteer for Womack Army Medical Center to keep up my EMT skills til I figure out what I want to do. I love riding the ambulance but I also loved being in the ER so time will tell :) In the meantime, I am currently just enjoying my last week of leave with my hubby and kids :)

Kotah :)

Dakotah? Oh boy oh boy! My sweet little devil in disguise :) I love this kid so much and can not believe he is going to be 18 this year. I am not quite sure where the time went from when he was born til now. I could not be more proud of the young adult he has become. He is doing wonderful! At the present moment he is in Honduras, having a wonderful time with his aunt and uncle. He is still driving the exploding explorer and working all the time. He says he is tired of working, but it's in his blood to be constantly busy so he would go nuts if he had nothing to do. He will be a Junior next year and will be working hard toward graduating. He is enjoying his teenage years and having fun. :)

DaniKay :)

I have really been bad at keeping up with my blogging. Let's see ... DaniKay??? I can not believe that she is going to be in high school in August or that she is taking drivers ed next month!!! My baby girl is growing up! I don't know who told her she could but I don't like it!!! She is still into her horse, Yogi. She doesn't get out to ride as often as she would like because her momma is so busy but we do our best to go and ride and give that spoiled, lazy pony some exercise! Dani has found a passion for photography and is actually pretty good at it. :) Not much is going on in Dani's life since it is summer. She is just waiting patiently to start drivers ed. Her momma is just waiting for the driver's ed teacher to quit once he has ridden with her! We let her drive last year when we were home and once she hit 30mph she drove straight toward the corn fields. When she went to pull over she didn't slow down but drove 20mph straight toward the corn field. Also when it was time to drive over a tiny bridge she said "Oh no it's a bridge, what do I do?" Oh yes we do adore our little DaniKay :)

Challenged kiddo???

As some may know my sweetest baby girl has had some challenges. It has been a long and hard road for her. In January of this year she had more than enough challenges to last her a lifetime! She had to be in the hospital for a week away from her family. It was hard to not be able to be with her while she was in the hospital. She is one tough cookie though because she made it through the tough times and is once again on the upper side of things. She still has bad days but overall I believe we have finally found what is working and things are looking up for her. :) It's tough to be on the outside of a challenged kiddo when you can't fix the problem. I wish I could trade her places and take away all the issues but it's something she has to learn to deal with, which has been challenging because she doesn't want to be "different." I keep telling her that if everyone was the same that this world would be boring! I like her being different because it's what makes her my little "tree hugging hippie child" :) Love you kiddo!!!!

Lusterville Vacation

Lusterville vacation 2012 has been wonderful! Don took off an entire month this time instead of his normal 2 weeks. It has been so much fun hanging out with him and having him home every day. I am going to be sad when he has to go back to the "real" army world of work :( We took the kids to Busch gardens where we got stuck at the top of a roller coaster. DaniKay was very upset and scared. Of course being the good father and brother of Lusterville they both made fun of Dani and gave her lots of grief :) The next day we went to New York and New Jersey. Well that was an adventure! I do believe that the drivers of the city honk their horns to just hear the honk. I hated driving in New York! We did have a great time there and saw some beautiful buildings. I enjoyed one of the local cemeteries. They had beautiful scenery and some of the tombstones dated back to 1740, talk about history! We saw the Statue of Liberty and also went to where the Twin Towers were. The next day we went to Hershey, PA. We made our own Hershey bars and had some amazing chocolate covered strawberries and huge cupcakes! After Hershey we headed to Birmingham. Birmingham is where the loves of my life live. My baby sister, her two kids, and her hubby all reside in Birmingham. I love going to visit them! This was the first time that Don had ever met O, who is 2 1/2 and the first time he had spent more than a day with MsKelly, who is 6. Don had an amazing time hanging out with everyone. After a couple days we left to head back home. Dakotah stayed with Aunt Ju so that he could go to Honduras with her and Paul. He is going to have an amazing time hanging out with them for 2 weeks :) MsKelly and O came home with Lusterville! We are so excited to have them with us. We are going to do so many things with them before we return them to their parents. :)