The kids really miss Jed and they get so excited to talk to him and fight each other for the phone just so they can scream louder into it. I know Jed really misses them too. Jed's first month was hard. They barely gave him time to eat (5 minutes) and he had to deal with very little sleep...wake up at 4:45 (not a minute earlier or later) and bed time at 11 ( and not a minute later). It was kind of rough being yelled at every single day and berated over small things and to be screamed at over missing one small thing, but Jed is really positive and it hasn't really bothered him. He always sounds tired though. He is not allowed to have his phone anywhere but in his room (he has to earn the privilege to take it out of his room later on, so hopefully in a few weeks). We do get to talk every day for the most part for only 5-10 minutes, but it's slowly getting to be longer as his restrictions are lightening up. He does get to go to church every Sunday and he even gave a talk in Sacrament with only a week to prep for it. He finally got privilege to leave the campus and go on base so things have been getting better and he's happier. He even received a call sign from the rest of his group, "Scorpion". He got this because when he fell over "dead" in a training his legs went over the top of his head and they said it looked like a scorpion stinging. He's doing a great job and is still happy about things.
In case you can't tell, Jed's the one cutting the other guy's hair
Gotta love my man in uniform :)
The kids and I have been trying to fill our days with fun things to do to help the time go by faster.
Here are some of our more day to day activities:
Apparently, I spoil my kids when daddy is gone. I bought them this ball pit and they love it!
We have indoor picnics enjoying some yummy robot sandwiches.
Elijah asks to go to the splash park on base everyday, it's his favorite thing to do.
Elijah has adopted his "friend" George since Jed left. This is his arm around George.
Again this goes with the whole me spoiling them more often with treats. Mmmmmm... pudding!
Jed sent me the most beautiful and fragrant flowers and wrote me the sweetest card for our anniversary. Ah, I love him!
Since we've been in California, my mom likes to take the kids to the Fountains to play in the water
Chloe has suddenly become attached to teddy bears. She loves them!
Here are some of the bigger highlights of our month:
I took the kids to the plane museum near Hill AFB to look at the planes. Elijah had a blast. I was really excited about this trip because I really want to have his next birthday party here (yes, I'm a freak and already have it planned out even though it's not until next February) It was a lot of fun and a lot bigger than the one at Travis.
We also went to Hogle Zoo with Jed's sister, Bonnie, and her cute kids. All of the kids had so much fun here.
They even had dinosaurs at the zoo that moved and roared and some even sprayed water. This is them acting scared.
This was Chloe's favorite. She loves cats. We would try to keep going to look at the other animals but she'd run back to look at the "cat!"
I took the kids to Temple Square for my anniversary. You can read more about that trip here.
We left Utah to go back to visit our friends and family in California. Everyone is so happy to be back, although Elijah said he was sad because he lost Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Nelson in Utah. He really is so happy to back and to play with his friends and his aunts and uncles though.
The drive back took 10 hours. There was tons of construction and I didn't see a single cop until California otherwise this would've been a much longer drive. Also, I had to clean up Chloe from her mess with the milkshake (yeah, my bad, you would've thought I learned from the pudding fiasco earlier). It took me an extra half hour to clean her seat plus give her a bath in the gas station sink. But this was a fun drive and we did it without any movies, just lots of singing and dancing and playing car games, and flapping our arms like chicken wings. :)
We went to Marine World again with my brother, James, and his friends. James took the kids the entire time and let me ride on some roller coasters with his friends. It was a lot of fun and the kids always have a blast with Uncle James. And of course, Chloe screamed when she saw the pig (anyone know her name?).
My sister in law, Kayla, took pictures of the kids for me. You can check out her more of her photography at her business site, kaylaannphotography.weebly.com It was about time I got 3 year old portraits of Elijah and Chloe's 18 month pictures done.
Elijah is trying to show Kayla the ant in his hand
I just love his face in this one
This is our attempt at a group photo... can you see why it hasn't worked? I just love this picture though
She really takes the best pictures of me
Chloe's okay in this picture because she's holding her cup
I thought this one is hilarious. Chloe was upset after I took away her sippy cup and wasn't taking kisses to feel better
And all is well again
I really liked this photo of Elijah. It's like he's saying "oh my heart..."
Grandma and Elijah
Chloe started to be happy about getting her pictures taken once she was able to play with the grass
and run free
I also wanted pictures of Elijah in his suit for his 3 year old portraits, because Jed was wearing one in his. You can check out Jed's here in an earlier post.
He was trying to copy me snapping
I love my little man
Grandma and Chloe. I love this picture of Chloe because of her eyes. She really has the prettiest eyes, thankfully she didn't get mine which are the color of mud.
Here's a closer look at those eyes. They're like depth less pools of water.
I also had an ice cream party for Elijah and his friends. You can read more about his party here. We had lots of fun catching up with everyone.
My mom also signed Elijah up for horse back riding lessons through her friend's daughter. He was hesitant at first but he really had a lot of fun. They even let me and my mom take turns and gave us mini lessons. It really was a lot of fun to do. My mom and I are going to sign up for a guided riding tour down by the lake next month. This was pretty much all of our first times on a horse.
He looks a bit awkward here but he really did have fun!
And they had goats (and baby goats) that Elijah enjoyed getting to pet
And they had chickens which is always funny with my mom around since she always freaks out with chickens (really, any kind of bird) around. This picture is mainly for her enjoyment : P
Even though at times I might get frustrated and worn out because of the kids and even though we all really miss Jed, we're so proud of him and we know that things are getting better. One of the only good things that came out from Jed leaving is that Chloe is so snuggly now. She gives the best hugs and just loves to snuggle. She will just grab your head and pull it into her and hold it tight, then rest her head on your shoulder and pat your back. It's so sweet! She's always there for me whenever I need a hug. It's like she just knows when I need one. Also, Elijah is so sticking cute (of course)! But he'll always be there and just tell me that I "look pretty" or that my hair "looks nice". I absolutely love my kids (duh!) and I'm just so happy that if I can't be with Jed at least I have them!
