Red Sky at Night...

...Sailor's delight!

Does this qualify as a red sky, or does the actual sky (not clouds) have to appear red in order to please sailors? Hmmm

I'm not quite sure, but we sure were delighted by this sight.

backdoor view:

front door view:

When you have the opportunity to see such a beautiful sunset, you have to sit back and marvel at this incredible world we live in.

I have always had a great appreciation for Astronomy (inherited from my father, I'm sure.) Gazing out into the open sky and admiring the stars has always been a love of mine. I took an Astronomy class in college, and the proven facts that so many scientists dedicate their lives to, only reassured my testimony that their is a God; and it was through his direction that Christ created this Earth. The size of the universe is as hard a concept to grasp as the idea of eternity. The two can only work together. Our Heavenly Father is in control of this and many other worlds. Yes, I believe there is other life out there...not so much in the form of little green aliens, but worlds very similar to ours. Now I know that these clouds colored by the sun setting over the horizon doesn't exactly compare to all the vastness of the universe, but while I was looking at them tonight, that is what came to mind.

Along with my love of the stars, I have always loved looking at clouds and finding shapes in them...Justin can back me up on this. I am always wishing I had my camera with me when I see a perfect shape in the clouds...that is one of my ongoing projects-taking pics of cloud shapes. Anyway, do you see the swan in the pic below? :)

The Vision Comes to Life

Here are tons of pictures of Justee's fabulous new room. I'm so happy with the results that I'm considering trading Justee rooms. ;)

This tree was the first thing I knew I wanted in Justee's room.

It took Renae and me about 20 mins to put up the 6 pieces that made this tree. My friend Abbey had to do some thinking in order to get all the pieces to fit on the roll of vinyl. (Great job Abbey! Once again, thank you so much.)

I decided I wanted a magnet board in Justee's room because she loves her magnet toys, but I don't love them on the fridge and all over the kitchen floor so much. She seems to enjoy it.

I love this arrangement that Renae and I put together. It adds some sparkle and frill.
Justee was enjoying her rug.Justee's name was supposed to go on the top of her headboard, but I messed up on the measurements, so it was too big. It worked on the foot board though. :)Justeee jumping on her bed:~PEEK~~A~~BOO!~Last view while walking out of the room.

This is the first room I have ever decorated from top to bottom with the whole design plan in mind. I am sooo glad that Renae was here to help with the accessories and manual labor. It was really nice to have a shopping partner to bounce ideas off of. It was so nice of Renae to take time out of her life to come help me, and more importantly, keep me company for a few days. Plus I never would have had such cute curtains if it wasn't for Renae...they were completely her idea. I'm not a big curtain person, and I wouldn't have even really thought about getting any. I'm so glad we put them up.

Dana came to visit with Renae and I on Tuesday night. We looked at all 700+ wedding pictures Renae brought, and chatted. Dana helped with the polka-dot arrangement too.

Thanks for spending some time with me girls! I always have so much fun when we get together. :)

It is so fun to see all the girls' reactions to the room. Justee really seems to like it and Sydnee and Charlee keep telling me how pretty it is.

Not bad for 3 days work.

A Visitor

One of my best friends is here to keep me company for a few days. Renae came to help me decorate Justee's bedroom. Justee has been climbing out of her crib for the past couple of months, so I decided it was time to get her a big-girl bed...and why not just make over her whole room?

Renae and I picked out bedding and got all of our painting supplies yesterday. Today we got up and went to Bodypump and then came home to paint. The project was under way for about 30 seconds when I broke the roller (apparently bodypump is working too well. ;) So, we made do with an awful broken roller for the first coat...for coat two we went to the store for a "whole" roller.

Here are some before pics and some mid-progress pics. There is a lot more accessorizing left (and my favorite part still needs to go on the walls) before the after pics can go up.

Renae looks beautiful removing the tape after a long day of hard work:

Triple Digits Baby!

We have reached a milestone in our 365 day journey; today, Sydnee put the 100th star on our flag! Since we are celebrating how long Justin's has been gone, today is a joyous occasion. It seems funny to celebrate how long someone has been gone, but the longer he is gone, the sooner he will come home. 100 days sure seems like a lot and I'm sure it went much quicker for everyone else than it has for us, but we made it.
Sydnee putting on the 100th star:

I love the look on Char's face in this one. I was saying things to get them to smile, and I said something like, "Say...Dozer is stinky!" Sydnee took the opportunity to tell everyone to say, "Charlee is a poo poo head!"

Char's face says just how she felt about that...

As nice as this flag is coming along, there sure is a lot of empty space left on it. We are almost a third of the way there.

I wanted to share a little of what Justin has been up to...people are always asking, and I know this is what I would be interested in. The only problem is, I'm not exactly sure what can be said and what can't. I don't keep myself informed very well when it comes to military stuff/crap, because...well...frankly, I don't care.

So this is my attempt to share an instant message conversation I had with Justin the other day...I had to do some editing and I hope this is ok info...If it isn't, I guess it won't be up long.


justin: so at 1:00 AM they call us to the TOC

terijill: TOC?

justin: we go in and they are getting live feed from a fire fight

justin: command center

terijill: oh

justin: they tell us to get ready cause if any americans go down we're going to get them

justin: so we watch as they shoot 5,000 rounds from a kiowa warrior and 20 rockets, plus they launch apaches

terijill: jeepers

justin: guys are going down like flies

justin: 22 enemy dead

justin: 14 run so they launch field artillery in front of them to stop them

justin: all americans are fine so after 2 1/2 hours we go back to bed

terijill: Were you watching/listening to everything the whole time?

justin: we're up at 7 to get ready. yes I was

justin: we run up and shut down and as I'm getting my helmet fixed we get our first call

justin: urgent nine line come well armed and have an armed escort with you to watch the guy we're picking up

terijill: scary

justin: he was injured in the fire fight and they had just found him, straight up taliban!

terijill: and you picked him up? I thought you weren't picking enemy up in dangerous places

justin: we go in with 2 kiowas and our other gun ship I shoot an approach and whoom covered in dust cant see a thing, we hit ground just right and mickey gives me the high five

justin: yes they wanted to try to save him to get intel from him so we had to go get him

terijill: oic

justin: as they're loading him I see his feet

justin: just sandals and socks, socks ripped at toes, and they look like talons

terijill: ewww

justin: sick like dumb and dumber

terijill: haha gross

justin: and these guys were sprinting from us last night in the mountains in sandals, Hard Core Bad Guys.

justin: so we get him in and he's fighting our medics

justin: we drop him off and shut down

justin: we head to chow and sit down and we get another call urgent

justin: we sprint well over 300 yards to the chopper

terijill: You could sprint that far? and Mickey too? ;)

justin: im so tired when I get there I almost passed out

terijill: haha :)

justin: mickey had to run to the TOC which was closer to the chow hall, I go start the bird

justin: he gets there and says its almost the same spot and its a hoist, first live hoist he's ever done, and first live sked hoist in combat for wyoming ever

justin: that is what we think anyway

justin: no one can think of another one

terijill: that's pretty cool....I guess

justin: so we fly in they drop smoke so we see winds

justin: I come into the wind, and both medics come out at the same time, from 100 feet

justin: Im using a black bag as my reference for my hover and it all goes fine

terijill: a black bag? just one out on the ground?

justin: I come back around to pick up 1 medic and the patient and tried to use the same reference

justin: well when I left the first time the top bag blew away and when I came back I realized it was a dead guy covered up I was looking at

terijill: that's terrible.

justin: I know

justin: so I pick them up, and then go around while we secure them and come back to get the other medic

justin: keep in mind we are 200 meters.........

terijill: meters huh?

justin: meters

terijill: :)

justin: so we come back and ended up doing 2 transports to bigger hospitals

justin: so we had a busy day

justin: and nerve racking

terijill: It sounds like it

terijill: you still 1st up?

justin: no just got off this morning

The other exciting news we have is that Sydnee is currently attending her first official slumber party. She was so excited about this party. She has been talking about it nonstop for the past couple of days. She is getting so big.

As I was going over the rules and reminders of how to behave and use good manners; Char put her two cents in:

Me: "You need to say please and thank you and..."

Char cut me off, "and don't call anyone a poo poo head...or a pee pee head! Huh, mommy?"

Very sound advice Chuck. I guess she was still hurt from Syd's comment during the flag pictures.

Chocolate Monster

After dinner tonight, the girls got to have a chocolate pudding for dessert. Chuck came running out of the kitchen screaming, "Ahhh! A chocolate monster! Justee is a chocolate monster!"