Welcome Home!!!

This morning we all met at Erica's house at 5:00am to help out Carolyn and Erica at their husbands' homecoming! Both of their husbands were in Afghanistan with 2/7 (an infantry unit), Echo Company. Carolyn had her sweet baby girl Cailyn while Brandon was deployed, so I was privileged enough, yet again, to witness a daddy's first moments with his little girl (thank you for allowing us to share in such a special day) and I got to hear the amazing little squeals from Ashley and Kaitlyn as they saw their daddy and finally were able to give him a hug after 7 long months. I am so happy for you girls!!! Have a blast with your hubbies!
This has been a long and difficult deployment for all of the Marines in 2/7 and this is just the first company to come home. There are still more companies awaiting their homecoming, so please keep them and their families in your prayers. Sadly, there have been a number of casualties in 2/7...please keep the families of those marines in your prayers, as seeing all of their comrades come home, it's tough, but healing at the same time. My heart goes out to them!

Pumpkin Patch

Well, out here in the middle of the desert we don't have too many choices, as far as pumpkin patches go. I don't even know if you can qualify what we went to as a pumpkin patch, but we had fun nonetheless! Today, we went for an outing just past Yucca Valley, with Diana, Levi, Dave, Christine, and Noah. We had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures! This is both Levi (10 months) and Noah's (2 months) first Halloween! Madison loves her little friends and it was so much fun to see the kids' eyes light up at the sight of the pumpkins. Thanks for making fun memories with us!

Emma comes to visit!!!!

Yesterday, Emma came to visit for the day. We had so much fun! Madison especially loved seeing her "Auntie Emma" From the pictures below you can see the fun they had together! Emma I love you dearly and thank God every day for putting that dumpster in the location he did!!!! ;) You are truly one of the best friends I have and I am so blessed every time you visit! Hope you have a great week my friend!!!

Waiting for Auntie Emma to arrive:

Dressing up with Auntie Emma:

Loving on Auntie Emma (with a mouth full of crackers):

Yummy Chicken Quesadillas

Here are some silly pictures of Madison eating her yummy chicken quesadilla and dipping it into sour cream (which I think was her favorite part of dinner). Hope you enjoy our silly girl!

Happy 25th Birthday Margot!!!!

Last Friday, October 17th, my dear friend Margot celebrated her 25th birthday! We had a dinner for her over at Erica's house! It was so much fun. One of the memories that will stay with me from that night is the blessing of the food. This may sound odd, but let me explain why it was so special! Margot's husband is in Iraq right now and he was able to be on the phone and Margot put him on speaker and he prayed over Margot and blessed our meal. When he was done, pretty much every girl there had tears in their eyes. It was very special!!! I hope that you had a wonderful birthday Margot! Thank you for your friendship!!! Know that you are loved. May God bless this next year of your life!

My little baker

As many of your know, I love being in the kitchen. I love to cook! I love to bake! You name I enjoy it!!! Well, one night Madison seemed very interested in what I was doing, so I let her have a bowl, a whisk, and a little frosting. She had a blast! She kept looking at me, as if to say....I can do this too! So fun!!! I hope that one day she'll enjoy helping me more in the kitchen!!! I have darling aprons, from my dear friend Stephanie Olsen, that are a matching set for myself and Madison. I can't wait until she is big enough to wear hers!!!!

Ride 'em Cow"girl"

One of Madison's new favorite things to do is to get on our backs and pretend she's riding a horse....she always wants to do this at night while she's drinking her milk. Here are some pictures we snapped to capture the moment:

Alex's 10 Year High School Reunion

Sorry this has taken me so long to post. I actually forgot that I hadn't posted about it because it was the same weekend that Dave Bouchard came home and that was so exciting!!!!

Well, on October 10th, Alex's 10 year high school reunion was held at the Los Alamitos Race Track. We arrived around 8:15 and were there until about 1:30 in the morning. That is the latest I've stayed up in a long time! It was fun meeting friends of Alex's from high school and it was also fun getting to catch up with people that I know through Alex and some other friends. Here are some pictures from the night:

Welcome Home Dave!

Today our dear friend Dave Bouchard came home for Iraq. He got to meet his son for the first time and it was so sweet seeing him with Noah. You can tell he is so ready to just jump in and be the amazing father that we know he is! Christine was glowing all day and is now on cloud 9. I am so happy that their little family is reunited. What a blessing!!! Here are a few pictures from the day (I had the video camera the whole time, so I only have the pictures Alex was able to snap while also watching Madison) When my friends send out the rest of the pictures, I'll try to update the blog with better pictures!!! :)