What the 4th of July means to us!

My wonderful husband received the opportunity to write how he felt about the fourth of July for his deparments news letter. I am very proud of him that as a former member of the Army he cares so much. I would like to thank him for serving to keep our country free. We would also like to thank many of our friends and family who have served or are serving. Thank you. And thank your families. We love you so much and pray for you everyday. I hope you enjoy and remember to always say thank you to our family, friends, men, and women who are serving to keep us free to be on this beautiful land. Happy fourth of JULY!!!!!
What does the 4th of July mean to me?
A Special Day. The Fourth of July is the most special of days to
me. As a former soldier it stands for the loss of life for something more powerful than anything else any man ever invented...Freedom. When I think of the Fourth of July I often do not think of the countless parades, or camping, or anything of that nature; I am thinking of the countless soldiers who have stood guard over the thing that they value more than life itself, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I think of countless men in the area of Valley Forge,
freezing to death, to protect their young freedom. I think of the people looking down a barrel at someof their neighbors and loved ones in Gettysburg, to give others in this great nation that same freedom. Of men dying in the trenches of the Great War, and landing on Omaha beach near the town of Normandy to a hail of machine gun fire; all to preserve freedom. I think of the history of my own battalion that I was a part of and their heroics in Korea. Not a man was lost, as they killed or captured 2000 Chinese; then in Vietnam as men exited a helicopter to never see anything but jungle again. These are the ones that I think of during this time of year, along with my own comrades in arms who have been and are fighting to preserve our freedom, by ending tyranny on the other side of the world, and who have brought freedom to a people that have never known it. These are they that I think of as I stand as 'Old Glory', the Red, White, and Blue passes in a parade somewhere, and my eyes fill with tears during the Star-Spangled Banner, I think of my friends who have laid down their life, to protect what I love, this
country, and freedom. ~~ by Aaron Sorenson, Roosevelt/Vernal

TheFather's Day Bear!

Wow what a weekend. I asked Aaron what he wanted to do for Father's. Not to my suprise he chose to go CAMPING!! So we went up to the East Park Area, to Kane Hollow. It was Braddock's first time camping, and since he can't walk without falling yet, you can imagine how dirty he got. We had fun and I froze....We planned to stay all weekend, but friday night when we were finally getting to sleep, at 2:00 in the morning we heard a bunch of gun shots go off, that were really close. Shortly after that we heard a car pull away. Aaron and I were pretty freaked out. We were kinda worried we had just witness a murder. I was so scared I couldn't stop shaking, we decided maybe it might be best to go home the next morning. Well when we finally got to sleep and woke up we decided maybe we could stay the full weekend. About lunch time the campers next to us came over to our camp as they were leaving. They informed us that a bear had been in their camp the night before and had went to a couple other campers areas. They were the ones who had shot, because they were shooting at the bear. They said the car was their daughter and her family with a 5 month old baby getting out of there. They decided to get out of there before a bad situation possibly got worse. So because my husband is so afraid of bears, the poor guy, we decided being in a tent it wasn't worth the risk. we have no idea why the bear missed out camp he went to the one before us, and the one after us. It was kind of scary. So before our trip even got started it was kind of over. But before we left we did a little fishing, the moment we got out of the truck we heard that bear. It is a young bear that just got kicked out of the den, so he is very noisy, we heard him making his noises just in the trees where we couldn't see him. It was pretty fun to hear him make his noises, but confirmed our decision to leave. So much to our dissappointment our camping will come to an end until we have a trailor to camp in. My husband was such a good sport about it, the only thing he is really afraid of is bears, and as much as he tried to convice himself it wasn't that, it was. He was too cute. We did manage to get some pictures of the bear tracks, I will post them soon. I hope you all had a less adventurous Father's Day than we did, eben though it was kinda fun!!!

Braddock's 1st Birthday!!!!!!

We had a fun family party for braddock's birthday. He and zaden had a ton of fun playing with their cousins!! They all love to run around together. And for Aaron's side most of the kids have a cousin within 6 months to 1 year of them. It is really fun to see them get together.

The Boys wonderful grandma was so sweet to do a bar-b-q.
And Braddock loved his cake, well as
much as he could fit into his mouth
at one time.

Amazingly enough after he got his eyes washed out, he still wanted more cake. Granted, I do think he got more of the other cake on his face, than in it. Then it was time to open presents. He had a great time with that. He really did a lot of it on him own.

The plane was one of braddock's favorite toys. He loves riding it around them house.

After the party we took the boys to the carnival. They loved to ride the rides for kiddies. Braddock didn't get to do as much, but he still had fun. All in all is was a great first birthday, he seemed to have a great time. And so did the rest of us.

The Apple Episode

This is not a very good pic. Zaden kept moving. They were having a blast playing and eating these apples together. Isn't that a pretty big apple for such a little guy. He was loving being a big boy like brother.

No cut up apples for him. Go big or go home!

Too CUTE!!!! These two just crack me up. I love them!!!

My cute kids!!!

Yes, this is them playing in a cupboard together. Zaden did the same thing when he was that small. Up Close and personal with the camera. You may not see it, but that is a big grin behind that pacifier.

Didn't mean to put this one on there. This is from Christmas Eve opening pj's.

He is just too cute for me to resist. I think he is about to smash food in his hair. AGAIN!

First Timer

Hello Everyone,
This is my first time ever blogging, so I am just a learner right now. Well Braddock has started to actually enjoy walking this week. Meaning, we have been trying to get him to walk, but it wasn't until this week he got excited about it and is actually staying up and walking by himself. It's great because now he just gets up and goes. Yeah I am sad to be leaving th baby stage, but also very excited. The furture of having two walking kids opens up a new world.
Zaden has decided it is time to have a real big boy bike. So everytime we talk to him about his birthday in July and what he wants, guess what he says. "I get a bike".
Aaron is a busy daddy working 2 jobs and going to school full time. I will admit I get frustrated I know it is all for good, but I miss seeing him all the time. I am very proud of him.
As for me I am finally feeling like I get to just enjoy being a mom. I have been planting like crazy around my house and I finally feeli like I have a green thumb. I had no idea I could really make things grow. I started with a strawberry patch and a garden. They are just growing amazingly. Then we get some starters for hedges, and it has been great seeing those grow. Now I have added grass, raspberry and blackberry bushes, and a little flower garden. I am loving seeing my yard transform. I have to say I am done planting for the year, I may add more in the years to come. But I am very proud of myself.