JUSTIN DAY!

Even though he's not feeling good today and has been asleep on the couch for most of it - Bri and I still wanted to wish this amazing guy a Happy Birthday!!! (and feel better soon)

Man he's HOT!!!

I LOVE this guy so much!!! He is such a great husband. Sadly I sometimes I forget how good I have it. He is such a generous and thoughtful husband - always putting his needs and wants on the back burner to make me happy. I am so lucky to have him as my husband! I am truly truly grateful every day that he picked me to be his wife!!!

Best daddy ever!!!

Brianna loves her daddy so much! And he loves her even more!!! They have so much fun together. Justin is seriously the greatest dad any kid could ask for. I always wondered how Justin would deal with being a dad - (he himself proclaims he hates children) but he is amazing!!! He is so protective of his little girl and wants to teach her about everything. I love to just sit back and watch them together - it just one of those things that melt my heart!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN FACE & DADDY!!!

WE LOVE YOU FOR ALWAYS!!!

THIS ONE'S FOR KRISTY!

Okay to give most of you a little background, this is one of my funny family stories from my childhood. When my little sister, Kristy, was about 5 or 6 she sat down in a 5 gallon paint bucket and got stuck. No matter what she tried she just couldn't figure out how to get out. She yelled for us siblings to help her and so we ended up pulling her out. Well being the mean older sister that I sometimes was, I somehow convinced Kristy to sit back into the bucket again. She eventually did and to my humor she got stuck - AGAIN!!! She just couldn't figure out how to get herself out. We all just sat there laughing and laughing at her forever, we even busted out the camera and took a picture of poor Kristy, crying and screaming for someone to help her. Finally about 20 minutes later we finally told Kristy the "trick" to getting out of the bucket was just to lean to one side and fall over, then you can easily get out. Every time I see that picture from our childhood I just laugh! It was so mean but so funny at the same time.

So the other day I was in the kitchen when I hear Brianna yelling, "HELP, HELP, I STUCK!". I turn the corner and there she is - stuck in her little Easter bucket. And, well, being the mean mom that I am, thought back to my little sister and grabbed the camera for a few pictures...

Here she is all stuck. I love the look on her face - like, "Hello mom, I need help, not a picture!".

Then to my surprise she started to lean...

Fell over...

And she was out!!!

Well I just had to post this and tease Kristy that my little Brianna was smart enough to figure out how to get out of the bucket and she's not even 2 yet!!! HA,HA,HA!!! Love you Kristy!!!

PS. Sorry for being a mean sister sometimes - even though it was just a little bit funny!!! :)

DOG MUSHING

A week or so ago I took Brianna up to base for a quick dog mushing ride. She was so stinkin cute. It was nap time when we went so I didn't know how well she would do, but she ended up loving it! When we got there, we headed down the hill to where they were doing the rides and was informed that the dogs were too tired and they were ending the rides early. A little disappointed that I drove all the way to base and woke Brianna up for nothing I told the lady we would just stay and watch the last 2 runs because Bri loves puppies so much. We stayed a little off to the side and watched the dogs - Brianna was so excited. Every time the puppies would come around the bend she would yell "Go puppies!!!" and clap. The guy that was in charge kept watching her and smiling and when the last 2 runs were over he called me over and told us that they would make one more run for such a cute little girl. I was going to go with her, but as we were about to get on another girl named Natalie walked down the hill wanting a ride too, so I asked her if it would be alright if she held Bri. I kinda wanted to go but I'm sure the dogs were glad they got to carry Natalie instead of my large behind - but it was good cause I got to take pictures instead.

At first she freaked out because I just threw her on Natalie's lap (a total stranger) and started taking pictures. But after I calmed her down and showed her that she was on a sled with the puppies she was ok.

Happy again and ready to GO!!!
And they're off!!!

Natalie said she laughed and yelled the whole time.

Here they come! The trainers had to run out there to keep them on track - they were so tired after they made the last turn they would try to run up the hill to their truck - I think they were ready to go home.

My Little Alaskan Dog Musher

Puckered up to give the puppy a kiss!

She LOVED it!!! So FUN!!!

JUSTIN & LISA DAY!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

That's right it's been 4 wonderful years since Justin and I got married. Man oh man I love this guy so much. He is one of the best things that has every happened to me. He is the bestest husband (I know everyone thinks that about their own husband's, but I'm positive he is the BEST!). He is such a thoughtful, fun, good, caring, supportive and loving husband. He is the greatest dad - I love watching Brianna and him together! They have so much fun and Brianna loves him so much!!! I am so thankful that he picked me to spend forever with! I don't what I would do with out him in my life!!! Simply babe - Thanks for being mine!!! I'm sure a "LUCKY" girl on this St. Patrick's Day!!! LOVE YOU BABE!!!

I wanted to share some other pictures from our wedding day, but all our photos are already packed, so you'll just have to look at the ones you've all already seen. BTW - holy crap how we've aged in the past four years - we look so young. I don't know if it's marriage, Alaska or kids that do it to you put good grief we're getting old!!!

LOVE YOU FOR ALWAYS!!!

Well Justin is still hanging in there - another one of the many reasons why I love this man so much. I'm positive his stress load with everything going on right now is at least double than mine and he's always the one to stay calm and reason with me. He has had such a rough road these past 6 or so months with his back and he never complains. He's always willing to help me out with Brianna, help around the house, cook me dinner, or even give ME a back rub when he's hurting so much. He is so unselfish and always thinks of my happiness and comfort far before he considers his own. He got another MRI this week and when he was leaving the tech came over and shook his hand and said he's got the worst back he's ever seen where the person was actually still up walking around and not crying in pain all the time. He's just amazing!!!

In other news, we still have absolutely no idea what we're doing - STILL!!! Yesterday we were sure that Justin's orders were canceled and we'd be here in Alaska at least until November. Well today it looks like his orders are still going to be canceled, but we're going to get orders to a new base in the next couple of weeks and still leave in May. So who knows - I'm sure it'll change by tomorrow. At this point I almost don't even care where we go or if we stay here, just someone tell me what it going on - PLEASE!!!

Oh just and little update on the whole weight loss adventure. Justin is down 34 pounds, that's right 34!!! What???? He is doing so good - he has the best will power (yes, little jealous). But I guess it has to do with the fact that we're eating about the same amount of calories, but because he's a guy and 6'4" he's really supposed to eat almost double the calories a day that I am. I don't know how he does it, he's my inspiration to keep going. But my pitiful number is only 12, but hey it's still progress and I'm proud of those mere 12!!! :)

MY "MONTHLY" BLOG

Good grief I am so stinkin at updating this blog lately. I don't know why - I guess it's cause nothing really exciting is happening, so I can't think of really anything to blog about. Anyways I thought I'd just post a couple of crazy pictures I found on my camera this week. Some of them are a couple months old, but they made me laugh.

Brianna in her dad's bunny boots. She LOVES shoes and will try on every body's shoes when they're here. These suckers were so heavy she couldn't even walk. It was so funny!!!
My little Hannibal Lector!
This picture makes me laughs so hard every time I see it!!!
Playing in her toy box with her little buddy Christian.

Heading to church when it was almost 40 below. She looks like a bag lady!!! :) Ha,Ha,Ha!!! (I did take the outer green coat off before we walked into church so she wasn't quite so homely.)

She loves her little table for anything but what it's intended for. She loves to play under it, on top of it, and enjoys pushing it around the house - but will hardly ever sit down and color on it.

She thinks the spray bottle is the coolest toy ever!

She loves to unpack the drawers in the kitchen and climb/sit in them. Last Saturday morning I was in the shower and Justin was watching TV. He noticed that the microwave was running so he went into the kitchen and there Brianna was sitting on the counter top (she used the drawers as a ladder) playing with the microwave. She pointed at it and said "Cookin!" Glad she's picking up on her mama's awesome cooking skills! :)

In other news, we're sitting pretty much at a stand still with the whole PCSing business. We're not sure if we are headed to Wyoming anymore - yep I might be stuck here forever. :) Since Justin has got these back issues we're not really sure if our orders are going to be approved. It's leaning to the side of we're going to stay here until his back is fixed - but who knows. It's getting kinda frustrating not knowing what the heck is going on, but I guess there's nothing I can do about it - except complain, which I sadly do probably too often. Justin had a steroid shot about a month ago and hasn't seen any effects from it, so we think he's probably headed for surgery. We're waiting on a second opinion with a neurosurgeon down in Washington, so we'll see how that pans out. We're just worried that he's going to get kicked out of the military - what a waste with only 5 more years until retirement. UGH!!! We're just praying they can limp him along for the next 5 years or medically retire him. It's just scary thinking we could end up with no job and no insurance by the end of the year. But hopefully we'll get some answers in the next couple of weeks.

On a lighter note it's been really warm (for you non-Alaskans that's like 20-40 degree temperatures! :)) It has been wonderful!!! I even went outside yesterday with no coat on!!! And not to mention it's getting lighter and lighter every day. I definitely have spring fever going on.

Brianna is growing like crazy - I know I say that all the time, but I still catch myself staring at her wondering how she ever got so big. She is talking up a storm. Not all of it I catch or understand, which is quite funny sometimes. For example we were out to eat a couple of weeks ago and she was standing in her chair pointing at people and yelling what I think was yes - except that her yes sounded more like an "@$$". Here both Justin and I were laughing, turning bright red while people were staring at our unruly child. (On a side note - I am positive that she wasn't saying the swear, cause really I don't think she's ever heard this one. If Justin or I slip and curse in front of her this is definitely not the ones we use!) But for the most part she can and will repeat almost everything you say - oh except thank you and I love you - what's up with that?!?!? She is still seriously crazy about babies!!! She thinks everything and anything are her babies. I even caught her "rocking" the bear on her pj's the other day. Oh and she told me yesterday that one of her alphabet magnets from the fridge was crying as she tried to console it. She just cracks me up every day at the crazy little things she comes up with.

Well I guess other than that we're doing pretty good. Justin and I are on a diet, which is kinda nice to be doing it together. I could say we're helping each other along the road, but he has wheel power like mad man, so basically he's dragging me along kicking and screaming. BTW - I hate men!!! I'm pretty sure I've lost 2 maybe 3 pounds since we started two weeks ago, while Justin has lost 15-20. It's really like that commercial on tv for some women diet drug where the wife says with disgust "What!!! - Do you want to weigh nothing!" cause it's so easy for her husband to lose weight. Oh well I'll catch up some day! But hopefully you'll see a skinnier lookin couple in the next few months!!!

IT'S OFFICIAL...

We're headed to WYOMING!!! We're going to FE Warren Air Force Base, which is near Cheyenne. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. I'm excited, scared, happy, disappointed, grateful and worried all at the same time. But it'll be good - I guess things are just as good as you're willing to make them - so it's really up to me in the end. The good thing is that we'll only be 6 hours away from home (yay - finally within driving distance!). So at least when I get sick of it I'll be able to come home and visit for a couple of days. Now just to start packing... UGH!!!

CHRISTMAS

Man oh man it's been a long time since I last posted anything. Even Justin has been giving me a hard time for not updating the blog - "We're missing memories!" he keeps telling me. Other than it being cold and dark here not a whole lot has changed. We find out where we're PCSing to later this week. I'm getting kind of nervous - I really hope that I won't be regretting saying how much I hate living in Alaska when we're stationed somewhere even worse - cause yes, I do realize it could be much worse!

Brianna is growing like crazy! I just can't believe she's not my little baby anymore!!! She is talking up a storm these days. I swear she learns a new word almost every day. She loves to dance/jump - it cracks me up every time she does it. She'll play the music on her toys over and over again and dance to it. She loves to color, she colored last night for an hour - but it must be with a pen or she throws a fit. Speaking of fits - she's definitely my daughter :) - she is becoming a "great" temper tantrum thrower!!! UGH!!! She's in this "mine" phase and it's driving me a tad bit bonkers!!! She is going potty on the big girl potty here and there, not really consistent, but we're headed in the right direction. Her hair is getting longer, but it's even worse looking than a couple of months ago (as you'll see in the pictures)! If I don't do her hair, she looks so homely, so I have to make sure her hair is done whenever we leave the house. She still hates things in her hair - so thanks to my friend Nicole advise, we still do the tucked under piggy tails. She loves to climb... everything!!! She's even learned how to climb up into her crib - hence the busted lip in the pictures from one on her attempts! She loves nursery, but only when her mommy stay in with her. She doesn't even want to sit by me, she just wants to make sure that when she looks up I'm still there across the room. Gooper!!! She is obsessed with babies! She tries to hold, hug, touch, kiss all the babies at church. She treats all her animals like babies - she'll pat them on the bum, rock them, wrap them in blankets, feed them, and try to change their diapers. She is so stinkin cute! Justin always teases me and tells me, "Well I'm pretty sure our daughter was born a Mormon cause she already thinks she's a mom." HA,HA,HA!!!

Justin is doing good. He is a trapping fool!!! Even though he hasn't caught anything worth while yet, he still seems really excited about it. He talks about it non-stop to me (and yes, it's "so interesting! LOL!) I just can't believe anyone would go out in the cold like he does and call it fun??? And when he's not out trapping, he's preparing to go trapping. Our house almost always smells like trap dye (which is a earthy, dirt, woodsy smell) and is always humid from the constent boiling. His back seems to be doing okay. He's supposed to get steroid injections sometime in the next couple of weeks - the military is taking FOREVER to get anything done - not really a big surprise there. He saw a pain specialist the other day and she told him that he would never get feeling back in his foot. She said the nerves aren't pinched like we thought, they're completely severed - so we were pretty disappointed with that crappy news. He's so sick of not being able to feel his toes, he calls his foot "my club" because he just feels like he has to almost drag it. Poor guy! He's so not ready to leave Alaska, but he's a nice hubby and ok with the decision cause it's not for me. But he does tell me almost every day that he's going to miss something or other about this place.

Daizy is still alive - barely! :) Man this dog is starting to drive us crazy. She seriously is costing us more than our child, which is pretty pathetic. I think Justin and I have agreed that the next time she costs us over $300, she's got to hit the road. I guess we'll see how we "really" feel when that time comes - and yes I'm sure it'll come - it's not if anymore, it's when!!! So she's had this growth on her tummy for awhile that kept getting bigger, so I finally scheduled to have it removed the week after Christmas. Well so for a fun surprise on Christmas morning she ripped it open and it was bleeding all over the house. Nasty!!! We didn't want to pay the extra money to have it dealt with over the holiday so we just patched her up the best we could and waited until Monday. Anyways she got the thing removed which cost an arm and a leg and then the incision got infected - blah, blah, blah. I swear it never ends with this dog!!! Well she's fine now and hopefully she'll be good for a very very long time!!!

As for me, I'm just here. This winter has gotten to me more that the past ones. I just want out of here. The darkness just makes me so lazy, I have no motivation for anything, which is annoying!!! Oh and did I mention I hate being cold? Blah!!! Well we've decided to move ourselves when we leave, so I'm trying to pump myself up to start packing this place. UGH!!! But if it works out, we should make a pretty good chunk of money by doing it ourselves. Oh and by the way, I am NOT preggo, if "anyone" was wondering!!! (ha,ha,ha - that's for you Nicole :))

So that's what's up with us for the moment. I'll try to catch up on some of the events I've missed in later posts. But here are some pictures of our Christmas. It was pretty low key, we just stayed here and enjoyed it with just our little family. I had a terrible headache that day, so it was kinda miserable. And since I felt so crappy, we ended up cooking Christmas dinner the next day which was much more enjoyable. Brianna had a fun day - holy moly she got spoiled!!! Thank you everyone!!! She loves to unwrap, but would get sidetracked and just want to play with what was inside instead of opening more presents. So we took our time and unwrapped presents for what seemed like forever!

Brianna in her Christmas dress. I could not get her to stand still for a picture, so this is right before she tried to climb under it.

Christmas Eve! Yes all those presents are for Brianna!!! Justin and I didn't get each other gifts cause we got an auto start put in our truck, so that became our present to one another. We didn't want to dig in our crawl space for the stockings, so Justin decided we could just use a mukluk. :) We're in Alaska right?!?!?

Digging into her "stocking" Christmas morning!

My peanut!!! (trying to run away)

Lounging on her gifts! What a nut!!!

After Christmas breakfast we gave Bri some juice and this is where she ended up again! :)

PRESENT TIME!!!

Justin opening his present from my mom and dad. They got him a little helicopter and to my surprise he loved it. He's like a little kid flying it around the house, into walls, into my head!!!

She didn't want to open this one - just wanted to climb on it.

College fund!!!

Brianna with all her gifts! And yet again I couldn't get her to sit still for the picture, she wanted to PLAY!!!

Thanks again to everyone for making Brianna's Christmas so fun! WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!