World's Newest Master Degree

3 Cheers for John as he has completed his masters degree! Hip, hip, hip....hooray, hooray, hooray......is that how you spell hooray? I'm not really sure...I don't have a masters degree.....I'll have to look that up. :) He now knows everything you need to know in the field of Military Leadership; so George W. will; I am sure, be calling him soon in reference to those Iraqi Americans and such as"the Iraq." and such as the South Africa. (If you haven't seen the Miss Teen USA pageant a few months back or the immense publicity surronding that poor girl you will not find that joke funny. If you have however seen it you should be laughing right now.) And just for fun, here is the link because really, you cannot see this enough times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

Anyhow, I digress. I am so proud of him! He managed to hold down a full time job, be deployed, go TDY, have four kids and a totally awesome wife(hee-heee) and complete that degree and did I mention he does the laundry? So really, cheers for him! He is considering pursuing his Ph.D. in Christian Leadership(he is considering teaching at a university after he is done flying airplanes) or Laundry folding 101 but is as of yet undecided. I have to go now and purchase a map so I can show my kids where the South Africa is. Congrats babe, I love ya!

Random Acts of Cuteness

Here are some random pics from the past few weeks parties and events, enjoy!

Justin vs. Mashed Potatoes

Here is what happens when you tell Justin to finish his mashed potatoes and then you walk away distracted by a phone call. The handprint of Justin; forever engraved in mashed potato legend.

Emerald Bowl

Top 5 reasons I love my husband:

1. He loves the Lord.

2. He does the laundry every Sunday

3. He manages to keep track of my cell phone/wallet/sunglasses which I am constantly losing....and after 10 years of marriage he doesn't roll his eyes at me when I lose them...anymore...

4. He coaches/plays/practices for every sport imaginable with our kids.

5. He is brave enough to take 4 boys by himself to San Fransico's AT&T Park to a bowl game....his idea!

6. He cooks!

......I know, I know, that's 6 reasons, not 5 but I couldn't leave out the cooking thing!

Here's some pics from John's latest sporting excursion. He took Jason and Jordan and their two good friends to the city to see Oregon State play Maryland in the Emerald Bowl. How cool is that?!

Merry Christmas!

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

We had a precious Christmas season this year with these boys. Between all the parties and programs and presents it was a very busy but peaceful time. The boys had a great Christmas morning. If you ever need a big laugh at 6:30am give four boys a Wii and stand back! There reaction was hysterical. They each recieved three presents from us(3 gifts was good enough for Jesus, three gifts is good enough for our boys that is for sure!) We finished out our awesome Chuck E. Cheese of a garage with two final elements: a pool table and a skeeball machine. It is now truly boy central. At any given moment we have half the neighborhood in there which was our intention all along so we are very happy with that! Our theory is that we want our boys growing up around us and having fun with us; thus our house is quite the hangout so our kids end up spending time under our roof with their friends instead of doing who knows what at other people's houses. They have fun, we have fun, it works! And all it costs us is a happenin' garage, lots of pizza and more drinks and snacks than an army of grown men could ever eat. We hope you had a blessed Christmas season celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!

Christmas tree farm fun!

We headed out to our favorite farm to chop that tree down once again....I can't tell you how much more enjoyable chopping trees is in CA as opposed to North Dakota! Anyhow, besides the tree itself there was a lot to do. Sleigh rides, hay bales to jump and climb on, reindeer to ride, cider and popcorn to eat, we had a lot of fun!

$10 & a Toy Store

John's family was up for Thanksgiving this year. One day we headed up to Sacramento and Auntie Barbara graciously gave each boy $10 that they could spend at Toys R Us for their Christmas present. 4 1/2 hours later...all had selected their gift and we were off! It was super cute watching them bounce around the store trying to figure out what on earth they were going to spend their fortune on. Finally we ended up with a basketball, a green light saber, a dog, and another dog. Thanks Auntie Barbara!

Happy What?

The Day after Thanksgiving as we headed to the Christmas Tree farm we stopped through the drive-thru of Starbucks.(Duh, anyone headed to a tree farm with a sharp ax on a cold morning needs to be highly caffinated!) Anyhow, the lady proceeded to hand us our coffee and wish us "Happy Black Friday!" Uh, I'm sorry...what did you say? When did Black Friday become a holiday?! Sheesh! To which my husband happily responded to her, "Merry Christmas!" "Oh, um, Merry Christmas" she said. Happy black Friday, you have got to be kidding me!

The Passing of the Torch

This day after Thanksgiving brought the official beginning to the passing of the torch....or passing of the ax if you will. John has begun teaching the boys the art of cutting down your own Christmas tree. Gone are the days when we all stand by and watch John do all of the work. Now we have 8 pairs of hands that are now big enough to jump into the action. Just a few more years and John and I can stand idly by and sip hot cider while our brood of boys do all of the work! Of course, I don't know what I am complaining about....that's pretty much what I do now! Jason picked out the tree this year and I must say, he did a banner job! It is absolutely beautiful!

Tom, the Turkey

Here lies Tom. He was a great turkey. He didn't ever say much, didn't cause any trouble, was just all around a great little bird. We deep fried Tom for Thanksgiving. He was yummy.

Golden Gate.... Scary Gate!

Okay so as many of you are aware heights are not my thing. And yes, I am aware I am married to a pilot. I think being married to a pilot and being afraid of heights would be like being married to a pastor and being afraid to go to church. Not cool, but being the totally awesome mother I am; I put on a brave face and faked lots of excitement when we decided to go check out the Golden Gate. I would say things like, "Here we go! It's gonna be great!" and "Wow, look at all that water underneath us! How beautiful!" All the while wanting to pee my pants with fear that the thing was going to collapse. And to add insult to injury there was the giant tunnel that we had to drive through to get there....oh joy...because you know if there's anything I hate more than humongous bridges it's long, dark tunnels 12 feet underground in earthquake territory. So as my children read this 20 years from now I hope they appreciate all that I have done for them....yeah, yeah, yeah, there's the food, the shelter, the clothing, blah, blah, blah...but for goodness sake I went over the Golden Gate bridge for them!

Our friend Henry, the slug.

Trees aren't the only things that grow big in the Redwoods. We came across the biggest slug ever on our hike that day. We named him Henry and here he is in all of his slug glory. Oh, and BONUS, nobody asked to take Henry home! Which is good because there are signs everywhere asking that you not take anything from the forrest, even leaves. We being the rule breaking family we are however, just had to nab a leaf that Jordan found. It was the biggest leaf we had ever seen...it was as big as Jordan's head and as you all know; there ain't a lot on God's green earth bigger than Jordan's head!

We Survived!.....Barely!

We took another day trip last weekend. This time we headed to Muir Woods up near San Francisco. The drive about killed me but once we actually got there and my feet were on solid ground, I began to enjoy myself. Mind you everyone else was already enjoying themselves because they thought it was cool to be 3 inches from the side of a very steep cliff with a husband who is driving fast and only has one hand on the wheel because he is busy eating a bag of sunflower seeds and spitting them into a water bottle. Sheesh! Am I the only sane one in this family? Anyhoo, it was absolutely breathtaking, everything I've ever imagined the Redwoods to be.

My Arch Nemesis

Darth Vadar has Luke Sywalker

The Grinch has Christmas

Tom has Jerry

Elmer Fudd has the wascaly wabbit

I have FRUIT FLIES!

These boys eat a ton of produce so consequently we typically have quite a supply of it in the kitchen, hence we sometimes get a plague of fruit flies. Nothing like coming downstairs in the morning to get some coffee half asleep and getting attacked like your in the middle of some horror film! Ahhhh! So frustrating! We did finally figure out, however, that the little pests enjoy Jack Daniels Black Cherry wine coolers which apparently causes them to drink a sip and fall over dead into the drink! Woo-Hoo!

Are you even kidding me?

What sounds like more fun than doing a jig saw puzzle with your children on a rainy day? Well, I gotta tell ya; just about anything else sounds like more fun than the pure torture we've endured in our failed attempt to put together the hardest puzzle in the world.....yes, that's right, in the WORLD people. Jelly Belly, Smelly Belly I say. I may sue the company for pain, suffering and marital strife.

PS We gave up after 4 days and this is how far we got....sad, I know.

Fall-A-Palooza!

We went to our churches' harvest fest for Halloween as we do every year. Trick or treating doesn't hold a candle to the fun of going to church and playing hundreds of games and getting tons of candy and prizes. The kids had a blast...as did I...can't say the same for John....he was, after all, wearing a giant Mickey Mouse costume. Can't say how much fun a grown man can have dressed like Mickey Mouse....apparently not much. And before all of you start sending me husband hate mail I would like it to be known, put on the record, and documented in a United States Court of law, that John Martin agreed to the purchase of said costume prior to the actual event. It was only when the time came to put on the giant funny suit that it was an issue. But giant kudos to him for his perseverence as he Mickey Moused all around the church! Apparently when Mickey and Minnie have children they produce a brood of super heroes in the form of Darth Vadar, A storm trooper, and twin Incredibles. And remember, even super hero's wear seatbelts!