Not so long ago...

There are times in your life when you put aside the writing you so enjoy producing because you're actually tired of writing! Such has been the case for me since my degree program has me writing many, many academic papers. Just this past summer I wrote over 150-pages, for one class...in just 8-weeks! I have been burned out. It was not so long ago that I undertook this blog as a way to express the crazy things that run through my mind, as well as the insane things we do as a family. I vowed I would never let this activity go the wayside. I guess I shouldn't vow things like that to myself any longer.

Through it all, however, I have had some fantastic fun with my small family. Luke and I spent way too much time with the ponies, but we got a wonderful horse show out of it. We have watched Luke grow from a timid little one on the ice to a capable ice skater who is now ready to start playing hockey. He also finally got to participate in tee-ball, got in on some hiking, decided he needed to ditch the training wheels on his bike, started pre-k, and gave us the scare of our lives when he contracted bacterial pneumonia in February. He's such a little pistol, and he refuses to do anything but go 8-bazillion MPH all day, everyday!

There have also been a lot of logged miles. Yes, I have taken my joy of running up a notch. I managed to place 5th in my division, 80th overall (out of 300) in the 4th of July 5k here in Pueblo West (after climbing my one 14er of the year the day before), but I wasn't quite satisfied. August 29th I crossed the line in the 4th position, 1st female, and the winner of the prediction for a 10k trail race at Pueblo Reservoir's South shore (Arkansas Point). I was 43 seconds off of my predicted time, which may as well have been the exact time it was so close. They'd never seen that before! Two weeks ago I added to that with a 3rd place division finish, and 15th overall finish (out of 95) on a 4-mile race over the paved bike trails in Pueblo West. That one earned me a medal! But here's the big thing: I will be competing in my first half-marathon in two weeks! No, I won't be in the top runners, but that's not really the point.

Jeff has really stepped up the mountain biking. He has tackled so many trails along the front range, and a couple of easier ones in Utah (since I'm not the technical rider he is) this summer that he is now ready to race. He has crashed, drawn blood, scratched the daylights out of and broken a brake on his bike, replaced a helmet, and endured my endless giggling over stories and videos of crashes and cactus (not him, but it's a really great story and video of a friend!). He's really becoming a beautiful and fast MTB rider, I'm very proud of him.

There were camping trips, and we are back to strictly tent camping. I can't say I'm brokenhearted; I am a traditionalist on a lot of things, after all! But I don't recommend the way we got back to the primitive style. As we were preparing to head out for a weekend trip with Jeff's parents, our trailer decided it no longer wanted any part of it. The fridge started a nice fire, we spent 3 extinguishers and some water from the hose to put it out, and the insurance company totaled the whole thing. The good news is that it didn't engulf the trailer, and it happened here at home before we had it hooked up to the truck instead of while we were on the road or asleep.

In the meantime, I am hard to work at my degree again. I am ready to be done with school, but I have a long, long way to go. More papers, more silly classes to fill requirements I couldn't give a hoot about, and more opportunities to learn about the past that thrills my senses. It's time consuming, but it will be worth it in the long run....

Pony Daze...

I realized it's been quite a while since I have shared pictures of my beautiful boy on here. Defunct mom, that's for sure! He's going to be a man before I know it, and I'm constantly amazed at the changes he experiences every day.

One of the gifts he received for Christmas was a set of brushes, complete with hoof pick. He has been very anxious to use them, we just haven't had a whole lot of chance. Last Tuesday finally afforded decent enough weather, time on our part, and opportunity for our friends to have company. We've all been busy!

I love that I could barely get Luke out of his seat quick enough for him to greet his fuzzy buddies! As soon as his feet hit the dirt he took off running to pet noses and say hi to Jack, Penny, and Polly. They were all lined up at their gate waiting to greet their favorite small person, too. I had the camera, but I was unable to grab a shot of this since I also had my arms full with Luke's saddle, bridle, helmet, brushes, and jacket that he so conveniently forgot to grab. I will readily admit that I'll be happy to see the day Luke carries his own tack...I have plenty of my own to worry about!

I grabbed a halter and pulled Jack out. Luke immediately grabbed his brushes and set to work getting his buddy ready for a ride. Well, as ready as Luke could get him since he can't reach his back or do his feet without help, but it's still a big accomplishment. He did a great job, too! I then threw his tack on, helped Luke get his helmet on, and walked the pony to the mounting block. Luke was already waiting for us and I could only stand in amazement as he stretched his foot up, put it in the stirrup, grabbed the pommel & cantle and hoisted himself right up! He then proceeded to top that perfect mounting off with an immediate sliding of his right foot into the other iron, getting himself square, picked up his reins and said "walk, Jack" while he appropriately squeezed his legs closed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! Wasn't it just yesterday that he needed me to lift him into the seat and put his feet in the irons? Didn't I have to hand him the reins and make sure he was ready?

We did wander around a bit and had a good walk. Luke showed me how well he does his "up-downs", what a good leg he has, spontaneously reached to pet & praise his pony on his own, and demonstrated that he is actually prepared to begin walk-trot lessons. It's a bittersweet thing for me because my baby boy, my little leadline rider is ready to progress. I've wanted this for him, but I'll miss our own little lessons and fun at shows while in the ring together. Not only that, I need to learn to keep my emotions and stomach in check while he learns to tackle riding by himself. Oh my...

I did manage to snap two pictures before Luke dismounted...again, he did this all by himself. A friend told me he looks like he was falling asleep, but he was griping that I had the camera out again. He gets tired of me taking his picture all the time. But I'll always remember that even HE laughed when he saw them!

Every single day my child correctly uses a new big word in a sentence, and he does something that is probably beyond his years. Every single day I thank God for allowing me another 24-hours with him and marvel at how he is growing up. But I have to think that every single time I see him in the saddle I will only see my little child on a large grey pony....

Natural Disasters Equal Natural Tears...

There is just no other way to say it: I am a complete emotional mess. I hide it well, but then I sit here after everyone else has gone to bed and I cry. I admit that it is not one of those things I just sit and do on regular occasion, but when something hits me in the heart I let go and cry. The only thing that keeps me from being completely buried in embarrassment is the fact that I know I am not alone.

I know everyone is aware of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked the tiny third-world country of Haiti barely 10-days ago. That's no longer news. But it is haunting me. I am struggling with the fact there are so many children who have lost everything, including their entire families. I am wishing I were among the people who have volunteered and deployed to help the Haitian people, whether on their own, through an organization, or with the military. And I am praying. Fervently. It's all been emotionally draining.

Yet the good thing is that I know who I am and that I'm not the cold-hearted person I sometimes am accused of being. When it becomes your nature to hide emotion and a lot of personality from those who aren't family or the closest of friends you begin to hear all sorts of interesting impressions and accusations. Sometimes it makes me laugh, this time it made me bawl my eyes out...

New Year, New Semester, New Life....

January ushered in more than just a new year, it brought the start of another semester of school for me. I am still a part-time student, it's what's working for me, but I have upped things to 3/4 time: 9 semester credits. Yes, I am well aware that that fact is less than exciting, but it is what seems to work for our family. Right now those classes are still history classes, but they do involve a lot of work. Especially this semester! Four research papers, one speech, and plenty of time making sure I don't completely blow tests that are all essay questions. I see many late nights in my future! But it IS all worth it!

January also brought about some new things for the family. I have been on a mission to clean out the accumulated stuff in our house. Things such as coats, clothes, toys, and just...stuff! I am pleased, yet also very humiliated to share that we donated 9 trash bags of adult clothing and coats (seriously, 3 of those bags were JUST the coats Jeff & I had accumulated!) to the shelter at the Salvation Army. But other than that, I have finally nearly completed the cleaning out of the basement. Goodwill has gotten to know me a wee bit too well! Luke has been fantastic with this. It's tough for a 3-year old to understand having so much and sharing with those who don't, but he's thrown a few things in the donation boxes.

But I think the biggest new thing actually revolves around yours truly. It's probably not any kind of a secret that I have been looking and applying to return to full-time work, but it is a bit of a surprise when people find out where. I have been turned down by some, had the FBI position cancelled (but they're retaining my resume, so that's VERY good!), and am still waiting to hear on a few others, but they are all Federal positions of the intelligence kind. Right up my ally, and definitely where I am trained. The door that has been opened, however, is the one that finds me back in uniform.

I cannot even begin to express my excitement over that fact! It is truly amazing how one can feel they've left their job unfinished but then be given another chance at fulfilling the mission. Even better is the fact I'll actually be with the planes this time instead of only sitting inside a SCIF freezing my butt off! Yes, being an Air Force Reservist is a part-time job, but it's also still 24/7. The door opened with the opportunity of becoming what is known as an Air Reserve Technician, the same full-time position my dad held for so many years (just in a different shop, of course!). Until my SCI clearance is upgraded again (which tends to take months....always) I will be doing structural inspections on the C-130, including X-rays. VERY cool, and I'm trained in the art of taking, developing, and reading X-rays! But I do hope I'll get the chance to crawl inside an intake for an inspection. I always feared it when my dad had to do something similar in the F-16, so it's sort of facing that fear, but it's also just kind of fun to say "I was the smallest person, so they sent me in." How many people can say they've hung out inside an aircraft engine's intake?

(Not part of the 302nd, but a great demo of intake inspection)

Needless to say, Luke is a little excited about this, as well. He keeps telling me I can't be an "Air Force Man" because HE is the one who is, but he's thrilled to get to know the airplanes. This child takes after his mom, uncle, and sometimes Grampa in that he hears a plane (or helicopter) fly anywhere near the house and shoots out the door to take a look, and he's expressed that he wants to fly later in life. I can't wait to get him familiar with these Herculean birds!

(one of my unit's birds dropping water on a wildfire)

If you have read this far, I thank you! I know it's a bunch of rambling drivel, but it's also the quick catch-up. I hope January has been half as exciting for the rest of you!

Joyeux Noel...part 2

Yes, yes, I know I am slow on this.

We woke on Christmas morning when daddy got home from work. Well, Luke woke up, I was allowed to sleep in another hour. I'm quite grateful for that! But then the fun began.

Luke could not hold his excitement at being able to finally tear into the presents without getting into trouble. I add that caveat because he tore into two gifts on two separate occasions and presented his treasure to us with pride. Imagine his disappointment when it was taken away and he got to spend a few minutes in time-out for that little trick. But he learned, and now he was ready to devour the paper. He thought it was great fun and couldn't get enough! He even enjoyed the orange & apple I put in his stocking (momma & daddy got one of each, too, don't worry!). The orange instantly became a temporary baseball while the apple became an instant breakfast. Goofball kid...but I can't complain that he loves his fruit.

He thought it was great fun that he was allowed to help us tear the paper off of our gifts, but he also thought our stuff was very boring. It didn't make sounds, it didn't have Lightning McQueen on it, and it wasn't something that he could put together to drive stuff on or use as an airstrip. His toys, however? He was in complete heaven! I'm also proud to report the few items of clothing were much appreciated as he attempted to wear all of it at the same time, pre-washing. The books he received were all read (at least in part) before noon. And the puzzles were sadly told they had to wait until we could find a spot on the floor to put them together. What a great kid to patiently wait for that to happen!

Once things were somewhat picked up, family was called, and everyone was fed I took off to deliver some cookies to friends in Penrose. Daddy took a well-deserved nap and Luke joined him for a bit. I wasn't gone that long, but they were both up & playing by the time I got home.

All-in-all, we had a fantastic day that was full of nothing but family fun. As much as I enjoy being with extended family on holidays, it is pure love to have Christmas morning involve just me & the boys.....

Joyeux Noel...part 1

I had so much fun preparing for Christmas this year. Luke's third seems to have been the most fun thus far, and he was certainly ready! After quite some time of exclaiming over the lights, helping me put up the decorations, doing a really good job of staying calm while we gave toys to OTHER kids, and deciding he wanted nothing to do with the Christmas program at church, Christmas Eve finally rolled around.

Daddy had to work, but Luke and I went to the 5:30 candlelight service at our church. That's earliest Christmas Eve service I have been to in a very, very long time. When I lived in Hawaii I went to an 8pm service, but that WAS the late service. Otherwise, it's been only 11pm services since I was young and my parents decided I was old enough. That is, however, much too late for a little child. I was actually quite surprised at just how crowded it was! I figured most of the kids went to the 3:30 Barn Service, but there were still quite a few at this one. Luke was fidgety, and he even let the entire congregation know he wanted to talk. "Can I talk NOW??" And a round of laughter. I was really amused, but also mortified. He survived, though, and he loved the candles. Then came time for us to have a special treat for dinner: Christmas pancakes at IHOP!

This really was a treat because we don't go out that often. I was just sorry Daddy couldn't join us for this one festive occasion, though. You see, this was the reward for the gift Luke gave us, fittingly on Christmas Eve. A year ago this month (January) he had been fully potty trained as was doing really, really great. When I had my pulmonary embolism in February, all that training went down the toilet. It was so bad for a while that he would have a full-fledged panic attack if we even attempted walking into a public restroom....which ended up painful for the parents, but we dealt. For the past almost year we have been fighting to get him back onto the potty. On Christmas Eve morning he marched into the bathroom, sat on his potty, then hollered to us at the top of his lungs "I POOPED!" And that was all it took! He's been in big boy pants ever since!

We got home a little after 8, later than Luke's bedtime, but it was a special night. I let him watch a Christmas show, we continued tracking Santa on NORAD's map, and he was too excited to go to sleep. Eventually he caved, and Santa was able to make his visit. I finally climbed into bed somewhere around 2am, and the sugar plums danced in our heads all night long....

New Year's Eve....

I know I still need to post on Christmas and my crazy child. He definitely gave us a unique present this year, but it's one we're more than happy to have. More will come on that later...

For now, I want to remind everyone that this is a night that is so much fun for everyone. Last year I posted about the AdAmAn (add a man) Club from our area and their annual climb up Pikes Peak to shoot fireworks at midnight. What a fantastic way to ring in the New Year, and let me tell you just how jealous I am of them this day! It is glorious outside. Not too cold (should be in the teens on the summit), just a little bit of wind, robin egg-blue skies with no clouds. Absolutely gorgeous!! And perfect for climbing! As I write this the team is about 2-miles from summit, meaning they have about 2 hours left to climb. They should summit about 3pm MT. They can then rest a bit, enjoy a donut and something warm to drink, set up for the 5 fireworks at 9pm in honor of the original Frozen Five, and make sure all is ready for the midnight show. They've also assured us that they have extra fireworks this year for a bigger show. Yay!

This year they've done things just a little bit differently. Sure, they've done the same thing of leaving Manitou onto Barr Trail yesterday morning, camped at Barr Camp overnight, and left the camp this morning around 9am. Sure, they've flashed the mirrors and let everyone in the Springs know their status. But this year they've joined cyberspace! They're tweeting and Facebooking status updates.

So, for now, the point of this post is to let everyone know that. Make sure you check them out! Follow them on Twitter at TheAdAmAnClub, and on Facebook at The AdAmAn Club. In honor of this, I will TRY to get a few pictures of the fireworks tonight. I just don't know how well it will work since I'm far enough away and it's dark...but I'll definitely try...