Iowa National Guard Officer's Association Recognition Dinner

We attended the annual INGOA Rec Dinner on Saturday. It was held at the Airport Holiday Inn in Des Moines. The night consists of a social, a dinner (which we skipped this year...3 hrs long and borinnnng), and hospitality rooms sponsored by various units.
As always, it was a great time with some great friends.

All dressed up!

Me and Heather

This one was taken with my BlackBerry, so not great quality, but I think it's cute :)

Chris and Heather Johnson/Lee and I

Jill, Heather, me, MAJ Linda Craven (Linda and her husband) used to be helicopter pilots on active duty, and now she's in the guard...her husband was in ROTC with Lee.)



Thank you to Grandma Cathy and Great Grandma Audrey for staying with our (SICK) kids so we could enjoy a night out!

11 months

Brynna LeeAnn Vandewater
11 months old

Likes:
Strawberries, bananas, yogurt
Pulling all the wipes out of the container
Getting dirty outside
Crawling/toddling around in just a diaper
Giving kisses
Being the center of attention
Chewing on socks

Dislikes:
Being told no
VEGGIES
Getting in her car seat
Holding still long enough to get diaper changed
Keeping socks on

She is walking a little bit...usually, just takes off on her own, but only takes about 10-12 steps. She does really well at first, but then tries to go fast (and falls down) or gets nervous and tries to turn back around (and falls down). It's coming soon, I'm sure.

Can't believe we'll be celebrating her birthday in one short month!

Date Night

Saturday night we had Date Night at Blue Moon Dueling Piano Bar in West Des Moines. We met four other Army couples there plus a couple of Lee's college roommates. We had a GREAT time and are so thankful for Matt and Tiff watching the kids for us!

Here we are...

Lee and Chris talking about something REALLY important :)

Anna, me, and Linda.

Lisa, me, and Heather...we survived the last deployment together,
and all of our husbands will be going on the upcoming deployment.
We are about to become "family" again!

Heather, me, Anna, Linda, Cassie.

A Random Blog I stumbled upon...

a MUST read!!!

http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-dont-want-my-children-to-be-happy.html


I haven't had a chance to read through her entire blog, but it seems GREAT so far, hope you enjoy this post as I did.



Oh, and THEN read this one:

http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/2008/11/god-thinks-you-rock-casbah.html

SO good!!!

Spring IS coming...

Finally, we are starting to see signs of Spring in this tundra we call SW Iowa. It's SLOWLY warming up and the snow is starting to melt...we can actually see a little grass in the yard. Grant is SO excited...along with the rest of us.

Playing in the mud.

She loves it outside too!


They both took three hour naps after playing outside for about an hour (well, Grant was out longer than that). Now, if only it would stop raining so we could get back out there!

We've been SICK here FOREVER! Grant has had bronchitis and a stomach virus (at the SAME time). He had to do breathing treatments and antibiotics. Brynna seemed to have a touch of the stomach virus part of one day, but then was better and is just dealing with a runny nose. Lee has had both the stomach virus and the cold/bronchitis stuff...but at different times, so his is just dragging on! Thankfully, I've only had a mild cold...God is keeping me healthy so I can take care of them, I guess!?!?! I've been cleaning and disinfecting the house like crazy and those germs just seem to be hanging around...YUCK!!!! Praying for warmer weather and a healthy family!!!

Kissy Face