THANKSGIVING

So, I forgot to post our Thanksgiving happenings. The McGowens, a family here on base, invited Joe and I to come over for dinner. Alyssa and I split the menu. Just want to add, I think we did a prett good job considering it was our first Thanksgiving meal we had to make. It was a fun day and am grateful for friends to share a fabulous day with.

MOVING.....

DRUMROLL PLEASE...........JOE GOT AN EMAIL FROM THE AIRFORCE YESTERDAY. APPARENTLY WE ARE MOVING TO........................................................................................

SPANGDAHLEM AFB IN GERMANY. THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS.....GERMANY!!! ALL I CAN SAY IS WOOOOHOOOOO! SO EXCITED. IT IS VERY UNEXPECTED. ALL I KNOW FOR NOW IS WE ARE SUPPOSED TO LEAVE APRIL 1ST. WOW. I THOUGHT WE WOULD BE HERE A WHILE. PEOPLE WHO COME TO LUKE AFB END UP STAYING HERE QUITE A WHILE. BUT HERE'S THE SCOOP...

JOE IS A CREW CHIEF ON THE F-16 FIGHTER JET. THIS PARTICULAR JET IS BEING PHASED OUT BY THE NEW F-35. THEY ARE GETTING RID OF QUITE A FEW AIRCRAFT HERE AND THAT MEANS JOE WON'T HAVE PLANES HERE TO WORK ON. THEY ARE JUST BRINGING NEW GUYS IN STRAIGHT FROM TECH SCHOOL WHO ARE LEARNING ON THE F-35. THAT MEANS THEY NEED TO SEND US SOMEWHERE WHERE HE CAN STILL WORK ON THE F-16......................AND I GUESS THAT MEANS GERMANY FOR NOW. DON'T KNOW THE DETAILS. DON'T KNOW FOR HOW LONG. BUT I REALLY HOPE IT HAPPENS THIS TIME. WE DEFINITELY HAVE HIGHER HOPES. HE ALREADY GOT CHECKLISTS AND PAPERWORK TO START. YAY!!!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

CRAWLING

CALVIN IS OFFICIALLY A CRAWLING MACHINE. Here is a video of his first attempts. Pretty good I say!!! Love you buddy!!!

MORE OF CALVIN

Some more of my favorite guy. He's so much fun. I love taking pictures of him.

I LOVE YOU, LUANN

This is not a happy post. I don't know if anyone who reads this post knows a woman by the name of Luann Barton. She is a lady I've known since I was sixteen. We worked together at D'boni's Pizza. She has been battling with pancreatic cancer for the past six months. Yesterday I got the news that she is not doing well. Then I just found out she may not make it through the night. She may never read this and now I most likely won't get the chance to talk to her again. But I just want some people to know how amazing she is. This woman has had a hard life. She got pregnant when she was young, moved cross country from New York with nothing. She's had hard times left and right, trying to raise two boys who have not been very easy to raise. She's always worked like a dog trying to make ends meet as a single mom. Living a hard life, she's pretty rough around the edges...doesn't let many people in to her personal life. But, I've worked with her for so long. She is an amazing person. If ever you needed to talk to anyone or needed some help, she was there. She has a great laugh and is quite a funny lady. She always had the dream of taking a cruise around Italy. Always working for her boys, she's never really taken a day off. Sometimes, you could see how tired she was, but she always keeps fighting. And even though I can't talk to her because she isn't even conscious right now, I just need for her to know that so many people love her. And my heart breaks that I won't get the chance to say goodbye. It just makes you realize how important it is to tell those you love how you feel. To not let dumb things make you forget how fortunate you are and how blessed your life really is. So, I hope to never forget, and to all of you who read this, I love you and hope you take the chance today to tell those around you how you feel too.

HALLOWEEN

Halloween turned out to be a great day. We met over at our friend's house to barbecue and go trick or treating. Our friend Jessica came over too. We went around a few blocks so the "kids" could get their baskets full of candy. Calvin did good for about a half hour then, it was around his bed time, so he decided he'd rather ride around in the stroller for most of the evening. After trick or treating, we came back, ate some yummy burgers (way to go hun) and watched New In Town. Overall, a great success.

Lilly as Red Riding Hood, Calvin the Giraffe, Wyatt as an Air Force Pilot, and Faith as the Sheep.

LOVE the tail!!!!

Wyatt is 3 and had a blast getting his bucket full of candy. good job Wyatt

Calvin had no problem getting his own treats!!!!!!!!!

Our friends Jessica and Faith

Calvin with his trick or treat bag that his grandma Archuleta made for him. It's decorated on one side, but we didn't manange to get it on film.

Some neighbors dressed up pretty great while they handed out their candy. Here is calvin with one of our favorites. Pretty scary!!!

Calvin's only taste of candy....a few licks of a sucker. Might I mention he wanted to keep eating it.

The kids got pretty worn out after a while. Little Faith fell asleep in Shane's arms.

Joe is so fun!!! He loves to put Calvin on his shoulders. Calvin loves it too.

6 MONTHS OLD

My little buddy is six months old. I can't believe it!!! He is doing some pretty amazing things now. He is always full of big smiles and loves to squeel and laugh. He sits up without support now. His new big thing is getting on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. No teeth yet, no big babbles. But he is one healthy happy baby boy. We went to the doctor's today and he weighs in at a whopping 18.1 pounds. He's 26.5 inches long. short and chubby. My perfect baby!!! He did really good today with his immunizations too. Only cried for a minute, then passed out the second we got home.

FABULOUS FRIDAY

Tonight was FABULOUS FRIDAY. I brought my friend, Alyssa, to the enrichment craft night. We had a great time and made some great things for the home.

These were cardboard letters painted black. Used scrapbook paper for the front. Used sand paper to age them a little and coated them with decopage (spelling?). Added a few spooky touches and voilla!


These were different size blocks of wood, sanded at the edges, painted, sanded again to give it an aged look, then used vinyl letteres to spell out the words.

This was the easiest project I did. Got a black frame, a black and white photo, and a copy of the Proclamation to the World on vellum. It was such a great idea. LOVE it!!!

And this was my last project of the night. Easy peasy!!! Different colors of scrapbook paper arranged just so. Add some vinyl letters and some cute ribbon and you're done. Got a dry erase marker also to complete the project.

Glad I went. Got to talk to some ladies at chuch that I don't usually talk too. A great missionary moment with my friend Alyssa. And some great treasures to boot!!!! I can be quite crafty when I copy what someone else did!!!

ORDERS!!!

I'm really excited. Got my first wedding cake order today. It's for a girl I work with. It's a four-tier fondant covered cake with swags and flowers. Also doing her favors...sugar cookies with chocolate on top decorated with chocolate transfer sheets. It's not until march so no pictures any time soon. Just excited to get creative again!!

PICKIN' PUNKINS

Today Joe and I decided to take Calvin to a local pumpkin patch to pick out some fun pumpkins to carve. Calvin did a great job helping us pick out the perfect ones! We got a big one for Joe, a smaller one for me and a baby one for Calvin. Here are a few pictures of Calvin enjoying the day.

FAMILY PORTRAITS

We had family portraits taken when we went back to visit everyone in August. Here are a few of the poses I got. Sorry they aren't the best quality. We don't have a printer/scanner yet so I had to take pictures of my pictures.

The family picture...
Joe and I. Now that I look at it more, I'm dissapointed you can't see more of Joe's face.

The whole Archuleta Clan

Mister Calvin. 3 1/2 months old

Three generations of Archuleta men

The grandparents and the grandbabies. I love calvin's expression in this one

GRAND CANYON

Joe and I took Calvin up to the Grand Canyon last weekend. We woke up about 5 in the morning and got on the road about 6:30. It's about a 4 hour drive so we wanted to leave early so we could spend the whole day there. As we began our trip, the clouds starting rolling in. And when it storms here, it STORMS! I was really nervous about how the weather was going to be. When we got about half way, we stopped for gas and the wind was blowing so hard. I had checked the weather report the day before and was not expecting this kind of weather. Good thing we dressed appropriately. We got to the Grand Canyon about 10:30. We stopped by the visitor's center to check out where we should go.

After that, we walked along the trail and looked at the amazing view. Wind and all, it was a spectacular view. Words can't really describe what you see, except maybe GRAND.
The colors of the different layers of rock are so distinct. And to see how tiny the Colorado River is below is absolutely breathtaking. It was so neat to watch the birds soar in the wide open spaces with nothing in their way. We learned about the native americans that lived there in centuries past. Over all a wonderful day despite the million mile an hour winds.

Calvin had a great time. It was really fun to see him interact with objects at the gift shop. He liked the wind for the most part and it was his first time having to wear a sweat shirt. Brrr, it was pretty chilly there.

He fell asleep with his hoody over his face. It was pretty windy by the trail and it was blowing up sand. So cute.

Some of the amazing views we got to experience. Pictures just don't do it justice.

Calvin, you are so cute, even with your silly faces. And you sure do love your daddy.

Daniel Boone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He really didn't apreciate this too much as you can see by his expression. But cute none the less. What a good sport.

Joe at the top of the stone tower at the east end of the canyon.

Another great view among the trees.

Okay this was sooooo cool. There were signs posted up everywhere about deer and moose. But I never actually expected to see any. As we were heading out of the park at the end of the day, there were a bunch of cars parked along side the road and a lot of people to one side taking pictures. At first I thought, the grand canyon is not over here. What on earth are they taking pictures of and what is so great that they have to practically block the road? Well, this is why!!! I made Joe do an illegal u turn and I jumped out of my car to
catch this amazing moment on film. There were so many moose. I couldn't believe how calm they were just grazing on the grass. We got pretty close. Such a wonderful sight and a perfect way to end the day. Afterwards, Joe took us to Prescott where we stopped in at a restaurant to eat a great dinner. Then we headed home. We were so tired from our adventures that we went straight to bed. Great Day, Wonderful Memories