Party time!

 I have a 12 year old!!
 I think I struggle with this every single year. He continues to get older (which means I do too!) and I continue to be shocked.

 He originally wanted an Indiana Jones birthday party, but I struggled to find decor and games for that.
 We were going to go river rafting... but then it called for rain all weekend.

 So, he had to settle for third choice. But I think it still turned out pretty good!

 Jurassic Park was the theme. The new Jurassic World comes out this summer and dinosaurs are everywhere!

 We played "Pin the tail on the velociraptor".

 Zion "accidentally" pinned the original tail on his head instead. Made him quite an interesting character! 

Strangely, R2D2 Sorry was the most popular game. Nothing to do with Jurassic Park, but lots of fun. 

 So serious!

 Lots of laughter, which is the most delightful sound.

Ian (above) drew this fabulous card for Canaan. 

As always, Andy got creative. 

 Isn't that a fabulous dinosaur watermelon?!

 Beautiful Smiles!

12 candles!

We had almost as many grownups as children, so Andy and I had fun too.
I believe a "good time was had by all".

Life is good.... and now, four days later the internet is finally letting me upload pictures!

Blessings, 

A few moments of memories

 Twelve years ago, right now, I was in California, about to fulfill my biggest life goal.
 I was about to become a mother.
 I had been attached to the little one growing inside me for months already, but I was finally going to get to hold him!
 He was a stubborn little thing, and waited until "tomorrow" to actually make his entrance though.

Before things got hard...

 May 15, 2003, just after 1 in the morning, he finally arrived!

 9lbs, 4oz, 20 1/2 inches

Proud grandparents

 One of my sisters got married just one month later, so he got to come to GA and meet a lot of my side of the family while he was very young!

 And his Uncle Josh on Daddy's side. 

 How could anyone resist that face?

Matching daddy

He was a well traveled little baby. 

 The Freeman grandparents took him to Lake Tahoe.

 My sisters took him to Florida.

 We visited my grandparents in Indiana, and stopped in Nebraska on the way home to visit wonderful friends. 

So for his first birthday we made him a cake of the USA, showing all the places he had already travelled. (If you count the ones we just drove through, he had already been to 9 states!)

He enjoyed it.

In the morning we will celebrate 12 years of loving him. 

I am so very glad that God allowed me to have my greatest desire. 

I am so excited to see the man of God he is growing into. 

 I miss those baby kisses, but the smiles I still get are just as sweet. 

I love you Canaan Andrew. 

Blessings my friends, 

Promotion time!

It's official. 

We had a party, so that makes it real!

Andy has been in Captain's Career Course since January, even though he wasn't technically a Captain yet. He has been training in anticipation. 

There were four other soldiers in class with him who promoted to Captain in May also.

We all joined together for a celebration.

 In alphabetical order :)

 Andy's parents came to visit and were able to "pin on" his rank. 

Happy times!

 I am so proud of my hard working man!

Such lovely smiles!

Sadly, I left my camera at home, the cupcakes I made were horrible, and my hair would not submit to me. 

Luckily, other people have cameras and are willing to share, other people made cupcakes that were delicious, and everyone is use to my hair. 

So, even with my less then stellar contributions, "A good time was had by all!" 

Blessings, 

Miller Cave

 Friday evening Andy and I met some of his classmates for dinner at a local bbq place. While we were all chatting one of the couples told us about a local cave, open to exploring, right here on post.
 She gave us the basic directions of how to get there and said, "If you come to a part that looks like you are about to drive off the edge of the earth, you have gone too far."

We found that part. :)

(This picture does not do it justice. It really does look like you are going to drop straight down!)

We turned around.

 At first we thought this lovely little overhang was the cave. 

 So we enjoyed the view for a while.

 But there was more!

 This lovely little window...

had a beautiful view!

 I adored this tree, and how it adapted to the situation it was given. 

So inspiring, and simply beautiful. 

There were two entrances to the "main" cavern - 

 Up and through...

or down and through.

We tried them both. 

I had to take the camera bag off in order to fit through, but I made it!

 I didn't get many pictures of deeper inside the cave. I don't have fancy enough equipment for that! There was a good bit of water, several neat little tunnels, and an unfortunate amount of trash. 

 Canaan "discovered" a part that Daddy didn't fit in, and Mommy wouldn't try to fit in. He got deep enough in that I couldn't see his light anymore! Fortunately for the sanity of mommy, there was a spider blocking the way and he came back. I am sorry that he inherited that fear from me, but this one time I was glad for it! 

Just a few hundred feet away was another cave,

 but it wasn't open for exploring.

 So I made my boys enjoy a few flowers instead.

I love my boys. 

I love their daddy. 

I love the adventures we discover, right around the corner, every day. 

Life is a little crazy sometimes, but life is good. 

Enjoy your adventures my friends!

Blessings,