"I'm FREE!"

I hoped this day would never come.

But come it did.

So I decided I might as well make the most of it.

You know the drill- make a cake, blow up balloons, sew a quick crown and banner, the whole shabang.

I was really, really, really hoping Lila would stay two forever.

That her hands will always have those dimples right below her knuckles.

That she will always ask for "mo nook pease".

That her sweet little voice will always be heard at all hours of the day and night singing her songs as she wanders around.

And when I come around the corner I could always find her sitting in the book nook, legs crossed, slowly turning the pages as she twirls her hair.

I asked her if she wanted presents for her birthday. "No thanks, I don't need any presents". That response made me wonder if she knew what the word present meant. So I asked her if she wanted new toys. "No, thanks. I don't want any new toys." I asked her if she wanted cake. "YES! I want some cake!!" I asked her if she wanted friends to come play. "YES, I want to play with my friends!".

This simplicity is one of her finest features. A simple, happy, joyful girl. It just does not take much.

Braden asked her in the morning, "Lila, what is today?" and she said, "It's my Birthdaycake!!".

Our neighbor Michelle wanted to make her a cake so I told her Cookie Monster would melt Lila's heart. And it did. It was so fun to watch her.

Her best buds came over and they threw each other around in the ball pit and ate cake until their faces were blue.

She did end up with a few presents, and true to her word, she was not so interested. I gave her a giant bouncy ball first and that was all she wanted (one of her favorite things to do is chase bouncy balls around the house). We did get her to open the rest, which she liked, but was so unlike most kids on their birthday. Refreshing actually.

I love to celebrate other people's birthdays because it gives me the chance to think about that person all day- how grateful I am for them and what they mean to me. My heart is so full to have had this little ray of sunshine for the last three years.


We bought her panties to try to inspire excitement for potty training. No dice. Need help, immediately.

New shades, new ball.









This picture is the essence of Lila.

FHE

Last night for family home evening we were counseled by our stake president to discuss The Proclamation. As I recall, it went something like this:

(Lila conducting, so everything is already funny)...

L: Welcome to Family Home Evening. Tonight we're talking about......ELMO!!!

While laying down on my tummy, I begin to explain something. Lila comes and sits on my back and begins bouncing up and down so you can only hear every other word I'm saying.

Braden takes over and is teaching Anabelle about the commandment to have babies. She begins crying and says that she never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever wants to have a baby. Because she doesn't want to grow up. She wants to live with us forever.

We decided to table that conversation and move on.

I try to bring Lila back into the conversation by saying, "Lila, do you know that you look like Heavenly Father?!" She shouts, "WOO HOO!!!!" and begins galloping in circles.

Meanwhile Maisey is crawling all over the middle of The Proclamation so no one can see it and looks at us with the "Oh, sorry, am I in your way?" look. Classic Maisey.

Then Anabelle starts playing with her and tickling her and we can hear that Lila has ran to our room and started jumping on the bed.

We wrap up the message, eat some cookies, play some games, and hope that someone got something out of that other than the desire for a Candlyland rematch.

Family Home Evenings at our house are funny. I hope for them to one day be more than that, but for now, at least we're all laughing together, right?

The following pictures are from a branch FHE we went to last week on the beach. We have made some good branch buddies here in Mexico Beach.

Graduation & Wing Ceremony

It was a great thing to watch Braden on graduation day. A day he had been counting down to all year. This program is hard, no doubt about that. The pressure is immense, the material complex, and the amount of information is overwhelming. In practicing scripts, picture calls, brevity words, and flash cards with him, I grew to understand what a challenging thing this training is. Our friends from our branch doing the same program washed out the same week Braden graduated. It was heartbreaking for us to watch. And do you know who the only people at graduation for us was? It was them (along with the Bargers, also from our branch). I was humbled at their willingness to support us even though it must have been so painful to watch. A good lesson in friendship & support.

I asked Braden that day if he had ever finished something as intense or challenging and he said no. It was good to see that accomplishment on his face. It wasn't pride. It seemed to be a great sense of relief. And gratitude. He finished with a 95% average, while managing to be an involved husband and father, something his peers did not have to juggle.

And so it is that we find ourselves wrapping up our time here in ol P-city. I would say it has been a good year. Enjoyable in so many ways. I don't know if Braden would say the same thing. It is probably like after I have had a baby and I hear Braden telling people that the baby sleeps great and everything is great. I always roll my eyes and think "yeah of course it is, for you who doesn't feed a baby every two hours". I am sure we have had largely different experiences over the last year. After quizzing him before tests I would often tell him that I was so grateful that all I had to do the next day was clean and cook. If I was in this program I would constantly be peeing my pants in public.

I can see that it has stretched him and stressed him in ways I didn't think his carefree soul had the capability to be. He has done well under all the pressure and I am proud of him. Extremely proud of him, actually. So proud that I bought him a candy bar and took him to Pepper's for a few pounds of pork.

As they say in the Air Force, OUTSTANDING, LT Reynolds. Doneplete!!


Col Brown, the guy I hugged, commander of all CRC's in the Air Force

The pinning of his wings by his favorite instructor

2nd LT Braden Reynolds, Air Battle Manager, USAF

During a silent moment Lila yelled out "GO DADDY"! and started clapping. She did some other yelling also but it wasn't quite as cute. I can't say it was relaxing for me. It was like a mid week sacrament meeting except there were no other kids to blame for noisiness. Finally Braden just let her come up and stand with him in the receiving line because she was going nuts.





Notice the wings on the uni

The "thanks for being my wing man flowers" he gave us during the ceremony

We like to eat over priced food in over priced outfits. It's our favorite.

As is customary, there was a dinner at the officer's club the night before Braden graduated. Of course, it was mandatory. But even if it wasn't, we would have gone. I myself jump at the chance to shell out $50.00 to still be hungry, even after I've eaten all 7 of my bland vegetables. But hey, I'll take any chance I have to see Braden strap on those suspenders and that cute little bow tie. It's always fun to get fancy and have a night out.

Unfortunately for me, the day before this, I happened to go to my hairdresser on Opposite Day just to get a few layers fixed. Previously, I believed that opposite day was an invented occurrence developed by 4th graders trying to tag a handball court. Not so, my friends. I told my competent and talented hairdresser what to do and what I absolutely did not want. But she did that exact thing. When she came at me with the buzzers I knew things had gone south. It did save me time in getting ready because there is nothing to do with my hair. Because she cut it all off. And what she didn't cut, she buzzed. And what she didn't buzz, she angled, in the exact opposite manner of what she was directed to do. Opposite day- it's real apparently.

Braden introduced me to "the man responsible for getting us the Hill slot". When I heard this I wrapped my arms around him in a soft hug. I don't generally have a habit of hugging Colonel's, at least not at our first meeting, but I do like to make a memorable first impression. He smelled quite intoxicated though, so I'm not sure our embarce at the bar will be remembered. Col Grazhulis said publicly that he would kill Braden if he screwed up in the CRC. No, he really said that. In fact, he said it about four times both publicly and privately. Giving him this CRC position is a big deal. It is a brand new thing they are trying to do and need for Braden to do really well in order to validate their push for it. Col. Brown told me to think of this position in the long term. He said doing this now will pay off for us in about 18 years. We stayed late chatting with both his current commander and the commander over all the CRC's in the Air Force. It was nice to get some advice, a few threats to perform well, and some first hand information about the position, since we don't know anybody who has done this before.

I was left with several impressions at the end of the night: First, that what we are embarking on really will be very hard. Second, the recognition that it is indeed an opportunity for Braden. And last, just proud of him for his hard work and integrity in the program.









*They also allowed the families who came for graduation to fly in the F-15 Simulator. Tyndall is where all the training for the 15 has taken place so they have a classified building with a few sims in it to train on. It's just like sitting in a real cock pit. And it was just like flying over the bay where we live. I was astonished at how many buttons there are. They said at any one time they are controlling about 60 actions at a time. Once I got the hang of it it was really cool, although I did feel queasy for the next few hours. Next time you see a fighter pilot give them a pat on the back for their mad multi tasking skills. Of course I wasn't allowed to have a camera in there but you can just imagine a super sized version of the coolest video game ever.

Memorial Day with Nate-diggity-dawg and Chiggity-Chan

We spent last weekend with two of Braden's besties from days of yore. Nate flew in so we all hung out in Destin and PCB. As much as we move and as many new friends as we are constantly making, it just feels good when you get to be with the old true friends you really love. If Corey & Jess and their little people had been there it would have been perfect.

Nate took us to Bonefish Grill and it was so fun. Anybody else had their bang bang shrimp and now have trouble being happy with other food?

Although we didn't go to any public celebrations, Phil and his family were close to my heart all day. I'm thankful for all those who have sacrificed for our great country and are doing so now, especially the ones in my own family, whose sacrifice is personal to me.









I love Maisey and I love the beach but I don't love Maisey at the beach. This was the first time we let her get down and roam about in the sand and water. She was frustrated because I wouldn't let her eat seaweed. She was covered in sand and I believe she got some in her eye. Which I think may have been what caused a strange eye infection that caused her to cry all night when her eye became full of fluid and swollen shut. Three trips to the doctor and two rounds of antibiotics later, she's good. The mobile but not walking stage is rough for the outdoors.

Strawberry picking at Sweatmore Ranch

Last week we had a caravan of four cars full of children eager to go strawberry picking. It was out in the middle of nowhere. You can imagine how excited we were to learn, after spending $10 in gas that they decided to close a few weeks early. They let us get out and see a few of the remaining animals they had and climb on their farm equipment. I guess they didn't actually ever say we could climb on their farm equipment...

The kids had fun anyway.



Lila's besties- the 2 year old twinners Payton & Chloe Gray

Lisa Clayson who is always helping me with one of my kids. Lila calls her "Yee-sa" and has a slight crush on Yeesa's husband.