Don't Ever Give Up!!

Tonight my sister, Alison, her friend, Candace, Bill, Colby and I were driving home from dinner. Alison, Candace, and Colby were trying to watch a movie in the back seat. Their is something wrong with the DVD player and it will shut itself off. Alison got tired of messing with it, and just turned it off.

Colby said "Alison turn the movie back on."

Alison: "No, I give up I don't want to mess with it anymore."

Colby: "Alison you should never give up. Dad when you have a bad day at work and the prisoners are being bad, do you give up?"

Bill: "No."

Colby: "Mom when I go to work with you and you tell me to quit playing and sit down, and I want to play do I give up and sit down, or do I play?"

Me: "You never give up, you continue playing"

Colby: "Candace in the shoe store when you saw two pairs of shoes you wanted did you give up or buy them both?"

Candace: "I bought both pairs Colby"

Colby: "Alison when you watch a scary movie do you finish it or give up and turn it off?"

Alison: "I fiinsh it Colby."

Colby: "Are you with me? Let's watch that movie"

Everyone: "Yeah Colby I'm with you. Let's try the DVD player again."

Amazingly it came on and stayed on the rest of the trip, and when we got home there was about 20 minutes left of the movie and they stayed in the car to finish it.

Colby: "See Alison you should never give up"

A Letter From Scott

This is a letter Scott wrote for a family reunion my parents went to in November. Thought I would share with everyone.


well hello my deariest family, im sitting here in afganistan writing you all a letter that my mom would liketo share with you. i hope you all enjoy and i hope ive kept it short enough thati didnt bore any of you.

but before i begin my stories down memory lane to thecurrent events. i want to make a clarification. the last time i was in Utah withmom and dad. i remember barbara asked me why i was joining the service. iremember i gave a very uneducated typical highschooler answer "seems likethe cool thing to do" i just want to clarify now that the reasons i joinedare much bigger then that. i did it then because i wanted to be part ofsomething much bigger then i could possibly imagine at the time. i did it causemy dad and grandfather did it. i did it cause i wanted to do my duty to mycountry and to myself. Now that im here im doing it for the men i serve with andfight along side with. men that have become my brothers and best friends. also,cause its just the cool thing to do.

army starts in basic. there isnt a whole lot i can say about basic. other thenit sucked and the first night i was there i put my face in the pillow and reallystarted to question what i got myself into. physically and mentally it didntbreak me or bother me. but emotionally for the longest time i was wrecked. id goto church every sunday and id find a seat in the back and put my face in it andcry. i dared not cry around the guys i was going through with. but at church itwas cry fiesta. it all got better though when i got a letter from my bestfriend. he was just a week behind me and he told me he was going to be coming tochurch. when i saw him the sunday i jumped out of my chair and went up to himand gave him a big hug. after that i was golden. nothing was gettin to meanymore, cause now every sunday i had someone from home to talk to. like i saidthough. there isnt alot to talk about when it comes to basic. just funny storiesthat would take to long to type out.

after basic i got to go home for two weeks and do some hometown recruiting.that sucked. nobody wanted to talk to me, and then the only people that did wantto talk to me, asked me questions only recruiters could answer. id have to tellthem im a fresh out of basic private and i dont know anything about the armyyet. made me feel really stupid, but i understood real quick why they throw newprivates out there like that. peoples interest get sparked and if they wantanswers they got to go talk to a recruiter. nothing much more to say about that.

after HRAP i finally reported to my unit. i was only there for a month beforewe all shipped out to Iraq. leaving that night was hard. mom and dad dropped meoff at base, and we said our hard goodbyes. the only good thing about that nightis that i got to spend the last few hours with them sitting in a hotel roomcounting down the hours. the time came and i didnt even bother having them getout of the car. i just reached in through the window gave em both a hug toldthem i loved them and would see them soon. turned and walked away as fast as icould before starting to think to much.

when we got into kuwaitt, well there isnt nothing much to talk about there.its nothing but a hot desolete waste land inhabitated my BMWs. thats it. myplatoon was the first to go down range(thats iraq). we left a day after theiraqi elections. we got to our FOB. it actually wasnt to bad. running water,good food, internet in our own rooms, laundry points. this may sound a littlecrazy, but iraq was fun. we did over 400 combat patrols so countless hours ofcombat time outside the wire. saw alot of crazy nasty things and even did somedaring things that i havent even told the guys in my family about. by the end ofthe tour i personally had hit 5 IEDs. the platoon as a whole hit 18. we had twonames throughout our company and later caught on to the rest of the battilon. wewere bomb sqaud cause we hit the most in our entire battilon. and we were themorticians cause we saw so many dead bodies in our sector. shittes and sunnisjust took turns killin eachother at night and leaving the bodies out for us. yeah, iraq was fun ihate to say it, but i wont lie either. getting on that bird home though was anamazing feeling and non stop smiles across the atlantic.

after gettin home, things were pretty weird. i couldnt be in a car and berelaxed. i watched the side of the roads and the other drivers. i didnt evenlike to be the passenger in a vehicle. i had to drive or i wasnt going. i eventried to go to a christmas parade with some friends and all the sirens and loudnoises were really starting to get to me. i was pretty bummed that maybe thedeployment had messed with me. after a few weeks though everything was back tonormal. i met a girl whos now my wife. we're gettin ready to go on two yearsof marriage. i thought everything was good until we had our firt july 4. againall the booms and whistles got to me. but after it was all done i was fineagain. i had a good long year back at home. but the entire time preparing for mynext one.

thats where i am today. in afganistan. leaving this time was twice as hard.had to say goodbye to my wife which wasnt an easy thing to do. wanted to go AWOLso bad. she sat with me all day while we preped and did last minute "heyyou" projects. thankfully her dad and one of her sisters was with her forwhen i left. we had a big platoon prayer for all the soldiers and their lovedones. after we said amen, i watched her get in the car tears streaming down herface and off we went. we started our deployment in kandahar. we were there for amonth did a big long mission. were we did absoulutely nothing. just drove aroundsouthern afgan for 21 days. when we got back we cleaned our gear fixed ourtrucks then told we were going to visit the rest of the brigade in the east.thats where i am now. sittin 5 miles away from the pakistani border doingnothing. couple of TICs(troops in contact) here and there, but for the most partnothing. the only cool thing to happen is general petraus came out to see us. even that was a breif momentthough. but seriously all in all thats the extent of this deployment. NOTHING!!! well it has been quit a pleasure and joy to write this. i hope you all enjoyedit and i hope i didnt bore you. mom and dad love talkin about it and im surethat if you got any questions they would love to answer them for you. be lookingfor my books in the years to come. one is From Basic to Bagdad. the other is ASoldier and his Boredom. (maybe)love scott

How would you feel?

I had to take Colby to the doctor last week because he got into poison ivy, and he was covered from his head to his toes, literally. It was in and around his eye, his "private parts" and the bottom of his feet. He had to get a shot, and he had to get it in his rear end.

Normally, he is very good about getting his shots, but he didn't want one in his tail end, and so there was a lot of wiggling and laughing going on.

His nurse said, "Colby how would your daddy feel if he knew this is how you were acting about getting a shot?"

To which Colby replied, "How would you feel if I put a shot in your butt?"

The nurse and I both laughed, and she said "Yeah I guess I wouldn't like that either."

I Am Thankful For....

Google. And let me tell you why!!

Every family get together we have my sister-in-law, Tami, makes the best sweet potatoe pie in the world. She moved to Utah, but before she went she gave everyone in the family her sweet potatoe recipe. Sunday was the first family dinner we had since she and my brother moved. There was no sweet potatoe!! So not only were we short a family, but we were short a very good side dish to our meal.

I decided to make the sweet potatoe pie for our Thanksgiving dinner. I went to the store bought the sweet potatoes, brought them home and peeled them. Then I got my blender out, and tried to mix them up. That didn't work. Here, some of you are probably thinking, well duh, but I had never made mashed potatoes before so I had to go to google "how to make mashed sweet potatoes". Turns out you have to boil them first. Who knew? Then you mash them, and then you blend them.

The recipe never once said boil potaotes, mash them and then mix them. It just said mix the sweet potatoes. So that is what I did.

They turned out great, not quite as good as Tami's, but not bad for a girl who didn't even know who had to boil them first.

Life Is Changing

My brother Micah and his wife Tami, along with their two children (4 and 6) have moved to Utah. My brother decided he had enough of factory life, and it was time to go to school. They are off to Utah so he can attend BYU.

I am happy for them, but sad too. They won't be just 30 minutes down the road anymore. No more of Micah's outrageous comments that we loved to tease him about. No more of Tami's sweet potato caserole that she made for every get together. Sure she gave all of us the recipe, but it won't be her making it for us. No more sleep overs with Benjamin and Baley.

It was hard to say goodbye.

Colby is very sad. He can't believe his best friend (Benjamin) has moved away.

Hopefully, when he is all done with school, he will only be able to find a job hours away instead of days away.

Halloween

A fun night of trunk or treating with. Colby was a Ghostbuster, Frank was a Skeleton, and George was Batman.

A to Z Is All About Me

I'm not sure if the Natalie that was tagged was me or someone else, but since I like doing these things, I am going to say it was me.





A-Attached or Single?


Very attached to the best husband this girl could ask for. He really is a great husband and dad!!



B-Best Friend?

My husband and Alison.

C-Cake or Pie?

Definetely Pie, but I can leave either one. Brownies are a whole different story.

D-Day of Choice?

I really like Mondays. By the end of the day my house is spotless, my laundry is completey done, the house smells good. What else could a person want out of a Monday.

E-Essential Items?

Shampoo, lotion, my bed and a beach.

F-Favorite Color?

Pink and yellow.

G-Gummy bears or worms?

I really don't like either. Don't like the gummy texture.

H-Hometown?

Obion, TN. I lived there from 10 til 19 , but I have some really great childhood memories of living in Garland, TX.

I-Favorite Indulgence?

Ignoring all housework, phone calls, and responsibility of all kind in order to watch a movie or read a book.

J-January or July?

January is the month I got married, but July is the fourth of July, always a great holiday, but I'll go with January.

K-Kids?

1 great son, and hopefully I'll have an anoucement to make sometime in 2009.

L-Life Isn't Complete Without?

My little family, and lots of laughter.

M-Marriage date?

January 19th. 19 is our number. We started dating when we were 19 in 1999, on the 19th of Febuary. We got engaged on the 19th, married on the 19th and found out we were pregnant on the 19th, Colby was born at 7:19 which is the 19th hundered hour military time.

N-Number of Brother and Sisters?

I have 3 brothers and 3 sisters. 3 sister-in-laws, and 2 brother in laws. I have 4 sister-in-laws and 0 brother-in-laws on my husband's side of the family.

O-Oranges or Apples?

Both please!

P-Phobias and Fears?

Irratational fear of sharks. Can not even swim in the deep end of a swimming pool by myself for fear of shark. Yet, shark movies are my favorite and I still swim in the ocean.

Q-Quiet time, what do you like to do?

Naps. I love taking naps. I loved taking naps with Colby when he still took naps, and I enjoy taking them by myself now. They are the best thing ever!!

R-Reason to Smile?

Colby and Bill, even when they are driving me absolutely crazy, they can still make me smile.

S-Season of Choice?

I always say winter, because I have a great winter wardrobe, but I am going to say fall because I can wear the winter clothes, but still enjoy the sun. I just can't swim and lets face it the beach or pool is the only reason some of us survive summer.

T-Ticklish?

Just the bottom of my feet.

U-Unknown fact about me?

It took me 8 years to get an associates degree, but I did finish, eventually.

V-Vegetalbes?

yes please. spinach and broccoli especially.

W-Worst habit?

I can not keep a secret. Especially my own. I am horrible at it.

X-ray or Ultrasound?

Ultrasound of course

Y-your favorite food?

chicken and chocolate and not always in that order

Z-Zodiac Sign?

Sagitarius

I am not going to tag anyone, but I am going to challenge everyone who reads this to do it. I think these things are fun to fill out and read!! Happy Tagging Y'All!!