armed and dangerous

The ribbon you see above will now have a place on my husband's dress blues! My fabulous Airman is now a "Small Arms Expert Marksman." They got to shoot their M-16s at the range today and he did awesome! Only he and a couple other guys earned the expert marksmanship ribbons. I am so excited for him and he is doing great. He is starting to really have fun and enjoy himself. He said that he always knows that his name will be called at mail-call and he loves that! Trav even said that some of the other guys in his dorms are a little jealous because of the amount of mail and pictures he gets. I am sure that he is just loving that!!!

Thanks for all the prayers and letters being sent to Travis. He really appreciates them and so do I! Parker and I are doing well and tomorrow we will be exactly 3 weeks away from seeing Trav!

land of the FREE because of the BRAVE

This year my 4th of July has been a little different. The biggest change is that Travis wasn't here to spend it with us. Another change is that usually my family heads to Mazama, WA to our cabin for the weekend of the 4th. This year we decided to stick around the Tri-Cities instead. I think the biggest change is that I am no longer just a wife and mother...but I am an Airman's Wife. It sounds strange to say, but it does give you a new feeling of pride and appreciation for what this holiday is all about.

These pictures are from the 3rd of July. We headed over to spend the day with family friends who are more like family than just friends. Scott and Becky's is always a blast!

parks & mommy in the car on the way to scott & becky's house

lauren playing with drayson & parker...mostly trying no to get hit with a raquet!

playing in scott's boat

matt & parks playing soccer...with a volleyball

lighting sparklers with a blowtorch...is there any other way?

loving the sparklers

once the loud fireworks started parks was ready to head inside

watching from the window with papa


For the actual 4th of July we went to my Aunt Lauri & Uncle Carl's house in West Richland. The night was filled with great food and loads of family. Parker had a blast. From their back porch we had a panoramic view of fireworks from all over the Tri-Cities. It was an awesome view and Parker loved the fireworks this time...probably because they were far away and not quite so loud. He kept tapping me, saying "mama" and pointing to where the fireworks were. He said "boom" just about every 2 minutes for the rest of the night until we went home!

On a sad note...there was no phone call from Travis this Sunday. What a bummer! I'm sure they probably had a bunch of ceremonies going on at the Base and there wasn't any time left over to call home. Hopefully we will get an update from him soon and I will let everyone know how he is doing. I got a letter from him the other day that he said he wrote in the dorms with a flashlight. He said that he is having fun and learning a lot. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers...keep 'em coming!

Status Report

• weeks trav has been gone: 3
• phone conversations: 1 (15 minutes)
• letters written: countless (almost 1 per day)
• letters received: 0 (he has no time!)
• letters trav has gotten to read: 1
• times parker has been to time-out since trav left: i've lost count
• poopy diaper changes trav owes me when he gets home: at least 20 for the obscene amount that i change everyday (and that's me being nice)
  
• my mood: surprisingly upbeat most of the time...but too upset about my almost 2 year old's behavior the rest of the time

things i'm missing most about trav:

• his presence
• having someone around, company
• the way parker listens to him with just a stern look
• back-scratches--he is the best at it...he might even rival my grandma sy who gave amazing back-scratches whenever i wanted (which was usually every couple hours) and even taught me how to ask in japanese when i was teeny-tiny
• seeing him and parker play together
• snuggling on the couch while watching tv at night
• just about everything!

in other news...

on friday night we went to cool desert nights. it is a classic car show. parker had a blast looking at the old cars drive by. here are some pictures from the night:

drayson. nonni. parker

papa. parker (chowing down on goldfish pretzels)


auntie jaysh. kearyn (the sweetest little girl i have every seen!)

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things:

So, I thought that it would be fun to jot down some of Parker's favorite things right now. It will be nice for me to be able to look back on it and for those of you who don't get to see him all the time to get some insight into what makes our little man tick! Let's get right to it...here are a few of his favorite things!!!

• Word World: For those of you who don't know, Word World is one of the best shows for small children. I say this not only as a mommy...but as a teacher, too. If your kiddo has never seen it, you should check it out (CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE WORD WORLD WEBSITE).
  

• Sports: It doesn't matter what sport...he is obsessed with them all. His favorite word is "balls" and if he sees a picture of a ball he will stop and say it about 10 times before we can move on!

• Books: He loves to have people read books to him. All day long he grabs books and climbs up in my lap for me to read them to him. Here are some of his favorites:

• Water: Parker loves water out of the hose, in a pool, on the ground, in a puddle, in the bath, in the shower...the list could go on and on! It could be freezing cold outside and he would jump right in and roll around.

• Movies: He loves Finding Nemo, Shrek, and so many others. Hopefully that will keep up at least until after our flights to Texas and Hawaii!

• Cookies: He will do just about anything for a cookie!

• Rice: You should hear how he says it. It is so cute. It is one of his best words! That 1/8 Japanese really comes through when you put a bowl of white rice in front of him!!!

• The Plasma Car: My sister and brother-in-law got their son Drayson a Plasmacar for his 2nd birthday. Parker loved it and cried when he had to get off of it. Needless to say, I ordered one after he went to bed that night! You swivel the wheel back and forth to make it go, so it is easier for him to do than pedal a trike. He was hilarious on it!
  

• Pushing it to the limit: Welcome to "terrible twos"...I think that terrible is the wrong word to describe it...I am going to have to get out a thesaurus to find a better one. If I come up with a better word to describe what my child can be like right now...I will let you know! I was able to talk to Travis on Sunday for about 15 minutes and one of the first things he asked was "Is Parker listening to you?" I had to laugh! I simply said NO! Sometimes he can be so sweet, but he really does like to push things just about as far as he can. It usually lands him in time-out...but he does his time and then is right back to pushing the limit 5 minutes later. He does always come and give me an "I'm sorry Mommy" hug and kiss after time-out though...somehow it makes it all worth it!