A long time ago in a desert far, far away...

Crazy to think that it's been almost two years since we've blogged an update about the family!  It really feels a lot more important now that we've moved from Kansas to New Mexico.  This might be a good way for us to keep in touch with friends and family from Kansas, Texas, Utah and lots of other wonderful places.

First off, we really miss the great friends we moved away from in the McPherson, Kansas, area!!!  To our dear friends, the Starks and Marshalls, we just really don't have words to express our gratitude for the friendship and love you gave us.  May that friendship continue for all the years to come!  And we (especially Dedrick) apologize if we haven't made a good start of staying in touch.  We also appreciate all the kind members of the Newton Ward of the LDS Church who were friends to us and our kids during our four years in Kansas.  And we miss other friends and acquaintances from work and school in the area.

So far the move has been quite a challenge, but I think we'll be very happy in the long run here in Aztec, New Mexico.  We've begun making good friends here, too, and hope to continue to do so.  The country here is really beautiful - dry desert locally, but with high mountains and forests very close by.  The desert is beautiful with canyons, mesas, mountains, hills, rivers, lakes.

Dedrick's job at Williams is a big change from his role in Kansas, where he was engineer for a single natural gas liquids separation plant.  Now he is responsible for the southern half of a vast natural gas gathering system.  The full system is 3700 miles of pipeline, 5700 wells or interconnects, dozens of compressor stations, all spread over 3800 square miles of high desert terrain.  Three large gas processing plants handle the gas that is gathered, but the plants are supported by other engineers.  The farthest sites he supports are two hour drives one way from the office.  So far he's only gotten stuck in the mud once!!!

Damian is working in the Aztec School District as a substitute school teacher for grades K-12, while attending New Mexico Highlands University full-time in pursuit of her special education teaching degree.  It's a big challenge to juggle while being mom, too, but she's really loving the opportunity to be in the schools, and spend time teaching directly with kids of different ages and different subjects.

Damian and Dedrick recently celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary with a very nice steak dinner in Durango, Colorado.

Rebecca is 12 now and that magic teenage number is not far off.  She has been playing flute in the band and started track today.  She wants to compete in high jump, sprints, and a relay event.  She's been doing well in class, and is slowly adjusting to sharing a room with her sister.

Aidan is 9 and has been making friends in the neighborhood and spending time with Dedrick playing computer games together.  He's excited that he finally received his Bobcat and Wolf awards in Cub Scouts, along with many beads and arrows for the electives. A lot of those were earned in Kansas, but never awarded.  On to Bear!

Kaliska will be 8 next month and has made some good friends at school.  She keeps us all laughing and smiling. She is still a prolific artist and is looking forward to getting baptized next month.

The family took a vacation to Orlando while Dedrick attended an engineering training there this past December.  It was a lot of fun and we went to see Universal Studios, Disney World, Lego Land, the aquarium in Clearwater where Hope and Winter, the dolphins from Dolphin Tale, live.  We enjoyed the feast and show at Medieval Times.  Finally, we went to a citrus plantation where the family took a tour on a monster truck school bus. Every one of the kids got to drive the monster bus for a few minutes - we never in a million years thought that our kids' first driving experience would be in a monster truck with 10 foot tires!

There are lots of things to do in the area and we're planning day trips to go and see lots of them for weekends and spring break and summer.

The LDS Church in Aztec has been great to us so far, and Damian and Dedrick are enjoying the calling to teach the 14 - 17 year old youth.

That's all for now, but hopefully it'll be a little sooner than two years between blog updates next time!
Maybe next update we'll post pictures of the house, some local ruins and petroglyphs.  Take care!!!

Kaliska's 6th Birthday

My sweet little girl is 6 years old. How time flies and how fast she grows, she keeps us on our toes. We love her very much and can't wait see what awaits us in the years to come. She is a beautiful daughter and sister, who makes us laugh, cry,  pull out our hair and is a wonderful blessing to  so many.

2 months

 6th Birthday

Happy Birthday to ME

So I had a birthday yesterday, I ended up working all day which was okay. I was able to help my boss, when she had a family emergency. Then I came home and made my favorite cup cakes and then went to dinner with my silly family. You will think I'm strange, but my sweet husband got me my awesome gift...it was hand gun! 

I know it seems weird, but I love that my husband knows just what to get me! I'm can't wait to take the kids out and teach them about shooting and safety.

Here is a very cute picture when I was young!

Snow Dog

Here is Princess playing in the newly fallen snow!

11th Anniversary

So my sweet husband and I have been married for 11 years. We have had many ups and downs, rough and calm waters, and lots of learning curves. I would not change any of it for the world, I am looking forward to many more years together. I love you babe and thanks for many good moments.

We went out to dinner and a movie, then spent time hanging out with our wonderful kids making memories to last. Looking forward to a new year!

Happy Birthday to my Husband

Want to let my husband how much we love him and am very thankful for all he does for us!

 Happy Birthday sweetie from your pack of wild things!!

P.S.-Sorry this is two days late;)

Aidan & Kaliska Christmas Program

So the younger two had their concert this last week on Monday. All of my sweet kids did an awesome job in both programs in the last two weeks. How I love my sweet gremlins!!

Becca's Christmas Program

Here is the Christmas program for Becca, who decided to start playing the flute this year. She is doing very good and is enjoying playing.

Thanksgiving

So this year we had the opportunity to head to Texas to visit my husbands parents. We left on Tuesday, and spent the day driving, tagging along for the ride was  Princess the silly dog. We made it by six pm, after making it though rush hour traffic,so glad to live in a small community. Wednesday we had my wonderful husband take the kids to the Science Museum, while my mother-in-law and I went to the store to get everything for Thanksgiving dinner. Then spent the rest of the day preparing everything for desert with the neighbors and then some dinner items. Thursday we got a early start for getting the turkey ready to cook and then the kids went on a walk to the park with mom and dad. After we had a wonderful dinner, we just rest and played games and read books.

Then Friday we decided to head to Fossil Rim Wildlife Park about an hour away from the in-laws house. This wildlife park covers nine and half miles of wild animals, that you can feed from your car. The kids had a blast feeding all the animals that came to the car. Even Grandpa got in the action, by trying to bring one of the animals home.

Saturday we went to the zoo with Grandma! The kids had the chance to ride a camel!

Becca's Cute letter to Me

My name is Rebecca, i have a sister named kaliska and a brother name is aidan. I love them so much. My favorite color is purple, my favorite animal is elephants, and my favorite food is pizza. My sister and brother are crazy. Aidan is ticklish. Kaliska is a artist in a family.kaliska likes husky, her favorite color is purple, and her favorite food is eggs. Aidan likes ferrets, his favorite color is orange, and his favorite food is hot dogs. Next time i will talk about how well i sing.

Family Pics

So the first week of November, we had the chance to get family pictures taken. I had a friend in town that took pictures for us. So we headed out into the county to have some outside pictures done this year. 

Halloween

This year for Halloween was very low key for us. We did not even crave pumpkins, we got some funky ones from Dedrick's work. The girls wanted to be zombies and the boy was a gladiator.  So to be more exact Becca was a normal zombie and Kaliska was mutant butterfly zombie. Our ward Trunk or Treat was on the same night, so we gave the kids the choice. So I ended up taking the kids out this year and the husband stayed home to pass out the candy. The kids had so much fun going around town getting see all their friends and collect the booty!

Adventures

We have had many adventures this month, I just have been busy not blogging them. First we had the chance go to the first football game of the season for Kansas State. Dedrick's coworker gave us his tickets for the game. Sea of purple on Sep 8th totaling 48,843!

The next adventure was going to the state fair Sep 15th, the kids loved seeing all the animals. I was working the college booth, so I missed most of the fun. It was great to see giant tractors with wheels bigger than my kids and a timber wolf.

The final adventure was going to the Scottish Festival  here in McPherson with our friends the Stark's and Marshall's. The kids had fun doing games and trying new foods. 

School Update

We have been in school a little over month now. The kids are getting into the schedule again, it has taken them a while to adjust.

Becca is in 5th grade now, she rotates classes every 50 minutes. She seems to be doing well with it, not having too much trouble. She is old enough to start band this year and chose to play the flute. She will also be starting basketball in the next month. She is very excited.

Aidan is in 2nd grade now. He loves being one of the cool kids in his class. He does really like school, but he doesn't like the homework part. He really is starting to get into reading chapter books on anything he can find. He is reading The Lightning Thief now.

Kaliska started all day Kindergarten this year, and luckily she has the same teacher from last year. She gets to ride the bus with her brother this year. She seems to be doing well and making lots of friends. I have a date with her tomorrow at school for Muffins with Mom.

I am also in school this year at the local college about 5 miles away. I am taking four classes this semester, which are quite fun. It feels good to be doing something to enrich my mind and help myself prove I can. It was hard for me to get in the swing of being in school again, but I am managing with the help of my wonderful husband.

Dancing Girl

We were all downstairs after finishing a movie. I had put on some music to listen to and Kaliska comes abound the corner dancing. My silly girl! 

Mom Moment

Conversation with Kaliska and Aidan:


Me:"Why didn't you clean up the mud, when I asked?"


Aidan:" We were too busy playing."


Kaliska: "It is your job as mom! "


Me: Silence (with stern look)

Aidan: "Mom I think you need a timeout before we get in more trouble"

Kaliska: "Yeah mom"

Got love my kids:)

Volcano and Kite

Aidan got a volcano making kit earlier this year and we finely were able to make it. He was so excited to show everyone how it works.

The wind has been coming in strong the last few days, our kids have been wanting us to fly a kite. So Dedrick took the kids out back and stood on the play set to get a better angle for wind.

First Day of School

So all my babies are in school this year:).  It feels strange to have the house to myself all day. I do miss them, yet I am able to get a lot done. I also started school myself this year to get my degree in Special Ed Teaching. I have three and half to four year left. Wish me luck!

Rebecca going into 5th

 Aidan going into 2nd

 Kaliska going into K

 Happy Smiles:)