Sleep-over with Grammie

This last Friday I make the trek up to Syracuse to relieve Hillary and Marc of their parental duties. For some crazy reason they decided to spend their 9th anniversary (a couple days late) at Anniversary Inn. They came home bushed. ;>
While they were gone, Adelyn was so dang cute and as sweet as could be. She never fussed. When I went to get her out of her crib on Saturday morning she looked at me like, "now wait a minute... where's my mom?"
James came up for Friday evening to play and after dinner we all went to the park. There were a ton of mosquitoes as it got dark and everyone ended up with 2-3 bites. James had to leave after that to get home and prepare for his Orienteering competition bright and early Saturday morning. They got 4th place and he felt pretty good about that. He also came home with several dozen mosquito bites!
Friday night I discovered something about Sami, she gets stubborn when she's tired. Saturday morning she was back to her sweet self. Tasha and Emma spent Saturday morning visiting. First to Halley's, then to Jacobs and finally to Tasha's Primary teachers house. I thought it was funny that after being gone all morning, they didn't want me to leave when their parents came home. Silly kids.

Troop Review

“Gov. Huntsman reviews his troops

September 13th, 2008 @ 3:38pm

(KSL News) Rice-Eccles Stadium was filled today, but not for any football game. The Utah National Guard hosted Governor's Day at the stadium. It's an annual event to provide Gov. Jon Huntsman, who is commander in chief of the Utah National Guard, an opportunity to review his troops. The ceremony also recognized individuals for their distinguished service."

First all the troops filed in past the crowd in the stands and around to their spot on the field. They were 4 across… except James who was ‘all by my onesie’ because he was representing Company B who had no one there. There were also fly-bys with helicopters and refueling tankers. Before and after the ceremony they had activities for kids, such as rock walls and a mechanical bull. It was pretty funny to watch everyone fall off after one turn of the thing. There was a National Guard band playing good music and lots of food. Roxanne and I had a great time.

The Birthday Boy

For James' birthday we went camping on our property. James built a wonderful fire and we grilled chicken, potato and onion shish-kabobs and played cards with Sonia and Blake. It was a good camp. The next morning Hillary's family picked up Roxanne and came out. I'll refer you to Hillary and Sonia's blogs for Saturday activities as they put up great pics. The one thing they didn't mention was grammie's fabulous potty. We set up a tent with the porta-potty in it and Hillary's girls thought it was the neatest thing. We just stayed through Saturday, having bacon and pancakes for breakfast and hoagies and chips for lunch. Sunday evening we had the official presenting of gifts, after a delicious steak dinner.

James got money from Hillary& Roxanne (and this play money from Emma) and some protein drink stuff from Leland.

From Sonia he got a good Camelback cleaning kit with a nice long
brush for cleaning out the hose.

Dad gave James a little camo throw and I had made this Underground Railroad sampler quilt for James while he was in Missouri all summer. He loved it right off and it went straight onto his bed.

Mom and Dad go to Guard

About quarter after 5 last Friday, we get a call from James. He's in SFC Portwood's office checking in from BT and is told parents are invited to Saturday's training. He thinks it's all day and to come, probably 9ish. So dad and I show up just before 9 unprepared for whatever we got ourselves into by saying 'yes, we'll come'. We were to follow two buses of soldiers into the middle of nowhere. They said they had plenty of water for us but nothing to put it in so I rescued a discarded bottle of water out of the trash, washed it quick and filled it at the water fountain to begin with. Once out in the middle of nowhere, we found there was also no place to sit where there was shade so I wished, for part of the time, that we'd brought camp chairs and/or sunscreen. Mostly it was fun watching these young soldiers go through their training. James is such a natural with his M16A2 and even though SFC Portwood said he wasn't to do any leadershipping this weekend, he ended up being a squad leader because there weren't enough STOW 2's (soldiers who have attended BT). Be sure to check out the BT notes and pictures below.

BT Graduation Notes

Going to James' graduation from Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri was fabulous! What's not to like about soldiers in uniform? After all, they are grandma's favorite!! James is my favorite soldier ever! Tho not in order, let me tell the stories off the photos below.

We were taking James back to the hotel to let Sonia give him a special poem she wrote. On the way there or back we stopped at a gas station and got drinks. While there dad called up grandma and then just handed the phone to James. They were both a little surprised but pleasantly so. Next is the picture of the half of Echo Company that were graduating and not staying for AIT.

This next photo was a high light for us. We were waiting for James to get one of his duffles when this drill sergeant comes out looking around. She spots the two Privates she's looking for and yells to them. "RANGE WALK! or how about I wait for you, how about that?!" The next photo is dinner at the Cracker Barrel in St. Roberts who had wonderfully delicious onion rings. The next one is at a museum area where there is a lot of army equipment.

Hillary had great fun giving James a noogy. Dad missed capturing it on camera so Hillary was more than happy to do it again for posterity's sake. It was fun meeting some of James' battle buddies. The next picture is two we saw at the PX. James got a haircut and we also looked at backpacks, jeans and under armor.

Church each Sunday was a time for a little peace from the norm and a reminder of home. Next James mimics the Sapper who stands for every US Army Engineer. Then he poses with Pvt Christensen who was headed home to Wyoming. Because of stress fractures, he has the opportunity to attend BT next summer. Next is James with Pvt. Ortega, then with a silly Shawn and Sonia. With all the PT James has had this summer, it surprised him how easily he could swing his sister up. That was almost as fun as being the pool shark as he won both Sonia and his dad.

At the graduation ceremony, the young men marched up on stage and stated their name, city and state. What a novel idea... then no one comes out at the wrong time while someone else states their names! He was very glad to see Hillary and Roxanne when they were dismissed. The next photo is Roxanne and James... don't know the story behind this one. Last, but not least, is the whole family. What a great day!