JUUUUUUUUUUUICE!!!

For those of you who don't know, for the past few weeks Oliver has been doing what Pam and I call his "Juice Howl". Typically before this, Oliver would just repeat his request over and over in order to get what he wanted. Example: "Juice, juice, juice, juice, peeze, juice..." and so on. One day, Ollie decided this was no longer enough and that Mommy apparently did not understand that he wanted juice. Thus the Juice Howl was born. Now whenever Ollie wants juice, (or milk for that matter), he throws back his head, puckers up his lips, and gives one long sustained note of "juuuuuuuuuuice" for all to hear. Below is a video capturing this event... Enjoy:-)

Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)

This song came up on my playlist tonight. I'm sure we can all remember where we were, and what we were doing when we first heard of this tragedy. I hope we never forget that day and the way we felt. I pray that we will never take for granted the freedoms we have, and the liberties our troops are still fighting to ensure to this day.

Big Haircut

Some sweet pictures of my baby boy. Enjoy!

Here we have Ollie with "Baby" in a tiny basket. Look at his feet!!!

This boy LOVES playing outside!


Look at those peepers!!!

Playing with his Whale and Daddy's nerf gun:-)

And this face. Priceless. That is a pink Care Bear in his mouth and he is holding his flexible frame that holds Daddy's picture. He carries it everywhere! (The picture, not the bear:-)

And, I tried to load a video overnight and it ended up not working so I will try to upload it in my next post.

Museum of Islamic Art

here is the infamous "museum of islamic art" in doha. the museum exhibits were okay, but the architecture is amazing! the building is built entirely out over the doha bay. and it was designed by i. m. pei. this is his last design, he actually came out of retirement to design it.

the building was fascinating. rather like a boxy pyramid with the exhibit rooms around the exterior and the interior was this amazing staircase and hanging circular light.

from the third story looking down on the floor

looking up into the top of the facility

there is a TON of history and an amazing story behind thie design of this facility if anyone cares to google it. or here is the wikipedia link (its a short article): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Islamic_Art,_Doha

as a side note, these are pretty amazing picture considering i took them with my camera phone, yeah?

The Base and Doha

below are a few pics from base. the rocks and sand, yeah, thats the whole base. its pretty barren. but all the sand in the air and the wide open spaces make for some great sunrises/sunsets!

below are pics of my first trip to Doha. you can see the desert that surrounds the city in the first pic, but then see how nice the downtown area around the bay is in the next two pics.

this is the Villagio Mall in Doha, modeled after the Bellagio Hotel in vegas. it has the huge arching ceilings all painted like sky and clouds and all the storefronts have what look like villas above them (really just false walls). you can see the louis vitan and prada stores. also in this area were ralph lauren, coach, and all the other high end stores like them. this mall even has an indoor canal with gondolas you can ride in. also an ice rink, an indoor amusement park, a huge food court, and hundreds of stores. and this was the SMALLER of the two malls i went to that day.

My Room

so i though i would share some pics of my deployed living accommodations with you all. here is my room, that i get all to myself. bed, desk, chair, walk in closet, sink and medicine cabinet. The window looks out into the common area, a big hallway with tables and chairs and stairways (its a 2 story dorm, im on the top floor). the closet is inside the door with the towel hanging on it and is the length of my bed and the width of the door frame!

this is the kitchen i share with the guy in the bedroom next door. we also share a shower and toilet. i currently am sans suite mate though. he has only been here for about 1 of the 3 months i have been here, so this has become my kitchen essentially!

ah yes, the life at "the deid" i cant complain. as you can see, i virtually have my own suite!

18 months!!!

Well, i am a few days early, but i thought i would give everyone the 18 month update on my beautiful little blue eyed man. He is FINALLY getting over the World's worst double ear infection ever, and i am pleased to report that both ears finally look clear save a small amount of fluid behind his left ear. He is weighing in at a respectable 23 pounds and is measuring a cool 32 inches. He is also talking up a storm with new words everyday! The new ones for today are "horsey" (hoss-ee) along with clopping noises for the feet, and "cow" followed by a moo. Some of his newest words are snowman, snowing, (yes, you can see the Montana-ish trend in his words), meer (which means "come here" along with hand motions for him to be picked up:-), hello, and hi. He has well over 40 words that are in his vocabulary and gains more every time i turn around. He has also turned into quite the little imp, getting into everything that he is not supposed to, but avoids punishment by giving me or Grandma that little smile that melts our hearts.

Some of his favorite things these days are his blanket, aka "Baby", baths, bubbles, ice water (thanks to grandma), puppies, Roo, Maddie, long afternoon naps, large cardboard boxes, Grandma's shower, cookies, pictures of Daddy, flushing the toilet, helping make dinner, climbing (much to my dismay), and playing outside. He always says "please" and "thank you" after most everything, and we are currently working on "I love you" which sounds more like "eye-wa-woo". Below are a few videos mainly for my beloved husband, but if you are willing to sit through them, they are rather entertaining.

This first one is one of my favorites. Here Oliver has found an old mailing envelope and has decided to make it into a rather charming hat:-)

This one just shows you what a goof Oliver is and how much this ham loves the camera!

This last one was an afternoon spent outside in the driveway with Grandma. He absolutely LOVES running around outside so I cannot wait to get back to South Carolina where it is actually warm and we have a park just down the street:-)

Legends of Aerospace

So today I got to go to the most AMAZING "talk show" ever, and it was right here on base. The "Legends of Aerospace" tour made a stop here on their 10 day tour in the middle east. They were sponsored by a TON of companies, but the tour was set up by Armed Forces Entertainment and Morale Entertainment. Basically, these are two groups who organize great events like this to entertain and bring morale to the troops over here. Anyhow...

The event was set up like a talk show. Six famous men, five of them are TRUE aerospace legends, and the other was a moderator, a fomous talk show host. But enough for now, I will let the pamphlets I got introduce them... (Click on the pictures to see them LARGER)

And here they all are, from left to right: David Hartman, Robert Gilliland, Steve Ritchie, Jim Lovell, Gene Cernan, and Neil Armstrong. And you can also see me in the pic! Third row back, fourth head left of the aisle. Yeah, thats me in the first row that wasn't reserved for DVs. Incredible, I know! I can't possibly hope to describe to you how amazing this experience was. For an hour and a half, I was privileged to listen to three men who have orbited the moon, two who have walked on it (the first and last men to do so), the last fighter pilot ace, and the man who took the first flight in EVERY SR-71 ever flown and who has also logged the most supersonic flight hours of any man to ever live. Wow, talk about some humbling company! Surprisingly, they were all very down to earth (no pun intended), humorous, and very likable!

I must say, this was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, a truly memorable and epic night.

An Answer to Prayers

About a week ago, I had one of my roughest days in a long time. I even started a blog about it, got halfway through, and quit because I was just so depressed by how awful that day had been. Later I realized that it would be silly of me to finish such a lame and depressing blog post, and that I was indeed wallowing in my own self pity. One thing that I will relate from that terrible day is the fact that my original form of payment for my final semester of school had been cancelled, and I was left holding a $3,023.85 bill for school. While Seth and I are in the position to be able to make payments on such a large sum, we were definitely NOT prepared to take that much money out of our savings or putting that much onto our debt. Needless to say, I was in the depths of despair. After talking to Seth that night about all of my numerous problems, he said simply "we will just have to pray harder". So, that night, I actually got down on my knees and prayed out loud to my Heavenly Father, (instead of my usual praying in bed, half asleep method), asking him to please help me through these times, and that if he could possibly help me find a solution to the tuition problem, I would be very thankful. The next day I received a call from Veterans office, telling me that they had located a $3,000.00 scholarship for me, if I was willing to pay the additional $23.85 for the remainder of my tuition. I was floored. I knew Heavenly Father was awesome, but this?! I could not believe how quickly Heavenly Father had answered my prayer, and Seth's. We definitely were not expecting a scholarship of this size to present itself, and we both know it never would have had it not been for our answered prayers.

Another answer to prayers came in the form of a blessing to our family. Seth's brother Dane and his wife Katie had just been given the news that the transmission in their truck "blew up" following a routine transmission fluid change. This was indeed, not good news for anyone, especially when one considers how pricey mechanics can be for things as big as a transmission. After what had happened with my tuition though, I knew Heavenly Father could right any problem that he faced. Again, I knelt down, and humbly asked Heavenly Father to bless Dane and Katie in their time of trial. A week went by of this kind of prayer, and again, Heavenly Father delivered. It turns out that the transmission did not "blow up", but instead had a small air bubble in the line, causing there to be less fluid than was needed for the truck to run. This was a very simple problem to fix, and the truck runs just fine again, without the hefty price of a new transmission. WOW!!!

I know that I was not the only one praying in these situations, but I know that Heavenly Father truly listens to us and blesses us if we put ourselves in the position to be blessed. My testimony has grown so much from both of these examples, and I thank Heavenly Father everyday for this church and all of the blessings that I have received since I have become a member. Knowing that he cares about our problems, that we are not alone, and that he wants to help us with our trials is such a wonderful feeling. I know that my Heavenly Father hears and answers my prayers. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the one true church. I know that without my Heavenly Father's help, I would not be making it in any way, shape or form. I am so very grateful for this church and for all of the blessings I have received from being a member, and I say these things in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.