Merry Christmas!

Here is our 2010 Christmas Letter.  

We hope you all have a WONDERFUL Christmas...just TWO DAYS!!!

Dear Friends and Family -

Once again, we find ourselves at the end of a year wondering how in the world we got here!  We are so grateful for the lessons we have learned and the experiences we have had.  This year we started with a freak snowstorm in Texas, and have ended with a freak snowstorm in Washington state.  We have had anything but a dull year.  

Marty - Finished his Biomedical Technician training in June, graduating as the top army student. Of course, if anybody has ever held a conversation with an Army enlisted they know that isn't too big of an accomplishment. He continues his job fixing hospital equipment and learning what all the Army acronyms mean. We are very proud of Marty for surviving a horrible BYU football season and still managing to crack a smile once in a while. 

Camille - Is busy just being the all-around best wife and mother. She was able to adapt from having a husband in training to having a husband in the operational Army and moving her family across country…again.  Let's just say schedules are anything but concrete.  Some of her pastimes are playing piano, blogging, and trying to fool the baggers at the Commissary into believing she is an officer's wife by tipping more than fifty cents and using full sentences.

Brielle (5) - Is enjoying being a standout Kindergarten student, just as her father was at her age. She has been earning  achievement tickets for good behavior and listening every day.  When we asked her if she could be as well behaved and listen as well at home, she informed us "I'm not good at school because I want to be, I'm only good at school because I want tickets!"  She has high aspirations of being a drama queen when she grows up and is well on her way to her goal. 

Claire (3) - She might be Batman. We can't be sure, because we sleep at night when she is supposedly out fighting crime. She tells us all the stories about it so it must be true. She continues to be a laugh a minute even if she doesn't want you to laugh at her. Claire has yet to learn the art of an "inside voice" and has only two levels of speaking…silence and 90 decibels.  And while she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, she sings with extreme enthusiasm whenever she has a chance. 

Addison (1) - When this kid isn't stuffing another roll in her mouth, she is getting calls from the airfield to quiet down. Apparently they can't hear the jets over her screaming. Her smile is contagious, thanks to a hillbilly assortment of teeth. That is no surprise, she was born in Wichita Falls. She is starting to take her first steps which means we'll soon find her trying to steal the car. She loves to hug everything, she just likes to maim it first.

We hope this letter finds you all in good spirits, and that you may all remember the true meaning of Christmas…to eat lots of chocolate and not feel guilty about it.   Oh wait, that's the true meaning of every other day.

In all reality, we hope the spirit of Christmas will be in all of your homes and that you will feel of the Savior's love and recognize the great sacrifice he made in our behalf.

Merry Christmas!

Love - The Davis Platoon

Food Storage?

So, if you are a member of the church you have heard many times about food storage and being prepared.  Well, as far as our living spaces go we've always lived in little tiny apartments or in someone's basement, so food storage wasn't an option.  Plus, the idea of a room full of dried beans and wheat wasn't appealing to me.  

Food storage was for old people.  (Yeah, I said it.)

When we first got here to Washington I - for some reason - felt like I should just buy an extra of things when I went shopping.  An extra can of peanut butter here, an extra box of cereal there, you know...just because I knew we liked it and would probably finish it before I wanted to go to the store again. 

Pretty soon my cupboards in my tiny kitchen couldn't handle the extra food and I actually decided I'd clear a little spot on a shelf in one of our main storage closets in our house.  

This house is small and has about as much storage space as any other apartment we've lived in, so the shelf was a hot commodity, but I did it anyway...because it was either that or cramming it on top of my washer and dryer. (Not that having an excuse to avoid laundry wasn't tempting.)

Pretty soon my small shelf spot needed to be expanded, and after a little while we had a "food storage" of our own.  

(A very small amount of food storage mind you.)

I didn't think much of it until we had a rough month where we had no money and payday was 2 weeks away.  And since we don't live by family we couldn't "drop by" at the right time to mooch dinner off people.

But then I looked in my closet and realized we would be okay, and we were able to feed our family for those 2 weeks from our little closet of extra's.  

I am now a HUGE believer in food storage...except not the beans and wheat, because that would do no good for me.  

I still buy an extra of things whenever I can, our food storage now looks like this:

See, we have NO space...it's smashed in with all our board games and other stuff, but it's there.  

And that is a very comforting thing.

What's for dinner?

You know what I realized, I've been totally stuck in la-la land not even thinking about how DIFFERENT this Christmas is going to be without going home to be with family.  I've been so busy preparing with decorations and gift buying/sending that I hadn't stopped to think about what this Christmas is really going to be like.

That is until today.

Today it hit me.  

Who's going to feed us??

Okay, that wasn't really what I thought...but think about it if you will.  We normally have families to visit, cousins to see and play with, food was coming out our ears wherever we went.  Now it's up to me to provide that same "stuffed to the rafters with all the junk you could ever want" for my own little family, and I'm hoping I am up to the challenge.  I sat down to make a little menu and I'm not going to lie, it made me a little sad to write down the things that we normally eat as tradition with our families.

Lest you think my entire life revolves around food (not that one look at me doesn't really give that away) I was sad about other things too.  Just the simple ability to sit and laugh with our families will be MAJORLY missed this year.  But I am determined to make it the best Christmas I possibly can for my little family.  

Sure circumstances made it so we couldn't be home for Christmas this year, but that will not ALWAYS be the case.

So here is what we've done the last week or so to keep us busy:

Playing outside (when it's not raining).  Addison LOVES pushing the walking toy back and forth over and over on the patio.  Plus doesn't she look freaking adorable in her new coat??

Claire insisted on making a leaf pile (even though the leaves on the ground were soaking wet) so she began jumping and pulling leaves off the tree instead.

Brielle joined by trying to climb the tree.

Me, Brielle and Claire went to a "Holiday Bazaar" here on base.  (Addison has double ear infections and has been running a fever for a few days...so she wasn't up for going out.)  

The girls were SO excited to meet Santa and each drew him a picture.

When Brielle was asked what she wanted, she said "a car".  Santa looked pretty shocked, she explained that she wanted a kid car that she could drive (a Power-Wheel) and he seemed a little less surprised. 

(I hope her belief in Santa doesn't shatter when she does not receive said car on Christmas morning.)

Claire clammed up when she got to him and I'm pretty sure she didn't say a thing.  But hey, at least she approached him and sat on his lap, right?

At the "Bazaar" they had a few games for the kids to play.  When you finished you got a piece of candy...Claire and Brielle just camped out there and played each of the games over and over and over so they could get more candy.

 

Coming up on our agenda?

*Ward Christmas Party

* "Pie Night" at our house 

*Making Gingerbread houses

*Growing Donuts (my mom's idea...very excited!)

*Candlelight Christmas Eve Dinner

*Acting out the Nativity

*TRYING to read "The Forgotten Carols"...at least listening to the music

*Baking all sorts of goodies (well at least muddy buddies and cookies)

*Assembling and wrapping presents

* BIG Christmas morning breakfast 

(cinnamon rolls, eggs, sausage, bacon, orange juice...you want to come now don't you??)

*Listening to TONS of Christmas Music (we can't get enough this year!)

*Spending time as our little family, making memories.

(Ahhhh....how tender)

So there you have it, my enormous post has now come to an end.  

We sure hope everyone has a FANTASTIC Christmas this year!

Dancing Elves...a traditional Christmas funny.

Crafting - Christmas Wreath

It has been a very long time since I have let my crafty/creative side come out.  I just always seem to be short on time, money and desire lately.  

However, yesterday I went shopping with a friend so she could try to find a Christmas wreath.  As we were wandering around Michael's, I suddenly got the urge to do a little crafting again.  So, I got the supplies to make a wreath (all their Christmas stuff I needed was 50% off!) and got to work.

So here is the unveiling of my new project!

The supplies:

Green wreath, cranberry garland, small gold Christmas ornaments, big green flower (and some green floral wire).

Step One:

Attach Green Flower

Step Two:

Attach Cranberry Garland

Step Three:

Attach Gold Ornaments

Step Four:

Hang on Front Door

So there we have it.  I really like how it turned out, plus it makes me feel happy that I have a one of a kind wreath hanging on my door for Christmas.  We'll see if the crafty/creative bug strikes again any time soon...if not, at least I have proof that it did happen this time.

Birthday Parties!

So...in case you didn't already do the math, Addison's birthday is two days after Marty's.  Fun huh?  

Marty is grateful for someone to take a little of the spotlight off of him, however I try to give him as much attention and chaos...I mean love...on his birthday as he can possibly handle.

Anyway, here are pictures from the birthday parties all mushed into one post, because it's easier that way. 

Marty's Celebration:

Daddy with his girls...post dinner, thus Addison is shirtless, she is quite a messy eater.

 Making a lot of chaos and noise with party horns (not my brightest idea.)

Party FUN!

Baby bellies.

Addison's Party:

 Mmm...pizza.

 Opening presents

She was mostly interested in the birthday cards.

Eating her cupcake

 

Okay, I've had enough and I'm sticky and dirty! GET ME OUT OF HERE!

Sisters enjoying their cupcakes

Here are a few videos...mostly for the grandparents that were wondering how everything went, so no pressure to watch them. :)

Addison taking off walking with her new present.

Singing Happy Birthday...and other stuff.

Eating her cupcake...this one is pretty long, but oh well. :)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So there you have it.  After a few crazy days with celebrating, we will now resume our boring lives by doing the same old thing waiting until Christmas finally comes around!

Happy 1st Birthday Addison!

Wow...

How in the world did this happen?

Addison is 1!

Why do my kids keep growing up?

I feel a little extra tender about Addison growing up...but I will put on a brave face for her, and for those that don't care to hear my boo-hooing.

It's crazy how in the blink of an eye, they go from this...

 To this!

(Video is of Addison first starting to walk!  She just started this last night, so these are her first few wobbly attempts.  She'd been doing one or two little steps here and there, but she just took off out of nowhere just in time for her first birthday!  Please ignore my highly obnoxious voice, I did not realize how terrible I sound when I'm talking to babies...my apologies.)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Birthday Addison...we sure love you!

(Official birthday celebration post to come later.)

Happy Birthday Marty!

Happy Birthday Marty!

One more year until the big 30...in case you forgot.  

That's really old you realize?

What?  You don't find that amusing?

Well, the good news is we love you anyway.  

You are SERIOUSLY adored!

Happy Birthday!!

Take one snow storm and call me in the morning.

We've had some sick/grumpy kids and one homesick mommy. Just as we were about to go stir crazy, Mother Nature helped us out with a snow storm.  Just what the doctor ordered!

Addison was napping while the girls went out, and I didn't want to get her all ready to go out there just to get a picture of her in the snow...maybe I should have, but oh well.

But just putting on the snow hat improved her mood!

Ah...thank you Mother Nature for knowing just what we needed to have a little bit of home here with us.

Life's an Hourglass

I recently bought Mindy Gledhill's album off iTunes, and LOVE it.  This song in particular has almost been haunting me the last couple of days.  I had a realization that although I thought I was doing pretty good with all the stresses and change in our lives this past year and a half, I may have been fooling myself.  Sure I'm able to still put on a smile and be happy, I have learned and grown a LOT, and my kids stay fed and clothed (even if it's their pajamas all day and eating gogurts and fruit snacks around the clock) but there are days that the stress and loneliness of living away from my family and comfort zone get the best of me. 

Listening to this song helped me realize that while I'm focusing on how much I want this phase to just hurry up and be over, I am in turn hurrying my kids and the little moments in life out the door as well.  

So I am setting a new goal for myself, to live in the moment, to not let time slip through my fingers without really being present.  To enjoy the little things...like watching Addison take three steps in a row tonight, or Claire telling Marty to "show your bum crack at her" to win a wrestling match with Brielle (I don't know where she gets this stuff!) or taking the time to listen to Brielle's "secret present" she wants to get Marty, and looking online together while giggling that Marty has no idea what we're up to.  

I REALLY suggest you take a moment and listen to this song...although if you're a mom, you may want a tissue handy.  I put the lyrics below the video clip if you want to read along.  I also put the brackets around {girl}, because I don't have a little boy...just little girls. :)

My favorite part of the song:

See the sand in my grasp
From the first to the last
Every grain becomes a memory of the past
Oh, life's an hourglass

Life's an Hourglass
Little boy {girl}, when you speak
I can't help but kiss your cheeks
I love the way you grab my hands
And tell me all about your plans

Rocket high, comets fly
You and I could hitch a ride
And fly away to Neverland
And give our best to Peter Pan

When you reach for the stars
Don't forget who you are
And please don't turn around and grow up way too fast
See the sand in my grasp
From the first to the last
Every grain becomes a memory of the past
Oh, life's an hourglass
Life's an hourglass

Story's read, prayer is said
Close your eyes sleepyhead
While angels linger in your dreams
And hold you in their feathered wings
Just like you, I was small
Not that long ago at all
I wish you all the happiness
That God gives freely if you ask

When you reach for the stars
Don't forget who you are
And please don't turn around and grow up way too fast
See the sand in my grasp
From the first to the last
Every grain becomes a memory of the past
Oh, life's an hourglass
Life's an hourglass
Life's an hourglass

Rain Forest, Animals and Crazy Kids.

I don't know what has happened to me, but my desire and ability to pump out entertaining posts - or any at all - has greatly diminished.  Maybe living away from home has me feeling like I have a greater duty to do more "update" type posts, which leaves me wondering if that's just incredibly annoying/boring to anyone non-grandparental, which in turn makes it so I just don't blog at all.

Do you understand this vicious cycle I am living in?

*

I'm not sure how I've let my narcissism waver.  I guess it could be that 1. nothing exciting has been happening, and 2. I'm just busy with all the STUFF I have going on.  (I was going to use a stronger word...but I thought my mom would rather me not say crap on my blog...oh oops, there I go saying it anyway.)

Anyway, prepare yourself for some random blogging update material!  

Last weekend, Marty had a nice long 4 1/2 days off due to Veteran's Day.  Seeing as I wasn't sure I could handle 4 days of staring at each other and sitting in our pajamas, we set off to do some "fun" stuff.  We went to the Rain Forest Cafe one day (quite expensive for not so much.  It's only the decorations you're paying for, which was cool for the kids.  Of course I did not bring my camera to that, so you will just have to imagine us sitting in a restaurant that looks like a Rain Forest...as the name would imply.)

Our next adventure was going to the Northwest Trek nearby.  It was just about a 30 minute drive (which felt like an eternity with our personal siren - Addison - going off the whole way).

Brielle brought her "journal" to draw pictures of all the animals.  It was pretty cute to look at when we got home.  Between the exhibits and a tram ride through 700 acres of wildlife, we were able to see all sorts of animals very up close.  We saw buffalo (or bison, whatever), elk, moose, mountain goats, deer, beavers, river otters, bears, wolfs, porcupine, owls, eagles, badger, cougar, and some that I had never heard of and can't remember the names.  It was COLD outside, but the kids had a good time.

(By the way...there is no animal in this picture, so you can stop trying to spot it.  It was just a pretty overlook of the preserve we were on with a nice glaring reflection from the window of the tram.)

*

Next...sister's coloring together.  Brielle and Claire like to sit on the hard floor and color in their coloring books, Addison has taken to joining them and actually scribbles on the paper.  It's so funny.  (To me at least...)

*

And lastly - because Claire hasn't been in many pictures lately (she's a busy/crazy kid, it's hard to catch her sometimes) here is what she has been up to lately.

(She had a push-pop ice cream/popsicle treat thing.)

So there you have it...maybe I will attempt to start thinking of funny things to write about again (I guess assuming anything I've ever written was funny)...but then again, maybe not.