Happy New Year! (A little late)

I'm not too late to jump on the "Happy New Year" bandwagon, am I?

Well good...because here I come with my trampoline! (Get it...jump...on the bandw...oh, never mind.)

So, this year I've been contemplating what on earth I could possibly do to improve on the perfection that I call myself.  

Needless to say, coming up with a resolution has been tricky!

Of course there are the standard "be less chubby" and "make a million dollars" (or win a million dollars, I am not really picky as to how that money comes into my life).  But I realized I needed something I could easily attain...because I'm a little too fond of the good old drive through.

So, after some deep contemplation during a little "snowball fight protection wall" building with my kids, I came to a conclusion as to what my resolution would be.  

Play More, Worry Less.

That's it.  I think it's totally doable.

While it sounds like a bit of a cop-out resolution, it really is something I need to work on.  I've realized in the last year or so I've become much more serious and have worried a lot more than I should about things I cannot fix and/or change.  Life is too short to be worrying about the kids getting a little water paint on the table, or to worry about all the shreds of paper you're going to have to clean up when you decide to make paper snowmen with them. 

So, here we go.  Time for the FUN Camille to reemerge.

(Assuming that's what I was previous to serious Camille.)

So here's to a FUN, PLAYFUL, WORRY-FREE year!

Christmas Fun

This year was our first Christmas away from Utah...and we all survived.  

I know, shocking.  

We weren't sure it was possible.  

Now I won't go so far as to say we were all overly joyful during the holiday's...some of us experienced a little less joy than others, but we did have a good time.  

So, here are some pictures of our holiday activities.

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Addison is one crazy kid.  This isn't really all that Christmas related...but the picture was taken in the last week or so.  :)

Making gingerbread houses two days before Christmas

Christmas Eve Pajamas (minus Addison who went to bed before we got the other two girls ready in their pajamas for a picture.) Brielle was SO excited and shocked that they even make feetie pajamas for kids her size.  She wants to wear them every night.

Christmas Morning:

This picture is blurry, but SO funny.  Marty "looks femmy" with the wrapping paper (his words) and Addison's face is hilarious.

Digging into presents (I never managed to get all three kids together at once.)

Addison got a Cozy Coupe and chooses to sit in it ALL THE TIME.

And the BIG surprise that waited until after breakfast to be revealed Christmas morning...

A Trampoline!  The kids are LOVING it.  We still need to put the safety enclosure up...but Santa got a little tired Christmas Eve since it was raining and freezing and dark while setting it up, so he kindly left us the enclosure to do another time.

The next day was FREEZING and rainy, but nothing can keep the girls from jumping

(The picture is a little blurry again, but I love Claire's pose.)

So there you have it.  Here's to hoping that 2011 brings some miracles, JOY and good memories.

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.