Locks of Love

About a week ago Alyssa came home from school with a letter from the school stating that there was a girl at their school that had cancer and that she was going to be going thru chemo therapy. The school decided that they wanted to support her, so they had asked the kids who were eligible to donate their hair to Locks of Love which is a non-profit organization that collects hair and makes wigs for children that have any medical illness. Alyssa had said that her teacher stated that she did not have to do it if she did not want too. At first with not really knowing what it was all about she said"MOM, I like my hair!!!" I read her the paper and explained to her what a good service it would be but I told her it was her choice. She looked and me and said "Let's do it Mom!!!" So today at 1:30 Alyssa and all the other girls that chose to do it too got their hair cut off at the school. Her class was there to watch her and cheer her on. They had made little posters and were there holding them up to give her support. She did great and I was so proud of her!

She had to wear a pony tail in her hair that day and her hair had to be at least 10 inches long. They cut their hair right below the rubberband and then they put their hair in a ziploc bag to be mailed to Locks of Love.

Alyssa donated 11 1/2"

Here are all the girls and staff that participated!

They asked all the girls that were going to do it to get a hair appointment afterwards to shape it, so after school we went to get her hair finished.

She looks so cute and she has been smiling ever since. We love you Alyssa!!!!!

Easter and Aqarium

Easter morning was great and our meetings were wonderful. I am so grateful for a loving Savior who gave me a wonderful family and who knows that we are not perfect. His sacrifice is the greatest love that I hope I can at least some what achieve some day.

Luckily I found a spot to set the camera for a family picture. Some day I will own a tripod. We did not do a fancy dinner this year since we had a nice one with my family earlier this month. So after our breakfast for lunch/dinner or (linner) as we call it, we colored Easter eggs and then the kids hid the plastic eggs in the house since it was an overcast day here in Denver.

On Tuesday the 14th we all went to the Aquarium. They had a crazy tank man to take pictures in. Doesn't Chris look like he is having fun.

Hayden just had to have a picture with Dory he was so hyper and excited to see all of the fish. He was dancing around and always one step or two ahead of us.

The kids got to touch star fish and some crabs. Unfortunately the sting ray exhibit was being worked on so they did not get to touch them too. They were pretty sad about that.

The sharks were the highlight of Alec's evening. He rushed us through the place as fast as he could looking for them.

Castlewood Canyon

We discovered that in Colorado there are a lot of state parks to enjoy. We love being outdoors and so on Sat. the 11th we decided to check out one of them near Castlerock. It was a very windy day and the hike starts out pretty high. As we hiked down into the canyon the wind went away.

The boys loved it. There were lots of big rocks and logs to climb on and they just could not help themselves. Hayden had to jump off and climb almost anything he could find.(I wonder who he got that from? DAD!!!)

Cherry creek ran through the canyon so there was water next to us. It was really nice!
Alyssa tripped and fell at the beginning of the hike which hurt her knee. So the rest of the hike she was very precocious. The rocks laying together would sometimes make little caves and the kids kept asking if we would see any bears.

We had a great time and we are excited to try out another park soon.

Trying to catch up

After my Mom and I went to find a home. Chris came up with his Toyota that was having problems. He drove from Vandenberg to Snowflake and dropped off the car and took the van back with him. My Dad spent so much time on fixing our car. Thank you Dad!!!!
He pulled out the transmission and fixed all the seals and got it all put back together and the thing would not go into gear. The tranny was shot. I thought I would be so happy to see that car go but when I thought it was a goner I got all emotional. That car had been with us since Alyssa was a baby. My Dad reassured me that he could find a new tranny for it. Since the car was not ready to go when we needed to leave to move to Denver my parents let us take one of their cars. My Mom and Dad came with us to help me with the kids while we moved in. It was so nice to have them with me. My Dad went around fixing odds and ends in our home and my Mom was a great help with the kids and unpacking. I was so sad to see them go. Melissa and George came to help me for a while too. Chris was not due back until the 12th of March so Grandpa got to fill in at Alyssa's achievement day activity. Grandpa got to give Alyssa a nerd hairdo it was a good one too.
The date was March 6th which was also our anniversary. A happy 11 years!!!!!! Chris sent me flowers since he was not able to be there. They were beautiful and they made me miss him even more. What a good man!!!!!
While George and Melissa were here it decided to snow. It made us feel right at home. Grandma and Grandpa were a great help and they had to leave on the 10th which was Chris' birthday. It was so nice to have them with us too.

Chris decided to drive all day on the 11th and he got here around 11pm. It was so good to see him again and to know that we were finally done with all of this separation. We kept busy for a couple of weeks trying to get the house in order and being together again. We are finally feeling settled. The only project left is the garage. YEAH!!!!!

During spring break my Dad called and said that the Toyota was ready to go. So we packed up on Thursday and headed to Snowflake to retrieve it. We could not have been happier. Thanks Dad for all of your hard work. We love you!!!! We went to the park while we were there and had a great time! Hold on Alec!

We had a lot of fun seeing family again and set on for home on Sunday. We hit snow when it started to get dark but we made it home. With the van and Toyota. Home at last!!!!!!

We're Alive

We have finally reached a point in our lives where I feel like I can do things like updating our blog. I know it has been too long!!!!! So instead of writing about 3 or 4 pages of events that we have done in the past 3 months I thought I would post what we have been up to in pictures!!!! After Alec's birthday we had a lovely Thanksgiving with my mothers family. Chris did not get to be with us this year but he did get to spend some quality time with his sister Sarah and his niece and nephew. Since it was the holiday season I was busy taking a quilt class in order to finish 3 quilts that I finished for the kids for Christmas. Chris came to visit us after his training in Alabama was over. It was so nice to see him again. I got to go and pick him up at the Phoenix airport and we spent a couple of days together. It was heaven! The kids were very excited to get to see their Dad! On the 20Th we celebrated Alyssa's b-day.

Happy 9Th birthday Alyssa

Being at home always allows for the family to be there. It was a lot of fun!

Alyssa had expressed interest in playing the violin so Nana and Papa got her one for her birthday. She loved it and all the other gifts that she was given.

We always make gingerbread houses as a tradition in our family so we had fun decorating trees a house and gingerbread men.

Having Daddy home was a blast I am sure Papa was happy getting a break on the wrestling factor too.

Then came Christmas! We had gotten the kids matching Christmas Jammie's as always and they were so cute. Santa gave them money to spend at Disneyland which is where we went for Christmas!

Alec loved his Indiana Jones wear. He looked so cute!

Since we were going to be on the road for my birthday on the 26Th Chris asked my Mom if we could celebrate some of it on Christmas Day so that I could have a cake. Isn't that sweet.

We had bought 3 day hopper passes to Disneyland and Californa adventure. It was so much fun. My Mom,Dad, Paul and Kera were with us too.

When we were in line for Space mountain little Hayden just couldn't make it. What a place to snooze. After a while we all took turns carrying him for a while.

This was taken at California Adventure Park the 2nd day and we had just finished riding the raft ride and we were all soaked. The kids loved it and so did Aunt Kera so we rode it several times.

The 3rd day our family went back to Disneyland and the rest of the gang went to the beach.

We got to see the parade and we tryed staying every night to see the fireworks but they never did them due to wind. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and the kids along with the grown ups had a great time.

After we got home it was time for Hayden's birthday. He wanted to have cupcakes (or pupcakes as he calls them) for his cake. Needless to say I was not going to complain.

Once again everyone was able to come. Chris left a couple of days later for Minot again to out process. It was hard to let him go. He stayed and hung out with all of our friend there. Which I must say that we really do miss all of you. But I was very grateful not to be there when I heard what the weather was like. Thank you for being there to keep Chris company for a while.

After a while the kids had a three day weekend so the kids and I decided to go visit Grandma and Grandpa Castle. It was nice to see them. We had smores one night and we went to the water park . Along with playing with all of there toys and going to church. We had a great time!!!!!

On the way home the kids wanted to get out and see the view in the Salt River Canyon. It was a beautiful day and the kids could not believe how far up we were. Driving through there always brings back fun memories of when Chris and I were first married and we uses to go home a lot!

After our visit the Sierra Vista we went to Las Vegas to see my Grandmother Ottmann. The kids call her G.G. and They had not seen her since Alec was about 5 months old. So this was Hayden's first visit. Chris was on his way to his next 6 weeks of training in California so we got to see him for a couple of days. We stayed at Buffalo bills where my Aunt had gotten us 2 rooms for our family. The kids were so excited because they had a couple of roller coasters to ride. About a week later my Mom and I took Hayden and drove to Denver where we spent a couple of days looking for a home. I had seen so many online and the one I felt good about the most we were able to get within an hour. So here is our new home!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!

Well that is all I have time for today. But, Now that we have Internet again. I will be filling you in on the rest soon. Good Day!!!!!!