This is my promise!

I keep putting off posting on the blog because I haven't gone through the most recent pictures yet. I have been so busy doing other things, and I am so tired every night! So, I decided that I have to put on here my goal.
I AM GOING TO POST MORE PICTURES BY SUNDAY NIGHT!
That's my goal, and I'm sticking to it. If I post it on here then I know I'll do it because anyone who reads this will be expecting it. :)
Anyway, things are going well here. The kids are all growing up so fast. I cannot believe Halley is almost two months old. The time is really flying now that we're out and about doing things almost every day.
We had my parents and my grandma here for Memorial Day weekend, and that was so fun!! It was so nice to have some family here. I have been really missing everyone. We also blessed Halley on Sunday. That was sure interesting. When we blessed the boys the circle of men was huge both times. This time it was just Wes, my dad, and two men in the bishopric. It was a beautiful blessing. I'll post some pictures of Halley in her cute blessing dress by Sunday. :)
Well, I better go. Bradley wants to type a letter to Richie again so I'm going to let him do it in a document so we can actually send it to him.
I promise I'll do the pictures this week!

Random Stuff

Ok, so I wanted to mention this stuff when I did all those other posts, but I keep forgetting. First of all, take the poll. I am really having a hard time deciding if I should chop my hair or not. Halley is grabbing it all the time, but then I look at it all long and think, "It took 2 years to get it back! Is it worth it?"
Also, since we have been here we haven't really had a whole lot of time to watch movies because we are either too tired or Wes has to study or we have other stuff to do. Anyway, we watched two movies that I actually thought were pretty good. If you know me, you know that doesn't happen very often so I am going to recommend them to you. Be aware - these are not the type of movies my dad will like - blood, guts and violence. They are both actually pretty sentimental and funny. I cried watching both of them, and Wes did too, of course. :) Ok, so are you ready - they are Martian Child and No Reservations. Watch them and let me know what you think.
Another update, on Sunday we went over to a friends' house for Mother's Day dinner. We met some other families to hang out and trade babysitting with so I'm excited.
Also, Wes went in to do a speaking type thing with one of his teachers. He thought he was going to be able to look at his paper with some notes on it, but he couldn't. He still did really well and had a whole conversation with her in Chinese. Crazy, huh? He has only been in classes for a month! His teacher also told him that he is definitely the top student in their class so we're excited. I was feeling really bummed because so many people keep telling me how hard the Chinese class is and that no one with a family can pass because it's so demanding. I'm sure it'll get harder, but it's really good to know that Wes is doing so well.
I'll post some more later!

No, I did not forget about Halley!

So, I have all these cute pictures of Halley that I wanted to put on the blog, but it got way too late last night. I was sooooo tired. I didn't realize that it would take so long for me to upload all the pictures.

Anyway, so here are some cute ones of our baby girl. While I load those, I think I'll blab for a minute about our lives. I have to tell a cute story about Bradley. I was having a really rough time a few days ago. I was feeling really lonely and overwhelmed and all that stuff, and we knelt down for family prayer. Bradley asked to say it, which is awesome! This is what he said, "Thank you for our new baby sister and that we can be with Daddy always and for our new house, and bless that we can be happy." It was just what I needed to hear. Despite the fact that life here is really overwhelming right now, I need to remember how lucky we are to have such a nice house. It's also more than wonderful to be with Wes again for so many reasons. I can't even express how nice it is to have a husband to share my worries with, and I know that the kids need their daddy around.

Halley is also a wonderful blessing. She is so precious. By the way, she had her first smile on Tuesday. Wes and I were arguing about how to tell if it's a real smile, and then I remembered, it's in the eyes, and it was definitely a smile! Of course, I haven't really gotten anymore out of her, but that's OK. She is very tricky because when she starts to fuss, it looks like a smile. She has dang cute dimples that show up when she's fussing too. It's funny.

OK, so as far as feeling lonely and such, I met some new friends at the ACS (Army Community Service) building on Tuesday. One of the girls I met is from Germany, and we have already talked a couple times. I am feeling like the military and church communities our here are really going to end up being like our family. There's a Mother's Day brunch tomorrow morning that I am going to go to, and hopefully I'll be able to meet some more people there. There are also play groups and classes to take. It's going to be a fun adventure!

This last picture has a funny story. The boys love to have me take pictures of their "surprise faces." Well, just by chance, Halley opened her mouth at the same time so they are all surprised! I was pretty proud of myself for catching that. :)

Bradley wants to type a little so here's a short thing from Bradley (It's a letter for Richie, my brother in Iraq. Cute huh?):

dear richie,

i bradley have fun in my house. i really like my new house. i really am going to a park mommy loves another day.

love, bradley

He typed most of those letters. I told him how to spell some of the things, but he knew a few. Love to all!

Another Beach Adventure

After we spent some time last Saturday unpacking we decided we should go do something fun. We are very used to just hanging out with our families so it was a little weird to think about other things to do, but we decided to try the beach again. Since flying a kite didn't work so well when we went with Garon, we decided to try again. This time the kite flew like crazy. The boys both helped to hold the string. The kite was still flying when Wes had just a couple feet of string out.

Along with great wind, it was really cold here on Saturday. I was surprised the boys even wanted to stay on the beach. We tried a new beach, and the tide was just coming in. I haven't been around the ocean much, but I can't believe how fast the water came up. It was really funny. I told Wes that we better move the blanket where Halley and I were sitting. He didn't believe the water would come up that fast, but I was smart and moved anyway. You should have seen Wes run up the beach when the next big wave came. It was so funny.

What a Great Dad!

These are great pictures of Wes being a dad. This is how the boys like to say family prayer - on Daddy's back. And the one with Halley shows Wes trying to be a soldier, a daddy, and a student! Can you tell he is tired? He has a tough job, and we are so glad that he is so amazing! Every night when Wes gets home he spends time helping out with the house and the kids. He saves his hours of homework and studying until they are in bed, or he wakes up early. He is so wonderful!

A Visit from Uncle Garon!

I told my sister that I was going to look through my pictures to find some for the blog. I was thinking maybe 3 or 4 - well, I ended up finding, oh, 15. So, instead of doing another slide show she gave me the idea of doing a post for each event.

These are a few of the pictures we took while Garon was here. We had lots of fun at the beach. Pay close attention to our wonderful boys who are such complete opposites. Just so you know, the water was really cold! Connor started out with his pants rolled up and me saying, "Ok, let's just not let his diaper get wet." By the end of the excursion, he was wet from head to toe, and until just a few minutes before we left, he was loving it! I love this picture of Connor and Wes - sheer enjoyment. Bradley, on the other hand, well, if you know Bradley, the picture says a thousand words!

The sand castle they built didn't quite turn out the way they expected, but Wes and Garon were determined to have some wet, sandy fun! They dug out these big holes for the boys to stand in. (By the way, Bradley did finally get a little wet toward the end, and he even enjoyed it.)

We will really miss Garon, and it was awesome to see him before he left. Bradley is especially going to miss Garon's paper airplanes! :)

Here we are in sunny Seaside!

Hello to one and all!
The kids and I arrived at our new home in Seaside, CA about a week ago, and things have been crazy! I just posted some pictures that we had taken a week after Halley was born. There were 50 cute ones, and I just picked 16!
I am planning to post some pics of our new house and our first couple visits to the beach, but I just haven't had time yet. Wes' brother, Garon, has been here visiting before he gets deployed to Afghanistan. We all went to the beach to fly a kite yesterday and the boys ended up playing in the sand instead. Connor LOVES the ocean. By the time we left he was absolutely soaking wet, and the water was freezing! It was so funny. I'll post some pics of our adventure later.
Halley is as cute as ever. She is a really good baby. I'm having a hard time because she has so many cute clothes that she won't fit in for much longer, and there isn't anyone here to show her off to! It'll be better after we meet some more people at church this week.
So, it is nice to be all together as a family, but I am really missing having everyone else so close. By the way, our cell phones don't work at our house - no reception. So, if you want to call, give us a call on our home phone. If you don't have long distance, we'll call you back. Love to all!!