Iraq - October 2009

Jason and an Iraqi soldier completing some night missions. He finally sent me some photos of him so I can share them with everyone! They have been pretty busy in the last few weeks, so unfortunately he doesn't have as much time to send pics and skype as we'd like.

Jay and another Iraqi soldier...he's making so many new friends!

Jay and his guys completing a night mission - making a road block or check point??? not sure.

Poser Jay by one of his Strykers. Looks a bit warm there...I'm sure those waters next to him are nice and cold, NOT! Mmmm...refreshing. No camels in the background here, but apparently they've run over about 3 of them since they've been there?!? I sure hope PETA doesn't read this.

"Treats for Troops!"...or just Daddy & CPT Connor

The girls & I enjoyed a delicious dinner at Krista's house (aka: Mannie) and then Alyssa got to "help" make cookies for Daddy and CPT Connor. They had to make non-melting ones...so they chose Reeses Pieces cookies! Mmmm...(Mommy can eat one too). Alyssa loved putting ALL of the ingredients into the mixer - but she wanted to wipe her hands off after each stick of butter, but Mannie wouldn't let her! (I'm surprised she didn't just eat the butter).

Ashton was "helping" bake too (or maybe supervising)...on the floor with the tupperware. Who knows what she thought she was mixing/baking - but as you can see, she was licking the spoon! Silly girl. :)

Alyssa stirring in the Reese Pieces! Good thing there was no video done of this, because if Daddy & CPT Connor could see the entire cookie making process...they just might not want to eat them. I promise Alyssa washed her hands before she started and only licked her fingers a couple of times during. Either way - the cookies were made with L-O-V-E! Now they are off to Iraq.

Enjoy Daddy!!!

Ashton's 1st Zoo trip!

Today my Mom & I took the girls to the Zoo - it was Ashton's 1st trip and she loved it! Even though it was October, the sun was out and so were the animals. Ashton loved the Lemurs - kept calling them "kitties! Kitties Momma!" Well...close enough.

She thought the fish were pretty cool too. She really loved the next area where the water/fish go over your head too - she just kept looking up and saying "Ooooo" and pointing at the fish. Very cute!

Alyssa got to go in the Budgie Buddies exhibit. I only bought her one seed stick, but another little boy in there was having nothing to do with the birds and threw his stick down and went crying outta there. His mom picked it up and handed it to Miss Thang, who was more than willing to use the bait to coerce the birdies. After they finished all of the seeds, she went running out to my Mom saying "Grammy, Grammy...the Budgie's are totally cool. That was a totally cool za-zibit!" (yeah, she meant to say "exhibit" but it came out more za-zibit) Either way, it was cool. We ended our day with some good 'ol Round Table pizza - where Alyssa told me "your pepperoni has fire in it Mom!" Well, couldn't we all use a bit of spice in our lives? All in all, it was a great October day!!! Just wish Jay had been there to share it with us. (Love ya Hun)