Outside Adventure

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Well, since I had the migraine last week and didn't design, today was the day to skip all friends acitivies and stay home and design. Sigh. Plus, we had couples couneling at 1pm. No fun for me... All work and no play :(

But I did get the packs designed. And we did get the counseling done. It's now 5pm, and I'm done. And the kids are all home from school, and CPT is home from work and off picking up the washer and dryer that were in the repair shop. When he gets back, he will take Joe to Hockey practice. Then, since I'm done early, I get to watch some Vampire Diaries! Nerd, I know. My kids are supposed to be cleaning their rooms. And yeah, since I'm working in my room, they are outside playing in the backyard. Because I am not supervising. And since I locked all the electronics away. They are off on an outside adventure. I guess, in their heads, it beats cleaning. I should get off of here and go kick their butts and make them clean, right? Or should I let them have fun playing in the backyard together???


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All * (Star)

OK, you guys, so it's really late today. Sorry about that. I didn't blog until the next morning. I woke up with another bad headache! The marathon week long headache has struck! I managed to get the kids to school, medicated myself, then crawled back into bed to die...

When CPT came home from PT, I asked him for a Priesthood blessing just before he went to work for the day. Then I drifted back to sleep. And you know what? When I woke up at 10am, I really did feel better. Weak, but better. I think the headache was gone! Thanks CPT and Heavenly Father!

Kim and I had a few errands to run, so she came and picked me up (thank goodness the headache was gone!), and we headed to the West side. We stopped by Hobby Lobby to see if they had Easter clearance (not so much), then hit up the Dollar Tree for Cub Scout den meeting supplies (Food Guide Pyramid).

Next, it was Lowes for stuff to fix a Pitching thing-a-m-jobbie that Kim had that CPT wanted to borrow for his practices. Only it wasn't Lowes, it was Home Depot (pronounced De-Pot). And CPT and Kim both hate Home De-Pot. hehe. I couldn't remember what was on Mesa near Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree! I knew there was SOME Home improvement store by Walmart! I wish it had been Lowes.

Home De-pot really had nothing that we needed. I needed some stuff for CPT for the garage, and they didn't have it. Luckily they had what Kim needed, though. After a lot of searching, we finally found it. And we paid (no military discount either!) and headed to Academy Sports. Where I had to do my returns/exchanges.

Tom's baseball pants were too small. So he needed a men's XL. And one of his compression shirts was the wrong size. The hanger said the right size, but someone had put it on the wrong hanger. Don't you hate that! And I got Joe the wrong socks. So those needed switched out. Kim needed a few things too. And I got some more baseballs for CPT too. He wanted the leather ones, but yeah, um, no, that wasn't in the budget. Have you SEEN the prices for leather baseballs??? Holy crap!

We paid, then headed to Olive Garden. We met Julia there, and had fun eating soup, salad, and bread sticks, and talking about special needs and the school system, and making the waiter think we were crazy when he came near. hehe. He was having a good time with us!

After lunch, we headed back to post. I unloaded all of my purchases, and yeah, my 1/2 price chocolate bunnies from the Dollar Tree didn't fare too well in Kim's car at lunch.... They were bunny soup. Darnit! So much for a Cub Scout treat - ROLF!

Tom was home early for Middle School early release, and he was watching TV. I watched an episode of Vampire Diaries (did I tell you I JUST started watching this? It's a fun show), then went to get the kids from the bus). We had about an hour before baseball practice. It was a mad rush to get everyone ready and out the door. Wednesdays are always crazy like that.

The girls and I coordinated to have a picnic dinner at the ballpark. Kim brought the pizza, I brought the drinks, Kari brought some oranges, and Julia brought the plates, napkins, and hand sanitizer (ROFL! - Silly Julia, my germ-a-phob friend). We had a good time in the windy warm sunshine with the little kids while the 9-11 year olds played ball. My older boys were home with CPT. He was gonna bring them later for Scouts.

At 6:15, Kari and Julia left to take all the little kids to practice. Kim and I stayed behind to gather up the bigger kids. CPT came to the park with the big kids. After practice, I took Leo and Joe with me to scouts, and Kim took Corey and Alex with her to the little kids practice. We had quite the system worked out.

My den meeting went pretty well. We had our opening, then worked on the food guide pyramid. The boys cut out pictures from a store circular, and drew some of their own pictures. On their own piece of yellow poster board. That took about 30 minutes. Then we went outside and they played freeze tag for the last 30 minutes. It was a good den meeting.

I gathered up Joe and Leo and Eme, and we headed back home. CPT had Jake and Tom. I dropped Leo off at home and collect Jim, and then I worked on getting kids to bed. Jim and Joe got showers, and I started a load of little kids clothes. And straightened up a bit. My house is SUPER messy. Thursday is gonna be clean the house day, I think. And design day.

CPT and the boys got home around 9pm. They had stopped at 7-11 for sodas and ice cream. And brought me a DDP. So sweet!!! I was watching a show, and put it away and spent the next hour and a half listening to CPT talk. That's his love language, you know. Sharing and talking. And since he'd brought me a "gift", I wanted to show him some love back. I listened to him talk scouts and baseball and a little about work. It was nice :)

After he went to bed, I watched a few episodes of Vampire Diaries on my iPad with headphones. And yeah, I was up way too late. oops. I wanted to see what was gonna happen, though!!! hehe :)

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Parent/Teacher Conference

So, the headache was, thankfully. at bay when I woke up. Mostly. I was walking on eggshells, hoping that it wouldn't come back, though.

After the kids went to school, I went to Kari's house, and got a NICE massage, so that should help long term, too. She said that my neck/shoulders were EXTREMELY tight. Not good. Not good at all.

When I got home, I worked on a Scrapbookgraphics project, and it took WAY longer than it should have. But finally got it done. Then, I went and hopped in the shower. And CPT came home for lunch. And since it was early release day, I got the kids from school at 12:30.

And yeah, the headache wasn't gone. I took some meds, and laid down at 1pm. And woke up at 1:45pm, just in time to make it to parent teacher conferences. Sigh. It was gonna be a rough go of it. Tom was still at school, so no babysitter. Luckily, Jim and Joe had DS's, and Eme is just all around good, so they were no problems for me.

Jim was first. He's a good kid in Kindergarten. Really, the only thing he needs to work on is holding his pencil. Not too bad. hehe. Next, it was on to Emeline. What can I say, she's a perfect student :) Straight A's again. She scored a 100 on the benchmark exam. Her teacher wants to clone her. LOL.

Next, it was Joe's turn. He has improved SO much since last time! Brought all of his grades up! His teacher was so proud of him! I explained about the reintegration process, and how it's rough on families when soldiers come back home. She had no idea. They really need to educate these teachers who live in military areas... I'm sure that's why Joe was having such struggles.

Lastly, we saw Eme's 2nd teacher. Again, rave reviews. All told, we were at the elementary school from 2-3:30pm. And yeah, my head still hurt when I got home. Sigh. But it was a little better. I sat down, and let the kids have free time for about an hour. Tom was home, and Jake got home at around 4.

Then, at 4:30, we had chores. And Jake was having a hard time keeping himself under control. I'm not sure why. He was having a rough evening though. Yelling at people. We all just kinda kept our distance, and encouraged him to continue with his chores. Needless to say, with that much yelling, there was a loss of electronics. CPT got home at 5pm, and he and Jake had a talk. Then CPT had a talk with Tom, about not "baiting" a special needs kid. And about how if he kept doing it, Jake was eventually gonna hurt him.... Tom needed to "be the bigger man"...

Tom and CPT left for Baseball practice at 6 something, and the other kids and I went to the park to hang. Since there was no electronics, and it was SUCH a nice night. Kim came to hang, and Kari too. We stayed till it got dark, and CPT came home. And we all headed back home.

We did some cleaning, and some homework, and there were guitars out, and yeah, it's 9pm now. Late night. But a good night. An electronics free night, but I like it :) Everyone is happy. And my headache is a bay, for the moment. Lets hope it stays that way. I have plans for tomorrow. I need to return/exchange some stuff at Academy. I was supposed to do that today. And I have some designing to do...

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Me Time Freebie

So yesterday was a long day. Cap stoned by a killer migraine. Hence the no blogging. But I didn't crash on the way home, so it was all good. ha!

CPT had the day off, and slept in. I got the kids off to school, then went walking for exercise with the girls. We hurried back home, I showered, and CPT was up and getting ready for his exercise. He didn't want to come to the movies with us (we'd had it planned for a while), so Kari and Julia and I headed out. We were gonna see Mirror Mirror.

It was SO super funny! I really liked it!!! Great story (Snow White) with a healthy dose of comedy thrown in.

CPT met me at El Taco Tote after the movie. Perfect timing! We shared a meal for lunch, then after a few phone calls (baseball related) we were off to Academy Sports. We had a TON of stuff to get for baseball. Compression shorts, and cups, and batting helmets, and all sorts of junk. Expensive junk! Boy, I sure didn't like seeing that receipt! Sigh!

Tom got the kids from the bus, and we got home just as Jake got off the bus. And the kids had SO much fun getting dressed for baseball practice. Joe's practice started at 5pm.

Check out Joe in his size Small
And Jim in his size XLarge
All of my boys in their compression clothes. hehe.
Dressed up in their baseball duds

Joe had practice from 5-6:30, Monday and Wednesday. Joe and Leo (Kari's son) and Alex (Julia's son) and Corey (Kim's son) were all on the same time. Then, from 6:30-7:30 Monday and Wednesday, Jim and Josephine (Kari's daughter) and Brooke (Julia's daughter) and Austin (Kim's son) had practice all together. The mom's LOVED it! It's gonna be great for car pooling and such.

Then, CPT is coaching Tom and Hunter (Kim's kid)'s team that practices on Monday's at 7:30-8:30 and Tuesdays at 6:30-7:30. Yeah, we're gonna be doing baseball ALL week long! Not to mention Hockey practice on Thursday at 6-7pm, and Hockey games at 3:10pm on Saturdays. Then Baseball games on Thursday nights, and Friday nights, and Saturday mornings. OMGosh, we will be running running running!!!

Anyway, my head was hurting after Academy, and it didn't really ever get better. It just got worse. By the time I left Jim's practice, and caught part of Tom's practice, I thought I was gonna die. I left it, and headed home while I was still kinda functioning. Yeah, I thought I was gonna have to pull over to puke. Sigh. I didn't, though.

I got the kids mostly ready for bed, then crawled into bed myself. CPT came home around 10pm. Or 9:30. Or something. I don't know. I was pretty out of it. I wanted to die. And I hoped to feel better in the morning.


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How You Play The Game

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Easter Day 12: Commitment

I'm getting sick. Or something. I don't know what it is. why didn't I blog yesterday? I don't know. The ball was super fun, and I didn't feel like it when I got home. Then I didn't feel well this morning. So there you go. But here a picture of me and CPT from the ball. Aren't we cute :)



And a picture of our Easter Bunny loot from Saturday morning. Yummy!
We had our Egg hunt and picnic at 11am. It went well! We were all done and home by 1 or 2 ish. I didn't feel very good afterwords. I just laid around most of the rest of the day...
At 10pm, I went to Walmart with CPT. Bad idea. We didn't get home until now. Midnight. It's now 12:30am. I feel like crap. Yeah, lets home that I can sleep whatever this is off. I wanna go to church in the morning!!!

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Easter Day 11: Miracles

New stuff!!! Oh yeah! I really really hope you like it!!!! Click HERE to go to my store :) AND, I have a bundle! Attitde 2 bundle for only $12. It retails for $62.50! Wow, get it in the bundle, right? hehe :)







Hey there you guys! So I woke up this morning, and after getting kids off to the bus (well, the youngest 4 anyway), I started designing. I was frustrated with Jake. More like over the last 4 days of trying to wake him up. More like over the past few weeks of trying to wake him. I was tired of trying.

So when CPT got home from PT, I was glad for the help. He wasn't so happy getting roped into helping, but I was happy for the help, none the less. But the stress of it wasn't good for me, which led to had headache. Sigh. So, after Jake went to the bus 5 minutes after waking up, and after CPT went to work, I designed my 5 Wordart packs with a developing migraine, then took a bunch of meds, and laid down.

My goal was for my migraine to go away by 11:30, so that I could go to dance lessons with the girls. They had had a bunch of fun last week, and I'd missed it. And I SO wanted to go this week. And yeah, when 11:30 rolled around, I did feel a bit better. Good enough to go out, at least.

And CPT and I had texted, and we felt better about the situation from the morning. See, from that seminar over the weekend, we'd learned that we are from different "countries". CPT is from the country of Perfect and the country of Control. Nice... And he has dual citizenship. Double great. I'm from the country of fun. And a little bit of Peace. And each country has a National vehicle. Well, this morning, I was using my national vehicle of Peace country. The Gondola. Slow mode. Peacefully sitting on the couch. Composing my thoughts for the day. Getting ready to design.

Anyway, CPT's national vehicle is a combo of a bulldozer and a train! Can you imagine what he did to my poor gondola! LOL. Needless to say, that's where the contention came from. Anyway, that's what had happened.

Julia came and picked me up, and me and her and Kari and Kim and Jenny went to dance lessons. It was on the West side, at a little dance studio. $7 for an hours worth of small private lessons in Salsa. I sucked, but it was ok :) Those mirrors were brutal - LOL.

After dancing, we were STARVING, and we all went to lunch at Chipotle. It was DELICIOUS! I absolutely loved it. I'd never eaten there before. I got the burrito with some kind of meat. Beef, and a sauce of sorts. With pintos and cheese and sour cream and cheese and mild salsa and OMGosh it was divine! I'm going back, and bringing CPT with me!!!

After lunch, Julia dropped us all off. And on my doorstep was my Miche new releases! Oh yeah! And the new purple animal prints are SO PRETTY!! And I'm not even crazy about purple! I absolutely love them! And the Skylar for the Petite. Super cute! It looks furry in the photo, but it's faux leather. But you'd swear that it's furry! So all of the style of fur, but none of the hassle of keeping it clean! Score!

CPT was home a few minutes before Tom got off the bus. Then it was time to go and pick up the little kids from the bus. I stayed and chatted with Kari, and soon CPT came and joined us. He got a call from some of his soldiers who wanted him to come and visit them at Buffalo Wild wings on post. They'd just been promoted, and they wanted him to come and celebrate with them. Awe, they like him!!!

We chatted a bit longer, then headed home. I started loading my store, and the kids did chores. And Jake was in a mood. I think he may have missed a dose or two of meds. I can always tell. Soon, CPT got home from the "party", and I was so glad. I was at my witts end. And I convinced him to take Jake to Hockey practice with him and Joe.

So it's now almost 6pm. CPT and Jake and Joe are off to the hockey rink. Tom and Jim and Eme and I are watching Psych. I'm done blogging and loading the store. No school tomorrow for Easter Break. And I think I need a LONG nights sleep. Oh yeah.

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Easter Day 10: Belief

Hey girlies! Busy busy day today :) I was SO sleepy when I woke up, that after I got the elementary kids and Tom off to the bus, that Jake and I went back to sleep. Cause he had therapy at 9am, and there was no reason to hustle. I could sleep in till 7:45am and still get ready. Worked for me :)

CPT got home JUST as my alarm went off. We got ready and chatted, and then both headed out. Jake and I went to his therapy. The session went very well. I dropped him off at school, then drove over to the West side for couples therapy. I was about 40 minutes early, so I designed. Unfortunately, my computer was freaking out, so by the time I restarted it, I only had time to design one pack. Still, that's one pack more than I had earlier in the day, right?

Soon, CPT got there, and we had our session. And it was another good one. After the session, we went to a QUICK lunch at Wendys. I said quick, right? hehe. He headed back to post by 1pm, and I met Kim at Dollar Tree. I needed to work on Easter Baskets. Its quickly approaching, you know. Cause the Easter Bunny comes on Friday night/Saturday morning in the Harty Household. No sugar rush on Sunday morning here. LOL.

Anyway, we grabbed a few things, then headed to Walmart. And I got the rest of the stuff for Easter. My baskets were gonna be cool :) We both paid (her in the quick check out, and me in the slow boat to China lane) and headed home. She had to go earlier, because her kids get out of school earlier.

I headed back home, and Tom and I assembled the Easter baskets. They really did look pretty good. And then it was time for the bus stop. I stayed and chatted with Kari and Julia for quite some time, then back home. And I made Chocolate Almond Cheesecake Brownie bites. O...M....Gosh. They looked awesome!

Jake was at the Youth Center, and CPT was in charge of picking him up. And in charge of scouts. And I was going to my Miche meeting in Las Cruces! I was SOOOO excited. It was such a good time last month! And we get to color this month :)

Anyway, I got Tom situated with the kids, and directions, and the phone, and junk, then I headed out at 4:45 ish. It was a good drive. I took Anthony Gap to Las Cruces, and avoided all of the El Paso rush hour. Oh yeah, I rock! I was afraid that I'd miss it somehow, and get lost, but I did it JUST right. I was proud of myself!

I got there about 15 minutes early, and got to visit with everyone as they came. It was a great meeting :) Those girls are so much fun. We had our sales meeting, and colored our shells, and had our refreshments, and had our drawing. I won 2 magnetic key finders, and a Hope Charmer, and a coin purse. I was very very pleased!!!

Barbara and I and her daughter ended up chatting outside after the meeting for a bit, and then I headed home around 9pm. And I was SO sleepy. I turned up the music, crappy though it was, and drove. And drove. And drove. And my ears felt like they were bleeding by the time I got home. CPT was helping Tom with a homework project. I started blogging, and Tom went to bed, and CPT started ironing, then got ready for work. It's now 10:54pm, and I'm beat. *yawns*

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Easter Day 9: Resurrection

Whirlwind version tonight :) Got the kids to school, and felt lazy. But I did manage to shower and get ready this morning :) Then I went to Fallas around 10am. Just to look around. And I found a dress/shirt that matched with my tiger/leopard shell for my prima shell for Miche. So I got it. And another product suitcase. And some socks for the little boys. Then back home.

I had lunch at home with CPT, then I watched some TV. Yeah, that was about it for the afternoon. At around 2:30, CPT texted and asked if I wanted to go to the TX parks office with him to ask them some questions about an upcoming something or another army day with him. Sure, field trip sounded like fun. We stopped for a Happy Hour Sonic run on the way home.

Tom had collected kids from the bus, and I hung with my kids and friends at the Park once CPT dropped me off back at home. Eme had piano lessons with Jenny at 4:30, and I was home by 5:30pm. We had dinner at 6pm (crock pot beans and rice with biscuits), then CPT and Jake and I went to Verizon to upgrade the home phone line. Couldn't leave Jake at home. He was being a bit aggressive.

Jake sat in the truck, and we looked at phones. We didn't want internet on it. And we wanted something that was easy to text with. We ended up getting the LG Cosmos 2, or something like that. It was free after rebate. And I got a $10 pink case for it! My boys will LOVE it! ROFL! I wanted the to KNOW that it wasn't their phone! It's the house phone. You hear that JAKE... It's not your phone. You too, Tom! ROFL!

Then we headed home. Of course, it was the first thing that both Jake and Tom said... Why is it pink? I'm just mean, I think. I thought it was freakin' hilarious. Poor Verizon man. He thought I was SO mean. He really didn't think that I would do it. He really didn't... Oh yeah, I sure showed him!

We put the kids to bed, and I started blogging while CPT read the little boys a story. I'm gonna watch an episode of Grimm while CPT does his bedtime routine. He's got QUITE the extensive bedtime routine - LOL :)

So, night, y'all! See ya in the morning!

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Easter Day 8: Gift

Well, back to reality today :) I got up and got the kids ready for school like normal. Then, since it was Monday, it was off to Savers! Woohoo! CPT wanted me to fill up the Suburban so that we could track gas mileage. So, before it was driven anywhere, it needed filled up. So, of course, in an ultimate show of laziness, I took the Saturn today - ROFL!

Kim and I headed to Savers, and got there a little late, but what the heck, we were still there :) We met Kari there, and shopped our hearts out. I got a few things for Eme, and tried on Ball Gowns. I had one at home for $0.99, but I wanted to see if I could find a prettier one. And I did!!! It's a bit snug, so I need to be careful about what I eat from now till Friday, but it's pretty. It's a seafoam color, and gorgeous! And Kari had a 30% off coupon that she wasn't using, so I ended up getting it for only $14. Not too bad, for a formal, right? Not $0.99, but it was a lot nicer than that one, too...

I also found a few pairs of super cute shoes. We paid, Kari left, then Kim and I headed to Walmart. I had a few things on my list that I had to get. We were there for about an hour and a half, then we paid, and we headed back home. We were home by around 12:30pm. Not too bad for a morning of shopping. CPT was home for lunch when I got home, so I got to see him for a few minutes, even.

I spent the rest of the afternoon working on invitations to Kim's Miche party and Leigh's Miche party. Then sent them to Walgreens to be printed. Then it was time for the bus. Yup, it took the rest of the afternoon. But they looked really good. My Miche order with the Silver/Pewter rope handles came in, too! I think they are sold out on the website now. So, if you want a pair, I have some. You can buy them them me :)

Then, I went to pick up the kids from the bus. I stayed and chatted with Julia and Kari in Julia's van for about 20 extra minutes. Silly, because we totally see each other at the pool. hehe. Well, not Julia, I guess. Because her kids have Karate. Anyway, we eventually all headed home, and got our kids changed for the pool. And out we went.

And we were at the pool FOR-EVER!!! I was waiting for CPT to text and say that he was on his way home, and he forgot to text and say that he was on his way home, and just came home, and apparently it was peaceful and quiet, because he just stayed home and did whatever. LOL. Miscommunication. I think we were at the pool until around 6:30 or 6:45pm. Jenny and Kari and Erin and I. We had fun and the kids had a BLAST.

We eventually went home, and the kids had nachos for dinner. Then CPT and I went to Big Lots for a new alarm clock for him. And, of course, we found a bunch of other "junk". We did find some new fun books for the kids. Walter the Farting Dog was my favorite!

Then a quick trip to Walgreens to pick up my prints, and back home. We read the book to the kids, put them to bed, helped Tom with his homework, I blogged, and CPT is getting ready to do his ironing. Yeah, busy and full day. And I'm sure tomorrow will be more of the same. hehe :) Although, I did buy a 7 oz bag of Prunes at Big Lots tonight, and I've seemed to have eaten them ALL GONE! So maybe my plan will involve staying near a restroom...

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Easter Day 7: Faith

Today really was a great day, but I don't have time to blog right now. I'll come black and blog in a little bit on Sunday. Look for it, ok. And I'll add the rest of the Easter info :) K, guys :)

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Easter Day 6: Prayer

Day 6
Christ's Example of Prayer

To ponder: Do we take time to have heartfelt conversation with our Father?

Scriptures: Matthew 6:5-6, 9-13; Alma 34: 17-27; 3 Nephi 17:15-17

"Today, in a quiet grove at Valley Forge, there is a heroic-size monument to Washington. He is depicted not astride a charging horse nor overlooking a battlefield of glory, but kneeling in humble prayer, calling upon the God of heaven for diving help. To gave upon the statue prompts the mind to remember the oft-heard expression, "A man stands tallest when upon his knees." Men and women of integrity, character, and purpose have ever recognized a power higher than themselves and have sought through prayer to be guided by such power. Such has it ever been. So shall it ever be." Thomas S Monson, The Prayer of Faith, Aug. 1995 Ensign

Song: Sweet Hour of Prayer, www.jennyphillips.com

First off, what do you think of my NEW Facebook profile picture??? Fabulous, huh??? ROFL! My kids found my fake mustaches that I've been saving for the PERFECT occasion (what, I'm not sure) so I had to join in on the fun...

It was a long morning. Our leave time was 10:30. We tried to get everything done. We wanted to get everything pack, kids showered and adults showered, errands ran, CPT wanted to lift, all by 10:30. Yeah, didn't happen. I did get all my errands ran, though. And CPT did get his lift in. And we did get everything packed. And kids did get showered. And people did get stuff done that needed done. And no one get snarky with each other. And no one had a melt down. Or got into a fight. So it was a success, right?

We ended up leaving post at 12:15. Not too bad. I guess, CPT's 2nd deadline was noon. I didn't know that. It's good to have a backup deadline. hehe.

When we left town, and were JUST getting ready to leave El Paso, the Check Coolant light came on. So we pulled over at a gas station, and bought some more. And filled it up. Sigh. But luckily, no more issues after that. And off we went. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive to Cloudcroft from El Paso.

The kids watched movies/played computers/did whatever they did while we drove. CPT and I talked, and listened to music, and did whatever to pass the time. It went pretty quick, actually.

Check out my new purse! Isn't she pretty! She's for the Demi size!

We saw the JLENS on the way to Alamogordo. It was pretty cool. CPT looked up what it was to explain it more to the kids on my phone, and I screen shot-ed it for ya!
We got to Cloudcroft in time to check in, and we didn't get the room that we normal do. The big one that we like. We got the 2 rooms next to it. Sigh. BUT, it turned out better, actually! More space! Who knew! The 2 rooms were adjoining! So there were 2 big rooms with doors! We ended up with one for us, and one for Joe and Jim. And one pull out couch for Jake, and one pull out couch for Tom, and we had a roll away bed for Emeline. And 2 giant bathrooms with showers and jacuzzi tubs! 2 fridges and 2 4 TV's. Oh yeah. My kids were in heaven!

Then we briefly drove back into Cloudcroft to check out the Pioneer museum that we've always been meaning to check out. The one that my dad said that my ancestor donated something to. We asked about it, and apparently there's a Shotgun there. It's a HUGE pioneer museum. It was closing soon, and we needed to get back for our conference, So we said that we'd be back tomorrow. The woman let us look around briefly, though. She was super nice. We'd DEFINITELY be back tomorrow :)

We came back to the Lodge, and got the kids signed into childcare (well, the little ones), and went off to our meeting. We watched a video that was pretty good. I'll find out the name of it tomorrow for you guys. He was a pretty good lecturer. He talked about "man brain" vs. "woman brain". Very good stuff.

We had a 15 minutes break, then back to class. At 5:30, we broke for dinner, got the kids, and ate at the restaurant at the lodge. It was buffet style. Such yummy stuff! We didn't all get to sit together since we were near the end of the line, and there was limited space. But I didn't care, since I got to sit by CPT. hehe. Someone else got to sit by Jake and Tom and Jim. ROFL! Have fun with my kids, random people... If someone has a problem with it in the future, they can move... Just sayin'...

We had about an hour after dinner before the last session started. Joe and CPT played some chess, and I went back to the room with the other kids. I laid down for a brief nap. I was feeling a bit sleepy and maybe a bit car sick-ish. Not sure what. The nap helped a lot.

We headed back up at 6pm, and got the kids check back in. We had the final session from 6 to 7:45pm. And it was really good. It just FLEW by. Like I said, the video that we're watching of the seminar is REALLY good! The guys is hilarious. Tomorrow, Breakfast is at 8, and the sessions start up at 9am.

We came back to our rooms, and ended up chatting with the other family staying down here. They have 6 kids!!! Similar ages to ours, too. Their oldest is 15, and is ODD, ADD, and a boy, and goes to Chapin, and they live on post too. He and Jake seemed to get along pretty well. Both a tad odd. But he was about Tom's size. The kids all hung in the common area for a while, then we decided to go swimming for about an hour.

We got the kids all changed, and headed to the pool. And the pool was SUPER warm! I mean, REALLY warm! Like almost hot tub warm! I loved it!!!! Not cold at all!!!

We swam, and hot tubbed, and had a grand time. Another family came, and we hung with them and chatted for a while. We went to the sauna for a while, then called it an evening. We eventually got all the kids to bed, and it's now 10:40pm. Time for us Harty's to hit the sack! Night, y'all, from New Mexcio! See you in the morning!!!

Here's a few pictures from the pool side!!!








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Easter Day 5: Strength

Woohoo! New products in the store!!! Sometimes I wonder how I manage to crank out new products, week after week, year after year.... ROFL! JUST for you guys.... hehe :) Just for you! Layouts by the FABULOUS Sharon, back from Sunny FLORIDA at last!!!

Click HERE to go to my store to make it work my while, I mean to give it a look/see :)

Day 5
Christ's Example of endurance and Strength

To ponder: How do we endure and fight against Satan? Do we remain "steadfast and immovable" against temptations?

Scriptures: Matthew 4:1-11; 10:22; 27:27-31; Luke 22:42-44; John 15:17-21; Ephesians 6:10-18; 2 Timothy 4:7-8

"God loves us. He is watching us. He wants us to succeed. We will know some day that He has not left one thing undone for the eternal welfare of each of us. If we only knew it, heavenly hosts are pulling for us - friends in heaven that we cannot now remember who yearn for our victory. This is our day to show what we can do - what life and sacrifice we can daily, hourly, instantly make for God. If we give our all, we will get His all from the greatest of all. Give God your best, and His best will come back to you." Ezra Taft Benson, Jesus Christ - Gifts and Expectations, Dec. 1988 Ensign

Song: We are all Enlisted, Hymn 250

Great quote, huh??! I don't think I've ever heard that one before. I mean, I know the concept, of course, but to hear it again was great :)

Anyway, Thursday morning. I got up, and felt much better. I think the flu was gone. Thank goodness! I was SO ready to be done with it. I got the kids off to school, and then CPT came home to get ready to go to work. And I started working on designing. I stopped at 9am, and had 2 1/2 packs designed. Not packaged, but designed. Not too bad. Well, I had one designed from last week. LOL.

I hopped in the shower, and got ready for counseling. CPT was coming home to pick me up. And, we were late, of course. Bless his heart. hehe :) We were not on the best speaking terms, too.

And, come to find out in couples therapy, he had mis-labeled his love language. He is NOT an acts of service guy. He's a words guy. So, all this time when I was trying to do acts of service for him, because he TOLD me that's what I should be doing for him, it was doing NOTHING for him. Which is why we were having problems.... At least we got to the heart of why we were having problems, right???

Looking back, it's kinda funny. Kinda... A little. Comical, I guess. How much energy we had been expending trying to fix it, when we were just a tad bit off in our focus. And how horribly wrong things were going. Once we figured it out, things instantly became clear, and we both felt better. THIS should work. THIS should make things better. We left couples therapy feeling happier and lighter.

We decided to go out to lunch, and try somewhere new. We stop at somewhere close, and it turned out to be a little place that was from Spain. We thought it was Mexican at first, but nope, Spanish! And it was SO cute and SO good! Never had Spanish food before! I loved it!

It was a tiny restaurant. Only sat about 20 people at the most. Very tiny and intimate. There was one waitress, and the chef even came out and talked to us. He told us what was good, and explained to us how he cooked the dishes. GREAT service! I loved it! Very nice :) Great atmosphere!

We sat and chatted and talked and bonded. JUST what we needed. Especially what CPT needed. See, words love language - hehe. Who knew? Not him, apparently - LOL :) Thanks, Denim (the therapist), for helping us figure it out!

Then, CPT dropped me off at home, and I finished designing. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the computer. But I got it done! I got all 5 WordArt packs designed, packaged, zipped, uploaded, loaded to the store, the freebie hosted, and blogged.

And then it was time to go and get the kids from the bus. And CPT was home from work early for Family Day! It was a miracle! hehe :) He got ready for Military skate night, and I headed to the bus. And when I headed out the door, noticed my Miche package there! Woohoo! My new Demi shells were there! Score!!!

I hurried off to the bus with my new shells, because I couldn't wait till I got home to gawk at them :) They were SO pretty :) I stayed and chatted with the girls for a while, and Kari, just because she hadn't heard from the Hockey people in a while, called the YMCA to ask about Hockey.

No one had called us, but apparently the FIRST practice was TONIGHT!!! At 5:30pm. At the rink. And they were having Pizza, and a parents meeting. Crap. So I texted CPT. He and Joe and Tom and Eme and Leo had left post already.

He wanted me to meet him off post, and to pick up the kids. He was gonna continue over to the West side to get his new tires put on his Suburban. They were in, and there was JUSt enough time between now and 5:30pm.

I met him at McDonalds, and the kids had ice cream. Worked out great. I got the kids after letting them play for a while (there was some kid at the playland named Anakin!!!), and headed back to post. I dropped Leo off at his house, and went back home to get ready for the meeting.

I decided to let Tom stay home and babysit Jim and Eme, and I took Joe and Jake with me. We picked up Kari and Josephine and Leo, and Alex (Julia's kid) wanted to come too. So off we went, at a little before 5:30, back to the ice rink. CPT met us there a bit later.

We got in line for our skates (well, the kids), then we got the equipment bags. And I, of course, had to complain that NO ONE called us. Because that's just rude. And no way to run a business. Come on, YMCA. Get your act together. I'm just glad that Kari thought to call!!

We put down our deposit for the bag of gear, then got the socks and the jersey. The kids got pizza, then they El Paso Rhinos adjusted their helmets for them. Then, they had about 30 minutes worth of ice time. The kids had fun, and Kari and I and CPT chatted while the kids skated.

And we were offered free Championship tickets (Thorne CUP) for tonights game. We totally should have just gone home and packed for the marriage retreat in the morning, but it sounded like fun! So we said yes. After the parents meeting, we packed up, headed back home, dropped off Kari and kids, and Alex, then got the kids at home fed and situated, then headed back to the game at around 8pm. We were a little late, but it was fun.

The kids had a ball. Sure, Jake just played the gameboy. And Eme read her book. And Jim wanted to run around and be funny. At one point, he asked CPT and I if we'd come and visit him on March 20th when he was a grown up. Random! And then, if they were gonna do boat races in the ice rink when the ice melted!!!! Too cute! And he kept talking about the UTEP Miners. It was SO stinking cute. I guess his Kindergarten teacher is a HUGE UTEP fan... CPT tried to convince him that UTEP isn't that cool of a college, but Jimmy didn't believe him - ha! Jim was SO excited to have found at pick axe inside of the garage the other day, because that just PROVED that his dad was a UTEP fan too! ROFL. Poor CPT. He was trying his hardest to "school" his youngest child.

Joe and Leo had fun standing near the glass together. Tom seemed to be pretty into the game, too. I watched pieces. My attention span isn't what it used to be. Or maybe it never was there. I played on my phone for a bit, to try and keep myself from falling asleep or getting bored a few times. LOL. *ooooo, look at the squirrel*

Unfortunately, the Rhino's lost. It's actually the first game that we've seen that they've lost. Most of their games are SO one sided. The Rhino's dominate and destroy everyone we've ever watched them play. Not tonight. CPT said it was a good game. I don't know that much about hockey. It was 1-2 score. I think they've played this team before. And won. And there's another game on Saturday. So whoever wins on Saturday wins, right? Isn't that how it works?

Anyway, we headed out after the game, and got home, and everyone was sleepy. We put the kids to bed, and CPT did some laundry while I tied up my blog. I'd done most of it already. It's now 11pm. We are keeping the kids out of school tomorrow because of the marriage retreat. We wanna leave at around 10:30am. Wish us luck! We haven't packed or anything. hehe. But we sure did have fun at the hockey game - LOL :)

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