Born this Day

OK, here's the pic. I'm gonna be coming back and adding some blogging in a bit. I just wanted to have the pics on here so that on the 2 1/2 hour drive back to El Paso today, I can blog (no WiFi while in the car, you know...)

OK, well, I didn't blog in the car - ha! I got a tad bit car sick, so I just rested. Which isn't bad, either - hehe :)

Let's see, I'm blogging about Saturday.... We woke up on Saturday morning, and got all ready for the day. We headed out to the main lodge at around 8:30am for Breakfast.



It was a buffet style breakfast. Sausage, bacon, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, cereal, fresh fruit..... the kids were SO excited :) It was the most quiet I've seen them the whole trip - ha!

Here's Jim with his food :)
Since the babysitting was SO crazy on Friday night (32 or so kids in a room), the decided to split the little kids from the big kids. The big kids were in the common room of our cabin :)

So I sent Jake and Tom back to our cabin, and went downstairs to drop off Joe and Jim and Eme with the little kids. Yeah, apparently I don't have little kids - ROFL! 4 and under room. ALL of my kids were big kids. Funny how it's a difference of perspective, right?

Captain America and I went to our class, and learned a lot about communication and problem solving, and lots of good stuff. I really enjoyed the classes.

At 11:30ish, we picked up the kids from child care, and hung out in the lobby for a while. Captain America wanted to play a chess game with one of his army friend dudes, and Eme wanted to go to the gift shop. And there were some VERY interesting stuff in there. Like this...

This Watercolor of the Hotel is pretty cool

Captain America and I

And we ALL had to pose with this bear - ROFL!

Eme and I on the couches

Eme bought this horse ornament with some of her birthday money

Joe and this little boy were playing chess, and Captain America helped them make a few moves. They were having a lot of fun :)

Lunch was good. We actually found a table that we could ALL sit together at. We had sandwiches and fruit and yummy brownies. I ate salad with sandwich meat, and a brownie. OMHeavens, it was wonderful. My kids thought it was TOO chocolately, but that just didn't compute... hehe.

And then we headed back to the cabin, grabbed all the stuff we needed for the afternoon, and headed out for Family Day. We decided we wanted to go to Alamorgordo and go to the Space Museum.

Here's a few pics from the 20 minute drive back down the mountain.

We decided to stop by Walmart first, and pick up food for Sunday. The army wasn't gonna feed us lunch, and we didn't wanna eat out on Sunday, so we bought some food for tomorrows lunch. We were trying to do good things, see - hehe.

And yeah, we couldn't resist posing with Pumba - ROFL! Both Jimmy and I took pics on it too, but they didn't post to Facebook very well. Sigh.



Jake and the kids went to the toy section (did I mention that I LOVE having a 13 yr old???), and Captain America and I got all of the food stuff we needed, then browsed for a little bit.

Check out the cold weather overalls - ROFL!

Warm slippers for $5.50

Oh yeah, adult superhero underwear. Nice...

Captain America picked this candle out for me, and it smells SOOO good!

And if you've ever been to Walmart, you KNOW that it takes SO much longer than you imagine it to be... anyway, we ran out of time for the Museum. So we went to look at art downtown, then headed to McDonalds for a soda. The Wendy's dude yesterday let it slip that McDonalds had Diet Dr Pepper. Yeah, sorry Wendys.....

AND, it had an AWESOME playland :)


I REALLY wanted to eat this ice cream, but I'd already eaten my one dessert for the day. Hmpf! Oh well. I'm SURE that chocolate brownie at lunch was SO much better :)

LOVE me some DDP!

This child.... hehe. He's not good with change in his routine....

The game was on. ha!

They all thought it was funny to stand on the turtle - ROFL!

He eventually started having more fun...

hehe - this is my hair on Captain America - ROFL!

ROFL!

And then we headed back to Cloudcroft. And of course, I had to get a pic with me and my sodas (ok, so one was Captain Americas...).
And then I realized that the reason I like to pose with sodas (besides the fact that it's goofy) is that my cheeks suck in, and I look skinny - LMBO!



We got back to Cloudcroft, and made it just in time for dinner. BBQ'd beef, and cole slaw for me. Nothing else was on my menu plan... But it was tasty :)

We dropped the kids off at child care, and Captain America and I got to hang for the next few hours. It was VERY nice. We hung in the room for a while, went to the Hot Tub and heated pool and dry sauna, and enjoyed every minute of it!


After swimming, we went back to the room and watched a movie (Four Christmases), then it was time to get the kids. We put them to bed, hung a little bit longer, than went to sleep. All in all, it was about a PERFECT day :)

I'm not sure if I'm gonna have time to put my pictures and my stories from today on here, but don't worry. Everything is fine and well, I just wanna enjoy my date night with my husband, free from blogging! I did pop on here to give you a freebie, though! See, I really do love you :)

I'm come back on here, probably Sunday night, and edit this, with FUN - hehe. Check out my Bethany Harty facebook page if you wanna see pics of my family trip!

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

(Layout by Sharon)

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Holiday Vacation

Hello, from Cloudcroft New Mexico!!! We left today for our weekend trip to the Mountains! Woohoo!

Actually, it could have been better. Captain America and I got into a little tiff last night. And since we've started counseling, I'm pleased to say that they're just tiffs. We've learned a lot of skills to help us in our communication.

Anyway, we were both upset with each other, for whatever reason (yeah, don't need to air EVERYTHING, right - hehe.) I think it had something to do with packing for the trip.....

Anyway, we were upset with each other. And it kinda put a damper on packing. And planning. And the drive up there...

Captain America had to go to a 0730 formation this morning, and was home by 9am. I got up at 0730 and started on laundry. And I finally got it all washed and dried, and found the missing clothes for the suit cases. I figured out what clothes I wanted, and packed for me, and it wasn't until 930ish that I hopped into the shower.

We were ready to go by around 1030. A little later than we'd planned, but still, we were ready.

It was a LONG drive, since Captain America and I were not talking.... We stopped in Almogordo at Wendy's for lunch. And were back on the road again. We drove to Cloudcroft, and found our hotel. It's a Lodge up in the woods. SO cool!

But first, here's a few pics of the scenic drive.

And here's our lodge - isn't it COOL!

We took all the kids up to the lobby, and signed in. We were in an accessory building, with 4 units. We had 2 rooms, sleeps 8, and had a HUGE bathroom with jaccuzzi and balcony. Yeah, it's pretty NICE! And, our lodge we share with 3 other rooms has a GIANT TV in the common area, a pool table, kitchen, and everything. It's pretty sweet :)

Tom in front of the GIANT christmas tree in the lobby

The kids played checkers/tic tac toe while we registered

And then we headed to our rooms, and unpacked, and hung for about an hour before the first class started. And Captain America and I tried to talk about what had happened (I'd called a Time Out), and yeah, it wasn't getting anywhere. Sigh. So much for a fun marriage retreat, right?

So we headed up to the main lodge for the classes.

The child care people had car problems in Alamogordo, so we were about 30 minutes off schedule. So we had a little bit more free time. We checked out the gift shop, and finally, were able to drop the kids off. Eme and Joe and Jim went to play with about 30 other kids, and Jake and Tom went back to the room to watch TV and play Wii.

And it was kinda awkward for Captain America and I, since we were both groucy with each other. Being in a room with a bunch of other couples. And about 20 minutes into it, someone was asked to describe marriages, or something like that, and they said they were "long and hard", and Captain America and I almost busted up. We've been watching WAY too much Office lately, and that's all we needed to not be mad at each other anymore.

And from that moment, I had a GREAT time. We started talking and joking and having a good time. We decided to be happy with each other, and enjoy the weekend. Thank goodness!

After the first session, we broke for dinner. They fed the little kids downstairs, and we got to eat in the restaurant. It was buffet style, but they seated us in the dining room. It was pretty fancy. And Jake and Tom ate with us. After they stopped squabling, it was an enjoyable time - hehe.

We had chicken (the roast beef was out when we went through) and an asparagus/green bean mixture, and salad, and fresh fruit. Well, that's what I had. They had some pastas and potatoes and rice and crackers and cheese ball and rolls, but I didn't eat those.

We took a few pictures in front of the tree before heading back to our room.

Tom and his new wallet that he bought in the gift shop

We left Jake and Tom in the room, the little kids were doing great at the child care, and we went back to our class. At around 8:45pm, we were finished with classes, collected the kids, and headed to the room. I was having a hard time getting a connection in the room, so I went and asked at the front desk, and they fixed it for me. Thanks!!!

And here it is, only 9:40pm, and I'm gonna go hang with Captain America. Because we have our own room, and the kids are asleep :) And I'm no longer upset with him - :P

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Let It Snow

Hello, hello, hello! Hope today finds everyone happy and healthy! I know yesterday was a GREAT, but super LONG day for me.

First off, though, lets start with the NEW goodies in my store!!! I have 5 new WordArt packs, one of which is an alphabet wordart bundle, and one which is a 12 month circular calendar pack. Some REALLY fun stuff! And a crossword WordArt pack. Cool, huh??!!

Click HERE to go to my store to check out my NEW products :)

Captain America had to be to work by 7am ish, so he woke up a little before 6am. And yeah, I woke up too. I really did want to go back to sleep, but I just kinda laid there and pretended to sleep. I eventually did wake up, read my scriptures, say my prayers, and help the kids get ready for school.

Eme and Tom were already ready when I went out, but Joe was still asleep. I woke the poor little thing up, and he was super sleepy. And he was taking FOREVER in the bathroom. When I asked him about it, he said he had diarrhea. Nice...

AND, he had a bad cough. You know what? If I had diarrhea and a bad cough, I sure wouldn't wanna go to a public place and hang out all day long. That's not a good combo, you know. So I gave him the option of staying home. Which he took. hehe. I gave him some cough medicine, and sent him back to bed.

Tom and Eme left for the bus after family prayer, and I sat on the couch with Jimmy and snuggled for a little while. Jake woke up and got to school, and Jim and Joe eventually put on a movie.

I got ready for my hike after a bit. Laurie and Kari and I were going hiking in the Franklin mountains again! One of my favoritest days of the week, you know! HIking day!

Here's me before leaving

Kari came to pick me up, then we got Laurie, and we headed out to the mountains. Here's me in the car. Sporting my BRAND NEW zit. Lovely, isn't it!

And I took a ton of pictures, and it was an AWESOME view, and yeah, this is the ONLY one that worked. My phone SAID that it was uploading them to Facebook, but it lied. It lied horribly.... But at least I got this one. I'm almost to the top, and I'm giving the phone a "thumbs up". hehe.

So, Kari, you lucked out, and the picture I took where you were worried that your butt was in it, it's gone - hehe. Your saved!

It was very peaceful on top of the mountain. You could see all of El Paso's West side, and a lot of the surrounding Franklin Mountains. It felt very good to be that close to nature. The mountain air was WONDERFUL! It was chilly in the shady part of the mountain, but once we got to the sunshine, it was a warm 55 degrees. I loved EVERY minute of it!

We hiked back down the mountain, and headed back to post. They dropped me off at my house JUST as it was time for Jim to go to the bus. PERFECT timing, huh? hehe.

Joe and Jake and I got lunch organized, I changed out of my sweaty workout clothes into some regular clothes, I got my lunch together, and I headed out for another appointment. Captain America and I were supposed to have a couples therapy session today, but he had to go to the range. So the therapist met with me for an individual session. We already had the time slot booked, might as well use it, right? hehe.

It was a good session. I know in the past, he's say things that I may not have agreed with right off the bat, and I'd start feeling sorry for myself, or just take whatever he said without question. But the more that I start thinking for myself, the more I'm able to explain myself and my reasons for doing certain things. Which, ultimately, is his goal, I think :) So when I "argued my point" today, I think he was proud of me. The me from a few months ago wouldn't have done that. The me today did :) And I felt pretty good about myself, too. This therapist is WONDERFUL. I really appreciate all the time and energy and prayer and care that he's put into Captain America and I. I know that because of him, my family is going to be more than just all right. They're gonna be a lot stronger and better because of him. Thanks!

As I was leaving the office, I noticed this BEAUTIFUL Christmas tree. And yeah, I'd like to say that it's MY Christmas tree in my house. But that would be a lie - hehe. Still, it's super pretty :)

My appointment was running a bit behind, so I ended up waiting for 20 minutes in the office. See my "waiting patiently" face... What? Don't you take goofy pictures of yourself when you're bored? No? OK, so maybe I'm strange...




And then I headed to the Dollar Tree. I had a few minutes before I needed to leave for home to get Jim from the bus, and Jake had eaten all of my thin whole wheat low calorie buns. Grrr... He didn't realize that they weren't for him....

Anyway, I checked out Dollar Tree, and they didn't have any. Drat! I was gonna get a few cookie sheets, but the line to pay was about 8 people long. Yeah, I didn't want them THAT bad. So I put them back and headed home.

I tried calling Andrea on the way home, but she wasn't answering. Then I tried calling my friend Tracy in Illinois, but I didn't have her phone number, just her facebook and email info. Drat!

I tried calling my mom, but she had to go back to work. I tried calling my Grandma, but she wasn't answering either. Dang, I was striking out.

And just so you know, I have a bluetooth. It's illegal to talk on the phone and drive without a hands free device in the city limits of El Paso.

Anyway, a few minutes later, my Grandma called me back, and we chatted for a few minutes. She's not much of a chatter (hehe), but I really like to talk with her :) She's awesome :)

Then I called my Aunt Sue (my mom's mom) and we chatted the rest of the way home. I really wish that she'd come out and visit me. I know that we'd have a GREAT time, us together :)

I came inside the house, and it was about time to go and get Jim from the bus. Joe wanted to walk with me, so we headed on over. I couldn't find my phone (I set it down and the newspaper was on top of it on the kitchen counter), so I headed out without it.

Maggie was at he bus stop, and instead of us all heading to her house for a playgroup, we decided to go to the park. It was almost 60 degrees, and we couldn't pass up the outside opportunity.

The boys had a TON of fun playing at the park. And, of course, Jim was the one kid that decided to jump in the puddles and get all wet. Sigh. So he ended up playing in his sweatshirt and underware for part of the time - LOL!

At 3:40pm, we headed to the school to pick up the kids from AQ. Captain America was home, so I left Jake and Jim and Joe at home, and Captain America and I headed on up. We got Tom and Eme (Bella skipped AQ today), and headed back home.

Captain America and I hung and chatted for a little bit, then I started on dinner for the kids. Chili and cornbread. Mmmmm, smelled really good :) And Captain America taught Jake how to put on a gas mask, just for fun. Here's Jake trying it out. Yeah, I don't think I'd like that ...

At 5pm, we set the kids up with food, and Captain America and I headed to El Taco Tote. Mini date night! hehe. Something they put in their Brocheta was SUPER spicy tonight! I don't know what it was, but my poor mouth was ON FIRE!

I told Captain America to pose with his drink, and setting it on his head was his idea of posing - ROFL!
We made it back on post JUST before they shut the gate by our house, picked up Joe from the house (and dropped off the El Taco Tote leftovers (rice and tortillas) for the kids) and headed to Cub Scouts. It was the pack meeting, and we needed to pay our fees for the upcoming year in Scouting :)

Here's the 3 of us, kinda blurry, but you get the general idea...

I wanted a picture of Joe and me, and the child REFUSED to smile. Hmpf!

But he was all grins when he posed with his daddy...

The boys decorated and made Christmas Cards, and got cookies and drinks for snack. It was a nice pack meeting. We paid our fee, and jetted. We had to get home to get the kids busy packing, and head to Walmart.




We drove home, and made a list on the Dry Erase board of all the clothes that the kids needed to pack for our trip, and all of the stuff they needed to get together. I assigned a couch cushion to each child to lay out their clothes on.

And Captain America and I hurried out to Walmart. He needed new razors and floss. Essentials, you know - hehe :) And we parked by the garden/Christmas section, so we picked up a few lights as we went inside. See, I'm getting OUTSIDE Christmas lights this year! Yippee!

We were home within an hour (that's SUPER good time for a Walmart trip - ha!), and helped the kids get the rest of the way packed. Well, Captain America did. I retreated to my room to do my weekly WordArt work. I'd already designed the packs, but I needed to get them loaded into the store. And I needed to blog.

And here it is, 9:32pm. I can hear Captain America out there still packing away. I don't hear any kids, so I'm assuming they were all sent to bed. I know we did family prayer shortly after we got home, so it's all good :)

I'm feeling SUPER sleepy tonight. I don't know if it's all the fresh air and exercise I got today, the fact that I went to bed close to midnight and got up before 6am this morning, or what, but I'm exhausted! I hope I sleep well tonight!

We're leaving her no later than 10am for our trip. We're going to Cloudcroft New Mexico, and staying at a nice hotel/lodge up there. Should be a GREAT trip :) The kids are looking forward to it, and I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with Captain America, and having the kids be at the on-site babysitter! We counted up the time, and Captain America leaves in about 5 weeks. Sigh. It's gonna be a LONG year without him... So I'm making the most of EVERY opportunity I have!

Here's a SUPER cool layout by my girl, Sharon!

Click on the image above to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks! (see, I changed things up a bit - hehe - my fingers didn't know how to type that one quite as fast. I had to think about it - LOL!)

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