the one about ice skating and sledding

I am so behind on my blogging. What is my deal? Oh well. I will try to catch up a bit. I have to post these pictures of quayd ice skating because he is just so dang cute. The pix are from Brennen's Birthday party but I just love Quayd's cute little face! Have you even seen anything sweeter??? Ohhhhh, I love this kid!




Sledding. I love sledding. Truly. One of my fave activities. We went the day after Christmas and had a blast. We took Brayden and Brennen and met up with our friends, the Wallis's. I didn't have the best luck on this adventure. I wrecked a lot, white washed myself, my boots had terrible traction so I had H#@! getting up the hill, among other difficulties. The most memorable event, however, was going down the hill face first on my belly on an inflatable mat. I hit a bump not far from the top and popped my mat. So the only thing between me and the bumpy hill was a thin piece of plastic. I was going really fast and hit a very large bump that had been converted into a jump. Ouch. And I am pretty sure I left my uterus on the hill. I was quite sore for several days, but you know what? It was worth it. We had a blast!

me and my Finny

Brett and the boys starting down the hill on a huge tube

Look at these cute boys!

the one about Brett's trip

So Brett finally made it home (a week ago.... sorry. I have been busy). Anyway, he and his buddy Todd were chosen to go to the National Fire Academy. It was a pretty big honor to be selected to go and they were super excited about it. The school part of it was 6 days, but they added a few days for sight seeing. They were supposed to be home last Sunday, but their flight was changed and they were not aware of it, so they missed it. They couldn't get another flight until the next day, so it was Monday night before they got home. I don't want to tell all about it because I will surely get details confused, so I just want to post a few pictures. If I can get Brett to sit down for a second and write all about it, I will post it. Because it was super interesting and cool. They went to a lot of the civil war battle fields and did the Washington D.C. thing. I teased him that he got to go with his BOY FRIEND on a big NERD tour. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE America and our awesome history, I just know I would have gotten very bored with all of that stuff. Especially the civil war stuff. Sorry. I don't love history. Don't judge me. Anyway, one of MY favorite parts of his trip was the memorial at the Pentagon. It had only been dedicated for a few days when they got there.
There were one of these bench-looking things for each person who was killed at the Pentagon on 9/11. the ones facing one direction were for the victims on the plane and the others for the victims killed in the Pentagon at the time of the attack. Kinda cool.

Their school was really cool too. They had this awesome memorial in remembrance of 9/11. It's HUGE!
The Fallen Firefighter Memorial
This is at the graduation ceremony. Doesn't Brett look so handsome?
They had a good time and I am glad Brett got to go. I am super proud of him and for all of his dedication to the Fire Department. He is so smart and I know he takes this stuff very serious. Good job Brett!!!! I am so proud of you!

Here are just a few more pictures of some fun stuff they did while on their NERD tour.


WHAT?!?!?! HOOTERS?!?!? I am sure they only went there for the amazing hot wings. ;)