Tooting noises

Wesley and either Brittany or Brooke...no explanation needed.

Swimming with Daddy

We love our neighborhood pool! Since John has been away, we have been there almost everyday. It would be challenging to not have the pool access during the 90-100 degree days! Hailey like to be in the water, but she also loves to walk around and take toys from other people. She carries them back and forth to the pool, which keeps her very busy! Wes is still a little fish! He can swim under the water for about 5 long seconds, comes up for a breath and goes back under...needing something to hold onto after 10-15 seconds. He is talking private lessons at this pool and group lessons at my gym.

Cousin Robin's Birthday

Cousin Douglas, "Uncle Scott", and Wesley

The Birthday Girl!!!

Trying to think of a wish! We had blue teeth after eating cake!

Uncle Scott couldn't resist buying the cousins a treat from the Ice Cream Man!

Even Hailey Belle got her own ice cream samwich!

Little Rachel with her bomb pop!

Dear Grammi and Grandpa,

I really love my new clothes and my new 4-wheeler that you bought me for my birthday. I just don't care to wear them while riding. Thank you for my new watch. I think it is pretty cool and wore it to the Be a Pilot Day with Daddy!

I am very excited to see you this week!!!

Love, Wesley

A Visit from Kentucky!!

Gram, Auntie Deborah and the kids came to visit us last week!! We had so much fun going to the pool and playing at the house! We had ANOTHER little birthday party for Wes while they were here! I would say that this was the week Hailey decided she wanted to be just like the big kids. She became very vocal about what she wanted and even more so about what she didn't want!

The kids brought this stroller to Hailey! She loves to push it around...almost running! She gets quite upset when it gets stuck and she can't navigate a way out!

Wes wearing the Hoochie shoes of the girls'. Notice his hand as well....

~Gram and the kiddos~

Party bags!!! yogurt covered raisins!

Lollies and a whistle!

Wes' gift from Auntie Deb, Uncle Dennis and the kids!

Big girl sitting with the big kids!

Fourth of July in Virginia

The Huzzard Family took such good care of us and other friends today! I loaded up the children this morning and dropped them off so I could go for my long run of the week....4 miles! Wasn't great, wasn't terrible. It was almost 90 degrees! We let our kiddos play together, fed them lunch, and then it was naptime! The highlight of the morning was talking to John on Skype!! He's doing really well and although we miss him lots, we feel the situation is pretty good considering.

Hailey and Ava in the play Diner.

Jacob emptying water out of the pool.

Our sweet little ones.

It was so cute when Hailey took Ava by the hand and led her to the pool!

Sweet Brynn!

Crowded around a little caterpillar! Didn't think the thing stood a chance, but Benjamin let him go!

Once again in his shark swim shirt!
Pee Pee and a popsicle anyone? Moments before, Mitchell was also reading a book and eating the popsicle on the pot!!! He had his first dry day today!!! YAY!!!
Reading about Independence Day! They also made their own Flag Books! go pam!!

Hailey LOVES her popsicle!

Watching the sparklers!!! It was so cute to see them siting there!

Mr. L. Ron was such a trooper today! THANK YOU!!!

Our grand finale! A special sparkler!! Ava wasn't amused:(

Fourth of July in Kabul

June 28th; Jeremy Renner. Came by to sign photos and took the time to talk to each person for a bit. I didn't want to wait in line...
Today, July 4th; Sen's John McCain and Joe Lieberman. Their arrival was not announced, I just happened to be out taking these photos when they arrived for a short briefing.

Today, July 4th; Gen Petraeus. Bad photo (the camera isn't the greatest), but he came by with the Senators on his second day in country.
Sen McCain on his way out, drove right past me.

The Base

Runnng in a 5K. Picture is taken outside of the dining facility.
My roommate.
The main drag. The trees are very nice, makes me feel more at home than anything else. My house is down on the right behind the wall.

Sign for the med clinic. A bit of a tease...

Flag poles that fly the flags of every country taking part in this mission. Mountains in the background.
My room. My locker on the left, a TV on the left that doesn't work, and my bed. My roommate's stuff is to the right. You can see his locker.
The house. In the back is the house, we live upstairs. Downstairs is office space. The building on the right (Park Place) is where I work. IG is upstairs, contracting downstairs. These are just sea shipping containers converted into offices.
The office. 6 of us sit in here, I sit in the back left. My flight chief sits in the back right. We have 4 contracting officers that sit in there with us, and 2 civilians that sit in the office next door (total of 8 in the section). We turn about 190 contracting actions a week.

Another area on base where they are converting shipping containers into office space. This will eventually become the same setup as my office. Every possible area is being built on at the base, I hear there are 4 pools that used to be here, they have been filled with buildings put on top of them. Real estate is at a premium due to the surge.