As a result of my diligent search, I found the cable! Here are the long awaited pictures!

The girls and their aunt Kari at the Lincoln Children's Museum. These are the only pictures I have from our trip out here because I kept forgetting the camera. I'll get more from Kari.


















Our lovely sleeping arrangements in TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility). Can you spot Zack in the Pack n Play in the corner?










The following are pictures from one night when the kids were so grumpy from being crammed into a hotel for weeks. We just started snapping pictures. Everyone was happy for a little while. Tansy eventually broke down again.

We went to the Wings over Whiteman air show on June 6. Unfortunately, there was a crash landing that morning (no injuries) on the runway that morning, so no government planes were allowed to use the runway, even after the plane had been moved. We were bummed since that's what we went to see. The aerobatics were cool though.













I had a bit of a mishap with the roller brush while painting the girls' room. Sydney kindly snapped this picture for me.

Sydney, the ninja.

Sydney with healing scabs across her forehead from her ninja, packing-tape headband.

Celebrating Father's Day on Saturday.

Okay, so I have plenty of pictures, but I cannot find the cable to transfer them to the computer. I know. Excuses, excuses.

Ben left this morning. He decided that he would just drive today so that he could be around to help with a few more things around the house before he left. Mostly things that involve working at heights more accessible to people like him than they are to people like me. He left just after 6:00 this morning since he had to be at Sheppard AFB no later than 4:00. We dragged the kids out of bed at 6:00 (except for Zack, who was playing with his face when I went to get him, and what the heck is up with Tansy sleeping in?) so they could say goodbye. The babies allowed Ben a quick hug then demanded cereal. Sydney broke down and just sat with Ben on the couch crying. We tried to talk to her about it, but she eventually just ran to her room saying that she wanted to go back to bed. When Ben walked out the door, she came back out and waved to him as he drove away.

She broke down again and we went and hugged in her room while she kept repeating, "I want Daddy!" in her nearly hysterical voice. I just held her until she calmed down. She stayed in bed by herself for a little while before coming out to play with us and get something to eat. She has been so helpful with the kids.

When it was time to go to church, Tansy finally took notice of the fact that Ben was gone. I kept trying to get her out the door, but she kept walking around saying, "Where Daddy? Where Daddy?" I reminded her that he was gone for a long time. She finally said, "Daddy gone," and went out to the van.

The Primary kids sang "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home" in Sacrament Meeting today. Sydney got through the first two lines before her face just fell. She put her head down on her arms and just sang along with no actions for the rest of the song. I kept smiling at her, trying to keep her from crying. When she got back to me, she climbed in my lap and said she wanted to go home and lay in bed. After a few minutes, she decided to draw a picture for Ben instead. Poor little girl.

We had Father's Day last night complete with quiche, ice cream, and presents. In the pictures, Ben has on his awesome tie that Sydney made for him last week in Primary. They gave the kids these hideous old ties and all sorts of buttons, beads, ribbon, sequins, etc. to decorate them. They also sent home a note saying that the kids had made these especially for Father's Day and to please wear them the next Sunday. I was proud to see a lot of the dads did. I wondered what a dad would do who had multiple children in Primary. One dad showed up wearing two ties. What a guy.

I look forward to talking to my dad and husband today. Thanks for being great dads!

Sorry, folks. No pictures again. I have some, but most of them are before pictures of the house, and I am saving those for when I get things put together enough to take some after pictures.

We finally emerged from TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) a week ago. We actually had our house last Wednesday and had hoped to have our stuff the same day. However, when Tuesday afternoon arrived and the computer system we make our moving requests through still didn't show that we were scheduled for delivery, I made all of the same phone calls we made in Logan, and, sure enough, it wasn't scheduled. AGAIN! We have had to schedule things ourselves on both ends. And I haven't found anyone else who has been forced to use this stupid system. They also seem to get their stuff when they want it. Hmmm.

Anyway, we couldn't get our thing delivered until Friday, so Tuesday afternoon, we decided to paint. Usually not a last-minute kind of decision, I know. We had talked about it a bit as something to do sometime while we were here. It was my way to make lemonade out of this big, annoying lemon. We ran to Lowe's that night for paint and spent Wednesday painting. The kids were so good and spent most of the time in the living room watching movies on the laptop. We only painted three bedrooms, so it wasn't a huge undertaking, but it was still a long, tiring day.

Friday morning, the moving guys showed up early! What the heck? When he called asking for an escort on to base, I was still half an hour away from beginning to expect them. Everything was in and the beds and tables were reassembled before noon. Somewhere along the way, my favorite bookcase had the bottom smashed out of it, so I'm not terribly thrilled about that. And one of the drawers in the dresser is broken off of its track. We think they might have tried to force it out, but our drawers don't come out. We'll be sure to remember to mention this in the future.

I have a full basement that is only partly finished, but we were able to lay some carpet for a playroom for the girls and have TONS of space for storage. We are actually planning on making a small family room down there too. So much fun. I love being out of apartment life. I can ignore my kids when they throw tantrums, run the dishwasher whenever I want, and start the laundry at 6:00 a.m. No more quiet hours or paper-thin walls. I'm still trying to adjust to all of the space. I know. Poor me.

I'm so tired of shopping. There are a lot of things when needed and more that we wanted to get the house together. We used our dislocation allowance (money from the military they give us just because we moved) to get this place together. It's been fun, but stressful, since we've been on such a time crunch. Ben leaves tomorrow for tech school in Texas and won't be back until the end of September. Wish me luck!

This is going to be more like a novel, since I haven't collected pictures from others to go with all of the things that have happened this month.

On May 2, Ben graduated and commissioned. I only took Sydney to graduation and left the babies at home. It only lasted 50 minutes, which was awesome. The only speaker was the valedictorian. Best graduation ever, although Sydney wasn't terribly impressed with it only being "talking and not a show."

That evening he commissioned with the Air Force. Most of my family was there, which was really nice. However, we all had our kids and ended up spending most of the evening in the hallway, since Major Martin decided to perform a ridiculously lengthy stand-up routine, which caused the ceremony to last 2 1/2 hours. Ben commissioned last. Sydney really enjoyed helping to pin new ranks on Ben's hat.

After we got through all of those festivities, it was time to really buckle down and get ready to move. We did a lot a cleaning and organizing to prepare for the movers. Eight days before the packers were supposed to be at our house, we still hadn't heard from anyone to confirm packing and loading days. I called Hill and was told that they might not call until a couple of days beforehand, but that I could call back to see if I could get more information.

Monday afternoon (less than two days before packing day) I had Ben call Hill to see if we could find out what was going on. I had a feeling that things had fallen through the cracks, and if we didn't track down who was supposed to be coming, no one would be there Wednesday morning. Ben spoke to an airman at Hill, who told us to call JPPSO in Colorado, who told us to call Alexander's Mobility Service in Maryland, who told us to call Atlas Van Lines, who told us to call Mollerup Van and Storage in Roy, Utah. Mollerup had never heard of us. This resulted in a call back to Atlas, after which Mollerup called us to confirm a Wednesday pack date had been scheduled. That's cutting it just a bit too close for me.

The Air Force scheduled two pack days for us. Three guys showed up at my apartment at 10:40 and left at 5:20, at which time everything was packed. They even took two breaks. We really don't have a lot of stuff.

We still had our beds, so we all slept there that night, then after Sydney finished preschool on Thursday, I drove down to Orem with the kids to wait until Monday when we could start travelling to Missouri. Ben stayed in Logan to take care of the fish so we would only have to move them once.

We really enjoyed being able to spend a few days with family before moving so far away.

Monday morning, we began our drive. My sister, Kari came with us to help with the kids, since Ben and I both had to drive cars. She has been an absolute LIFESAVER! At 7:30, we headed up Provo Canyon on our way to Wyoming. We stopped at Little America for gas and $.50 ice cream cones. Our next stop was Rawlins, Wyoming for lunch. Ben got a late start and caught up with us just as we were finishing lunch.

We then went to Laramie, Wyoming, to the University of Wyoming to see Big Al. The BBC made a documentary of this allosaurus skeleton found in Wyoming that was 95% complete. It is one of Sydney's favorite things to watch. She was so excited to get to see the real thing. We even got her a t-shirt.

We stayed the night in Cheyenne and decided to have dinner in the restaurant in the hotel. Bad idea. We were there FOREVER. It was an hour before we got our food. I was so frustrated and tired. After we finally got out of there, we played in the swimming pool. The kids loved it, and it helped them to work off some energy so they slept really well.

We set out first thing the next morning, and drove for about an hour before stopping for breakfast in Sidney, Nebraska. Sydney thought that was pretty cool.

We then drove to North Platte, Nebraska to visit Cody Park to play on the kids' carnival rides. We were disappointed to find out that, although not posted on the website, the rides only run from 5-9 at night. We got to see llamas and peacocks and play at a playground.

Our next stop was the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles. We got to see a lot of restored WWII vehicles, which was a lot of fun. There were a lot more outside, but Nebraska was so ridiculously windy, Ben and Kari only took the girls to see the two you could climb inside while I fed Zack in the car.

The wind in Nebraska was so bad that our cars constantly wiggled as we tried to keep them on the road. No my favorite days of driving. I vowed never to live in Nebraska.

We stayed the night in Lincoln, where the kids again slept really well. They had a warm breakfast available in the lobby. Ben took the girls to play on the elevators, which were glass on the back. I couldn't even look, but they thought it was great.

Wednesday morning, we went to the Lincoln Children's Museum. They kids had fun playing, and we all enjoyed some much-needed time outside of the car. I got an good taste of how the trip was wearing on Sydney when it was time to leave the museum, and she screamed about how I was being mean and dumb to her. Those are the worst words she knows, so she was pulling out the big guns.

We drove out to Nebraska City for a quick lunch at Burger King, then set out for St. Joseph, Missouri. After a brief stint in Iowa, we finally crossed the Missouri border. After a quick visit to the Pony Express Memorial, we checked in our hotel and headed straight for the pool. We went to Red Lobster for dinner (so yummy!) then turned in for our last night on the road.

At 4:40 a.m. Thursday morning, my cell phone rang. It was Kari over in the next room with Sydney. Sydney had started throwing up. I had already been up for two hours with a cold and had just gotten back to sleep before this happened. I went over and bathed Sydney, got her dressed, and brought her over to the other room. She watched Happy Feet on the computer, which puking into the ice bucket for an hour and a half. Then it started coming from the other end. Not the most exciting illness to have in the car.

We equipped Sydney with a bowl in case she decided to start returning her food again and set off. We stopped in Liberty for breakfast. Ben was wearing his uniform so he would be ready to go when we arrived on base. A nice gentleman won three stuffed animals out of the claw machine and asked to give them to the kids. Tansy used hers to knock an entire glass of orange juice over which covered the table and got on Ben's pants. He was able to get it out. Phew.

Near the end of our meal, a lady stopped to thank Ben for all he does. Another gentlemen asked us to point out our waitress so that he could pay our bill. It was amazing to get so much attention because my husband decided to serve in the military. It really makes me proud of him.

We all got back in the car, and thought we wouldn't stop until we reached Whiteman. After all, Sydney had gone to the bathroom twice at the restaurant, so we should be good. We ended up stopping about 45 minutes after we started out and again in Knob Noster, which is only two miles from Whiteman. Poor girl. Two minutes after getting to Whiteman, she had to go again.

We went to the Whiteman Inn to get into our Temporary Lodging Facility (TLF). We had originally scheduled to arrive on the 20th, but when we found out that the Air Force would cover four days of travel, we pushed our arrival date back to the 21st. Ben and I had both tried to call several times, but I only got through once and hung up after being left on hold for 20 minutes. The girl at the desk said that since we didn't arrive on the 20th, they no longer had a TLF for us and finally offered us a single room until a TLF would be available the next day. I told her we had three adults and three children and that wouldn't work. She then left to go "figure something out."

Ben and I left the kids with Kari and went to get IDs taken care of. Poor Kari was stuck outside with the three of them until a nicer girl at Whiteman Inn showed her a playground. They also bought some snacks. I was able to get back to them almost an hour and a half later, then we waited for Ben for another half an hour. At this point, the nicer girl was able to check us in to a TLF. She showed me that she had chosen the one we are in because there is playground just outside the front door, and the laundry is so close. I loved her for that.

We are currently staying in a place with one bedroom with a queen bed. The living room had a sofa bed and the chair also folds out into a bed. Right now the kids are in the bedroom with me and Ben and Kari sleep in the living room. When Kari leaves, I plan to move the kids to the living room and Ben and I will take the bed. We'll see how the kids deal with that. They are still acting up a lot, since their lives have been turned upside down.

Friday morning we got keys to look at two houses. Despite all of the assurances of new houses and renovated houses, we get to choose from two that are scheduled to be demoished before we think we will be transferred. Not much to look at. It was pretty disappointing, but we have been through twice, and I have some ideas of improvements. The nice thing is that since it will be demolished when we're done with it, we can pretty much do whatever we want. The yard is also fenced, which is awesome. And it is my very own house, not an apartment.

Yesterday, we went to Liberty and Independence. We wanted to make sure Kari got to see those before she went back to Utah. We had a good time, and even stopped at Cici's pizza. Everyone tired out pretty quickly though, so we headed home.

Today was the first day in our new ward. Everyone was very friendly and introduced themselves. We met with the bishop this afternoon and will be heading over to another family's house tonight to roast marshmallows.

Basically, things have gone really well, with just a few hiccups. Pictures will be coming soon! Thanks for hanging in there with me for this long, long post. I use this as a sort of journal, so everything needed to get in. Now that we are here, I'll be posting more regularly.

I just didn't have it in me to blog last week. I don't think anything spectacular happened so I didn't stress too much. Hope my adoring readership was able to get through the lapse.

This past week we had lots of company. Kathleen and her boys came up to spend Tuesday and Wednesday with us. We had a lot of fun with them, and Kathleen showed me how to make the yummiest whole wheat bread. I really want a Kitchenaid. Anyone feeling particularly generous? Anyone?

Kim and Jasmine came up Thursday afternoon to help celebrate Sydney's 5th birthday. Syd got her crown at preschool that day as well as a goodie bag from her awesome teacher. We had a cake with family that night.






On Friday, Sydney had her friend birthday party. I decided to be a bit more adventurous than usual this year and make a dinosaur cake for the party. Sydney is really into dinosaurs. When I saw this cake in the March Family Fun magazine, I knew I had to make it for her. The "dirt" on top is supposed to be made out of chocolate graham crakers, but I couldn't find any. I checked several stores with no luck. Sydney was impressed anyway and asks to see this picture. Guess I did all right.


Tansy told me she wanted to go potty yesterday. I told her that she wears a diaper. She said, "Di-pah off," and started pulling her pants down. She got the stool herself, and insisted that I put her on the potty. She is actually pretending to wipe herself here. Of course nothing happened, but she was so serious about it. Hope this girl doesn't think we are doing this any time soon. Hang in there, baby!

I've been trying to get a shot of Zack's teeth, but he isn't cooperating. I could show you some lovely shots of his tongue though.

And let's not forget the most important news of all. Ben's last day of class was Friday. He will be done with finals tomorrow! It's almost here. In six short days, he will graduate and commission with the Air Force. Oh, the places we'll go!

Happy Easter! It has been a fun day for us. The girls colored their eggs last night, then woke up this morning to find that the Easter Bunny had hidden them in the living room for a fun egg hunt. They also looked very cute in their new dresses, but I didn't get a shot of that.

Yesterday we took the girls to have their portraits taken. So glad that is over. Don't get me wrong. We actually got smiles this year. The problem was keeping the girls portrait ready. Especially Sydney. On Friday, she really wanted me to help her put on some nail polish. I agreed, but then she picked out five bright colors and wanted all five colors on each hand. I finally talked her into clear nail polish like Junie B. Jones.

Crisis averted, right? I thought so until about five minutes before we were supposed to go. That's when I noticed that she still had a large temporary tattoo on the back of her right hand. I quickly located the baby oil and took care of that.

Tansy looked way too much like a boy for me, so I had her wear a head band and repeatedly told her how pretty it looked so she would leave it in. She decided that the position needed constant adjustment and got looking pretty weird while we waited. I adjusted it right before we went back and decided to have her go first before she could mess with it again. No dice. She wouldn't let go of me. Sydney is not usually very cooperative either, but when Ben asked her to show Tansy how to do it, she went into some kind of "model mode." She was doing all of the poses the photographer asked her to. If we could get her to smile naturally, that would also help. Tansy watched and mimicked her from the side. Sydney even came up with her own pose that she wanted a picture of. So funny. Tansy was good for about three shots after that, which was good enough for us.

Last night, Sydney had a nightmare and fell out of bed. She cut herself right above her right eye, and it's a bit swollen. So glad she didn't do that before pictures!

In Zack's efforts to gain forward mobility, he has finally learned to roll over. Poor little guy. It makes him so mad because it is not even close to what is trying to do.

And I can't forget the funniest thing. We got The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything from Netflix this week. If you are not aware, this is a VeggieTales movie. Sydney has watched it a few times, and yesterday she said to me, "Mom, do you know who is my favorite in The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything?"

"Who?" I asked.

"Alexander," she said with a shy smile.

"Is that because he's handsome?"

"Yeah, and I really like his hair."

What? Her first crush is on an animated vegetable. At least he's one of the good guys.

These are just random pictures I took of the kids one day. Sydney couldn't stop talking long enough to get a decent one. I wonder how she ended up like that?

No news yet on our orders. The paperwork has gone to Hill AFB, but we are still waiting for approvals, and Ben has to do at least one more interview. They are trying to push everything along as quickly as possible, and I am trying not to revert back to my awful nail-biting habit.

My birthday was last week, and I am officially 30. I got to go shopping all by myself. So quick and efficient. I got a license plate cover that says "Air Force Wife," Peter Breinholt's "All the Color Green" CD, and Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine. It was a lot of fun, and the kids were so good that day. Of course, there was a ridiculously chocolatey cake involved as well.

Zack broke his first tooth on my birthday. Very exciting! I guess Sydney really was an abnormal case. Sydney almost made it to her first birthday toothless. Tansy and Zack both came in at eight months.