The Franklins

Introducing...Baby Emmry! Saying good-bye to Dad...and a few things inbetween.

2011-12-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened in the last couple of months. However, the most important was the birth of our new baby boy. His name is Emmry Cort Franklin and he was born November 2nd at 10:05 pm. He weighed 8lbs 10oz and was 21.5 inches long. He's a keeper!

With his Uncle Curt

I was so glad that he was finally here. There were moments where it felt like he would never come.

Daddy and Sammee with Baby Emmry. (Sammee always calls her brother baby Emmry and if she ever sees another baby or even a picture on one she yells, "Look Mommy, Baby Emmry!"

What a proud big sister. I will have you know though, when she came to the hospital to see him, Sammantha was way more interested in the food her mom was eating than she was about her new brother.

Emmry's Baby Blessing. We did it quite early so Camarron's parents could be there.

About a week after Emmry was born, Cam was given an Achievement Medal at work. We were able to go to the ceremony to watch him receive it. That was really cool. I was (and still am) one proud wife!

Then for his birthday present, I took Cam up to Brigham City so he could have his first flying lesson. He was like a kid in a candy shop. He was SO excited!

Here he goes...

Here he is about to take off. He actually got to fly the plane for most of the flight.

Doesn't he look like this is where he belongs? I think so!

He had this grin on his face from the moment we got into the car and headed to Brigham City and it was there for the next 2 days after his flight was over too. You think he had seen a killer whale for the first time with as happy as he was.

Camarron left to go to Korea for a year on the 26th of November. Before we left to take him to the airport we went to the park so he could play with Sammantha one last time.

She loves her daddy and they had so much fun!

Now that he is gone, I am trying to keep up on the blog so he can see what we are all doing here back at home.

Our two babies...being as cute as they can possibly be asleep on the couch!

Notice that Sammee is sleeping with an Air Force blanket that has an F-22 on the front of it. She calls it "Daddy's Jet Blanket" and she has to have it when she goes to bed or takes a nap. It is just as important to her as her pink blanket that is tucked underneath her as well. Did I mention that she loves her daddy?

Then after nap time, of course it is time to eat. And Sammantha loves to eat!

Soup with crackers is one of her new favorite things to eat. She asks for it all the time. I think she got about half of it in her mouth. :.)

Cheese!

Little Emmry is pretty much the perfect baby. This is what he does most of the day. He wakes up about every 3-4 hours to eat and then is usually up for an hour just looking around at everything. He never cries, only squeaks and he sleeps about 5-6 hours at night. He is a huge blessing for me now that I am by myself. Plus, he is pretty much the cutest, most handsome baby I have ever seen!

Camarron's favorite time of the year is Christmas time. He loves everything about it...the lights, the festivities, the FOOD, and especially all the Christmas songs. So I really didn't want to go through getting everything out and putting up decorations by myself. I thought it was going to be too hard. However, my wise mother told me that I needed to do it anyway, for my daughter. So I forced myself to pull out my tree and box of decorations. Sammantha was super excited as soon as I mentioned the Christmas tree. A few days before a couple of my wonderful friends took her with them to the Festival of Trees and she had the best time and she gets extremely excited whenever she sees a Christmas tree.

I turned on some Christmas music and decorated our apartment, and I actually enjoyed doing it with Sammee. And it is nice to have a festive home, even if my husband isn't here to share it with me, my kids are. And to see Sammantha's excitement, ya it was definitely worth it.

Here we are in the beginning, just getting started.

Sammantha loves the Nativity Set and the Baby Jesus. She plays with it all the time.

She LOVED putting on the ornaments! She also loves taking them off.

Our finished product!

Please note that this only looked like this for about a minute. Sammantha always has the little figurines strewed all across the table.

Our stockings...Cam, me, Sammee, Emmry, and Bear. Yes, there really is five of us!

Yep, still sleeping!

Yep, still eating!

And of course Bear is still waiting...and wanting.

She has just recently learned about "Black Fingers", so when she found a can in the pantry she had to have some. And by some I mean half of the can all by herself.

GRUMPY FACE! Just for Daddy

Sleepy face...just for daddy too. :.)

Didn't we just do this ten minutes ago? Aren't you full yet?

Apparently not!

Cam check out this comparison...

This is Emmry at about 1 month old.

And mommy sure does whaley love him!

And this is Sammantha at just over 3 months.

I think brother is going to be just a bit bigger than his sister.

I'm going to brag just a little bit....because I am the wife and that is my job!

2011-09-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the picture, it is a picture of a picture. But I wanted to put one up of my husband all dressed up in his dress blues.

Many of you already know about what has happened to Camarron the last couple of months, but I wanted to blog about it anyway because I think it is kind of a big deal.

While we were up in Alaska in June, my husband got a call from his squadron, needing some information about him so they could put him up for an award. That was basically all they said so we didn't really know what that meant or what to expect. Because we were on vacation, we forgot about the whole thing quite honestly. When we returned home and Cam went back to work, he was pleasantly surprised to find out that he had won the award he was put up for. They had to explain what the award was for, because, again, we had no idea what was really going on since we had been out of town. So this is the award that he won...Airman of the Quarter for the 388th fighter squadron. He was the airman picked out of about 100 or so. Pretty cool huh!? Well it gets better...

So because he won at his squadron level, he got to go up against all the airman in the 388th Maintenance Group. This time it was against about 300-400 airman and yes, he won again. We just so happened to be out of town for our own little vacation at the time, so when Camarron got back to work we were again surprised to find out he had won at the next level. This time he not only came home with a trophy, but a cool blanket and some gift cards too. Hooray! But it gets even better...

The next award level was for the entire fighter wing of Hill Air Force Base. This was probably close to 1000 airman that could have been eligible for this award. And Camarron was chosen again. By this time we were in a little bit of shock to tell you the truth. We were both super excited about the whole ordeal, but found it very humorous that he just kept moving up the awards ladder when we didn't even know what it was all about to begin with. So yes, he came home with another trophy. And it continues...

We knew that there was only one more level after the entire fighter wing and that was the entire base itself. By this time, Camarron was going up against around 11,000 airman. This award is a pretty big award and they have a huge ceremony for it. Of course the ceremony had to be on the day I was leaving to go to Montana for a seminar that I had been planning and saving for for almost 6 months. We tried everything we could think of to rearrange things so I could be to this awards ceremony, but it just didn't work out. So, yes, I felt like the worst wife ever because I was missing this once in a lifetime moment for my husband, but I planned a little surprise for him anyway.

I had been on the road for almost 5 hours when I got the phone call from my husband. At first he tried to tease me and he told me that he didn't win (which he tends to do quite often with stuff like this) but then he told me the truth and explained that he had won Airman of the Quarter for the entire base. I was SOOOOOOOOOO excited and proud of my hard working husband!!!!! As soon as we were done celebrating on the phone, I immediately called my friend Harmony who I had already plotted with, to let her know that Camarron had won the award. So she went and bought 50 balloons, confetti, streamers, a big sign, and a bunch of goodies for Cam and decorated our apartment. That way, when Camarron came home, it wasn't to just our dog. So he was very surprised and ended up having a fun day of celebration even though I wasn't there.

Even though this was the biggest award, I think they gave him the lamest trophy for it. However, we have been told that there is supposed to be a cash prize with this one, so we will see if that ever comes about. :.)

Now that my husband has won all of these awards he is eligible for two other awards that his commander has already put him up for. He is now going for Airman of Year at Hill AFB as well as the Lieutenant General Leo Marquez award which is an Air Force wide award and the ceremony is in Washington DC. How cool would that be? Pretty exciting!

I must tell you though, with all of this that happened to my amazing husband, he tried to act like it wasn't a very big deal. Of course he got anxious and excited every time the next award would come out, and he loved coming home and telling me all about it, but he counted every single one of those awards as a blessing from Heavenly Father. He looks at all of this as stepping stones to help him become an officer and a pilot...and he is right. My husband is an amazing person who loves to serve others as often as he can and is an extremely hard worker who will work as long as he needs to and as hard as he needs to to finish the job right! The last couple of months he got recognized for that by his friends, co-workers, and commanding officers. But instead of gloating himself, he turned everything back around and recognized it all as a huge blessing from God. That is why I married my husband, because he puts God first in everything he does, and I couldn't be more proud!

Camarron I love you and I couldn't be happier to be married to such an amazing person as you!

Alaska!

2011-07-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

Last moth Camarron and I went to Alaska to see his family one more time before he goes to Korea for a year. He isn't leaving to Korea until the end of November, but we wanted to go in June because I am going to have our little boy the end of October and Cam's brother Colt came home from his mission while we were there.

We all went out to the beach and it was the first time that Sammantha had seen the ocean. She thought it was great! She wanted to play in the water until she felt how cold it was. Then she just turned to the rocks and sea shells. She loves playing at the beach just as much as her mom. :.)

She loved filling up the sea shells with rocks and then dumping them back out.

Grandma Franklin found some fun dress up clothes at a garage sale. Sammee wore the little tinkerbelle skirt around everywhere!

Colts triumphant return!

Sammee all bundled up warm on a cold and rainy day.

Camarron surprised me BIG time with a special whale watching tour. He was downtown hiking with his brothers when he got a phone call from his cousin (who is a captain of a whale watching boat) asking if he wanted to go on a whale watching tour. He didn't think he'd make it back in time, so he called me and told me to go anyway. Of course I jumped at the opportunity! My hubby was super sneaky and got back to Auk Bay where the tour left from just in time. However, he let me sit all by myself, wait for the boat all by myself, and he jumped on right at the last moment and surprised me. It was so much fun and the very first thing we saw was a transient pod of KILLER WHALES!!!

It was AMAZING!!!

Four Kids And One On The Way

2011-07-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

The week of the 4th of July, Camarron and I had the opportunity to watch our 3 little nephews. When my brother Joshua asked me to do this I had two feelings go through me. The first was, "Are you CRAZY!?" and the second one was, "This could be kind of fun!" Well let me tell you, going through the experience, there ended up being a really good mixture of both. We had the boys for just about 7 full days so our 3 bedroom apartment was filled with Cam and I (who is 24 weeks pregnant), North (5 1/2 yrs), Railay (2 yrs), Sammantha (18 months), Rowan (14 months I think) and Bear our dog. What an adventure! There were many things that we were able to experience that we never had before. For example:

Morning of Day One:

We woke up to Railay having wet the bed, and Rowan having had a poopy explosion in the crib. So our whole apartment had a very pungent smell and baths were very much in order. This happened to be Sunday morning, so it gave us a jump start to all the baths that we had to do anyway.

Meals: As many of you know, the regular diet that Cam, Sammee and I eat is quite different than most families. So I was concerned about how these little boys would do eating the food I prepared. However, Railay is allergic to many foods and is currently eating a very strict diet himself to see if he can start feeling better. For the most part the boys were champs and ate what they were served (or at least tried what they were served). However, there were several meals that were saved by the good old western family Mac n' Cheese. We did have a few nights where there were little ones who sat at the table until bedtime because they didn't want to finish dinner, but interestingly enough they didn't whine or complain about it, they just sat there and quietly played by themselves until I told them it was bedtime. I won't lie though, it takes much more energy to prepare dinner, dish it up for four little kids, and help two, and sometimes three of them actually eat it. By the time I got to eat and dinner was over I was ready to collapse and go to bed myself. There were many nights (most of them actually) that Cam would come home from work and have to do all of the cleanup in the kitchen because all of my gas had run out.

Diapers: Let me tell you, when you have 3 children in diapers, that means there is a lot of poop to clean up. A LOT!!! Cam would say every morning when we woke up, "Yup, it still smells like poop in here." The other thing we learned really quick is that boys, unlike our very innocent little girl, have weapons, that you never know if they are loaded or not, when you change them. If you aren't careful or quick enough, they will use those weapons of attack and spray all over the place. Thankfully, we never had to deal with that, but we have a little boy of our own on his way and we are sure that that isn't going to be the case with him.

Bedtime: My favorite part of the day!!!! After dinner I would clean all of the kids up and put the two little ones to bed. Then the two older ones and I would play for another hour or so until they went to bed. After they were all in bed, I prayed that everyone around us would be quiet so they would all stay asleep. We live on the ground floor with a playground right outside our front door. There are lots of little kids who stay out playing until it is dark, and they aren't quiet. We also have very loud neighbors above us. So I would hold my breath every time the noise escalated. However, the only child who had a hard time sleeping was my daughter. And for some reason I found that much less stressful than if the boys weren't sleeping.

Movies: As you can see in the pictures, there was plenty of time spent watching movies. The very first day I told the boys that I would allow one movie a day and that was it. That sure changed fast! For the most part, all of the little kids were great at playing with toys, coloring, doing puzzles, and things like that. But in the afternoon and around dinner time it got difficult because I couldn't take everyone plus Bear outside unless Cam was here and since he goes to work at 2:30 in the afternoon, there was a lot of inside time. So that was when the movies turned on. They usually always watched a Disney movie while I cooked dinner and sometimes that is what happened when I made lunch too. I have to admit, I felt a little bad about how often they ended up watching Disney movies, but they sure were a lifesaver for me. That kept everyone occupied long enough for me to go to the bathroom, shower, sit down and breath for a minute or two, you know, some of those things that you obviously take for granted when you only have one child.

Playmates: Another thing that I really came to enjoy was the fact that when there is more than one child, they tend to occupy each other. There were many times during the day that just out of habit I would go and check on what Sammantha was doing because I couldn't see or really hear. Normally when this happens she is quiet because she has gotten into something she knows she shouldn't have. But every time I found her, she would be playing with the boys and having a wonderful time. She loved having them here and got so excited every time we got up in the morning and the boys were still here to play with. She did however, feel like all of her toys were only hers and we had to explain how to share...many many times. In all reality though, I was quite impressed at how quickly she caught onto the concept and when I told her she had to go get something else to play with she did. I wish I had a picture of the face she would give me though. Almost every time I made her go find a different toy because Rowan or Railay were playing with what she thought was hers she would turn and look at me with this look of, "but MOM, that is MY toy!" And sometimes the look was joined by a shout of, "MINE!" But she learned quick and I was quite proud of my little sharer by the end of the week.

My Sister-in-law Lindsey is one amazing woman! She has some very well behaved children who are helpful, and for being little kids, are extremely obedient. I was quite concerned that my apartment would be turned completely upside down by the time the week was over, but those boys, especially North, are great helpers. They always picked up their toys and activities when asked and they helped me with little chores as well. So when they went back home I didn't feel overwhelmed at all because my house wasn't a disaster. Those boys have TONS of energy, and I am amazed at all of the things that Josh and Linds do with them. They are so much fun and we had a great time with them here. I do have to admit though, the day after they left, Cam, Sammee, Bear, and myself had major nap time and we all slept for 4 hours in the middle of the day. It was heaven!

Thanks boys for coming and staying and giving us a taste of what we will get to have coming our way here in a few more months!

All of them playing together with Sammee's toys.

There were many times where North and Railay would find a toy they like and just lay on the floor or the couch and play with that one toy for hours it seemed like. They would make their little explosion noises and make up characters and such while they just lied there and played by themselves. I thought it was so funny!

The little ones LOVED bath time. They would scream if the older boys got baths and they didn't.

Rowan is one very laid back little man. I was grateful for that since my babe is a little high maintenance at times.

Rowan and Sammee loved to play together.

Movie time, and as long as they all had something to snack on, they sat and watched the entire movie.

This one happened to be Hurcules

Sometimes watching a movie was the only way I could get little Railay to fall asleep for a nap. :.)

Railay had little hummus packs that he enjoyed eating. We also found out that Sammee enjoyed them as well. She thought the little container was so cool and she is getting to be VERY independent and headstrong like her mother, so she insisted that she eat them all by herself. It kept her occupied for quite a while, then I just had a big mess to clean up afterwards. :.)

Railay would do these puzzles over and over everyday. Thank heavens for Grandma's puzzles!

North and Rowan playing ball together. They did this for almost and hour. Rowan would chase the ball and take it to North. Then North would kick it or throw it, and the cycle continued. They were super cute together!

There are two things in life that from the eternal perspective are worthless and do not matter. So why are they so important now?

2011-06-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

For a very LONG time now, I have despised money. I know that sounds silly, because who doesn't want to have a little more of that in their pocket right? Well, I am right there with you, money would be nice to have, but MAN, does it sure drive me crazy!!! Everything in this life is determined by money. The only thing that we don't have to pay for is the air we breath (unless you want clean air, then you have to pay for it.) We have to pay for our food, our water, our shelter, and everything that goes along with it.

Ok, so you might say that love and affection is free. Your family isn't run by money like the rest of the world. At least it shouldn't be. However, the biggest cause for divorce is financial issues and pornography is one of (if not the biggest) the biggest money making industries in the entire world! Of course this isn't the case with everyone, but the very large majority of people deal with this problem in one form or another.

The other thing that I am having an issue right now is time. How to balance time between my husband, my daughter, my dog, my work, and time for myself. Why can't we just do it all? Eventually time isn't going to exist right, so why is it such a big deal now? There are so many things that I would like to get done in a day and I never feel like it happens.

Now I am not writing this, complaining about this, or sharing this because I have no money and no time for anything. We are extremely blessed in our life and have the ability to pay all of our bills and are able to spend a good amount of time together as a family. However, I sure feel like we are limited in so many ways because of our lack of money and the fact that time is continuous. Camarron and I talk all the time about things that we would like to do to help others and how it would be so nice to just be able to do it, if we only had the time and money.

So I have been thinking about this a lot lately, because time and money are the two biggest stressors in my life. I am sure there is a reason that we have both of these things here on earth, but I just don't understand why. I definitely believe that God knows what he is doing and that there are genuinely important lessons to be learned from these two necessary evils, but I just haven't figured them out yet.

So my whole purpose in writing this post is to hopefully get feedback from someone older and wiser than myself that has discovered some wisdom in what brings me stress.

The Last Several Months...including Christmas and Sammee's FIRST Birthday!!!

2011-02-23T22:15:00.000-08:00

This is a Story about Sammantha...

Our precious little girl...

Here she is at 1 year old...

And she looks like she is 10...ok maybe 5...

She knows she is cute...

She used to be so small and innocent...

And now she is terrorizing everything...

"What Mom? I didn't make this mess!"

She tries so hard to hide when she knows she is in trouble (notice the dominoes)...

Or at least talk her way out of it.

She has a new found love for jewelry...

Or at least anything she thinks should be used as jewelry.

Here she is at Christmas...

Where she got spoiled rotten.

Over...and over...

And over...

Oh yes, and over.

We did throw in a present for dad. We decided he deserved one after all the hard work he does.

Sammee threw a fit after seeing this picture of her Grandpa. Why you may ask? Well, let's just say Grandpa has a thing against pink blankets and harasses not only Sammantha for always having one with her, but also Sammee's mom for having one as well. Well we caught him red handed. He is sleeping with a PINK BLANKET!!! And next to Bear of all people. (We all know that deep down he really does love him as one of his own.)

Don't try and use excuses here Grandpa, we have our hard evidence!

Here Sammee is trying to be a fish...

But then she realized that she has rice noodle whiskers on her cheeks so she better be a lion instead.

A few weeks before Christmas Sammee decided we needed to go see her other Grandparent's up in Alaska. So off we went. We had to fight off all the eagles who thought she would make the perfect addition to their nests.

Everyone was smitten with little Sammee...

Shilo

And Grandpa Franklin

And Chantilli

And most of all Grandma Franklin.

And here again, even if she doesn't look that thrilled about it, she was spoiled rotten.

Again...

But then Dad decided Sammee was getting too much attention and he wanted a little of the spotlight.

So he gave Grandpa an AWESOME Christmas present of...

Henry Weinhard's rootbeer with personalized pictures of himself pasted on every bottle.

Now who could beat that?

He was pretty proud of himself as you can see.

And Grandpa loved it!!!

And then it was right back to spoiling Sammantha. She was even hand fed. Who would be willing to do such a thing for her...we don't really know, but it was probably a peasant.

And after all that spoiling she was so tuckered out that she never even knew that we put her to bed in the laundry pile.

It was the perfect winter wonderland for Sammee's first real adventure up in Alaska.

And what an adventure her heinous had.

And on the return home Sammee dreamed of the wonderful time she had being spoiled by her Alaskan family...

Again...

And again...

Mom is starting to get exhausted from all of this spoiling...

But apparently Sam isn't.

Ok we get the point!!!

One adventure that we musn't forget to tell is the infamous bathtime!

Sammee discovered that she really loved bathtime...

And Grandma really loved giving her baths.

She would splash and throw her head back and laugh and then Grandma would laugh!

And then she got into position...

And made this face...

Gasp! What just happened!?

"I'm sorry Grandma, I think I pooped in your tub." And this was the basic routine, nearly almost EVERY time it was bathtime.

But we all loved it anyway!

Sammee discovered she loved baths so much that we had to continue with them even after we got home. However, mom didn't allow any pooping because the baths were taken in the kitchen sink.

And then the journey back to Utah began. And little Sammee was cute enough to convince Dad to carry her the entire way while she slept in her throne. What a good Daddy!

Because it was a long walk.

In his mind he kept thinking, "Why didn't we make Shilo carry Sammantha home. Afterall, I basically built his house."

But in the end, Sammee gets what Sammee wants. Usually she wanted the Christmas tree ornaments and lights, but on the trip home, all she wanted was her Dad.

The End

Sammantha Franklin, brought to you by Aleesha and Camarron Franklin

My perfect family

I also need to throw in that my husband turned 25 this past November. And for his birthday, I surprised him and took him to his first Jazz game. Best surprise ever! And thanks to Lauryn we were able to watch it from a Suite and eat amazing food the whole time. It was great. Thanks again Lauryn!!!

Cam and I have the most beautiful daughter and we couldn't be happier with her.

She is always making us laugh. Like here where she is sprawled out in her crib with her little feet hanging over the edge.

And here when she all of the sudden discovered how to use a cell phone. I am telling you, she is really going on 10, not 2.

But we sure love our little Sammee Girl!!!

I really like flowers!

2011-02-17T22:28:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day Camarron took me so I could pick out my own flowers. As soon as I saw this bouquet I had to have it. The colors just made me happy. After having them for a few days I realized I really didn't like how they were arranged. So I took them our and made my own arrangement. And here it is. I really wish there were a few more of the orange gerber daisies (I think that is what they are called) but I made-do with what I had.

Just a few new pictures...and two cute little monkeys

2010-11-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

Cam put her in here just because and she thought it was great. Just her own little bed.

This was last week. I had been at class most of the day and while I was making dinner, everyone (including Bear) fell asleep. Apparently babysitting all day is exhausting for dad.

And of course, Sammee has to have her face covered with her pink blanket. Otherwise, there is no sleep.

There is no taming this mane!

Can you get any cuter? I think not!

Ok, so maybe you can.

I meant to put this on with our zoo pictures but it didn't happen. But here it is now.

Graduation!

2010-10-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

After about 8 1/2 months, I finally finished my FootZonology courses and graduated!!! It is such a wonderful feeling to be finished and have my certification. For our final exam my entire class went up to the actual Institute of FootZonology which is just outside of Livingston, Montana. It was extremely beautiful and peaceful. It is kind of hard to describe the whole experience. It was a very emotional, spiritual, exhausting, difficult, frustrating, wonderful, uplifting, inspiring, encouraging, amazing, and a joyful time. I really wish my husband could have been there to experience it with me. It was life changing and I won't ever forget it. I am so grateful I was so specifically guided to learn about this. When I first began, I thought that I would never get it, but here I am now graduated. I still have a lot to learn and am continuing to do so, but I discovered that I have a passion for Foot Zoning and Health almost as strong as the passion I have for killer whales. (Notice I used the word almost.) It is such a comfort to know that I can help my family when something happens to them and not sit there helpless because I don't know what to do. I also love to help others in the process.

There were deer on the property constantly. They said that they have bears, both brown and black, that come onto their property as well, but we didn't see them.

This was the actual graduation. We had these scarfs that we wore all day long as part of the celebration.

This is Katri and Hans Nordblom. They came over from Sweden about 20 years to set up this Institute and teach FootZonology. They are amazing people! And they really are happy people, they just don't smile in pictures.

These are all of the people that were there to graduate as well. Half of them are in my class.

It's Been A While...

2010-10-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have posted anything about us really. Sammee is growing way too fast, but we are loving every minute of it. She is now crawling up everything and I think will be walking all over within a month or so. She talks all the time but we can't quite interpret yet what it is she is saying. Cam was supposed to get deployed (again) so we were scrambling around like crazy because they only gave us 8 days notice, but then about 2 days before he was supposed to leave the said, JUST KIDDING! It was good, bad, funny, sad, and most of all frustrating. But we made it through. I graduate from my FootZonology courses next week and I am super excited! I'm also trying to learn about health and diet and improve mine and my family's health. It's an adventure, but we feel great.

And here are some pictures that are in no order whatsoever, but here they are anyway.

Crazy hair!!!

I guess I should explain this picture. This is me when I was little. I wanted to see a picture of me and Sammee next to each other. I guess we do look similar don't we.

She looks way to big in this picture.

A couple of weeks ago Cam and I were able to go to a REAL soccer game. It was so fun!!! Thanks James!

After the game we went up to Midway and spent the night at a wonderful B&B. We ate out at a yummy restaurant and had a fun time driving around and seeing things like the leaves and Memorial Hill.

I would recommend this Bed and Breakfast to anyone and everyone. There food was great and we LOVED the room!

Sammantha really likes this green spray bottle that we have. We like to spray her in the face with it. :.) She like that too.

Thanks to our friend Lauryn who gave us a membership we were able to go to the zoo and we had a great time!

And this is what happens when mom is making dinner and Sammee is off playing by herself.

A New Journey in My Life

2010-10-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

I am sure that most of you know that I am currently working to become a FootZonologist. I am so excited that I graduate next month with my certification!!! In this process I have also learned a lot about health and diet and it has caused me to have a little bit of a paradigm shift and I am working really hard to become healthier and eat better. So to help me along the way I decided to create another blog that will track my progress as well as have a place for me to share and express my opinions about this process but also discuss the things that I am learning along the way. The address for this new blog is http://franklinhealthjourney.blogspot.com/. I would love anyone or everyone who has interest in health as well to join me in this crazy, difficult, but very rewarding journey.

"Below The Zone"

2010-09-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

There is an award that all airman work for at the beginning of their careers in the Air Force called "Below the Zone." It can only be achieved when you are an Airman First Class (two stripes). If you get this award it allows you to rank up six months early to Senior Airman (three stripes) and you get a pay raise. The only thing is that this award is extremely difficult to win. You have to be an extremely hard worker, score high on all of your tests, do extra service and stand out from all the other airman to even be considered. There were about 12 people out of 1100 that were put up for the award and had to go in front of a board of commanders for an interview as well as have a package submitted showing all of their accomplishments thus far in their career. After that was all finished, four people were actually awarded BTZ...
AND CAMARRON WAS ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!

The Commander of the AMXS (basically she is over everyone that Cam works with in the weapons department) came in and awarded Cam with his extra stripes, gave him his certificate, and coined him as well. (Coining is something that happens when a superior officer feels like someone has gone above an beyond what they were expected to do and they reward them with a coin. Before the military coins were created soldiers were given gold coins like the South African Krugerrand.)

Then they taped on Cam's extra stripe and I and Cam's old supervisor got to punch Cam in the arm. Ssgt McAtee almost punched Cam over. Since we punched so fast we then had to stage a punching.

Bears, Birthday Cakes, Babies, and Bullets...Well, kind of

2010-07-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

On Monday we picked up Bear from our friends house. His original owner is in the military and couldn't take Bear with him to his next duty station with his family. So our friends were trying to find him a good home...and now he's with us! He is a cockier spaniel, about 5 years old, has big brown eyes, and doesn't shed like most dogs do. Yeah!!! So after 2 years of wanting a dog, hopefully we finally found our match.

Sunday was dad's 51st birthday. We went over to their house and made dinner for everyone and then surprised dad with a german chocolate cake for his birthday.

And here's Sammee!

"Mom, haven't we done enough of these already?"

Sammee likes to beat up her dad.

See, look how proud she is when Cam finally gives up!

Bring on the War Face!

Nap time with mom.

So a couple of weeks ago I gave Sammee this long plastic tube to play with while I was doing the dishes. I realized it had gotten awful quiet so I went to check on her. Apparently that plastic tube was a little too much for her. She fell right to sleep.

Has to have her blanket...just like her mom!

Some wildly CRAZY hair!

She was so tired she couldn't wait for the crib. So my lap was the next best thing.

Camarron in Honor Guard and Drill Team

Cam is on the far right.

Camarron is on the taller one in the back row.

This is at a Drill Team performance. Cam is the one in the middle holding the saber (sword).

This is the Firing Party at a funeral. Cam's on the far right.

Sammee reading Grandma Franklin's book

Sammee talking with mom

Island Park Vacation

2010-07-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

This last week we went to Island Park in Idaho and spent a day out in Yellowstone park. We stopped at a swimming hole and Sammee loved it!

Chubby little legs

Grandma Rust and Aunt Lucile playing with Sammee

Cam's favorite animal in the park...the bison!

We went floating down the Snake River in Island Park. When we got to the end there was a young bull moose just hanging out in the water. We had to float right past him in our little boat. I was pretty nervous about it, I won't lie.

He was quite a bit closer than the pictures make it look, my camera is just not so great.

Sammantha watching her first fireworks. She fell asleep after about 15 minutes.

Sammantha also got her first hair trim by my Aunt Margo while up there.

Sammee Talking

2010-05-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

So Stinkin' Cute!

2010-05-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

Camarron and I had our 2 year anniversary on the 10th of May. We went out to breakfast and then went to the Living Planet Aquarium with our friend Lauryn. They just got a new penguin exhibit so we got to see the new gentoo penguins. They were so fun to watch.

Sammee had fun watching them splash. They would swim up to the front of the glass and look right at you.

Sammantha's favorite was the salt water tank. It was full of tropical fish that were extremely bright. She was mesmerized!

Definitely her momma's daughter.

So I mentioned that we went out to breakfast. Well this was Sammee's first experience with grapefruit juice. Even though she doesn't look like it in the picture, she actually loved it.

On Sunday, Mother's Day, we dressed Sammantha up in her blessing dress again because she was so tiny when she was blessed it didn't fit her. It fits her now and she was beautiful.

I love it.

This is my favorite picture of her. She is absolutely gorgeous!

Welcome!!!

2010-05-03T13:40:00.000-07:00

About 2 weeks ago we moved into a new house! It is only a rental home, but we love it. It is so nice to be in our own space and let me tell you...there is A LOT of space. The house is only 2 bedroom and one bathroom, but it sits on an acre. So our yard is HUGE! We love it.

This is the front view of the house. Our room is the one on the top floor. There are tons of windows so we are always woken up in the morning by the sunlight and the sound of all the birds that live in our trees. Speaking of trees, Cam would want you to know that we have 4 large apple trees in the backyard, a pear tree next to the house and a grape vine across our back fence. We lucked out with all of that stuff, but this week me and a friend are going to experiment with planting a garden.

This is our garage/car port. There is a workroom built on to the side of the garage where we keep all of my art stuff. It is so nice.

This is the back view of the house. We have a very large porch which Cam loves because he has wanted to get a grill for a long time. We are still working on that one. :.) The grill in the picture before is a friends that left it at our house this weekend.

Here is the yard.

There are a lot of pretty flowers already planted that I am sure enjoying!

I am also in the process of doing a couple of projects...ok, several projects actually. I am currently crocheting Sammee a blanket, hand quilting an extremely large quilt (that has a killer whale on it, no wonder it has to be so big), illustrating a childrens book for a friend, and taking courses to become a Foot Zonologist. Not to mention being a mom and a wife...those are my two favorites!!!

This is Sammee with her newest cousin on the Rust side of the family, little Rowan.

She has figured out how to laugh and it is the cutest stinkin thing I've ever heard or seen!

Notice the whale on her tummy, of course.

Taking a nap with Grandpa Gunderson

Four Generations. Sammantha, Aleesha, Mom (Denise), and Grandma Gunderson

Playing with Grandpa Rust

She was laughing pretty good. It was so cute.

"Mommy Whaley Loves Me"

Here she was trying to make a whale sound, I'm just sure of it.

And here she is getting very frustrated because it came out like a humpback and not an orca. :.)

She loves to sleep with her arms sprawled out above her head.

She was playing so hard she just got tuckered out.

She also holds her hands a lot if you couldn't tell.

This is Sammee at about 2 1/2, 3 months maybe, and yes, that is a french braid.

Sammantha loves her daddy

Playing with Uncle James. She was really happy even though she doesn't look like it.

"What? I wasn't talking on the phone, I swear!!"

Sammee and Grace

Grace is about 14 months and Sammee is almost 5. Not a very big difference in size is there. :.)

Just so you know though, Gracie is really small. I don't want you to all think I have a monster of a baby.

This was Sammantha's first experience with rice cereal.

She liked it...we think.

Sammee loves to watch the Jazz games with her dad. But sometimes the excitement is a little too much for her and she just can't keep her eyes open.

She was pooped.

Sammantha has now figured out how to use her hands. She grabs onto everything and immediately shoves it in her mouth.

She has the cutest smile in the world!

She also knows how to scream. We were letting her suck on some strawberries and she LOVED them. We decided to stop so she wouldn't get a stomach ache and she wasn't very happy.

Cuddling with Dad

So I need to explain that this is Shilo (Cam's brother) and Cam. I know it looks awkward, but Sammee is so darn cute in it I had to put it on.

Sammantha at 3 months! Holy Cow!!!...and Camarron is in the Honor Guard

2010-03-12T08:37:00.001-08:00

So about 2 weeks ago Camarron started doing the Honor Guard. He is still doing his other job (weapons mechanic for the F-16's) as well, but he does it in shifts. He has 2 weeks at the Honor Guard, 2 weeks on call while he is at his other job, and 2 weeks where he is just a weapons mechanic. He loves the Honor Guard. He was a little nervous when he started because you have to do all of the movements so precise and perfect. But he is excellent at it! I was able to go to a lunch with him at work a couple of days ago and after lunch I got to watch him train. It was so cool to see him do this. The head of his flight and also the head of the Honor Guard Drill Team kept telling me how quickly Cam had caught on to everything and how well he was doing. Usually they train a new person for a couple rotations (2 months) before they have them do any ceremonies, but Cam did one after being there about 4 days. I'd say that he caught on pretty quick! I love Camarron and am so proud of what he is doing. He isn't actually in any of these pictures but I wanted to have something up so you could see what he does.

These clips from YouTube show a little bit more. The one that is a demonstration of a funeral is the National Guard and not the Air Force, but they do basically the same thing. However, I think that the Air Force has different movements that they do when they are shooting and when they are folding the flag that looks nicer than the National Guard. But it still looks pretty cool and you get the main idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtTZL87sETo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhXkP2emFII

Sammantha turned 3 months yesterday. She is the cutest little girl I have ever seen in my life! She is growing like crazy (especially her hair) and her personality is starting to blossom. Her new favorite thing is to scream. She figured out how and she does it all the time when she is upset. She is usually pretty happy and she talks A LOT!!! We just can't get enough of it. She also likes to stick her tongue out and have you play with it...kind of strange...but super funny to watch. She is sleeping through the night (for the most part) and she sleeps in her own crib in her own room. HOORAY!!! She is almost laughing. Yesterday was the first real laugh we heard, but it was not very long. I almost started to cry. Camarron and I love her so much! She is the biggest joy in our lives and feel so blessed to be her parents.

Here she is at one day old...

And look at her now.

I went to the park with a couple of friends in my ward that also have little ones and we decided to try out the swing. I think she is still just a bit too small, but we're almost there.

Of course she has a whale outfit. She actually has several, but this is the only one she fits into at the moment.

And she is having a whale of a time.

This is her favorite toy, she loves it!

Ok, so it might be her favorite toy because this is the only thing I give her to play with at the moment.

But look how much she likes it! :.)

Even if she didn't have any hair she'd still be the cutest baby ever.

I won't lie though, Cam and I couldn't stop laughing after we put her had on. She looks so much different without hair.

She loves to talk to her dad...

This is almost a laugh. :.)

Sammantha at 2 1/2 months

2010-02-22T17:52:00.000-08:00

I decided to buy Sammee a jacket since she didn't have one. So this is her "Cow" girl outfit.

Check out the hair!

Laying in bed watching a movie with dad.

Just seconds before I took this picture Sam had her hand right up next to her face just like Cam. But of course since I grabbed the camera, she moved it.

I decided to put some moose in her hair so it stayed curly. Pretty darn cute I must say.

Sammantha with Aunt Chantilli.

Sammee loves her dad!

And sticking out her tongue.

Newest pictures of Sammee

2010-02-09T14:15:00.000-08:00

Camarron for some reason enjoys taking pictures of us when we are sleeping. Yes, that is little Sammantha's head poking out of the blankets.

I just wanted to get a few pictures of her crazy hair. I love it!

This picture is my favorite. I love her face!

I know this isn't Sammee, but Camarron and I were playing "Dice" and I rolled 6 ones all at the same time. That is 8000 points. How crazy is that! Probably only happens once in like 5 billion rolls.

Our little family

I bought Sammantha a new dress for church.

So here she is in it, pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Again, Camarron got us sleeping. I won't lie though, we do take a lot of naps together. I love it. Sammantha will cuddle up into my chest and fall right to sleep.

PIGGY TAILS!!!!

I love having hair that I can play with.

You just can't get much cuter than this!

This one I put clips on her pig tails, doing hair is exhausting!

This is our typical day. She eats and is super happy and usually talks for a little while. Then it always end with her spitting. Especially if I have just given her a bath, it NEVER fails.

My beautiful baby girl...and check out that hair!

2010-01-26T13:23:00.000-08:00

This past week has been kind of crazy. We are still trying to help Sammee not spit up so much so I changed my diet. I do not eat any diary or chocolate. I also cannot eat anything citrus, otherwise Sammantha throws up everywhere. (Much different than spit-up...trust me.) Anyway, she is still spitting up but is much happier when I don't eat diary or chocolate. This was a real sacrifice for me. Any of you that know me well enough know that I LOVE milk and chocolate so it was kind of killer to stop eating it. But I am doing good I think and I would do anything to help my baby feel better.

Sammantha has a rash still on her little face but it is slowly getting better. She picked up a little bit of a cold this week too, but I think she is finally over it. She was really fussy and upset Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Saturday was the worst though. She basically cried the whole time she was awake and stayed up until 4 in the morning. That was a very long night, and I have to admit, there were moments where I was crying right along with her because she had been crying for hours and I didn't know what to do for her. Also, the fact that I hadn't slept at all probably played a part in that as well. However, by Monday she was feeling much better and was happier and more alert than I had ever seen her. I was able to get my whole house cleaned while she just layed and talked to me. It was great!

Today after giving her a bath, I wanted to see if I could put her hair up in a pony tail or something. And sure enough, we can! She has so much hair and I love it!!!

She loved to fold her hands over her chest when she sleeps.

Check out her hair!

I do think that I lucked out and got the cutest baby in the world!

This is her on Monday sitting in a little vibrating/bouncy chair that our neighbors lent us. Thank heavens for this chair, it was the only way we could get her to sleep when she was sick. She loves it!

She was so happy and was awake for over an hour just talking to me and looking all around.

One thing that I thought was very interesting on Monday was the fact that Sam knew when she was alone and she didn't like it. I was in the bedroom most of the day doing laundry and sorting through things while I was cleaning our room. She was laying in her chair on the floor. She was down behind the bed and was low enough that she couldn't see me anymore if I walked out the door. That didn't matter though, if I was gone out of the room for more than a minute she started to cry and as soon as I walked back in and said something to her she stopped and was happy again. I was surprised that she was so alert and aware of what I was doing. It made me feel special.

Look at that precious face!

Yes, she is getting chubbier. ;.)

Of course she is playing with killer whales already, who do you think she is?

Actually, Grandma Rust gave me this good idea. She told me to take a picture of Sammee next to a stuffed animal every week and you'll be able to see how much and how fast she grows. I obviously havn't done it every week, but I want to start doing it more often.

Here she is just waving her arms all around and talking like there is no tomorrow.

I love this face.

She has the cutest smile, and I think if she knew how to this would have resulted in a laugh.

Same as this

She looks like she is striking a pose for this pic.

Beautiful Sammantha

2010-01-19T11:07:00.000-08:00

Many of you have asked for me to post more pictures of Sammee, so since she is asleep at the moment I will attempt.

Over New Year's Camarron's family were here and were able to see her for the first time. We had a blast with them! While they were here we blessed Sammantha at my parents home. It was a very special evening. As you can see her dress is a little...ok a lot big for her. When I made it I wasn't expecting to bless a 3 week old baby. Anyway, so when she is a few weeks older I will put the dress back on her and take some more pictures when it fits better.

Lately we have been trying to figure out how to help Sammee to not spit up so much. I have changed my diet in hopes that it might help. I have learned that she cannot have ANY citrus, otherwise we have to give her a bath, I have to take a shower, and we have to scrub whatever was around us at the time. She also doesn't do well with cheese and chocolate if I have more than a little. Since we have realized these foods bother her and I have tried to stay away from them she seems to be burping much better. But, as I am sure all mothers know, if it isn't one thing it is another. So now we are trying to get her to have a bowel movement. She hasn't had one for several days and is starting to get very fussy. Normally she does sleep from about midnight to 5:30 of 6:00 in the morning, but because she is so uncomfortable she is usually up until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning and wakes up every hour or two. Needless to say sleep is a rare commodity. However, she is the cutest most beautiful baby girl in the world (as you all can see in her pictures) and is worth every minute of it.

I have to admit that being a mother is much different and way more demanding and difficult than I ever thought, but at the same time, I have never felt more fulfilled in my life. I definitely know that being a mother is what I am supposed to be doing and I love it! If you would have asked me a few years ago if I thought I would be married with a new baby by now I would have laughed at you in the face and told you no because I was going to study killer whales. I am so grateful that I fell in love with the most amazing man in the world who makes me ten times happier than 100 killer whales could make me and now we have the most adorable baby girl who has enough hair that I can comb it up like a dorsal fin so she looks like a killer whale. :.)

She has really long fingers. I've decided they are like that because she will be an amazing pianist.

Camarron loves this picture. We are not sure what she is doing. :.) It almost looks like she is trying to play peek-a-boo or something with us. This picture is of Cam's sister Sereneti and her daughter Grace.

Grandma Franklin

Grandma Rust

Grandpa Franklin

I loved this picture of Sammee just holding onto Grandpa (her Great Grandpa) Rust's finger. She was not letting go!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Rust

Our little family!

Ok, so I tried putting some moose in her hair to see if it would stay curly. She moved around so much that the curl disappeared and she just looked like Medusa or something. Her hair is CRAZY!

Her first Christmas outfit that completely drowned her. :.)

"Good Things Come In Small Packages!"

I thought she was so cute here. Her thumb is not actually in her mouth all though it wouldn't surprise me if it started to be. Sucking on thumbs runs in the family...at least for me it did.

Sammee and Daddy

Day 1 at the hospital

Cam sure loves his daughter

2009-12-13T14:44:00.000-08:00

Well this really has nothing to do with Sammee but this is the Dog that we would like to adopt in about six months. His name is DAX, he is AWESOME!

Heres Mommy with Sammee

Sammantha Franklin is here!!! She was born December 11th 2009 at 8:38 in the evening. She weighed 7 Ibs 11 onces, and was 20 inches long. She has thick dark brown hair just like her dad. She is so beautiful. Welcome Sammantha to the Franklin family.

ALASKA!

2009-09-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took so long to get these pictures posted, but life is really busy right now, what can I say. We sure had a lot of fun hanging out together with each other and also with the family. It has been almost one year since Camarron has seen any of his family. So this was a great chance for everybody to catch up a little bit.

Also, just to update what is going on in our lives, I am going to school full time again and Cam is working hard. I am almost 6 months pregnant and our baby is due on the 24th of December. Cross your fingers that she comes after the 8th so I can finish my finals and before the 23rd so we aren't in the hospital over Christmas.

(Just a head's up, these pictures aren't really in order so sorry if they don't flow very well.)

This was on our camping trip. We drove out to Sunshine cove and walked a long the beach throwing rocks and just enjoying the sunshine. I love this picture of my husband just walking by the ocean.

If you notice the picture at the top of our blog, it is taken from almost the exact same place. We couldn't quite get down to the rock that we took it on last time (which is the rock you see behind me) because the river was SO high from all the rain.

Camarron with his parents.

This is just outside his parents house.

This is the Mendenhall Glacier.

Here we are back at sunshine cove sitting on the beach.

Sunshine Cove

When this float plane flew over out heads I thought Cam was going to start crying he was so excited! He said to me, "That is what I want to fly here!"

More of beautiful Sunshine Cove.

This was out at Auke Rec. where we camped and Cam made us a wonderful fire.

Unfortunately this was the biggest fish Cam caught our entire trip. No it is not a salmon...it is called a "double ugly"...at least that is what the locals call it. This fish is actually a type of rock fish. It has a huge mouth and lots of spines on its back and fins.

I just love how clear the water is in Alaska.

This was out by Auke Rec where Cam went fishing and I explored the tide pools.

Our camp site

My husband happy as can be fishing off the coast line.

This is Camarron trying to show up his brother Shilo. We went on a walk and they both started to run and jump off the side of the large trees. The things that boys do for entertainment...

Shilo, jumping a little higher than Camarron.

As you can see, my husband is trying to figure out how to do better than his younger brother.

We went out to eat with Shilo and some friends that are in Juneau working for the summer.

We went downtown for an afternoon and played "tourist". We went into this store that had a whole bunch of toys. Cam and Shilo found this weird, growdy, stretchy thing that Cam put over his face. He said it smelled even worse than it looked.

Unfortunately these were the only killer whales I saw on our trip.

You should have seen the looks we were getting while taking these pictures. Because the whales were hanging from the ceiling, Cam had to lie down on the ground to take the pictures. There were hundreds of people shopping in this huge store and Cam was laying down right in the middle of the floor so I could have pictures of these killer whales. What a great husband I have.

Shilo being a tourist downtown.

Downtown Juneau

Glacier Gardens

Cam's brother Shilo and also his sister Chantilli work at this place called Glacier Gardens. Shilo took us on a tour up the mountain to see all of the flowers and plants. I loved it!

Notice the upside down tree stuck back into the ground with flowers growing out of the roots.

Over looking the Juneau Valley and the channel from the top of the mountain.

One of Camarron's favorite things to do while in Juneau was to go and play ball with the missionaries. So we went on Tuesday mornings so Cam could play with the Elders and also some of the RM's that went back to work in Juneau.

This is the glacier at dusk reflecting back in the lake.

We went and tried to have a BBQ at Auke Rec. However, after being there for about 30 minutes, a park ranger came and told us that there was a "No burn" restriction because of all the fires that were in Canada and all of the smoke that was in the air. Kind of strange to me, but whatever. Anyway, the guys ended up throwing the marshmallows at each other because we couldn't roast them.

This is Cam playing on the rope swing at Sunshine Cove.

Camarron fishing and catching nothing but a Double Ugly.

One of our favorite places to eat at is the Thai Kitchen. While we were there I dared Cam to bite into a lime. I told him that I would eat one if he bit into one. He just roled his eyes at be because I love limes and eat them voluntarily. However, I finally got him to do it and this was his reaction. It made me laugh really hard.

We did get to go whale watching while we were there and there were a ton of humpback whales.

Surprise!!!

2009-07-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

I had another appointment this morning to have my third ultrasound. Last month my doctor told me that she thought my baby was a boy. I was a little surprised to hear her say that because the entire time I've been pregnant I have felt like I am going to have a girl. The doctor tried to show me on the ultrasound what she was looking at that made her think my baby was a boy...I just smiled and nodded. I had no idea what she was looking at! Anyway, this morning I went in and she said that she would be able to have a better look and give me a better idea of the sex of my baby. I was not surprised at all when she said to me, "I think your 'He' is really a 'She'." I probably sounded surprised because I said "REALLY!?" but in reality I wanted to say "I knew it." So that is what I told Cam on the drive home. :.)

I am now just about half way through with my pregnancy and as of right now, we are going to have a girl.

Fourth of July Weekend!!!

2009-07-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was pretty awesome! Camarron was lucky enough to have a four day weekend. (Fri.-Mon.) We decided to go to the zoo on Friday morning. It was military appreciation day so we got in FREE! I don't think I have ever seen so many people at the zoo. I guess we all like free stuff here in the military. :.)

Me and the pelican.

These little groundhogs weren't sure what to think of Cam. The one that is crouched down kept bobbing up and down looking at Camarron trying to figure out what was going on.

We decided to go on the train ride. I thought it was going to be a lot longer than what it was. I think it lasted a total of two minutes. I guess things aren't quite like I remember them as a little girl.

However, if we didn't go on the train ride, we never would have seen this awesome buffalo. Camarron was worried it was going to ram us right off of the train. Ok...he was actually hoping that the buffalo would just come and ram the train so there was a little bit more excitement.

Cam with the Pongo Pygmaeus (Orangutan).

This rattle snake followed the camera up and down while I was trying to take his picture. We were probably the most exciting things he had seen all day.

We tried to get this giraffe to put his head up so our picture would have turned out better, but I guess you can't interrupt a giraffe and his lunch.

And these are always my favorite animals at the zoo. They were actually swimming around today because the zoo keepers were out feeding them. I could have stayed and watched them all day.

There was a guy standing next to us that asked the question to his wife, "Honey, are these animals birds?" I wanted to lecture him so he was educated...but I refrained. Just so all of you know and can now tell the guy next to you at the zoo when he asks, penguins are birds and they do have feathers. Normal birds have about 35 feathers per square inch on their body. Penguins have 70 feathers per square inch. They also have a special oil that covers their feathers so the water runs off of them and they can stay warm in cold climates. (However, these penguins live in Africa.) Now you know...and I feel better too. :.)

On Saturday we went to a breakfast that our ward put on. After we left we stopped by our apartment to get some things so we could go to the parade with CeCee and on our way back to the car Dude (This is another name for Lucile...one of her many) said, "Wow! That's the biggest spider I have ever seen!" I turned around just in time to see a HUGE black spider, pulling something along with it, crawl into a crevice of a rock. Cam and Dude got a little closer and noticed it was a black widow. At first I was king of intrigued by the thing since I just got done studying about arachnids in my Zoology class, but I won't lie, now I'm a little freaked out knowing that monstrous spider (the size of a Ritz cracker) is living right outside my apartment.

Pretty dang disgusting if you ask me!

After our spider adventure we went to watch the Layton parade. Lucile was on a float for productions company and was one of the few floats that was actually interesting. Afterwards we ended up going to a concert in Hooper, UT as well as a fireworks show. Greg Simpson put on a great concert and I won't lie, the city of Hooper put on a really good fireworks show. I was impressed.

All these little kids were laying on their bellies fascinated with whatever was going on if front of them. Mom and I thought it was a cute picture moment.

There was some huge artillery type gun at the park in Hooper. That was the first thing Cam wanted to check out.

So we did and he climbed all over it like a monkey.

My hubby lovin' the fireworks.

The grand finale and it was way better than I was expecting.

We had a wonderful weekend but I must admit I am happy that this new week is starting so I can get some major studying and homework done. I'm trying so hard to finish all my school work early so we can go to Alaska for two weeks. We are hopefully leaving on the 6th of August and coming home on the 21st. We can't wait and are so excited we can hardly stand it! So homework for now...but Alaska...HERE WE COME!

We like ducks!

2009-06-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

This past week we had an entire loaf of bread that went moldy. That will teach us to buy bread on a really good sale again...probably means it is way old so they have to get rid of it before the mold starts forming. Anyway, we decided to go feed it to the ducks. We figured with all of the gross things that they swim in and eat in their ponds that a little mold wouldn't hurt them. So we went to Layton Park and fed the ducks, geese, and swans. It was great! Especially since it was raining, there weren't very many people around.

I loved all the little baby ducklings. I wanted to take them home with us.

I'm pretty sure these were Trumpeter swans. They made the coolest noise that sounded just like a trumpet.

These were Cam's favorite. He likes the geese, mainly just because he would like to hunt them. He would walk slowly behind them and see just how close he could get before the parent geese would start hissing at him.

We liked this spot at the park. It reminded us of Alaska with all the rain and the stream running behind us.

Me feeding the little ducklings.

Cam hand feeding the goslings. I was grateful he didn't try to pick any of them up like last time we were at the park.

Also I want to update you a little bit on what is going on in our lives. I am now 13 weeks pregnant and finally feeling life is semi normal again. I am no longer sick every minute of the day and can actually cook dinner, do laundry, and stuff like that. I have about 3 more weeks or so before I should be able to start feeling the baby move. That makes me excited! We went to the doctor on the 28th of last month and were able to hear the heartbeat. It was fun to see how excited Camarron got when he saw and heard the heart. He jumped right off his chair and got really close to the monitor. He said, "That's really the baby?" It's been a really long time since I have seen a smile that big on my husbands face. School is going well. I finally feel like I am getting a handle on my nutrition class. Any of you out there who have taken this class probably know what I am talking about. This is by far one of the most difficult classes I have ever taken. Who knew? I am grateful that it is over in about 2 more weeks. The 1st block of the summer semester ends on the 26th of June and that means I am finished with Nutrition and my Intro to Creative Arts class. (No I didn't choose to take this one, I have to in order to finish my degree at Weber. Luckily since I have taken a class like this several times already, this one is a breeze.) Once the 2nd block begins I will pick up an American government class and continue on with my health and zoology classes. Everything finishes up the end of August.

Camarron is doing great! He loves his job and couldn't be happier that he gets to work on the flight line that he dreamed about working on less than one year ago. It is amazing how things turn out sometimes isn't it. He is preparing for his first deployment the beginning of this upcoming January. We are pretty sure he is going to Afghanistan and will be gone for about 6 months. I am now beginning to understand part of the reason behind the Lord sending us right back to Utah. Our baby is due the end of December and will be one or two weeks old (if we are lucky) before Cam gets deployed. I am grateful that I am so close to family and friends that can help me and support me in this next step in our lives.

Antelope Island and...a baby!!!

2009-05-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

I know that most people know this by now, but we wanted to post that we are going to have a baby. Most likely it is going to be due at the end of December. We are finally going to the doctor this Thursday and we will get an actual due date then. We are excited!!!

Last week we decided to take a drive out to Antelope Island and walk around. We were only out of the car for about 45 seconds before we ran back to it. The bug swarms were terrible! You could see clouds of them as you drove by. Pretty disgusting!!!! We really wanted to see some buffalo, but failed. This sign was the closest we came to them.

We did, however, see antelope! I didn't think there were actually antelope on the island, but there are. (I knew there used to be antelope there, hence the name, but I thought they were all gone.)

Just driving...because we couldn't handle the bugs.

The Great Salt Lake

Memories of Alaska

2009-05-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

Just so everyone knows, we are back in Utah. We did make it back and in one piece. I would never suggest to anyone to make that drive unless they absolutely have to!

Anyway...my best friend is leaving on a cruise for Alaska tomorrow. I am SUPER jealous!!! I told her that I'd post a few things from Alaska on our blog so she would get even more excited. So here are some memories of Alaska...or in Camarron's words..."The True Zion."

This is Thunder Mountain. You can't see the top because of the fog. Many days the fog is so bad you can't even see the mountain at all.

These are the most amazing animals on the planet! Yes...I am aware this is a painting, but it's still Alaska.

This is off a trail by where I used to live in Juneau. I love that there are waterfalls everywhere.

This is out at Auke Bay. Yes, that is the ocean.

Auke Bay at sunset.

Auke Bay during the day, right outside my apartment. Literally.

The Mendenhall Glacier.

And this is my husband...being my husband.

Camarron told me that I had to put fishing pictures on here.

Notice the sizes of our two fish...and who takes the cake for biggest fish!

However, my husband wins the award for "Having the most fun while fishing".

This is a better picture of the glacier. You can see more of the color.

This is Auke Bay from my apartment window. This was taken before they cut down several of those big pine trees.

Finally!!! We made it! Whahoo!

2009-04-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

The last few days we have been working so hard at getting ready to leave tomorrow. Camarron has been studying like crazy for his last test so he can graduate and I have been trying to pack everything so we can get out of here. Today, everything has begun to pay off! Camarron graduated this morning at 11:00. He graduated as the only Distinguished Honor Graduate in his class. He scored 100% on his last test the put his final grade at a 96% and he reached his goal of becoming an honor grad. He also is the class leader, so it was really cool to watch him call his class to attention and lead them in their marching and dismiss them. Then we got to go and take pictures of the jets in the hanger that he worked in. It was a lot of fun.

At the beginning of graduation, Camarron was asked to read the explanation of the armaments badge that they all will now wear on their uniform.

This is Camarron actually graduating and receiving his certificate.

Shaking all of his instructors hands. (Or pounding fists because they are afraid they'll get the swine flu.)

This is when Cam was recognized as the Distinguished Honor Graduate. The Squadron Commander was the person that gives him the certificate. There was a little bit of confusion and the saluting was done wrong. :.) In this it looks like the commander is saluting Cam, and it should be the other way around. I laughed.

Here are some of the F-16 Fighting Falcons that Camarron was trained on and will be working on at Hill.

His dream is to sit in that cockpit and fly the F-16 (or any other way awesome aircraft). Now it is only a matter or time...and a heck of a lot of hard work. :.)

Cam and his final instructor SSgt. Stephan.

Me and my hot husband. Check out those stripes!

2009-04-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

So I wish I had some cool pictures to go with this post, but I don't. This past week has been a little crazy. Camarron and I are so excited to be leaving in a few days and I am just hoping that we are able to get everything done that we need to in order to leave.
This past Sunday was a little crazy! Around 9:30 at night I began to have sharp pains on the lower right side of my back. The pain increase very rapidly and I immediately knew that I had kidney stones again. Of course it happened just after Camarron had to be back in his dorm for curfew, so he wasn't able to help me much. This sure drove him crazy. Luckily there is a sweet missionary couple who Cam called and asked to come over to my apartment and keep an eye on me. So they came over immediately. The pain wasn't going away and started to get worse so about 10:30 we went to the hospital. We were there until 5:30 a.m. the next morning. What a way to spend your evening right. :.) They gave me some medication for the pain the knocked me out, but that didn't even come until 4 a.m. So we just sat and waited and I tried not to think about the pain. I was grateful however, that all I had was kidney stones. One lady that came in had been bitten by a rattlesnake. I'm not sure what happened with that, but I was grateful it wasn't me.
My dear sweet husband was so worried about me that he stayed up until 3a.m. waiting for me to call him and tell him what the doctors said. He did fall asleep but I finally was able to call him at 5:30. He had just woken up to start getting ready to go to school. He had a quiz that day and I felt so bad that he hadn't gotten any sleep and I was worried that he wouldn't be able to pass his quiz. However, my husband is freakin' AWESOME! and he only missed half of one question. It was an oral quiz and his instructor would go around and keep asking everyone questions. Because Camarron kept answering everything right, he just said, "Franklin you can't have any more questions!" I was pretty proud of him. He takes his final exam on Wednesday, he graduates Thursday, and we take off Friday! We can't wait!

Easter!!!

2009-04-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty fun Easter. We had to do things a little different this year because we are trying to accumulate as little as possible before we move back to Utah (which is in 2 weeks from Friday!!!) and I am trying my hardest to not eat sugar. So we just decided to dye eggs...and then eat them.

I had to make a crazy face for this one. Camarron never smiles when we take pictures, but this time he wanted to just smile. So right before he took the picture I pulled a face...I couldn't help it. Camarron was a little bugged our picture didn't turn out the way he wanted it to, but I got a good laugh out of it. We did take another one and I smiled pretty for him.

Notice how bright the eggs are! Our fingers turned that bright too. :.)

Cam was really excited when we got started...

And then he quickly lost interest.

However, about 2 hours later he was really excited again when he got to shell all the eggs and make dinner for us.

So all of our hard work ended up in the trash. Cam's dinner was super good though.

This was what the sky looked like standing outside our apartment Sunday evening. Another storm came, but not nearly as bad as the night before.

The day before Easter, Saturday, there was a terrible storm here in Wichita Falls. It was pouring rain and there was lightning and thunder like I had never experienced before. The thunder was so loud the it triggered the car alarms out in the parking lot. Camarron and I decided to drive out away from the lights of the city and take some pictures of the lightning. It was kind of hard with just my digital camera, but we tried. The weather has been kind of crazy lately, however, I have loved the rain!

We also had a really pretty full moon a couple of nights ago.

Camarron is just finishing up his certification and has one last test and then he graduates. We are so excited and cannot believe that we will be leaving so soon. It has been long awaited.

Yes...We are still here in Texas.

2009-04-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

Things here are actually moving quite fast. We only have just over 3 weeks left before we head back to Utah. It is kind of a strange time here. A lot of our friends that we have made are finished and leaving Sheppard and new people are coming in. It's always hard to see friends leave, but soon it will be us leaving and we will be coming back to friends and family in Utah.

Don't ask me what Cam is doing. He never smiles normally in his pictures. :) This is a picture of Cam and I with one of our friends that just left, Shawn Fiagle.

Camarron is still excelling in school. He has 95% and is trying really hard to keep it that high so he can graduate as an Honor Graduate. Because he had the highest grade percentage in the class his instructor has assigned him to tutor some of the students that are struggling. Part of me was bugged about that because he doesn't get ot spend as much time with me in the evenings, but it is cool to see my husband do so well at something he never imagined he would be doing (meaning mechanics). We are very excited to get into the operational side of the Air Force and start working towards Cam getting into Officer Training School and eventually into pilot training.

A couple weeks ago I was going crazy here. I wanted to just get up and go somewhere else for the weekend. However, Camarron isn't allowed to go more than 25 miles away from the base unless he has special permission and a bunch of paperwork filled out. So we decided to go camping in our apartment. We made a fort and I bought camping snacks and we camped. It was fun.

This is during our construction of the fort. I'm just grateful I had enough blankets and sheets.

And this is Camarron's eye.

Also to update you a little bit, I am now enrolled and registered to go to school at Weber State University for the summer semster as soon as we get back to Utah. I am going to finish my art degree up there. I am going to be taking 18 credit hours, so I'll will be just as busy with things as Cam is once we get back.

Our Weekend...

2009-03-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun weekend this past week. We were able to go to the Dallas Temple again with a group of airmen from the base. Honestly, I think the temple and the small area surrounding it is one of the only pretty places in Texas. After getting back from the temple we went straight to Chuch E Cheese's for our neighbor's little girl's birthday party. Her name is Adielle and she turned 2 yesterday. So we went to her party and watched her play. She is super cute! Ironically her dad (William Presgrove) was in the same mission as Joshua. We spend a lot of time with them since they live just a few apartments down from ours.

Also, on Sunday, we found out that Camarron's sister Sereneti had her first little baby. It was a girl and they named her Grace. We decided, since the sun finally decided to come out, that we would go for a walk on Sunday to the "Wichita Falls." It was nice to get out and just go for a walk.

Our little Lady Bug friend at the "Falls".

Simple Beauty

2009-03-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

We finally managed to get a good picture of the pretty tree. We really do enjoy driving past it everyday. We take in every second of seeing it since everything else here is by far the opposite of pretty. Oh man, how we miss Alaska!

Sorry, I know it has been a while...

2009-03-07T12:14:00.000-08:00

It has been a little while since I have updated our blog. That is mainly because our computer is broken and we don't have the funds to just go out and buy a new one. However, I am pretty sure my dad has a "New Computer Fund" going around at work that my little brother helped me set up, so if any of you are feeling generous you can contact my dad...ok, so you'll never get a hold of him, so you can just contact me directly. :.) (Just kidding.)

So to start off, we are still here in Wichita Falls. Nope, it isn't any better than last time I posted. However, I did finally find something that deserved the word pretty yesterday. I attempted to take a picture so I could post it, but the batteries died before we were successful at getting a picture. Anyway, it was of a tree that had bloomed and it was bright pink and purple. Hopefully we will drive past it again and I can get a picture.

The other day while driving to the store we saw this awesome hawk. Luckily there was nobody behind us so we backed up and stopped for a second long enough for Cam to get a picture of it. You should also know about the other animals that are attempting to overrun the the base here. There are Jack rabbits EVERYWHERE! They are huge and only live on base. There are also millions (ok, so more like thousands) of black birds that are apparently causing problems on the flight line here as well as other things so they get poisoned. Again, for some reason they only flock to and hang out on the base.

Today we went and looked at an F-16 fighter jet. They have old planes and jets that are no longer used all over this base for display. So we went and looked at the F-16 and Cam told me all about it and what he does with it since that is the aircraft he is training to work on.

This picture is only here upon Cam's request. He thought we needed it cause we both look so funny.

Nothing too exciting has happened here. It is Texas...what can I say. Camarron is still doing extremely well at Tech. School and currently has the highest G.P.A. in his class. He studies hard and it is definitely paying off. I have started substitute teaching here to help pass the time and make a little extra money. Let me tell you now, kindergartners are a terror! However, high school students I can handle. We are patiently awaiting May 1st. That is the day that we are supposed to head back to Utah and get out of this terrible place. I wish there was a better way of stating it, but there really isn't. We are happy as can be and love every minute that we do get with each other. The Air Force is really tough, but we wouldn't have our life together any other way.

He aced it!!!

2009-02-13T12:47:00.000-08:00

So I need to brag about my husband just a little bit. He took his block 4 test yesterday and he got 100%. So far on all of the tests that Camarron has taken he has gotten 90% or higher. Some of you might not think that is such a big deal, but let me explain Tech. School a little bit to you. Each of Cam's "blocks" can be compared to a college course. The stuff that he has to learn in one week or less is often something that would take close to a semester of college to learn normally. However, here they go to class from around 7am in the morning and finish anywhere from 4:30 to 6pm in the evening. They do get a lunch break in there as well. Their schooling is extremely intense and when you take a block test you have to get above 70% or you can't move on. If you fail more than 2 you can get washed back and re classed into something different. Pretty much what that means is you start Tech School all over and learn something different that is easier. There are a lot of people that we have met that have failed a test or two and are struggling with how much information they have to learn in such a short period of time. Cam studies so hard and amazes me with how quickly he picks up and understands all that he is learning. So yesterday's test was a pretty exciting accomplishment. There aren't many people who pull that off while here in Tech School. So I just thought I would do a post on how amazing I think my husband is and brag that he just aced his last test!

More of the Dallas Temple

2009-02-13T12:34:00.000-08:00

Last time I posted I couldn't get these pictures to load right, so here they are.

I have to tell you about this picture. There was a dad with his two little girls playing by the fountains. When they saw Cam they stopped and watched him, so Cam walked over towards them and waved. He had no idea I was taking the picture, he was just admiring the little girls. He was so cute, my heart just melted. He is going to be the best dad in the world when we have kids.

Mr. GQ!

Finally...Heaven!

2009-02-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

The Dallas Temple

This past Saturday a group of us took a temple trip down to Dallas and went to the Dallas temple. It was AMAZING! I can't tell you how nice it was to be in the temple with my husband. It has been a while.

From left to right: Lydia Golden, Me, Camarron (He is only phase 2, that is why he still has to wear his "Blues". The others are all phase 3 and can wear their civilian clothes off base.), Bro. Chavez (He is also a 1st or 2nd Lieutenant.), Sis. Capener (Bro Capener was the one taking pictures.), Bro. Coombs, Richard Farnsworth, 2 more great guys that I feel terrible I don't remember their names :.), and Matt (who is a Staff Sargent and been in the Air Force for almost 6 years.) We had a blast!

Super Nova!

2009-01-31T11:03:00.000-08:00

This is kind of what it was like! :.)

Yesterday was the first day that Cam was able to leave the base. He had to be wearing his "Blues" while off base, but we were able to go hang out together off base. We went exploring around Wichita Falls and found...well...nothing. There isn't much around here, really. However, since we were out away from everything and all of the lights of the city, (Which is very small so there weren't many lights to get away from in the first place.) we decided to go star-gazing. So we pulled off to the side of the road and layed on the front of the car and looked at all of the stars. It was so fun! The one car that drove passed us the whole hour we were star-gazing probably thought we were crazy, but we thought it was awesome! Moments like that make all of this worth it.

I tried taking a picture of us in the dark looking at the stars. The flash was rediculously bright and we couldn't see anything after I took the picture. I was having a hard time getting both of us in the picture (as you can see) so we had to keep trying. Cam told me that he was going to be blind for the rest of his life, but I insisted on taking more pictures until we got a good one. He finally took the camera after the third blinding and unsucessful try and he took a good one of us. We were laughing so hard that it was hard to even take a picture! I had to post all of the bad ones as well so you could get an idea of how funny we thought the whole thing was. :.)

Our Many Adventures

2009-01-29T11:29:00.000-08:00

This was actually a pretty big turn out for FHE. And of course, Cam loved the treats at the end!

Last night Cam and I went to FHE. It was great! Cam has moved up to Phase 2 now here at Tech School and can now where civilian clothes again after duty hours and he can ride in the car with me. So here are some pictures of us at FHE. Also, afterwards we were reminiscing about some of our crazy adventures together and Camarron asked me if I would put a couple of these videos on our blog so everyone can see them. This clip is of us at Layton park feeding the ducks at Christmas time 2007. Cam had come home with me to meet the family. There is a clip of Cam last summer in Alaska chasing a bear, and then it chased him back, but I can't find it right now. I think it is on the SD card James stole from me this Christmas. That's right James, I want it back. However, I did come across a clip that I loved! It is from when Cam and I, my parents, and my younger brother and sister went on a halibut fishing trip last summer. We saw a bunch of whales and caught tons of fish! I landed the biggest one...thank you very much! It was around 210lbs.

I hope you all notice who has the bigger fish! I won't let Cam ever live this one down. :.)

Occupying my time...

2009-01-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

My first year of college I had to do part of a very large research paper/book. My portion was on JFK. I was pretty excited about my assignment because I got to learn about his well beloved President who apparently was so important to this country they decided to put his face on the fifty cent peice! Well, the more I learned about him, the more I really disliked him. Ever since then I have had this strange fascination with the man and his family. I am trying really hard to figure out why he was looked at as being so amazing. My opinion of him after my research project was not very good at all. However, I decided I needed to know a little more about the man to really have a strong opinion of him. So I picked up this book at the library here at Sheppard AFB and have been doing a lot of reading. The more I read, the more I see that my first opinion (which wasn't a very good one) still stands. I still have hope though that as I continue learning about JFK's life that he will show some true character that will change my mind about him and I will see that there really was a good reason for putting his face on a coin.

If any of you out there have opinions on JFK I would love to hear them. I have however gained a lot of compassion for the poor guy. He had major health problem his entire life that couldn't really be explained at the time because of their lack of medical knowledge and he spent a lot of time in the hospital just suffering.

Coming back home!

2009-01-28T12:30:00.000-08:00

Camarron finally got his orders for his first duty station. We joked a lot about how funny it would be if we got stationed at Hill AFB, Utah. Especially because I just moved from exactly there! We knew it was a possibility because Cam will be working on F-16 fighter jets and Hill AFB has F-16's. However, we never in a million years thought we would go there.

It is sure funny though how the Lord makes things happen in our lives. We will be leaving on May 1st (as of right now, things always change here) to head back to, you guessed it, Hill AFB. Apparently there is some reason Heavenly Father wants us to go back there, because NEVER (well, almost never now) do people get sent back to their hometown to work unless you are in the National Guard.

I won't lie, I was very disappointed when I heard the news. At first we both just laughed. Then we would pause a moment, look at each other, and laugh some more because really, when you think about it, it is pretty hillarious. And of course, things like this only happen to us. But I was disappointed. I wanted to go travel to some place new and exciting! I wanted to get away from Utah. For once in my life I was actually looking forward to this new and really big change. That is probably why we are going back to Utah, because that is exactly not what I was expecting. :.)

However, we are making the best of it. Hill AFB is actually a really nice base and many people try for a long time to get stationed there. Cam is more excited than I am, but I'm getting there. We decided that once we are moved back in and settled, we are getting that puppy that I have wanted for some time now. That makes me excited!