THE FEW THE PROUD

As of this past week my brother Brian is now one of The Few and The Proud, he is a Marine. I was so proud to celebrate with him at his Boot Camp Graduation. It has taken me a few days to process through it and decide what I really wanted to say.

When he chose to enlist last Spring it sounded like a good fit for Brian, and after seeing him at graduation, I know it is a good fit for him. I will risk sounding cheesy and cliche, but when I saw him in his uniform and marching with his platoon, the military became real to me. I now have real person to associate with the military. As I watched him and the other guys, a few who look like kids to me, I was humbled by their willingness to serve our country and protect my freedom. I gave Brian a book of quotes about everyday heroes, here is one of the quotes that stood out to me:

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." Ambrose Redmoon

These young men have made the judgement that freedom, honor and service is more important than fear. What a brave decision they have made. Like I said I was totally humbled watching these guys, they have more courage than I could ever muster up. I never want to forget what our military sacrifices for my freedom.

Here are some pictures of our time:

This is Brian's platoon. He is in the second column from the left and the second one back. It's kind of hard to spot him, especially when they all look alike. I had the luxury of having binoculars at the graduation ceremony.

Brian and I right after the graduation

My little brothers, it's really weird to me that I'm about to be the shortest of the group. I remember holding each one of them as babies.

Here's my whole family

This first video is of the short speech given to the Marines. My favorite part was when he was encouraging the new Marines to go home and recruit he said: "You shouldn't be the only one to enjoy an all expenses paid trip to San Diego." Even though the guys couldn't move you know they were all laughing.

Here is Brian's platoon marching in front of us. Again, it's kind of hard to spot Brian.

This last video is the one made by the Marine Corp. Brian is the 3rd guy you will see. In the background you can hear them doing their drill yells.

Before I left I had been telling Will that I was going to San Diego to bring Brian home. I called home to check on Jared and the boys in between my flights and Will got on the phone, all he said was:

"Hi Mom, put Brian on the phone."

He just couldn't wait to talk to his Uncle Brian. Better yet, here are both the boys with Brian after he got home, they were so excited to see him.

Brian, we are so proud of you!

Telluride

We had the pleasure of joining our good friends Sarah and Vim in Telluride for a few days of very cold skiing. It snowed on us almost the entire time we were there. In the few hours that the snow let up and the sun shined through we snapped a couple of these pictures.

The guys skied really hard, they were on the mountain almost the whole time it was open. They were not so bothered by the blizzarding conditions. Sarah and I took the warmer and more leisurely approach. We skiied a little each day and when we weren't skiing we got some much needed rest and down time. Which any mom of little one's can appreciate.

It was a wonderful opportunity to get away for a few days and enjoy a beautiful place.

Sarah and I

Beautiful views from our condo

One nights when we went into the town

And I will leave you with a few videos of the guys in the terrain park:

Vim

Jared

Happy Valentines Day

We had a busy Valentines Day today, well I should say a busy Valentines week. The boys had lots of fun at their Valentines parties at school. They loved picking out cards for their friends and then of course coming home with cards and candy, lots and lots of candy. What's not to love about Valentines Day.

Jared and I got to celebrate early. We had a nice night out on Friday night. So, we spent all day with our other Valentines: Will and Luke.

We started out with cards and Valentines gifts at breakfast. Will got another one of the plastic animals to add to his collection.

Luke got a skate board card to go with his new little toy skateboard. He is in love with those little finger skateboards.

We went to church and then later in the afternoon we went to the the park with our cousins. Here we are fishing. I never seem to get good pics of them when I really want one.

Jared and I are getting ready to go skiing, so we had all our ski stuff out to go through it. So, the boys spent the rest of the night trying on our ski gear. It was pretty amusing.

And on the skiing note, it was 6 years ago today that Jared and I were skiing together in Breckenridge. At the top of the mountain we stopped to have the mountain photographer take our picture. I thought we were posing for the picture but Jared handed me a card, and then before I knew it he was on one knee. Of course I don't remember much of what he said, but I do remember saying yes!

Life is so different today than it was 6 years ago, and all for the better. I'm so happy I said yes! Valentines Day is always full of sweet memories for us.

Happy Valentines Day!

Sesame Street Live

Last Saturday night we went with our friends The Allens to see Sesame Street Live. Will and Luke saw a commercial for it a few weeks ago and couldn't stop talking about how they wanted to go. They were so excited when I told them they were going and even more excited to go with friends. They had a great time. Now watching Sesame Street is on a whole new level at our house.

Our attempt at a family picture. The show had just started back up after intermission, so we didn't have the boys attention at all.

We found out that the Monster Truck Jam was also at Reliant that night. Jared and I decided that our boys would have probably equally enjoyed either show. Many sides to our little guys, they love Elmo and Monster Trucks.

Uncle Brent's FFA Show

Last week we went to see Uncle Brent's FFA show. This year Brent showed a pig and a goat. Going to the FFA farm is always quite a treat for my boys because it combines two of their loves:

Uncles and Animals.

Unfortunately I didn't get any good pics of my boys that night, they were a little too distracted by the animals. But are some good pics of Brent with his animals and his grand champion pie:

Will and Luke are also super excited to see Brent in the Calf Scramble at the Rodeo this year. If you are going to the Brad Paisley show keep an eye out for Brent.

Luke's Big Boy Bed

If you have seen Luke lately he has probably told you about his "ig oy ed" as he says it. I've never seen anyone so excited over a bed. He played in it for days after we put it in his room. He is also very protective of his bed, Will is allowed in it to play with him, but Mommy and Daddy are not allowed to lay down in it. We got the boys a bunk bed set that can also be individual beds, we included the railing for the top bunk on Luke's bed. So, right now it's kind of like a big crib. He's doing really well in it, so we can probably loose the railing soon. Mommy had to fight back the tears, he's definitely not a baby anymore.

Board Smashing Day

Will is loving Tae Kwon Do! A few weeks ago was "Board Smashing Day". Seriously, what little boy wouldn't be excited about breaking boards. And to make it even better they get to yell fun things like "Hammer Smash" as they do it.

Breaking the board with his hand.

Breaking the board with his foot.

Here is my very proud little man with his broken board. He got to bring the board home with him and don't know that board gets shown to everyone who comes over to visit now.