Homeward Bound!

Grace and I will be in Utah as of April 30th. We will be gone for 3 weeks, including the week we will be in Texas house hunting. We will greatly miss Matt, but he will be incredibly busy. In fact, he is currently out in "the field" (which means he gets hands on training, hardly sleeps, gets real dirty and doesn't get to come home for days at a time).

Matt is almost halfway done with his training here and it is getting more intense every day. It will be good for him to have a quiet place to study while we're gone. Hopefully he'll sleep better without Grace waking him up. (Although we do have nocturnal neighbors!)

Grace is still pulling herself along and occassionally crawling. She is just brimming with personality. In fact, today at church was the first time she reached out for me to hold her. It was so cute and it felt really great. I wasn't just some caretaker...she actually missed me!

There isn't much else to report. We're trucking along and anticipating the next big step for our family; homeownership! Soon enough... I'll be sure to update often about that process. Until then, this is Mandy signing off. I'm not sure if I'll have any internet access while in Utah. SO LONG FOR NOW!

Jedi Grace!

The other day Matt brought a glow stick home from his Armor Training and he activated it so he could show Grace. She loved watching it as he spun it around and once she got her hands on it, she didn't want to let go. Here's a short clip of her playing the role of Jedi Grace!

Reading Time for Grace

I have been reading to Grace since she was just a few weeks old. She has always loved to look at the pictures and now she is starting to love the sound of the words. Last night Matt filmed our reading time and Grace looked up every time I said "Thump."

This past weekend was General Conference for the LDS Church and after the last session there was a series on parenting and it talked about the importance of spending quality time with your children. After visiting the web site, Matt and I decided that no matter where we are or what we have on our agenda, our children will be read to every single day until they can read for themselves and no longer want to sit on our lap (hopefully this will be before the age of 18!).

It is so exciting to think that just a few minutes can help build a relationship with your children and that reading to them can set a foundation for all of their future learning.

I am going to try once again to post a video to Blogger...but who knows if it will work. If it does, you'll see it below. If not I'll redirect you to MySpace.

Tank Commander!

It has been a while since I posted the news about our little family. So here goes... Matt started his Armor Officer Basic Course earlier this month and has since learned A LOT about tanks. He fired one for the first time this past week and loved the adrenaline rush. He is training to be a Tank Commander and it keeps him pretty busy. The beginning of his training requires a lot of time in a classroom, but it is shifting into more time in "the field" or on "the range" which means late nights and lots of "tank bites" (bumps, bruises and cuts from moving around inside the tank). He read over his schedule and told me some bad news. He only has 3 weekends off for the rest of our time here in Kentucky. He works straight through most Saturdays and Sundays. Going to be awful lonely and quiet here real soon. Matt will be commanding the M1A2, which is an Abrams tank. Check out the picture of us at the Patton museum to see what it looks like.


Grace is rolling all over the place and is still telling us what's on her mind. She pulls herself up on her hands and toes so I'm thinking it won't be long before she figures out how to pull herself to her knees and crawl away. We took this adorable video of her sticking out her tongue, which is her newest trick. I have tried to post videos to this blog but to no avail.... I finally posted two new videos. You can access them at the link below and then click on videos and the newer ones are called Sniffles and Silly Grace. You'll die when you see them!

Easter Bunny!!!

More Pictures of Grace

Skinny Jeans!!!

While Matt was away, he and I decided to work out and eat better and surprise each-other with the results. But, I wasn't as faithful to my routine and to be honest, there wasn't much of a difference in how I looked or felt.

But, I was determined to start that challenge over again when we moved here. I have limited chores so I couldn't come up with excuses not to take care of myself. I have been working out 4 times a week at home with the fluidity bar my mom gave me when I had Grace back in August. I used it a few times before and I didn't ever really feel "the burn" so I stopped. As of today, I don't know how much I weigh...I don't know my measurements...but I do know that this morning I was feeling a little adventurous and tried to put on my Skinny Jeans. (No, not those horrid skin tight jeans that have become trendy, I mean the jeans you wear on the days you have a spring in your step because you feel thinner than usual.) Needless to say, a miracle occurred and THEY FIT! I still have a bit of a pooch under my belly, but my buns and thighs have really taken on a new shape because of the Fluidity workout. I am so excited!

My mom helped me buy a jogging stroller yesterday, and I now have even more determination to get out there and run by buns off! As soon as it stops pouring rain here in Kentucky, you can trust that I'll be outside with Grace as my partner running around Fort Knox Army base. Yee Haw! I'll post pictures sometime to show the progression of ME since I had Grace. Other than that, the fun things happening in our family are that Grace is starting to pull herself inches at a time while on her belly. One day I just know I'll see you take off and I won't be able to keep up! She is such a ham for the camera, always batting her blue eyes at me.