Time is just flying by. I know that I have been a slacker in updating this blog... but there have been A LOT of good reasons. Where to start?
Christmas - my parents came out to visit, and we had a great time with them. Alta was Grandpa's little girl for sure. She even picked him over Dad, and that's really saying something! Of course, he was the holder of the iPhone, so perhaps that may have had more to do with it! What a tech genius she is! She figured out how to turn on the phone, unlock it, and then scroll through pictures, music, etc. She is just so smart. She was also very good at working us in order to get that phone. Oh dear... the signs of things to come!
On Christmas day, we discovered that our house had flooded. Water came up from our bottom floor toilet - because there was a blockage somewhere in between the house and the main sewer line. A plumber came out - and pushed the blockage through to the sewer, and we thought everything was going to be fine - because our house is under warranty! So we just took it in stride, and enjoyed our Christmas morning as best as we could.
Well, it turned into a bit more of an ordeal that we had previously anticipated. Turns out, it wasn't under our warranty, and we had to cover it with our home owners insurance. We later discovered that any water that comes out of your toilet, is considered "black water", and a biohazard. Oh joy! Unfortunately it contaminated all of the lower level of our house, which means - everything had to be replaced. We had to move out of the house to protect ourselves from getting sick. Lucky for us, we were able to stay with the England family until hotel costs were approved by our insurance (remember, this is during the Christmas holidays - so no one was in the office to even give us an answer as to what to do!) We eventually made it to a hotel, and then finally back into our house after it was officially "decontaminated". We all got sick during the process. When we were able to return home, we found that it is much more difficult to live out of your bedrooms when you have a 14 month old to entertain. Again the England's came to our rescue - and kept us busy many of the days by letting us come play with their kids. By us, I mean - Alta and me... Jaren of course had work. :) We were shown so much kindness by the members of our Church. We had meals brought to us, and various other kindnesses shown during the month we spent camping in our house.
During this experience, I learned a fabulous lesson about the God and the Savior's love for me (well actually, for each of His children). I am a do-er... a give-er. I do not like to be the one that's receiving another's service. Yes, I am prideful. But during this experience I had to accept help - because I genuinely needed it. And somewhere throughout this process, I was led to the thought, "
Brenna, you love to serve others. It makes you feel good. You feel closer to God in the process, and know that you are able to do His work by helping others. So why do you stop others or hesitate to let others help you? Would you stop the Savior if he came to your rescue? Would you say - Uh, no, you don't need to bring me dinner?"
Needless to say, I hope I have overcome a bit of my pride through this process, and was able to feel more completely the love of the Lord. I also have made some friends in the process. Huge blessing.
Moving on - I'm pregnant. So this means, I'm getting huge. Really I started off the Christmas season not-too-huge... and have moved on into Ginorma-ville. Meanwhile - Alta is also HUGE. She is over 30 lbs. She is not fat, but she is sturdy. And solid. And heavy. And adorable!
And teething.... Oh my! Lots of teeth coming through these days. We have two more coming in on the top. Which leads to a lot of this.......
Still... she is pretty stinking cute eh?
Oh, and she's walking now. FINALLY! Woohooo... poor thing. She is a perfectionist (wonder where she got that from?) and wouldn't walk on her own until she was positive that she wouldn't make any mistakes doing it. So, for the past few months I have had to walk her around everywhere. Well, she finally let go a few weeks ago, and now is overjoyed with her new found freedom. She is not overjoyed when you have to say "No" about what she is not supposed to be into. Just today, she was throwing away her toys, and bringing Mommy garbage from the kitchen. She is just so thoughtful!
Jaren has finally started flying. This makes us all very happy. #1 - because don't you think a pilot should fly every now and then? Me too. # 2 - It makes for a much happier Jaren. # 3 - I would like for him to actually be a bit more experienced in his bird before he leaves for Afghanistan this summer.
Also important to report - Jaren was promoted. We can now call him "Chief". He is a Warrant 2 now. We had a promotion ceremony for him at his work. It is truly very informal, and more a hazing ritual than anything else. But it was a lot of fun to watch him with his co-pilots. After all - these are the men and women that will be with him when he is gone... and I take a lot of comfort in the fact that they care enough about him to dump chocolate milk, liquid shower soap, and coffee grinds on him. Oh wait... they left the coffee grinds for me.
We did a great job didn't we?
Anyhow, like I said at the beginning of this post. Time is flying by. I'm 31 weeks pregnant now, and will be adding another little girl into the mix before long. I am just so grateful to be enjoying this life with my best friend, and the most wonderful child in all of existance. And no, that's not just the pregnancy hormones talking. I really do have it good.
We drove from Alabama to Florida, to see my cousin Theresa's wedding. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures (of my own) from that wedding. We were having problems with remembering to charge the batteries! Oops. But here is one with my Aunt Lynne. It was so great to see her!
From Florida, we drove up to North Carolina. Let me say this - Road trips are so much more challenging now. Planning food, milk, more food, diaper changes... all of it - a little taxing for my seemingly slower brain functioning. I honestly swear that I am getting dumber as the days go by. Here is a cute shot of Alta eating spaghetti while Daddy fills up the gas! 
Eventually we made it to North Carolina, and spent the next few weeks living in a hotel on base. I did not take pictures, because I have no desire to remember this very dark time in my life. Hotel living is not for me. Especially not with a kiddo.
Here is our living room, I am standing in the dinning room:
Here is a shot from the living room, into the dinning room:
This is our kitchen:
Here she is helping Daddy sort through his Army gear so that he could be ready for his first day. 
I couldn't resist throwing in this picture of Alta eating spaghetti again. Apparently she is a lot like me in this regard. We both LOVE spaghetti. And she really likes wearing it too. 
And I had to put this one in, because Alta loves everything that her Daddy does. She LOVED the snakes. Jaren has always been a snake lover, and I'm sure I won't be able to stop them from getting another one someday. Although, I think I will make the rule, that Jaren has to be there to feed it. So no snakes until he can't be deployed. 
