Funny little girl

So, I have said this a million times, but Amber is one of the funniest kids you will ever meet. She does everything she can to make you laugh and pay attention to her. Sometimes I just sit there and watch her watch herself in the mirror. She'll practice making funny faces. When she find one she likes, she turns around and says, "Mommy!" and starts with all these crazy faces. You can't help but just laugh. Her latest thing is she'll pick something up, just to throw it down and say, "Oh..." It is hysterical. I wish I could say that we've been able to catch her on video doing it, but every time we get the camera out, she stops. But we were lucky enough to catch her giving "the baby in the mirror" kisses. It was so dang cute. Sooo worthy of a post...

Pictures finally

So here are a few pictures that we've had taken recently. We FINALLY took family pictures, for the first time since we've been married. They turned out pretty good. I was very pleasantly surprised. Anyway, here they are...


My baby girl is getting so big!


Gotta love the fingers...


LOVE that smile!


She was DONE by the time we took this picture.
Next time we HAVE to get one with Daddy!


Kisses...








They look so AMAZING in this picture! It's my favorite!

Catch up...6 months worth

Okay, so...now that it has been 6 months since I last updated this blog, I think I should now. :) We are together as a family again, after Nick went through 2 deployments. He was gone about 2 1/2 months each time, and was "home" about 1 1/2 months. While he was "home" he went on about 10 different trips for his TTY's. He visited Japan, Guam, Hawaii, California, Washington DC, Washington and Oklahoma...just to name a few. :) During Nicks first deployment we were able to visit our families in California for a few weeks. It was SOOO wonderful to see everyone. We truly miss being around our families, while we are here in North Dakota. Luckily we have made some great friends here and are blessed to have them in our lives.
Nick left for his second deployment on October 14. We had a little party for Ambers first birthday the day before he left. It was so nice to be together for such a momentious occasion. Our liitle girl turned 1!!! I am still in denial. Amber is such an AMAZING little girl. She amazes me everyday! She LOVES to make people laugh and enjoys staring at herself in the mirror. She does funny facial expressions and finds one that she likes. Then she turns around to show us and see if we laugh or not. What a character! She loves to read her little books and enjoys watching movies and hanging out with Daddy and Mommy! Sometimes I just lay in bed and laugh at her talking to herself, while she is reading to her doll "Tia", that she got from her "Auntie Tiffany". She is the best thing that has ever happened to me! I love being a mother.
While Nick was gone for the second deployment, we had Halloween, one of Nick and my favorite holidays. We also had Amebers birthday, and Thanksgiving. We were lucky to have Nick come home 3 days before Christmas! It was such an AMAZING Christmas!!! I loved just spending time with our little family. On Christmas morning Amber was so cute! She came running over to see what Santa had brought her. She was so happy and will not let her little Dora bike outta her sight. I will definately post some pictures, so you can see her with her Dora bike. :) So cute!
As of now, Nick is not suppose to deploy until the summer. We are crossing our fingers that will be the case. We enjoy having him around and really hope this time he won't be gone so much. Still knda like that guy! :) Of course along the way, everyone has struggles and disappointments. I am just grateful to the Lord for the love he has unconditionally given me and our family. We were blessed enough to move be able to move on base while Nick was gone last time. OUr housr is literally 6 times bigger than our previous house. Nick came home to a beautiful new house that was decorated for Christmas. It's been wonderful to be here on base and close to where Nick will be at work, when he's home. We're grateful to be together and look forward to spending our life together!

Day 1...without Nick

So, today should have been pretty uneventful. It was the first full day without Nick. I still haven't heard from him, but I'm not really worried. I know he'll call whenever he can. I also know that if something was wrong, like the unthinkable, I would know by now. The Commander or someone would have told me. So, I'm not thinking anything like that. I'm just hoping his flight to Qatar went well. And that he gets some needed rest before he's up refueling. Today is actually our 3 year anniversary of marriage. We celebrated it this past weekend and even went on our first date with out Amber. My friend Tiffany watched her for us so we could go to dinner and a movie. It was nice to sit next to Nick at dinner. That's something I didn't realize we hadn't done for a while. One of us is always next to her in a booth. So, that was nice. Anyway, Amber and I went to dinner tonight to celebrate us being married! Yay!!! 3 years. Hopefully many more to come. When we left, I put the boys, Jake and Kodah outside so they could play and be out in the sun! Since we did that a few days ago, they are loving it! While I was gone, somehow Jake got off the chain. Normally he would run and be gone...until he decided to come home. Sometimes hours later. But apparently he didn't this time. My friend/ neighbor Tiffany called me and said that Jake was just laying next to Kodah on the grass, and when she pulled in the driveway he came over to her and let her get a hold of him. That is VERY RARE. Normally we have to have food before he even lets us get close to him. It's just his breed. (So we're told!) He let her put him back on the chain and called me to let me know. I was SOOOO proud of him. I really couldn't deal with it if Jake was gone. He was there with me last time Nick was gone for all that time. He is such and amazing dog and so great with Amber. I really believe he is helping Kodah and teaching him that he gets treats and love when he does good things. They are both awesome dogs! I love 'em to death. When we got home, Amber was a little sad. Since we left Nick at the base yesterday, she has been a little sad and extremely clingy. She doesn't want to sleep but is so tired. Luckily when she finally falls asleep, she stays asleep. It's just the getting her to sleep that's hard! I am so glad I have her this time around while Nick is gone. She gives me purpose, let alone keeps me busy. :) That little girl is movin' around like crazy. Poor baby girl has rug burns on her knees from trying to crawl. She's sooo close. I was almost expecting her to start today since Nick left yesterday. That's just how things seem to work sometimes, am I right?! Anyway, we took some cute pics of her today. Of course we have to show some love for Daddy! She totally knows who I am talking about when I say Daddy. She just giggles and smiles this crazy little smile she's been doing lately. She smiles so big you can't see her eyes because her cheeks are so big. It's so cute, I love it. Anyway, hope you all enjoy them. Love you!

Love, Crys



Not sooo happy...
Then I said, "Daddy loves you!"
Then she started giggling and smiling. We love you Daddy!!!

I Love you guys!

I love you guys so much. I'll miss you both and can't wait to get back here, even though it is North Dakota :P.

Love Nick/Daddy :)

Our own family blog!!!

So...I've been doin this family blog thing for a few months now. We have one for both sides of the family set up. My side and Nicks side. Now, with Nick deploying tomorrow, I've decided to create one for our little family. Mainly for Nick to be able to look at once he's gone to see pictures of Amber and how fast she's growing. But I'm way stoked because now we have one our friends can look at too. :) I hope it turns out just as good as our family ones. Now the key thing will be to update it like I do the other ones. I think with Nick in mind, I can pull it off. So my love, I'll do my best to post as many pictures of Amber as I can, so you can see your beautiful baby girl. We will miss you more than you know. Amber and I love you till the end. :) Be safe and come home to us!

Love, Crys