All points bulletin

HELP!!! This is an all points bulletin. I have lost the following items: My mind, time, sleep, and temporarily my wife. The last time these items were seen with me was around Sunday afternoon. If you locate any of these items, besides the wife, do not try and apprehend them on your own for they maybe armed and dangerous. In case you have not guessed, Theresa is doing her field work in Worland this week. Even though she has been gone for only 3 days it seems like a month. I swapped schedules with a couple of guys so I could be here in town all week. Wait..Shhhh! Did you hear that? I think that is the sound of my wife laughing echoing around the void in my head where my brain used to be. What has brought me to this state of temporary insanity? When you combine the gymnastics, dinner preparation, dishes, cleaning up around the house, band practice, youth group, PTO, wasp nest the size of a regulation football in your attic, dog messing in the house because you got home late, work, showering children, homework, potty training a puppy, earring holes closing up and then having to re-open them, carpet cleaning, animals that refuse to eat, and the minor meltdowns of girls who miss there mom. The frustrating thing on the meltdowns is that they do not tell you that they are crying because they miss mom, NOOOO!!! you have to play the guessing game and this game usually begins 30 minutes after they were supposed to in bed. The youngest one came out on Sunday night and said that I had forgot to turn on her radio and the tears started to flow. I told her I was sorry and that I would happily come and turn it on. Fifteen minutes later through the blubbering and sniffles I was finally able to get a confession out of her that she missed mom. It is hard to play good cop, bad cop when it is just yourself. All is going well and we only have two more nights and the cleaning crew I hired will be here on Friday afternoon.

Purity Class

Liz has attended a 7 week class through our church for young adults. This class is about staying pure and how to deal with the challenges sex through prayer and self-confidence. At the end of the session they had a ring ceremony and acknowledge that they will lead the life of abstinence until marriage. At this time mom and dad had the privelage of putting a purity ring on her finger and praying for her. We ask all of you in her life to also pray that this is the life she will continue to follow and that the challenges that are to come will be made easier with the Lord and all us by her side. Her daddy cried like a baby!! It has been decided that when the time comes for marriage he will not be allowed to make any type of speech:) Now that is the love of a father!

Weakened Trip

Not to much to report for the weekend. We headed to Thermopolis (hot springs) Wyoming. This is a 2 1/2 hour drive from Casper. Purpose of the trip was to see the house and meet the neighbors of the couple that she will be house sitting for when she is away on her 8 week rotation this summer. We spent 20 minutes in the hot springs and then headed back for home. The couple is very nice and this worked out great for them and us. They leave the 2nd week of May and I arrive at the end of May, I will finish my rotation in July and they return home in August. The town is small and very homey. I will be heading in the same direction over Easter weekend for my physical disability rotation in Worland WY. This is another one week adventure that leaves the girls and husband to fend for themselves. I will update you on how they handle this trip when I return.

Party Time

A 13 year old party is always best when everyone remembers to wear deodorant:) The house was packed with 17; 12 and 13 year olds going through puberty...this was not only entertaining but would have made a great experimental project. All in all in was great, we did a scavenger hunt and the kids brought back 36 non parishable items to give to Joshua Storehouse (shelter facility in our town), we played giant jenga, sardines (hide and go seek game), and did a little dancin where mom and dad showed off their moves!!! Now this was true entertainment. Cake and Ice cream was the traditional event of the eveing. Except Liz got introduced to having to take the first bite without her hands...these are what you call real friends.

(first bite without hands)

(gift time surrounded by friends)

13 at last!

Today was the big day...thank you to everyone who helped to make it special, I do not believe the phone has stopped ringing since I walked in the door at 4pm. The big party is on Saturday but here is a picture of the birthday girl today!

Gymnastics Meet

Yep another gym meet. This was Mikaela's last time as a level 3, after this weekend she officially moves to level 4. This entails all new routines on all equipment. At this meet she took first over all her team. Out of 20 girls in different teams she took a 2nd, 3rd, and 5th. It was a good meet and judged very hard.

It's the Final Countdown

I think it was Frank Sinatra that summoned it up best when he said, "And now, the end is near" My father reminded me of one of the first times he ever met Liz and she was pushing on my rear-end trying to get me into her playhouse we had set up in the living room. She got me in and then joined me inside which made it a full house. It seems like only yesterday that she was helping Theresa and I paint our house in preperation for sale. Theresa and I were painting the shed to match the house when the dog came by with green handprints on his black coat. As I followed the trail down the path along the side of the house I came to the large tree by the front door also decorated in small green handprints. As I came up the newly stained porch with green handprint highlights I encountered a blond haired, blue eyed, three foot nuthin little girl with green hands, shirt, shorts, legs, and shoes. All those things were fixable and were cleaned up with some soap and water, but I don't know how to stop the next couple of hours from coming. I have faith that Theresa and I have done a good job teaching, learning, and raising Liz to be an awesome young woman who will continue to make me proud that I am her father. It will take me some time to loosen the grip on the reigns, but she proves to me everyday that she can and will make the right choices in the challenges she will face in the near future. She did not learn to ride a bike until we let go and went inside and she tried what we had taught her. Love You Lizzy more than you know and always remember you were chosen.

Love, Dad

Mikaela Spring pictures

Definitely has her Daddy's eyes!

Liz School Spring Picture

2 more days until she is officially a teen!

These are her spring school pics. Copies will be mailed soon!

Revolve Tour 2008

This past weekend we headed to Denver. This weekend was the weekend of the Revolve Tour, this is a teen/mom function and I can honestly say was well worth it. Liz and I (along with Kendra/sister; Carley/friend from school; Brenda/Kendra's Grandma; Rhonda/Kendra's step-mom; Tiffany) attended the event together. This is a women of faith conference that talks to girls about self-esteem; the difference between boys and girls at this age; and how to let Jesus guide us and live through Him. Liz bought the place out....new girl teen bible; magazine; bag; books; and a t-shirt, this is all thanks to grandma and grandpa Light and Opa as well as lots of babysitting:) Special speakers were....Max and daughter Lucado, Natalie Grant (awesome!), KJ-52, and Hawk Nelson (girls go crazy over this one), Chad Eastman (excellent speaker on boys). This was a two day event and both Liz and I came back spritually filled and emotionally ready to deal with new life issues (like the boy down the street giving her flowers and is a bikini swimsuite really appropiate at this age).

Mom and Liz partying hard!Kendra and Liz loving every moment!

Mikaela and dad were very busy as well....they went out to dinner and played at fat city (indoor spend all your money on video games, putt-putt golf, and a foam ball room.

On Sunday, the girls went to church with Deb and Dennis and family, Ken got stuck home (no car keys to dads car) and I took a visit to see Brett( he is doing well and making excellent progress).

Then it was a slow drive back to Casper in the newly fallen snow.

Dad 's preparation

As the doorbell rang tonight I got a cold feeling down my spine and the hair on the back of my neck stood at attention. Something was wrong or was about to go wrong. As my little girl answered the door I caught the glimpse of a male figure standing in front of the door hiding behind flowers. Not a carnation or a daisy, but three roses to which my little girls face matched the colors of the pink and red ones. I quickly ran to the closet to obtain my emergency-boy-come-a-calling kit. I ripped off the plastic cover and flung the lid open with reckless abandon. No time to read the instructions. I was relying on Fatherly instinct now as I put the rubber gloves and pulled the gun and file out of the box. As my daughter stood talking to this animal I knew I had little time. I began to franticly file the serial number off the gun and laid it on the table. Not wanting to appear as inhospitable I asked this degenerate to give me a hand and to place the gun back into the box for me. He asked what it was for and I told him future evidence,...accident,...I mean insurance. Unfortunately I am going to have to buy another twenty kits for Lizzy over the next couple of years and then I will have to get ready for the youngest one. He really is a nice young guy, but Liz nor her parents are ready for her to date yet.

Sincerely, Ken,9mm dad

Valentines Day

Okay...this day was not to come for a long time, but it happened anyway! Liz recieved her first Valentine from a boy, and no it was not one of thoughs cutesie cards you get at school. This is from a boy down the street and Liz says there is no "crush" on either side of the friendship but I think the flowers she recieved today said lots lots more. She turned about 7 shades of red.Try not to tease....this was so darn cute!

HAPPY VALENTINES TO EVERYONE!
I spent the evening baking 70 cupcakes for school parties today, so now it is time to hit the school books.

Toby Fits In

Toby (Yorkie) has adjusted nicely. Of course it is like having an infant back in the house:) Ojo was not liking this idea at first.....but now.....it is her new best friend. Instead of "chase" the kitty its "get" the puppy. She is so gentle with him and he fights back (just barely got his first tooth).

The cat is ok with him until the other day when he so nicely found the cats tail and assumed it was a chew toy!

Welcome Toby

Some call me crazy some call me insane...I just call myself busy:) We have added a new addition to the family as of 2-6-2008. We call him Toby and he is adjusting nicely. This pet will be Mikaela's, she makes a good mommy, however I have not been able to convince her that if Toby sleeps during the day he will not sleep during the night. Life for me would not be fun if I did not have some kind of craziness all the time. Enjoy the pictures:

Judges Cup

Sorry the blogs are coming so slow...school is currently occupying my life and the other half is with the family.

This past weekend was another gymnastics meet. Here is a video clip of how she did. She took 9th out of 22 girls aging up to 9 years old. Their team to overall champions for the 4th time this season. We have one more in March and then it is down time. With her scores she is now eligble to move up to level 4 this Spring. Most kids do not get to move up until they are 9 but Mikaela's team of girls are very motivated.

Enjoy the clip and I will try to stay updated on the blog. After the meet we had a get together with my classmates here at the house, this consisted of board games, WII machine time, and just hanging out until midnight or so. This was wonderful and I am so glad to have the small group as classmates and the unit we have become.

http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg231/babybean-33/?action=view&current=385b26b7.pbr

Love to all

Cat in the Toilet

I thought this was fun....our cat gets its water out of our toilet and the other day I had the camera and walked in on him getting a drink. Here are a couple of pictures of the cats reaction:

Ingnore the stamp dates on the pictures, these were just taken a few days ago.







(This pictures says: OOPS BUSTED AGAIN!)

What the New Year has to Bring

All I can say is the new year has come and gone and I am sitting here trying to figure out where it went. We had a very calm break with lots of catching up on crafts, enjoyable reading, and family fun. Now I am sad to say that is officially over for the time being. I am in full swing at school and so are the kids. It is crazy to say the least, I was completely not prepared to return to school last week, and every evening of my first week back was full of activities. We literally had something every night this week and did not get home until 9-9:30 each evening. As a mom I try to be sure we are home doing nothing atleast 2days a week, this did not happen this week.

The weekend however was filled with family fun activities and it paid for the week of not seeing each other. We went ice skating, movies, and a get together with moms friends from school. When we went ice skating we got the pleasure to take Riley (4years old and part of the family, I have had her in the daycare since she was just shy of 3 months old and she has continued to be a part of our lives). It was fun to watch how Liz and improved and Mikaela as well and then to watch Riley who has never been on skates. Dad took Mikaela to see the new Veggie Tale movie and next week I am taking Liz to see a movie. Kendra (our new house roomate also joined in on the family fun)

As for this week we are slowing down again and hopefully getting into a routine.

Side note on kids....Mikaela is as stubborn as always and keeps me on my toes, when it comes to Liz she is still the best 12 year old a mother/father could ask for, except for I can say Ken and I are officially in what is called the eye-rolling stage and we are now part of the "dumb parents" club. They both test boundaries daily:)

Ken has applied for two jobs in the past couple of weeks and we are waiting to hear from them (I will keep you posted).

Today we are in -8 degree weather and snow...it is a day to sit on the couch and watch movies.

Love and miss to all!

Merry Christmas

Okay so Christmas is actually over but.... I figured I better make a post. We headed to Denver and spent this time with Opa, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Dennis, Rachel, and Neal. It was a white Christmas while we were there and we did many things to keep ourselves busy. During our visit the kids went to a trampoline facility and played for awhile, then it was off to a movie. Dennis' family purchased a Wii machine while we were there so we did lots of that.

For Christmas everyone got what they wanted and a wonderful time....Deb did the twelve days of Christmas and it was the hit of Christmas Eve. Both sides of family were more then generous this Christmas and words cannot express how thankful we are to have the Anthony side and Light side in our lifes!!! The support that we have is overflowing and it is the true meaning of what family stands for! It was also nice to see Rachel while she was home for the holidays. I also had the opportunity to chat with dad Light and my sister Stacy on Christmas this made it all GOOD! Our visit with Opa was to short but he will be returning to visit us in May.

We did purchase a new video camera so I am excited to send some videos that are actually decent in the near future.

Not to much to report...during this time all activities come to an end and the kids are out of school, so it is our time to organize and refocus on family time.

School for me will not go back into session until January 14th and the kids return on the 9th. The Fall semester I passed with 3 B's and 2 A's, Liz made honor roll with all A's and 1 B. Mikaela does not get grades yet but is moving forward nicely!

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas!

Love to all

state gymnastics meet

Last night was the final night of gymnastics meets until March:)!!! Mikaela did a fantastic job. She took 2nd on vault and 4th on beam this is out 14 girls in her age bracket.
I have video clips this time so click play and enjoy.

winter fun

Last weekend was our first good snow fall for the winter season. We took the girls out in the back to have snowball fights and make snow angels. Afterwards we came in and had some hot cocoa!

This week consisted of school projects due for Theresa and holiday fun for the girls. All of us get a winter break until January 8th. I am so excited to have this time to be a family again.


I hope everyone is doing well and I am thinking of you all always.

(Mikaela making snow angels)

(mom and girls having a snowball fight)