I'm still alive!

I have no great story as to why I fell off the face of the earth, other than using this guy as my excuse:

Having Gunner home has been such a huge help.  After 96 hours off, he was exhausted from trying to keep up with my schedule of crossfit, carting children around, doctor's appointments, and all the other normal day to day stuff to maintain a family of 5.

Our laundry load increased exponentially.  The amount of food we have to cook is increased as well.  I wouldn't change a thing though.

We've been working on finding jobs, and let me tell you, the Army is not helpful in this area AT ALL.  That's a whole dozen other posts that I need to write as well.

We've also balanced out the work with fun.  Gunner took the girls on a moonlight wolf tour where they got to meet wolves up close.  The girls LOVED it.

We went to the Western Museum of Mining and Industry to pan for gold.

The panning was free, and you got to keep what you collected.  There was some gold involved, and that was all my kids needed to hear before they were hooked.







Junior had more fun splashing water and mud all over himself.








They had an area where you could dress up like a miner.

Notice the wet tshirt?

Don't let the folded hands fool you! Emily found a new boyfriend too.

Junior really wanted a hat, and with a dad who recently returned home, we know that sometimes they have such guilt, they just can't say no.

On the way home we stopped off and took pictures in front of Pikes Peak.

Plus we have done a lot of this.....

Notice the new furniture?  Thankfully we have a dog that doesn't shed!  We also had to break down and buy a new car.  If you want a great car (ranked #2--A Ford is first, but don't hate, I won't buy one.  We actually went to get a Nissan Sentra because we know that they are reliable and they were ranked #31!)

Meet our new little Honda Fit.

It seems small, but has a ton of storage, and actually the whole family can ride in here, but I would not recommend it for long trips with three kids in the back!  (I'd actually recommend a limo, where you can close the barrier and not hear them, but that's out of my price range too.)

It's a great little car and gets about 34 miles per gallon around town, and 37+ on the freeway.  It also has voice activated stuff, which is kind of neat, but luckily the button you have to press before it works is on the steering wheel, as the kids heard voice activated and started all saying "Radio 92.9" or whatever their favorite station is, all at once.

So we are settling into being a family again, with a lot of big changes coming up in the future, that I am excited about.  I also have a lot to blog about too, so stay tuned!

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a free digital camera, here!