And Then...

Some of you may have heard and some may not so I'm here to put it on record. Ben has been laid off as of July 2. We have been expecting this for awhile and have been looking for work, we were just hoping that we had found something before it happened. So of course this puts our lives back up in the air and I can definitely say I hate this. Right now, since we haven't heard back from prospective employers, Ben is thinking of enlisting in the US Navy. There are very good benefits but the biggest downfall is not seeing him for months at a time. The girls struggled a little with just two or three days at a time. Months will be a huge adjustment! So, please keep us in your prayers and keep your fingers crossed!

Park City

Barry, Julie and Kyla are up for the summer so we were able to spend a few days with them. They have a time share in Park City that we were able to go to and while we were there, grandpa took the girls (and Ben) fishing. Savannah, Isabella and Mailee all caught a fish but only Bella was able to reel hers in. The girls spent about a week there getting to do lots of fun things and their cousins Zack and Luke came up and spent time there to! The girls came home very excited to tell me and Ben everything they did!!

Grandpa, Grandma and Bella cleaning her fish

McCombs grandkids- Savannah, Zack, Bella, Mailee and Luke

Savannah's Birthday

Savannah turned 9 on June 19. Can you believe it?! She's 9 already!! My aunt and uncle were here for her birthday so it was a lot of fun! Savannah wanted to go to the rec center for her birthday and everyone really enjoyed doing that especially since it ended up being pretty hot out.

Savannah's simpler in cake tastes, just chocolate cake with raspberry filling and whipped cream frosting

Blowing out candles

Terren, Aunt Shelly, Savannah, Uncle Frank and Jayden

Everyone in the whirlpool!!

We all had a great time and Savannah loved her birthday!!

Camping

We got to meet up with my aunt and uncle from Colorado for camping. We were up at the flaming gorge in Manila and had lots of fun at the KOA. We were rained on, hailed on and the sun came out the day we were leaving!! Oh well, we still had lots of fun spending time together. We went fishing, stopped at the dam and when we got back to Vernal we hiked the dinosaur trail at the national dinosaur monument in Jensen. We also got to go to the rec center and go swimming. We had a lot of fun and were excited to see Frank, Shelly, Terren and Jayden again!!

McCombs family after a day of hiking


Savannah, Terren (in yellow) and Jayden

Mailee and Bella waiting for a bite

Jayden, Terren, Savannah, Mailee and Bella Flaming Gorge Dam

Flaming Gorge (part of it)

Savannah, Bella, Jayden, Mailee and Terren on the dinosaur fossil trail in front of petroglyphs

Ben, Mailee, Terren, Jayden, Uncle Frank, Savannah and Bella...before

Everyone after! There's a giant bucket sitting on the playset and spills over once it fills!

Isabella's Birthday

So I'm at the least about two months behind on everything!!Isabella's birthday was on May 6 and it's now July. We had a lot of fun and my little girl is now 7! Can you believe it?! We couldn't really get her much but we did get her the one thing she really wanted, a fishing pole and tackle box. We can definitely say she's not always a girlie girl. (You can see a picture of a fish she caught in Park City in a newer post)

Mailee, Isabella and Savannah

It's a Hello Kitty guitar (in case you're wondering)

She got the tackle box first and was a little confused but excited

Then came the fishing pole and well, you can see for yourself

They're just growing up way too fast! It's hard to remember when they were tiny little babies. But I guess this is just how life works and my babies will always be my babies to me!!

Train Station Dance

I saw this on my yahoo home page and thought it was awesome! From the sound of the speaker it's somewhere in Europe. You have to watch it!

Sound of Music Train Station @ Yahoo! Video

Ben's Birthday

On Ben's actual birthday we got up early to make him

a birthday sign and breakfast. He got to choose

everything we ate from breakfast to dinner.

We made homemade crepes with pineapple and

blackberries with homemade whipped cream

for breakfast, barbecued chicken with potato salad

for lunch, and spanish porkchops,

rice and beans, cabbage salad and aranitas

for dinner. All of Ben's choices and favorites.

It was a great day to celebrate his 32nd birthday!

Ben and Bella before cupcakes

Savannah and Mailee

All of us after he blew the candles out

Ben and his girls

Homemade (from scratch) German Chocolate Cupcakes

(Yep, even the frosting is homemade)

Our beautiful happy birthday sign

Hanging with Family

The weekend before Ben's birthday we went down to

Oremto celebrate with his brothers and sisters. We

had a lot of fun playing at the park, in the backyard and

playing games. Our visit wasn't very long since Ben

went back on call that night,but we all had a great time.

Mailee playing something else since she doesn't like the trampoline

The rest of the cousins having fun on the trampoline

Luke playing on his belly

Zack getting some air

Savannah and Isabella were bouncing Luke

Savannah and Mailee on the swings

Ben having fun on the swings with Mailee

Isabella and Luke going on the playset

Luke

Ben's birthday cake that Jenny made for him

Jenny's fancy cake tasted as good as it looked! Ben really enjoyed it

and had a great time visiting with family!

Swim Lessons

Since the first week of March Savannah, Isabella and Mailee have been taking swim lessons thanks to an early birthday present from

Grandma and Grandpa!They've been practicing their kicking

and putting their faces into the water.
Poor Isabella is the oldest in her class but she takes it with a smile

Mailee is still having trouble letting go and feeling safe

so we'll probably have to do the next lesson session as well.

Mailee and one of her instuctors

Isabella is excelling and will definitely go

to the next level in the next session

Savannah is the tallest and can touch the bottom

and still be about a foot above water, I think she

needs to get in a deeper pool so she can really practice

So I think our rec center is really cool,

they have this little water park for the little 'uns...

and the bigger slides for the bigger 'uns!

The girls are definitely enjoying the swim lessons!

THANK YOU GRANDMA AND GRANDPA!!!!!

Rec Center

This was a couple of weeks ago but I'm going to share anyway. We took the girls to the rec center here in town and it's really cool. They have a climing wall, indoor pool, gym and exercise equipment so I'm going to try and whip my butt back into shape. Here's some pics of the girls on the wall.

This is just a shot so you can see how big the wall is.

Savannah climbing

Mailee got as far as here, but still smiled instead of cried

Isabella's definitely the climber, she made it to the top and rang the bell!

Stay tuned for Swim Lessons

Addictions

We got Ben Guitar Hero for the Wii and instead of him being the one to play it, it seems that I'm the one that's addicted to playing. So far I've beat the songs on easy and working on them on medium. I need to go and join a Guitar Hero Addict Anonymous or start my own group or something. All of you who play that or Rock Band are free to join!!

Grandpa Sexton

Ben's Grandpa Sexton (his mom's dad) passed away this past week on January 27th. He went quietly and peacefully in his sleep which is all anyone can ever ask for. We had the opportunity to go down to Salt Lake for the funeral and spend time with Grandma Sexton and the rest of the family. Grandpa Sexton has been a great person, very kind and very welcoming member of Ben's family. He's always made me feel at home and welcome and I will miss him terribly. My favorite memory of him will always be the day he sealed Ben, Savannah and myself to each other as an eternal family. We have been lucky and blessed through grandpa's callings and will see him again in the end. We love him and will always remember him. Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers at this time.

Christmas in New York

So I warned everyone that I wouldn't be good at keeping the blog up but here's some catch ups. We spent about six weeks in New York incorporating Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mailee's birthday and New Year's into one trip. The kids and I had a lot of fun (I wished I could stay longer) but the kids wanted to get back to be with daddy. I had a few blonde moments and forgot to take my camera with me when we went into the city so the Thanksgiving pics are the only city pics I have. Oh well. We had fun spending Christmas with my famiy. We went into Manhattan for Mailee's birthday and took the kids to the M&M store, a huge Toys R Us store (it is 4 floors with a full size ferris wheel inside the store, can you believe that!) and a martian them restaurant called Mars 2112. We went with my aunt, cousin, sister, brother in law and niece and nephew. I think we all had fun but were happy to leave. My brother in law's family throws a huge New Year's Eve party where they rent a hall, have a dj and catering. It was a lot of fun! The girls and I danced the whole night and were exhausted the next day. We left with my grandma in tow back home on the second and ran into a lot of bad weather. (By the way, avoid Nebraska when you can during winter!) We spent a couple of days in Colorado with my aunt and left to come home, of course we hit a blizzard in the mountains seeing as I LOVE snow so much! It has taken me nearly a month to recuperate from the trip and try to catch up on blogging. So, that was our trip to New York. I can't wait to go back but I'm flying next time!!
Here are some pics from Christmas and Mailee's birthday.

Bella decorating the tree

Bella and Mailee dancing while they decorate

Savannah and Mailee adding more

Savannah got the hat for Christmas and has yet to take it off

Movie night my nephew AJ laying on Savannah

My cousin Ariel made this cake for Mailee

Left to right: Mailee, Ariel, Savannah, my aunt Susy, my sister Christina, my sister Danielle, Bella, my grandma, my niece Anjelia

My brother Jon and his girlfriend Melissa and Mailee

My nephew AJ giving Mailee birthday hugs