Rikk is from Mars

Rikk and I were having a conversation about laundry the other day which made me think he had to be from Mars!

Rikk: You know how you never know if my pants are clean or dirty?
Dawn: Yea, that's why I always just wash them.
Rikk: Well I have an idea that will help you know if they are clean or not.
Dawn: Okay...
Rikk: I am going to put my pants in this drawer of my dresser. If they have a belt on them, they are clean. If they don't have a belt on them, then they are dirty.
Dawn: (I am laughing pretty hard) WHAT??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? That makes NOOOOO sense. I am NOT going to look through your CLEAN clothes to find your DIRTY clothes.
Rikk: What are you talking about, it makes perfect sense. Belt on, clean. Belt off, dirty. What's so hard about that?
Dawn: I don't even look through the boys' clean clothes to find their dirty clothes. You walk by the laundry room EVERY day. If your pants are dirty, put them in the dirty clothes.
Rikk: I'm just saying, it makes perfect sense.
Dawn: I just stood there laughing, shaking my head no!

I don't think I am the only spouse out there that thinks this is one of the silliest things I have ever heard. I mean, I would expect to hear it from one of the boys...but Rikk??? I just had to laugh! I love him and his "creative" solutions to things!!!

Hot Dogs

The boys decided that they want to open a hot dog shop and call it, "JUST WIENERS!" Rikk and I started laughing and they just looked at us and said, "What's so funny?" I love my boys!

"Side By Side"

Conner learned to stand upto furniture about the beginning of April and he loves it. Kooper has been trying to do it since about mid March, but doesn't have enough strength in his one leg to do so (something we are working on now with his physical therapist). He really tries, he gets on his knees, then on his nub and his one foot and tries so hard to push up. We tried constantly to have him stand on his one leg (he outgrew his prosthetic and gets a new one next month, more on that at a later date), but he would just collapse. But the night we took these photos he stood for a good 2-3 minutes and was sooooooooo proud of himself and so were his brothers. The boys, along with Rikk and I, were clapping and cheering him on. Here are pics of him and Conner standing side by side for the first time.

Conner started out the standing and then we stood Kooper next to him....

...AND HE STOOD!!!

Kooper got a little uneasy when I left....

....and went back to just hanging out with Conner

Easter Fun

Easter morning the boys were happy to see that the Easter Bunny had come. The babies were still asleep and we let them sleep! Then that night after our ham dinner we dyed eggs. Rikk helped the boys dye the eggs while the babies and I looked on. The boys did really well this year with NOT making a single mess when dyeing eggs. A really good and fun time full of laughs was had by all.

Checking out what was brought

Of course Kyler dug into the bunny first because, "it's the biggest candy!"

Hunter wasn't shy about eating his either

I think Walker was making sure everyone got the same amount

Hunter dyeing some eggs

I don't know what is up with Walker's expression...I guess he's too cool to smile!

And then there is Kyler who is ready to entertain at all moments

Me, Kooper and Conner

Eggs...

...and more eggs



I know that this video is just two seconds long, but I love Walker's sweet voice and how he is helping Kyler to find his basket. Such a sweet big brother!

Kyler Turned 4!

Kyler turned 4...two months ago! He turned 4 the first week into our house. On his actual birthday we did cupcakes. He decided that he wanted to wait to have his cake until his girlfriend Bubble Gum (Rachel Barney!) came to visit the next week. Rikk made his cake as usual and it was the super hero The Flash. Kyler LOVES The Flash and some days that is his name! We had his party at our house. The kids played all day and we did cake and presents that night. Thank you Barney family for helping make his birthday party special.

Hunter and Walker worked really hard on this robot made out of Trios and were really excited to give it to Kyler who carried it around all day.

Who needs wrapping paper when you can close your eyes and pull your present out of a store bag!

Or pull your present out from under a fleece blanket!

Kyler we can't believe that you are 4. Kyler is definitely sweet, mischievous, loveable and silly. He is so friendly and will literally talk your ear off! Happy birthday Kyler, we love you!

Hunter's Spring Concert

Hunter had a spring concert this year where they sang 4-5 songs. There was one song that he was fretting over like crazy. He had to shake his hips side to side and he didn't think that was very cool. We all practiced with him at home to make him feel less self conscious...Walker loved doing this, mostly because Hunter didn't! Hunter was so worried about this one song that he asked if he could move to his new school (he will attend a different school next year). We told him that they would be having the same concert on the same day at the other school (who really knows). He then informed us that he would not be feeling well that day and would have stay home from the concert. We assured him he would be feeling just fine. Hunter went to school that day and sang in his concert. He did great, but as you will see, he was very stiff. He is in the top row, fourth in from the left. His friend Kellen on the other hand who is in the front middle and plaid shirt was WAY into the concert. And it is a really cute song too! Sorry the video is grainy, it's with our old camera, we haven't found our video camera yet. And it's shaky because Rikk was holding one of the babies while filming.

Our Move

When it came to packing up all our precious belongings, I think we forgot how much stuff we really had. When we sold our house on Mandeville Loop and moved into our rental on Blessing, we thought it was going to be for just a few months and then we would move to New Mexico. We put everything that we wouldn't "need" for the next three months into two rental units and kept everything else. Then we got pregnant with the twins and the Air Force was kind enough to extend our stay and give us orders closer to home...Elmendorf. We started moving things down to a storage unit near Elmendorf a few months before our move. I can't believe how much stuff we have. I wanted to purge before we moved but Rikk's famous saying, "We need the weight" kept us from doing that. Here is what we used to move our stuff...

This isn't the Barney's trailer, but they have a 26ft long trailer like this that was filled with our stuff. They were nice enough to make a special trip to Anchorage with us, pull this and help us unload it. Thanks guys!

This isn't out trailer, but we have a 16ft trailer like this. Back in October our friends the Browns were nice enough to tow this completely full to Anchorage for us when they were going on a temple trip that we had to cancel because of sick kids. We also towed it completely full on the same trip to Anchorage with the Barneys and again the day we officially moved.

The day that we moved my dad drove this 17ft. Uhaul for us. I think he was just happy he didn't have to ride with any of the boys. My mom and I started out in my Yukon with the twins and Kyler. She then ended up driving Rikk's truck with Hunter and Walker because we had to put the trailer on my Yukon. Rikk's truck blew it's transmission, but my mom got her all the way to Anchorage.

When we got to Anchorage we stayed in TLF for just over a month and then moved into this house on base.

This is our house, really nothing to look at right now from the outside. The snow is now gone and Rikk is working on bringing back the front lawn that we share with our neighbor. It is apparent that the yard hasn't been taken care of in years (not neighbor's fault, they just moved in right before us). He can't wait to plant flowers, and he has already got most the brown turning green. I forgot to take pics of the backyard and basement and will post some when I post one of the house unpacked and moved in. We really got lucky with this house. It is 2600sqft to include the basement. It has 4 bedrooms on the same floor, and 2 and 1/2 baths. We also have a fairly decent sized entry, large one car garage, and tons of closets/storage space.

One side of the living room

The other side of the living room

Our dining room/area and door to back porch/yard

Our kitchen

Our entryway, a little more space to the right of the door that you can't see and there is a door there that leads out to the garage. And you can kind of see the coat closet that is the size of a regular closet there to the left.

Our half bath on the main floor

View from one side of the living room. Go straight and on left is half bath, then entry way. Go straight and turn right corner and there are stairs to basement and it also leads into kitchen.

Boys bathroom

Boys bathroom, I wish mine had this much counter space!

Kyler's room

Kyler's room

Twins' room

Twins' room

Laundry room

Laundry room...I LOVE my laundry room. I can just pull clothes out of the dryer, fold them on the counter and put them right into the boys' buckets. Rikk also added a few clothes lines in there too, he's soo handy!

A walk-in closet in the hall way, there's more room off to the right of it.

Hunter and Walker's room

Hunter and Walker's walk-in closet, more room off to the left.

Mine and Rikk's bedroom

We have our own closets which I think can sometimes be nicer than sharing a walk-in

Our bathroom...I need more counter space!

We LOVE this house. It used to be an 8-plex that they turned into a 4-plex. It is taking us a bit getting used to living on base. There are about 30 kids on our block and it is a total free-for-all. Rikk and I are the only parents outside with our kids and the neighborhood kids think that every yard and toy is their's too. So far we haven't heard out neighbors, we have some on each side and I hope that they haven't heard us. And sorry about the horrible house pictures, taking pictures of rooms is apparently something I am not really good at. I was trying to hurry before all the furniture was moved in. When we get things all unpacked and put away I will post some pics then, although you may see some of the house in random pics in posts to come.