"Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime, and too sleepy to worry at night." ~ Leo Aikman

How could nearly one month pass since I last updated this blog? Honestly, I have no idea where the time goes. I guess we *have* been busy.

In the past few weeks we have... Landscaped our backyard (and by "landscape" I mean put 9 tons of decorative rock down ~ no plants for us!!), painted a few rooms in our upstairs, completed sewing a quilt, plugged away at Brandon's thesis, flew to Indiana, took in a few play dates with Ashton's friends, went to a birthday party, continued the quest to find a job, and as of a few hours ago we logged a mile at a Leukemia walk in honor of our friend "Kool".

Here are a few pictures starting with the most recent:

A few months ago, our friend Craig was diagnosed with Lymphoma. He and his family have been so much fun to get to know ~ and we wish him much luck and many prayers as he fights this battle.

Here are several of the "ladies" in our Aggressor family ~ as well as some of the kids.

Group shot...Craig "Kool" Jones (to the left of the Kool Squadron poster) and his awesome family.

Ashton was taking it all in...

Craig & Kathy Jones

We had a fabulous time walking for such a great cause.

Last week we were in Indiana and got to spend some much needed time with Brandon's family. The weather was gorgeous (even warmer there than it was in Vegas!), and Ashton had a blast being around all kinds of things she never gets to see in real life. She touched her first "froggie", fed Lily (the horse), carved a pumpkin, just to name a few...

At the pumpkin patch ~ not cooperating...

Running away from the Corn Maze ~ crying...

The only place she wanted to be that day was in the "corn room". She LOVED it in there. And, frankly ~ I can't believe how genius the idea was. I would have loved this place when I was younger.

Here is proof that Brandon has his hands full when it comes to writing his thesis.

{It looks like he's trying to teach her something ~ probably just Solitaire.}

A few weeks back, some of the other wives from our Nellis group met at Mesa Grill in Caesars Palace for a farewell lunch for our friend Annie (she moved back to Australia after being stationed here with her husband for nearly three years). Mesa Grill is so delicious ~ it's a *must* for anyone visiting Vegas.

~Lauren, Heather, Lyz, Annie ~~ Annie & I ~ and, if you look VERY closely behind us - Amy Adams (the actress from Charlie Wilson's War & Enchanted) is eating lunch. Unfortunately, the glare from the flash is almost directly over her face. SHOOT. That's my luck. Finally have a celebrity sighting & *this* happens. Oh well. It was cool none-the-less.

We were very happy to get our landscape completed in ONE day. It was very fulfilling to know we did it on our own, too. Of course, Ashton was very helpful as well. :o)

Before. This is what we had to look at for the past two years...

After. Nothing spectacular ~ but, definitely an improvement.

And, finally ~ Here are a couple pictures of Ashton with her favorite friend, John Paul. They went to the same daycare ~ and now that she's not going any more, we've been trying to get together so they can play. They're two peas in a pod... It's adorable.

A McDonald's date.

Swingin'. Ashton is holding her baby ~ also known as John Paul. ;-)

We are down to just 50 days in this desert ~ not that I'm counting... I can't believe how quickly the time is going now!

Melisa arrives on Monday with her two little ones. Red Flag also starts on Monday and will keep Brandon busy until the 31st. Brandon has a trip planned for Idaho in early November and a trip to Sweden in mid-November. With all of that going on ~ our time here will be over before we know it! Time to start really savoring the moments!!