My Kick

So lately I've been going on kicks of different fruits and I just simply cannot imagine not loving the one I'm into at the time!

Right now I'm on this apple kick! I have loved apples my whole life but... the last few years, not so much. I would pass up an apple 9/10 times just because I didn't feel like it - unless, however it was a Honeycrisp apple which are of course the best apples in the world.

This time of year Honeycrisps are not in season, so I settle for the Braeburn apple (above). Yumm, this is one great apple! I don't even crave my Honeycrisp (see below) right now :-)

My last kick was for grapefruits! I would want one basically everyday, well at least every week day - yummm. Do you get on any silly kicks? I'm thankful mine aren't for Cheetos or Doritos, although those do sound tasty!

Coming soon to a bookstore near you!

I will take just a few minutes to share with you some of my hidden talents! Everyone is trying to cut costs right? Well, my work is too! The art department was trying to save a few pennies so they asked me to step in and be on a cover of a book :-) It was a blast doing the shoot and I think cover turned out pretty awesome too.

They bought a wig for the shoot because my hair wasn't long enough for the look they needed. The wig (below) is what I had to work with and in the end, the final cover, you would never know the wig was so gigantic!

Presenting Ellie Jane in Stealing Home

The 1905 Cubs need Duke Dennison to win the pennant. But with alcohol poisoning his game, Duke is whisked to a small town to get sober. There, four unique lives intersect and something devastating happens that will change each of them—forever. Click here for more info!

Thanks Allison Pittman for choosing me to be on the cover and thanks Kriss Orr - you did a great job!

Deployment

Last week I found out that I will be spending my summer and fall in Baghdad. At least it won't be hot (probably only around 120)!  This doesn't come as too much of a shock to Kelly and me; they told us we should expect to be deployed around our 18 month mark.  It'll be 18 months to the day when I step foot in Iraq.  

Many people have asked, "Why would a lawyer get deployed?"  My common answer is, "We are essentially trying to set up a rule of law in Iraq...who better to help do that than lawyers?"  JAGs have a variety of jobs when they get deployed.  We see the same types of issues there as we see here, so we have JAGs that are doing courts, defending Airmen, doing legal assistance, etc.  We also have JAGs that go around the country and teach Iraqi lawyers and judges our rule of law.  Further, we have JAGs that are telling commanders what they can do legally when it comes to operations.  I will be working in detainee operations.  There are thousands of suspected terrorists sitting in prisons...I will essentially be going through their files, interviewing them, and determining whether or not there is enough evidence to prosecute.  If so, we'll hand them over to the Iraqis to prosecute (see, we are making progress). If not, we'll release them.  

I head off to Fort Dix (NJ) at the end of April for training.  I then come back to CO for a few weeks and then leave the States on 10 June.  I'll be gone for 179 days.  I never thought I'd be watching the Cubs win the World Series while in Iraq.  We'll keep you up to date if anything changes.

My Kid Could Paint That

Have you ever heard of Marla Olmstead?

Me neither.

We rented the documentary My Kid Could Paint That and were very interested in this child genius! Marla was four when the documentary was made, she is now nearly nine years old. She has been painting since she was two and selling her paintings for thousands of dollars! The documentary really piqued my interest and I've been reading up on Marla online since we finished it. The documentary deals with the hoax that 60 Minutes brought up that Marla's dad must be helping her paint. If you are interested in documentaries or child prodegies I would reccomend this documentary. You can decide for yourself if Marla paints with help or without! You can see more of Marla on her website here!

If you are not going to watch the documentary or if you already have I would also reccomend reading this article partially written by Marla's father.

The painting at the top of the post is one of hers that I love. It's called Mosquito Bite.

Awaken - Natalie Grant

This song has been so encouraging to me! I decided that this would become my prayer to Jesus for 2009. It's been so wonderful to blast this song in the car and cry out to the Lord to awaken me!! Please enjoy the song... I haven't watched the video but I know the song rocks!

Steaks, Massage & a Ticket

It's been a crazy life since we've been bad at posting. Sorry for all the delays. There is so much to say so I'll start with my weekend and then we'll work back from there!

I went on a retreat called Women At The Cross and was able to help staff! It was an amazing weekend filled with God's beautiful work in the women's lives. I loved the weekend but it was very exhausting! I left Thursday evening and returned around 7 last night.

Shortly after I arrived home I was greeted by my man who had spent the day skiing with a buddy. It was fun to fill him in on my weekend and soak in the gifts he had for me. He had cleaned most of the house while I was gone (yeah!) and he had planned a yummy meal for dinner. He cooked steaks, asparagus, and baby potatoes! Again, what a blessing my husband is to me. I love you Babe! After dinner I soaked in a bath to relax myself for a good nights sleep... aaaaahhh!

This morning David had set me up for a massage on my day off! I had a long weekend and he was so thoughtful to do that for me. On my way to the massage I took a different road than I ever have before and ended up speeding... in front of a cop! I was so upset because, I got my first ticket. I was feeling ashamed and felt like I needed the massage even more after that! So, I still went to the massage and enjoyed being pampered. That's pretty much it for my exciting today! I am waiting for David to get home so I can make him dinner!!!

Hope you all are well and we'll be posting more shortly!

Thanks for your patience! Sorry we've been so distant. We love you all and will try and post before the weekend ends!