Dustin's NCO Academy Graduation

Dustin graduated from Keesler's Non Commissioned Officer Academy last week. The NCO Academy is a required course for every Tech Sgt. hoping to make Master Sgt. Most people travel here TDY and stay in the dorms. It's a 6 week long course in leadership, public speaking, Air Force history, and military customs and procedures. Dustin did a great job, especially considering he had major distractions like family, regular work duties, and church work that his classmates left behind at their home bases. Dustin even scored the highest grade of the entire school on the final examination by only missing one question. We are so proud of Dad and are excited to have him done with studying for a little while!

Cody's Last Day on the Gulf Coast!

Devin's Last Day in Biloxi

Henry is 9!

Henry turned 9 on July 5th. He is such a great kid. For his birthday we all went to lunch at Sicily's. It's a family favorite. He got to open all of his gifts at lunch. It was quite the party. He even got a surprise gift at lunch. Some members of our ward were there for lunch and came over and gave Henry $9! It was so sweet of them and Henry couldn't believe it! Following lunch Grandma and Grandpa had to hit the road for Montgomery, AL to spend some time with my brother, Dennis, and his family. I always hate to see my parents go. In the evening Dustin took all the kids to Chuck E. Cheese where the teenagers helped the boys and Jenna get a million tickets. Okay, not a million, but way more than we've ever gotten before! I stayed home with Kelsey who had a fever and wasn't feeling well. I didn't mind, though, after 10 of company to have the house all to myself for about 3 hours! Overall, Henry had a great day. We love Henry so much. He has so much energy. We are still hopeful he will harness that energy for good one day! :) He is super smart and a great reader. He loves baseball and swimming and the Wii! We are so blessed to have Henry in our family.

The Boys and the 4th!

Happy 4th of July!

My parents, Dustin, and I all said that Biloxi presented the best fireworks we have ever seen! It just kept going on and on. To top it off, we chose perfect seats for the show as well. We had no idea we were choosing great seats, but the barge from which they lit the fireworks parked out in the harbor right in front of us. We arrived very, very early. The kids and Dustin all went swimming and then we ate KFC and all the trimmings. YUM! Because of a lack of rain, Harrison County forbade all fireworks except on the sand so everyone was out on the beach lighting things off. It was a bit like a war zone out there. We were glad we were seated all the way up by the sidewalk because, at times, it was really quite dangerous out there on the sand. We even got to witness some redneck women fighting over fireworks! It was such a fun night. I can't wait for next year!

Our Pretty Little Firecrackers!

Here are the girls all ready for church on the 3rd. They looked so pretty and we had time to take pictures and be on time for church! That's a good morning around here!

My Parent's 51st Wedding Anniversary!

While my parents were here they celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary! Wow! We took them out to the Shed for dinner that night. We had a good time, bit boy was it hot! The food was good and the music was great! We listened to T-Bone Pruitt and he even congratulated my parents on their special day. My mom was excited to go somewhere that had been featured in Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives! We also saw Cars 2 that day! It was a great day!

At the Space Center

Into Space...

Our next stop was the Stennis Space Center!

We had a ton of fun at the Space Center. This is where all of the shuttle rocket engines have been tested since the 1960s. We toured the testing facilities and the museum. This photo-op was my favorite part of the whole trip. It was so cool. The photo of Devin makes me laugh everytime I see it! The museum was beautiful. It even has a moon rock! Fred Haise, one of the atronauts aboard the Apollo 13 still works at the Space Center but we didn't see him. I was hoping my Dad would get to meet him!

Kelsey at Flint Creek Water Town!

Jenna at Flint Creek Water Town!