I need some serious...

blog time. My background is a mess. I think the one I had expired. I have nothing cute on my blog. I have no creative blog posts any more...*sigh*! I guess this would be called a blog slump!? Anyways, I have family and friends that are reading along for Scott updates, so here is what I have so far...

*He is FINALLY to his location. It was a lot of traveling and being held at other locations. He was worn out, not feeling well and pretty miserable the first time I talked to him. But, he finally made it and things are much better, he sounds like himself again, etc.

*He can log onto Facebook every couple of hours while he's working, and since it's so hard to catch him on messenger, email takes a while and I can't call him (he can call us, though), we have actually used Facebook quite a bit to stay in touch. Who would've thunk it?! So, if you ever see that it says he is online, he probably actually is. He was excited to talk to some people on there the other day. That was one of the first things he told me...who he'd talked to! :)

*He is working the 4pm-4am shift, so that he can stay on the same sleep schedule he would be on here, and getting a hold of us is easier if he works those hours, plus those hours are busier for them, too. He works 7 days a week and often longer than 12 hours each day. I know that sounds like it wouldn't be much fun, but he likes it. It keeps him busy and makes time go faster.

*He likes the people he's with (working with, rooming with, etc)...he says they are nice and normal, and that is just about as good a compliment as Scott will give someone! ha! So, if he thinks they are nice and normal, then I am sure they are cool guys. So, that is good. He was pretty worried about that.

*We haven't been able to Skype with him, yet, but I hope we can soon. Abby has been asking to see him a lot! :( So, hopefully, tomorrow or Thursday we will be able to figure out a time that he will have access and we will be awake, etc.

*He hates the food, and he misses fresh fruit, cottage cheese, etc. I mailed him some canned fruit, and I guess that will have to do until he gets back! He has no problem letting me know what he needs us to send him! ha! I have sent a huge package, my Mom has, my sister sent him something and he already has me making another list. ha! I'm sure he's hitting up his Mom, too! :)

***As for what we have been up to...surviving! ha! No, it's not been bad at all, actually. The girls have been great, we've been busy, Mom came and stayed 2 nights with us, friends are watching out for us, etc. I get really bored once the girls are in bed, I'm done with the nightly house clean-up, etc. I told my sister in law, I guess I need to teach Dixon how to talk! ha! Thankfully, I am usually so exhausted by then, I don't last long before crashing. And, Hallmark Christmas movies and Jimmy Fallon keep me occupied! ha! I will try to get back to normal blogging soon. I have some good pics I need to post, hopefully soon! :) Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Well....

I'm starting the post with that sweet face...but don't be deceived! :) I posted a little about this on Facebook, but Scott has been gone for 24hrs. and in that time...

*Liv has written on our mattress pad with a permanent marker
*Taken my make-up bag and hid it in her doll house
*I found my debit card in the microwave in her play kitchen
*She's locked herself in her room twice
*She's locked both of us out of her room three times
*She stole the garage door opener, and I only found it because I heard the door opening and closing and found her with it
*I spent 20min. searching her room at midnight for my planner and she finally handed it over this morning

*And, this morning we get back from taking Abby to school and I look in the backyard and see a bunch of dog toys, etc. that are NOT ours and then Dixon comes running to the door SOAKED! The wind blew the latch on the gate open and Dixon was out running wild, getting in the lake and stealing toys from other people! We JUST had him groomed Monday. *sigh*

*It's going to be a looooooooong 120 days! haha!

*In other news, Scott left yesterday but I am not sure it has really sunk in for any of us yet. The Holidays will keep us distracted and busy, but when that's over and all we have is months worth of long, winter days, I am sure it will be a huge buzz kill! :( I have no idea where Scott currently is. (Not a fun feeling) It could take 2-3 days for him to get to his destination. He checked in before he left DC and he landed in Germany sometime in the middle of the night. Hoping to hear from him, in some way, today. Please say a prayer that he makes it safely to his destination soon!

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, with Scott leaving, he won the Christmas tree battle this year and our trees are up, all decor is out, etc. I do love my trees, though! :) It was quite an ordeal this year...we started on a Friday once Abby got home from school and didn't finish until the following morning. This is an actual update that I posted on Facebook that sums it up....

:Christmas tree decorating began approx. 30min ago. In that time, Scott shattered a decoration, Abby's cried twice over her tree, Olivia was put in 'tree decorating time-out' until she agreed it was best to put her panties back on and I just broke a light, which as we all know, shot the whole strand and now tree decorating has come to a screaching hault! Welcome to Christmas with the Utley's, people! :) ha!

Day 2...
YAY! My tree is up! Yep, MY tree! haha! ;)
On to the next tree...everyone's favorite! :)


Geez...someone put some clothes on those kids, would ya'!? :)

Spoooooky....

Yes, I know I am behind, but not as behind as I have been lately! ha! The Kindergarten class had a special party on Halloween and I went and painted faces. It was so much fun. They got to go to all these different stations and play games, do crafts, etc. I was set up in one class room so I missed the bob for doughnuts, making sucker ghosts and some other things but I got her at most of the stations in the room where I was working.

Her group...There's Griffin....SHOCKER! haha! He came over and gave me a brownie he won at the cake walk. The other Moms were teasing him, asking him where their's was. He just laughs! Little toot!
Cake Walk!
Bingo!
They made frames and then dressed up and got to bring the photos home that day. Of course, Abby didn't want to put on the clothes there so we got a picture of her like that! ha! What a piece of work this child is!
Her sweet friend, Josie!
And, with one of her good buddies, Mackenzie! Is she my child or what!? haha! Look at that big fake, obnoxious smile!
Trick or Treat time. Neither one of them would tell me what they wanted to dress up in, they showed no interest so I was prepared to just let them hand out candy, but at the last minute they wanted to go, so we threw these outfits together in, literally, 10 minutes and everyone LOVED them! ha! They looked SO cute! :)


We only went down one street and then went home and had a little party with our neighbors and they kiddos played and handed out candy! This is Addie, one of Abby's good buddies, and her Mommy, Allie, is one of my good buddies and this summer they moved just one house down from us! YESSSSS!!!! :)
We had a great time. And, funny story...the mexican restaurant in town was running a 'Kids Eat Free' deal on Halloween night. We love the place so we were all about it. We went to pay for our meal and it was only $13.00. We couldn't believe it was so cheap, even with the girls eating free so we asked about...Mondays are $.99 taco night and we had NO idea, yet Scott and I both got tacos...talk about looking like big cheap-o's! We were cracking up!