off again

We are off to California/Texas in the morning, we will be in California until Wed. then fly out to Texas until Sunday. Rich is very excited to see his brothers and his sister (who has now gotten all moved to Texas) I am excited to meet the two brothers and their wives and kids, I have talked to them on the phone, but will be nice to say I have physically met my new in laws, and I have never been to Texas so that will be fun.
Took Staci on her first plane ride Thursday, we flew with Sienna to Denver to meet Stevie who is spending part of the summer in Colorado, she flew up from Cortez and met us then she and Sienna flew back to Cortez and Staci and I flew back here. Since the kids get to fly free on my benefit package thought it would be fun for Staci, since she is the only one of my kids who had not flown before.
We had some terrible turbulence going into Denver, really tossed the plane around, enough to make even me nervous, Staci did not know any better and I did not say anything so she would not be scared and Sienna just loves it, she laughs and acts like she is on a roller coaster, I think it calmed everyone down to hear her giggling so loud.
The kids are out of school now, but they will be staying here with their Dad while Rich and I are gone this time. Our plan now is to take them to Washington DC later this summer, I have always wanted to go there, Richard loves it there and I think it would be a fun and educational trip for them.

Angel Quilt

I got the first of the three denim quilts I promised to my friends new store in Mancos done, they want some to sell in a new store, I told them I am so busy helping Cheyenne get hers done, working, family, school, etc. I did not know how many I could get done, though I have incentive since I will get paid for these when they sell! So anyhow I told them I would try to get three ready to begin with within a month and we will see how it goes, this one is a girls version. You can sort of see the cute little embroidered angel on one of the patches, the camera would not pick up the tiny flowers that are embroidered along the white edges, but they look cute.

Cheyenne delivered her first seven to the Post yesterday, they were very happy with them, and will get with the Chaplin to begin delivering them to soldiers in the hospital, so it was a nice experience for her. With school almost out she will have more time to work on the next set and it will help keep her busy so that is good.

Motherhood needs an instruction manual

I wish being a mother came with an instruction manual for those times when you just don't know what to do anymore. How do you convince a child (who is not really a child anymore) that the path she is on is harmful, and will only lead to unhappiness, how do you make them see that some things or people will never change and you cannot make it different no matter how hard you try.
My wonderful, beautiful daughter Stevie, who has always wanted to see the best in people, and yet has the "Griggs" streak that allows her to hold a grudge long after you remember what you were mad about, called me this morning crying, of course she says I don't want to talk about it, well sweet pea I am your Mommy as you say and if you call me crying we are going to talk about it, turns out the bottom line is she is in Colorado I know though she won't tell me to try to get the babies dad to get them a house so she can move back with him, Sienna is still here and he will not give Stevie the 35.00 is will cost for me to fly Sienna to her, since she is my granddaughter she does not get my flight benefits, but I can give her a buddy pass so it is only 35.00 as opposed the the 658.00 it is for someone to pay full price. Now keeping in mind that when he found out she was "maybe" pregnate at 16 he took off and was unheard of for a year, since then he pops in and out of Stevie and Sienna's lives, never really taking care of them, as I said Sienna is here with me right now, meaning she is getting 100% of her support from us and he cannot pay 35.00 so he c an see her.
If I had my way Stevie would just get on the next plane home, she misses Sienna and try as she might she cannot make "him" into what she thinks a Dad should be, I told her she thinks every Dad should be like hers was, thinking the sun rises and sets on his kids, that is what she knows from her life, he did not know his dad well, does not have much a of mother and really has no background on "family", Sienna is almost 4 now, if he has not made an effort by now he is not going to, and I am tired of crying myself to sleep worrying about my baby and seeing her throw her life away.
I know I have held onto Stevie to tight, I did not prepair her for real life as I should have, because she was my first and because she came home pregnate so early and needed me so much at the time, I know these are my mistakes, but I also know she has the ability to be anything she wants, she talks about school and a better job and life for her and Sienna, and while I hate to think of the day when I will not have Sienna everyday anymore, I also look forward to the day when Stevie feels ready to go out on her own with Sienna, but I cannot stand the idea of her being back in Colorado where I cannot take care of them when it goes bad, making sure she has what she needs when he won't, I am just at my wits end, a mothers love is unconditional, but that means our hearts are also very breakable, and right now mine is in several pieces. I pray and pray and pray and have to wonder is anyone listening.

Ready to deliver

We are finally ready to make Cheyenne's first delivery on her quilts for the wounded warriors up on Post, between the two of us we have five done, including the first one she did, we have two more ready to tie or quilt, but will not have time to do that for a few days. This is the last one we finished, it was a new "pinwheel" pattern I wanted to try, I like how it turned out.

This is the reverse of the first one she did

This one is made from actual desert ACU's worn in Iraq right now, I left the patches on them, this one I had to do since you have to cut the clothes apart and it is hard to keep it straight, but I think she is getting ready to be able to cut and piece some easier ones, so we will work on that.

This one is made from equipment covers Richard had when he was in Desert Storm, you can see the desert camouflage they wear has changed, but not much.

Happy Mothers Day

Wishing all you Moms a wonderful mothers day.
I woke up to the kids bringing me coffee and cards in bed, followed by a lovely foot massage by my Staci, I will spend the rest of the afternoon with the kids and then I am off to Telluride Colorado for a few days, one of the ladies I worked with back there is having her 55 birthday so her sister has arranged for several of us to come and spend a few days at her condo there to celebrate. Telluride is gorgeous, but very expensive so I am excited to have a few days there without the expense!

Day out with the Army

We went on an "outing" with Richards battalion yesterday, they took us to Wichita where we were feed a steak dinner by the American Beef Battalion, who's goal is to feed all the troops, so far they have feed about 10 thou so pretty impressive it is all done by volunteers and donations. We had great home grown steaks, like I grew up on so it was a special treat for me! Afterwards we wandered around the cow town museum, then went to a bull ride and then to a concert, all this was provided by the Army so it was a fun "cheap" day out. This is a 1800's bowling lane, I did not even know they had bowing back then.

Richard at the petting zoo they had set up

I have always loved minature horses, and intend to buy some once we are out of the Army and settled some place, this little guy was adorable, loved me, not so much Richard, he just tried petting him and he started kicking and running around, funny since most animals love him, but he always says he and horses do not get along, guess he was serious.

Sweet horse on the farm where we were fed, Richard opted to stay back and take pictures, I wanted to jump up and go for a ride.

Richard inside the old train station

Me getting ready for a stage coach ride in old "cow town"

Richard with Country singer and song writer Randy Houser, he put on a private show for the battalion after we ate, then we all went to his concert after the bull ride competition. He put on a good show, we enjoyed ourselves. The only down side to the day was we left at 930 am, they bussed us there, after we had done everything and gotten all the way home it was 2am and I had to work this morning at 6, so was a short night for me, luckily today is my split shift, I open and then go back and close so got to come home and take a nap.

Moving

We have decided to move up onto Post, initially we thought we were only going to be in Kansas for one year until Richard retired so we opted to do off Post housing, but now that we know we are doing three more years, most likely here, and since we have all the kids with us we think moving would be the best option. Our lease is up the end of June and that is about the time our housing should come through so it should work out well. We went and looked at the housing we will most likely be put in, it is the old Sergeant Major housing so quite nice, double the size of our house now and we will gain another bedroom and another bathroom and a garage, we just have a carport now. I think it will work out well, the kids will be out of school by the time we move, and I told Cheyenne she can have the option next year of continuing on at her school in town or changing to the middle school on Post, there is no High school on Post, they all go into town so will not effect Levi, and Staci is okay with changing to the Post elementary. We will be there with plenty of time for them to make friends in the neighborhood and there will be a lot more kids for them to play with, so all in all I am excited about the choice to move.

Some of my favorites

AS you know Cheyenne and I have been busy making the quilts for her projects, in trying to decide what types to make I have been going back though the pictures of some of my favorite ones I have made in the past, and decided to post pictures of a few of them.
The first one is the one I made to go on the bed in Krissy's room when she came to live with us in Durango, the next is one of the Army ones I did this year for Christmas gifts, next is the jean quilt I made for one of Stevie;s friends, he gave me all his old jeans and I cut them into a quilt, next are some of the Marine ones I did for my brothers family this year for Christmas, the next one is one of my very favorites, it is the POW/MIA quilt made in memory of my friend Dianne's dad who is a POW from Vietnam, presumed dead and his remains have never been returned, the next one took me almost 6 months to make it is all cut pieced and hand quilted it was a wedding gift for one of my dearest friends sons when he got married and last is the girls version of the Denver Broncos done for the baby of a Sergeant that worked for Richard in Durango who was obsessed with the Broncos.
Cheyenne and I have 3 of hers done now, once ready to .sew up and and material bought for three more after that, she should be ready to make her first delivery next week

First Wounded Warrior quilt

Cheyenne finished her first quilt for her project, she did a very nice job since this is the first one she has ever tied, we tried to keep it simple, she has the material to do the same one reversed, so it will be blue on top and red on the bottom with white ties and stitching, I am really proud of her for getting this going, once she has 5 quilts done she will deliver them to the WTB unit, after that she will take all she has once a month.

Cheyenne's project

As most of you know Cheyenne is working on volenteer service projects for her NJHS, because of our military and veteran affiliation most of her projects are based around helping these people. She has decided to put together a program to provide quilts/blankets for every wounded soldier who comes home to Fort Riley, Richard has helped get her set up with the WTB (wounded soldier transition battalion) and we will be making quilts for as many of these soldiers as we can, where you come in....it is time consuming and expensive to do so many blankets, so she is asking any of you who are able to help to help her.We want to put together lab size quilts, blankets, afgains, if you know how to make any of these and would like to make and donate one it would be greatly appriciated, if you do not know how to make them and would just like to donate materials that to would be appriciated as well, any type of material and or batting it great.I just taught my girls to make the fleese tied blankets so Cheyenne will be making those herself, she is also going to get together girls from her school and offer them a class on how to make them, and the end results will be donated. I am teaching her to tie quilts so she will also be able to make some like that as well. Since we get new soldiers home every day this will be an ongoing progject for her, we hope we will be able to get as many people as possible involved, this should be a great experience for her and hopfully will bring some comfort to our returning soldiers.If you wish to help and do not know our address to send your items feel free to contact me for information, also please feel free to enlist help from any of your friends as well.Together we can make a diference for those who have given so much for us.Edi and Cheyenne