Let the COUNT DOWN begin!

Wow! What an emotional couple of weeks! Actually if we go back to the evening we got the phone call about Kiley being deployed....it's been an emotional 5 weeks!

Kiley left this afternoon to serve at Kirkuk AFB in Iraq. He is due to arrive there by the 2nd of December. This has been quite the process getting ready for this big day! We were first told that he'd be leaving the middle of December. Then one day Kiley called me & asked me if I wanted the bad news or the really bad news....ended up being that he was to leave December 1st instead. Long story short....that happened a few more times & the date kept being earlier & earlier. At one point, he was supposed to leave Sunday, November 21st.....we found out at 1:30 the night before that they were able to get him an extension until TODAY! Those were some stressful days! But needless to say, we were able to spend this last week together as a family & had a lot of fun! And had him for at least one holiday! We had a busy few days with Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl, Build a Bear, Christmas Decorations, movies, family pictures, parties, BYU/Utah football (boo), bowling, shooting hoops, playing on the new swing set, & some good old family down time! We are so grateful for such wonderful friends here in Texas who have been so supportive & willing to lend a helping hand & a listening ear! Kiley flew out to Baltimore this afternoon around 3. The kids & I were able to get passes to go with him up to the gate. So grateful we were able to spend those last few minutes with him as a family! We all cried, some of us sobbed! Sweet Olivia sobbed the entire drive home! I told her that daddy would be home a few weeks after her birthday. She asked me several times this evening if it was her birthday yet! Sweet girl has no idea that her birthday is a long ways off......6 months to her is gonna be like 6 years! Kiley will fly out to Germany tomorrow & then eventually make it to Iraq sometime on the 6th. He will be the only Anesthesiologist there & we've heard from several people that he will be working with a great group of people! They aren't too busy at the base he is going to, so he plans to workout, study, & watch all of the episodes of 24! I may need to be deployed when he gets back!:)

Driving home without daddy! Two very sad girls!!!!

***MORE PICS TO COME, BUT I'M GOING TO BED, SO IT WILL HAVE TO WAIT!!!***

Playing catch up.....but not just yet!

Sorry Friends & Family! I have been so incredibly busy this fall & updating the blog seems to be a task that I struggle meeting! I have some GREAT intentions of getting this thing up to date.....how ever, it will have to wait a bit more. I did want to post on here really quickly that my wonderful, amazing husband is being deployed to IRAQ this upcoming week. We found out about 3 weeks ago. He was supposed to leave the middle of December, then they upped it to Dec. 1st, then upped it again to BEFORE Thanksgiving, and this morning they called him & told him they had a plane ticket for him for Sunday. He told them that wasn't going to work for him! So his Flight Commander & the Deployment lady is working on trying to get things pushed back a bit so he can at least spend Thanksgiving with us! He'll be gone about 6 1/2 months. Hopefully we'll survive here with out him! He's my best friend, motivator, mentor, the one person I can always count on, & I could go on & on & on, but I'll spare y'all! :) Give me another week & I will be working hard to add some more pics & share with y'all what we have been up to the past 6 months!

Bradyen is 7 TODAY!

Seven things I love about this kid:

*His sMiLe melts my heart! He has always had such a beautiful, contagious smile!
*Loves to learn! Amazes me how much this kid takes in! What a smarty pants!
*Is the LOUDEST child in our family! Brayden from the beginning of his little life to the present day, just has the ability to be LOUD! You can't NOT hear him! Love it....most of the time!
*Mr. SOCIAL! He lives to play with friends & loves to go to their houses or have them come over to ours! Seems to know an awful lot about every kid at school!
*I love that he isn't too cool for the matching pj sets! He wears his pjs with pride every night...even if they are a bit too small! Teagen would not be caught dead in them! I think it keeps Brayden young & innocent, but that's just me! :)
*He isn't afraid to do things or try something new!
*Willing to give what ever he has to any one! The tooth fairy brought him $2 the other night & he couldn't figure out why he got 2 & not 1. I told him it was because the tooth fairy wanted him to share with his mom....so naturally he tried to give me one of his dollars! He'd do that for any one!

Brayden, I sure do love you! I am so grateful you came into my life 7 years ago & so grateful for the many things I have learned from you! I hope you keep smiling through out your life & always know how much your mom & dad love you!

Top pic is when he was 2 months old & the bottom one is from this past summer! My baby boy is growing up too fast!!!

Opening presents before school! Showing off his $7 from Grandpa & ma Mortensen!

Kiley is on call today, so he didn't have to be in until 3. We took Brayden his favorite......Subway for lunch at school! It was fun to sit & spend some time with him at school!

Had 3 buddies over for some pizza & cupcakes & ice cream!

Crazy kids!!!

The fun Super Mario Brothers mushroom cupcakes I made for his class!

Yup, another kid turning another year older......why on earth does time seem to fly as a parent!??! I need it to slow down......my kids are growing up way too fast & I don't like it!

Guess who is SIX months old today???

Can y'all believe that our little Brielle is SIX months old today!? The time has just slipped through my fingers! She has been such a joy to have in our home! Full of smiles & giggles for everyone!

*She has almost mastered sitting up by herself. She will do it for a little while, but then topples over if she gets too excited!

*The other 3 kids rolled over at 4 months old, I am proud to say that my baby at 6 months old has NOT rolled over at all.

*She absolutely DESPISES tummy time....hence no rolling over!

*Won't eat baby food...not the veggies nor the fruit, no rice or oatmeal cereal either. Don't think I haven't tried....she sees it in is packaging & she starts making faces! So like a typical Mortensen, she is slowly starting to eat what we eat!

*Is ALWAYS the winner at the stare contest! One of the ladies at the YMCA child care LOVES to have stare contests with Bree....she always wins!
*LOVES to jump in her jumper! She hears the word "Jump" & she'll start jumping in your lap! So cute, especially when she falls asleep in it!

*ADORES her big sis! Olivia is the only one who can really get Brielle to belly laugh!

*Getting better at nap times...we struggled for a long time with naps! Still gets up way too often in the night, but hopefully after our trip to Utah, we'll nip it in the butt!

We love having her in our family! She is such a joy! Loves to our sweet Bree!

She decided she was done with pics & ready for bed! It's hard being SIX months old!

Fourth of July happenings!

Kiley had lots of time off over the 4th of July weekend. We were kind of lame cause a lot of our good friends moved away earlier in the week & we were feeling sorry for ourselves that we had to be left behind in San Antonio. But we were able to pick ourselves up & make some fun memories together as a family! It was beautiful weather on the night of the 4th, so we took the kids for a fun little walk & then packed them up in the car to go watch the Sea World fireworks. We are bedtime Nazis, but decided that it would be okay to let the kids stay up for this fun night! The Sea World fireworks were LAME, but the neighborhood where we parked was pretty sweet & there were fireworks all over the place! The following day we took the kids to dinner & bowling. It was a lot of fun! Our kids are pretty competitive....don't know where they get it from....but we managed to make it a fun night!

Tried to have them dress patriotic for church! I think they looked pretty darn cute!

Seriously none of them would look at me! I wanted one "normal" pic....these are what I ended up with! Just shows their personalities! :)

Olivia was so excited to get out of the house! She's jumping for joy in the top pic!

These two have a love/hate relationship! They fight & tease eachother like crazy, so it makes me happy to have photos like these so I can remind them that they love eachother!

Can you tell the Olivia runs the show????? Gotta love that girl!

Oh what do you do in the summertime?????

The two Olivia's....Livy & Lulu! BFF's!

Swimming with our buddy Jordan!

We got a fun little blow up pool to help keep us entertained on those days we don't go swimming at the Y or to a friends house. Liv has loved it! These are just a bunch of random pics taken of the kids out at the pool...some with friends, too!

I feel bad that I have been such a slacker! This blogging thing is for the birds! I seriously have the hardest time keeping up on this, but I also think it is very important & something that I do enjoy....when I have the time! Any how, just wanted to share some photos of the babe over the past several months! She has grown leaps & bounds & is such a joy to have around! Hopefully I can get this thing up to date, but not today.....for now just some adorable pics of the cutest thing that makes me smile on a daily basis! So cute!

JUNE (5 months old)

*Very aware of everything going on!

MAY (4 months old)

*Jumping Time! Our kids ALWAYS fall asleep in this thing!


APRIL (3 months old)

*Bumbo Time!

MARCH (2 months old)

*Was blessed up in Utah with lots of family & great friends!

Kiley's Anesthesia Residency Graduation: June 4th, 2010

HOORAY! We made it! Kiley graduated from the SAUSHEC Anesthesia Residency Program on June 4th! It has been a LONG road.....but we made it! I am so proud of Kiley & all that he has accomplished these past 8 years! We've met some pretty amazing people during medical school & now residency...it is always such a bitter sweet time! Everyone seems to go their different ways & with this graduation, lots of great friends are doing just that! We will miss so many wonderful friends, but are so grateful for the time we've been able to share with them!

Kiley receiving his Diploma from General Travis (Air Force General on the left of Kiley) & I can't remember the guys name on the right! Teagen was with us seeing that he was with us when we moved to Arizona 8 years ago to start this whole process, so we only thought it fitting that he be there to see his daddy finish!

There were several guys here training at SAUSHEC that attended medical school at Midwestern/AZCOM with Kiley! Mortensen, Platt, Fisher, & Okander! Boys you are finally done! HOORAY!

All these fine Anesthesia Residency Grads also graduated from BYU many years ago! Way to go BYU Alumni! Mostellor, Fisher, Wilde, Okander, Mortensen, Hansen, & Anderson!

SAUSHEC 2010 Anesthesia graduating class!

I love a man in UNIFORM! That's my honey & my handsome son, Teagen!