My super amazing husband

One of Rob's "collateral" duties is to organize surveys that the Navy sends out to patients after they visit the dentist. Here are some of the comments he received for the last quarter. Way to go babe!


LT Kiser

28 JUL: This appointment was for my 8 year old son. He is a little apprehensive about the dentist. Today his visit went very well. Dr. Kiser and Ms. Exina were obviously very well versed in dealing with kids in the dental chair. He did GREAT!! I was very surprised at how well he did! Thanks!

10 OCT: Hats off to Lt. Kiser and his two lovely assistants for a job well done! I walked out of the clinic with a smile because they did a super great job! Thank you!

11 DEC: Dr Kiser was very professional and helpful

10 DEC: I was so impressed by the care given, I have been recommending DDS Kiser to everyone I encounter. It is common for people to compare the treatment they get from Military doctors to those who work in civilian care. I am extremely happy to report I received more personalized, informative care from Dr. Kiser and his assistant then I ever received in the civilian world. Extremely impressed, Thank you for caring.

16 DEC: Dr Kiser was very helpful. He worked on all 5 of my teeth in one apt. He was professional and upbeat. His bedside manner would calm someone who was nervous about dental procedures. I was very impressed by how the dentists worked together to juggle clients so we would get our dental needs met. It was great team work and professionalism. Thanks again for the hard work Dr Kiser did and the optimistic way he did it.

Christmas and Ben's 4th birthday

We've had a lot to celebrate over the past week with Christmas and Ben's birthday. Here are a few (too many) pictures from it all. They are out of order, mostly b/c I was too lazy to upload them properly. Sorry!

Here are the kids after their "Salt Lake City" Christmas where they got these cool jammies from their grandparents and the toys from their cousins. Thanks everyone!

We have some streakers in the neighborhood. Jake and Issy have taken to stripping down. The first time it was kinda funny and I broke out the camera. The second time it wasn't so funny and she has been threatened that there better not be a next time...


Noah intently working on his gingerbread house on Christmas Eve and his final product.


Noah has been a coloring maniac lately. He can't get enough images to make brighter.

Rob assembling the gingerbread houses ahead of time. We hot glued them to the milk cartons...makes it easier for little hands to spread frosting and decorate.

We spent Christmas morning with my parents on Skype. It was so nice to have them "with" us for Christmas.

All the kids on Christmas Eve with their creations.

Issy loved "decorating" her gingerbread house too. First she'd lick it them gleam with delight.



Switching to birthday party mode (two days after Christmas), here is Ben blowing out his candles. I think someone was about to snatch the candles off the cake and Hayden and Noah and trying desperately to stop the culprit.

Calvin as the Hulk. Nice abs for a 3 year old.

The kids decorating their superhero shirts. We had a superhero theme. Ben was, at first, the Hulk, but switched to Spiderman later on.


Isabella on Christmas morning with her new kitchen and dress up clothes. She is so girly, loves to cuddle and soooo cute.

All in all, we've had a nice couple of days. I hope your Christmases were magical too.

"My dad's a pirate"

A conversation we had today-

Ben: My dad is a pirate.
Max (our 6 y/o neighbor): Your dad's a pirate?
Ben: Yeah, he has a gold tooth so he's a pirate.
Max: He has a real gold tooth?
Ben: Yes.
Noah: He has a gold tooth, but he's not a pirate.
Melissa: Daddy is a sailor, not a pirate. Sailors fight pirates. You're dad's a sailor too, Max.
Max: My dad fights pirates?
Melissa: Well, our daddies fight cavities. But if they were on a ship, they'd fight pirates 'cause they are sailors.
Everyone: Whoa!

Rob gettin' jiggy

Someone from Rob's unit posted this video of him at our dental battalion Christmas dinner. It just gives you a glimpse of how crazy he gets when dancing. Oh, and by the way, he doesn't drink so this is 100% sober. I love how uninhibited he is. This was supposed to be a contest to win best dressed, but turned into a dance off.

Christmastime in Okinawa

In an attempt to update my blog better, here are some photos and an update on what we've been up to. The best Santa I've ever seen came our ward Christmas party. Not only did he look the part right down to the twinkling eyes, but he whispered the real reason for Christmas to each child who sat on his lap. Noah proclaimed to me the other day that Santa told him Christmas was really about Jesus and remembering him. He and Issy sat on his lap, but Ben watched from a distance.

The next day we had a dental families Christmas party. Mattel donated real nice toys for all the children to open. There was another Santa there and Ben decided he'd get next to him for a photo, but he'd pick the lint out of his belly button instead of telling Santa what he wanted.

The girls in Rob's office. This was the Dental Battalion Christmas party at the Habu Pit. We had a big ham/turkey buffet with lots of doorprizes and, of course, dancing.

Here all the guys are lined up to be judged "Best Dressed Male" which turned into a dancing contest. Rob tied and won $50!

This is Summer, another dentist, dressed in the kimono and Commander O'Rourke, Rob's boss (she's an orthodontist).

Rob's assistant is the girl dressed in black.

Noah started taking karate lessons last week. What better place than the birthplace of karate to take lessons? He is the youngest in the class (5-15 year olds) and it is soooooo cute. His teacher is a little old Japanese man...think Mr. Miagi from the Karate Kid movies. The best part is that it's 3 days a week for 1 1/2 hours each time and it's only $35/month. What a deal!

Ben fell asleep while Rob was reading to the boys the other night. My favorite part is that his hand is still in the bag with his snack in it.

The Harlem Globetrotters came and put on a free show last weekend. I'd never seen them so we went on down. It was fun!

Last night the Young Women in our ward and their moms went to a Japanese bath house. There was a mineral water pool that had bath temperature water in it, along with a bunch of other pools. Hmmmmm, so nice and relaxing. One of the pools was "Doctor Fish". These little carp fish come and suck off the dead skin from your feet. It felt just how it sounds. It was pretty ticklish and felt like mini vacuum cleaners on my feet. I must have had 100 of them munchin' away at my feet...they swarmed me. However, it worked and my feet are soft again. I had a really good time.

Maybe I'll be better...

I know I've been MIA on my blog recently. See since this day

until this day,

I have been doing a lot of this

I am enjoying parking in these spaces.

I don't care if you can't tell that I'm pregnant from the outside. I think you need these maternity parking spots more in the beginning months of pregnancy that you do at the end (at least I do). From the day my pregnancy test turns out positive I start parking here.

I know I need to do better with the whole blogging thing. I just don't have the energy to be funny or whitty or even historical. I will try better, but I'm not making any promises.

Grateful

Something has been on my mind since I found out yesterday. I had to write a post about my friend. We had great neighbors at Camp Pendleton. One family, the Franks, moved in a few months after we arrived there. They had a newborn daughter and a great big dog that my kids loved. Allie, the mom, was super strong even though she had her baby and moved into base housing all while her husband was deployed to Iraq. Fast forward a couple of months and her husband comes home, they find out they are pregnant with Baby #2 and they are moving to Okinawa a month before we do. How fun!

Yesterday I found out that Allie's husband had been deployed to Iraq (again, like so many Marines). Unfortunately, he won't be coming home this time. He was killed by small arms fire. This is the first person that I have personally known who has been killed. They now have a one year old and a newborn. My heart is just aching for her and the girls.

My first reaction was that I am so grateful for Warren for his enthusiasm to serve and for his sacrifice to help the Iraqi people. Now I'm just filled with sadness for all Allie is going through. I'm sure she'll be leaving the island in a couple of days and that Warren's unit will pack up their belongings and send them home. She will try to go on with life with a giant hole in hers.

I just wanted my friends out there in cyberspace to know that families are paying the ultimate sacrifice. Please pause a moment when you hear that a service member has died on the news. Think about Allie and all the other families out there that will never be the same for the cause of freedom.

Tour de Okinawa

I'm so proud of Rob. He participated in a 110 mile bike ride called the Tour de Okinawa last Saturday. It was a northern loop around the island. The longest he had gone before this was 60 miles and that was about a month ago. They had to get up at 4:30am to get there in time, but they boys loved the accomplishment. I hear there were a million steep "Cottonwood Canyon" type hills, but somehow they all pulled threw. Way to go Babe!

a couple more halloween shots...

Getting our full size candy bars ready for trick-or-treaters. Rob's dad had to send them to us from Costco b/c they don't sell them here. Thanks, Todd! It was so busy they were gone within an hour.

Neighborhood parade.

Neighborhood kids.

Noah and his loot (after he "regifted" the candy he didn't like to trick-or-treaters that came to our house after he got home).

The empty wrappers along with the Sorensen's halloween card...Thanks Brookie, Claire and Addie!

Neighborhood

I love our neighborhood. Here is an impromptu bonfire night we had last week. Gotta love fun friends and neighbors and a trampoline to wear the kids out.

Family Portrait

I guess there was someone missing from our family pictures. Here is a picture Noah drew of our "expanding" family due June 2009.

Family Pics 2008

I won an opportunity to have a photo shoot with a gal in our ward. She isn't professional, but she did a good job (and she was free!) I only needed one good shot for our Christmas cards and I think we got it. Here are some of my favorites.


I love how even Isabella is giving a goofy face in this shot. The Kiser family always does a silly shot with every photo shoot and I think it's a great tradition.




Noah is my sweet boy and I love his natural smile in this shot.

Ben insists on dressing himself everyday. He always picks out shorts, a t-shirt, socks and sneakers. Of course, he has a belt and must tuck his shirt in. Ben is one of those kids that I'm sure will be the "popular" kid in school, but he sure looks like Erkle now.



This totally captures Issy's smile with her tongue.