Rhine River Cruise 2011

We've been on this cruise twice now and have loved it so much! It's definitely a "DO NOT MISS THIS," in Germany.  We were able to see 18 castles along the cruise.  My best friend from Las Vegas, Stephanie Busby, came with her husband, Matt Galusha to visit us and we took them on this adventure.  We took a nice long, steep walk up to Burg Rheinfels and enjoyed all it's glory.  From putting Holly into the stocks, to crawling in old tunnels, it was well worth the climb.  Enjoy.  And yes there are many more photos to come!!!  Miss all our family and friends, but if you find the time come visit us, we'll show you a good time!  Guten Tag!

Guten Tag, Germany!

For those who don't know already, we are moving to Germany!!!!! We got orders to Ramstein Air Base and will be there for the next four years! We can hardly wait.

Justin will be working on C-17s and supporting aircraft that stops in Ramstein as well. He's really excited for the opportunity to learn a new aircraft and for all the experience to come with it.

We enjoyed our time at Kirtland AFB in NM but were ready to accept the challenge of a new place, let alone a new country!

Tiffany and the girls are in CO staying with family until it is time to make the trek across the US again with her mom to PA. Then she'll meet up with Justin to fly out in June to Germany.

Holly is really excited to learn German and has been practicing some words.

We'll post our adventures and show you lots of pictures and if any of you decide to come to Europe stop on by our place for some bratwurst and sauerkraut!


Photo courtesy: www.smart-travel-germany.com

Rylie the Rattler

Hello my name is Rylie and this is my rattle! I love to chew on it and squeeze it. It's my favorite toy!

1st Day of Kindergarten

Rylie staring at her sister, the Kindergartner.
Holly ready to leave the house.
Stylin backpack.
She certainly enjoyed playing at the playground before class.


Holly's teacher, Ms. Amy, is great! She has lots of great things for the kids and encourages them to do their best. Holly received a good behavior ticket and was able to go play in any of the play areas of her classroom. She went into the baking room and the painting room. She thoroughly enjoyed school. Her mom and dad worried all day long and her mom certainly missed having her home. Upon picking her up from school though, I was relieved to see how much she enjoyed school. We look forward to many more days and we will be doing a blog about her first year of school.

Sisterly Love

This scrapbook design personalized with Smilebox

Half way there!

Way to go Holly, you made it to Lesson 50! Keep it up and you'll be finished by the time you start Kindergarten. We are so proud of you!

Bella, Bella, Bella Dancerella

So Holly loves ballet. We've told her that she will get to start going after she shows us she's doing well in school. So probably January is when she'll start. We have a friend who makes custom tutus and we got ones made for the girls to wear. We can't wait to do their portraits in them!


Visit Tutilicious on Facebook and put my name down on the wall!

"I Can See Clearly Now..."

So a few months ago Holly started showing some signs that she was having a hard time seeing things. She could see large objects but when it came to reading on a page, she told me she couldn't see. So we got her to the eye doctor and come to find out, far away and up close she sees blurred images. She now rocks some awesome glasses to correct her vision! She goes back in a couple weeks to make sure the prescription doesn't need to change. Way to go Holly on letting us know you couldn't see very well!

Guess we need to plan some major trips back to Disneyland/Disneyworld to see what she missed!

Rylie's First Month

This free scrapbooking design customized with Smilebox

Rylie had jaundice for two weeks and had to be under the bili-lights. It was a very trying time for our family and we are so happy for the prayers and thoughts that surrounded us. No doubt it helped. She is healthy now and doing really well. We look forward to the many more special moments we have with her. She is such a joy.

Rylie Noel Mitton

So on May 12, 2010 our second angel arrived into our arms! Below is her birth story.

After weeks of labor and many trips to Triage, my doctor decided to try to get active labor on its way. She stripped my membranes for the second time and even tried to encourage my water to break. She said that if I hadn't gone into labor by Saturday, this was on Tuesday, that I needed to come in and she'd start me since she'd be on call.

Contractions began around 1 AM and by 5 AM I couldn't stand it any longer. I woke Justin up and we dropped Holly off at our friend's house. The doctor wanted to send me home again and I was having contractions every minute. So my wonderful husband came to the rescue and demanded I be induced and that we weren't going home.

By 9 AM I needed to get the epidural after just having IV medication. The epidural was much easier this time around.

Around 1230 I sent Justin to go down to Subway and get him something to eat, but within 2 minutes of him leaving the room the doctor said I was ready to push. I sent a text to Justin and he returned quickly. After 3 pushes Rylie joined the world.

She was 19 in long and weighed 8lbs. 5oz. We are so blessed to have her in our home. She is such a joy and she and her big sister have a special bond already.

Hop On Pop--Holly's Favorite Book

Recently Holly has been working hard on her reading lesson book. She has surpassed her first 20 lessons and earned an ice cream outing with her dad.

The other night Justin read Hop on Pop to her and she was instantly hooked. She now reads it to herself and I even caught her reading it to her daddy so he could fall asleep for a well deserved nap.

Easter 2010

Holly sure enjoyed finding the eggs around the house to put into her basket.
Holly's loot. She got some academic workbooks and lots of candy!
This is Holly waiting for the Egg Hunt that our Wing put on for all the kids. She had a ton of fun and even found one of the prize eggs. It had a McDonald's gift card in it with a lot of candy and Easter toys.

Pregnancy Photos & Family Update

Okay so I'm not a huge fan of maternity shots, but my dear friend Thaomee insisted I do a few. So I picked my top two favorites and thought I'd share them with our friends and family since we are all so far away at times. The booties are from my mother, she saved them for many years, and we are so pleased to have Rylie wear them for her baby blessing.

Baby Rylie is moving a lot and Holly gets more excited each day to meet her new baby sister. I couldn't be more blessed with my little family. We tease Justin that he'll be forever outnumbered between me and the girls and our dog. Poor guy. Good thing he had 3 younger sisters to prepare him.

Justin is doing well, he was moved to a new squadron that will benefit his career. He's working strictly on the CV-22 Osprey, which is a heliplane for those who don't know. He's liking the guys he works with and they enjoy him there. He is also going to be coaching the softball team for his flight-shop as well. He's very excited to be able to play sports again after surgery.

Holly is actively working on her reading lessons and preparing for Kindergarten this Fall. She can't wait to meet new friends and learn all she can. We know she'll be a very successful student throughout her academic years.

Happy New Year! 2009 in review!

We hope our letter this year finds you all healthy and happy. A lot has happened this year for our family and we are so grateful to have received the blessings we did. Much has changed and a lot more will change coming up. Here is what we have all been up to this past year.

Justin: recently promoted to Senior Airman in June and is preparing to take the Staff Sergeant test in May of 2010. He’s been hard at work and also enjoyed their softball season, in which his squadron team made it to the Championship! Go Rattlers!! His youngest sister got married at the end of May so we got to take our family vacation with him to that and got to go to Disneyland afterwards! He also had surgery on Nov. 19 to have his patella tendon cleaned up. They think come February he’ll be able to run again. We are so proud of how hard he works.

Tiffany: completed her fitness training program at CNM and has enjoyed her time as being a stay at home mom. She does keep busy though. She took a trip in August with her mom to Pennsylvania and they had a lot of fun driving there. They stopped in Nauvoo along the way. Tiffany also got to go to Washington D.C. with her mom and Holly to see our Nation’s capitol. Upon her return we had discovered that she was going to be expecting our second child. She recently received a call to be the Assistant Base Activities Coordinator for the LDS families in our ward that live on base. Tiffany also keeps busy with the Squadron Spouses’ Group and helps boost the morale of our squadron.

Holly: is learning to read and is preparing herself for Kindergarten next year. She cannot wait to start school and works very hard on her lessons with her mom. She certainly enjoyed all her trips this year between Disneyland and Pennsylvania. We figured out that she’s been to 22 states and she’s only 5! Wow! She is very excited to be a big sister next year and practices on our friends’ babies. Holly has enjoyed being in our new home as well. We moved across the base and she loves her new room and loves being closer to the playgrounds and her future school.

We are looking forward to the next year and to the arrival of our little girl! May the Lord continue to bless you all and have a great holiday season.

Love,
The Mittons—Justin, Tiffany, Holly, & Rylie

Merry Christmas & welcome Rylie Noel to the family!

We had our 18 week ultrasound on Dec. 23, 2009. So far everything is going well with the baby and it is officially a girl!

Rylie Noel--we try to keep names that are from family origins. Rylie is English and because I have a Christmas deal with girls, we went with Noel for the middle name.

We are so thrilled to welcome Rylie to our family. The next few months will fly by and we'll get to hold our little angel. Holly can't wait to meet her little sister and teach her all about being a girl.

13 week utlrasound, but now we are 18 weeks!

This is our 13 week ultrasound that took place on November 12, 2009. We are so excited to welcome this new angel into our family. Our next ultrasound will be on Dec. 23, 2009! What a great Christmas present to find out whether it's a boy or girl. We got a stocking for the baby and have it filled with stuff for the baby, but also a t-shirt we got Holly that says, "Big Sister 2010," on it.
We plan to let her open it on Christmas morning to find out if she is having a brother or sister. We'll make the announcement on here that same day, as well as on Facebook, and via text message.

Holidays over the last year

So I've been a super lame updater. I haven't posted the pictures from our amazingly fun trip to Disneyworld at Thanksgiving last year and our trip to Disneyland this past summer. SO here you go! Please enjoy some of our favorites.

It's Official!

It's official! We are expecting our second child. I am 8 weeks today. We cannot wait to meet him/her. We find out on Dec. 23,2009 what we are having and can't wait for that special Christmas present. Holly is very excited to be a big sister and can't wait to help Mommy with the baby. The doctor even gave her her own ultrasound copy that says, "I'm the big sister." Our doctor is super nice and we are thrilled to have someone very attentive.

The doctor doesn't want me to lose any more weight however she is allowing me to go past the 1st trimester if I do. She said that if it doesn't stop then it's ice cream everyday for me. I won't complain on that one. But of course we hope that it won't come to that. So far the baby and mommy are doing great and the baby has a good strong heartbeat.

We should get to hear it at our next appointment in November.

Hill AFB Museum

We took Holly and my grandma to the Hill Air Force Base Museum in Roy, UT. Justin's sister, Ashley, and her fiancee', now husband Jason, met up with us there. We had so much fun looking at all the aircraft. We even got a private tour of my grandfather's plane that he use to fly, the P-38 Lockheed Lightning. Holly thought it was so neat to see Grandpa Thomas' airplane. She loves seeing the planes fly because she knows her Daddy helps them to fly. Justin told us all about the HH-53 Pave Low helicopter. He missed working on it by 3 months when they retired the it from the Air Force. The Marines still use them today. Holly also got to see the C-130 up close with her dad as you can see. That's the major aircraft Justin works on. She loves to learn about his job and she couldn't be more proud of what Justin does. Thank you honey for your service to our country and the sacrifices you make. Thank you to all our armed services men and women for the sacrifice you and your family make!

Silly Silly String

Holly had never experienced Silly String until her Daddy decided that it was time. He bought her a yellow can, being as that's her favorite color. As you can see, she didn't have the control he did, but nonetheless she had a blast. It was so much fun. And at Grandma Thomas' house there's always room to run and have fun.