Christmas Match

This beautiful picture was taken the other day at the annual Christmas match, where Jacob set a personal record in air rifle!!  He did amazing!  One of the dads is a professional photographer and kindly took a lot of pictures of the kids, this one he pulled Hannah in on, and it is absolutely one of my FAVORITE pictures of them together.  My Christmas present.

All day long there was food for the shooters and parents, and the kids would come and eat whenever they had a break from shooting.  

Jacob getting ready

The Basketball Throw

 Jacob has to take his CFA (candidate fitness assessment) in a few weeks, and he has been training for months with a personal trainer.  The only area that is a bit sticky is this ridiculous basketball throw!! You have to throw it a minimum of 55 feet to pass the exam, and this is the only thing standing between Jacob and his final piece of the package for the academy.  Bottom line:  if he can't make the minimum of 55 feet, he fails, and won't be accepted into the academy.  He has already qualified medically, academically, has great letters of recommendation, awesome essays, and even has the required nomination.  But he can't throw the basketball 55 feet.

So...... we have been driving back to the gym every day to practice throwing that darn ball.

Did I mention that he has to throw it while on his knees?? It is so much harder than you think.  Jacob has practiced so much that literally his knees have bled.

Jacob works out at a gym called Soldierfit.  Very appropriate.

So he keeps practicing - and he is actually making great progress and I do believe that he will make it!!

Cross your fingers! Pray! Do a rain dance! Do whatever!! haha

Reagan Award

Recently Jacob found out he had been nominated for and won the Ronald Reagan Student Leadership Award!  This was a particular honor for him since Reagan is by far his favorite president, and getting this award was a complete surprise.  Some time later in the year there will be a ceremony where he will receive a coin and medal.  

   "The award is based on academic excellence, leadership among peers, community service and character".

A picture of Jacob with Congressman Trent Franks at his internship last spring.  I am sure this played a part in him receiving the award.

Movie night

Leaving soon for the midnight showing of The Hobbit!!! 

Battle of the Snow Village continues...

So, Ryan and Hannah have had these snow village battles ever since I have had these cute little houses.   This year is no exception.

Ryan comes along and moves a piece or two (notice the tree on top of the hardware store and the bench on top of the grocery store).   When Hannah comes by next and notices, she puts the village all back together again!

Only to have it all undone again.  The skaters have fallen...

And the lamp posts are all tipped over... sigh.  My poor little village.

Sadly, someday all the village homes and pieces will stay exactly as I put them.  No little hands will come along to disturb or admire them.    So we just see the mischief now and laugh and enjoy.  Thanks Ryan and Hannah.

Oh, did I mention that last year we came down on Christmas Day and baby Jesus in the nativity scene strangely had the same face as Ryan???  haha   (a picture taped on - it was the most creative thing)

Snow Days

For the first time in I don't know how many years, we actually got snow before Christmas.  Beautiful, white, fluffy over ice snow.  While I was decorating the house for Christmas, it was snowing and Christmas music was playing.  Couldn't have been more perfect.

Our cute Indy boy, hanging out with us in the basement as we have been watching a tv series called Arrow.  Captivating show that we have all enjoyed watching together.

And over the last couple of days, we have had so much snow that Jacob and Hannah actually had all of their classes and activities cancelled for two days!  And of course, I couldn't force Ryan to do school when they weren't having to... soooooooo... we all had a break the last couple of days.

I love our yard when it snows.

JACOB GOT THE NOMINATION!!!!!!!

After a long and arduous process of forms, essays, letters of recommendation and interviews (not to mention four years of hard work in high school) Jacob got THE LETTER in the mail the other day!!  He got the CONGRESSIONAL NOMINATION TO THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY!!  Obviously he still needs to get the appointment from the Academy, but this is required for acceptance and it brings the candidate pool down significantly!!!  This is a HUGE honor and accomplishment for Jacob!  Everything was riding on getting this nomination!!!  Danny and I could NOT BE PROUDER OF HIM!!!

Here is the letter, otherwise known as the "golden ticket!"

We cannot tell you how much jumping up and down and screaming went on as Jacob read the letter and told us he got the nomination - and to the Air Force Academy - his FIRST choice! 

Now we just have to keep on praying and waiting for the BIGGER news of an appointment to the academy... that could be as late as May... so we wait and pray and wait and pray!! 

Hannah's 16th Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of a truly amazing and wonderful girl - my sweet Hannah!  To start the day off, she came down to the kitchen and I told her that I had arranged for her to skip her biology class so I could take her on a shopping spree.  I honestly don't know which bit of news made her happier - skipping class or going shopping!

We had coffee with Dad and then headed out.  I cannot say how priviliged a mom I am to have such a sweet, thoughtful, mature and hilarious daughter, who is growing into a most treasured friend. She listens to me, she encourages me, she makes me laugh, her value in my life is immeasurable.  I could not love her more.

After shopping with much success, we came home and with all the guys in the family, gave her gifts and had some delicious cupcakes.  Hannah  blessed her brothers by having a gift for them as well! Like I said, thoughtfulness runs in her veins.

Danny gave her sixteen roses, a tradition for her birthday (to get roses to match her age)

After cake and gifts, we left to go to a movie in Frederick.  We saw Book Thief - something Hannah had been wanting to see.  

After the movie we went to Olive Garden for dinner.

Happy sweet 16th birthday to the absolute sweetest person I know.  Love you Hannah!

Yay Hannah!!

So proud of my Hannah girl!  She wrote an essay about someone she admires (she picked grandpa since there is so much to admire about him) and her essay got chosen to be published and entered into a contest!!  Way to go Hannah!!  Yes, my daughter is a published author...:):)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a very special day this year.  All of us are living together under one roof - and I don't know if this will ever be the case again!  I am sure that we will have Thanksgiving together, but not while we all live together in one home.  It was such a sweet day, and I had to keep pushing this thought from my mind and focus on the day itself.  I love my family so much... they are everything to me.

Here is a blast from the past!  Our Thanksgiving from seven years ago - my how we have changed!!

Jacob's WVU match and snow

Last weekend Jacob had a match at West Virginia University, and we decided to go ahead and stay at the Deep Creek house since it was so close by.  Jacob and Danny got up Saturday and went to the all day match (during which Jacob had some personal best scores ever!)  Hannah, Ryan and I decided to stay back at the house and have a relaxing day. 

It started to snow part way through the day, but it wasn't supposed to accumulate, so when the guys got back we drove out to dinner in the Sequoia. During dinner, it started to snow heavily.  We drove back to the house, up and down hills, but the roads were covered by 1-2 inches at this point.  Going up one  hill, the vehicle started to slide backwards!  We were all pretty freaked out, but Danny remained calm and with much patience got us up the hill.  We did slide some more though...   

When we got back to the house we checked the weather and it was calling for 5-8 more inches of snow!  We were NOT prepared for this as far as food or medications, we didn't have enough "stuff" to get snowed in.  So, we made a judgment call, and we all piled into the smaller vehicle - the Pilot.  All five of us crammed in with all our suitcases, shooting gear, a load of sheets to be washed, and the dog.  What a ride home it was!  A lot of family togetherness!  But we made it safely.  

The roads looked like this below but much much worse.  The visibility was almost zero at times.

We ended up leaving our Sequoia there, and will have to go back this next week to get it.

An adventure in the life of the Dustins.

Guilty guilty guilty...

Ryan's new favorite hobby!

Ryan has developed an interest in guns, and last weekend he and Jacob and Danny went up to the farm to blast the pumpkins we had for Halloween, among other things.  You want to see Ryan happy and smiling?  Take him shooting!   Hannah and I feel well protected!  Ryan is very mature and responsible with guns - so glad he gets to do this once in a while.

Even Grandaddy got out there and shot at some targets.

Jacob literally BLASTED one of the pumpkins...

Danny's trip to Florida

Danny got invited to Florida for a weekend to help celebrate a friend's 50th birthday, and the weekend was a huge success.  I think everybody had a great time!  They spent the weekend eating great food, hanging out in the Florida sunshine, relaxing in the hot tub, and going out in birthday boy's new boat.  When you reach our age, the toys just get bigger!

Here they all are - Craig (birthday boy), Bill, Danny, Mike and Kumu.  What a crew.

Breakfast poolside, cooked on the outdoor kitchen... all of the wives at home were so jealous!!  

Eating breakfast out on the last morning.

 Danny enjoying the gorgeous beach.  Wish I had been there with him...