My daughter is a character, through and through. So full of personality and life. Unfortunately, with that also comes the inability to predict ANYTHING that is ever going to come out of her mouth except “I love you”.

A few days ago Bryan and I were discussing a recent mugging/shooting in the area. Jacey was asking questions, which then prompted us to ask her what she should do if anyone ever tries to mug/rob her.

Her response, “I’ll kick them in the balls and run.”

After a moment of stunned silence and a small scolding for using language like that, she responded with, “Sorry Mommy” and then in an almost whisper, “but I would”.

We had to explain to her that wasn’t the right response, but I couldn’t help but laugh later. First I had no clue she even knew about the whole balls reference (apparently kids at school were using it back in 2nd grade?!) and second, right or wrong, that would be my response too.

She definitely has her Mommy’s tenacity and attitude.

About a month ago, we brought home this cutie. Of course, now she looks much different in her Jacey approved puppy cut and snazzy sweaters. She was technically Jacey’s 10th birthday present, although she has already stolen a spot in all of our hearts.

“YOU got a dog?”

I can hear everyone who truly knows me asking that question.

Yes, we got a dog. :)

Jacey had been BEGGING for a dog for over 5 years now. She had done all the research on the best breed for our family due to allergies and the fact that I am a neat freak. She was also taking into consideration the fact that our backyard is small. I kept saying no. Too much responsibility, too expensive. I didn’t think she was old enough to take care of it, etc, etc.

But behind that “no” was also an immense amount of guilt. She is an only child and will always be an only child. An only child with a Dad in the military and a Mom with cancer. I wanted her to have “someone” there for her on bad days and good days. Someone besides Bryan and I to make memories with. Someone to cuddle with when we can’t.

Sigh..

Parent guilt stinks.

About 4 months ago I started looking at the local shelters every couple of weeks. I kept my “no” face on for Jacey, since I didn’t want her to get her hopes up in case it took a while to find what we were looking for. In early October, we thought we might have found the perfect pet. It was a 3 year old, housebroken, Yorkie/Shih Tzu mix. As soon as we picked up Jacey from school, we headed over. We missed the dog by 15 minutes. I believe everything happens for a reason, but we sure were disappointed. Thankfully, Jacey still had no clue (we parked away from the shelter and Bryan went in by himself first). On the way home, we finally decided to let her in on our plan. She was so happy, she immediately started crying.

More parent guilt.

After this, life went on as normal, only now Jacey was involved in the searching and every day she had about 5 more dogs to show me.

On October 19th, the Nevada SPCA posted a picture of “Chica” who was debuting for adoption on their Facebook page, a few hours before they opened for the day. She seemed perfect! Yorkie female, 4 years old, spayed, house-trained and crate-trained. Remembering the previous experience, I threw myself into the shower, checked Jacey out of school and rushed to the shelter. We met her and as you can see, the rest is history. Jacey fell in love immediately and even I couldn’t deny how adorable she was, so we adopted her.

Funniest part is, Bryan had no clue. He knew we were looking, but he was working that day and when he is out in the GCS flying, I can’t get a hold of him unless it is an emergency. I had sent him a text, so he saw it as soon as he started to head home. I am very thankful that my husband totally trusts my decisions in his absence or I might have been in the dog house :).

Jacey promptly renamed her Zoey and it is hard to imagine life without her now. She is a riot, full of personality (attitude) and really good. She is dealing with some separation anxiety, she freaks out anytime we leave her sight but it is slowly getting better. We don’t know if it is just the fact that Yorkies are prone to that in general or if her being abandoned at the shelter caused it. She loves to be brushed, handles baths pretty well, did fabulous at the groomers but hates to have her teeth brushed and bows put in her hair (much to J’s dismay). She had a great vet checkup, with her only issue being minor seasonal allergies. She LOVES to go for walks and about jumps out of her skin when she sees you get the harness out. She rides fairly well, definitely better in the harness seat belt as opposed to the crate. She is a bit bipolar at the dog park, doing great one day and getting riled up at the sight of the same 2 dogs on other days. Work in progress. She is learning some basic commands and we plan to get her into obedience training in January after the holidays.

She doesn’t bark much, except at the dog park, when our neighbor gets too close to our gate and she is in the backyard and oh…anytime I touch Bryan! She is SOOO jealous of him. We are working on that trigger, but it is so darn funny. I kiss him and she freaks out. I hug him and she freaks out. We aren’t quite sure what it is about him, but she sure is fond of him. She also gets super mad at him when she sees him put his flightsuit on to go to work and proceeds to pout. She will come curl up wherever I am and ignore him.

Total diva, but we can’t say we weren’t warned. That was the first thing out of the shelter volunteers mouth when we requested to see her :).

My sweet, baby girl turned 10 today! I think I am in denial that time has moved so quickly. Gosh, I love that girl.

We started off the day with chocolate cupcakes (per her request) and presents, then she went off to school for half the day. We checked her out early, to snap some pictures and then head off to base to go through the military brat rite of passage….getting her first ID card. She was so excited! Dinner was down on the strip at Max Brenner (chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate) and we even got the pleasure to have Uncle Justin in town to celebrate with us.

Before bed, she said she had a good birthday. I sure hope so!

Below are our “Letters to Jacey”. I got the idea to start writing them when she was 10 months old. I then wrote them every month until 1 year, every 6 months until 2 years and then every year until 5 years. We have slacked the last few years, but thought the first double digit birthday definitely deserved a letter. Jacey has never read any of them. We plan to give them all to her when she graduates high school.

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November 2011

Jacey -

O.M.Gee! You are 10?! No way, we HAVE to cancel your birthday. Yep, no more getting older for you. Two digits, nuh-uh, not my baby girl.

Sigh.

I can’t believe you are now 10. My tiny, little bundle of joy has turned into a beautiful young lady. So smart, beautiful and funny. A social butterfly that I am blessed to see spread her wings further and further each day in preparation to fly away one day. As selfish as it may sound, I am not ready to let go. One day I will have to, but not yet. Thankfully.

Daddy and I constantly try to figure out who you act like and who you look like but we can’t, because you are just YOU and I pray you always stay that way. Never be ashamed of who you are and never follow “the crowd”. God made you special and unique. You are the ONLY you in this great big world.

The last few years have brought forth many changes that for some would be quite disrupting. When you were 6, I was diagnosed with leukemia. Right after you turned 8, Daddy started his retraining process and missed most of the next 8 months of your life and then we he got home, we left Florida which had been our home for the last 5 years for Las Vegas. I am constantly amazed at your ability to keep going, keep smiling, adapt and be truly happy. I wish I had that trait and can only hope that we nurture that part of you. If you can keep that, you can accomplish ANYTHING.

This year in 4th grade, GATE (gifted & talented), science and PE continue to be your favorite subjects. Skinny jeans, t-shirts and Converse are your first choices every morning when you get dressed for school and bras are now the bane of Daddy’s existence every week at laundry time. The child who screamed at the very sight of any body of water larger than a bathtub several years ago is now a star swimmer on the YMCA swim team.

When you aren’t busy at school, honor choir, AWANA or swim team, you spend your time reading, playing the XBox or Wii and most recently, entertaining and taking care of our newest addition to the family. You begged for a dog for years and this year, we finally felt you were mature enough to be responsible for one. In mid-October, we adopted a 4 year old female Yorkie from the shelter that you promptly named Zoey. It is so much fun to watch you with her and I pray that best buds you will stay.

Baby girl, you amaze me. Everyday, I wake up and thank God for you, even on the hard days.

You are everything I ever dreamed of having.

I love you!
- Mommy

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November 1, 2011

Jacey-

My, time sure has flown by! Here we are, a few hours away from celebrating your first decade on this little rock we call Earth.  A lot of “stuff” has happened since you were brought on to this world, and it amazes me how much you have influenced all those around you.  The first moment I saw you, I knew your Mom and I were in for a treat.

I’ve always been proud of you and all that you have accomplished in the short time you have been here.  You have a thirst for knowledge that most if not all parents would be extremely proud of.  I cannot fathom how many times I’ve heard the questions “Why?” and “How?” come out of your mouth.  It makes me proud because with that thirst for knowledge combined with a mind like a steel trap, I know you will go so far.  You have the drive to become whatever you want to be and then some.  I look forward to the future where I can see just exactly how far you will go.

Of course, by now, you are like “Jeez Dad, enough with the mushy stuff!”  Well I guess you will have to just deal with it.  I’m sure there will be more to come…

Well, let’s see…I guess I can start by giving you a snapshot of who you are through my eyes.  Every time I look at you I see this beautiful little girl that is blossoming into what will one day be a beautiful woman who will be wise and virtuous.   I would like to say that I had a little to do with that, but we both know that most of that came from your Mommy’s side.  You are very wise for your age, but I’m not sure if that is a good thing or not.

You love to dress in what I would have at one time considered 80’s attire, even though it seems to have made a comeback.  You LOVE your skinny jeans, Converse tennis shoes, and any shirt with skull and crossbones designs.  You love to paint your fingernails and toenails black because it is so cool.  If you are not wearing your skinny jeans, you are wearing some form of capris.  Your Teetra started you in wearing hair feathers and colored hair extension clips (not sure what to call them).  You have braces this year, so of course, you have to have colors in those as well.  All in all, I’d say you are a pretty fashion savvy diva.  I’m glad you are happy with the way you look and have a way of carrying yourself confidently.

You are such a smart little girl as well.  You have a knack for problem solving and a great deal of common sense.  You act twice your age, so I like to say “You are 9 going on 20”.  Sometimes I think you were thrust into growing up a little too fast with what life has thrown at you the last few years…I pray you don’t feel like you missed out on anything.  I hope that Mommy and I provided a great CHILDhood for you before you had to grow up and miss out on any of those things all kids should do.  You seem to really enjoy life, though, so I would like to think we are doing a great job.

Roughly three years ago, Mommy was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL).  I believe this is the first time you have really had to deal with someone’s mortality that is so close to you.  The true first time was Pops, but that was a long time ago and you were still very young.  I know this contributed to you having to grow up a little faster than the other kids around you.  You seem to take it in stride, though, like you know everything is going to be alright.  I know you think about it a lot, but you seem to internalize a lot of stuff as you get older.  I pray you know that I will always be here for you.

You also had to leave your friends in Florida because I cross-trained to a new career field nearly 2 years ago.  Because of that, we had to leave Florida and relocate to Las Vegas since my job wasn’t offered by any base in Florida.  It would have been nice to stay in Florida, but it just wasn’t in the cards.  We left a school that you loved and Niceville United Methodist Church, a church that we almost considered our second home.  I sometimes feel bad about having taken all that away from you and Mommy.  It was, however the best thing for my career progression and an infinitely better job; at least so I think.  I’m not so sure your mom thought so.

Even with all that, you never seemed to have any problems making friends.  You always were such a social butterfly.  People flock to you because you seem to have an infectiously positive attitude.  I imagine that is why you seem to be so popular.  You don’t even have to try; it comes so natural to you.

This year has been fun for us.  You are currently on the Swim Team at our local YMCA, and you are good.  You tried out and started off in Bronze.  The coaches saw that you had natural, raw talent and moved you to Silver with the more advanced swimmers.  You placed 3rd and 4th in Backstroke and Freestyle at your first swim meet, which is really good considering the caliber of swimmers you were up against.  I know with a little time and some strength training, and you will be unstoppable.  You take to the water like a fish.  Many people tell your Mommy and me that you have a natural stroke and that it seems you have been swimming for a long time.  I wish you could see the look on their faces when we told them that you have only been swimming for a few weeks on the swim team.  You love swim team, and it seems Swim Team likes you so hopefully you will make it a long time relationship in your life.

You have also been doing great at the church with Awana as well.  Just this last week, you passed three modules in a matter of no time.  I like what Awana teaches you because it is Christian based life learning that should stand the test of time.  I pray what you learn there will last you a lifetime.  One of the cool things you got to do with Awana was the Pinewood Derby.  As hard as it was, I let you totally design the car.  I just helped you build it.  Daddy definitely approved of the design.  It looked like an old school racecar and man did it fly!  As a matter of fact, you won 2nd place in your group of about 20.  I was very proud of you!

I will always be proud of you.  You are growing up to be such a wonderful little woman.  I look forward to seeing where life takes you and will always be there for you when you need me.  Now that I have seen what you have done in the first decade, I foresee that you will have a great life ahead of you.  I could keep on going with this letter, probably for days…but seeing how I have to eventually wrap it up, I guess I will stop here…

Love you bunches!
-Daddy

My munchkin, my dear sweet miracle baby is no longer a baby. When did that happen?

Yesterday, Jacey started 4th grade. Complete with a forced smile because not only did Mom have to take first day pictures, but she had the audacity to WALK her into the playground and stand with her till the bell rang.

Oh, the travesty!

Seriously though, we are very blessed. Jacey adapts to change well, excels in school and never gives an issue about going. Little Miss Social Butterfly she is.

So very different from me!

Jacey has a history of trying an activity and not liking it. I am the type of parent that makes her finish a season, but so far nothing that she has tried stuck. Not dance, gymnastics, soccer, t-ball, cheerleading, choir, drama…none of it. This fall, she wanted to try softball but by the time she got home from Texas, there wasn’t time to get her signed up, equipment bought and off to tryouts. Then she said soccer. Not appealing to me at all. I spent 2 seasons as a soccer Mom and was about ready to pull my hair out from all the whining about having to run all the time.

For years I have tried to talk her into swim team. She loves to swim, has the perfect build for it and while she isn’t “legal” in her stroke, she is a very strong swimmer. Her excuse was always that she didn’t just want to swim laps, that was no fun. This year she finally caved. I am still not sure if she said yes because she was finally ready to try it or if she just wanted me to get off her back about it. Who knows.

But guess what happened….she LOVES it! She is even already talking about swimming on up through high school and getting a swim scholarship to college.

I love it, because it takes me back to my roots. Lifeguarding, teaching swim lessons and coaching swim team are what paid my way through college. Jacey didn’t realize that, but now when I give her advice about swimming, she actually listens. This, coming from the child that I had to pay for lessons for, because she wouldn’t listen to Mommy.

Free is definitely going to be “her” event. She consistently passes the other kids up during warm ups and drills. We’re still working on legal form and breathing but the power is there.

(The day I videoed this, it was after an hour long practice and she was tired but appeasing me. They had just tried flip turns for the very first time that day, so it is comical to watch.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I just have to say, I am truly blessed. Jacey is a wonderful little girl, loving, bright, intelligent and funny. I never wanted kids, but I can NOT imagine my life without her. She’s is usually very well behaved, but has been acting out a bit lately. I know most of it stems from all the changes and the fact that Bryan and I are so immersed in the “house” that she is getting pushed to the back-burner.

Not ideal, but that is just life right now. She’s on a Daddy-Jacey date right now, which is much needed. We used to do Mommy-Jacey and Daddy-Jacey dates about once a month but haven’t since we moved. Must get those back on the calendar.

Anyway, we were out shopping the other day on probably our 1 million and 1 trips to Home Depot, Target, etc. Jacey was lolly-gagging around, touching things, etc. Basically being a kid, but my patience wasn’t dealing with it very well. After we got home, I got this on my phone…

Dear mommy,

Sorry for me misbehaving by touching and annoying you.

I love you so much!

I am sorry for sometimes not listening to you sometimes I get distracted by like looking at something like a cool car or something like that.

I promise to be a little better next time. I heart you so much!

Love from your crazy,and silly monkey,

Jacey Alexis Buchorn

Made me feel so bad, that I got onto her. She’s such a sensitive kid and hates upsetting me.

This being a parent is tough stuff.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anyone have any programs they’d recommend to convert video to flash? I am not happy with the one I am using. This was shot in HD yet looks horrible after conversion.

This is from an update email that I sent out to family and friends earlier today. I thought I would post is here too.

As it appears, life never slows down. Occasionally I’d like to ask God for a time out, but it just doesn’t work that way. I’ve been working on this update for a few weeks now and finally decided to just buckle down and get it finished today. Be forewarned though, it is long since I didn’t manage to get my annual Christmas letter out and am covering a large span of time.

2009 was an exciting, crazy, busy, life changing year for us and 2010 is proving to be much of the same.

We started out 2009 in Ohio, visiting Grandma and Grandpa Pease (Bryan’s grandparents) who we hadn’t seen since before we moved to the UK in 2002. That quickly rolled into a weekend visit from my Mom where Bryan and I took advantage of a weekend getaway, gall bladder removal surgery for me, car shopping, a MercyMe concert and a 3 week TDY to Savannah for Bryan. In May, we participated in our 2nd year of Relay For Life, my 1^st as a steering committee member and later that month, I ran our base’s annual 4.4 mile Gate to Gate race (my finish time was not pretty, but I finished AND I ran the entire thing, quite a feat for the girl that used to forge notes to get out of PE). Soon thereafter, we hit the road for a weeklong road trip to Texas to see family. Jacey stayed behind and spent several weeks between my Mom and Bryan’s Mom’s house. During that time, Bryan and I got a huge dose of the no child lifestyle and let me tell you, the first week is great and then it gets boring fast :). 2009 also brought our 10^th wedding anniversary, my 30^th birthday, Jacey’s 8^th birthday, another road trip to Texas for Thanksgiving to see Bryan (he was TDY again) and then Christmas with my Mom and brother here in Florida.

The biggest event of 2009 though has also spread into 2010. In September of 2009, we found out that my oncologist would be deploying in January and then separating from the Air Force once she got back. I was going to be losing my favorite doctor and one of the main reasons we had not pursued any job/location changes. With that no longer holding us back, Bryan decided to look at the retraining list. Bryan has disliked being a maintainer for a long LONG time, but did what he felt was necessary for the best stability for our family and medical care for me. When we looked at the retraining lit, imagine what was there, Bryan’s dream job, UAV (or RPA, the AF can’t make up its mind) Sensor Operator! The next few weeks were spent getting all the necessary paperwork and medical forms together to submit a package. On October 21, 2009 we submitted the package and on October 26, 2009 he was approved and had class dates. So much for the 21 duty day wait to hear something. That sent life into a crazy spin that hasn’t stopped yet. Bryan left for his first 4 week class on November 18, 2009, another 4+4 week class on January 13, 2010 and left for his final 12 week class this past Sunday (April 25, 2010). On February 12, 2010, Bryan graduated BSOC (basic sensor operator course) and is now an official RPA sensor operator. Jacey and I flew out for the week of graduation and had a great time. Let’s not discuss the flight in though; we flew in on the one day in a blue moon that DFW got numerous inches of snow. Let’s just say that Jacey and I now know DFW airport like the backs of our hands and Bryan can pass a test on less than 2 hours of sleep. Bryan also reenlisted last week for another 5 years, so the Air Force has us until 2015. I can’t figure out if that is a good thing or a bad thing!

With this new job, also comes a move. We will be heading to Creech AFB, NV (outside of Las Vegas) at the end of July once Bryan is back from this final class. There, Bryan will be working on the MQ-1 Predator. We plan to live on Nellis AFB (Creech does not offer housing) for the first year while we learn the area, where good schools are, etc and then plan to buy. Hopefully housing will stay as affordable as it is there now or get even better. While we are sad to be leaving here, we are excited about the move as well. We will have been here in Florida for 5 years by the time we move and that is an eternity in the military and to this girl with gypsy blood.

As for Jacey, Jacey is bored out of her mind in 2^nd grade, but there isn’t much we can do at this point with only 7 weeks left of school. She has gotten 1 B thus far this year, with the rest being A’s. Jacey finally found an extracurricular activity that she loves and that is baton twirling. They had their end of season recital today and then she will have a twirling day camp in May. Hopefully we will find twirling on the Vegas end, since this is the first out of many activity attempts that she has loved. Otherwise, she spends her time going to H20 (her Wednesday night church group), reading, playing the Wii and having an unhealthy obsession with the old 90’s show “Full House”. I can’t complain too much, it is better than most shows they have out nowadays. She has really sprouted in height this year, but is still just as slender as ever. Built like her Daddy, she has that long, lanky figure that most would love to have. She on the other hand, thinks she is too skinny, while we tell her she is just perfect the way God made her. It sure does start early. She is ready for school to be out and summer to start. She flies to Texas to spend 2 weeks with my Mom right after school ends and then has her first weeklong overnight camp as soon as she gets back. She is thrilled about both, especially getting to fly by herself (she’s only been flying since she was 7 months old, Miss Frequent Flier :).

And me, I’m doing okay. Tired is the new normal I guess, but we as humans have this insane ability to adapt and when I can’t, I give in and take a nap :). Work still remains the largest item outside of Jacey that keeps me busy, but my last day will be July 1^st in anticipation for the move. As if that wasn’t enough though, we are gearing up for Relay For Life which is this Friday, April 30^th (there is still time to donate, if you feel so compelled – http://www.buchorn.com/blog/2010/03/20/relay-for-life-2010/). Being event co-chair this year has been an interesting ride, we have a fabulous steering committee and the event chair is my partner in crime, but I am ready for it to be over so I can shift my attention more towards the move prep and have one less thing on my plate. I had my last “official” oncology appointment here at Eglin back in March and she gave me the all clear to wait until we get settled in Vegas to go back. My white blood cell count is now 29, higher than it was when I was diagnosed (it dropped quite a bit from diagnosis levels after I lost weight) but, Dr. G is not worried because it is not jumping at alarming levels and I am doing okay otherwise. I still battle the night sweats and chills but those will be here at different intensities for probably the rest of my life. Dr. G knows the oncologist that I will be seeing on base in Nellis and has already contacted him to pass on information. I am really going to miss Dr. G, but if she trusts the new doctor, I will too. Anyway, I need to get this wrapped up, so enough about me.

Some of you may have noticed, but we have changed out email addresses and website url. The old digital-drama.com accounts will not be valid much longer, so please update your address books (please leave a comment if you want our new email addresses and don’t already have them…leaving them off of the blog for spam reasons). These addresses will travel with us to Vegas and beyond. Bryan and I are also on facebook if you haven’t already friended us and want to.

• Website with blog and photo/video album links – http://www.buchorn.com (the photos and videos are also completely up to date now if you would like to take a peek)

So, with that I will close this already way too long update. Hopefully I won’t wait another year+ to get one out.