What a year!

Click on the picture above for our complete year at a glance with photos. When you get to the bottom of the page, click "Older Posts" link to continue.

• We started the year by making huge progresses on our home renovations. We continued much progress through the whole year.
• Kelsie (our oldest) turned 18, and graduated from High School.
• Kelsie moved to Cleveland, Tennessee to attend her first year of college.
• Kirk retired from the Navy after 20 years of service. He is currently flying for a civilian contractor working with the Army in Afghanistan flying surveillance missions.
• Kirk is hoping to fulfill his dream job in the new year with a commercial airline.
• Andrew turns 16 and is working on getting his driver's licence.

We close the chapter of this year, 2011, with thankful hearts. God is forever sovereign and faithful in our lives; He has revealed that to us many times this year. His plans are always perfect even though we don't always understand them. The LORD asks us to simply trust Him with all our hearts. As we begin 2012, we look forward to His direction with an attitude of hope and adventure towards what the future holds as He directs our paths.

May God bless YOU, as well as all our friends, and our family as we share in the goodness of 2012 and the Hope that is yet to come!

Family Updates

Life has a way of sneaking by and before we know it, time has passed and we're getting ready to start a new year!

My family has had four Birthdays (Andrew, Teri, Jessie and Kirk), several holidays, and random happenings since my last "family" update post in August when Kelsie left for college. So with that said, I dare not start 2012 without finishing 2011 with our year end Wymore happenings and family updates.

SEPTEMBER~

Andrew turns 16...

... and is surprised with a "stang"

(2001 V6 Mustang, stick shift- the not so fast model).

He also got a shotgun for his birthday.

Andrew likes to hunt birds and target shoot.

Andrew earned his letter man jacket last year for varsity swimming, but received it early his 10 grade school year.

OCTOBER~

Jessie turns 10!

We celebrated with a small family party.

Pumpkin carving~

Jessie and a few friends carve for part of the fun for a sleep-over.

Halloween 2011

NOVEMBER~

Andrew tries on Kirk's Army issued bullet proof armor since he has aspirations to someday go into the military. Kirk went through training with his new job in September-October and was issued this vest for his time flying in Afghanistan as a civilian flying Army C-12's. Kirk's first rotation to Afghanistan started mid-November and he came home mid December.

Jessie plays soccer on the Padre Thunder team.

Since dad was away, Andrew was in charge of cooking the turkey for Thanksgiving; the job Kirk usually does.

Joe helped make the Pumpkin Pie. Jessie also helped.

(notice the newly renovated kitchen compared to past posts? I have not officially posted before and after photos, but Kirk and I have recently completed the dining and kitchen areas and will post comparison photos soon.)

DECEMBER~

Decorating their individual Christmas trees that go in their bedrooms.

The kids posed in front of the Dining Room Christmas tree to send to their dad in an email while he's away~

He'll be home for Christmas Dec 13-Jan 5 !!!

Jessie and Joe on the last week of school the day of their Christmas Concert.

After school they receive a special gift from Kirk in Afghanistan...

A Christmas book with a DVD of Kirk reading the very same book (notice the computer screen of Kirk sitting in a chair reading). The USO provided this service to parents (a book with a DVD of the deployed parent reading the book) who have younger kids back in the states.

Andrew had several swim meets over Christmas break and practices most every day. Andrew's Men's 200 Free Relay Team are focused and set to break the school record (1.34:08) this year!

COOKIE MAKING TIME!

Christmas Eve~

CHRISTMAS DAY 2011~

We enjoyed Christmas Day together in the quietness of our home.

Kelsie finds the first Christmas Pickle hidden in the tree.

An Old World Christmas tradition- after all the gifts are open from under the Christmas tree, the kids begin to hunt for the hidden Christmas Pickle (an ornament). The first child to find the hidden ornament will enjoy a blessed year and receive a special gift.

At our house, we let each child find a pickle (we hide four pickle ornaments between two trees) and each child gets a little gift after they find their pickle.

The boys are still looking!

Joe is very close.

Yeah! Teri gets the cement mixer she'd hoped for. She loved making "mud". There's a lot of work to be done outside with our home renovation and this machine will come in handy (save time and her back)!

We wondered where all the ice from the ice machine was going... HERE IT IS!!! Joe was trying to make "snow" on the sidewalk by crushing ice cubes with a brick. The problem is, it's 78 degrees out side and the "snow" is melting almost as fast as he makes his "snow".

Graduation, Birthday, & Retirement...

Family Updates~ Summer 2011

Where has the summer gone... it seems like it was just May, and now it's already August! I reflect on the summer 2011 that has been filled with many memories, fun times, and life changes.

Our oldest, Kelsie, Graduates from High School with honors!

May 2011

Kelsie graduates as Salutatorian with friend Cassidy, Valedictorian. (Their High School had approximately 250 graduating Seniors)

Kelsie did awesome on her speech. She didn't share what she was going to say with us until we heard it first hand at the graduation; her speech was heart warming and God honoring. We are so proud of her and the woman she is becoming.

Kelsie's Grandma and Grandpa came from Oregon state to share in her special occasion!

Joe, our youngest, turns 7!!! July 9.

Fun Times at the Beach!

Kelsie and Jessie have morbid fun. (hint: one big hole, one smaller hole, and just the perfect camera angle)

...feeding the seagulls is always fun.

Kirk and I celebrated our 23 wedding anniversary this summer...

Can you believe we met on a blind date in the summer of 1983 and have been together ever since!

(a total of 28 years)

First Day of School, July 18th.

Jessie (4th grade), Joe (2nd grade), Andrew (10th grade)

Kelsie not pictured, will be starting college classes August 24.

Our little fixer upper house is surrounded by farm fields; this season the harvest is cotton! We took a bunch of pictures to include one in this year's Christmas cards.

Kirk ends his 20 year military career with his last flight as a Navy Pilot/Flight Instructor on July 22. The last flight is called a "Finny Flight".

Kirk ends his Navy career in a TC-12 with a total of over 5,500 multiengine flight hours.

His multiengine time as a Navy Pilot also includes flying the P-3 and T-34.

The tradition of a finny flight is to water down the pilot as he departs the plane; usually with a fire hose as we did here. As his family, we took the honor to hose him!

Another tradition is to spray the pilot down with champaign. Kirk's Navy buddies did this honor.

After all the hoopla outside, we went to the hanger for a simple retirement ceremony. Kirk's "official" retirement is October 1, but since this was his "finny flight", he opted to have his ceremony at this point to include his Navy buddies from the Reserve Department.

Kirk is honored by his Squadron~ he receives several certificates, a Meritorious Service Medal, a Photo Board signed by his Navy buddies, and this very neat shadow box.

We all got certificates of recognition, but the man of honor is Kirk Roman Wymore!

We are so proud of you, Kirk.

Now that Kirk is retiring from the Navy, his hope is to continue to fly as a civilian pilot (God providing the perfect flying job for him). We also hope to invest in rental properties and possibly a couple flip houses.

Remodeling our "fixer upper" has consumed much of our time in between our family events this summer. The day after Kirk's "finny flight" (Sat, July 23) we began demolition on our kitchen which has turned into a project much like a full-time job! ...thank goodness Kirk is on paid vacation for the next couple month so we can work on the house full time!

In two truck loads we discarded our entire kitchen (minus the appliances which are all in new & good condition and will be re-used). Renovation Updates- "AFTER" pictures on Living Room, Hallways, Dining Room and Kitchen will be posted on this blog soon.

Kelsie getting ready for her road trim to College; she willll be attending Lee University in Tennessee. God blessed Kelsie (and us, her parents) with a "Centennial Scholarship" (full tuition paid for qualifying ACT test score). Kelsie has also been accepted in the Lee Honors Program (1 of 22 students out of 900 incoming freshman). Kelsie plans to explore the Medical and Christian Ministries fields- double majoring in Health Sciences to someday become a PA and also in Spanish, minor in Theology.

...getting her bedroom packed up.

will it all fit in her car? It's a tight fit, for sure!

Tennessee or BUST~ Kelsie and her Dad hit the road early (6:30 am) Wednesday for a long 2 days of driving. Kirk will attend parent orientation and several other events while Kelsie registers for classes, meets her new room-mate, and gets settled in her new college life. Kirk will fly home Sunday morning.

Kelsie loves her new school already!

Classes for our new College Freshman begin August 24, 2011.