Ben and Blake Sept 2010

SUMMER FUN!

Military Ball

Greetings Everyone!
Sorry it has been so long since our last update. Cheryl and I had a wonderful time at the Arkansas National Guard Convention. Our first date in some time. It was in Rogers, AR so the boys were able to stay with their Grandparents. I will add pictures and an update of the boys next. As for us, currently I am at the Manuever Captain Career Course at Ft. Benning, GA, only one more month to go. Cheryl is enjoying her job and recently got her own Kayak that she is using to give classes at her park. Our home is at the beautiful Lake Catherine State Park and family and friends are always welcome.

Ben and Blake

Ben loves his little brother as you can tell.

Looks who's eating REAL food

Check out Blake...eating cereal and applesauce. He just got his first 2 teeth this weekend too. Growing so fast.

Happy New Year!

It's so hard to believe 2008 is over with. What a crazy year for the Vincent family! To all that may not know...we have BJ back home FINALLY. We are super excited about him being able to be home for the holidays. We had a great time in KS with all our family and friends. Now we are back in AR and enjoying being a family in our new home. BJ's been busy with the house and unpacking and playing with the boys. I've been at work...not too busy this time of year but I'm loving it. Hopefully we can do a better job of keeping our blog up to date this year. We'll see. HA! All the Vincent boys keep me pretty busy...and yes I mean ALL. Hope you all have a wonderful new year.

My cute little boys!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Check out my little dragon. Ben loved it. You can't tell from the picture but he loved wearing his costume. He also liked pushing his little brother around in the stroller. Blake spent most of the night in the car seat...asleep. Ben was tuckered out by the time we headed home.

Hot Springs, AR

THANKS to all our family and friends, we have officially moved to Lake Catherine State Park in Hot Springs, AR. We wouldn't have been able to make this move without all your help. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all the people that helped make the move possible. Ben, Blake and I are loving the new house. We can't wait for Daddy (BJ) to join us in a couple of months. I start back to work next week and the boys start daycare this week. I'm looking forward to starting my new job as the Asst. Supt. here at Lake Catherine. And I know Ben is looking forward to meeting his new friends. BJ is counting down the days until he returns home. He is already packing up his things for the transition back to the states.

OUR BOYS!

Pictures of the Vincent boys.

The Vincent Family 4

Cheryl is definitely out numbered now...
Doesn’t she look great while she is getting ready to DRIVE herself home from the hospital? She truly is an amazing woman, wife, mother and best friend.

Letter from BJ

Family & Friends, September 10, 2008
It’s a boy!! Hello everyone, we wanted to introduce Blake Jonathan Vincent to all of you. Sorry this has taken a week to get out but as you will see we have had a busy week. I will start the story from the beginning. I was at work (in Iraq) and received an email from our friends that I needed to call Cheryl as quick as possible because she was driving herself to the hospital. Come to find out Cheryl dropped Ben off at day care first and then headed to Jonesboro. I was able to reach her on her cell phone while she was on her way. Even though she was having contractions as we were talking she still wanted to go see her Doctor first to ensure she was really having the baby. She was already dilated to 6 so it was time. So, she drove herself to the hospital while I was on the phone. Blake was coming early and I was still in Iraq and not leaving until the following day. Our good friend Brooke was able to be in the delivery room giving Cheryl support and holding the phone for me to hear everything.
Blake arrived on September 3, 2008 at 3:21pm weighing 9 lbs 3 oz and 21 in long. He is a healthy handsome boy. The next day I began my travels and I was able to save about 30 hours on my trip by using my charm to get from place to place. It is great being back in the States. I forget how beautiful it is to see so much color and trees. We take so much for granted until you lose it. The desert is extremely hot and nothing to see but sand.
It has been wonderful to spend time with Cheryl, Ben & Blake. Our family is truly blessed and I love being here with them. More news… Cheryl had an interview in Little Rock on Monday and we found at last night that she got the job. We will be moving to Lake Catherine at Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is a bigger park and a great move for Cheryl in her career. It is her dream park to work in and she will be the Assistant Superintendant. So next week we will be packing up as much as possible and then in about a month Cheryl will move while I am still in Iraq. Just to give you a heads up, we will be calling on Family and Friends for some help.
Things in Iraq are going well. The Iraqi’s have taken provisional control and we continue to work well with them. We have been sharing the road for some time now and it is working. Our replacements are at mobilization station so it looks we are on track to come home before Christmas. I feel they will keep to our 400 day orders. We are the first to try it this way and they want it to be successful. This is my units’ third deployment in 5 years so they need it to work for our retention. So all that being said my hopes will be to take my family to Kansas for Christmas.
Thank you all for your calls and your emails. I will be here in Arkansas until September 21 and then I will fly back to Iraq. 3 more months and home for good….. I can’t wait.

Man, THAT'S HOT!

You think it's hot here in the states. Look how hot it is in Iraq. 130 degrees! No more complaining everybody. :) This is the picture that BJ tried to send with his update last week.

Ben and Max

Happy 4th of July! Ok, so it's a little late. Story of my life right now. :) Anyways, we had company over the holiday weekend. Both of Ben's Papas were here along with several cousins. It was really good to have family here. This is a picture of Ben and his cousin, Max. Max is from the Chicago area. But all in all we had Kathryn, Alex, Dad, Papa Dale, Max and Cody here. I had to work of course. But it was a good weekend. We missed Nana Merry and Granny Midge. Hopefully we'll get to see them soon.

The Nature Center visit June 2008

I have my nieces, Kathryn and Alex staying with me for the summer. We decided to go to the nature center in Jonesboro. We all had a great time. Here are some pictures from our day at Crowley's Ridge Nature Center.

Ben's One Year Old Pics

Here are a couple of pictures that Josh's parents took for Ben's one year old pictures. More to come.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, BEN!

Benjamin turned 1 year old on May 5th, 2008. I can't believe it! We had a great time, aside from missing Daddy. Ben and I ventured to KS for the big event. Everybody was there to help us celebrate the big day. He is definitely one spoiled (loved) little boy. No longer a baby as you can tell. Thanks to all that attended and for the wonderful gifts. You all truly made us both feel special. We love you all.

Greetings from Iraq!

Hello everyone! Back in the desert again. This was actually a sunset in Kuwait a couple of weeks ago. We are now in Iraq and working with the unit that has been doing our mission. They are extrememly helpful and we are looking forward to getting started. I hope everyone is doing well and I will try to keep everyone updated as much as possible. Thanks again for all of your love and support.

(This was at training in Kuwait.) Cheryl & Ben.... I miss you very much. Give each other a hug for me. Love, B.J. p.s. tell the new little one i have been working on names and tell him or her that I love him or her very much.

BJ's Address in Iraq

CPT BENJAMIN J. VINCENT
2-153 IN, A Company
Al Asad Air Base, Iraq
APO AE 09333

Well, he's on his way into Iraq as I type this. He's been in Kuwait for the past two 1/2 weeks. So he gave me the ok to send out his address. Please let him know how much he is missed. He really loves to hear from all you guys. I'll try to keep everybody updated as much as I can. Thanks for all the support and love.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We had a wonderful day today. Ben and I participated in our first Easter Egg Hunt at the park. We got 3 eggs and a little bunny. It was a beautiful day. I really think Ben enjoyed it. He loves being outside. Doesn't quite know how to walk in the grass yet. It's all new to him. I love just watching him explore new things. Tomorrow we will be having lunch with Mike, Brooke and Emery. It's hard to believe that we met them one year ago. BJ, we miss you so much. Stay safe. We're all praying for you. Look at our little bunny.