A Perfect Time

I am having the best time of my life. Russ and I are together, I'm finished with school, and we're spending time with family - and all of our moving details are in place for our move to CA.

Things couldn't be better.

Life is great.

I'm in love.

Vincente loves having Russ around. He rarely lets Russ out of his sight. Every morning, when Russ is still there, Vince is ecstatic. It's as if he's saying "Look, mom, Papai didn't ditch us in the middle of the night!!"

It's so nice to be together knowing that there won't be any more goodbyes for a while. It's a really peaceful, relaxed feeling. I told Russ that I feel more myself these past few days since we've been together. He helps me remember who I really am, and it's great!

Jumping Jacks

On December 6th, Vincente and I got to play with some friends at Jumping Jacks. It's one of those play places with the big blow up slides and bounce houses. We were joined by

Maria and Cadence

Becca and Bella Rosello

Nyssa and Ellie Brown (and Travis and Terron - I don't think I got any pictures of those guys... too bad, Terron is a cutie!)

and of course, Sisty! (my sister, Christy)

We had a blast bouncing around. The kids wore themselves out, but didn't want to leave when it was time to go. I'm sure all the mommies had an easy time putting kids down for naps. Which is always a blessing!

Thanks, everyone, for coming! It was fun to play with you guys one last time before we head out to CA. 

For anyone who missed (and for those who were there) Russ and I are coming back to Utah on the 26th of December. We're planning on going out to lunch on Saturday with whoever is in town and wants to come. We want to see as many of you as possible before we leave. We've been really blessed to have your friendship, and we will really REALLY miss you!

We'll try to call people on Friday night to see who's available to come hang out on Saturday. We know a lot of people may be out of town for Christmas, but if you're home, we'd LOVE to see you!

The Hardest Part Over

I have taken all of my finals that really took any thought. Tomorrow I have a circuit building final, which should be cake, and I have to listen to some English presentations, which I could do sleeping.

AND THEN I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL!

Wish me luck! :)

Shopping Done... now on to the more important things

I am officially finished doing any shopping for Christmas (and anything else, really) in Utah. I have a few more gifts to buy, but they are gifts I can buy in Arkansas, so I will just wait until we're down there.

I love giving gifts. It's the best feeling ever.

But now on to focusing even deeper on the meaning and purpose of Christmas. I want to study a little more so that I can feel closer to Christ this season. Now that I'm not busy worrying about what to get who for Christmas, I can think about how to get myself what I want for Christmas - a stronger testimony!

Happy Christmas!

Getting Better

I have been horribly sick all weekend - bleh. I think I got sick because of all the stress I was feeling this weekend. But I woke up this morning feeling much MUCH better. And I spent all day on campus in the fishbowl making up assignments for my complex analysis class. It wasn't the most fun I've had in my life, but it sure felt productive and it definitely felt good to get a lot done.

Classes are almost finished (HOORAY!) so I'm kind of just holding out until the end. I'm going to show up for textbook buyback on Saturday morning and see how many of my text books they will buy back from me. I don't want to sell my complex analysis textbook back until after I've made my "cheat sheet" for the exam (the one page of notes we're allowed to have), so I'll have to make sure to get that done Friday. I don't really care much about my modern physics final... I mean, of course I care, but it's just to the point where all I want to do is pass that class (which is a D-), and I think I can easily pull that off just by walking into the test and doing the best I can... 

Russ arranged everything for us to be PCSed to California! Hooray! We will do a "partial-DITY" which means we will weigh all the stuff we move in our car, and the military might pay us for it. Other than that, they will move all the rest of our things, and we won't have to lift a finger or pay a penny. And hopefully we'll get a little bit of money, since we're doing a partial-DITY. You'll definitely hear about how all this goes after it is all said and done. But having Russ arrange for everything has definitely been nice for me. I haven't had to do a thing! Which is GREAT!

So ... with a little cash from textbook sell back, and classes nearly finished, and passing grades nearly guarenteed in all my classes, I am a very very happy person. And Vince and I have been playing today - it is SO great. I love that kid... I can't wait for it to be just me and him every day! 

The End of the Rope

I'm at the end of my rope... I hate being alone (that is - I hate being away from Russ). Everything was beating down on me so hard that I did something I thought I would never do... I asked to be released from my calling. I think it will be better for the ward if they have a choir director for Christmas who can give it their all. Right now I don't feel like I can give anything my all, and when I feel like I can give something my all again, it will be my family.

I had to take a look at my priorities and remember that not only can I NOT do everything, but Heavenly Father doesn't EXPECT me to do everything. There is not enough energy in my body right now to be a mom, be a wife, be a student, be a choir director, be a friend, be a sister, be a daughter, and do all of them amazingly. Right now I am going to focus on being a mother and wife, and everything else I'm going to put on hold for about two weeks (that's when we'll be with Russ again for "good" - I use quotes here because I'm sure we'll have to be apart again, but it's the end of this round of separation). 

So, if you need anything, get back to me in two weeks. Because I'm starting to learn how to say "no" more often, even though I would rather help. I'm just not able to do it all right now. It's making me sick. Literally. I am actually physically fatigued and sick because of all the stress. Now I'm saying "good-bye" to the stress and taking the next two weeks one minute at a time, because that's all I can really do.

Our Thanksgiving Trip

Part I - At Home with Papai

Part II - Thanksgiving

Part III - The Beautiful Coast

Part IV - Fun at the Park

Uplifting Updates

I am working on posting pictures and descriptions of our Thanksgiving weekend antics in Monterey! I'm almost done - two more posts, and then I think I'll have everything. Until then, I decided that my blog needs an update on our current situation.

The Plan:

We now have a semi-official holiday plan - and for those of you who wanted to see Russ one more time, if you're going to be in town after Christmas, you're in luck! We are still going to spend Christmas in Arkansas, but we fly back to Utah the day after Christmas (it was the only available flight). Then we will either PCS our stuff, or do a DITY move the next week (Monday). So, we will be in Utah for a few nights, and we are planning on going out to dinner on Saturday with anyone who happens to be in town. We'll just go some place cheap, but nice, like Chili's or something. Maybe we'll even just go out for Pizza. We just want to give everyone a chance to see Russ again. We will be officially moved to California the week after Christmas! We'll be in California before the new year! We will officially be a California residing family by 2009. 

This also means that in two weeks, Russ and Vincente and I will be together again permenantly! As soon as Russ gets to Memphis on Friday night (the night before my brother's wedding), we will be together forever! Okay, with Russ in the military it's basically guarenteed that we will spend some more time away from him before long, but this is like the beginning again! We can't wait. To be in the same place all the time is just a relief. Just the thought of it is getting me all giddy! 

Food Wars - Mamãe's Victory

I did it! I got Vincente to eat what I fed him for dinner. Okay, so technically we had hotdogs for dinner, and he ended up eating chicken nuggets (the homemade ones I talked about in my last post) but at least he ate real dinner instead of Goldfish.

About ten minutes ago he came over from watching Cars and asked for Goldfish. He wasn't interested in eating his hotdog at dinner time (all he wanted was the bun, but there was no way I was going to let my kid have just a hotdog bun for dinner). So, I said "Oh, you're hungry now? Do you want your hotdog?" Of course, he fussed, and said "Fishers" (meaning, Goldfish). I decided to persist with the hotdog thing, and he actually enjoyed helping me put it in the microwave to heat it up. But he wouldn't eat it once it was in front of him. So I decided maybe it would make it easier if he had some kind of choice. He had leftover chicken nuggets in the fridge, so I asked him if he wanted those. He seemed a little more interested, so I heated them up and put them on the table in front of him with his hotdogs, so he could decide. He continued to fuss and cry and ask for "Fishers." I calmly explained to him that "Fishers" are a snack, not dinner, and that he needed to eat dinner first. Then I went back to my homework, and told him to decide which one he wanted to eat or that he could just not eat anything. After a few minutes, HE ATE THE CHICKEN NUGGETS!!

So I stuck to my guns, and it paid off!! Now he's having Goldfish. Heh, when he was done with his dinner, I asked if he wanted some "Fishers" now, and he said "Oh, yeah!" (which is how he responds when he REALLY wants to do whatever it was you mentioned)

Victory for the mama. I hope I can keep this up. Toddlers are HARD!

Thanksgiving in Monterey - Part III - The Beautiful Coast

On Friday we visited the beach. Russ and Vincente love the Fisherman's Wharf - all the boats are really incredible. Vince loves saying "Ocean." In fact, now that we're home, he keeps asking to see the pictures of the ocean and keeps asking to go back to the ocean and the choo choo train that was at the park.

Vincente loved the sand, the foam, the water, the birds, the sea lions - EVERYTHING. It was like this kid was made for the coast, even though he's never really seen the ocean before. He was addicted. 

We walked down the pier for a while. The sea lions liked to hang out under the end of the pier, and so you could hear them barking when you were down at the end. They also liked a rocky little place that jutted out from the other side of the wharf. You could see them from the pier, but not very well, and my camera isn't good enough to zoom in close enough to get a good shot, so I didn't really try. I'm sure eventually you'll see more pictures of the sea lions.

Just as we decided to walk back the pier, a huge wave came crashing onto the beach. Russ grabbed Vincente by the arm and we all ran for higher ground (luckily we were only feet from some stairs that led up to a little deck outside a building). The wave covered the entire beach up to the deck with three or four inches of water. If it wasn't for our fast reflexes, we would have been one very wet family! But we had a great time on the beach, and it is so beautiful. Friday was a little foggy, so not as pretty as it would have been had we gone Saturday, but it was still really good weather. Just cool enough to wear a sweater or sweatshirt, but by the afternoon you could be comfortable in just a t-shirt.

Thanksgiving in Monterey - Part II - Thanksgiving

I just realized that I didn't take many pictures of Thanksgiving, but I think that's because I forgot that I had my camera with me until half way through the day, and then we took a nap.

We drove up to Los Altos (near San Jose) on Thursday morning to have breakfast/brunch with my Aunt Barbara and her husband and their family (three of the five kids in their blended family - plus one grandkid). Vincente enjoyed playing with Braden (the grandkid - about 10 mos old) and playing with all the toys they had for the grandkids. Russ and I had a good time playing some Rock Band with Holly, Chris, Shiraz, and Michelle. My guitar skills were pretty rusty, but my singing skills were worse! Too bad I didn't get pictures of that fun! I think it was probably because I was playing, so I didn't have my camera ready.

After all the kids left for their Thanksgiving dinners with their other parents, Russ and I put Vincente down for a nap, and ended up napping with him. Russ and Vincente slept for a little longer while I got up to see if I could help get Thanksgiving dinner ready. Barbara and Abe were SO hospitible to us! They are a sweet family, and it was a treat to get to know them better.

Vincente didn't eat very much (see Food Wars) as usual, but he had a good time feeding Russ the DELICIOUS fresh fruit salad we had! That is something I am looking forward to - fresh fruit year round at a price that won't bust my grocery budget!!

Thanksgiving in Monterey - Part I - At Home with Pai

It was so much fun to spend so many days with Russ. It was a really relaxing weekend. Vincente loves his Papai so much. It was the best thing to see them play together. A little boy just really needs his pai. We're not technically at home in these pictures - we're just at the hotel. But being anywhere with Russ is more at home than any place we could be. Our family seems much more complete when we're all together.

Reading books with Papai

Loving Papai