Vincente has quite the little attitude.

And lately he is getting kind of jealous of the attention that Joseline gets. Which is odd, since he's never been jealous before 8-o

As I try to approach Vincente (for ... anything, really) "No, Mamãe, you walk away!"

Today when I was talking to my friend, Michelle, "Mamãe, listen to me talking now!"

Vincente's prayer... every time.... "Dear Heavenly Father, and thank you for this day, name of Jesus Christ, AY-men!" Even at meals :) When we try to tell him "Remember to say 'Thank you for the food'" He tells us "No! It's MY turn!" and proceeds to start at the beginning again.

Me or Grandma: "Vincente, do you want some ___ (fill in the blank with food item)"
Vincente: "No, I just want ___!" (fill in the blank with a more preferred food item)

Vincente, upon finishing his sandwich: "I want a new one!"

Vincente, upon receiving said new sandwich: "Ooooh, THANK you!"

Vincente, when we want him to go to bed/eat his food/do pretty much anything "I don't think so!" (or, alternatively, "Eu ascho que não!")

2+/2+

Russ' DLPT scores! For those of you who are not familiar with the military and their arbitrary language test scores, this is a VERY good score! He has done REALLY well! His course is finished! Hooray! And he graduates on April 1. I will be flying down to CA with the kids on Tuesday next week to celebrate with him and to help him and the Wildes move back to UT.

We are pretty excited to see our sweet hubby/Papai next week! Especially with all the stress of DLI Chinese behind us! What a great adventure! We are glad it is over, and we are grateful for all the things we were able to learn and experience - especially the new friends we have made, new places we have seen, and new things we have learned to love!

He reports to his (more) training in AZ on the 14th of May. Until then, he is ALL OURS! We love him so much.

We are so proud of you, Papai!!

Staying Afloat

I love this picture of Vincente. I love the boats behind him, the still water, and the fact that the sun is too bright. :D

There is so much going on in our lives right now. There is a new adventure around every corner, and I’m trying not to get too stressed out about everything. We’re loving pretty much everything that is going on, and the kids are growing up so fast! I have been a total slacker with taking pictures of the kids, but I will start again.

I have come to the realization that I don’t do anything if I don’t set a goal to do it. I am going to blog once a week every week for the next six weeks. (Trying to start a habit, here!) Each blog post will contain at least one picture from the previous week. This will keep me taking pictures. I really wish I had a DSLR and some cool lenses and flashes. Some day.

I’ll probably try to post every  Sunday. I need to come up with a better blog theme, too. Actually, I really love my theme (the present), I just need to better define the theme. So I’ll work on that the next six weeks – defining the theme of my blog. Don’t forget to follow the “front page” blog so you can be notified when I update this blog.

Happy reading!

Running Total

So I figured I should post an update about the running situation. I have been a big slacker about, well, just about everything since we got here. mostly I blame it on adjusting to living in a new place, and reconnecting with old friends who I have been missing terribly.

I am reminded every day how blessed I am to have such great friends.

I think I was stuck in a little funk. Not really sure exactly where I wanted to be more... Back in CA, or here in UT. Now I feel like here is where o am supposed to be, so that helps.

Well, I finally did things that I kept telling myself I would do, like setting up the running swap with a friend (we talked about it a few weeks ago, but I never followed through... Story of my life).

So now I have a running partner, I take my kids to story time, and I sent off my application for ARL. This week my main goal (besides running again) is getting letters of recommendation from old employers.

I really am feeling motivation and purpose.

I heard a quote from one of the brethren a while ago that went something like this:

"When the why is strong enough, the how will take care of itself."

I believe that.

My why is getting more defined in my head, so the "how's" are coming along a lot better.

Thanks for all the concerned comments! I love to have a sounding board for some of my emotions. Your encouragement has really helped.

So far I have run 3 miles this week. My goal right now is just to be consistent at 9 miles a week, running 3 miles, 3x's a week. So far, I'm on target to reach my goal! Thanks to all my great encouraging friends.

I'm trying to have more faith. It's a work in progress!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fail, or Quit?

I am back living with my in-laws. It's great, they are fabulous, I love them to death!

I miss my friends in CA. I miss having that great relationship with people nearby. I REALLY miss running with Deann. Well, we never ran together, but we did a running/kid swap (I watched her kid while she ran, then she watched mine while I ran). It worked out really well, and I was consistent, and because I was consistent, I was able to improve.

I felt like I was achieving something. I was climbing a mountain and getting closer to the top. It was a great feeling. I just felt AMAZING. And happy. I feel happy when I run. Something about those endorphins, I'm sure.

So I made a goal. I want to run a half marathon at the end of the summer. 13 miles. I just KNOW I can do it. Well, I knew I could do it back in CA when I was running three times a week, usually 9-10 miles a week. I just knew I could do it. If I kept running like I was running, and climbing that mountain, I would make my half marathon goal, I would!

Enter moving to UT.

So, no longer do I have Deann to run with :( So that means I don't run as often. I would ask my MIL to watch my kids for me to run (and she would do it) but I feel bad asking her to do any more. We're already mooching enough, living in their house. I just don't want her to feel like she has to raise my kids, too. I have nothing to give back, because she doesn't need anything from me. Except for me to keep my kids quiet so she can nap. But that's not really me doing anything anyway, since we're already in the way making noise so she can't nap. That means that me keeping the kids quiet is simply undoing the damage I've already done by having my kids here.

Let me clarify - my MIL does not make me feel bad for living here. It's something I do all to myself.

But anyway, so I haven't been running. We've been here for nearly 3 weeks, and I've ran a total of 3 times, for a total of about 5 miles. Yeah. Lame. Well, first off, the altitude is higher here anyway, so I knew it was going to take some adjusting.

On top of that, I live too far away from anyone really to take advantage of friends who want to do swaps with me. And I live at my in-laws, so it's not really great to have MORE kids here... which would mean that I would always been driving long distances to get to someone else's house. Lame.

So I'm faced with a horrible moral dilemma.

Do I quit my training? (for now... I would pick right back up where I left off if I can find someone close to watch the kids, or when I am in AR) Or do I just keep trying to train, and fail miserably?

I'm not a quitter, and I can't stand failure.

So what do I do? I don't have a good answer. Maybe you do?

Apples and Veggies

My babies love their food. Joseline loves veggies - green ones, mostly.


And Vince loves his apples!! He doesn't care much for veggies, but he likes apples, strawberries, and sometimes bananas. Mostly he's a bread and cheese kind of kid. We're hoping it's just a phase.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Brand New Day

Here we are in Utah. Finally settled in. I would have pictures, but I'm writing this post on my laptop since the kids are sleeping in the bedroom with my big desktop. I will probably move either the kids or the computer (probably the kids, I have to talk to my MIL first. It would be a lot easier for them to sleep in their own room, and there is an empty room. And in the event that someone needs to come use that room, we could always move the babies back into the big room. Although it would probably be easier to just move the computer out of the big room... probably we'l do that.)

It has been fun to be back because I feel like we're moving on - moving forward, which is good.

Russ has decided officially that he wants to be an interpreter. We always knew that he wanted to use his languages, but he was never really dedicated to one "career." If anyone knows of any businesses looking for Chinese interpreters, Russ would love to interpret in Chinese this fall.

We'll move anywhere in the western US if the job pays enough.