Our House in the middle of our Street

I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned all day today. It felt really good (emotionally) and really horrible (physically). I don't remember being so achy and tired all the time when I was pregnant with Vincente. Maybe it was because I tried to take it easy the first time... this time, I don't think I do a whole lot differently than when I wasn't pregnant. It's hard, or nearly impossible, since I have a two year old to chase around and clean up after.

For my "break" this evening I put together a photo tour for our new house. I made one for our first apartment, and then started updating it when we moved into our townhouse, but we were so busy there (in our townhouse) what with school and work and babies, that I never got it done. Well, I got the tour done for our house in CA! So go check it out:

http://werner.mine.nu/rowley/rowleyhome.php

Tidbits

Little Bits of Updating

I wanted to post a generic, how-we're-doing post, but I really wanted to put some pictures up, as well (my posts feel incomplete without pictures these days). So I snapped a few shots of what we're doing around the house right now. This picture is Vincente inspecting the package that is my new desk. He thought it was a bed... not sure why. He likes to help us put things together (like our bed frame, any furniture we bought that needed assembly, etc). His favorite thing to do is use the tools. Heh, when he was helping with the motorcycle the other night, he dropped a random screw into the motorcycle. Russ had to reach in there with a screwdriver and knock out the little stow away screw.

This is most of what Russ does in the evenings - he studies Chinese. You get a nice little view of the desk and hutch we bought him so he would have a comfortable place to study. He looks so intense! Part of their homework is to record themselves doing a reading assignment in Chinese, and they upload the assignments to their Blackboard site for their class, and then their teacher can listen to it. Russ said today his laoshi (pronounced "lao sure" - it means "teacher") was listening to someone's recording during the first part of class this morning and she started laughing. Everyone was like "Oh, I hope she's not listening to mine." You know, thinking that she was laughing because they butchered something and it sounded funny. Anyway, someone asked who she was listening to, and she said "Russ" (well, she said Russ' Chinese name). Later Russ found out that she laughed because she could hear Vincente saying something in the background. Hey, at least it accurately portrays Russ' study environment! We put a fan in the office for him so he can drown out the sounds of us playing in the rest of the house, but I don't think he has it on while he's recording. I particularily recall that last night Vincente was standing at the door of the office, calling for Russ. Little kid loves his Papai.

And here is me, keeping Russ company in the office (I think at the moment he snapped this picture I was actually starting this post). He likes me to be in the office while he studies and does his homework, but I don't really like to sit and watch him, of course, and if I don't busy myself with something else, I end up distracting him. So, I occupy myself with my blog, Facebook, and now I've started messing around with my digital scrapbooking program. It actually looks really really neat! I'm excited to play with it. I'm trying to decide what to scrapbook first - maybe Vincente's first year. Then I'll move on to his second year - try to get those done before Little Sister comes.

I was incredibly productive today, and so proud of myself for it. I found out that I'm not through with the runaround of health insurance craziness... I'll probably get in to see my OB next week, but sorting out the madness that is Tricare is starting to give me a headache. It's like doing some crazy manuevers through that little contraption in Kung Fu Panda with all the spinning things with the sharp things sticking out of them... okay, that probably didn't make any sense - my point is that it's complicated, but as long as I move at exactly the right time, I'll get through unscathed. Okay.

I also got a quote for car and renters insurance, since our insurance company doesn't insure in CA. That's a headache, mostly because it's more expensive here, but we'll only end up spending about $40 more each month for the exact same coverage... except, it's CA, so everything is more expensive... :6

Heh, okay, now for the amusing story about us moving. Every time we've moved in the past, I have done a "family" foward for our mail with the post office. Well, that was all fine and dandy, until we moved out of the house where a bunch of Rowleys were still living... I didn't realize my mistake until we got some forwarded mail that was addressed to Marv (my father-in-law) and I was like... "Oh, man, this could be very bad." Anyway, I called the post office that day and stopped the family forward, and just today I went back to the post office to set up the forwarding for me and Vincente. Yeah, so if you live with your in laws and you move out of their house, make sure that you do an individual forward for each person in your particular family, instead of a "family" move. Hee. Then everyone will still get their bills. I also sent my in-laws all of their mail, so hopefully they don't get anything too late. My SIL's ACT scores came to my house. She probably wants those.

So that's what we're up to. Oh yes, and potty training. Vincente was scared to death of sitting on the big potty, plus he's too little to be able to climb up to it himself, so we've decided to give a potty chair a try. We bought one today, and he seems to like it okay (he hasn't sat on it to actually go potty, he's mostly just playing with it). We're going to give him a little break, since he was so traumatized by us trying to sit him on the big potty (we had one of those cushy baby-seats, and he didn't mind the potty once he was actually sitting on it, it was just the act of getting on and getting off that scared him). I'll let you know how it goes, once he really starts pottying. He did pee in the big potty yesterday! Three times, actually. The first time it was because he was crying so hard about being put on the potty. The second time it was purposeful, but I got so excited about it that I startled him into stopping :) hee hee. The third time, I was really careful not to get too excited, and once he realized how happy I was, he looked down to see exactly what he was doing, and I think it made him really happy to see his pee. It was a new thing for him, I'm sure, since I don't think he's ever really seen his pee before.

Grease Monkeys

My Grease Monkeys

Vincente has always loved to help Papai with his "moto." Here they are fixing it up this weekend so Pai could start driving it to work. It's only suiting that it would start getting rainy a few days after he got it fixed up. It's drizzling today, but it should be a little clear tomorrow, then rainy on the weekend. Maybe it'll be back to motorcycle weather by Monday. I hope so. I don't like not having a car... especially when it's rainy - makes me feel trapped!

On Monday night (when Pai and Vince fixed up the motorcycle), our FHE activity was taking a ride around the block on Pai's moto. Vincente sat in front, I sat behind, and I held on to Vince around Pai's waist. We just rode around the neighborhood, nothing too dangerous, but Vincente LOVED it. In fact, before we rode with Pai, Papai took it out by himself to check it out. As soon as Pai pulled away from the house, Vincente started saying "Come back!" so we could have a ride. Russ and I were both anxious about Vince riding again - he used to love to ride, but since Russ had been gone, was more afraid of the motorcycle, and wouldn't even sit on it when the engine was shut off. So this was a pleasant surprise. I should have snapped a picture after the ride, but we were all pretty chilly from the ride, so we went right inside to warm up.

Seaside Beach - January 17

We had a blissful weekend free from 0700 formations and day long Chinese courses.

The most exciting thing we did this weekend was visit Seaside Beach (about two minutes from our house). I think it's popular for the surfing - the waves can get pretty crazy out there.

Vincente wasn't shy at all about the ocean and the waves. He wanted to walk right into the water and let the waves come and get him. In his words "Here comes the ocean!"

At first, I had him convinced that it was fun to run away from the waves as they came after you. We were a little worried about the undertow - we had heard that it's been stronger this year than it has been in the past. The last thing I wanted was for my toddler to get swept away into the ocean. So running away from the waves sounded like good fun.

Eventually, though, he wasn't satisfied with simply running away from the waves. He wanted the ocean to get him. Swallow him whole. So we stood in the wet sand and waited for each wave to come get us. I held his hand so he wouldn't fall over. The craziest part about the waves was that their sizes are completely unpredictable. You see a huge wave coming at you, and you think you're going to be swallowed up by the ocean, and then it dies down to a trickle by the time it hits your feet. And of course, Vincente didn't want to run away from any of the waves, so we had to stand there even for the ones that looked like they would die down, and ended up coming up to your knees (or Vincente's chest). I picked him up when they were too high, just so he wouldn't get knocked over, but he always wanted down. He enjoyed the sensation of the sand being sucked out from under his feet. Personally, that sensation freaks me out. He thought it was hilarious, and didn't mind getting soaked. The water was cold, but he loved it.

Some days in the bay area are pretty windy, but Saturday wasn't very breezy. We brought the kite anyway to see if we could get it up. It was breezy down by the ocean, but up higher on the beach, there wasn't very much wind, so we eventually gave up on the kite.

Vincente loved the sand, and I decided that I love the sand because it's sandy, but not dirty. It gets all over you, but you can just brush it off, and you don't even look like you've been in the dirt. It was really nice not to have to worry about Vince touching me with his "outside" hands. He could rub sand all over and I would just brush it away! He enjoyed burying my legs and feet in the sand.

Vincente eating fruit snacks on the beach. I wonder if he got more sand than fruit, but whatever, I'm sure the sand is full of all sorts of minerals :) He did eventually eat the sand, just before we left, he started grabbing handfuls and munching them. I think he actually thought it was tastey. Maybe he was just interested in the new texture.

Oh yeah, and if you're wondering, yes - those are shorts and t-shirts we're wearing. It was SO warm. And yes, it is January. Apparently we hear from people who've been here for a while that the warm weather is actually a little abnormal, but man it feels great! Temperatures have been in the mid-70s for the past two weeks... bliss... bliss... beach weather! In JANUARY! Take that, Utah and all your snow! (Although the snowboarding is probably awesome! I've decided it doesn't matter, since I'm pregnant and couldn't go snowboarding anyway... but I am kind of sad that we're missing out on a great season.)

It Posted!

My degree finally posted to my transcript!! That means that I am officially a BYU graduate! :D Hooray!! It gives me goosebumps all over. All those years of hard work finally recognized ;)

And I have been thoroughly enjoying my time as a stay at home mom. Russ hooked up the dryer last night, so I am doing laundry today. Six loads, and probably more once Russ gets home and sorts out all his uniform stuff he wants me to wash. Six loads - that is crazy. I don't think I have EVER done six loads in one day. My worst days have been four. And that was with three people (two adults and a toddler - one of those adults goes through as many clothes as a toddler!). I can't imagine how laundry will increase once I've got a four person to wash for. Hooray for expanding families! :)

I feel so productive every day. I keep wondering what I'm going to do to keep myself busy once "everything is done" - but then I keep remembering that the great thing about life (especially with a toddler) is that everything is NEVER done... even when you THINK you're getting caught up on all the work that piles up, you turn around, and there is twice as much to do! But I like being busy, so it works for me :)

We will offically have our OWN internet (we've been stealing internet from a distant neighbor... I say distant because we can only get the signal sitting as far to the outside wall in our kitchen/dining room as possible) on Tuesday, the 20th. I am super duper excited. Once we've got our own internet, I will start uploading pictures of our new home and all our exciting adventures. This weekend is a big training holiday (because of MLK Jr Day) so we're going to explore the penninsula (well, we're going to do everything that is free, since we don't really have any money right now... the move took a big chunk out of us, and we haven't got our reimbursement yet... hooray for the army). I will be sure to take lots of good pictures, and I've instructed Russ that he is to be the photographer more often so everyone can see pictures of me. I realized that the reason you don't see more pictures of me is that I'm usually the one behind the camera. So, this weekend, I am going to dub Russ the camera man for every outing (I'll probably steal the camera a few times...). And I promise to take a family picture of us somewhere (probably by the beach). I wanted to on Sunday, but we were all so exhausted after Church, we didn't want to do anything else.

So check back Tuesday for pictures and updates! I almost guarentee I won't post anything before then.

Public Television

We have an antenna, so now we have 8 channels of public television! We get PBS (for Vince) and FOX (for me! :) ) Yay House and Bones! I'm so excited to still watch my shows - that's what I'm going to be doing while Russ studies Chinese! Yay - I love House and I love Bones.

The Zit That Crowded the Mole

False alarm about the mole. It was just a zit. I popped the zit the next morning, and now there isn't even really any pain. 

So yeah, no cancer on my tummy - good news, eh?

Recent Developments

Our HHGs arrived one day early! Which was a fabulous surprise. I managed to get almost everything unpacked and organized in 24 hours. We still have a few things to organize and maybe go through some things and get rid of stuff. It's a liberating feeling to get rid of things. Anyway, we have a couch, a kitchen table, our bed (although our bed frame still needs to be put together, and I can't for the life of me figure out where I stashed the bolts when we put it in storage.... so we may need to take a trip to the hardware store). Last night sleeping on our new mattresses was bliss. I slept nearly the whole night. I think the only reason I work up for a little was because instead of sleeping propped up on two pillows, I was only sleeping on one, and since I'm always more stuffy when I'm pregnant, I woke up with my sinuses all stuffed up. Once I shoved another pillow under my head, things were much better.

Another development is the (hopefully not) cancerous mole on my belly. I have had two moles on my belly, just north of my belly button, since as long as I can remember. They have never had problems or given me problems. When I was pregnant with Vince I remember them seriously expanding and I thought that was hilarious (they just got stretched out with the rest of my skin). After I had Vince and my belly went back to normal(ish) the moles pretty much went back to normal as well. Anyway, just about twenty minutes ago when I sat down to my computer, I bent over the computer to move something from behind it, and my belly hit the table. It hurt at the point of contact, and I thought maybe I had a crumb stuck in my shirt. Upon further inspection, I discovered that my belly near the northern most mole was a little red, and blistery looking (kind of like a zit). I thought "Wow, that's a weird place to get a zit... on my belly... right next to a mole." Then I looked at it closer, realizing that the whole mole was kind of tender, and compared it to the other mole on my belly. The more southern mole looks just the same as it always has... but the northern mole has little black speckles all over it, like blackheads. So now I'm pretty sure it's cancerous or something. Maybe it's just pregnancy related and will go away. Either way, first thing Monday morning I'm going to find a Dr. I've been putting it off because finding a Dr in the military world is a little challenging, but last week I found the Tricare office, so I'll start there and spend my day driving around Monterey County where ever they send me, because I really want to get this checked out. I wonder if they can remove it while I'm pregnant or if they'll wait until after I deliver. If it's cancerous, I definitely want it as far away from my epidermis as possible as soon as possible.

Anyway, so that's that. 

Soon I will post pictures of my new house, once we finish getting it put together and everything.

TOMORROW!

I just got off the phone with the driver of our stuff... 

AND HE'S COMING TOMORROW!!!!!!!

AAHAAHAHAHHAHAHA!!

Can you tell I'm excited?

ONLY ONE MORE NIGHT OF AIR MATTRESS MISERY!!

Okay... so yeah, that's all I had to say.

A Promise to a Friend

Okay, so I've promised to post updated pictures of Vincente, and with Christmas and the move and everything, I haven't been doing a very good job. So here are some recent pics:

Vincente feeding "coats" (aka goats) at the Christmas tree farm in Arkansas. He thought the animals were hilarious and called the turkies and chickens "patinhos" (little ducks, in Portuguese). I almost wanted to take one of the little goats home with us! But I don't think goats are allowed on airplanes...

Vincente playing with his Lightening McQueen coloring and sticker book from Aunt Sisty - probably his favorite Christmas present, after the shake and roll Ramone toy.

The boys taking a nap after a long day at church. I think Russ was posing for this picture... he doesn't usually sleep on the floor in his suit. Vince slept on a floor bed, that's why he's on the floor in his suit (we were at Grandma and Grandpa Werner's that weekend)

Vincente after enjoying the California dirt. He loves loves LOVES playing in the dirt out here. I've never seen him so excited about dirt. I guess since we live close to the beach, there is a lot of really moist soil everywhere, and it's very enticing to the little ones. 

Vincente sitting at the kitchen bar in our completely empty house (notice the lack of dinning room table behind him). He has had such an appetite since we moved. Probably a combination of growing, getting outside more often (the weather is almost ALWAYS perfect for playing outside) and settling down into a nice routine with Mama always around.

It's Official

My graduation, that is!

I officially passed all of my classes and will now be awarded a degree from BYU! (okay, first I have to pay them like $35 from the MFT fees, testing center late fees, etc... but that's just a matter of waiting for the next paycheck)

I did even better than expected in modern physics! Hooray! And passed complex analysis by the skin of my teeth. 

At least it's over. It takes a big load off, you know... being SURE that I'm finished! My GPA isn't what it could have been, but hey, finishing school with a kid and a husband away on military duty I think is a great accomplishment, no matter the GPA. And I'm DONE!

Sweet. 

Life is way good right now (as long as I ignore my aching hips and back from sleeping on leaky air mattresses...) 

Two more days until HHGs!! 

A Full Day

I was so very productive today - which makes me very happy, and helps the time pass. This morning, Vince and I took a shower, got ready for the day, then went up to the Army Community Services office to take a look at the "Lending Closet." It's this big room with shelves full of household good stuff you can "check out" while you're waiting for your own HHGs to arrive. Kind of like the central office at Heritage Halls at BYU - you can check out tables and pots and pans and stuff. So anyway, we got some cooking things, a pitcher, a table and some chairs, and a few futons for under our air mattresses (both mattresses are now leaky... so we end up sleeping closer and closer to the floor throughout the night... hopefully the futons will offset the leaky mattress-ness).

Then I went to the police department to figure out all the stuff I need to get Russ a vehicle pass for on the post. Turns out it will be easiest to get things done if Russ goes to the JAG office on the post and gets me power of attorney for him to "conduct his affairs" while he's in class (since his classes/study hall/PT time extend through business hours). Hopefully he'll be able to do that during his lunch break tomorrow, and then I'll be able to have ultimate power over his affairs!! Mua ha ha ha! Okay... yeah... so... Ha, on a more amusing note, since I bought our Highlander while he was at Basic, it is only registered in my name, which means in order for him to drive it (according to the military) I have to write a notarized letter that says I gave him permission to drive it. Cool, huh. Women have never been so liberated! ;)

After running a million errands around the old military post, I headed to our friends' house (the Saavedra's - fellow ARNG family) to use them for their washing machine and dryer. We were just about out of clean clothes (thanks to the fact that our HHGs are still making their way across the Western United States). Michelle was awesome to let me use her washer and dryer, and I was able to get most of my laundry done. Then she and I took Vincente up to the Old Monterey Farmers' Market. It happens every Tuesday from 4-8. We thought it started at 3, so we got there a little early and decided to walk around for a while. We stopped by the Monterey Maritime Museum and Visitor's Center and checked out what Monterey has to offer. Vince loved looking at all the boats. (I wish I had taken my camera with me on this trip! But I'm sure there will be many more like it!)

The Farmers' Market was GREAT! The best one I've EVER seen. So much fresh produce... and in JANUARY! Ha! Take that, snowbound Utahns!! I love the sun. By the time we got to the Farmer's Market, it was getting a little cold, and we didn't have sweaters or jackets (we hadn't needed them all day) but Vince was a trooper and stuck it out. In the end, he got a blue balloon bear. I ended up with fresh strawberries (delicious!!) and kiwis, and a few bell peppers, along with some homemade pitas and hummus. I was very pleased with my spoils.

The day doesn't even end there! After the Farmers' Market, we hit up the local Save Mart for more food. Since I got some pots and pans, I decided we would have spaghetti for dinner, and I planned out a nice menu for the rest of the pay period!

After grocery shopping, we came home to Russ, and OUR CHRISTMAS PACKAGES! The ones we sent from Arkansas - which included our Wii, Rockband, my Kitchenaid mixer, my scanner, and a bunch of toys Vincente got. After dinner we hooked up Rockband and rocked it out with our new band, the "Rowley Stones" - ha ha. Anyway, Vince enjoyed singing (for a while) and would give us all high-fives after each song. Then he decided he wanted to play the guitar, but that was about when bedtime rolled around.

Wow, just looking back on all this makes me exhausted! Tomorrow will be a mostly relaxing day. We're going to walk over to the next neighborhood (probably a 15-20 minute walk) and hang out with some sisters from the ward and their kids (playgroup at the park!). That's mostly all we have planned for tomorrow. On Friday, if it doesn't conflict with the pending delivery of our HHGs, Vince and I are going to go to a kids and parents playgroup at the Army Community Center - music games and singing and fun. Vincente loves that kind of stuff, so I hope he'll enjoy it. I haven't decided what I'll do on Thursday, but it will probably include a few more errands (like getting the parking registration for the car, etc). Tomorrow though, I have vowed to do NO errands and just enjoy hanging out with Vince. In the evening, Russ will probably go to a "conversation" study thing, and so will Michelle's husband (he's also studying Chinese), so we'll hang out with Michelle again.

At least I have a plan of how to get through the rest of this week.

I just hope I can make it through tonight on the air mattresses.... arg... last night was horrible. I felt like I was drowning in them, since they kept deflating... stupid air mattresses...

The only thing worse than sleeping on an air mattress is sleeping on an air mattress with a slow leak...

Friday

Our HHGs will be delivered on Friday...

I don't know if I can make it another week in an empty house...

And there's no way I can sleep on an air mattress for five more nights. Pregnant bodies are not made to sleep on air mattresses.

I really don't think I'm going to be able to make it.

Big Money

The biggest difference between Utah and California (besides the weather - which is WONDERFUL here!) is the food prices. $4.50 for a gallon of milk 8-o 

Now, feeding a toddler and one very very large man, you go through a LOT of milk. And groceries in general. When we went on our first shopping trip, prepared to stock our fridge and cupboards with food so we don't starve while waiting for our HHGs to arrive, I was fully prepared to spend an inordinate amount of money on groceries. Luckily, our paycheck came a day early, since the first is a holiday, so we had money to spend. 

I arrived at the grocery store, list in hand, ready to take a big bite out of our fresh paycheck.

Then all the money-smart grocery shopping skills came flooding back to me! I shopped the sales, price checked each item with similiar items, and bought 10 of something non-perishable or freezable so I could save some bucks in the long run. It was amazing! I spent SO much less than I thought I would, and we got lots of yummy food. I haven't had to shop like that for years (not since we shopped at Maceys). Shopping at WalMart is always super cheap, because you always have the WalMart brand to bring down your bill. Unfortunately, at a regular grocery store, even the store brands are often pretty expensive. Anyway, so I managed to save almost as much as I spent, and we have a well stocked pantry (for now). Oh yeah, as for milk, I was able to get milk for about $2.50 a gallon, which is just slightly more expensive than Utah. 

It's kind of weird, shopping for stuff I don't particularily need at the moment, but buying it because it's on sale, and eventually I WILL need it, so I might as well get it at the sale price. Like oatmeal, and frozen mac and cheese (since we're living off frozen food these days), and eggs, etc.

So food prices haven't gone up that much for us... I just have to keep reading the sale papers! Yay sales.

A New, Empty House

We're here! But our stuff is still in Salt Lake City. Actually, now it's probably on its way down here (the driver finally picked up the stuff from SLC this morning...) We moved into our house on Wednesday morning, but to our chagrin, we found out that our household goods (HHGs) were never shipped on Monday (when we left) because apparently, in order to be shipped on Monday, they had to be in the warehouse by 5pm, and the packers didn't get our stuff up there fast enough.

So here we are in our lovely little home, with nothing but some borrowed bedding, two air mattresses (making up our bed) and a sleeping bag (making up Vincente's bed). Luckily, we were doing laundry while the packers were moving out our stuff, so they didn't have a chance to pack a lot of our clothes. So we just packed them in our car with us. The greatest part about that is the laundry included a Sunday dress for me, Vincente's Sunday pants, and his Sunday shirt. He'll have to wear his sneakers, and we'll have to find some cheap shoes for me tomorrow, but at least we'll have something to wear. 

We've been living off cereal, frozen stuff (like pizza, lasagna, etc) that can be cooked in an oven, and PB&J and turkey sandwiches. We can't really cook anything, since we don't have our kitchen utensils... 

Hopefully our things get here by Monday. Living in a nearly empty house is getting kind of depressing...

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

Getting to Know Monterey

Here we are a the Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. I just have a few minutes to post some pictures while Vince takes a nap (then I am taking a nap, too! Our Pai wears us out!!)

We're having a blast, and can't wait to live here! We will actually be living in Seaside, which is a little more like a town you actually live in. Monterey is very much a resort town, and I don't think I would enjoy living in Monterey city limits. We drove by the military neighborhoods where we hope to live, and they look like a lot of fun, and the new houses are gorgeous (the old houses are ... well ... old, but the neighborhoods still look like fun). It's only a few minutes drive from downtown Monterey, and Russ will have a lovely commute down the highway next to the beach the whole way to the Presidio. 

Having lived in Utah so long, it's going to be weird to live in an un-planned city. You can tell that the city wasn't planned the way Utah cities are planned... the streets are confusing, every intersection has a different kind of stopping plan (stoplights across the streets, stoplights on the corner, stop signs on a four lane street... you get the picture). Not to mention dozens of one way roads, highways that weave in and out and around. It was really frustrating to drive around here at first, but then we just accepted that the Monterey Penninsula does not have planned cities, and we suddenly felt a lot more relaxed about driving around here. I'm sure once we live here I will get used to the winding streets and odd traffic patterns. Meanwhile, it looks like there is plenty to do, and we are only an hour away from my Aunt and Uncle in Los Altos! (which means we're only an hour away from the bay area, should we ever want to hit up the big city... although I really enjoy living in smaller places like Seaside)

Anyway - keep checking back for all the other pictures of our fun trip. I will probaby post them when I get home.

Vince and Jordan at the Park

I mentioned this October outing to the park, but I never posted all the pictures, and there were some really really cute pictures. Since I don't have much to say about the event (it was too long ago...) I'm just going to post the cutest pictures. Enjoy!

Whittling Away

Physics paper done.

But I lost track of time and accidently skipped all of my classes...

Now I am going to take my Independent Study Jogging class final exam. Hooray. Don't worry, it's all MC, no jogging involved.

Wish me luck!

(ooh, and after that... getting my brakes replaced... sad day for my car... well, happy day, but the rear brakes are starting to get really bad)

Food Wars

Tonight I probably did something I shouldn't have done. I punished Vincente for not eating his dinner. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. He didn't want to eat what we were having for dinner (I think probably because he was more tired than hungry, since he didn't have his usual nap). But he has been developing this habit lately of crying when its dinner time, and then getting to eat something else later. Mostly because I forget that he didn't eat dinner, and when he wants a snack, I usually happily oblige.

Here's the problem - I am gone all day, so I don't really know how much he eats, or what he eats, or when he eats, and I have really no control in the matter, anyway. In theory, I could say "Only feed Vincente these foods, at these times of the day, etc" but that would just make extra headaches for my MIL, who is gracious enough to watch him all day anyway. I'm just getting frustrated with Vincente's eating habits, because he's learning that he can get whatever he wants. And it's not my fault. I don't give him whatever he wants.

Two more weeks, and then we're done. Then it's me all the time and I get to tell him what to eat and when to eat it. Two more weeks and then we will live in a place that doesn't EVER have sugared cereal (one of Vincente's favorite things to eat... and not because I buy it. I NEVER buy ANY cereal with extra sugar. The most sugary cereal he eats (that I buy) is Multi Grain Cheerios...).

The problem with having unhealthy food in a house with a toddler is that toddlers don't know how to make good food choices. They are still learning. So that means ALL the food in your house has to be healthy, so your child has "restricted" choices - meaning... they can choose the healthy thing, or they can choose the healthy thing. Unfortunately, as soon as they know there are sweet goodies, they will never stop asking for them. Telling them there is none of ____ (fill in the blank) or it's all gone only works if no one else is eating it. But in the house we currently live in, since we don't have our own kitchen/dining area, he always see the "big boys" eating sugary cereal, or pancakes doused in syrup, or cookies, or hot chocolate, etc etc. So what does he want? Exactly what they have. And there's no way to tell him no. He doesn't understand why they get sugary food, and he doesn't.

I'm just really anxious to be in my own house again where we only buy whole grain bread with 3 grams of fiber per slice, and we only cook whole wheat pancakes, and we eat eggs and whole wheat toast for breakfast (except maybe on Sunday mornings, when we have Cheerios or granola for breakfast). Where we eat steamed vegetables instead of swimming in butter vegetables. Where we don't drink soda... EVER except maybe on birthdays and the Fourth of July. Where we don't have candy all the time. Where we don't eat marshmallows for a snack.

If Vincente's only options are healthy options, then he will have no choice but to eat healthy. I just get sick to my stomach when I come home from school to hear that he had a baggie of Lucky Charms for a snack that day, instead of HFCS-free graham crackers and HFCS-free yogurt (which he occaisionally enjoys). I just want my kids to eat healthy. I am not overboard about it - I mean, I'm not even all organic. There are a few things I try to avoid, and a few things that I try to moderate, but overall, I just like choosing the healthy option. And I want that to be what my kids see and desire. Seriously, we still eat ice cream and stuff. But if you're going to have something nutritious, it should be nutritious, you know?

Okay, I think I'm done with my rant.

I still really have no clue what to do with Vince and his eating habits, but I'm sure it will all work itself out.

Oh yeah, I even made him homemade chicken nuggets yesterday for dinner because he LOVES chicken nuggets (he's always asking for them). I just took some frozen chicken breast and cut it up into bite size chunks, dipped them in an egg/milk mixture and rolled them in a breading I made out of unseasoned bread crumbs and a little flour (with some seasoned salt and pepper). Then I sprayed them with a light coat of non-stick cooking spray (so they would feel fried without really being friend). I would have used olive oil spray, but I didn't have any. They turned out GREAT. I accidently put too much salt on them when I was salting the french fries, which were cooking in the same pan. Anyway, I made enough that I froze a few so I can just pop them in the oven for dinner another night! Next time I'll use whole wheat flour with my bread crumbs. It was amazing to me how easy it was to make these. And of course, the chicken was all white meat, and they were only lightly breaded (a lot less bread than commercial chicken nuggets).

Oh yeah, one more thing with Vincente's eating stuff - he did want to eat cheese, so I put a bunch of cheese on what we'd had for dinner, thinking maybe he would eat it with cheese on it (usually it works) but he just picked off the cheese, so I know he would eat something... he was just being picky about what it was.

If I make it through these next few weeks, I will definitely deserve a medal or trophy or something.

As the trip nears

I just got finished putting together my to do list for the next two days. Things are going to be crazy as we get ready to head south! Well, mostly west... and a little bit south. I was just looking online at where the military housing is there, and if we live in military housing, I will live across the highway from the beach! That close! The city is actually Seaside, and the military housing is about a 15 minute drive from the post, but I just imagined Russ making the drive to work on his motorcycle, and how gorgeous that has to be!

I can't wait to see the beach. Russ says he loves it. I've heard Monterey's beach is some of the most beautiful beach on the coast! And Russ said the weather has been pretty warm (the highs this week are just barely in the 60s, but that's still better than the 40-50 degree weather we've had here).

Wish me luck on my to do list! Two of the items on my list require a trip to Draper, but I'll be too busy to visit IKEA, sad day... I have to get some parts fixed on my car (the dealer promised them when I bought it, and finally they have the parts and I have the time... well, I don't really have the time, but if I don't get it done now, I'll probably never get it done) and I have to get my active duty military ID card. And then I have to get the rear brakes replaced on my car before we make the trip. And maybe new tires. I think the tires will be good enough to make it there and back, and we shouldn't encounter much snow, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that... I don't really want to buy new tires yet. On top of all that I have two tests and a paper, and oodles of homework that I've been putting off in math.

On a good note, I got a 184 out of 200 on the math MFT (major fields test). Kind of like the GRE, but not nearly as expensive, and probably 100 times easier. I didn't even try, either, so it was pretty exciting :)

I need to be PCSing

This is me moving... Luckily, I will not be the one lifting boxes. In fact, I won't even be packing things into boxes. On top of that, all the things I packed into boxes in my storage unit will be unpacked (and repacked) by movers (so we can blame them if anything gets damaged or lost :) ). I'm just glad I don't have to do it. Plus, they're experts, so they'll be able to do it really quickly. 

Now, I ran into some problems trying to reserve accomodations at the Presidio... because I'm just a family member on "unofficial" business. So hopefully Russ will be able to go over to the lodging office and find me a place to stay, since he is there, and we will be looking for a place to live - which makes this more like a PCS in, even though we're not really PCSing right this instance. I'm hoping this PCS thing isn't going to be harder than it should be, since we won't technically be moving until January, but we COULD move next week, if we were available. It actually doesn't sound half bad... except that I have to finish classes.

I'm sure our future moves won't be as bad, since we will all be living together, and there will be no school to postpone my moving to be with Russ. 

I can't wait to see him this week, but I am nervous about finding a place to stay. If this on post lodging thing doesn't work out, we may be spending over $300 for lodging while we're there! 8-o And I would really rather be on the post, since that's where Russ will be. Unless he gets to come stay with us... which actually, he probably can. Anyway, we'll see how things go.

"California, Here We Come!"

We now have official plans to go to California for Thanksgiving to visit Russ! We will probably drive with one of my physics classmates who has family in CA. That will help with the cost, for sure. Especially because our nearest relatives are 1.5 hours away, which is too far away from my Russellkins! Especially because I really want to be able to see him as much as humanly possible, and apparently, if we're on the post, we can see him just about whenever we want. Oooh, but I also found out that the presidio is so secure you have to have a military or DoD card to get in. So I should probably make an appointment to get my active duty card before we leave. I need to get some work done on my car, anyway, so maybe I'll put that on my to do list on Tuesday.

I am SOOO stoked! Hooray for seeing Russ, and hooray for beautiful California! And we may even get to see my Aunt and her family for Thanksgiving! It is going to be so nice... and I miss Russ. Really, I don't know if seeing him for graduation was such a good idea, because now I am hooked... I'm addicted to him. I guess it's supposed to be that way, but it's sure no fun when you're not around them. 

I think I am the happiest person alive right now :) I love my Russ... I love him SOOOO much. And we really need Papai right now - both me AND Vince. Vince and I are buddies, but nothing takes the place of Papai. 

California, here we come!

Waiting Productively

I'm still waiting for Russ to call, but I've pulled myself out of my funk. I made a to do list today while I was at school, and I was able to get EVERYTHING on my list done before Vincente even woke up from his nap! It was fabulous. Of course, then I realized that I forgot that I need to study for my IS jogging test that I'm going to take tomorrow. But other than that, I'm feeling prety okay. Meaning, I don't feel 100% chipper, because I still really want to talk to Russ. I'm doing all right though - no need to worry! :)

So, while Vincente watches "Nemo" I am going to study for my test.

Wasting Away Again

I'm in one of those "funks" again - the ones where I don't want to do anything but talk to Russ. I've tried to distract myself by working on school work, but I can't even focus on that. I'm sooo going crazy. I need to talk to him. I need to know if we can come see him for Thanksgiving. I NEED to see him for Thanksgiving. 

I really need to talk to Russ. Nothing will happen until I've been able to talk to him. No school work, no house work... I can hardly play with Vincente right now because I'm so distracted. I need my sweetheart. I need to hear his voice. I need to talk to him. I need him.

I think seeing him last week got me hooked again. 12 more days of school, then its a few weeks of vacation and then RUSS FOREVER! Saying that just makes me even more depressed that it's only today... and I haven't talked with him for a few days. I miss him, I miss him, I miss him...