the first day

So, now I will finally write about the first day of classes, even though it's been two days of classes. I am taking survey of Geometry (taught by a high school geometry teacher) and Number Theory, taught by the cutest British professor.

Both should be pretty easy. And Vincente gets to hang out with our portuguese speaking friend, Emily. I know it's been really good for him so far - he gets to hear another person speak Portuguese, so it's not as hard for him to learn. Anyway, he spends time with her while I'm in class, and then we come home and hang out with O Pai.

I have a feeling this summer is going to be perfect. I love my family, and hopefully we'll be able to grow into a family of four!

The Seattle Trip

So, now I write about our trip to Seattle. This was our summer vacation, since Pai will be off to basic training at the end of the summer, and until then, the Mama is in school until December. Seattle was the big trip of the year. Well, here we go:

Thursday -

Early flight out to Seattle. Russ' aunt drove us up and we flew with Sisty the whole way. Vincente did pretty well on his first airplane ride, until the end when he started getting tired and needing to relieve himself. We let him run around for a while, and then changed a few very full diapers.

Arrival in Seattle. We rented a car. Instead of being a sedan, it ended up being an Eclipse - a two door compact sports car. But since we only needed to go one way with five pieces of luggage and four people (three adults plus a baby in a car seat) and we had been traveling for so long, we decided to make it work. We packed in like sardines and made it to the hotel in Bellevue where we would stay with Mom and Dad Werner.

Then we met up with the rest of the family at Ross and Janie's house in Seattle. We spent some time hanging out, then walked a few blocks to the neighborhood golf course and driving range where we practiced on the driving range for a while, then played a 9-hole 3-person family scramble. I played on a team with Dad Werner and Ross. O Pai played on a team with Mom Werner and Wayne. My team won with +5, and Pai's team came in second, I think, with +8 or 9.

After the golf scramble we went home and hung out for a while. We did a little grocery shopping at the neighborhood market. One nice thing about Seattle - there is no big WalMart, just little neighborhood markets where you can go grocery shopping a few blocks away, whenever you need something. Then we made waffles at Ross and Janie's with strawberry, peach, or raspberry toppings.

Friday -

First thing Friday morning we drove out to Snoqualmie Falls, a BEAUTIFUL park about 20 minutes east of Seattle. First we spent some time on a neat gazebo overlooking the falls. The wind carried the spray over to the gazebo. It felt pretty nice, actually. Then we hiked down a steep 1/2 mile trail to the river feeding from the falls. We pushed Vincente in his stroller down the hill, which was tough, but not nearly as tough as pushing him back up. That's what we have Pai's for, though, so Papai pushed him back up the hill. Then we had a nice picnic lunch in the park, sandwiches and salads, etc.

Then it was back to Ross and Janie's for a little hang out time.

After that, Dad and Mom Werner tooks us out to eat at Ivar's Acres of Clams. It was GREAT food. Then we were back off home to hang out until bedtime.

Ross and Vince were munching on french fries at just about the same rate. Like uncle, like nephew?








Saturday -
Saturday morning, Russ and I ran the Puget Sound Race for the Cure. We ended up losing each other between paying for parking and picking up our bibs and shirts, so we ended up picking up two sets of shirts and bibs. Then we found each other about a minute before the race started, but still a block and a half from the start line. So we booked it to the start line, but then ended up taking a minute to get to the start line after they blew the horn to start. So our clocked time was 29 minutes an 22 seconds, but minus the time it took to get to the start line, it was probably more like 28 1/2 minutes.

After the run, we went shopping on our own at a little mall in Bellevue. Russ needed some workout gear and I needed a hairbrush.

The rest of Saturday was spent in downtown Seattle, shopping, eating, playing (Vince loved the pigeons. They didn't share the same sentiment, unfortunately, but he had fun chasing them!)

Saturday evening we went on the Underground Tour of Seattle. Vincente loved running around on the uneven floors underground, and had some entertaining conversations with the tour guide. The tour was about the history of Seattle - 33 city blocks were raised out of the tide flats. The problem was that when the tide was high, the streets got really muddy, and people even drowned in the streets!! (the puddles were called "chuck holes" - because of the chuck wagons that caused them) Vince also made some friends with a few girls on the tour as well. One of them received the first "stranger" high five of the trip! He probably had a crush on her :)

That night for dinner we went to Orexi, a Greek restaurant, for Ross' birthday. It was way good food, but by the time we got to our entrees, we'd filled outselves up on the appetizers! Russ could have eaten more (he got a pasta entree AND a huge salad!!) but we were so tired, and so full, we just boxed it all. Russ ended up eating some of his leftovers for breakfast the next day. He is the only person I know who eats pasta for breakfast :)



Sunday -

Sunday was our last day in Seattle. We caught sacrament meeting with Darla and Brian and their boys, then headed over to Ross and Janie's again where we cooked up some mean Tate Verdi ("Green Potatoes") - basically a creamy pesto sauce over potatoes and chicken. Yummy stuff. My dad's brother, Art, and a few of his kids and grandkids came over as well. Oh, and during all this stuff, GG Joan and Grandpa Cec came along. Art came for most things as well.

After dinner, we sat with GG Joan and looked through family pictures. GG was identifying people so Ross could scan them and preserve some of our family history. We also got Dad Werner, Art, and GG Joan telling stories about where Dad and Art grew up and some of their experiences. Ross recorded it so we can add it to our family history. Unfortunately I didn't get to find out anything new about the Werner side. GG Joan didn't know a whole lot about that side of the family.

At last came time for our flight home. We struggled finding the airport - took the wrong ramp at the interchange and ended up half way to Tacoma before realizing where we were going. But at last we made it to the airport! The flight was delayed in from Chicago, so instead of arriving in SLC at 10:30, we arrived at 11:20. Dad Rowley picked us up at the airport and drove us home to Salem, where we headed straight to bed, just in time for the Mama to get some shuteye before her first day of classes for summer term! But that is a story for another day!

the end

No, I don't mean the end of our blog. I just mean the end of school! Forever! Well, the end of bachelors studies for Russ. My school story is going to stretch out for a few more months (about 6 to be exact). But Russ will be an official BYU graduate next Thursday! (assuming he passes all his classes :D ) I am super excited.
Then the rest of the summer will be WAY more relaxed for us. Well, not if you count getting ready to ship to basic. But as far as time-consuming school, it's finished! I almost never thought it would happen, and here I am, waiting for my sweet husband to take his last finals! And then we're off to Seattle for a MUCH needed vacation.

Hooray for no more school for Russ. I think he deserves this!

Vincente-Speak

Vincente is getting more and more vocal. He's learning so many words. He says "luz" whenever he sees a light (luz = light, portuguese). He also says Hi, Hello, Bye, Cracker, More, Please, Uh-Oh, All Gone, Grandma, Thank You and Outside. All of these have signs with them, except Uh-Oh and Grandma (and of course, More and Please are practically the same word to him).

So, here is a Vincente translation so you can communicate with him when you see him:

"Hi" - hi
"Heh - low" - hello
"Baiyee" - bye
"Crah-crah" - cracker
"Sss" or sometimes "Ssssee" - more/please
"Uh-oh" - uh-oh
"Ah gah" - all gone
"A ma" - grandma
"Asigh, asigh" - outside
"Ayn chtoo" - thank you

He is so smart. He understands pretty much everything I say, and he is very obedient. I don't want to boast, but I think it because I try really hard to help him do whatever it is I ask him to do ("Come here," "Bring that to mama," "Sit down," etc) and then give him oodles of praise when he does what I ask. I think a child's development depends a lot on how hard you work with them, trying to communicate, playing, showing them things, letting them show you things.

Being a mom is the greatest thing I have ever done.

earthquake

The JKB is going to fall down. I just know it.

A crane just outside this building is hammering huge metal beams into the ground. A side effect is the JKB feels like it's going to crumble into a million piece. Oh, and you can't hear the professor. But that's not important anyway :) Who pays attention in class in the first place?!

Sign Language!!

At last, all the hard work, the persistence, the not giving in to his whines!!

Vincente signed PLEASE and MORE today! Maybe I can get him on camera doing it, chances are not.

So, a few days ago he did it like, once. But today he was doing it almost every time he wanted another piece of chocolate! Yes, I know, I'm a horrible mother to feed my son chocolate, but we got it from a ward party, and I can't eat it since I'm fat flushing, but Vincente was bored and I was trying to get some work done, so I gave him a little bite, and then he asked for MORE. After that he kept asking please. He even did a little hiss when he said it.

My son can sign. It's acutally kind of a relief. I was beginning to think he was just a little on the slow side. But he figured it out, and hopefully this is the beginning of a very rich signing relationship between Vincente and his family.

We watch Signing Time all the time. We have DVR at our inlaws where we live, so I just DVR it every Monday afternoon and we watch the episodes all week long. We have three episodes on so far. Eventually we may have all of them. Anyway, it's been great fun. Vincente likes watching it and I wonder if now that he has actually discovered the joy of signing he'll want to sign more words! We'll see!

Life in General

Things are going well lately. I've been losing my patience the last few days with Vincente making so much noise at night, and it's hard to tell if he really needs me or not, because he's been sick, and he's been making the adjustment to living here with the in-laws. But I think things are getting better. We run a fan in both rooms so we can't hear him as well when he makes noise.

School is going well. My teachers are fabulous, the workload isn't too bad (so far) and I'm getting good grades on what I do, so it's looking like it will be a wonderful term. Plus, Spring Term is sooo relaxed and the small class size makes me feel a lot better about school.

My calling is going pretty well, choir is big and exciting. Everyone always compliments them, so that's good.

So, in general, life is good. And that's how I like it.

The Best Thing I've Seen in Years

So, Russ is smiling more. And laughing more. And loving life more. He's less defensive, more humble, fun to be around. All the things that made me fall in love with him in the first place. The past year or so has been really hard with school and work and all other crazy things. I think Russ has just been really really stressed. He does so much for our family and hardly gets the recognition he deserves. Not to mention that stress can just do horrible things to you.

It's nice to have the old Russ back. It's fun to laugh and smile together. The best thing is to be able to joke and gently tease and just love each other!!

There are two seasons of love, I think - there is the season of hardship that requires patience, understanding, and enduring to the end mentality. Then there is the other season of joy and laughter and sunshine and roses. It's like winter and spring. And I think it's a cycle. I think we'll hit another patch of time where we just have to stick it out and remind ourselves that we really do love each other and that even though life is hard right now, and we wonder why we got ourselves in this family mess in the first place, sometime it's going to be all worth it. And when we're in the springtime of love and life, we need to live it to the fullest, taking advantage of each moment, each smile, each touch, each laugh. Because those things will get us through the winter.

And in the end, all we have is each other. Even if we forget how much we love each other sometimes. And boy do we love each other.

Experience Life

(Photo credit: Emily O)

The Goal

It feels good, usually. The cool breeze on my face as my feet touch the warm asphalt and spring effortlessly into the air. As if there were wings on my feet. I am a goddess, rhythmic breathing, stepping, pounding, sliding through the air. The sun beats on my face, chest, arms, back, heating me, pushing me. Under my feet, the crunch of the gravel as my feet own the road. Farther than yesterday, there is more in me today. I can make it to the end. I can do it. There is nothing between me and my goal but the cool air, the warm asphalt, and my steps, my breath. Then I am there, and it is behind me. I have reached it. And it's only the beginning.

Gratitude

There is nothing sweeter than the compassion of a stranger. Someone who can see the stress, the fatigue. Someone who has undoubtedly been there before. Delaying for a few moments so you can have a few moments. Who sacrifices their moments? Probably a mother. For a mother. To escape the monotony. To relax and be finished. Giving moments. When she gave me those moments, my heart was full.

In this case, Settle

They say you should never settle, but when it comes to settling in to a new routine or a new home, settling is probably the best thing you can do.

And we're having a hard time.

I think Russ and Vincente are having the worst of it. I actually feel really relieved to have help, and for Vincente to have playmates, and for him to have a big house to run around in. Babies hate being couped up, and Vincente is no exception. He love to run around and play, and I think he's still getting used to having so much room to move. He walks across the living room, dining room, and into the kitchen and back again so many times in a day it makes me dizzy! But I think he has also had to learn to adjust to being with SO many people ALL the time. There are ten people living in this house right now! It can get REALLY crazy. Not to mention Wednesday morning I had to leave for school before he even woke up, so he didn't see me for a while. I think that did a number on his emotions. Last night he had such a hard time going to sleep. He's been acting up and throwing tantrums - even more than usual for him.

But today things went a little better. Last night I decided that I would take him to school with me and spend most of the day with him, which I did - and I think it paid off. Tonight he went to bed without too much trauma. Just the usual fuss and wanting to cuddle and then he was off to sleepy land.

Russ is having to adjust to living with his parents again. I think it is weird for him because he has such a strong feeling about being independent and living on his own. I think he will do a little better when he starts to relax about being home. It's not like he's home much anyway, between 9 credits at school and 40 hours a week at work. It's kind of crazy.

Picking up the pace

So, the moving is still going slowly, but it's almost done. As I write this post, I am sitting in our new "suite" in my in-laws basement. Vincente is napping in his bed (with new Spongebob sheets from Grandma), and Russ is napping on our bed behind me. Our townhouse is still full of food and I think I forgot to pack the entire downstairs half bath, but most of the things we want are out are safely stored in a dingy little storage unit about five minutes from where we're living now. Speaking of a storage unit, we rented an 8'x10' because we thought we would need it, but it turns out that we are packing pro's and we only fill it up about 2/3 of the way! Of course, the only large things we are storing are the washer and dryer. We brought the couches with us for Russ' folks to use in their basement while they look around for new couches for upstairs. And everything else we got rid of. It was a very liberating feeling to get rid of so much stuff! I am going to start saving for nice furniture for when we move to our new place in California. It takes so much effort to make sure you don't accumulate STUFF!

I hate stuff, by the way. I like to live on the basics, you know? Too much extra stuff and you get bogged down. And you have to figure out where to PUT everything! The only thing I believe you can never have to much of is books. I love having books, I love reading books, I love that my one year old son loves books! It's so important. It expands your mind. You get smarter by reading books. I sure hope Vince loves books as much as his Pai and I do. But boy are they heavy! Packing books isn't so bad, they pack really well into boxes, but carrying them is another story entirely!

So that's our story for now. Moved in. Cleaning after the weekend. Then school starts again. I'm actually pretty excited. Combinatorics and Java. What could be better?

Finals, Moving, and all that Jazz

The Rowleys move on to a new chapter in their lives. Okay, so really just a new section in the same chapter... Spring term!! And moving in with the in-laws. I know, we always swore we would NEVER live with our parents. We always felt that we wanted to be self-sufficient. But then, there comes a time when sanity takes over your pride, thank goodness.


Russ will leave for Basic Traning in August, and since Vincente and I were going to move in with the in-laws then anyway, and they're raising our rent, we decided it would be more intelligent to move in now instead of moving and then moving again.

Finals are finished this week, and then it's moving time! Hopefully we'll be able to get everything done that we need to. We have to get a storage unit and decide what stuff we'll take with us, what stuff we'll put in storage, and what stuff we'll give away/sell/whatever. We hope to get rid of a lot of stuff, and just buy some new furniture when we move to California in December. That way we won't have to store a lot of ugly newly-wed furniture. There's nothing wrong with ugly furniture at first, but after a while you crave a coordinated look for your house to replace the DI showroom look.

two feet

So, I know I already posted today (in fact, I just posted about four seconds ago - plus whatever time it takes me to write this post). I just wanted to give everyone an update on Vincente - who is now a very fluent walker!

He is the cutest baby in the world! And he is growing up sooo fast!

His birthday is in a week and a half. And he'll be ONE! It's crazy how time flies!

goings on in the rowley pad

It's been a while since I've posted. Things are going really well. I am catching up in my math classes (I am 2 homework assignments behind in one class, and a test behind in the other, but I'm taking the test tomorrow, and the two homework assignments will be done by the end of next week, and then I will be caught up. Then there is a test in the other class!


I got a nap in today, which was really nice. I can't even tell you when the last time was that I had a nap. I have been feeling so stressed with school, work, and family. It is amazing to see the hand of the Lord in my life. Here are some examples just from this semester:

At the beginning of the semester, I wasn't able to attend one of my classes because we didn't have anyone to watch Vincente. Then Russ' cousin said she could watch him, just days before the withdraw deadline. I told my professor that I might have to withdraw from his class since I didn't have a sitter. But then, things fell in place, and that has been worked out!


Next, I was struggling a lot in my Partial Differential Equations class. It is a difficult class with a lot of really hard concepts, and while my professor is pretty good, he doesn't help me in the way I need when it comes to questions on the homework. So I started looking for a tutor, I called every tutoring service I could find, emailed every ad that even mentioned any kind of differential equation, and eventually found nothing. Then my professor (who has been very kind and compassionate and thoughtful since the beginning of the semester!) talked to a student in my class who has been doing really well, and asked if he would consider tutoring me. So now I have a tutor (and he's only charging me $10/hr) and it has been AMAZING!

On top of all that, I have been able to manage my time enough to keep the house clean, and play with Vincente, too!

So I am feeling really good about a lot of things, and not as stressed as I've been. I used to be tense and wanted to be working all the time, so napping was out of the question. Vincente sleeping was time for me to get things done! But this afternoon, when he took a nap, I said to myself, "My life is in order, time to take a nap!" And boy did it feel good.

Even if I don't have everything completely done, I feel much more comfortable when I have a plan and I know the plan is going to work, because it has been working.

So anyway, yeah, life is good.

"Ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."

Ether 12:6

taking hits

So, in the movie Rocky Balboa, (Rocky VI, if you like) Rocky says to his kid,

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody!"

Anyway, just a good quote that is really helpful right now.

I just hope I can keep getting up and moving forward.

Back To School

So it's about time I wrote about our back-to-school experience, since we've been in school for a week already. Our schedules are very full, but that's the way life should be - full! As long as you fill it with good things (and some down time).

Pai goes to school pretty much all morning every day, then he comes home to sleep, then he goes to work at night.

Baby Vince comes to school with the mama (sometimes) but we're still trying to figure out someone to watch him during my Analysis class. Dr. Lawlor would let him come, but I hate taking advantage of my nice teachers ... not to mention Vince is a little distracting these days since he likes to talk and screech and hasn't learned the meaning of "quiet".

After school, Vince and I come home and just chill for the rest of the day. Sometimes we have Chrystal's boys over to play, and sometimes we just hang out by ourselves. We try to make it to our ward playgroup, since staying in the house all day every day is not good for your sanity.

So that's our life right now - work, school, family (definitely not in that order!) and will be for this semester and the next. Then Russ graduates!! Hooray for graduations.

School has been great for me. I have been to every one of my classes (I hate missing class) and I understand most of the material. Partial Differential Equations was a little rough starting out, but I think I just had to get my mind into the mode of modeling. Modeling is kind of tricky if you aren't paying close attention to detail, but once I remember that I was once very good at modeling, it came to be like hitting a brick wall - and then I got to explain it to other people, which makes me VERY happy!

Now it is the weekend, after a long week at school (especially since last weekend was a drill weekend for the Pai and he was gone pretty much all weekend!). Today we woke up kind of early, cleaned the house, went shopping, and now Pai is selling his plasma (that's how he gets his spending money). When he gets home he'll probably take a nap for a while, then we'll hang out and probably go out to see a movie tonight.

Gotta love these boys!

the simple facts

We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Some people call us Mormons, Latter Day Saints, or LDS. The important part is - we're Christians.

The Church was not reformed, it was restored to the prophet Joseph Smith in upstate New York in 1830. Joseph Smith was the first prophet and president. The Church is now led by President Gordon B. Hinckley, and the headquarters are in Salt Lake City, UT.

There are over 13 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in over 176 countries and territories. 6 million are in the United States - that means we are the 4th largest Christian denomination in the US.

The local congregations are served by a lay ministry. All the leaders and teachers are volunteers, with both men and women serving in assigned leadership positions.

"Mormons are well represented in politics and government. (In the United States, for example, there are 16 members in Congress, from both political parties.) Members also serve in high and trusted positions throughout the world in business, medicine, law, education, media, sports, and entertainment." -President Boyd K. Packer



For other facts about Mormons, or Latter Day Saints, visit http://www.mormon.org

If you want to know about how the gospel has blessed our lives, just keep reading our blog - or email us - or ask us!

the testimony

I am so grateful for the Lord's influence in my life. He is so good to us. When we obey His commandments, he blesses us. I think that when we are living the gospel, it is easier to see His hand in our lives.

It is my prayer that we keep our family on the straight and narrow.

Because the Lord came once, in a humble stable in Bethlehem. He came and taught. He healed the sick, raised the dead, made the blind to see. He suffered in Gethsemane and died on the cross and Calvary to save us and to open the way to live with God again. Because He loves us.

He is the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the redeemer.

He came.

And He will come again.

I want to be ready.

the first of many

first things first
life is wonderful
even when it gives you all those citrusy fruits
gotta love the citrus
that's most of the fun - making lemonade!
especially when you make it a family affair

now - to tell you about the goings on of the rowleys

in the end of december, there came a change
a commitment
a promise

i do solemnly swear

that i will support and defend the consitution of the united states and the state of utah
against all enemies, foreign and domestic
that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same
and that i will obey the orders of the president of the united states and the governor of utah
and the orders of the officers appointed over me
according to laws and regulations

this was the beginning of a new chapter in the life of the rowleys
one filled with hope, direction, purpose, and most of all, security

and so - we are an army family with a pai who is 100% american soldier. and we are so proud of him for his willingness to serve