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.