Loves to the Birthday Girl!!!!

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY, RHIANNON!

Oh, how we love this girl!

Rhiannon and I were up early looking at pictures of her as a baby, etc.--what a cutie! She brightens our days and makes us so happy. Life would be so different without her! Love you, sweetie! (Enjoy the slideshow--I couldn't find all her baby pictures, but I think these will do just fine! :))

Kings Dominion

We had a very nice Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday some friends invited us over for a barbecue, and then yesterday we went to Kings Dominion with our friends Scott, Zack, and Jake. The camera batteries died just minutes after we got to the park, so I don't have a lot of pictures, but we had a terrific time and put in a solid 8-hour play day there!

Today we went back to the grindstone. Jason will be in MN this week, Rhiannon has testing at school, and Wade and I will stay busy at home! This morning I scubbed the fireplace hearth and cleaned the top of the fridge, and then I packed up 3 boxes. My goal is to do a little bit each day the next two weeks so that it won't be so crazy at the end! :)

One.Month.Left.

Two years ago today I was busy getting ready for a European adventure with my hubby and a life-changing move to Virginia. Today I've spent some time getting organized mentally for a 2-week cross-country trip back to California and a return to Ridgecrest. Am I dreaming? Didn't we just get here?

There isn't enough space here to give you a run-down of our final month. Um, it's going to be busy. Fun. Stressful. Crazy. Memorable. We're excited for Howard and Sandi to get here and looking forward to celebrating Rhiannon's birthday. After that we've got some last-minute mini-adventures to accomplish, school years to finish, friends to see, pictures to take, house to pack up and clean, and...before...we...know...it....we'll be out of here!

I'm so grateful that we did this. We knew going into it that it was the right thing to do, and we've been blessed! It's been an amazing adventure, and we are going to miss it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Today we're sending a shout-out to UNCLE JORDAN and COUSIN ALEX! We love you and are thinking of you today!

Stop horsin' around

A couple funny things happened this morning that I didn't want to forget. Rhiannon packed a lunch last night for her school picnic today and also grabbed one of the "old towels" in the basement to sit on. This morning we headed out to walk to school and Rhiannon, in her sweet way, said that she was a little embarrassed by her lunchbox.


I tried to compute that and didn't understand at first, because, well, she'd picked the lunchbox before school started, right? My absolutely-crazy-about-horses horse lover, right? She said, "Well, Mom...I saw a FIRST GRADER with this same lunch box. And I'm not really into horses anymore." She made the best of it by turning her lunchbox so that the horsey faced in, instead of out, and we said a mantra something along the lines of "I am smart, I am beautiful, and I can use this lunchbox today and be okay with it." She really is an easy kid.


This little experience reminded me that our "little girl" is growing up...FAST! She'll be nine in just 10 days--I can hardly believe it. It is fun and a little sad to watch how she's changed. For now she is all about cats, reading, Poptropica games on the web, jump-roping at recess, and her good friends at school. We'll have to see what's new or different for her 6 months from now. I'm hopeful that she'll survive the move okay--but it will be hard to say goodbye to Virginia.


The other funny thing, or not so funny, is that halfway into our walk to school, I realized that out of all the towels in the basement, Rhiannon chose the stolen hotel towel to bring for the picnic. Now, WE didn't steal it, and I'm not saying our landlords did either. It was in the house when we moved in, though; a big, fluffy pristine white towel with two giant Sheraton symbols on it. Here I was telling Rhiannon that she could go ahead and deal with the horsey lunch box and that it didn't matter what other people thought...but as soon as I saw that towel, we turned right around and went home and traded the Sheraton towel for another one!

Check it out!

This is cool. I remember when my mom got a special radio that broadcasted Church programs. Now it's just a click away on your computer!

http://radio.lds.org

12

In honor of our 12th wedding anniversary, here are 12 things I've loved about today:


1. Being with Jason
2. D-licious lunch at Uno
3. Holding Jason's hand
4. Giant chocolate peanut butter cup dessert at Uno
5. Feeling that giddy happy marriage feeling
6. Cruising in the date night car, or in this case, date afternoon car
7. Remembering our wedding day
8. Thinking that 12 years sounds like forever but doesn't feel like it
9. Using free movie tickets for date afternoon (thanks, Tolboes!)
10. Being blown away by Star Trek movie. Seriously. Go. See. It.
11. Enjoying a quiet evening at home with the kiddoes
12. Jason! (Love ya, babe!)

Mommy do'

I can't put my hair in a ponytail, but that's the point. It was my signature hairstyle to everything, church, shopping, exercise, date night, etc, so I took the plunge and chopped it. For now I am really enjoying it, and I figure that I won't have a chance to hate it because it grows so fast!

This week has been quick and easy. And Jason and I get to top it off by celebrating our TWELFTH wedding anniversary tomorrow!!! WOO-HOO!

Growth

We've experienced a lot of growth out here on the East Coast, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and, uh...physically. Here's proof:

The foot on the left is MINE, and the foot on the right is RHIANNON'S! (She turns 9 in less than 3 weeks)

At least we got the t-shirt!

On Saturday we got on the road and drove 3.5 hours to Chincoteague Island, VA. We had scheduled a boat tour with Captain Spider Fleming to take us around to the other side of Assateague Island so that we could see the famous wild ponies that live there. (This was a MAJOR selling point for getting Rhiannon excited about our East Coast adventure, back when we were still in CA.) It was an absolutely gorgeous day with clear skies, but the wind stalled our plans and we decided that it would be better to cancel the tour than to go on the boat and have a rotten time on the choppy water.



None of us felt it was a complete bust, though:
1) We got a good lunch on the island.
2) We enjoyed being together!
3) We were dealt with fairly and honestly by Captain Spider
4) We got t-shirts out of the deal.
5) After 7 hours in the van, we got primed for our MUCH LONGER road trip coming up.
6) We did see a statue of a wild pony. :)
7) We stopped by a neat NASA visitors center called Wallops.

Thinking of you!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the wonderful women who make a difference in our family's lives!
WE LOVE YOU!

Blur

It's been a very full week, emotionally and physically.

On Wednesday I attended the funeral of a woman I'd only met once. She was the daughter of some good friends in our ward who've been especially kind to our kids. Shawnie was their 5th child, one of 8 kids. She died very unexpectedly; she was only 35 and leaves behind her husband and 3 young boys. Though I didn't know her, I have felt her family's pain this week. I keep thinking about what her husband Travis said at the funeral about being "mentally exhausted, physically ill, and spiritually perplexed." Please keep the Romney and Tull families in your prayers.

The Rolling Valley ward has been amazing in this situation. People have opened their homes to the Romneys' relatives and provided transportation to/from airports, helped with funeral arrangements, and cooked massive amounts of food. Come to think of it, this is probably the 4th or 5th time since we've lived here that I've seen this ward come to the aid of those who've lost loved ones. It's such a blessing to have that physical support along with the spiritual reassurance that comes from knowing Heavenly Father is in charge.

I took Jason to the airport on Monday, cooked some casseroles for people, cleaned up the house in case people needed to stay here, taught Joy School twice, prepared Mother's Day cards/CDs, and helped make some arrangements for the Teacher Appreciation events at Rhiannon's school this week. Oh, and today is the first day I've really seen sunshine, and not clouds/rain, in 7 days. It was quite the week--such a blur! But I feel lighter now--Jason is coming home today and we are taking a family day trip tomorrow to Chincoteague Island!

1000 Words, Part 2

Many moons ago I posted another "1000 words". It's a favorite of my dad's (and mine!). You can see it HERE. Our new friend Eric took a shot of Wade running to third base during a recent t-ball game. I'd say it's a keeper, too--what do you think?