More Mania!!

OH MY WORD!! Our family is getting dealt some more crazy twists and turns!! (thankfully nothing life threatening or critical, just crazy) ;)

So, most of you know (especially if you read my earlier pathetic post) that Scott has been gone for the past 5 weeks. Well, Scott called me last Thursday night (the day before he came home) to give me Good News and News.

The Good News- he's not going with the Advanced Deployment Group. Meaning he's not leaving May 1st, but more towards the end of the month (20th-28th). Yay! I get a whole extra month with him!!
Hahaha, at least that's what I thought until he gave me the News (notice there's no Good or Bad if front of it??). Scott has been blessed with the opportunity to go to this awesome school called JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller). He's super excited about this course because he gets to coordinate (and call the shots) dropping bombs from flying things (fixed wing and roto wing) to bad guys on the ground. Plus a bunch of other cool reasons that are a little more complicated to explain on here. The reason it's not Good News, the school is 4 weeks long, and on the other side of the country in Virginia Beach, VA.

I mean, seriously, am I going to see my husband at all this year???

So, Scott is here all this week (still working crazy hours) and then leaves on Easter (gone 4/12-5/9). Now, the other part to this story that has been in the works for the past couple of months: we're trying for #3. (Yep, crazy Marine couple is trying to have a third child when the husband is never home and he's deploying for 6-12 months.) Annoyingly, I've got some medical things that are totally working against us in this department so I just went into the Doc's on Monday and we are (read: I am) starting the wonderful process of Clomid. Yes, fertility drugs. But, they only work if I have sex. With my husband. Hard to believe, I know. So, what are we to do?

Uproot the whole family for a month and follow Scott to Virginia.

So while I'm typing this, I'm also stressing out about how to get myself and chitlins across country. To drive or to fly, that is the question. Yeah, I know a bunch of you saw the drive part and thought "WHAT is she thinking?!?", but since we're planning on being there for almost three weeks, and the kids require so much extra gear (i.e., two car seats, pack-n-play, stroller, clothes, etc), it's seriously cheaper to drive then to fly. And for those who really know me know I love road trips! I really do love driving all over the USA, but I'm not exactly thrilled about the thought of being by myself with 2 little ones. Is it doable, totally. Am I crazy, probably. Still undecided, so jury is out.

I really just want to be with my husband. I want to spend as much time as possible with him before he leaves for who knows how long. I also want the kids to spend as much time with him, too. They miss him and don't understand why Daddy isn't around to tuck them in at night. And, poor Scott hates that he's missing so much of their lives. So, we're going to try and do whatever we can to be together as much as possible. Even if it means only seeing him at night and on the weekends in Virginia rather then not seeing him at all in California. Oh-rah.

My Brother and his Starbursts

Ok, I just read my brother's blog and couldn't stop laughing. The poor guy was really upset and you just have to read about what he did! Click here to find out...

OOPS! Forgot that their blog is set to private. So, I just copied it and pasted it below. Thanks Eirian for sharing it! :)



I wanted to share this email that Johnny wrote the manufacturer of Starbursts a while back because I truly laughed for days about it and I think it could be a great SNL monologue.


From: johnnyXXXXXX@hotmail.com
To: askus@masterfoodsusa.com

Subject: Starburst Severely Disappoints


To whom it may concern:

I recently purchased a bag of Starburst original fruit chews and after reaching into the bag blindly for the first 8-10 times and pulling out nothing but lemon or orange chews, I grew suspicious and decided to empty out the contents and tally up exactly how many pieces of each flavor there were remaining. To start, as I just said, I pulled out and ate about 8-10 pieces of either lemon or orange Starburst, no other flavor. I emptied the bag and there were 31 remaining pieces of candy. Here is what was in the bag: 13 pieces of Lemon Starburst, 12 pieces of Orange Starburst, 3 pieces of Cherry Starburst, and 1 (yes, only one) piece of Strawberry Starburst. Meaning in the ENTIRE BAG of Starburst I purchased, there was 4 pieces of Starburst that WERE NOT LEMON OR ORANGE.... Sorry but that is just plain unacceptable. ONE PIECE OF STRAWBERRY? Are you kidding me? I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a joke, so I seriously asked my wife if she planted the bag. She is adamant she didn't and of course I believe her. Three pieces of cherry? Wow, I can't even tell you how dissappointed I was, especially since Cherry and Strawberry are my favorite flavors. What does your "STARBURST research" show as the most popular flavor? I doubt it is lemon or orange. I'm not saying I don't like those flavors, but I am saying if I could pick between those or cherry/strawberry, 10/10 times I'd pick the latter. Maybe there's economics behind it, maybe it wasn't a mistake, maybe Strawberry/Cherry artificial flavoring are more expensive than lemon or orange. My favorite thing is that you don't even show a lemon piece of candy on the package. It's 1 strawberry, 2 Cherry, and 1 Orange. Trying to sell cherry? Good ol' bait and switch. Nice work. You fooled me. The thing is, although I've never counted before, my memory tells me that this isn't a one time thing. I should know better since I eat more Starburst than I care to admit. Although that might change. Mamba's aren't bad, and they give me a proper ratio of all flavors... Please fix this.

Starburst lover on hold, Johnny J

Please feel free to email me back and ask any questions you want. I'd send you the Best Before Date and the other number below it, but it's smeared and fairly unreadable. Maybe while you're at it you should fix that machine also. It looks like it say 08/2009 (but like I said I can't really tell),the other number is 8182AWA??3, but the only ones I know 100% is the 81 at the beginning...I will save the bag, I can mail it to you if you want and you can see if you can read what it says. I've got it right here in my drawer.

Another trip to the Lonely Marines Wives Club

So, I know, I've been a really bad blogger and it's been awhile since I've posted. I've got tons of good excuses, which I know all of you can relate to. Well, there's one excuse that maybe only a few of you will really get, my fellow military wives, whose husbands are always gone.
Scott's gotten to that point where deployment is getting closer and closer and there are more things for him to take care of, to fix, to plan for, marines to train, to discipline, etc., which means more time at work and less at home. He's been putting in 14 to 16 hour work days (Monday thru Friday) giving him enough time to come home and sleep- barely. And those are the weeks that he's in garrison (in the office and not in the field). When he's in the field he's gone for days at a time. Most recently he left for 29 Palms, a vast desert of dirt and mountains, to train for a full five weeks.
I'm not writing all of this to complain, believe me, I had full knowledge of what I was getting into when I married Scott, even though I swore I was done with long-distance relationships!! Ha, God really does have a sense of humor. When I was younger I was in a serious relationship where a majority of it was all long distance. I remember praying about that relationship and if it was something I should stay in and if I should wait for this guy to come home, and I always got the answer to wait. I've always wondered why I kept getting that answer, especially since in the end the relationship didn't work out. So, besides the fact that I did met the man of my dreams and things all worked out for the best (Yay!), I think the Lord had another lesson for me to learn through all that. During this previous relationship, the guy I was waiting for was serving a mission for our church and the only way we could communicate was through letters because it was against the mission rules for him to call home (except for Christmas and Mother's Day). I was a good girlfriend and wrote him letters several times a week, sent packages, and tried to keep him in the loop of my life while he was gone. This covered a space of two full years.
Recently I've been trying to mentally prepare for Scott's deployment to Afghanistan. He's going to be part of the "Spring Surge" going into an area that hasn't been occupied by UN troops. Meaning: he will have no internet access, no phone access, and the only time letters will be delivered/picked up is when they are in need of food/ammo (due to the high threat of IED's on any vehicle transport). Scott is my best friend, my other half, and as many military wives who have survived a deployment know, having that link of communication is what keeps you going. It's what you live for, what you wake up in the morning for, what keeps life some what sane. Hearing Scott's voice is the one thing that is guaranteed to make everything instantly ok. I never thought (especially with all the high tech advances) that my only form of communication with my husband would be through letters. It's funny that I'm now actually thankful that I was in that previous relationship where all I did was write letters. It kinda makes this deployment easier to face cause I know I already "survived" this before (well, except for now it's my Husband, not a boyfriend, and he's going to be in a full on war zone with real ammo being shot at him, and not in a friendly, non-threatening country like Finland- Haha, gotta love reality.)
I'm grateful to know that the Lord is watching over me and always has. I'm so humbled to have this knowledge that He has given me previous guidance and experiences to help when I am faced with harder challenges. I know the challenges haven't really started yet. Scott's training schedule at 29 Palms has been brutal and there's little cell reception, but over the past week and half he's been gone we've been able to talk a couple of minutes here and there. It'll be interesting to see how the kids and I (and Scott!) survive this upcoming deployment. I'm just so thankful to have the gospel in my life and the knowledge that I can and will always be able to turn to the Lord whenever I need to. In the meantime, I'll be another member of the Lonely Marines Wives Club.

The Next Super Star of Dance

This was just way too funny not to share! Enjoy!

It's all about Layers, baby!

So, the other morning while I was getting ready for the day, Brennen comes running into my room with all of these clothes on that he had totally put on by himself! Which is truly amazing because I've rarely seen him put anything on that I haven't told, begged, or yelled at him to put on. So, when I saw his style-savvy dressing skills, I just had to get it on film!

It all started with two shirts and a pair of shorts...

After he ran into my bathroom to show me his dressing abilities, he ran straight back to his room and proceeded to add another shirt to his ensemble...

And another pair of shorts...

And another shirt... (notice the very proud smile he's sporting!)

Now here's the funny part- we've been working on potty training all week and before he had gotten dressed, he had used the potty (when he woke up). Well, he was so excited about his outfit that he forgot he didn't have a diaper on, so he leaked a little and needed me to help him take his shorts off. As I was peeling off the two pairs of shorts I discovered two more layers!!! I had no idea he had a pair of boxers and underwear on, too! Four layers on bottom and four layers on top! And I forgot to mention that he even put on a couple of baseball caps on, too! My silly, silly boy.

P.S. After four full days of NO diapers and only two small accidents (including the fore mentioned one), and multiple trips to the bathroom for both purposes, I think I can say he's potty trained!!! YEAH!!!

161st Mormon Battalion Festival

Last Saturday we all went down to Old Town to enjoy and celebrate 161 years since the Mormon Battalion came into San Diego and helped settle it. We had so much fun going around to all of the different booths to see how the people lived way back when. We even ran into a few old friends!

Trying out some stilts that were way too short!

Much better!

Making the most delicious rolls I've ever had!

Ran into "our boys" from our old ward. We love these guys (and their awesome dance skills!).

We've got PIGTAILS!!

Happy day is here at last! Now that church starts a little later for us, I had a little more free time to play with Lindie's hair, and to my amazement she let me play with it long enough to get two totally cute pigtails on her! Proof her hair is growing! Well, at least in the back. We're still wondering how long she's going to have this mullet, it's just not growing on top... Even though, I still think she's the cutest thing ever. :)

You know it's gonna be a bad day when...

...it's only 8:30 in the morning, you're running late, you finally get your son dressed (after 15 minutes convincing him why it's important to wear pants), and then you smell something bad and you see this...
I mean, really?? I had JUST put these pants on the boy. Agh.

Summer in the Winter

Ok, for those of you who are stuck in multiple inches of snow and haven't seen the sun in awhile, I'm forewarning you that this post might create some feelings of jealousy and annoyance. The past couple of days are the reason I never want to leave San Diego. I love San Diego and the number one reason is the weather! No where else in this great country (except for south Florida and Hawaii) can you get weather like this in the middle of winter! Today Oceanside hit a record high of 85 degrees! It has been so absolutely gorgeous outside for the past couple of days that the kids and I have taken several opportunities to enjoy it. On Saturday evening I took the kids to the beach for a sunset picnic and to play in the sand. We had so much fun! (Scott has been in the field for the past 6 days so he's been enjoying the heat with a ton of gear on in the middle of Camp Pendleton with a bunch of dirty stinky Marines! So, poor Scott missed out. :( ) Anyways, thought I'd share some pics of us on the beach in the middle of January! :)

A little slice of heaven!

The best pic I could get of the three of us.The Oceanside PierThere were these awesome old-school "pirate" ships (according to Brennen) that were sailing back and forth. We got to watch them drop their sails and even fire quite a few cannons!

The stupid seagull that kept trying to steal our food (at one point right out of Lindie's hand- scared the poor girl crazy!) and eventually took off with the whole McD's bag!

My little princess

Even though the pictures don't show a lot of people around, you can see all the people and animal prints that were left behind...

Happy Birthday Brennen!!

Welp, our little baby boy turned THREE today. Which, doesn't really make him a baby anymore, huh? It even barely makes him a toddler, which really makes him a -gasp!- PRESCHOOLER!?!? WHAT?!? How did that happen? Where did the time go? Didn't I just bring him home from the hospital? (Ok, so if we hadn't moved so much since he was born, I think it really wouldn't have seemed like a long time ago. For some reason I keep thinking he's turning 4. Goes to show all these moves are messing with my head!) Seriously though, he just grew before our eyes and he's a real little boy now. And when I say boy, I mean genuine-thrill-seeking-action-figure-jumping-crazy-non-stop-moving little boy. It amazes Scott and I how active he is and that he hasn't had a cast applied to some part of his body yet! I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and keep praying that I didn't just jinx him. Ha! We're just so thankful and feel so blessed to have Brennen in our family. He has the sweetest little spirit, and he's already proven what an awesome big brother he is with how protective and caring he is towards Lindie. He has been so much fun (even though his stubbornness has been trying) and is so loving and cute that we can't help but feel so lucky to be his parents.

To celebrate Brennen's big 3rd birthday we threw him a party at a fun place called PLAYWERX. Wow! We've been there a couple of times, but it was the best idea for a bunch of active 2-3 yr old boys and Lindie! They had such a great time. Not only did my little boy have a blast, my big boy had just as much fun! I think Scott spent as much time playing (if not a little longer) then Brennen! It got a little crazy during the party because Playwerx hit capacity (I'm sure due to the rain outside) and there were kids and parents everywhere!! But even with all the people there we all had a great time!