Breathe In, Breathe Out

Once again I have fallen victim to life itself and have completely avoided any blogging attempts. I just can't seem to pull things together these days. I think I'm going through a rough patch in life. Yeah. That's it. Its a rough patch, yet everywhere I turn is rough. Thus technically its more like a rough pasture and not a patch. Eventually, I will find a way onto a smooth paved road, but not with the help of a GPS. I'm lost enough, I don't need a faulty computer generated GPS to get me stranded in the middle of nowhere. (haha) Anyhow, back to the point of this blog. Breathe in, breathe out. These are the words I speak to myself every few hours. Yes, I'm talking to myself now, but not answering so there isn't much to be worried about. After having moved into this new enormous home that we purchased we've been pretty busy as one could imagine. This isn't a fixer upper by any means. Its a brand new house. But there are things that have to be done to make the house a home, and make it comfy, cozy, and welcoming. Therefore, a lot of painting has been going on. The kids' bedrooms, laundry room, office and garage have all been painted. The garage has a pretty new epoxy floor. Its actually quite nice, and Mark did an amazing job on it. Furniture has been moved in, boxes have been unpacked and so on and so forth. The backyard has been demolished and is now pretty much a blank slate; with the exception of the 3 trees left back there. Now the yard needs to be cleared of all the debris. That's going to be fun. A fence needs to be built. Shrubs have been uprooted in the front of the house leaving the flower beds stark. Enough talk about the house. Christmas as well as the New Year has come and gone. Christmas was uneventful and by far the smallest Christmas we have ever had, however the kids didn't utter a single word of disappointment. They each received a single gift from Santa in addition to 2 gifts from us. Collectively they got a Wii. Yes, a Wii. We aren't big gamers, but we finally broke down when the offer was too good to pass up. They love that thing. I on the other hand, well, I will be playing games while the boys are at school. I totally got owned by Taylor on every single game we played together, with the exception of pool. I didn't hustle the kid. I can barely play pool in real life. Now, when I was a kid and we had a pool table in the dining room, I could hustle anyone that came in the house. I'm a lot out of practice these days, but I won that game. It was so bad when we were playing baseball that I lost the game because Taylor's team mercy-ruled my team. Now that is pathetic. I got mercy-ruled by an 8 year old on Wii. Bonnie got the kids a gift that the entire neighborhood loves. A trampoline. I have to say, I was pretty stoked about getting the trampoline myself. Memories of my teen years drifted into my head, but I'm not posting those here. I've gotten on it and jumped a few times with the kids. They love it. I love it. Mark loves it. The neighborhood loves it, so thanks Gammie for the awesome gift! Mark and Rick actually put it together in the pouring rain on Christmas Eve. They had on rain coats, but no rain pants. They came in completely soaked from the waist down. It was funny, and I'm sure that is a memory the two of them will share for a long time. So, back to Christmas Eve, my grandfather passed away early that morning. I was very upset, and it wasn't the best of Christmases for me, however, I was expecting it. He wasn't doing well, and I already had my suitcase packed with funeral appropriate clothing. I was in Texas by myself for 5 days. My absolutely, wonderful, God-send of a sister took care of the kids for a couple of days while Mark worked. It was nice to be able to go to the funeral and grieve on my own. The kids didn't know my grandfather, other than very vague memories of a man in a wheelchair who couldn't speak. Explaining death to them was not on my agenda any time soon, so I opted to leave them behind. My grandfather will be so missed by us all. We all loved him dearly, as he loved us dearly. Quick anecdote: When I was about 4 years old, my grandfather had a black, mustang hatchback. Oh how I loved that car. I still love mustangs to this day, and definitely favor the older body styles much more than the newer ones. I've always wanted a mustang, and perhaps one day I'll have one. Anyhow, I loved that car. He knew I loved it, and he would take me along for rides whenever he could. I always asked if I could sit in the back up by the window and he always told me no because he could get into trouble for it. Forget about it being dangerous! LOL. I guess I pestered, begged and groveled enough because he finally gave in one day. After basking in the glory of my success for a little bit, he was pulled over. Yep. I helped my grandpa earn a ticket at the young age of 4. I will always remember that day, and I can't help but to laugh when I think about it.
Okay, enough of that. I enjoyed the time with my family, and it was great to see them all. I spent my last night there with my older cousins. We had a few too many drinks, but it was a fun time. The next day I journeyed back home. For New Year's we didn't do anything at all. We watched Up with the kids and fell asleep before midnight. haha Fast forward a few days to today. Mark is gone, again. He is back in California for 3 months. I am still looking for work, and trying to get school situated. Like I said before, breathe in, breathe out.

5K!

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and sister came to visit. Liz, nonchalantly asked if I wanted to run a 5K, and I said, sure what the hell, why not!
Anyone who knows me knows that I actually enjoy running. It clears my head, helps relieve stress and is something I consider fun. I haven't been running in so long. My treadmill has been back in California for the last four months, and its finally here in Florida with me. This means I can actually run more often, which is good.
Being that I hadn't ran in so long, I actually "joined" a running club. Okay, so I'm not an official member of the club just yet, as I have to run with them 9 more times to be a real member, but whatever. I joined their silly little club, none the less. Don't laugh, and no comments, but its with an Irish Pub down by the beach. After I run with them 10 times, I am privy to their 'world famous' shirt. With the shirt, comes a sense of pride, belonging, and a discount on beer and food at the pub. Now, you probably won't find me sitting inside drinking beer with people I don't know, and you definitely won't find me drinking and then driving home. I'm sure it will be some time before I make any friends that are already a part of the group. The run with them was fun, and it felt so good to get back out there. They run every Tuesday night at 6 PM. The route they run along is by the water, which of course is a big bonus for me. The route is 3.19 miles long, so its just slightly longer than a 5K. I hope to run with them more often and on a regular basis.
Okay, so back to the 5K. Liz totally bailed on me and didn't do it. I was really bummed because I was looking forward to doing something fun with her. We woke up before the crack of dawn, 5 AM, and we drove the hour to Orange Beach, AL. We were one of the first to arrive to the event, which made things a little less chaotic. I signed in, and picked up my t-shirt, racing packet, and timing chip. I was a little nervous, but also excited to do this. This was my first race, and surely wouldn't be the last!
The race started at 8 AM for people that were running the half marathon (13.5 miles) yikes!! Maybe next year I will have built up enough endurance to brave the run. The 5K (3.1 miles) race started at 8:10 AM. It took me 35 minutes and 27 seconds to run 3.1 miles. The track had way more hills than I was anticipating. As one lady put it, "Who knew the beach was so hilly!" I averaged each mile at about 11 miles per minute which to me is beyond awful. My focus now is to bring my time down, and work on endurance and stamina. Overall, I finished 5th out of 29 women in my age division between the ages of 25-29. And out of all of the women in the race, I finished 55th out of 241.
I am proud of my accomplishment, and I am very much looking forward to the next event. I'm not too sure what the next event is, but I am currently preparing for the Double Bridge Run in February of next year. I am going to try to complete the entire run, which is a 15K (9.3 miles). The course for this run crosses two bridges (hence the double bridge name), that lead to Pensacola Beach. These two bridges are pretty steep, and I'm not looking forward to that, but I am prepared to train for it. Wish me luck!!!!
Here are the pics from my first race!

The boys staying warm in the truck before the race.

Mark and Ryleigh staying warm in the truck before the race.

Me before the race, trying to stay warm!

Getting things started!

Starting the race off...

FINISHED!!!!!

My first bib from my first race!

I'm in Love with Another Man!!!

And his name is Tony Horton!! For those of you who have no clue who Tony Horton is, don't go getting all crazed on me! He's the guy that does the P90X workouts. :) I ordered my stuff for the workouts a couple of weeks ago, and was totally excited to get it all in the mail. I did my very first workout the day I got everything. It kicked my butt like you would not believe. It was an awesome workout, and I felt great when I was done with it. Unfortunately, I didn't keep up with it like I should have due to unforseen circumstances. . . like my evil dog ripping my toenail off, and not feeling well. I started back up with the program exactly a week ago. I actually look forward to working out. The workouts push me, work muscles I forgot I had, make me sweat and swear, but most of all, they are actually fun. I know most people don't think of the two words fun and workout in one sentence, but I'm a little crazy. lol. I have really enjoyed this last week and am super excited going into my second week. I've already done my workout for today. If you've heard of it, heard other people's stories or what have you, and you were really skeptical, I say, give it a shot! I've got another 82 days worth of workouts before I complete one round of the program. Anyway, I just wanted to rant and rave about the program. I love it, and its worth a try!!! Oh, and the kids like to stand behind me and workout too, if they are awake. :) Who knows maybe once I start toning up, I'll be brave enough to post pictures! Yeah, probably not, but whatever! lol.

No Clever Title Here

I couldn't think of anything to explain why I've been on hiatus yet again, and how my lack of blogging now leaves me in an update predicament. So here, goes, boring, generic blog, enjoy.

I don't even remember what my last blog was about, so I'll just start with "WE MOVED!" Yes, again. When are we not moving? Okay, but seriously, this time, I'm pretty sure we won't be moving again. I believe my words to Mark were, "Good luck getting me to leave this place. I'm in love and I'm having an affair . . . with the beach." I'm such a good wife, right? Honestly, this place is great. We have found our dream home, okay, maybe not we, just me. Mark is more of a Northwest guy, loves the mountains and the snow. How did we end up together again? Oh yeah, that's right, he found me at my favorite place on earth. haha. Mark has never stepped foot in this house. In fact, he has never even physically seen it, but I'm sure he'll love it. I love this house. Its in the country, and its not far from the city or the beach.

Taylor goes to a great school. Its one of the best in the county, which really doesn't say much considering the school district was ranked like number 50 out of 55 for the state of Florida. But, it is a great school, and he will excel no matter what. I don't think much is going to ever hinder him, except confidence. He needs more of it, but then again, don't we all. His teacher is sweet, and his class is small. He has a class of 16, how awesome is that. I love the smaller class size because it makes for a much better teaching environment. That, and the teacher doesn't have to run to her locked cabinet and take a swig from her flask throughout the day.

Austyn is doing great. He is loving living in the new house, mostly the fact that he gets to ride his bike in the road. Being that there aren't a whole lot of people on our street, all of the kids on the street ride their bikes into the culdesac and race and play. There are a lot of kids on our street for him to play with, and having friends makes him happy.


Ryleigh on the other hand, is still doing great. She is still having issues with her shyness. I really can't blame her considering we are in a new, strange place, surrounded by new, strange people. She does okay most of the time, and she is adjusting very well. She is absolutely in love with having her own bathroom with her pink toothpaste, pink shampoo, and pink body wash. I must admit that I love walking into her bathroom because it smells so girlish.


Roscoe is doing good. I think he loves Florida. He has become increasingly protective, and that makes me feel good. He is such a good boy, and he's adjusting well. Bailey on the other hand. *sigh* Bailey is going to be the death of me. She is such a puppy and it drives me crazy. I don't have the time, patience, or love to deal with her. Sad, but true.


Mark is doing well, I suppose. He and I don't talk much these days. He's been pretty busy working on a hard to get qualification. He's a hard worker, and he's amazing at what he does, so I'm confident that he'll knock their socks off. Everything is still as scheduled for his homecoming, or at least we think. He is still waiting on having those orders in his hands. Time is winding down and he will soon be back in the awesome town of Lemoore and then headed for us.


I am doing good, or as good as possible considering I'm living like a homeless person in an abandoned house. Okay it isn't that bad. We have an air mattress, two computers, internet access, toys, clothes, some dishes, things to cook with, a fridge, food, working water and electricity, so I'm a sophisticated not so homeless person. But at the same time, that's all we have, and I have three kids I have to entertain as well as two dogs. I'm still looking for work. I've applied everywhere and anywhere possible. I'm also in my third term of school, and I'm beyond over it. School is overrated, but I've managed to eek out a bunch of B's, so that's promising.


Well I suppose that's about all I have to talk about this time around. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, because I always am, but I don't have the patience to sit here and rack my brain over a blog.

Ehhh...I've Been on an Extended Sabbatical...Yeah, That's It!

Hello out there to anyone who hasn't completely deserted me and my blogging efforts; I'm hoping someone still has faith in me. The last time I blogged, the boys had just finished up their baseball season, and we just found out that Mark was selected for the Blue Angels. Wow! That seems like it was so long ago. Since then I have been as busy as possible. We decided to pack up and move to Florida early; a decision that didn't come lightly. Taylor finished up the school year as a second grader, and is now a third grader. Mark left on deployment at the end of July. We were lucky enough to get the chance to venture up North to Washington and spend a week with family. Boy it sure was a great week. We hadn't seen most of them in more than a few years. We were able to see everyone, with the exception of John, David, and Cindy. The kids thoroughly enjoyed visiting with family as well. We were even able to take some time to visit the Portland Zoo with Rick and Lisa. It was a beautiful zoo, and much more realistic to natural habitats than any zoo I'd ever been too. The kids favorite part of the trip was Bonnie's house. I tell you, that lady has the ultimate Grandma's house! I'm surprised the kids agreed to even come home with us. haha. She has a Wii (we do not), a trampoline (we do not), a pool (we do not), a playground (we do not), a llama (definitely don't have one of those), two goats (none of those either), the quad we had no use for, and plenty of space to run and play without worrying about cars speeding through. We ended the trip and drove all the way back to the valley.
Once we were home, we had just under a week to pull everything together for Mark's surprise going away/congrats party. Unfortunately, this was the only time that we could do something like this, and not many people were able to attend. But those that did attend had a great time, and made it a memorable time for Mark. Adam and the girls were able to come up, so that was the icing on the cake. Hiding things from Mark isn't something I had an easy time doing. I don't think I will ever plan another surprise party again! lol. We celebrated the 4th of July with Adam and the girls. We even ended the night with glow stick wars. Don't ask. It was hilarious, and definitely a memory I won't soon forget. Once Adam and the girls were on the road back home, we started back up with the packing. Over the next few weeks, we packed up our entire house, put everything in storage, cleaned the empty house, and passed a housing inspection. Once all of that chaos was over, we were officially homeless; words I never thought I'd speak. We spent a day and night with Laura and the gang. We even got together for one last dinner with everyone. That was nice. The next day we headed further south to drop Mark off at the ship. He was only going to be gone for a week, so we drove back to Laura's house and spent that week with her and the kids. We wanted to get in some last minute visiting time with everyone before we left. After that week, Mark came "home" for a few days, and then it was off on deployment. We stayed with our friends in San Diego for a little while longer, and then we took off for Tejas. We didn't intend on driving straight through, but we did. We fully intended on stopping in Fort Stockton, but by the time we got there, the kids were zonked, and I figured it would be easier to just drive straight through. We arrived in Fresno a little after 8:30 in the morning. Our time in Texas was drastically shorter than we ever anticipated or planned, but I won't go into details about that. There we were able to visit with even more family. I didn't get to see everyone that I wanted to in our short visit there, but we don't live as far away as we once did. I was most excited about meeting my niece for the first time ever! She was chunky little six month old adorable little girl. I was also able to see my grandfather. That wasn't easy for me, and I really had to choke back my tears. It was good to see that his sense of humor hadn't diminished yet; when I went to leave, I touched his hand to say goodbye and he quickly jerked his hand up saying , "AAAAAAAAAH". It scared the living daylights out of me, but he was being silly, and was trying to scare me. That made me smile to know that he wasn't completely lost in that body of his. We quickly found in Fl to live in. We are so thankful that Lisa's mom and her sisters opened up their mother's furnished home for us to stay in. The stay here is temporary, and always has been. Being able to live so close to Pensacola has afforded us the opportunity to seek out a home to buy, and take advantage of the home buyer's tax credit. After being in town for a very short time (1.5-2 weeks), we had already found our home. It is definitely a dream home. It sits on about 3/4 of an acre, has plenty of space, 4 bedrooms, and 3 bathrooms. The 3 bathrooms was on the wish list, but not a priority. As a woman, sister, and daughter, I know what its like to have to share a bathroom with boys, and it is NOT a pretty picture by any means. I really wanted for Ryleigh to have her own bathroom, and that's exactly what we got. I can't even believe that we found this house on our first trip with our realtor. We are very lucky, but mostly thankful. The house is not "ours" yet, but there is a sold sign in front of it now! We are scheduled to close on the 30th of the month. None of this would be possible without our wonderful brother Adam. He has been great throughout this whole process. He isn't always the easiest person to get into contact with, but when it comes to business, he's all ears. He has helped us in many ways than just one, and it we can't thank him enough for all of his help and efforts! We also can't say thank you enough to Hazel for 'loaning' us this home in the meantime. Taylor is doing well in school. He had a rough first week or so. He had been insistent on riding the bus to school, however the school bus was coming at 6:30AM every morning to pick him up. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am not a morning person, and sleep is like gold to me...very valuable. After his rough week of early mornings, we decided it was best if he only rode the bus home. From there, everything has been wonderful, and for the most part I have my wonderful little boy back. His teacher is amazing, and I really like her. She is extremely organized, and she sends home a classroom related newsletter every single Monday. I always know what's going on at school, and with Taylor. She is a great communicator, and I really appreciate her. I've talked to his teacher here more than I've talked to all of his teachers put together. I hope that his teacher at his new school is similar to her. Oh yes, that's the only downfall, Taylor will have to change schools after we move. Hopefully, it will be an easy transition for him. He would also like to join the cub scouts, so that is in the works for him. I think it would be an excellent opportunity to make new friends, gain some confidence, and help him 'find' himself. I'm looking forward to that. Austyn, you know, hell on wheels. Well, he learned how to ride his bike without training wheels about 2 weeks ago. He just jumped on, and took off after seeing a girl smaller than him riding her bike on her own. Since then, he has given me a heart attack almost every time he gets on his bike. Not to worry, we insist on bike safety so he always has a helmet on. He has learned to ride with only one hand, he tries to pop wheelies, hops off curbs, sits on one foot while riding, puts one foot up in the air while riding, and sometimes both. And you wonder why I call him hell on wheels. The kid is crazy, determined, and curious. Who knows, maybe he's a future X-Games BMX-er in the works. Ryleigh has also made progress on her bike. When we were living in California she would insist on sitting on her bike, and then she would get angry when she wouldn't go anywhere. After seeing Austyn ride her bike, and then his own, she quickly learned how to navigate her way on her little second hand bike. She's now a pro and tries to keep up with the big boys, although she isn't daring like them! Oh yeah, we also have a puppy named Bailey. She is about 5 months old. She is a gorgeous yellow lab that we got from a (I know, tsk, tsk) breeder. She has been great so far, aside from her scares that she has given me. Vomiting, bloody stools, and blood on her side. Who knows what was wrong with her, but she's as normal as a dog can get now. I think she may have eaten some mushrooms in the yard. She does have a pesky habit of barking early in the mornings before my alarm turns on, and that makes me really grumpy. She's getting better at not barking as much though, as she has very quickly learned that barking just buys her more time in the kennel. She now knows that if she wants out or wants attention she has to be calm. Did I mention how much I hate puppies! They are so much work, but you don't realize it until you have one. While this blog is obnoxiously long, I can't say that I've covered all the ground in between June 2, and today, but this will have to do. Pictures will follow soon, most likely tomorrow as I have a headache the size of the earth, and I don't plan from moving from the sofa unless I'm absolutely required to. ;o)