random life

 This is my baby girl today. You would not know that she had been sick the past several days. Our house has had two rounds of the flu over the past couple of weeks. First the boys, then Megan. - and hopefully NOT me. Especially because tomorrow is airport day! Somebody is over the ocean right now, working their way home!

 above: Trevor one morning. I found him already showerd and ready for school...except that it was before 7:00, which is the time he usually wakes up. I'm guessing he fell asleep after getting up early to get ready for school. Sometimes he does like to get up early and play on his computer in the morning.

above: Matthew and one of his newer Lego creations. He is working on making a huge military scene. It goes between a WWII scene and zombies...I think he doesn't know what direction he is going with it quite yet. You can't see, but the helicopter is on two stacks of clear blocks to make it look like it is hovering. His cave is pretty cool too! (Mom, that is your cardboard piece that was meant for puzzles, but he has claimed it for his base.)

 There were a few days where the weather was too chilly for the turtles to be outside. I put their heat lamp inside and let them crawl around downstairs. They look cozy!

Piper enjoying the open windows and watching all of the activity outside. She still likes to sit and wait for the boys' bus. She used to do this in Kentucky too. She'll run downstairs when she hears it drive by before the boys come home. I indulged on her spoiling by getting the blinds out of the way!)

Beautiful day today

 Oh my gosh. Today was the definition of perfect weather, and a good day. I was trying out a new crock pot recipe (which actually turned out pretty good!) but I needed a couple of things from the store to go with dinner. Megan needed some green tea bags. We decided to ride down to Fresh & Easy (original plan was Target...I love having the options, how nice to have so many places withing biking distance. Thank you Gilbert.)

There is a local restaurant that Mike and I stopped in one time to look at, but we had already eaten and figured we'd go back some time. We hadn't made it back yet, but today as my stomach was growling on the bike ride, I thought it would be good to stop in. Especially since Megan is my splitter. She always splits things with me, which makes going out fun. (BTW, the boys didn't want to go, they were not left out!) We had a flatbread pizza with this amazing glaze on the top. It was huge too, so we still have plenty left. The portions there are crazy huge.

Then we split the BEST cheesecake I have ever had. It was a salted caramel...little piece of awesomeness.

 One thing I did miss like crazy while we were gone was Fresh & Easy. I always have good luck there. I go in not knowing what to make for dinner, and I always find something. They have amazing fresh bread for .98 cents...so pretty often I will get a loaf to have with a meal.

My mom and dad bought me the coolest basket for my bike for Christmas. It comes off easily and turns into a shopping basket. I felt so cool and European riding my bike home with  a long loaf of bread peeking out of the top of the basket, and the basil plant smelled so good all of the way home.

 UGH. Still not doing too well on my hopes of being better about blogging! Really, how is it already the 18th of January? The good thing is, when time goes by this fast, it means that Mike will be home sooner. If I could find a way to slow it down once he gets home though, I will have found the perfect combination.

Just a fast recap of the first couple weeks of 2013. It seems like I am busy, but if you ask me with what I can't even remember. I guess just life stuff in general.

It has been a good start to the year.

Earlier this week Megan had an appointment to get her hair cut. The place where I go is over near the high school that I went to. Megan had been asking me to see it (before moving back here) so since we were a mile away I took her over to see it. I showed her the two exact spaces where I met Mike. I always parked in the same spot (I have always been a habitual park-er, and I am still like this. I had a 'spot' at Kohl's - sunshine or snow.) It was WEIRD and surreal to stand here looking at the exact spots, and see our daughter sitting on the curb between the two. It's one of those moments where you wish you could go back in time just so you could look forward and imagine. How do you even put into words...a product of a chance meeting, sitting in a spot where our history began, more years ago than I would like to admit.

This week Megan also was invited to an assembly at her school that she was officially an honors student! Of course we are so proud of her. I think her transition here after the move has been great. (Knock on wood...) She seems to really have adapted well to a new school and has immersed herself into high school life. She is excited about looking into tennis this coming week, and talks about clubs that she would like to join.

 Celebratory frozen yogurt after the assembly. - On a beautiful day where we were able to finally sit outside on a patio and enjoy the feeling of the sun on our backs. I felt like a basking turtle.

 We have really enjoyed Netflix. One series that we have been watching together is the Walking Dead. The boys love zombies. I was actually surprised at how much Megan has been into this show. After coming to the end of season 2, and the end of what is currently on Netflix...we both agreed that we feel like a part of us is missing. Desperately trying to look for a way to start watching season 3. Until then...Matthew felt inspired to build a Lego version.

(click photo to enlarge)

on top of motorhome Dale and T Dog. Always keeping watch. Bottom left to right: Shane (before going crazy and shaving his head.) Rick, Carl (CARL stay in the house!!) Lori, Andrea (finally given her gun back in this photo, and by the looks of her Lego body, apparently she is a flight attendant. lol.) Glenn, and then the most awesome Daryl...with his crossbow, and you can't see that he is wearing a backpack with more guns sticking out of the top) and his motorcycle. Coolest Lego set ever, don't you think?

More tomorrow. :) Promise. Going to bed now.

Happy new year.

I probably say it every year, but this year it especially has new meaning for me...if you would have told me this time last year, where I would be starting 2013 at, I never would have believed it. It was nice wrapping up 2012. I'm excited about this new year.

I have been so bad about blogging in the past few months. Moving sucked a lot of energy out of me, and we are finally feeling much more settled. It also helps that the focus and chaos of Christmas is over. Mike left for Africa today, and even though it always takes a big adjustment when he's gone, I know more about where he is at and his day to day there while he is at work. The last time he left overseas, it was a new destination. It takes awhile to settle, and the past few years of contract work have made that difficult. Even though this is new...it's a totally different direction. It all seems positive, and we feel like we can start breathing again. Whew.

His rotation home this past time was perfect. He was home in time for Christmas and was here through the holiday season. Everything worked out so well and the usual stress of past years was not an issue this year. I can say that this was the best Christmas that I can remember in a very long time. It felt like home again.

The kids are still home on winter break for the next few days. They have had two weeks off, which already is a bonus compared to winter break in Kentucky where it was only one week, but also snow days were figured into that. We definitely won't be anticipating those this year. I'm glad to have the two weeks off in one chunk instead of hoping for two weeks all together between break and snow days. Which...I am sure tomorrow will be one at our old house since it looks like they were getting snow today. It doesn't take much to call a snow day with the rural roads. I do kind of miss watching the news and hoping to see our school listed on the bottom...and the kids with their weird snow day rituals of sleeping with a spoon under a pillow and wearing jammies inside out. Those were fun nights, and even more fun when the kids would wake up late the next day and wonder why I hadn't gotten them up for school. As one of my friends posted on facebook, "The crisp silence of winter that comes with a good snow is beautiful." Yes, it is.

But hey, I was able to take the kids out for a bike ride today...which could not be done this time of year back east. I did get to wear a winter coat, scarf and boots to take the dog for a walk this evening though! Yay for coats!

First day of school....round two.

I am so amazingly behind in blogging. It has been crazy. This time one month ago I had no idea how upside down everything would turn. Not upside down in a bad way, but I do admit, I am TIRED. lol. Really, a lot has been accomplished in that time.

I will have to go backwards in posting photos.

Today though, was the first day of school...again.  Photos above.

Going to bed. I am having a hard time adjusting to the time difference. I am tired early. One good thing is that getting up early is easy! I haven't seen 6:00 am with so much energy in a long time! (Sleeping in until 9 from what I am used to!)

Aaaaa! Anxiety!

I feel like I'm going to explode today. So, I posted this picture that I have seen on the internet that always makes me laugh. Poor Bono. Have to love some U2 humor. I'm listening to them right now too.....Achtung Baby. Always a great album.

Today....
Took boys to school. Today is their last day in Walton. They seemed very excited and not like it they had an emotion at all about it. Which is good. All week Trevor has been telling me little things like, "Today was my last day with Mr. Miller...etc." It has all been enthusiastic. I know he'll miss his friends, but he is very excited about moving. Matthew has been joking with me that he has been demoted to elementary school again. I was only kidding in the beginning of this year when I was torn about my baby starting middle school, about moving back to Phoenix so he'd still be in elementary school. In our district here, 5th grade is the first year of middle school. In Phoenix, 6th grade is the last year of elementary. He has been good about it and has even said that next year when all of the kids are nervous about middle school, switching classes and lockers, he'll be all, "Yeah. It's not a big deal. Lockers are easy." That's a pretty good attitude.

Honesly, I am glad he will be back in elementary school. I think 5th grade is so young. Heck, Matthew isn't even 10 years old yet, he still should be a kid, complete with recess time and a playground at school. Not outdoor time in a parking lot. It may feel strange to him at first, but I think he will actually enjoy being back in elementary school. He's had a glimpse of middle school, and even high school since they were attached buildings here.

Megan and I went for 'latte Friday' at Starbucks this morning. On Fridays the high school kids start later, so we started going out on Friday mornings before school to Starbucks. I even kept her a little longer this morning since yesterday she came home from school a little early because of a toe issue. A girl had accidentally slammed a heavy metal door open, not knowing Megan was on the other side. It hit Megan's foot and tore her big toe nail. She bled through her sock and boot and was limping all day. She has a Nazi P.E. coach (that I haven't been a fan of since the beginning) so since PE was her first class and it was shortened today anyway, I decided to keep her out of that class and take her when it was over. It's her last day anyway.

I took her in the office and said goodbye to my friend Betty who works in the office. I met her at Kohl's. I could feel the lump in my throat starting up again when the principal came out and told me how much he loves Megan and is going to miss her. Megan's friend Sommer walked by in the hallway and spotted Megan. She burst into the office and gave Megan a hug. I'm going to miss Megan's friends. I can't say it enough, they have been a great group and close for the past two years. They are amaazing girls that I thoroughly enjoyed watching grow for the past couple of years. I want to pack them in a box and take them with us. I will miss those girls.

Megan took her smash book to school with her today and is having people sign it. She has been busy taking pictures for the last week. That has to be one of the best purchases I have ever made. I think she has had fun with it.

Mike is also on his way home today! He is on a flight from Paris right now. I'm tracking his flight....and he will be getting in the same time that I am at the school picking up the kids. I will be able to see the plane in the parking lot, as I have done many times because the Paris flight is hard to miss here. Even when Mike isn't on it, I would sit there and watch it come in and wish that he was on it. So today will be perfect. Tonight everybody will be under one roof. That is always the best feeling in the world. (Including that I have a new Survivor to watch tonight with everybody too!)

My anxiety is through the roof today. I should go for a run or something to help with it, but I have a feeling I would end up flailing my arms and screaming down Main street like a crazy person. I'm ready to get going on this move. (I have a window up on my computer with pictures of my new house too, so I am already mentally placing things in it.) I'm still sad, and have been doing my own, "This is the last time I will ________" But once the ball gets rolling I just want to get started. I feel like a racehorse in the gate.

October

Not sure where the time has gone again...

I figured I better make a post so I don't forget everything going on in life. I hope to go back into detail in my album for the year.

Lots of things since my last post. Trip to Chicago with Mike for our anniversary, lots of busy life in between, seasons changing, trip to Lebanon KY to see TURTLE MAN, and preparing for a move across the country back to Phoenix.

I have been going between very excited about moving and getting on with things, and trying to take in as many things as I can that I know I am going to miss about Kentucky and my life here for the past several years. It was very difficult putting in my notice at work. I am really going to miss the people that I met and worked with there. Many friendships will continue, but it's not like being in the trenches together (especially as the Christmas season is approaching, and trees and other Christmas decorations are already up at the store!) So many of the people have become family and made my transition here amazing.

I am also excited about going back to Phoenix. To family, to friends I have missed there. Mexican food. Multiple Target locations, Fresh & Easy....each day I think of random things that I can't wait to be near again. (- and EAT.) Plus a new beautiful house (that Mike found and I can't wait to see in person.) that I think will be perfect.

So I have been trying to take in as much as I can here. The people, the scenery, the things unique to here. Today is my birthday, and as much as I wanted to come up with excuses not to go out and exercise I made an abrupt left turn into a church parking lot on Main street and decided to park my car. I was on my way home from taking the kids to school. I figured I better talk myself into it quickly, or I would have easily driven back home.

I'm so glad I got out of that car.

I ended up walking and running four miles today. Down Main, up Main, near the RR tracks, and through the old cemetary. The air was crisp which led to making me want to run to stay warm. I took in the sounds of crunching leaves, trains, traffic down Main street.(In between the sounds of my clunky stride and heavy breathing! I'm not a pretty runner.) I realized how pretty it is, and watching people leaving for work, dropping kids off at daycare, running by the silly "Walton...The Place To Be" water tower that I always think in my mind, "Yeah, if you've never been anywhere else!" - and the smell of Brook's Family Restaurant in the morning, that smells like bacon and pancakes for a mile radius.

A teacher that Matthew had in fourth grade, who lives in a historic house was out sweeping leaves off of her sidewalk. I'm not sure she remembers who I am, but she said "Good Morning!" as I ran by. Several people did. People are friendly. It is almost Mayberry like. The cute old lady inside the big Baptist church where I have volunteered with Kohl's over the past few years...I have wrapped presents, painted rooms and hallways, and stuffed backpacks for hundreds of kids for area school donations in there. Even though I don't go there, I have a friend who organizes a lot of charity events through work there. The mailman who has to get out of his truck, old school, and deliver letters up to front door mailboxes, the guys that water the flowers hanging in baskets on light poles down Main. It was cool. And what it is typically like here. I'm happy for the experience here.

The sky was blue with a pretty sunrise still in the east. Big puffy clouds. The old houses all have piles of pumpkins and potted mums on the front porches and steps.

I had one last stretch of road before I was going to head back to my car, and I turned Beautiful Day from U2 on my phone. It was a perfect moment. I'm sure I will remember this day.

Mike will be getting home in a couple of days from a trip to Africa, and then we'll start getting ready to head on out. For now I am going to drink my McDonald's unsweet tea, shower, wait for something that Mike told me not to go far from the house today, clean and whatever. (Do you have to specifically order UNsweet tea in Phoenix anymore??? I'm so used to "sweet or unsweet honey?")

Then I have an appointment to get my hair done, and a nice dinner out with the kids.

12

 Happy birthday T.  :)

Couch picture is first thing in the morning. He had a few people sleep over....I should say NOT sleep over. They didn't get a bit of sleep through the night, and Mike and I had minutes sprinkled here and there. Until the next thump, or waking from the constant giggling. ;) So as soon as everybody had left, this was Trevor on the couch. (Who swears he was not really sleeping, even though the drool was visable, and one of Megan's friends who was over at the time, plus Megan.... meant girls posed with thumbs up next to the sleeping birthday boy. I have a picture to prove it Trevor....you were asleep. Hard.)

Megan was going to a party with said friend later in the day, and Trevor wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings for his birthday meal.

Then we went to Newport on the Levee to go to Gameworks and play pinball for awhile. Perfect weather, but we had spent several hours in Gameworks, and he had some birthday money burning a hole in his pocket that he wanted to go spend.  We had some ice cream from Cold Stone and sat along the river for awhile.

 All three of my boys. <3

We left Newport and headed back to Florence, where we went shopping at boy stores. Game Stop and the Guitar Store. I did sneak over to Michael's for some girly things.

Bad blogger - and first day of school!

 What in the heck happened to summer? Sometimes it feels like we just got back from vacation, but other times have felt insanely long because of missing Mike and watching the countdown clock tick away the days that seemed to go by so slowly. Today.... first day of school.

Trevor was probably the one with the least amount of anxiety over the past week. If he had any, he was good at hiding it. He was the only one who really didn't have any huge school milestone. I still understand any sort of anxiety on the first day of school though. I know he was excited, but also cautiously excited. He is still in middle school, so a lot was very familiar to him. 7th grade. Dang.

Matthew...first day of middle school. 5th grade. I still like to think along the lines of Arizona grade levels in which he'd be in elementary still. It was hard watching my baby walking into a new school. It was nice to have them all basically in the same campus, with one drop off time and me being able to take them instead of sending Matthew on a bus.

 We were in such a hurry this morning to make sure we wouldn't forget anything...so pictures are somewhat blurry and the sun was just coming up. Megan came out really quick so I could try to get a picture of all three, but then she went right back inside to finish breakfast and find her jacket.

Megan...freshman year in high school. She was pretty nervous all week. Man, I remember my first day of high school. Crazy to think that she's reached that. 

I love the look on Matthew's face, as they were trying to get Trevor to be excited about first day photos. I think he gets that from me. Sorry mom, I always dreaded those photo sessions. lol.

All in all, a good day. I will update tomorrow (yes, I promise Kim! - Who says that I haven't updated in awhile and was looking at the same deer picture for a long time now.) with how the day went.

Sunday

You know....not too long ago I was watching TV and realized that I was ruined by old X Files shows, and some Mel Gibson movie about aliens....that bad things happen in and near corn fields. I swore I would never live near one. Then I realized....wow, I live with one in my backyard! A huge field. Only divided by a patch of woods (which should be scary too right?) and a wire fence.

Because of the hill, I tend to forget the corn is there until it gets very tall or occasionally I see somebody on a big tractor. No aliens.

Deer like to come out of the field occasionally. Today I was cleaning the kitchen and noticed one in the back yard. There is a wild apple tree that she was eating the ones that had fallen on the ground. It was funny watching her since she'd get all slobbery munching on them.

There are two that seem to hang around my house pretty often. There is a young buck who will stand in our driveway occasionally. We do have a pretty busy yard when it comes to wildlife. There is also a groundhog that lives up in our woods, lots of squirrels and robins (Who will stare at you when you are outside. They make me feel a bit self conscience. They are always in pairs too....weird.) Plus a cardinal that lives in our tree by our front window. There is a lot to watch.

Vacation continued - Mt. Dora, Florida

Brandon's family lives near this town called Mt. Dora. We had a day to spend with them, and his wife Ulgonda was thinking of places we could go to spend some time. I was thrilled by this place, and so happy that she suggested it. It was a Sunday, and unfortunately  many of the places were closed. We still had a great time spending time together, and letting the kids walk around.

There were neat shops and places to eat. It's probably a good thing that the stores were closed, since there were so many cute things I kept seeing that I probably would have felt like I needed to bring home with me. Especially these turtles - they were about the size of an apple. There was a shadowbox full of them in different colors and patterns.

Below: There was another store that had neat French themed things. I thought this display was beautiful. I think I have a thing for glass domes.

 Below: I also have a thing for boxes of any sort....and postal stuff. I couldn't pass this small area between some shops that had a long stairway up to another store on the second level. 

 After an attempt to go to another place for lunch....we did end up going to a Mexican place that Brandon and Ulgona said was really good. I think honestly, this was my favorite meal of the trip. We had a big table that was set up in a square so we all could talk, including the kids, and not feel like anybody was not part of the meal. Everything about this lunch was amazing. Definitely one of my favorite memories of this trip.

I have no idea what it was called, but they both recommended this house specialty. It is some sort of fajita type thing that is cooked in a lava stone bowl. It had chicken, steak, peppers, onions, potatoes and cheese with a bit of sauce on it, served with tortillas. OMG it was amazing. The best Mexican food I have had in four years. This was something that I still crave and I know I will probably spend a very long time looking for something to replicate it. It was gooooood. Even the chips and salsa brought out in the beginning were good. Good chips, and spicy salsa....unlike Kentucky salsa. I like mine with a lot of HOT. This was a good sign....lunch was going to be good.

After lunch we walked around. We ended up at a frozen custard shop. We looked in windows of more stores. The weather was perfect.

We ended up back at their house, spent some time there looking at photos and the kids played in the pool. (And their lab Bella.) We left in the evening, and started the drive home. I forget where we stayed, but it was in Florida. We still wanted to meander back home and enjoy the road trip. It was nice not being in a hurry.

Turtle mom, more summer stuff

 "Deep in the back woods of Kentucky....."
"There's a lot of back woods people in Kentucky, but none as back woods as the turtle man."

(We love Call of the Wildman on Animal Planet.) At first I saw it and thought, "Oh please, can we not have something that perpetuates the hick Kentucky stereotype?" People here are normal. Trust me. Well, most....I still laugh about the time my sister was out here and Kroger had a bluegrass band up at the checkout lanes. What? Every store doesn't' have live bluegrass? - The more I watched this show (mainly because of a shared love of turtles with my T, the more I love it.) So when all of the kids were sitting out and drying off from going swimming today, I was moving around the pool with my head above the water. Megan said I looked like turtle man. Live action! Yeeyeeyeeeee! That picture above is me looking like I'm in the pond, looking for the tell tale sign of bubbles from a moving snapping turtle! I did find two tortoises....at home....and made them a salad. I love our turtles.

It is HOT. Awful hot. Today was 102 and the last I heard this heat wave is supposed to last a couple more days. Thankfully again, good neighbors, who asked if we'd like to use their pool while they went to church tonight.

Backing up here....

to the days when the weather was still nice a little over a week ago. Megan's friend has horses. They recently bought this new thoroughbred, he was trained for racing but due to a respiratory health issue he never was in an official race. He is now a super loved and spoiled show jumper. His name is Cowboy, he is four years old, and he has got to be the biggest horse I have ever seen that wasn't a draft horse. He is gorgeous!

Megan's friend was down in Louisville, but her mom asked me if we'd like to come over and ride since the horses needed some exercise. I loved it. The boys even rode for a bit but ended up having more fun chasing barn cats, playing with the bunnies (background, second picture below) and playing with the dog. They also have a pond with a noisy croaking frog. We all had a great night over there, playing with animals and hanging out in the barn.

 Below: Megan's first batch of homemade loaves of bread. She has been very domestic this summer. She has checked out cookbooks from the library, and looks for recipes online. She has really enjoyed learning how to cook. - We have enjoyed it as well. She has made some really tasty things from chicken dishes, pesto from our basil plants, to baked desserts.

 Goofy face on the 4th of July.

I'm still promising to catch up on those vacation pictures!

Some funky weather

 My posts are going to be out of order, since I know my plan was to finish posting vacation pictures before anything else, but I took some pictures today that I wanted to post....

It has been HOT. Hot hot. We've had the most strange weather the past couple of weeks. First we had an entire week of perfect weather....the highs were in the upper 70s. Absolutely beautiful. There were times I really had forgotten what month it was.

Friday night, I was at work and left around 5:30. As I was leaving, Megan had called customer service (weird as I was standing right there talking to a friend right before leaving) and I could hear somebody asking for Kerry. She was calling to tell me to be careful coming home. I had been busy in the back of the store for so long I hadn't seen outside for hours. I knew we were supposed to get some severe thunderstorms that night, but this literally came from nowhere. As soon as I saw the windows at the front I walked as fast as I could to my car. It was so windy. I later found out on the news that they were hurricane force winds, in a line of storms that had crossed much of this area of the states. In comparison to other states, we didn't get it as bad. I'd hate to see 'bad' since this was very strange to me. There were trees knocked down, and a lot of people lost power. I got home fine, and it passed. In turn, the temperature dropped at least 30 degrees and Megan and I headed out for a really nice walk when the sun was going down. It's hard to believe that the temperature can change that quickly.

Now we're back to the heat. Summer is hot....but this is that yucky, drippy hot. We are in the middle of a heat wave for a few more days.

Our neighbors up the hill are simply the best. I love them. There are times I am ready for a bigger house, a newer house, or a change...and these are the types of neighbors that make you think, "I am lucky.....they are awesome....and not crazy." They used to own all of the property that our neighborhood is built in, so they have this great ranch style home with mature trees and landscaping, and a lot of time and love put into everything around it. The back deck that I see from our house looks like it is up in a treehouse. I would want to spend every minute I could out there.

So, yesterday I had a message that we were invited to use the pool at their house. They were going to be away for part of the day to a graduation picnic. The photo below....that is my house and deck in the background. We walked up the hill, and I talked with the wife in the pool for a bit. Then she left and we had the pool for as long as we wanted. It was wonderful. I especially loved being able to be done swimming and walk right down the hill through the back yard so we could make a late lunch. No driving, no wet suits in the car....it was nice. - Made me wish I didn't have to go into work tonight.