Lil Vaca...

We needed a get-away. We had this little SF trip planned for July but couldn't quite pull it off. We were still waiting to hear final confirmation that Levi's job offer was going to come thru... and it finally did. He starts tomorrow actually. So thank you to all who kept us in your prayers. We felt the strength that came from every single one of them!!!!

We went over to the Bay Area and stayed with our lovely hosts: Chuck & Deanna. They were so kind to let us invade their house for so long. We out numbered them and they took it well. This trip would not have been near as great without the free place to stay and the perks of knowing "locals". Thru my sis in laws connections she allowed us to use a couple free memberships into some fun places. Like we only paid for one adult at the zoo, one of us were free. We went to the Academy of Science, normally $25 an adult- FREE for all 3!!! It was AWESOME! We needed this trip to be affordable and God provided!

Wesley love the zoo. He mainly kept asking to see the zebra and that pesky zebra kept hiding. We'd be like "oh I think if we go over there we can see it"... we'd get there and he would have moved. We didn't get a good look at him until we were on our way out. Wesley wanted to see the Meerkats too. He loved see real life penguins. It is funny cause he talks about the animals that we saw at the zoo and asks to go back... but when he was there you could tell he was happy to the see animals but not overly excited like I thought he'd be. I think it might have been a bit overwhelming too. We did my favorite thing as well. Visit the photo booth at the peir... it is great fun. I LOVE those pictures.

We went to a couple aquariums. We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with Chuck & Deanna and that was a lot of fun- Huge but Fun! Here are a couple of my favorite artsy jelly fish pictures I took. The main draw to the aquarium for me was the jelly fish room.

My favorite part of the whole trip though was the 20 minutes we spent on the beach playing in the sand and the waves. Wesley was a crack up. He loves water so instantly he was interested in the ocean. The first time the water started to come back up and chase him you can actually see the fear and determination in his face. We were in a bay so the tide was just minor swells really but water has never chased him back before. I was at his level and as far as I could see was water and the water started to come towards me I guess I'd freak out a little as well. Soon all that turned into fun. Wesley and Levi played in the cold waves. I loved taking pictures. These are the type of pictures I enjoy... posed are nice but these type really capture the essence of Wesley and the day. So Fun! I already miss the ocean and long to go back. We might go over and stick our toes in the sand one Sunday. The ocean is really not that far from us, yet we never get over there... we have to change that soon.

It has been so long since I wrote I probably owe everyone an update huh. Well Wesley pretty much says anything and can articulate all his thoughts. He speaks in sentences more and more every day. He repeats what we say constantly... he doesn't repeat you right away he waits and reminds you of it later. Then you are like oh ya I did say that... We have to be so careful what we say or talk about. Many time we talk about cute things he did with him in the room and ya that isn't a good idea. Of course then he tries to recreate that moment and sometimes encourages the wrong behavior. He is way attached to Levi since Levi has been home with him all summer. This job thing will be interesting. Levi has been such a help. He always wants to hang out with Wesley and it is such a blessing. Wesley learns so much from him too.

Umm let me see what else. Oh Wesley is potty trained and that itself has its ups and downs. He has had hardly any accidents which is wonderful. Pretty much the one and only is when he went potty in the middle of Nordstorms... guess we know what he thinks of that store :). The most recent best story I have to share is from the other night. I was getting him ready for a bath. I stripped him down in the living room and told him I'd follow him into the bathroom to start his bath. Mind you I did not request he use the potty. I follow him in just seconds behind to see him STANDING on his stool at the BIG POTTY -- GOING! & GOING EVERYWHERE! It was a giant "S" pattern all over the place. I said "W-e-s-l-e-y!" which made him jump and made it worse. Just as he was finishing he finally was getting it in the bowl. What a mess that was. I had to mop, clean the whole toilet of course, wash the walls and wash the shower curton. The whole time I am biting back my laughter... I guess you can't blame a kid for trying. I just laughed as I cleaned it was one of the funniest things I have seen. We will stick with sitting for quite a bit longer. He just wants to be like daddy!

Amen

Wesley is practically speaking in sentences all the time now... it is funny and amazing. Of course they are not all proper sentences. He expresses his feelings all the time now and pretty much will repeat everything he hears- so watch out. Most recently he is taking a stab at praying :). It is so sweet. Levi and I often put him to bed together and pray as a family. The other night we asked Wesley if he wanted to say his own pray and this is what he said:

in a small whisper... "Jesus, Mommy Daddy...... Mommy Daddy................. Mommy Daddy"

It was super sweet to hear him pray for us. This morning he prayed for his breakfast and this is how that one went:

"Thank You- Gramps, Uncle Joe..... Gramps..... Cars (??)..... Daddy Silly." Then he enjoyed his pancakes. I LOVE IT!! Definitely a Boy... Thank You for Cars!

I am sure more adorable prayers to come. Hopefully this is the beginning of a great relationship with God.

We Did It!!

Levi graduated Sacramento State with his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. I am so proud. I think back to the moment and it makes me smile. It has been quite the road to get there. These last 6 months have been some of the toughest we've seen. Losing his job... over extending himself with school and just being anxious for it all to be over. Well that day finally arrived. WOW! Life as we know it is going to change and I am excited to see what is next. When we got married 8 years ago we kept saying 2 year, 2 year, 2 years we'll be done. It always seemed just a couple years away. (Orginally we were going to wait to get married till he was done with school... good thing we didn't :)...) When we got married a AA was only 2 years away... The we thought Hey, We'll move to Sacramento for 2 years and get his bachlors... 6 years later we still find ourselves here. I am not complaining though. I am curious to see what is next these last 8 have been great though. We always play catch up during the summer and hang out a lot and BBQ, go for day trips. Being on a school schedule does have some advantages. Being off of a school schedule will have many advantages as well.

I took Levi out to celebrate on Thursday after his last class. We went to sushi (our favorite splurge). We didn't do much else because Levi had pulled an all nighter to get his senior project finished the night before, so he was TIRED! The next day my family came down early to help get things ready for the celebration BBQ. I couldn't have done it without them. I still had so many little things to do. I had been sick earlier in the week and unable to get started early like I had wanted.

Wesley was great during the graduation ceremony. He was really into it. He kept saying "YAY Daddy" when ever anyone would speak. This lady next to me was like... man he has a lot of daddies :)! Ha ha. He looked for any reason to cheer and clap. He loved the show. I had bought this party favors for the little ones to play with. They were a hit! I will have to remember these for outings. They provided endless entertainment.

The BBQ was nice. It was nice to have everyone there to celebrate. The weather was great so people could sit outside. Our place is small but with outside seating it all worked out.

I now just wish I could have had this weekend off to go off somewhere and celebrate. I am so busy in the next few weeks that it doesn't look like we will get that chance for awhile... so sad. We will have to figure something out. I feel the need to get away.

Now it is hard core prayer time!! Please keep praying for God to lead us to a job! We don't know what is next but we are willing to go... Keep praying!!

I Have Skills

Sometimes I think of random skills I have that would not benefit anyone but ME. I have refined these skills over the years but they would be mean nothing... on say a... resume.

1. I can quickly calculate the distance between two points. Ex: the distance between two clothing racks and the length of my toddlers arm.

2. I can move walls. Ex: at work we have a large movable wall that separate our two banquet rooms. It is old and hard to maneuver it took awhile to master the skill of moving the wall.

3. I can figure how many minutes a snack will last by the rate it is being eaten and shop accordingly.

4. I can make sad tears into happy tears in a matter of seconds.

5. I am paid to sing the Birthday Song... Does that make me a professional singer??

6. I can set down a serving tray using only one hand. It impresses :)

7. I can chase away scary crows in Wesley's room (pretend of course)

8. I have special power in my kisses

... I can't even come up with 10. I felt like I had a lot of skills, guess not :)

New New New

We have a new squirt gun, new boots and a new BABY in the family.

Brenton Craig was born a couple weeks ago. Welsey was way into him... he liked him too much. He was adorable with him. He wanted to hold him all the time. Cailee watched a cartoon and Wesley watched Brenton. He sat in front of his bouncy chair and was like "AWE.. Cute!!! Awe, Mommy... Look Et!!" He was so funny. He kept saying "Baby, Hold It" He tried to give the baby toys and tons or kisses. When we were driving home Levi said something about a baby and then Wesley started asking for his own baby. Really our own offspring is asking the "Baby #2" question :)!

Wesley loves to play outside and we don't have much of an outside. I am struggling to find something for him to play with on our porch. I saw this cute squirt gun and let me tell you money well spent. He loves it. He comes in and says "Momma, Yabby, Water?"... I put more water in and he goes out and squirts more things. These boots were so cute. I preferred the green ones but he was given the choice and confidently chose the blue ones. This outfit of training pants and boots is a normal outfit for us lately.

It was so sweet today Wesley was playing with some toys. Levi and I were both with in ear shot of him. He was giggling or something and then said "thank you Jesus..." It was so sweet. Levi was like did you hear that? He really loves the Jesus songs, like Jesus Loves The Little Children, Jesus Loves Me... and the B-I-B-L-E, also known as the "L-E Song". It is neat to watch him learn about our faith even at such a young age.

May Day

This blog has nothing to do with May Day but it is May Day and I needed a title so there you go...

I never knew exhaustion had a smell until tonight. As most of you know December is my busy season and is also the rainy season as well. Tonight when I emerged from the office to walk thru a full restaurant it smelt like "December" and the smell itself made me tired. The smell of steak, warm potatoes and the draft of rain air... it took me right back to my most tired days. One day I am sure I will miss the smell and it might take me back to memories of fun times... now it makes me want to go home and get a foot massage :)... Which now that I think about it today was like a little December, a little chaotic tonight and cold out.

***

3 weeks from today Levi will be graduating. This is VERY comforting to me so the end in sight so soon too... Still no job prospects, we haven't really looked though either. The 3 week count down provides no relief for Levi though, it is actually making thing worse. Knowing you have less time to get everything done is not comforting. He finished one class that was tieing up his evenings so Wesley and I enjoying seeing him a bit more. Soon very soon it will be over. He is not very happy with how his semester has gone but he has worked really hard. I have never seen him so busy and stressed in my entire life... so when it is over he will be relieved. Just pray that SOMETHING, ANYTHING comes a long. Also pray about the changes in store. It is sad to admit this but Levi has been going to college for 10 years, so all of our married life. A new lifestyle and schedule will I am sure be an adjustment for us. Life as we have always known it will change. Maybe he will find a job with spring and Christmas break with a long summer break that isn't teaching:)... Do you think that exists?

***

Wesley is defiantly 2 lately. I am not sure what to do with this new child residing in our home. He is still sweet with kisses and stuff but laughing after a spanking well that is not the Wesley I am use too... The other day I said "What is your favoritest thing in the whole world?" His response: "NO!"... I think that sums up a 2 year old for you. "No, I will not answer and No is my favorite word"

***

I am REALLY sad my mom's group and church is coming up on it's summer break. I really enjoy the group of ladies I was with this year . I was even planning my plan of attack next year. Get their early claim the table I want... blah blah blah. Anyway I have come to feel like I need to see them and learn about being a good wife and mother... and the best ME, I can be. The thing that saddens me most is I am not done with the group, yet I might not return. We don't know what God has in store for us next but it is likely that we won't be here... I am happy to go wherever but not happy to leave that group or our church. It is a tough one for me. They asked if I would be more involved next year and I couldn't really commit... sad.

Easter

Oh Easter Sunday was such a great day. First off there are so many reasons to celebrate Easter. It is always a somber holiday for me... time for reflection. We went to church on Saturday evening instead of Sunday morning. There was still quite the crowd for Saturday evening service #2. We are usually not huge fans of the music at church but on that night: WOW it was awesome. Probably the best worship singing I have ever experiences. Great songs and hymns, choir and an orchestra... they went all out and we loved it. Don't get my wrong I love going to church on Sunday. Getting up and wearing your Sunday clothes, usually going to lunch afterwards, having a leisurely afternoon... But this time with such a special holiday there was something nice about already waking up in a mood of celebration instead of the morning crazies trying to leave on time... then getting into the right spirit after the day has already begun.

Wesley and I were up first like usual. We made breakfast for daddy. This was the first time I'd let Wesley help me bake. He LOVED it. He always wants to "hope cook" now. He just didn't understand the "cook" part... He wanted to eat it right then! As a side note it is really cute when he wakes up the morning he has started requesting "lunch?"... he is figuring out the meals but I think he gets confused because I make lunches for the day during his breakfast time... It is just cute to me... Anyways back to the day. After breakfast Wesley got his Easter Basket. Nothing too big. The only candy he got in his basket was a chocolate bunny. Wow was that a mistake. All day we kept hearing every 2 seconds "Bunny Bite?!" We'd walk in the kitchen he'd fun in after us and say "Bunny Bite!?" We let him eat the ears off but we figured that was enough sweets for the time being since he was getting eggs later. We are still hearing "Bunny Bite!?" in his defense he still has pretty much a whole bunny to go. We were just hoping he'd forget about it... we were dreaming.

When Wesley woke from his nap we did a mini Easter Egg hunt in our front yard... well not much of a yard... our front rocks and tress:). He loved the hunt and when he saw treats were inside he was even more excited. We tried to limit the sugar because he doesn't sleep well when he too much sugar... Well our efforts fell short. First off his nap was broken and short then that night he woke up like 3-4 times and was up super early. Yep, lesson learned. He isn't huge on the sweets, he wants candy and cookies but doesn't always finish them. I think when it was presented as such a prize and treat he felt excited and obligated to eat it, well it ended up being too much.

Levi stayed home that day and hung out with us which was NICE. He is so busy trying to stay caught up with school, we aren't seeing too much of him. It will all be worth it though... hopefully. Only 6 weeks to go. Yes I am counting down, this is the toughest semester yet and I am SO happy it is the last! I think it goes without saying Levi is happy it is the last also. Keep us in your prayers!!