Staying Sane

The day before we got home from Arizona, it dumped on Missouri. We have had 1 or 2 more storms since. I'm all about snow... in the WINTER (snow is acceptable from December 1st to February 18th in my book*). I'm for sure not a homebody, and my kids are the wiggliest creatures, so these are the following things we have been doing to stay sane:

1) Snow

Even though it snowed after the acceptable date*, we still partook of it. We had some good times.

Travis even got to miss some work

Avery was an all star in the snow... Brooklyn well... she looked cute in her snow clothes?

2) Picking out our own outfits

Alright, some outfits were downright hideous, but to be honest, some worked. I think Avery has some talent in the fashion world. She is very concerned about what she wears, but not so much if her hair is done. In fact, she prefers that it is not done. Maybe that will be the new fad in 10 years. I tell you, she knows.

3) Bathing

Its not only an act of hygiene, but also an event

Its fun to do on the side of the tub

Or even in the sink

4) Lounging around

No description needed

5) Venturing out

Brooklyn is training for the 2026 summer Olympics.... and she likes cone hats

Avery is training to be a fire woman

She is getting really good

 This is her backup plan

And Brooklyn just starts at the top, naturally

If it doesn't work out, Avery can always fall back to what she knows best

We dream big

Sometimes we go to Walmart and pretend all the toys are ours

I'm pretty sure Brooklyn things they really are ours

6) And finally, when there was ever the slightest nice day, we would take full advantage and go out.

We are going to miss the KC zoo! Oh and the Romney's, but we will save this speech for another post!

I don't want to get my hopes up, but I think Spring is here and it might be staying.... WELCOME FRIEND!

Mostly business, some pleasure

Its that time duh duh dum... to get a job, a real job!

We have been so confused on where to actually look. We finally narrowed it down to Arizona, California and Utah.

Why you ask?

 Well after living around absolutely no family for 7 years, we decided that family is pretty important.

But we also decided that money is important as well, so we are looking for a place that will supply both.

Travis was lucky enough to land 2 interviews in Arizona.

Since my whole family was going to be there anyways for a soccer tournament,  the girls and I decided to join Travis in this endeavor.

I'm going to lay it out, I took about 4 pictures this whole trip. I didn't have it in me, so this post is going to be mostly words. There is your heads up.

The business part

Job interview #1 Kearny/Superior Arizona

When we found out about this job, I was sold right off the bat. The location is commutable from Gilbert, the salary is great, they also qualify for tuition reimbursement and its a 40 hour work week, all outpatient (which is what Travis wants). But then Travis was informed that if we don't actually live in the area, than we wouldn't qualify for loan repayment.... which is huge for us! My heart was crushed a little. So on Sunday, my dad, Travis and I decided to go and check out Kearny AZ. We saw the "entering Kearny" sign, and  I was really excited to see the little town... then we saw the "exiting Kearny" sign. We literally had to do a u turn because we totally didn't even see the city. It was so so so tiny. I went through a major country/cowgirl phase in high school, and I always thought I had the small town girl in me. But after seeing where we could possibly live, I decided that that cowgirl was dead. And this is when the anxiety started.

And Superior was not any better.

The next day was the actual interview and it was in Globe, Arizona, where the hospital and company is located. We talked to the CEO for awhile, he gave us a lot of good info. He also said that Globe is in the qualified service area, and we could live in Globe, which was still very small, but so much better!

We went on a 3 hour tour. We learned everything about the town and surrounding areas. So that helped ease some of my anxieties. We ate at a Mexican family owned restaurant that was fantastic. Lets face it, the Midwest is amazing at BBQ, but we lack in the Mexican food world. We met a lot of really nice people, and I left with an open mind.
Travis went back the next day and interviewed more and went and saw the clinics, etc.

Job interview #2, Casa Grande, Arizona

We arrived, and there was an actual city there, fully equipped with a huge mall, tons of stores, and about 8 beautiful subdivisions. This place was a great deal larger than the Globe area. I went on a 3 hour tour with a real estate agent, while Travis met everyone and interviewed. I don't know if it was because I had just been in the Globe area, or what, but I was really excited about Casa Grande. It would only be 45 minutes away from my sister, and it was enough suburbia for me.

But then the punch in the gut happened and the guy told us that its not a guarantee for loan repayments, and the base pay would be significantly lower than the Globe job. 

You just can't have your cake and eat it too.

So that is where we are at right now, weighing the pros and cons and also looking at other options.

We really want to get out of lame medical school loan debt, but we also want to be happy. So if you have a solution, I am open to suggestions!

Now for the pleasure part of this post.... don't get too excited, this is a family blog. Travis had to go back to work, but I didn't so the girls and I hung out with my sis and her family for an extra 6 days. 

Like I said, I took hardly any pictures. We were just so happy to be in the warm sun, that we didn't really plan anything. We went to the park a bajillion times. And then it got cold and hailed.

What the what?

We had an amazing game of kick soccer, where I took my 10 year old nephew out. We celebrated that 10 year olds ten years on his birthday. We played my little pony, and when I say we, I mean us girls and one Jack Jolley, he likes ponies and he is proud of it OK. We went to Bahama Bucks and slurped up the most delicious drinks.

We met up with some old friends.

And of course spent some quality time with this guy 

And then just like that, we were home!

And I survived the plane ride by myself, which I was so dreading!

I'm so glad we payed $200 for this seat

It didn't get sat on the whole time; we were in this position the whole 3 hours

We got home to the aftermath of the biggest snow storm the midwest has ever seen... well that I've ever seen in the midwest, I should say.

And look what this little dear did for us

He loves us 

And we love him

Thank you to my beautiful sister for having us, small kids are hard to handle, but she smothered them the whole time. Also thank you to my sweet parents who I hardly even saw the short 4 days they were there. They watched our kids a ton while we were gone interviewing! 

Well, that is the scoop, lots of praying and decision making for us in the next couple of months!

Valentine's day 2013

They are better than the silkiest flowers and fatteniest chocolate.

I love my family

Dirty Thirty

I did it. 

I turned 30. 

I now have to type the number 3-0 in the elliptical machine at the gym when it asks my age.

My mom was done having kids at the age of 30. In fact, I was 7 years old when she was my current age. 

It used to seem so old.  

But now it seems that 30 is the age when people decide to get serious about life. Maybe get hitched, or have a kid, or decide on a real career. 

This wasn't the case 20 years ago.

Is 30 the new 20? 

I'm gonna go ahead and say yes to this question, just to appease my own situation. 

I am 30.

 I have 2 young kids and am not done having them.

 I have never owned a home. 

My husband isn't really done with school yet (really close though), we don't know where we will be in one year.

 I kind of thought life would be more stable at this ripe old age. 

But you know what? I feel that I have really lived life so far. 

I didn't get married right out of high school. I was 23 years old. 

I lived it up in college. 

I had the best room mates life could give anyone. 

I played division 1 softball and got to see the country with some of my best friends.

 I got my heart broken a time or two. 

I went to Lake Powell with some guys I hardly knew and we became the best of friends.

 I put thousands of miles on my Honda civic from various road trips.

 I played bare foot soccer every Tuesday night. 

I got my degree. 

 I got married and moved far away from my family to a weird place. 

I used my degree. 

I met fabulous people from all walks of life. 

And now I am in the kid rearing stage, which is a whole other post! 

So what is the point of this rant?

 Well, to be honest, I don't really know. 

I guess I am trying to convince myself and others that I'm not getting old and that I'm still that young, vibrant, adventurous girl.

When in reality, I am that girl, but maybe with a little more wisdom and a little less spontaneity? 

I guess I'm finally starting to grow up.

So how did I celebrate?

Well let me tell you.

Feb. 8th 2013
7 am: Woke up and found this

Travis had to leave early that day, but he left me beautiful flowers, my favorite drinks, and gum. He sure knows me.

8 am: The girls and I made breakfast in bed for ourselves

9 am- Anie brought over some coffee cake

9:30- noon: I dropped my girls off at Alisha's house and went and got my hair done, courtesy of Letice Jolley.

5:30- 8:30: These sweet girls took me out to dinner

8:30 to midnight: We partied at Alisha's house

Just look at this set up

They also know me well and went with an "island" theme. We ate amazing snacks, played games with the husbands and visited. It was just what I wanted. Alisha did all of the decorating, what a great friend! In fact, I'm am blessed with many great friends!

Oh and I'm not done

Feb. 9th 2013

9 am: Drop the kids off at Jana's house and head on out to the DAY SPA with Sarah!

9:30 am: Best hot rock massage of my life

10:30 am: Amazing facial

11:30 am: Lunch at the spa

12:00: Mani/pedi's

This is what I needed! I was revived. I think every mom should do this at least once a year! Thanks Mom and Dad! What a genius idea! And Trav, thanks for coordinating all of the babysitting! 

I had tons of fun texts, FB messages, cards and calls from people. Makes an old lady feel loved! 

I'm pretty sure that the dirty thirties are gonna be off of the hook!

Super bowl

These are all of the pictures I took, I mean, the food spread is kind of the most important part of super bowl Sunday anyways right?

Good game. Good food. Good friends

I didn't really care who won this year, just wanted a good game!

And I'd also like to thank the power outage at the Super dome for happening, I'm sure I packed in about 400 extra calories due to it.

I really hate when football season ends!

Two Years

Brooklyn just turned 2.

What the heck?

Wasn't she just born?

For her birthday we decided to hang out and go to a bounce house, she loves to bounce. 

We usually do breakfast in bed on birthdays in our household, but I just don't think that's a good idea when you are two, so we had a birthday picnic, while watching Curious George. I think she liked it better.

Don't mind naked Mowgli over there.

We played all morning, opened up a few presents and took naps. Yes I'm a mean mom, I made her take a nap on her birthday. But I knew we would be out late partying and I wanted her to be the happiest. So if you think about it, I'm actually a very nice Mom, OK?

After she woke up, we gathered up our stuff, and the Johnson's, and headed south to Olathe, KS. Since we were going that direction, I called up the Oman's to see if they wanted to meet us there. And of course they did. 

The place was amazing. Amazingly ghetto! I could have just sat there and watched people all night long. There were some interesting characters to say the least. But it was OK, because when there is floating plastic to be climbed on and jungle Jims to explore, kids don't really know the meaning of ghetto. 

Here were some of the party goers

And I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures of the people there, it really was a treat!

After the bounce house, we went to Oklahoma Joe's with the Oman's. 

We got our BBQ on.

And our present opening on.

But we didn't get our cake eating on because when we got home, it was way too late...

...and then the next day, Travis worked the whole day so we had to wait...

... but the 2nd day after her birthday, we managed to fit the cake eating and singing in.

These pics of the cake were on her birthday

This was two days later

Brooklyn had been practicing her birthday candle blowing out for weeks, so we really couldn't forgo this part of the birthday, even though the cake was sweating. She did great!

She was a very happy birthday girl

Brooklyn, you seriously light up the room.

You could be Shirley Temple's twin sister

You have the type of personality where people are just attracted to you and want to be around you.

You are snugly and warm and soft and fleshy

You love your sister and you love when her friends come over to play

But sometimes you and your sister fight, and you "paw" her

Its really hard for me to punish you, I either want to laugh or hug you when you are naughty

You wear your emotions on your sleeve and are extreme in all of your emotions. You can be very excitable, very happy, very sad, very mad within 15 minutes

You are very obsessed with washing your hands. Serious, you will stop what you are doing and say, "mama, wash hands." I'm proud to say you have not gotten the flu this season

You are very into dolls right now, and you and Avery pretend every day. You love Baby Bleu, Baby Patty and Baby Rita

You are very into picking your nose, which I think you learned from your older sister

You are obsessed with jumping. You are always doing it. So much that you got a mini trampoline for Christmas

Along with jumping, you are always bouncing. Whenever I hold you, you bounce, and people think I am bouncing you, but you are doing all the work. Also, when you are eating in your high chair, your legs are always bouncing out of the bottom, so much that I can't fill your water too high in your cup or it will spill

You love to color and paint, and about 4 months ago you would do it for long stretches of time, but now you just scribble something and you are done, so I kind of think your attention span is fading? You love to draw circles

You are the biggest mess maker ever! You are way into lotions and creams and soaps; so where is your favorite room in the house? The bathroom. If I can't find you, you are usually in the bathroom concocting some potions. You are obsessed with makeup and I had to buy you some of your own because you were ruining mine

You know all of your colors and shapes; including octagon, which is one of my favorite words that come out of your mouth, "ogagon."

You are working on your letters, but for some reason aren't as interested in those yet

You speak in solid sentences and are starting to get sassy. The other day you said, "Mama, go away, we want to play." You also said "mama, I have to tell you something," and then you mumbled a bunch of stuff

You have gone pee pee 3 times in the toilet, but still don't seem too interested to start potty training

You watch Avery go on the potty and try to wipe her afterwords all of the time

Your favorite food is quinoa and rice, you would eat that stuff all day long

You love your Daddy, but you are still a total Mama's girl

You are a very inconsistent sleeper. Sometimes you wake up at 4 or 5 and just need us to snuggle with you, and sometimes you will sleep till 8. And other times you will wake up at 6 am ready to go.

You love music. Already, in the car, if I listen to even 2 seconds of talk radio you say, "mama, music please." And if I have to turn the music down to answer my phone, you get mad and say, "music loud please."

You might be our dancer, you are always rockin' to the beat

You are the sweetest, sassiest, cuddliest, cutest 2 year old and we don't know what we would do without you! You add so much color and fun to the family

We love you Brooklyn, maybe don't eat as many veggies though, that way you won't grow as fast!