we are happier here.

y'all, we bought a house! and strangely, that means i have so much more time for things i love-like writing on my blog!! i wish i would have written a blog on our normal day-to-day while living at my in-laws butttt i didn't have time! we lived on the third floor and with two kids, that meant a lot of running up and down the stairs and figuring out when i could feed them and feed myself. going to the grocery store was a huge chore because it was 25 minutes away and finding 50 minutes, let alone an hour and a half where both girls were awake and happy was a rare thing. now we have our own house with a kitchen on the same floor as us, laundry room on the same floor as us, garage on the same floor as us. i can get to the grocery store in 2 minutes (the nice HEB in 15) and when i get back i can unload the groceries with the door open while both girls are in their high chairs or playing and i can hear or see them both. it sounds simple, but trust me-it isn't. i can even do laundry while they are in their room together or one is asleep and one is awake. before i would have to do laundry while both children were asleep because carting our clothes down three flights of stairs and leaving one (or two) babies awake upstairs for the 5 minutes it would take to take the clothes down and start the laundry was not possible. it was extremely challenging. but here we are, in our own little house in san antonio, texas. life is good. 

 this is me as a baby. funny picture, but i think lucia looks like i do in this!

lucia grace  

 wearing shoes i wore as a baby 

(it took me 15 minutes to get them on her)

 primrose as the enormous bear at costco

 little babies

 this was this morning. i can't believe her hair is long enough to do pig tails and she is this tall and skinny. she is supposed to still be a chubby infant with no hair, i don't get it. she wears an eye patch 3-4 hours a day to help strengthen the muscles in her left eye. she wears glasses all the time because she is far sighted. she got them at about 16 months.

i found this picture of my gran while unpacking some boxes. i assume Don took it and i just think she looks so beautiful. 

this is our life right now.

we are such a mess! whoever thought it'd be a good idea to have jon and a.j. pack up their house by themselves was mistaken. 

i am a daring chick posting these photos. see what we are living with? it is the worst! nothing has a place. 

we cleared out the linen closet (everything but our D.I. pile) and bandit immediately jumped up there to lounge. 

my FIL gets here on wednesday to help us pack up the U-Haul and we head to texas on saturday. so sad to leave our house!

i think now you can see why we've been stress eating: 

amidst the chaos, we've recently taken a liking to screaming "HUMAN SCWEW!" and using our pointer finger to painfully "screw" into the other persons ribs. part of the fun is seeing who can scream human screw loudest and most like a child. do you think my in-laws will like living with people who scream for entertainment?

 on friday we finally got to go on a trail ride together! jon hasn't ridden any of the horses since i've been riding, so i was really excited to have him up there with me. he rode a 5 year old mare named Magic. she was so sweet. i rode old reliable, gerry, who only spooked once when he heard a sprinkler nearby. he is such a calm chap, i love riding him. 

i'm so obsessed with this series of photos:

saturday was a rough day. it was my gran's birthday, her first since she's been gone. all day i was wishing i could call her and hear her silly little laugh and hear her ask "how you doin, dear?"

my dad called me in the early afternoon to tell me that my kitty back home died. i knew as soon as i picked up and heard him say "hi..." that it was about the cat. it was an unfortunate mishap involving a garage door. i think it sounds as bad as it was. it broke my heart.

(this was the first time my granny and chrissy had seen each other after a few months. they were both so happy!)

saturday afternoon we took bandit up to our old roommate, hanke's, house to stay until we officially leave for texas in may. i kept telling him that he was going to live with hanke and he obviously acted like he didn't understand, but i swear on friday and saturday morning-he knew! he was being soo cuddly and sweet all morning, it was not usual. it was really sad dropping him off and was just a reminder of what this move really means-lots of big and scary changes.

 look at those eyes. terrified.
it's not that alarming though, he's had a shocked look on his face since we got him:

after dropping bandit off, we went to the mall for some retail therapy. when we left the mall, jon handed me the bag and said "happy birthday." my birthday is next month, so i thought this was his easy way of getting me a gift. when i said "that's mean." he replied, "remember, your gran would get you gifts on other peoples birthday's so you wouldn't feel left out? i got you a gift on her birthday."

 we got balloons in my grandma's favorite colors and sent a card up up up into the sky. it was surprisingly relieving to watch them go and disappear into the heavens.

determined to have a better day sunday, we woke up at 5am (normal for jon, horrible for me!!) to head downtown for the hot chocolate 5k! 

we ran it with sara, it was really fun! the course was actually very challenging with tons of huge hills and quite a bit of downhills as well (my thighs are so sore from the downhills). my 5k personal record is 29:39 and i was really hoping to beat that, but i didn't. the hills were what were so hard and my nike+ sensor died so i didn't have it make sure i stayed on track to beat my time. however, if i hadn't been trying to keep up with jon the whole time, i wouldn't have finished as fast as i did! 

(jon is beautiful isn't he? he's also really sweet and put chocolate on my mouth right before the photo...)

they gave us a mug with hot chocolate and fondue with all these things to dip in it like a banana, pretzels and marshmallows. in theory, getting rewarded after a race with chocolate is an awesome idea. in reality, it was quite unpleasant. it didn't feel like we had ran a race at all, the chocolate totally cancelled out the good post-race feeling you usually have! but would i do it again? definitely. 

happy 2013!

when we got back from lava on sunday, we all passed out for a few hours. that was until jon got a mystery text from mike bird. after we had been texting back for a few minutes, we put it together that richard's number was saved under mike's name! not sure how or why that happened, but it was a happy mistake. richard and i got to hang out that night while jon played halo with my two brothers in law (alex and sam.)

we went to kalie's and hung out with her and spencer and their family. it was really fun, i have missed her so!

the next day was NYE! we celebrated bright and early by going to breakfast at the park cafe with emma, amanda, and malorie. the park cafe is almost as cute in a winter wonderland as it is in the summer.  i love hanging out with those girls and am so happy they have welcomed me into their fun little group:)

 amanda invited us to go up to Midway to Brecken's cabin for a party. it was quite the drive, but it was worth it!

 we didn't leave murray until 9:30...drinking that energy drink reminded me of lyndsi and my highschool/college days....ahh the memories.

 it was so much fun being up there! jon and i mingled for like three hours before we started to get tired. i was pretty proud of my usually introverted spouse, he chatted it up with a lot of people and made friends with no complaints! my favorite joke of the night was after i'd talk to a guy, turn to amanda or jon and say "SAD, he doesn't know i'm married." because if he did, he would not be wasting his charm on me! i loved meeting new people and hanging out with these cute girls. it was a really fun night.

on our way home from midway, we stopped at the heber cemetery. it was 2am at this time and FREEZING! we had to uncover quite a few headstones before finding my grandma's. we took a few minutes to write and leave a card. it was a nice way to end 2012/start 2013. it was a rough year losing my gran, but i'm ready to keep moving forward with her memory. i know she is proud of us for the difficult decision we have made to move, and she's probably happy she doesn't have to be in utah missing us while we are gone! 

i've been thinking a lot about her when deciding on goals for 2013. she was such a giving and genuine person, and she had quite a few traits i can strive for myself.

1. GIVE. and say YES.: i don't say yes and do things for other people enough. starting now, i'm going to help people out when they need it, and hopefully be able to tell they need it even if they might not. even doing little things like getting jon's phone from upstairs, getting him water, or running inside to grab his coat when he's forgotten it and we're already in the car. jon is really good at doing little things like this for me, i'm going to do better. 

2. doing things right when i think about them: this is one of katie's goals that i thought was really good. it's so convenient to procrastinate, but it makes life easier to just do things when you think about them. i'm already getting started on this one, i scheduled a dentist appointment, and i vacuumed the front room and got it all put back together now that the christmas stuff is put away! it took 15 minutes and now it doesn't have to weigh on me.

3. fitness: this is always a good resolution. jon and i have both started using my fitness pal and have been focussed on eating healthy food instead of snacking on chips and candy. we've had a rough start, but i'm ready for a lifestyle change.
(we are also seriously considering buying a juicer!)

4. graduate! seriously, this year my goal is to graduate from college with a bachelor's degree in Art History! and along those same lines, dare i say it...apply at UTSA for their Master's program in Art History! which also means i need to be fluent or at least halfway fluent in spanish, another goal of mine. 

5. continue to progress in my horseback riding lessons: come april, i will have been riding for a whole year. i want to be proud of how far i have come. i want to start jumping larger jumps and not letting my fear get in the way. one main goal is to be in a show by march with gerry
(and hopefully place, though i will be happy to be there no matter what happens)!

miss you, gran.

i am really missing my granny today. really, really missing her. 

i was trying to find this one winnie the pooh quote that makes me think of her and stumbled upon lots of winnie the pooh quotes that make me think of her. turns out winnie the pooh reminds me a lot of my gran! nonchalant, funny, and so very kind. 

i thought i'd post a few of them here. 

"Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would, I'd never leave."

"If there is tomorrow when we're not together, there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you."

"If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever."

"Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?"

"If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear."

"When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts, don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish."

"It took their minds off everything...and it was good for me, too."

""I wonder what Piglet is doing," thought Pooh.

"I wish I were there to be doing it, too."" 

"How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

-Winnie the Pooh

i am so happy.

lately I have had such good experiences.

people in this world are so NICE.

i believe that there can always be positive news in every source of bad news. 

i believe negativity can and does ruin lives.

i know sometimes it is hard, but for the most part, it's pretty darn easy to be happy. 

don't feel sorry for yourself, don't complain. 

help others and most importantly-help yourself.

I have a poem that has hung in my bathroom since i was in high school, it's written by Audrey Hepburn called Beauty Tips.
This is one of my favorite parts-

"Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two  hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others."

it seems to me like people are so eager to get help from others, even before getting help from themselves. and it seems like a chore to do favors for people. 

i'm learning so much from people around me, and really trying harder to remember this. it's so worth it to take everything that is thrown at you in a positive manner. 

i had heard such bad things about the military before i married jon. i tried to set my mind straight before i even moved out here. things are NEVER going to be set in stone. your husband WILL deploy and we will not tell you when until we deem it necessary. you'll probably have to move away as soon as you start making friends and you'll never stay in one house longer than you'd hope.

jon and i decided before we got married that we wouldn't complain about the marine corps. once you start complaining about something, anything, you can't ever stop. and then your life, and in our case-our military life, becomes miserable.

i called my grandma tonight, she told me about my uncle. he was grocery shopping when an employee asked him if he wanted to put his name in a drawing for free groceries. he did and the next morning got a call saying he won!!! he went to the store and had two minutes to grab anything he wanted in a certain brand. he ran to the meat counter and got tons of meat and cheese. he said that all the kids were laughing and smiling, people were clapping for him, and the cashiers all waved him off when he left. he and my grandma don't have much. they kept some of the food for the two of them, and gave the rest of it to a homeless shelter. wow.

just now, our two good friends came over to say goodbye to Jon. we talked and laughed for about an hour. jon admired Will's watch and said he needed to get himself one of those. finally, we had to say goodnight. will hugged jon, and handed him his watch for jon to keep and take with him to afghanistan. 

i love them. and i love these stories. these people are such good examples. that is all i have to say, really. 

goodnight. <3

"I never realize how much I like being home unless I've been somewhere really different for a while."

being in utah was. so. good to me.

i thought that when i came a. my dad would shoot me and b. everyone would have their own things going on and i would do my own thing. but people actually made time to hang out with me, i really went to lunch with someone everyday and always had something to do at night. i love all my friends and my family it was so so fun.
it is really exactly what i needed.

i love this woman.

so much crazy crazy stuff happened. i'm sure my blog would be a lot more interesting if i wrote about all my male issues.

anyway now i'm back in new york chillin by myself in my apartment with no plans tonight.