January 29th, 2013

So almost another year has gone by so here is a small update.

IsaBelle is in the 6th grade and has started to be more outgoing. She has met some great friends and is really enjoying school. I am really nervous for next year when she will enter Junior High but she is already so excited for it! She was a Level 5 this past gymnastics year and we will be going to Las Vegas this weekend for her to compete but, after that she has decided she doesn't want to do gymnastics anymore. She really hates the bars and vault so she is going to switch over to TNT (Tumbling and Trampoline). So since they are currently in season she will be just doing some tumbling and trampoline classes until July. I was pretty sad when she said she wanted to quit because it has been so fun to watch her. But, it will be fun to have her do TNT because Teryn is already on that team so they will get to go on the same days and go to the same competitions. PLUS....TNT is quite a bit cheaper so that is always good :)

Teryn is in the 2nd grade and has, as always, been  my little Ms Diva-Boss. She loves to be in charge and boss her friends around. For example.....Earlier in the year we went to my girls elementary school for them to play while I was talking with a friend. Teryn decided it would be a good idea to bury her shoes in the rocks and in the end we were only able to find one of them. So, on the way home I told her that during recess it would be great if she could look for her other shoe some more. The next day when I picked her up from school she was all excited because she found her shoe...I told her "I  knew you be able to find it" and she proceeded to tell me that she didn't exactly find it, one of her friends did. She said she organized a group of 13 kids and they all played a game to find the shoe. She showed the kids where she has lost the shoe and assigned them each an area to look and then she played manager and made sure they were working on finding the shoe. She said they all loved the game and that they were going to play it again the next day. So she really didn't do anything to find her shoe (unless you count bossing your friends around and making them do your work :) )

Dustin finished his schooling at the end of 2012 and now has his AAS. It has been great for him to not be so busy with school but now that he is done with that he is going to be going to a lot of military schools this year. He was gone for 3 weeks in January and it has been nice for him to be home.

I am still busy with work, school, PTA and church. I am really wishing I was done with my Bachelors program but I am thinking I still have 1 more year to go before it will be completed.

May 08, 2012

Rolling with my theme of only updating my blog yearly apparently but hey what can I say :)

So, lots has happened the last year, so I will update you kind of like a Christmas letter and give an update on each of us.



(he won't like this)



Dustin has had a crazy few months. He broke his ankle, and his fibula back on February 10th while jumping out of an airplane (He is under the impression that a military plane is not a perfectly safe airplane so he is the smart one with a parachute on his back). He got a plate and pins put in and actually had 2 screws removed about a week ago. It has been a long recover but I think he has handled it great. He normally likes to be busy all the time and this down time has hopefully done him some good.

IsaBelle has been doing her gymnastics thing like always. She is Level 5 and will be starting her competitive season in August of this year. She still just absolutely loves it and all of the friends she has made. She is still doing very well in school and her teachers always comment on what a great kid she is and her teacher Mrs. Leith says she is "a breath of fresh air to her". Belle loved that she said that and always repeats it to me. She is growing up so fast and I was really quite sad when she turned 11 on the 28th of April. I can't believe I have an 11 year old!! She is such a sweetheart though and I can not imagine where my life would be without my beautiful, shy, and kind of crazy Izzy!

Teryn has still been doing tumbling and is hoping I will let her move into cheer leading soon. I am still not sure I am ready for that yet so I am still making her wait. She has loved 1st grade but there are days where she wants to just stay home. A few months after school started she asked me if it would be okay if she called in sick to school. It was so cute. She talks about all her friends at school and all the little 1st grade drama that goes on. She doesn't seem to be in on the drama but definitely has the in's and out's of everyone elses. She loves to give hugs, which drive Belle crazy, and she still loves to hang out with Mom all the time, I hope that never goes away.

I have been doing my same old thing. I now work for admissions at my job and get to work from home which is really nice. My office is in the basement and my kids love to be down her with me while I am working. I also started school again and will hopefully be done with my Bachelors in November of 2013. I wish it was sooner but I just do not see that happening.

Well, hopefully ( and yes Rene, I have said this before) I will update this soon instead of a year from now!

Ok, so its been almost a year......

OK, so just as my last post says I am NOT so good at this. I told my husband I would update this before it is a full year since I last posted :) Wow how time zooms by. The past year has been one of adjusting, frustration, happiness and everyone growing up a little more. That last part is the hardest for me. I miss my girls being at the age where they need me and want me to be a part of everything they do. I still get those moments every now again but it seems that they are becoming smaller and smaller, especially with IsaBelle. I had a hard time with her turning 10. I hate thinking of how fast the next ten will go and hope that I have the ability to be who she needs me to be for her. Teryn still likes me to do lots with her and I love it and am trying to remember to cherish that and not get frustrated when I feel to busy. I need to remember that with everything I guess.


Now, even though it is hard to have my babies grow its not all bad. I love that IsaBelle comes to me and just wants to talk. I love to hear about her day and school and the adventures/trials she goes through as a 10 year old. She is so beautiful and is such an amazing helper to me. She can tell when I need a hand with something and can tell when I just need to hear something nice. She makes me feel like a wonderful mother and tells me that its OK that I get mad sometimes because the good times totally makes up for it. She never fails to make me smile. Belle is still doing gymnastics and the competition season began a few weeks back. IsaBelle loves the competitions and more so loves all the new tricks she has been learning. She always tells me how she wants to be a coach when shes older and maybe even have her own gymnastics place :)


Now, with Teryn, its a little different story :) She also is so beautiful and she knows it! She loves to have her hair curled and then always wants me to take her picture ( after she has looked at herself for a few minutes in the mirror LOL ) She is very sweet though, and I can always count on her for a hug. She learns things very fast and loves to show me all the new things she has learned. She loves her daddy and always will reference back to him in her conversations.Teryn has done gymnastics at the same place as Belle since she was 3 and has now decided she would rather be a cheerleader. She saw one of the coach's throwing a girl in the air at thought it was the coolest thing she had ever seen!! I told her when she was older that maybe she could be a cheerleader but for now she could do tumbling or gymnastics. She decided to do tumbling and is level 2 tumbling and is on the pre-tumbling team called The Jets. I love my girls so very much and am so glad I have them.

The adjustment of the past few months has been that my cousin Tatiana has been living with us since November. All of us have had to adjust to adding a new person in the house but I think that slowly we are working out the kinks. The girls enjoy having Tatiana here to play with and for the most part they are always having fun together. There is that 25% of the time that they are fighting but that is also slowing getting to be less and less.

As for Dustin and me, most everything is the same as always. We both go to school and work. Dustin recently bought a new motorcycle and grew a mustache...which is not my favorite but hey, its not on my face :) I started a new job at Western Governors University and really enjoy it. I still work at the post office too but only work about 36 hrs per week between both jobs.

Well, that definitely does not encompass everything since I last posted but what can I say?? I've been a little busy:) I was hoping to put a pic of Tat and one of Dustin's bike on here, but apparently I have none on my computer, maybe next time......???

I do want to share something that happened with Teryn because it really had an affect on me and has made me think a lot lately.

In the earlier part of April Teryn and I went to do some grocery shopping. Teryn had been really quiet while shopping and when we got in the car I asked her if she was OK or if maybe she was just tired. She climbed up front while we were parked and sat on my lap. She said to me in a very quiet little voice "IsaBelle is going to be 10 soon and I don't want her to be". I asked her why and her reply tightened my chest for a bit, she said "when you were 10 your mommy died and I don't want you to die". When I was finally able to answer her I told her that it was different with my mom because she had been sick for a while and that I wasn't sick. She then hugged me really tight and said "OK, mommy. I just really love you and don't want you to go away". That was a very hard moment for me. I realized that although I may not be sick I have no idea if I could die tomorrow or next week. I want my girls to know how much I love them and to remember how much fun we always have together. So, I am going to work on being better at that and trying not to get angry with them and try my hardest to practice a little more patience and let the others go for a bit instead of asking them to wait.

A bit of catch up ........I am so bad at this!!!

Ok so again I am a bit behind on updating this thing!! I need to set myself a reminder :) Well anyway, I will just post some pic's and tell a little about what's been happening in our lives.

Belle has been growing up so fast in the last few months. Especially in the area of boys, her and her friends are always talking about what boys are "hot" and which ones aren't, who can sing and who can't and who is dating who....I don't even know how they know these things!! She is loving being on summer vacation but was really sad to leave her teacher behind, she really loved her 3rd grade teacher but is excited to think she may get to have her again in 5th grade since she has moved to now teaching that. As always she is busy with gymnastics but seems to just love it more and more as we go along, every time she learns something new or gets a trick down she is so excited and she can be seen always doing handstands and such around the house.

Teryn was also sad to leave her preschool class but is way excited to get to go to her "sissy's" school this year. I am hoping she can get into the all day kindergarten class so I can work during the day and not have to worry about a babysitter. As hard as it is to see my kids both be in school this year it will be nice to be home everynight with my family.

The girls have had so much fun already this summer even though it has really just begun. We have done lots of swimming and playing in the water in the back yard. Yesterday the girls gave the dog a bath in the back yard and it was very fun to watch!!

Well, I will once again tell you that I will try to do better and post again next week...and as always we shall see if that actually happens!!!

XOXO
Mari :)