Sunday, March 30, 2014

Perspective


“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” 


     Its all a matter of perspective. For us that has changed drastically over the past 15 or so months. For example:

  •  We used to think a long car drive was the 12 hours it took to get from Colorado Springs to  Las Vegas. Now a long car ride means 20+ hours split into two "short" driving days.
  • We used to think that we needed all of our stuff. Now we know that the only things we really need are a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, food in bellies and each other.
  • We used to think that our 4 bedroom 2 bathroom 2000sq ft house was getting "small". Now after a year in hotels we think that this 2 bedroom 2 bathroom 900sq ft condo is a great size for our family.
  • We used to think staying in one place for a few years was a long time. Now staying somewhere for a "long time" to us means 6 months.
  • We used to think we lived far from the beach when it was 1,150 miles. Now we think we live far from the beach when it is more than 20 miles.                                                                                      
    Perspective is a funny thing. The same thing can mean totally different things to the each person. We often hear how crazy our life is. For us though there is nothing crazy about it. We have what we need and what we love the most. So in closing a quote from Tim Burton, “One person's craziness is another person's reality.”



   Here are some pictures of this "huge" condo. :) All the kids sleep in the master bedroom, where there is 1 queen, 2 twins, and 1 toddler bed. Mom and dad share the other room. There is a kitchen, dining area, and living room.













Thursday, March 13, 2014

On the Road Again

   Our drive from Austin to San Diego went very smoothly. We have been blessed with children who are amazing travelers. They no longer ask questions like, "Are we there yet?" or "How much longer?" because we never answer them or we say something like "Does it look like we are there?" or "As long as it takes.". The car was packed to the rim, yet each of us had a seat with enough space. We took our time and took 3 days to get to our destination. We drove about 10 hours the first day, 7 hours the second day and finished the last 2 hours on the third day. On the second day we made it to the city I was born in, Brawley, CA. We stopped here for the purpose of seeing my grandparents and getting some food from one of my favorite places. 
   It is so nice to be back in San Diego! Our allergies are almost completely nonexistent! The weather is always beautiful! There are so many things to do and see. Oh and I love the beach!! It will be an AWESOME summer here!!!




Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Happiness

   So this post was kind of inspired by a friend of mine. After she and I talked on the phone a couple of weeks ago (you know who you are). We got talking about future plans and if she and her husband were really happy. So that made me want to think, reflect and talk with Colt to see if he and I are truly happy.
   This is what we came up with, the short answer is YES! Let me elaborate. 
   We often hear from our extended family and friends, "I don't know how you live like that." "I could never do that." "I would miss my stuff too much." "I would get sick of being on the road." "That would suck, moving around all the time." "Whatever works, I guess."
   Which made me wonder, if people thought we were unhappy with where our life and choices have taken us.
   So Colt and I had a "sit down". I began with "We need to talk." just to get him a little jumpy. I asked him to think about it and tell me if he was really happy in and with his life right now. He started with his job, he likes what he does. He enjoys the people he gets to meet and work with. He enjoys the hours and the pay. He enjoys all the places (travel wise) it has taken him. So job....happy...check. Next on to family, he enjoys that we get to be together on the road. He enjoys all the time he gets to spend with the kids and I. He enjoys being able to show the country to the kids. He enjoys how close our family has become. He enjoys our marriage and our friendship. So family life.....happy....check. Onto personal and spiritual, he is happy with his personal time. He enjoys church. He enjoys fun game time once in a while. He enjoys exploring everything. So personal and spiritual.....happy....check. So yes Colt is happy about where and what and who and how he is in his life right now.
   My turn. I enjoy my "job" as mother and wife. I enjoy my time with my kids, its not easy but I do enjoy it. I love being Colt's wife, he takes great care of me and our children. We know that there is not a thing any of us will have to worry about, as long as he is here. He really is my best friend. Since I keep the books, I can honestly say that I am happy financially speaking, we are not rolling in the dough but we have what we need and no money stress. I am satisfied with who I am personal and spiritually. I have grown so much and in so many ways the past few years. I enjoy all of our travels. I enjoy getting to see new places and meet new people. I enjoy being on this amazing adventure with my family. I am glad to share in all the these wonderful memories we are making for and with our kids. So yes I too am happy with where and what and who and how my life is right now.
   I hope that you are happy too. Things might not always be like you had hoped and dreamed for but happiness is more than that. It starts with a choice. You can't always choose your circumstances but you can choose how you are going to feel about them. I hope you choose joy and happiness, they may be hidden and hard to find but if you look close they are there.

Until next time. I love you C,M,B,C,E and L.   


Good Bye Austin

Well we have now left Austin. We were there for about 8 weeks. There are a few things that we will not miss about our time there. The first is the sever allergies that we all suffered from. I had them the worst. Colt had never had an issue with allergies until our time there. Even the kids had to take allergy medicine every day. The second thing we will not miss is the lack of shopping bags (plastic), we had to buy some bags at our first grocery store. Since we were not use to bringing bags we almost always ended up paying 10 cents per bag when we went to the store, until we found out that Randall's doesn't charge for bags (paper). The whole bag thing was nuts. (if you want to find out more about the bag ban click here) The third thing we are not going to miss about Austin is the traffic and the one way streets. I never imagined that there would be traffic on I35 at all times of day (our hometel was right off of I35). We had to pass our hometel each day to turn around and come back on the other one way street.
With that let us share what we will miss about Austin and Texas in general. First thing we will miss is our family that lives in Houston and San Angelo. It was nice to get to see them, between them living in Texas and our traveling it seemed as though we were never "visiting home" at the same time. The second thing we are going to miss is our ward family. We had a wonderful time in the ward. The people were so nice and they welcomed our family into the ward family from the second we walked in the door. Third we are going to miss the sweet Sister Missionaries that we got to know so well. We had them over for dinner about once a week and they always had a fun story or lesson for the kids. The fourth thing we are going to miss is the very friendly hotel staff. The staff really does make the hotel. The last thing we are going to miss is the beautiful San Antonio Temple. We only made it there once but it was lovely.

San Antonio Temple


The beautiful stain glass.

Cabela's was doing a canoe demo.



Just to show the size of this canoe Eva was rowing.
The guy said she was the smallest and quickest learner of the day.

Sis. Felix and Sis. Thorner sharing the story "The Warm Fuzzies"


There was about 10 minutes left before Colt got home, and I was so DONE for the day.
So I told the kids to play dead and scare Dad when he got home.
It worked like a charm I had a few moments of peace and quiet!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Short Videos in Austin

For a while we were having a lot of cold weather here in Austin. Like so cold that they were closing schools and government building. At first when I looked out the window I thought it was joke. There was just a dusting of snow. It became know as the Austin Snowpocalypse! Either way we are not prepared to be in cold weather. Traveling with winter coats for 7 people takes up to much precious suit case room. We had to come up with ways to stay busy while staying in the hotel room. We found a portable ping pong set on clearance at Target and it was a big hit!



When we do get to go out we like to head to the park. Well the kids love it I secretly dread it, because I know I will suffer with horrible allergies. But nonetheless I take the kids because they enjoy it. This is a video clip of when our two youngest learned to share at the park. I tend to stay our of most of their little tiffs in hopes that they can learn to work them out on their own. I feel there is a lot that kids need to learn on their own with out their parents jumping in to solve it for them. I was very pleased the way this worked out.


Oh toddlers. Nothing on a counter is safe again. I am excited to see my baby growing up!


Our little Malayan turned 10!!! I am so proud of the young lady she is becoming. She is starting to have her own opinion on everything and she is willing to share it. She knows what is right and she is a great example to her younger brothers and sisters. She fits perfectly in her role as the oldest. She is my little mini me, and I love her so much. We have a family tradition of smashing your face into your birthday cake. This was the first year that she was ready and kind of willing to do it. I explained to her that the more her face messes up the cake the bigger her piece is, because nobody wants the smashed part but you. She is ready to rub her face all over the cake next year.


Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Austin Recap Part 3

My sister came to visit from Houston for Malayna's birthday!

Malayan's birthday dinner. She picked Golden Corral just for the cotton candy!

Tia Steph took Malayan to get a Build A Bear for her birthday!

Stuffing the bear!

Had a sick baby for a few days. This is how those days were spent.

Austin Recap Part 2

History of Texas museum

At the museum they had an imax theater. we watched a documentary about butterflies.

Bobby 

Lindy

Malayna


Bobby


CJ

Eva

The kids liked this truck.

Watching a movie in bed together.

Sick day just watching movies and laying low.

Austin Recap Part 1

Eva and Lindy enjoying the sun through the window.

Eva 

Lindy

Malayna

CJ



At the state capitol building.

Capitol Building

Colt being silly at the hotel.


Lindy fell asleep on the chair next to me while I was blogging!

Colt's 30th birthday!!

Malayna made Colt's birthday cake!

Daddy paid each of them 50 cents to give him a massage.

Malayna working on her loom.

She got the loom for Christmas!