Summer Time 2014

I got most our house out of boxes before I left for my open ended vacation. We moved 5 days before I got on the plane. Marques started working the day after I left for a temp. job while we wait to hear about jobs in his field. I flew to Utah with my sister, and her 3 kids. The flight went incredibly well. The airlines we flew charged for everything, but it was fine and it got us from point A to B. My sister, Kellie, was waiting for us on the other side. It was a was from the airport home, but it was just fun to be there.
Week one: We started GRANDMA CAMP the next day. The four days to follow were all filled with the most wonderful activities and events to not only bring the cousins together, but as sisters we enjoyed so much! All five of us came home with all the grandkids! Yes all 15 of them, and us five girls stayed at my parents house for 4 days. It was a blast, and a life changing experience for me and my sisters to reconnect our sisterhood like never before. So glad this will be a yearly thing.
Week 2 was spent in Salt Lake. I stayed at my parents other home there all by myself. It was nice to have some down quiet time after the past few days. I visited with Marques' grandma and aunt most the days I spent there. But the main reason I went was to support his sister getting out her endowments! I am so greatful for the church and the blessings that come from being a part of it. What a wonderful experience for all of us. I am so glad that she chose to do it while I was there. What a good time of life for her, we are so proud to have her as out siste. I loved also being able to remember mine and to reflect on how blessed I am to have a wonderful mom who helped me through it with ease to make the most of my day! I love you mom.
Week 3-5 were spent in LA. My sister Lindsey lives there in the northern part and my sister Christine lives an hour south of there. So I was able to see and spend time with them both. When I first arrived I had no leave date. Most people asked how that worked out as I left Marques at home, but he is so great and told me to come home when I was ready, lol. It was fun to see people's faces too. Christine was able to bring home my baby neice, Jaide, from the hospital while I was there. Jaide's adoption into our family had just become final and it was so good to see and hold her. I also got the privilege of visiting with Marques' dad and step-mom. We ate several meals together, mom and I got nails done, and dad and I got to go to the beach for a family reunion thing! It was so fun to see our family from the varela side and to enjoy a day at the beach again!! Toward the end of week 4 Marques flew out and we spent some days with both sides of the family. We then packed up the car we bought from my bro in law and headed out on the 24 hour trip back to Texas!
My husband was so gracious to allow me to go.. He stayed home and worked a ton of hours even overtime! What a great Husband!!
Once back home I started looking for jobs and finished putting our house together. We have found several unlivable things in our house that needed to be fixed like dining room and bathroom lights out (the electrition had to be called as we tried everything we knew), the dishwasher and microwave, sink with a hole in the bottom, leaking focet, and non working shower. So we had lots of people coming to fix all those things. And hey I learned how to and installed toilet paper holders in all three of our bathrooms!! That's a good thing! I also found a job fairly easy. About 20 minutes after I applied, I received a phone call and got an interview. We had a small run around that I had a second interview with another school and thought I missed my chance for the first one, but it all worked out and I have a good job as a Content Mastery Resource Teacher in a Junior high. Marques is still doing steps for jobs, and hoping to hear soon on some positions. Please Please pray for us as we wait to hear back that we will get a good job that can be a good career path for us! I will also post pictures and now that I am home and in a routine again, I will start posting more regularly. Love you all--

Leading into Summer

Well, as usually I have let it go a couple of months, lol. So the end of April was pretty normal. Marques' school was winding down. He got to go to D.C. to present his last project. He was also able to site see a bit and seemed to really enjoy it. And might I add his group got the top group rating in his whole school for their project. I was so proud of him, and his group!! We continued to feed the missionaries as we always do. And as it  has gotten warmer, Rio is enjoying the park, but gets tired much quicker, and arrives home to be a dead doggie! I took on a second job for the last month and a half of school to help try to ease our money situation. I worked for the After-school program that I was working for before we did our internship. So it was long hours from 7 in the morning til 6:30 at night, but we made it through. At the beginning of May my mom came into town for the big day... GRADUTAION!! We were both so proud of Marques, and how wonderful was it to watch him walk up there and here his name in the graduating Class of 2014!! Wow, this moment that I had been wanting and waiting for for two years was here. It seemed so surreal. But non the less I was so grateful for my mom coming, and being able to share that special time with her. My husband did so great, and I will never forget not only what he did here, but what he has done for our family. So proud of you Marques!!! I couldn't have asked for a better spouse.

As the summer started we left for up north to spend time with my sister who had moved here. My parents both flew in and it was wonderful to spend a weekend with all of us! Two weeks after that we went back up there to start the search for a place to live. We figured that at least for now while we wait to here on some jobs in Texas that we might as well stay here for a while, but be by family. So we spent that past week and half at my sisters house. It was a nice break since I didn't have to come back to work and we were able to spend some good time there looking for houses. We found a cute little townhouse that really reminds me of Daybreak in Utah. It is more rent then we were hoping to pay, but we had a really hard time finding places that would not only take our pupster, but that didn't allow smoking. It seemed that every place really smelled like smoke, but we got blessed and found our little house. The last two weeks spent in C.S. were mainly packing up our things, and doing our cleaning to ensure that we got our deposit back. It was wonderful that last weekend there, we had some of the missionaries we had fed in the past few years there come back to visit. I threw a little birthday bash for Marques as well, and they got to come. As most of you know, I grew up with missionaries in my home and really loved being able to serve them in C.S.. It was a full house that night as I invited friends too, but we had a great time, and we got to say good-bye to most our close friends. On Tuesday of that week, at the end of June, I took off for our new home. I got to experience driving the U-haul with my puppy three hours. Let me tell you that was quite the drive. But hey I only called Marques crying once when I broke the visor, and I didn't have to worry about falling asleep as the adrenalin was plenty to keep me awake. But we both made it safe, and were excited to try something new...Until next time--

Back in the Swing of the Blog

This week was normal most the days. Marques continued school and I continued work. Thursday, however, was our anniversary. That night we went to Marques' softball game and went to a Talent show after for his school. For our anniversary I had made him a candy poster in puzzle form, hidden all over the house. I also made us a date jar!! Marques bought me beautiful flowers and surprised me Friday with a couples massage class and then massages! It was so fun!!!! We fed the missionaries as usual and hung out on Saturday around the house. That leads us to now, lol. I hope everyone's week is well and will keep posting weekly! Please also always pray for us to get a good job as we near the end of school. Thanks

Pictures for the Past few months!!

Bee's Games with Mom

His First Fish, and what a fun Halloween

Family Photo Time

Hockey Games!!!

Sad to Go!

Snow in Texas

Trip to see my Sister--

We all love Uncle Marques

Doggie Pillow

Ice thicker than we've ever seen

What a Game!!

Catch Up Again

Yet again I have been neglectful on our past several months. Well here is a recap--

July:

• Moved for an Internship- Left our stuff packed in our extra room so that a co-worker of mine could move in and watch the place!! Love her, haven't had a worry since she moved in. What a Blessing!!!
• Almost Lost my Kitty on the drive. Found him inside the box springs of the hotel. I seem to really love that furry thing.
• Found a Job teaching P.E. at an elementary school!
• Marques started and loves his Internship
• Attended a few Bee's Baseball games with family, including  a few great firework show nights.

August:

• My sister flew in for a wonderful trip with her two great kids!! We visited the zoo, went to baseball, went swimming, shot off rockets, made goo, and sang the Aggie war hymn every night with Marques for a bedtime song, lol.
• We went to the temple as a family for my endowments. All my family was there minus one. What a wonderful day and place to be.
• I started working at the school. Loving it so far!
• Had a birthday- My mom hosted a great dinner for us. I got lots of fun gifts that were unexpected: Grizzly Hockey Season Tickets, a beautiful emerald bracelet, acrylic nail starter kit, bead fairy money, and a way cute temple bag!

September:

• Got Labor day off, spent some great weekends at the cabin. Marques caught his first fish!!
• Won a night in Park City- Beautiful Resort with an incredible heated pool. So fun to get away
• My parents had an anniversary- 32 years!!

October:

• General Conference was a great refresher weekend
• Went on the trip of our lifeitme to Oakland. Went to the Temple as a family!! Enjoyed a Hilarious night in San Francisco, and enjoyed spending three days in Monterey!! Got to run on the beach, see my old house (or where it used to be), My old elementary work,  and of course, Cannery Row. I love that place, and now I can be with my husband forever!!!! 
• Visited Flaming Gorge- saw a moose, enjoyed row boating on the lake in front of the cabin, and watching buddy chase a few deer
• Had a killer halloween party hosted at my parents- about 100 came

November:

• My sister had her baby- Afton "Blue Seal"
• Spent Thanksgiving with my sister in St. George!! So great and delicious food

December:

• Dad's birthday, and wow it's our last month here!! I'm so sad
• Birthday celebration dinner with Marques' family
• Catered a dinner with mom in St. George
• Had a wonderful Christmas, I love being by family!!
• Spent our last few days at hockey games with my mom and dad
• Got a job for back in Texas lined up

January:

• Got Packed to move back to finish school
• Marques crashed his motorcycle trying to load it (Can I say I never want to watch my husband fall on a motorcycle again. Shook me up pretty good, but blessed that he is ok!)
• Said our very sad for me good-byes and hit the road- made it home safely
• got our house deep cleaned, cleaned out, and moved back in again
• Marques started school again, met his capstone group

February:

• Went to Wisconsin for baby blue seal's blessing- wonderful to spend time with them- Went to mall of America, and saw the main town- might I add it was negative weather there. (-10)
• Started working at an Elementary school as the behavior specialist
• Had a fun Valentine's dinner at home
• Got SNOW!!

March:

• Learned how to make Indian food- korma, marsala, and Naan!! Yummy
• Spring Break- My cousin was here, we took her to see the Waco Zoo. It was so fun. Then my dad came!!!! Oh was it so wonderful to have him here. What a blessing it was! One of the highlights was going to Dallas for a NHL Hockey game- Dallas Stars against our team the Calgary Flames. I couldn't help  myself when the game got exciting to scream out doing my pterodactyl as Marques calls it. The game ended in overtime shoot-out with us winning!!!! But I have to say all in all how wonderful it was to have my dad, oh I miss family.
• Convinced to give a talk in church. I did it, but was scared to death! However, I did say no at first and then Marques got roped into doing one too, so we did them together.
• Learned how to deal with a family crisis living away from them. My nephew fell on his razor scooter, took a huge size chunk out of his leg (14 stitches), cracked his skull, and broke his neck. He was life planed to Primary's, and hopefully on the road to recovery now. We love you little man!! What a blessing both breaks were the best they could of turned out for the situation.
• Found bats living in our attic
• Did one of my favorite callings- Primary Music Time

And that pretty well tightens the lose ends for our past several months. Which leads me to this week. This week my nephew got to come home as my dad was admitted. He had a mini-stroke. We are so blessed again that he and my mom caught it early enough that he won't have residual effects. They are watching a few new things, and hoping that by that his body will return to what it needs to be. I am grateful this week for my husband, and his willingness to be so patient and understand with me, as I have been on breaking point several times. This past two months has been two of the most trying months of my life. I have come to realize that trials come for many reasons, but God is only going to give us what we can handle despite what I think I can handle. (Believe me, I don't think I can do this, and don't really want to.) My trust and faith in H.F. and my savior has increased, and also in the fact that he knows I can do this, but I need to trust myself and my husband. What a blessing I have to have the gospel in my life. We retuned home Tuesday night from feeding the missionaries and our front window pane was shattered out. We called the police and at the end of it, it was discovered that a 10-12 year old kid was taunting rio in the window and shattered it. Luckily for us (another blessing) our landlord was willing to pay for it.  Friday we went to a ward activity, the Chili cook off. I made bread for it this year. And on Saturday we hosted a conference open house. I made Navajo tacos, and we enjoyed listening to conference with several ward members while eating great food.. Grateful that this week is almost done, and that we can get back to some spiritual feeding with conference.
And for Marques this past few months he's been working on his school projects. He has applied to several jobs and we are in waiting phase. He has been doing great, but is always busy with new assignments and people to interview for his final capstone.
I will post picture soon!! Happy Reading--

Catch up for Three Months!!

Wow I have been so neglectful. Since we are so far behind I am going to bullet the events as of late so you aren't reading for so long!!
May~~

• Baseball Games for the College
• A pet lizard living on our car for three days: Striker
• Raining, Raining, and more Rain: Resulting in frogs taking up residence in our backyard
• Split upper lip open from a baseball on accident coming fast thrown by my husband a little over a tennis court distance away
• Taught Relief Society two weeks in a row
• Ride along for Marques with the State Patrol
• Work and school ends!!

June~~

• Threw a Baby Shower
• Started Nannying for a family that attended the After-school Program
• Marques in school from 9-5 everyday
• Swimming with my nanny kids
• Temple Trip followed by a lunch with Elder Smith and Vought
• Dinner/Dessert with AlphaBest Employees
• Marques' Birthday: Wolf Sanctuary, Gift poster and hunt, Dinner
• Both Taught in Church

 We fed the missionaries a lot and always love having them over. The last weekend in June was spent prepping for our little get away. Marques got a internship for six months, so we are having my co-worker move in and we are headed back home!! The trip wasn't bad, gave Rio "chill pills", and lost my kitty in the hotel! What a scare.. Once we arrived this past week has been spent visiting family, and settling in. We surprised Grandma, so fun!!! I have had three interviews and hope to hear back today from two of them. Also I have two jobs on the line already. We are adjusting the dogs, Winston and Rio. They are not loving it, but tolerating it. Hopefully they can work it out. We are so blessed to have this going on. God is definitely helping us find a good path. I am so grateful for my husband, he is carrying us to good places! Well, I will post a few pictures, and will be in touch soon. Glad to be back for a while!!

 

 

Finishing Up April

I am so sorry that I have been so neglectful to post on the past month of our lives. Most of this blog will be catch up. Three weeks ago went faster than I would have liked. I had Monday/Tuesday to get everything ready and the week flew by. Wednesday Came-- ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! It is so surreal that we had actually been married a year. It seems like yesterday. Marques made breakfast for us and we spent a relaxed morning together enjoying the time we had. I headed to work, he later picked me up and we went to dinner at a Habachi grill rest. here in town. After we went home for a bit to pass time because after 9 I got in free to Grand Station. It is a Boondocks like fun center, just indoors. We played mini golf and laser tag. We had a great one year celebration! And I must say, there is no one I'd rather of spent the past year with. I have been so blessed to find Marques. He is perfect for me and more than likely the only one who is patient enough to live with me, lol. I love you Marques, Thank-you for a great start! By the time Thursday came I was cutting things around the house that could wait for me to come back. Thursday night I flew out to go visit my family!!!! The airlines getting there were super interesting including being delayed 4 hours, being switched airlines, and a drunk girl vomiting all down 1/4 of the plane's isle and passengers. But finally arrived safe where the Smart's met me at the airport! I spent the next day with just them, sight seeing Las Vegas. Then we drove up to meet the rest of the family. The Clark's had prepared a taco stand meal in their home.. Those great carne asada meats with corn tortilla's. My dad had also just bought a home, so we, the Smart's and I, stayed there. It is a great house for mom and dad down south! That evening my two sister's and I went for a run. It was one of the high-lights of the trip. Yes I know I hate running, but they didn't make me feel bad, and it was so great to exercise and enjoy their company. Saturday was a wonderful day spent with Hunter at his baptism. My arms got sunburned... But it was so nice to be back in dry heat and no bugs swarming you the second you are outside! We then spent wee hours into the night discussing my life and getting some great advice and support from my family. Sunday was spent mostly with the Clark's as families started to drive home. They drove me to Vegas again so I could fly home. My anut/uncle in-laws let me stay the night, and graciously took me to the airport the next morning in my dream car mind you- a zo6 corvette. If you couldn't already tell it was a much needed trip spent well in a place I love to be! Sooo glad I went. Two weeks ago was spent catching up on unfinished items at home and work. That Wednesday we were able to go to the temple and enjoy the spirit together. We were the only ones in the baptistry! Saturday came and off to the park we went for Marques to play in his softball game against Texas University. Once again he made me proud.. Hitting a home run!!! He did so great. I was thrilled to be his cheerleader. I however, forgot sunscreen again, and fried my upper chest to my shirt line bright red. I taught in relief Society that sunday. Last week was spent relatively normal. Doing school and work for us both. Marques has done well so far this semester and we hope to finish strong. Work hasn't been bad either. The year winding down, and trying to keep kids motivated to go another month. We have continued our weekly events of institute, Enchilada Friday, and feeding the missionaries. But that catch's you up to date in our lives. Crazy that Marques first year of school here is almost over! Have a great week.



Breakfast with Blue milk and on dishes the colors of our wedding!











Grand Station Fun Center- Sorry it sideways. I'll figure it out one day.













Mom and Dad with all my nieces and nephews minus two...

My sister's and I minus one...

Marques at his softball game!!