Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Holidays

Seeing that I had ZERO posts in December I felt it only fair to go back a few weeks and recap on my festivities. I'm a simple character and I'm not crazy about celebrating holidays, the only one that has ever really mattered to me was Thanksgiving and it was AWESOME this year! (upside down turkey = WIN)

From Male Turkey

To our lovely Female Turkey

Deliciousness in our mouths non-stop

Upside down leaves your white meat just as juicy if not juicer than your dark

Team Work in the kitchen ended us with turkey overdose, it was so good! I'm drooling! lol


Now to my December festivities as soon as I landed in Reno began the Christmas shopping.Winter cloths shopping too! Not a lick of winter cloths were left in our wardrobe so we had to get us in warm cloths fast! That is where I began, back to jeans and sweatshirts I went with some new edition long sleeves and shopping for Marley was the best part. I LOVE getting that girl in cloths she is SO FREAKING CUTE! lol So a variety of outfits for her galore! After we were all warm and bundled I can get to the Xmas list (online shopping FTW) I didn't even have to leave really which is the funny part. Spent all that time making sure we had cloths to go out in the cold in and I can't even remember how many times we actually left the house. I hate leaving! So December consisted on boring hibernation nothing BIG or extreme that I can think of. Marley has been attached to my moms hip since we landed and is back to bossing my little sister around, its like she never left. She yearns to be in the water which makes me sad to think of the amount of water play and pool time she is missing out on, its a fight to get her out of the bath. Other than the usual things like keeping to Marley's daily schedule I have many pictures below to all the many things I've been up to that have been keeping me away from my precious blog enjoy!


First on the list CLEAN RINGS!!! The first time in MONTHS and they came back looking NEW I was mesmerized for days! 

Family time!! All my Aunts and my Mom

More Family Time Brother Brandon & Cousin Jenny

Back to the grinds Arroz con Leche and Cinnabons how I missed them so..

They waited for Marley and I to put the Christmas tree up so that was fun to do. It was the first time we put a big tree up in YEARS!!

Marley in semi-winter attire and MITTENS! :-)

Attached to the hip I say!

She started smiling like this every time the flash comes on and wont let me catch her with her eyes open anymore its pretty funny!

Winter Cloths!! I got my boots with the FURR :-p

Just a Shaka Kinda Time Chillin'

CHEESE!!!

Getting in bed with boys not even weeks after being back what a hussy!! Lol Jk Little/Big Tristen Dugger & Marley hanging out

Christmas Ready

Marley Just waking up being cute and what not

I got FOOTSIE PJ's!!!! So Marley and I decided to take this moment and enjoy our PJ time together :-) I'm in love and want to die in these!

More cousin time, I'm teaching this girl how to bake ;-) Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Its no Island salad but it will have to do, I've been trying different things to meet my new found cravings

Marley being a hoodie girl :-)

New Years Hat!

Just baking baking baking!! These were probably the best cookies I have ever made!! From scratch I know it looks store bought but NO people I put my love, sweat, and tears in these :-) Weather appropriate cookies



Step by step they looked like the most unreal batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER :-)

Crunchie on the outside and perfectly soft in the middle!

Moms Famous fried fish, rice, and pasta salad

Found a new app that pretty much completes me lol!

Just driving around in the cold and what not but never without the trusty portable DVD player

Reminds me of delicious meals Robin would make for me makes me miss all that deliciousness when I have to do this without you :-( But doing these little things makes me feel like I still have you guys around :-) thank you for giving me rad skills :-)

New Hair!!! As you may have seen in my last post! Keeping myself busy in multiple ways

More family time with my brothers

Here I am spending time trying to get my fish out of the water it took more than 5  minutes and the water was completely gone!

Breakfast time with Marley Brown :-)


So as you can see from the many pictures I have shared I've been doing a little bit of this and that and still some days I wonder where the heck has time gone?! Everything happens so fast and all those little things that I feel sometimes were nothing, like I didn't do or accomplish anything the whole day really add up to loads of memories even just small ones. Everyday is different and some days do seem to move slower than others but at the end of the day looking at Marley I know it was a good day no matter what. I may add that I purchased Just Dance 3 for my Wii and have been gaining some wicked dance moves over the last few weeks so not only am I baking and cooking, I'm DANCING! I'll let you know how that goes ;-) 

To be continued....


Friday, January 13, 2012

Leaving

Leaving is never easy. Saying goodbyes are always hard. Life happens so fast sometimes, today I have a second to pause and actually process a little of what is going on or I should say what went on. I don't even know where to start one minute I'm there the next I'm here. I cannot begin to express how much love and appreciation I have for the ones I love and how thankful I am for every opportunity that has come out from all the life experiences that have come and gone and continue to be. Nothing is impossible and with the love support and care from the true and few around it could have never felt any better. I came to Hawaii not knowing what to expect and I left knowing I was exactly where I was supposed to be when I was supposed to be there. I've gained another forever beautiful home and I know I don't have to be there to know that I will always be welcomed back with open arms filled with love.

I'd like to dedicate this post to Mark and Robin Schweitzer who have been amazing friends/family from the beginning. The whole Hawaii experience probably would have never happened with out you guys, Hawaii was never even a thought in my mind but because of the love we have for each other and the relationship we have built Marley and I have had a life experience others only dream of. So thank you! We love you guys so much and it has only been a few weeks and I left missing you before I even left but as much as I think of you, I carry you guys in my heart always and that definetly keeps me smiling. Its funny the things I think of daily that just make me burst out in laughs and then I think to myself how crazy I must look and laugh even more. I find myself saying silly things only we would understand, I see things in the store that remind me of things we would do and all I can do is smile sit back and think of all the wonderful times we had and I know that in the future there are only more to come. Hawaii was beautiful but the time we spent together was what mattered the most. I learned a lot about myself being so far away from everything I ever knew and it feels good to know I have found such a big piece of myself to be able to continue on to another chapter in my life and from here on who knows where I'll end up :-p I'd go on but I'd probably end up crying myself to sleep from a combination of feelings and emotions and all that girly bullshit lol

I Love You Guys!! Thanks Again for EVERYTHING!!!

Pure Love



Ohana



These Will ALWAYS make me laugh!



Jerz What?!?!



Epic Duck Face FAIL lol



Moments :-)



F-U Right In The Face!The One On Ur Arm!!



Pick Me A Winner!!



Zombie M&M



Great Pic!


Im So Excited!! Lol


Pool Time!


Park Time!

Beach Time!


All the time and EVERY time always equaled a Good Time :-) And now I need A Fucking blended drink MARK!!!!!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Traveling with a Toddler



Can I just start this off by saying MOVING SUCKS!!!! Especially when the moving requires you to board planes, have long lay overs, and lame airline assistance! Let me tell you when the airline services claim to offer you assistance or assistance to those with disabilities they LIE and if they do some what help they do it with the worst attitude and look at you crazy. I can't tell you how many people I wanted to slap on this trip back to the mainland OH MAN!!! This particular flight attendant comes to mind, while Marley was watching her movie on her portable DVD player this lady has the nerve to tell me she needs to have headphones on. My internal reaction was as follows: [ BITCH if you would bother to fucking read your flight manifest you would know my daughter has a disability and teaching her how to put fucking headphones on isn't a top priority seeing that we are focused on teaching her how to communicate and other life skills before all else so SHUT THE FUCK UP ain't nobody in the back of the damn airplane complaining and can't nobody else hear it or is complaining SHIIIIEEEETTTTT]. I can't begin to express my frustrations but Marley did GREAT! There were no weird-o's to speak of, no smelly people near us, and no other things or obstacles that make traveling a bit more uncomfortable than need be. So my complaints end their. I was very impressed with the way Marley behaved herself not one cry or tantrum throughout our whole trip and the long lay over that required us to stay the night at a near by hotel was actually better than going straight through. A good in between break from our travels and Seattle's airport provided this amazing overnight baggage service. I didn't have to drag my two over sized bags back and forth to the airport, they kept them there nice and safe for me for a small fee well worth it I may add. The whole travel was exhausting, emotional,draining and it is probably something I wouldn't do alone in the future, well let me clarify I would definitely travel again just Marley and I but NEVER move across the ocean by ourselves! Daniel was a BIG help the first time around and I think I would just stress myself out more than need be to do it again like I did this time around. Big thanks to Mark & Robin for getting us to where we needed to be and helping out along the way I couldn't have done it without you guys! 

Marley and I just enjoying the last true blue sunny sky before we start our journey to the cold.

I remember arriving and coming through identical gates. Time just passes by so fast it may not have seemed like it some days but it's crazy how it all happens from one moment to the next.

Took long enough to get in and on buckled and set one last pic of the Island Airport.

Marley didn't skip a beat she is on and set even a little comfortable :-) That a girl!!

Maui off in the corner I believe. I'll be returning one day can't stay away from sky's like that! (Mark have the blender ready!)

"Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane..."

This is what I'd like to call my 5 P's (Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance) I CANNOT stress having as much as you can for a toddler on a plane luckily Marley is a simple happy girl to please is with ease (lol) But snacks is a MUST,books, toys, coloring pads, stickers, LIQUIDS!, pillow, movies, and most importantly SILKY! (Marley's favorite blanket)

Without all these modern inventions I don't think I would ever in my life even consider traveling alone. FORGET ABOUT IT! It was A LOT to carry but worth my sanity. Thanks to all those many things I brought along this trip there wasn't a single moment of fuss or frustration. Marley did such a great job and was well entertained throughout that five and a half hour flight between nap time, snack time, and play/movie time everything went as smooth as any parent could wish. The worst thoughts came to my mind prior to this and the disasters I made up were far from coming true so I call this my trip success. :-)

 My sweet baby napping. I may suggest night time diapers! WINNERS in my book with all the liquids taken during the trip and the bathrooms being the least favorite spot for anyone traveling the diapers were an amazing help and very convenient with there fancy ways of absorbing EXTREME amounts of liquids THEY WORK!

Finding different ways to keep her comfortable and to maintain her sleep mode was not easy to maneuver. I felt so bad, she kept moving and had no place to go and this girl is a CRAZY sleeper. I finally ended up taking her out of the car seat and tried to hold her to sleep, it didn't last long but I'm sure it helped her get a few more minutes into her sleep mode.

Snack time!! My last cups of P.O.G (passion, orange, guava) Even if the mainland were to offer such a delicious beverage it would never be the same!


BIG, no HUGE thanks to the inventors of the portable DVD player a true life savor and entertainment for us both. Our feature presentation consisted on Alice in Wonderland (GREAT movie), so glad Marley has great taste in flicks.

Arrival in Seattle... it was COLD -_-

Seattle to Reno needless to say the flight wasn't nearly as pretty or as close to that blue in beautiful paradise.

Xmas ready and this girl was up at 5:30am to 7pm local time and 3:30a.m to 5p.m Hawaii time. The time gap was something I worried about and keeping her on schedule but this girl pulled through the whole day and powered through the jet lag to get back onto her normal schedule within two days, she didn't skip a beat and if it wasn't for her greatness this trip would've been a nightmare. Thanks Marley!!