Good times..

The other morning there were three things that alerted me to the fact that we were back home:
1- Birds chirping! (oh, yeah, they fly south for the winter! DUH!)
2- Sirens (Joys of living in a big city)
3- I had slept clear through the night - no interruptions!

I am SOOOOOOO glad to be home. As fun as it was to be with family and see friends, I am so much less stressed out and more rested at home. I miss my family already, but am a little relieved we don't live closer than we do. It's nice to escape- Love you guys, but you know what I mean! The first two days we unpacked and YES it took us that long. We also had to clean out the van whick now has 4,000 miles on it, three cracks in the windshield and a scratch on the driver's side door... not so clean and shiny anymore :( Oh well.
Here are some more photos from our adventures up north.



My little Charlie.. a few minutes after this picture was taken, he started screaming! After a while I figured out why. He was cold! Yeah, obvious, right? Well not to him.. he couldn't remember ever being cold like that, so when that "sting" started in he freaked out!



My niece Abigail. I'm seriously intimidated by her and her cuteness!


This is the cover page of an album I made for Paper Posies.. a Year in Brief.. I'll put it and all the other stuff up in my scrapbook gallery asap. Look at how little and sweet Charlie was! :(

My little sister was in her high school musical "Pirates of Penzance." In all honesty it was the most amazingly good production I've ever seen, and these kids were in HIGH SCHOOL! I'd have been impressed if it had been a University production. I'm talking SERIOUS talent - people with bright CAREERS in drama and music! This is the guy she had to kiss - He was the "Pirate King."

Dillon is amazing on ice skates. He won't let anyone hold his hand or help him at all! He won't go inside for hot chocolate or to warm up! He's very dedicated. hehe

Here's little Joseph (who everyone thought looked a little like GI Joseph) and Mary who when it came time to give birth to her cabbage patch doll, very non-chalantly yanked it out of her shirt and tossed it into the blanket covered cardboard box. (if only!!!)

Charlie has a new trick. You ask him, "Hey Charlie, who's cute?" or "Who's smart?" or "Who's stinky?" and he'll quickly raise his had and say, "I AM!" Here he is doing this atop my "little" (6'4") brother's shoulders. And you can see that the boys are in their new Christmas Eve jammies.

Here's my other two brothers displaying their new warm hats and making me laugh (as usual)!

Christmas day we went sledding near where my dad lives. It was a gorgeous day - pretty warm too. For about two hours we went up and down this hill and surprisingly we all walked away INJURY FREE!! Seriously, though, it was super fun!



The day after Christmas James took Dillon skiing - FIRST TIME! He rocked the slopes and loved EVERY MINUTE of it - especially this giant hamburger!


Happy New Year everyone!! Love and HUGS and stay safe! And to all you who keep telling me how much you love my blog and look at it all the time - LEAVE ME A STINKIN' COMMENT! Really, though, just "hello its _____ " will make me smile for hours :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DILLON!!!

My little boy is FIVE!!!!!! I can't believe it! We're not celebrating really until the end of January when we'll have a BDAY party for both of the boys, but wow. I can't believe it was 5 years ago that I became a mother. What a crazy, scary, exciting day that was and the last 5 years... well I'm just so lucky to have such a sweet little guy.

We just got home last night so as soon as I get my camera unpacked and set up, I'll upload as many pics as this blog will let me!!! WATCH OUT!

Resolution

The final selection comittee met and we're going to Jacksonville. It's Jacksonville Florida or BUST for the Mathews family. All I can say is that I'm DONE crying. I'm going to resolve myself to find some excitement and enthusiasm in this situation. I'm still not happy about it- don't get me wrong, I just don't see any other option. So, this is me- EXCITED AND ENTHUSIASTIC!!!
If I could find my digital camera I'd post a pic of me doing my very best excited and enthusiastic face for you. Too bad. ;)

I'm sending you all my warmest and happiest holiday wishes and hope your Christmas is safe and happy! Thank you all for your prayers comments and concerns in our behalf. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Looky what I can do!

I'm finally out of the technologically defect cave that I've been in the last few weeks! I'm at my Dad's house and using his ultrafast wireless connection on James' iBook. LOVE IT!! Here are some fun pics from our trip to Goblin Valley, an album I've been working on, and the photoshoot we had last week! Enjoy :o)




Thanks Steve and Rachel VonNiederhausern! Some of you will be seeing more of these in the Christmas card that is STILL not sent yet :( I'm working on it - Sorry if it's late!!




Charlie was cold - He pretty much just wanted to go home :)



Cool shot of my mom, sibs and I and "the goblins"



Dillon had the time of his life climbing and jumping, chasing his uncles and throwing rocks!





Thanks everyone for your comments, phone calls and most of all prayers regarding the disappointing match results. Though I am still sad and hoping for some unlikely resolution, I'm feeling a little better about things every day. James is going to call the headquarters tomorrow morning and discuss the situation with the head lady (that's her official title ;). I'm hoping for at very least, an apology.

HUGS!!

Results are in...

Ok- you know how I jokingly referred to "worse case scenarios"? As it turns out, the Navy had 35 applicants and only 19 spots for Pediatrics. James did NOT match and so they thought they'd stick him in one of their open Family medicine spots in, of all places, JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA!! (WHA????) Yeah, that's what we're thinking.

We've been pacing all morning and trying hard to figure out what to do about it because they can't just put him in Family Medicine - that's NOT WHAT HE WANTS TO BE!!! It's not their decision!! Sure, they have spots to fill, but after 9 years of schooling and all this hard work, James finally decided on Pediatrics only to be thrown for this loop???!!!!! I'm so firing mad right now and have cried some tears and said some terrible words, I should probably chill out a little.

So, we're making a big deal out of it and making phone calls and emails to try and investigate our options. Not that Jacksonville is a bad place, or anything, he just doesn't want to do Fam. Medicine. Sorry this entry wasn't very fun to read :( We could really use your prayers.

ETA: The person that makes the final decision is on vacation and will be back Monday. We won't know anything more until then. It seems likely that we'll have to take the spot in Florida as they informed us that the results have never been altered for anyone in the past... BUNK!!(#$%^^&&!@*)

Pins and Needles...

I'm seriously freaking out right now...

3 DAYS till we find out our fate. Three days and we'll know what a bunch of academic medical someone's have decided for us and our family. It's so wierd how this whole thing works.. It's like they play God or something! I'm trying so hard just to chill and not imagine "worse case scenarios."

In anticipation of PC difficulties, before we left to come up to Utah, I emailed myself the December banner I'd made.. SOOOOOOOO glad, b/c I haven't been able to get a single photo uploaded or anything. I like the new banner :) Whataya think? It's kind of like Digital scrapbooking which I'd really like to try someday.

Speaking of scrapbooking, our "Page a Day challenge" winner was announced yesterday - Renee Richins. A fellow Arizonan and great gal. I'm super excited b/c she will be joining the January Design Team!! I've always loved her stuff :)

Yesterday was a really fun day. My dad and I have a unique father/ daughter relationship and lately I've been afraid that it was in jeapordy. Yesterday we spent half the day just the two of us Christmas shopping and then out to dinner. It was so nice b/c we had some great conversation - candid and real and also funny. I was able to help him do about 80% of his shopping and I only spent $7.50! I am officially done with shopping for the boys! Two gifts each. One from Santa and one from Mom and Dad. NONE OF THEM REQUIRE BATTERIES OR MAKE HORRIBLY LOUD NOISES!! Mission accomplished. I have only one more gift to get James, one for my Dad, and one for James' parents and THAT'S IT!!!!!!!! YAY for me. (wink)

So, I'd just like to thank all my great friends and sweet family for all the LOVE that they've shown me. I had one of the best birthdays EVER just because I had so many people call and email and text me. It felt so great! I was able to spend some time alone with James (we saw that "deck the halls" movie - very haha) and that was good. So thank you so much everyone for thinking of me and for visiting my blog and giving me a chance to share my life. ( AAAWWWW ) :)

No pics yet... :(

What a time I've had trying to do this blogging thing with Dialup! Needless to say, I've yet to successfully sync my camera doc to my inlaw's ancient PC and upload my pics. Sorry people, but I'm thinking instead of bothering with it and asking more favors of people and all that, I'm just going to have to catch you all up when i get back to AZ. Boy will I ever be glad to see my computer!! ;)

The boys are having the time of their lives playing with cousins and in the snow. This morning we went for a nice walk/ run. Dillon rode a bicycle and Charlie rode in the stroller. It was cold, but not too cold and there were horses out in the pastures all around us. We watched them run and enjoy the morning sun. We stopped to give some treats (carrots) to several of them. Charlie LOVED petting them and cried all the way home when we were done! "Horsey - pet 'em!" James is still stuffy, but for the most part, we're all feeling much better. I'm getting into the holiday spirit and loving all the Christmas shopping, lights, etc. So, things are good!

Hope you all are well - be sure to check in next WEDNESDAY.. that's when we find out where we matched (if we did) and where we'll most likely be for the next 6 years!! LOVE AND HUGS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Checking In

YES! I still live and breath, and this is the longest amount of time I've gone between entries!!!!!

I'm FREEZING my can off here in Winter Wonderland USA. It's gorgeous and soooooo fun to be around family. We're battling colds and flu, but getting better. I'm on an ancient PC with SSSLLLLOOOOWWWW dialup, so you'll have to bare with me for the next few weeks.

Today the Naval Residency Selection committee met to decide our future and the future of our fellow Navy 4th year Med. students. All day long I kinda had this little panic-y feeling inside, knowing that these strangers had so much control over my family's fate. It's hard to think of what may come - good or bad, but I think about it non stop. I pray and pray and pray that whatever happens I'll have the faith I need to take that leap and make new friends and build a new life wherever. Only 2 weeks to go til the results are public!!!!!!!!! (breathing deeply to try and stave off the nausea)

I have some wicked awesome pics from our trip to southern Utah for Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family. I can't wait to get them all uploaded and share them with you all. We had so much fun four-wheeling, hiking, playing games and of course EATING! The men did a lot of shooting, which creeps me out, but James can't get enough of it! For the "Mecham Family Christmas party" we played "the Amazing Race" in Cleveland UT - aka Hicksville USA - Population like 52 or something. It takes a half an hour to get there from any place that's even on the map! Anyway, it was a lot of fun. We split into teams and had to dig throuh hay, bail hay, saddle a horse, barrel race a stick horse, water race, shoot clay pigeons, shoot hoopes, put puzzles together and suck M&M's out of a jar with a straw! I am sore all over! After the party it was a literal pukefest. My little sister was struck with the stomach flu and vomitted all over our brand new van. TWICE! I am still trying to get the puke smell out and get over the fact that the only thing I've ever had that was brand new and super nice already reeks of vomit. Is that Murphy's law or something?? Oh well - I promise I'm not mad Haley.. no worries.

Anyway people - Hope your holidays are great so far :) Love and HUGS and stuff..

Pre-holiday stress

So, TONS of drama around here lately! From family crisis to colds and packing, anticipating the match, saying goodbye to friends who are already moving on and parties. We've also begun getting the house ready to put on the market in a couple of months. We're all tired stressed out!

One thing that just REALLY gets me every year we've lived here is November. I just feel so disconnected in November here. Today at the department store, I heard the song, "..It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." overhead. WHAT? It is NOT! This is my fourth Arizona winter and I just don't think I'll ever groove here. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the cooler weather, but it's kind of like hearing Christmas music, seeing commercials, and decorations in early September. JUST WIERD! I've also completely failed at the whole "pre-christmas christmas shopping." Knowing we were going to be in Utah for that long I just didn't want to bother with it, but today while waiting in a monster of a line at the "pre-holiday sale" I realized that nothing is worse than Christmas shopping in December!! So I have that to look forward to! :)



Enough negativity. I'll be blogging while in Utah, but most likely without photos, so I'll share the latest and wish you all a happy Thanksgiving in case it's not 'til afterward that I get a chance to make a new entry! :)





My handsome little guy on Sunday... He seemed to have captured the attention of one little secret admirer on the row behind us.. Here's a clue as to who it was-


She's adorable and what's cute is that she's so shy around him - SOOOOOO shy. She gets this flirty sheepish grin and tilts her head to one side and just watches him. He's completely oblivious, but her mom and I have schemed for the future of this little love affair! hehe

Weird obsession

Most children have a blanky or a stuffed animal that they're attached to.... Charlie has a toy skeleton.

Ever since I got out the Halloween decorations a month ago, Charlie has been strangely attached to this - a little freaky rubber skeleton. He drags it everywhere and asks for it it in his sleep!!

We are sooooooooooooooooo LOVING our new van! It was a great deal and we can't believe its ours! (well it's not really ours, but you know ;0) ) We're feeling a lot more safe and comfortable with all the upcoming traveling plans! Every time the automatic sliding doors open or close, Charlie says, "Cool! Van!"

We remodeled the garage...

Well, sort of :)

no more "Blah Blah Blahg"?

Hi Jenny. It's Allie. I've hacked into your blog. I think it should be fixed. I got rid of your Cathy Z. link too since her blog is no more and it depresses me to see it every day. You owe me $8000 now. Ha ha. Ya right, you goof. Just don't be too surprised if you have the occasional surprise post from a mystery author (now that I know your password). Mwahh ha ha haha ha.

Also, did you know Lily could fly? :)

ETA: Yes, Allie Hoopes is my HERO! For months I've tried to get rid of my blog title in my banner, and it took her what like 5 minutes?! All this blogging stuff is thanks to her anyway. LOVE THE FLYING BUTTERFLY AL! ;)

Moments that make life worth living :)

So worth living...



Five minutes later...



Here are some fun pics from all the Halloween fun the last few days :)
Our little fireman.. Putting out the "fire" on our Hibiscus bush!



Dillon was a very cute little Peter Pan (although, even with the Peter pan logo on the costume people still confused him for Robin Hood)



My elderly counterpart (see Beth's blog for a photo of me) and our Boys in the Trunk or Treat parade!



For the Midwestern Halloween Festival, we dressed Charlie up in the Lederhosen that Dustin brought back for us from Austria. BIG HIT! He's the perfect little "German Boy" with the white/blonde hair and the blue eyes. He was hilarious to watch trick or treat, b/c he'd grab a piece of candy and "death-grip" it until he found something better. THEN he'd drop it in the bucket! :)



The two of them heading to the MWU Halloween Festival..



Click Here to see all the new November Design Team projects at PaperPosies!!

HEWOH!

That's how Charlie says hello, "HEWOH!" Many of you have heard it on the other end of a phone conversations with the little guy.

Lazy me only took one photo last weekend... Here it is, just James in front of one of the houses we were looking at. Lovely area with great schools, but we found something BETTER!!!

AND HERE IT IS!!! We looked at a dozen models in all the sites there were, we thought. Each model was missing something.. either the area, size, or price. After I got back we stumbled upon this site and found a home in the area we loved, not a long commute and great schools, best of all it's in our price range!

You might be wondering why we're so seriously shopping for homes this early in the game, well, let me explain. During the interviewing and auditioning process it has been blatantly obvious to us that things were going more smoothly with one option than they were with the other. As with previous difficult decisions we've had to make, the right choice makes itself obvious. When we were applying for med school, our greatest hope was for the University of Utah. The application and interview process was ridiculous! With Midwestern the stars just seemed to align and lead us there. The same is true with deciding which location to rank #1. San Diego, or Virginia. As it is, James has decided to rank VA #1. As heartbroken as I will be, so far away from family, I know it is the right decision. :0 ( Since that was probably my one opportunity to visit VA before residency, we decided to try and find a specific area that we loved with great schools and a decent commute. Well, we ended up finding that AND the home of our dreams. Comprende? On top of everything, James was given the impression, if not the assurance, that if he ranks them first he'll match there. That's the most important thing.

Enough about that... the rest of the weekend was fabulous fabulous fabulous. We felt like kids when we went to Busch Gardens and rode roller coasters all day. Then, at night got spooked by Busch Garden's "Hallo-scream" attractions. The romantic part about THAT was that it was nearly exactly 8 years ago that we went on our second date to a haunted house and held hands for the very first time. AWWW!

In other recent news, I am looking forward to posting my first every Paper Posies Design Team LO tomorrow. I'm also SO intimidated by the rest of the talent on the current DT - I'm nowhere near up to their calibur, but thrilled to get the opportunity!!!!! :) :)


The boys did great with Grandma. They didn't seem to mind much that I was gone, which is good. It didn't hurt my feelings ONE BIT! Now I'm ready to start SERIOUSLY planning Hawaii for after graduation. LOVE YOU MOM! (wink wink)

Here's my attempt to make the kids pose for a photo today.. gotta hand it to me for at least trying, right?


That's why I occasionally still need the help of professionals!

I LOVE YA, TOMORROW!

HECK YEAH!

Here's a good laugh for ya - MORMON WOMAN

Yes! It's finally here! I'm off tomorrow to visit James and as excited as I've been about this, I'm at least that nervous. I just don't know how to leave my kids for that long! I KNOW they're in good hands and everything, but it'll be so strange not to hear their little whiney voices and to constantly pick up after them! ( sniff sniff ) : ) OK, now I'm just being completely facetious.... I've promised myself I'll act at least a little sad when I say goodbye - maybe even real tears! ;) But really, I'm gonna miss them like nuts!

Alright, LOST fans, what is UP with tonight's episode? WHAT is up with Locke? And what about Desmond? He's like psychic ??? Why are they all still alive and why can John communicate with the island???? Did he kill that cop? What on earth was he doing grown weed and getting all crazy with Charlie when he thought he was using??? My head is spinning cartwheels right now (there's a chance that could be from my decongestant)! I love this show but I NEED ANSWERS! NOW! AHHH!

So this is me checking out - ADIOS everyone until next week. I'm off to visit the lovely "old country" of Virginia, and my sweetie. I forsee many lovely photos in my next entry..... :)

Counting down

We're almost to half way - James will be home in 16 days. Also, I'm leaving in 7 days to visit him!! I've spent at least 2 hours scouring internet sites on military housing and real estate. Then I find out that James' plan is to go to Busch Gardens! REALLY productive! Actually, I'm super excited! How often do couples with small children get to go on rollercoasters? LOVE rollercoasters.

Here are some fun pics from last week out in the backyard. The kids were having a ball! The scenery is less than lovely, but we have plans to make our home gorgeous before we put it up for sale including sprucing up the landscape :) The weather has been amazing and we've really taken advantage of it.





To see all of them you have to go to the PHOTO SECTION of my blog

Here's my latest Scrapbook page for Paper Posies! Beginning October 25th, I will including a few of MY pages in the Paper Posies Design Team gallery. I am really really excited about this - something I never thought I'd get to do. Thanks to an amazing year of growth in this hobby of mine, I've begun to place a little more value on each page I create. I've learned a lot about the importance of journaling and how to make it mean more. Thanks is due to Anna Olson, Allie Hoopes, Brenda Carpenter, Kara Henry, Sonda Tadlock, Sharyn Tormanen and Jill Godon for all their inspiration! Becoming a member of this team is a dream come true.

MEET the Gene Pool.

So I felt a little like bragging about my family - I'm super homesick for all of them - maybe this will help!

MEET MY MOM (Melody)

"Youngest" of 5, Fabulous at 50. Hard working, frugal. Lover of all things literature and poetry, Musician and Actress. Two time college graduate - working on Masters degree, SPIRITUAL, resilient, proud of her children to a fault. Extrovert - leader. Burden Barer- MOTHER.

MEET MY DAD (Gary)

Mama's Boy from birth, Responsible and kind. Intelligent successful professional. Dreamer, actor, singer. Introvert vs. Extrovert... Generous. ADVENTUROUS - Daring. GOofFy GoOFfy, says old jokes over and over. Predictable, sensitive, supportive.

MEET MY LITTLE SISTER (Haley)

Baby Sis. Squeeky voiced, one-dimpled charmer turned vocal DIVA! Sweet and tenderhearted. Never liked dresses and frills - "it's gotta be comfortable." Invader of my space when I didn't like it and not so much now that I do. Supermodel meets star wars geek.

MEET MY "LITTLE" BROTHER (Nathan)

Holds a special place in my heart. CHAMPION. Emotion burrier - SHY. Top of his class, Jock. Hilarious- does accents better than me, way better. Puts a smile on EVERYONE's face except his competition. Majorly impatient and easily aggrivated. Guitar protege...Snuggler.

MEET MY "LITTLE" BROTHER (David)

Once was lost and now is found. BMW driving RM - the guy that everyone just loves to be around. HILA-freaking-Larious, especially when he does the robot and be-boxes to Usher. SINGLE and AVAILABLE. Dreamer with lots of talent. Singer, song-writer, guitarist. Short sighted, big hearted. Could sell you his underwear for $30.

MEET MY "LITTLE" BROTHER (Dustin)

The sibling I apparently don't have a very good picure of. The MAN, you know, has the REALLY BRIGHT FUTURE, like headline worthy. Crashin' the fashion in NYC. WORLD'S BEST DUDDY. LE DUD. Stands out in a crowd and not just cuz he's 10 feet tall- he's got the energy level and determination of my 2 year old. The one I miss so much it hurts.

LOVE YOU GUYS

"Weekend Update" and cute cards!

Hallo freunden!

So, feel free to be jealous of me and my fabulous weekend. Here's the sequence of events:

Wednesday: arrived at my mom's at 11:30 PM.
Thursday: went to the "Happiest Place on Earth" where it was a gorgeous so. California day, short lines and very excited kids! We went on all the rides that we love except two that were closed - Haunted Mansion, and Matterhorn. :( That was a little bit sad since Haunted Mansion is my fav. and Matterhorn is James' - But hey, we were there for the kids, right? :) Thursday night we dropped off the boys at Grandma's and headed for San Diego where we got a nice hotel room and slept like BABIES!
Friday: James had his interview with the residency selection comittee in the morning. So, while he impressed the program director, I had a lovely continental breakfast, bubble bath, tea at the corner cafe, and a nice relaxing hour reading on the veranda of the hotel as I watched the sail boates pass. It really is heavenly there - the breeze, the nice temps and the ocean! (do you think my hopes are up too high? Possibly.) So lets see.... ok, after the interview, we lunched on Coronado Island across the street from the historic Hotel del Coronado (amazing) and let me tell you - it was the BEST italian food I've ever had! Next, we toured the different housing developments for Naval officers. That was pretty exciting - again with the soaring hopes! :0 If I had to find a complaint for the whole experience, it would be the traffic on the way home - YUCK!
Saturday: we watched the first session of conference, took the kids to play for a bit at the park, then headed home.

James left for a month yesterday and so far I'm ok. I'm sure you all wondered if I'd lost my mind yet, but so far so good.. check back in a couple of weeks! ;)

Here's some pics of all the hooferah (that's a word I stole from my Mom's vocab.)-




This was the first ride we went on - check out how Grandma's like WAY into it! Oh, and it only LOOKS like I'm wearing my sunglasses on this ride..... huh? ;)





Look who got splashed on their very first time down Splash Mountain!!??!!



Yes, it was very sad. Very very very very sad... especially since it was scheduled to open Friday - the very next day! AND it was going to be all decked out in "Nightmare before Christmas" one of our favorites! :0( It was closed last March when we went too!! Crikey!

Made some cards last night - LOVE this Paper Posies kit from June - Still have a ton of it left!