Workin' Girls

It's true! We now have two working girls in the family! (Erik says he is going to retire now. Funny boy.)

Nicole started her first job about a month ago, working as an assistant dance teacher for Pop Rox dance studio. She teaches 4 or 5 classes (i forget which) one night a week. She is in heaven! She gets to put two of her passions together- dance and children- AND she gets paid!

I started working a local hospital a few weeks ago as a CNA. I am still in training so I can't say that I love it yet. :) Most days I feel very overwhelmed and am on the verge of tears. There is just so much to learn! But each day gets better.

I have been surprised by how much I miss the days of being home with my children, baking cookies, cleaning the house, and doing laundry. Training has been intense (5 days a week, some days are 13 hour shifts!), so I sure have learned to cherish the time I get to spend with my family now. I adore being a mother- and once my training is completed, I will get to go back to a mostly normal 'mom schedule', working only a couple nights a week. I cannot wait for that time to come!

But we are thankful for our new jobs- for the experiences we are having and the opportunity to grow and do what we love. Oh, and the paychecks are nice too. :)

Disneyland

And now what you have all been waiting for. I give you.....The Vacation.

Our vacation began by flying into Long Beach Airport.

It's such a cute little airport. (Emphasis on little.)

It has a lot of charm though. And the lines are really short!

Across the street from the airport, our rental car awaited us. When the kids and I saw it, our jaws dropped. What the? Are you serious? We are going to be driving around California in this all week? I think Erik was quite pleased. It was a cop car after all.

Just so we would never forget 'Bessie', or 'Clara', or 'Daisey' as it was lovingly called it over the next few days (Erik liked to say that he was driving Ms. Daisey), we took this picture.

If you can't tell, Ian is pretending to be handcuffed in the back. Don't you love it?

Ya, we drove in style, I tell you what.
I also have to include this picture that Erik took of me reading my Kindle. (This one's for you, Christy!) I brought it with me to Disneyland so that I would have something to do- other than people watching, which I totally adore- while the kids were on rides.
We met a lot of characters while in the park. Here are just a few....


But the biggest, and best characters we saw were the ones we traveled with. My sister, Terra, and her cute family. (Somehow the daddy's escaped this photo.) Oh and we also saw a few famous people....Stevie Wonder, Marie Osmond, and Sam (Jenette McCurdy) from iCarly.
This is a picture of the BEST meal Disneyland has to offer. Hands down.

The clam chowder bowl. Soooo good!
As we were leaving the park the last day, we took the famous 'Entrance Picture'.

Disneyland was awesome! The weather could not have been better....the lines were not too long....the company was fun to be with. But it had to come to an end- as all good things do.
The day we left, we stopped at Long Beach.

Taking off your shoes and putting your feet in the warm sand does a lot to lift your spirits- let me tell you!
There you have it. Disneyland 2011.

Magical for sure!

It's over

As I sit here looking at these pictures, I cannot believe that I was standing on this beautiful sandy beach of California just a few hours ago.

The hot sun rays were pouring down on us, in fact I think I brought home a touch of a sunburn just to prove it, and the ocean was so calm. It was truly beautiful.

I wish I were back there....but alas, the vacation is over and it's back to reality.

My favorite parts of a vacation are:
the day we leave, I love the excitement in the air, all the unknowns of what is to come,
and getting to spend quality time with the people I love most.


My least favorite parts:
the piles of mail and laundry when it is over,
the messages on the answering machine that are waiting for a response,
and having to cook again- although by the end of a vacation aren't you just dying for a home cooked meal?

Now that it is over, I am so glad that I took way too many pictures. We have so many fun memories to hold us over until the next vacation comes our way.

There will be more to share as soon as the laundry is caught up and the messages have been returned. Until then....

Focus

Less than an hour before the new year would begin, I found a quite spot in the house and with a pen and paper in hand, I wrote down my goals for the new year. I tried to look at each area of my life; spiritual, physical, emotional, social, mental, etc. and thought of one thing I would like to improve on in each of those areas.

After writing it all down, I looked over my list. It was all good. Really good. But, my list was long. My list seemed overwhelming. My list gave me a headache.

But then I had an idea. A flash of inspiration.

If I would take each of my goals, and work on them one at a time, instead of trying to tackle them all at once.....I just might be able to do it.

It is now three days into the new year. I am still working on goal number one, and probably will be for awhile. But it is good. It is really good. And I don't feel overwhelmed. I feel like this just might be my year.

It's amazing how differently things can look when you focus.

Happy 2011!