happiest people ever...

castle...

my aunt, uncle, their two boys and grandparents came in town to visit my other aunt that lives near us here in california... so we had a party... so much fun!!!!

downtown disney... trying on indiana jones hats

3/9/2010

.....

my cousins are so fun for jones to play with... they are more his age than mine because of the age difference between my mom and her two younger sisters...

we spent the night in their hotel room so that we could all go to disneyland together... yeah... like we dont get enough... i know... we went again... our year pass is almost running out of time... april 18th is soon approaching... and we arent going to know what to do without disneyland... jones can already narrate the whole jungle cruise ride to you... he will tell you about all the animals and what sounds they make... if we get in the car and go somewhere and it happens to be longer than a 10 minute drive... he thinks we are going to see dumbo... but we are not complaining... we love it there...

and then....

it got even better...

how you ask...

i seriously was so excited when i looked at the disneyland map that jones was holding... and what do my eyes see... the logo for CAPTAIN EO!!!!!!!

i cannot express to you how excited i was... my aunts both laughed at me, because i was SO excited... you could literally see it on my face...

michael jackson can dance.

i could watch him dance forever! he makes me want to dance the second his music comes on... i absolutly love it! i think maybe you get the point... i have such good memories of disneyland from when i was a kid... and that is one... i dont know how but i do remember 1996 and captain eo...

if the eo sweatshirts werent $55 i maybe would have bought one to show my love...

later we made our way to toon town and i loved the pictures of all the kids in cars and in the jail too much to not post...

i also love the look when i use the night time setting on my camera...

3/10/2010

....................

we stayed a second night and then went to california adventure...

i didnt even ask him to pose for this picture... he decided that he wanted to all by himself... must have been all the other people that do the same thing... just happy i got a picture of him doing it... love it...

then...

jones found the loves of his life... and literally was in love, like i was with eo...

mater

&

mcqueen

then... i spent too much on something i would usually never buy...

a buzz lightyear souvenir sipper...

it was brents birthday and to celebrate i decided that i would get jones something special... you should have seen his face light up when he got to take buzz with him everywhere after that... he loves buzz...

hanging out with grandpa mikesell while the kids ride some "tall kid" rides... 35 inches and up... we will get there someday...

checking out the flowers with grandma...

3/11/2010

.......

too much fun... and we didnt want it to end...

heartbreak...

i call this post heartbreak...

i want/need to write about it... then we will move onto happier times...

more light hearted...

the scene... 1am... brent had to check in near what you see here. it was so very cold... so i stayed in the car (where the picture was taken from)... i wasnt as brave as all those other people that you see standing around the buses... they are all family and friends of the other marines that were leaving on the buses... see the tents in the background... like that would keep you warm... i think it was easier for us both for me to stay in the car... we dont like to let others see us cry... but for some reason... everyone always sees me cry... you are lucky if you get to see brent cry... it does happen but not nearly as much as me... what can i say... i have a tender heart... and weepy eyes sometimes...

our last picture... my heart aches when i look at this picture...

lets just say that it was the only thing i could do to not cry... at least for the second that the flash went off... words were hard to have... what do you say in that moment... other than goodbye and i love you... there is nothing to say really... good thing it was 3:30am by this time and we were both so tired from being up all night... i think about it now... it was easier this way... jones was fast asleep at our house with a friend that spent the night... so i didnt have to deal with him yet... and i was so so so out of it... being the time it was...

we said our goodbyes about 3:30am march 3rd 2010...

at 3:57am i sat and watched as the buses left... i actually followed them for a minute or two... i dont know why... or what i was hoping for... i guess part of me hoped that the impossible would happen... they would stop and say, "you know, lcpl martindale doesnt need to come anymore... he can get off the bus and stay with his family." but we all know that that didnt happen...

then... as the buses turned right to leave the base from one exit i had to turn left to go home... what a dramatic turn... we were literally heading in the opposite direction from one another... and that is how this adventure of our 7 month deployment began...

we miss him...

this picture makes my heart ache too... but in a way that only can be described as true love... what can i say... a man in uniform makes my heart pitter patter...

march 3rd 2010...

.....

since that night/morning

.....

he took the bus to a base in riverside ca

then a plane to a base in maine

then another plane to germany

then another plane to krygyzstan

spent a few days in the country of krygyzstan

then another plane to afghanistan

he is there now at camp leatherneck in the helmand province and and should be until the end of september or early october...

i love a childs perspective!

anyone that has boys must know who this is... fillmore... from the movie cars...

well, the other day jones and i went to the grocery store... and i wasnt even in a hurry, but being an adult/mom/grownup... i didnt even see what jones saw...

.....

as i am getting him out of the car he is just starring at something... literally would not take his eyes off of it... i turn to look at what is so interesting... and as i am doing this he just yells out...

FILLMORE!!!...

he was so so very excited to see fillmore...

i love a childs perspective... they always notice things that we miss...

it made my day...

http://disney-clipart.com/Cars/Fillmore.php

3/7/2010

love thursday... the best!

b...

what more can i say...

i love you so much! hope you have the best 27th birthday a person could possibly have!

my heart is yours now and forever!

i love you!

i love you!

i love you!

thank you for who you have been!

who you are!

who you will become!

.....

e

what would you do???

.....

.....

when the only thing your kid wants is a donut and it is his birthday...

i love it... i tried to get him to want anything else... but on his birthday, jones only wanted donuts for breakfast... so we got out the jogging stroller and went to the donut shop again... (we had just gone there with the martindales while they were here)... he was in heaven... i love that he also loves to choose what he wants... so much fun to see him look at all the donuts and know that he wants "that one"... and just because it was officially his birthday i brought a candle and lighter so he would blow out a candle on his real birthday...

it is so hard to even understand that a year has passed... i remember his last birthday like it was yesterday... we have had such a crazy year... jones turned one and then shortly after that we moved from mexico to the states... then brent left for boot camp, then mct, then guard duty, then mos schooling back east... then we all moved to california... so many changes... such a crazy year! i am so lucky to have such an awesome little boy!

happy birthday my sweet two year old!!!

3/1/2010

family in town...

a martindale weekend...

day one:

we had so much fun with the martindales here for the weekend!

first stop the pier...

then we were on to find charlie...

at the bait shop, right where charlie hangs out, you can buy sardines and feed him... i wonder why he likes to hang out there???

seriously, that is one crazy bird and i was so happy to be taking pictures and not getting near it...

all of a sudden there was such a crowd around us... they all wanted pictures of the family feeding him...

then we found some fish and chips and harbor fish and chips... we all decided that the fish and chips werent that great, but we would go back for some more clam chowder... yummm!

then we went to the san diego temple to do some baptisms for the dead...

i have not done that in such a long time... it was... refreshing... i had not done it in so long... while i was in young womens i would always help the girls to know where to go, but never was able to do the work myself... so when i actually was able, it was so awesome to feel that sweet spirit so strongly...

i love that temple... so breathtaking!!!

thanks for watching jones grandma m...

.....

day two:

it was supposed to rain all day... but lucky for us, right when we went out to surf... it let up... i got brent a surf board for our anniversary thanks to a local that was having a garage sale... he was so happy to finally get a chance to use it...

doesnt jason look so great in my girly wetsuit...

(he is the only one with the short wetsuit)

while they were busy surfing... we played at the park...

on the swings with grandma...

the slides with mama...

i am surprised that he actually said cheese for me here... usually we would have to say something else, like donut to get him to smile... he doesnt like cheese... weird kid! i love cheese and so does brent...

puddles with grandpa...

jones thought it was the funniest thing ever to say umbrella... he had never heard the word or seen one until this moment and would not stop smiling...

family picture...

then we took some sexy pictures...

yeah rachel...

go der der... i am laughing so hard right now... again... derek had a little water trapped in his wetsuit... i loved the little dance he did to wiggle the water around...

is that anything like the stanky leg... jason you still gatta dance!

my cute inlaws...

.....

day three:

church...

thank you to all those who sent jones birthday cards... he loved them...

i loved this picture, because it shows how ferociously he opened the cards... he was so excited!

then... i dont think i have laughed this hard in a long long time... i practically fell over on rachel...

jones trying to blow out his birthday candles...

yes... he is cross eyed in the top picture...

still trying....

he finally got it after a lot of spit flew every which way... and i, and i believe everyone else, were crying from laughing so hard...

well worth the work...

he kept telling us birthday party, but the way he says it sounds something like, "bur-ty"...

and i especially loved that when we were singing him happy birthday, he folded his arms like it was a prayer...

such a great weekend... thanks for all the fun!!!!

february 25-28 2010

remember when...

i am finally posting about our yard... this has been a draft for about two weeks...

remember when i said that i had this dream backyard and i posted some pictures that i loved... well... brent is so sweet and loves us so much!!!

a couple saturdays ago he had sod delivered... and we transformed our backyard from this...

to this...

.....

although we were both very sore from working outside all day... i loved every second... i love working in the yard... the different earthy smells... the beauty that a yard can be if taken care of... now we are still hoping to add a few more things... but i have to say that in only one days work it looks amazing and we are so excited to play in our yard this summer!!!

2/20/2010

going private

we finally decided that we are going to take our blog private...

i will probably do it in a few weeks from now...

so if you want to be invited please leave your email in a comment...

thanks so much!!!

happy reading...

i couldnt help posting this picture again... it is one of my favorites...