I feel like I’ve been traveling all summer, and we still have much more to do! I wish I could say we are back home now, relaxing, but we’re not. As soon as we got back, slept like rock and did some laundry, me and Savannah were right back out the door to visit my family again.

Our little weekend trip to visit Mark’s family for forth of July went very well. Long drive for a very short visit, but worth it. Savannah has turned into a marvelous little traveler and I’ve been thanking God all summer long for that. It gets so much easier when they get older, oh my goodness! No stopping every 2 hours to feed, no bottles in the car, no messy baby food. A box of yogurt covered raisins or crackers and the girl is set for a few more hours. Since our trip was about 7 hours long, we brought along a lap top and played her Baby Einstein videos to help pass the time (quietly). She didn’t watch it the whole time obviously, but it helped those last few hours when she was getting more antsy. We also brought along the Kid’s music mix that doesn’t hurt my hears.

Things I learned on this trip:

1. I now get car sick in the back seat, not matter how long or short the drive. This is new to me, as when I was a kid I could read, play games, anything, no matter where I sat. Now? It’s pure torture. It’s sad when you prefer to drive than be a lazy passenger!

2. Savannah has learned how to get her arms out of her seat belt. Oy.

3. Driving through Atlanta with their 7-8 lanes of traffic is intense.

4. Savannah loves food.

5. I’m addicting to reading Karen Kingsbury books. I’m about to finish up the Firstborn series, and my library doesn’t have the last one right now. erg!

6. Spitting sunflower seeds is much fun. Not in the car, of course. The highlight of the trip for me was at a little league baseball game with Mark, spitting seeds at each other and laughing like we were little high school kids in love.

We got a “Wee Songs” tape (yes a TAPE, HA!) because it was a $1.00. And let me just say…I wanted to plug up my ears and then throw the tape out the flippin’ window. It was horrible. The songs were awful, the sound quality was terrible. Thank God for CD’s…and better music options.

I’ve been searching around for better kid’s music for in the car (or ya…when we just wanna dance around!) and so far the one I know about and LOVE is Laurie Berkner. She’s on the Noggin channel between shows and on “Jack’s Big Music Show.” If you go to that website you can see some of the fun videos they play. I also saw Lisa Loeb on that show and I think I’ll download some of her kid songs, too. And how awesome that she is doing kid music now? I used to love her stuff on the radio in the 90′s! (“You can’t hear it, but I dooo…”)

So…do you have any more suggestions for me that won’t hurt my ears?

Remember that vacation I needed?  Well, I’m getting it.  Though, It’ll be going to mountains, snow and even more coldness rather than the beachy warm area…but hey! It’s a vacation non-the-less.

It was intended for Mark and I to go up to the mountains together as a couple and spend time with friends and get a weekend away from Savannah (not that we want to get away from Savannah, we do love her!  But, it’s still nice to sleep the whole night through and worry  just about our selves for a day or two). However, due to tests and things, he cannot make it.  It just wasn’t wise to go away for the weekend and not study for a huge test. I almost skimped out on the trip as well, and then I got another message from a dear friend saying how excited she was to see me, and I realized how much I missed her and just couldn’t let her down. So by golly, I’ll just drive myself!

And so, I’ll get a weekend of no kids, no responsibilities besides taking care of myself. A full night’s sleep, beautiful views, good food and company. And maybe, even some skiing.

Savannah will be well taken care of by her Dad and grandparents.  I sure will miss my little girl and husband, though. But, yes, it will be nice to get away for a while.

I just don’t understand why my daughter has decided sleep is the ultimate evil since about…oh…4 o’clock this morning (I’m wondering if teething is the culprit). 9 hours later she finally took a nap…a wimpy one hour nap. And now? Fighting a second nap. I guess by bed time she’ll be ready since it will be another 8 hours later from the first nap? *sigh* The good thing though, is that she’s in an excellent mood! No sleep without the whining is more manageable. But, geez, Mark and I are exhausted.

It’s been a long, long day. Thankfully, the day has been spent at home verses my usual 7 hours away at classes that was supposed to be today. Today was a snow day! But now it’s more like…a rain day because all the snow melted under the rain. Pooey.

I chose to drink out of my Wilmington, NC coffee mug today in attempt in trying to keep my spirits up as well as my eye lids from dropping over. Why? Well, that’s where Daddy O and I went on our honeymoon. And it reminded me of how wonderfully peaceful and beautiful it was there. The restaurant to the left is one we ate at, we even got to eat on a little balcony. Happy memories help, right? It worked for about 1 minute. If only we could go back to that simplistic time, ya know, away from everything, the baby, the school, the work, the laundry. And we could sleep all night on our king sized temperpedic mattress and take naps whenever we felt like!

Have I mentioned it’s been a long, blah day? I need a vacation.

 (by the way, I apologize for all my gloom and doom posts lately.  It’s just how life is right now!)

We’re back. For now, at least. We’re headed back out on the road (thankfully, only a 2 hour trip verses 7!) on Friday.  Our trip was good. The time difference of an hour threw us all off.  Savannah was scared of Maw (oh, stranger/separation anxiety!).  Savannah slept surprisingly very well, waking up only once or not at all each night. Though, she did get up early, like 5:30.  It was hard and some times frustrating to keep up with Savannah, trying to keep her entertained and contained within her small play pen and not breaking things. Over all though, it went well. I know Maw loved seeing all of us, especially Savannah! Mark had a good time with friends and family, that’s always a good thing.

Other awesomely good news: I made straight A’s this semester!  I did it! Therefore, I now have a 4.0 gpa. I’m so unbelievably proud of myself. I haven’t made straight A’s since elementary school, and I got a giant cookie back then. Where’s my cookie for this time? Just kidding, I could care less about a cookie or any other prize.  This pride I feel within myself is one of the best feelings in the world.  That pride comes from knowing that I can do things (and well) if I try.  I have had so much going on this past semester with raising Savannah, getting little sleep, sickness, long night of teething, a new marriage, traveling, endless piles of laundry, etc. and I still managed to get through school. And make all A’s! 

I think this second year in college I’ve also learned how I best learn and the best ways to study.  That, I think, is what made the biggest difference because I had little time to study this semester but I was able to do it efficiently.  I’m looking forward to next semester, though I’ll be piling on even more. With a 1st birthday to plan (already?!), a possible job, and an extra class 15 hrs. verses the 12 I had this semester) in a whole ’nother language! 3 semesters of Spanish is required for my English Degree. It baffles me. 

Off to my piles of laundry just to repack it again!  Look for our exciting news soon…

We’re in the mist of exam week. Thankfully, my “exams” are just normal tests (no cumulative horrible stuff!) and I only have two, so exam week hasn’t been too stressful. Also, Mark and I have, as I like to call it, “Christmasitis.” You know, like senioritis! When your just about at the end and you just don’t care that much any more? We’ve been studying, of course, but the stress is just not getting to us. And that makes for a happier family.

We’re ready to be done. Ready to relax for 3 weeks and enjoy visits with a ton of family. And of course, we’re ready for Christmas! I can’t wait to see Savannah’s expressions and curiosity with all the extreme amounts of paper and presents galore. I absolutely love Christmas time (though I am already sick of the repeated music). This Christmas not only is Savannah’s first, but Mark and I’s as well being actually together on Christmas. I’m excited to share my family’s traditions with him and Savannah. It’s a wonderful feeling being able to share some thing so special with people you love.

We’ve got many trips lined up for our Christmas break. It should be interesting, to say the least, what effect it has on all of us. We’ll be on the go constantly until we reach my Dad’s house, where we’ll relax the longest. Savannah has been doing absolutely amazing sleep wise lately (sleeping through the entire night, or waking up just once. A blessing indeed), so I’m sure her sleep schedule will be effected in a bad way with all the unfamiliar places. Also, laundry will be interesting since we’ll have only one day or less in between trips. We’ll be borrowing the washing machine for sure.

And baby food? The girl eats like a pig. I think we may just have to buy food at each destination so we don’t have to lug everything down there (and so when we do finally get home, we have some food left without running to the store!). We are introducing more table foods and I still make some home made baby food, (and plan to do so while I’m at my Dad’s) but the jars still have their convenience, especially on trips!

So this post in part is to tell you guys I won’t be around much for the next 3 weeks. But expect some exciting news (no, not pregnant) and tons of pictures once I return :-)

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone! (assuming I don’t find time to get on before then)

We’re back (and been back since Sunday) from good ol’ Maryland. It was beautiful up there. Perfect weather, besides getting a tad chilly after a blissfully odd day of 70 degrees, but hey, what else can you expect from the North (snow would have been nice)? I had a wonderful time meeting some of Mark’s family. His Aunt and Uncle are quite the funny people. We spent the whole trip laughing and poking fun at each other.

We spent some days shopping (bad idea), some days lounging around, some up town (and by up town I mean walking up the street to tiny unique, wonderful shops), letting Savannah experience the fallen leaves and taking pictures. It was a wonderful trip.

Besides the 11 hour drive packed like sardines in a can with 5 adult sized bodies and a baby. Oh, and a huge amount of stuff (guess who had the most? The baby!) And, besides that Mark, Savannah, and I had to sleep down stairs in the den, right next to the stair way. Getting Savannah to stay asleep period is a struggle. Getting her to sleep in a strange environment is even more a struggle. And then add on that we couldn’t shut out noise and beg and pray that people would be quiet on their way up stairs. Yes, we were tired. But the many laughs and joy made up for it.

Savannah enjoyed Thanksgiving with a room full of people to entertain and get attention from (she will not be shy like me, I can tell!) and she tried her first meat (guess what it was?).

This was my first holiday without my own family around. On Thanksgiving, I did miss them. I thought about them all the time (I always do!). But it wasn’t too bad, because Mark’s family honestly feels like mine, too. And that’s a great feeling :-)

We had a wonderful weekend away. Well, aside from a few typical married-couple pointless argruments and an over tired baby who wouldn’t sleep until the wrong times.  We enjoyed the mountains very much. We were lucky enough to spend the weekend in a big house high on a mountain with a beautiful bright green golf-course in our back yard that overlooked the blue mountains.  There were no need for pictures in this house, the huge windows that showed the live beauty outside was stunning. 

We watched pink sunsets and made a fire at night. We ate at the Mountain House every day we were there (the best home made cooking and breakfast all day there is in town). We watched the golfers and walked down town Boone with Savannah in the Mei Tai back carry-style (which, she loved, as did I).  We visited our beloved old campus that’s filled with memories and played frisbee in the field. Where, Savannah quickly stole the frisbee from the ground and learned to entertain us with her new talent of peek-a-boo!  We delighted in our surroundings and we didn’t want to leave.

Which, in turn has got us thinking.  Should we move back? All day yesterday, I have this heavy feeling on my heart and the thought “You’re going to graduate from ASU” kept going through my head. Usually, when I get these gut feelings, they do happen. Usually, they seem impossible, like this one, but it happens.  To me, this is God telling me something, telling me a bit of His plan that either I can trust in or turn away in disbelief.  I never said anything to Mark about this feeling, and then out of no where he says, “Ok, I’ve been thinking and I think we should research about what it would take to transfer and move back. Not saying we are going, but it’s worth looking into.”

I got excited about the thought of even thinking about moving back. I thought about the mountains we love, the beauty, the freedom we feel when we are there. The friends that support us from afar that would be close again.  The good food, the cheaper living. The college campus we love and brought us love. Just being there makes me feel closer to God simply because I treasure the beauty of the earth He created for us. It’s so much more obvious there, it’s hard to find that in the city.

So, what’s the problem, right?  Just pick up and move. It’s not that simple. In fact, it’s completely illogical.  From the “plan” Mark and I have for our lives, there is no future for us in that small town.  His major is in accounting. What job is there for him there?  What about when he graduates and his current internship offers him a full time, well paid job here in the city?  I’m now a year behind him, if not more, what am I to do when he’s graduated and gets a good job offer, do I transfer AGAIN?  What about child care? What about a decent part-time job to help us during the school year?  See, it’s just not logical.

But still, there is this feeling of being called to something greater than we are. A feeling that though it does not make sense, we should step out in faith. A feeling that God is calling us to a plan we do not know of yet. I’m learning we can’t put God in a box, He knows no bounds, He knows everything. We do not.  I’m also learning (for the millionth time) to truly lay everything at His feet and seek His desire for our live, His guidance, and not our own.  It’s funny how struggles, troubles, stresses, etc. can bring you closer. I just wish it’d stay this way! I wish I didn’t have to be retaught this lesson every few months because I don’t continue to seek God when the times are good.

So, we’ll see where this goes and I ask that you guys could pray for us as we make this huge decision for our lives.

It’s an important weekend for us O family members. Yesterday Mark and I celebrated our 2 year (dating) anniversary. Actually, it’s the day that fate stepped in and began the journey to dating. See, October 11, 2005 Mark saw me sitting at the bus stop (since ya know, ASU forces you to park miles away from campus) coming home from fall break. He didn’t speak to me, he just stared (because he’s shy) and had no idea what his friend was talking about to him about. He just thought to himself, “Wow she’s pretty.” Ok, I don’t know that, but I do know that he had a feeling he’d meet me some how and get to know me. I didn’t notice him staring at me at the time.

Then, the very next day as I was leaving the cafeteria with friends, I looked back and saw this cute guy in a hat with a friend of mine and thought, “Oh! How is that?”. My room mate said she was pretty sure she knew who he was and we came back to our room to “stalk” him on Facebook.com. Since Mark and I had a mutual friend, it was easy to do. I checked out his profile to find out that he was a Christian (hard to find in college!) and had moved around a lot, like I had during my childhood. I simply added him as a friend and left it at that. I figured if something was meant to happen, it would.

Well, before I know it, I get a message on Facebook from Mark. We talk about moving, the stupidity of the Applcart Bus, Left Behind the movie (which I totally hinted I wanted to watch it with him and he didn’t pick up on it lol), mutual friends, etc. We had so many messages that eventually I said, “Why don’t we just talk on AIM?” So, we did. And my ‘study breaks’ turned into 3 hour conversations with this Mark guy that I hadn’t met yet. I was intrigued by him, he wasn’t like other guys I knew and we had a lot in common.

A few days later I send him a message saying that me and my room mate we about to eat lunch and asked if he wanted to join us. He did. I still remember the first time I laid eyes on him and knew who he was. He stood there by the door, hat and hoody with his back pack. He was cute, that was for sure. And we hardly said a word to each other the entire meal, which he didn’t eat any thing during and we joked that he was anorexic. We just made eye contact and then would quickly look away, you know what I’m talking about. We were shy. I don’t know how we formed a relationship out of our shyness, but we did.

Within days we had our first real date and had sat on the ASU football field at the 20 yard line until 1 am talking about everything and staring at the stars. Mark’s classic line, “You know, this might be obvious, but….I like you.” What made my heart flutter even more was when I brought up that I had a daughter already that I had placed in an open adoption. His reply? “If God can forgive you, so can I.” Yes, I knew I had found myself a good, good man. From there, things happened quickly. We considered ourself a dating couple within days of that bus stop sighting. And, here we are today, married with a daughter. Who would have thought? It’s been a wonderful 2 years.

Of course, by “celebrating” yesterday meant spending all day at school, but that’s what makes this weekend special because it gives a chance to stop, spend time together, and remember. I had a surprise planned for tonight but the nice hotel decided to not record all my information or reservation (which turned out to be a blessing in disguise), so that plan has been moved to next weekend. Instead, we get to go to the mountains for the weekend with my Mom and family.Which is perfect since the mountains are where we fell in love, where he proposed to me (a year ago on Sunday!) and where we were married in May. What a great way to spend our anniversary weekend.

I’m excited. Plus, it finally feels like fall and nature is calling me! I think a hike is planned for the weekend, yes? Anyways, it’s time to pack up and hit the road. Have a great weekend, folks!

Our weekend away was good. Nothing too exciting to talk about, but it was just plain good to see our friends and the place where our heart belongs. It was hard to leave.

Mark and our friend, Josh, went to the ASU game Saturday (which the Mountaineers totally stomped the other team 48 to 7!), where he got seriously burnt. I mean, seriously. Like, 3 degree burns with blisters on his nose. My poor guy. He now has the permanent  hat and sunglasses look going on. Again, poor guy. It looks painful just to look at.

While the boys were off doing their manly football thing, myself and Savannah did the girly stuff: shopping.  We hung out with my friend Jessica and her boyfriend, Caleb.  We wanted to walk around down town but with Boone being such a teeny-tiny place…”down town” is a joke (but I still love it because it is so unique). It’s one strip of old buildings, nothing like the down town of the city we live in now!  There was absolutely no parking because of the game going on, so we were for forced to do our shopping in the mall. Thank goodness Boone’s mall has been improved! There is now an Old Navy, which Jessica works at, so not only did I find great deals on cute clothes for Savannah, I got 25% off on top of that. $5 total, pretty awesome.  Other than that, we pretty much just spent our time hanging out, eating out pretty much every meal (cause Boone has awesome food…and a two story Wendy’s which apparently is only 1 of 2 in the world according to Caleb), and being entertained by Savannah’s funny faces and noises.

Friday was Jessica’s birthday and I made her a “Friends” frame with our names on it since I couldn’t find one at the store.  I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture of it, because it turned out so cute and I’m proud of it. (Jess, want to take a picture of it for me?!) She also gave me a super cute dress from Old Navy for my birthday (that is tomorrow!), though it does look like I’m pregnant in it because it’s made baggy.  My Mom about had a heart attack when she saw me, but folks, I assure you, no babies any time soon.

Savannah has had a rough time adjusting from the traveling and different beds and scenery.  This weekend was sleep-time h e double hockey sticks. Fridays night she decided to get up at 2am, scream for an hour and then decided it was time to play until 4 or 5am.  Not fun.  She ended up having to sleep with me the whole weekend in order to get some kind of sleep (though, not good sleep with a wiggly baby).  Last night, again, she screamed for an hour with nothing I could do, and I wasn’t going to endorse the habit of her sleeping with me. Oh, mother hood is so fun sometimes.

Well, here’s to my last 2 hours being 19. My last few hours of being in the ‘teen’ category.  I’ll be spending my birthday on campus in classes all day until late night and doing home work. Sounds just lovely, doesn’t it?  No? I don’t think so either.  At least I’ll have weeks worth of celebrating, birthdays don’t have to be just on one day, does it?  Next birthday weekend is coming up, and we’ll be off to my Dad’s and visiting my family.  Can’t wait!