The Scoop

This is what happened to our beautiful home in El Paso back in May... We spent 5 long months remodeling it from top to bottom....hearts invested.

http://picasaweb.google.com/adrienne.wilson79/ElPasoRemodel2008

These are the pics that our realtor took for us before he posted the FOR SALE ad. The house is in escrow right now, so we are praying that it will close okay without any further delays. It "sold" in just 3 weeks.

This is now what we'll be doing...

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/apa/730420571.html

I hope you clicked on the links to understand what our big news is...

After just a short 9 months in El Paso, TX...we are now moving to the big city of Washington DC. We will be living in a "suburb" outside called, Gaithersburg.

What the heck happened you may ask? Why are you selling your house, business and picking up after just 5 months of living in your remodeled home?

Well, this was NOT something that we had anticipated or ever expected to have happen to us. To keep things are professional and without pointing the finger at anyone, we HAD to sell out our portion of the DB business to Jared's partner. Lots of hurt feelings, miscommunications and downright unfair business is what I feel has happened. So, in order to maintain our sanity and keep a head held up high, we sold out. Partnerships are hard.

Jared and I didn't know what we would do at this point. (This all happened in March/April). His last day of work was May 1st. Since then, we have been doing a lot of praying, soul searching and trying to figure out what God's plan for us is AGAIN>

This will be move #14 for us in our 5.5 years of marriage....sigh...you think I would be in a straight jacket by now. Let me tell you, I am about there. We thought El Paso would be our home for many years and I was establishing my social group and getting Wesley invovled in schooling. We are now uprooting across the entire USA.

What will we be doing? Well, Jared and I are now partners with DirectBuy corporate office. We will be the managing partners with them to oversee the Metro North Washington DC center in Maryland. Jared will be over the sales division and I will run all of the service/products.

How do I feel about this? Very mixed emotions. I am going from a happy stay at home mom in the desert to a career woman in DC who now has to hire a nanny. From preschools and play groups to training sessions and warehouse receiving. I want more than anything to be able to stay at home with my boys, but this was our option for us right now and we must move forward.

We have been in an intense training session in Chicago for the last two weeks, learning the tricks and trades of DB, here at their corporate offices. Our boys came with us and we hired out a daycare to watch them during the day. It reminds me a lot of my MTC experience. 10 hours a day of studying, lots of trainings on personal leadership developments, memorizing scripts, and being exhausted at the end of the day. The boys have done great, enjoying the swimming pool at the hotel and jumping on the beds.

We head back to El Paso today (Saturday) where we will move our things on Monday/Tuesday. The moving company will then head out to DC while we catch up with them later on in the week. Poor Wrangler will have to take his first plane ride! I am a bit nervous for him. Hopefully he receives a bit of attention from all of the cargo workers. His plane ticket cost two times the amount of ours!

I have been out to Maryland twice now; to find a rental as well a nanny. We found a nice lady from Argentina (I was seeking out a Spanish speaking nanny), and I hope AND PRAY that she will be what our family needs. I am nervous about leaving my babies at home.

So, that is about it in a nutshell. We thought we had found stability in El Paso, but turns out that we couldn't be moving further away from our friends and family. I hope that I will adjust to the new climate and not be too depressed away from my hot desert sun. I may just have to go tanning to get my vitamin D!

Oh yes, another tidbit of info to make our life just a bit more crazier...we are expecting another baby this coming Jan/Feb. Yes....life couldn't be more complex. I have had TERRIBLE morning sickness all day long for weeks now. I was sick at girls camp, traveling out here to Chicago, all during my classes, and now I have to get my sanity together (and nausea) to pack up a house and move across the US. It has NOT been easy to be away from my cozy bed where I just want to lay and moan all day long. Not to mention that I haven't been able to eat regular foods that I am used to or exercise at all. Definitely a challenging situation, but God must have something in mind for us, right?

I am not sure how I am going to juggle all of this in the near future, all I can do is take it day by day and saltine cracker by saltine cracker.

Let me know any thoughts!

Fair Oaks Dairy Farm

Girls camp came and went without any huge excitements. It is always so nice to be out in nature, not connected to a cell phone and refrigerators.

I tried my best to be up close and personal with the girls. I opened myself up to talk about bras, periods, dating and kissing...all that good stuff that you want to know about when you are 12 but never dare ask anyone! Most of the girls sat there blushing while I chatted away like it was no big deal, and of course there were NOT any further questions asked. If I am still embarrassed to talk about that kind of stuff after delivering two babies, there is something wrong with me!

I came back with braids and Jared's first comment to me was, "What's up Girls camp?" I must've looked pretty granola-ish in my large t-shirt, braids and dirty face. It was fun though. Just don't offer me any more ranch style beans, hoagie sandwiches or hot tang.

This morning Jared and I took our boys to the largest Dairy Farm in the USA. Here in Indiana, the Fair Oaks farm was amazing. To give you some basic stats:

19,000 acres!

10 milking farms with a 24 hour milking carrousel... This carrousel was amazing. The cows line up ONE BY ONE and milk three times a day. The take a turn on the carrousel and according to the tourgiver, they "enjoy the ride." Isn't that funny?

A real Birthing Barn (where 80 calves are born A DAY)

2,800 cows (that's a lot of milking to do and cleaning up)

World Wide awards for best cheese

Homemade Ice Creams

the list could go on and on....

My favorite part was the birthing barn for sure. Granted, it was a little too much for me to see all the urine and blood streaming out...I got sick to my stomach. But, there was such a sense of respect and admiration for those mama cows as they restled with the calves in their bellies and then plopped them out. We watched two be born! First the hooves pop out, then the little mouth with the tongue sticking out to the side. At that point, either the midwife to those mama cows helps lubricate the opening so the calf slides out, or she's just on hand to help put the legs in a good position.

The calves pop out all slimy, but not crying. They look a bit bewildered as they are wondering why they are so darn cold and why it's so bright! But, no umbilical cord...so, I wonder how the cows feed them in the belly? Within 45 minutes the calves are walking around and will then be bottle fed....80 a day! Holy Cow is a great expression!

The boys loved riding the tractors, eating homemade ice cream and running in the grass. Austin is actually NOT used to grass, he kept rolling around in it and giggling. El Paso needs a bit more.

So....a fantastic hands on experience, great learning tools (a 3D movie that sprayed water on you during the show, as if it were milk when they were "milking" a cow in the movie!), and a beautiful facility....I LOVED IT!

Got Milk?

Girls Camp....here I come!

I am the Young Women Girls Camp Director this year for my church calling. It is on Monday! Yikes~

I haven't been to camp since I was like 16, back in the day when YCL's didn't even exist (Youth camp leader). I have fond memories of "Big Bootie," bawling at the fire devotionals at night, eating dutch oven food, reading an emotional letter my mom would always send, and of course setting up tents.

We are sleeping in bunk houses though with mattresses! Score!

So...it's been a crazy last few months trying to get things organized. One of my biggest challenges was just trying to remember the girls' names (we have about 20 that are going, not including the leaders). I am fairly new to the ward, and the second week we were there, I was called to camp.

This has been a good calling though, pretty low key....this is what I have done thus far:

~Organized a ward garage sale as a fundraiser
~Delegated as many things as possible! (Chore charts, food menus, shopping, etc)
~Made WAY TOO MANY phone calls to remind the girls of meetings and activities
~Had a fun time shopping at Target for secret sister things (I bought them for the entire ward)...hopefully they enjoy their cheap lip glosses and chewing gum!
~ Stressed out!

We are having one last meeting tomorrow at church, and then we are off. One week full of skits, braided hair, mess kits, sleeping bags, bug spray, scripture study, flag ceremonies, devotionals, cooking, hiking and anything else I can think of to make sure these girls have fun!

I am excited to do this...especially b/c who knows when I would be able to do it again. We all know that boys camp is completely different than girls camp. And unless I become a Den Mother, this might be it for me.

So, wish me luck! May I return back to my modern conveniences with a greater appreciation and hopefully Jared won't go too insane watching the boys all week!

Red Eye Flight

Have you ever taken a Red Eye Flight? If you saw that scary movie, it was based on the midnight flights that only crazy people take.

I am one of them. I left at 11:30pm, which meant I had to be at the airport by 10pm. That is usually my bed time! We loaded up, and I was surprised to see how full the flight was. Not one available seat! Unfortunately for me, I was stuck between two people in the middle seat, so I knew that I wasn't going to get much sleep.

We took off and soon you could see and hear people settling into their seats; with pillows, blankets and those popular head/neck pillows that wrap around your neck. I knew it was going to be a long night when the gentleman sitting next to me used his LOUD street voice to talk with me. Hearing that amplified voice of his at 2am was too much!

Things were going well until, FLASH!!! The midnight movie came on....No thanks! Lots of bright lights from that screen and distracting creatures kept moving to encourage my eyes to stay awake and take a peek.

Not to mention the stewardess' bumping into people with their oversized drink cart and asking if anyone wants a Coke. No way! I want some sleep!

My head nodded back and forth, landing one too many times up against my chest and not allowing much sleep at all.

I had a layover at 4am, which also did not help me in anyway to get more continuous sleep.

By the time I arrived at my destination, I had lost not only 3 hours of the time zone, but I had only received perhaps 2.5 hours or sleep total. I was exhausted!

No naps were allowed for me the following day. Lots to do and places to be.

I was so exhausted by the evening time, that while I was browsing some stores at a local mall, I decided to just lay down...I needed a nap!

So, I laid down on the dirty and nasty mall floor, wrapped my purse under my arm (I was nervous it would be stolen while I was snoring), and closed my eyes. It seemed like just for a minute, but I fell asleep right away!

Who takes a nap on the floor at the mall? Lots of people running around, kids screaming, bright sky lights and dirty floors full of treadmarks. Well, obviously for me, it was as good as any Marriott Hotel :)

Will I take the red eye flight again? Perhaps, but only if a nap is included in my daily schedule.