Christmas 2017

We decided to escape the cold again this year and go to Florida for Christmas. Since we paid off our house in October, we decided to splurge a little and get a house by the beach. We were lucky that Eric and Nicole wanted to join us. They opted to buy their own plane tickets rather than drive down with us and Summer. It was a great trip and I’m so happy that I finally enjoy road trips because I think there will be a lot of those in my future.

We enjoyed a house that was on Manasota Key. It had a brand new heated pool and hot tub. It also was located on the inter-coastal so the boys could fish with the kayaks. The gulf was a short walk down the driveway and across the street. It was a perfect location. Summer loved running along the dock and playing on the private beach across the street.

We had fun spending time with Billy, Kristen, Gabriella, Gina, Charlie, Mel, Henry, and Julia. Billy took us boating a couple times and we were able to go jet-skiing too which was a blast. We spent Christmas morning watching Charlie’s kids opening gifts. Then we raced back to our rental to open presents with our kids. Then we spent several hours at Siesta Key Beach. That evening, we enjoyed some Chinese food with Charlie’s family.

We didn’t want to leave to go back to Nebraska, especially since we were looking at below zero temperatures when we returned. Fortunately I had a beautiful and warm home to return to. We will make it the best we can the next few years until we can move to a warmer climate.













































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Location:Florida, Christmas

One Year Anniversary

Our family was changed for the better with the addition of this little girl exactly one year ago today. We all adore her, including Mario!

She loves her routines. Every morning, when she hears Mario get up and go downstairs, she leaves the boys’ room and jumps into bed with me to sleep another hour or until I get up. Then she follows me downstairs to find Mario and get her morning rubs.

All I have to say is night night time, and she’ll run upstairs with me to take a nap in the afternoons.

She is always the first to greet Mario when he gets home from work.

She loves her long walks except when it’s cold out.

She is exhausted by 7 or 8 pm each night and ready for bed.

She is a mini Goldendoodle and only weighs 17 pounds. We have met a lot of people who thought they were buying a mini doodle but then ended up with one over 50 pounds. Sure glad Summer stayed small enough to travel easily with us.






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Location:Summer

Summer Before and After

She doesn’t really sit in the car like that. The boys just propped her up for a picture.
But, wow! That girl has so much fur! Not anymore though. We feel like she’s a new dog.











Here’s the text exchange between me and the groomer this morning:

Menace to the Husker Game

Years ago while living in Guam, I got a speeding ticket on base that resulted in me losing my driving privileges for a month on the base.  When 9/11 happened right after, Mario petitioned to have my driving privileges restored because he had to work around the clock and couldn't take Eric to preschool.  The officers wrote that I should not get my license back early because I was a "Menace to the base."  Holy cow!  I was going like 5 miles over the speed limit but it was in the housing so they take that very seriously.   Fortunately, someone overruled the police and gave me my license back but it is still fun to laugh about it all these years later.

Well fast forward now 16 years later, and I almost did become a menace to society.  Mario was able to get Eric, Nicole, and I all access passes to the Husker's Football game.  That means we could go up on the roof or all the way down on the field with him.  He has those passes due to the flight crew that comes and does the flyovers for the games.  He escorts the crew onto the field during the third quarter to be introduced to the crowd.

Eric and Nicole were running late to the game and had to find parking.  So I waited for them outside while Mario ran up to the roof for the flyover.  He had taken me to the roof earlier to show me where to go once Eric and Nicole arrived.  He told me to watch out for something and not touch it but I thought he was talking about the fire extinguisher which I guess in hindsight I should have asked questions because of course I wouldn't run into an extinguisher.

When they finally arrived, we got up the elevator as fast as we could and then had to run up some flights of stairs that say no entry.  But Mario told me to ignore the signs and just come up.  Eric and Nicole were freaking out all the way up because of me ignoring the signs which was really funny.  We finally get to the roof and there are reporters up there but standing behind the closed gate.  Mario motioned for me to open the gate and come thru.  I was hesitant because it felt wrong.  But I did it and starting darting towards Mario on the other side of the roof.  All of a sudden the staff starts yelling at me and telling me that "We are live!"  I think they mean live on TV and I have just been captured running across the roof for the whole crowd and TV audience to see. 

Nope,  worse than that!  I had almost tripped on a huge firework display that had been strung across the roof to go off any second.  In my embarrassment to get to Mario, I didn't even see the string connecting all these fireworks.

I was mortified to say the least.  I'm too scared to even think about what would have happened if I did trip.  I never want an all access pass again and I am sure Mario isn't anxious to get me one.  I almost caused a major firework accident at a stadium filled with tens of thousands of people.  Then I surely would have been a REAL menace to society.

Husker Football Game With Grandma

The boys had their first official job this fall.  They sold hot dogs at the Husker football games.  I was so proud of them.  They had to carry heavy bags full of these hot dogs up and down the stands with loud, screaming fans everywhere.  They each made between $40 to $100 a game.  They received 30 cents for every hotdog they sold plus tips.

Mario attended most of the games for his work.  His cadets provide security at the games, plus he is in charge of the flyovers that happen just after the national anthem.  The crowd goes crazy when those military planes fly over.  It’s nice to live in a patriotic state.

I got to attend three games this year.  A friend sold me her extra ticket for the first game, Mario got me a pass for the second one, and a friend from church gave us his tickets for the last game.  So I took my mom with me to the last one and boy does she get into sports.  She seemed to really enjoy it plus as a bonus, she got to see her grandsons sell hotdogs and the military flyover.

Happy 14th Birthday Nathan and Zachary!

This year we opted for a family birthday party for the boys. They wanted a party with friends, but their mouths got them in a bit of trouble so we canceled. We still had a great time and went to the archery range with Eric and Nicole. Then we ordered Chinese and enjoyed some ice cream cake and some Algebra help. The boys were a little confused on slopes and I was going to help them but then I had the brilliant idea to ask the experts (Eric and Nicole) and they were awesome.

For his birthday, Zach got a new helmet and $100 towards a new GoPro from us, fishing lures from Grandma and Papa, new bike light from Eric and Nicole, and new handlebar grips from Nate.

Nathan got money, helmet, and bike light from us, Rubik’s cubes from Eric and Nicole and one from Zach. They look impossible to solve! He got a new water bottle he wanted and some cash from Grandma and Papa.

I can’t believe my boys are 14. Time sure flies. They will be ordained Teachers this next Sunday and will now be able to go home-teaching with Mario.

Nate wanted me to let you all know that Summer is doing well in case you were wondering. Ha!

Thanksgiving

It's probably been close to 20 years since we have had Thanksgiving with my side of the family.  Maybe I'm forgetting one in there somewhere but I honestly can't remember one.  Mario's father, Michael, has spent three Thanksgivings with us over the last six years so that's been fun for the kids to get to know him better.  Otherwise, we spend it alone or with friends.

This year Melissa said that her family could join us since Josh has been working weekends and he'd be home in time for work. (I give her a hard time about spending every holiday with Josh's family.) We invited Mom and Dad up too which turned out to be convenient since they decided to serve a mission and they had to report to the MTC the following week.  So basically, we were on the way.

We decided to do something "crazy" and not have turkey or ham for Thanksgiving dinner.  Instead we opted for some steaks with some traditional Thanksgiving sides.  Josh did an amazing job with the grilling and Eric and Nicole took care of the rest of the cooking.  Nicole's dad, Steve, joined us too since his wife was in Germany visiting family.

Steve was kind enough to take some family pictures. I think this is my all time favorite picture of Mom and Dad together.  Steve captured them so naturally.  I also love the one with them and the grandkids.  Very sweet!

As far as Black Friday shopping this year, we didn't do much.  We decided to go to Walmart just to say we went.  Fortunately, there have been fewer and fewer crowds each year.  When I would go to Walmart in Tucson several years ago, we couldn't even walk it was so crowded.  Now, we can easily push a cart around.  I think many have opted for online shopping.  I don't think I even bought one thing at Walmart.

I still need to send out Christmas cards. I never got to it last year, and honestly, I am not excited about doing it this year.  It's a tradition that I may put to an end soon.  It is exhausting trying to keep up with all our military friends' new addresses since we all move so often.   But I guess that means I won't be getting cards either because no one will have my new address. And I do like having updates on their families since I'm still not on Facebook (and have no plans to ever join if I can help it.)

Formal Military Dining Out

Last night, Mario and I attended a dining out with his cadets, their families and our Congressman, Don Bacon. The last time I attended a formal dining out, Mario was LT and therefore, very low ranking. So there was no pressure for me. This time, Mario and I had to sit at the head table with the Congressman and a few of his best cadets. Mario neglected to tell me that I’d have to walk in with the six others at the head table while the guests stand up and watch us walk across the room and up the stairs to our seats. I have feet, knee and hip issues so I rarely wear high heels. But for this occasion, I figured I should wear heels. I picked up a cheap pair at Goodwill for $4 yesterday morning. Unfortunately, they were a tiny bit big and so I was so self conscious walking in front of that crowd in those heels. But then found out we had a break half way thru and I had to do it all over again. The crowd had to stand when we left and stand for us to enter again. I’m not sure I am cut out to be a commander’s wife because I was very close to taking off my shoes and walking across the room in my nylons. Ha!

I noticed the sweetest thing next to my name on the seating chart. Mario told the cadet who made it to put something special by my name. He said everyone in the meeting laughed and Mario said, “No, I’m serious.” See if you can see it in the pictures.

The cadets did an amazing job putting together this dinner. I was very impressed. It was really nice to meet many of his cadets and their parents. I know Mario will have a major impact on the lives of these young men and women. They are lucky to have him as their commander.

By the way, that is the same uniform Mario bought 19 years ago when he joined the military. I can’t believe it still fits perfectly! And, yes, I’m crazy and already put up my Christmas tree. But I am waiting to put on the ornaments until the kids can help me.

Online School Day 1

Nathan and Zachary have officially started 8th grade. Their first day of online school was the same day as the solar eclipse which was cool but a little of a distraction. Savana and Keanu Moore came down to watch from our house since Lincoln was in the path for a total eclipse and Omaha would only have a partial eclipse. Grandma and Papa were also visiting.

Saying it was a rough start would be an understatement. We are an Apple product family and so using Windows for the first time in a decade didn't help at all. The school gave them each a Windows based tablet/computer. I was eager to set expectations right from the start and that meant setting a breakfast/scripture reading time each morning at 8 am. I don't really care what time they begin working but they must have breakfast and scripture study with me. That isn't negotiable because they will start working early and not remember to eat until 11 am and then be really grumpy from not taking time to eat a good breakfast.

The boys began their day by getting up at 7 am and getting a jumpstart on their work. They each began with Language Arts. I knew we were in trouble when they were still working on same subject four hours later. They were grumpy/mouthy/disrespectful and I was ready to put them in the car and head to the nearest middle school to drop them off. I'm sure glad Mario wasn't home that morning because he wouldn't have tolerated their disrespectful behavior towards me. They both would have been grounded for at least a month or more. But I'm a pushover and all I could do was laugh at how dumb I was to think that online school may actually work for us.

Fortunately, by lunchtime, we took a break to go watch the eclipse and to eat. They finished up Language Arts and moved on to the other subjects which proved to be much easier. I'm sure getting accustomed to the new computers helped. The boys worked well into the late afternoon and had a lot of Tuesday's work completed too. Fortunately by time Mario came home from work, peace had been once again restored at the Perez home. But it did make for some good memories and I'm pretty sure our morning became a comedy routine for Mario's first ROTC class.