Staycation

Here's Zach's journal entry from school yesterday.

I think some of my kids appreciate the vacations that we take. But I think that at least one (and maybe more) is taking the vacations for granted. I hear complaints like, "It wasn't as much fun as last year" or "Can we stay in a hotel next time? The sand all over the cottage (on the beach) drives me crazy."

So after taking the kids on 3 vacations this year (not including mini ones to Phoenix), Mario and I decided that maybe we should do "staycations" this year...meaning the kids can just stay home. Mario and I are going to Florida in late December for a cruise. So the kids get to stay home with Grandma. Hopefully these "staycations" will help them appreciate them in the future.

I guess it is really our fault. The kids have been blessed with many wonderful vacations (island hopping in Hawaii, cruise to Mexico, and a week in Australia) due to the great places we have lived. So now their expectations are high. A week at the beach in San Diego can't possibly live up to a vacation in Hawaii or Australia I guess.

RIF Results

In March, while deployed, Mario found out that thirty percent of the officers in his year group and career field were being asked to separate from the Air Force either voluntarily or involuntarily by a Reduction in Forces Board. Of course the Air Force didn't want to cut people involuntarily but because the economy has been suffering, people weren't separating on their own. They offered us twice the separation pay (approx. $200,000) if we volunteered. We would only receive half if we didn't volunteer but were forced out by the board.

It was a difficult decision. Being away from the family and homesick didn't help Mario at all. He was ready to take the money and run. The thought of several more deployments in the next 7 years was enough to scare him. Plus, having the kids change high schools isn't ideal. But there were some catches to the separation money. Because he had just gotten a Masters at NPS, we were afraid they could ask us to pay back part or all of the money they spent on his schooling. Plus, we would have had to separate in December and our medical coverage would have ended. After much prayer and a lot of convincing by me, Mario decided to stick it out and try to beat the Reduction Board. He had several people review his record and they were confident that he would be selected to stay in the military. But he has a dual career field and so we weren't sure if the Communication Officers on the board would view that as favorable since they may want officers that are only Communications.

We were told the board met in Sept but we wouldn't get the results until November. The Air Force isn't very reliable when it comes to timelines. So we didn't have our hopes up that we would be notified anytime soon. We have had to put our lives on hold not knowing if Mario would have a job next year. It was pretty stressful. Mario and I have gained a lot of compassion for others who are going through similar situations. It is tough! Even with a lot of education and experience, I was stressed that Mario would have a hard time finding a job making even close to what he makes now due to the bad economy and so many people looking for jobs.

Mario found out Friday that the results were in and he would have a meeting on Tuesday (today) with the General to get the results. We were on vacation Friday so Mario didn't tell me. He figured it would ruin the rest of our vacation because of the stress. Unfortunately the stress got to Mario and he was a bit more grumpy than usual. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Then on Sunday, he finally told me since I kept complaining about his grumpiness. I was glad he spared me the few days of worry. But I also felt bad that he didn't have someone to talk to about it.

The General's Aid is a friend and yesterday she hinted to Mario that he was safe and wouldn't be cut. Then today Mario met with the General and got the official letter. What a relief to not have to wait until November for results. For FHE, we decided to re-watch President Monson's talk on Gratitude. Then we wrote several thank you notes to people around here that we are thankful for like our Bishop and his wife.

I am grateful for the compassion I have learned through this whole experience. I am grateful that Mario will be able to continue his military service and hopefully retire in 7 1/2 years. I am grateful for a husband that puts our family before his career and fortunately Heavenly Father blesses him for it. I am grateful for the opportunities I have to learn to put my trust in the Lord.

San Diego Vacation

We returned yesterday from our vacation in San Diego. Fortunately my mom and the Trawick Family were able to join us again this year. Tuesday morning, Mario and I got up really early and headed for an Endowment session. What a wonderful day it was to finally go to the San Diego Temple with Mario. That is something that Mario had dreamed about while in Afghanistan. when we returned back to the cottage, Mario picked up Erin and took her back so they could walk the Temple grounds and have a lunch date. The rest of us stayed behind and played a football game on the beach. On Wednesday, despite many obstacles like a lost recommend and no church clothes, Eric was able to go to the Temple with Mario and Grandma. After the Temple, we went to the new Mormon Battalion Historical Sight. It was amazing. Then Mario took the twins and their friend, Jesse, to the zoo (since they were all free.) On Thursday and Friday, we enjoyed Legoland, my favorite theme park. We ate lots of smores, boogie boarded, and had a fun time just spending time as a family. Thanks go out to my mom for taking all the pictures since I hate lugging a camera around.

Early Christmas Present

My mom flew in yesterday so she could go on vacation with us to San Diego. As an early Christmas present, she took Erin horseback riding today. They took a 90 minute ride through Colossal Cave Park. The weather was perfect, low 70's.

Braces Off

Today was an exciting day...after 16 months, I got my braces removed. Now I have a permanent retainer behind my front, bottom teeth. The orthodontist felt like I had a better chance of keeping my teeth straight with a permanent one rather than one I only wear nightly. It will be nice to eat a Subway sandwich again without having to dig out the lettuce and bread from my braces.

My mom flies in tomorrow and our family leaves for San Diego next Monday. I think the weather should clear and warm up a little before we go. I sure hope so. I am excited about taking the kids back to the beach and LegoLand. Sister Park said I could borrow her wetsuit and I think I might take her up on it. The ocean is so cold. But boogie boarding is so much fun.

Conference Weekend

Our family really enjoyed General Conference this weekend. I printed out new bingo cards for the three younger kids and they set up a comfy area for themselves to watch. I always relax on the food during conference weekend and we have a little conference party. Maybe that is why they get excited about it. Maybe it is because they get to stay home in pjs (with bed-head) and not have to get dressed up for church. Regardless, I am happy that my kids get excited about it.

Some highlights for me:

*Hartford Temple announced

*President Eyring's talk on Trusting in the Lord-a topic that has been crucial for me this year as I have gone through Mario's 6th month deployment and also the Reduction in Force Board which we still don't know the results.

*President Monson's talk on Gratitude-I definitely have a lot of improving to do in this area.

*Personal Favorite Talk-Elder Larry Lawrence-His talk was about parenting and having the courage to say no to your children. Saying no shows that you love them. Nathan yelled out something like "Mom always says no to junk food." I don't have the transcript yet, but I will print it out and read it over and over again when it comes available. He talked about parents being on the same page when it comes to raising kids. Spouses need to support one another in making decisions about activities for children. He cautioned against sleep-overs because as a Bishop he discovered that is a time when kids were most likely to break the word of wisdom or be introduced to pornography. He also talked about the importance of eating together as a family and of the bad influence of movies and video games. I can't even put into words how much Mario and I enjoyed this talk. I look forward to it coming out in print.

Mario and I always try to put into one or two words a theme for each conference. Recently the theme seemed to be love. This time, we thought the theme was on agency. Many, many talks mentioned pornography. I seem to remember a time when it wasn't mentioned, then came a time when it was in 1 talk. Now, it seems to be in every other talk. Mario and I are committed to doing our best to keep our children from that evil addiction. We are trying to be a good example to our children and we strive to keep the commandments and follow the Prophet.

Dead, Frozen Mice

This is a headline that I read on Fox News today...Navy Bombs Guam With Dead, Frozen Mice.

I shouldn't even comment on this because I will probably have nightmares tonight involving mice since I am petrified of them. But because the article involved Guam, I was intrigued and read the story. The Navy is flying over the jungle in helicopters and dropping mice filled with acetaminophen. But why? They are trying to kill off the Brown Tree Snakes. I dislike mice way more than I dislike the snakes so I am glad that I no longer live in Guam. We moved to Guam when Eric was just under 3. He was so excited to move there because he had heard about the snakes. To his disappointment, we didn't see many. Mario once saw one on a car and grabbed it, twirled it around and threw it to the ground. I don't think I was with him because I would have highly discouraged him from doing that. The snakes never bothered me other than every time there was a power failure (which was often), the local government blamed it on the snakes getting into the power lines. I always wondered if that was just an excuse.

We loved our two years in Guam. Mario volunteered to go there because it counted as a short tour (with family) which was equal to a year alone in Korea. It was our second military assignment and it was exciting moving across the world. When we arrived, we quickly heard about the frequent earthquakes and experienced one the second night we were there. It was pretty scary. I met my really good friend, Irene Horner, while still in TLF. She was a very close friend for the entire two years. She taught me to run and when we weren't running, we worked out together all the time at the base gym. Guam was hot so we didn't spend much time outside between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm. But the base had lots of activities for the families. We went on frequent field trips with the base playgroup. Some other things we enjoyed were going to Tarague Beach, eating Mongolian BBQ, and swimming at the base pool. We even fit in a family trip to Australia.

I got my first and only speeding ticket while stationed there. They took away my license for 4 weeks, but September 11 happened right after so they reluctantly gave it back to me so I could take Eric to preschool.

My best memory of Guam was going to the animal shelter "to just look." We came home with a new member of our family...Buzz. He and Erin both weighed 17 pounds. At first Erin was scared of Buzz and would climb up on the couch to get away from him. But as you can see from the picture, she grew to love him as much as the rest of us.