Spouses with the Same Profession...Nothin' Better.

There are many "perks" I lay claim to as a teacher. I won't bore you with the ones about it being an "incredibly rewarding and fulfilling job"...let's get to the good stuff.

1. Field trips - going fun places for free during your work day (ok ok...don't get me wrong, YES, I know they're stressful, and it's not a "day in the park" so to speak)
2. Treats - treats from students, parents, staff...usually great stuff, though I do get one too many teddy bears during Valentines day each year.
3. Bill Nye - I love putting on a Bill Nye DVD for my students to laugh at (I'll be honest, I love him too...seriously); he rocks!!!
4. Co-workers - these brave people are my friends! Some schools may have old dinosaur teachers who don't know what iPads are, but at my school...we're young and awesome! We NEED each other every day to vent to. And when school isn't in session, I miss them.
5. (Oh and trust me, I could go on and on) OUR SCHEDULE - Ricky and I are SO fortunate to be in the same career. Not only can I vent about the students at my school, and he TOTALLY gets it, but there's a good chance he had the same experience that day (it's seriously amazing how alike ALL 6th, 7th, and 8th graders are). Ricky and I are both in charge of the student council at our schools, and are always bouncing ideas off of each other...But back to my point: Our schedule. We are so lucky to live the life of a student; enjoying winter breaks, spring breaks, holidays, summer vacations, etc. And again, to have a spouse in the same profession, is absolutely amazing.

Ricky and I just finished our spring break together for this school year, and boy did we need it. I was very close to pulling, what is left of my hair, out. We started our week going to Sea World. Teacher's are lucky enough to receive FREE annual passes at Sea World, so we thought "Eh, why not! We love San Diego!" Ricky spent the day watching me cry at the sight of adorable animals, as we made our way through the spring break crowds. We stayed the night in Old Town at the Best Western Hacienda Inn...omg that place is incredible. We highly recommend it.

The rest of the week was spent finishing Paulette's house. Ricky has been re-flooring her entire upstairs: new floors, base boards, re-tiling the bathroom, painting, re-flooring the stairs... (it's a project he's been working on each time he's had a break from school)...Thank goodness it's over! Oh and of course while Ricky was working (we've realized I don't have enough patience to work along side him any more...he's too much of a perfectionist), I spent time with the Andersen's (surprised!?).

Adoption Update: No news yet. Still hoping and praying.

We couldn't resist.

Because we got in for free, we did the Dolphin Encounter. The solo girl next to us was mistaken as our daughter.

In case you can't read it "Shannon Is The Best Aunt Ever!!" Sorry Trena and Thorey :(

        I bought Gina some new jammies, and this was her saying thank you...I couldn't love her more.

On our way to our good friends Mikey and Sharon's wedding!

In-N-Out with awesome friends!

The Waiting Game...

Today has turned out to be one of the most exciting days of my life! It didn't start off so exciting. It's a typical Friday at school, students are anxious for the weekend, I'M anxious for the weekend, I'm giving a quiz in one of my classes, selling Valentine Grams during lunch...you know, a typical Friday for me. Then as I'm leaving the school, taking that much awaited sigh of relief knowing the school day is over, I get the phone call I've been dying to hear since August 1st. "Your profile is up!" Jennifer, our caseworker delivered the news, and I burst into tears. Finally, after months and months of hard work, we can finally sit easy and...well...wait, I guess. (Maybe this will be the actual hard part, right?!) I can't begin to explain how much I've longed for this moment. To finally be "advertised" I guess you could say, for the birth parents out there willing to give us a chance. This is a huge deal. Ricky and I went to celebrate by going to Johnny Reb's for dinner; it was delicious. I told him, "Ricky, I am so ready for this! WE are so ready for this!" All he said was, "This is when it gets real." He's so right, and we are so ready. Today turned out to be such an exciting day! I have never been so excited to wait for something...or continue to wait for something I should say. We're almost there. Can't wait for the blessings to come.

Now a quick little bit about our recent trip to Guatemala, since I never had a chance to blog about it! Ricky took me on an incredible (that's the best adjective I can think of at this moment) adventure through Guatemala and Honduras for 10 days during our winter vacation from school. I could seriously blog about our trip for hours, but because I am so excited about our adoption, I really don't think I could concentrate for that long; so this will be brief.

Antigua: After arriving into Guatemala City on a red-eye from L.A., we rented our car (a Hyundai Tucson, awesome car btw!) and immediately visited the Gonzalez Family - the family Ricky lived with while he was in school in Guatemala, and met while on his mission; they were kind enough to lend us a cell phone while we were there. From there, we went to Antigua where we spent the next 24 hours. This town was beautiful, cobble stone streets, 2 surrounding volcanoes, and a ga-zillion churches! 

 

Wildlife Animal Park & Chiquimulilia: Antigua was so beautiful, it was hard to leave, but I was so excited for what lie ahead! We were headed for Chiquimulilia, where Ricky spent the majority of time on his mission, and made several lifelong friends, whom he talks to at least a few times a year. I was so excited to see this town, that holds such a special place in Ricky's heart. Before we arrived in Chiqui however, Ricky surprised me as we detoured to a Wildlife Animal Park, in the middle of nowhere. This was such a cool place, and was absolutely gorgeous, in the middle of a jungle...a REAL jungle! Once we were done hanging with the monkey's, we made our way to Chiqui. Chiqui was a small town, with such kind people. It was in town that Ricky started his own little movie theater! This is so cool. You'll have to ask Ricky more about it (can't explain it all in this blog...but such a cool story!) I met soooo many awesome people, and will never ever forget my experience here. But I can tell you that I was exhausted once we left because of all the listening I had to do - no speak-a-da-English-here. 

At the Wildlife Animal Park!

Standing in front of the movie theater!

Chiqui & Montericco: After leaving Chiqui, we headed further down the coast to the ocean side town of Montericco. You would not believe how we had to get there...we had to ride on this crazy, wooden ferry for approximately 20 min through the mangroves (which is as close to an experience on the Amazon that I could imagine!), to the little town of Montericco. While there (it was HOT by the way) we relaxed, swam, oh and released baby sea turtles into the ocean...you know, just a typical day on the beach in Guatemala! :) Best thing ever. 

 

 Honduras: Ricky and I made what should have been a 4 hour trek to Honduras (turned out to be 8 hours because we got a little lost in the Guatemala country side), to the small town of Copan. Here we stayed in the cutest little Inn, and got our first taste of excitement for the end of the Mayan calendar, December 21st, 2012. We visited the ruins, and ate some delicious food!!!

Tikal: Upon returning to Guatemala, the next day we took a 45 min prop plane ride to Tikal. This was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had in my life. Tikal took my breath away. I'm not sure I could accurately explain how incredibly cool it was. AND we were there on the day the Mayan calendar ended, which made it even MORE awesome. You could feel a strong spirit there, and the jungle is everything I imagined it to be; lush and beautiful. I will never forget it.

Lake Atitlan: Our last stop on our 10 day journey was to visit the beautiful Lake Atitlan. We stayed in a beautiful lake side hotel, ate delicious food (again), rod a little "Tuk Tuk" taxi as Ricky referred to it, and experienced a lot of wind (it was very windy lakeside while we were there). Oh, and I inevitably got sick (was just waiting for it to happen while we were in Guatemala)...at least it was only the day before we were supposed to fly home.

On our last day in Guatemala, we went to the city center and spent time with Ricky's good friend (and someone who is SO much fun!) Pierina. The following morning we flew back to L.A. It was an incredible trip, and we had so much fun together. I was so impressed by Ricky, the itinerary he put together for us, how he took care of me (he literally had to do everything for me since I don't speak a lick of Spanish!). Ricky, I love you so much; I had so much fun with you in Guatemala, and it is now a very special place to me too. Can't wait to go back again some day!

80 days

As I got out of the shower on this hot (supposedly "Fall" day) in October, I felt randomly inspired to write this blog. Probably because I am extremely excited, anxious...and nervous. In 80 days we go public.

I found out very early on (when I was 16, to be exact) that I wouldn't be able to carry my own children. Discovering this life-altering fact so early in my life, has actually been quite a blessing. As a result, I have always known what I was meant to do.

As I've mentioned before, when I met Ricky I knew instantly he'd be the one I would marry. At that moment, I knew I'd have to break the news to him. This broke my heart. Ricky was the first man I had ever, ever, pictured having children with, and it tore my heart apart that I couldn't do that; that there couldn't be little Ricky Marengo's with stunning blue eyes, and cute dimples running around the tee-ball field. I will never forget the evening when I told him my secret, the secret that had been tearing up my stomach inside for months. He cried. I cried. When I asked him why he was crying, he simply said, "I'm just so sad for you, and the experience you will miss out on." He wasn't sad for himself and what he'd be missing, but whole-heartedly sad for me. This is the man I married. Selfless and loving to the core.

Ricky and I entered into our marriage knowing that having children would be a difficult road for us, one that would take a lot of planning. We had two options: 1. Find a surrogate and face the battles of egg retrieval (yes my eggs are just fine!), sperm...whatever, and hoping that our egg and swimmers would create a little somethin'! Or option 2: Adoption.

In 80 days our adoption profile on www.itsaboutlove.org goes public. On January 15th 2013, our 2-year anniversary, we will begin hoping and praying that a sweet and selfless birth couple see's our profile and chooses us to care for and love their child for time and all eternity.

Ricky and I started the process with LDS Family Services in August, and have since been using every spare hour we have on the ENDLESS amounts of paper work, interviews, questionnaires, online courses, etc. You wouldn't believe the hoops you have to go through to adopt. Oh did I say online courses, yes...20 hours to be exact! Fingerprinting, physicals from our doctors, original copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, first aid/CPR training, family histories, employment verifications, tax forms, vehicle safety checks, house safety checks (our home visit by our case worker will be scheduled soon as well)...the list goes on.

Our incredible case worker emphasized the importance of getting the word out there that we are adopting. I've been a little apprehensive about doing that, strictly because I was self-conscious of the questions we'd receive, or I'd receive, about not having our "own" children. Ricky and I are so excited for the future baby that Heavenly Father has set aside for us. We know that there is going to be a child out there meant specifically for us! How cool is that!? Biology and genetics aside, that child WILL be ours.

We seriously can't wait...

80 days.

Ricky's 40th Surprise Birthday Party

It took a year and 2 days to plan. Ricky was turning 40, and I knew I had to plan the biggest, and best surprise party he could ever dream of. The most important party detail: his band...Super Fuzz.

As soon as I had Jon Harris, Chad Parkin, and Gabe Prado on board, all that was left to do was wait another 9 months before I could do or plan anything else.

Katie Andersen. My do-it-all BFF. The woman who can do it all, think of it all, create it all, AND take care of three children while doing it all...she was my savior. Katie and I scoured the internet day in and day out searching for fun and creative ideas for an 80's concert themed party. I wanted to do it the easy way, and just buy everything. But no. This do-it-all party planner kicked the expensive Pintrest/Etsy website's butt! So we spent hours making stuff. You know, being craft-y! Needless to say, I spent the first two months of my summer break at the Andersen house every day, working on Ricky's party. How did I manage to pull it off without Ricky knowing, you ask?! He was still in school, working. I lied a lot about my daily plans.

Now I can't go on about Katie, without mentioning the time and effort Paulette put in to make this party totally awesome too! Paulette was a rock star! Of course, giving her another excuse to go to the Thrift Store, Wal Mart, IKEA, Ross, etc. wasn't like pulling teeth. She gladly accepted.

I promise this is a blog about Ricky, but seriously, one more plug for the Andersen's...Skippy... OH Skippy. This man can cook (so can his wife btw!). Skippy offered to marinate, chop, boil, soak, and every other word you could use for "cater" Ricky's entire party. Skippy made the most incredible tacos, homemade rice, and homemade beans. Skippy (and his do-it-all wife) slaved in the hot sun (and house) to pre-make all of the amazing, and muy bueno food. Every single person at the party raved about Skippy's feast. Skippy, honestly, we thank you and your family from the bottom of our hearts. You are unbelievable friends. Oh and a shout out to Trena and Aaron Schulze for the salsa...soooooo good!

Ricky had no idea about his party. None. I totally did it. I had an entirely successful "surprise" moment. No clue. Ricky came in blindfolded AND with music playing in his ears. There was no way he'd hear anything. As soon as he walked on stage, I removed the ear phones, and the Carpenter's "Yesterday Once More" began to play (his band often played this song before walking on stage for a show). Next, Jon and Gabe started jamming. This brought chills to my entire body, and a HUGE smile to Ricky's face. I then removed the blindfold, as Ricky saw the crowd of 100, and his band members (whom he had not played with for over 10 years!), and the tears began to flow. No, not from me (surprise, I know!) but from Ricky. An incredibly genuine moment, one that he and I will never forget...After that, it was time to party!

 Mucho thanks to ALL who came to ROCK with us. Ricky killed it on stage as he ate up every moment, and I fulfilled one of my dreams; to be one of Ricky's groupies!