florida, flights, guam.... all is good

ok ok, i've put this off for too long..... i honestly just haven't felt like blogging. but everything has been great. jeff made it back from his deployment, we spent 2 awesome weeks with his parents in florida.... hanging out, visiting the ballet & old friends, going to the park, the beach, shopping & getting in as much target & chick-fil-a before going back to the land of have-nots.

the flights back to guam went much better than i anticipated. lena was a doll..... people kept making comments about how quiet she was, how good she was, how sweet she was & each time someone came & gave us a nice compliment i felt like we were being jinxed & the next flight for sure was gonna be a major melt down. but nope, didn't happen until we got into my friends truck from the airport back to our house in guam. baby girl successfully completed another ridiculous 24+ hours of world traveling. she is the champ. (of course now i've jinxed myself for our trip when we move back, yikes! oh & she'll be almost 2 then as well, boy are we due for it!)

so now that we've been back in guam, we've unpacked (i hesitate to post a pic of the boxes i shipped back.....), been to the beach, jeff's been playing soccer & volleyball (lena & i've been his cheerleaders at a couple of games), we celebrated our 1st thanksgiving as a family..... it's been great. i do miss target of course, oh & my family, heehee.... but guam is more beautiful than i remember & i'm enjoying it more than i thought i would. i guess i feel that it'll go by really fast. i mean lena is almost a year old, can you believe it, a year old?!?!?! so i am appreciating us being here. it really is a special place. even without target. now i leave you with some pictures of our time in florida.........

at the pumpkin patch

the park

harborwalk

lena at halloween as a flower fairy

trick-or-treat

toes in the sand

with grandma & grandpa

on the plane (of course she has her own travel pillow, she is a world traveler after all)

and yes, the boxes..... sad but true....

in my defense, i came over with 2 suitcases & jeff came over to the states with his stuff. well, he left those things with me when he went to iraq, so lena & i had to cram everything from 2 suitcases into 1. that & retail therapy. what can i say?

oh yeah, florida

so i went to florida when i was stateside..... my second home! took ballet class, got to see my friends & students & spent some great time with my in-laws! went to the beach & watched people look for tar balls.... at that point the beaches were pretty clear of tar, and pretty clear of tourists. so sad that the oil spill had to happen & i hope that full recovery efforts are made for the beautiful gulf. i did lots more shopping & eating, watched world cup matches with my father-in-law & all in all it was a perfect visit! but a short visit & before i knew it i was on a plane back to cali to try to space a back to guam. didn't have much luck out of travis, camped out for 2 days & finally gave up on space a. at that point wasn't feeling very persistent, was sick of hotels & spending money on food & shuttles, so i decided to spend even more money for a commercial flight back. it wasn't too bad & i was happy knowing i had my appointment & my husband (who i missed SO much) to get back to. after the long flights & layovers i made it home & was only jet lagged for a few days. i did think i was allergic to guam though because the 1st 2 days back i spent the mornings puking, which i hadn't done much of the entire trip stateside. so i was certain it was guam that was making me sick, but turns out i think the trip was a lot on my body & baby & i was very thankful that i was in my comfortable home with my familiar toilet & not on a full flight or making my way through the terminal when the puke decided to return.

going home & seeing family & friends was so wonderful & i look forward to the next visit, i'll have a little travel companion by then.....

darby (one of my students) & i after ballet class

my girls! both moved from florida this summer..... maine & vegas....... miss them!

2009 wrap-up

we've been through so much this past year......

i started the EPI program to help with my teacher certification & am so happy to say that a year later i "graduated" & passed all the tests - general knowledge, subject area (Physical Education K-12, doesn't make much sense i know, seeing as i've never played a sport in my life, but that's just how we had to do it in FL. i'll also receive certification for Dance K-12 too) & prof. ed. i'll have the official certificate arrive any day now!

our sweet nephew cohen joined us in jan.... such a cutie!!

jeff left for BMT in feb......

at the recruiter's office, lots of tears.....

graduated in april & then was held over at lackland until the end of june. such a crazy story, he trained for CCT (combat controller) for over a year & had a contract for that when he went into BMT. one doctor at lackland decided that because he had a minimal concussion when he was 12 from playing soccer that he couldn't receive flight status. so they kept him at lackland doing testing & crap for months, until they decided he couldn't go for CCT, so then he chose to go into photography & finally got to leave to go to tech school........

his flight

we performed cinderella.....

me, katia & jen

ugly step-sisters (sans wigs & extensions)

performed with pensacola opera in aida......

me & my slave boys

performed with a beautiful elephant!!!!! she was the star of the show!!!!

we lost our sweet baby boy tag..... he was sick with a kidney disease since birth, but only really was affected at the end. i miss him everyday.......

showing off one of his tricks

sean & i created a new piece together called 'touch'...... love dancing with him, miss it....

we had an awesome summer season, so much fun!

boating....

grilling....

beaching....

kayaoke-ing.....

beach & bubbles photo shoots.....

goofing....

jeff graduated tech school in the fall......

in october, i quit my job after 5 years. i have been very lucky to have a job that i love since i've been out of high school..... dancing, teaching & setting choreography for various companies & schools. i'm hoping to continue teaching & doing choreography, & i would love to continue to train & perform as well, but i have yet to seek out what opportunities are available on guam.

jeff found out in november that he did receive flight status & could cross train into CCT in about 1 & 1/2 years if he wants..... but while he's doing photography, flight status will help allow him to do arial photography. so funny how things work out.

& now we're in guam! happy 2010 to all!

from island 1 to island 2

so close to the move.......

from here........

to here.....

joys (aka deliriums) of moving

ah the moving preparations..... the house is a crazy mess. still no orders. but we had an "awesome" yard sale on saturday.... only lost $13. to explain, the ad in the paper cost $26 & we made a whopping $13, so.... oh well. not entirely a bust, we had lots of laughs & allowed boredom to influence our already silly tendencies.....

waiting.......

trying to fit into the bottom of our tv hutch.....

so after moving the majority of all our sale items back inside, we hung out until it was time to party halloween style...... jen had us all over to her house & then we went to the coast to toast.

the artist & the grafitti

me and adam ant (mr. todd eric allen, my boss)

jen & amanda messin

i hate spaghetti fan club

so my friend pam is in town!!!! she's here teaching & setting choreography for a studio in town. she was with us last season & now she's up in jersey dancing for new jersey ballet! we all miss her so so much! it's so great she's down here & that i'm able to see her before i leave the states.

she reminds me that even when distance separates, close friends are always close. even when you don't get to speak with them all the time, whenever you do get to be with them, it's like nothing has changed. a dancer's life is rarely stable, often traveling from job to job, living wherever the job is (even if it's jersey! oh burn!- love you pam!) & it's great because you're able to make new friends and collect different experiences, but often (as my 400+ friends on FB can attest to) you have to move on or leave some of your closest friends behind. but yay for FB & yay for blogs! & yay for guest gigs! & the dance world is so small, we're all connected & running into each other & people who know the same people, etc......

so i'm going to enjoy this weekend & remind myself that moving on does not have to mean separation or the end of friendships.

love you pam!

pam, jerod, amanda & jen

amanda, pam, jennyjones, me & j-rod

quick beach trip, waiting on pam to finish at the studio

then we got a little silly.....

yes j-rod is wearing overalls....