Finally, Another Blonde in the Family

Once upon a time I married this guy...

And I was the odd ball Valerio ....

 

But NOW I am no longer alone... 

We inducted Lisa into the Valerio Family. 

They had such a beautiful wedding here are some pictures we took

      

 

Another Blonde Valerio.... and maybe another one soon 

( or maybe wishful thinking)

A VERY Mushy Kind of Thankful Thursday

Sometimes in life we forget to be thankful for how great we have it. 

Today I got to see an old friend. It was so nice to see her. 

She is such an amazing lady who has done such great things in her life
and loves God while doing them.I want to be like her one day.

She told me a story about one of her friends who is seriously struggling in her marriage. She is married to a man that is not kind in words, thoughts or actions. As I listen to the sad words I tired to imagine what this must be like. To not have the support and love that is needed by the one person you picked to do so.  It hurts me that she is hurting, and I wish there was something... anything I could do to help. I have spent my life watching marriages, friendships and relationships crumble. People leave, sometimes the come back most times they don't. Marriages fail, friendship dies and people do not change.  I just thought this was how the world was.

 Before Jon anyways. 

When I first met Jon I knew something was different. I felt instantly attracted to him... not the way he looked or acted or dressed... It was nothing physical although those things were pretty great... It was something else. Now obviously our love story isn't one of those quick 3 month romances. It was filled with lots of ups and downs and twist and turns but I can tell you one thing. In the 4 years we knew each other before we got married there was ALWAYS something about this man that drew me to him. EVERY guy I met was compared to this one man that lived a thousand miles away. I could never get him completely out of my mind. No one could make me forget those feelings.

 He is such a good soul. The kind of good that you can feel when he is near.

 And now all these years later he is mine 

and still when I look at him I feel those first feelings of happiness and 

comfort that only come from being with a good man.

 I am so thankful for this amazing man that was made for me and only me.

 He has taught me to love deeper and to trust. 

I am thankful for our marriage that is anything but perfect yet is filled with 

happiness, respect and a LOT of laughter.

Anyways enough with the mussy gushy yuck. thanks if you made it all the way through! I will leave you with a song...

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Today was just a great Sunday. We changed how we are teaching Sunday school and it has just made Primary an all around better experience. I may have explained this before but if  not I will again. I teach the sunbeams...otherwise know as the 3 year old's. I think this is the calling that each newly married couple is required to hold.... like a right of passage into married life as a LDS couple... But really though I am going through the list of all of our married friends and they all have callings in Primary or nursery... 

Maybe it is to show all us newly married peeps that we just NEED to have little nuggets of our own. Personal I think this would have an adverse affect on most. 

Other peoples kids are so bad sometimes especially when you through them in a room with some fresh faced newly wed. Luckily I am now fresh faced newly wed (ok maybe I am) but I have done my time in the class room... teaching kindergarten and first grade at an after care for 4 years and I wont lie when I was 18 I had the primary class from... um... whats a nice way to put this... the primary class that seemed to exemplify what highlight real of Nanny911 might look like, 

 but that is a whole different post. 

This post is about how stinkin' cute my 3 year old's right now are. 

Our lesson today was on Friendship. Wanna hear something cute ask a 3 year old how they know that Jesus is their friend. Best thing I have heard all week. Until I heard this...

This is my screen saver on my phone...

AWWW so sweet and tender right? Not thorugh the eyes of a 3 years old. She go my phone and was like "THAT'S GROSS hes kissing you on your wedding!"

All I could do was laugh. I asked her "Haven't you seen any pictures of your parents kissing on their wedding day?"

She answers...

NO!! Thats sick... Oh wait... One time I walked in to my Mommy's room and saw it... They were kissing on the picture and I was like...

THAT'S DISGUSTING! 

She made that face and I laughed so hard I made her do it again... Of course she was happy to do it. I am in love with my class :) So there you go kissing disgusting... but of course she wanted to look at the picture 12 times through out the lesson. 

Oh and if you ever want a lesson in what parents are teaching there kids at home just ask them what one of the 10 commandments are... 

Here are the 10 commandments according to Cocoa Wards Jr Primary

1. Don't shoot things for fun- This ended up in a 5 minuet conversation about when it is OK to shoot things...

2. Keep the Sunday Holy

3. Jesus healed Moses with mud on his eyes..

4. Don't say Gods name when you are being evil

5. Don't hit your brother

6. Invite your friends to church

 (but my only friend who liked church

 moved to South Carolina and that's to far to come to church)

7. UHHHH Jesus!!!

8. The temple... Moses built it...

9. Don't worship golden cows, TV or being pretty.

10. Dont kiss

  

Wonderful Wednesday

Ok so today is not so wonderful... it is one of those days where things keep going wrong and things keep piling up and you look at life and think WHY can't ANY thing be easy! So what I was doing on my hour drive home from school was thinking of how these bad things make my life WONDERFUL cause lets face it life even at its worst can be wonderful. SO here we go...

Making life Wonderful....

1. The car we were in the process of buying was sold to some one else with out the sellers even calling to tell us... The car was old and had a ton of miles on it. Who knows if it was as good of a deal as we thought. Maybe would would of had it a week and had to replace the breaks or something. PLUS we are going to find something way better now that we have more time.

2. I was trapped in my room because there was a dead cockroach in the hallway... Ok so you may think WHAT? Here's the deal I am DEATHLY afraid of cockroaches. I know its not logical but they are gross and I have no control when one is near dead or alive. I was home alone and one appeared in the time  had eaten breakfast and taken a shower.... Oh the woes of condo life.... BUT on the Wonderful side my house is EXTRA clean now because I have scrubbed EVERYTHING so the cockroaches don't want to live in our house... hopefully that works cause I might have a full blown panic attack if I see another one.

Here is a super blurry picture ( I wasnt about to get close to the thing!)
But I had to prove to the hubby that is was there....

3.TRAFFIC, Traffic and more TRAFFIC. I hate it but on the bright side if I got to school any sooner there would be no parking. Our parking is always full so if you get there too early you have to drive around for a hundred years. which is even more frustrating than traffic. 

4. My Knee is hurting... again... A few years ago I ran the Ragnar Relay  I didn't train very well and had never run more than 8 miles. After running about 19 miles over the course 2 days I had hurt my knee. Well that was years ago and it was better until this last weekend but this time I now how to handle it. The pain means I am running again. I am not slacking and I know that I need to take my time. This pain will pace me. I will not blow my knee I will take my time and do it right!!!

5. We haven't sold our truck yet... AT LEAST WE HAVE TWO WORKING CARS!!! 

Its FINALLY Friday!!

This week has gone by so fast. With school starting again and Jon's new job I feel like there is hardly enough time to breath. This hectic schedule really has me appreciating my Fridays that's for sure. 

5 reasons I am IN LOVE with Friday

1. I have no classes on Fridays so all I have to worry about is work which 

lets face it, its not much to worry about.

2. Pay day!!!!! Who doesn't love seeing their bank account full once again.

3. Date Night... we party* all Friday night cause we get to sleep in on Saturday 

*party in this case mostly means stay out past 10 cause we are watching a movie, CRAZY I know*

4. Tomorrow is SATURDAY and that means all day soaking in the sun at the beach. Oh how I miss you soo!!!

5.  Only one more day till Race day... yes this is something I totally forgot to mention that I was doing but this summer I have slowly, very slowly been trying to get back into running with my beautiful friend Becky and we are going to run our  first race tomorrow night.  It is on a giant bridge which I have yet to run the whole way up and down sooo I'll let you know how it goes...

I am linking up with Lauren and Lindsey check out their blogs they are great.

Love Love Love...

A year ago today I said yes to the most important question of my life... So in honor of that day I thought I would actually tell our story... Which has yet to be done on the internet. So here we go...

Once upon a time...

 Lets face it our story started off kind of slow. Jon and I... well we had a on again off again long distance phoneship. Now if you you are asking your self what the HECK is a phoneship well its a word I just made up to describe our relationship. We spent HOURS upon HOURS talking on the phone. Year after year no matter who we had been dating or what road we took we some how ended up on the phone with each other. Often wondering why we had this undeniable attraction to this person that is thousands of miles away, when it so obviously was never going to happen. He wasn't going to move I wasn't going to move. Until finally we both decided to budge a little. Let me just tell you that Heavenly Father REALLY had a hand in the last few months of our relationship. Jon called me out of the blue a few weeks before I was planning a trip to Utah to visit my soon to be step mom (now actual step mom)... we always did have GREAT timing. I played hard to get until he picked me up from my step mom's apartment. 

*here is the mush and gushy stuff*  

 I had this plan to coy. You know like we were just old friends meeting up for a casual dinner. No big deal or anything... I mean every one spend two hours picking out their outfits and doing their hair for causal dinner with a friend right? Yeah I  didn't even have my self fooled. The second we saw each other there we no words... he awaited me with the biggest hug and kiss.I had been worried that over the years I just imagined my feelings for him  but after that first look all my worries went away. After that the many plans I had made for my trip turned in to Jon. 

 At the end of my trip I did not want to go home. It was so hard to say good bye. He dropped me off at the airport with the promise that we would see each other soon. By the time the plane landed in Florida I knew what I had to do. If I did not take a chance now I would always wonder what if. So I took the biggest risk of my life and moved to Utah.

 I had been offered a Internship for the summer and it happened to be for a nonprofit based out of Utah. I called my new boss up and she said she would love to have me work in state instead of over the phone. After that everything was easy. Jon bought a plane ticket, someone took my lease, and I quit my job. After a LONG but incredibly fun road trip I officially lived in Utah.... For the summer anyways.

That summer in Utah was the best ever. We spent every free minuet together. 

        

                                                        

 Then the summer came to an end and it was time for me to head back to school in Florida. Jon had planned to move with me but we just didn't know how it would work... Or at least I didn't. It turned out Jon had a plan. We had big plans last August 20th we were going to spend the weekend on a house boat on the Lake but those plans fell through. SO we were going to have a date night instead. 

Jon picked me up and told me he felt like eating at La Jolla Groves, which is where our first date in Utah was, but of course I didn't feel like eating there so we went to Macaroni Gill instead. I never make things simple. Of course Jon did the polite thing and went to pay but his card got declined. I had to run to the car and get my wallet... Thankfully this wasn't one of those nights I had for gotten it... cause those night happen a lot.... and last I heard washing dishes is not the most romantic date in the world. PS The bank messed up he had money... After that I could tell he was flustered but he was determined to keep our date going strong. We went to the cutest candy store and he said he wanted to pick candy out for each other. I picked the biggest box of nerds I could find and he showed up at the register with a ring pop.

Now to preface this next part Jon and I had been talking about getting married for a while ( I mean I moved across the country to be with him we were pretty serious) so I just assumed this was one of his mean jokes.

 He told me he couldn't afford a ring so he was just going to propose with  the ring pop. So the quest began to find the perfect spot for him to "propose". He drug me through the River Woods shopping complex  while I pointed out places like the bathrooms and the trash cans.  Finally he found the place and told me to close my eyes... I sighed and huffed and puffed cause I really just wanted my candy. But I knew to get what I wanted I had to play along. Now you think I would have caught on but I didn't want to get my hopes up so I always just told my self it wasn't gonna happen.  I was wrong though it did happen right there in front of everyone at the River Woods. I closed my eyes and he slipped something much better than that ring pop on my finger. And well the rest is history.

Five Reasons Today is a Good Day

ONE. Early morning bakery trip to get the best croissant sandwich ever.

TWO. Woman working at said bakery thought I was in high school. 

(There may have been literally a thousand high school students 

in there while I was ordering but Ill take what I can get)

THREE.  I ran a mile in under 10 minuets... big deal for me 

maybe not normal runners but for my slow self it was an accomplishment   

FOUR. Jon has an interview tomorrow... prayers please we could really use this job.

FIVE. We downloaded 90's 100 top song and my life is no a musical completely 

with a husband who randomly breaks out in to song. 

9 Months Ago....

Ok I know what the title sounds like but it has nothing to do with my belly or babies. What it DOES have to do with is this amazing thing that happened 9 months ago today... It was the day I received my new last name, the day I was sealed to the man of my dreams for time and all eternity. I have not really shared to many picture on here so I thought now is as good of time.   

How to Live Like You Are in Kindergarten...

This week at work I have been with the brand new kindergartners. They don't actually start school until Monday so I get to spend a few extra days with these little guys. They have so much energy and excitement for life, I wish I lived like this every day. So here are a five things I learned from my five-year-olds.
1. Laugh at everything. Seriously, this is my favorite thing about them. The littlest things make them laugh out loud and I am pretty sure every time it happens a year is added on to my life.
2. Go all out. When they believe something there is no convening them it is wrong. They fight, love and laugh with everything they have.
3. Play like you will never get to again. Every minuet they get to play is the best time of their life. Why cant we all live every day like this!!!
4. Color outside the lines. So maybe the Cinderella and Prince Charming have blue faces and red eyes... they are not afraid to color things how they see them. They are not held back by how things "should be".
5. Don't Be afraid to cry. Some time tears are needed, they are good, and if we let ourselves express our feelings their would not be some much pint up stresses in our lives.

I am a Mormon

So my church has this great website that explains every question you could pretty much ever have about our religion. It has answers with scriptures and insights and is awesome. Recently they added a new feature that allows members like me to create a profile and tell our stories. I thought I would share mine with you guys. Here is my personal story....


And here is the link to the basic page with all the answers....



Enjoy!

Be Still My Soul

I usually do not do two post in one day but today I really wanted to share this song. While getting ready for church this morning I put Pandora onto my usual Sunday channel. This week has been rather hard one for me, for some reason I have just been super hard on myself. It has just been one of those weeks where everything just seems right out of reach. Much like I have no control of the things that are happening to me. I was looking at my friends and even people I have never met and just thinking how much better they are living their lives. They have more money or know how to budget it better, have accomplished more, are serving people, are done with school, dress nicer, truthfully the list could go on and on. The internet makes it so easy to play the comparison game. It is so easy to forget  that each one of these people are struggling with something. The internet allows us to put our best face forward, so what ends up happening is we are comparing our worst with everyone else's best. We need to remember that Heavenly Father is not comparing us to our peers. He does not look at you on your worst day and give up on you. He wants us to keep going, growing and trying. Now with that said, I know all this and I constantly, with the help of my husband, am running it through my head but it just was not sticking this week. This morning I knew I needed Heavenly Fathers help and it came through this song. It was so sweet and simple and as I listened to the music I thought of the words and all my worries faded away.  

Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;

With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend

Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as he has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,                  

Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.Be still,             

my soul: When change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Listen and Love

Ok I am in love with these these two little girls... Seriously could they be ANY cuter? I think not. And their music is great... Listen and you will fall in love too...

Obsessed....

With this song... Jon asked WHY DO YOU KEEP PLAYING THAT SONG OVER AND OVER....
Well Jon WHY Not.... That is all I have to say to you...