Ugh

This is really hard for me to write.

After finally arriving at the end of a very lengthy, I mean looooooooong, drawn out, disjointed, interrupted by a deployment, grueling hiring process which we fully expected to end happily, Ben was recently notified by FBI headquarters that they won't be hiring him as a special agent after all. No reason stated. Even his applicant coordinator was surprised.

While we always knew this could happen, we are still trying to wrap our heads around it and figure out what to do next.

If you look at the big picture, I guess this is pretty small potatoes. But that perspective is a little difficult to keep in focus when you have no real income and you're not even sure what you want to do in an economy where people are struggling to keep jobs that they actually already have.

Still, we're trying to remain optimistic, keep our minds open, and spend a lot of time on our knees.

Bedtime

Paige skipped her nap today and therefore was a little overtired at bedtime tonight.

We listened at her door as she yelled for us from her crib:

Aghhhhhhhhhhhh! Get me out of here! I'm TRAPPED! I'm trapped in a cage!!!

Ha! Love it.

Easter

My parents hosted Easter brunch, an Easter egg hunt, and Easter dinner on Sunday. All of my siblings and their families were there! (except for my step-brother who lives in Poland)

The Hunt

Paige with cousins Anna and Maggie; the 2 year-old girls

Our little cutie

Not my favorite picture of me, but here I am with my sisters and brother. Amber refused to stand in the middle, so we're not in order from oldest to youngest. From Left to Right: Jen, Amber, Noelle, Chris, Me, Chelsea

Family Pictures

One of my favorite people ever just happens to be an awesome photographer. He agreed to meet up with us yesterday in Heber and take pictures of our little family. You can see some of them here on his Phlog.

Thanks Jason!

Bring on April

Ever since Ben came home at the end of January and we moved into our yucky apartment, we've been making up all sorts of excuses to go out of town. Desirable destinations include places within driving distance (no more than a day and a half in the car) and trips that are relatively inexpensive or generously subsidized by others. We've made trips to Snowmass, CO, Heber, UT, Southern California, and now we're in Heber again. I think the longest stretch we've spent at "home" so far has been 10 days.

We've had fun, Ben's had a chance to unwind from his deployment, and we've had lots of family togetherness time. But now I think we're all ready for real life to start. More than two months of "vacation" just starts to feel like you're living in limbo, which I guess we are, and the little trips become more and more contrived. Perfect example? - our current trip to Heber. A good (GREAT!) friend in South Jordan had a birthday this past weekend and we have a wedding to attend (on behalf of Ben's parents, who can't make it because they are on a mission) this Friday. So what do we do? Plan a 10 day trip and make up a bunch of stuff to fill in the whole week between the 2 "excuse" events that got us up here in the first place. I scheduled a play date for Paige, dinner with longtime friends, a much needed haircut/color by my favorite hairstylist ever (I don't really know that many, but he is GOOOOOOOD), and family portraits.

When my relatives asked why we're in town, I replied, "just killing time."

It's dying very, very slowly. And, obviously, we're running out of ways/places to "kill" it.

Any suggestions?

When I Grow Up . . ..

Paige: Mommy, Mommy! I grow up!

Me: You're growing up?

Paige: yeah

Me: What do you want to be when you're all grown up?

Paige: I go in a spaceship.

Me: Does that mean you want to be an astronaut?

Paige: yeah

Me: What will you see when you're in your spaceship?

Paige: I will see stars . . . and the moon . . . and twinkle, twinkle little stars!

Me: Wow, that sounds like fun.

Paige: And I have a pink space helmet. You can have blue. Go get it! Get your space helmet!

Me: We don't have space helmets. We'll have to talk to Papa tomorrow; maybe he can help us make some.

Paige: Yeah, and he can have pink.

DiSnEyLaNd

We got an awesome deal through the military, so the day after Paige's party we headed to Disneyland for 3 whole days! Wooohoooo! Here's a photo summary:

Park entrance.
Paige loves pluto. He was the first thing we saw upon entering the park.

Paige loves Mickey too. She was pretty excited to visit him at his house.

On the second day we went to Minnie and Friends' character breakfast. Meeting Minnie was a very serious thing for Paige. She tried to talk to her about everything from 'where's Mickey?' to 'these chairs are soft'. Minnie was kind enough to respond with lots of nodding, hand gestures, and hugs.

Eeyore.

What's in your mouth, Chip?

At this point they were playing loud dancing music throughout the restaurant. Paige saw Pooh out there dancing and just had to join him. She did this for the entire song.

After the character breakfast we headed over to California Adventure. She must have gone down this slide a dozen times. And every single time she got into some weird position like this.

Paige and Daddy. Both were enraptured by the Pixar Parade.

'R' stands for Reed.

Near the end of the third day we waited FOREVER to visit the princesses at the Princess Fantasy Faire. It was well worth the wait as Paige's reactions were priceless.
Her cheesy grin just kept getting better and better.

Mulan especially loved her.

The last picture I took. And one of my favorites. Paige loves Disneyland!

And they all lived happily ever after. The End.