Happy Holidays Everyone from Florida!

December 21, 2009

Happy Holidays Everyone from Florida!!!

And what a busy month it's been! With the holidays quickly approaching, it's sometimes hard to keep up. Consequently, I've been a lousy blogger! But! Enough of that negative stuff, right? Tis the season for happiness and good cheer!!!

Most of you know that Christian's been preparing for his first theater production of Beauty & the Beast for the past 7 months, and what a debut that was! I was so nervous for him! Because it's such a large video (the play was like 2 hours long!!!) I had to upload it into pieces, and I'm still missing a good sized chunk, but you can watch the videos by following the following links. The audio is kinda lousy too, the microphones didn't pick up the kid's voices very well, unfortunately.... But to easily see some of the kid's choreography, check out part 2 and part 7. They are fantastic!

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjjTvlvTGs0

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kn6O_eOjnY

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7qoIMhd18U

Part 4: Sorry this video was too large to download even to You-Tube! :(

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7qoIMhd18U

Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGG0XZFpFE8

Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiYBDNeqcOA

Part 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOPFZ8Z7RFc

Here's a picture from the after party. Christian, the bad guy Monsieur D'Argue, poses with the OTHER bad guy, the red-headed, mohawked, COMPLETELY adorable, Gaston. Who is an amazing actor, by the way!

And this is a silly picture of him not wanting me to take his picture:

He did really well in the play, despite the fact that ten minutes before the play he told me he had NO CLUE what his lines were. I was a nervous wreck from that part on!

Christmas Pictures!
My friend Starleigh took this year's Christmas Pics. Here they are! :)

So, Christian and his dad went to visit family over the holidays (sigh, long story there!). So, I decided to give him his Christmas presents over at his dad's house the day before they left to drive to Mississippi. I kinda tricked him: I told him that since he was going out of town I was going to give him his Christmas presents early, and he was all excited, until I handed him a gift bag full of clothes. He was so disappointed. Check out the video! :) It's pretty funny. Note: if Santa is reading my blog, he was being QUITE NAUGHTY. And definitely not nice. Here's the video for a quick laugh...

What's really funny is before he got the bike, he got only "STUPID CLOTHES!" for Christmas. But AFTER he got the bike, he said he got "An awesome bike and awesome clothes for Christmas." So, basically, the awesomeness of your clothing is directly related to the awesomeness of your transportation. I noted this for application in adulthood :).

Now I don't want to bum anyone out, but most of you know that I am likely going to be having another surgery in the next few weeks, so for MY Christmas present, it would be really great if you could remember me in your prayers! :)



Merry Christmas Ya'll! :) May 2010 bring you more blessings than you can count, for health than you can measure, more love than you can carry, and so much laughter that your belly hurts!

Love always & Forever,

Christian & Rachele

"And the Angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." - Luke 2:10-12

Temple Visits, Gator Hunting, and Wild Horses: What a wonderful month it's been!

November 14, 2009

Temple Visits, Gator Hunting, and Wild Horses: What a wonderful month it's been!

So, even though it's only the 14th, this has really been my favorite month so far this year.

It started out right! With the opening of the new cancer center at Shands UF! And on the 2nd day of November, I started my new job, as a PACU RN. It's been a few weeks now, and I think it's safe to say that I like the new job... but it's still early to tell! My schedule is AMAZING. I work week DAYS only, no holidays, and when I have to be "on call" it's once every 16 weeks. And I still get to work my 3-12's schedule.

Also, other good news. I finished (yet another) semester of somewhat gruelling curriculum successfully, and Christian was able to bring up his grades as well: he earned all A's and B's... a pretty impressive improvement from his mid-term report cards!

It is fantastic.

So to celebrate my first weekend off in two years (well, practically!), what better way to celebrate than to take my first trip to the temple in Orlando!

And to celebrate my second weekend off, Christian and I decided to go on an adventure. We went to a praire here in Central Florida and hiked through the praire for a couple of hours. It was a beautiful day and we had a fantastic time. We saw wild horses, lots of swamp lands, and countless gators!

Warning Sign at the Beginning of the Trail:

Beautiful Barn right before the Praire

Whenever we hike Christian must have his designated "hiking stick," which he uses for everything EXCEPT hiking. Drives me crazy.

It is really beautiful praire/swamplands. Florida is really, really flat.

So there's a story about this picture. I forgot my camera and was taking pictures with my cell phone during out hike. My cell phone has no zoom. So I was the zoom, trying to sneak up on this sleeping, lazy 8-foot-long gator, who woke up and lazily eyed me as I crept toward him. "How far can I go?" I audible said aloud, as if I was waiting for him to answer me. "Hey Mr. Aligator, we are friends........I just want to take your piiiiiiiicccctttuuurrreee."

He probably would have let me a little bit closer but I didn't really want to push my luck.

The praire is beautiful.

Non-Floridians: those are not logs lying in the mud in the middle of the picture. Those are giant gators. Sunbathing in the November sun (which was delightfully warm, btw). Maybe it is "Great....to be......A Florida Gator!"

More Praire Pictures

Smiling for Mom in the sun.


I love this picture. You see the yellow fall flowers, the gators in the water along the water shore, the prairie, and this one, lonely white bird. Love it!


Can you see the wild horses?


Many, many, warning signs about the gators.


I just love this picture!

Life is so good to us right now. This is the first year when I'll not have to work during the holidays, the first time in years I've had a day-shift job, and we are doing well and life is just, well, perfect.

PSALM 100

A Psalm of praise—Serve the Lord with gladness, all ye his people—Be thankful unto him and bless his name.

A PSALM OF PRAISE.

1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with ^agladness: come before his presence with ^bsinging.

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath ^amade us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the ^bsheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with ^athanksgiving, and into his ^bcourts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

And just think, Thanksgiving is in just a few weeks!~!~!~! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Love Always & Forever,
Christian & Rachele

Ehhh, So I'm A Terrible Blogger

28 October 2009

I'm so sorry everyone!

I've been a terrible blogger.

Consequently, I don't know where to begin!!!!! haha! How bout the beginning?

When we left off, we were "fixin to" move into another apartment. This has been successfully accomplished. We had a bit of a rocky start, but two months (already?!?!) into the new lease and I've decided -- hmmmphhh -- I like it here. Officially. My downstairs neighbors are a little youngish but everyone else is very nice. New apartment is easier to keep up with and easier to keep clean. I wanted simplicity and I got it! It's a wonderful thing!

Christian's hanging in there in second grade. His first half-term report card wasn't anything to be too excited about, and we get his first quarter report card this week. Hopefully he is doing better! We put him in cub scouts as well, but until his grades improve, scouts and everything else (extracurricular) will just have to wait.

Christian's 2nd Grade School Picture

He is tired of hearing about it too, which is funny. He'll ask, "Mommy, can I watch TV?" And I (inevitably) will respond, "Can I have better grades?" Last weekend he was tired of hearing about the grades and promptly responded, "Sure, Mom, but it IS Saturday."

Cub Scout Christian

Okay, so he had a point.

As far as his school goes, he's been busy reading and learning all about the weather. After some careful wording I am proud to say that my little boy is officially addicted to The Hardy Boys Series. I don't know too many second graders that share this addiction. For a recent book report, based on Hardy Boys # 14: The Secret Warning, we decided to recreate the missing Pharaoh's head, using only paper mache, gold paint, and some random beads bought from the local craft store. It turned out better than we could have imagined... so, "lookie here"!

Book Report Project, based on Hardy Boys #14: The Secret Warning

Here is the video from his school's "weather play" from this morning!!!

Other new news for me includes a new job!

I decided I wanted a new job for Christmas.

I've learned so much in the neurosurgery department. I'm staying within the same hospital system and laterally transferring to the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU). It will be a dayshift position (which was super important to me) with very few weekend responsibilities. This means I'll get to spend more time with Christian, which will be absolutely wonderful. I start the new job next week, and I'm super excited about it. I will let you know how it goes!

This week begins the holiday season, and we are so excited for it! Tonight is Trunk or Treat at our church, and Saturday is Halloween. And then: it is officially holiday season. I'm eating a candy cane already!!!

I love you all and I promise to send Halloween Pics. Toodles for now!

Love always,
Rachele & Christian

Hi Guys.

Just wanted you to check out the following links.... Will be updating you guys soon.

Check out the new gadgets on the other side. In less than a minute you can get a financial checkup and set up your budget. I'm working on fixing my finances and actually growing up....

Love always,

Rachele

We're Moving On Up!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

We are Moving On Up!

So. It looks like we are officially moving! We are moving to a better apartment in a better part of town. It'll zone Christian for one of the best schools in the area, we'll officially be a 3rd Ward Member (yay!!!!) and it'll save us money in the long run!




Here's the new apartment website if you want to check it out and see pictures. The new place is Ahhhh-MAZING!

http://www.cbgainesville.com/

Christian's school this year is going to be LittleWood, one of the best public schools in the area. They actually have a gifted program and a good autism program as well. And it's an "A" school, as opposed to the "C" school he went to last year (before I pulled him out to homeschool him!).

Christian's school's website:
http://www.sbac.edu/~litlwood/

This school year is going to be busy. After school weekly activities this year are going to include:

• Beauty & the Beast (the play is in a few months, he has practice twice weekly).
• Fitness fun (an exercise class)
• Field games (an outside exercise class)
• Boys Tramp N Tumble (a boys gymnastics class)
• Beginning Gymnastics I
• Tumbling
• Hip Hop Dance
• Baseball Basics
• Young Illustrators (an Art Class)
  
• Chemistry Cooks I

So we are going to be busy! :) It is a busy month for us, because school starts in a few weeks, we are going to be moving over the next few weeks, I'm having surgery this week (grrr!), and I switched colleges... which lends me to my next bit of news.

After much thought and prayer (and LOTS of student loans) I've finally decided what I want to do with my life, with my career. I want to be an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. This'll require a good amount of schooling, but the first stages of this plan are already in play. I disenrolled from Ashford University and I Enrolled in Kaplan University. So I am not going to complete my degree in Hospital Administration (IT IS SOOOO FREAKING BORING I CAN'T STAND ANOTHER MINUTE!), but instead I am going to get my Master's of Science in Nursing (and my Bachelors of Science in Nursing along the way.) It's going to take me 2 1/2 years to get my Masters, but during that time I'll be working in an ICU environment, working on and achieving my CCRN (Critical Care Registered Nurse) certification, and I think that'll set me up really well for a nice ARNP school packet. I would like to go to UF's ARNP program, just so that I could be a Gator both in occupation and education.

So that's our lives this week! Will keep you guys posted.

Love always,
Rachele

Trip To Cali!

Hi Guys!

So Christian and I went to California for a week to visit family and such, and I wanted to share some of the pictures with ya'll.

First of all, this is a pic of Christian and the Matson FAM!

Second of all this is the pic of me and my mother! :) And Christian took the picture, which means it's just an awful pic of me but oh well!!!

I grew up in the beautiful foothills of the Grass Valley - Nevada City - Auburn area in Northern California, specifically on a place called Banner Mountain. At the top of Banner Mountain is a look-out, and one of the major things I wanted to see while in California was some actual TREES. I joke there aren't any trees in Florida, just really tall bushes, and it was nice to breathe in the cool mountain fresh air. It was beautiful. So we took a drive and happened upon the lookout. Luckily, and simply by chance, there was a fire fighter that was on watch in the lookout and invited us up to look around!!! It was great! We had to climb this tower, to get up there, and Christian (MR. BRAVE) got halfway up and FROZE. He didn't want to go up OR down. But there is nothing that a bribe can't fix with Christian, so I bribed him with a new toy, if he would just keep climbing, and so he did.

Once we got topside he was inclined to stay inside the lookout, but it was a really neat experience...

We really appreciated the volunteer fire fighter who gave us the opportunity to see FORTY MILES on a clear day. It's beautiful!!!! I took a picture of my mom's car from the lookout just so you guys had an IDEA how high we really were -- we were taller than all the trees around us!!!

SO that was very cool. That night there was a barbecue at our Mom's house and my brother came over and his girlfriend -- whom I LOVED! -- we all hung out. But we were too busy having fun to remember to take pictures!!! Sorry about that!!! But I made up for it the next day. Then my brother, David, came over to spend some time with his nephew. This was funny because he really had no idea what he was getting himself into... I think maybe Christian might have worn him out... Either way, it was so amazing to see them playing together, they had a great time!

We also went to an arcade and to a water park! Here are some of those pictures!!!

This is the closest Christian's ever going to a motor cycle.... I swear.... :)

Bumper Boats!

Cheese!

Deal.... Or No Deal!?

Gangsa' Chris

I was driving a VERY small Go-Cart, with Christian as my co-driver, texting, AND taking photos of us while Go-Carting. VERY UNSAFE PRACTICE which I do not condone, btw. Don't try this at home, kids.

Christian at the Waterpark... Someone's been eating WELL this summer ;)

Ironically, we had a good time and stayed off the slides!!!

Life is SO ROUGH on Vacation!!!

We ALSO went to Scotts Flat. IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL THERE! I want to spend a whole week there. We went with Gary, my Mom's friend, who, by the way, is one of the most amazing folks I've ever met. He's WONDERFUL.

Scuba Steeeve!

It was so beautiful!

Giggles!

Sailboats Out On the Lake

My Granddad.... Who, is like my favorite person I know. I love him to pieces. He's my favorite!

Friday Night We Went to the MotorCycle Races With Christian!



Christian and CANDY at the Races....

Christian with Gary's Horse, Jack

AND I couldn't leave Cali without...

Overall, we had a GREAT TIME! We just want to thank everyone who took time out of your busy lives to visit with us and we look forward to seeing everyone soon!!!!!

We Love Ya'll!!!!

Rachele