Procrastination update

I know I have been procrastinating on posting, but I have some good reasons. We have had many visitors and lots of fun, Jay has been home and looking for work, and I can't upload my photos!

I can't find my camera cord anywhere! I have TONS of pics and videos, I actually had to buy another memory card because my other 2 are full!

We have had my parents come and visit. We have had my best friend and her family visit again. We had my best friend, her 3 kids, a mutual friend, and her 2 kids come for a visit. My sister came with them and stayed with me for 3 weeks.

It was really nice having her here. She played with the kids, cooked, and went on her first date! It gave her some time away from home and us some time to bond a little.

We finally heard some news on our storage (all of our belongings). It is set to be picked up from New Hampshire on the 6th of July. So hopefully we will be up to our eyeballs in boxes! I think I might be the only person excited to unload and unpack, but it has been over a year since we have seen any of that stuff!

Payton is spending the next 2 weeks with my parents. It the first time we have gone that long without one of our kids, but we are excited! She told us that it was only fair, because she sees us everyday and we need to share her with Nana and papa! Then she told us not to worry, she would call us everyday to make sure we were hanging in there and doing OK. She doesn't want us to miss her too terribly! That girl just cracks me up!

Dominick is enjoying his "only child" time, no sharing, no fighting, no whining, and one on one time with DAD! He is also enrolled in another hip hop class for the summer. He LOVES it and works really hard.

Jay took his RN boards and PASSED! So he is officially an RN. Now he is working on finding a job! It hasn't turned out as easy as he thought it would be. He has some potential jobs in the works though, so we are praying that one of them will come through! I can't wait until he goes back to work, I love my husband but he was not made for staying home! He constantly asks what we are doing for the day and then complains if we have no plans! Don't get me wrong he is a huge help around the house, but he gets board very easily and can't stay idle for very long.

I promise as soon as I find the camera cord I will post some pictures! Until then I hope everyone has a safe and happy summer!

A year goes by.....

It is coming up on one year since we have moved from Boston. So I began to reflect on what has transpired for the Cherrey Family this year.

~ 2 moves, equaling around 5,000 miles on the road.

~ 2 new schools for Dominick

~ Another separation from my husband, this one lasting 3 months

~ Downsizing in living quarters (AGAIN)

~ New places, new faces, new friendships

~ Survival on the bare necessities (yes our lives are still in storage)!

~ The end of Nursing school

~ The end of a Navy career

~ The beginning of "civilian" life

~ The beginning of "retirement"

I know there is a whole lot more! This is just a little of the basics. But the past year just seems a little hazy to me. It has been a whole whirlwind of activity, our lives seem to have been in a constant commotion but at the same time it seems like we were at a stand still. Holding our breath and waiting to see what would happen.

Now it's happening and it feels like everything has been put on fast-forward! We are being forced to make and do everything that we have talked about doing for years! My kids dream of actually having real beds and "real" toys to play with (you know, the ones that they really like and had to put away). They dream of having a home that is theirs, not someone else's that we will have to leave.

I dream of having my own dishes, having my food processor, baking dishes, cookbooks. I dream of a real couch and enough chairs in the house that we can actually have company over. I dream of pictures on the walls and actually feeling like I am coming "home" when we walk through the door.

We are still in waiting mode, but it's waiting in fast-forward. Life is coming at us full speed ahead and we are scrambling to meet it head on. I'm not sure how that collision will affect our family but we look forward to the challenge.

New school....

So it has been a little bit of an adjustment for Dominick at his new school. He is an amazing kid and he always try's to make the best of any situation. The kids always AMAZE me at how well they adjust and how quickly they make friends.

Domino's new class

Domino and Madison

P-Goat eating (when is she not?)

SMILE!

We miss our friends and family everywhere, but we are enjoying San Diego and all that this move has brought us.

Extended Spring Break part II

After my parents visit we had another visit. Our friends the Downs family came to spend the last part of their Spring break. Boy, were my kids spoiled and lucky, they had back to back visitors and then their Spring Break came along too!

So here are the kids anxiously awaiting Legoland to open!

Dominick and Mikey in the back, Sarah, Payton and Elizabeth in the front.

All of the kids IN Legoland, they were SOOOOO excited!

The Downs Family picture, there is a stowaway off to the side, she tried to go home with them too!

The kids took the parents for a drive!

And here is my namesake! Sarah squared!

Aunt Cassy and her Goddaughter Payton. I think I rode with Sarah or Elli more than my own kids, and it was all by choice!

Elli was having a blast, but she got a bit chilled! Yes, we dared to do the water rides!

Mom and Daughter, trust me it was super hard to get this picture!

The "MEN"

A picture of the picture, the favorite rollercoaster.

BFF'S FOREVER!

It was a long day, but well worth it!

We LOVE this family and are so glad we are within a days drive of eachother! Mike was my fill-in husband when Jay was in Iraq. If it weren't for this family I don't know where I would be! It is so wonderful to have them in our lives and that the kids are so close also!

Dominick's new Toy

Need I say more?

When Nana and Papa come to visit........

We get to play!

The kids took advantage of having Papa around! With lots of shoulder rides, games, grins and giggles!

Papa always has as much fun as the kids!

There was a lot of this too!

(I thought the bathroom signs where cute! )

Lots of waiting in lines, but it's always fun with Nana and Papa

Meeting Princesses...

And more rides!

We had a blast with Nana and Papa! Of course, it wasn't ALL legos and princesses, we did some other stuff too. We made a trip to the San Diego Temple, did some yard work, visited the beach, and did some small house maintenance. It was a very product and fun trip, we love when we have visitors!

It's Official!

We have a college Graduate!

This has been a LONG process and we are glad he is finished!

This is his graduation shirt and picture! LOVE IT!

We are so proud of Jay. He has worked for so long on this goal. Now we are a step closer to the end goal.

The Toothless Wonder!

When one comes out, they all come a following!

He had 3 teeth fall out within a week of each other! The bottom 2 were hours apart!

So now we get to enjoy this big, toothless grin everyday! I can't believe how fast he has grown!

Randomness.....

We all know P-Goat has some weird sleeping habits.

Here are a few of the most recent!

Yes that is her asleep half under the love sac!

She rolled around but I think this was where she fell asleep first.

Then she scooted or rolled over to the love sac, she snuggled under because she was cold!

Playing at a Vacation

So most of the time we don't take "real" vacations. We visit family, friends, do home improvement projects, and don't do anything out of the ordinary.

This past weekend we got a mini vacation and we all had a blast! My sis-in-law took one of her sons out of town and left my brother Thomas and his youngest Ben. So they hung out with us the whole weekend, it really was a great family weekend.

My Dad and Thomas decided we should go target shooting. We have this little rifle called the "chipmonk" which is made for little kids.

Here Thomas and Ben are shooting with the Chipmonk. Ben LOVED target shooting!

Thomas was a great Dad and let him have as many turns as he wanted and helped tech him what to do!

Poor Thomas though, Ben would NOT leave his side!

Here is the fan club! The area where all of the kids had to sit when it wasn't their turn.

We all got a lot of encouragement and cheers from this section!

Thomas finally manages to get some shots in! I think we had to trick Ben to get him far enough away!

Jay was great with our kids! He taught them the rules of gun safety and made them memorize them. Then he helped them with their shooting! Dominick had a blast, Payton was good after one turn!

The day after target shooting we went to "The Lost Dutchman Days" in Apache Junction AZ. The kids got to ride carnival rides and we got to eat some yummy "indian" tacos!

We had a blast all weekend. The men and kids went fishing too. We got to stay up late and play games with Grandma , Thomas and Ben even got to have a sleepover with all of us!

It was an amazing weekend and we were so happy to be out of the house!

Now we are back and I still have holes in the walls and work being done! But the end seems to be near!

Home invasion!

So I don't have any pictures, but I should.

I don't have much good to say, but maybe I will.

We have been home invaded!

For 2 WEEKS! Our electrical system went all haywire and at the same time we discovered we had a soggy front yard with a river, and a swampy back yard that would soon be a lake. On top of that we had no HOT WATER!

So we made some phone calls to the landlord. He made some calls to his handy man. I waited around all day on friday, the handy man NEVER showed! Saturday (the 13th) was Dominicks birthday party, we waited all morning for the handy man and still a no show. So we headed to Dominicks party.

The landlord calls, says he will have someone there on Sunday for sure, we tell him...... um sorry we wont be there! He gets a little upset and says " Well we need to get this taken care of right away!" Which I replied " Well right away would have been thursday night, Friday, or saturday morning, all of which I waited around when I had other things I could be doing!"

Monday rolls around, I wait ALL DAY AGAIN! The handy man doesn't get there until after 9:00 PM! He was there until mid-night and managed to re-route power to our t.v. and microwave. Still no oven, no hot-water heater, no other outlets! Tuesday comes and goes, Wednesday the city comes out to fix our problem. They tell us they have to cut our cable and internet, but hey we have electricity through-out the whole house!

Thursday, the cable company comes to fix what they should have done right in the first place. But wait, they can't do what they need to. They tell me they will have a crew out in a week or two! I tell him heck no! I am not going without cable or internet for a week or two, so now I have some wires running up my driveway, over a fence and up to the side of the house. Temporary cable until they can come fix the "real" issue.

Friday the handy man comes back to find where the water leak is and why we still don't have hot water! He digs, and digs, and searches. Finally after 8 hours of hard work he asks me if there have been any "hot" spots in the house. I tell him yes, since we moved in. He swears (a bunch), excuses himself, and then proceeds to tell me that he has found the problem. A hot water leak in the slab under the house and with all the evident water it's no little leak! He then tells me he has called the landlord but cant get to anything until he approves!

I start re-searching rental laws, I start freakin out, and I have a full blown "b*tch" attack! I have already been without hat water for a few weeks, now I am without any water and the landlord is taking his sweet time doing anything!

Well to make a long story short, or shorter at least. We are now on Tuesday, week three! We have electricity, we have hot water (sort of), we also have a handyman in our house everyday all day, we have lots of holes in the walls, and we have lots of dust and debris around the house!

What the landlord "promised" would be a 2 day job and very unobtrusive. Has now been a 4 day job of hell! To top all of that off I don't see the end of the tunnel and Payton has been having asthma attacks. All of the dust and debris has been wreaking havoc on her breathing, but I can't leave. I have to be here at all time with the handy man!

The only good thing.......... WE DONT HAVE TO PAY THE BILL!

The Cherrey's take on Disney!

IN ONE DAY!!!!!!

YES, we may be a little crazy! But on Sunday we headed to Disney with Jay's cousin and her family. Lauren's birthday is on valentines and she was kind enough to invite us to share the day with her!

Payton and Lauren with the Mad Hatter, beginning of the day!

This is Paytons first time to Disney, at an age that she will remember! She was so excited by everything! Our fist ride was the new (new to us) Nemo submarine ride.

Dominick, Payton, and Lauren in the Submarine

The kids were really entranced by this ride! What an experience!

Next we were onto Space Mountain! This was Paytons first "big" roller coaster. I was nervous, I really thought she would be scared. Then she demands to ride with Lauren not me, oh no what will happen? They rode, they screamed, they laughed, and she held her hands up the whole time, SHE LOVED IT! Nope, my little girl was not scared she begged to go again and again!

Lauren and Payton getting ready for Space Mountain

So we took out Future-land first thing! The kids were having a blast, so far the lines were short and we made great time!

Now we were on to the Jungle, a river safari, a treehouse climb, and a fast pass for Indiana Jones!

The kids looking on intently for all the sights the guide pointed out!

The Beautiful Birthday Girl!

Next we took on New Orleans, which means a pirate boat adventure, a haunted house, and the new princess Tiana! We didn't get to meet her up-close, but we watched her from afar and Payton was mesmerized!

The arm reach picture on Pirates! If you think we look tired now, just wait!

Dominick refused to ride with anyone but us at the haunted house! He held on tight the whole ride.

Once again Payton and Lauren brave it on their own!

Jennifer and Jon

Now for some kid sized fun! Even the "big" kids enjoyed this part of the day!

Yummy, look at all that honey!

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Watch out people! We have some "Wild" drivers in this family!

Jon was such a great trooper. With seven people there can be an odd man out, but he enjoyed himself! And when Jen couldn't ride he took over and joined all the kids. He even climbed the tree house and castle with the kiddos, while the other adults rested our feet!

Yup, we made it the whole day! Payton was fascinated by the castle at night. We watched the fireworks and she exclaimed " Look it's Tinker Bell, look Dad she's really real!" That one comment made me forget that it was 10:00 at night and I was bone tired! My heart melted and I was really glad we made the trip!

Yes, it was a long day! Starting at 6 in the morning and heading home at 11:30 at night! The kids were troopers and made it through the day with minimal fighting and complaining!

Will we make it back to Disney, you betcha! Even Jay (who really really hates crowds and Disney) enjoyed himself. I think the difference is that the children really get it at this age. Everything is so fascinating and real to them! But I think next time, we will stay over night!