Dirty 30!

Thats right he is the BIG 30

This man is my Best Friend!

He is also an AMAZING DAD!

Happy Birthday Jay!

Torrey Pines State Reserve Field Trip

I have really enjoyed having both of my children in school full time. I get lots of free time, plus I am able to help out with school functions more freely. Today I got to chaperon Dominick's class to the Torrey Pines State Reserve.

It was beautiful. I am excited to have found a new place to take my family to on our days off. It's a great place to hike and just take in the beauty that surrounds us.

The class learning all about the animal and plant life in the reserve. They also learned about the different layers of rock and earth that we would be seeing. Very educational, I learned a lot of new things today!

The Torrey Pine Tree, only found in Southern California and on an island 160 miles NW. It is different because of its "5 fingered" needle bunches.

The kids examining the needle bunches.

The "red butte" or as we learned today, the Linda Vista layer of rocks. They get the reddish color from all of the iron deposits (rust...)

One of the cliffs along the shore line. Such a breathtaking view. You can see the trails and hikers too, one of these days I would like to try all of the trails.

After lunch we got to enjoy the state beach. The kids were thrilled! They acted like they had never been to a beach before ( I have to say it's pretty cool to do that on school time).

The kids searching for "souvenir's", they weren't allowed to take anything from the reserve but the beach was a free for all. And those kids took advantage!

And class B8! A pretty amazing group!

Happy New Year, We are Back!

HAppy New Year to all of you! It has been a long time since we have posted, so one of my New Year resolutions is to post once a week. I know I am already a week behind! I have also decided I am not going to "catch up" we are starting fresh.

An overview of what 2010 was like for the Cherrey Family:

January: Moved to San Diego, celebrated Jay's birthday, made new friends and settled into a new ward.

February: Dominick turned 7 and we went to Disneyland

March: Had lots of visitors, got passes to Sea World, Jay officially graduated from Nursing school.

April: Spring Break times three, Legoland, Sea World, Legoland, Sea World, and Jay starts his "terminal leave"

May: More Sea World, More of Jay being home, more visitors

June: Jay still home, Dominick has a Hip-Hop competition and they place 3rd.

July: Payton spends 2 weeks away from home with my parents, we take Domino to Six Flags, spend 4th of July on the beach, and Jay officially retires from the Navy.

August: Jay still home, no job, my birthday, Sea World

September: Payton starts Kindergarten, Dominick starts 2nd grade, Payton turns 5, still no job, Noelle has her baby, Jen has her baby.

October: Sea World, Halloween festivities, still no job

November: Finally a job! A new house to go with new job, Jay's mom visits for Thanksgiving, more Sea World.

December: Settling into new home, Christmas with Family and Friends in AZ, Payton looses first tooth, and an additional job for Jay!

As you can tell we spent a lot of time with Family and friends, and a lot of time at Sea World! The passes were an amazing deal and became a blessing during those months when we had no money and no job. We really couldn't afford to do much but Sea World was free for us! This kids really enjoy the shows, rides, and all the different sea animals.

Now here are a few pictures of the new house, we are really LOVING the space and feel very blessed to have found this home.

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.