Craziness

This blog has the potential to be very long, but I will keep it as concise as I can.

To start off, exactly one week after I posted my last blog, my father died. It was completely unexpected. Though it has been over six weeks since it happened, and I have been able to make it through most days without crying over it, the sadness still feels so new. I don't know how long it will take me to get over the shock, but I feel like I will never be used to the fact that he is gone.

Brad, Jocelyn and I flew back to California for his memorial. Though the circumstances were pretty much the saddest ones that I could imagine, it was nice to get to see all of my siblings, their significant others, and their children. My sister, Amanda, prepared an amazing slide show of photographs from my Dad's life. It can be viewed at the website for her new slide show making business www.slideshowdvds.com . Below is a short slide show of pictures form our trip.

When we got back to Japan, things weren't going so peachy for me. I had started planning Jocelyn's birthday party, but decided to postpone it. I had to take three final exams for school. I couldn't really eat much and was feeling really sickly thanks to baby number two. I really needed to start getting the house organized for our move, but every time I tried to figure out where to start, I just got so overwhelmed that I cried and did nothing (that doesn't work). I decided to take this term off of school just because my anxiety levels were too high and I wasn't handling life as well as normal. We will be leaving Japan for good on the 16th of May. We will then spend over three weeks in Nebraska and head to Hawaii on the 9th of June. I think that I will be fine as soon as we get settled in Hawaii. Going to Bass Lake in July is going to be a nice break and then hopefully life will just get back to normal after that...well, normal for me anyway!

Baby number two, Samuel or Caelyn/Carolyn/Marilyn/Jaquelyn, is due on October 17th. I already have our family Halloween costumes planned out. Boy or girl, the new baby will be Yoda. Jocelyn will be Leia, and Brad and I will Anakin and Amidala.
















Of course, I will not be spending $160+ on these actual costumes. I will make them myself. Look forward to how adorable our photos will be!

Jocelyn had fun on her first Easter. We didn't decorate/hide eggs or anything. But, we did give her an Easter basket with a white chocolate bunny and she loved playing with the pink plastic grass that was in it. She looked so cute in her dress.

Brad has been working A LOT. Two weeks ago he had duty Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday all in the same week (duty is when he has to stay aboard the ship on watch over night from 5 pm to 7 am). He is so happy that he doesn't have to be deployed with the USS George Washington again this summer. He is really looking forward to being on shore duty (no deployments) for the next four years. We are considering coming back to Japan next summer so that we can climb Mt. Fuji. Climbing season is from June through August and he has been underway all summer for the last three years.

I flew to Hawaii last week because I found a minivan online that I really wanted. I searched Cars.com and found 57 dealerships on the island of Oahu. Out of 57 dealerships, I could only find 5 used minivans under $10,000! There was only one that I actually liked so I bought a plane ticket to go buy it before someone else did. After I bought the ticket, Brad did a Carfax vehicle history report online and discovered that the van had been sitting on the lot since October. Oh well. I got to see Melynda for a couple days. I got a really good deal on the van and an added 4 year 48,000 bumper to bumper warranty.


On Jocelyn's actual birthday (March 29th) we gave her some gifts and a cupcake. These are the pictures from that day.

On the day of Jocelyn's birthday party (April 26th) she was not feeling well. She had a fever and didn't want to eat anything. She pushed all of her gifts away and was just a big grump. She slept for most of the party. These are the photos from that day.

The day after her birthday party, we gave her another piece of birthday cake to let her try again. She ate the entire thing, with a fork, and didn't get a stitch of frosting on herself (not even her bib. However, she did get some frosting on the tray of her high chair that she wasn't going to let go untasted....
















Well, that just about covers it for now. It might be a while before I get the chance to update again because the movers are coming a week from today to take the computer...and who knows when I will see it again.

It's been three months!!!

I really do not have a good explanation as to why I have not posted any updates over the past 90 days. It does seem as though I have been spending most of my time in front of the computer. I think that, perhaps, by the time I am done with my homework, I am just sick of sitting at the computer and do not feel like typing up a blog after typing up so many other things. Ughhh. This term has been one of the hardest so far with the traveling I did last month. Also, one of my instructors thinks that her students do not have lives, jobs, kids, or other classes to attend to. I like to read, but this woman is making me despise it, assigning up to 300 pages per week. Gag. There is a reason I am taking classes online...because I have other stuff to do!!!

Anyway, our first Christmas with Jocelyn was great. We had some friends over for Christmas Eve dinner. I got a crock pot, a jacket, a fancy passport holder and new straightening iron. Brad got a video camera, a Wii and a new golf bag. We also went to Tokyo Disney the week before Christmas to experience all of the decorations. It was so pretty and we had a fun time even though we didn't get to go on any grown-up rides.




























We celebrated our third wedding anniversary on New Year's Eve. We went up to the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo with our friends Jaymes and Hillary for a party that was being hosted up there. It was themed: New Year in Venice....I think. It was decorated like the canals during Carnivale and we wore silly feathered masks and had a blast.















January was pretty boring. Brad was studying for his Chief test and I was studying for my finals for term 2 and registering for classes for term 3 (which was quite difficult because the three classes that I wanted to take were not being offered online this term. Ughhh).

We discussed taking a vacation of sorts at the end of January. We considered flying up to the Sapporo Snow festival, taking a trip to Beijing and checking out the great wall, or even hopping down to Singapore. In the end, we decided to go back to Nebraska for Brad's best friend's 30th birthday party. Brad took leave and we waited for a flight to Travis, but they kept getting delayed. Mount Osama erupted covering the Yokota flight line with ash, causing it to shutdown for almost two days. That didn't help our chances of getting out of here. After a week of no flights, Brad gave up, but I still wanted to get on a plane. So, Jocelyn and I hopped back to California, hung out with Jodi, Dean and the twins for a few days then drove up to Oregon to see my mom. We drove back down to California and spent a night with Kylie, and a night with my Dad. We got to see cousin Jane and cousin Joseph, as well as future cousins Madison and Griffin. Jocelyn had a blast visiting Uncle Burt and playing with his two cats. After getting to see everyone, and putting 1000 miles on the rental car, we started to miss Daddy. We stopped by Stockton to pick up my friend Hillary and her daughter Madisyn, then we headed to Travis AFB to wait for a flight home to Japan.















The four of us stayed in the terminal at Travis for two nights then we boarded a flight to Hawaii, hoping that we'd have better chances of getting to Japan from there. We didn't. There were no flights. But, we got to spend six days with Gabe and Melynda! Hillary got to see Hawaii for the first time and we had a great time, despite the stress of trying to get home. I cannot wait to move there in two months!!!

























Hillary and I both made it back to Japan this past weekend, safe and sound with our little girls. Jocelyn and I were both excited to see Daddy. We are happy to be home. Now I just have to do lots of homework. Boo.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I found out on Valentine's Day that Brad and I will be having another baby in October. We are so excited!

I will leave you with a slide show of adorable Jocelyn photos and a video of Jocelyn bouncing in her bouncy seat...so cute!

Bah Humbug!

Last year, I hand crafted a 5' x 4' sleigh, 9 reindeer and each individual letter to spell out "Happy Christmas o All And To All A Good Night." I painted each of these and adorned them with jingle bells and ornaments. I even made felt harness for each reindeer and labeled them with the names of each reindeer. I spent hours putting these things up on my balcony, in addition to the days I spent making them in the first place. If you check out my blog from October 25th, you will see what I am talking about. I am so over the whole contest thing. I didn't win last year, and I was mad...but now I am okay with that and I just wanted to put decorations up because they make me happy.
Anyway, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year, I spent 3 1/2 hours putting these decorations up on my balcony. I sat out there in the cold with a roll of duct tape, making 6 little duct tape circles for each individual letter so they would stick to the wall. I've had people knock on my door to tell me how much they admire my balcony. I can hear the kids being dropped off at the preschool downstairs telling their parents how cool my decorations are.
Yesterday, The housing office called me and told me that I needed to take them down! They said it was against regulations to put decorations on the other side of the balcony. I had to climb over my balcony railing in order to put these decorations up and I guess they don't want people doing that because it is a safety issue. Whatever, I did it last year when I was over 6 months pregnant. It is not dangerous.
The guy from the housing office said that they needed to be taken down immediately. Of course I am not going to say, "Okay, no problem". Those decorations are not coming down without a fight! I told him that they were the same ones that I used last year. He told me that he had seen them last year and had meant to tell me not to do it again this year. What? Why would they let me keep them up last year after seeing them and then decided to be super mean this year? Why would they wait until after I put them up?
If it's a safety issue, it would present the same amount of risk for me to take them down now as it would if I took them down after Christmas. In fact, it would probably be more dangerous for me to take them down now because I am pissed off. It would be like driving with road rage.
After trying to present my argument over the phone, he told me that if I do not take them down, the housing office will present us with a letter to vacate.
Seriously? Over Christmas decorations? I am not hurting anyone! Why would they threaten something like that? What kind of inconsistency are they practicing when it was okay last year, and now they are going to kick us out of base housing for something that is not hurting or bothering anyone!
I am pretty sure the regulations were the same last year. Why have they decided all of a sudden to just be jerks. This guy must be one of those people that never got a Christmas present in his life, or has never had anyone told him that they love him. Now he is taking his holiday hatred out on me!
Brad just wants me to be nice and comply, because if we do get kicked out of housing, it will ruin his career. That makes me look like a bad guy for risking his career on silly Christmas decorations. Seriously though, should I just go down with out a fight? Should I just let these idiots be mean and inconsistent? NO! Something needs to be done about these a-holes. Call me a bad wife, but I am fighting for this because there is no reason I should have to take my decorations down until after Christmas. Period!

By the way, Brad has been home for 2 weeks now and things are great. It is amazing to have a husband around! I think I have spent more time away from Jocelyn in the last two weeks than I ever have. Anyway, I am loving life and Team Hayes is going strong....except for this deal with the housing office. I am going down there to talk to the boss in a couple hours. We'll see how that goes.

Tagged...

I've been tagged by my sister Amanda to do the following:


1) Choose the 4th picture folder on my computer

2) Choose the 4th picture

3) Explain the picture

4)Tag 4 other people



(I don't know how to make it fit in my blog. you have to click on it to see the full photo.)

This photo was taken at the "team peridot" birthday barbeque in August of 2004 or 2005 (I can't figure out which it was). Brad and his friends, Matt and Grace, all have birthdays in the middle of August. We got together at Matt's house, drank some jungle juice, grilled some food, and played beer pong and Texas hold-em into the night. It was a super hot and humid day in Nebraska (too hot and sweaty to wear make-up, as you can see), but it was still fun to hang out with friends. I don't recall why we are wearing those hats or why we were so happy and goofy looking in this photo. Anyway....

...now I’m tagging:

1) Erika H

2) Kylie P

3) Pam U

4) Moriah H

Seriously....Why?

I read the below article online today. I thought I'd post it because of it's relevancy to my last post. It's quite sad.


EVERGREEN, Ala. (Nov. 10) - Authorities say an argument over Saturday's Alabama-LSU football game led to the shooting deaths of a couple at a home in southern Alabama.
Prosecutors identified the victims as Dennis and Donna Smith of Brewton. The shooting happened about 7 p.m. Saturday at the home of Michael Williams in the rural community of Owassa.
Williams was arrested and charged with two counts of murder.
Investigators told the Press-Register newspaper in Mobile that Dennis Smith, an LSU fan, called Williams, an Alabama fan, after Alabama's 27-21 overtime win and an argument ensued.
The Smiths went to Williams home. Investigators said Smith had a pistol and Williams had a shotgun and fired. Donna Smith was a relative of Williams' girlfriend.

Foosball is for the devil!

I am sitting here typing this in the last 10 seconds of Nebraska getting their butts whooped by Oklahoma. A lot is going through my mind about the importance of football in America. Why do people get so excited about this? Why do I get so excited about this? I am not going to stop being a college football fan but, seriously, how can this be such a big deal to me or to anyone? Why do we idolize these people? The life of a college/professional football player revolves solely around moving a ball from one end of a field to the other. Why is this a talent we all admire so much? In the big scheme of things, who cares if someone can get a ball to the end of a field? Some of these people lack written and verbal communications skills, the ability to balance a checkbook, or even the knowledge to tell you what the electoral college is. Some of these athletes cannot even tell you the name of the speaker of the house or the difference between 'except' and 'accept'. How can we value athletic ability over common sense and general knowledge when we are choosing who we will admire in our lives? Why can't we get dressed up and paint our faces to cheer for people who have actually accomplished things that change our world for the better? I want to get a cheering section together for the next Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony. I want thousands of people to wear clothing adorned with the name and favorite colors of a person who has made a significant difference in the world. It is ridiculous to think, in this time of economic struggle for our nation, that sports programs are thriving while so many other serious endeavors are suffering. The athletes that get paid millions of dollars are not going to be affected by a bad economy, even though many of them don't know how to make good financial decisions. Yet, the average guy who is affected by this financial crisis is still helping The Manning Brothers to get their enormous paychecks. What?!!? It's an unexplainable and unjustifiable thing that riots are started, people are killed and personal property is destroyed based on some random person's ability to get a football across the goal line. Friendships can even be ruined due to sports rivalries. It doesn't make any sense! I am sad today because Nebraska lost. But, why should I waste time being sad over something that has NO affect whatsoever on my life? It's just crazy! I want to go to a book signing for Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio with some pom poms and let him know that I am a fan of his accomplishments and give him a big high five for his Nobel prize win (He's kind of a hottie, I'm sure that he would have tons of groupies if only people were aware of his existence). Why don't people do this? They are too busy obsessing themselves with athletes and movie stars. People let their political and religious beliefs be swayed by athletes and actors who have never even graduated high school. We should be more influenced by educated people when it comes to these matters. However, educated people will never have the status to influence the general public. Why do we recognize and support (with our hard earned money) talents that are relatively pointless? Why, why why, how, how, how...these questions will never have a justifiable answer. But, here I sit, in a crummy mood because Nebraska couldn't move the football as well as Oklahoma. Whatever. Go big red!

Just kidding

The previous blog was posted during the time immediately after the "mistake" that I thought I had made. I was very emotional about the fact that I had lost someone that I considered a good friend. It was kind of dramatic and self-pitying. I'm sorry for that. The truth is, and I have come to realize this with the help of many (real) close friends, that I did not make a mistake at all. I am not going to apologize when I don't mean it and I am not going feel bad about doing something that I would have wanted someone to do for me. I am not going to feel bad about taking a risk to help someone, when they can't even pause to consider what I have to say. I am going to tell myself that this person is unaware of what a great friend I am and that I am not the one losing in this situation. That may sound very egotistical to say, but it's the truth. What I actually learned from this whole thing is that HONESTY is always best, no matter what (and that people who don't feel that way should not claim to).