WE'RE MOVING!

I can say that with excitment, now. About a week ago when it became a reality, it was sad to think of leaving. But we decided not to dwell on that and now we are looking forward to our new adventure. It will be hard to beat the set-up we have here, especially my family, except for the ocean and palm trees and the warm winters we are about to gain! Those almost compensate for not being near family. Maybe it just means they will come visit me more often! :) Here's where we are headed come mid July...

Galveston, TX.

Many don't know that Galveston is an island. That's where our cruise ported 3.5 years ago when we left on our honeymoon, but I didn't realize it was an island until Scott interviewed there last November.

Scott made it into KUMed, in case you were wondering, but as an alternate. So we decided to move forward and now we feel a tremendous load of pressure off our shoulders. We were putting too much weight on wanting to be by family for the next 4 years and not thinking enough about the big picture. There is greater opportunity cost if we stayed here, be it 8 years of military or some $300,000 debt; KUMed practically robs out-of-staters. So it was a blessing that we didn't have to decide on our own to go to Galveston. Galveston was, after all, our top choice out of the four schools he interviewed with in TX, and luckily, he got matched with it. We just want to get into a big enough place, hopefully house, to grow our family in over the next four years. If anyone out there has any recommendations about a good area to live near Galveston, please let us know! I'm on the computer a lot these days looking at potential homes....

SPRING BREAK With the Cousins

Is it really a break when you are exhausted at the end of it? Not only did Scott and I still go to work all last week, but we had family in town. And did I mention that 4 out of the 5 families from my family already live in the same neighborhood? The whole fam was together for the first time in about a year and a half. Needless to say, everyone was involved in just about everything all week long and there were activities and events non-stop all week. Always a big family dinner every night, millions of grand kids running around everywhere, and a week's worth of 70 degree days to celebrate it. I will just plop down some pictures from the "break" and you can see the fun unfold before your eyes...

(You can click on the pics to make them larger..)

2010 Babies

planting seeds in Grammy's garden

Grammy's yard

A race!

All the sisters and our kids

All the "Stone" grandkids

2010 babies and mommies

Cousin Cole and Syd

G-ma and G-pa Stone with all their current grandkids

Everyone! and Jeff's thigh...

water feature in Grammy's front yard

I decided to just take off her clothes

Me and Mel

This was after the milkshakes and smoothies in pic. above. "Midnight" doughnut run--it's tradition!!

Are we FAT or what?!?!

Petting Zoo at Family Tree Nursery

We used it as a leash...

...and she didn't like it. :)

awe so cute...cousin Sadey and Syd

 I LOVE YOU!! She's got it mastered!!!

THE date

DISCLAIMER: The following events were ALL accomplished for UNDER $50.

It begins....
Tuesday February 28, 2012
I walk out after work to find the first "clue."

CLUE #1. On the driver's window was a note inviting me on a date for that Friday. Inside each ballon was a small strip of paper with one or two words on it. I put them together into a sentence that said something like: "DIRECTIONS: DROP SYDNEY OFF AT MICHELE'S AT 3:25 SHARP. YOU WILL RECEIVE FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS FROM THERE."

CLUE #2. Then, I was left in darkness for the next 3 days!! Finally, Friday morning, THE Friday morning, when I got home from the gym I found this note taped to our computer.

CLUE #3. When I asked Scott later in the day what I should be wearing, he sent me two more "clues," via email.

I ended up with kind of a combo of the two...black skinny jeans and grey boots and one of those above-the-knee, black-knit sweater dress tops with a coordinating necklace and earrings. But who really cares, because 3:25 came all too fast and I was not at Michelle's!! =Mistake #1. CLUE #4. Ten minutes sharp (after 3:25 haha)- I show up at Michelle's to drop Syd off for the evening. Michelle provided me with a first piece of paper which she was supposed to fold, tape, and write on it "Open when you arrive at your first appointment BEFORE ENTERING!"  Instead, I read it on her computer screen before leaving her house. She hadn't printed it yet and I was clearly in a hurry, so we improvised.  =Mistake #2 (which ended up in my favor..) It was supposed to be a surprise where the address in CLUE 2 was sending me, but I was grateful I'd read the secret destination on Michelle's computer screen because if not, I would not have known that my GPS was not supposed to send me to Home Depot.  That was just a nice scenic detour. Thanks GPS. ;) This is what I was supposed to open up and read upon arriving at the given address from Clue 2 (but instead read on Michelle's computer: I wondered how our date could start a whole hour and a half before he got off of work! He was just prepping me with a one-hour, full-body massage at Massage Envy. The certificate was inside clue #2 that I opened when I got there. The $10 I was instructed to bring was for a tip... =Mistake #3-the guidelines on a plaque in the room for a one-hour massage were $12-18 for a tip. Good thing I brought more than $10! CLUE #5. I opened this piece of paper to find another address and decided to give my GPS another shot...BUT as I was en-route, there was a major slow down from a wreck in addition to me being late getting to Michelle's in the first place and so I ended up missing out on this fun mystery: Scott had to "call and cancel the driver" and just met me there instead. We had another appointment and time was spending! The worst part about dates is when you can't be WITH each other. So Scott was going to be the driver I was supposed to give the password "DANCE" to and take me to the next appointment together. Can you guess what it was? We enjoyed a 1/2 hour private, ball-room dance lesson; a little refresher course from that ballroom dance 101 class we'd both taken in college. It was so fun. I LOVE DANCING WITH HIM! I'm always begging him to dance with me and somehow it never happens so this was special :). Afterwards we had a 7 o'clock reservation at Johnny Cascone's Italian Restaurant, (Italian is my favorite!!) and then we went to Michelle's to get Syd. When I asked Scott why he'd planned such a special, fun, creative date for me, I thought maybe it was pay-back for all of our anniversaries being spent traveling home for Christmas break.  He just said it was because he loves me, and there was no other special reason. DEALS EXPLAINED: *MASSAGE ENVY: "Welcome to Olathe" pack of coupons mailer - free half hour massage +$26 to make it an hour. *PRIVATE 1/2 HR DANCE LESSON: Scott found it FREE online...we had to deal with a sales pitch to join the dance club and pay for future lessons...but we wouldn't have minded even if he did talk us into it! *DINNER: Groupon- $15 gave us $30 to spend at Johnny Cascone's. GRAND TOTAL: $41 We rarely go on dates that require spending over $5. But every once in a while it's fun to "splurge" ;) Shout out to you Scotty: YOU ARE THE BEST!! TE AMO MUCHO!!!

Blog Title: EXPLAINED

I have a secret for you: If you think think that "the two most important relationships I will ever have [and our daily story]" refers to my husband Scott and my daughter Sydney, you would be half wrong. I've been pretty generic with my blog posts; very day-to-day as the sub-head to my blog title describes. What I haven't been as obvious about is describing the meaning of the actual blog title: In This Triangle. I've told plenty of stories about Scott and I, but I haven't obviously told any stories about the third person in this triangle.

There are three people in our family right now, so how will my blog title make sense after we have more kids? She is our first, but I don't plan on favoring Sydney over our other kids, and you can't add any more points to a triangle.

So here it is. This is what my blog stands for (as well as my triangle diamond wedding ring), but more importantly, this is what my life represents:

As Scott and I each draw closer to our Heavenly Father, we draw closer to each other, bringing our kids up with us and becoming one with each other and one with God. We're workin' on it ;)

That is who is in this triangle. And the two most important relationships I will ever have are with my Father in Heaven and with my wonderful husband, Scott.
Only through my relationship with God can I truly learn of His love and be given by Him the capacity to love others, like my husband, my kids and EVERYONE.
There's a lot of cool analogies you can make with a relationship triangle like this. See for yourself.

As I go back through my journals and writings, I can see God's hand in my life everywhere, and that is why He is such a big part of our daily story. I always try and write it down when I recognize His hand, which is what brings me to the experience I had yesterday.

The Best Things in Life, Aren't Things  
This is one of many experiences that happen periodically throughout my life; daily even, if I'm good enough to recognize them. When they hit me as a learning experience, I write them down.
Two days ago, I sent this email out to my family:

        1 Peter 2:20----Read it..It's just one verse. it gives me a whole new meaning to the meaning of          patience, which is what I'm studying and trying to be more like! 

It's even better to BE PATIENT WITH THE "UNEXPECTED" than to be patient with something you'd expect to need patience for...ie: you'd expect to need patience as you work through the sufferings or consequences of your own faults, but being patient with sufferings you may receive because you are righteous and "doing well" <<<---you don't expect to have to need patience because you are doing well or good in the world....you wouldn't expect to have to suffer because you are doing good...but to have patience in THOSE times is "acceptable with God."

ok, I know half of you won't look it up so here it is:

1Peter 2:20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it ^apatiently? but if, when ye do well, and ^bsuffer for it,ye take it ^cpatiently, this is ^dacceptable with God.

(end email)

One of my sisters wrote back and said: "Still a bit confusing to me. But sounds good."
The next day, that same sister came over so that I could help her with a project that she was working on. While she was there, her child lifted up the mini trampoline to move it in front of our TV and dropped it on the TV stand breaking off a large chunk of wood all the way to the metal rod holding it up. (Thank heavens it wasn't the TV itself!) :)
Almost immediately I felt worse for my sister (and her terrified son) than I did for myself or my stand because I could tell they both felt sincerely bad and worried about fixing it and I felt worse about them feeling bad than about the material "loss."
I just remember not saying anything, just looking at the damage, and then reassuring my crying nephew that "It's OK, accidents happen," as I rubbed his back.
That morning for scripture study, the very thing Scott had been reading about was material possessions and how they don't matter:

(Excerpt from Scott's email to Mel-Yep, that's the sister ;)):

...My scripture study today was interesting and I know that we learn what we need to each day for our situations. I'll just copy and paste one line from it...

 "...These things can be physical, temporal, tangible, or intangible. It is just so important to learn and REALLY believe that things don't matter. "

It is seriously true, things don't matter. I REALLY believe it. Thanks for letting Cole break that stand so I could really learn what I read and studied today and share it with Stephanie. That is what family is for, to be together and know what really matters, and it sure is a stupid TV stand. I hope Cole doesn't feel too bad. I am sure he learned a good lesson to be more careful with things and he won't forget it, I know I didn't when I did dumb things as a little boy, but I sure am grateful for parents that helped me understand that some things are more important than others. It wouldn't be fair for me to not be the same and I hope I can always be that way...

(end excerpt)

This is where the learning came in for me: Remember the scripture study I sent out to my family the day before about patience, and my sister said she was confused about why patience is so powerful in times that you wouldn't expect to have it? Well Melissa is the very one who helped me recognize that I was so being tested on what I had learned by this text she sent me saying "..I still feel horrible. ESP since u were helping me and then ur stuff got ruined." What a great opportunity to be merciful and patient in a time when I was trying to "do well" or help, and "something bad happened to me."

Heavenly Father prepared both Scott and I for this little experience because we choose to draw closer to Him through our daily scripture study, and because of this little experience, we are that much closer to each other and I'm that much closer to my sister and my nephew. Oh, and I can't forget, I'm that much closer to my Heavenly Father too :) I love being taught by Him!!

(I know I promised a post about the surprise date, but that might have to wait again! I'll see if I can get it up before I leave work, if I don't get too many calls between now and then. ;) Thanks for reading!

Come March 16th...

When we first got to KS and started living in my parents basement, I was unsure that if we got accepted into KUMed that I could live there for 4 years. It was a slight struggle to not have our own place like we did, but now that it's been a couple months, my concern has shrunken from having to share a whole house to having to share the fridge. Needless to say, I'm becoming a lot more comfortable with making this our home for the next four years. In fact, I'm not just comfortable with it, I hope it works out that way. It's a perfect set up for this time in our lives. Yes, we live in the same house as my parents now, but we have the whole basement to ourselves. It's also a plus that when we put syd to bed at night, her grandparents are already there if Scott and I want to go out for a chick-fil-A milkshake, enjoy a walk together, or go over to Mel's theater room to watch a movie. Two of my sisters live within about 16 houses from ours, so it has been a ton of fun being so close; picking each other up for spin class at the gym every week, having the cousins over to play, Sunday dinners, cookie parties and movie nights. I can't wait for the neighborhood pool to open this summer!

Even though half of our belongings are still stowed away in boxes in a corner of the basement (as we await to find out whether we'll be moving again or staying), I'm definitely feeling more and more at home. As far as the refrigerator is concerned- the plan is to make the mini wet bar in the basement into a full-functioning kitchen should we end up staying, with our very own, full-sized fridge. I'm not sure how fast that will all come to place but I do know that by March 16th we will know our fate, or at least what options fate will have to offer us. Ultimately it is up to us to weigh the pros and cons of KS Vs. TX, but if we can make it work out logically, financially and spiritually, then I'd like to stay. I'll keep you updated.

She Calls It: "Medieval Torture"
As for other events around the household: Scott and I have the whole house to ourselves this week. This includes the large master bath tub in my parents room, which we have most definitely taken advantage of. Who needs a hot tub when you have one of these? Besides the peace and quiet, that might be the biggest perk of having the house to ourselves. My mom has severe scoliosis that the chiropractors here in KS just can't seem to help much with, so they sent her to Florida to a big-time Dr. where she is getting worked on for 7.5 hours a day, every day this week. See how ridiculous these machines look? Hopefully she comes back in one piece after that treatment! But really, we are praying and fasting for her because we don't want her to be in pain anymore. I hope this helps her, as fun as it looks!!









A Second Thud in the Night
The first night we had the house to ourselves (Saturday night), we found ourselves being extra sensitive to every sound we heard. And for a new house, I swear it makes more noises than the house I grew up in. Scott and I are used to locking up a small apartment with one door and a few windows, not a place like this. So when we heard a crashing noise coming from the upstairs, 5 minutes after I had left the upstairs, for us, the creepy night began. We didn't find anything unusual when we took Syd out of the bath and went upstairs to scope the place out. Then, in the pantry we found it: a big, white, harry, just kidding. It was just a basket full of papers and recipe books that had fallen and hit every shelf on its way down then spilled out all over the bottom of the pantry floor. I was just glad we had found something to explain that crashing sound. I could handle that, I had, after all, placed a half-eaten pkg. of Oreos on a shelf on the complete opposite side just 5 min. before...

The air vents: they make the sound of an organ, softly whistling through the house. This has been a daily thing since Christmas (according to my mom), so we could deal with that too. The bumping sounds we heard ever so faintly above us in the morning? uh, not sure about that, but we could deal with that after having survived THE THUD. There were only 2, and the 2nd thud unveiled our worst nightmare of all. We could clearly tell that the first thud came from Sydney's room. This was about 3:15 in the morning. It didn't wake us. We were already awake. The mad banshee in the room across the hall was for some reason not content. Was it the creepiness of the night? about 5 seconds after we heard her sippy cup hit the floor, we heard the second thud. It was also accompanied by cries and when Scott ran from the bed into her room, the little gremlin monster was waddling toward him. SHE HAD ESCAPED out of her crib!!!

In the morning, we tested her abilities. We set her back in and told her to come to us. She tried climbing, pushing herself up with her arms but the tights we had just put on her for church were too slippery against the rails so we will never know her technique in escaping that night. But I'll assure you, she won't be escaping again.

You can see the baseboards on the ground
behind Syd is level with her mattress, which
Scott lowered literally to the carpet. When she
can escape herself out of this new set up then she'll
prove herself worthy of a toddler bed. ;)

PS: You are totally gonna have to wait until Thursday for me to tell you all about our special date Friday. It was awesome. It was just one surprise after another!!

Awwwe.....

So Cute
I left work on Tuesday to find this fun-ness as I opened the back door to chuck my backpack on the seat. The note on the window said: "Will you go on a date with me this Friday?" and then instructed me to release the balloon with my answer on it into the air. Of course, as I opened the door the wind blew out another balloon which popped underneath the truck parked in front of me. Even without that one I was able to piece together the message that "awaits hidden within..." each balloon. :) The pieces gave me directions to drop Sydney off at Michelle's house at 3:25 sharp this Friday (which is tomorrow!!! Yay!), and that I'd receive further instructions from there. How fun is that?!?! I can't wait!!


Right Now
My sister Mel just texted this picture to me so I thought I'd share it. That is Syd (in green) on the tramp with her cousins Kaely and Cole that live down the street. The most exciting part about this picture is that its March 1st and it's 70 degrees out. That's a little unheard of for Kansas winters. That would have sounded cooler to say if it were still February like it was yesterday, but March is known as a cold month too, right??

The Mile Run
On Tuesday when I got home from work, Scott, Syd and I went to the high school track near where we live so that Scott could time his 1 mile run. Sydney had such a fun time running around the field and I had such a fun time NOT running at all. :) Scott decided that he's not a distance runner, just a sprinter. Though his time might beg to differ.. 5:46:5. He said he'd like to cut that down a little. Syd was watching him run here..then she started to do the same herself. She's just a hair slower than him. It was a fun little outing before dinner.

Wait for it...this is just set-up

Syd's Tricks I need to dedicate an entire post to all the tricks Sydney can do. She can do a lot!! This one is my new favorite..but no one in public will ever be able to witness it bc she's only allowed passys in the crib. Lucky you, you get to see!! ;)

That's right! THREE passys at once!! Silly girl!