Happy just the way we are: November 2011

Today, was a wonderful day at the firehouse. lately with the weather coming to a change and now changing I have been on a serious search to find things to do to keep Tre''s INCREDIBLY busy body BUSY!
On top of looking at different websites and pinterest for crafty and baking ideas I thought I would look out into the community for fun, free things to do that can be informative and fun at the same time and yesterday took us to the Unified Fire Authority Station #106.
Tre' and I picked up Takoma and Zoey in the morning and off we headed for a surprise visit the the fire station. Upon arrival we met Ryan our tour guide. He welcomed the kiddos and walked them back to the most important part of the whole tour straight away with no thought or trying to bore them with the other stuff, the fire trucks!!!!
Once we got to the fire truck Ryan got down to their level and talked to them about the gear that fire men wear when they are called for help. He pulled out the boots, overalls, coat and hat and explained to them that they should never be scared when they see firemen in their fireman "costumes". When they are in their "costumes" they are there to help people and to make people and kids feel safe. I loved this.
Now for the fire trucks.......Takoma was incredibly shy. I could not believe how shy she was. She usually puts herself out there especially when Tre' is around, not this time Takoma and Zoey switched roles. Here are the pictures of a day in the life of a firefighter..........
Thank you Unified Fire Authority for opening up to us and letting the kids play. I had 3 firefighters of my own yesterday that put out many fires and even saved a few cats :)

Our craft for the afternoon, "jumping cups".

A gift from Hawaii...........

Tre' will be starting swimming lesson on the 28th and in the meantime we are going to have to spend some extra time learning how to use the snorkel. All he wants to see are the fish, and the submarine when we get to Hawaii. Thank you Kyla and we will do uor best to worrk on getting him to use the snorkel. :)

The smile on this boys little face is the exact way that my heart feels. Our life has been changing a lot lately I feel. We have been through a lot together and are growing together more and more every day. My heart is incredibly full and let me tell you why......

Back in April Paul's mom was rediagnosed with breast cancer almost to the day of here 6th year in remission. This is something that I have never been thorugh or faced with in my life until now. I was not quite sure how to handle it all except to just be there for my boys, be supportive and do what I could to to help. Luckily Wendy had made the decision to keep us up to speed every step of the way. She would answer all my questions (stupid or not) to help me understand. Shortly after Wendy was diagnosed my grandma was diagnosed and I am very grateful for the time that Wendy took to listen to me cry over the phone and answer questions and help me understand the best was to be supportive to her. The best advice I was given was to not treat heer like a "cancer patient" to treat her the way I always do and to let her know that she is loved. This advice was very helpful to for me when being with my grandma and when being with Wendy.

As time went on and Wendy went through chemo, and then went on to have her double masectomy I was overwhelmed by the amount of help, love and support that we recieved from friends and family. When I was younger there were times I would through a fit because my parents planned some stupid family outing when I had plans to go with friends. At the time I would have thought it was the end of the world. At these times my dad would always say so subtly "you know, in the end your family is all you will ever have, so enjoy it." Blah, blah, blah, whatever to that. Now that I am married and have my own family there is so much truth behind those words. Family is truly all we have. Paul's family really stepped up to the plate when all started to crumble. Sara is amazing, pateint and has a very special place for Tre' in her heart. Thank you to Sara, my mom, and many others we were able to get through mine and Paul's full time work schedules and get Paul through to graduation. All of the help with Tre' with no questions asked. Simply amazing!

Well, towards the end of Wendy's recovery we were faced with a new obstacle of me needing to quit my job or find work that I could do through the evening. Tre' was exhausted from being bounced around from place to place daily and wanted nothing more than to be with his YaYa. He had enough of everything else and wanted things back to normal. After weighing a few options the only way for us to go was for me to quit. So, after long prayers and a lot of faith, I came into work on a Friday and was ready to give my 2 weeks notice.

The friday I came in to do so I got a phone call at 7:30 in the morning, at work, from a friend that was working on Labor and Delivery. (She knew that I had been in search for something that could better accomadate our schedule and lifes) she had informed me that one of her co-workers had just quit and wondered if I was interested in working to days a week on labor and Delivery. WHAT???? I was shocked, happy and overwhelmed all at the same time. I called Paul straight away and told him what was happening and he insisted that I give it a shot. I walked over to the unit and spoke with the manager straight away. (My friend did not know that I had been working with, and new her manager from a committee I was involed with on my other unit.) When my friend "introduced" me to the manager, the manager was thrilled and told me right there on the spot that I was hired! I kept saying over and over "are you serious, like really serious? I need to know right now for sure. This is my situation, I am going into my manager today to quit my current position becasue my son needs me home more than I am and we cannot joke around about this." She laughed, told me to take a deep breathe and that if I really wanted the job it was mine. Wow, talk about an answer to our prayers and living in some faith. From this moment on we still had family helping us out the last few weeks while Yaya was recovering with Tre' and I was able to keep us all insured, still help out with the bills, and most importantly BE A MOM!!!! This has been the greatest role to play for real. Not just for a few hours in the evening and on the weekend but 5 out of 7 days of the week!!!!! YAHOO! don't get me wrong everyday that we have together is not a bed of roses. We have both been trying to figure each toher out and testing our boundaries with one another and some days have been way more challenging than others but, I know we will figure it out, day by day we will keep working on it.

For me, I think it is a great thing that I worked fulltime for so long and was nort a stay at home mom right at first. I feel that I appreciate this opportunity more now than I would have right off the bat.

I am a firm believere that everything happens for a reason and this whole experience is keeping that alive for me. believe it or not, Paul sent me an e-mail pretty quickly letting me know that he still hates it when I use that phrase but that this moment in time has made him believe it. :)

So, needless to say I am VERY HAPPY working on Labor and Delivery. I LOVE the people that I am working with. They have welcomed me with open arms and made me feel that this is where I need to be at this point in my life. It is amazing to me that we are never forgotten and always watched over by our Father in Heaven. This whole experience is a AMAZING!

Now that I am home I am learning what mom's do with their kids during the day. This has been an interesting adventure. You mean that I cannot fill a full day with T.V. and ipad games and a few games here and there? I know that sounds really bad but I am being honest with my thought process. I thought that mom's who stayed and home lived blissful lives, that their children were angels and helpful. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha BOY WAS I WRONG!!! Being a stay at home is very hard and rewarding but it takes a lot of work and patience. I am learning. We are getting better. We go to the library, having play dates (which we love, love, love) I am learning to be crafty, learning that small activities that I think sound incredibly lame mean the world to Tre' and are probaly are the funnest actiited I have done with him. He is so simple as long as I take time to do what a 3 year old wants to do. Imagine that :)

Paul is working his butt off at work and accomplishing much. They are finishing moving to a new warehouse. An official place that bikewagon can call their own home. This is exciting and stressful all at the same time. Paul is very excited about his new office and those in which he will be sharing it with. I am excited to get to go to Bikewagon's new home next week and see it first hand. I'll take some pictures and show you all the new place.

Paul took a nice little vacation with the boys to Pittsburgh in October and loved it. Pittsburgh is where he served his mission and this was his first visit back since. There was no mission visiting going on but he was happy to see where he was for his mission so long ago.

They ventured to Pittsburgh to watch the Utes play Pitt. All I have to say is that I am glad they won. These boys get way to into these games that I believe if they lost it could have ruined the whole trip even though everything about it was great. Boys, boys, boys.

They had lots of good eats. Wings and Primani brothers (burger or sandwich with fries on it) heard a lot about. hopefully one day I will get to try it. hopefully one day Paul and I will go back and I can see where he served his mission and where all the good food hides.

Paul is way into his biking still. He has ventured in to cross racing and loving it. cross racing is a whole other world. I cannot believe the terrain they ride, run and work their asses of to get through. Paul's "category" if you will, is a 40 minute timed race. This just means that they need to run the course as many times as they can in the 40 minutes and the first of their group wins. In cross racing there are events during the week and on the weekend. It is more of a seasonal event. By that I mean, over a few months time you earn points for your races and at the end of months time, depending upon your points you win.

They obviously ride this course on their bikes but at differnet times thorughout the race the course is a bit difficult and they end up having to run through mud, sand, dirt, up hills, all while carrying their bikes on their shoulders. WOW! Paul is amazing, with the sexiest legs EVER. Keep it up babe. I am happy and very proud of you.

I am loving being able to have dinner on the table for my man when he arrives home at the end of the day and being together as a family. I am not known for being a great cook by any means but, I am hear to tell you that since I have been home and had a little more time my cooking has really improved. We have been eating at home a lot more and there have been happy faces at the dinner table. Tre' even comments "mmmmm mom, this is a really good dinner." he doesn't ask for nuggets every night anymore. BOO-YAH!

Well, i think that is a good long update on the Asay family. Here are some random pictures. I hope you all enjoy and don't give up, I will post again.