Mind and Body Fitness Connections

Hi to all, it has been quite some time since I have written anything. Life has been hectic and out of the ordinary these last couple months. Unfortunately our family never got to go on the cross country adventure we had planned. It’s amazing the curve balls life throws at you. My husband, son and I all settled back in Oklahoma the first week of April and have stayed here since then, however we are living separtely and Dylan is with his dad one week and me the next. I know our family could use prayers from all of you that know the trials we have been through over the past few years. I do believe this will be best for all of us in the long run, however a transistion like this is never easy in the begining.

On a different note, I am starting my business back up again and working on getting my name out there both via the internet and through local professionals who can refer business to me. I am pleasantly surprised to see that the alternative health field is growing here in OKC. I think I have entered at a time before the market is saturated, however, the public has a growing awareness about alternative practices and is seeking services like what my business provides.

Here are a couple pictures that were taken before we left California that I absolutely love! It was my first time to try surfing (and to think I lived in CA 5 years before I took the time to try!) I will be back out there again though and I will definately give it another go!

Well things have been busy since we have been back in Cali! I am working a couple days a week and then meeting up with alot of clients and friends. I’m also working with a CHEK Practitioner and a Neuromuscular Therapist that I know as well as my NUCCA Chiropractor. Since I don’t have any of those types of contacts elsewhere around the country yet I figured I should take advantage of my practitioner’s services here.

My husband, son, the dogs and our roommates have been to the beach a couple times and it has been so relaxing and great. I forgot how much I missed the sunshine, holistic approach to life and the food- I’m not sure if there is anywhere else that has produce like we have here in So Cal.

I’ll post more later with pics! Take care, I’m going to finish up working this morning and then go enjoy the sunshine! May health and peace be with you always!

Wow what an exciting week.   I had some of my out of state family and friends calling because they heard about the torndado here on Feb 10th.  Fortunately we were out of the path of the tornado, but not by far (just a few miles).  Below are pictures of my cousin’s son (Easton) who turned 4 on Feb 7th.  His birthday party was at the Chucky Cheese that’s been all over the news because the tornado hit it.  Anyway, here are pictures of the party.

 Here are a couple of pictures of Easton with his cake.

My Cousin Brian and his Wife Shelby (Easton’s parents) 

The party table.

Dylan dancing with the mechanical Chucky.

This first picutre was taken at a restaurant with good friends.  A friend I’ve known for many years (Mark) had his birthday on the 28th, so Kinny, me, Mark and his wife Codi all went to eat.  You can tell we were bundled because it was in the middle of the nasty weather.  The rest of the pix were taken at my moms house in the yard with Kinny, Dylan the dogs and myself.  Then ironically enough another good friend of mine (that I’ve know since I was 4 years old) had her birthday on the 28th as well.  Unfortunately I didn’t get pics, but she lives outside of the city a bit and after the weather cleared a little, Kinny and I went over to their place for the birthday.  We talked until 5 am, slept till 11/12ish and then played rock band all day.  Kinny’s mom had Dylan and Deena and Johns kids are mostly grown and out of the house so it was a truely stress free time;  I can’t remember when I’ve had that much fun.

Left to right (Codi, Mark, me and Kinny)

Kinny and the dogs (Happy is the pit bull puppy (9 months old) and Onyx is the brindle boxer (10 years old).

Me with Dylan and the dogs.

Kinny, Dylan and the Dogs

One more of Dylan me and the dogs…. Dylan has seen snow now, I’m ready to head back to sunshine!!! Hello California!

My 7 year old niece is in cheer and they were competing last Sunday (on the 25th) so I went to watch.  Unfortunately it was pretty dark in the stadium so my pix inside didn’t turn out very well.  They did take first place in their division at the National Competition though so needless to say there was a lot of excitement surrounding the event!

During the performance

My sister had just bought her a rose after their performance.

Chey, me and Trinity at the stadium.

Well Brian deployed on the 24th.  I went to the National Guard and watched as they got on the bus and then we followed them to the airport.  This was a very different experience than what Marines get.  With Brian, when we got to the airport they gave us all passes so we could wait at the gait until his plane arrived.  During all of Kinny’s deployments we waited outside (for hours) while the units got organized, loaded up on the buses and left.  I never got to go to the airport with him. Oh the difference between Marines and other brances of he armed service….. enough on that…… Brian’s family is just glad he will still be on US soil for the next 4 weeks training before actually going overseas. Anyway here are some pics.

Brian’s family at the National Guard Base before getting on the bus (it was 6:30 a.m.)

Kelly and Brian at the airport.

Brian, Kelly, Jacob and Kirstyn at the airport.

Brian and his mom, Kitty at the airport.

Brian and me at the airport.

As I mentioned in a previous post my husband’s best friend from grade school is deploying this Sat. on Jan 24th.  He is in the National Guard and works in public relations…. he’s the camera man.  He will be flying to New Jersey for a month of training on Saturday and then he will fly to Kuwait for processing before being stationed in Tikrit for the remaining 12 months.   I just want to send out a special thank you to him for being willing to serve our country and to his wife for the job of managing the household and children he is leaving behind.  I can relate all too well to her position and my husband is seeing things from a completely different perspective (having to say goodbye to your loved one rather than being the one leaving). 

This is Kinny and Brian in uniform together.

These pictures were taken at Brian’s pre deployment ceremony on base.

Kinny, our son and Brian at the ceremony.

Brian and his wife Kelly.

This picture was taken the next weekend at the family and friend deployment party he had at his house.  From left to right (Eric, Brian, and Kinny).  They have all known each other since grade school.

I have moved around several times in the past 12 years and it is always great to make new friends, enjoy new cultures and to see what a truly beautiful country we live in.  One thing I have realized though, is that there is nothing that can compare to the joy felt when you reunite with those people who have known you for countless years….. They know the good, the bad and the ugly about your life and still love and support you in spite of yourself.  Here are some of those special people in both mine and my husbands  lives.

Me and my high school friend Natalie who has been living happily in Colorado for the last several years.  She came to visit for the holidays and we had the opportunity to hang out.

My friend Dee who I met when working at Gold’s Gym in Virginia.  She flew out to CA for Thanksgiving and was there to see us off during our move.  She has always been able to make me smile when life seemed as though there was nothing to smile about.  LOVE THE DEE!!!!

This is our friend Carrie who I met through Dee and she and her cousin moved to CA about 1 1/2 years ago.  She and her girlfriend hosted Thanksgiving Dinner at their house just before our move.  My husband and I always considered Carrie, Sheri and  Drew (not shown) our California family.  I will post  pix of Sheri and Drew when I get some other pix off my laptop.  Hopefully  they already know how much we appreciate their friendship!

This is my husbands good friend that he has known since grade school; Brian.  His son Jacob was born on Chrismas day and after we had Christmas Lunch with them we had his birthday party that night.  This shows Jacob getting his 10 birthday spankings.

Brian’s daughter Kirstyn was born on New Years Day and this picture shows her in all of her glory at her 6 year old party opening her gifts.

This next one made just  about everyone in the room tear up.  Brian gave Kirstyn a ring to keep him in her thoughts during his 12 month deployment to Iraq.  He will be leaving on Jan 24th.

I think we must have had 4 or 5 Christmas and Birthday parties to go to for  all our family and friends…. not to mention that my husband’s best friend has two children, a 10 year old son born on Christmas day and then their 6 year old daughter born on New Years day.  It definately made for a busy holiday season.  It has however been so great to spend time with everyone and see our son have so much fun with his Grandmas, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.  There were too many good pictures to post all of them, but here are a several great ones.

Kinny and Dylan (my husband and son) at my sisters house for their Christmas celebration.

Trinity and Dylan (my sisters daughter and my son at that same party opening gifts my Dad, Curt and his wife, Carol sent from California).

Me and my older (and only) sister Chey.

My Sister’s family from left to right (their adopted daughter Amanda, Chey’s daughter Trinity, Jason’s son- Little J, Jason, my sisters husband and my sister).

My husband Kinny and I.

My mother, Donna and I.

My son Dylan and niece Trinity in their new PJ’s.

My husbands family from left to right (my husbands niece Kylie, 2nd cousin Reye, brother-in-law Toney, mother Esther, sister Shelly and son Dylan). 

Well I have to say, it has been 5 years since my husband and I made a cross country move.  In December 2003 when my husband got orders to report to Camp Pendleton we packed up all that we owned from our one bedroom apartment in Reston, VA (just 17 miles outside Washington DC) and moved cross country to Oceanside, CA.  Its amazing how much we accumulated during our  5 years of living in CA.  This move was definately a bit more complicated even though we had less miles to cover.  We had a son while living in CA and its amazing someone so small can possess so much.  Also, I had all of my business equipment to move and we were packing up a 3 bedroom house, plus we had just adopted a 7 month old pit bull weeks before the journey.  Here are a few pictures of our caravan as we started out the packing process and then hit the road.

My husband Kinny loading the Penske Truck the day after Thanksgiving

Family photo just  before hitting the road on December 3rd 

 Our caravan parked at the hotel in Big Springs Texas the day before our arrival in Oklahoma.  WOW was it cold there!