Goodbye OLD blog. Hello NEW blog!

My divorce was finalized Friday, September 11th! It is time to begin a new chapter in my life so I figured I would start a new blog. My new blog address is:

http://julielara.blogspot.com/

I am so excited to be moving on. My job is going great and I have so much to look forward to. I want to thank everyone for your prayers, love, and support. I have the best family and friends!

Life Changes....

We didn't get a lot of good pictures as you can see from this picture!
Here is an update of my life since my last post (it has been quite hectic):

1. I graduated from college on May 24th. My parents flew into town to attend. I am so glad to finally be done!

2. I am getting a divorce! This may come as a surprise to many of you since Santiago has been in Iraq for the last 6 months. To make it simple lets just say that he found someone else while he was there.

3. Ashlyn and Austin are going to have a sibling! No, I am not pregnant! Santiago's baby is due in early December. Congratulations Santiago!

4. I am selling my house and going to get a rental house for awhile until I have enough job history to qualify for a house on my own.

5. I am going to start my job on June 22nd. I am really excited!

6. My sister had her baby on May 31st. She is coming to visit me on the 10th of this month which is awesome. I have the best sister ever!

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Well, that sums up the biggest news. It has been both an exciting and painful time for me. I know life is going to get better. My kids have adjusted to the changes remarkably well and I have the best family and friends who are supporting me during this difficult time. I love you all!!!!

I have a JOB!

I had one of my finals today and then decided to walk over to University Hospital to check on the status of my application. I had applied over a month ago for a few jobs and had never heard back on any of them. I really wanted to work at University because it is where I did most of my clinicals and I love their computer system. It is also a teaching hospital so it is a great place to start out. I talked to the nurse recruiter and she said that the areas I applied to either didn't hire new graduates or had already been filled. She asked if I would be interested in any other areas and I said I wasn't too picky. She said that there was an opening on the medical floor and she would see if she could schedule an interview for me. She had me wait in the lobby for a few minutes and when she came back she told me that I could do an interview right then. I had jeans, a t-shirt, and flip-flops on. I pointed this fact out and she said that they were pretty laid back. So I decided what the heck and went for it. I was offered the job on the spot and now I can cross getting a job off my to-do list! I never dreamed it would be so easy. I only have one more final to go and I am done with school! I am so ready to celebrate!

Oh NO! I have head LICE!

For our community nursing clinicals we had to do a health promotion presentation at a school. We ended up doing it on lice. We did a skit and I got to be a kid with lice (yay!). The school district's filming crew came in and the skit will be broadcast to all the other schools and on their television channel. They said they would make us all a DVD of it. I can't wait to see my bad acting. I'm just glad the day is over because I hate being in front of an audience!

Can your kids top this?

What it should look like...

Ashlyn's head did this. Luckily her head came out undamaged, but the glass door wasn't so lucky. This is definately the biggest mess I have ever had to clean up. Ashlyn said she was running. She must have had a lot of force behind it, because there were pieces of glass all over the room - in toy bins, the bed, the train table, the lion's mane. So what is the biggest mess your kids have ever made?

We are still alive!

My friend Alisha said that I should put something on my blog since I hadn't posted anything in awhile. I told her that I didn't have anything to blog about and she said how about "I'm still alive". So here is my post Alisha (even though you already know that I am still alive).

My little artist!

I was looking through my pictures and noticed this picture that Ashlyn drew back in December. Ashlyn is quite the artist. She loves drawing and coloring. I thought this picture was cute because she drew a dog and even put it on a leash!

Ashlyn's SHORT haircut

The other day after Ashlyn got out of the bathtub I was brushing her hair. She hates getting her hair brushed because it gets tangled easily. When she started whining while I was brushing it I told her that it looked like she was in need of a haircut since her hair had grown (which is just that much more hair to detangle). Ashlyn's response was, "Yes my hair has grown since we've been watering it". I guess the logic is that if water makes plants grow it can make our hair grow too!

Our new friend Alison

Ashlyn doesn't want to take pictures these days unless she is being goofy, so to bribe her into smiling I let her take a goofy picture first.

Alison is a girl that we met on the airplane when we flew back to Oregon over the holidays. She sat next to us and was really fun with my kids. She is a college student here in San Antonio. At the end of the flight she gave me her phone number and told me to call her anytime I needed a babysitter. It was cute because when we flew home to San Antonio after being in Oregon for almost a month Ashlyn asked if Alison was going to be sitting next to her on the airplane! On Saturday I decided to invite her over for dinner. Ashlyn was so excited to see her. I'm sure that we will be hanging out with Alison more in the future.

Slumber Party in Progress

Ashlyn and Adyson pretending to sleep

Well it is 10pm and the kids are still not asleep. This is the first time Ashlyn has ever had a friend spend the night and right now it is looking like it might be awhile before it ever happens again. The kids are having a hard time falling asleep. Adyson wants the lights off and Ashlyn thinks she needs a night light. Also, Ashlyn's wiggling is driving Adyson crazy. These girls might just need a nap tomorrow. Alisha - sorry if you end up with a cranky kid tomorrow!