this just gets stranger and stranger.....

so the baby moves all the time. well, maybe not all the time, but enough for me to look down and say to it, "what are you doing in there?!?!?"

but, you know, the movement makes me feel better about the growing, so it's not too bad. speaking of growing, i totally am! as soon as i get a good picture at 20 weeks *also known as this coming saturday* i'll post it up. it's like in the last 5 days its starting to look like there's a baby in there. although, my mom was only really convinced after hearing the baby's heartbeat at the dr this week.

about the doctor, everything is growing fine. good strong heartbeat of 160, and growing totally normally at 19 weeks, also known as month 5. we totally know the gender, but i'm not gonna tell you until we've as least told every grandparent.

but, knowing all of this makes it really real. having seen a fully functioning heart, kidneys, brain, watching all the moving on that screen.... i mean, this is really happening!

ps... i'm 3/4 of the way through grad school

yay!!!!

chris is convinced that not only am i a different person once school is done. but our whole house is completely different. i have not sat at the kitchen table with the laptop since wednesday night. honestly. i'm on the desktop right now.

but, as i enter my vacation, i realize how odd if feels to not have any papers to write. or articles to research. or class to attend. or internship to go to.

i'm a trophy wife again. well, at least for two weeks. and darn it, it feels good.

so it's been a year already!!!!

chris is totally awesome and got us a fun vacation to DISNEYLAND!!! we had a two night stay at The Grand Californian (a place i'd been dying to stay at!), and 3 day park hopper tickets to both disneyland and california adventures.

it was amazing!!!!

aside from the fact that i now have a fever that comes and goes and major body ache, eveything is perfect. i can't believe it's been a year already.

i'm so happy that this is my life.

*here are some fun highlights of our trip*

almost here!

i'm sitting at the kitchen table waiting for amy to get to my casa. we're going to bake tonight... apple pie and pound cake. yummy!!!!!

chris just walked into the kitchen... and he's so odd sometimes.

but, it's almost my first christmas as a married lady. how cool, yet bizzare is that?!?

there are about a million gifts under our cute little christmas tree. i swear a third of them are for amy (from my in-laws... she's their fave.) *cs is convinced everything under the tree is for me from his parents... okay, maybe i'm the fave*... but, it's so odd. i wrappped a gift today and wrote "to my beloved husband" on it. tee-hee. he's so cute. he's peeking at the gifts to see what i got him...

i love being his wife.

*besos*

i love mondays

so, i have four days each week where i'm beyond busy with school. technically, i have 7 days each week where i'm beyond busy, but only four days where i actually have to go somewhere. anywho, 2 days where i have lots of things to do (you know, everything always falls on a saturday, and sunday is just crazy busy). but, mondays are fantastic.

i'm usually frantically trying to read books or write papers, or wash dishes, or something. really, monday is my only day where i can catch up on life. as i write this, i realize how crappy my mondays sound.

but they really aren't. and you want to know why?

my super cute, little husband is always sleeping in the bed room. he's not a small guy. i mean, he's slim, but at about 6 ft tall, he takes up a lot more space than i do. so, when i get up in the morning and he's still sleeping, it's fantastic. i walk in there sometimes *tre quietly* and my heart skips a beat when i see him all sleeping and peaceful. the best is when he's curled up in a ball..... and next to teddy. love it!

so, i love mondays. i get to catch up on school work and house work, and i get to be close to one of my greatest blessings. what more could i ask for?

~besos~

it's friday!!!!

my husband is 28

this is him getting ready to feed crocs on our honeymoon. he's insane!

yesterday was chris' 28th birthday. if you ask him, his original plan *made many moons ago* was to be married in his early 20's and to be a dad by this time. he always thought that he would be pretty much like his dad in that respect. and while they're pretty stinkin' similar, this was not chris' lot in life.

God had better plans for him... hello, me!

things may not be what we intend them to become, but when we trust in God, they are always better than we can ever dream!

i praise God that His plan was different than chris'. i praise God that His plan was different than my own. and, i praise God because my husband is a man of great faith, he loves Jesus, and that is really the greatest thing!

Happy Birthday, baby!

*besos*

6 months ago...

i married the man of my dreams, my prince charming... you see i how happy i was that day?? i'm still that happy now. sure, being married is different. but, it feels so natural. if you ask chris, he'll tell you that it feels like he was never not married to me. i feel the same way. it's funny how you know people for years, and you tend to marry the person you've known for the least amount of time. well, we did anyway.

i'm so blessed that God gave me *and gave me to* the most amazing man. i see his love for me in everything that he does. even when he leaves me at night to go to work, i see how he loves me enough to work nights and not complain *too much* about it.

thanks you all for your prayers. please keep praying for us!

i'll leave you with some new pictures

*courtesy of the santa maria inn*

*besos*

well...

i'm finally Leilani O'Roark at work... like for real. if i call anyone, that's the name that appears on their caller id... how odd...

*besos*

the official that follows....

i am now legally Leilani O'Roark.

YAAAAY!

i went to the DMV yesterday morning to change my name. it wasn't too bad. the dude at the window asked me if i really wanted to change it. i just smiled and said "yes". i had to get a new picture taken... even though i *loved* my other one. i hope this new one is just and nice!

then, i had to go to the Social Security Office to change my name there. oh my murder, was this the *worst* place ever! i was sitting waiting for 2 HOURS. i was sitting next to these women who were arguing about how they didn't get the money the government "owed" them. really?? i wish the government owed me! anywho, i had enough time to walk to the cvs nearby to buy some snacks. they finally called my number, and i changed my name.

ahh, the things i do for love.

*besos*

It's Official!!!!

we finally got our marriage license!!

now i can change my name and everything....

YAAAAAAAAAAY!

*besos*

100 days!!!!

hello milestone!

it's been 100 days since i became chris' wife. i must say... it's amazing. i think i love him more now than i did 100 days ago. really, you don't think you can love anyone more than what you know, but it grows. it really grows.

you know how much you think that loving someone more today that you did yesterday is kinda lame... well, it's totally true. every day i love chris more. sometimes i think i might explode. but, who knew this love grew in leaps and bounds! it's amazing!!!

i love the man that he is. i love how i can see his love for Christ just radiate and beam from him. i love that because he loves Jesus so much, i know he loves me. i love how safe i feel with him. and, i love knowing that i am always in his prayers because he wants me to be safe.

it's been an amazing 100 days. some of them have been difficult and tears have been shed. but i will say one thing, i truly love being married. i am ridiculously blessed. i can see God's love for me every time i see my husband. and, i know he feels the same way.

*besos*

coming up to the 3 month mark....

friday will be three months.

how exciting!!!

that's all.

*besos*

kevin and his train

my father-in-law, loves trains. it cracks me up. growing up, my dad always loved train stuff. so, when chris told me about how his dad loved trains, i was like, "yeah, my dad does too." then we proceeded to tell me in more depth and detail... would that my dad loved trains this much.

anywho, here's a cool shot of kevin giving people a ride on his train. yes, i said his... i guess we all know what my children will be doing when they visit their santa maria grandparents...

*besos*

10 things i've learned in the last 2 months

i've been a wife for over two months now. it really is quite incredible. i love being chris' wife. i love coming home to a warm hug. i love making dinner for him... and i love that he doesn't mind washing dishes. i love that he wants to keep me safe and has this urgency to provide for me. i love that he's my best friend and that everything is so right. like, we were born to be together... eh, i guess we were!

anywho... here is a list of things i've learned in the last two months. chris said that i could make a public list if it was all good things about him...

1. it's really hard to spend time together when we both work different schedules. we only see each other about 4 hours a day. because of this i..
2. miss my friends. don't get me wrong, i love my husband. i love being with him. but i miss being able to call someone and not feel bad because i'm cutting into the 4 hours we have together. i feel like i'm detached from them... but i still love them!
3. i don't like sleeping alone. as in, alone in my house because chris is at work. sometimes i want to sleep on the couch so i'll have more of a view of the house. but i don't. we have our bed. i sleep there.
4. i can't wait for my work day to be over. i can't wait to get home and be with chris. (see how i have this strange internal conflict???)
5. it's hard to figure out what to make for dinner every day. even with someone who will eat anything. maybe this is just my problem because my meals have to be perfect... but still, kinda difficult.
6. i LOOOOOVE saturday and sunday nights. this is when chris and i get to actually sleep in at the same time. it's AMAZING. i love it...
7. chris totally talks in him sleep. it's too funny. this past sunday night, he had full on conversations at various times in the night. it doesn't startle me too much anymore (besides, i grew up in room where the other person would scream at night... thanks learsi!). it's kinda funny though.
8. chris is wierd. really, you have no idea. he does some really odd stuff. but it's too funny.
9. i love how much i laugh with chris. i love how happy i am.
10. i'm sooooo in love with my husband. i think God everyday for him. chris is this amazing person. anyone can tell you that. but, i love him more than i ever had before. it's like it grows exponentially every minute. i'm grateful for every moment we have together.... i really love being a wife.

*besos*

all you Christian kids...

who remembers Psalty?!?!?!

i've been singing these songs since i was really little... i mean, "I'm gonna wrap up myself for Christmas!" anyone?

way before Veggie Tale's (who, sorry jules, can't light a candle to Psalty), there was this whole world of Christian cartoons and musical oddness... and he was the king of it all.

i was singing these songs to chris on our way to church yesterday. it was too funny because i told him that i had to find these cd's and buy them. it really is a tradition that i HAVE to continue. really, Christmas morning will never be the same if i don't have random Psalty Christmas Carols in the background...

ahh... "it's not by might, nor by power, BUT, byyyy the Spirit... Praise the Lord!"

*besos*

i love lazy saturdays...

and today wasn't even that lazy!

we went grocery shopping. that was fun... but the real treat, well, there were two treats.
1) we went to OSH, and bought this cool terra cota pot and some pretty flowers. chris and i potted them and it looks so pretty. i named all the plants... stella, carmen, and mona... so pretty!
2) we had hawaiian food delivered. oh my yummyness!!! it was so good! but, next time, we'll be getting one plate. yeah, they were kinda big.

now, i'm watching tv and chris is trying to pick songs for worship tomorrow.

still getting used to my new life... but it's great so far!

*besos*

i'm sorry chris.. but i have too...

this cracks me up. my husband thinks i'm a nerd... but really, how funny is this!!

i want a baby pig!!

*besos*

the sun is shining... and....

i got wedding pictures from my cousin, barbie... i had to post this one of my dear husband...

he's so cute. i'm so in love with him. really, i can't seem to tell him enough. sometimes i catch myself looking at him and thinking, "i am sooo in love with this man!"

chris is proof of how much God loves me.

*besos*

just thought i'd put one up...

us in cozumel... on the eastern side of the island. this was a little beach called chen rio. i think it was my favorite beach... it was beautiful!!

check out how hot my husband is!

*besos*