Spring Break

I have enjoyed such a great week!  Jon brought me with him to Iowa for his spring break, and I have gotten to spend some time getting to know his parents and sister a bit better.  I also got to meet his grandparents (his dad's parents) and people he knew from high school, hear him speak at his high school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), and drive around town with him to see where he grew up.  (Too bad I can't show him everywhere I've grown up in a day's drive!)  We also took a special trip to the mall - possibly more on that later on.  ;)

Jon's sister, Katie, took me out for lunch the other morning and we had a nice conversation, just the two of us.  The day before that, she, Pam (Jon's mom), and I had some girl time while we got our nails done, got Easter things together for Jon and Katie's cousins who will be visiting over the weekend, and watched a movie.

I'm really glad I could come out here and have this time with Jon and his family, both separately and individually.  Trying not to be miffed that he gets so much time with my family, being conveniently nearby!  Anyway, I'm sure looking forward to seeing them again. 

P.S.  HAPPY EASTER  ~  HE IS RISEN!

Quick note...

This (Saturday) morning my family, Jon, and I took Gavin to the Colorado Springs airport to meet up with his mom, my Aunt Jessilyn.  Everything went really smoothly and we were all very happy and somewhat relieved to see Gavin willingly go to his mommy with a smile.  Remember, he hadn't seen her since he was two weeks old!  It's been almost four months.  Anyway, as far as I know, they had a good, short flight home to Utah and so far all is good.

Naturally my family and I miss that darling baby boy, as do all who met him in the time God had him with us! Fortunately for Mom, we were given a generous heads up about when Aunt Jess was coming to get him, so she - well, we all, but most importantly she - had time to get used to the idea.  Mom and Dad have always loved caring for children when any sort of opportunity presents itself.  Mom is particularly susceptible to attaching to these children, so lots of prayer for her comfort during these next couple weeks is definitely appreciated....

Thanks!

What do you think? [ hairstyle ideas ]

In my last post I mentioned that I'll be asking advice from the lady who cuts my hair concerning updos for both my friend's wedding (in June) and for the Ring Dance (in May).  But before I do that, I'd love YOUR opinion!  Below are the styles I like that I think could work pretty well in my hair.

When I came out in the dress I got for the Ring Dance, one of the ladies there gasped and said I looked like a lovely Greek, if only I could fin the right hairstyle to go with the dress.  Of course I just laughed initially, but the idea did stick in my mind and I looked up Greek-inspired styles.  I love have a braid or two somewhere in most updos I do on myself, and I have so much hair some sort of bun is very doable!

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(I like the braid/top part of this style, though the rolled hair underneath would be far more full with my elbow-length, thick hair.)

(I like the overall look of this, though I know it wouldn't be quite as defined since my hair has become such a dark brown, even if I do remember to redo my light brown/dark blonde highlights...)

(I simply LOVE this one!  I don't know how great it would be from the front though, which ought to be taken into account for photos.)

(I like the uniqueness of this style - a French braided fishtail braid into a bun.  My main concern with this is that fishtail braids never seem to turn out quite right in my hair.  ...Of course it might help if someone who knows what they're doing did it!)

(Imagine this without the accessory.  I like the idea of doing a double braid on top like this.)

(Jon really likes my hair down, so I think it would be nice to have a style that lets the length show while still keeping it classy and contained from the inevitably strong winds that torment girls with long hair who dare visit the Academy with it down.  ...Not that I have ever done that, of course.)

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Any of the styles above are okay for the wedding, except the last one, since I think my hair would be better all the way up with the bridesmaid dress I'm wearing.  Just a note.  :)  Thanks for your input!

Recent Happenings

So very much has been going on lately:

-     I joined Pinterest, finally!  If you'd like to look me up, I'm under Dani Sadlo and am likely the only or one of the only ones on Pinterest by that name.  ;)
-     Last week I took my second CLEP for College Plus and passed - woohoo!  That CLEP was on Introductory Psychology and now I'm taking CP's course on Social Justice.
-     I found my Ring Dance dress and ordered it earlier this week - it will be in sometime in late April.
-     Tomorrow night I'm planning on going to The Mill (New Life Church's college group) with Jon, which will be nice since we haven't been in a while.
-     My precious baby cousin, Gavin, gets to go home with his mom, my Aunt Jessilyn, Saturday afternoon.
-     Saturday night we're hosting our dojong's Gospel Team, which Chaela is on, at our house.
-     Sunday Dad goes TDY again and some of our dear friends will be spending the night at our house; Maria and Mom are going to a Michael Card (or was it Michael W. Smith?) concert that night.
-     Monday I'm planning on asking about updo ideas (for my friend, Jackie's wedding and for the Ring Dance) from the lady who cuts my hair before she gives me a trim, since I may end up having her chop off a bit extra from the longest layer so styles are more easily doable.  (More on that in another post...)
-     Hopefully before March disappears I will go to Focus on the Family to see about getting a summer job with the food service there that I worked for for one week last summer.
-     I'm also planning on working out a time to do a sort of job shadow at my old homeschool group this Tuesday/Wednesday,
-     and need to take a midterm by Friday...
-     ...Because the next week I get to go with Jon to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a few days of his Spring Break!  (Obviously I won't be getting any studying done, despite any of my good intentions.)

*whew*

Now that I've blurted out that chunk of everything, I'll explain at least a few points in better detail.

First, I'm pleased to announce that as of today's College Plus coaching call, I'm projected to graduate in late March of 2015.  This is at least a semester later than I had hoped, but what with unexpected trips to the doctor for Mom and Chaela this winter, my family taking care of Gavin since November, no empty weekends, and (yes, I'll admit it) poor time/schedule management on my part, I'm a bit behind.  Oh well!  God is teaching me much about not being in control, or at least to be flexible as things change that are out of my power to control.  Thankfully God knows exactly what He's doing!  (Proverbs 16:9)

Alright, for those of you who don't know what the Air Force Ring Dance is, I'll fill you in with the little bit I know.  :)  Basically, the Ring Dance is for Air Force Academy juniors.  This is when they get their class ring, celebrate surviving the Academy (so far).  It is not a prom; it is a formal event, more like a military ball than a high school dance.  It's kind of taboo for a cadet to attend without a date, so when I knew that *something* was up the night before I found out that Jon liked me, I thought he had told Mom he was planning on asking me to this dance!  Turns out I was kinda right...  ;)

                                               

As Jon's girlfriend, I figured I would be his date to the dance, but still I felt a little weird looking around for a dress before he'd even said anything about it.  Silly me...  He did officially ask me to be his date while out on a very nice dinner date at a great place near Manitou Springs the day after Valentine's.  I told him I'd think about it.  ;)  He laughed when I told him I wanted to begin dress shopping right away - he reminded me that I still had three months and that some girls don't get asked to the Ring Dance until the week before!  (SO glad he didn't do that....)  Nevertheless, I did start looking around online to get ideas, and even checked David's Bridal's clearance rack a couple times.  Mom helped me keep an eye out for anything good during trips to Goodwill and the Arc thrift store.  Earlier this week I decided to look at Danelle's Bridal since they had announcements that they had new formals and prom dresses in - nothing.  David's Bridal is just across the street, so I checked there one more time.  They also had more prom and formal dresses than I had seen there before, and I had fun trying a few things on.  Nothing quite worked (too tight, too low, wrong color...) until I tried on a lovely empire-waisted, peachy-pink colored, halter-top formal.  I love it!  Mom absolutely loved the pictures I texted her and she urged me to look no further.  I've got my dress!  Well... I ordered it.  I'll actually have it later in April.  ;)  (If you look at my Ring Dance ideas board on Pinterest, I've pinned a couple pictures of the dress.)

Next, Gavin.  I mentioned in my first post, I think, a little about my baby cousin.  Gavin is now about four months old and is quite the happy little one!  He's developing so quickly and growing faster than I thought possible.  His mommy will be so happy to see him after so long, I'm sure!  Of course, my family and I aren't too happy about not getting to see this little one 24/7, and while we are looking forward to more regular sleep habits, bottles and formula taking up space on the counter and in the fridge and dishwasher, and so on, we already are beginning to miss him.  Just about as soon as Dad got home from work tonight, he made a beeline for Gavin and held him for as long as he could (before taking Mom out for dinner).  God has blessed us so richly through this baby and we all pray that He will continue to work in him, even as an infant, and that He would put godly people in his life to lead him to the Lord.

(Mom stuck his pants on his head - he told her she was silly to do that!)


(We've enjoyed some nice, warm, 50-60* weather here in between these silly blizzard warnings; I have taken Gavin on a couple of walks on these sunny days.  He was half-awake here, and he always makes silly chubby faces when he's sleepy - hehe!)

Well, speaking of leaving, Dad just has this TDY and one or two more (I think) before he heads off to Baghdad.  I have been working on a project just for him - a sort of interactive count-down to next Spring/Summer when he gets home again.  :)  I just need about 100-150 more fun facts, quotes, and things to fill in to make it to a total 365 things on this list of daily notes for him...

Last thing!  I CANNOT wait to go with Jon to visit his family!  We fly out to Cedar Rapids on Monday and will stay through Thursday.  Jon has already informed me I will be forced to rest and relax as much as possible, which made me chuckle, since he and I sometimes have slightly differing ideas of resting and relaxing...  Anyway, I hope to get to know Pam and Dan (his parents) and Katie (his sister) a little better, as well as see the town he grew up in.  Aaaaahh!!  I'm so excited!  I'll hopefully remember to post something about the trip after we get back.

Well, that's today's novel - I hope you enjoyed it if you survived reading straight through.  :)

God bless and good night!