Change Has Always Brought Us Blessings

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Change is usually exciting for me, it isn't something I fear as I have always had growth from it. I have been so blessed to have a husband who feels the same. New adventures usually bring us closer together. I wish that others could embrace change the same way, I see how happy they could be and what blessing they would see if they did enjoy the journey that happens while the change is occurring. This year my word is CHANGE, as I want to CHANGE my health. I want to CHANGE the patterns I have created that aren't lifting me up. Due to my health and divided focus I have been a Caterpillar all bound up tight and struggling to move. I want to CHANGE into a butterfly with beautiful wings that gracefully adds beauty to everything it touches. I have been very attracted to butterflies this year. I see them all over the place, in decorations, paper, and now in my living room. Butterflies represent Change for me and are a visual reminder of my goals.

For years I have dreamt of having nothing I had to do, no where I had to be. Just have lots of time to go at any pace and do whatever I felt needed to happen that day. I have always been the person who is on the move, going and doing all the time. Because I have the gift to see what others are in need of with out them having to say anything and a strong desire to act on those prompting. Sometimes I find that I have taken on too much, not in the way that I cant handle it, because I can. In the way that I stop paying attention to my health and I put less focus on my houses core needs.

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Due to my health the last 6 months I have been forced to take on less allowing me time to do what I want, when I want. To focus my efforts into what my foundation needs so I can build and grow more balanced. Can I just say I LOVE IT!!! I love having more time, more focus on my home and family, and time to learn new things (like getting my loan originator license). LOVE IT!!

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I attended a Doug Andrew, Live Abundant, seminar last year and I am going to implement many ideas he suggested. Including having a day, besides Sunday, that nothing is scheduled every week, no phone, no computer. Just relax and do whatever my heart desires. I think when living a busy life, if you create that day to recharge, you really can have more balance.

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Where can you embrace change and balance in your life? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Chrystal Wilcox

New Years Goals 2015

By Chrystal:

My New Years Resolution is one word " Inspire" as in...
-Be inspiring!
-Be inspired!
-Teach and be taught!
-Be prepared to be a tool of inspiration in every aspect of my life.
-Inspire my children to love learning as much as I do through the things I teach them homeschooling.
-Present myself in a way that allows me to feel great and ready to inspire!

Last year was "balance" and it was a year of balancing everything as if I was standing on a ball and trying not to fall. Daily I thought of that word and had it help direct my decisions and goals. One word is so easy to remember and not give up on.

I am so excited for 2015 the year of INSPIRE!!

What are your resolutions this year? What are some of yous goals?

Pregnancy has been hard, we knew it would. It is getting harder and harder but I know that this is what I am suppose to be doing right now so I haven't gotten discouraged, just sometimes a little scared.

 It's really hard to read on the sign. We are naming our little girl Hannah Brooklyn Wilcox. I am due Jan 5th, 2014. But they are planning on inducing me 3 weeks early (the week before Christmas, 8 weeks from now). But after being up til 4 am last night due to intolerable itchiness I am worried she may have to come sooner then that, it all depends on my liver and my auto immune disease. Have to take it a week at a time, we will see how it all plays out!

I have made a large group of Type one friends over the last year. We get together once a month at least and just have fun. Some of the ladies didn't make it to this get together. But there is no doubt about it, no black clothing in this group. I have been grateful to DYT if for nothing other then new friends and feeling cute while I am pregnant. I have never felt super cute in my clothing while pregnant. It's nice to feel cute when not feeling good.

Not for the faint of heart. Here is my Halloween costume. Trevor and I were both zombies. I don't have a picture of him yet. These are the kinds of costumes you wear around friends but not to a church trunk or treat in my opinion. Some loved it and some hated it. Which made it all the more fun for me to wear, it was memorable.

Trevor has some awesome news to share later this week. Stay tuned!

Reminds me of getting ready for our wedding

Trevor has the most amazing mother. I bought Trevor some pants that were way to long and she took on the task to make them the perfect length. Just like a diva as soon as the camera is on you he is posing away. If any of you are missing a Trevor in your life you should find one fast. They are a staple in any individuals pantry!

Trevor likes to entertain

Incase any of you really miss Trevor I made you a short clip. This is while he was getting his pants tailored. I love this man, he makes me laugh and is so much fun. I know you all wish you lived with him too.

Marching on...Chrystal

Caleb loves to play with toys. Way more then any of my other kids did. He has such an imagination. I carry some of the dinosaurs from his cake in my purse if he needs to keep entertained in the car. Here he is being so cute putting them to use. It helps. Between my two jobs and school we are in the car together around 10 hours a week. Maybe a little more.

March again 2013-Chrystal

My little baby turned 3 this past month!!! To celebrate we went to a little place called Jungle Jims Playland that I had coupons for with Nate and Allie. The kids had a blast. Caleb misses Disneyland, so it was a way to get some "GAMES" in. Ashlee was so funny. This was her favorite ride. It went in a giant circle really fast forward. And then went backwards really fast. The kids went a few times and tried other things. She was content to just do this ride 10 or so times, even by herself.

Caleb's cake. Simple. Just bought some Dinosaurs to make it more fun.

Had to document this. Joshua for years has enjoyed reading the cereal box while eating his cereal. He spouts off the nutritional facts and whatever else he reads. It is now something all three of my boys want to do. They all look at their cereal boxes as they eat it. If that isn't cute then I don't know what is.

Caleb decide to sit like this while watching the tv. He was easily laying this way for 20 plus mins.

That is right, I turned 30!!! Richelle Cazier came and stayed the weekend to celebrate my birthday. She Made me pancakes and so creatively a 30 Pancake. I had a fun weekend. Not bad being 30.

There has been snow, and then sunshine, and then snow... So to protest the snow I still continue to wear flip flops. I refuse to be OK with the snow this time of year. It is SPRING!!! My favorite season!

Who can guess what Trevor is doing here on a snow tube on the concrete? Winner winner chicken dinner...who will guess it?   

March Pics- 2013-Chrystal

Caleb and Ashlee(my neice) play dress up. One of the kids favorite pass times.

I thought this was funny and had to share. I am waiting in the car picking Josh up from school. I love how much he loves books. Even if it is a safety hazard.

Jan, Feb, and half March.

By Chrystal:
Short recap...well kinda long actually.  We went with Nate and Allie to Disneyland to celebrate his homecoming. We had a lot of fun, I already miss it. Caleb is at such a fun age. He Called the rides games and just wanted to continue on to the next game and then the next. Patrick and Josh would have grown tired at Caleb's age. But Caleb is a lot like me and just cant stop wanting to have fun no matter how tired they get. And since Patrick and Josh were older and not as pron to be as tired they had a lot of fun too. My friend Angie accidently deleted my photos of the trip so I need to get Allies from her and post them.

Trevor helped Nate get a job at with his work. Of course they would want Nate, he is awesome! It is nice. Trevor and Nate work together from one of our homes twice a week and then three day Nate works by himself from home and those days Trevor goes into the office.

Trevor, Nate, Allie, and I are starting the beginning steps of prepping to start our own business on the side with Real Estate. It is very exciting. Trevor and I have had a lot of success with our Duplex and are really excited to move forward with this new chapter of our life.

I started two jobs. One as a nanny and one as a personal assistant. I am LOVING them. They keep me busy and I can bring my kids. My employers are awesome and lots of fun. Really has been a great thing for me right now. Feeling very blessed to have the opportunities.

Josh retested to get back into the advanced placement program. They tested him at a fifth grade level (he is in third). He scored above the 99th percentile for 5th grade reading and literacy in the nation. And 77th percentile for the 5th grade math in the nation. Which I still think is awesome considering he HATES math. Half of his class didn't make it back into the program so I decided it was a good time to move him closer to our home the the advanced school that is for our area.

We have registered Patrick for Spanish Immersion again near our home and the regular school and are trying to decide where we want to keep him long term. He did Spanish Immersion this past year at a school not near our home. Either way it will be nice having him closer. He is doing really well in school and it is fun hearing him count in Spanish and see how excited he is doing it.

Well, I am sure there is more but that is it for now. Love you all.
Chrystal

Nate is home!

Nate and Allie are our closest friends. Which is pretty cool as Nate is Trevor's brother making Allie my sister in law. He was deployed to Afghanistan a year ago. It has been a long and emotional year, especially for my niece and nephew as Nate worked at home and was there all the time before. So this morning was an amazing emotional day. We got up at 645 am. headed to the National Guards Airport and waited for 2 hours and 15 mins. There was an awesome band playing and food. When they opened the hanger doors with the music playing in the background it was so emotional. The excitement was so high and everyone was cheering! We left the hanger and got to watch as the plane drove in with 6 or so Cop cars leading the way in front of it. It was impossible not being emotional through this and as they stopped the plan and opened the doors and the soldiers came out. Everyone cheering and looking for their loved ones. It was so insanely cold (and my kids were really done by this point, except for the moments Caleb wanted to get on the plane he called a ROCKET). No matter how cold it was it was still so worth it to feel that moment and be apart of it. Such an emotional and amazing experience. We are so happy he is home safe! I will have to post more pictures later. I took a lot on Allies camera so I don't have them right now.

After the airport we all went to Callie's home (Trevor's mom) and had lunch and enjoyed everyone's company. Unfortinatly Trevor is really sick so he was a bit miserable this whole time but totally a trooper. Tonight he is looking like he is on his death bed and probably should have stayed in bed all day. But somethings are more important then being sick and only happen once in a lifetime.

How time flys

Thought I would share these pictures of our little family outing in November 2012 and the pictures of the same activity 6 years earlier the summer Trevor and I married (2006).

 Oh how we have changed!

 What is going on with Nate? And Josh playing with the arrows trying to figure it out reminds me of Caleb.
I still have the same fabulous hips. Just added some weight with the next two kids and thyroid problems. woohoo!

 Trevor's a stud!As he ages I think he just gets studlier!

Fun Pictures of Patrick.

Since all you see are the sad pictures of Patrick on the next post. Thought I would post the fun ones too. Patrick is such a great child. He is sensitive but in the inner quiet way. Only those close to him really get to know him. I love making him laugh and I love that he seems to appreciate when I do. He is very by the book and do the right thing. He told me the other day he needed to stop playing with one of our neighbor kids. I asked him why as they have a lot of fun together. He told me that the child said bad words. Once we distinguished that the bad word was "poop" being used out of appropriate context. I told Patrick how proud I was of him for realizing that who is around you is important and what they are doing. We talked about potty words and how we can still have friends that use them occasionally but we needed to let him know that we don't and when he is at our home he can't.  Patrick is a die hard Mario fan. He takes good care of Caleb and is incredibly loving and fun child. I love that he can be so serious but let his fun side out to play too.

 Loves Soccer

 Such a stud

 This is one of his few silly faces. Tongue out to the side, pinky in the air and other hand usually posing too. And usually not looking directly at camera.

 Evan and Clara are Patrick's besties.

 He always wants to help and likes to work hard like his dad.

 who also has awesome silly faces.

 Evan and Patrick showing their belly whenever it's full.

 Trying out trax for fun.

 We dress up Angry Bird style with Angry Bird blankets

 Patrick totally got this pose from me.

 feeding his cousin. aawww

That's all folks. I have so many pictures of him we will keep it down to 40 this time;)