I Told Her!

Before I really get into this post though can I just say how amazing this lady is? 

 She's recently gone through radiation therapy, had to stay away from her couple week old baby for a week, and even after all the therapy and stays in the hospital her eye sight is still warbled. It's slowly improving but it's not perfect yet. And who knows when it will be.

 And besides that recent trial, she's had 9 kids. 9 KIDS! That's a trial in itself. Guys I don't know if you understand how many crazy annoying people that is! It's a lot. Not only that but she's with them 24/7. She home schools us and I feel manages to encourage's us to be our best selves. 

 She works hard on everything she does. Raising us, loving people, cleaning the house, serving others, reading her scriptures, saying prayers, sewing, running, learning, etc the list goes on and on. 

 We've never been the richest of families. (Probably because we have so many kids) But through her example I've learned to work hard to attain the things I want. I've gotten jobs that I don't think I would've gotten if I hadn't learned how to work hard from my mother. 

The amount of love she has for each of her children and cares and helps them individually is incredible. She rarely has a moment to herself and for the most part is fine with that. I think. She's my best friend and it's nice to know that I can talk to her about anything and ask her for advice and know that her advice is genuine and sincere. 

 And through all of her struggles I've seen her pray and have faith in the Lord that he would make things work out. Her faith in our heavenly father has been the greatest example to me. Through her example I've learned that personal revelation works and I've been able to make hard decisions for myself. 

And so after teaching me to work hard, that the savior's real, and how to love people I think she deserves this. She's also turning old. 40. And she's recovering from radiation therapy and trying to get back into the swing of life. 

 So she deserves this.

 I told her that I'm taking her to Spain! We went to old town and I thought why not now? I might as well! When else would I tell her? I'm not going to be here for her birthday. Sad as that is. So I told her.

She was ecstatic! Like so happy. Smiling non-stop and really just couldn't stop talking about it. It makes me so happy to see her that happy. I want her to always be like that.

 So we're going to travel! We're going to explore! Woo! We're going to A Coruna, Santiago, Madrid, and perhaps Ourense if we're feeling it. We're going to be there for San Jaun. THE Holiday that everyone talks about. I'm so excited to see what it's like and I'm excited to experience with it my mama. It'd also be with the baby of course but whatevs.

 We're leaving June 16th and it's going to be fab. I don't know if I can express how much I love my mother and how much she's influenced my life. She's an amazing person and I'm so grateful that she's my mother. 

I'd also like to thank all of you who donated to this gift of taking mom to Spain. I've been able to buy the plane ticket and book the airbnb. Thank you so much! You made this possible! I've saved and been able to pay a good chunk but without your peoples help it probably never would have been able to happen. It's going to be so amazing and I just can't explain how excited I am!

If this post seems all over the place I apologize. It's my feeling about my mother and how much I love her. And as much as she knows all this (I think) it's just hard to put my feelings into words sometimes.

Well till next time! Love you people! 

p.s. Sorry for no reaction pic. It totally slipped my mind. It was kind of a sudden decision to tell her so I don't know what to tell ya. Ciao!

What has life contained?

Practically everything! That's what! It's amazing how fast a month and a half can go by. 

 I had a babysitting gig in Del Ray. 

 We went to great falls with grandma while she was still with us. Grandma Carroll stayed like two weeks after mom got back from the hospital. 

 I went on cool river explorations with Norbaby while mom jogged the GW trail. 

Our cousin Elise came to visit for a week after Grandma. That was awesome! I'm really excited that she's letting me live with her in the beginning of my Utah life. :) She know's how to make people happy. A.K.A. Cupcake tasting. So delicious. 

 I've spent a lot of time with this little babe. He's a pretty nice baby. 

 I watched the kids for a week while mom and dad went to a funeral for my Uncle Jamie (technically cousin) in Washington. They said it was beautiful. I only met him a couple times but he was always nice to me. 

Anyway while they were away Jane decided she was going to be a good mom to her baby doll. I guess mom brainwashed her well. 

 A few days after mom and dad got back Grandpa Done came to visit. 

We all had really fun time! (even if I missed the traditional Red Robin run) He took me, Cella, and Aislyn to see Beauty and the Beast. It was a pretty fab movie. I really enjoyed the sets and the story was pretty good. Aislyn was squealing practically the whole time and Cella claims it's her favorite movie of all time. Disney has been surprising me with its remakes lately. 

We also went to Williamsburg. That was really cool since I haven't been in a couple years. I love seeing all the actors all decked out in their old timey garb. 

 This guy shot off a canon randomly and scared me and Jane. She didn't like it one bit. 

 One of the younger actors attempted flirting with me but I have jerk brother named Jairus who ruined it. Pulled me away and started making weird noises. Thanks Jairus. Not. 

 We got to see the fife and drum band do closing ceremonies so that was pretty awesome. 

 And of course old graves.

 And cute cottages. 

Grandpa left Sunday after church and moms delicious roast dinner. Overall it was a really enjoyable weekend. 

 Isn't this fruit so Unique? Me and Jairus went on a Wegmans trip because why not? He's my hilarious store buddy. He's especially fun in Target.

And then yesterday I went to see the dying Cherry Blossoms with my friend Jane. Even though the sudden cold damaged a lot of the blooms the survivors were still beautiful to look at. I'm just worried this will be my last time I get to see them. I guess I'll find out. 

Anway that's it for chronological events. In general I've started Nannying for Dawn Hawkins. She's an amazing person! She's the Executive Director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and she's a fabulous mother all at the same time! She's definitely someone I look up to. I love her and her kids. They're pretty dang sweet. 

I also turned 19. I guess that's something I should mention. It was a pretty fab birthday weekend. I got stuffed with food. Mom made me Cinnamon Rolls and Beef and Barley Stew on my actual birthday. The day before I hung out with my friend Alena and got to eat Pho. Then the day before that I was taken out to eat Mai Thai, which is the best Thai place I've ever been to, and Las Cuates, which is the best Mexican restaurant that we've been able to find here in the East. So good birthday.

I also bought a plane ticket to Washington so I could go to my practically adopted sister Johanna's wedding. I'm seriously so hyped for this you can't even possibly know! I'm so happy/excited for her! And not only do I get to go to a wedding I'm going out a little early so I can see some of my friends I haven't seen in ages. It's going to be a fun couple weeks. Fo Sho.

And after that fun couple weeks I'm headed directly to Utah to start my life as a young single person. Woo! Speaking of that if you readers would be willing to be on the lookout for jobs and cheap cars out there that would be great. Just let me know. I'm actually really excited to go out there though and be with all my family. And I don't know if I told you people but I've been accepted to Utah Valley University and will be going there in the fall. 

Anyway I think that brings you up to date. Mom's eye looks almost normal now and the baby is getting fat. So good progress there. Till next time! 

Mom's Back!

Mom got back yesterday! She's been a tad lazy since she got back. Good for nothing mother. 

Just kidding! Besides resting herself up and looking like a pirate she's been doing pretty good. She's been loving her baby non-stop. Leaving her babe was probably the most difficult part for her. 

 Me and Grandmum were in charge of Nor Baby. (That's what Jane calls him) He was miraculously well behaved. Never really cried, took a bottle like a champ, and slept as well as can be expected of a three week old baby. I think it was Heavenly Father blessing us because I don't think we could have done it if he was a bad baby. *cough*Jairus*cough* 

He really enjoyed being in the Moby so I looked like a young pregnant lady for most of the week. Partay.

The kids are all really happy to have mother back. The tension in the house has definitely gone down. Hallelujah! And as mom recovers hopefully everything will go back to complete normalcy. I know I've said this like the past three blog posts but thanks again to everyone who brought us food. I know it's not easy making food for 10-14 people. It made our lives simpler. And I'm sorry we couldn't ever really give you updates on mom when you stopped by. We didn't really know what was going on ourselves. So yes. Muchos Gracias!

In other news I'm missing me some Spain. I think I'm missing my friends and just the unknown of it all.  No matter! Hopefully soon if I can make some mulah I'll be moving to Utah soon enough. On that note if any of you got jobs for me I'll take 'em. I'll even babysit. I'm a pro at it in case you were wondering. 

As for fun things that I've been up to!  Before mom went to have her eyeball popped in and out of her socket me and Townsend and our friend Taamson went on a fun adventure to the mall/theater. We watched us some Lala Land. That movie was fab btw. My kind of random movie man. How was that for a film review? 

Barney is Townsend's new best friend. I've been replaced. It's tragic. 

Anyway hopefully you feel updated! Till next time! 

Baby Norman!

Baby Norman's here! He was 18.5" long and weighed 6.13 lbs at birth and who knows how long he is now. He was born at 7:30 a.m. exactly. It was a fun all nighter. I did take a small nap but it was Sarah who was the real champ! Didn't even take a nap once. Dad slept a lot and mom said that she wanted to punch him in the face. So that was funny. 

I helped catch baby Norman. I feel like I participated more in his birth than any of the others. Watching my siblings be born really has been an amazing experience. It's very emotional and spiritual and probably just good for the soul. I've been to 5 now and it's amazing how each one is different. I'm a little sad that mom's done having kids but I guess 9 is a good number to stop at. Anyway here's some cute baby pictures because I'm sure that's all you people really care about. 

   He definitely has the Judd nose. It's not as bad as Jane's though. So lucky him. 

 He's pretty dang adorable.

 He loves to sleep like this and it's the warmest comfiest thing ever.

 And today he was really contemplative about life. 

And now that the baby is here the next step is for mom to get her cancer treated. That's going to be hard but my grandma is coming out in a week to help with all of us youngins. Hopefully mom will only be in the hospital for a week and that's it. Mom has a CT scan Wednesday to see if it's spread anywhere else. Please pray for us that it hasn't. I'm pretty confident it hasn't but prayers are always good. I'd like to thank all those who've prayed and fasted so far for me mum and also to all those who've brought us food the past couple weeks. It makes everyone's life easier and it's a comforting feeling knowing that tons of people are praying for your fam. 

Meanwhile as I've been enjoying this baby and contemplating mom's cancerous life I've been trying to figure out what to do with my life. I've applied to a couple other Au Pair jobs in France, Greece, U.K., and Finland but we'll see if any of those get back to me. There's always the school option but idk I'm not really feeling it. If mom is better by March I think I'll still head to Utah for a couple months. I guess we'll see where life takes me! Well till next time! 

The Adventure Never Ends

The adventure never really ends. I came back to America and have been experiencing kind of a lull in my life. Nothing extremely exciting to look forward to and a lot of uncertainty of what I should do with my life. Well guess what guys! My mom has cancer! It's Choroidal Melanoma, a form of skin cancer, in the back of her left eye. It's a very rare form of cancer. Apparently only 6 in a million get it. Good news though is that it's highly treatable and there's a 97% chance that they can get rid of it entirely. That bit of news is probably one of the main reasons I'm not freaking out and crying in a ball on the floor. 

In all honesty though yesterday was a bit tearful for pretty much everyone in my house. As much as we know that she'll be fine and recover and still be our loving and amazing mother it's still stressful. She'll probably have to be induced and have the baby early in the hospital and then I'll be in charge of baby Norman for 5-7 days while mom has radiation treatment. I think that's the hardest part for mom and me. She'll be away from her newborn babe and I'll be in full responsibility of that babe. Luckily our friend Sarah will be out here and be able to help us and after that my grandma is going to come and help while mom recovers. 

And as much as we've had a difficult 24 hours so many people have reached out to me, mom, and dad with love and promises of prayer and fasting and offers to help with anything we need. It's truly a blessing and I know my parents may have already said it a little bit but thank you people for all of your love and support. It's amazing to be reminded of how many people love and care for my family and specifically my mother. 

Anyway let's move away from this depressing topic and onto something a little more cheerful. 

Monday the day before we found out about mom and her diseased eyeball we had a family fast and made the spontaneous decision to take a family day trip to Philadelphia. 

 So we did just that. We got there around dinner time so we headed to Reading Market for dinner.

And after that we visited the temple grounds of the Philadelphia temple. Even though it was just the grounds of the temple I love the peace and comfort the temple brings. It's a wonderful place.

So we drove 6 hours to spend maybe 3 hours in a different state. We're the pro day trippers. You may think we're kind of crazy to do that but we tend to do it quite often. It's fun.

With mom having cancer I've been a little uncertain of what I should do with my life. I feel if I left in March like my original plan I might feel guilty for leaving people. But you know I think the lord works in mysterious ways, as all the scriptures say. Meaning it's a good thing that I didn't get my visa. If I had I'd still be in Spain while my family was going through all of this. Instead I get to be with my family. As much as mom having a baby and has to be treated for cancel immediately afterwards is stressful, she should recover quickly. If we're lucky we'll hopefully be able to return to our normal every day lives fairly quickly. I'll still be able to go out and live on my own but still be able to support and be with my family when they need me. It's just amazing how everything works out. At least that's what I'm telling myself to keep myself happy for the time being. Anyway sorry for this really bummer blog post. I'm applying to be a traveling nanny with this family who is traveling the world for a year starting in July. I don't think I'll be chosen considering they probably have hundreds of people applying already but you never know where the world may take me! It sure would be an amazing experience! I have no doubt about that! 

Well next time I post I'll probably have a new baby brother. Till next time! 

2 Weeks Back

Two weeks from today I got back to the Americas. It's been a pretty good two weeks. I've worked at good ol' Occasionally Cake a couple times and just picked up odd jobs. Got to save up that money! I literally have a $1.87 left after all my adventures and Christmas present shopping. It's been fun. 

Anyway my Grandma and Aunt were in town until Saturday. So of course we had to do some kind of touristy thing. That turned out to be visiting the Natural History Museum. I've been there many times but it's always fun to visit. The dinosaur exhibit is closed for some reason. So that was kind of lame. It was pouring down rain all day so by the end of it we were cold and wet and ready to sleep. Which was nice for me. I've been taking Townsend to Seminary the past week. Yay for the lack of sleep. At least I get to go back to sleep afterwards.  

 And pretty much I just hung out with my siblings. Joan-Claire has not failed to tell me constantly about how I look pretty. Even after just having waking up and looking like death. It's very sweet of her.

And Jairus and Jane have just been my hangout buds. Really all of them have. They like to draw with me in my room most nights. It's usually fun. But often times very loud and chaotic. I guess that's what to be expected if you have 7 people in my small room. 

Anyway besides working and chilling with the fam I haven't done much. As I write this though I'm watching the Seahawks game and I would like you to know that I thoroughly disapprove of their Thursday night uniforms. Those colors man are fabulous. Woo. Also my mom wants to learn more about the European bog people. My dad just got home from a business trip. I made a chicken pot pie crumble for dinner. It was delicious. In case you were wondering.

Well till next time!

Back Home

My last week in Coruna was a good one. Tuesday I had the day to myself. 

 I decided to walk to Monte de San Pedro since I still hadn't been to it. 

 I passed this thing.

 I will miss the ocean.

 I had seen this octopus on the web and had wondered where it was. Apparently it was on the way to the mountain.

 A fishing boat. 

 Usually to get up the mountain you take this globe elevator. I however was very unlucky and no one was there to operate it. So I decided to take the long way up and walk for 2 miles. 

 The start of the walk.

 And cliffs along the way. 

 And rolling fields. 

 And wild flowers. 

 When I got to the top one of the first things I saw was this awesome maze. I couldn't go in it though because they were repairing it or something. I'm not really sure. The sign was in Spanish.

 And here was one of the views. I love how you'd think I'd take the most pics at the top. But no I took more on the journey up and down. It was really gorgeous though. And the grass was really soft. In case you were wondering. 

 Wednesday I had a goodbye coffee with my friends from Spanish class. Magdalena my Polish friend invited me to walk to Torres de Hercules afterward so that's what I did. 

 Hercules in a boat. Kind of random but a cool sculpture anyway.

 Old Celtic stones. 

 And Thursday I flew home. I had no problems in the airports. No problem going through customs. No delays in flights. It was great! My flight from Madrid to Boston I had a whole row to myself so I could stretch out. Really it was pretty awesome. 

 Dad picked me up from the airport and then I was bombarded by the children!

I did miss them. And I won't lie and say I didn't cry at all. The kids were all very sweet. They made me signs and put them on the door. Jane and Joan-Claire have been giving me spontaneous hugs and telling me they love me. Jairus cried for joy because I was home. Pretty much the whole family has been wonderful and loving and I'm so happy to be back with them. Spain was AMAZING! But I think 3 months is long enough time for me to be away. I just love my family to much to be gone any longer than that. 

My Grandma Judd and Aunt Sheree came into town a couple days before I got back. So they were there too. It's nice having family visit. Especially since I haven't seen them since July. So far my time has been great. I kind of feel like I haven't been gone. Today in church I spent half of sacrament sitting in the church foyer with Jane. Like a real mama Marley. I'll probably blog next week but I can't guarantee how interesting it'll be now that I'm back from my out of country adventures. Till next week!