Aaron Baillio’s Blog

Well, Halloween is upon us!  We are having a great time with it.  The last few years we really haven’t done much but this year with Will really being old enough to kind of appreciate it, we are getting into the spirit.  We have had the 5 days of Halloween kind of.  We had a fire one night.  Sunday we carved a pumpkin and watched Harry Potter.  Last night we made home made carmel apples.  Tonight I think we are going to make smores outside in the fire pit and for Halloween we are going to a trunk or treat on base and then come home and watch Monster House.  So, we are enjoying it.  Kristin’s mom got us our costumes.  Asher is going to be a horse and Will is a pirate.  He even got a little foam sword!  I thought he would like the sword a little more.  He has decided it is more fun to take off the handle and swirl it around in the toiler and other various places.  Well, what’cha gonna do? 

Saturday we busted our humps to lay down a retaining wall for the yard.  It was a lot of shoveling, digging and carrying these massively heavy stones to build it.  We almost got the bottom row done.  We had the missionaries help us out and our land lord and his mom got to socialize with them and that was cool.  The missionaries actually came back on Monday, their P-day, and finished the bottom row.  It was funny, one of out neighbors who is also building a house there, came up to the elders as they were working and said that the wall looked terrible and that they were doing a poor job.  It was funny.  When Kristin was telling me the story I was expecting an awesome story about someone coming to ask the missionaries about the church.  Instead, he made fun of their unprofessional work!  

Well, still waiting on guitar hero…stupid mail.  Oh well.  We are heading to Bavaria soon so that will be fun.  We’ll keep posting pics! 

Well, seems like our question about whether we stay or go may finally be answered. Looks like we will probably be staying and our pay will get fixed. When I graduate from my intern program, they will be able to give me enough of a raise to get me back to where I would have been if I had stayed in the states. Nothing is set in stone yet and if they don’t offer to do it than we are heading back to Oklahoma. They said there is no space in San Antonio so we either stay here or go back to OKC.

We are not sure how to feel about this whole experience. First we really wanted to go home. I know we both did mostly to put all this behind us. Adjusting was difficult and with all the problems with the house (construction) and medical bills we just wanted to put it all behind. Then I came back from my class and we thought, well, maybe we can stick this out. So then we started swaying back to staying. Then we thought we could choose and we still might be able to. We signed on for 3 years and we want to follow it through. But, there are some conveniences about being in the states that you just can’t ignore.

We have also been considering the spiritual implications. This was one crazy test of faith…or test of something. Granted, I was never in a risk to loose my job, but it was a significant amount of money (future earnings) that was lost and still is until I graduate from the PAQ program. We definitely felt like we should come here but we haven’t found out why yet. So it was weird that we should be going home. So, it has all been quite an experience. It isn’t over yet, but hopefully soon.

Finally, the house stuff is slow going which isn’t unusual. They took the window out of the laundry room where there is supposed to be a door but didn’t put in the door. So now that it is cold out, we ahve a gaping hole in the house. And because the cat box is in there and the trash cans and a fridge, we are always in and out! Plus we have to leave it open all night so out stupid cat doesn’t take a dump on something else. So, we have to get that fixed soon. I posted some more pics on our gallery so go check it out (picassa – aaron.baillio). Anyway, more updates to come.

This game is totally gonna rock! I really can’t hardly wait….I nearly have to change my underpants just thinking about it. How awesome is it gonna be? SO AWESOME! Plus, there are a couple other features unique to the Wii. The handle plugs right into the guitar and gives you extra sounds and movements. But, anyone can play anyone online and that feature will be available on the Wii. (Of course, I have to get broadband to use it). The soundtrack is pretty cool. I am looking forward to songs from RHCP, Cream, Poison, Guns’n'Roses, Velvet Revolver, Metallica and Rage. It’ll be a lot of fun. Have I pre-ordered it you ask? Of course! It doesn’t come out for another 15 days, but I am prepared.

There are other cool things happening here. Our landlord has finally decided to get to work on our house. Last Saturday he came out with his mother-in-law to plan out a course of action. We also took some shovels and hoes and leveled some dirt mounds and pulled weeds. This week Gloria (our landlord’s mom) came and planted some greenery and mulch in some areas. So, we are on the way. This Saturday we will get ready to put the fence in. Thursday some guys came to do electrical work on the front stair piece. That construction should be completed here soon. Ray (the landlord) wants him to finish the inside as soon as possible so that it can be usable. That way we can move some stuff downstairs and actually use the whole house and not have that bottom floor as just a storage area. Right now all we have down there is a storage room, our new treadmill (yes, a treadmill!), a kitchen table and antoher room with the computer and an air mattress. We rarely go down there. Anyway, I am looking forward to that being done.

As far as the whole job thing goes, we still don’t know anything. I think we may be leaning toward staying now, but it all still depends. There are a lot of uncertainties still. We’ll see. I am in a new position now that will provide me a lot more opportunity in the future so we’ll see where this leads.

Will and Asher are both doing great. Fortunately they both sleep well. We still have to keep Will in a onesy cause he prefers to be naked. He can’t undo the onesy. It is getting colder but the last week or so has been gorgeous. We are planning to do a trip out to the Bavarian part of Germany right before Thanksgiving. That should be fun.

Well, that’s all for now! Talk to you later!