Time with my mom

So, after Labor Day Weekend, we were raving so much about Travis' grandparent's place to my mom and telling her she should go sometime, that Travis had an idea. He suggested we run up there on Friday (last weekend) for the night. He even suggested staying the full weekend, but I didn't want to be away from the kids that long since I had to work on Monday. SO, surpisingly - that's what we did! At first, I woke up on Friday morning feeling SO tired, with the start of a sore throat and had a GRIP of things to do that day - starting with early morning grocery shopping. I downed an Emergen-C and laid on the couch thinking I was maybe going to be in bed all weekend. Surprisingly, I started feeling better quickly and was able to get up and function an hour or so later. Yay! Thanks God!

I picked my mom up in the early evening after Trav got home from school. The hard part was leaving Keira. I hadn't told her I was leaving until right before and she started crying when she found out I was leaving overnight. She wanted to come with us. I gave her lots of squeezes and assured her I would be home the next day. I was torn - but I knew I couldn't pass up this opportunity to get away kid-free with my mom - and give Travis some daddy time with the girls.

It was Friday, so of course the traffic was horrific. I listened to the traffic report on the way to mom's and it was stopped or slow pretty much everywhere. I had a surprise suggestion for her. I still owed her our mother/daughter pedicure from her b-day back in May so I said, "Let's go get that now, instead of sitting in traffic." There's an awesome place at Mall 205 that has like 8 chairs and they do a really good job. So, we went there. By the time we left an hour later, traffic was smooth sailing. It was a great start to our little trip.

We chatted with Trav's grandma when we got there until pretty late and then went to bed. The next morning, we munched on fruit and pastries and I was glued to the Food Network. I have missed my cooking shows! LOL. I actually got some great recipes that I came home and saved in my recipe favorites to try later. It was so fun to lay on the couch, watch cooking shows and read during the commercials.

We went to the tea house for lunch with grandma. We both figured mom needed to experience it. I did really good though! I didn't gorge myself and took most of the desserts and scones home. I mainly just ate the little sandwiches.

Then, when we got back mom and I explored a couple of beaches and took a walk. Of course, I didn't bring my purse - just my license so I wasn't lugging anything around, so I forgot my camera. I didn't take a single picture all weekend!

After our driving/walks, we just hung out for a bit, cleaned up the guest house, and relaxed. We went to a yummy little diner with Sherman and Grandma in Gerabaldi. It was right on the wharf down by the boats. It's just a hole-in-the wall little place but the seafood is amazing! I got a shrimp salad and chowder. Mom had halibut and chips and I tried it. All of it was delicious. We got back into town around 8pm. It was a great little get-away and I am thankful we got that opportunity.

Keira's first day of school

So it came upon us...quicker thatn I expected. Keira started pre-school last Thursday, Sept 10th. I got up early, with a pit in my stomach. I was going to miss our morning routine, but I tried not to be too sad so I could be excited for her. She woke up around 7:40 and came running excitedly into the kitchen. She knew what day it was and she was SO excited. We ate breakfast together, brushed her teeth and picked out an outfit. She insisted on wearing a dress with tights. That's my girl! She loves dressing up. So even though I had been dreading not having any time with her, I got a lot of special time, just her and I getting her ready. When we had been eating breakfast she said, "I love eating with family." So cute. Just another thing to make me realize how important family meals are to sit and talk and spend time together. She's four and it's already special to her.

So, she was ready and I took pictures of her and her cute princess backpack. I had to actually wake Mia up because she was still asleep and it was almost time to leave. I just opened her room door and she slowly woke up on her own, which was nice. I got her ready, and we were out the door. We got to school and had to wait outside for a little bit because they have the doors locked until exacly 9am. We ran into Keira's friend Amanda who is going there for the three year old class so we were able to get a picture of them together. It was pretty cute.

We went into Keira's class and I sat on the floor while Keira got oriented. Her teacher is SO sweet - she taught my niece when she was four and she is just such a great lady. Her mom and my grandma were best friends, so that makes it even more special. Keira played with some legos for a little bit and then a spot opened up at the painting table. She was all over it. Mia and I stayed while she started to paint. I got a little bit worried because there was one boy who was having a HUGE meltdown after his mom left. She looked at me and said, "did he fall down?" I said something along the lines of, "probably". That seemed to satisfy her and she went back to painting. He even ended up on the floor behind her crying and thrashing around. She looked at me and I said, "he's going to be okay." She nodded and went back to painting. I asked her once if she wanted me to stay or go and she still wanted me to stay, so we waited and made friends with some kids at the table. Eventually, she said, "It's okay mom, you can go." She sounded quietly confident and it made me feel good and sad at the same time. I think the hardest part was just getting in the car and driving home - even though it's only a few blocks. It was weird LEAVING her in a building without being there with her, like when we go to church. I'm used to being just a classroom or two away, not in another location.

We got home and I fed Mia breakfast. Now it was time for our special time together. We ran to Costco and ran into some other mom's there from the preschool. Funny. My mom will be picking her up but she didn't know where she was going so I went with her and Mia to show her where the classroom was. Plus, I really wanted to be there to pick her up on her first day. When she came out, she was beaming from ear to ear. She had had a great day. Her only frustration was not enough time outside - lol.

Our Awesome Weekend

Travis' grandparents (mom's side) have a summer home in Netarts, OR. They have invited us to come visit them for quite a while, letting us know they have a guest house and we would be totally welcome. We have always wanted to come stay and finally got our opportunity this weekend. Travis had to go to Cannon Beach for an overnight school retreat on Thursday so it was the perfect opportunity to pick him up on Friday and head down. We got there around 3pm. I had a picture in my mind of what it would look like, but I had no idea what to really expect. The house was beautiful. it isn't directly on the ocean but on a bay that connects to the ocean. They are raised up on a hill and their living room has HUGE windows that overlook the whole bay. The view is amazing. Behind their home, is a quaint little guest house. That was where we stayed. It was adorable. It had a living room and a kitchen connected to it - all one room and two little bedrooms with a bathroom. There was a TV with full cable which Travis of course loved - lol. When I walked in, I noticed coloring books and crayons on the table for the girls, plus two little dolly's for each of them. There was a bowl of fruit on the table and various breakfast pastries on the counter, not to mention a plate of freshly baked cookies on the table as well. It has the cutest little fridge/sink/stove combo in the kitchen and I opened the fridge to find juice boxes for the kids, a container of orange juice, bottled water, and beer. There was also a couple of bottles of wine. I felt like royalty. Not only did they provide a beautiful place to stay, but all of the little touches were so personalized. I was overwhelmed. It made me think - this is the kinds of stuff our heavenly Father loves to do for us, lavish us with personal gifts. I wonder how many times we recognize gifts from Him or do we just take things for granted and never thank Him?

ANYWAY, back to the weekend. I spent most of the afternoon chatting with Trav's grandma while the kids ran around the fun new house exploring with Sherman (Trav's step-grandpa) and Travis napped. For dinner, Sherman cooked cheeseburgers - only they weren't just cheeseburgers...they had the most amazing green chili spread on them that he made from scratch. I don't really know how to describe it, other than I hadn't tasted anything like it before. He roasted some green chiles (they were pretty mild) and did some sort of magic to them, mixing them with things like sour cream, cream cheese, I think he said mayo, vinegar and salt and pepper. I felt like I was eating in a gourmet restaurant. I guess he likes to watch the Food Network and cooking is just sort of his hobby. It was amazing - and the potato salad he made, I hadn't had anything like that either. My KIDS even ate most of their hamburgers and potato salad and neither of them really like potato salad so that says something.

After dinner, we drove down to the beach so the girls could play. Netarts is right next to a place called Oceanside and that is the beach we took them, too. We brought all their sand toys so they had a ball playing in the sand. It was a beautiful night, but you could see the rain moving in from the ocean. Eventually, it started sprinkling so we left. When we got back to the house, we decided to call it a night since the girls didn't have naps and they definitely needed a bath. We bathed them and put them to bed in one of the bedrooms. I was a little uneasy about putting Mia in that big bed, because she fell out of the bed when her and I were sharing a bed once but I put pillows all around the sides of the bed so I felt like she would be okay. For some reason, I had a hard time falling asleep. I woke up at 3:30 and was wide awake. I should have gone and checked on the girls right then, but I didn't. A few minutes later I heard a thump and then screaming. I knew Mia had fallen off the bed. I went running in and automatically went to her side - she wasn't there. She was clear at the foot of the bed on Keira's side...of course, where no pillows were. Dang it! I was trying to comfort her and get her back to sleep when I noticed my shirt was covered in blood. We took her into the light and she had bitten through her lip in two spots. She also had a little bit of blood in her nose. Poor baby! She really smashed her face on the ground. So, I got in bed on one side of her and Travis got in on the other side of Keira. It was a family bed...lol. I did NOT sleep well that night but I was glad to be next to my kiddos. They seemed to sleep really well. I was on a tiny corner of the bed, trying to stay on, but it was good for the kiddo snuggles!

Saturday, we got up and Sherman made a fantastic breakfast...of course. Then Trav's Aunt Colleen got there with his cousin Sean. All of us but Colleen went to Cape Meares and saw the lighthouse. The day turned out beautiful! We thought it was going to rain all day but it didn't. It was completely blue skies. After we came back from the lighthouse all of us girls went to a tea house. Trav's grandma raved about this place and had asked me if I thought my girls would like it. I told her they would love it. So, she treated us to lunch there which was AMAZING - little, fancy sandwiches, scones, and to DIE for desserts. Not to mention, the tea was delicious. The girls got their own fancy "kids" plates and they brought them strawberry lemonade in fancy tea pots. There were hats and scarves and gloves that they could dress up with. It was so much fun.

We came back and took naps - the girls took AWESOME naps. We brought in Mia's pack-n-play. I'm REALLY glad I decided to bring it, just in case. She slept really well in that and I think she felt a lot safer being closed in - and we didn't have to worry. By the time Keira woke up it was almost dinner time. Mia was still sleeping and Trav's mom and sister, Meghan had just gotten there, so I came up to the house to say hi. Mia woke up just in time for dinner. Sherman outdid himself again and made prime rib, macaroni and cheese with like 5 cheeses in it, green beans, bread with this bruschesta stuff that I could have just eaten by the spoonful. It was so delicious. After dinner, we just all sat around and drank red wine and chatted. It was fun to hear old stories. Travis, Sean and the little kids went downstairs and watched the Disney channel. I think I went to bed before Keira that night - lol! I finally took Mia to bed I think around 11. Travis and I slept in one room with her in the pack-n-play. Meghan slept on the couch in the guest house and Ronna slept in the other bedroom with Keira.

Sunday morning Trav's Uncle David, his fiancee and two sons showed up. We were up at the house around 8:30 and no one was up. We wore his poor grandparents out! We chatted and drank coffee for a while before Sherman came out. He was surprised to see us all in his living room. He made buttermilk pancakes and bacon for breakfast which were awesome, of course. I got to work on cleaning up our stuff and then we were all going to the cheese factory, then we were heading home. When we got there, though, it was SO crowded and it had rained most of the morning so there were huge puddles in the parking lot. Travis and I decided to opt out on the factory. Keira was upset but we went to another little cheese factory down the road and they had a little petting zoo. The girls had fun with that. They were definitely tired and we needed to get them home. We stopped at a little mom and pop place for lunch and even though it was 4 when we got them down for naps, we didn't hear a peep out of them. We had a great time.

Thinking about stuff

So, I am reading through the Bible - turns out, very slowly...but I have decided to read it through. I heard someone say that she reads it through twice a year and she has done it for years now and said that every time she reads it, it totally changes her life. God gives her something new each time. I was pretty amazed by that. I am not putting pressure on myself to read it through in six months. I do not pick it up every day - sometimes only once a week. But when I go too long without reading it, I definitely feel that hunger to hear what God's precious Word has to say to me. This week, I read about Joseph - obviously - I'm still in Genesis...lol. Anyway, his story completely got me thinking. He was pretty much an old man that had endured a pretty awful life before he even had a clue as to what God was doing with him. He was betrayed by his brothers, thrown in a pit, sold to the Egyptians. Then, he was doing well and "prospering" as a slave in Egypt but then he was betrayed by Potipher's wife and thrown in prison. He helped a couple people out in prison and all he asked was that they remember him when they talked to Pharoah. Did the guy remember?? Not until TWO years later...wow. That really sucks. But yet he still trusted God - and he trusted God with his gift - interpreting dreams. I think the thing that amazes me most is that when he was pretty much running all of Egypt because he had been obedient to God, he did not hold a grudge against his brothers. He wept for them. He even told them that them throwing him into that pit was NOT their fault. That GOD had had a complete purpose in doing that. Amazing. He did not see the culmination of what God was going to do with his life, until he was old. He didn't get to grow up with his family and only got to see his father a little bit before he died, but he understood that God had a bigger plan and eventually, he got to spend all eternity with them. I look at my life and see how quick I am to blame others or to not exhibit grace or mercy - only giving to someone when they are giving to me. Maybe it took those years and years of Joseph being away from his family to forgive them - maybe he forgave them right away. It doesn't really say. But he got there. He was faithful to God and God was faithful to him. His story spurred me on to keep on, keepin on. To show grace always. That is hard for me. I want to be the judge. Joseph did mess with his brothers a little - I wondered if that was sort of "getting back" at them for all they put him through. But in the end, he blessed them HUGE. They didn't deserve it. Sort of like what God does for me every day. I don't deserve the free gift of salvation. I don't deserve to be able to walk into His presence and have a relationship with him, but he gives me HUGE blessings - probably the majority of which I haven't even discovered yet. Hmm. I can definitely learn from Joseph. Use the gifts God has given me with confidence. Don't hold grudges - this life is to short to stay angry. Believe that God has a purpose for my life, even though I may not see how he's working in my current situation. Stay faithful in ALL my actions. God see's everything - including the darkest areas of my heart where I even try to fool myself sometimes.

That's all for now...still processing.

Summer Highlights

WOW - it has been two months and one day since I posted last...time has flown and lots has happened. Here are a some of the high and low lights :-)

June 12-15th - Travis and I celebrated eight years of marriage by taking a trip to San Francisco. It was the first time we had been on an airplane since the girls were born. Surprisingly...I was ready. I went gung-ho down the ramp to board the plane. I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy traveling - and flying! Travis had even booked me a window seat as a surprise. We spent part of the trip with our good friends Josh and Meredith. We ate at the Rain Forest Cafe and spent much of the time roaming the city on foot. Travis and I took a trip to Alcatraz which was really interesting. The whole time we were there, the weather was beautiful. I fell in love with San Francisco.

June 25th - I was laid off from my job. This was a bit unexpected, yet I hadn't been able to shake the feeling for a while now that I was supposed to NOT be at Willamette Dental anymore. I was having a hard time going - while I loved my co-workers and I really did enjoy my work, I just was feeling unsettled. When I got laid off, it was like all of the pieces fell into place in my head. God had been preparing me for that moment. It was a bit surreal at first, but it didn't take long for both Travis and I to really appreciate what had happened - that I would have a time at home with him and the girls before his crazy school schedule would start.

June 26th - Mia turns two! We had her birthday party on Saturday the 27th with an Elmo theme (of course). The kid LOVES Elmo. My sister-in-law, Meghan made an AWESOME cake (like usual). We had a great time celebrating in our yard. The weather was warm, but not in the hundreds like last year - thankfully!

We took a couple of weekend camping trips in July. One with my mom, aunt and uncle, cousin and his family and the other one with my sister and her family. Other than the weather was HOT and made being IN the trailer pretty uncomfortable, we had a good time. The kids love being outdoors.

Last weekend we even did a spontaneous road trip to the beach. It was last minute - we threw in ONE bag that had all of our stuff in it, took some toys for the kids and headed out. We are fortunate enough to have an open invitation at Travis' grandma's house - actually both of his grandma's have houses at the beach, which is really cool. We got there around 9:30 on Saturday evening after stopping for dinner in Beaverton. We had a blast with the girls on Sunday - went to the acquarium, walked around downtown Seaside, played in the sand, fed the seagulls, and Keira and I went to the park while Travis and Mia took a three hour nap! Our trip was sort of a "test run" to see if we could actually successfully pull off a last minute trip - because that is what they will probably be during these next few years with Travis in some pretty intense school.

August 10th - I started a new job!! Pretty amazing - I lost my job on a Thursday, saw a posting for this job on the next Monday and applied for it, got a call on Tuesday, had a phone interview on Wednesday. The rest of the process slowed down a bit because they were weeding through over 200 applicants!! I ended up going in for a working interview and then they were trying to decide betweein me and one other person so we had to both do a personality test. I was told mine came out just a tiny bit stronger so I got the job! It is at a dental office in Vancouver and so far it seems great. The only hard time I've had is that it is in the afternoon so I tend to get sleepy right when I get there. I still have to get up early in the mornings to get some things done before the kiddos wake up. I love what I'm learning though and the staff seems pheonominal - like they really work well together. I'm very excited to still be in the dental field and to learn more about how things work in a private practice. Plus, I will still have Fridays off and will keep my hours around 30 per week.

August 15th - the girls were in Trav's cousin Jenni's wedding. This was Keira's second wedding as a flower girl, and Mia's first. It was so cute to watch them and they did really. Mia managed to stay up there for about the first 10 or 15 minutes which was WAY better than I thought she would since she had a really hard time at the rehearsal.

TODAY - August 17th - Travis starts dental school! As I write this, he is three minutes into his class. One HUGE praise is that my uncle has a house right above the school and he is letting Travis park his truck there!! PTL!!! There is NO parking for the first two years and he was really stressed out about taking public transportation and the time that would add on to his commute. My uncle just called us last night to tell us it was okay. Parking is really crazy up there and people that LIVE there have to have a permit to park on the street because it was used so much for the school.

Yesterday, we went to a picnic for new students. Of course, it was a bit awkward at first. Nobody really talked to us so we just sat down at a picnic table and started feeding the girls chips lol. We did end up meeting a few really nice people. There was one couple there that had a baby and the girls of course wanted to go see the little boy, so we got to know them a little bit. They moved here from Montana for him to go to school and they know no one. I really feel for them - especially the girl who will be at home with that little boy, not having any friends or family around. We exchanged numbers and I hope to keep in touch with her and maybe set up a play date in the next few weeks. They had a contest at the picnic and Travis was the 2nd oldest student - the first oldest was also 32 but his b-day was a little before Trav's. Travis did win the prize for the most kids, though. We were the ONLY ones there with two kids. ACK! But then we got to talking about it, any other students with kids probably stayed home, because the picnic WAS right at nap time. lol

So, here we begin the start of a new era...I'm sure these next four years will be tough - but we have SO much to be thankful for. I can't even begin to express how grateful I am to be able to stay in town, in our house, with numerous friends and family to support us.

Until next time...whenever that may be. :-)

Funny last day of swimming lessons

I almost forgot to blog this, with the craziness of life lately but thankfully I remembered. Saturday, June 6th was the girls last swimming lesson. It was more of a "fun" day. The pool has like four or five different pools - some connected, some not. The pool that Keira's class was held in had a huge curly slide that came down into it. She always said she wanted to go in that, but it was never turned on during lessons. There is this little stream thing that we go around and create a "current". Our class was going around it and Keira and I were the last ones back into the regular pool. We just caught the tail end of the instructor telling us that we were going to get to go down the water slide. COOL! She had apparently given some instructions...none of which we heard, but we headed on up to the top of the slide anyway.

We watched as others went down and then it was our turn. Keira sat on my lap and as we took off, I ended up being pulled on my back. We literally CATAPULTED our way around that thing. I was "wooo-hooo"ing because it was like a ride at a waterpark. We were going crazy fast. Needless to say, we both crashed into the water - going under of course. The force had pulled us back so much there was no way I could keep her head out of the water. We were in for it.

When we came up for air, I could tell Keira was beginning to panic at what had just happened. I was calming her down when I realized my vision was blurry. The force of the crash into the water had knocked my glasses off!! I immediately alterted the instructors and they put their goggles on and dove in. People kept coming down the slide, and I prepared myself for the worst - mangled, broken glasses. To my surprise, they were perfect! PTL! I put them on and we waited for Travis and Mia to come down. They came down nice and slowly and Trav lifted Mia out of the water at the end...just like all of the other kids and their parents. He was laughing at me when he got out. He said, "Didn't you hear the instructions? You are supposed to sit up and spread your feet apart to get you to go slower." Information I could have used PRIOR to shooting out like a cannonball. I would do it again, though. ;-) It was awesome.

Oh, and both girls got certificates saying they passed the class. Mia is too little to move on yet but Keira got awarded to move on from "Starfish" to "Goldfish". Yea girls!

Trav's birthday

Trav's birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, which is a day he had school. I had planned on getting him a gun he really wanted for his birthday and had done a lot of researching on it. My brother-in-law, Nate helped me SO much by finding out exactly which gun it was and where I could get it. Turns out it is a very popular model which in turn means it is hard to come by! I had put an order in for it three weeks before and they said it should only take two weeks...it still was not in though, when I called the day before his birthday. My mom was pitching in $$ so the present was going to be from both of us. I had decided to just print off a picture of the gun and give him that, since we did not have the actual gun.

I woke up extra early on that day and had to WILL myself to get out of bed. I got to Starbucks around 5am and got Trav one of his favorite drinks and an old fashioned donut. I got home and was getting ready for work when Keira woke up, all on her own. The first words out of her mouth were, "Happy birthday daddy!!" How sweet is that?? She went and hugged him since he was still in bed and scratched his back. Cute little punkin!! She wanted to make his day special, too. Both girls were able to wish him happy birthday before he went to school.

I got off work at 3pm, which is three hours early for me. I wanted to make sure I had some time to spend with Trav on his actual birthday and we could celebrate in some way or another. When I got off work, I had a message from the gun place. His gun was in!! I was SO excited. If everything worked out - we had a chance of getting back to pick it up in time before they closed.

I went home and picked Trav up. We went to get the girls and I was so excited about "something" he was worried there might be a surprise party waiting for him. LOL. When I gave him the picture of his gun, he was excited but he said he already kinda knew. I guess he was suspicious but trying to not get his hopes up - just from some of the conversation he had had with my brother in law. Then I got to tell him the gun actually was in and we could go get it! That was the best part. We were able to go out there and pick it up before going to his mom's house for dinner. Once he actually had the gun he was super excited.

We had his favorite pizza with his mom and sisters and his mom's house. His mom also made two amazing pies - banana cream and chocolate cream. He got to show off his new "piece". He seemed to enjoy our time together with his family. It was a fun evening.