Sunday, August 13, 2017

Cousins and prayer

This week I slowed things down a bit and mostly stayed home. On Wednesday I had Emily and her kids over to play and we had a good visit and the kids were so excited to play with their cousins. Maybrie and Thomas keep asking me if they can have friends over and it is hard for me to tell them I have no one else to call if one of the couple families we've met so far aren't available. Our circle will grow in time, but right now I'm so glad they have each other to play with and cherish the times they play well together. 
On Thursday we met Holli and her girls upriver at Loeb. Ashley Pieren and the Marks teenage girls were there too. Thanks to the "babysitters" I didn't have to swim, which was nice because it was breezy and cooler that day. The Haurand's had their kayak and the three older kids had so much fun with it. It was a fun afternoon and I'm so grateful for the new friendships we are building. That night Maybrie got to have her cousin Emma spend the night. We don't do sleepovers, but made an exception for family. We watched A Cinderella Story and they stayed up too late talking and then played all day Friday. 
Friday night we took Emma back home when we went to their house to celebrate William's 8th birthday. It was a nice treat to have grilled burgers and chicken since we don't have a grill right now. It was fun a fun visit with the kids not wanting to leave when it was time to go. 
On Saturday we got to sleep in and then we broke down and bought a few yard tools. I'm excited to get outside and teach the kids how to work in the yard. Clearing the flower bed of weeds was highly satisfying to me! After lunch we headed down to the port to check out the Pirate Festival. We learned that unless we want to blow money on fair type food and random trinkets from vendors, we won't be going again! We also witnessed many interesting pirate costumes. The highlights were seeing a mermaid and some pirate sword fighting. 
Today Brian and I spoke in church. I spoke on why we rely on prayer. It was really good for me to spend time studying and preparing for my talk throughout the week. I feel better each week we go to our new ward, meeting more people and slowly put names and faces together. Every bit of familiarity and smile I receive helps me feel more encouraged and at peace about living here. Two little side notes about Henry... he finally got a new car seat and he is beginning to learn how to use utensils (messy, messy!).










Monday, August 7, 2017

Sickness and settling

The last week of July started out with me waking up sick... I caught Brian's sore throat/cold.  I decided to "take the day off" and besides feeding and meeting the children's basic needs I napped and read. It was actually kind of nice. But then as the week went on I had to continue to fulfill my household duties despite feeling rather lousy. The kids were fine playing inside the first half of the week, but then we needed to get out.

On Thursday Brian drove to Redmond for his work conference. That day the kids and I met my friends Kate Cannon and Holli Haraund and their girls at the library to meet Smokey Bear. A forest ranger was there to teach the kids about fire safety and read a book about Smokey. Then the kids got to build their own little campfire crafts. We played in the kid section for a bit afterward. That night a sister in our ward, Holly Hatch, brought her daughters Alanna and Rebekah over to babysit so I could go with her to a girl's night at Pancho's mexican restaurant in town. It was so kind of her to offer help and good to get to know her. The dinner was tasty and the company was good. There was a range of ages from young moms to moms of teens to an empty nester. While I did have a good time I can tell it is going to take more work to find common ground with these women who have such varying backgrounds and current life situations than me. Now that we are in the "real world" and out of school, there aren't those instant connections with so many in the same situation as us anymore. It kind of made me homesick for my friends and the familiar girl's night I enjoyed back in Indy.

Feeling a little bummed out and lonely Friday morning I decided I needed to be brave and invite someone over. I called Holli Haraund, even though we just met and invited her three oldest girls over to play. They were over all afternoon. The kids had fun and it felt good to give Holli a relaxing afternoon. Best of all, it built new friendships.

On Saturday I took the kids to the library to turn in their summer reading logs and pick out their two prizes. We then went and bought them life jackets at Bi-mart so they can safely swim in the river. Then we headed up to Loeb state park for the ward BBQ. It turns out meeting ward members is practically pointless when you are running around feeding and looking after four kids by yourself... go figure! haha The kids loved swimming and playing in the river for their first time,  and I was completely beat by the time I had them all bathed and in bed. Church the next day was a real marathon for me too. When daddy got home that afternoon we, me especially, were so happy to have him home!
 Brian's desk because the company has yet to order him one! 

 dress ups with Annie and Kayla
 A little birdy stopped by to say hi

By Monday, the 31st, I was finally feeling better. That night we had Emily and her kids over for FHE and dessert. It was fun to visit with Em and the kids had fun playing. On Tuesday, I met Kate and her girls at a new, to us, beach called Mill Beach. It was gorgeous, nice warm 80 degrees, and we had a lot of fun. But with the cooler temps here I didn't even think about sunblock and my legs got fried and my arms a little bit too. I'm finding that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with going to the beach with kids... it is so fun, but a lot of work cleaning up the sand afterward. I'm still learning all of the tricks to make our outings run smoother.

Wednesday was my birthday. We went to the library for story time. The theme was biology and we made slime with way too much glitter. Then we went to Azalea park where the kids played for a bit until Brian came and met us for a picnic lunch. Brian told me that his assistant quit and the other dentist just bought his own practice and will be leaving at the end of the month. He kind of feels like he walked into a war zone! Afterward, I dropped Maybrie off at Sandy's house for a play date and stopped at Fred Meyer to refill my prescription. I was thrilled to find out it cost only $11... our health insurance doesn't kick in until 60 days after Brian's first day of work, which will be in mid September. Both Ezra and Henry fell asleep on the way home so I got to take a nap while they napped and Thomas watched a movie. It was wonderful. Brian picked up Maybrie and pizza after work and made me a Yum Yum cake. It was all delicious and stress free. I forgot to mention Brian brought me flowers and a card Tuesday night and got me a pair of Chacos, so now I have some waterproof sandals for the river and all the rain here. Oh and Maybrie made me cupcakes and a few pearler bead creations with her friend along with a sweet card. I always love receiving so many birthday wishes from family and friends reminding me just how blessed I truly am.

On Thursday we met up with Emily and her kids at the Del Norte county fair in Crescent City. The kids, especially Henry, loved seeing all of the animals. They also had a cute "pretend to be a farmer" activity and old schoolhouse to go in. We saw a youth melodrama and shared some cotton candy, slushy, and kettle corn. It wasn't even close to as cool as the Indiana State Fair, but we had a fun little outing. That night we gave Henry his first hair cut and he looks so cute and big. I'll miss his curling baby hair, but he really is acting like a toddler now, so I think it was time.

On Friday I cleaned house so that we could play with Brian on Saturday. The kids were good little helpers with the bathrooms and windows... I really need to teach them how to clean more! I made the mistake of taking a nap only to wake up to Ezra having locked Henry and himself in their bathroom. Henry was screaming and I couldn't get the door unlocked. I finally asked Maybrie and Thomas to kneel down with me and asked Thomas to say a prayer that I'd be able to open the door. It opened on my next try. Ezra had emptied a bunch of bottles of baby lotion, creams, disinfectant wipes and such all over the floor, plus rubbed a bunch in his and Henry's hair. It was such a mess! It's been a while since Ezra has wreaked that much havoc! Luckily, I had a date to look forward to after cleaning the mess. Abby Marks babysat and she was great... and bonus, she can drive so we didn't have to pick her up. We went to Khun Thai for dinner which was pretty good. Then we went on a little walk down Mill beach... we didn't last long because we forgot to bring jackets. We went for a drive, window shopped and grabbed a few groceries at Fred Meyer, shared a blizzard at DQ, and came home to a quiet house with all the kids sleeping. It was a good night.

On Saturday we took the kids to Art in Park at Stout Park in town. They had some fun things to look at from various vendors, a neat train display and a kid's art area. Then we went upriver to Loeb and we all had fun swimming and playing in the water. The weather was great. It was a fun family outing... everything is better when daddy is around!

On Sunday we went to church. I bore my testimony and Maybrie was very brave giving her talk in primary. We had the Blatter's and Lassen's over for a Cafe Rio dinner. Good food and company, though I must admit doing it kind of stressed me out. I really want to invite people over to make more friends, but I think I may need to just do dessert or something for a while. I need to cut myself some slack and be okay with taking some time to acclimate to my new surroundings. Sometimes this change is just plain hard. Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention is that in an effort to help Maybrie sleep better and stay in bed (she was coming out multiple times a night and staying up till 11 or so every night, it was a nightmare!) I decided to start reading aloud to her before bed. Last week we started reading Little House in the Big Woods and it has been really good for us. She has been staying in bed and falling asleep faster. Phew! Now on to the twenty million other things I want/need to tackle as a parent! Slowly and surely we are settling in to our new life. Oh, and Maybrie and Thomas learned to ride their bikes without training wheels! Woot! Woot!












 The almost daily deer sightings

 Art in the Park





Sunday, July 23, 2017

Brookings

It has been a long time since I've blogged because I didn't have a computer this past year. Now that Brian has started his first job and his school laptop is free to use, I'm out of excuses! Seriously though, I've missed it. I want to record my personal and family history and I think it will be therapeutic as well. 

So, we now live in Brookings, Oregon! It is a small town of 6,000 people on the southern most coast of Oregon, just across the border from California. It is isolated... 2 1/2 hours to Medford where the temple, Costco, and real shopping is. The weather is mild with temperatures in the 50-60's year round, only getting up to 80, maybe 90 further inland in the summertime. We are thrilled that Brian graduated from dental school and has a real career and, to be honest, will finally be making money! But it is also a very weird transition leaving our school years behind and especially our Indy home of five years. We moved across the country at the end of May and spent two weeks setting up our home in Brookings. Then we were gone for a month traveling to Redmond, OR for Brian's work training and conference, and to Washington and Utah to visit family and friends. We returned home Monday night and Brian started work on Tuesday. Brian's company still hasn't gotten some of his paperwork sorted out so he was bored and exhausted having to shadow the other dentist all week. Super frustrating! Hopefully he can begin seeing patients this week; this waiting game has been driving him crazy!

As I navigate this new life there are many positives and many things that I am still trying to figure out. First, I really like our house and the area is beautiful. It is wonderful having a big yard (an acre) and so much privacy. I love having so much more space to spread out in, a garage, a built-in dishwasher, better functioning washer/dryer, two full bathrooms, an extra living space, the huge mudroom, lots of cupboard space in the kitchen, big bedrooms, nice lighting, cool paint colors and bright white trim, nice blinds, beautiful green scenery. We are all unpacked but are still doing a lot of rearranging and some things will simply not have a good place to go until we buy more furniture. A bigger home plus leaving behind some broken and worn furniture in Indy means we have a decent list of purchases to make and will have some empty space for a while. Our big empty living room is great for cartwheels, massive train tracks, and building houses/forts right now. Little by little we are rearranging, hanging pictures, and turning our house into a home. Some of the things I am still adjusting to are no garbage disposal, distance to neighbors, distance to town (20 minutes), no cell service (we have a landline and I can text people with iPhones or through whatsapp and facebook messenger), finding things to do outside of our home and nature, and meeting people/making friends. 

This week was a good week. We stopped in Medford on our way home and bought Brian a Toyota Corolla... we are officially a 2 car family! It feels like we have arrived now that we no longer have to worry about carpooling and such. haha We also bought Maybrie and mattress and got a nice stock up load of groceries at Costco. Back at home we caught up on sleep after our trip and got everything unpacked and put away. The kids and I checked out the library in town, and though the selection is sparse compared to the city we just came from, there is a decent kid area and a few programs and activities, including weekly story time that I plan on embracing. It will be one place we can enjoy on rainy days when we need to get out of the house. The weather was nice all week so the kids were able to play outside and ride their bikes a lot. I started feeling more like myself and actually cooked dinner every night! Yesterday was especially warm and after a productive day of cleaning and organizing we headed down to the beach. We went and explored where the Winchuck river we live by enters the ocean. The kids wished we brought their swimsuits... Henry and Thomas ended up soaked anyway. They had fun throwing rocks in the river, flying kites for the first time, and sticking their toes in the water. It was a nice and pretty deserted beach, but it is more of a hike to get to from the parking lot, so I may not attempt it by myself very often. It was gorgeous and just the way we needed to end our week. I just kept smiling looking at our children playing and laughing. I kept thinking how grateful I am for them, that I have them to keep me company and that they have each other through this hard transition. Brian and I keep thinking, "Do we really live here?!" It's a new adventure for sure!

Out little white house in the woods

We are officially a 2 car family, with a garage, after 9 1/2 years of marriage! woot! woot!

Back patio/outdoor fireplace and living room

Kitchen

Our den/ family room (off the kitchen, sliding doors lead to back patio/fireplace)

Dining room (Doors L to R: boys' room, bathroom, deck)

Half of the boys' room, it is nice and big

Mudroom/ Laundry room (door to garage)


View of laundry room from garage door (Maybrie's room on L, 
kitchen straight ahead, door to front on R)


Maybrie's bedroom

Maybrie's bedroom #2... she has a sink!

Master bedroom... we're making do with one small dresser, 
lots of room for furniture and decorating in the future

Bathroom with shower connects to our bedroom and kitchen

Beautiful flowers in our yard

Little baby eating a little corn on the cob

Ezra wearing the size 18 mos. pajamas I pulled out for Henry, 
he insisted they still fit him, even though he's 3 1/2! haha