This Little Love of Mine

Going from a part-time worker to a full time homemaker has it's benefits; dinner is on the table every night, the laundry pile is more like Mt St Helens than Mt Everest, sleeping in just a little later, and always being there when the kids get home. I am grateful to be able to do this. I would however be dishonest if I didn't admit that there have also been some kinks to work out. One of them has been all the time I now spend with my sweet little Lainey Loo! I say sweet, but there is soooo much more to her than that. Being completely candid it has not been a walk in the park for me. Lainey is a "spirited", independent, says whats on her mind (in all sorts of volumes) kind of girl. My mom will say a mini me, so I suppose this is karma. It is not unusual to have to wrestle her into her car seat, chase her down before she runs out into the middle of the street, pull her off of really high places that she has climbed up to, rip the bag of chips that she's almost completely devoured out of her hand, or stop her from sticking her hand into a diaper of you know what. At times I feel physically and mentally exhausted. Sometimes I miss work and the time away. And sometimes I just feel bad that I'm feeling the two things I just mentioned. There has been a learning curve for sure. One day while doing the dishes and contemplating when this was going to get easier a thought came to my mind- a reminder that Heavenly Father sent Lainey to us. Not to my neighbor, or friend, or stranger in Illinois. She was sent to our home to be loved and nurtured, to teach us and give us opportunities to learn and be stretched. A feeling came over me that I have to figure this out, how to work with her and be more patient. To spend less time complaining about the challenge and more time figuring out how to love despite the challenge. I am so grateful for that answer to my prayers. It was what I needed to hear, to feel. Since then we have still had some challenging times, but as I've tried to be more patient with her and understanding of her needs, I have discovered such a beautiful, sweet girl who just needs a little bit more love and attention than I was willing to give before. She is helping me to overcome some of my shortcomings and I'm grateful for the patience that she has had with me. This time won't last forever. Before I know it she will be hopping on that big yellow bus with her sisters and I'll be missing those sticky hand prints I find all over the place, and her sweet hugs and kisses she so happily gives.

Tegan is Six!!!

Because I can't seem to get my act together and get everything blogged out, I have to take a brief intermission to say Happy Birthday to our Sweet Tegan. That obviously takes precedents. Almost every time I think about Tegan, it makes me smile. Maybe that's because she's always smiling. All day today Tegan has been saying Happy Birthday Mom! It's silly and it doesn't make any sense, and that's one of the many things we love about her. And below are 6 more for our special six year old.

1-She is often found singing to Lainey and consoling her.
2-She is our peacemaker and figures out how to get along with everyone.
3-She sings all along the way. I can often find where Tegan is by just listening for her sweet voice belting out a tune.
4-Her sense of style. This girl puts polka dots with stripes and mix and matches every color you can imagine. Sometimes it looks hideous, but she wears it so confidently that by the end of the day she's got you second guessing yourself.
5-She's up for just about anything and that makes for some fun adventures with this girl.
6-When she wants to learn something, she doesn't give up until she's got it mastered.

We love our sweet Tegan who is such a ray of sunshine in our family.

Moving to Virginia Part I

It's been ages since I've posted on this blog, but the other day I realized that so much has happened and it would be a shame not to have a record of it. Of course we will always remember when we moved, but the emotions felt will not always be so raw. This has been the closest thing to a journal that I have gotten, so now with a bit more time on my hands I feel like there is no excuse. Rather than play catch up I will just start from the most recent, pivotal event to take place...our relocation across the country. Part I will be dedicated to everything leading up to us leaving Oregon. That last sentence is still painful to say. This isn't to complain or be dramatic, it was our choice to leave. This is just a place to write our story, emotions and all.  I will preface all my comments by saying that both Tom and I are proud Oregonians. Tom was born and raised, and I was born there, raised in Utah and then quickly returned back to Oregon after high school. If you asked anybody we were true blue or "green" Oregonians and the thought of leaving was never truly on our radar.

When the job opportunity in Virginia came up for Tom we laughed about the thought of moving there. We did, however feel like it was something we needed to look into more, and that was the way the process continued to go with each decision that needed to be made. We learned a lot about trying to rely on the spirit because the decision was never completely obvious. After lots of prayers, tears, pros and cons lists, and repeat we felt like this was the best decision for our family right now. And so the process of preparing our home to be put on the market, leaving jobs we both loved, looking for a new place to live in Virginia, squeezing Jessie's baptism in before leaving, and saying goodbye to some of the most amazing people we know (the hardest part) started. Again we learned a thing or two about the spirit as people were put into our path to help us along the whole process.

Before we knew it the giant trailer was all packed up, bound for Virginia and we were off to see family and friends along the way, knowing it might be a while before we see them again.

 Tom and I in Virginia for interview process. This is at Thomas Jefferson's home-Monticello.

 My BFF Andrea. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry when I see this photo. Maybe both...

After the decision was made it was all about doing some things that we knew we would miss. Portland to Eugene with great friends and family, movie in the park, and watching my girls enjoy time in a yard they've become very familiar with. It was frustrating at times because what we really wanted to do was just enjoy everything we love about a place so familiar to us, but the reality was we had a lot of work to do.

 Tom's Dad was a super hero for us and so was my Dad. Tom Sr made several trips from Portland to Salem to help repair this and that and put up part of our fence in preparation for selling the home. My dad squeezed under a sink to change out some faucets. Meals were brought, our kids were watched over and over again etc., I will never forget all the help that we received. We felt so loved.

Saying goodbye to Jessie and Tegan's best friends Malia and Aubrey. Oddly this was one of the hardest parts of moving. I still get emotional thinking about this sweet friendship.

 Can't think of a better way to say goodbye to these fine ladies then by pelting them in dodgeball, and running full force into the foam pits together. They are the best!!!

This was an emotional day, partly because our oldest, sweetest girl Jess was baptized, and also because we knew we were leaving in two days. We felt so much love and support from family and friends. Jess looked so beautiful to me. She really did have a special glow about her that day. We are so proud of her.

Two days later, after buckets of tears we were off on our adventure. We said goodbye to our happy life there with big hopes that we would find happiness in a practically foreign place to us. More on that to come.

Happy Birthday Tegan

Happy Birthday Tegan!!!

Finally the much anticipated number 5 is here and Tegan is so happy to at last be a big girl! She has been waiting for this birthday for months, mostly because she knew that it would be her first party with friends and because she'd get plenty of presents. She chose Super Bounce for her party place. When all was said and done she rated it 10-8 billion on a scale from 1-10. Success!!!

This link pretty much sums up all the reasons we love Tegan. She keeps us constantly laughing. Happy five to our BIG girl! We love you Tegan.

Sauvie Island and the Beach

I've always wanted to go to Sauvie Island, but since we moved to Salem it's not just a hop and a skip away from us. Summer was winding down and I was feeling a little bit sad that we hadn't really been able to hang out and swim somewhere. We were headed up to Portland to visit family so we jumped on the opportunity to give it a try. We LOVED it. It helped that it was a HOT day and the water was quite refreshing.

 The beach was our next trip. We went with our favorite peeps the Hathaways. It looks like typical Oregon Coastal weather and it was, at first. We even got to see a lightning storm our first night there out on the beach. We quickly realized it probably wasn't safe for us to be hanging out down there. We also noticed that the water was much warmer than I ever remember it being. I have no physical proof, but would you believe me if I said we actually were able to dip more than our big toes in the water??? We immersed our whole bodies in the water and actually enjoyed it. I realize this may never happen again which made it all the more exciting.

 A family gathering wouldn't be complete without a muscleman contest between the guys.

Lainey playing with her cousin lexi.

Hood to Coast

Each year we say it might be our last, but every time we're invited we can't fight the fever. This year was extra special for me because I got to be in Van 1 for the first time ever. It was nice to be at the starting point at Timberline lodge and see people getting all hyped for the next 48 hours of running, trail mix, honey buckets, and sleep deprivation.

Starting point

Tom prepping for a run

One of our super star teammates Maricela

The end of my last leg

We survived.

Update on The Girls

This little applesauce making Miss is in the 2nd grade. She is growing up much much too fast. I'm always surprised at the "grown up" conversations we're able to have and the thoughts that go through her mind. I was sad to see her go back and her sisters are missing her. The other day I took her with me to jog and she was determined as ever to stay right along with me. I love this girl.

This girl never tires of keeping us entertained, sick or not. She got a piece of glass stuck in her foot and that above picture was taken just after she found out she would be getting a shot in her foot so they could open it up to remove it. She thought a latex glove would be the best thing to use to wipe some of her tears away. She was a trooper for the whole procedure and her foots healing up well. She is anticipating preschool in October along with her first big birthday party! She asks me about it every day.

Miss Lainey Loo aka: The Screamer is as active as ever. This girl's got a temper and she's not afraid to show it. She's mostly giggling but she also likes to serenade us with her screams, and shrieks when things don't go her way. She can clear out a drawer in about 10 seconds and has an unhealthy relationship with her blanket, but we love our Lainey Loo oh so much.