Our Road Trip to California

In March we took a quick trip with the kids down to Northern California to visit some old friends.  If you don't know the story of how Brandon and I met let me give you the brief version.  Brandon was engaged to my roommate Courtney and we met through her my freshman year at A.P.U.   The following year I was the sole survivor of a car accident that took the life of 2 of my 3 roommates at the time, Melanie and Andy.  Then 3 months later Courtney, who had moved back to Northern California after freshman year, was diagnosed with a cancer that took her life a short 7 months later.  So in a tragic year I'd lost 3 close friends and Brandon had lost his fiance.  Also, during this year Melanie's family, who I'd grown very close to, had moved up to Northern California to get a fresh start.  So I made trips up to visit them about as often as I made trips home and I would meet up with Brandon while I was there or he would come up to their place after work for dinner.  As young 20 year olds there were few people around us who we felt could understand the grief we'd been through and it gave us a special bond which grew over the upcoming years until 5 years later we found ourselves getting married with both Courtney's parents and Melanie's parents in attendance, which meant the world to us.

So when we received an invitation to attend Chuck and Cherie's retirement celebration we were excited to take the trip down.  It was a wonderful time to reconnect, as it's been such a long time since we've seen them, and to show them our support as they've always shown us theirs.  We also enjoyed reconnect with many others from our past and having the chance to introduce them to our kiddos.

Chuck and Cherie

During our time in the Modesto area we also were able to grab breakfast and spend a little time at the park with the Crocker family.  Thomas was in our wedding and we made it up to his but our kids had never meet.  So, it was a fun time of again reconnecting with old friends.

 I don't remember all the names but boy did we have a crew between us.  

Following our time in Modesto we headed back north to El Dorado Hills where Melanie's family lives.  Dale and Tina are some of our favorite people to spend time with and over the years they have become more and more special to us as they share a piece of our history that very few others do.  Besides our families, very few people we are in contact with knew us before we were married or during these most difficult and life changing years.  So for that reason alone, our time with them is always so very precious and this trip was no different.

The kids had so much fun playing with their daughter Jenna and keep asking when we can see her again.  She was so sweet entertaining them and teaching them new things.  They absolutely love her, as do we, not to mention how nice it was that she was so willing to play giving us a little more time to catch up.

 We were sad to say goodbye to these dear friends who are really more like family to us.  They bring back so many sweet memories of our early years together and we just can't say enough how thankful we are to have them in our lives.

SNOW!

One interesting thing you learn when you move to Oregon is that the weather is unpredictable and people will CONSTANTLY tell you, when talking about the weather, that "it isn't usual."   Our first year here I think we got 17 inches of snow in Jeffereson, which was unusual.   Most people said they'd never seen that much snow in this area.  Then the next year no snow at all.  Then this past February we had so many snow days that some schools were having to make up days, and I think we had a record number of rainy days in a row.  One expects rain in Oregon but once again this was unusual.  The rain hasn't bothered me in the past but this winter was long.  I think I'll always vividly remember the first time we had a sunny day after so many days of rain.  It was like a huge breath of fresh air.  People talk about how long the winters can be but I've never felt it until this year.  

At least with all that rain we also got quite a few days of snow which is always both beautiful and so much fun!

Evie Rose

Our Miss Evie Rose continues to grow and I just wish I could find a way to slow it all down.  I tell her every day that she is "Sweet as Pie" and she really truly is.  She is such a happy baby.  I feel like our newborns have all been a bit on the fussy side though I've tried hard to make sure that they ate and slept on a schedule, and Evie is making me question all of my methods.  With our school schedule having us in the car to pick up kids at 11:00 and 3:00 she is constantly being woken up go somewhere.  She eats and naps in between errands and pick-ups or on the go and she seems to be just fine with that.  She just goes with the flow.  She's happy when she's awake and when she's tired she goes to sleep.  I can't say enough what a blessing her easy going personality has been.  The kids all love her, but Hazel and Cooper seem to have a special bond, and I'm thankful to Brandon for all the extra time and space he's given me to bond and just absorb all these baby moments which I know are so very fleeting.

3 Months

Four Months

15lbs 5oz and 25.5 inches

Evie is rarely without a hug or someone to entertain her.  They really just can't get enough of her and who can blame them.

Our Little Mad Hatter Turned 2!

While trying to think of a theme for Hazel's 2nd Birthday I came across some cute tea party birthdays and from there I came across this quote from Alice and Wonderland and knew it was the perfect fit for our Little Nut.

"We're ALL quite MAD here,

You'll fit Right in."

Hazel's personality has literally exploded this year.  She is still an itty-bitty thing, but she knows what she wants and isn't afraid to exert all 24 pounds of herself to get whatever that might be.  She is wild and crazy and fun loving and she keeps us on our toes nearly every second of the day.  She wants nothing more than to be a part of whatever the big kids are doing.  She is Sadie's mini me, she loves to be tickled by Daddy, and she adores her Grammy.  I don't think we can even imagine how many adventures this next year will hold, but we are looking forward to it and holding our breath a little.  Brandon says she's going to be our base jumper.  Not sure how I feel about that at 2!

I absolutely LOVE how full our table and home are these day.  So thankful for all the family we have to celebrate with. 

Grammy made a tradition of taking the kids to Build-A-Bear every time someone turns two.  The two year old gets to pick out a new stuffed animal and the older kids all get to pick out a new outfit for their stuffed animal.  Sadie has Cuddles, Wyatt has Rusty Bear, Cooper has Floppy, and Hazel picked out Honey Bunny.  The boys are into super heroes so Wyatt picked out a Captain America outfit for Rusty and Cooper picked the Incredible Hulk for Floppy.   Sadie is into anything fancy so Cuddles got a wedding dress with glass slippers, and Hazel couldn't really decide on anything other than boots so she got an Anna outfit to go with the boots she wanted.

Love this Budding Little Friendship between Hazel and Autumn.

 Hazel got these pink cowboy boots for her birthday and I don't think that she has taken them off since.  She LOVES them!!!!  In fact when I took her into the doctor for her check-up they made the mistake of asking her to take them off so that they could weigh her.  YA NOT HAPPENING!  She ran around the office, acted like the crazy little nut that she is, stood on the table for the entire exam and finally stood on the scale with her boots as i fed her m & m's to keep her in place so that they could get a weight.  

Hazel's first time getting her nails painted like her big sister.