Unfortunately my
computer died - with a lot of my 2014 pictures on it - and I can't seem to find
the pictures that I already transferred from my computer to my external hard
drive...oh technology, such a blessing and a curse. So, I'm going to try to
update based on what I've written in my personal calendar and hopefully add
pictures later.
In March, I turned 34.
My car had a transmission leak and had to get it fixed. I started and ended a
Walking Group after going twice by myself and once with a friend. I got my
nails done. Nick's cell phone broke and we had to get it replaced. Ashleigh is
doing orchestra - she plays the violin (which she loves) and she is doing
ballet (which she doesn't love). She had an orchestra concert in March and did
really well! She looked so confident. She is in the 5th grade @ Felida School.
Her friends are Jaycee, Annika, and Ava - primarily. Preston's in the 1st grade
at Pleasant Valley Primary. His best friend is Max. We implemented Chore Packs
(per the Duggar Family). It is awesome!!! The kids have taken to it
really well and frankly our house is much cleaner. At the end of the week, if
all chores have been done, with no whining/complaining then the kids pick an
Incentive to do - their first week we went to the Nickel Arcade and they both
got $5 in nickels each to spend there. So fun! I started having monthly coffee
dates with my friend Shauna that used to work with me. Another incentive was
family movie night and we watched Frozen.
In April, Ashleigh had
her last ballet practice followed by a performance for the parents. She is glad
to be done. The kids had spring break and while we didn't travel anywhere, we
did have the Mooney cousins over to play quite a bit and we were able to go to
a wedding (Domenick and Brianna). Quinn was in town with Seki so we had
breakfast together while she was here. Nick changed the oil in my car. Nick
played on his work's Softball team again this year. We went and watched him
play most of the games, but they were really late games so we didn't see them
all. One of my bosses at work quit – hallellujia!! I never liked her – she
was a bad manager!! In the middle of April
the kids and I packed up and met my parents at the ocean and we went clamming and
crabbing and the kids went swimming in the hotel pool. It was cold and rainy
for part of the trip but we really just had the best time! We crossed paths with
Emily and Finley while we were there though we did get to see Bridget and Avery
for a bit. Dad went fishing the next day and we hung out on the beach with my
mom and flew kites. It was a great 2 days!!!
We took the kids to a nearby church for an Easter egg hunt. And we took them to Alki middle school to
shoot off their rockets that we got them for Christmas. On “take your child to
work” day, Nick took Ashleigh with him to his work for part of the day. She
dressed professionally and Nick said she was so good, and friendly. We took the
kids to see Rio 2 in the theater for one of their chore pack incentives.
In May, Preston signed
up for Mad Science at school. It’s an after school fun science class that lasts
6 weeks. He has a very literal and inquisitive mind so this class is perfect
for him. A while back he started worrying about how much money we have – weird –
and so when he saw that the Mad Science class was $90 for 6 weeks he got really
nervous and kept telling me that I didn’t have to spend that much money, he doesn’t
have to go, its ok. Etc. So weird! I went out with my friend Jaime and we got
our nails done. She’s such a fun girl and always boosts my self esteem. I love
being around her. Ashleigh went to her friend Annika’s birthday party and sleepover.
I was super hesitant for her to sleep over, but it all went well and she had a
lot of fun. Preston had a class field trip to the Portland Childrens Theater
and I chaperoned. It was a good play (can’t remember what play it was) and the
kids seemed to like it, though I think for 1st graders attention
span it was about 20 minutes too long. On Mother’s day we went to Costco for
lunch and to play Mini Golf at Steakburger – they are closing their doors and
its being demolished later this year so we decided we need to go mini golfing
there. Towards the end of May Nick and Ashleigh took a road trip to Spokane for
his Grandma Kunz’s birthday! They were gone for the whole weekend. While they
were gone, Preston and I went to Kids Club, ran errands, watched movies and
played a lot. The last day of the month was fun for Ash. Her grade participated
in BizTown and they went on their field trip. She got to have a “job”, “money”,
etc. Its basically like a tiny town that the kids are in charge of running for the
day. They did about a month of prep beforehand in the classroom. Ashleigh loved
it!!
In June, the Human
Growth and Development classes started as Ashleigh’s school. After sitting in
the parents’ meeting and learning what the kids would be taught Nick and I
opted to keep Ash out of the classes. (while they kept the boys and girls separate,
the did show the same video to both and I didn’t see any reason why my GIRL
needs to learn about BOY genitalia and BOY puberty – and vise a versa.) I am
fairly open with my kids though and when they ask me a question about anything,
I’ll do my best to answer it age appropriately. The first week of June was
Teacher Appreciation week at Preston’s school – one day he brought a flower for
his teacher and on another day he wrote a thank you note and gave it to her. At
the end of the week they had Class Competitions! Ash and I went and volunteered
our time there while Preston competed. It’s a lot of different stations each
with a different activity or fun thing to do. It’s all outdoors and it was
really warm and such a nice day! The next day the family went up to Larch
Mountain to go shooting. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun!! I
broke half of my crown off and had to get it repaired – they replaced it and it
feels SO much better. I can finally eat on that side of my mouth again after 8
years!!! Ashleigh had her 5th
grade – elementary school graduation on the 19th. She looked so
excited and happy and nervous walking
across that stage! I’m so proud of her. I can’t believe my sweet girl is
done with her elementary education! She is on to middle school in the fall.
Eek! The kids had their last day of school and then summer began! To celebrate the start of summer we bought
the Lego Movie and we slept in! Ahhh. Nick had to go to court for a speeding ticket
that he got in Oregon. He had to go to traffic school and pay a fine. During
the school year I work during the day while the kids are at school, but in the
summer I work in the evenings after Nick gets home. It lets me have all day to
play with the kids, but I don’t get to see Nick much, which is hard. I did cut
back to working 4 nights a week though. Both kids had dental appointments at
the end of June. Preston’s teeth looked great, but Ashleigh has 1 molar baby
tooth that won’t come out and it’s been infected and she has a cavity. Her
dentist wants to pull the tooth, but Ash is too scared (due to the fact that
the last time a dentist pulled her tooth she wasn’t all the way numb and it was
a horrible experience!)…we’ll see what happens.
In July, Nick traveled
to Seattle to visit one of his customers and tour their facility. He was gone
over night and we all missed him. He travels a couple times a year to visit his
customers. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, & Montana, he travels all over. For
Independence day we decided to go to Long Beach. We weren’t able to get a hotel
room so we just went for the day. We played around in town and then found an empty
spot on the beach and set up our little camp area to watch the fireworks. Nick
and the kids dug a pit, scavenged for firewood, and started a fire. We roasted marshmallows,
had s’mores, listened to the band playing just 100 ft from us and waited for
the firework show. It was so neat being there. There were so many people, the
entire beach was full! It was great, but so so smoky! Here it is December now and
my lungs STILL hurt from it. Sucks. In the month of July I took the kids
bowling, we went to the salmon creek farmers market twice, took Preston to his
allergy doctor, had my crown replaced finally, Nick traveled to Centralia for a
political event, went “girly” shopping with Ash, went to Cruisin’ the Gut –
classic car event in Downtown Vancouver, I donated blood and got a case of
peaches in return, went to the nickel arcade, attended Camas Days (outdoor
market), brought Dairy Queen to Nick and Stanley at OMS, took Preston to play
with his friend Max, bought Preston a new bike and bought new bike tires for my
bike!
In August, I started
going on bike rides with my kids. When I was about 12 years old I was riding my
bike no-handed and my front tire hit a rock and I flew off my bike and scraped
my face up on the pavement. I vowed to never ride a bike again. I didn’t ride
again until I was 19, and then I only rode in a small parking lot. Nick’s mom gave me her bike a number of years
ago and I rode it a bit here and there, but I was always nervous and I didn’t
really enjoy it. Then my tires got holes in them. They were old and needed to
be replaced. We just hung up the bike it the garage and I put it out of my
mind. But in July I got the itch to start riding again so I finally bit the
bullet and got myself new tires. In August I went on 8 bike rides with the
kids. I’m still nervous on the bike, but I feel more confident with the new
tires. I stopped eating meat…Ive had an
aversion to raw vs cooked meat for a long time, but Nick is such a meat eater
that I always just make it and try not to puke. Prior to giving up meat all
together, I was only eating meat maybe once or twice a week anyway, so this isn’t
really a hard thing for me to do. Plus the summer months are filled with such
an abundance of fresh produce I don’t see the need to consume anything other
than berries, fruits, and vegetables all summer long! We took a family trip to
Seattle to see a Mariner’s game. The entire day was a bit lame as we got there
later than I had hoped so we didn’t get to really park and see or do much, but
we did drive up to boeing and see the airplanes. When we got back to Seattle we
got rear-ended. Thankfully it was minor, but it was annoying nonetheless. The
Mariners game was so much fun! Both kids enjoyed it and we bought them a lot of
souvenirs. After the game we took Ashleigh to the Mooney’s and she stayed with
Bridget and all for a week! Preston says he didn’t miss having her at home, but
he did. He was bored and missed having a live in playmate. While Ash was in
Seattle, I set up a play date for Preston and Max. Preston and I went on bike
rides and we played at the nearby park, and he got to ride around with me in
our rental car while our Rav 4 was getting fixed from the fender-bender. Nick
made a couple of new friends at a car meet and invited them over one Saturday to
work on cars. Ben and Candice and their daughter, Addison, who was only 9
months old at the time came over along with another friend of theirs. Candice
and I got along well, but Ben is more of an acquired taste for me. Nick set up
a Fantasy Football league again this year and I signed up too. I can’t wait to
beat all those guys! I hurt my foot
somehow…I must have strained a tendon or nerve but I was in pain and could
barely walk on my foot for about 3 days! It was really annoying! Nick went to
Centralia again for another political event at the end of August and I took the
kids bowling and to the nickel arcade again. The 30th of August was
Christian’s birthday – he would have been 13 years old. We visited his grave.
Nick cleaned it off really well and we decorated it and took pictures. I was
feeling extremely grateful for my little family on this day especially.
In September, it’s time
to get ready for school again! Preston decided he wanted to be homeschooled, so
I started the many online searches for curriculums, books, planners, materials,
etc. We cleared out of spare room and set it up as a school room – though we didn’t
end up using it as a school room until November. I also got permission from my
manager at work to bring Preston with me to work when school starts again. We
went to Ikea and got a small table ($19) for him to use at my work. And the
family came to work and helped me clean up and clear out my office and set up P’s
new table. I also took the kids to get school supplies and a new back pack for
Ash. We went to registration at Ashleigh’s middle school and got her new
schedule. We practiced walking her route and touring around the school to ease
her nerves. I think I’m more nervous about her going to middle school than she
is! School started on Sept 3 – both kids had great first days! Preston was easy
to teach (after a couple initial crying fits) and Ashleigh loves her new
school! Yay! I kept both kids home on the anniversary of 9/11 and I taught them
about that day back in 2001. Preston turned 8 years old on the 14th!
We took him and his friend Max to the Kids Club to play and then back to our
house for a little party. We hid his gifts and he played hot-or-cold to find
them all – Max helped. Preston got a Minion blanket, some Legos, a couple
Minecraft toys, a remote controlled car called a Thunder Tumbler, and an Xbox
with 2 games! And then later we had an
Oreo Ice Cream cake and the kids just played the rest of the day. In the month
of September we went on 10 bike rides and a bunch of walks together. The owner
of the house we are renting came by to do some Yard Maintenance…basically that
means that he walks around the outside to make sure we haven’t trashed it. And
sometimes he’ll cut back the trees/bushes. About a week after Preston’s
birthday he got sick. He had a cold for a couple days and then started having
stomach pains. It was like contractions in that his stomach would hurt for
about 5 minutes and it looked like he was going to throw up – he was in a lot
of pain and then it would go away for 5-10 min. This would last for a couple
hours each day! I finally got him in to see a doctor who asked that he pee in a
cup (and argued with me about how an intact boy should pee in a cup). All tests
from that came back normal. So she sent me home with a Rx for a Dramamine type
medicine and told me to get Pedialyte. Literally, an hour after we left the
doctors, Preston felt better and he didn’t have any more tummy pains. Figures.
We did a deep cleaning of the upstairs in our house and I ended up taking a
large amount of junk to the Dump and other stuff to Goodwill. At the end of
September we couldn’t get a sitter so we went as a family to P.I.R. (Portland
International Raceway) and met up with a bunch of Nick’s car buddies and their
wives/girlfriends. We watched people racing their cars and Nick raced his Lexus
too! It was a lot of fun!
In October, we all are
finally settled in a nice school/work/life routine! Nick’s job is going great.
My job is going great. Preston is doing great at homeschooling. Ashleigh is
doing great in middle school. We’ve been attending church at New Heights together
as a family and that’s been really wonderful! Life is good! Ashleigh was home sick one day in October.
Preston had another play date with his friend Max. I started doing more work
from home by remotely logging in to my office computer – huge life saver! We
are no longer friends with Nick’s car buddy-Ben. He was physically abusive to
Candice and got arrested. Nick and I have zero tolerance for guys who hit or
hurt girls so he is dead to us. Ashleigh went to her friend Jaycee’s house to
play after school one day. I think they aren’t as good friends anymore. Ha. Her
friend LOVES horses…like is obsessed with them and I think that turned Ash off
a bit since she isn’t interested in them at all. We got the kids’ Halloween costumes.
Ashleigh is going to be a bottle of Ketchup and Preston is going to be an unknown phantom. We took the kids Trick or Treating in the Felida neighborhood again
this year. They had fun and got lots of candy, but towards the end of the night
they went to a house that had a couple of ladies in fun costumes who were
outside being playful and funny and the kids loved it but as they were walking
away a person in a scary costume who was sitting in a chair outside the door –
they thought it was a decoration – got up and started making scary noises and
reaching for them and chasing them a little. Literally freaked the kids out SO
much!!! Nick and I were at the end of
the driveway laughing, but by the time the kids got to us they were crying so
hard. I felt bad for them. They were
actually really and truly scared, not just typical Halloween scared. Poor kids…It
was pretty funny though.
In November, we had
daylight savings time. I love it, but it gets so dark out so early. That’s
pretty annoying. Ashleigh signed up for after school Intramurals which is on
Tuesday/Thursday for 8 weeks I think. It’s a “homework help” class…which
basically means she does homework after school…which actually means she gets to
just socialize with her friends instead. She also goes early to school once or
twice a week to have an extra orchestra lesson. She plays her violin so good
now! She is considered First Chair of her group! Ashleigh turned 12 years old
on the 5th. We had a family party at home. She got some art
supplies, a new cell phone, and a motor scooter among other things. We also
surprised both the kids with a trip to Utah over Thanksgiving! I set up a
scavenger hunt for her to find her gifts and I made her a rainbow cake with
buttercream frosting. She had a really good birthday. Preston had another
doctor appointment with the allergist. I’m starting to really question this guy…I
DON’T believe that P has asthma at all. I never did, but when I told him years
ago that P has reactive airway disease – just like Ashleigh did at that age, he
said that they are now calling it asthma. And so that’s what P has been treated
for. He has so many pills and inhalers that he is supposed to use daily. I just
don’t agree… We’ll see how his appt goes in March. I went to coffee with my
friend Shauna again – always a good time. We slacked off over the summer with
our monthly dates, but agreed to start them up again. I started going back to
the Chiropractor again. Our insurance allows for 12 visits per calendar year. I
used up all my visits by May 2013 so when 2014 came around I just kept putting
it off. But now, I’m trying to fit all 12 visits in before the end of the year
and then I’ll go a bit more spaced out in 2015 and hopefully not go through
them all so quickly next year. The place I go to always offers a 45 min massage
first followed by the adjustment. It’s
heavenly!! Preston had another play date
with his friend Max. Preston misses seeing Max every day at school so I’ve been
trying to get them together to play often but Max is always so busy. It’s
nearly impossible. But I do try. We left for Utah on the 22nd. We
drove to Meridian Idaho and spent the night at a hotel there. We went swimming
in the hotel pool until late, and got up early to hit the complimentary
breakfast before packing up and getting back on the road. We got to my mom’s
house in Utah just before 5pm (Utah time). We were greeted with warm words,
warm hugs, a warm home and warm dinner. It was lovely to be back. The Boley and
Ballards came by later that evening and again the greetings were immeasurable.
I didn’t realize just how much I had missed everyone until we were back
together again and it showed in my tears. The next day we headed to the
Thanksgiving Point Curiosity Museum – a super fun place for kids to play and
explore and just be kids. It was way better than any other “discovery” type
children place we’ve ever been to before. After we went to J-Dawg and everyone
had their famous hot dogs. I opted for a kale salad and Tomato soup from
another restaurant next door. We then went to visit Todd at his nursing home.
When we moved away from Utah Todd was still living at home with lots of help
from church members, my dad, etc, but since then he’s been moved to a nursing
home and that fact hit me really hard. I
had so many emotions flooding through me and I couldn’t keep in my tears. It
was a rough day and I was really sad to leave him behind when it was time to
go. Life just isn’t fair sometimes…Todd is one of the good guys…why do bad
things happen to good people? Here come the tears again.
Hold please.
That evening the family
all came together again and we had dinner at my parents house. We laughed and
cried and reminisced and visited until late. The cousins played happily
together! It was a great day.
On Tuesday we took
Ashleigh over to surprise Jasna Hooke – her very best friend when we lived
there. She lived just down the street and they played together nearly every
day! It was hardest moving Ashleigh away from Jasna. After Ashleigh got in
their house Jasna’s mom, Francel, called Jasna in. She came around the corner,
looked at Ashleigh for a second, looked at me, then back to Ashleigh and said “Ashleigh,
is that you!?!” Ashleigh said “Yes!”
then Jasna covered her mouth and squealed a little bit. They hugged and I cried
(what is up with me lately!?) and we took a couple of pictures and then I left.
Ash stayed to play. After an hour or so I was looking on facebook and saw that
Ashleigh and Jasna’s other mutual friend Hailie Dangerfield came over to play
too! It was a wonderful reunion 4 years in the making. I just smiled the whole
day…and cried. I was so happy that they were back together again!!
That afternoon we picked
up Ash and we all went down to Provo to meet the Call families and have
pictures taken! This is the first time ALL of the Call kids, spouses, and
cousins have been together at the same time in nearly 10 years so it was great
to be able to get pictures all done! It was cold, but beautiful and I think the
pictures will turn out really great! After, we took Ashleigh back to Jasna’s
for a sleepover and we picked up Cooper to have a sleepover with Preston at my
parents house. But for dinner we stopped at Café Rio! YUM. I’ve been craving it
and it’s the first time 4 months that I’ve had meat. But their pulled pork is
so delish, I was totally willing to eat it all!!! When we got back to my
parents house, the Boleys came over to visit some more. I absolutely love our
late night talks!!
On Wednesday, Juli
picked up Ashleigh from Jasna’s house and we met all of the Calls at Ihop for
breakfast. It was so good! We had Cooper with us and he said he had never been
to Ihop before! He got the smiley Chocolate Chip pancake…and ate the entire
thing! Poor kid didn’t feel too well after that. I felt so bad. He was sick for
most of the rest of the day. After breakfast we headed back to my parents house
and we got all of our laundry finished and packed our bags and loaded up the
car. At 1pm all the cousins came over for the annual Cousins Christmas Party
that my parents host. Preston had a bit of a hard time at first due to his
extremely picky aversion to food, but he had Braeden as his buddy and that
helped a lot! By the time it was over both kids said they had so much fun! I finally got to see Ryan and Sara and we all
headed off to lunch at Wild Zucchini! Since Cooper was sick, Jana didn’t come
until later and Kevin missed it entirely due to some remodeling things that
needed to be taken care of at his house. We had a good time at lunch and then headed
back to pick up the kids, say our good-byes and we headed to the Calls for the
remainder of our trip.
Thursday was
Thanksgiving! Nick and I went out in the morning to get a few things for the
dinner. When we returned the house smelled so delicious. The Sayers family came.
The Kofe family came along with a few of Seki’s siblings and friends. Cousin
Chris came. Cousin Matt came along with his roommate and another friend. In all
I think there were 25+ people at dinner. There were a lot of people and a lot
of yummy food. It was loud and fun – exactly as a Thanksgiving should be.
Friday was Nick’s 36th
birthday!! We opted not to go Black Friday shopping, but we did go to ‘Get Some’
and we were finally able to find and buy some .22 ammo. That stuff is hard to
find!! We ran a couple of other errands while we were out and then spent the
afternoon and evening back at the Calls. Nick spent some time with his Cousin
Chris including racing around in his car and nearly getting a speeding ticket!
The Sayers and Kofe’s came back over along with Seki’s sibling and friends and
the house became another little party! I bonded with Evelyn and Emma a bit and
spent a lot of time with them and Jennidee listening to FarFaria book on the
ipad. Nick got some birthday gifts and we had Mud Pie instead of birthday cake.
Overall, I think Nick had a good birthday.
We had originally
planned to head back home on Saturday and take 2 days to drive back as well,
but the brakes on my Rav 4 were so bad that they absolutely had to be replaced
before we left so on Saturday Nick replaced them. Prior to that though, I spent
time over at Betsie’s house and then Quinn came over – while Nick, Randy, Juli,
Chris, and Ashleigh went up in the mountains to go shooting. For dinner we headed
back to Café Rio once more (wasn’t enough!).
Then we did laundry, took showers, packed up the car and got ready to
leave bright and early the next morning!
Vacations always go by
too quickly and we were sad to leave. But we’ve promised each other that we won’t
let so much time go by before we go back to visit again. Hopefully we can make
it every 2 years rather than 4 years. We left on Sunday morning at 8am and
arrived back home at 8pm. Traveling over the Blue Mountains was a bit nerve wrecking
for me as it was all snow and ice up there and it got down to 11 degrees! But
Nick is a great driver and I had every confidence that he would get us over the mountains safely!
We got home to find that
our Scout Elf, Jingles, had arrived which meant the Christmas season is
officially upon us!
