WELL HELLO THERE

  

Oh how I missed writing on this little space! It has been a while since I last have sat down here.  It has been such a busy, crazy, eventful month of September.  As I have mentioned before, our lives have changed a lot around here... the biggest being that I started my job.  The next being I started school.  So as you can image with day care, homework, and extremely sick kiddos and mama, it has been a whirlwind.  Today finally I am able to sit and concentrate on hobbies.  I have so many photos, headbands, and IG & Fb posts to work on.  

My job is going very well.  I am actually really loving being back.  I work at a pretty sweet hospital and they truly are one of the most through and patient loving hospitals I've ever worked at.  It is all about the patient! Which you would think is how every hospital would be, but sadly that's not always the case.  This place strives to make every patient comfortable, confident, and most importantly we want a laugh before they leave.  It makes for such a great day full of positive co-workers and patients.  Switching machine brands is a pretty big deal in therapy, but after a couple of exhausting days, I picked it up pretty quick and am ready for being on-call now.

www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu

So with me being back at work, one of the hardest parts was taking the kids to day care, and by kids I really just mean Lachlyn.  Rhone did so well! He really loves it and has a bunch of new friends to talk about all day.  He fit right in, and comes home with new knowledge which is super fun.  Lach had a rough go at first.  She cried each time for about 20 mins and then was ok the rest of the day as long as she had her pacifier and blankie.  Well today her teacher said she didn't need either all day, so that is great improvement and I know that this is such a good thing for her.  Kids need to be social and to learn how to interact and be away from mama and dada every once in awhile... tears... they grow up soo fast.  The frustrating part is that the first week they brought home colds, which we all got, and then the second week they brought home the stomach flu!  Lach had it pretty bad, she was sick throwing up Fri-Sun.  Rhone was the sickest I've seen him in years on Sunday.  And then I got it all Sunday night.  We are all recovering still and trying to get their appetites back to normal.  It's just hard to see your littles so sick and helpless.  So from this point on, I just wait until I get called in, which I am so happy about.  We have a ton of playdates to catchup on, fall festivities check list, projects galore, fall headbands to make, and some overdue library books.  

Thank you all for giving me some time away and stay tuned to my next post about the exciting day KC had last Sunday...

Labor Day Weekend

Labor day weekend marks the end of the summer with school starting the next week and my job starting soon.  So we were thrilled when my parents invited us to tag along on their camping trip to Saltwater state park.  This state park is nestled 1 hour south of us, and directly over the flight path to the airport.  So at first when we set up camp we were a little worried about the planes going overhead every few minutes.  It's a weird feeling to be "camping" with lush greenery all around and then you hear an airplane over head... but what this place does have is an amazing beach and views.  Which is why I can honestly say, I loved this camp site.  I'm a sucker for anything that involves the sea.  I immediately relaxed as I breathed in that salty air.  For the kids it this trip was filled with nature, exploration, and once again playing on the beach and throwing rocks. // Rhone's favorite past time// Another plus to camping in the city, is it's just a quick drive to the local farmers market and being able to hit up a couple garage sales.  Definitely my kind of camping!

On Sunday, we ended our weekend with a quick trip to the local state fair.  It was our first time taking the kids to a fair, and Rhone absolutely loved it! Lach pretty much had to just ride in the stroller due to her lack of height, but she did enjoy playing with the prizes Rhone won her.  Rhone's favorite was the race cars.  I wonder where he gets his love for muscle cars from? Lachlyn however thought they were a little too loud but eventually getting her ears covered over and over became a pretty fun game.  It was a perfect end to a great weekend and probably the one of the funnest summers of my life!

Life Lately

So many new changes are headed our way.  The first BIG news is we might have a buyer for our home in AZ.  I can't tell you how excited I get just thinking about the possibility of being free of that home.  Don't get me wrong, that house means so much and will always be KC and I's first home together, it's just we haven't actually lived in it for over 7 years!  And well I'm at the point where I just want to settle down for a while and buy a house here, one that we could actually live in ourselves.  So we are praying that the sale goes through soon, although you never know what could happen right?

The less exciting news is I have officially started back at school.  I've been at this whole online classes thing on and off for about 7 years as well and I am just dying to get it finished and get my degree already!  So I am taking 2 classes that are gonna be extremely tough for me.  I don't know why but for some reason I am feeling overwhelmed with not being able to understand this material.  I feel like after Lachlyn was born, a big part of my brain kinda just went away and in came new thoughts, new memories, new life, new mama stuff.  So it's gonna be interesting getting back into writing 20 page essays in APA format, tests, and well having deadlines.

The third more exciting and nerve racking news is I will start my new job in September! I am excited to get back into my field, especially because I will be able to pick and choose how much I want to work.  It's pretty great really.  The tough part is going to be the first 3 weeks of my training.  I will be working 3 days a week -- I know big deal right?!-- but for me, with everything going on it's really stressing me out.  And just thinking about being away from my littles for 9+ hours just makes all my past memories flood back.  Add in having to take them to day care and the fact that Lachlyn has yet to be ok with us leaving her for just 1 hour in her Sunday school class, and well it's gonna be a extremely hard transition.  Being a working mom is probably the toughest job around.  Taking on 2 roles, the guilt for both kids and work, and just trying to balance it all.   I know that in a few years I will be back at it in full force, so in the mean time I want to make the best of everyday I have home with my kiddos.

Celebration time

// right arm up //

// "look I caught a fish" //

So for our 10 year anniversary, we took 4 days off to be together and enjoy each other and our family.  Our big gift to each other hopefully will be a little trip to Italy in October, eeek!! It's still not a for sure thing, but KC is going for work, so half of it would already paid for.  And I mean, how can you pass that up right?!  So this past weekend we started off with a super fun / experimental camping trip in Birch Bay.  It went surprisingly well and so I can see many future camping trips in our future.  We met my parents there and headed to the beach.  They cooked us steak for our anniversary and had cupcakes and s'mores later on.  The kids did so well and they both had a blast.  Rhone loved the camp fire -like father like son- and Lachlyn loved the dirt.  We all slept through the night and the next morning, my parents took over so KC and I could sneak away.  

 

KC and I went on a 8 hour whale watching tour leaving from Bellingham, WA going into the San Juan Islands.  It was kinda a dream come true for me.  As most of family and friends know, I'm a little obsessed about being on water and ocean life.  It was slightly disappointing after not being able to see any whales for the first 6 hours, but finally we spotted 2 Minke whales!  We also saw some harbor porpoises (I was the first one on the boat to see them hehehe), sea lions, seals, bald eagles, and learned all about the history of the islands.  Needless to say, for me just the fact that we were on a boat enjoying the water, the scenery, and each other was a perfect day for me.  

 // we told him not to touch McQueen, so he quietly said "ka-chow" as he rubbed the lightning bolt with the back of his hand //

'mater'

'lemons'

 After the trip, we got dinner and headed to White Rock, BC, Canada to stay at a hotel for the night.  Meet up with the family at my parents house for Saturday and Sunday.  Sunday we went to a car show and  I wish I could have photographed Rhone's excitement when he saw McQueen.  He was so excited to touch it, and then proceeded to find cars that looked like all the characters and his hot wheels.  Dream come true for KC and Rhone. 

 It was a great 4 days away and I can't wait to see what is in store for us in the next decade.