Small World

We did end up taking the trip to Oregon this weekend and it was fabulous, perhaps our best vacation yet and we have had some good ones. I will devote an entry to that soon, but in the meantime here was a random, small world experience that we had while on the road.

At a gas station in a small town in Oregon, a station where we were not even allowed to pump our own gas (apparently it is a law there?!), a woman struck up a conversation with my husband.

She commented about his UCF shirt--which stands for University of Central Florida-- where he went to college. She had attended another Florida school, UF or University of Florida. I stuck my head out the door and said mockingly, "You're a GATOR?!" UF was my college's arch rival. I went to FSU or Florida State University.

So at a Chevron station in a podunk town in Oregon, we had three of Florida's universities represented. Pretty cool. And to make it even more coincidental, it turns out that the Gator lady had also attended my high school but 10 years before me.

Wacky.

Party Pooper IV

Well, today I did it...something that for those of you who know me well, would NEVER expect me to do.

I signed up to be a Pampered Chef consultant.

Gasp.

Yes, I am actually going to try to do the party thing as a way of supplementing our income, helping with the mortgage and hopefully even earning enough to send Lucas to preschool in the fall. Ironically, you may remember that I have always abhorred "sales" parties, often chucking any invitation that came my way. And now I am going to choose to not only attend, but to put on these parties weekly (ideally I will do one show per week).

So, if you are needing any handy cooking tools, want to throw a fun kitchen party, or just want to pass a catalog around to your friends to earn some free gadgets, let me know.

Conundrum

Today we were invited to go with our California family (my aunt and cousins) to stay at a small cabin on the coast in Oregon for an upcoming weekend. It sounds like a dream to me...we've never been to Oregon, I love cabins and the beach, we've wanted to show the kids the ocean, clamming sounds like fun and I am sure that Lucas would get a big kick out of it, and we love to be with the family. So many reasons to go.

BUT, how would the kids handle a 9.5 hour road trip? That could be a big disaster. They have done fine with the 2 hour trips that we have taken, but this is almost 5 times as long (and that is without breaks). I suggested that we could drive at night, but then we would be so exhausted when we get there and the kids wake up...how would we enjoy our time?

Lucas was a road trip nightmare when he was about Emily's age. See here for a refresher. We went to Yosemite, which is about 4.5 hours away and he screamed for half the trip. It sucked. This is why we hesitate.

Too the cabin is small (only 2 bedrooms) and there will be 8 people staying there if we go. I don't know what the sleeping arrangements would be. My kids might not sleep at night or take their naps and will be crabby little cranks.

Anyone have any thoughts or advice on the matter? Should we go and risk bleeding eardrums and a weekend from hell or stay home and have a boringly safe, normal time where my every day looks the same? One positive if it is an awful experience, is that it could be a really funny blog or story later on.

What a dilemma.

On the Rocks

This breezy family shot was taken about a month and a half ago (pre-haircut as you can tell) at our church Easter Egg Hunt. It was taken by our friend, Chris Harder, the same photographer who captured Lucas' awesome first year portraits.

On Saturday, we finally take Emily to get her 6 month pictures done (she is now seven and a half months). What could I do? She was snotty and crusty her whole sixth month and is now only almost over it after finally giving in to antibiotics. I guess that she had a cold on crack or maybe it has just been allergies all along. Regardless, it is ridiculous!

Reason to Celebrate

It is finally over.

Our long saga of two mortgages, fear of foreclosure(s) and wondering where we will be living in the upcoming months has finally come to a conclusion. A great ending to a nail-biting, possibly financially devastating situation.

God is so good to us. As soon as we gave up control and let go of the desire to stay at our dream place, He moved in a mighty way. Almost immediately upon putting our current home on the market (I cried when the sign went up) and ironically just after firing our other realtor, we received the offer for the old place. It is truly by an act of God that we don't have to move yet again.

So you can keep our new address in your book for the time being. Hopefully we will be here for a long, long time.

Before & After