A life update

Things have been busy around here, and lets be honest, my documentation of our busy lives has been lacking. If this is meant to be a journal for me to look back at what we have been doing, then I would be sad since it is all too easy to forget what happened last week, never you mind last month or last year.

Travel
We do a fair amount of traveling in this household. We kicked the year off with a trip to McCall, Idaho followed by a trip to California (just Bear and I), Palm Springs to be exact - where we visited Grammy. That trip is well documented in the archives.

We made a quick trip to Whidby Island to visit Amanda. We have gone 2x this year, but I was a lame documentor so I have no idea when they were. One, Bear was not mobile, the other he was...so one must have been in May and the other in February. We will stick with that.

The next trip was a road trip with stops in Stockton, CA for a night (at the lovely University Inn) and Palm Springs, to visit Grammy, onward to Sedona, Arizona for a week (cool but not a repeat) and then up to Zion National Park (maybe a do again once we can backcountry with Bear) and then to Salt Lake City to visit Matt and Missy with a tour of Park City (must make a trip back) and finally, a marathon drive home in one day.

The next trip was back to McCall for the fourth, ah McCall for the fourth - doesn't get much better. On our drive home, we made a quick stop in Bend for the night at what was the Ameritel, is now the Hilton Garden Inn. Lovely trip, love Bend.

Following this was a trip to the Newport Coast - Ah lovely Newport (at the Hallmark Inn). The weather was perfect, the breeze was low - we went to the Aquarium (expensive and not a do again) and an epic walk on the beach.

Next up? Another trip to the coast, this time at the Elizabeth Street Inn with my mom. I like the Hallmark better. It was a quick one night trip so a little beach walking and some delishious food was all we had time for.

A quick jaunt down to Chiloquin Oregon to pick up a yurt (more on that later) and then a beeline (um, did you know that Mosquitos are crazy in Chiloquin?? We were ther for maybe 4 hours and I have like 25 on my legs) to Bend. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn again. We parked and never left the old mill district with dinner at Red Robin, breakfast at the organic coffee place and lunch at Gregs Grill.

Peppered in were trips to Eugene - Lots of trips to Eugene. Yep. We travel. A lot.

Work
I havent talked about my job since I moaned and cried over how sad I was to peace out on stay at home motherhood and how much I thought it would damage me/my child/our mojo to be a (psudo) working mom.

I.LOVE.OUR.SITUATION.

OMG (just had to throw in a little teenage cell phone lingo), I feel like I have to pinch myself from time to time. I can't believe I even debated not working. Seriously, the company is amazing to work for, they are so flexible with me. I work 2 days a week from the office and 1 from home. I work for myself meaning I am a contract employee. They are flexible with the days I come in so sometimes it is Monday/Tuesday, sometimes Tuesday/Wednesday, ect ect, so really, I still have a life. I still get to pick when I do things. Seriously though, I contribute in a meaningful way to our family financially, but I still get to be a mom most of the time. We found a fantastic nanny who Bear seems to really like. She has a masters in elementary education and I couldn't ask for better - because the economy, especially for teachers, is super depressed, she hasn't been able to find a job as a teacher...so she nanny's. She's great! She is more quiet than we are and plays differently with Bear which is nice because he gets exposed to someone who isn't me.

I seriously seriously love what I do, love that I work, love that I still get to be a mostly full time mom. I can't say anything negative about my situation. Seriously, it is all I every could have dreamed about...maybe more. I am so happy and so glad I didn't let my fear dictate my response to going back to work.

House
Our house is crazy different. Pictures are needed.

New garage doors (coachman style)
New siding and paint
New trees in the back
New plants in the back
Our deck is currently torn off and will be re-built
Our front yard is still torn up but will be planted soon
And the yurt. I will post about that when we get going on it.

General
I feel like as humans in general, we usually talk about "when this happens" and "someday when..." - we have dreams and goals, we look to the future. We want that amazing job, the house of our dreams, the husband, the kids, whatever. I feel like I have so few of those left. I feel like I made it - arrived at the dreams I had. The kid, the house that I could stay in, the husband that treats me right, the job (oh the job!). I mean, yes there are dreams left (pay everything like the house off, someday move to Bend or McCall, finish our projects at the house) but I feel centered, happy and complete. I can't believe I have arrived at this dream. I can't believe how content I am in it. Who is this person who replaced the old me? The me that was never satisfied with the now? I don't know where she came from, but I like her.