Family Photo Shoot

feeling lonely...

My goodness, it is hard to say goodbye. And it is such a lonely feeling to come home to an empty home. Justin and I have the best family anyone could ask for. We would have never made it without them. I know that in the next little while we will get into our life's rhythm and everything will become normal and enjoyable and great, but right now I am just plain lonely with some sadness mixed in...
And wouldn't you know it, just at the right moment as I am sitting here and crying, Justin called. He is so good at that. He is amazing at cheering me up and giving me the boost I need. Heavenly Father knew what He was doing when he brought Justin into my life. I'm so glad I have him. And sweet little Braden. Anyway, good friends and family are the best, even if saying goodbye is terrible. :) I love you all!

Across the country and into the 'Hood!

Well, we made it here! I will post more later and put some pictures up, but I just wanted to write a quick note while I had a chance. Justin and I made our trip across the country and had a great time of it! Don't get me wrong, it was long, but we had a little bed set up in the back of our u-haul and would pull into a rest stop and cozy up for the night and I thought it was a lot of fun! We saw some great sights along the way.
Summary: Washington - home sweet home. Oregon - love it! Idaho - long...really not very exciting. Utah - home sweet home again. Wyoming - depressing land of desolation! Wow. Sorry Tiff and Scott, but Wyoming was terrible! Nebraska - Quaint and pretty! Corn fields that go on and on forever! Iowa - short and sweet! (we just went through the corner) Missouri - really pretty - trees and green fields everywhere. Illinois - the same! Indiana - more of the same beauty! Kentucky- amazingly beautiful! We were tempted to live in Kentucky. We loved all the rolling hills and trees and beautiful big estates with pastures and horses! West Virginia - Also beautiful. The Appalachians where gorgeous! I couldn't believe how green and beautiful it was! VIRGINIA - HOME SWEET HOME!
We are loving it here. We are renting a little house in a place called Portsmouth. As it turns out, we are the only white people in the neighborhood, or any of the surrounding neighborhoods for that matter! It is a definite switch for us and a will be a lot of fun. At the moment, I only understand about half of what some of the people say, but most everyone is just filled with southern hospitality here and I love it. I love standing in a line and the person passing by us all says "All ya'll have a good day". Or as I'm walking through the store or parking lot people say "Morning ma'am" and nod their heads. It's contagious. I wave at everyone in my neighborhood and say hi and talk to all sorts of people I normally would just walk by. I love that part of living here. I also love the history! Just a mile away is Oldtowne Portsmouth and it has houses and buildings and churches from the 1700's and 1800's. These huge beautiful churches with stained glass windows and the victorian style houses. Anyway, I am going to have a great time checking it all out.
Also, since I have been here we have been to the beach 3 times and I have seen dolphins twice! It was a fantastic new experience! Anyway, there are some down sides (the water tastes like I stuck my face in a slow moving, silt-filled river with a little chlorine on the side - I seriously turned on the water to wash a dish and was trying to figure out what the smell was, and then I realized it was just my water. Gross. - and we don't have a washer and dryer yet (doing laundry by hand is not one of my specailties, although Justin did it for two years in Russia), and although I feel pretty safe in our neighborhood, but it's definitely not the safest place in the world. We stepped into the hood, for sure, which is both good and bad.
Anyway, this quick little post is turning into a novel, so I'm going to go to bed now, but I will post more pictures and fun things later.
Love ya'll!

HELP! What do you do in the car for 4 days?

I'm writing this to say that although I have TONS of fun things to blog about (family picture, Braden learning to spit and trying to crawl, Peterson's trip to Oregon, a very cute photo shoot of Braden...) I apologize that I don't think I'll be getting much of anything on here over the next month or so, because we have some huge changes coming up. Tomorrow night, we head for Utah for a week with family and to pack up a u-haul and head across the country for our big move to Norfolk, Virginia. Once there, we will unpack like crazy and Justin will start medical school...plus there is a warm Virginia Beach about 15 minutes away that will constantly be calling our names...

So, that's where we will be! Crazy, eh? It's all really exciting and a little daunting to me. So ready or not here we go!
**Also, if anyone happens to know of good roadtrip games PLEASE let me know. Stuck in a car for 4 days straight...I will take all the help I can get! What do you all do in the car on long road trips?

An early start to big guns...

Although I've always thought Braden was a strong little boy, this has take it to a whole different level! I set some 2lb hand weights next to him and I thought he would take an interest in them, but I did not expect this! He is definately his father's child! He is apparently anxious to have big muscles like his dad...

I love this face...like he is gritting his gums to complete the next set of curls...one...two...three....

It's like he is flexing for the picture! Look at those beefy little forearms! Braden's also making attempts at crawling lately. He sits there playing and reaches over for a toy out of reach as far as he can until he gets onto his hands and knees...
and then the following happens...

He sure is a cute little poser though!

Happy 4th of July and Go Mariners!

We had a great 4th of July with my parents and Megan and Paul. Summer dinners on the porch are the best and the fireworks were spectacular from the boat! This is also Justin and I's fourth anniversary of our first date. It's been the best 4 years ever!

Braden had a great time!

Grilled chicken, mom's famous potato salad, grilled pineapple...need I say more?

All of us out on the boat

There was even a beautiful sunset for us!

Braden also took his first bus ride and went to his first Mariners game!

He LOVED the view on the bus and LOVED not having to be strapped down in his carseat!

GO MARINERS!

Father and Son bonding time...

My great parents!

This was my first time ever seeing Ken Griffey Jr. play live! Woohoo! We love Griffey!

A visit with Great Great Aunt Zoe!

This is Zoe! I have been waiting the last three years to meet her. Zoe is Justin's grandma's sister...so I think that makes her Braden's great great aunt. Maybe just one great...I don't know, but either way she is a lot of fun and spunk! Everybody loves Zoe and tells great and fun stories about her energy and love for life so I have always wanted to meet her and I finally got my chance! And it was most definately all true. Zoe is like a role model for all of us of how we want to be when we get older. She is 86 and 1/2 years old (she made a joke about how when you are really young and when you are really old you always add the 1/2 to your age...whether your 1 1/2 or 86 1/2, that half a year is a big deal!). She is here for the summer so I'm hoping we'll get to see her a few more times. She is full of spunk and energy - and loves to dance. She told us that is how she hopes to go out of this world...dancing. She went para-sailing for the first time to celebrat her 80th b-day, and in the last few years has been on Dancing with the Stars, the Price is Right (and even got called down on stage!), and danced with Billy Ray Cyrus for a minute between commercial break on the Ellen Degeneres show. Anyway, she has an amazing love for every moment of life and all the family is hoping that when we all grow up we will be like Aunt Zoe! :)

We had a picnic at the park in Steilacomm by the beach and spent the evening with her. Braden had a great time with her and pretty much sat in her lap and played and danced with her all night.

Grandpa and baby Kylee

Addi had a great time playing on the playground and going down the slide! She did not want to leave and I think she would have been happy to slide all night long if we had let her.

Uncle 'Skagk" (or Zach) is the best!