Hodge Podge of Randoms Pictures

2012 again

Picking up from the summer...

In July after a couple months of interviews on the phone, skype, and in person in LA Kenny was offered a job as an account manager for Airgas in Austin. We quickly searched for a home, packed, said some heartbreaking good byes-I still see our dear friends faces even through my teary eyes then and now, and started our four day drive from Paso Robles to Round Rock. We were so grateful my mom could make the drive out with me and and the kids. Life time memories were created and treasured in our hearts during those 1600+ plus miles. The week before the kids and I drove up to Eureka to visit for a bit and visit with friends that we won't see as often anymore :( Again tears, now I know why this has taken me so long to get posted, it stings a bit...On the way up we were able to stop and visit with the vanZee's and my sister and John-again more treasured memories.

Here we are in August, the 3rd to be exact-wow that makes 6 months tomorrow! Kenny's parents came out that weekend to help us move in. Texas gave us a warm welcome of well over 100 degree temperatures for the next month. Needless to say, it was a sweaty exhausting move with two little kids and a four month old baby. Having grandparents here to help with the kids, go to store, grab food, and EVERYTHING else was amazing. I don't know how we would have done it without them. The first few weeks we were with only one car so that left me stranded at home most days with the kids in the blazing sun and poor little Blake just could hardly be outside. This was a hard time for sure. Rylan was having a very difficult transitions, he was sad and angry, and just not fun to be around. Being trapped inside I tried my best to keep them entertained and pulled out all my tricks- unsuccessfully at times. I learned that if I can make it through that time, I'm good to go. I was dealing with my own lonely heart and life with three little kids was stressful. It goes without saying all the emotions and trials that come with a move this big. Despite the sunny blue Texas skies, it felt like there was always a storm just lingering in the distance waiting to move in. We were definitely grateful for the new friendships forming with Joanna, Jenny, and Miranda making it start to feel like "home."

In September Rylan turned four and my little baby boy was everyday becoming a kid. At his request we went to Jenny's aka Denny's for chocolate chip pancakes-the journey out here he discovered these and quickly became a favorite, gross I know! My parents came out for a week and my dad said Texas in the summer-never again :) We were able to do some pretty fun things while they were here. My, dad, Rylan, and I went fishing and Rylan even reeled in a couple-another memory tucked away in my heart. We had a fun afternoon at Zilker park downtown Austin, and I even had the pleasure of getting stung by a bee, but better me that the sweet little sleeping baby I held in my arms. Of course we were happy to try some local favorites-The Salt Lick, Shady Grove, and others. While they were here Kenny flew back to California and drove our car back out here. He would tell you it was utterly miserable. If you have ever driven through the desert of CA, AZ,NM, and west TX you'd understand and to have done it twice in less than two months in crazy heat alone, even worse. God is faithful and led us to a great church and we have been going ever since and joined a small group this month as well. Life changing and we are so grateful.

The highlight of October was our trip to San Antonio. We had tickets to a fun Thomas the train event outside of Santa Cruz, but since we had the opportunity to move out here we sold the tickets and wanted to do something just as special for Rylan-who was still having a hard transition and asking to go home to Paso almost daily. We decided Sea World would be a glad substitute, so glad I had yet to tell him about our Thomas tickets he would have surely added that to the bad mommy list for taking that too away from him. We were anxious to see grandma Sugar too and introduce her to Blake. The last time we had seen her Elle was 3 months old and Rylan wasn't even 2. We left for San Antonio the first Saturday of October. Had a great day at Sea World and came out to the parking lot and the Expedition had been broken into, as had the same car two spots down-we both had out of state plates. Boo, fortunately all they took was the Garmin. So not a huge loss but a broken lock and no navigation in a new city was less than thrilling. I called my friend Amy (her family had just moved to The Woodlands, TX the same day we arrived in Round Rock) and she found directions from Sea World to our hotel, hotel to grandma Sugar's, and then from there home-such a lifesaver!!! The hotel was decent but right next to a high school football game, and yes everything you think about high school football in Texas is true, INSANE! So it was busy and loud and of course we had no idea where to get dinner without navigation so fast food at about 9 pm it was. I couldn't get the kids little blow up mattress beds to work so I had to make them funky makeshift beds on the floor and twin fold out because per the theme of this trip the room didn't have two beds, just a fold out and it not a full size but a twin-yay for chaos with three tired little kids and a stressed out mom. We also had the joy of hearing a fight in the parking lot at 2am. However, the day at the park and the next morning spent with Sugar and Barry and Leslie made the trip absolutely worth it. The rest of October was a little better, I joined a moms club for our area of Round Rock west and started meeting some fun people. My heart started to get a little lighter seeing my kids play with other kids and smile and laugh a little more. The last big bummer was both cars needed some basic maintenance, one needed tires, and one the other an expensive little darn sensor, which we had to do to register the cars in TX-another fun expense, having to do all that was a chunk of change and we had to miss out going to visit and spend Halloween with our friends in The Woodlands. This time I had told Rylan we were going so that did go on the bad mommy list for not being able to take them. We are still anxious to go see the Uppena's!

November we had more visitors and we continued to explore the area. Kenny's parents came again for a weekend and my sister came a different weekend. We showed both some of our favorite places in Austin on South Congress, even sharing some super super yummy cupcakes at the food trailers. This is the first month we were starting to feel like we somewhat belong here. Kenny continued to learn and open new accounts achieving an award for opening the most new accounts in a month for his area. This was a great accomplishment especially for being a newby! Great recognition from the higher ups and gratefully they are learning his name for all the right reasons, such a great feeling for him after so many negative experiences in the last couple of years. We spent Thanksgiving in San Antonio and had a wonderful time. Rylan was starting to become that happy sweet little boy I remembered and this trip just fully brought him back. He had so much fun at the "beeping house" (doors that beeped from the alarm when the opened) and with the cousins. The more Rylan came back the more my heart began to play a joyful song of thanksgiving. Elle over night began to talk and talk and talk and talk about anything and everything. Her vocabulary exploded and she just added to the joy with her fearless, uninhibited, hilarious spirit! Blakey Doodle started eating some solids and cereal and still as happy and content as ever. How stoked was I she was such a chill and pleasant baby? SO stoked, she made the craziness of three worth it all. She is definitely the quiet observer than comes alive when the big kids go to bed. It started to cool off this month and we are falling more in love with Austin everyday. It's like a big city version of San Luis Obispo with the flare of Texas.

December was a little low. I struggled with turning 30 and being so far from "home" and people that knew us. As much as we were loving it here and all that new relationships we were cultivating, we just were really feeling the growing pains of it all. We were trying to figure out new traditions for our family and what we wanted our holidays to look like. As I said before I was struggling with my birthday on a few levels so trying to make our first Christmas here perfect was not smart on my part. I usually don't put so much pressure on myself but not having anything be familiar in the season made me feel like I had to get all the traditional things work even if it wigged me out, tree, go look at lights, put up lights(a few anyway), see Santa, shop, decorate, gingerbread house, wrap, give to charity, watch Christmas movies, Christmas eve service, the perfect gifts, a fun Christmas eve, special dinner on Christmas, you name it it was on my list. I think I put on a happy face for the most part but felt like I was crumbling inside because I was missing home and feeling torn between embracing the new but longing for the ease of being with old friends and the comfort of knowing what to expect with silly things like weather, events around town, parties, etc... I made a commitment before January to keep the treasures of our life before and enjoy the adventure of life here. A new decade a new attitude. P.S. Texans don't mess around with fireworks at Christmas and new years, holy smokes batman it was was nuts!!!!!!!! They also have incredible state pride. These are just a few of the things I've seen shaped like Texas-soap, crackers, chips, hummingbird feeder (via Amy), mouse pads, cheese, waffle makers, and more if you can believe it. They don't short on school pride either. I've never seen so much Aggie and Longhorn gear, and it's everywhere, grocery stores, gas stations, drug stores, pretty much an retail space, flag, painted address, car accessory, you get the idea. When they say don't mess with Texas they mean it! Lastly your not a true Texan unless you are native. Oh well, I've met more transplants that true Texans so at least I'm in like company!

Finally we are to January. We were so happy to have my mom come not only after Christmas for a few days but also just last week. We were able to have a few dates, two with other couples, a first since I was pregnant with Rylan :) AND I got a massage, aaaawwww can you feel the stress float away, cause I did. In January we played with friends, went to parks, toured the fire station at the airport, continued to explore, had some really good and hard conversations and have put into motion a great plan to continue to improve the quality of life for our family. So that's the long and short of it. I'm sure I'll remember other details I left out, like oh ya, Elle got glasses. I guess I'll save those for a details post in the future. As always I'll try to be better about posting and think I just may since our life is the most settled it's been in a very long time. Keep in touch!