ATTENTION: Parents of 11 year old boys

My son is somewhat MIA.
I haven't seen him in 2 days.
His face that is.
His nose has been buried in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series by Rick Riordan.

He did rise enough to run out to the library today to get book 3. He read book 2, The Sea of Monsters all the way there. Finished it shortly after we got home and is already 1/2 way through the 3rd. I'm afraid I have to reserve book4. Hope it's turned in tomorrow or....who knows what we're in store for.
He only hit the baseball for 2 minutes today.???? Only to throw the bat down and run back to his book.
I'm proud of him!! But seriously, are his eyes crossed yet?

10 thumbs up from this boy. Highly recommended. I might have to read them myself.

Ani's in love

with her new mini sewing machine that is.





Project Runway, here she comes.

Fresh goodness a plenty

I love the desert.
But I've fallen in LOVE WITH THE NORTHWEST all over again and all the FRESH LOCAL FRUIT that i can find on any walk, bike ride or drive around town. The backyard that we're "squatting" in at the moment has a purple plum, yellow plum, pear and apple tree!! More blackberries than you can imagine are taking over town. It's not uncommon to see folks walking around town with a bowl of fresh pick berries. Or kids with purple stained fingers and smiles. I love it! I'm missing my big freezer right now. Not to worry, we are getting our fair share. I thought you could tire of it, I'm mistaken. I still stop to pick a berry or two whenever I go.

We went raspberry picking a few weeks ago. Brought home 17 pounds of the bright red yums. We froze a lot and there's nothing better than throwing them in fresh whole wheat pancakes in mornin'.
Jason made a bomb blackberry biscuit cobbler the other night.
We would love to hear your favorite recipes for all these plums, apples, pears and blackberries.
Wish you were all near to share in the goodness!

Current Events...

Enough is Enough!!
I'm embarrassed that I'm still 2 months behind on blogs. Exciting events happen daily in our lives and I want to share them quickly with you all but I refuse to write about today's happenings when you don't even know where we are or how we got here.
So....I'm giving you the fast version. Jason will not be happy with my cheatin' ways but I'll deal with him later. :)
My last blog left off in Colorado. After the Teva Games it was time to head back to one of our favorite towns, Durango, where we "thought" we could "find" jobs. HA! Nada!
We tried to enjoy our time there. We met some great folks who took us out to bouldering spots RIGHT IN TOWN!! We played frisbee in the park. We spent lots of time at the library.
I also STRESSED!!! I'll be honest. Life isn't always peaches and cream. We all know that. We have our moments and we struggle through them. Hopefully we learn and become better people. Hopefully next time we are able to handle the situation with a more positive attitude. I try hard to see the light. To remember that this is only a moment and soon it will pass. Remind myself that everything happens for a reason, even if at the time you dig deep and can't find what that reason may be. Yet, I'm human and sometimes fail. I can easily get swallowed up by my funk. Tends to be one of my downfalls. I need to remember how to breathe and relax in times of stress. I often wonder how I can meditate and relax during the craziest contraction of childbirth yet during one of life's' roller coasters forget everything I know, get caught up in the not so happy moment and hold on tight before I might fall. Luckily, I am surrounded by a loving family and I am able to pull myself out. We all have those moments in life. Having them while on the road just makes them that much funkier. Not too mention affects your family and everyone around you. Here is where you learn how close of quarters your really living in and that indeed, you have no where to hide. This is when you say:Here I am, Love me or Leave me. No wait....please don't leave me. ;)

So plan B.....Flagstaff, AZ. It's a bigger town. Close to a even bigger city. Surely there's work there right???? Nope. Strike out Numero Duo. Humph.....
My spirits rose while here. I love Flagstaff. It felt more like home. The high desert. The juniper trees. Farmers Markets and Folk Festivals. Great people and music. A lively downtown that never gets old. But when it came to jobs, same ole' same ol. No one called us back and nothing manifested. It was okay though. This time I knew there was something else out there. At the time I didn't know what, but I knew it would all be okay.
Plan C....There wasn't one. What do you do? Make one!
Anacortes, WA. Far, far away on an island in northern WA lies a small town where family is close and apparently work rains down. At first we didn't want to go. We loved being near the red sandstone and deep canyons of the Southwest. Sometimes, you just don't have a choice and you need to trust and step on the gas. Prepare yourselves for a long, long journey back to where it all began. Deja Vu!!!
When we left Bend ONE YEAR AGO our first stop was....Anacortes, WA. Nans and Grumps live here and they had a grand old boat that needed painting. Jay being the handyman he is....tackled and conquered the job. This then gave him the experience to return back to Anacortes to paint yet another boat and another boat and flood us, literally, with more work than we know what to do with at the current time. Don't' get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Okay, since this has turned into a "spill all" blog, I *may* be whining from time to time about how tired i am or how i won't see my husband for the next 7 weeks. But the end result is all worth it.
On our way here we were able to spend a few days with good friends in Boise, ID who we've been promising for years we'd visit. We also to spent a few nights back in Bend with our dear friends catching up. Many welcomed new additions to their families and we finally got a chance to meet those little squishy ones. I tried to sneak out a few times with them tucked under my arms. Momma's beware!
So here we are. It's almost like we never left. I'm wondering if this past year as been a dream. I pinch myself periodically and know how fortunate we are to have had this opportunity. We're working hard now, enjoying time with Nan-Nan and Grumpy and wondering after this, where our next path will lead.

Colorado Part 2

The zig-zag continues.
From Basalt we took a day trip to Aspen. I've never seen Aspen in the winter, but I can only imagine how fun it would be. Kaleb had that brand new snowboard in the RV and was wishing the ski resorts were still open. What a great area. We played at the skatepark, made a tribute to John Denver, climbed at the gym with pro climber Emily Harrington and ate some of the best pizza ever. Unfortunately Independence Pass didn't open for 2 more days. BOO!


We still had a good 2 weeks before we needed to be back in Vail for Ani's competition. We thought it would be fun to sneak up on Uncle Brian in Colorado Springs. On the way we spent the night in Leadville at 10,000 feet. Of course, it rained the whole time. Lucky for us, we found a little RV park, plugged in and geeked out on almost a whole season of Survivor.
The next day gave us more rain and as we drove over passes we even hit some snow. Ugh!! This was our 2nd time this year in Colorado and even though it was May, we still got snowed on. We stopped at the visitor center to hit them up on free hot coffee and fresh baked cookies. Yummy goodness on a gray day!






We had fun surprising Uncle Brian with our visit. We spent a week with him in "the Springs". And yes, it rained every single day! (our Colorado theme) We still found moments of open sky to enjoy a weekend festival, climb, play in Manitou Springs, find a BMX track to ride around in, and waste dimes and nickles in the penny arcade.
It was almost time to start heading back to Vail. We took a few days getting there to climb some more and get Ani back on the rock and in shape. She was getting excited. We got to Vail early to ensure a good camp spot close to town. We heard there were bear sightings in camp but never got the opportunity to see one of these huge creatures out in the wild. We familiarized ourselves with town, took lots of walks, slack lined in camp and awaited grandma and granpa's arrival.