We're Back...with Baby #2 on the way!

Wow, has it been a while.  Between our crazy whirlwind trip after my dad died and moving into a new house, job changes, preschool starting and life in general, I just couldn't sit down and put anything on here.  But now that Baby #2 is on the way and Sara is growing up WAY TOO FAST I figured I needed to get some thoughts down for them.  I am NOT very good at keeping a journal so I have barely anything written down for Sara's last few years, let alone the new on its way....which is due the end of May for those that haven't heard!

We are settling into Yakima finally. Ryan has a new job that he is really enjoying. He's working for a local orchard doing a lot of 'special projects' kind of like a project manager for them. He's able to split his time between office work and being out in the orchard which makes him happy.  Sara has started preschool at the local Montessori, and ironically, I attended the same school when I was little and my teacher is STILL there. Unfortunately Sara didn't get her as a teacher but we love who she ended up with.  She is completely thriving in the academics and I must say she seems to be taking after me with her passion for learning...poor girl.  She can write all of her letters and numbers and has started reading a little bit.  She still likes to dress herself with some very 'creative' outfits and is very good natured.  She is quite the daredevil on the ski hill and has mastered the magic carpet and poma lift.  I'm even taking her on the chairlift with me and use a harness so she doesn't get out of control because she likes to go really fast.  We've been snowshoeing a few times and sledding when we have snow.  I never thought our Hawaii girl would like the cold weather sports but she sure has taken to them. 

I have been teaching nutrition at the local community college for three quarters but am taking the next two off while I'm pregnant. I'm sure I'll be ready to go back once the baby arrives. I had a really rough start to this pregnancy because I was so sick and nauseous but now I am feeling human again and enjoying it until the next trimester. 

Here's a picture of the baby at about 19 weeks.

Our little snow bunny

She still LOVES the water! Can't take the Hawaii out of the girl!

My Dad, My Rock

It sure has been a while since we last updated. Life has taken some turns for us in the last few weeks. We are currently camping in the middle of nowhere in Colorado. We are still on our crazy adventure but had a few changes. On June 6, my dad went in for a major surgery to reconstruct his jaw after he experienced bone necrosis as a result of radiation he had 5 years ago to cure his cancer. We found out about the surgery the day we decided to take our adventure. We figured it would be perfect timing because it was going to take him a few weeks to recover, so we could go back to Yakima and help him recover before heading out on our adventure. Sara and I went to see him in Seattle on Wednesday morning. He made it through the 10.5 hour surgery and 24 hours of sedation and was alert and talking to me. In typical Dad fashion, he was recovering quicker then anyone they had ever seen (even at 70 years old!). He was just like that...always defying the odds. I am so thankful I went into to see him that day and I even brought him a card that Sara had drawn for him. He was thrilled. My last memory with him was saying I love you and him saying it back. I will never forget it. The next morning at 4 am, they found him unconscious; not breathing and his heart had stopped. They brought him back but it was too late, the damage had been done to his brain. They still don’t know exactly what happened. They think it was a result of airway obstruction, either from swelling, or something plugging his airway. I honestly don’t think we’ll ever know. On Friday morning, June 10, he passed away.

Words can’t even describe what has happened in my life over the course of the last year. The emptiness I feel is indescribable. My dad was an absolutely amazing man and was the rock in my life, especially when I needed help or advice. He kept me sane over the last five months since my mom passed away and I miss him incredibly. He was such an incredible man and such an inspiration in my life. He is the reason we are traveling across the country as we speak. There isn’t a minute that passes that I don’t want to pick up my phone and call him and tell him all about our trip and ask him where to go and what to see. He had experienced life to the fullest and now I’m going to try to live up to him. If you want to read more about him, his obituary gives a tidbit about what he accomplished in his life, Louis John Gavin III.

So, here we are, about 20 miles outside of Grand Junction, CO. After my dad’s passing, we knew we had to still go on our adventure. He wanted to be buried at the Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, with full military honors. We thought about flying out and then coming back and going on our trip but figured why not drive out there? So that’s what we’re doing.

Here's a picture the day we left Yakima...

We left Yakima on Tues, June 28, and headed toward Boise. We got a late start so we stopped at a state park outside of Pendleton, OR and stayed the night there. Then headed to Boise, ID (actually Star, which is a town outside Boise) and stayed at Ryan’s cousins, Greg and Jenn’s, house. It was an incredible time. Sara got to play with Ella, Henry, and Clara who are almost 8, and 4 ½ (twins). She had an amazing time with them and played great! They jumped on the trampoline and walked with them to dinner. She is still asking to play with them! Ryan and I even got to sneak in a bike ride together up into the foothills of Boise while Greg watched Sara during her nap! It was amazing, ranked up there with one of the best rides we’ve done. Lots of climbing and beautiful hills with no traffic! You can’t beat that. We both went for a run through the country roads. It was amazing! If it was a few hours closer to the coast, we’d have moved there already! You never know though, there are lots of rivers and lakes!

So after two nights there, we headed on to Provo, UT. Now that was a drive, 8 and a half hours to be exact. Sara was a trooper, except for about a half an hour of bloody murder screaming because she wouldn’t say please :-) I guess that’s what happens when you refuse to sleep in a car. How can a 2 year old miss a nap while riding in a car? The kid refuses to sleep.

Our campsite in Provo...

While in Provo, we stayed in a state park on Utah Lake. It was really cool. The views of the mountains were insane and the lake was a happening place with tons of boats. It was 96 degrees in the shade! We actually took a dip in the lake and Ryan and I both took the stand up board out for a paddle. It was so nice to be on the water. Boy did we get some looks, like what in the world is that? I guess when you don’t live near the ocean you wouldn’t know what it was. Although as an aside, people are surfing on the river now, on standing waves. It’s insane. We’re actually hoping to get to Glenwood Springs tomorrow to check out a park that was built to ride waves!

We stayed two nights in Provo and then left this morning for Colorado River State Park near Palisade, CO, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We drove through some absolutely insane terrain. Over a mountain pass, through the desert just outside of Moab and the Canyonlands. We’re hoping to stop there on our way back to the coast! It was HOT! Where we’re staying now outside of Grand Junction, it was 98 when we got here. The elevation is really high, 5700 ft so the sun is pretty brutal. Sara is an amazing travel buddy. She’s definitely got her moments but overall she’s a trooper!

Off to bed now. I’ll try to post as we go so we can have a journal of our trip to show Sara later.

We've taken a bunch of pictures but I have yet to download most of them. More to follow!

It's Official, we're crazy and have lost it!

So there is SO much that has happened since our last post so I will simply just mention the 2 biggest events:
1) We went to Maui for 1 week earlier this month
2) We have decided to move everything we own into storage and travel around Washington, Oregon, and Northern California for the summer.

So first thing is first, Maui! We went to Maui to take care of a few loose ends so while it wasn't vacation the whole time we certainly spent A LOT of time on the beach. It felt so good to be back in the islands and to replenish our vitamin D stores.

Here is Kelley and Sara enjoying being outside and not having to be bundled up with 3+ layers. Sara absolutely loves not having to wear shoes. It is always torture to get her to wear anything back home so it was nice to not have to worry about that for 1 week.

Sara has been in to striking a pose lately.

Sara getting ready for a long distance ocean swim. I would have to say that swimming/surfing in the ocean there is the single biggest thing I miss about being in Hawaii.

All-in-all the trip to Maui was much needed, however I was surprised to realize that while I miss aspects of Hawaii greatly, I am not being drawn back there to live. I truly think that Kelley and I have made the right decision moving back to the mainland, which is a good segue to #2) Moving everything we have into storage and traveling around WA, OR, and CA.

Kelley and I have known for sometime that Oak Harbor isn't the place that we wanted to stay forever. While there are a lot of things that we really like about Oak Harbor; the biking, running, etc.; there is something about this place that is just not clicking with us (more of a feeling that I can't describe. You just know and feel like this place isn't HOME). With all of that said, we didn't really have an idea of where we wanted to go, nor did I have a job that would allow me to take a lot of time off to go and discover that place.

We had discussed many options in the year that we were here but we were coming up on less than 1 month until we would need to sign another 1 year lease with our landlord. Though we really didn't want to stick around here for another entire year we really didn't have much of a choice...did we? 2 more weeks went by and we were simply just going to sign on for another year when Kelley's dad had mentioned, "you guys have enough savings and Sara is young enough why don't you pack up all your stuff, put it in storage, and spend the summer traveling around to find out where you want to settle down for a while". I think this statement was made as a joke but the seed had been planted.

When I got home from work that evening Kelley made mention to the statement that her father made and we both laughed and said, "that would be completely crazy". That laugh soon turned to, "but it would be fun", to a "why wouldn't we", to a "let's do this", to a "are you sure you want to do this", to an explanation to our landlord that we would not be renting our house another year and a 3 week notice of my tenure at work.

Needless to say our life has been completely flipped up-side-down by our own accord and though this is definitely the most crazy thing we have ever done for some reason it feels so right. I haven't been happy with my job for a long time, we weren't 100% happy with where we lived, and with the recent passing of my grandmother and Kelley's mother we are realizing that life is too freakin short to live within the box. We both have talked about the fact that a home is where you make it and you can't be happy with your surroundings unless you are happy with yourself. We realize that the grass is always greener on the other side and no place is absolutely perfect but are both being pulled away from our current situation into a new destiny in way that is indescribable.

We are excited about this new adventure and will keep you updated as much as possible when living in a 22ft trailer on the road somewhere in the pacific northwest. We have a lot to do before our June 15th departure date from Oak Harbor but then after that is wide open............

Race Weekend!

This past weekend Ryan and I got back on the saddle for some running races. Mine was much less significant then Ryan's but it felt awesome to be out there! I've started running a little bit over last month or two, mostly trail running because my foot isn't quite ready for pavement pounding. Honestly, it's probably not ready for any pounding but heck, if I can shuffle, I can run. I'm not sure what my longest run/shuffle has been because of all the trails I've been doing, probably 3 or 4 miles. It's crazy how I can go for almost an hour on the trails and get a great workout but not have the pain I do on the road. Maybe all the ups and downs and traverses keeps my mind off my foot. So when I saw there was a 5 mile Tulip Run on Saturday I figured why not. I wasn't sure I could run that far yet (I know, it's kind of pitiful) but decided to give it a try. I honestly thought I'd have to walk a lot of it to give my foot a break (no literally). I was shooting to finish under an hour...seriously. The positive on coming back from an injury is that you can only get faster, right!? Ryan, Sara, and I headed up to Burlington (40 minutes drive) on Saturday morning and the weather was windy and chilly. Not bad for running, not so fun watching a two year old. I waved bye to them as I headed out and then spent then next 48 minutes enjoying the heck out of myself. The course was mostly off road on a gravel/dirt trail and only about a mile on the road so it worked perfect. I started off REALLY slow, 10:40 mile, and my foot felt pretty good so I picked up the pace a little bit, actually I got extremely annoyed with people and decided I couldn't follow them anymore. The whole competitive nature still flows even when I'm running like a turtle. It was fun game to try not to let anyone pass me from mile 2 to the finish. It wasn't too difficult seeing how slow I started. It's kind of an ego boost when you get to pass a bunch of people though. And I realize how in 'cardio' shape I am compared to others that were running my speed. You wouldn't believe the huffing and puffing, and grunting and gagging you hear from the back of the packers at the end of a race. Needless to say, it was a very entertaining race. I finished the last mile in about 8 minutes which was hauling for me! The best part was we all got a fresh tulip when we crossed the line. Unfortunately, Ryan missed the finish because Sara was refusing to get out of the car because she was watching Dora. She was in a less than pleasant mood :-) I was extremely sore yesterday which is pretty humorous for how long the race was but I actually kind of enjoyed the pain :-) Pre-race, someone was a little grumpy, and it wasn't me! Sara had an eventful weekend of running races. "What's a running race, momma?". "Why's daddy running a marathon momma?" "When do we get to see daddy?" These are few of the zillion questions Sara asked yesterday. Let's just say she has an inquisitive little personality. Boy does she LOVE to ask questions these days. We woke up to howling winds in the morning and new Ryan was out there running already. It was calling for 20 mph winds and 80% chance of rain in the morning. Thankfully they were wrong about the rain but unfortunately they were also wrong about the wind, it was more like 30-40 mph. It was crazy out there. The race finished about 1.5 miles from our house at the local park but it started about 18 miles north so Ryan drove down early and took the shuttle. Sara and slept in and then walked down to the finish. I was tempted to drive and sit in our car but figured since he was suffering we might as well too, and my legs could use some loosening up. Mile 18 ran through the park and then they headed out (and up) for 8 more before finishing. We were expecting him at around 2:25 so when he came through at 2:15 I was shocked. He was averaging about 7:20 min pace which was well faster then he anticipated. (He's running another marathon on Saturday so he was 'supposed' to take it easy) He looked great and had a smile on his face. Not to be a pessimist, but I knew that wouldn't last long :-) Just after he saw us is where it got really hilly (what's up with the race directors, ouch?!) and he hit the wall. He tells the story better but I guess the guy he was running with was dragging him along and trying to get him to go with him (he has run numerous sub 3s and was shooting for a 3:15 it turns out, once he heard that, he knew he was in trouble :-). He still ended up finishing in 3:42 which is a great time! Especially considering it was blowing like crazy! He was bummed because had he run an 8:30 pace the whole time he still would have finished in 3:42 and probably not have hurt so bad...doh!

Here he is at mile 18. This is the only picture I managed to get, somehow I took three of the guy in front of him...oops. And I didn't get any pictures of Sara bundled up in the jogger, she was nice and toasty.

Finishing

Finished! He was fifth local finisher! He finished his day off with a nice and comfortable ice bath! Yeeouch! And a beer.

Now it's time for a 'quick' recovery before his marathon in Wenatchee this Saturday. Nobody ever said he was smart just crazy!

And Miss Sara on her favorite pink scooter

Here's a little quote from Facebook from him: "Truth be told I was a little disappointed with this race - I saw my PR race flashing in my mind. I was on track to run a 3:15 when along came mile 18. The course was hilly in the beginning, flat in the middle, and hilly in the end. The last set of hills just did me in. Oh well. Maybe one day I will get a better idea of what pacing yourself is all about. Until then I will just continue to beat the snot out of myself."

Outdoor Girl

I realize I haven't done any updates on Sara in quite some time so here you go. She has changed SO much in the last few months it's crazy. My little baby is growing up so fast. I swear she's grown two inches in the last couple of months. Her pants that were too long are now too short. She looks like a flood is coming in a few pairs.

-She decided that she wanted to be potty trained the week before we went home for Christmas. It was quite impeccable timing to be honest. The three days before our 4 1/2 hour drive and whirlwind trip she decided she didn't want a diaper. I shouldn't be complaining because it was pretty amazing how fast she did it. She had a few accidents and that was it. We found at first that she did best without wearing undies because she thought her diaper was on. So she went commando for the first few days and it worked. We're still battling the pooping issue, so technically she's not fully potty trained yet. She tells me when she has to go and then proceeds to freak out until I put a diaper on her. I'm not pushing the issue right now for a few reasons but between the craziness of the last few months and having some serious constipation, we don't want to traumatize her for life, so it is what it is. Someday she'll decide to go.


-Now that she's semi-potty trained, she likes to use it as leverage. For instance, after we put her to bed, she screams, Mama, have to go peepee! Mama, have to go peepee! over and over until I come in to let her go to the bathroom. She's figured out that it's a good stall tactic. She can climb out of her toddler bed if she wants but thankfully I think our threats have worked so far.

-She's really into singing songs these days and likes to talk to her stuffed animals in her bed. She definitely has an imagination which is so fun to watch develop. She says the darndest things sometimes.

-Her favorite movie switched from Finding Nemo to Little Mermaid. Unfortunately you can't buy Little Mermaid unless you want to spend a hundred dollars to get a black market copy because good old Disney likes to hold the copyright and then release old movies for an ungodly amount of money every few years. Hopefully Little Mermaid will be coming out soon or else we'll spending a buttload of money at Blockbusters renting it continuously. Memere and Pop came to the rescue for now though, they sent an old VCR tape of different Little Mermaid movies. Not the original movie but a close replacement.

-She's a very determined little girl and doesn't forget ANYTHING, especially if I tell her she can do something. She will not let it go until I let her do whatever I said she could do.

-We've been implementing timeouts a lot more lately. But thankfully they have been working (for the most part). It's crazy that I can put her in a spot and she'll scream and yell but won't leave where I put her. Let's knock on wood that it will last.

-We are such good buddies. She's really a blast to hang out with these days. There are definitely challenging moments and she knows how to get her way pretty well but overall she's a wonderful little girl.

-She still LOVES running. We spend A LOT of time outside still. Who says if it's rainy and nasty that we have to stay inside. With the right clothes, we're good to go. The trails out here are limitless. We've taken her for quite a few hikes this winter.

-We had a huge (for here) snow storm the beginning of last week and it was such a blast! Ryan's work was closed for the day (we had about 5-6 inches of snow and you'd think we had 5-6 feet of snow) so we went sledding, built snowmen, and he built an igloo that he turned into a sledding jump. It was so much fun! We played like kids all day long. Sara freaked out at first when it was snowing really hard but once it slowed down she didn't want to go inside. It was a nice treat for all us.

The pictures aren't in order because I get sick of trying to format them. So bear with me. This is the view from one of the hikes we did a few weeks ago. That's the Olympic Mountain range in the distance.

Gotta wear the tutu to go hiking.

That's Mt. Baker in the far left corner.

She hiked all the way up this ridge and way back into the trees along the cliff. It was crazy how far she went on her own. The girls got some endurance.

Our new favorite hair-do. It's the only way she'll let me get her hair out of her face :-)

Ryan's parents came to visit a few weeks ago and it was a blast. We went for another hike while they were here and Sara did that one too. Lots of fun! Ken was taking the picture so unfortunately we didn't get everyone in the shot.

She likes to ride this trike down the hill as fast as she can and then have us tow her back to the house with Tyla's leash. She's had one crazy endo fall but thankfully she just hopped up and laughed. Phew, crisis averted.

One of her many outfits she creates with her bag of junk. She loves putting toys in bags, purses, boxes, you name it. My little carpet bagger.

Random pic. While we were in Yakima over Christmas she had her first hair cut!

That's it for now. I have a ton of pictures from the last few months but I think I've posted enough for now :-)

Miss you Mom

It's been a long time since we last posted and lot has happened since then. Many of you already know but for those of you that don't, my mom lost her battle with breast cancer on Jan 9 at 63 years young. It has been a tragic loss to my family and words can't describe the sadness and emptiness I feel. She was such a special person and an amazing mom. I feel like I lost a best friend. The only thing that keeps me going are the wonderful memories I have with her and I'll keep those close to my heart for life.

I truly feel like God works in mysterious ways. The day we moved back to the mainland, we were actually in the car with her on the way home from the airport, when she got the call that she had breast cancer. We were able to be here with her and spend her last nine months with us close by. There were so many wonderful memories we were able to make with her and Sara had time with her that she never would have had, had we still lived in Hawaii. Her children and grandchildren are what she lived for and to be able to spend lots of quality time with her was priceless.

This has been an extremely difficult time in our lives and I'm still trying to process the last year of my life. It sure has put everything in perspective and how truly fragile life is. My mom was an absolutely amazing woman and I'm so sad that she is no longer on this earth. She will live on through all of us kids and grandkids and will never be forgotten. I love you, Mom!

Long lost blog

Life has sure seemed to get in the way of this blog lately. We had a great Thanksgiving in Yakima this past week. Sara and I headed over the mountains in the first snow storm of the season about 10 days early. Ryan got up on Thanksgiving at 4:30! and drove to beat the traffic and he was successful. While we were in Yakima we had about 8 inches of snow! It was SO MUCH fun for Sara...not before having a few fits because of the cold 'rain' on her face. But once she went sledding she was hooked! Now she gets so excited when it's 'knowing' outside. While we were away Ryan got his first snow storm here in Oak Harbor too. It's quite rare for it to snow here so when they got 2 inches of snow the entire city shut down. Literally. It took Ryan THREE hours to drive 6 miles home from work. It's crazy the idiots on the road, not to mention the people with back wheel drive and bald tires. Welcome to the west side of the mountains :-)

Sorry for all the pics...I'm a lazy blogger these days!

Her first snow man that Ryan built. He didn't grow up in the snow so he didn't know you can 'roll' the snow to make the body. HA! But it's a pretty darn good snow man :-)

Making a snow angel

Playing with her cousins..

Bombing the hill with daddy.

Our awesome sledding hill at my mom's where I grew up! So fun!

She looked like the little boy in the Christmas Story...just don't fall down!

First night it snowed.

We also went and got a Christmas tree this weekend.

The 'reindeer' at the farm.

We had a little problem getting the tree straight :-)

Ryan surprised us when we were gone! I LOVE it!!

Tyla wasn't sure what to do in the snow. She's only seen it one other time before we moved to Hawaii six years ago!

Here's two videos of us sledding. It doesn't look as steep in the videos but you can tell by the screams that it was pretty fast! I felt like a little kid again. Fun times!