Bass Lake

We had a great time on our trip to Bass Lake! It was a ton of fun to be all together with my family, thanks to the Silver Baron (my grandpa's nickname) and we were sad to head home at the end of the trip. The boys did really well in the car, mostly because we rented a new explorer that was really nice and spacious... it was worth every penny to rent it for the drive since we had a ways to go and way too much stuff to bring! Anyways, we spent the week riding, as Jackson would say, "fast boats!", did lots of swimming, enjoyed the 80 degree water of the lake, rode the sea doo's a lot one day (those are my favorite!!), went tubing, rode on the 6 man banana and stayed up way too late playing games and laughing so hard my stomach hurt! It was a blast! Oh, and John tried wakeboarding for the first time ever and got up and went practically half way around the lake! I was so proud of him... hopefully my knee will be a lot stronger next time because it was so hard just watching and not being able to ski or wakeboard myself. We took a ton of pictures, so be prepared to see a lot!

the only picture i got of John- before he stood up.... I was really nervous about getting the camera wet so I didn't bring it out on the ski boat much

we tried to get Jackson to go on the tube with us....

he wasn't too happy about that

But he sure was happy as long as he was driving the boat or simple just riding on it, going fast!

My mom & Baron.... he wasn't too happy about the life jacket

Dinner at Ducy's on the lake

we kept trying to get pictures of all the grandkids, but soon figured out that it is impossible to get 4 kids all under the age of 3 to be happy and all looking at the camera at once... we still tried multiple times though :)

We will forever miss you shiny blue explorer... thanks for all the good road trip memories. Oh how i wish you weren't so expensive!!

Change of Plans

Alright, here's the scoop. We were suppose to be moving today to an apartment on the east side of Portland. It was a pretty small, older apartment complex in not the best part of town (it was ok, and safe enough, but not really a great area), with a super small ward that from what we heard didn't really have any other young couples with young kids. So we weren't too excited about that situation, but we were going to manage the complex which meant free rent plus a very small salary on top, so we figured it was worth it to do that for a year or so to get on top of student loans now coming in and pay off my medical bills from my MRI, surgery and PT. So we gave our landlords our notice that we would be moving the 15th and had everything all set to go. 2 days before the big move- just this last Thursday, I went in to the management company to go over things one last time and to get keys. Instead, they sat me down and literally said, "I am so sorry, but that position is no longer available." For confidential reasons they couldn't really explain why, they just said a lot of crap (though she used a much stronger word) had gone down that morning and everything was a mess over there. I immediately totally started freaking out. But they also told me that they really liked me and the experience we already had and that they would still like to find us a complex to manage. There was another opening for a manager at one of their buildings in Tualatin, but since it was working for a different supervisor, I would need to talk to him and set up another interview. So Friday morning I went back in to do another interview and then had to wait ALL DAY for the guy to call back with his answer because he was interviewing one other person that day. He said he needed to make a decision soon because it was a last minute opening that they really needed to fill, so he was hoping to make his decision just after his lunch. He didn't call though until 5:15pm!! It was such a horrible day just sitting waiting for the call.... I really couldn't make or change plans until I knew if we were hired or not! I literally felt sick all day from all the stress of not knowing if we had somewhere to live starting next week! (Someone else is moving in here next Saturday!!) BUT, he finally called and said he would like us to manage for him. And really, it is a bigger complex (well 2 right by each other) and a lot more work, but a much better, bigger apartment, a lot better pay, and a much better area x's 10! (It is like 2-3 miles away from Bridgeport Village and like a mile or two from that Claim Jumper just off I-5.... so Jenn, when you and Sean come up for your traditional Claim Jumper visit, you have an excuse to come see us... or maybe we'll meet you there!) ANYWAYS, to sum it up, it has been a whirl wind these last 2 days and more stress than I could ever handle.... I was seriously starting to really lose it... BUT we really think it will be so worth it in the end, and that this is where we need to be for the next few years. So, all is well and we will be moving everything into our garage Wed. and then moving over to the new place this next Saturday. AHHHH.... I feel so much better for getting that off my chest. Just needed to vent and explain :) I promise the next post will be more exciting... I still have our Bass Lake trip to blog about and we have LOTS of great pictures from that since John bought us a really nice camera finally right before the trip!

Caught

Look who I caught once again going through boxes

and look who I caught going through the one cupboard I have left to pack....

AND, look who I caught halfway up the stairs!! He did this all by himself!

LOVE this kid, but it sure is difficult to pack and move with him around!

Meanwhile, his brother is just running around like crazy, making more messes and peeing his pants every once in a while just because he doesn't feel like stopping to go to the bathroom... it's already been a long day

and of course when questioned he acts all innocent and perfect! It's a good thing I love these guys a lot! Can't wait to be moved finally!!!