A Finished Chapter

Five years ago David and I were newly married with a beautiful newborn baby girl. We were living in Stuarts Draft, Virginia in a cozy little home. When we were given the opportunity to move to California,  I quickly turned down the chance. I would never live there.  Yet, we came and we settled in and made ourselves a home here in Mountain House, because we knew it was the right decision. But I was only going to go for one year! 

However,  I fell in love. I loved the area, I loved the people, I loved the weather. I was here to stay. So we bought our dream home on Charlene Court - this was where we were going to raise our children and grow old together. The girls loved having such great friends as neighbors, and having a fun cul-de-sac to play and ride bikes on and the park was really close. Not to mention, the house was beautiful and spacious and provided us with everything we needed. 

However, life often takes you down paths you would never have guessed you would travel and your dreams are shattered changed. After living in Mountain House for five years, we have been given a new opportunity that will take us back to Virginia. Many have asked if I am thrilled to be going home. To which I reply yes, but only because I will be closer to my family. But really, I feel like this is where I grew into an adult, a wife, a mother. This is where I blossomed and grew so much. This is where our family became a family. This where I pictured my kids going to school and growing up with these friends. This is where a neighbor can come borrow powdered sugar at 10:00 at night. This is where we made best friends. This is where I pictured my girls walking down the stairs in their prom dresses! But really.... this was home.

Now, I am well aware that home is where your heart is. But it's sometimes hard to put your heart in the right place. I have spent the last several months grieving the loss of everything we have here. But it's time to move on to new adventures, new friends, new lessons to learn, a new home.... a new chapter. My children are young, but I want them to remember this little piece of Zion.  And it is my prayer that we will find a new piece of Zion in our new home. We have made our decision and we can't look back. Yet, I wanted to add some pictures of our Charlene Court home, so as not to forget it.

I will be adding more pictures soon. 

Aliza and Liam

These two have been best buddies for the past 3 years. They met when they were only months old. Although not love at first sight, they have endured the big sister torture and have bonded together to be good friends. I know they will really miss each other when we move.

These pictures were not staged at all. I was sitting on the front porch and noticed the two of them sitting on this box in the garage, telling stories to each other. They chatted with each other for some time before I snuck over to get some better pictures. These two are so funny together, like an old married couple!

I turned 30!

Finally, I turned 30! I've really been looking forward to turning 30 - I sound like a real grown up now. I enjoyed my 20's, but am really looking forward to my 30's. I went out to Chili's with some of my amazing friends.  We sat there and talked for over 4 hours! I think they were happy when we finally left the restaurant. But we were having such a great time!

The waitress brought me my dessert and they all sang to me. I thought it was funny she brought four spoons.... like I was going to share!

As a family we went to carry out our family tradition of riding the carousel on your birthday. Our mall has one in the food court and to avoid arguments of wanting to ride it every time we pass it, we made a tradition of only getting to ride it on your birthday. 

Nelson the Cat

One morning we found a stray cat in our garage. I had noticed several days early an animal had been in our trash cans. I guess this was the culprit. The girls promptly wanted to feed it and continued to love on it all day long. The cat was the sweetest thing ever. She continued to let them torture, love she all day long without running away or lashing out at them.  They seriously played with her all day long. Oh, and named her Nelson!

I told them that if Nelson was going to be sticking around, she HAD to have a bath. She was really gross. I put it off for a while, not really sure how Nelson would react to having a bath. But finally the time came that I couldn't stand my girls touching her another minute. We put her in the kitchen sink and shampooed and washed her really clean. She sat perfectly still the entire time. I wrapped her in a blanket and snuggled her to dry, to which she was quietly purring. We left her in the garage to dry and later after the girls were occupied, I quietly let Nelson go. Carmen cried herself to sleep that night...she was so worried Nelson would never find a new family. I was certain that Nelson would come back the next day. I mean, we FED the poor starving thing. But we've seen no trace of her since that night.

Chair Project

I am posting a lot of random posts, but I really want to make sure all of these things get into our Blog Book this year.

This is a chair that I refurbished and had a fun time with. I failed to get a before picture, but it was ugly primary colors, with each leg being a different color. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

And this a picture I had to take of Aliza in some new clothes she got. She looked so adorable!

Charlotte and Charcoal

Charlotte had her first trip to the ER after getting into a bottle of prescription medication.  I had no idea how much she had eaten and she was acting fine. But I called Poison Control, which advised I take her to the ER just to monitor her vitals. Which I did take her. Everything checked out fine, but they did make her take some charcoal to absorb any medicine in her tummy. They mixed it with ice cream for her to eat. Needless to say, she had the blackest poop for several days following! 

*****PARENTS BEWARE*****

Those childproof bottles are not really childproof! 

The Oakland Zoo

We went to the zoo a few weeks ago with Grandma Bean, Carrie and Jeff and their boys. It was the first warm day all year and the zoo was packed! But we  had a nice time and enjoyed the animals.

Fun impromptu photo session

This will be a picture overload for you!