Our Adventure has begun!

It's official our adventure has really begun! We had a last minute change of plans for transportation due to Tyson needing to report sooner then we initially thought. We were going to have to leave Washington earlier then what we were planning and in the process miss Thanksgiving! I was not happy about this AT ALL (I still have to choke back tears every time I think about not being home for Christmas!)

So while my wonderful sis Shell was here with my niece Madison she and my mom conspired while I was napping and found super cheap plane tickets! SO long story a little shorter :) My mom is flying out with me and the kiddos next Saturday and Tyson left Tuesday. He stopped in SLC and picked up his sis Laurie and they pounded out the miles leaving SLC Tue night around 8:30pm and arriving in Alexandria Friday afternoon around 2:00ish!

They spent the night in a hotel last night and "checked" into our apartment this morning. Per our short phone conversation he said the apartments are nice, the neighborhood feels safe and is in a good area with lots of new construction. We have an AMC theatre across the street (SCREAM YAY FOR POURING YOUR OWN BUTTER!! I have my own art form for this!) and he thinks there is a mall just down the street. Definitely not the small town living we're used to but it should be fun for a little while!

As for me and the kiddos we had a great Thanksgiving Wed with Tyson's family and again on Thursday with my family. We missed Tyson, but it has been so nice to spend this time with family. The three of us have invaded my parents house where we will stay until we leave for the airport Friday. As of today our house is completely empty, clean, and ready to go onto the market. It feels good to have it all done, but was hard to realize that we are leaving the neighborhood we have come to love so much! (don't even get me started on the leaving friends and family part- I'm likely to short out something with my tears!)

Enjoy some random pics from the last couple weeks :)

Need a good laugh?

I do!!!! There's SO much going on right now, packing, cleaning, packing, cleaning, packing, cleaning, changing diapers, you know the drill! Well here's the laugh I needed!

(I'd probably do the same thing if it was chocolate!)

On a side note: I was trying to 'sneak' as much craft stuff into the few totes that are making the trip to DC with us and after asking ty for a better way to pack my ribbon (it's in these really nifty boxes I made) he says, "why don't you just take it all, I mean you made those cool boxes and they are so organized why don't you just bring them all?" SWEET!!!!

Where do you want to be today?

Since I update our blog so sporadically, I added a link to easily subscribe to our adventures for ease to all our non-blogger obsessed friends and family who want to follow our trip to DC. You can find it to the right on the sidebar.

And as for where you want to be, I'm feelin' the itch again... the fresh crisp mountain air is calling my name! Where do you want to be?

The last 16 hours

I've learned a valuable lesson since my last post, the words packing and fun should not be in the same sentence! maybe not even the same paragraph! I was going to write a post titled "The Case of the Missing Diaper," but that has been upgraded to the title of "The Last 16 Hours." (12 of which they have been sleeping!)

In the mayhem of packing we have experienced the following a trail of "pebbles" through the living room and a Costco-size bottle of hand soap puddle.

**Sensory Advisory** The rest of this post may contain material that is not a pleasant side of mothering! Proceed at your own caution!

Yesterday evening, I was taking a break watching a movie which was almost over when Micah and Hallie woke up from their nap, so I left it running and continued loungin' on the couch. Hallie came to say hi and I noticed wet pants, I thought hmmm... she must have spilt some water on herself, but thought nothing more. Few minutes later I noticed she smelled poopy, got up to get a diaper and looked down to see a trail of, we'll just call them "pebbles" to keep it g-rated. So I quickly picked them all up as fast as I could I think I only ended up stepping on one- barefooted (the things we go through as moms!) I'm hoping nothing was "tasted" as Micah was surrounded by them! And really I am truly thankful they were pebbles this time and not of a thinner substance!

So another lesson learned, when you pull the little tab off of the diaper strap, just get a new diaper out (0r use tape for that matter!), don't try to be resourceful and stick the diaper on with the broken off tab. (does that make any sense?!? do you know what I'm talking about!?!)

The following isn't quite as traumatic, but still seriously hope the next 16 hours doesn't contain more of the same! This morning as I'm attempting to pack my suitcase I get up to check on Phil and Lil and discover them in the bathroom (oops! left the door open a crack in the packing mayhem) having a grand ol' time in a large puddle of hand soap! Looked like they were having a blast, I really should have snapped a picture but I'm not really sure where the camera is in my house of piles right now! So just imagine these 2 cuties having an absolute blast, rubbing and slapping their hands in it, sitting in it, eating the cap, all while having the biggest smiles!

Hope your last 16 hours was better then mine!

Packing fun...

Hallie making sure she's not forgotten...Breaking up the packing blues

Happy Halloween

Here's Phil and Lil...

I think we did pretty good... (we weren't completely accurate, drew the line at the romper and spared him from the pink onsie!)

Can I just say how difficult it is to get pictures of these 2 now! They are all over the place- looking here, looking there, going here, and going there!

We had a fun weekend, hitting up dinner at the church, skipping out on the trunk-or-treat to head up to Spokane. Saw some friends and "practiced" for our cross-country drive with attempting naps in the car... should be interesting!

Fun Site

If you love TAMN, check out this new site... http://ldsfashiongirl.blogspot.com/ good times!

Our "mini-adventure"

I have to share how awesome my husband is... Ty earned extra bonus points a couple weekends ago by planning and arranging a night away for us minus the babes! It was our first night away from them TOGETHER. We dropped Micah off with his parents and Hallie off with mine and headed out for "dinner in Yakima," or at least that's where he told me we were going... after telling me we should just stay overnight at our parents house cause the babies would be asleep (such a sneaky fella) I kinda thought something was up, but we continued on with our plans for "dinner in yakima."

So every 10 miles he gives me a letter in the name of the place we were going... A E R O N and by this time we were past the Yakima exits...

"we're not going to Yakima are we?"

and with a cheesy grin on his face, "he says noooo..."

"ummm... are we going to Leavenworth?"

"hee hee, yeah"


"YES!!!!!!!!"

K, I really didn't scream YES in the car, but that's what I was thinking! We had an awesome time, hitting up the exercise room in the hotel, watching the Boise State football game, soakin in the hot tub, getting some snacks from the store and yes of course... SLEEPING!!!!! The Inn where we stayed has an awesome buffet breakfast complete with an Alphorn for entertainment. We walked around town, bought some funky sunglasses, and headed home... it was a perfect night away. I was a failure though and forgot my camera in the diaper bag and sad times his phone was acting up and we didn't get any pics!


Just so you all know how truly awesome Ty can be, the reasons he planned this were... I mentioned in passing that I really needed some fresh mountain air, I've told him how cool the Enzian Inn is on several occassions over the last 11 years :) (and now he totally agrees with me!), AND he noticed I was getting stressed and needed some time away! Now how's that for being a good hubby?!?

What I really want...

What I really want to do tonight is forget the election, forget the DISASTER in my house and curl up on the couch with my nice comfy blanky, sip some hot cocoa (with marshmallows of course), and read my new splurge from costco...

Our Big Adventure!!!

I know you guys haven't been able to think of anything else all week, wondering what our adventure is so I'll put you all out of your misery... we're going to Washington DC for 4 months!! How's that for an adventure!?! It gets even better let me tell you... we're driving the whole way! with 2 one year olds! and we're leaving the 1st of December!

Who? When? What? Where? Why? How? you ask... well I already told you the who, when, and the where so as paul harvey would say... "here's the rest of the story"


What: Tyson has always dreamed of doing something with the military around the DC area, something came open, he applied on a whim and got it! He will be the program manager for mortuary affairs/honor guard at the Federal Guard Bureau- not only an awesome opportunity for his military career, but for his civilian career as well! double bonus there


Where: we'll actually be living in Alexandria, VA he'll be working on Andrews AFB


Why: well I answered some of those above, but it also pays twice what he makes now, and is an awesome opportunity for our family to see and do things that are pretty difficult living over here


How: We'll pack up our bare necessities in the good ol tahoe (and maybe a trailer) and head on out! K maybe not that simple but I don't want to think about everything that has to be done in the next couple weeks! and yes if you didn't catch this at the beginning I think we are OFFICIALLY NUTS for driving across the country... so if anyone has any traveling advice with little ones let me hear it PLEASE!!!

1 year pics

One year later I FINALLY made it in to get Micah and Hallie's pics done, with the advice of Lisa and with the last minute help of erica I headed down to JCP's and got them done! So here they are!

if you made it this far which I'm sure you did- cause they are so FLIPPIN' cute! HOPEFULLY TONIGHT I'll fill you all in on our "Adventure" cross your fingers we'll get our answer today!