homelessness

The only way to get through the crazy situation we were in with buying our house was to joke and live day by day. We would always joke, "Well when we are homeless..." Merrick and Berkleigh got really concerned that we would actually be homeless living on the streets. 

We had to clarify.

We were homeless, but not living on the streets, and after discussing that with the twins they were way happy about being homeless and living in a hotel for awhile.

10 days to be exact.

The day we were to be out of our rental, and still had not closed on our house, my friend Rachel persuaded me to go blueberry picking with her. We have always gone together. It is tradition and so we through caution to the wind (even thought I still had to get stuff out of our rental and meet up with the owner to hand over the keys.)

The berries were falling off the bushes, and we both picked way more than we had thought. Together we picked 35 lbs! Rachel took them home to wash and freeze. 

Rachel and family were so great to have us spend our first homelessness night with them at their house.

The kids were ecstatic!

We stayed at a hotel in Salem. I researched the hotel with the best pool. 

We jumped on beds, swam and played with friends.

It was kind of fun to not have a home to worry about or clean. We just played for three days straight.

We went to the Gilbert house with the Hostess with the Mostess and her cuties.

We went to the farmers market with friends... well basically we spent most of our homelessness with our friends, the Maughans.

 Parks...

We threw swim lessons into the mix during our homelessness.

We had some friends leave for a week to San Diego, so we squatted in their house with their blessing.

One of our last nights of homelessness, we went to the zoo and then stayed with our friends again before heading to our makeshift home for a week.

 FINALLY, after 10 days of homelessness, and on our 11 year anniversary,  we signed away and closed on our house. What an anniversary present!

Oh Say Can You See...

Gotta love the 4th of July with Tyson in your family.

He is so patriotic and LOVES fire.

This year we went to a little town outside of Salem called Independence. We thought it sounded like the kind of place that would be cool on the 4th.

It was small town fun and we enjoyed ourselves!

Waiting for the parade.

Later that day, we went to a party with friends. They had a taco truck and it was pretty much the coolest party.

 Quincy's first 4th that she could probably remember, and oh how she hated the fireworks. Way to loud for her.

A day or two later, Tyson went and bought more fireworks. He found a really cool little firework stand that had all sorts of random fireworks. Our favorite was the elephant that had sparks and poo come out the backside. What?

Another wonderful 4th has passed... and I love that we still enjoyed ourselves even when we were going to be homeless a couple days later.

Little Red Lovies

We love Oregon Summers, and we really love raspberry picking.

Yummy. 

In our ward, we have park days and berry picking days.

It is fun to go with friends and chat, eat, and pick.

And for a minute or two... cry. 

She figured out her issues once she tried a raspberry.

Fun friends.

 Lots and lots of berries and we are still eating and enjoying them.

My Mom Came Lots

My Mom and Dad came in March for a day, then my mom came back in May for my birthday and Berkleigh's ballet recital, and then she came back in June to help us move and to watch the kids while Tyson and I went to Utah to run the Ragnar...

(I don't know which trip this picture is from, but I do know it was a fun time.)

So this was a picture of the "hard" run that Tyson was supposed to do during the Ragnar. Then he decided to get Appendicitis so he wouldn't have to run it. Smooth move Tyson.

All kidding aside, his almost ruptured appendix came at the most inconvenient time. That was a really hard weekend, and now that I just got the bill for his surgery, there is no more joking. 

Did you know that a laproscopic (sp?) Appendectomy and a 16 hour hospital stay costs more than a 3 day mother and baby hospital stay, c-section etc. Wow. I was very surprised.

While my mom was here, and Tyson was recovering, we took the kids to see Monsters University.

Super cute, however we saw lots of sequels this summer, and I don't think it was the summer of sequels. None of them were as good as the first.

We enjoyed the sunshine at the splash pad/park.

My mom helped the kids make their beginning of summer tye dye shirts that I hadn't gotten around to yet. They loved it. This might be a yearly thing.

 We spent time at the Gilbert House with Grandma.

Merrick is pretending to be Po in the China room.

 She helped me pack or let me pack and played with the kids.

(This picture makes me nauseous by the way. I will not pack in a LONG TIME.)

She also made these super cute skirts for the girls, and as a thank you for all her work and for flying out... we took her to Red Robin. We even got her a freckled lemonade.

That is how cool we are.

The Mill and Casey's Hotdogs

We had a crazy summer with the house debacle etc, so after that was figured out, I started my summer shenanigans. We tried to do something fun everyday, and Salem may be small, but I thought there had to be things we hadn't done yet that we could do! And I found some!

We have this great Mill. It is beautiful and historical. Love that.

So we took our friends with us on a Tuesday when it is free admission.

We saw all the ways they manipulated the wool to make yarn.So So cool, but a little stinky (or so says Berkleigh).

Merrick had a great time, but he was so not feeling the picture taking. 

I love this picture though cause it looks like a young little boy in the times of yore grumpy about working in the mill for the day. 

After the Mill we headed to Casey's Hotdogs. I have wanted to try this place for awhile. 

It wasn't bad... I mean, they are hotdogs.

I had a Chicago Dog for the first time and it was pretty tasty.

I think the kids liked their hotdogs too.

Successful day.

Halloween!!

So just gonna skip the entire summer that I did not blog for a bit and head on to Halloween! 

Here is a sneak peek at Merrick's costume. He is so excited about it and so am I. 

And I just want to eat Quincy up in her little costume I finished yesterday!

I am sure you can tell what Quincy is, but do you know what/who Merrick will be? 

Now onto the hard one.. Berkleigh is giving me a run for my money this year!

First Day of First Grade

First grade.

Where does the time go?

I wasn't sad at all when I dropped them off at school, but when it was just Quincy and I ALL day... I got a little sad, but LOVE my time with Quincy. We have lots of just us time and I love it and she loves it.

Berkleigh

 Berkleigh is our resident artist. She loves to draw, color, sing, make music, dance, and act. She likes to read, but would rather be outside, playing with friends, or playing make believe. She is tender hearted and head strong, and she is turning into quite the little fashionista.

Merrick

He is my little scientist. He LOVES to read, loves math, LOVES science.

He can't soak up enough information. He wants to know everything.

He loves soccer but needs to learn to be a little more aggressive on the field.

He is still shy but SOO SOO funny.

He tries to use big words and sometimes it doesn't make sense and we laugh and laugh.

He is tender hearted, soft spoken, and very independent.

On our way out of the house...

We parked the car a little from the school so we could "walk".

It was a beautiful day. 

I love Fall.

I took them to school and had to go to 2 different classes.

 What were they most excited about for first grade? Owning their own lunch boxes and eating in the cafeteria.

Merrick was so nervous for school. I heard him one night praying in his room... cutest prayer I have ever heard. Asking for comfort at school the next day. It took him two minutes to meet his sweet sweet teacher, and now I think he wishes he could stay there all day with her.

Berkleigh, my little go getter, forgot to even say goodbye to me. She is such a funny one. She also likes her teacher and loves that her teacher is male.

 It was sad to see them separate. I don't think they were quite ready for that, but I think it is good for them to be away from each other and gain their own identity... They both love their teachers and love to be with each other after a LONG 6 hrs apart.

You would think I have more time to blog now that I have reduced my child load from three down to one for 6 hours of the day...

ha.

It is amazing what kind of things can be accomplished and also what kind of shenanigans Quincy and I can get into in our 6 hour bonding time everyday.

We all LOVE school.