he was born in utah but he's a pnw boy at heart

Last weekend Jon carved a golf cart race track into the tall grass in the far pastures. We spent a good chunk of our afternoon going for it, timing our races and competing against each other. Jon came in first, naturally, with Kendal second (but if you add in her off-course penalties she came in last) I came next, and then Amber brought in the rear, but with her gimpy arm we should have subtracted at least 15 seconds. Anyway, all that playing in the tall, loose grass that has gone to seed led to a massive allergy attack. Thankfully, we live on Camano Island and a trip to the beach to breath in the clean, salty air is only a few minutes' drive from our house.

As soon as we let Emory loose on the rocks, he marched straight for the water, gracefully making it over the slippery seaweed-covered rocks. He crouched and threw rocks into the water, tasted seashells, played with seaweed, got soaked, and loved every second. I'm not sure why we haven't been to the beach in the past 6 months we've been here (must have been the cold, rainy weather that lasted so long this year and the nearly freezing temperature of the water in Puget Sound), but with warm enough temperatures, we were able to just let our little boy play and get as wet and dirty as he wanted. I hope we're breeding a webbed-toed kid. And I'm so grateful to live surrounded by water and so much beauty, even if that means his diapers will be full of gravelly sand all summer.

some of the perks of living in puget sound

parks at the beach with views of the Olympic Mountains, high and majestic above the passing ferries.

oh, and Emory getting to know and love our families so well as we spend time with them.

i didn't expect this on camano

Jon woke me up this morning before we actually woke up and said "look outside." Even in my sleepy stupor I couldn't believe it. And by the time we got up at almost 9:45 (snow does amazing things to keep things quiet and promote heavy sleeping in apparently), we found 5-6 inches of fresh snow covering everything we could see. Eventually, the skies to the north cleared just enough to reveal the gorgeous water, as the clouds moved south and provided an almost charcoal backdrop for the snow-covered evergreens. When Emory hunkered down for his nearly 4-hour nap, we snuggled up to The Godfather on AMC and let Paisley meander out onto the deck where she skirted around the snow and still managed to explore the most she ever has outside. And later, we ventured out for little E's first time playing in the snow. (I know, I know, we just moved from Utah, but we didn't have a yard at our disposal at our last place, and Emory was too little last winter). By that time, the cold Canadian winds thrashed the snow into our faces, so we became expert wind-blockers for our little man.

After Emory had enough of being plopped in the snow, being plowed by dogs, and watching us build a snowman, I brought him inside where we shed our wet layers of clothing and gave him some hot cocoa. Because what would a good play in the snow be without a cocoa chaser? He drank it while sitting under the heating pad and enjoyed the moment, as you can see.

ps this reminded us of Christmas 2008 when it snowed and snowed and snowed and Olivia discovered how much she loves the fluffy white stuff. don't worry, she reminded us today how she feels about it.

this is where i live

Sometimes it still feels like we're on vacation. Maybe that's because we are currently staying with Jon's parents for a slightly longer time than we originally planned. Maybe it's because this time after Christmas always seems to mesh all together and I tend to lose track until April or so. Or maybe it's because we still have Utah plates on our car. (Hey, they expire in March, and we may as well make them last, right?) Regardless, when I remember that living here is what I wanted for so long, I feel pretty fortunate that I do live here. For good.

the big move: it happened

After living in chaos for a couple weeks, the hired movers (great decision) arrived around 10 am on the 16th to load the truck. Things remained chaotic until around the time my mom took Emory for a stroll around the store and I was really able to finish packing all the odds and ends left out of other boxes. Five or so hours and two packed full cars later, we left Utah.

By the time the movers rolled onto Camano Island on Saturday morning, I felt like we were old friends. Cheers to Al and Juan for being so great and patient with me, and for packing our storage unit so that we can walk all the way through, with prioritized boxes easily accessible.

During all the packing, I think I upset Emory for my lack of focus on him. So, for the past week or so, he prefers everyone but me--especially Jon. I'm not going to lie and say that it doesn't sting a little, but we're working it out and I think we're better friends this week. The little man is, as always, adorable, and he's such a sponge right now. Thankfully now he can learn more valuable things than how to pack a box or be immensely stressed.

And now, my focus is on family and Christmas. Finally! I hope to really relax and enjoy this week with those I love the most.