we've been swinging

Everyday that it's not raining you'll find us out on the swings. They are just a few steps away from our front door and McKay and Ellery would be on them all day if they could. They would actually probably swing in the rain if I let them.

This girl looks like a little doll sitting on the big swing. She hardly moves and just sits there waiting for a push. She could sit there like that for hours, she's just so content.

McKay has gotten really creative in coming up with things that are bigger than an under dog. Except he says "hunder". Some of the biggest have been hunder dinosaur, hunder sea lion (because we saw them at the zoo) and hunder universe. Although today the biggest was a hunder walrus.

I've been trying to teach McKay how to pump himself on the swing. He gets the leg part, it's the pushing and pulling of the chains that he just can't get. I guess I'm going to be doing hunder walrus' indefinitely.

thoughts on a sunday

• On Wednesday Ellery and I joined McKay for another field trip at the preschool. Please imagine 10 preschoolers, 12 adults and three babies with three strollers all getting on a half full public bus, then transferring onto a public train. Twice. There and back. That was the field trip- riding the train. The bus was just a necessary bonus. I really kind of hated it.

• We finally rented The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and I feel inclined to tell you all that my sister Jana came up with that whole idea when she wrote a short-story in elementary school titled "Younger Everyday". Why is she not making movies? That reminds me of how many wonderful inventions/ideas I've had that I never act on, but that's a whole other post entirely. I'll give you a hint though- Miami Ink- you know the tattoo show? Totally my idea.

• I don't want to jump the gun here, because we're not totally sure yet, but it looks like our furnace isn't producing hot air. Add it to the list. I really need to post some pictures of our house on here so that you all aren't imagining us living in a broken little hole. But, my feet are cold and Ellery is a little popsicle when I get her out of her crib in the morning. Gotta call the landlord. Again.

• Today after church and an early dinner, we spent the whole afternoon in our bed. All four of us. For a couple hours. I loved it. I know someday Brian and I will get to take Sunday naps in peace, but not now. We're not even trying to take Sunday naps right now. But I wouldn't have it any other way. It's much funner with our two babies right there with us, no matter how wiggly and loud they get.

• Although I've been a total roller coaster of ups and downs since we moved here- you all can feel really bad for Brian- I think I'm turning a corner. An upward corner. So that's good. I'm better at getting around, we're getting into a routine, school is going really well for Brian, and friends are being made. I can't believe we've been here for over a month!

Happy Sunday!

inspired

After looking at this picture of Brandon sent to us in an e-mail, McKay quietly disappeared into the bathroom with a pen in his hot little hand.

And came out looking just like his cousin.

He was totally proud of himself. Not only because of the mustache, but because of the cat whiskers too.

His own creative genius.

thoughts on a sunday

• It's usually a struggle to get McKay to cooperate while getting his hair done for the day. I rarely make him do it unless we're going somewhere, at which point he begins to beg to wear a hat. The problem is, he wears that hat into the car, then off it comes for the rest of the day. So I hardly ever let him talk me into that. We cracked up when one day I told him to go ahead and get his hat and he came down the stairs with that little cap on. He couldn't find his Boston hat so thought that was a good substitute.

• McKay counted tonight and he now has ten friends in Oregon. One of them is a 10 month old baby and a few of them are six year old girls, but at this point I guess he's not being too picky.

• We loved watching General Conference this weekend. So many wonderful things to hear and learn. And surprisingly, our kids were fairly good and we were able to hear most of it- a tent in the family room with popcorn and a movie on the portable helped with that. McKay "hates stake conference" though and is really glad that it's over.

• I love hearing my little Elle sing. She sings to herself a lot, which is adorable. My favorite thing she sings is Old McDonald. He always has a cow, and she always calls him uncle Donald. "Uncle Donald had a cow. . . " Precious.


• This week I was singing I am Like a Star with Ellery. Brian was cringing as I was singing it because he said I was not singing the right notes. He then spent the next thirty minutes trying to teach me how to sing it right. Now I can sing it both ways.


• Ellery's new thing is saying, "I nervous" when she's scared of something. She's actually scared of almost everything so she says it a lot. At first it was really cute. Now I'm wondering how my girl got to be so nervous.


• How come we have been sick for two months? It seems like we just keep catching these little bugs all the time. Brian now has some kind of a cold and I just started feeling a twinge of it tonight. And that's on top of the wheezing/cough that I've had since mid-August. And, Ellery threw up again. I'm starting to think it hasn't been the stomach flu all these times. What is going on with that little girl? Gotta find a doctor around here.

• Every Sunday we've been video chatting with Brian's family. I miss them. Seeing them makes me miss them. Our kids go into crazy-loud-baby talk-nonsense mode when we do it and I'm glad they still think they're cute despite that.

• The leaves are changing here and it is absolutely beautiful. Everyone says that this is one of the prettiest times of year here and so far I agree. There are so many trees everywhere and the colors are just beautiful. We've been singing It's Autumn Time every time we see leaves falling from the trees. The kids love it. McKay has also taken a special interest in the falling leaves and every time he sees a "cool one" he picks it up and takes it with him. There are cool leaves floating all around my car.

Happy Sunday!

it took four years. . .

for this boy to start coloring.

He just never had an interest in it.

When he was in nursery he'd bring us pictures that he'd "colored" and there would be a faint line of blue running once across the page. Or the teachers would color it. I never thought he would like it.

But now, we're all loving this new little hobby of his.

And he is so proud.

Finally!

thoughts on a sunday

• The other night Ellery was sent to bed with foam curlers in her hair. I worried about her all night because I had flashbacks of sleeping on foam curlers when I was a little girl. Not fun. But she didn't wake up, so in they stayed. Kind of. She woke up the next morning and half of them were strewn about her bed, with the other half holding tightly to her hair. She felt beautiful.
• On our Sunday walk today, as we passed about a dozen dogs, Brian and I decided that to fit in Oregon we have to get a dog.
• Brian thinks our house is going to kill him. Physically burn him, or crumble on top of him- kill him. Don't get me wrong, our house is wonderful, beautiful and I love it. But, since we got here it's been one thing after another. Hot water, leaky sink, shattered light fixture (scared us half to death). This week I thought we'd been robbed. . .in our closet. We had been out all day and when I walked by the closet I screamed when I saw that everything was piled in the middle in a hazardous clump. Clothes, hangers, medicine, cologne. Everywhere. Then I realized that we hadn't been robbed, but that Brian's shelf had fallen off the wall. Nice.
• Brian had orientation at OHSU this week. He was gone ALL day long and we missed him. It sounds like it's a great program with great people and it made him excited to get started.
• McKay had his first field trip on Wednesday. He went to his teacher's garden to pick vegetables and learn about gardening things. He is really liking school and feels so important when he has to go. He is still "adjusting" to the changes, but is getting better. We've seen a lot more of McKay and a lot less of time outs.
• The kids and I had our first play date this week. It was great for all of us to get out.
• We really like it here. It's so beautiful and family friendly. We can't wait to explore Oregon a little more. By the way, we live in Beaverton. It's about ten miles outside of Portland. Some of you have asked. I'm realizing that I really have no idea if it's ten miles outside of Portland, but I know it's not too far. I have already chosen to be an Oregon State fan, because I think a beaver is a better mascot than a duck. That's all.
• Three words: Tillamook ice cream. Heaven. I guess that's four.

Happy Sunday!

goodbye in august

Okay, so listen. I have to tell you a few things. Number one, there are a lot of pictures in this post. All of these goodbyes were so important to me, but unfortunately I'm lumping them all into one giant post so that they actually get recorded. Don't get too bored.



Number two. A couple weeks ago I was at my sister Krista's house. It was actually the day I had lunch with Kim and a play date at Amanda's- you'll see. Anyway, I was wearing my blue dress and I saw my niece Rylee and we had the following conversation:


Me: Hi Ry!

R: Hi Sarah!

Me: How are you?

R: Good. Do you where that dress a lot? Because every time I see you it seems like you're wearing that dress. . .Or something yellow.

Me: Oh. Yeah. . .I guess I do wear it a lot.


Ha! Oh dear. I just like my blue dress. And I guess I really like my yellow shirt. And I think I need to buy some new clothes. Yes.


My blue dress and yellow shirt have been retired with the end of summer, so lucky for Rylee, and you all, after this you won't have to see them again. Unless they happen to still be my favorites next summer, which they just might be! But nobody here in Oregon knows my blue dress and yellow shirt. Hmmmm.


On with the post!
I am so fortunate to been able to say goodbye to so many of my beautiful, sweet friends before we left for Oregon. It seems like the month of August was just one giant goodbye.


Emily and Adrienne

In July me and my sweet, wonderful neighbor Adrienne, went up to visit our former sweet, wonderful neighbor Emily. She has a fancy new house in Heber and we went to get a tour and have the kids play, like old times.

Issac, McKay, Ellery, Lilia, and Natalie

I'm really going to miss these girls. It was hard getting used to living without Emily, and now I'm getting used to living without Adrienne and her cute girls. Lilia and Ellery were just getting to be the cutest little friends. We will miss them all!

Emily, Adrienne, I don't like this picture of me.

Buffy, Becky, Shannyn

How lucky am I that Buffy and her little Peyton came to visit? I hope she still loves me because she happened to come during one of the craziest weeks of my summer. It was right after Park City with my family, right during my last lesson in young women's and right before our first trip to Portland to find a place. So glad I got to squeeze in some Buff time.

It seems like something funny always happens when Buffy and I were together. This time, we were heading out to dinner and Brian was nice enough to watch Peyton and my kids, of course. Brian had taken our kids swimming with his family at a private, posh, salt water, millionaire's pool. He called and asked if Peyton would want to swim with them, instead of him and the kids coming home. Buffy seemed to agree, so we dropped her off.

Peyton had never met Brian or my kids or anyone else who was there, and all the sudden her mom puts her in some strange swimsuit and plops her in a pool with them. I couldn't believe Buffy was okay with it, let alone Peyton. I felt so bad!

All night I kept worrying over both of them. Was Buffy dying inside? Was Peyton screaming at Brian? And then it made us laugh a little, thinking about how bizarre it was for little Peyton. And I kept saying, "plop!" while pretending to drop Peyton into the pool all night.

Anyway, we picked up Becky and met Shannyn at the Gateway for some dinner and shopping. I miss these girls so much. It was so fun when we all lived a few steps away from each other. And now we all live in different states. We felt really lucky to all be in Utah for one last girls night.


Me, Becky, Shannyn, Buffy

Do you like our skinny jeans?

McKay, Buffy, Peyton, blue dress, Ellery

Molly, Kristen, Kate

I was so surprised when Molly texted me one night to see if we could get together at her in-laws cabin in Midway the next day. Amazingly all four of us were free and we spent the afternoon letting the kids play and catching up.

I love these girls too. We all don't see each other as much as I'd like, but I love how we can still remain close despite that. We've been through elementary, highschool, college, marriage, and a bunch of babies together. We even have a special secret blog- that's mainly how we keep in touch. So grateful for that blog. So grateful for these friends.

Brady, Molly, Kristen, Me, Katie

It was fun to get these two cuties together as well. Do you think Elle and Nash still look like twins? I do.

Kim and Jana

About a week before we left for Oregon, Jana and I met Kim at Zupas for lunch. It had been forever since I had seen Kim. Kim is Jana's old roommate and I used to camp out on the floor of their apartment. I lived their part time I guess you could say. So Kim is kind of like my old part-time roommate. I kept a foam pad rolled up in Jana's closet and I would sleep right beside her bed. What a good sister I have- I didn't pay rent or anything. And Kim and Deb and Jenny were nice to allow me to stay.

Me, Jana, Kim


Right after lunch I headed over to Krista's house to pick up my kids, where I saw Rylee and she saw my blue dress. Then, I went straight to Amanda's for a play date.

Amanda and Katie

Amanda is one of my oldest friends. I remember bravely calling her on the last day of school of 3rd grade (4th for her) and asking her to play. And that is how it all began. Anyway, Amanda is wonderful because she would put together fun play dates at her house.

Ellery, Gray, Sage, McKay, Halle, Nash (Brandy not pictured)


She would even put out snacks and drinks for us. She's fancy like that. And she has the most wonderful basement where the kids can run wild and more toys than would fit in McKay's whole room. The kids enjoy it very much. And so do I. I love chatting and catching up with these girls that I've known for so long. It's very satisfying to see my children being friends with the children of my friends that have been my friends since I was a child. Did that make any sense at all? Anyway, I like it. It's so fun to hang out with these ladies and talk about being moms and raising kids and old times. I love it.

Katie, Amanda, Me

Are you still here? I'll end now by stealing a quote that Buffy used when she had to say goodbye.

"How lucky I am that I have known someone who was so hard to say goodbye to."

My thoughts exactly. Goodbye friends. I miss you already.

i think. . .

That someone is trying to teach me to get over my anxieties about the vomiting flu. I get really upset, obsessed and anxious when one of my kids has, will have or could have the stomach flu. It really bothers me. Not so much the actual throwing up, but the unknown of it all. And, it ruins plans. It confines you to your home. I hate being confined.

"Is she going to throw up? I think she is. I'm sure she is. When is it going to happen? Where will we be? What will it get on? How many times? Will she wake up in the middle of the night? Will we all get it? Will we spread it around? I don't want to spread it around."

That's pretty much my obsessive thought process when there is a question or hint of the stomach flu. Once it actually happens, then I calm down a little bit. But the anticipation is what kills me.

I suppose I need to relax and get used to the fact that kids throw up and you deal with it and move on. Ellery sure is trying to teach me that.

Third time in less than a month. Thanks Elle, I'm trying.

the concert that changed my mind

I'm having this internal struggle. I can't decide if I feel entirely comfortable proclaiming to the blog world that I like the Avett Brothers. Remember this post? It was strictly a boys club thing. And I mean strictly.

Brian had been waiting for them to come to SLC all summer, and the week before we moved we headed up North to see them play. I was not excited at all for the concert, but I wasn't dreading it either. But it was totally for Brian. The Avett Brothers are officially Brian's favorite "band" or whatever you call them.

You know how after you hear something repeatedly, it starts sounding good to you? I guess that happened a little bit to me. And so when they played songs I knew at the concert I kind of enjoyed it. And I have to say, these guys put on a pretty fun show. They each played about five instruments each and would just jump around from guitar, to piano, to drums to banjo- often times switching instruments during the same song, or playing two at the same time. It's funny, they play so hard, that there are about six guitars and/or banjos waiting on the side of the stage for when they break a string, which happened several times. It was also pretty cool to see the cello player dancing around while playing this folky music. I really like their lyrics. I asked Brian to write me a song about me and love and feelings, but to make it cool and not cheesy. I don't know if he's working on it or not. Anyway, their songs are really honest and emotional. And I like that.

I'm not a musical person. I so wish I was, but my mom wouldn't let me take piano lessons after my three sisters dropped out before me. So music is not necessarily something I'm an expert at, or passionate about. But seeing these guys do what they did was pretty amazing and entertaining even for me. I was impressed, and surprised both myself and Brian when at the end of the concert I had had a really good time.

But there's only one problem. After the show, I kind of wanted one of them to be my boyfriend. I've told you before about my boyfriends. And these guys definitely had the talent to be counted among them. But the looks? Um. . .shoot.

thoughts on a sunday

• Finally, I think I'm back to doing these weekly posts again. It's been awhile!
• McKay had his official first day of preschool on Friday. He did great! He didn't have any problems, and although he didn't tell us much about it, he said he loved it. I can tell that this is going to be really good for him.
• Everyone here keeps warning us about the winters here. Like everyone. It's almost as if that's what you tell people who have just moved here. It's part of the welcoming conversation. I'm scared. I'm scared and I need more lamps.
• I need lamps because we found out that it is a common thing to not have an overhead light fixture in family rooms around here. Or master bedrooms for that matter! Our house doesn't have either and I can't get over why anyone every thought that would be okay to do in a house. Anyway, we're on the hunt for lamps.
• Ellery is talking up a storm. She is a very LOUD child. Most everyone thinks she's very quiet and shy, but not around us. She will sing songs to herself and repeat words over and over to herself and she progressively gets louder and louder. She's also lets us know when she's really serious about something she doesn't want to do by saying, "No. No way!"
• We took a guided tour of the Portland temple grounds today after church. Our guide told us that there are only 150,000 members in the state of Oregon. I was surprised by that. So it's interesting that our landlord sent in a carpet cleaner and we hired a random plumber out of the phone book and both of them happened to be LDS. Pretty crazy, huh?
• Speaking of the plumber, when he was here McKay wandered into the bathroom where he was working and was talking to him. I don't know all he said, but I do know that he asked, "Are we paying you?"
• I got a special package in the mail this week. It was a signed picture collage and notes from all my young women. How sweet is that? I miss those girls and the ladies I got to work with. Even though it was a stressful calling, I am so glad I got to do it and got to know all those wonderful girls and leaders. And part of me is so sad that I'm missing out on what they're doing now. I miss them. Thanks you guys- the pictures and notes brightened my week.
• Has everyone been over to my sister Jana's blog? She has some exciting news. I suppose it will only be exciting if you know her. Ask me how much it's killing me that I'm going to miss that? A lot.
• I've still been talking to my sisters, although not quite as often. Jana and I now feel happy about ending our conversations with "love you!" We didn't do that before, but now that I'm away we just sometimes want to.
• McKay played with our six year old neighbor girl yesterday. She invited him over to her house. That's the first time he's ever done that. It was weird for Brian and I and we worried. But he was so pleased to have a friend and to be playing with someone. It was very exciting for him.
• I guess right now the hardest part is not having a real regular routine, and being around each other ALL the time. There are moments when we have all just been around each other, with no interaction with other people, for too long. Me, Brian and the kids seem to have these moments. Luckily, we recover quickly. I know that soon we won't be seeing him much, so I really can't complain about seeing him too much. And that's why we don't have a regular routine, for those of you who are confused. Because Brian doesn't start school for a couple more weeks. So we're just here, hanging out and getting settled.

Happy Sunday!

bob and angela

McKay has some new pets. He's been taking care of them by himself for the last three days. He feeds them, gives them water, puts them to sleep "snug as a bug" in their little house. He even named them (totally loving that he came up with Angela) and put together a wonderful little home .

Every night we put their cage in the garage and every morning McKay and Ellery go out to bring them in. And every time Ellery repeats, "Uh oh, Kay-Kay! Uh oh, Kay-Kay," over and over.

These are my kind of pets. Especially Angela. She's very calm. Bob is the wild one and only McKay can hold him. At least that's what he tells me.

finding normal

Hi. We're alive! We have had a pretty crazy few weeks, and I'm amazed I was even able to blog the last few posts that I did. I have so many pictures to post and things to say about our summer and the funny things my kids are doing and to be honest it's stressing me out. It's much funner to blog as you go along, and not get backed up. I'm working on it. Anyway, we made it! We sold our house the day before we starting packing, which was such a relief. Funny thing, we had no offers all summer, and then in one day there were four different offers being put together! It was crazy. We took the cash offer, which is why we can say that we know legally and officially have no ties to our condo. It's all said and done already, which is also a huge relief.

We've been in Oregon for six days now. We're settling in, slowly, but more and more everyday. It's been a pretty hectic, stressful, yet totally unscheduled week. There have been several unforeseen hiccups like cat hair all over the house (getting the carpets cleaned on Thursday), a leak in the bathroom sink, our computer got a virus (sorry if you opened that email from us), no hot water- yes, we're taking cold showers. . .well, I am. Brian is totally wimpy when it comes to cold showers. I feel so much stronger than him! He has been boiling water for him and the kids to bathe in. It makes me smile when I see him bring pot after pot up to the bathtub, although really, not having hot water is nothing to smile about. That and the cat hair have been really frustrating. And then the homesickness. We're all feeling it a little. McKay is especially feeling it. He has been extremely disobedient and quick to anger. This has also been extremely frustrating. When we ask him why he's acting that way he says, "Because I want to go home. To our real home." I am really surprised that he can recognize why he's acting out. The last few days he's been better, which is good.

Ellery has been adorable, until Saturday night when she started throwing up and had a fever of 103.4. She was so sick I thought she was going to die. But I think I tend to worry that Elle is going to die a lot when she's sick. She was really, really sick though. Just laid around and slept for 24 hours. She didn't even want baby Kate. And just imagine, please, your baby throwing up all over her hair at five in the morning and having no hot water to wash it out with. Yep.

She is now back to her adorable self and for some reason Oregon has brought out the sentences in this girl. She is saying so many sentences. We're kind of in love, me and her.


I am doing okay. I have a few sad moments everyday, and it hasn't been easy, but I can see the big picture and I know it's going to be great. It will be nice when McKay is in school (Wednesday!) and we have a bit of a routine to go on. It's hard to have nothing that you have to do. We're all just waiting to see what our regular routine is going to be like. . .we're trying to find our normal. I'm expecting it to take awhile.


So as not to sound too negative, there are some things I already love about Oregon. I love our neighborhood. There is a great playground across the street and walking paths going all through the streets. I love the trees. I love our view. I love that Oregon has no sales tax. We've been taking advantage of that one as I am typing on a brand new laptop that we just got today. You don't even want to know the shape that our old one was in. I love having a bigger house with more storage. I love the huge windows we have upstairs. I love hearing the rain lying in my bed. I love having a garage and a little backyard. I love the stores here. I went to Burlington tonight (feeling slightly embarrassed that I always blog about shopping at Ross and Burlington) and the store was huge and I found a few treasures for Ellery. There's also beautiful Target that has all the clearance kids clothes that my heart desires. You knew I was cheap, didn't you? I also love the feeling of being on our own. Like really, truly all on our own. And although this is the same thing that makes me feel pangs of loneliness, I love it just the same. We're learning and growing and I can feel it happening. And that's a good thing.