The Start of a New Adventure

I wanted to do a blog so that our family would be able to see what was going on in our lives! But... I also wanted to have a blog where I can write my unedited perspective. That being said, I hope that you can all feel close to our family as you read about what we are up to here in beautiful Oceanside, CA! :)

Our adventure began September 8^th, 2011. (Well if you count the packing it started several days prior.) Grandpa Huish and Spencer showed up to help load the enormous yellow Penske truck. The MEN were done in the late afternoon. They were Hot, Sweaty and pretty exhausted. It was a ton of work! I was so grateful they showed up because that would have been a lot of work for Tyler to do alone! ;) Heaven knows what help I would have been.... Anyway!

So... we enjoy the rest of the evening with family... then Problemo: The fabulous Penske truck is leaking oil. a.w.e.s.o.m.e An hour later... a Penske mechanic.  Later.... a few more hours later... We find out that a crew of movers will be at our house at 6AM to transfer everything from our moving truck into another one (which was delivered later that night). Can’t tell you how cool it was to have two Ginormous trucks forming a wall in front of your house where there is no parking allowed because the streets are tiny! :) No matter... nothing could dampen our mood! We were heading for cooler weather and change (two things that we love!)

The next morning we were ready to take off so we scrambled to get everything else loaded and took off around 9 AM without even taking out our bathrooms’ garbage... Sorry Mom and Dad! :) At this point I realize all our diapers are packed! I used the last one I had that morning... I didn’t want to delay our trip or have to make some random stop so I called up a friend and asked for some. Problem averted! The first 3 hours FLEW by!! I was listening to my Nicholas Sparks book and totally enjoying myself! Landon was Thrilled to be riding alongside Tyler in the Big Truck! We pulled over to get some gas and eat our lunches. We were all having a great time! During that break I went to the bathroom 3 times... once with Landon, once for myself (only to discover that my time of the month had decided to début: Since I had the IUD after having Landon I never had a period, then I got pregnant immediately after having the IUD removed, and I have only had one period since Stacie being born – thus you can see how it was not really on my mind at all...), and the last I was fortunate to have found a random tampon while packing several weeks prior and thrown it into my purse not thinking. I am one lucky girl!! So... after that we took off again for another five hours (stopping so I could nurse Stacie and again so we could get gas). We arrived around 5:30PM and not soon after a few guys from our new ward showed up to help us unpack.

Our apartment looks like a really big RV! Tyler doesn’t seem to like that analogy, but I mean it with endearment! I absolutely love it!! We have a good size family living space, a tiny kitchen, one bathroom that is a little smaller than our guest bathroom in our Queen Creek house, and two rooms that are a really great size with HUGE walk in closets! It reminds me of living in Snowflake again – well the closets do at least... Although the place is pretty small there is a TON of storage space (I don’t know why I am so surprised we live IN a storage facility for crying out loud!) Anyway... There are windows on basically every wall! We just keep the windows open all the time and there is a cool breeze that floats through our home. Oh!! I forgot to mention the big patio! Since our dining table is pretty big we decided not to put it up... we will just get some stools and eat at the counter area... instead we want to get some patio furniture and eat dinner out there! :) It is pretty big and is covered by a brown wood awning. There are hooks that we can use to put up flower pots! If I seem excited it is because I love it here! We are still unpacking and figuring out just where everything is but we feel at home and comfortable!

Saturday Sept. 10

We spent most of the day unpacking (most meaning from 7AM until 4PM). We were invited the previous day to the ward’s luau party at 4PM. Because we were trying to drop off the Penske truck we did not arrive until after 5. As we drove into the parking lot I was astounded by the church building itself. It is SO pretty! It looks like a temple! All the action was happening outside – which was great except we were all cold as it was a lovely 78 degrees! ha ha Unfortunately, the food was all gone except some macaroni salad and a green salad – we were pretty hungry so we had at it! By this time a few people had come up to say hi and introduce themselves. :) We sat down to watch some very authentic Polynesian dancing... and learned that Oceanside is the most densely populated Samoan living place outside of Samoa! (I’m not sure if that sentence made sense but I am not even going to try to fix it!) We left feeling hungry... but excited for what lay ahead come 11AM the next day!!

Sunday Sept. 11

My 1^st impression of our new ward building on the outside = HOLY COW! Gorgeous!! Pretty much my eyes were the size of softballs trying to take it in! My 1^st impression of our new ward building on the inside = This hall is HUGE... you could probably fit a casket long ways and push it the width-wise instead of the normal way. Why that thought came to mind? I have no idea! Inside the building is pretty much green – green carpet on the floors, green carpet on the walls, green carpet on the ceilings... just kidding – I don’t know what color the ceilings are! :) So we mosey on in and pick a pew. Halfway through the meeting Stacie needed to eat (because it was around 11:45) so I got up to leave, only to be followed by Landon... who decided that he needed to go to the bathroom! I walk around the giant building until I can find the bathroom and squish us all into a tiny stall. I have to bend down to hold Stacie in my lap to help Landon get out of his shoes and pants (he strips down to go potty) and then waited for him to take care of business (silently praying that he didn’t overshoot the toilet and get us) then helped him get dressed again. Eventually I gave up and brought him out into the hall so I could put Stacie down and help tuck in his shirt, etc. Eventually, the meeting ended, we found Tyler, we all went to our classes and tried to enjoy our new ward! :) (Stacie was pretty much a crazy octopus and kept dropping things we gave her which would have been fine if the floor of the chapel wasn’t slanted down! :) When church was over we came back home and had some lasagna and unpacked a little. Life was starting to feel a little more normal.

Monday Sept 12 – Wednesday Sept 14

Today is Wednesday. I am taking advantage of naptime so that I can write down some of my thoughts. As I do so there is a sound of distant cackling. Carrie, or is it Connie, Christy? Whatever her name is down there is cracking herself up and I can’t help but smile at listening to her laugh!

The kids and I have pretty much been on our own these last couple days. Tyler has jumped head first into meetings and training and when he gets home at night it is usually late but he is so happy and I cannot help but feel the same! I am so grateful that he is able to work in an environment that makes him feel good and appreciates his work ethic! It has been fun living in our little apartment – I feel like a city girl with my big windows I can do dishes and look at the city moving around out there! That sounds goofy but hey, this is my blog and I can write what I want! :)

We all usually get up around 6:30 and eat breakfast. Around 8 Tyler heads out and Stacie takes her 1^st nap shortly after. Landon and I have started to play “Red Light, Green Light” and he would play it all day if I let him. While Stacie naps we do bubbles outside on the balcony, play trains, or games or watch Mickey Mouse. When Stacie wakes up we load the B.O.B. (Double Jogging Stroller) and head for the park which is about a mile away.

Monday - the first day we went to the park - I drove (because Tyler’s district manager drove him that morning), and I saw some girl being arrested. I thought it ironic that this was the first time I had ever seen anyone be arrested – and it was here at the park where I was taking my children. I won’t lie – on Saturday when the YW Pres. told me about the park she had mentioned that it was between gang zones but as long as I went before sunset it was perfectly safe. If you know me at all you can image my face at that point: I’m sure my eyebrows were raised and furrowed at the same time and my mouth dropped open. Grrreat – Gang Zones... We are going to die! I think she saw that I was a little shocked and assured me that we were perfectly safe, etc. but it was too late I had practically written my own obituary at that point ;). Okay, so back to the park... some girl got arrested but we were already there and the park looked awesome.  So after sitting in the parking lot for a while I got up the guts and literally told myself out loud to get out of the car! It was super fun and we met lots of nice people... amazingly enough we lived to tell the tale! haha

Tuesday I again had to tell myself to get out there and be brave... and we walked to the park (about a mile away). Again we had so much fun and lived! So, naturally today we went again! I think that I have come to terms with the fact that we are fine and we are safe! Heavenly Father is watching over us and He wants us to be here so.... I might as well get out of the house and get busy doing things!

We have already looked up where the library is at but we need a car to go there. It looks like for the rest of this week we will just have to go to the park. Tyler is training at a different facility this week and that is why he has been taking the car.

Anyway... back to our daily schedule (because I know that I left that hanging and everyone must be dying to know just what we do!) After the park is naptime, then play-dough and more games. I usually put on a movie while I make dinner. We eat, then it’s bath time. Stacie’s bedtime. Mommy-Landon snuggling time reading books. Tyler usually gets home around then. Lando’s bedtime. Then we have been so tired it is almost painful to stay up until 9:30!!

There you go... our lives in a nutshell so far! We are doing great, LOVING the weather, and looking forward to making friends, getting the internet, and finding new places to visit in Oceanside! :)