Chandler Turns Four

After some drama with the weather and a couple of location changes, we had a wonderful (rain free) super hero birthday party. Thank you everyone who came and helped.







We had yummy hot dogs, cake and presents.







I can't believe he's four, happy birthday Chandler. We love you!

Family Photos June 2011

5,952 miles in 8 days

Tuesday 6 am: Portland-Chicago Illinois
Tuesday 1:30 pm: Flight to Paducah canceled
Tuesday 4 pm: Flight to Nashville, TN
Tuesday 6 pm: Drive to Paducah
Tuesday 8 pm: Paducah, KY
Thursday 6 am: Paducah-Chicago
Thursday 11 am: Arrive in Portland
Thursday 3 pm: Drive to Boise, ID
Friday 1 pm: Arrive in Rexburg, ID
Monday 6 pm: Idaho Falls-Boise
Tuesday 3 pm: Portland, OR

I feel like this is the kind of thing we'll look back at and think, "Remember when our family was young and we did all that crazy traveling?"

Check out our adventures in the posts below.

Paducah, KY

Let me answer the questions that we've been getting.

So, are you moving to Kentucky?
We really don't know yet. Financially it's a great opportunity and it's a similar business to the one which Brandon would like to run, so it's hard to say no. It's just really far away, and quite frankly, I just don't want to right now. But just because I don't want to doesn't mean I don't think we should (make sense?)

Did you take your kids?
No, we left them at home with the Moss girls. They're the best. Quiet enough that they wouldn't have told us if it was a disaster anyways.

When would you move?
Not until after Brandon's mom's wedding which is September 10th. I am really excited to stay in Portland for the summer.

Do you have other options?
Yes. We still have a job offer in Denver, but it's a "rent a space" option, and the Kentucky job is a salary. Brandon also has 2 interviews in California; one in the bay area and near Monterey. And we're still looking, but the Kentucky job is pressuring us to make a decision.

There are a lot of reasons I think Kentucky could be a wonderful adventure. It's close to a part of the country that I would like to visit again. We could visit New Orleans, Church History Sites, Washington DC, NYC, Chicago, Carolina Beaches all with easy accessibility. It's cheap, oh heavens is it cheap. The city really is nice (in some places), and in my "suburban attitude" not so bad. It has everything we would need to function, and isn't as podunk as I has anticipated. We would not comitt to anything more that 2 years at this point, and really what's 2 years, like nothing. Oh man, are you still reading this? Okay, here's some pictures... Note: the city pictures are not Paducah, they're Nashville..



Our flight from Chicago to Paducah was canceled. The airline wanted to put us up in a hotel in Chicago and put us on a flight the next day at 1 pm. That's what I really wanted to do because I've never seen chicago (and it sounds way more interesting to me than Nashville), but because our trip was so short it didn't make sense. Instead we caught a flight to Nashville, TN, rented a car and drove to Paducah. I hadn't been to Nashville, so we drove our rental car into the city and walked around a little.



Nashville was cute, and really hot. We didn't stay very long. I didn't take any pictures in Paducah, Oops.

Roomate Reunion

We got together with Brandon's roommates from college and their families over the 4th of July weekend. We rented a cabin in Isalnd Park, ID. I had never been there before, and it was really beautiful.

Brandon has 3 roommates with children. Between the four guys there are 7 little boys ages four and under. Zero girls.



We spent Saturday at this gorgeous lake in Montana. I didn't realize we were so close to Montana.





Mostly, we just hung out, played games, and ate too much food.



We have been so blessed in our relationships with our friends.