The Grand Canyon!

"Visit the Grand Canyon" was one of those things we wanted to do while we were living here in Vegas, so last weekend we packed up the kids and hit the road!  We stayed in Williams and rode the train to the Grand Canyon.  We swam in the pool, ate at a surprisingly good Asian buffet, and enjoyed the "shoot out" in the morning.  The train had entertainers, and even train robbers!  And of course the Grand Canyon was incredible, even if it was a little cold..

We're Moving!

I met Brandon twelve years ago, when I was 17 and he was 22.  Even then, Brandon knew he wanted to be a Chiropractor with his own clinic.  So we got married, finished up undergraduate school, and moved our family of three to Portland so Brandon could go to Chiropractic school.  We spent three rainy years in Portland while Brandon went to school non-stop.

Nearing graduation, we knew that we weren't ready to start a clinic right out of school, and we spent a lot of time looking for the perfect job.  We tried everything to get a job anywhere except Las Vegas.  Brandon had job interviews all over, Seattle, Orange County, Portland, Denver, and even Kentucky.  Nothing was coming together right.  Until Julie and Lisa convinced us to "just apply" for the job in Vegas.  The job at Neck and Back came together so perfectly, and we just knew that it was what we were supposed to do.

So we packed up and moved our family, now of four, to Las Vegas.  The plan was to be in Vegas for two to five years, gain experience, and then move towards business ownership.  We have loved living in Vegas.

Two years ago, we started the process towards our 10 year old goals.  We decided that Denver, CO was where we wanted to be.  They had favorable laws for small business and Chiropractic, and we liked the idea of raising our family there.  Except for two years, nothing worked out right.  We looked at two practices for sale, and moved into lease negotiations (lasting as long as six months) three times.  Finally, in early February, we thought we had found it.  We had picked a space, ironed out all the kinks, and we were ready to go.  But at the last possible moment our lease fell apart.  Again.  We knew we had to do something different.

So that weekend we drove to Santa Ana, picked out a space and 17 days after our lease fell apart in Denver, Brandon signed a lease in Santa Ana, CA.  So we're moving our family, now of five, to Southern Orange County.

This is a strange reality for us.  For twelve years Brandon has been talking about this, and for two years we thought we were moving to Denver.  We bought winter coats and a four wheel drive car.  I don't know why it was important for us to try the Denver thing for so long, and I don't regret it.  Just like Las Vegas was where we were supposed to be, I know Southern California is where we're supposed to be.  So with faith, anticipation, and a healthy dose of anxiety we are moving.  In June.

For years, we talked about where we wanted to live and what we wanted to do.  You can read some of our waverings and thought processes in these blog posts:

Where would you want to live?

Seattle vs. Spokane, WA

50 Hours Later

When I Grow Up

Near Alicia Parkway

When I Grow Up Part II

Paducah, KY

Faith for Kentucky

Can I Tell You a Secret?

I didn't realize there were so many of these, and I certainly don't expect anyone to go back and read them, but they're there.  After 2011, we couldn't be social media public about our processes because we didn't want Brandon's bosses to know that we were trying to leave.

Gooo Lakers!

Truth: Basketball is fun.  Basketball is more fun, when your teams wins.

Chandler came home from school a couple of days after basketball registration and said, "My friend Trevor says he's going to put me on his basketball team.  His dad is the coach and gets to pick."  We couldn't have been more lucky.  Trevor's Dad and his assistant coach were fantastic, and the Lakers were just a great bunch of kids.  And, I swear, a few of the kids grew, like a lot over the course of the three months.

The Lakers lost one game and came in third place for the season.  At the end of the season there was a single elimination tournament, and the Lakers made it all the way; winning the championship!  The last two games were particularly intense.

Being on this team really helped Chandler with his confidence and aggressiveness.  When he started he would kind of get out of the way if someone else was playing near him in a , "Excuse me.  Oh, sorry," kind of way.  By the end of the tournament, he was ripping balls away from people, passing, rebounding, shooting and dribbling with confidence.  He made a lot of progress and we are really proud.

Chandler left the awards ceremony yesterday with three trophies: third place in season, first place in the tournament and the sportsmanship award.  Each coach picks someone from their team who showed exceptional sportsmanship.  We couldn't be happier for him to have had such a wonderful, positive experience with athletics.

Genevieve's First Birthday Party

We had a little birthday party for our little lady this past Saturday.  It was very relaxed.  We had pizza, opened presents and ate cake.

Gigi liked the cake some, but soon enough she was just ready to get down and play.

Everyone loves baby Gigi!!  We love you!

Holding my Breath for Genevieve

*Sometimes I write blogs and, for whatever reason, they go unpublished.  This was written a couple months after Gigi was born and seemed appropriate to share on her first birthday*

Dear Genevieve,

Once your Dad and I left the Las Vegas temple and your dad held my hand and told me we would have a daughter and her name would be Genevieve.  It was a bright sunny December day and I cried.

I want you to know that before you were conceived we prayed for you by name.  That I sat in our empty bedroom and clung to your clothes and cried.  That sometimes I sat in that tiny bedroom and begged you to come to me.  And I fell often to my knees and asked Heavenly Father to send you to me because I couldn't stand the lacking.

I want you to know that your pregnancy was hard.

I want you to know even in the moment you were born, I held my breath.  My world stood still, and then you were finally here.  And you cried, and I cried, and I finally stopped holding my breath for you.  I want you to know that holding my breath for two years was a long time.

I want you to know these things because never in my life have a wanted something so badly.  Because someday I want you to know that we prayed, and fought, and lost, and tired again and again and again to get you here because we wanted you here.  Because we knew that you were supposed to be here.  Because you were our daughter before you were formed in my womb.  Because you were mine when you were only just a dream, a begging, and a prayer.

So I want you to know that we loved you before you were here, and we love you more each day.

Love,

Mom

Barnette Family Christmas

This year we spent Christmas at home just the five of us.  It was wonderful!  It took us all day to open all of our presents.  We had presents from Santa, cinnamon rolls, stockings, hunts, and gifts from Grandparents!  (It also took Brandon and I a long while and much gnashing of teeth to put together Sterling's hunt gift)

Merry Christmas!!!

Bass Pro Shop

We were told that the Santa at Bass Pro Shop was the best.  So, thinking it might be less crowded on a Wednesday night, we headed down there after work with the Wachs.  When we got there, they said they closed the line to make sure the people who had been waiting for the last THREE hours would get a chance to meet Santa before he left at 8:30.  So we hung around for about an hour, eventually they reopened the line and we only had to wait about 20 minutes.  We were really lucky it worked out great!

Plus, there were fun little games, lots of things to see, and a seriously serious fish tank!

They even give you a free picture with Santa, but Gigi was terrified and refused to sit anywhere near him..