Corvallis

I am away from my home compuer, so I do not have pictures to post, but if I did it would be a picture of me smiling from ear to ear because I am in Corvallis. Anyone who knows me knows I love it here. I love the tree lined stretch of Harrison, I love the energy of OSU ,and I love all the great bike trails. I love Corvalis for many reasons. So far in my life the best things in my life have taken place here. I met Richy here and it is here that both of my children were born. I feel Corvallis is where I met myself. It was the first place I was on my own and away from family. I got to decide what was important to me and live my life accordingly. About 4 years ago Richy and I moved to Austin Texas for about a year, all I wanted was to get back to this town I love so much. After returning my sister in-law Emily came to visit, she commented that I looked at peace and happy here and that is how I feel even today. Things have been stressful with getting ready for the move, my brother's wedding anst life! Getting to escape for a couple days here was just what I needed. Tonight I took the kids on an awesome walk to Sunset park. The weather was perfect and I once again felt ar peace, even though Levi wet his pants mid way on our walk still everything was right in my world for the walk. Since I have been down in Corvallis and Eugene, I have been able to spend a lot of time with family. My sister in-law Katie is 3 weeks away from her due date. I really want my baby niece to come before we have to move to Missouri. My brother Cocky (given name Aarom) was married in the Portland temple last Saturday. I wish I could post pictures right now, they were so cute. It rained which may sound like a bad thing, but I think the umbrella pictures were perfect. I gained a new sis in-law. Sabrina is awesome. I am so impressed with her. She is kind and smart and most of all she loves my brother. As a sister I find it really rewarding to see my siblings in love. Being married and in love with Richy has made me so happy. I am excited for Cocky and Sabrina to experience the joy I feel. I have got to spend time with my sisters. They each bring so much to my life. Hillary is always willing to brain storm with me on how to make the impossible possible. I have accomplished many things because of her. Emily is always up for a good joke and Emily is also always excited for anything I have going on in my life. I think it is from her that I have learned to get so excited for others accomplishments and the things going on in their lives. It has been so nice to be down in this area of Oregon, but I am very excited to no longer be living out of a suitcase and a storage unit and most of all to be with Richy every night as soon as we move to Saint Louis next month. He is still in The Dalles until next week. When ever I get stressed about moving. money. or whatever I have to remind myself that these are the problems I want to be having right now. life is moving forward, my kids are healthy and I am happy, so I can handle these problems. Too sappy? Sorry that is just how I feel right now!

Good Bye homes of The Dalles

I just realized my blog looks like the out side of a Victoria Secret bag, I am sorry the things in my blog will not match the arousal ability of things found in side those cute striped pink bags. I am getting ready to leave The Dalles for good next week to spend some time in Eugene with my family. Richy will stay here for a bit longer to work., I think it is time to share some pictures of the great real estate here in The Dalles. If you are looking for ways to add some curd appeal to your abode consider these options. Who doesn't like a house that literally smiles back at you? I first noticed this house while out for a walk on April 1st, I thought it must be a joke. It was not! The house continues to smile at me each time I pass by. All I can assume about the Clydesdale house is that they are huge horse enthusiasts, why else would you have a gigantic horse statue out side your otherwise normal home? The Dalles Oregon is not only a strange little place, but also a beautiful little town right along the Columbia Gorge river. At first moving here was not exactly what I wanted, but I soon came to see it was exactly what I needed. I met great people and enjoyed my in-laws like never before. Mine and Richy's relationship took a serious turn to awesome. We worked together in new ways and were able to accomplish things together such as paying down my student loans and saving for our next adventure. It seems our adventures change almost daily. I have been toying with the idea of when/if I will go back to work. I have been offered some really cool jobs recently. I was just offered a job in Washington DC to work for The Department of Defense. I have always wanted to work In DC and the job is right up my ally doing advocacy work. My responsibilities would be to research current hiring practices of persons with disabilities within the department, as well as work with department organizations to create a data base of qualified applicants who have self identified with a disability. The objective is to reduce discrimination of persons with disabilities. This is very close to my heart as I do have a vision issue that puts me in the category of "disability". As mush as I want the dream of living/working in DC, I want even more to be in Saint Louis with Richy. I am looking forward to driving Levi to kindergarten and decorating Naomi's garden themed bedroom, which I have had all planned out in my head since I found out I was having her. I hope that along side getting my family set up in Saint Louis, I will also find opportunities to serve others as that is a passion of mine. To sum it all up we are happy and how could we not be? we have these two cute faces to wake up to every morning and unfortunately through out the night. PS i am really confused why blogspot will not let me indent.

Celebrations

I love celebrations. I look for opportunities to recall important events in my life and the lives of those I love. Richy and I often have conversations that begin with me saying Happy Anniversary of the day that blank took place. It has became a game with us. Richy tries to guess what it is I am remembering. He normally guesses something like our first date, to which I say "Nope" that is September 15, 2003. Every year I call my sister Hillary to congratulate her the anniversary of her passing the California bar. I think it is important to celebrate the milestones in ones life as well as those memories that make you smile. Last week Levi graduated from preschool. Many people believe this was an unnecessary ceremony, because what did preschools really accomplish? I loved the chance to celebrate this time in Levi's life. Preschool has helped to teach him not just his ABC's, but also what is expected of him at school as well as how to interact in various social settings. My main objective in going to his graduation was to see him in his cute little cap and gown

My second objective is to start a precedence in my family, that we celebrate with each other the things that are important in our lives. I have heard people say college graduations do not mean much, because it is not a big deal to get a degree anymore. Well for me graduating from college was a big deal. During my time in college I worked sometimes 2 jobs at once, got married, I had Levi, and I struggled with a disability. My sisters gave me an awesome graduation part complete with political figures I had studied in my political science classes.

Imagine my surprise when I saw Ted Kulongoski (former Governor of Oregon),the prime minister of Japan, LBJ (one of my favorite Presidents), and many other notable political figures were there at my party...or at least there in life size cardboard cut out form. I am grateful my family and friends traveled from as far away as North Carolina to celebrate with me. So, although preschool graduation may seem trivial and pointless, to me it was a chance to enjoy and celebrate Levi and his accomplishments. Like I said I like to look for opportunities to celebrate the things in life that even just make you smile, such as Levi wanting to wear his Transformers Optimus Prime mask to the ceremony.

Happy Mother's day to Richard?

Yes you read that correctly. Yesterday I wished Richard a Happy Mother's day. Last year I started a tradition of getting Richy Mother's day presents. My objective is two fold. First off I say I am doing something special for him because he made me a Mother, which also happens to be my very favorite thing in the whole world, and his excellent fertility should be celebrated. I know what you are thinking, "That is why we have Father's day". To which I reply wrong...well okay so there is some truth to that. On a less sappy note I ensure myself presents on Father's day when I share a little of my day with Richy (win-win). This year I got him a bike helmet, to get ready for our awesome bike rides this summer. I also got him this shirt, which I could not pass up.

A little back Story, we have been living in The Dalles since last summer with his parents. Our time here has turned out to be a great experience. We joke we are in no hurry to leave, this is the nicest place we have ever lived. Living here has come with a gym membership, a country club membership and there is even a nice lady who comes in and cleans the house every week or so. Life in The Dalles has been posh. I have loved getting to know Richy's parents better. Our time has been good on so many levels. My point is Richy will be wearing the shirt with pride or at least a sense of humor. I had a great Mother's day. On Friday Levi's preschool put on a little tea party and sang songs to the moms. Levi was the only kid in his class who did not sing. After the show I ask him why he did not sing and he replied "I already told you, the singing here is just terrible". It is true, he has complained about the vocal abilities of his fellow classmates before. I am not going to sit here and publicly call my son a liar, but I will say this I enjoyed the show! I have been thinking a lot in the last year about my role as a Mom. Levi will be 5 next month and as he grows, I am constantly having to learn new ways to teach him and support his little spirit. Recently it has come to my attention both politically and in my personal life that the role of Motherhood is not valued in our society. Everyone wants to hear about what cool business endeavors you have taken on or where you got your degrees. While I too find those things interesting, I am not in that place in my life. I am embarrassed to admit I have been a product of my culture in the past and not held Motherhood in very high regard. Yes there is lots of dealing with crying children and building with legos, but it is so much more. It is researching the best nutritional guidelines for my individual child's development, it is encouraging educational activities while trying to strike a balance between giving opportunity as well as allowing independence to form, and it has been for me nights up with sick babies and night when I am up sick with thoughts of my own inadequacy as a Mom. Right now while I am in the thick of having a 4 and 1 year-old, I wonder what it will be like to again wake up to the sound of an alarm clock and not an unhappy child who needs something NOW! I love being a Mom. I will take all of the craziness and lack of societal value just to be apart of these two perfect little children's lives I have been blessed with.

Change is in the air.

I decided to start a blog, because life as I know it is about to change! In 8 weeks or so we will be moving to the Saint Louis area. Richy will start medical school in August. Although my discontinued Boarders journal has been good to me, I think this will be a more legible format in which to document the up coming changes and an added plus is pictures! We are very sad to leave Oregon. I used to wonder why a person would want to stay in pretty much the same place for most of their life, but 4 years ago we moved to Texas for a year, and I started to understand. I missed the Northwest more than I thought I could. I missed that time in September when one day it is warm and the next day the air changes as the clouds move in as if to say "Nine months of gray and rain are here". I missed the excitement of spring in Oregon. Everyone seems to be happy, and everything is in bloom. I realized I like seasons. With this said, I am VERY excited for the next adventure with my little family. To get ready for our big move we have been doing what we love to do, go on hikes. Living on the Gorge has been a treat.

Oregon, we will miss your beauty. I am of course also sad to leave family and friends. It is important to me to surround my children with people who genuinely love the heck out of them. My sister Emily is one of my kids favorite people. I think she brought a mini van to be able to lug them around. Levi gives our families an abundance of laughter. Yesterday I told Levi carrots are good for his eyes, so the next thing I see is Levi rubbing raw carrots on his eyes. Naomi has become close with Grandma Cindy. She especially likes going through Cindy's things, truth be told so do I she has some nice things. The move to Saint Louis will be a change for all of us. Levi starts kindergarten in the fall, which I super nervous about. Richy starting school will be hard on all of us. Richy has had the luxury of being home a lot while the kids are little. He even was a stay at home dad after Naomi was born when I went back to work. Everyday now it is like the kids know it is five o'clock they wait by the window for him to drive up, and then ATTACK him as he enters the house. I am glad they love him so much, and I hope he still gets sufficient quality time with them while he is in medical school. As for me, I am anxious to be in the same place for a while so I can get involved in local politics, which is one of my passions. I am excited to meet new people and experience a new part of the country. I am excited for this summer before Richy and Levi start school. My vision of the summer has been home made vegan meals and bike rides. I cannot think of anything better...well, not something blog appropriate anyway.