Going Private

Hello! I really do want to start blogging again. However I am definitely going private. Please email me if you want to stop back by the blog!

Fortuna California

We made it! The reason for my lack of blog updates, is that I have been too busy! We left Philly on December 24th. The hospital paid for a moving company to pack up all of our belongings and ship them to California! After 7 moves in the past 7 1/2 years- this was the way to go! We spent Christmas in Utah-loved seeing our families. I flew out with Casyn to California the 1st week of January while Brent was busy studying for boards. I spent a week alone staying with new friends and fixing up our interesting rental house (it was disgusting -so with the help of my new friend we did some MAJOR painting etc...) Brent and Aubrie arrived- our stuff was a week late (yuck). Then we unpacked and less than a week later-Brent's mom passed away. We had quite an adventures road trip in our new Honda Pilot (LOVE IT). The funeral went well and 4 days later we were back on the road in time for Brent to start his new job the next morning at 8 a.m.! Whew! It makes me tired just writing this! We are getting settled in (more stories to follow...) I just wanted to get a few pictures up of where we live!
This is main street.

Charcoal Grey Honda Pilot

The front of our rental house-complete with the treehouse Brent has always promised he would build Aubrie!










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Local playground-the whole city is surrounded by redwood trees. Truly amazing!

Christmas

Graduation

What a wonderful, long awaited day! Had to get this shot of the city...
Yeah Daddy!

We are SO proud!

Decision

Our decision has been made- we are moving to California! I will be busy packing, running errands, visiting friends, Christmas shopping, and trying not to be too overwhelmed this month. Yes-we are moving before Christmas. Brent is busy studying for Boards on the 21st. Please pray for him and all that he has going on right now. I also wanted to post some fun pictures:

Casyn's bib says I love my big sister- and he does! These two really do have a bond!
I was in the kitchen, Casyn was crying and I told Aubrie to go play with him. A few minutes later he was GIGGLING! She put all of his toys around him and was singing to him. SO PRECIOUS!

This is my favorite fall shot at Gorgas park!

Just because I am busy-doesn't mean that I don't have time to make yummy pumpkin bread!

Trip to Vermont!

Last weekend we headed to Vermont, for another job interview. It was beautiful there!

Here is a shot of one of the many airplane rides(4 to be exact) we took in 4 days. This one is the way home-when they BOTH fell asleep at the same time!


This is on the upper level of the Burlington Airport. New England rocking chairs to relax in and watch the planes!

I had to get a shot of our good traveler - getting changed here in our hotel.

This is Lake Champlain. It was enormous, breath taking, and as you can see VERY cold!

This was my favorite part of the trip. Getting to see our good friends the Culbertson's while we were in Saint Albans. They were the BEST host and hostess ever-taking us on tours and to this adorable family restaurant in Burlington.

Trip to California!

What a weekend! We visited the town of Fortuna California (The friendly city). Brent had his first interview. Lets just say we were totally wined and dined. They pretty much sold us on this place. It is a tiny town population just under 11,000. Brent said he felt like the doctor on Arachnaphobia. Everyone knew who he was and why he was there. At the grocery store, the cashier asked me if I was visiting!;)


We first flew to San Francisco. From there we were waiting at the airport to fly to McKinley. We noticed our tickets said aisle 10 - so we were thinking -cool we will be at the front. Then they announced now boarding. Not zone 1 or 2 but ALL seats. This is a picture of the small plane. There were only 10 rows on the whole plane! Scary!

Brent has a friend living there- they took us to Trinidad (about an hour away) it was breathtaking.

Here is a picture of the cabin we stayed at. Complete with hottub, woodburning stove, full kitchen, greenhouse, 2 bedrooms etc... etc... it was beautiful! The entire thing had mint green tiles on the floor and long slanted wood ceilings. When we arrived there was a huge gift basket
on the kitchen table welcoming us to the Redwoods Hospital!

Little Casyn was such a GOOD baby. Here he is holding some United wings in his hand. This is the 2nd cross country trip he has taken and he is just shy of 5 months! Poor Aubrie had to stay home. We sure missed her!

Here we are at the beach. This one is only about 20 minutes from Fortuna.

We had a wonderful trip. It felt more like a vacation than an interview. Next week we are headed to Vermont. I am so excited to see it and have something to compare California with.We will hopefully know where we are moving by December- Yeah!

Trip to Utah!

We had SUCH a great trip.It was fantastic to see so many of our family and friends and FINALLY introduce everyone to Casyn! Shenell's wedding went well and my family was so great for inviting me over for dinners and watching my kids (Mom!).

Grandma Dawson

Shenell, Ryan, Hayden, Aubrie
My "favorite" niece & nephew. Over the years I have taken this picture pose with these 2. How did they get so big?!

Aubrie LOVED being with her cousins-she misses them desperately!

Even Casyn had a good time!

Everyone thank you so much- it was a much needed visit.

September Happenings

Aubrie started Pre-k at Shawmont Elementary. She is there every weekday. Some days until 3 p.m. They feed her breakfast, lunch and a snack-(my favorite part). They have dressups there (Aubrie's favorite part!)
Casyn still doesn't like his carseat;)

Brent finished his preceptorship in ER

We are on a countdown here at our house. Brent has only 60 days left until he is done with school. Then it will be time for studying for boards and amidst all this we need to decide where we should move. Exciting and scary- but mostly exciting!

Schuylkill River

We had quite the adventure Saturday night. We were just out for a leisurely stroll by the Schulykill river here in Philly- we wanted to show Casyn one of our favorite walks.

We did our usual feeding the geese. These were all in the water- after one drop of bread was thrown they swarmed us. Aubrie was totally freaked!

Here are my 2 cute kids! We were packing up to leave and decided to stop and feed Casyn before we headed home. THEN someone starts yelling- drowning- call 911. I look at Brent and say, "Well you better go" he does and it was so neat. He totally helped save this lady from drowning. Within minutes about 10 police cars show up, life flight is above us, a firetruck and ambulance. I just stood there( from a distance) trying my best to stay out of the way and answer Aubrie's questions as well as rubberneck with the locals. Crazy stuff. All I have to say is Brent is amazing- he wasn't even flustered by it and just got in the car and drove us home. Wow!

26 Days

This is what I have been devoted to for the last 26 days!!!

He is here!

Casyn Joseph is here! We had a rough time getting him here, complete with some scares- but he is here and ADORABLE! He came Saturday morning(the 19th- at 9:30 a.m.) Lucky for me 10 days early!
His measurements are EXACTLY the same as Aubrie's were. 7 pounds 12 ounces. 19 1/2 inches long. All the nurses and staff were in disbelief when we told them. I will include his birthstory and pictures soon.

The Last Month

Recently a few of my friends were giving me a hard time about not updating my blog. Well all I could think about writing is about my last month pregnancy symptoms. How my flip flops are now tight, how I pass out everyday about 2 pm, everytime I drop something on the floor I want to scream... I must admit that my least favorite thing about this stage is the comments from people. I have had some real bad ones. Some lady told me her daughter was due the same time I was but, was a lot smaller than me & was having a 7 pound baby. Another said she weighed 200 lbs. at this stage but HERS was only water weight. Today some guy asked me if I could get my daughter to push me in the grocery cart because I was so big. Um- gee thanks?!

Oh this will be over soon....
We really are so grateful to be having another one and are incredibly anxious to make sure that he is okay.

Actually, I have been having a lot of fun with Aubrie this month. We have tried to get out a lot and play before this new little one gets here.



Aubrie's last day of preschool picnic.

Our zoo pass just expired- sad- but this display is entirely made of legos!

Visit from family!

This park really has nothing but benches, grass, and this turtle but Aubrie loves it!

Room

Aubrie wants to know HOW we are going to fit her brothers crib and new clothes in her room?!

Hershey

This nice size bar cost a mere $39.95

We spent Saturday in Hershey, PA. It was a quick 2 hour drive and the whole place smells like chocolate! The streetlights on Chocolate Ave. are hershey kisses and with Aubrie's sweet tooth she was in heaven. We had a great time on the great American chocolate tour followed by spending money on crazy good candy in the HUGE gift shop, and finally a swell lunch at a cute little cafe in the museum. Such a fun day!