We are officially in OKC!

Well we survived our month long vacation, barely but we survived.  That was one of the longest month of my life!  Just in case anyone is looking for the easiest way to move it isn't taking a month to do so.  It was fun seeing everyone for sure but it was also very stressful with 2 kids who are very busy and want to be home with their own toys.  But we also had a lot of fun along the way.

1st stop...last minute things in WA.  We went to Mount Rainier and also Pike's place.  We also drove around to some of our favorite places and let the girls play in the water at New Castle beach park, which was one of our favorites, I kinda miss it actually.  

2nd stop...Canada.  We enjoyed a weekend going up to Victoria through Vancouver.  It took us about 8 hours from our house to actually get to Victoria because we had to wait at the border for customs and then we had to wait about a hour for the ferry.  We went to Butchard Gardens and also the British Columbia museum and it was very fascinating. 

3rd stop...Salt Lake City.  Zach had to work until the 10th and so I left on Monday with Zach's Mother Holli and his Grandma and Grandpa Christensen.  We took 2 days to get to SLC.  Until Wednesday when Zach and his Dad got there we had a birthday party for Holli's Dad and got ready for camping.  After driving all night Zach and his Dad (Dave) got to SLC early in the morning and then we headed to Flaming Gorge where we went camping, swam in the lake and floated down the river.  It was  lot of fun. 

4th stop...back to SLC where we visited my cousin Annika and her new baby Peter, he is adorable!  We also got to spend some more time with Zach's little cousins and go to a White family reunion for Holli's side of the family. 

 5th stop...Mesa.  We got to Mesa late Tuesday night I believe and enjoyed spending time with my family and Zach's.  Zach left on the follow Sunday night to come to OKC because I decide to stay in AZ so I could go to a Fish family camp out that we had in Northern AZ.  Zach signed papers on our house on Tuesday and then painted the rest of the week.  His Mom Holli also came to OKC with him and gratefully helped Zach paint so I could stay in AZ.  It probably was best that the girls were not here when the house was getting painted.  One thing I will say for certain is that I think it will be a LONG while before I go camping without Zach again.  We like to camp but it was hard without my hubby there.  I don't think it helped that my girls were so ready to be in there own home.

Christy's 6th stop without Zach.  Camping with the Fish side of my family.  These are all the little kids that were there, some of the older ones aren't in this picture.  These are all my cousins with the exception of a few that are my sisters kids.  

And finally we came to OKC!!!! So glad to be here, and just in case anyone was wondering I finally got my 2 little happy girls back.  Traveling was very stressful and some days they or I didn't take it very well, but now we are all much happier.  I don't think it really has anything to do with OKC it's just being in your own home being able to do the things that you are used to.

p.s. I may have missed some of the things that we did but I can tell you that it was a busy month with lots of craziness.  Now on to the next adventure I think next week we will be potty training Kali.  She already wants to sit on the potty and go so hopefully it will be much easier than Anna!

Oklahoma

No joke after going to OKC I'm like are we really moving there?  That may seem a little strange but it is so different!  You can't see one mountain and everything looks the same everywhere basically.  I mean they have rolling hill but nothing like the hills in Washington.  It will take some getting used to.  Even in AZ they have mountains you can see in the distance.  It will also take a while to get used to shopping there.  No Costco, no Fry's, Albertson's or Safeway.  They have some other groceries stores but I don't know the names.  I will for sure get used to shopping at Walmart again, that is where everyone shops. 

Now about our weekend.  I want to give a big shout out to the Kinards for letting us stay at their house so that we could cut down on cost!  We looked at about 15 houses after our relator who was awesome by the way helped narrow down our search due to builders who are terrible and areas that are too far from Zach's work.  We wanted to be close to work but also in a better area of school.  Which meant that we were either in Moore or Edmond, but Edmond is a pretty far drive.  We know there are other pockets of good schools but when you haven't lived someone we just have to trust what people say.  We had about 4 that we really like.  Our favorite was really high priced and our relator said the guys put a lot of work into his house and he wanted to get everything back he put into it.  Well our relator said that it wouldn't get appraised at what he wanted to sell it for.  There was another house that was in the same situation and so we kinda ended on this house.  Our relator's fiances Mother died and they had a funeral on Saturday so we ended up having to look at houses on Sunday.  We did some tornado clean up in the morning and then went and looked at houses.  After 10 pm we went to his office and we narrowed down our search, put an offer in and they accepted it at 10pm that night.  It was pretty crazy!  The only thing major that I don't like about this house is the paint!  Everyone keeps telling me that paint is the easiest to fix, so it will all work out.  I haven't done a lot of painting in my day and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed but I know we can do it.  I will just have to spend a month on Pinterest and look around at other houses to get ideas.  All in time it will look great! 

Too much STRESS...

Call me crazy or something but in a few weeks I'm leaving my kids with my Parents for like 4 nights and I'm so nervous!  I haven't ever left my kids.  I left Anna one night with my in-laws and she went to my Parents when Kali was born but that's about it.  I will miss them so much and with my Uncle dieing recently I guess I've been a little bit more on edge about bad things happening that I can't control.  I know that my Parents will do a good job watching my kids but I'm just so worried about leaving my kids.  Probably partially because my kids are never around my Parents and I'm worried Kali will be sad the whole time and want her Mom.  I can do this, right? 

The next Stressful thing moving.  I can't believe we are moving across the country once again, and not to mention we are trying to buy a house and I just feel like it is all happening so fast and I can't slow it down.  We are excited to hopefully buy a house, it will be our first but I guess we just don't really know what we are getting ourselves into with buying a home.  I hope that we find something that we like and that we feel comfortable enough to buy without much hesitation.  Everyone lately has asked us if we are scared to move where the tornado hit, and I want to say how would you feel but in all reality I feel at peace, yes I'm worried, but we just have to be prepared and everything will work out. 

I got released from my calling this last Sunday and that was bitter sweet.  I mean I will miss the kids but maybe now that the new President is called they can finally get the teachers that I've been asking for for months, who knows?  Zach is still in YM's and I honestly wouldn't doubt if he stays in till the very last minute. 

Yes our lives are a little crazy right now but we are excited for the adventures that we are going to have.  This weekend we pretty much stayed home and cleaned our whole house and went through everything we could think of.  It was awesome, hopefully we can continue to get rid of stuff and fit everything in our POD.  It will be interesting that is for sure!

Cape Dissapointment

This place was awesome!  It is on the cost on the cost of Oregon and Washington right where the Columbia River comes in.  It was a lot of fun camping with our friends and playing in the sand/water/trees. These girls have the best Dad ever, he loves helping them!

 Kali decided to plop herself in a puddle, but wait that's not all...

 She had to lay in it, lol!

 Lighthouse #1

 Anna really wanted to take a picture, not too bad. 

 This is the same lighthouse form a different direction and what a beautiful view! 

 Our friends the Brady's.  I didn't get a picture of the Brown's though, maybe next time. 

 These are bunkers from WWII, at least that is what we were told. 

 Lighthouse #2. 

 This is the Lewis and Clark expedition that you can see. 

 The coast guard was having on open house and we went down and looked at  the boats.  When we were on our way back Anna got to honk the horn on a fire truck and also turn on the sirens, she was pretty excited. 

 A different angel to the #2 lighthouse. 

 This is the beach just behind out campsite.  There are some trees blocking it so the kids couldn't just go to the water, but it was still a beautiful sight! 

 Our last morning before we headed home we went to see how tall the waves were. 

Fun family time

We are going to miss this temple. 

 I've decided this is why I need a better camera.  You see this picture would have been so cute, but well it was out of focus and they moved...my camera takes forever to take a picture and then it was blurry...in time, in time.

 Yes my camera didn't take this fast enough and she blinked, but I still think it's cute!  Anna is growing up so fast, she always says she's 4, when I try to tell her she is 3 she just says no Mom I'm 4.  I think most of her friends are 4 so she wants to be. 

 I love this Kali girl!  She is so much fun, and has such a sweet personality!

 I found a groupon for bowling and we went as a family, it was a lot of fun, and my girls love to bowl! This is Kali saying I do it, which seems to be the thing lately!

 Anna is a good bowler, and she loves it!

 This is Anna waiting while her ball hits the pins, she is such a girl!

 We had a few warm days were we went to Lake Washington to let the girls play in the water, I knew the water would be cold so I didn't think they would get in, but they did not care! Kali's diaper is so full she couldn't fit 1 ounce more in there because it got wet, lol.

 Zach wanted to celebrate his Birthday by going to Red Robin with our girls!  They gave him a Sunday after the meal and the girls really enjoyed sharing with Daddy, can you tell?

 Yay for a new griddle for Zach's camp chef.  I think I was almost as excited about this as Zach, we took it camping and it was awesome!

My Uncle Kendall

I wanted to pay a little special tribute to my Uncle Kendall.  My heart is very heavy at this time.  I don't think I've cried so hard and been so close to tears for days in many many years, actually probably ever.  However I feel it might help me to remember some of the things that I really I want to remember about my uncle Kendall.  He was always a very caring and understanding man.  I know he was willing to help wherever needed and that he was very proud of his children.  One particular story I remember of him was when we went to visit them in Utah.  We were at my Aunt Ione's house and he taught me how to do a back flip on the trampoline.  He was very patient and understanding even when I didn't get it right for a long time.  He always  had a jacuzzi wherever he lived on his back porch.  He and his wife also loved to play games of any kind.  He was always coming up with some fun family game to play.  He was a very good teacher and could help people just by listening to them.  I remember going to Tucson for some of the Family Home Evening's that we would have every 1st Sunday of the month.  He showed us a video on families and taught us about being a child of God.  We also ate some awesome hamburgers.  I'm so grateful for the influence he had in my life.  I wish Amy and her kids the very best in their future without him.  It will not be an easy road that is for sure but I know angels will be with them when they need them and I know that Christ's atonement is real. 

I still can't believe that he is gone.  I wish at this time I could be with my family.  I can imagine them talking about life, having fun playing cards, and trying to help each other get through this tough time.  I called my Mom today and heard my family in the background.  Just hearing familiar voices brought tears to my eyes.  How grateful I am for my family.  For their love and faith.  I know we don't have all the answers in this life but in time the Lord will provide enough to move forward.  I truly have such an amazing family.  We aren't perfect but we sure know how to stick together when times are tough.