Birthday Celebration

Lu's birthday started off with early morning presents, the opening of which was assisted by Clara who thought it was her birthday. That evening we had the fam over for a big celebration. The day before it was Planet 51 and dinner with more fam.

Haircuts

Once my cousin Millie was giving me a haircut on my parent's front porch. This guy walking his dog walked by and I called out "Haircuts!" He looked at me like I was nuts and everyone laughed at me. But now I have to shout out haircuts, at least in my head, when anyone gets a hair cut.

Well anyway, we don't do much haircutting around here and Anders was starting to look like a circa 1970 kid. Actually I like the look and think with a pair of short cut-offs and some killer tube socks he'd be looking pretty sweet. I'm kind of sad we cut it, but he was getting annoyed with it, and Tucker was too. So Rob got out the clippers.

I think Rob will kill me for posting this one, but we were laughing so hard I had to take a picture and post it. Rob has buzzed his hair for the last several years, but thought he would experiment by growing it out a little. He has been cursed with several cowlicks and hair that won't lie flat. Anyway, as he has been growing it people at work have been so polite to ask, "What is going on with your hair?" I have been encouraging him to keep growing it, because I am curious if it ever reaches the lie down flat point, but he is fed up. He has been wearing his hat a lot. Anyway, yesterday he came out of the bathroom coiffed like this and it was just too hilarious. I have a feeling the new clippers we just bought at Costco will be in use soon. I think he is tired of the experiment.

TEN!!!

It doesn't seem possible, because it feels like just a couple of years since she was born, but Lucy is a decade old. If the next ten years go as quickly as the last ten I am afraid that before I blink all my kids will be grown and gone (and that makes me want to cry). Maybe it has gone so quickly with Lucy because she is such a good person. Who could ask for a better daughter? We couldn't. Who knows what the next few years will bring, but I hope Lucy will continue to thrive and have good friends and be happy. It will be very hard to pull her out of school and away from family and her best friend. Uprooting can be painful. I can't help but feel guilty for putting her through such huge changes this next year. I feel some anxiousness as she teeters on the edge of adolescence, and sort of helpless knowing that the teen years are just around the corner. Having been a not so nice to my mother kind of teenager I really hope and pray that I can stay close to her as she grows up and maintain a good relationship. I hope I can help her through some of the rough patches that inevitably lie ahead. I hope that she knows that no matter how hard life gets that her parents love her more than she can ever imagine and I hope that will help her as she finds her place in the world. Here is to a new decade! Happy Birthday Lucy Jane, you are an amazing person and I hope you will always remember it. Every day you make me proud and you make me wonder how on earth I got so lucky!

Virginia, Here We Come

Well, it looks like we've made a decision! Rob told Virginia he wanted the job. So next summer we will be moving to Fauquier County Virginia. It is about an hour South East of D.C., an hour north of Charlotte, a couple of hours from Williamsburg and the outer banks,about four hours south of NYC, a couple of hours from my dear friend Jennette (yay), and in the middle of beautiful horse country. It is a beautiful area with rolling pastures and plenty of trees. In the distance are views of the Blue Ridge mountains. It is called the Piedmont area of Virginia. See how much I learned?

We had a fun weekend. We met up with some friends our first night, for dinner in DC. I hadn't seen this friend for over 12 years and it was great to catch up. It will be fun to be close to them. Anyway the next day we got to explore the area where we will be moving. It is a charming place.

The next few pictures are in Warrenton, where we think we are going to try to find a house. It is a charming little town with a small feel but with all the amenities we need/want. This bakery is DELISH and when you come to visit, because we know you will all come visit lots and lots and lots (right?), we will take you there.

This is Warrenton's historic main street. Very quaint with lots of fun shops and restaurants. We met with lots of member's of the VRA (Virginia Radiololgy Associates) group and they were all so incredibly nice. Very down to earth and friendly. No one had a coronary when they found out that we had four children. In fact a lot of them have four children as well. They took us to some great restaurants. Really great restaurants.

On Saturday afternoon we went to the Manassas National Battlefield where the first and second battles of Bull Run were fought in the Civil War. I think we are going to have a great time getting into all the history of the area. I think a re-watching of Ken Burn's Civil War documentary is definitely called for.

(I loved this propaganda/communist style statue of "Stonewall" Jackson who

saved the day for the Confederates at the battle and earned his nickname)

We wanted to check out the hiking and were directed to Old Rag in Shenandoah National Park (about 30 minutes west of Warrenton). It was a pretty drive and a good hike. Of course nothing can match the grandeur of the Rockies, but these mountains (large hills?) are beautiful in a different way. This hike is a steady uphill climb which was no problem, but then turns into a boulder scramble. It was slippery and for a wimp like me kind of hard. I got banged up and muddy and there were some really tough spots, but we made it to the top.

We stayed with one of the doctor's from the group. His wife raises chickens and cows. She got to tour Joel Salatin's farm for any of you who have read Omnivore's Dilemma. How cool is that? She used to be into horses, because well, it is horse country. They have polo, steeplechase, fox hunts and more there. We will have to check it out. Their property is beautiful. Land is cheap in this part of Virginia and we look forward to raising chickens (maybe) and having a forest on our property (again maybe). Jordan (the farmer) drove us around and showed us some really fun areas that we look forward to exploring.


Wow! I can't believe we know where we will be. It has been a LONG journey getting to this point. Frankly it doesn't really seem real. But it is and now it is time to gear up for this BIG change.

There's a Mouse About The House

Anyone else have this book (I hate it because there is too much child interference when reading it). Well we have one (or more????) scratching under the cupboards, making unwanted appearances, avoiding the traps left out for and FREAKING ME OUT. Go away mouse. Go away.

Where Do Brussel Sprouts Come From?

It's my first time growing brussel sprouts and potatoes. I like how they can be harvested so late. Yum.

Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

I love me some John Denver. Who doesn't? This weekend Rob and I went to Longmont, Colorado for an interview. I admit, the song "Rocky Mountain High, Colorado," ran through my mind more than one time. Anyway, Longmont is a nice little city about thirty minutes North of Denver and ten minutes north of Boulder. It is small, but doesn't feel rural. It has everything a person could need, four wards, four high schools, and it takes only about 15 minutes to get anywhere in the city (no traffic/commuting). One of the great things about Boulder County is they believe in protecting green space from developers, so the city is surrounded by scenic fields and there are abundant greenways and open space all through the city making it a pleasant, bikeable place. I will admit, access to the mountains is not nearly as good as it is in Salt Lake. It takes two hours to reach skiing, but hey, SLC is no longer an option so I need to not compare. But while we are at it, I discovered this weekend that Colorado mountains (at least what we saw) aren't nearly as amazing as Utah mountains. Okay they are pretty, but our granite cliffs, maples, oak, aspen, mix of spruce and pines can't be matched. (Yes we are pretty sad about leaving our beloved canyons). BUT, one nice thing about CO is they are a bit less into raping and pillaging the land like the good folks of Utah are, and there are no inversions and they really put a lot of effort into smog reduction, which isn't happening fast enough in UT. Anyway, the point is there are trade offs.

We did venture past the not so scenic mountains (people were raving about Estes Park and I didn't think it was pretty at all. Maybe it was just the time of the year, but it felt barren. I guess I thought it would be more Alpine) and went to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was lovely, even at this time of year. I would say this in between fall and winter is probably the least scenic time of the year, but it was nice there. And the weather was PERFECT. 70's the whole time.

Above is Sprague Lake and below is Bear Lake. We were

envisioning ourselves on snow shoes here.

The pictures below are above Boulder at Chautauqua Park. I LOVED Boulder. It has

the same vibe as Portland and it is quaint, and organic, and just

a very cool fun place (Christian, we had someone ask about Rob's

arkotec shirt in Boulder. They liked it. We need cards to hand out :).

I do think that you have to shop at REI and wear North Face to

really fit in there (and possibly smoke pot). Anyway this place is a park in the foothills FULL of

cool hiking trails. So we spent some time working off all the delicious food

we had eaten all weekend.

So anyway here are is our assessment of CO: nice place to live, environmentally friendly, family friendly, good schools, good practice, affordable, close to home....

Next weekend we go back to VA for a second look. I look forward to seeing how I feel/think of VA.

Crazy times. By the end of November we should know where we are going. That will be a relief!!!!!!!