Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go!

Things have been busy AND quiet at the same time. Two opposites pulling us at both ends, only to have us centered and balanced. It's a nice feeling.

Home:
Home has been amazing. We love our apartment, being back on Capitol Hill, and OH SO much closer to work. Yet, for some odd reason I feel as though we are residing in a hotel. When we moved to Lydia's for our stay, we attempted to liberate so many of our belongings. We compromised memories for ease, and it was nice. That being said, our abode is lacking style/ grace/ comfort, and I am in some sort of daft decorating phase. Nesting: Part 2?
I am so fortunate to have friends with so many amazing talents, Jessie Kaye being one of those said friends! She has an amazing eye. So her and I had a brief chat about ideas for our miniature bungalow. I will not be disclosing much more information anytime soon, but when completed, I would love some company. Lydia and my Grandma Harriett have an amazing eye as well. My Grandma gave me a brief tutorial of how to re-upholster a couch. This thrilled both Kirk and I. Our poor red couch will finally be getting a much needed makeover. WAHOO! I have even found some amazing blogs through Jessie regarding the matter of decorating.
More importantly, I want a design that can be timeless and transfer well from one home to the next. Eventually, we will find our dream home.

Friends and Family:
Let me begin with birthdays! Kirk and Linda both turn 27 this month. I cannot even believe how close to 30 we are. I welcome age and wisdom with open arms. We are (patiently) awaiting the arrival of Mikah Indie Layman, Jacob and Cristen's bundle of joy that is due any day now. My "bestie" Sarah Murphy turns 30 this year, and we will celebrate like it is the end of the world. Minus the whole going to bed at 4am thing. It may be more like midnight. Kiddo turns 1 this April.
Kirk has been keeping busy with the bands, Glo's on the weekend, and Kiddo during the day. The word SuperDad comes to my mind, hear you me! I am going to get him a shirt or a coffee mug to tell him so, too! "#1 Dad"! Haha! I cannot tell you how appreciative I am of him, and all that he does for our family, my sanity, and our marriage. I have never been so happy. I pray everyday that it lasts. Things are not perfect, but how BORING would life be if they were? UGH!
Kiddo turned 9 months old today. We, as parents, are filled to the brim with excitement when we visit his pediatrician. Getting all of his stats. The past visits he has always been in the 98th percentile for his height. He is tall. The things that he can do blow my mind. Obviously, he is crawling and pulling up on things. He can climb from the floor to the couch (which is low to the ground), he will dance, and loves to strum Kirk's guitar. His teeth are still coming in, and have been agitating him as of late. Poor baby dude! He is getting more and more chatty, too. Hi (while waving), Dada, Mama, are the usual. Of course, as parents we hear everything that he says. There is one thing that is always the same, and it sounds like "zshthis this". I swear he is asking, "what's this?". My Aunt Mandy had given him some clothes, toys, books, and a dvd that were my cousin Jayden's. The dvd is Sesame Street featuring Stomp, which he ADORES. He will sit and stare. He gets so excited when they sing, and bang on things. It has been fun to watch him mimic us as well. We have undoubtedly had to start watching our mouths, though. Ha!
Rae:
Me, I am doing well. I am working my behind off, and loving every moment of it. I have always loved commercial real estate, and for me property management is easily my forte! It is a win/ win. I feel that if I am too jubilant, everything will get taken away. So, I am doing my best to remain humbled. You know what will humble a person? Doing laundry in your kitchen sink. Haha! That will humble a person, and maybe it will save you some clams, eh?!

Christmas:
This year Kirk and I went to Eagle Point for Christmas, and it was fantastic. From the moment that we headed to Portland to see Jeff, as well as Grandma and Grandpa Huffman... Well, I had a smile on my face that still exists, if that says anything at all.
It was nice to see the Huffman grandparents. They had yet to meet Kiddo and I had not seen them since our wedding day in 2006. They are two of the kindest people that you could ever hope to know. All of mine and Kirk's family are. When we (Jeff, Kirk, Kiddo, and I) arrived at their home, they had KFC waiting. We talked family, relatives, grandbabies, and then I got the "private tour" in which Grandpa showed me all of the most beautiful and amazing family photos. Some of them extremely old. I hope to copy them some day, and frame them for our house (See... Decorating, again! Gripes)! We returned to Jeff's apartment and got some good rest.
I had originally wanted to awake at 5am, and hit the road early. When my alarm went off, I hit the snooze button. OOOOOPS! Mom had ended up calling me around 7am to see how close we were to home, and we had not even gotten up. I let the boys sleep as I readied myself, and ate oatmeal. We visited some more with Jeff, and then hit the road.
The drive to Eagle Point from Seattle is such a love/ hate relationship for me. I love that my destination is HOME, but I hate that the drive is so long. However, it is a beautiful one, with miles of field, farm, cattle, sheep. Kirk and I often talk about how amazing it would be to own land, or a farm down in Eagle Point. Maybe someday. We arrived at Seven Feathers to fill the van with gasoline, and then took an alternate route. Our GPS told us that it would be faster, than to hop back on I-5 and it was. It was perfect, it spit us out right onto Highway 62 in Trail. Not to mention that the drive got a hell of a lot more interesting. The route was a scenic one. When we reached a high enough elevation, we even had snow. None on the roads, but plenty on the sides. Enough to get us ecstatic, and start singing "Let It Snow" and "Over the river" to Kiddo-bear! I did get scared a couple of times. the road narrows and there is no safety median on the side. I swore that we were going to fall off of the cliff. But Kirk is an excellent driver, in the "Driving Mrs. Daisy" sense, so we were safe.
We arrived around 4pm, got settled and immediately went to Abby's (formerly Pappy's) with Mom and Papa Chris. The rest of the trip went way to fast for me. Between visiting with family, Linda Lou, Christmas dinner, and Lifetime Movie Network, I didn't get a chance to breathe. I wish that I could have slowed time down. There were so many things that I didn't get to do or show Kirk. Hopefully next year. We were so blessed to be able to make it down this year. It was with out a doubt, one of my favorites Christmas' in a long time. Nostalgia was met! Leaving was the hardest part. I think I cried for my Mommy from Eagle Point to Eugene. Kirk and I kept hoping that it would snow, and we would get stuck, but alas, this was not the case, and we had to drive back to reality. And our poor "RE" of a cat! Murph, Thanks for feeding Cohen Bean! :)

New Year's:
Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground was extremely honored when we were asked to play at the Showbox Market with Minus The Bear. We played a great set, and for me, it was even better. I don't get to play very often anymore, because I take the babe. But Elizabeth offered to watch him, and I got to be an adult for a night. It was lovely. I will never take performing for granted again, and I hope the band mates don't either. I hope they realize just how special and lucky we all are to have such a brilliant band, and each others friendships.
Sometime before midnight we headed to Aaron (drummer and bff from Eagle Point) and Stacy's (Aaron's stunning wifey and killer hostess from S.O.)for dinner, drinks, and dancing. It was not crowded. We had the most perfect amount of stellar friends there. Old and new. It was such a beautiful night, I wish that we could relive it over and over and over again.


That is all I have for now. Below are some photos from all of the above. I just realized that I have no pictures of Mom and Kiddo from this trip. Mom, will you scan and email me some, then I will add them to this blog?

We love you all dearly! Thanks for reading!


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket



Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket


3 comments:

Alissabeth said...

love love love!! we need to get that playdate on the calendar, woman! ever been to My Coffeehouse in Madison??

racheal huffman! said...

I have not been there, but I am so down. Name the time and date, and let's get together. I cannot wiat to meet J!

Lele Barnett said...

kiddo is so handsome!!! :) xoxo