Recent Pictures

Well, here it is: photographic proof of our new state of residence! I finally got the new pictures downloaded.I threw in a few new ones of my Hawaiian boys hanging out on the shores of Tahoe Donner, too, just for good measure.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:
None of our phones are currently working. To get a hold of us, please use our email addresses that were listed on our cards. We will email everyone with new contact info once we get the phone fiasco figured out. Hopefully that time will be very soon.

Everything here continues to go well- minus a few mishaps with the phone company and a malfunctioning BBQ. We are swimming a lot, frequenting the parks in walking distance, and gearing up for the big 4th of July party here. The boys will be part of the local parade- Jake on his scooter sporting his red, white, and blue cowboy hat and TJ in the stroller, holding onto (or sucking on more likely) a plastic flag. A band will play out on the village green and we will attend the neighborhood picnic in the evening. For fireworks we plan on driving to McCall (1.5 hours away) to watch two barges of explosives to be set off on the lake. We are not entirely sure if this idea is a really good one or a really stupid one. Time will tell.... and we will keep you posted!

So Far So Good

I love it here! The house is beautiful and the neighborhood is gorgeous. There are kids everywhere and is definitely the kind of place where Jake and TJ will be able to run around, ride bikes, walk to the pool, etc... with their friends when they get older. We have met some nice people at the pool and are heading to the farmers market at the barn later this morning. We have walked on some of the trails and done some exploring around our house and are excited to get downtown one of these days. The weather is cooling off a bit, which is nice.

Mary arrived yesterday and Jake is in HEAVEN- a playmate that doesn't have the pressure of hundreds of boxes to unpack, break down, and throw away! He is going to wear her out for sure.
I signed him up for an art camp held at the community barn. I am hoping he will meet some friends. He seems a little homesick- he keeps mentioning his friends Cody and Ian and saying how he will never see them again. When I put him to sleep the first night in his bed (the first time he had been in it for 40 days!) he put his arms around me and said, "Everythings getting back to normal now, Mommy." Bless his heart. All of these changes must be confusing for him, but he is a champ and I am so proud of him. Milo is also finally getting settled. He wouldn't eat for the first four days and had a difficult time convincing himself that the stairs were safe. He would stand at the bottom and whine instead of coming up to join the family. Tanner is oblivious, I think, to the changes and slept for 12 hours last night without waking- a first for him. He is so close to crawling and is happiest when he is sitting in his high chair with a big pile of cheerios in front of him! That boy can eat :)

Please email us and keep us posted on your summer. I miss my friends and would love to get some updates. I will post pictures just as soon as I can find the camera connector :)

Home at Last!

We left Tahoe at 9:00 this morning and arrived in Boise 8 hours later. It was an easy drive and both boys behaved far better than we could have hoped for or ever imagined. We were a bit worried when we had only been in the car for 20 minutes and Jake asked plaintively, "Are we there yet, Mommy?" But, luckily, it was not a sign of things to come. In fact, the only fussing or complaining that we had to contend with was when Tanner fell apart 10 miles from our house. I think he had just had it with his carseat and I had used every trick in my bag to keep him happy. Jake watched movie after movie while Brian and I listened to XM Channel 16 the whole way. Lots of great country music :) and, as usual, we sang along loudly and enjoyed the drive.
Brian did get pulled over just outside of Winnemuca for speeding. The cop did not give him a ticket- which was very generous and much appreciated. I think it helped that right after the cop arrived at our car Jake said, "Mommy, that policeman is a very nice man!" (No coaching from us, but we did give him more candy when we pulled away!!)

Jake was very excited to arrive at our new house. He was hyped out of his mind due to lack of sleep and too much sugar (He's still working on that giant lollypop we got for him at Marine World!) and didn't go to sleep until 11:00. It stays light here very late. In fact, we were out on a neighborhood walk and didn't realize it was close to ten already! I can't wait to explore more tomorrow. I am especially excited to take the boys to the pool. It is only 5 blocks away and is way bigger than I had anticipated. We'll need it, as it was close to 100 today.

This house is great! It is nicer than I had remembered it and I keep walking around it thinking, "Is this really ours???" I am so anxious to get our stuff moved in tomorrow. It is sure to be another long day. The movers arrive at 8:30AM.

I guess we should try to get to sleep. Just wanted those of you that are checking up on us to know that we arrived, are in good spirits, and are ready to continue this adventure.

One thing that moving on does for you: It sure shows you who your friends are and how much you are loved. The things we take for granted daily come into focus so clearly. We have been so lucky to spend time with those closest to us over the last month in preparation for our move. Friends and family have spoiled us and spoiled our boys with their love and affection- and more than a few toys for the little ones! Although we may be moving on, part of our hearts are definitely staying here in California with friends, countless "aunties" and family.
We are truly blessed.

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to all...This photo is from the Giants game a week or so ago. We had a great time. It was very cold though and the Giants lost, so not all positive. On the good side, my Fathers Day gift from Marisa and the boys was tickets for the Boise Hawks minor league team (an Angels affiliate), so we have that to look forward to once we get settled. My real Fathers Day gifts are in the picture to the right--------------------------->>
These two boys have changed everything about my life for the better. Very few things make me happier than seeing my boys first thing in the morning. I am really looking forward to the next six weeks or so that we will have off together so I can help them (and their mother) adjust to life in Idaho and we can spend some time just enjoying time together. Both Tanner and Jake are so good natured and adjust so well to whatever circumstances we are in at the time, I have no doubt that they will adjust just fine. Jake especially has been such a trooper with all of this chaos, I have been so proud of him. He has his own map to Idaho that he drew with his new house, new school and friends on it. He is planning on navigating with HIS map so we don't get lost on the way to Boise....

We spent yesterday with Bill, Kim, Cori, Kiri and all the kids. We had a great time, with a good BBQ dinner to finish things off. All in all a very nice Fathers Day.

I wanted to write a Fathers Day post like my Mothers Day one, but those kind of words just don't come as easily when talking about men. I don't know if that is sexist or chauvinistic, but I just can't muster the emotion....

Dad: I love you and can't wait to see you next month. I can't wait for you to meet Tanner and see what a little man Jake is growing into. Thanks for your great emails and words of encouragement and support over the course of this process, they've meant more to me than you know. I'll see you soon.

Love,

Your son,
Brian

Goodbye Sycamore

Today was a tough goodbye. I have worked at Sycamore for ten years, have made countless friends, and have learned so much along the way. What a great place to have called home. Walking through those gates for the last time was hard. Still, despite a few tears (OK... so at one point I needed a friend to bring me a box of kleenex and was actually babbling) I am excited to be done with school for now and am ready to get this adventure started! We are down to 6 days in the hotel and can't wait to be on our way to Tahoe, then Boise. Brian appears to have a job on the horizon but won't start until after the first week of August. Six weeks of vacation together as a family does not happen very often and we are really looking forward to it!

Tanner miraculously recovered from whatever was causing him to scream endlessly for four days as soon as Brian returned from Boise. Coincidence? Brian thinks not. He is back to being his smiley self. He is very close to crawling and we have to be VERY careful when he is on our bed as he rolls and rolls and rolls. Just a few minutes ago I heard Brian yell from the bedroom. I ran in and found that he was holding- just barely- onto Tanner's foot- Tanner dangling off the side of the bed. He loves his food and is starting to feed himself cheerios and anything else he can get his hands on. Jake is a swimming fool these days. Tonight he learned how to jump off the side (with floaties) without someone "catching" him- a giant leap for water confidence, I think. This morning on the way to school he saw a cow all alone in a field. He commented that he was a "sad cow" and that he must be "lonely". He continued on, saying that the daddy cow was probably jumping over the moon. I tell ya, that kid keeps us entertained. Tired, but entertained.

In Idaho (temporarily...)

Hello All. This post is actually coming from the office in the new house. I went out and bought a desk chair yesterday and it's the only furniture here right now, so while I was sitting down I thought I would catch up on the updates. The drive up was beautiful and quick. Once you get outside of Reno, it's two lanes, desert and no cell phone service almost all the way there. The drive took me 10.5 hours from Livermore to here, pretty much non-stop. If you are looking for a more scenic route (albeit slower), you can take 1 up (down?) the coast to Portland and over, which, if you are not a fan of scrubrush, I would recommend.

I am here this week to try and get some things set-up. I have been pretty successful so far; we have a lawn mower (and a mowed lawn), a fridge, freezer and washer/dryer, cable service and internet, a pool access code and mailbox service (almost). I also got in two job interviews here, dropped off Jakes pre-school registration, and signed him up for swim lessons at the community pool, so all in all a very productive trip.

I still very much like the area, so no buyers remorse here. It is a little bit more like the mid-west weather wise (hail the size of golfballs yesterday for about 15 minutes, followed by thunderstorms etc.) It's raining today but is nice otherwise.

Unfortunately, as Murphy would have it, Marisa is having a tough time with the boys. Tanner is teething or sick or just pissed off and has been inconsolable since I left (could be he misses Daddy...). He has been such an easy baby so far that this is kind of out of the blue. Plus she's there with both boys and Milo in the hotel room and trying to finish the school year with no sleep......honey I feel so bad I am not there to help, I will be home soon. We've both been doing the single parent thing lately and are both amazed that people who are acutally single parents survive the process. I don't know how I would make it with out Marisa's help with the boys on a regular basis. To the single parents out there...I am in awe, you are much stronger than me.

Marisa and I are both kind of ready for this transition phase to be over. It is great to be able to visit with our friends and stay in touch with the area, but our lives have been on hold for six weeks now and we are ready to get going again. We leave for a week or so (we don't know when the furniture is coming just yet) in Truckee on Thursday the 22, so one week left.....

Talk to you soon - Brian

Great Day!

We moved!!!! Ok... so we only moved across the pool. But, still, we MOVED. What a great day! After dealing with water damage in our studio hotel room for the last two weeks, complaining nicely, having blowers in our room, workmen trying to fix the problem etc... we finally said "enough is enough" and were rewarded with an upgrade to a room twice the size of our studio. It is like a castle in here! We no longer have to move TJ's crib in order to access the kitchen and there is actually some room to sit down to watch TV or play with toys or read somewhere other than the bed. I tell ya... it is like heaven.

Also, Brian was contacted by a ServePro in Boise that he had randomly sent his resume to last month. Turns out the owner wants to "retire"- or cut way way back on day to day operations- and is looking for a replacement. It is the same business as Brian is in now. So he is meeting with the guy next week in Boise. His phone interview with Farmers Insurance went great and he is being flown out for an interview soon. I guess his talk about karma is true. He has been so kind and overly accomodating to many during this transition and good stuff is happening. I think it is great that he may get to choose which job he wants instead of just having to take whatever comes along.

I returned from Outdoor Ed camp on Friday afternoon. It was a fun time, but it was good to get home to my guys. I talked to Jake each night and on the last night he told me that he was "eating ceral with marshmallows for dinner in the bed".... I figured it was time for me to come home! Seriously, though. Brian was a champ dad and the boys had a great time.
Let's hope I can do as well when Brian leaves for five days next week!

Jake's Post

Jake wanted to post about the hotel:

We have a new room. We have a new fridge. We have a tennis court. We can play tennis and I hit it so high it almost went in the hoop. We have our new computer so I can watch movies in bed. I like breakfast, I have pancakes, waffles, blueberries and yogurt. I like that JoJo is here in the room.

We played this weekend outside at Grandma's in Tahoe. We played in the snow. I played with Abby, I had fun. I played with Gram. We left Milo there with Gram for a little bit. I get to sleep in the bed with Daddy. We have pizza.

Bye.......I miss Mommy........

Our New Town

Everyone who is secretly thinking, "Why BOISE?" might enjoy this site. See what our new town has to offer!

downtownboise.org

These also might be fun to look at:
hiddensprings.com (our new community)
foothillsschool.org (where I will be working)

Life in the Marriott continues to go well. I actually am kind of enjoying the free breakfasts, dinners, and house cleaning :) It feels like we are on vacation a little bit. I am sure it will grow old, but for now it is much better than I had feared. It is clear that home is where my boys are (all three of them!) as the room truly feels like home already. The boys are doing great with it- Tanner apparantly likes sleeping in the kitchen and Jake is thrilled to be sleeping on the floor next to our bed! We have already established a daily routine. I'm not sure we will know what to do with 2700 square feet next month! Love to everyone.

What I've Learned...

I've learned that pregnancy and moving have a lot in common: They both cause heartburn, indigestion, weight gain, slight but constant nausea, exhaustion, niggling worries of "What are we thinking?" and "Are you sure this is the right thing to do in our lives right now?"; they both require a sense of adventure, a release of control, teamwork, and a willingness to explore the unknown; and they both produce something wonderful at the end of a lot of hard work.


Our first night in the hotel went seamlessly- we ALL slept from 8:30-6:00 without interruption. After breakfast at the hotel, I headed back to the house to meet the movers. Miraculously, they arrived on time. Although they all look like they recently made an escape from the local prison, they seemed nice enough. I guess I just have faith that the things they are loading up won't end up on the black market somewhere. I couldn't watch them load all of our stuff so I went back to the- clean- hotel room (Boy, having a maid clean up after us every day for a month is going to be NICE!) to relax a little before picking up TJ for his six month appt.

More updates as things happen. For now, both Brian and I can be reached on cell phone only.
Love to everyone.

Technical Updates

A couple of new things with regards to the blog:

1. I figured out, I think, how to remove the "you must create an account to comment" annoying feature. You still need to do the "type in the code" thing to prevent the site from being spammed. But now you can leave comments as anonymous and it should be much quicker.

2. I have it set up where I get an email whenever anyone leaves a comment. So if you can't get a hold of us while we are in witness relocation, just comment on the blog and we will get it and get back to you.

3. The posts will probably be without photos for awhile as all of the picture stuff is on the other computer which is somewhere in a moving truck....we will posts the photos after the fact. Trust me, you will die when you see pictures of the little hotel room we are all living in.

Talk to you all soon,

Brian

Give our regards to 6th Street

So we are out of the 6th street house and into our hotel for the month. That house meant so much to Marisa and I, as it was our first house/home together, the house where we brought the boys home from the hospital, the house where we fought until we learned to talk, and where our relationship grew to the point it's at today, where we can take on something as terrifying as this adventure knowing that we will come through it just fine. 6th Street was the house that put the faith into our marriage. Some great memories from that house for me:

1. Marisa screaming from the hallway and waking me up to come get her, in the middle of the night our first night there because she couldn't find the bathroom and was afraid of the dark.

2. Marisa realizing, in the middle of our first major renovation, that the hole in the floor under the toilet was supposed to be there because the toilet has a drain in and it doesn't work by magic.

3. Jake learning to crawl admidst the dust and construction debris in his room (which was the dining room at the time)

4. The steel that major construction can put into the backbone of a marriage if you can survive the three month, 1500 different option- search for bathroom sconces.

5. Debating whether Jake was too young and it was too late at night to walk down and watch fireworks at Robertson Park on the fourth of July last year, doing it anyway and realizing how wrong we would have been to have not done it. (Still one of my top ten experiences in my life).

6. Meeting great friends (Nikko & Shannon) because Nikko was the foreman on our addition/remodel job, and staying friends with them since. Every Saturday, breakfast @ Nations.

7. The great "paint parties" that we were able to host, both when we moved in and our friends couldn't believe how much paint the old walls and ceilings could soak up, and after the addition, when they could believe that every room was going to be a different color.

8. Learning the life lesson that planning on replacing the kitchen floor (or doing anything really), waiting for three years to do it, and finally getting it done, invariably produces the, "we should have done this three years ago" response.

9. Having the perfect hallway for; soccer, bowling, foot racing, ball bouncing, car racing, sock sliding and dog chasing.

10. The house always, and probably forever, feeling like home.

We'll miss you 6th Street, thanks for all the great years and memories.

-Brian

In lieu of a card.....

Happy Mothers Day!

To all of the mothers in my life....

To my mom whose greatest strength in our relationship is having an opinion, but letting me make my own decisions (mistakes, to some!) and be my own person. She has always supported me in everything I have done. Looking back on my life and some of the choices I have made, she has been a stronger person than I to be able to hold her tongue and offer nothing but support. I love you Mom and am looking forward to seeing you soon.

To my wife and partner....to say that living with me is sometimes difficult is like saying that the ocean is a little damp. She is my best friend and the best mother to our boys that I could ever ask for. She is the patient person that I am not. The objective voice, that I am not. The innocent one, that I am not. She is the best parts of me that I wish I could be better at. She is a risk taker and has the strength of the Incredible Hulk (that part is from Jake!). Honey, I could not imagine starting out on this next phase of our lives with anyone but you. As long as it's you and me, we can do anything together, you make me so happy (even when you are making me sooooo crazy!). I love you more than I thought possible. Tanner and Jake are so lucky to be able to wish a woman like you Happy Mothers Day for the rest of their lives. Like a flower among the rocks, you will thrive even surrounded by boys! We love You.

To my Auntie Sue.. who has always been more than an Aunt to me. Happy Mothers Day! You are the worst casualty of this move for me personally. You love my boys as much as you loved me when I was their age, and if helps you to know how I feel about you, they love you back almost as much as I do.

Happy Mothers day to all. I have to go now, Marisa is dropping off the boys and I am supposed to be painting........


Love,

Brian

One week left on 6th street

Bill found our new house on Google Earth and it seemed like a good way to show everybody where it is in relation to Boise. If you click on the photo it will blow it up larger and you can see that we are a little bit north x northwest of downtown Boise, up in the foothills. One of the things that we like about the town is that when you are there, you really can't see back down into the Treasure Valley, it feels like you are a million miles away from anything.

We have one week left to finish up everything on the 6th Street house. We move out a week from Sunday on the 21st into the hotel. We have a significant amount of packing and repairs to accomplish between now and then. This weekend the boys are staying with their favorite, Auntie Sue ,on Saturday so Marisa and I can get somethings done. And on Sunday, we are going to Kim & Bills house for Mothers Day to see Cori and Kim, Bill and Abby and newest arrival; Aiden Colby Evans. Aiden was born this week and I haven't had the chance to meet him yet, so am really looking forward to the visit. Congrats to Kim and Bill! Welcome to a higher level of chaos than you thought imaginable....

Once we move out, our highest priority will be visiting friends and family before we make the final move at the end of next month. We already have; my mom, Cori and my Dad and Joan scheduled for visits in Boise. I have also heard rumors of Lisa, John and the girls as well as Lisa, Clark and their kids, but don't have firm dates on them yet. Having all of this family around will really make easing into our new home a lot more fun than going it alone. So if you don't have a trip out scheduled yet, plan on seeing us in the next month as visiting with you will be our main focus (with the exception of the Giants - Pirates game on the 10th of June). Go Giants!

Our Boise Home-To-Be

This is it.... our new home! Escrow closes on May 31st and we will be moving in June 28th or 29th. Things are moving much faster than we had originally anticipated due to several factors. First, our house in Livermore closes on May 24th and the buyers won't rent back to us, so we have to live in a hotel until school ends on June 17th. Second, Brian's job is ending sooner than originally expected. So, rather than hang out, paying 100 dollars a night to stay in a hotel (won't it be cozy with the four of us in a studio??) we decided to head on out to Boise and get this adventure started. Luckily Mary will be joining us for the first few weeks or so to help us with the boys as we get the house unpacked, find daycare, and get adjusted. I am so happy she will be with us!

We will have new contact info to you all soon- new email, new cell phones, new home phone, etc... Step by step we are going to get this done. It does seem a little overwhelming at times, but we are crossing things off our list little by little. Brian has been a packing maniac!

The pictures above show the kitchen, backyard, open space behind our house, and master bathroom. It is a bigger house, by far, but still feels cozy.It is is almost exactly twice as big as our current home and half as expensive. I have spoken to many ex-Californians that live there and everyone assures me that we will love it. The woman who runs the preschool at Hidden Springs (the community we will be living in) grew up in Los Gatos- a stones throw from Saratoga where I was raised.

We will keep you all updated as things happen. Jake and Tanner say hello :)

The Easter Bunny Arrives!

TJ and Jake are doing great. As you can see, they are both growing like weeds. These pictures were taken on Easter morning, which we spent at Auntie Sue's house being spoiled rotten! The Easter Bunny visited her house prior to our arrival and Jake had a blast searching through the house (not outside, as it was POURING!) for treasures. Tanner watched the proceedings from his comfy seat on the beanbag chair. We are having so much fun with our two boys and we love spending time with Auntie Sue. I keep wondering- how did I get so lucky?

Won't Be Unemployed for Long!

Well, after an interesting and eventful 24 hour trip to Boise last month, I have a job! Actually, it is not just a job- it is the teaching job of my dreams! I interviewed at two very different schools- one "back to basics" and one to the far left of center (I call it "The Hippy School). One of the places I LOVED and one I couldn't imagine working in. Can you guess which was which???
I will be teaching 4/5 at Foothills School of Art and Science in downtown Boise. Their focus is on teaching kids HOW to think and HOW to learn, they foster creativity in all its forms, and allow for autonomy of both students and teachers. I hope I enjoy it as much as I think I will. Though sad to leave Sycamore- my home for the last ten years- I am so excited to begin this new professional adventure.

The Craziness Continues

Update time! After having our house on the market for a month or so earlier this winter with no luck, we pulled it off while we were making the decison to stay in CA or move to ID. Since we put an offer in on a house there, it was time to put our house back on the market here so we could remove the contingency on our offer. Within 10 minutes of signing the paperwork, we got not one but two offers! Both for what we wanted, and both from people who looked a the house a month or so ago. We accepted the better of the two offers and have sold the house! The only bad thing....we have to be out by May 21, and we won't be moving to Boise until July 1st at the earliest....so, can we use your couch?

We started packing boxes right away, and while packing, Marisa got two phone calls for potential job interviews in Boise on Friday. So she flew out tonight, is interviewing with one school in the morning and one in the afternoon and meeting the realtor after that to get into the house and take some photos. Despite the fact that she is really nervous about the interviews, she will do great. She is such a good teacher and represents herself and her desire to teach so well, that I will not be surprised if she comes home with two offers. Good luck honey, we're all pulling for you here.

The other big news is that Jake got a visit from the "night-night" fairy. This visit was prompted by a visit to the dentist, who told Jake that the "night-night" was starting to hurt his teeth. So Jake put all of his night-night's on our dresser that night (he didn't want the fairy to actually come into his room!), and the fairy brought him some new super hero "guys" and an Emporer Zurg figure. He was very excited, but is having some trouble getting to sleep without his night night and keeps saying how he misses it, but is doing a great job getting through it.

Auntie Sue flew back from her road trip with Mom to MN. Marisa and Jake met her at the airport. Of course, she came bearing gifts and now Jake has even more stuff, but he missed his Auntie Sue. Marisa and the boys are heading to our friends Anna & Geoff's Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, while I work on the house, and then we are off to Auntie Sue's on Sunday for Easter Brunch.

Happy Easter Everybody and we'll let you know how Marisa's interviews went ASAP.

New House!

Hi Everybody -

The latest update...this is our house. After much trial and error and soul searching, we decided to buy a house in the development that we like that is being re-sold as opposed to buying a brand new house.

Not only does this save us some money, but it's ready to move into now (not that we are ready to move into it!). We have a 60 day escrow and if all goes well, it will be ours May 31st. Our plan is still to move out (hopefully with jobs!) in the beginning of August. We are still not sure what Marisa will do, as the school year starts there on August 9th, so that might be a little tight, but we'll see. So many things go into every decision, in this case, we need healh insurance, and she can get it quicker than I can.

So now we need to sell our house. We do have some off-the-market interest, so we need them to step up or we will need to put the house back on the market here very soon. Resumes are going out, along with daily checks of Monster.com and Career Builder.com, so hopefully we will start to get some return phone calls.

Things are starting to get a little scary....as Marisa says, " We bought a house, so I guess we're really going?". That's pretty much it.....Yikes! Everybody needs to come for very frequent and very lenghty visits.

Talk to you soon.....