One Year Ago

 Last week was the one year mark of our move to the Tri Cities! It almost seems like ages ago because it’s been such an amazing change for all of us, despite the whole 2020 catastrophe and pandemic. It’s absolutely insane to think that Toddler A has lived half his little life here in Washington, and also lived about half his life in a Pandemic. In fact, he was crawling before the Pandemic and now he’s walking, talking, .....running at the speed of light away from Momma....

Austin is absolutely thriving here. He has found a firm that is growing constantly and pushing him in exciting new ways. There’s a ton of opportunity here and it makes us so excited for the future. It’s been interesting and sometimes rough in some regards because a move to a different job can take a bit to become stable, and then Coronavirus hit —but through it all the above is still very apparent to us that this will be our forever home. 

Just seeing the above photo of my boys a year ago makes me so proud of the decision to stay at home with them. They grow entirely too fast. I have already made incredible friends and can see God working constantly in my life. I feel so blessed to have met the people I have and am so looking forward to many years to come. I moved around a ton in my life and it’s insane to me how quickly and how much this place seems like home. Though difficult at first, this year has taught me so much about my worth outside of working and being a nurse. It’s made me absolutely appreciate the home building skills passed down from all the strong women in my family. 

The neatest thing about being able to have the boys at home with me rather than separate rooms in daycare (which was absolutely incredible where we were don’t get me wrong, and sometimes I feel bad they’re now stuck with me and not their old amazing daycare) is getting to see their brother relationship grow. On top of new places and faces, we’ve been trapped with only each other for the most part during this pandemic. It’s forced a strong sibling relationship between the two. I hope they remember they’re all they have. It’s been a blessing to get to help them foster their relationship.

From our first Festival of Lights, Lighted Boat Parade, first Christmas in Washington, Columbia River adventures, turning 30 in Port Angeles, waterfall viewing, various farms and farmer’s market picking, good friends, Olympic rainforest and ocean adventures, Blue Mountain foraging, pandemic shopping and Halloweening....

Really looking forward to more, and hopefully soon we will be open and able to explore the real Tri Cities and surrounding areas this next year!

(A month and a half after moving we began lockdown and the pandemic... and we still love it here despite not seeing what this place 100% has to offer!)