Shayla vs. The World

I don't know how I took a year to discover this, but apparently we live in the best area for fresh apples, pears and stone fruits in the fall. Austin and I have opposite schedules right now but due to a project at work causing some overtime for me I was able to get a day off with him. So we headed towards a lovely little orchard just south of Hood River. We went expecting to pick some fruit and have a nice day outside. The day was filled with so much more. We had a beautiful lunch with an even more beautiful view. There's supposed to be a view of a mountain there. Sorry for the location filters. Took some of these pictures on snapchat Mountain View Orchards also brews their own cider from their apples and has a vineyard and winery. We walked the public portion of their grounds and picked some of our own apples. Most importantly, we met Carlos. Carlos is an 18 year old steer. He loves when you scratch his head and feed him pears. We had a gr...

  Tomorrow marks one year from the day this photo was taken. A day that has been ever present in my mind as it has slowly crept up. Our going away party. In two days we would pack up a U-haul and make the 2000 mile trip to Portland. I wish I could say this year has flown by and that I can't believe it's been a year since we moved already. But I can't. This year has been long. Long and hard and exciting and exhausting and awful and amazing all wrapped into one giant bundle with a crushed bow on top. I honestly struggle to pinpoint what emotions I'm feeling looking at this picture and thinking about this day. I feel sadness knowing this amazing group of people will never be whole again. I feel happiness that we were able to share this moment and that Jennie made us take this picture. I feel relief knowing that I survived this year and am starting to heal a bit. I feel anger at life for taking what we planned to be a wonderful new adventure and turning it into t...

I will be a project manager/designer for fire suppression systems. I definitely never pictured myself going into construction but this sounds like a really good job and I'm really excited. Otherwise I've just been hanging out with friends and family this fall, which I have zero complaints about. Trip to Michigan for a wedding Austin tipped his kayak Halloween. Dale Denton and Louise Belcher Austin and I carved pumpkins Lucy and Bear And of course this weirdo I start the new job in January. Hopefully it goes well!

It's been an uneventful summer spent mostly relaxing with family. The 4th happened... Parades are definitely more exciting as a kid. Her finger up her nose! Then of course the fair. These girls make me so proud of their care for these animals. The rest of the summer has been spent relaxing with family, usually outside. Jess got a puppy!! Buster <3 Baking with Zucchini from Jess's garden Kallie NEVER lets me hold her. I didn't dare to move once she was asleep Lucy I'm job hunting pretty aggressively, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't discouraging most of the time. I'm not even sure what exactly I want to do but I'm thinking it's something in the medical device industry. I'll take just about anything at this point though.

I got a cat. Teisha and I were talking about cats and next thing you know I'm at the humane society looking at all the wonderful kitties who need a home. I was honestly about to leave having not found the one yet when I saw one more kitty butt sticking out of the play tunnel in the middle of the room. I gave the kitty butt a little scratch and out popped a purring kitty and I instantly fell in love. Meet Snickers. She's 10 month old and still really shy of Lucy, but she snuggles up close to sleep with me every night. She's pretty amazeballs.

The nice thing about going home is how quickly you feel comfortable again. I don't have any job lined up yet and I'm not sure how long I'll be staying in Iowa so Teisha has so graciously offered to let me live with her for the time being. My weird accent I picked up is going away pretty quickly. Haha. Overall it's good to be back home for a bit. It's honestly surprising how this immediately felt normal again. At this point I've spent most of my time at the Cleveland's pool with the kids. We went kayaking And the rest of my time is spent chilling with these awesome girls and their Mother. I definitely hope I get a job soon though. This relaxed stress feel feeling isn't going to last long.