Something New, Something Good.

2 weeks ago today, our 50 hour drive across the country ended and we arrived in Oregon!

It didn't take me long to fall in love with our rental home. It's beautiful. 

 Usually beautiful and rental don't go together in my book (at least from my experience) but look at this....

"My kitchen" has stainless steel appliances (and gorgeous cabinets and counter tops and sink..)....and a PANTRY! And hardwood floors....ahhh.

 Other things I love: Our MASTER bathroom. Never had one of them before. WITH dual sinks outside the toilet and shower area. Double love. And 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms....And And...weekly lawn service and of course, the "need" to buy these:

 Extra bonus: Not only do the machines clean clothes, they entertain the boys, and then Brycen finds it "fun" to help. Yes please.

I feel very blessed to have found this house back in June. After going back and forth trying to decide to rent again or buy a home (from how many miles away???) with the added timely arrival of the new little guy, I came across this house on the internet one day. It happened to be in one of the neighborhoods that I had been eyeing, had everything we wanted to try, WITH solar panels. Solar is what Bryce spent those 5 years in Indiana studying so we thought that was a pretty awesome touch. The $15/month summer electricity bill wasn't a bad touch either.

I felt really good about it so we looked into it. Bryce's sister in the next town was kind enough to go look at it for us (and take pictures), and we turned in an application. Our application arrived 1 minute before the other 7 applicants. It was a popular one!! It really worked out and having a place to live for the first year (or more), really helped us feel at ease and focus on other parts of the move.

Well, we arrived and immediately loved having a neighborhood park 3 doors down and then found out two days later, on our first Sunday, that we have LDS neighbors across the street! They have 4 kids (7, 5, 2 and newborn age) which nicely match our 5, 2, and soon to be newborn ages. You know all those questions you may have at a new place? Like elementary school, and OB/GYN and dentist and doctor and insurance, to name a few. Yup, our neighbor answered all those, became our emergency contact for Brycen's school, and has filled me in on playdates and grocery stores. We are seriously being cared for. The church is amazing! Let's leave it at that. I have been blessed to have an LDS friend on the same street every place we have lived over the course of 5 years and I LOVE it. We exchange stories, laughter, goodies, and favors and it is wonderful to have that one go-to person. I feel so so so blessed.

She even invited us to a "Frozen" party last night (aka unofficial ward party) and it was a hit with the boys! The other members were super surprised that we had been in the area less than 2 weeks and were already at all the hopping places. Yes, our neighbor is awesome.

Two sisters, in young women's, actually dressed up and performed songs from the movie. For a backyard Frozen party, they were really (really) good!

Brycen may or may not have been the only boy that asked to have his picture taken with them.

So he may just be ready for Disneyland, after all. Who wants to go??

And above all, Bryce is one of seven kids and five of them (and his parents) live here in Oregon! They all showed up to help us move in and we have been able to attend 2 Grandma days! On Mondays, Grandpa and Grandma invite all the grandkids to come spend the day with them. August happens to be an awesome time of the year with all the fresh produce. While at Grandma day, the grandkids jumped on the trampoline, swam in the pool, and then played in the sand box. After which, they walked to the nearby bushes and ate fresh blueberries and blackberries right off the bush! We then got to take all these beauties home:

And are enjoying them with every meal. Blackberries and peaches over Tillamook Vanilla ice cream? Not a bad life, at. all.As well as fresh corn and salads of lettuce, green beans, and cucumbers from Uncle Brant's Garden. So yummy, we are SPOILED!

Another blessing: I'm still pregnant! I kinda worried that with all the stress of moving and actual work of packing and not sleeping, may just bring baby early. 32 weeks and still going strong! All my super kind instagram followers mentioned how small I look. I think the picture is just deceiving, I feel huge and seriously uncomfortable and have NO idea where 8 weeks of baby grow (half his birth weight) is going to go.

As for the boys: they seem to be adjusting remarkably well. The traveling, time change, and excitement has a way of exhausting them and then...there's this thing that I usually find one in bed with me every morning. Not a particular fan of that habit forming, in our full size bed....but they are troopers.

We discovered this fun cart at the local grocery store. It's genius. Our previous grocery car carts were semi truck length and a serious pain to push. This one keeps the kids close so I can break up the pokes and is the same length and breeze to push as the other carts.

 OH and NO sales tax??  You ask me now, I will tell you that Oregon is the complete package (at least our 2 week experience). But, you should probably ask again when the rain starts...

Until then, we have the Intel Party of the year (or so we hear) to attend tonight and our neighborhood party tomorrow (at the park 3 doors down)! We basically party and maybe...one day will unpack...and figure out insurance. And possibly go to the doctor.....since I haven't been since before 27 weeks.