Ch-Ch-Changes...

So let me tell you a little story about this past October 9th...

Just kidding. I'm going to back wayyyy up first because we all know I love a gratuitous meandering backstory.

Remember when...
...we waved goodbye to our cozy little starter home two years ago and moved across the country to start our brand new life in Denver?

Well, we thought we were waving goodbye. But that old house just kept hanging on. And on. And on. And loooong after we left, our names were still on the deed, even though we were more than ready to not own it.

By Murphy's Law, we somehow hit the housing market at good Ole' Fort Drum, NY at the worst times possible.  When we arrived, there was virtually no housing available on the actual military base without at least a 9 month wait. We were even warned before our arrival that finding anything near work would be laughable, and many soldiers would commute over an hour from Syracuse in order to have decent housing. If we did find something closer, we shouldn't expect much; most of the houses in the area were built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. So we thought we scored when we found a home right by the base that was built after 1950 with not only a garage, but an attached garage! Sadly for us (but happily for the 25,000 other military families), after we bought our cozy little home, the Army saw fit to build 400+ brand-new quarters on the base with attached 2-car garages and walk-in closets and other such luxuries. So by the time we moved, our little house hardly stood a chance.  

But the move was happening regardless of the market. So we listed the house in January. (Let me tell you, showing a house while living in it is one of the singular most stressful and annoying experiences ever). We moved in March. We were under contract by April...but our rejoicing got cut short when the contract fell through.

So we started doing things long distance. We paid for a new roof and a few other little things here and there, said some desperate prayers, dropped the price, dropped the price again, went under contract again in the fall...and (surprise!) it fell through again. (Oh the joy of living near a military post where people constantly deploy/change their orders/change their minds). Finally, after a year and a half of sitting on the market, and a year of double mortgage payments, we agreed to rent the house out. Some nice tenants took care of it for a year, and when they moved out this past summer, we put the house up for sale again while trying to find new tenants. 

Meanwhile...

Remember when I waved goodbye to the Army two years ago?

The last place I ever (ever, EVER) expected to find myself two years after I hung up my uniform was back in it. [Except maybe at Halloween for giggles and stuff]. I even got rid of most of my stuff because hello mom jeans. All done, Army! See ya later!

The day I officially signed out of the active Army.
I actually recall feeling the most gleeful I had ever felt
when this picture was taken.

Well. About that. 

CoughIkindSortaJoinedtheReservesCough.

But first: more fun back story! See, my amazing husband has been supporting us since we moved here and embraced this new life, even though it means insane work hours and more work for his Army Reserves unit on the weekend and all that time he spent at school for two years.

After Peter earned his MBA, we knew it was either time for him to move up or say goodbye to his current employer in lieu of something better. Enter the first promising job interview in May, followed by second and third and fifth interviews, followed by more interviews with another company. Both were seemingly great companies...but unfortunately both made it very clear that they planned to take their sweet time. So, because our house in NY was back on the market creating a second mortgage, and because student loan payments were looming and there was no end in sight to the interview process, we decided there were two options: move, or have me go back to work part-time.

We nixed moving because not only are we very happy where we are, we feel it's very important for the kids and their needs to have stability--in this exact house, in their current schools, in the daily routines that we've already established. So that left me to join Peter in the job hunt. 

I went over and over and over different options in my head, because I still felt like the Big Guy was telling me I was supposed to be as close to a SAHM as possible for my kids' sake. Not just because I didn't want to leave them, but because their needs are so unique that I just didn't see how some of them could be met in my daily absence.


My list of possibilities was as random as the day is long, and not one of them seemed like it would pay enough and still leave room for enough time to focus on my kids' needs. Or it would require some sort of lengthy training or certification that I didn't have time for. (It made me realize why so many moms I know want to get into MLM companies, though that line of work is not for me in any way, shape, or form).

Yep. I sure did add that caveat next to the Reserves
when it came to mind. Amazing that I let the
"option" of the Reserves even make it onto paper.

I stalled for about a month during the summer when Peter landed some more promising interviews. But somewhere in the middle of August, when we still had no clear resolution on that pesky house or the employment situation, I had to start looking again.

I was at the playground with the boys agonizing over the job search and blubbering inside about what a luxury it is to be a SAHM when it hit me: why did I think the Reserves was such a bad idea again? One weekend a month, two weeks a year. Okay well, up to three weeks. But I could still take the kids to school and be with them every weekday and almost every weekend. It was familiar work that I could pick up easily. I already had inside intel on a local unit with a training-only mission (my husband's, of course), and even if we were working on a Saturday, we could still have lunch together. The idea fairy seemed more and more convincing this time around. So I talked it over with Peter, and he was also convinced (after making sure that he wasn't forcing me into anything I didn't want to do; after all, I'd spent the last two years decrying my previous career  choice, so this change of heart seemed awfully sudden and completely out-of-character!). 

And so, convincing and convinced, I moved forward...made some phone calls, sent some info to the recruiter...and got the call that officially started the process on September 16th, of course: my 30th birthday, just for laughs. We joked that my brother went skydiving for his 30th birthday, and I ran off and joined the Army... (well, re-joined, but the former sounds more dramatic), which sets the 30th birthday crisis bar fairly high for our baby sister. Good thing she's got a decade or so to plan! 

Once I started the process, there were a few hiccups along the way--apparently the Army thought it would be fun to accidentally discharge me completely instead of just moving me to the IRR to complete my full Military Service Obligation (long story, but fellow classmates, they might have done this to you too), and I suddenly started getting all sorts of letters and emails from random recruiters now that I was actually in the IRR.

Only two years late!

I also had to re-initiate my security clearance that hit its 10-year expiration date in July. Just two months prior. The irony...

All 31 pages of it.

Despite getting down to the wire, everything went through, and when all was said and done, there I was: back in the uniform I swore I'd never wear again. Funny one, God. 

Lesson learned: never say never... (or you might be eating your words for breakfast, lunch, and dinner while buying new uniforms).

Now, back to October 9th:

[It was a great day, and not just because it's the birthday of one of my best friends!]

In early September, we magically got another offer on our NY house. We prayed that the 3rd time would actually be the charm, but I didn't get my hopes up much. As things started moving forward, we held our breath, then held it some more, but the cold feet stayed away and the contract stayed put!

Meanwhile, in late September, Peter started a set of interviews with yet another company, but they seemed motivated to move quickly. It also seemed like the job would be a really great fit; managing multiple primary care clinics in our immediate area, with some work from home requirements (darn!) and no more hour-long commute to the VA Hospital for extra-long days. Three interviews later, the new company told Peter they were "looking forward to making an offer in the next week."  Eek.

I was in the dark about all of it until Peter walked in the door after work on October 4th with flowers and sparkling cider for the kids as a "pre-celebration," announcing his pending job offer and the incredible news that the NY house buyers had requested an earlier closing date! Double Eeek!

After holding our breath even more and crossing all our fingers and toes and praying more pleasepleaseplease prayers for the next week, the house closing was scheduled for Thursday, October 9th. At 1pm Eastern Time, to be exact. Plenty of other minor details kept popping up that week to keep us on our toes, but finally, Thursday arrived. Exactly two minutes before the closing was supposed to start, my phone rang, and I nearly had a heart/panic attack, thinking that Murphy's law was striking again and everything was about to fall apart.

But it was quite the opposite of a last-minute catastrophe; instead it was just Peter saying "I'm about to go into a meeting so I can't talk long, but I just officially accepted the job offer!" At which point I jumped up and down in the preschool parking lot like a crazed lunatic before attempting to compose myself so I could look like a sane mother accompanying my boys to the pumpkin patch. A pumpkin patch trip marked by me obsessively checking my phone for the email from our Realtor, which arrived shortly thereafter: all had gone smoothly, and we were officially, finally, happy non-homeowners!

And there you have it: Over two years in the making for the house, five months in the making for the job--both resolved in the same exact hour on October 9th. 

As Hannibal from the A-team says, "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Despite all the waiting and wondering and pestering God about His excruciatingly s l o w  timing, His plan for us certainly came together in the most unbelievable way possible. (Sorry, God. You're still smarter. And a better planner).

We celebrated for real this time, of course--with brick oven pizza and flights of bourbon!

...and PB&J Pizza in the shape of a heart!

So here we are.
New job(s).
One house lighter.
A heck of a lot less stressed.
Looking forward to an even better quality of life.
And extra super grateful for this life we're already so so lucky to be living. 

Cheers!

A Fall Photo Shoot

Yesterday, I remembered (more like found out while talking to other school moms) that Marie had a day off of school today. [Note to self--look at calendar]. 

So in typical fashion, I put off my intended Friday house cleaning routine until the afternoon in lieu of something a little more entertaining. I had wanted to take some family pictures as one of my birthday list goals, because getting professional photos is a difficult task for us. And not just because it's inherently difficult for any family with young kids, but because it's also a huge anxiety trigger for some family members when any non-family member tries to take a picture. Anyway, it ended up being a little too much to squeeze family photos into all the busy-ness happening between the last two weeks of family birthdays, so I decided today was the perfect day to at least get some shots of the kids with the "good" camera.

Not only a mansion...a mansion with one of the best views in town!

We headed to one of our favorite photo shoot back drops (which we also used for our last real family photo shoot), the Highlands Ranch mansion. With the promise of Chick-Fil-A and playground time right around the corner, they mostly cooperated and we got some great shots! Here are the running favorites:

Photographer in training: Marie asked if she could try to take a picture of me, too--so I gave her a quick first lesson in point and shoot with the real camera. With a little cropping and straightening, I'd say her first picture turned out pretty well! 

Rather Downton-esque, don't you think?

Peek-a-boo!

In case you're wondering, that stick on the step wasn't mere coincidence--Ethan was a fireman and that was his firehose (alternately a rocket) that went everywhere with him. And apparently it snuck into this picture with him too!

It was a pretty bright day, and I'm certainly no professional photographer, but I was still surprised to see so much bokeh in many of the pictures when I went back through the images. It took me a little while to realize that all of the fancy lighting effects were probably courtesy of my sequined tank top! 

Something to avoid in the future, I suppose. The more you know...

It was difficult to get the boys to both look at the camera at the same time; Erik's attention span lasted for about two rapid-fire shots, and Ethan was usually cheesing loudly at a bird or airplane or something far more interesting than me, but I thought that overall, they turned out pretty well for an impromptu shoot. 

I'm happy to have some shots that are worthy replacements of those currently on the gallery wall that are over a year old. In comparison, these ones highlight just how quickly they are growing which of course tugs at my mama heart...but I'm glad for the chance today to capture it! 

**All images are (c) Megan Hjelmstad and may not be copied or used without express permission from the owner.**

Remember When...

We had some shabby luck a few weeks ago; my barely-one-year-old computer crashed and burned... and of course it had just surpassed its warranty (verdict is still out on the cause but possibly a virus or some phantom liquid that damaged the hard drive). I had been backing up files at the time, and for a few days we thought we'd also lost our external hard drive; the media folder seemed to be corrupted and emptied of all files, including every single digital picture and video from the last twelve years. All 116,000 of them. I felt physically ill just thinking about all that was gone.

Blessedly, after some diagnostic scans, the external hard drive started working again and I had a day-long party when I saw that our pictures and videos--all of them!--were safe! We've since installed a personal cloud (basically a wireless external hard drive) that connects directly to our router, so it never has to be plugged into a computer that could potentially kill it. It's a backup for our backup hard drive, and we can also wirelessly transfer and back up anything from our phone or computers too. Hooray for redundancy! Sadly, we still lost everything on my computer from the last year, and the machine itself that I so painstakingly researched and picked out is now officially a brick. A nearly new, sleek, worthless brick. Technology these days...can't live with it, can't live without it.

Anyway, there was an upside to all of this: re-discovering all sorts of memories in the process. After our the external hard drive came back to life, I spent time I never would have otherwise going through tons of pictures and videos--so many that I'd already forgotten about!

I got to re-live some obscure college memories:

My roommate and I at a football game (we'll get to make more memories soon at her wedding)!
and another cheerleader who's been my roommate for almost 7 years now.
Yes, it was Halloween, and yes, that says "NAVY."

Beach vacation with family during a summer break,
summer training flying around in helicopters (in a borrowed helmet
that was wayyy to big!), Army diving, and getting our class rings.

I went through more than 700 of our digital wedding pictures, enjoying so many of the candid shots that I never shared on social media or had printed for our album.

During the consecration, praying the Our Father with the maid of honor/best man, and during the Ave Maria.

With my grandmother, attacking cutting the cake (thanks Peter), and oh, the Macarena.

I watched videos I didn't even remember existed (and honestly don't think I've ever seen before) of Marie on the warming table when she was only a few hours old, and videos that Peter made before he deployed for Marie to watch as she grew--I only cried a small river watching those ones. Screenshots below (because editing ancient video files is complicated these days).

Be still my heart.

And then there was the picture I found of us at my parents' house during Christmas of 2008. We were both scheduled to deploy in a few weeks and had to have someone care for Marie while we were gone. While going over paperwork and legal forms in preparation for them to take Marie for the year, my parents gave us these pillow cases they made for us. I'm impressed by my convincing smile, but I honestly hated everything about this moment.

I found so many pictures and videos of the kids that I'd forgotten about from when they were babies. These were so special because so many of those moments are a blur, and even though I'm sure I thought I would remember it all at the time, there was so much I'd forgotten--from the sound of their babbling to the curl of their hair to the little subtleties of their baby and toddler movements.

Marie:

One month old, the picture we took and sent to Peter
the night he deployed, and two years old.

Erik:

Erik's baptism and a few months/weeks before
turning one. I honestly didn't remember some of
these precious expressions of his...

Ethan:

I'll always regret that I didn't attempt
any real maternity photos with the first
two. I'm so glad I did with Ethan!

Looking back at Erik's pictures, I'm beginning to
get why people always ask if they're twins...

 Siblings:

We're on a boat and...we're going fast and...Daddy's brainwashing
us into being Broncos fans and...

I cannot love all of these pictures of them together enough.

Of course there was Samson, too:

This is for every person who has ever asked: "have you
ever shaved that polar bear?!" Why yes. Yes we have.
[Not recommended!]

Going through all of these memories--what I just spammed you with being just a mere fraction!--made me realize a few things, too.

I had put such a high price on it all, but largely because I spend far too little time transferring them to the ultimate cloud, if you will--my brain. That's the good and the bad of this digital age, I guess: we can capture such a huge volume of memories; but if they just sit there taking up space and not being appreciated, they're far less worthwhile than I think them to be. It'd be much better if I printed them in an actual album, or if we looked at them regularly enough to create a little brain wrinkle that stores them in the best way possible. One of the biggest things I grieved when I thought all was lost was the chance to show our kids pictures of themselves throughout the years--so they could create memories as they learned about their childhood, too. But I wasn't even giving them a chance to do so with what we had. Even things as simple as photo books that I'd promised we could create together online got overshadowed by other priorities.

So in addition to making sure our memories themselves are safer, I'm trying to take a little extra time now with the kids to appreciate the memories we've already made, doing things like pulling up a few videos or pictures some nights instead of bedtime stories or tornado and volcano videos (though I'll have a mutiny if I scratch those completely). I'm also going to do my best to sit down and let each kid pick out their favorite memories from each year and have them help me create annual books for Christmas. They love looking through the few albums we have in the house already--over and over and over--so I already know they'll just love having their very own books.

My hope is that we never "lose" the copies of our memories again, because are hard to recreate--like the sound of a voice on a video or the chance to study every precious detail of an expression. But (knock on wood!) I hope that by making memories more of a priority now it won't seem so devastating if it ever happens in the future!

A Family Camporee {Or Two}

After our initial attempt at family camping last summer, we decided we had so much fun that we (Peter) had to stock up on all the REI dividends and outfit us for some serious camping this summer. (Seriously, no one should ever have the amount of dividends we ended up with).

And because we finished our second trip before I got around to sharing about the first, you get a twofer this post--two trips in one, double the pictures, double the fun! Brace yourselves...

Echo Lake
For our first campout in late June, we traveled to Echo Lake at the Base of Mount Evans. We didn't do so well planning ahead for the actual dates, and all of the weekends were booked, so Peter took some comp time off of work and we went for two nights during the week. We had to bring and cook all of our own food, unlike the church campout where they do it for us (so guess how many dividends our new 2-burner camp stove got us!). Peter knew how overwhelmed enthusiastic I was about the Pioneer Woman deal, so he promised to plan and cook all the meals, and he was good to his word. (Except that I took over at the stove our first night so I could get warmer!).

Pioneer Woman feigning happiness.
Cooking. Cleaning. Abounding joy!

Funny story: we rented a canoe from the local Air Force base for the trip, had to stop multiple times while driving to tie it down better, only to find out when we got there that we couldn't even put it in the water. Apparently we'd read the regulations wrong. So the canoe stayed perched on top of the car the entire weekend and the kids had a sad...

Mount Evans boasts the highest (and arguably scariest) road in North America, being one of the few 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado that you can drive to the top of. (Pike's Peak being the most famous). The road stayed busy, and our campsite was a little closer I expected, but otherwise the campsite was great.

Campsite in the making

After dinner and a fire with s'mores the first night, we put the kids to bed in their tent and enjoyed a beautiful sunset across the road over the lake.

That night, the cold mountain air froze me mercilessly to the bone just like Anna, and if I could have unfrozen myself from the fetal position long enough to take a selfie, I'm sure I would would have been the same shade of porcelain blue. I even packed accordingly this time around, after learning from our fun bout in the rain last year, but apparently eight layers don't matter in the middle of the night at 12,000 ft. All my bitter frozen heart could repeat half the night was, "I know I've been at least ten times warmer then this while skiing!" (Guess we didn't get enough dividends for my sleeping bag even though it's rated to 15 degrees!). Ethan also woke up multiple times throughout the sleepless night and Peter attended to him like a nice husband because I was clearly immobile, and as soon as day began to break I begged him for a fire with which to thaw myself under my eight layers of clothing/blankets.

It lives.

Thankfully the sun came out eventually, and a pretty little doe also came to graze by our site as the sun rose. Marie promptly named her 'Lily' (as she names all of her dolls and animals and dreams of naming a future sister). After breakfast we hiked the trail around Echo Lake. Let me just say that I have never, ever seen so many dragonflies in one place! Or dragonfly nymphs crawling all over us when we stopped for a snack. It was little Fear Factor-ish.

But unbelievably gorgeous, too!

Just because you can't see those dragonflies
doesn't mean they're not there...everywhere... 

We had some lunch and then went back over to the lake for some "fishing" (we never catch anything) before the clouds started rolling in and we sought refuge from the frigid rain in the warm safety of our tent. Well, Ethan and I did anyway. The big kids and Peter played in it for awhile. Thankfully it passed quickly and another family arrived in an adjacent campsite just before dinner. Their kids were the same age as our oldest two, so the children stayed nicely occupied while we got dinner ready and the other parents set up their tent. By the end of the evening their friends had also arrived with five more children, and it was great to see them all playing so happily together while we relaxed!

After dinner and more campfire and s'mores, we packed the kids away in their tent again and Peter plopped a few more logs on the fire so we could enjoy some rare quiet time together with just the two of us (and try
to warm up as much as possible before the long night ahead!).

It went about the same as the first night, but the next morning was slightly warmer. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before packing up and hiking one of the trails near our campsite that cut up the side of Mount Evans.

Overall, we counted it as a success, and I kept telling myself that our second trip in July would be much, much warmer (and a few thousand feet lower in elevation).

Mmm, dirt!

Thankfully, despite the rain, I was [mostly] right about trip #2!


Lake Dillon
Our church held its annual campout this past weekend at Lake Dillon, a gorgeous lake/reservoir sandwiched between Keystone and Breckenridge.

The campout happened to start the same day as Marie's birthday, and she had been waiting allllllll summer for her birthday campout! For three straight days prior to the campout, it rained incessantly (I felt like I was back on the east coast!) and I tried to convince Peter that we should stay home Thursday night and head up Friday instead. But we had promised a little girl that we would go camping for her birthday, and he wasn't about to break that promise. And did I mention that this is the campout where all the big strong men do the cooking and I have to do none? So I packed everything in plastic bags, threw in the galoshes, and by the time we arrived around dinner, the rain cleared long enough for us to set up and even enjoy a little nice weather that evening by the lake while Peter taught the kids how to skip stones. We even brought a cake up for Marie and got to share her happy birthday with a few of the other campers during dinner (of course I forgot to take pictures!)

That night was still chilly, and I still woke up cold throughout the night, but it was slightly more manageable this time around. We also decided to put Ethan in our tent so that we wouldn't have to stumble around the campsite in the dark to get to the kids' tent if he woke up, and that was a smart move. He added extra body heat and whenever he woke up I could just reach out of my sleeping bag and shove him back into his. Win-win.

Friday
We enjoyed breakfast before heading back to our tent to hole up for an incoming thunderstorm. The thunder was a little scary, echoing forever through the mountains in a way I'd never heard before. We played Go Fish and went stir crazy in our tent for about an hour and a half while buckets of rain poured down all around us:

It let up just in time for lunch, and the sun even came out briefly so we could enjoy a family canoe ride in one our church member's famous handcrafted canoes. (He's our neighbor and makes them in his basement--not even kidding...I got to see his workshop a few years ago with this specific canoe in the works)!

The rain returned that afternoon, and because I knew I hadn't packed enough pairs of kid pants to withstand five changes a day, and because Marie's old sneakers were literally falling apart after getting especially wet, and because the I was cowering at the thought of another two hours in the tent together playing Go Fish, we did the only possible rational thing: pack into the car and drive to Target. It's only about 15 minutes down the road, and I convinced Peter that it wouldn't be cheating that much since Marie needed new sneakers. Ethan napped in the car with the big boys while Marie and I gallivanted around the store, and then we drove around the lake in the rain enjoying the scenery. And the dry seats. And the heat! The rain at least had good timing and let up again before our amazing dinner (ribs, slow cooked allllll day!). I snuggled in early with Ethan while Peter did the bonfire with the big kids, and we stayed significantly warmer that night!

Farmer Pete, wildflowers my sweet girl picked for me, boating and playing by the lake,
driving through the rain, and my buddy keeping me company in the nice warm tent!

Saturday
It dawned bright and sunny, finally! The morning consisted of a fishing competition for the kids, then good long stretch of time playing on the beach in the sand while I met some new mom friends. Peter and I spent a few minutes teaching the kids how to play horseshoes (eek!). Peter also rushed into the water Baywatch style at one point to make a daring rescue with one of the other guys when some teen girls capsized their kayaks. Thankfully everyone was fine. After lunch, the teens did some face painting, then we went back to the campsite and relaxed in the hammock before going on a family hike around the point. It was gorgeous. And--dare I say--even hot out!!! Back at the campsite, both Marie and Erik got stung by yellow jackets while playing in some branches--a painful experience, but I'm so thankful that neither of them have an allergy or reacted badly other than swelling up just a little. That afternoon we met some new friends at the campsite next to ours, and our kids hit it off playing together. We soon walked down to the pavilion for dinner...and for church overlooking the lake, because in addition to the men cooking, our priest comes up to say mass for all the campers! That night we tucked the kids in before heading to the bonfire next to our campsite for some real "big kid" fun with the other parents--we may have stayed up a little too late, but it was a lot of fun and worth it!

Hike around the point

Fishing competition (still no bites!), Erik's choice of face paint, relaxing, more hiking views,
the mean bee, altar overlooking the lake, and new friends. (Aren't they the cutest?!) 

Sunday
Sunday was reserved mostly for packing up, but we attempted to sleep in a few short minutes before we got woken up by a little birdie:

Between packing, we still got some time in for a good breakfast and some play time at the lake before also packing our worn out campers into the car. Ethan had a tantrum saying, "I don't want to leave camping!" and the other kids agreed with him, in slightly more mature fashion.

And when all was said and done, I had to agree with them. We made some great memories, survived the rain and cold, and had a lot of fun in the process! Maybe all of those dividends really were worth it, after all!

[And no, Peter, we don't need any more!].