We're home!

We just got back from a THREE WEEK vacation up in Northern Idaho.

Curt got an offer from Dish Network on July 17th for the senior web analyst position at the Corporate office in Englewood(17 miles from our home) and told him his start date wouldn't be until Aug. 10th. The offer was the same salary Curt was making at his previous employer, but Dish said it was non-negotiable because of the economy. Nonetheless, we were grateful the offer was the same as his previous salary and Curt faxed over the acceptance letter. We'd been talking about heading up to the family reunion early since we were just waiting around to hear back from Dish and when his start date would be. When we found out it wouldn't be for another three weeks, we decided to head up a week early to Curt's parent's house for the annual Noble family reunion. We originally planned on flying stand-by either through Alaska/Horizon or United. We've flown stand-by many, many times and more often than not it was stressful always waiting to see if we'd make a flight out of the only few flights available. Especially with little ones it can become nerve racking, because it can never be a sure bet we'd make a flight. It's easier for our family to fly when we have direct flight tickets for flights that we purchased seats on. Well, after checking to see all flights were full on both airlines and talking about how we didn't want to drive out to the airport, park our car, walk a couple miles to the airport, check in our bags, go through security, all to find out we might just possibly make a flight. It all seemed too stressful to us AND a lot of work with two little kids to only maybe make a flight. SO, I suggested we drive. Curt liked the idea and then it was decided we would be leaving the next night! We packed up and left Saturday night, July 18th. We drove 23 hours straight!! That's including the seven stops we made so I could feed Casen and Cache could get out and run around. We stopped in Cheyenne, Casper, an out in the middle of nowhere gas station, Bozeman, Billings, Missoula, and Coeur de Alene. Unexpectedly and SURPRISINGLY, the boys did incredibly well driving 23 hours in the car on the way there!! We did split up the trip on the way home and stayed one night in Billings, Montana. Cache loved staying at the Hotel! We ordered pizza and Cache just thought it was great! Cache didn't throw one fit or drive me nuts at all! Of course on the way home (since we were leaving Gma & Gpa's home), Cache threw some fits and whined a lot, but the way there he was a real champ! Casen didn't cry at all either the whole way there and he was only 7 weeks old. He did very well on the way home too with no crying except for the last 45 min. driving into Denver. He was just hungry and ready to be held. He's such a cuddly baby. He loves so much to be cuddled and held by his mama! Here we are now back home in Littleton, adjusting back to the reality of our lives. It will be nice to have some structure back in our lives, a renewed sense of normalcy, and we are really excited to have an income again. 

We've had lots of changes take place this summer. Casen surprised us and was born exactly TWO weeks early, Curt lost his job exactly TWO weeks after Casen was born, Curt had a hard time finding jobs that would CALL HIM BACK, He's pretty much been unemployed for TWO months, BILLS racking up without an income w/only our savings and some unemployment, and NOW Curt is starting a brand new job at Dish which is 17 miles away. Which means no more getting to see Daddy at lunch time :(, and since we have one car (and no double stroller yet!), I'll have to get up with both boys and put them in the car to take Curt to work and pick him up on the days I will need the car. Oh, BOO HOO!! Wah. The good news is his new job has flexible hours that he can set himself. So we're both hoping he'll be on his way home from work at 4 o'clock in the afternoon everyday! I've felt a lot of stress this summer and sometimes it takes me longer to process change in our lives than I think it does. At times it can seem overwhelming and very stressful to me. On the other hand, I know I will look back on this summer with great fondness. Its been a special time, and we've created a lot of special memories we'll look back on in years to come. I'm grateful we were able to get away for three weeks and see our family. We had a great time being able to relax and have fun at the lake while spending time at Curt's parents house. We were able to escape reality and forget about our worries. We only had one really stressful day up there, and besides that bad day we really were able to just enjoy our little family and have some much needed relaxation time with all our family members. 

It makes me really sad that we don't live close to any of our family members. We want so much to move back up closer to them, but there just aren't any jobs up there. We're praying that we will be able to move back up there sometime soon. It just breaks my heart that my boys don't live close to their family. We've only been home one day and Cache has been saying he wants to go to Great Gma & Gpa's house. Sigh. I feel bad for the little guy. Curt's parents are the BEST grandparents to Cache and Casen. They love all of their grandchildren so much and they are so great at showing it too. Frank & Trina are always playing with Cache and loving little Casen. I love seeing how much my children are loved by their family members. It means a lot to me that they are loved and cared for by their Grandparents, Aunts, and Uncles. I never grew up knowing any of my family members, let alone visiting any of them.... So it's really important to me for my children to have close relationships with all of their family members and to have that closeness in their lives. I'm so grateful my kids have a family that loves them so much! It's such a blessing for them and for me! It just really stinks that we only get to see some of our family members ONCE a year!! I hate that! I really want to live closer to our family so our kids can grow up with their cousins and see their Gma & Gpa, and Aunts & Uncles all the time! It would be so wonderful. While growing up, Cache and Casen would have the best time fishing on their grandparents lake with their Dad, Grandpa and Uncles. They'd have so much fun and so many great memories to look back on. Time spent with family truly is priceless. 

Cache got so many bumps, bruises, scrapes and scratches all over his scrawny little legs and arms from having SO much FUN at Gramma & Grampa's house! Just take one look at Cache's scabbed over little knees and you'll know he just went on a family vacation every little boy dreams of! Curt's parents live on the lake and have waterfront property with a beach and a dock. They've got a pontoon boat for family boat rides, Grandpa's got a "red" boat (Cache's favorite! "Ugh, I wanna ride Grampa's RED boat! Ugh, I wanna ride it! I wanna ride it! Pease?!!") waverunners, a paddle boat, a huge inflatable bouncy house (another favorite of Cache's), four-wheelers (of course the red one is Cache's favorite too) an airplane to teeter-totter on with cousins, and plenty of stairs and grassy areas to run all around on. Cache spent the whole three weeks just running around and having fun! It will be so nice once he's a little older too and can swim, so we won't have to keep such a watchful eye on him while he's on the dock running around. Cache had so much fun up there with his family, it just BROKE my heart when we had to leave. It just wasn't fair. I'm sorry Cache! Mom & Dad will try to move up there so you can spend all the time you want with your grandparents and cousins! Your family loves you SO much! You and Casen are two of the LUCKIEST LITTLE BOYS I know!!!

We've got so many great pictures from my Birthday Sunset Cruise :), playing on the lake with family, all the fun Cache had with his cousins, the two new babies in our family, the Noble family reunion, and Casen's blessing day (too bad we didn't get any great pictures of just the four of us, Cache was NOT cooperating and NOT happy, and neither was Casen)! Hopefully I'll be able to sort through my favorites and get them all posted soon! Plus, Curt starts work and I take Casen in for his 2-month well check! Aghhh, I hate taking my baby in to get shots! Especially since my babies are always such HAPPY babies! Casen is SO adorable and is ALWAYS just smiling, smiling, smiling ALL the time! It's just going to be the saddest, saddest thing when the nurse pokes Casen's adorable chunky baby thighs with those dang needles! I just remind myself that it's to keep him healthy and I can cuddle his tears away! Here's some pictures I just took of my Casey bear at 10 weeks! He's SO smiley and talking more and more with us.... I know I can't get this time back when my kids are so small, it makes me sad how fast they grow and change in just a couple of weeks. I know that's why it's so special, because this time in their lives only lasts for such a short, short amount of time. Oh, even in the stressful moments we love our kids so much and we're just cherishing these times.