Live Life Fully: Into the woods....

Setting the stage

Holidays are always packed with busy schedules and chaotic homes. Ours was no different. We're back from a long 3 week stay in our home state. Good ol California. Where it's always sunny! O how we missed the sun and heat. Well our christmas was wonderful and our hearts our so full. Our visits were needed and met and once again we're transitioning back as much as we can. For me that means saying goodbye to my ''village'' of helpers. (which always kind of feels like suicide) morbid but true. I've only cried once a day so far and thats a record my friends!

I could probably post a thousand pictures but I'm not instead I'm gonna start a little series called ''Into the woods'' based upon alllll the questions I get every year. I guess I just assume everyone knows where we live and the lifestyle that comes with it. This time going back home I was hit with some pretty funny questions and the reality of how different our 2 worlds are. I know I joke a lot about how me and michael are city kids but man we really are and when we go back to the city and talk about things we take for granted we always get these sideway looks and blank faces hahahah It's amazing how our hearts are in 2 COMPLETELY different places now. I also got a lot of feedback about this blog and how they love to be updated. You have to understand we BOTH come from BIG families so this little place of mine is all for them. General updates at your service. Well what better place to set the stage of this 2 1/2 year journey we've been on right? I have to add: A lot of things we've learned here has mostly if not all been learned from real people. Not google we try really hard not to google it lol We live in a place where weather is true to thier seasons. So my goal for this little project of mine is to capture a lot of the beauty and preparation that comes with those seasons. There are things we look forward to like splitting wood in the summer for winter,(well that one is more a chore) and huckleberries blooming and our ''summer sun'', going out with us city kids to shoot rifles, and gun cleaning 101 with papa Ron, hiking down to the river to practice fishing for the kiddos, hiking to the beaches in LaPush, Salmon season, and our hour drive away to go grocery shopping. All this info for whoever cares. Mainly for me and my kids to have something tangible to look back on when we're old and reminiscing in uptown Whittier (hopefully) in our rocking chairs holding grand children and saying ''remember when we lived in washington'' hahah actually me and michael stopped planning our lives cause nothing really goes as planned so we've learned (kind of) to throw our hands up and buckle our seat belts and just ride with my camera in hand ; )

FAQ

1. Where does Michael work?
2. What do you do (as in work)?
3.Where do you guys live?
4.Where is that?
5. What do you do for fun up there?
6.Whats the weather like?
7.How far is the next city?
8.Whats the population?

Those are probably are the most common questions besides the more silly ones we get
Feel free to message me any questions or topics that you wonder about sometimes its fun to get to know people personally and I'm open to that : )

1. Michael works at a lumber mill called Interfor as a forklift driver. After that He is a full time youth pastor and a rockin dad and husband. Thank God we had children young because this life of ours requires a lot of energy!
2. I'm a stay at home mom in this season of life (kind of) I also teach a Zumba class at our local gym.
3. We live in Forks, Washington (yes,like twilight) and no we didn't move here for twilight or name our son jacob after the movie)but we do live next to ''bella swans'' house lol It's in the Pacific Northwest along the coast. I love my coast line. We can see canada on our grocery trips.
4. I just answered all that above
5.for fun?...hmmm this one took us awhile to figure out but when your use to city stimulation overload all your life you can feel pretty helpless. We've learn to use what we got around us. We go on hikes or simply play outside with our kids. Michael is really really good at make believe and playing games and I just take pictures of it all. Honestly this lesson had probably been the best for our family. Even though we love our disneyland and amusement parks we've enjoyed learning to love nature. Summer is our playtime and winter is our craft time. We do go to Seattle at least once every 2 months to get our city fix and hear the busy-ness of it all.
6.The weather for us californians is COLD always cold. you learn to invest in good winter wear
7.The next city is 1hour away. you can technically say beaver is right next to us buuuut a city to me is one with multiple choices of things you've heard of before.
8.The population is
Population in 2012: 3,692 (96% urban, 4% rural). Population change since 2000: +18.3%
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Forks-Washington.html#ixzz2pN4kuQQn

I think thats about right, when people ask me I just say small lol

Alright so here I go on my journey I love you readers!