The homeless Etheringtons

I received a call from my mom about a week before we flew to Utah that their house flooded. The toilet in the attic burst and practically flooded the entire house. My sister Jane came home early from class (luckily) and was welcomed by a shower in every room!! My mom came home and was able to salvage all the furniture and paintings. Dad was out of town and was very sad to hear about his baby (not Jane). The home was built in 1920 and my Dad's main hobby for the last 30 years was renovating this beautiful home. He loves that house. We all love that house but with it's age come some serious quirks. The water pressure was always a joke in that house. It took almost 20 minutes to fill up the bath tub. We didn't have air conditioning in the front part of the house the first 25 years of my life (lots of heat and mosquitoes in the summer..no fun, but funny memories). When I returned home from Spain, the kitchen was under renovation and we cooked nearly every meal in the microwave. I love that house. When I came into town, my parents were staying at a hotel and Jane was staying with the Daltons. I went over a couple of times to grab a high chair or a stroller and couldn't believe the damage!!
Fortunately they have insurance that will pay for everything but living out of a hotel is never fun. I stayed with the Cannons but hung out with Mom and Dad whenever we found a window. They stayed at a cabin in Millcreek one night so we met them the next day and hung out with everyone in town. I love driving up Millcreek Canyon. It's that drive that convinces me Utah is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I love having the canyons so close to the city.
We all had such a wonderful time hanging out. Sadie was a great little hiker and Jack checked out about half way up the trail. I love my family. I still say living near a brother or sister would make my life complete. One day...one day. I'll just keep telling myself that. I hung out with them as much as I could since I won't be going home for the holidays (remember last year....dreadful!!). One night we watched YouTube videos until midnight laughing our heads off. I also patronized some of my favorite restaurants and ended up at the DoDo three times. I can't get enough of that turkey sub!! Good times.

Off to Utahr

I have to say I am very proud of myself for flying to Utah with no Chase and two kids. It was actually not that bad. My kids are pretty good little travelers. Sadie watched her DVD's and Jack just sat in his seat with a bag of Cracklin Oat Bran. When I tried to sit him on my lap, he got fussy. If I left him alone on a chair of his own, he just chilled. So independent! He even took a little nap for me most of the way from D.C. to Denver. When he was awake he flirted with everyone around him, occasionally walking up and down the isles to give everyone high fives. This all occurred while Sadie sat in her media coma of which she relishes every moment. When else does Mom let her watch movie after movie?
It was a smooth traveling experience and I did it all by myself! Kudos to me. Pops picked us up from the airport and we all went to sleep soon there after. The first thing we did was go up Weber Canyon to our favorite Utah spot, the cabin!! Chase was driving the car to Texas so I wasn't brave enough to sleep over by myself (it gets cold up there:-) so we just hung out for the day.
Sadie could barely wait to see her long lost buddy Lizzy and it was our first stop after we got home from the cabin. We filled up most of our days playing with the Gardners and seeing their adorable new little Ryan. I've seen some cute baby boys, but this one is all the way up there with Jack:-). I am kicking myself for not taking some pictures of him.
It was great catching up with Jess and I was also able to see Leslie. Sadie became quick friends with Lucy after a year's absence. Chance was also on my side because Mo was in town as well for a couple of days. It's been a long time since I've had a movie night with my girls. Of course we stayed up too late and I paid for it the next morning. I love Utah. One day I will live near all my buddies again. It won't hurt to live near family either:-) Until then we'll settle for being Texan cowboys for a couple of years. Who know, we might end up loving it so much we'll start telling Texas jokes, fly a Texan flag (to replace the boring American one:-), and end up with some southern twangs. We have high hopes for this mini country of ours.

Goodbye Virginia

Did I mention how easy it was to rent our house. I put a slide show of every room on Craig's list and got about 50 responses in two days!! After about 4 hours the first day, the Taylor family contacted us and asked if we were Mormon. In one of the pictures was a University of Utah diploma and some pictures of Christ. They put two and two together and figured that we were probably members of the Oakton Ward. They knew all of our friends and it turns out they were in our ward two years ago, moved to Kentucky, and wanted to move back into the ward. It was perfect!! I didn't have to show the house to anyone!! We put them in contact with our land lord and he took care of the rest. We were responsible for finding someone to fulfill our lease agreement and it was so easy!! I love being a Mormon!
I also really loved that town house. When everything was packed up, moved out and cleaned I got a little sad that we had to leave. So many memories in that house. I definitely felt the itch that it was time to leave but we had some good times Virginia. It is also very sad to be leaving the Cannons and the Todds. It has been so great to have family so close. When Chase drove off with Ben (yes, Ben came along for the drive to Texas. What would we do with out Ben?) it got very emotional and I dreaded the day that I would have to say goodbye to our family!!
As I was packing all of our stuff in the car to go to the airport I walked around to say goodbye to all the Todd chiddlers. I couldn't even speak!! I was an emotional basket case. I just love them all so much and I already miss them to pieces. Saying goodbye to Cate at the airport just about did me in. These moment take a serious toll on my heart. Ouch! I hate saying goodbye. We love you all!! Virginia, it's been real. Keep it classy!

I'll never go back!!

They say once you've flown first class, you'll never want to fly coach again. Well, it's true. I used to be a silver medallion (thanks to the Children's Hour and all the buying trips) and then I got married. No more silver medallion. No more quick security line. No more hot towel. No more fully reclined seats. It's hard, but bearable... I suppose.
I could say the same thing about moving with actual movers and no U-Haul truck. The only difference is that I WILL NEVER GO BACK to packing it all myself. It will NEVER be bearable after the sweet experience of having someone do it ALL for you!! These heavenly men packed my entire house into boxes in a mere 4 hours!!! FOUR HOURS!!! It takes me weeks and weeks to pack everything. This is largely due to the fact that I'm a sentimental person and when I'm packing things I stop to look at pictures, old keepsakes, and baby clothes.
One day the packers came and the next day the movers came. They came on a HOT day too. Chase and I took pity on them and stuck some Gatorade in the freezer to cool. them off. They did NOT take four hours to pack the truck. in fact it took them ALL day because they had to keep stopping to take a break from the heat. It was a rough day for Cedric and his gang. We had it pretty rough too. Sadie hung out at Zoe's house (thanks again Martha!!) and Jack took a nice cool nap in the basement pack n' play and Chase and I sat and twiddled our thumbs. I guess my only complaint was that we were a little bored. We did help out a when they had questions or needed a certain tool to dissemble the beds. Best move ever!!
By the time the last box was moved onto the truck it was 6 p.m. (they woke us up at 7 a.m.) and we were all pretty tuckered out. The kids checked out as we drove out to the "Todd Hotel" for the last time. I think this last move makes it the sixth time we have crashed at the Todd's. They have no idea how grateful we are for all their love and support!! Oh, and once again we had another episode of vomit. Sadie ate WAY too many sweet potato fries at the restaurant that night and totally barfed all over me when I carried her slumbering body into the Todd's house that night. This move to Texas has sure involved a lot of puke!!

Parting was never such sweet sorrow!!

I've made a grave discovery. My favorite pie, Chocolate Cream from the Pie Gourmet, does NOT deliver to anywhere in the country. It says so on the box but it's not so for any of the "cream pies." What a travesty. I don't want no stinkin' apple pies!! I guess by the time it got to me, even overnighted, the cream wouldn't hold up and we'd all probably be poisoned by it's deliciousness. In order to make up for lost "future" time, we got one last pie to devour before the movers came the next day.
We ate every last crumb!!

Adios Amigos

We were able to meet up with the Mechams one last time before the big move. It was fun to see Sadie and Moriah run all over the zoo like they did 2 years ago. But it was sad to say goodbye, again! We're hoping they move back to Texas soon so we can be neighbors again.

I also got to have desserts with a few of the ladies the night before the packer's came. It was just nice to talk to them! It didn't even feel like I was leaving. It was just a fun girl's night with great conversation. I am going to miss these ladies!!
We also got to see the Zackrisons again. Sadie already talks about how much she misses her friends. I miss mine too!

A bucket list..of sorts

Washington D.C. is cool. I really feel that after three years we've seen most of it, but we both realized, now that we're leaving, neither of us had been inside the Washington Monument or had a tour of the Capitol.
We were able to do both in one afternoon and actually survived to tell the tale. With the help of the double stroller, snacks, diapers and water we played tourists for the day.
I loved the Capitol! What an amazing building. The tour was a little boring but I learned a few things I didn't know before. For example did you know that each state can display two statues of people from their history in the rotunda and around the capitol? I wasn't surprised to find Brigham Young amongst the marble figures but found it a little odd that right now Utah has Philo T. Farnsworth in the Capitol hallways as the inventor of the television. I also thought it was interesting that both he and Joseph Smith (founder of the Mormon church) were 14 at the time of their discoveries.



Of course I went picture happy and took a bazillion pics of the kiddos. I'm learning more and more how to better use my camera and am having so much fun with my muses. I usually end up with WAY more pics of Jack because he will smile and turn toward the camera. Sadie, on the other hand, despises sitting still. Most of the pictures of her turn out blurry. She's always on the go. Shouldn't it be the other way around? My four year old acts like a one year old a lot of the time. I do catch a few of her every once in a while and it's usually the result of a few M&M's.

Jack loves stairs and no matter how many times I try to teach him to turn around in order to get back down, he still continues to climb them and cry at the top of them for us to get him back down. These stone steps put me over the edge as I feared his head spitting open if he were to tumble down. He never did but he posed for me and that's how I got this shot. What one year old sits on the stairs and poses like this, all on his own?!


The Monument views were breathtaking. Washington really is such a beautiful city. I'm going to miss being so close to the nation's capitol. We have a serious past here. It's where I met Chase at 19, where we fell in love and where we came back 8 years later to raise our little ones. I will never forget throwing the frisbee in the park with Chase during our lunch break at the Treasury or him resting his head on my shoulder when he fell asleep on the Metro. I will always remember him playing his guitar in the apartment directly below mine as I sat on the balcony above to hear him sing.
This is where Sadie learned to talk, share, be a friend and read and where Jack learned to crawl, walk and defend himself from Thing Number 1. I will hold dear to these small but significant memories. So much growth, patience, and joy gained through our years here. Virginia, we will miss you!

To find a home or not to find a home

Now that we know where we will be moving, Chase and I decided to take a trip down to Austin to find us a place to reside for the next little while. This was to be my first time leaving little Jack for longer than a day. I was very nervous and almost took him with us (which looking back would have been disastrous). Of course the inevitable happened. Our flight took off on Friday and Jack vomited Thursday morning in the car. We had no idea what we were going to do! Do we take him to the Todd's if he might be sick or do we forgo the trip and be homeless our first month in Austin? Or, do we take him with us so he can barf all over the realtor's car? My kids tend to throw up in the car, not all the time, but it's happened quite a few times. So, when they vomit on the road I never know if it's just car sickness or if they have actually caught a bug. Virginia heat and Chase's driving are never a good combination and because we REALLY had to find a house, we went with our initial plan...to leave him with the Todd's.

Here's the other twist. Cate and Mike were heading to Utah for her high school reunion and Pops flew out to take care of the 8 kids ALL BY HIMSELF. Pops is more than capable but even I (a stay at home mom) would be overwhelmed with 8 kids by myself. CC was in Maryland at a music camp and was going to join him late Friday night. Pops was the sole care giver for the entire day and that's including a "might have a flu bug" baby. I felt awful. I still can't believe I actually left him there. I really did hope he just got a little car sick because no one else in the Cannon fam had thrown up yet. We said a big long prayer when we left and then tried to forget about the worst that could happen.

I really enjoyed my flight. I crocheted the whole time and got two hats done. It is so nice to actually relax on the plane. When we got there and got our gangster mobile rental car, we headed to Austin to check out some of the neighborhoods. NFP set us up with a relocation specialist because in Austin you can't even look at a rental with out an agent to unlock the door. Leslie was a hilarious woman and we got along great but I fear she wasted a lot of our time. I'm the kind of person who NEVER takes tours because I'm not patient enough to sit and listen to someone talk to me. I wouldn't mind having a tour guide to answer my questions, but let me do the exploring. I was DYING to have all the house codes Leslie had so I could drive to where I wanted to go, skip the houses I didn't want to see and leave the houses that smelled like nicotine instead of humoring her back to the car. Maybe we weren't specific on what we told her we wanted. There were several criteria that had to be met, the most important being...no cockroaches. The first day we saw a lot of homes with some serious bug problems. I've hear Texas has bugs, but this was ridiculous!! I even caught Leslie trying to confiscate a roach out the side door with her shoe but I caught he in the act. I guess I'm hard to please...am I?...but I can't have those kinds of roommates.

We wanted to live near the hill country but close to Chase's work as well. Everything either had ridiculous amounts of wallpaper, roaches, or was WAY too expensive. By our fourth and final day I was getting VERY depressed that we had wasted all this time and still hadn't found a place to live. It wasn't helpful that it was about 106 degrees outside EVERY DAY that we were there. I was confused because I heard that the cost of living was cheaper than D.C. but in the rental market, it really isn't THAT much more affordable. Buying a home is WAY more cost effective because there are so few rental properties and about a bazillion homes for sale. I just didn't feel comfortable buying a home in an area I didn't know; so we went home with a little knowledge of where we wanted to live, but still no home.

When we arrived in Virginia we realized that both James and CC had vomited as well, but it turns out they drank some expired milk because everyone else was fine. I'm just going to keep telling myself that Jack didn't get everyone sick because it makes me feel better knowing the whole trip wasn't a complete waste of time while it infested the Todd home with a bug of it's own. Sadie had a ball with out Mom and Dad around. She drank as much lemonade as she wanted and had froot loops for breakfast. One morning while we were in Texas I called to see how she was doing. I asked her what she had for breakfast and she replied "froot loops. They were the healthy kind mommy" which meant that instead of eating the artificial flavors in Froot Loops, she ate them in the Fruity Cheerios instead. She played with Grace the whole weekend and watched all the television she desired. What a vacation!

When we pulled up to our house after picking the kids up Sadie broke down while asking why we were at "this" house. I guess she thought we were going directly to Texas after we got back from Austin. The breakdown snowballed into a tantrum over the discovery that we would NOT house a pony in our garage when we got to Texas. In one of her books, Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse, the character wants a pony and tells her parents she can keep it in the garage. When we told Sadie we would have a garage in Texas she automatically made the connection. Garage=Pony!! I don't know when she had the owning a pony epiphany but she was heartbroken once we explained that ponies poop and we wouldn't want all that poop in our garage (while ignoring the fact that owning a horse is WAY beyond our budget). Through tears she explained that "her ponies wouldn't poop." Her plastic ones at home don't poop so why would a larger, hairier one create waste. It was a sad, sad day for our little Sadie but good to have us all under one roof again.

While exploring the potential areas one house in particular really scared us away. The idiot that owns this home in Avery Ranch had this spider lurking right by the front door. If I had noticed it at first I wouldn't have even gone up to the doorbell but once it rang I turned around to look at Chase and saw a web the size of a large window with THIS SPIDER right in the center. I was surprised to find people were decorating for Halloween so early in the year (I really thought it was fake) and then gasped when I realized it was real. Yikes!! The myth that "where there's one there's 30" ran through my head over an over again as I looked at the home inside. It was actually a nice house but after seeing Herbert (that's what we named him) we decided to pass.

Why on earth would you let a spider that size sit right outside your door. especially when you're trying to rent the place!! Like I said before...not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I have to admit that after examining the web for the few seconds I could bare, it was pretty beautiful and you could tell that the spider had worked pretty hard to construct it's home. He did very well for himself. Judging from his size he's caught quite a few dinners in that web.


The trip wasn't a total waste. I got to hang out with my best friend and enjoy the 100 degree humidity (great for the skin..ya know). We also got to see the bats fly in downtown Austin. It's a pretty big tourist attraction and I was very excited to see it in person. IT WAS AMAZING!! 1.5 million bats fly at dusk every night to feast on the insects down the lake. Bats...you saved our trip!!

Lilly Linguine and Sadie Macaroni

When there's nothing to do inside then you put on your rain boots and splash outside. We love having Lilly over. Sadie has finally found someone to hang out with that she actually gets slong with. This is a huge feat in her world. Boys are usually out for fear of contamination and being the drama queen that she is, Sadie gets along much better with laid back, easy going ladies...like Lilly. We are going to miss her(and Jenny)when we move to Texas. My only consolation is that they are moving soon too so I don't feel too bad about tearing Sadie away.

Texas Bound

We are moving!! We've known for quite some time but I am finally blogging about it. To make a long story short, Chase left his job with the IRS at the end of May. We knew it was a crazy move but it was definitely NOT a good fit with his work, boss, and salary. We knew his talents could be put to better use somewhere else. It was a very stressful summer with Chase traveling to interviews, not knowing if we would get a job any time soon, and the no income thing wasn't very fun either. However, I can't complain that I did have a husband at home most of the time and that was AWESOME!! I am really going to miss having him around when he goes back to work.

He had "possibilities" lined up in a lot of different places. He even got an offer with a firm in Maryland but it just didn't feel right. It wasn't until we got the job offer from NFP that we decided Austin would be our new home. The funny thing is that after all the networking, phone calls, and who's who, the Austin job was the only one Chase just applied to with out knowing anyone at the company or networking of any kind. I guess you don't have to know someone to get a great job.

Chase will be working as in-house counsel at NFP (National Financial Partners) advising their clients in their employee benefits division. No billable hours!!! Chase is really excited and that makes me happy because he was miserable at his last job. I have to admit that even though I've said some negative things about Virginia in the past I will really miss the green highways, the trails, the seasons, downtown, the quaint little towns, and the cherry blossoms. I will also miss the amazing friends we met here. It's amazing how they become family when Mom and Dad aren't around. We will especially miss the Todds and Cannons. It was so nice to have family somewhat close by and Sadie is REALLY going to miss playing with all the cousins.

I won't miss the mean people at Costco and on the road, the mosquitoes, being inside all the time (due to extreme weather conditions..either too hot or too cold, Sadie's severe reaction to pollen, and the fact that the only time it ever cools down around here is when it rains:-), and the traffic. I am a little scared to start fresh in a new place. I've never been a poster child for change and usually get a stress rash at the end of it all:-) It doesn't help that we went down there to find housing and after four days, 50 properties later, we are still homeless. The cost of living is much cheaper down there but there are still a lot of bugs and I just can't move into a place if I see bugs lurking about.

I'm sure we'll be fine and I am so excited for a new adventure. I know as long as Chase is by my side, I'll be as happy as can be. He's my best bud, ya know? Austin is supposed to be amazing and I look forward to finding out why everyone is so obsessed with the city and the whole dang state for that matter. I've been told they think they're their own country. I found that to be true in some sense when I saw a dozen people riding motorcycles with out helmets and saw a topless woman walk by a police officer with out being arrested (I know right...this was in the middle of down town Austin at 10 a.m!!! I'm just sorry Chase had to see it...them I mean:-). So wish us luck. We move out September first and move in right after labor day, that is if we have an address by then.

Cosi...one last time

Chase and I met at the Treasury Department while working as interns for the Hinckley Institute of Politics. We ate at this Cosi restaurant almost every day and then threw the frisbee around in the park outside. Since we are moving, we decided we had to visit one last time and take the kids with us.
Roasting marshmallows at your table, now that is cool! But it was their flat bread that really got us addicted back in 2000.

Hide and Seek..

...in the Library of Congress!

Library of Congress...check!

Soul Mates