2 days, 3 states and 502 miles later.....

So we have begun our travels to become East Coasters. Kiera was a perfect doll as always....and she was even a bit on the sick side. As you can see, we were loaded down with all the things we needed for the next 8 days on the road and the 3 days before our stuff would (possibly) be delivered to our new home. We have a bag of clothes for all three of us in a small blue carry-on suitcase, Kiera's pack-n-play for sleepin', stroller, pillows, air mattress (during the 'layover' of space waiting for our stuff to arrive), toys for baby k plus 5 new toys as a present for the new days, heirloom keepsafes, and a ton of snacks for k (green beens, carrots, bananas, cherrios, etc).

We spent our last few days at my sister's place, honestly, I don't think I had a choice. She would have run me down and taken baby k from me if we hadn't. It was great to hang out with her, let her have as much Kiera time as she could, she is one of the best aunties to Kiera! ;)

Here is Kiera all snuggled up, getting ready for her nap. Doesn't it just make you wanna take a nap?

So, to make our VERY long trek accross the US a bit more interesting we are going to hit all the "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" as possible. If you are unsure as to what I am talking about, GOOGLE IT! I have had great success in finding new places to add to my favorites list of places to eat, of course most of these make it into the "artery clogging" places, but way worth it. On the days that we can hit one of these (some days we will hit mulitple!) we will give our "Large Rating" just in case you decide you wanna try one of these DDD's.

The first on our list was the Westside Drive-In. Paul was a bit bummed that we couldn't make it yesterday, because every Friday and Saturday is the Prime Rib Steak special.......at a Drive-In!? I guess the owner of this place was once a chef at those fancy restaurants, got tired of it and decided to buy one of the local places that was going under. This place was hopping and there was never a break of cars and walk-ups while were there....

I ordered the Cheeseburger and one of the specials of the day: "Buffalo Wedges". And Paul ordered the special of the day: Fish and Chips. I guess when you open up the plastic bag to pull out your food and your paperbag looks like this:

It's probably going to taste pretty darn good.

Paul gave his fish and chips a 4 out of 5. He says that the batter on the fish was definately chef quality.....I shouldv'e ordered the fish and chips.

Ok, so mine wasn't that bad but I felt like it was like any other burger; the fries were a bit over cooked and there was not enough sauce. So mine got a 3 out of 5.

Over all we gave the place a 4 out 5; which we call the "If I lived here, I would be a regular". I think that I just ordered the wrong thing - my guess is to stick with the "specials" menu and you can't go wrong.

Rich Man's Aquarium......we're in!

Because of a generous gift from the Gantenbein family (thanks!) for Kiera's first birthday, we (and her auntie amy & uncle b) were able to visit the very exclusive Seattle Aquarium. Kiera was absolutely mesmerized by all the different animals to look at. Here are some photos from that day and a great little video of her talking to the fishies.

90 degrees in Seattle?

One day in Seattle we hit over 90 degrees, so what better way to celebrate the sun than to splash in the water!

The things that we do for our children

Because of the large time difference between the two Washingtons, Kiera was a little bit grumpier than normal (even with this grumpiness, she was still a delight). On our way home from dinner one night, she was just spent from the long day and was NOT happy about sitting in her carseat. So, we did the only thing that we knew would make her happy and content. We handed her my box of klennex ---- nearly full box of klennex. By the time we got to the hotel, the entire box was on Kiera's lap and she was tearing it into itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiney pieces. Too cute!

Kiera loves pictures

We have been going through our stuff getting ramped up for moving. For some reason I left this picture frame out and forgot to put it back under the bed where we have been storing them. Kiera was walking around and the pictures caught her eye. She climbed over everything that was in her way and sat herself in front of the pictures. She started talking and waving to the pictures and at the end of the video you can hear her barking at the Amy's dog who is in one of the photos. Too cute!

Savings galore!

Every week I scour the weekly grocery store sale fliers and plan my weeks meals off those. Almost every item I purchase is on sale, if I can I try to pair it up with a coupon so that I can save even more. If not, I purchase the generic brand item that is on sale. I walk away happy from the grocery store with a 45%-55% savings (my total was $100 but I only paid $55 -$45).
This one was too good to be true and I just HAD to share it. In the Albertstons weekly flier there were cereals on sale for $2.50 and bisquick for $3.34, as long as you purchased enough to hit $10 you got $4 off. Then on top of that they had bonus coupons that "doubled the manufacturer coupons".....well, I had said coupons! So, with the sale, the instant savings, the manufacturer coupons and the double coupons I only paid $3.64 on a tab that should have been $17.26! That is far beyond the normal savings I get - see why I had to share!!!! :) Yea haw, go 75% savings!

Patches

Ever since Kiera got Patches for her birthday, he has become an intricate part of her day. At one point or another, she is either dancing with him, hugging him, laying down with him or picking him up to go somewhere. I wonder, what will it be like when she gets an actual doggie.

Baby K's first

Kiera's first birthday was perfect. The place was decorated with cute little hello kitty decorations and even the yard was decorated for Kiera's birthday! We had great food, family, friends and fun - I guess that letter for that day was "f". She had a great time opening up all of her gifts and all the attention from all of her adoring fans. AND with the help of my mother I was able to make Kiera's complete no-sugar cake & frosting. Yeah! She has officially made it one entire year without sugar and hopefully will make it another one!

The only thing that went wrong was the food - I will definately not be opening up my own catering business any time soon as I would definately lose my business from over production. We had so much food leftover I was trying to send everyone home with a "sack lunch"!

Snuggie

For some reason Kiera took to playing with her snuggie on her head. (little things make her happy - just like her mamma!) One time we were playing peek-a-boo and the next thing I know she placed it on her head and started walking around. Such a silly bug!

Pain

No pain, no gain.  No truer statement could have been said for this time in our life.  With all that 2009 had in store for us, graduation, the move and starting a new job in an entirely new city where we know almost no one, we knew it was going to be a long, tough road.  When we found out we were pregnant, we knew there would a bit more stress added to our already full calendar but it would happily added. Then came the loss of that child.  I honestly thought that I would never have to go through something like this with all the heartache and pain that came with trying to have our first child.  We waited 5 long, painful, heart-aching, years for Kiera’s miracle birth – our doctors told us we had a less than 3% chance of having a child.  I figured that if I experienced one form of pain with wanting children I wouldn’t have to endure losing a child. I was sorely wrong.  There is so much pain that comes with losing a child – physically, mentally, spiritually and heartache.  The aftermath of losing a child is hard to handle – knowing that in all that mess is what should have been your child.  The pain in our heart takes over every rational thought.  You want to gather up all the pieces, no matter how gross that sounds, and hold them. Through all this pain though I have gained so much – so many “I never knews” now known: 

I never knew so many of my friends and family have gone through what I am going through.  It is bond that we now share that can never be broken because the pain is one that can never be forgotten.  When we all get to heaven, we are going to have quite a bit of family waiting for us to scoop them up and love on them!  How I can’t wait for that day.  

I never knew how many people loved and cared for our family.  The prayers promised alone where enough to send me to tears. 

I never knew how strong I could be.  My ability just to live through this situation is surprising.  I feel a bit hollow, that a piece of me is missing but knowing that I will be reunited with this piece of my heart, helps.

I never knew that Paul was such an AWESOME, WONDERFUL husband.  Don’t get me wrong, I did know that Paul is a great husband, loves me and promises that he would do anything for me but to see it manifest physically is amazing.  I have in the past doubted that someone could love me, old-and-busted-me, as much as Paul says he does but I can let those thoughts pass into the past.  He sacrificed his time to stay home with me these past few days, which if you knew his normal schedule, all the papers he is working on and his DP (a form of dissertation), you would understand how steep the sacrifice; he is sacrificing his bring home the bacon life to help me in my stay-at-home-wife duties – HUGE sacrifice, Paul doesn’t cook and hates dishes!  He holds me, comforts me, cries with me, I could go on and on.  But this “milestone”, has taught me to never doubt his “I love you” ever again. 

I never knew that God could give me such peace in a time of such pain.  I still weep and wish I knew the layout of the plan that this will take us on but I know that this is in God’s best plan and interest for me.  I have often tried to forge my own plan and way, as my parents and youth minister can attest to, but every time I end up back on the path to which God laid out for me and am quite relieved and grateful for that paved path.  I know that this will lead to greater knowledge, greater acceptance, greater gratefulness, greater blessings, greater something, I just need to hang on and it will come.  I know that it will take me a VERY long time to get over this and I don’t know if I will have to go through something like this again, I certainly hope not, but I now know that I can do and go through anything because all my “never knews” became “now knows”.

THANK YOU to all of those who have prayed, are praying and have sent of notes of love and support, they are all greatly appreciated and cherished.