I have mentioned quitting my job a couple of times in the past few posts and I wanted to talk about that a little bit. I quit without giving two weeks notice and I have my reasons behind that {If anyone wants to hear the whole story just email me at emsmiles {at} hotmail {dot} com...it's a long story}. Because of this I was not able to say goodbye to the sweet children that I spent the last eleven months taking care of. I miss them like crazy and that is my one regret about not giving two weeks notice. I was going through pictures on my phone and I just wanted to do a post about these wonderful kids who I loved and drove me crazy all at the same time. For those of you who don't know I was nannying for a family of nine children with the youngest being one-year-old triplets. It was a very hard job but also very rewarding as I was able to watch these kids grow and learn every day. There were obviously things that eventually made the job too stressful and hard that I really felt like I needed to get away and find something new to do but that does not mean that I do not love those children and miss them like crazy! So here is a post to help me say goodbye to the sweet Wesche children! {I don't think I have pictures of everyone but I sure do have lots of pictures of the triplets since I spent the most time with them}
Be prepared for a photo overload! {This is maybe a quarter of all the photos I have of these cute kids on my phone} Also, the captions will be below the photos.
Maggie and Grace doing a photo scavenger hunt in the woods.
Maggie and Grace doing stunts with me :) They were also pro swing dancers and gymnasts!
One of the first of hundreds of walks with the triplets.
Playing at the mall.
Cute Nick with the girls.
Finding ways to amuse the girls and keep them out of trouble for a little bit. Cue the blue cups as noise makers!
Cute faces!
Cuddles!
After one of Nick's baseball games. Playing in the field.
Playing at the park and in the backyard.
School plays :)
Birthdays and graduations.
The babies' first time at the zoo!
Going to Build-A-Bear :)
Cute jammies and attitude!
Cute hairdos
Shopping with Tommy for his confirmation clothes :)
Maggie with her broken arm.
Ice cream for turning two!
Happy Second Birthday!!
I know they are mostly of the triplets but I love and miss all of the Wesche kids! They were such a big part of the last year of my life. I spent hours with them, doing the girls' hair, bathing the babies, going to the park, going to the mall, cuddling, reading thousands of books to these kids, helping with homework, and so so much more! I was there when Maggie broke her arm and I rushed her to the hospital while holding her hand the whole way there, I was there for birthdays and graduations, bad days and good days, I held kids while they cried and found ways to make them laugh and I giggled with them at all kinds of silly things. It was a lot of work and I am sad to be done but it has been a good thing for me and for my marriage. These kids will always be close to my heart and I hope that they always remember the love I have for them. Goodbye Wesche's! I love you kids!!
For our last day in Oregon Race and I slept in late, drove around to places my parents grew up and houses I lived in and we drove out to see Mt. Bachelor. Near Mt. Bachelor there are tons of lakes. We stopped at Devil's Lake which is gorgeous and explored around it. There is still snow on the ground there and the lake is a gorgeous green color. And it's not nasty green as you are still able to see straight through the clear water. Also, my husband is so awesome that he went skinny dipping in the freezing cold water while I watched. :) I should have gone with him....next time! Anyway, it was a wonderful, relaxing last day and I am not at all ready to get back to real life in Arizona.
Race and I at Devil's Lake
My dad and I at Devil's Lake
Race skinny dipping at Devil's Lake...haha.
I almost forgot! We stopped by Petersen's Rock Garden before heading to the airport. I remember going to this garden as a young child and I remember it being absolutely gorgeous and enchanting. Last year my grandma and I went and it was dead. There were no gorgeous lily pads in the pond And it was just not at all what I remembered. Luckily it was exactly how I remembered it this time. I guess last year I just came during a bad season. It was gorgeous this time though. Everything is made out of rocks and there are little fairy houses and cute bridges and so many lily pads. And there were some gorgeous pure white ducks swimming in the pond. I was so glad that we were able to stop and see it.
Here are some of the bridges going out into the pond and there are some fairy houses in the middle. Also you can see some of the pretty lily pads.
Here's me on one of the pretty rock bridges with so many lily pads behind me.
Well, as of 4:30 this morning we are back in Flagstaff. It's so nice to be home but I do not feel ready to buckle down and find a job. I love not having a job but it is also stressful in the money department so I will start looking for one this week. Next week I am planning on going down to the valley for a few days to help my brother and sister-in-law with their cute babies while they get ready to move into a new home. I am excited to hang out with the babies and with my sister-in-law Nikki. Also, it will of course be fun to hang out with my brother. :)
Here's a cute picture of the babies I get to hang out with for a few days! This was from about a month ago and I can't remember who is who in this picture. I can't wait to go see them and see how much they've grown though!!
We explored downtown Bend last week and it was lots of fun. There were lots of cool shops. My favorite was a little antique shop with lots of cool glasses and clothes. I found some gorgeous baby blessing dresses. Unfortunately they were quite expensive.
This picture is in front of my Grandpa's first dental office.
It's hard to read but it says Dudley's {Harry Potter! Who's going to see it at midnight this week?!}. This was a really fun bookshop. More pictures below.
{I love rocking chairs. I need to find a good one before I have a baby someday.}
This was at a cute soda shop. I loved their stools. Also Helena's outfit was super cute.
Jasmine found us these awesome glasses at the antique shop.
Also, I had the comfiest outfit that day. I got the maxi dress at TJ Maxx last week. The sweater was from Last Chance years ago, the shoes were from Kohl's years ago and the bag is my sister's.
More exploring downtown. I'm not sure what they were looking at in this picture...
Anyway, downtown was lots of fun. We have one day left before we fly out tomorrow evening. I am not sure what we'll do with our last relaxing day before we have to get back to real life. I am going to have to start job searching when I get back. Any suggestions for where I should get a job?
I found Race's first white hair when we were at Detroit Lake the other day. He was very excited. He looks forward to having salt and pepper hair and then someday having a head full of pure white hair. I'm excited too. :) He will be such a cute old man!
Can you spot his white hair?
Also, Race and my brother Knowlton took apart a camera tonight to try and fix it. Three hours in and it has been taken apart and put almost all the way back together. We still don't know if they've fixed it or not yet. I did get pictures of them being manly though.
{The gloves were to keep from being shocked from some copper part. They found these after they had each been shocked quite a few times}
Sidenote: Race is very good at fixing things and I love that about him. He fixed our vacuum that broke and we vacuumed our apartment after months...gross, I know. He's also fixed lots of vacuums at the schools he cleans. Vacuums are his specialties so we'll see if that knowledge transfers over to cameras...
I could write a lot but this is my second time trying to start this post so I'm going to keep the writing to a minimum. I do have lots of pictures though!
We are loving our Oregon vacation and spending lots of time outside with family. The weather has been perfect!
Fourth of July in Las Vegas and at the airport:
Fourth of July sparklers in Oregon:
Hiking at Smith Rock with cute baby Jude and cute sandals. There were also cute cousins but I unfortunately do not have pictures of the cute cousins.
Spending time with family at Detroit Lake and admiring Oregon's beautiful mountains:
What happens to Race when he doesn't put on enough sun screen at Detroit Lake:
And finally {for tonight} playing croquet ALL DAY in the backyard:
{Race has the best croquet stance ever. :) Notice the slightly raised heel for absolute precision in his hits.}
That's all for now but I have so much more to share. Today we spent the day playing Michael Jackson: The Experience on the PS3 Move, playing croquet again, meeting up with family at the park, exploring downtown, going to Applebee's with all the older cousins and my sister and I ended the evening by going to see Monte Carlo in theaters. {I know those movies are cheesy but I love them all and this was no exception. Helena liked it too! :) } It was a good day!
Packing is super stressful for me. Which means I try to pack a few days in advance so I am not stressing close to the actual trip. I spent today and yesterday packing. I decided to pack Race's stuff as well. I am not sure why seeing as packing stresses me out...I guess I just want him to look super good. So I decided I should pack all of my favorite clothes instead of all his old, awkward hand-me-downs that he would end up packing.
{Sidenote: Before Race and I got married literally ALL of his clothes were hand-me-downs. This isn't necessarily a bad thing except for the fact that about half of these hand-me-downs were shirts that said things like "poo chucker" on them. Haha! Now I buy him normal, good-looking clothes. :) }
Anyway, to begin the packing escapade Race and I did ALL of our laundry yesterday. Everything, except for the clothes we were wearing, was washed. After that I spent about an hour and a half folding all of that laundry {we don't do laundry for at least a month so there was a lot to wash and fold}. I then packed Race first. He is the easy one. If only I could just pack t-shirts and jeans. Boys have no need for undershirts, belts, jewelry, hair things, cardigans, etc. LUCKY!! After finishing Race up I opened all my drawers, pulled out by bags of belts and hair things, opened my jewelry box, grabbed my basket of shoes and began. And I of course had my lists on hand {I write lots of lists. For this trip I have so far written two but I am sure that before we leave I will have at least one more with last minute things that we need to remember}.
After I had everything ready I began packing. First I laid out outfits that I have worn and know that I love. After that I started trying on new outfits and things I hadn't worn in a while just to make sure they still look good. I am not sure why I feel like I have to do this but I do. After finding enough outfits I grabbed all of my shoes and tried to narrow it down to just a couple pairs that would match everything. Then I went through and tried to figure out what belts, hair accessories, and jewelry I would need to go with each outfit. I really don't use lots of accessories but it is still a must do when packing.
Finally, I started to fit everything into my duffel bag...this is always the scary part because what if it doesn't all fit! This is exactly what happened. I got about half of it all in my bag and then realized that there was no way I was going to be able to fit everything. So I had to take everything out, fit Race's stuff into the duffel bag and jack his nice suitcase {This was especially mean of me considering Race is devoting his entire carry-on backpack to bringing the PS3 and the Play Station Move so that we can play Michael Jackson: The Experience with my family in Oregon...best game ever by the way}. Luckily Race's stuff fit into the duffel except for his church clothes which I very kindly fit into my bag. Also luckily my things did fit into the suitcase. I do have a problem when packing though...I ALWAYS overpack! I don't know how to help it! Any suggestions? I guess I just really like to have options when I am on vacation so I end up packing tons of extra shirts, undershirts and cardigans.
As you can see below, everything fit but it was overflowing so I was definitely sitting on the suitcase to get it to zip up.
FINALLY after getting everything packed I packed up my toiletries, or at least the ones I am not using in the next couple of days and some things to have on the plane. Also, I already made sure to have an outfit out to wear on the drive to the airport and on the plane. For example, the one sweatshirt I am bringing that I don't want to stuff into my bag. And the only pair of tennis shoes{ish} that take up more room than all of my flats and sandals {Does anyone else wear their bulkiest clothes on the plane just so they don't have to try and pack them?}.
That was my whole packing adventure. This was the first time that I laid out all of my outfits so that I could make sure to have shoes and accessories to match everything. Usually I pack each outfit and then try and remember what I packed and what else I need. Not super smart. I am glad to be done threeish days in advance. I just really hope there is nothing that I forgot!
Here are some things that I learned about packing that help me not stress out about it as much:
1. Make a list and rewrite that list if you need to halfway through because it gets so cluttered with doodles.
2. Listen to good music {Lately I like "The Script" radio station on Pandora}.
3. Have a friend to talk to while you pack {I used to love packing with my sister because we would just chat away and take HOURS to pack just cause we were hanging out}.
4. Lay ALL your outfits out so you can figure what shoes and accessories match more than one outfit.
5. Do ALL of your laundry before packing.
6. Pack early so you're not stressing.
7. Take your time.
I am not sure what else but these are a lot of things I haven't always done in the past and they definitely made this time packing a bit easier and less stressful. I still overpacked....but someday I'm sure I'll learn to only pack what I'm going to use.
Well, I am glad to be done packing and now I am going to get a good night's sleep so that I can enjoy the rest of my weekend before we leave to Oregon on Monday!!!
