Saturday, November 15, 2008

knock, knock....hello?....anyone still out there?.....

hi, do you remember me? it's been....well, way over a month since my last post! i wouldn't blame you for losing faith in me and giving up on ever hearing from me again! i mean, gosh, i would have given up on me!!

 

i know that some of you are still hanging on to the hope that i would post again (thank you so much for the email's and phone call's! they make me feel loved!), and well, it paid off because here i am! and i thank you for being a faithful "non-reader" this past month!

 

i am here to tell you that, yes, we are still alive! and yes, we made the trip to albuquerque with out any noteworthy problems. and yes, we are adjusting well. and yes, we have been busy getting settled. and yes, i am happy to say, that i think we may be getting close to the point where i feel almost at home in someone else's house.

 

it's been interesting, to say the least, and sometimes frustrating, to move into my in-laws house (this is the house mitch grew up in! pretty cool, huh! his parent's bought the house the day they got married!) and try to merge our stuff with their stuff. they are not living here while we are, but we are using most of their "stuff" so we can leave our stuff packed away until we move to the other side of town (closer to intel) after we build our house, whenever that actually happens! so i have been busy packing up some of their things to make room for our things, and cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning!

 

of course, i have also been dealing with getting the girls into school and figuring out how to be everywhere i am needed to be when i am needed to be there. i've been trying to find the best grocery stores to shop at that won't drain our savings account (i cannot believe how expensive the groceries are here!!) sadly there is no winco, oh how i miss the bulk section and the mount hood mix (anyone care to send some my way, like a HUGE bagful??? what are we going to eat at our game nights???) the other day kale'a was eating a bagel for breakfast and she said, "mom, when can we get winco bagels? these taste funny!" i couldn't have agreed more!

 

oh, did i mention that i have been cleaning a lot, too!?  don't EVEN get me started on the whole insurance drama we have been going through (i'm sure you'll hear more on this subject!). oh yeah, and don't forget that we are still trying to sell our house in a downward spiraling market (this, in and of itself, brings such joy, *read: thick sarcasm*, to my heart!).

 

all of this while trying not to lift heavy things or do too much or be too stressed, thanks to my placenta!

 

i know it sounds like i am complaining, but really i am not! this is the first time we have ever moved and it is just all so new to me! i guess now i really KNOW, first hand, why moving is one of the things on the seven most stressful things you can do list! 

 

in fact, we do like it here and i just have to share one of my most favorite things about living in albuquerque this lovely november:

 

sunny day

 

this was from our first day here. see the beautiful blue sky? do you notice something about it? i'll give you a hint...something is missing from that blue sky? do you know what it is?.... CLOUDS! and do you know what has replaced those clouds?.... bright, beautiful SUNSHINE, E-V-E-R-Y-D-A-Y! notice the girls in their shorts and short sleeves and nani is quenching her thirst because she is so warm!  can i just tell you that we DO NOT miss the gray, drizzle that is falling in oregon right now!

 

sunny girls

 

see, the girls are loving the sunshine, too! oh, and that is "coug" or "cougar" in the background. a very dear part of our family, we love "coug"! he stays at grandma great's house just down the road a bit! we wave to him and say "bye coug" everyday as we take kale'a to preschool!

 

anyway, blah, blah, blah.... this was supposed to be a short post just to say i am alive and well. but i guess it became a long post to say i am alive and well. such is the case when i haven't posted for awhile. you can blame mitch who has abandoned us, his lovely ladies. he drove away this morning headed back to oregon for job training! yeah, i know, that was poor planning! intel should have just trained him before we left! boy how i wish i was in that truck with him when he left! there are so many of you i would have loved to see again! (to our oregon friends, stop by and say hi to mitch this week. he should be there tuesday, wednesday, and thursday staying in our empty house! i'm sure he'd love to see you!)

 

so, i am holding down the fort for 8 or so days (cry, whimper)! which means a lot of blog time for me!  once the girls are in bed at 7 sharp every night, i plan to catch up on my blogging! yipee! there is so much i want to post....from before we left oregon, to the trip here, to once we arrived and everything in between! so, forgive me for backtracking, but if i don't (since this is my "journal") there will be a huge void in my life from october '08 thru november '08 when i look back on what  we were doing then. and this has been a pretty major event in the life of us!

24 comments:

Kristi David said...

Hooray! Welcome back! I'm glad to hear that you made it safely and that you're enjoying the sunshine. It's funny because living in SoCal I WANT clouds and DO NOT want sunshine! I'm so sick of it right now! Life is always greener . . .
Love you guys - hang in there!

Michelle Clausen said...

Mahina! I am so glad you made it to Albuquerque, I do envy your weather, we have had sunshine, but not all that warm :) You will settle in & I do understand the cleaning part more than you could imagine. Look forward to hearing more from you.

Sarah said...

Yeah! I have been wondering when you would find the time to post! Moving is so much work. That is just another reason why I'm hoping we get into a residency here!
I"m glad that your enjoying all of the sunshine!! How far along are you now? Do you know what your having? I can't wait until you start posting regularly again! : )

Erika said...

Welcome back :-)

You know whats funny? I've lived in CA for 5 years now and just the other day (seriously, like 2 days ago) I started to miss the Seattle rain... A LOT!
So, give it 5 years and all of a sudden that cloudless blue sky will be sad & you'll crave the beautiful green that accompanies the grey sky & wet drops.

Darilyn said...

Hey there Mahina, I am very jealous of all that warm sunshine. The weather though has been gorgeous here the past few days. But we all know what will be coming in the future! I"m glad you are doing well, keep more pictures coming.

Stephanie said...

Glad to have you back! I was wondering when we would get a new post from you. That's great that things are going so well, and your girls already look older!

Mandy said...

Oh how I have missed reading your blog. I can't wait to read all about your month of adventures. Glad to hear you are adjusting so well how could you not with blue skies and sunshine everyday!! Miss you...

shauna said...

We did miss you! Tons!

I hope you love the blue skies, 'cause blue skies make amazing pink, coral, gold and fushia sunsets!

And your camera will probably NEVER get wet!

Can't wait to hear all about your last month.

Rachel said...

Well it's about time! We were starting to wonder! Glad things are going well. . .

jessica said...

YAY!!!!! You are back!!!! I have missed you! I'm glad to hear that you are getting settled. Can't wait to hear about more your new place....I love that you have "coug" in your life...that is so funny!

jessica said...

Clearly I'm thinking faster than I can type...I forgot to mention how jealous I am of that SUNSHINE!

calibosmom said...

Glad you are back...I did miss you. I'm jealous of your sunshine!!!

Melissa-Mc said...

HOORAY you're alive.

Hey, I have this really cute guy over at my house right now, and he thinks you're totally hot.

I only wish you could be here too!

mahina said...

melissa:

hmmmm, that's sounds tempting! a really cute guy that thinks I'M hot!!?? but what do i do with my kids?

you totally made me laugh so hard with your comment. you know, i think i might know the guy, and yes he is totally cute!! you can tell him that i think he is hot, too!

thanks SO much for letting him crash at your house! i wish i could be there too!

tutu lady said...

Nice to hear from you!

Hey, who's Caleb Clausen? did you know that you have some Clausens on your family tree? I never met any, but me mum told me about them.

I want more pictures.

Bridget said...

Yeah!! Finally a blog post! GLad you are getting settled in and enjoying it there. yes, moving is SUCH a pain in the rear. Sorry to hear there's no Winco or comparable shopping there. What a bummer. That sunshine must certainly make up for it though!

Malia said...

Glad to see you back in the blogging world! I've missed you so! I have fallen off of blogging a little bit while you were gone too... seemed like when you were gone I didnt get many comments... weird. Really... they had mitch go back to oregon for training? what were they thinking? I hope they paid for his gas! Love you miss you welcome back blah blah blah... =)

Malia said...

ps... you need to get MJ photography on your feed... I think I may be posting on there more than the regular blog for the next little while... I have a bunch of shoots done slash need to be scheduled.

Katie Smith said...

Hey! Welcome back! I have been checking in often to see when you'd return. I'm glad the move went well and that you are enjoying NM. Gotta love the sunshine!!

Can't wait for more posts to come.

Elizabeth Dimit said...

So glad to have you back! I need to call you to catch up! I hope you are feeling okay and taking care of yourself. The sunshine sounds delightful! I've been makiing lots of smoothies with my new blender and so have had lots of wonderful Mason thoughts! :-)

Elizabeth Dimit said...

So glad to have you back! I need to call you to catch up! I hope you are feeling okay and taking care of yourself. The sunshine sounds delightful! I've been makiing lots of smoothies with my new blender and so have had lots of wonderful Mason thoughts! :-)

Becca said...

glad to hear that you are back. We've missed you

Rachael said...

I'm so glad you are blogging again. I was thinking of you a couple of days ago and wondered how you were doing. I'm glad you are enjoying the sunshine!!

Tonya said...

I have been checking and checking to see if you were back on-line yet! Thanks for being alive and well:0) I am so JEALOUS of the sunshine. That sounds heavenly. How can you not love New Mexico with all that beautiful blue sky? I have missed reading your blog and am so happy you are doing well. Rylie loved, loved, loved the letter from Nani. It made her day.