OH THE POSSIBILITIES...

               I’ve had a lot on my mind lately and I’m not sure where to start. I guess I’ll start with the fact that it’s past 1am and I am still awake and yet very tired. Who knows where this is going to go.

               Chris and I did a little bit of talking today (big shocker, I know). Due to the lack of communication between my advisor and myself, I am now two classes short for student teaching. At this point the only way I will be able to take them before my cohort is student teaching is if I drive to Ellensburg in fall. That means a two hour drive (hopefully no traffic) to make the 9am edu class, two hours of classes and then a two hour drive (most likely no traffic) home. I would have to do this four days a week, September to December. Until my talk with Chris I actually thought this was a good idea. Six hours a day away from your 4month old if you don’t really have to isn’t a good idea.

               Not only would I have to find and pay for a sitter, I would have to pay for the gas to drive four+ hours a day. I would only take two classes so the work load would be a lot less than what I’m used to but again, the drive. I feel like knowing what the next few years of life will hold for me all depends on when I am able to student teach. If I don’t do it this next winter I will have to wait until fall 2012 which is when I was hoping to have my own classroom. I’m sick of relying just on Chris for money. I would love to have an income. If I wait to student teach it means I won’t have my own classroom until fall 2013.

               That means it’s a lot less likely we will be buying a house anytime soon. At the same time it means we will most likely have our kids closer to 18mths apart (we were hoping for 18-24mths). That way when baby #2 is old enough to be left with the sitter (and me not freaking out about not being with previously mentioned baby) I will be able to work full time. Otherwise the plan is to have baby #2 June 2013 so I only miss the end of the school year and can be back full time the next fall.

               So yeah, Chris and I have a few plans/options available when it comes to my future. I just wish I knew what was going to happen. I am really hoping to student teach winter quarter but I’m not sure how to get around taking these two classes before I student teach. I could also just plan on doing the stay at home mom thing until the kiddos are old enough to be in school. In the mean time I could finish my BA, get my Masters and/or start a daycare.

               Chris, Chris is a whoooooole nother story. Chris got his AA in business management, put his feet in the water and then decided it wasn’t right for him. Then (and this is about the time we started dating), he went back to school for an AA in computer networking. Now that he has those two degrees he is working a crappy job for a contractor at Boeing. He makes decent money but it’s not the kind of job someone stays at for more than a year or two (we are quickly approaching the end of year one). Chris has been weighing his options for a while too (we both could go in a million directions). He was planning on getting a few more certifications (I think all he has is the A+) but now he is taking a very expensive class to learn a software called Catia.

               The hope is that after he takes this 8 week class he will be able to get an entry level position either at Boeing or at his brothers work. At some point he will need to take the second Catia class (also very expensive) in order to be certified. Hopefully he can get an entry level position after the first class and then a raise after he takes the second class but we’ll see what happens.

               This brings us to the possibility of buying a house. We look online all of the time just for fun and even drive around sometimes looking for houses. We are really hoping to find something with at least half an acre. We have also talked about moving to the east coast for a few years. I would love to live in a shack on the beach or in downtown Charleston. At the same time I wouldn’t mind moving up to Statesville to be close to family.

               Family, school, career, location – all up in the air. Here’s to hoping God will send us where we need to be, when we need to be there.

Life in the Sun ~ Part 2

MOORE FAMILY CHRONICLES

               I have mixed feelings about our trip to South Carolina. I really did have a great time but being attached to a kid made things hard and a bit depressing. Everyone was skinny, swimming, and drinking (things I couldn’t really do). I felt like I was anti-social. I was always sitting on the outside of the group, taking care of Olivia, and watching what was going on.

               With that being sad, I saw A LOT of things =-) What I loved the most was how the two different clans came together after years of not seeing each other and it was as if there was no time lost between them. Even the “babies” (take that word with a grain of salt- it includes all the fourth generation kiddos) who had never met acted as if they see each other every day. Okay, so Carson and Ben had met two years before but really, that first time they were both about 18months. Being close to cousins’ was not an experience I had growing up and definitely don’t have now. I really appreciate being able to be a part of that. Even I felt like I had known that side of the family my whole life.

EVENTS AND ADVENTURES IN SOUTH CAROLINA:

               We spent the first night in a hotel by the airport. Saturday morning we picked up our rental cars and headed in to town. What seems to be a tradition when heading to the east coast, we spent the afternoon shopping. No not at shops only known in the south, we went to the outdoor mall. For some reason it seems like they have way cuter clothes over there! We got to Charleston Friday night and the reunion shenanigans started later the next week so we had some time to kill.

               We spent mornings at the beach (by we, I mean everyone but Olivia and I-way to hot out for us) and headed inland for dinner. I did attempt to get some sun at the beach but I only lasted 20 minutes and came in pretty pink. Sunday Philip and Savannah showed up!!! They aren’t family but at this point they might as well be! I’ll try to figure out how to add their website to my blog so you can see how amazing their photos are. As the week went on family started to show up! Their rental house had a private pool so we spent a ton of time over there- in the pool, at the beach, but mostly…eating. =-)

               Now for the whole point of this trip…The Grandparents 50^th Wedding anniversary! There was soooo much food and it was soooo delicious! After we ate the Grandparents exchanged rings, and then we watched a video Bill made with pictures of their life together! After the video Heidi and I convinced Grandpa he needed to finally have his first dance with his wife. It was pretty awesome!!!!

               We spent the last day at the farmers market in Charleston. It was nothing compared to Seattle’s but it was still neat to see. Olivia got over heated pretty fast, so I ended up not seeing all of the booths. It was pretty warm that day and there is no air conditioning at an outdoor market!

               Overall the trip was pretty amazing. Thank you to the Moore’s, Yockey’s, Spillane’s, Casey’s and Kenney’s! Hopefully you can all come to Seattle next summer!