We are here! Can you feel it?

Yes, we made it to CA safe and sound. The flight was smooth and uneventful, I even got to stand up most of the way. We're spending some good quality time with Michael's family this weekend, enjoying the beautiful scenery in Foresthill. We celebrated Grandpa's 77th birthday on Thursday at a new seafood place in Folsom (very good!) called Scott's Seafood. Yesterday I hiked 4 miles around Sugar Pine Lake with Mike and Colleen and we all relaxed and had bbq'd dogs under the setting California sun.

We're still on the clock and working while we're here, so our schedule is tighter than we'd like, but I hope we get a chance to see everyone who is available. Our cel phones are out of commission this weekend, but we'll be back in business on Monday.

Going to California with an achin' in my heart

The only thing worse than actually leaving our friends and family in California the first time will be saying goodbye a second time. However, we have two whole weeks to live it up before we have to do that!

Yep, the time has come! We're coming for a visit!

We'll arrive on Wednesday afternoon (June 27th) and leave (sniff, sniff) on Wednesday July 11. Ladies and gentlemen, please send us your schedules so we can figure out if we can meet up! We'll be online all week so email is great, or call our cels: 916-316-3011 or 916-316-3012.

Hope we get a chance to see ya'll!

Quick trip to the property

Met with our septic and excavation guy today, and his pool building partner. The rain let up just long enough for us to walk through the site and take a few pictures. Can't wait to actually get started. On the pool. Well, the house will be cool too, I guess.

Under dress, Over deliver

Michael and I were running a little late to our architectural meeting the other day. That morning there was a torrential downpour, causing a few roads to flood, a few traffic signals to choke, and more than a few accidents along our route. I hate being late to things like this, and even though it was just by a few minutes and entirely the fault of Mother Nature, I was feeling stressed.

As we walked up the long winding path to the front of a very impressive building I grew a little more stressed. The great thing about this area is you can typically wear just about anything just about anywhere and not feel out of place. But as we entered that grandiose lobby, shiny slate floors beneath our flip flops and floor to ceiling windows reflecting our lack of fashion sense, I did indeed feel a little out of place. I took a deep breath as we waited for the elevator and looked over at Michael. Titanium laptop case slung over his shoulder, he was carrying our homeowner portfolio full of our very well prepared and organized notes.

"I'm afraid we're a bit under-dressed," I whispered. "But at least we came prepared."

"That's kind of our thing," he answered.

"Yes," I agreed. "Under dress, over deliver."

We had a good laugh over that one, then decided that should be our motto. And so it is.

Been there, seen that (and also I know everything about geography)

A conversation I overheard:

"So, where did you live before Texas?"

"California."

"Ohhh, yuck, I've been to California, it wasn't nice at all."

"Really?! What part did you visit?"

"Stockton."

"Oh gosh, not all of California looks like Stockton."

"Well, I went to Bakersfield once too. It was so hot and miserable."

"But have you ever been to the foothills? Or the beach? It's so different!"

"No, but I've been to California. So no thanks, I've seen enough."

Ok, maybe I only overheard that conversation in my own head, but really people, this is how (lame) you sound when you say you've "been to" Texas, and thus somehow know what the ENTIRE state is like. You do realize it's twice the size of California, right, with 13 million less people?

PS: Stockton and Bakersfield are simply for illustration purposes, sorry guys.

Home is where the heartburn is

I suppose it's about time to update you on our home building process. We are "in" the process, and it has given me some heartburn, but overall it's really fun and very exciting. There is so much to tell you about, but I'll start with the basics.

When we arrived in Austin, we took about 2 months to just settle in and recover from the (emotional and physical) stress of moving. During that time, we did our research and decided to use a national builder with an excellent reputation to build our home (David Weekley). They offer a wonderful compromise between "custom" and "standard" homes. By that I mean we selected a floorplan from their existing plans, and then began to customize it to our own preferences, in lieu of starting from absolute scratch. It is a perfect fit for us.

We decided on the "Sabrina" floor plan. It looks quite different now that we've added our own personal (tacky?) touch. The best part is we've added a 450 square foot bonus room to the second floor, which will become our new music room. We also added a full bath between the garage and backyard (aka the Pool Bath). More windows, some french doors, covered patios, etc... If you'd like to see our current plans, I'd be happy to email you. I'd post them here but we signed over the rights to our firstborn child to ensure absolute copyright protection. (I told them they could have Sammie, but that wasn't good enough).

We signed all the contracts a couple of weeks ago, and are now in the architectural stage. We had our first redraw appointment with the architect yesterday, and with one more revision, should be done on that end. We start our design selections and upgrades on Saturday (cabinets, flooring, countertops, all the fun stuff).

We've staked out where the front door will go on the lot (yay!). All of our bids for site prep, flatwork, etc are in. We meet with the septic guy on Friday, who we're also getting the first of two pool bids from.

So for now, it's lots of stomach-churning, alka-seltzer inducing budget crunching. Smack dab in the middle of the dichotomy between what we want and what we want to pay for.

We temporarily interrupt your regularly scheduled blogs.

Due to my (lack of) programming skills we have been forced to make some changes to our blog. Stay tuned for major improvements.

The biggest news of all ...

I guess I've been putting it off because I don't even know how to blog about it! It makes everything seem so real, and it's almost like I didn't even think it would ever happen, or maybe ever could really happen. It's something that we've been trying for for over a year! We found out it was true a little over a month ago, but haven't documented as of yet. It's something that will change everything. Something huge and important. Something shocking, unbelievable. Downright miraculous. Exciting. Crazy. Maybe something we've been preparing for all our lives.

Ok, now I'm exaggerating a little. I just wanted to build the suspense.

And no, I'm not pregnant. That's everybody else except me.

So, are you ready? Here it goes ... MOM AND DAD SOLD THEIR HOUSE AND MOVED TO TEXAS!!!! Can you believe it? THE House. The House we grew up in and built memories in for 17 years. The House with the most spectacular backyard ever! The House that took over a year to sell, but finally attracted the right buyers at the right time.

This House was my parents' Labor of Love for nearly 2 decades. But as time rolled on and we started talking about The Great Migration, it became clear that the Labor of Love was something they could indeed bear to part with. The Love never changed; no, it was the Labor that became the issue. Dad retired in 2004, and his pain and severe back problems prevent him from doing this Labor that he loves. It's heartbreaking when the things that you once adored can become too laborious to manage or enjoy when dealing with a life of chronic pain (maybe speaking from a personal perspective here).

The House closed escrow on June 15th, my parents arrived the night before. A miracle they arrived in one piece, as Dad can't sit almost at all these days, and mom has blood clotting issues. Thank goodness for handicapped arrangements and nice flight attendants on Southwest! We were able to find them a wonderful apartment complex called the San Paloma, where they will live (and we will relax) until the new homes are built. Check out the pics and a video Michael posted on YouTube. (He loves his Mac a little too much.) This apartment complex is unbelievable, not a bad place to suffer in Texas. It is across the street from Dell, so lots of nice young professional people live there. It has three pools, a cabana and swim up bar, a great business center and clubhouse, a small coffee and sandwich shop, in addition to the huge indoor spa and weight room. You never have to leave! All for a whopping $675 a month. (Father's Day pictures of apartment life coming soon...)

Dad has started his own blog - and it's worth reading (more than mine, as he's much more eloquent and intelligent than I). He's more likely to keep with it too, he won't let you down the way we have.

So, welcome to Austin, Mom and Dad! For those who might be shocked by this news, and maybe didn't get to say farewell, well it all did happen quickly. And with their health problems, they weren't up for much before moving. So I guess that means you'll just have to come and visit us all here. ;0)

Mom & Dad's new van, a Toyota Sienna. (Not as cool as our old green handicapped van, but I suppose it will do.)



Fully equipped with child car seat and safety features for when/if I ever do get to make that announcement.

Bear's in heaven

Here are some pics of the creek and the park by our rental house. This isn't the one I mentioned before (Sculpture Falls). Not sure when we'll get back out there - it involves hiking a few miles and a little more prep, but this park is nice and close. We sometimes go over there on our lunch break to let Bear swim.

After a good storm, it's more like a river! A little low today. We went out around 7pm, just before sunset. Enjoy.

Jess comes for a visit!

One of my two favorite sisters came to visit last week! (The other favorite lives pretty close already). We had a really wonderful time. It was a nice break for everyone, and we had a good time relaxing around the city and at home. It's been since February since we've seen Jess.

We went to a beach party at Lake Travis on Saturday and saw one of our favorite artists, Mat Kearney. We just love him.

In case you're wondering, it's not photoshop --- Jess is very thin! She's lost over 50 pounds and looks AMAZING. Didn't think she could be any prettier. We're inspired by all her hard work and dedication, it's really unbelieveable!

We also went "Toobing" down the river in San Marcos, about 20 miles south from here. The water is gorgeous, the scenery luscious. A very relaxing way to float through a lazy Sunday afternoon after church.


Speaking of church, we've been attending a primarily African American non-denomiational church here, which I'll write more about later. It's so awesome, like nothing we've ever experienced.

It's been great weather here, just our style - warm (and a bit humid). We've spent so much time outdoors. There is an awesome trail to another river nearby our house, which we've taken Bear to a number of times. Next time we go down we'll take more photos. It will surprise you, and maybe you won't think of tumbleweeds as often when you picture us!

Goodbye to Sammie

Sad news first :( I guess this is as good a place to start as any.

We recently made the decision to turn Sammie over to a Golden Retriever rescue organization here in Austin. I've never felt such heartbreak, or such relief.

For anyone who might not know, Sammie was our first baby. We got her shortly after we moved into our first house (Rocklin), and she just turned 8! Anyone who had the (slightly unfortunate) opportunity to know her would know she's always been a handful, to say the very least. But we've done our best over the years to take care of her and manage her multiple health issues as well as her major attitude problem.

I really don't want to go into the lengthy details of how we came to this decision, but long story short - she tore her ACL while playing in the park, and the necessary surgery and recovery was going to be in the thousands. Adding this to her already staggering other health issues, I guess this was just the last straw. We already have one very sick doggie who requires twice-daily medication and very regular lab work at the vet. The major difference is we love Bear much more. Yes, we do have favorite children.

The rescue organization has a really wonderful foster care and adoption program, and was willing and able to cover the cost of all her treatments through donations, etc. So ultimately it was really the best thing for Sammie. But it was surprisingly very painful for us to let her go. I can't even post a picture of her because she's just too cute, it's disarming. It shows nothing of her true colors ;)

In any case, just thought I'd let you know in case you noticed we have become a one dog family.

What's Up Down in Texas?

Well, it turns out I'm the world's worst blogger. Before we moved I had all these romantic ideals that I would chronicle our every step, documenting each phase of the journey with stunning photos, brilliant commentary and witty observations. Don't get me wrong, I've made all kinds of witty observations, I just never got around to blogging about them.

Unfortunately, our previously enviable photojournalism skills have taken a turn for the worse, and I'm afraid our gallery has suffered. I sincerely apologize if you've been visiting, hoping for some excitement. We did get lots more beautiful pictures of LA in April - but they are still on the brand new camera we bought - and subsequently had stolen in LA. Haven't documented a whole lot since then.

I do have lots (LOTS!!!) of news to share, but I think I'll post some separate blogs. No one wants to read 4 pages of text online, right?

But where to start? Hmm. This is what I get for not keeping up. I hereby promise to (try to) make it worth your efforts to keep checking in on us.