Home

We've been home for two weeks already and those two weeks have really flown by. We've been trying to get back in sync with our lives but that's taken a bit of time. Three days after we got back from Europe Doug drove up to Seattle for a work convention that was happening there. While he was gone Devonna and Reagan came and visited. We had a lot of fun sharing souvenirs, stories, and chocolate. We got to hang out with Reagan a lot. Doug came home a few days before they went home so he got to hang out with them too.

Reagan loves playing Monster with Doug. It started out as hide and seek and then turned into monster. At first it was a lot of jumping out and scaring him and then Reagan would run to one of us. Then when we got him to fight the monster off it turned into a battle between Doug and Reagan (two year old friendly of course). Reagan always got to win and rescue whoever Doug had kidnapped. At one point I picked Reagan up to run away like we had in the previous phase of the game but he yelled, "We have to go back and save my mommy!" So Reagan went back and saved Devonna.

At one point during the hide and seek portion Reagan and I were hiding under a blanket. Doug was trying to trick Reagan into coming out and started playing with one of Reagan's trucks. Doug said, "this is a pretty cool truck. I wonder if I know any kids who would like this truck." Reagan, who's sitting in my lap, whispers "Reagan." I started cracking up, which didn't help hide us (not that Doug couldn't tell where we were by the big lump in the floor with a blanket over it).

Of course the time flew by and we didn't get to do everything that we wanted to do. We did get Reagan a t-ball set though and he's really good at it.

Everyone that we see asks us how our trip was. I find it a really hard question to ask. Usually there isn't a lot of time to really talk about the trip, so I have to resort to summing it up in a word, which is usually "amazing" or "great." How do you sum up a trip like that when someone asks it as a passing question? I have no problem discussing the trip, telling stories, sharing experiences, but I usually let the other person lead with questions. I don't want to go on an hour long gush about how "great" my trip was. Plus, if you know me, that's not my style at all. But don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't want to talk about my trip. That's not it at all. In fact, some of the questions make me think about stuff that I hadn't before. Or remember stuff that wasn't right on the surface. It's just hard when a coworker is trying to make small talk. You can't make small talk out of something that "amazing." :)

Doug and I have been really busy with work and church. At first I was going to be working the entire weekend. I was kind of bummed about it, but figured that at least I would be getting holiday pay on Monday. Yesterday when I was at work, my manager was needing to fix my schedule because she had accidentally scheduled me for six days, when we can legally only be scheduled for five. One of my coworkers heard about how we were going to get holiday pay on Monday. She said, "I wish I was working tomorrow!" So I said, "You can have my shift!" And my manager let her have it. Yes! I was seriously so happy I think I had one of my best customer service days, even though I was in the fitting rooms, which is my least favorite position to be in.

This morning we slept in pretty late. My dad made french toast and bacon. Then my dad and Doug moved our bed from the garage to Devonna's room, so now we have a big more space, and a private bathroom. And we won't be in the middle of the house where you can hear everything (Nana and Papa, I can't believe you never complained about the noise we'd make playing board games after you guys went to bed!)

I finished reading the third book of the Hunger Games books. I liked them. They were better than Twilight in so many ways. But I already know that the movies are going to suck because they won't be able to correctly portray many of the scenes.

Doug and I hit the beach in the afternoon. It was the first time we've been able to hang out just us since we've been back. It was a relief. And a lady complimented my hat when we were at the corner liquor store getting lemonades and chips. Yes! For a little bit after we got back, it was strange to adjust to not always having Doug around. I told him how it was weird not literally living our lives together anymore. And that I felt like I kept forgetting stuff that I wanted to tell him that had happened throughout the day. And it was weird texting him again. Or texting anyone at all for that matter.

After the beach we drove around Ventura looking for places to rent. We're not quite ready to move out yet and still need to save up to do so, but it's good to know what's out there.

We came home and finished our clothes and essentials to our new room. Doug was nice enough to make our bed :)

We watched Tangled with my mom. I had only seen it once and had gotten it through Netflix. Such a good movie. Love it.

Tomorrow starts another busy week and another day in our lives. We're just trying to keep our priorities straight and not get lost in the busyness.