Life Is ...

Life is so surprising.
Today while driving around Reno Nevada in my 1966 Vw Bug that I have fondly named Lucy Blue, I had this surprising feeling that  I am home. I never in a million years would have ever thought that moving back to Nevada 2 years ago I would feel this way, but today it was like a wave of warm water washing over me, saying you are home.
I am a Native Nevadan, born at Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe some 40 years ago, but I have never felt like Nevada was home to me. I always had dreams of going here, there, and everywhere... really just anywhere but here. I was constantly dissin on Nevada like it was nobodies biz-niz. I made Nevada-hatin my hobby!!
So it's no surprise that when I came of age I had plans to get the heck outta here.  When I was a Senior in High School I was set to go to Azusa Pacific University. I had scholarships, I had an acceptance letter, I was all but walking out the door when the wind of change started to mess with my heart.  Or... some might say the Holy Spirit changed my heart. For reasons that my 18 year old brain made logical, I stayed in Nevada and opted to go to the local community college.
Life is so strange.
Had I gone onto pursue dreams elsewhere I would have never fallen in love with My Giant and our 21 year love story, that now includes 4 amazing people, would not be what it is today. Still, I had the bug to live anywhere but here and so did my Giant so in 2009 when financial disaster came knocking on our front door by the name of Bank of America we said see ya Nevada, or some might say... Peace Out Brown Town!! We headed up to a lush green oasis. No wait... we moved into a tiny little cabin in the woods of Washington and by tiny I mean 800 square feet of small.  6 people, and 1 bathroom an oasis it was not.  By outsiders looking in I'm sure we seemed crazy, but to our family and at that time it was exactly what we needed to heal.
Life is so beautiful.
We spent almost 4 years up there in Redmond Washington and I honestly felt as though I was in my forever home.  I never wanted to leave the PNW. I loved the rain. I came alive when it was overcast and cloudy. I breathed Oh So Deep the smells, the colors, the sights, the sounds, meanwhile My Giant was dying. Literally his physical body working the job that we needed him to work to live up there was killing him. Something had to change.

Life is so miraculous.
It was around that time that a beloved friend of ours started to contact My Giant about a business adventure. I will admit I wasn't happy about these conversations. But, I would be lying if I said that I didn't see the sparkle in my Giants eyes when he would talk to this friend.  I began to feel those winds of change again.
Life is so funny.
We took the leap of faith and moved back. I wasn't happy about it, but I knew somehow deep down in my knower that it was the absolute right thing to do. And now 2 years later a wave of confirmation came over me that I can't deny. I am home. It might not be for forever. Obviously as a Christ follower I am HOMESICK for my eternal home. Nevada may very well be our hallway to another place. But for now it is exactly where we are supposed to be and it feels pretty damn good.
P.S.
**It could have been that it was rainy and that always makes me feel like I'm home, but I'm gonna go with what I know and that is that God has done a work and changed my heart about Nevada.  I'm so glad He's not done working. Now it's your turn;    Life is... 

One Thing I love about Nevada

It's no secret that I am not the biggest fan for the State of Nevada. Ahem.... From the time I was a young teen I would tell people, "Ya know technically, I'm not a native Nevadian because I was born in South Lake Tahoe on the California side." Being on the California side of the Lake was a big deal to me. A VERY BIG DEAL! I know, I know it's so silly, but it meant something to me that my birth certificate says California and NOT Nevada! Maybe it had something to do with that song the Beach Boys sang, "I wish they all could be California girls..."  Oh heck... that's so lame I can't even believe I just typed that out loud!! Moving on...   Since moving away and then moving back I have realized there are a lot of things about this state that I may have been a little hard on it about. I'm sorry Nevada, it's not all your fault that the lawmakers allowed for gambling and prostitution. Or that there is so much brown in this state that I call it Brown Town! Or that your state flower is Sagebrush. Really Nevada?  You're gonna go ahead and call a brush a flower? Can I go on record saying  that a BRUSH does not equate to a FLOWER!! And that your State brush makes me sneeze!! Whew... I feel much better now. As you can see, I don't think I will ever be happy about those aspects of this state, but if I don't focus on that I'm good. People keep asking me if I'm happy to back, and I feel so strange when I go to answer them, because for the most part I am happy to be back with my family and beloved friends. I love my family, and being away from them these past 4 years was not my favorite, but I was finding a way to make it work. I'm also happy to be back with friends that may as well be family. The group of friends we have here are an incredible, amazing bunch.  Still, my feelings are in a quandary.  I'm bewildered, perplexed, and down right confused about how I actually feel about being back. On the one hand my heart is overflowing with joy to be with my nieces, my sisters and brothers, my mom and dad, and my beloved friends. Seriously, all the events that have already taken place in just the few short months of being back have been OFF THE HOOK amazing! It's the kinda of thing that makes me sad for all the 4 years I missed out on this stuff.  On the other hand, when I look down at my feet and they are cracking to the point of pain because of this dry desert place, and I drive down the street and see billboards that are down right offensive and totally inappropriate from my 9 year old boy to have to see, I get down right angry!!
I'm talking down, and right here!
I mean who can blame me? Cracked feet and butt crack on billboards... not GOOD! But, ya know feelings are funny that way. Have you ever had this kind of quandary with your feelings? It's quite confusing if you ask me.  To feel happy and sad all at the same time is a bit of a predicament.  I guess that's why they say,  "It's not really that feelings are bad it's what we do with them that can have serious ramifications" WHO ARE THEY anyway? Well, I'm going to tell you what I'll do with these feelings, I'm going to share them with you and move on to the Sunny side of the Street.  This post is an attempt to stay on the positive side of Nevada. I don't know if you know this about me but I like to say positive if at all possible. So let me tell you what I love about Nevada.
THE FALL . Period 

The Autumn season here is seriously my favorite, and I realized something this year, one of the reason I might love Fall here so much is because this is when all the fun events that I love in Nevada take place.  There are the Balloon Races, Italian Festival, Candy Dance, and of course who can forget the Nevada day parade.  Yes, I LOVE the Nevada day parade!  Don't judge me!!

Would you look at all those crunchy leaves just waiting to be piled up and jumped upon. Washington I love you, but you don't produce crunch in your leaves during the Fall season.  I still love you though. Don't get butt hurt Washington, I'll be back in the summer when it's a hundred degrees here and smoke fills the air.  There ya have it folks. What I love about Nevada is the Fall, and of course more than all the Pumpkin Spice Lattes the world could ever make, I love the people you have here Nevada.  But then you turn icy cold outside and because I'm not a skier Lake Tahoe has no appeal to me in the Winter months so I go back   to loathing this dry desert place.   Just in case you wanted to know ;)

Be it ever so Humble...

There truly is no place like home.

I have been living out of bags for a month, with 4 kids, 2 dogs, and 1 hubby(who for the most part took care of his own bag, THANK GOD!!).
Needless to say, I am happy SO HAPPY to be home.

We hit the ground running on June 1st with our big trip to NV. We arrived June 2nd wiped out from driving all night and then June 3rd it all began. The first celebration and order of business/pleasure... to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary.
It was great to be in Carson City for this day. 16 years later there we sat, me and my Giant across from one another at The Cracker Box(a lil breakfast joint in CC that holds so many memories and really great omelets) and I thought to my self, "Self... you are one fortunate girl" Still thanking God for the beautiful man that sat across the table from me, and still so very much in love.

Then June 4th lil brother Jeremy's graduation celebration. Hard to believe that my lil bro is not only graduated, 19 years old, a hard working responsible adult, and planning to move in a year to my neck of the woods. Yippee!! I am so proud of him. He is an amazing person, truly. It was also the graduation day for some very close friends of ours only son, Ashton who is another amazing person. Come to think of it 2011 graduated 3 amazing graduates and the world is fortunate to get to have them all in our class now... Jeremy, Ashton, Maria congratulations!!

The next day we did some more after celebrating with friends and family and on June 6th Mo had to fly back to WA for two more weeks of work.

Meanwhile, the kids and myself stayed behind for a whole lotta busy.

Bullet Points-

Jeremy's 19th b-day
Visit with the fabulous Gardners
Maria's graduation
Jessica's Baby shower
Jenny's wedding shower
Wedding errands
Savanah's b-day
Savanah's b-day party
Visit to Brother Greg at Fire academy
Wedding errands
Izzy's b-day
Father's day
Natalie's b-day party
Wedding errands :)
Week at Wallies
Mo comes home(celebrate Father's Day again)
Mo and boys go camping-pack for boys
Sleep over with Marie
Jenny's Bachelorette Party
More Wedding errands
Boys come home from camping, clean boys and pack them for the big event
Wedding Rehearsal
WEDDING OF THE CENTURY :)))))))
Visits with the fabulous Munnerlyn family
Visit with the Harder/Johnson family
Sleep over with Vanhoose's
Visit with the Gore family

Sigh...... Post traumatic stress from an overload of busy!!

Kidding of course, but I am truly glad to be home.
Clean house.
Laundry going.
Kids relaxing.
And most importantly sleeping in my OWN bed tonight!

The saying is never more true for me than today;

"Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home!"

P.S. to any NV peeps that I didn't get to squeeze this time around please read the above note and know that I love you and that is was just NOT physically possible for a squeeze THIS TIME.

A Perfect Fall Day

Today was an absolute perfect Fall day here in Northern Nevada. I love this time of year so much that I when it starts coming around my heart almost skips a beat in anticipation.
I am not sure if it is the smell of pumpkin candles, the candy corns that are one of my favorites, or just the amazing colors that the trees turn that takes my breath away. Whatever the reason, every year I think I fall more and more in love with this season.
Today I had the thought that I might miss the falls here as compared to the fall season in Washington. It's so hard not knowing exactly what to expect. I am sure there will be slight differences but I am expecting that it will be just as grand as it is here. One thing I have to give credit to Nevada for, and that I have always loved about Northern NV is that we do get a full dose of every single season. Sometimes they are extreme but for the most part they are the typical seasons protocol. I wonder if that will be the same in Washington? It's not that I want it to be the same in Washington it's just some things kind of anchor you as a person. You get used to things being a certain way.
I have never felt more ready in my life for this big change, but now that it is finally here, I am a bit weepy about it all. Strange, but true.
I feel prepared but at the same time overwhelmed if that is at all possible to feel together.
I asked Moses the other day if he was getting excited about getting up there and his response was perfect; "Yeah, that's one of the emotions that is in there."

Okay so here is the song that comes to mind with this thought process

Lyrics go like this;

Seasons change...
People change...

You guess the rest??

Pictures were taken last fall underneath my tree. I would say that I might miss that tree but where I am going is tree country and I will have 5 acres of them :) to enjoy.

Maybe some outside yard pick up would be good??

Apparently, our house from the outside looks like it could be the Burning Man youth Hostel. Last night I saw a car circling around outside our house and I just had a feeling the guy was not only lost but a burner because he had a few bikes on the back of his Honda and his backseat was loaded up with rubbermaid tubs of camping stuff. So being a good neighbor I went over  to ask,before I could say anything, with a smile on his face like he was happy to arrived he said, "Is this the Burning Man place?" TO which I replied "Um no, that would be down the street a few houses on your right" He seemed disappointed. 

I began to wonder why he would think our house was the place he was looking for and quickly realized, hmm....

Could it be that there are a few VW's outside or that we have a tree house with pirate decor or that we have a lot of bikes all over our lawn? I could see why he would be confused and in my defense it was dark.

At any rate our friends Jason and Tasha stopped by Monday night on their way out and said that we should at least drive out there one of the nights to see all the lights. Maybe we will inch our way over, maybe not. I hope they have a great time.

I have talked about this topic a lot on here. To go or not to go? Here are my final thoughts, if there was a way that we could go see all the amazing art work without all the debauchery, drug use, naked people, free loaders, pagan rituals, etc... going on then it would be a no brainer. I love art work that is obvious, but sometimes the artists are scary and I don't really want to spend a week in the desert with them. The jury is still out on this one but once again this year, I was not sad that we were NOT going.

Quiznos Man on McCarran

This blog will only make sense if you live in Reno, drive on N. McCarran on a regular basis, and have seen the light-footed gentleman who holds the Quiznos sign.
So, if you fall into that catergory, have you seen this man? I just wonder what is playing in his Ipod and why he gives me a peace sign everytime I wave back at him. Are you supposed to wave back at him or is he just doing his job? Did they tell him he has to dance like that or did he just get handed some Quizno lemons and is making lemonade out of them?
Anyway, whatever the case he puts a smile on my face everytime I drive by.
Oh yeah, one more question- Do you think he gets a yummy sandwich everyday for free?

A beautiful Fall day

Today has got to be one of the most beautiful days I have ever seen in Nevada. The explosions of color that are happening on every tree around here is amazing. I drive by these trees so much slower just to take it all in. By next week, the trees will mostly all be barren and empty and the weather will get very, very chilly. Right now though , once again I am amazed by The Creator, and how year after beautiful year He produces such awesome beauty for His kids to enjoy. You couldn't paint these colors even if you tried.
I made a carrot cake with maple cream cheese frosting, lit candles that smell like fall, and hung out with some beautiful brand new moms while our babies fell asleep in our laps (probably from our non-stop chatter) the leaves fell off the trees right outside my window and I thought, what a gorgoues fall morning. I couldn't ask for better ingredients in life. Good company, Good food, Good scenery, and a very Good God who knows my name and made explosions in the sky just for me.

The Calvary has arrived

The burning man people have invaded the neighborhood once again and once again I am totally enjoying the people watching .
I wonder if I could stick a sign out and offer up all the junk I have in my backyard for thier creations. It just might save us a trip to the dump.
Tasha I don't think I ever need to go since half of the people that go come to me and a bonus to that is that I don't even have to pay the $300 ticket price to get in. All my entertainment is for free and from the comfort of my couch.

Nevada Day Parade

For years and years I have been attending the Nevada Day parade. Ever since I was a little girl sitting on the sidewalk, gorging myself with my big bag of trick or treat candy waiting ever so patiently for Bertha and Tina to pass by this has been a tradition that I now get to share with my lil ones.
My mom is the biggest fan of this event ,but over the years she no longer can force us to go, and surprisingly enough I am the only one out the five of us kids who sits by her side year after year. In fairness to my older sister Jenny who lives in L.A. I don't think I would by a ticket for this event either, but all others could attend if they wanted. To my dismay though they don't share the same joy over this event. I wonder why?? Now, Jeremy my youngest brother still has to go because he is only 13 and doesn't have the free will choice yet(poor guy) .
The Giant has been dragged along a few times (once pre marriage, once children and friends(thanks Jason and Alyse) who guilted him into going) but other than that he's not a big fan. My hopes are that one day he will join the bag-pipin Sierra Highlanders group and then he will have to go.

My friends over the years have relentlessly teased and laughed at me for going to this parade . One of them even wrote a poem in honor of Nevada Day Parade and the people who attend , but still my love for it doesn't waver.
Now, I know that there is no other day that you will see all of Nevada at it's finest. The parade entries range from churches evanlegizing and worshiping Jesus(ahem..was on one of those once or twice) to the Playboy bunnies from the Mustang Ranch. This is the finest people watchin event around for me and it doesn't get any better than this for diversety.
So today was yet again another great day for the parade. I shared my memories with my girls, baby, mom, dad, brother Jeremy,Uncle Jimmy, and Cousin Glen. We covered our ears as the guns went off, we laughed at the Shriners dressed as clowns, we ooh and awwwed at the Miss, Ms. and Mrs. Nevada's that went by and pretty much enjoyed ourselves throughly.
Who know's maybe by next year the main attraction will be my Giant in a kilt!!! Now that's a funny thought.

They're baaackk!!!

Yes , the burning man people have returned and quite dusty I might add. They actually have been trickling in this whole week and the returned product is more fun to watch then when they left.
So, my interest has been peeked. I checked out the website and low and behold you can actually bring children to this event. They have a whole section on how to make this into a fun, family trip. Whooaaa!!! I am really, really a bit perplexed and lil concerned now.
I thought about walking down there today and passing out tickets to the car wash but then I thought I better save those for myself cause they were given to ME from a very thoughtful friend, and my car that is lookin pretty shabby again should really be the benefactor of those.
Anyhew, I discovered from thier own advertisement on the back of one of the RV's that my nieghbors house is officially known as the Black Rock Sage Burning Man Hostile. Hmmm....and again I say Hmmmm.....
Does this mean that they might be there for months to come. COOL!! I am enjoying the free entertainment and who knows maybe I will get to figure out what all the hype is about from them.
I am trying to think of way to start up a conversation but then again maybe not. Dunno if I am brave or trained enough for this social event.
Any ideas???

Burning Man or Bust!!!

Ok so I feel compelled to write about the "goings on" down the street from me. I have a few sketchy neighbors but this one beats all!!

First things first, I have nothing against the occasional RV parked on the street especially in summertime. You don't think much of something like that ,but when there are about 4 to 5 of them and they are all old, run down, and painted very artistically ya start to think it might be time to walk on the other side of the street. Now, I have to mention that my neighbor I believe owns half of these and then the few extra have been showin up periodically throughout the week. I started to think that this might be a family's new living situation. Hey why not the city doesn't limit how many vehicles you can park all over your property(I adda know cause I have from time to time had quite a few VW's parked outside)But then today two indicators that this might be more than a new, cozy, humble home for my neighbor and all his friends and relations.
1. A sign that read "Burning man or Bust"
2. A nice (strange man) strollin down our street with a shoppin cart full of beer and toilet paper,that's all (first thing in the morning I might add)
3. Very interesting creations appearing around all these RV's
Ok so , I pretty much got it after #1's indicator but I thought I would add #2 and #3 for color and humor.
Well, I have been invited to go , but alas I think I might have to hold out and go to something a lil less strange(but not by much) BUG O RAMA in Sacremento.