Moving

Packing took a bit longer than we anticipated. We had our stuff stowed away at three different places, so we had to take that into consideration while we packed up our apartment. And we accumulated a surprising amount of stuff in the 7 short months we lived in the apartment.

Dru, surveying the chaos, with a bottle of wine in hand (appropriately so)


Margo, surveying the chaos while DRINKING from the bottle of wine and holding another (double appropriately so)


Fin, getting into the action


A long day of packing - Fin is as exhausted as mommy


Look at that belly - don't you just want to squeeze it?!?


We finally got all packed up and spent a wonderful last evening with our dearest friends, the Pullens. Lorena made us delicious homemade Thai food, Dru and Rick enjoyed a cognac nightcap, and Hannah made Fin smile all evening. We're going to miss them terribly.

Farewells

During our last week in Maine, we had several farewell parties and get-togethers with friends.

Fin had to say goodbye to his wonderful babysitter, Hannah, who did such an exceptional job caring for him. We LOVED Hannah and are sad we can't take her with us to Idaho!

We said farewell to the nursing staff at St. Mary's hospital, where I round on the newborn babies and where Fin was born. Fin got to see the nurse, Darcy, who was there for his entire delivery - she was amazing!

Darcy and Fin


Fin and me with Darcy


Fin loved all the attention



We also said goodbye to all our friends at my work - since Dru brought Fin there every day for lunch, everyone got to know them pretty well, also.

Ann, my PA bud, with Fin


Three stooges (well, two old cronies and one young PA - me and my other PA buds, Jonathan and Dan)


With some of the front office homies - Dan R, Liz, and Marisa


My cookie partner in crime and fellow PA, Angela (aka "Angie Pange")


A mixed bunch - April, the medical assistant big kahuna, Dr. Ray Loo, me, Annie, and Fin

The medical assistant with the mostest, my bud Danyelleeeeee

Me and Fin with "Uncle Brenda" - Fin has too many aunts, so Brenda got to be uncle; she's the only one that could consistently make Fin smile

Me & Fin with Lynn, the super-star billing manager, whose little girl, Lauren, I took care of at the office on occasion

We also said good-bye to a whole bunch of church friends. Tina Salisbury had a little get-together dinner at her house, which was sad for me. I've spent a lot of time and shared a lot of laughter and tears at that house.

Me with Tina

Tina with Fin

Linda and Chantelle Jordan with Fin (Linda threw us a baby shower and Chantelle was one of the jr. highers that Dru and I led in a small group)

Me with the girls - Bethany, Rebekah, and Chantelle; I've known these girls for 3 years now and have watched them grow into young ladies -- I'm going to miss them sorely

Also, our dear friends, Marty and Deborah O'Brien (Marty married us) hosted a bon voyage party for us at their house.

Me, Dru and Finny at the O'Briens

I went to one last baby shower held in honor of JoAnn McDonald who was good friends with Dru long before we got married who then became good friends with me.

Jo, Me, and Fin

And, dear Aunt Mellie Pie was at the shower - Fin thought she was absolutely the bee's knees and couldn't stop grinning at her. Aunt Mellie Pie loved that! She's going to be sorely missed as well. (Yes, I know my son is missing a sock in this picture -- I can't seem to keep them on him!)

It was tough saying goodbye to everyone, but we had so much to look forward to at the same time. It was certainly bittersweet.

Halloween

Little Fin was a pumpkin for Halloween...I know, I know - every little kid is a pumpkin at some point or another for Halloween, but Fin was the cutest pumpkin EVER. :)

We had a mandatory dress-up day at work, so I decided to go as a monk - my friend Ann had the wig and I just bought 3 yards of fabric at Walmart, folded it in half, cut a hole in the middle, and tied a length of rope we had at home around my waist. I love cheap Halloween costumes!

We also had a Halloween party/farewell party for me, Dru, and Fin. They got us a lovely cake and a beautiful personalized "good luck" snowglobe.

Here's a funny picture of the whole gang at work - you can see how elaborate some of the costumes get - the kids love it, of course.

We're Moving and Apple Picking

Well, my dad is FINALLY getting his wish - his middle child and his first grandson, along with his other favorite son-in-law, are finally moving home. God is so gracious and merciful to us - He provided an exceptional job for Margo back home in Ontario, Oregon as a pediatric P.A. A family friend of ours who is a nurse at the local hospital asked one of the doctors she ran into if the doc knew of anyone in the area that might be looking to hire a P.A. The doctor, who happens to be a pediatrician, said, "well, I might be." Our friend immediately got excited and told the doctor all about me. Intrigued, the doctor told her to have me forward my resume on to her, which I promptly did. Within a week, the office manager at Treasure Valley Pediatrics Clinic called me and an interview was scheduled - they paid for my plane ticket and we happened to have enough frequent flyer miles so that Dru and Fin could fly out with me. It was a whirlwind weekend - we flew out on Friday, I interviewed on Friday and Saturday, we had dinner with our entire family Friday night and dinner with the clinic people on Saturday, and then flew back early Sunday morning. They offered me the job on Saturday during the second interview and I enthusiastically accepted. It is VERY hard to find a job as a pediatric PA anywhere in the COUNTRY, much less in the Northwest, much less in the town I GREW UP IN. This is definately the hand of God and we feel so blessed to finally be moving back closer to family. Dru is very excited about leaving, even though it means leaving a job he's had for 20 years; he is thrilled to begin a new adventure and is okay being a stay-at-home dad for a few months while he looks for a job out west.

Fin's first plane ride went exceptionally well. My friend, Anita, had made me a Mari wrap so that I could "wear" Fin through the airport and onto the plane. It worked great and Fin ate, slept, and played through the 8-hour trip to and from Idaho - he didn't fuss at all, which was a relief and a huge blessing. Here's our family marking Fin's first plane trip.


For the first time, all the cousins were together under one roof. Here's a picture of the daughters and their children, from L to R: Margo, Callia, Chelsea, Fin, Julia, and Gretchen


Cousin Callia really enjoyed meeting baby Fin - and Fin really thought cousin Callia was something special - he smiled for her over and over. It was SO cute!

The 3 cousins hanging out with Poppy and Aunt Chelsea

Nana, Aunt Chelsea, and Fin

Uncle Dru and Gretchen

Aunt Juju, Gretchen, and Fin

So, we're making the most of our time with friends while we're still in the Northeast. We went apple picking with our friends the Pullens and then spent a fun afternoon with them carving pumpkins. They made us a DELICIOUS lamb dinner which we chased with some homemade apple pie that I had thrown together right after apple picking. We are going to miss Rick, Lorena, and Hannah very much.

Tractor ride out to the apples

Mommy and Fin spotting "the good ones"

Good thing Daddy's tall....

We found some good ones!

Our family's first apple picking outing on a cold October morning

A baby apple for Fin!

Fin entertaining us with his faces in the apple house

The whole apple picking crew with the orchards in the background

Me and Hannah carving pumpkins while Lorena held Fin

The final creations...

Mommy with her inspiration for this year's jack-o-lantern (if you can't tell, my pumpkin's supposed to be a baby!) :)

Fin enjoyed sites and sounds on Daddy's shoulder - his expressions are priceless!!

Found Fin in his crib like this one night

Found him like this the next night...too funny!