We ride to OREGON!

Look at this climbing baby!

I feel like a warrior. After packing and packing and cleaning and packing some more, I feel like Xena, but without the warrior-princess getup. Instead I get to wear baby food covered comfy clothes. I prefer my outfit - WAY less chafing. Packing and cleaning with a vertically inclined baby in the house is I.M.P.O.S.S.I.B.L.E! We had everything packed up and in the front room in boxes, and Little J decided to climb to the very top of the stack. Over and over and over again. My heart skipped lots of beats that day. After we moved all the boxes to the storage unit, Little J came and sat on the couch, pointed at where the boxes used to be and said, "Uh!". He was pretty sad that they were gone. So, he decided to climb on the camp chairs instead.

We have almost everything packed, except for the essentials - computer (duh!), changing table, couches, bed, and the diaper genie. Little J likes all the open space and has been exploring all the empty closets. We like playing peek-a-boo in them. It's been nice to slowly move into the storage unit and not have to do it all in one fell swoop.

It's dangerous to go alone. Take this
string with you.

We're leaving on the 31st to drive to Oregon with nothing but the essentials packed into our Subie. It'll be an intense game of Tetris to fit everything in the back, but I think everything'll fit.

Moving has created a kind of existential crisis in my mind! All of our earthly possessions are packed in a 10' x 15' storage locker! All our lives are in there. All of Little J's baby clothes, our bikes, our bed, our furniture. It's like we've just shrunk our lives to fit into this tiny space. But then I got to thinking. Is it really our lives in there? That's assuming that our lives are defined by what we own. I don't want to make that assumption. I think we're more defined by how and what we do, not what we own. That made me feel better about leaving all of our stuff in a corrugated metal shack.

I need some advice. It's a 12-hour drive to Sisters, Oregon from here, and we're trying to decide if we should drive there at night. Little J HATES his carseat like a cat hates a spray bottle. I'm afraid driving there during the day would mean lots of tears from the small one, and lots of frustration from the big ones. But, I don't want to get to Oregon at 7am, and then be a peanut butter brain for the rest of the day. Thoughts? Thanks.

More time outside

Hi Internet!

Little J and I have been spending a lot of time outside. Every time we get the chance, we go to the pool, the lake, or the mountains. Three's a beach nearby and we go and sit in the sand. Little J eats the sand, but I'm not convinced it's that tasty. We go to the pool and float around. He's COMPLETELY TERRIFIED of the water unless he's in a floaty thing. Picture how a baby sloth hangs on to his mom - that's how Little J was hanging on to me.

We also go hiking up in the mountains! We took a road up to the top of Butterfield Canyon near the copper mine, and it was beautiful. The road was terrifsome. That's a mix of terrifying and awesome. It was definitely one-lane and all the corners were blind. And on one side was a steep drop-off to your certain death and the other side was another cliff going straight up. I used a lot of adrenaline to get up the hill.

  

I know he doesn't look thrilled with his situation, but
he was having fun, I swear!

We got up to the top and I put Little J in the backpack and off we went. The path was somewhat level and really beautiful. There were lots of gorgeous views of the south end of the Salt Lake Valley. We were going to hike for longer, but hiking with a baby by yourself in the wilderness in bear season makes you jumpy. You know that feeling you get while you're hiking and you feel like some big carnivore is watching you? Yeah, I definitely felt like that. I had made lots of plans on how to defend myself from cougars, bears, etc while we were walking back.

So I loaded him back in the car and down the hill we went. We braved the terrifsome road again, and made it home unscathed.

If Little J is ever fussy, all I have to do is take him outside, and it's like he's a completely different baby. He calms down immediately and I can just tell that he's soaking in everything around him. I tell him about the birds and butterflies and he seems to care. I love that he has an "off" switch like that and I hope he keeps it that way.

Also, in other news, we're moving to Oregon at the end of this month. Who knew that was going to happen? Definitely not me. I'm excited for this next portion of our lives.