E-I-E-I-O

*I've heard people were having problems seeing videos on my posts. As long as I'm on a computer, not a phone, I'm able to see them. Also try a different browser? Lastly, be warned the videos aren't edited. So some may be a little long for what they are, but I didn't feel like going through and cutting out just the cute parts. 

This weekend was the best weekend we've had in a while! Ben had a few days off in a row so he was able to get some rest the first day and then be ready for some family fun the next! We went to a little farm about 45 minutes north of us. An acquaintance from our ward who is also military tipped us off that military got free admission so it was totally worth the drive! 

Every year I have asked Ben to humor me and go to some sort of festive farm during the fall months. There is just something that I love about the idea of walking through a corn maze and walking through rows of pumpkins! The first year of our marriage we had a couple invite us to a pumpkin patch. It was more pumpkins than activities, so it wasn't my ideal location. The second year I got it in my head I wanted to go to a haunted corn maze so we drove about an hour to a farm that had after dark activities. Turned out the haunted "maze" wasn't really a maze and more a walk through of the corn with an occasional creepy person. It was fun, but nearly ended our marriage when Ben jokingly started to run off and leave me behind in the maze! The third year we went to the same farm, but during the day. I was pregnant that year and every ride had a warning saying if you were pregnant not to ride. So I felt a little shady every time we went on an attraction. The highlight that year ended up being the apple gun. Ben had accidentally bought the extra expensive tickets that give you free access to the apple gun so we really had to take advantage. The forth year we were in San Antonio for the prime fall weeks. I was still determined to keep up the tradition, on the drive back from San Antonio we took an hour pit stop to go take a picture and play some corn hole. 

This year trumped (does anyone else feel like that word is ruined?) all the others! This place had it all and it only cost us the gas to get there! This was the first time a trip to one of these places was totally enjoyable. It may have also helped that Covid meant they had to put a cap on tickets so the place wasn't over crowded. We just had to have our masks on when social distancing wasn't possible which wasn't too often. 

First stop, the tractor swing! Although I don't know if you can call it a swing because there was literally a sign telling you to not swing in it! It said to not swing, but glide. False advertising. 

This video is a little longer than it's worth, but it's the only evidence of all the fun slides there. 

Of course we had to try the corn maze! I always get so excited about corn mazes, but then once I'm in them I realize I don't like the feeling of not knowing how to get out of somewhere. We had a fun time at first, but we didn't actually know exactly where the exit was so the whole time we were totally guessing which direction we needed to head. After we'd been in the maze long enough to want to get out we found a make-shift exit that a few people had obviously taken out of desperation. We were tempted, but we carried on and found the true exit. The rest of the day we were able to feel superior to every group we spotted coming out of the fake exit. 

Our hardened criminal

Daddy is always able to make any activity fun. She was giggling way more before I pulled out the camera, but I captured a few. 

I love how the simplest things can entertain her at this age. All you need is a large pipe to entertain her for quite a while! 

The best part of the whole thing for Riley was this little ball area. This girl loves any type of ball. She may end up being a soccer player after all. Ben would be so happy! 

Look at this adorable little cow!!

And then we found the goats....this soon became the best moments of our life. I've included a lot of videos. I just thought every one had a cute moment in it! So skip them if you want, but I love them! 

What kind of place is this?? How are my parents okay with me being this close to a dirty animal, but eating a crayon is prohibited??

They let you buy little cups with food for the goats, but Ben soon found that was unnecessary. With most of those cups going into the hand of small children there was goat food all over the ground.

On the way out we tried their fresh cider donuts which were amazing! A donut and some chocolate milk was the perfect way to finish the outing and a surefire way to have Ben agree that we have to go back next year! :) 

(Riley hurt her nose a few days earlier, that's what the scab under the nose is)

Rivers and Roads

On June 5th 2020 the following conversation was had: 

Britt: I need to figure out where I'm moving. I don't want to go back to Utah longterm but I'm also done with Oregon so we'll see where I end up come September.

Em: Done with Oregon huh?? How does Maryland sound??

and the rest is history. 

Okay I'll go into a little more detail. At first it didn't appear that Britt viewed my offer with much gusto. This happened on a group chat with Ana and Mel so she continued talking about renting vs buying homes. The soul crushing feeling of throwing your money away paying rent. Not wanting to live on her own, but wanting to move somewhere new. Every so often I threw in more suggestions like "Ummm remember my offer of living in our basement??" Later in the conversation a sign came that she was actually considering it, "Em what's your exact location in Maryland?" After I sent her a video of the space downstairs she started moving fast! Saying she would send me a contract and this was now her space!

A little later in the conversation our euphoria was dampened by the reality that we don't own this house and we'd have to make sure our landlord was okay with an extra person living here. We had just had an awkward interaction with our landlord and I definitely didn't want to talk to him any time soon. I hemmed and hawed over that for quite a bit, but in the end the landlord could not have cared less. As long as he doesn't actually need to do anything he can be pretty chill.  

Once things with the landlord were settled I could actually start looking forward to Britt moving in! Obviously, my offer of Britt moving in was pretty spontaneous so I hadn't actually discussed it with Ben until a few hours after the offer was made and Britt was set about her plans. 😅(btw what does it say about me that this is by FAR my most used emoji?) From the moment I told Ben the idea he was fully on board. He has always encouraged me to do things that will make me happier, especially when he knows he won't be around much to help me. He's just great like that. My happiness comes above all else. He has never complained or even commented on there being no prepared dinner upon his arrival. (Back when he was coming home around dinner time...won't be like that for a while.) He has never commented on how many toys he has to step over on his way through the living room. He has never commented on the fact that I seem to be wearing the same thing I was wearing when he left early that morning. If anything he uses all this as data as to how good or hard the day has been and steps up accordingly. So of course, when I told him that I thought it would be so fun to have Britt here to keep me company during the first year of residency in a new, sometimes lonely place he thought it was a perfect idea. In the weeks to follow, as we were unpacking our house there were multiple times where he would do something with the thought that maybe Britt would want that space for her things or we need to do this to be ready for Britt. It was so fun that while we were setting up our space we were already planning for our potential roommate and showed me that he was serious about being okay with it happening. 

Britt and I have lived in quite a few different homes together in our lifetime. We started off in our childhood home in Eureka. Being the two youngest siblings we often played together and developed a strong bond early, but it was nothing compared to what it would become. I credit our move to Utah as the catalyst to a lot of my strong bonds that formed with my siblings. Britt and I became each others closest confidant. When we went to summer ward get togethers that were mainly attended by young mothers with toddlers we had each other to help us get through it. We spent our weekends watching the best moments of Star Wars II and III and Lord of the Ring 1-3. I knew that telling Britt I would do her hair was a sure fire way to help her get up for school. We would dance to Rain by Mika together in the basement. We always agreed on watching Gilmore Girls after school no matter how many times we'd watched it through already. My worst nightmare was when she started making more friends in middle or high school! Who was I going to hang out with if she went out with them??

Eventually I left to go to college. We were still thick as thieves during that time since I just moved 20 minutes away. The biggest and hardest separation was when I left on my mission. I remember Bishop Mortensen asking me what my biggest worry was when I was about to leave. I told him I was worried about Britt and not being a part of her life. When I came home from the mission Britt had moved about 2 and a half hours north of me, but we did our best to visit semi-regularly. Even as our lifestyle choices would've seemed like they'd distance us we remained tightly bonded. Then I floated a crazy idea to Britt. What if we moved to Washington state next year? I was graduating and wanted to go to PT school after BYU. I wanted to do it on the west coast and Washington had a few more school options than Oregon. Britt was on board! Things changed in that year before our move. I met a boy and happened to really like where things were going with him. That didn't change my desire to help Britt move out of Utah even if it wasn't going to benefit my future career like I thought. 

So part two of us living together became our time in Oregon! (It changed to Oregon once I didn't need it to be Washington for school reasons.) This would become some of the darkest times in our history...living on camping mats on the floor of Mel's toy room. Waking up with a slug on my pillow. The only escape from the small living quarters being a spider filled backyard, basically our worst nightmare. All jokes aside we were very grateful to Mel for taking us in during our month of homelessness, but I think we all learned something about ourselves in those weeks. We moved from Mel's house into a basement room in a random lady's house in Oregon. She was in Mel's ward and she offered the room for $500 a month so we took it! (Although Pedro* was offering a much more reasonable rate.) Yes we had to deal with some awkward encounters with children, but it really was a great set up and just what we needed. Britt found her awesome marketing job and posted a craigslist ad to find a future roommate from that room. It helped jumpstart her real life in Portland. Once my job of figuring out Britt's life was done I headed home. 

For the four years I lived in Texas Britt and I did not live together...go figure. 

Although I guess there was that one week in Mexico...

So here we are! At the beginning of our next adventure! I hope I can treasure these next months and not let them slip by too quick. I've already loved seeing Britt start to find her place in our little family. She is going to be the reason Riley learns her colors and numbers. She is diligent! The coolest part of all these different times in our lives that we've crossed is that I get to see the growth she's making. A lot of the times siblings grow up together, start their own family, and then move away only seeing each other a few weeks of the year. Living with her even for just a week and a half I can see how much she grew in her time in Oregon. Evette must have done some good work with her because while I can definitely still find lots of "classic Britty" in her she's also become quite the adult. Here's hoping I can help her during this part of her life somehow because she sure is helping me already!  

(I know, a current picture of us together would be so perfect right there...well the only one we have is going to be posted on Britt's instagram someday soonish so you will just have to imagine) 

*Names have been changed to protect their identities and because I don't actually remember his name anymore.