Blogg'n Out & Catch'n Up

Hello family & friends! Our lovely friend Amy Erwin told us about this great blog sight & urged us to start our own Chavis family blog to keep our loved ones up to date on our day to day lives. Now that we have moved to Northern California, it seems like there is no better time to begin this blog - so, here we go! I am hoping that this will help to keep us in touch with everyone we care so much about since emailing & calling each of you as often as we would like is impossible!

So, we start this new blog with an ending & a beginning...

To catch some of you up, our little family (Michael, me - Hillary, & Miles Alexander the Great) recently relocated to Northern California from our Southern California home in Mission Viejo. Even though we debated this big move for months, the actual move itself happened so fast & without much warning. Within a matter of 10 days of Mike finding out he had secured the job he wanted in Sacramento (way to go babe!) we packed up our condo & dumped our lives into my parents home in Chico (thanks Mom & Dad!). We plan to stay with my parents until we buy our 1st home in Lincoln, CA! So exciting! The 10 days leading up to our move were INSANE & on top of packing up way more stuff than I ever imagined we had, I got hit by a drunk driver (I am OK, Miles was not in the car - thank you LORD - & justice was served!) & had oral surgery requiring some drugs that kicked my butt for a full 48 hours. The move itself was a little rocky. I will say that I now know why people hire profesional movers despite the nasty expense. And I just have to give a HUGE thanks to the most AMAZING in-laws (Harlis & Lyn), family (Uncle Billy) & friends (John Parker, Brock & Alberto) who made it possible for us to move (& helped us solve our unforeseen moving dilemmas!). After too much chaos to even want to remember, we made it to Chico safely & the craziness has not stopped since.

I have to say that I love being around my family, especially since Miles thrives on all the love & attention (& I guess you could say Grandma Kisses & Grandpa do too!), but life in Chico is no small adjustment. Example: it rains here - a lot lately-, it is cold, lots of people have dreadlocks, lots of people ride bikes with baskets full of cans they salvaged from garbage cans, everyone seems to have a VERY BIG truck, people say "Hi" to you when you pass by, there are huge trees that have changing leaves, I have not seen one land rover anywhere, gas is cheaper, & I could go on. My parents have been very generous in letting us move into their home & it just so happened that they finished building a guest house in the backyard right before we moved up! How awesome is that? If it wasn't for Mike's gnarly commute, we might never move out! Haha!

Since we have been in Chico, our days have been filled with house hunting (so much more intense than I ever imagined!), caring for Miles & un-packing. Mike started his new job last week as a Senior Recruiter with TechniSource & aside from the temporary commute (a little under 2 hrs each way!) he is really happy with everything. Our friends (Michael, Amber, Brian & Kyle) have been letting Mike crash at their places so he can have a break from the drive every once in awhile; it is so wonderful to have such generous friends & we can't wait to return the favor once we are settled into a new home ;) I have been looking for houses on-line, talking with our real estate agent/mortgage brokers & faxing offers in between caring for Miles, doing laundry, cleaning & cooking. Searching for a home from a distant location is not easy but thankfully we have an awesome agent, Josh Blackwood with Here to Help Realty in Newcastle. And, my mom has been super helpful in our search since she is a closet real estate fanatic! The houses in Lincoln are all pretty new & we have been impressed by most of what we have seen. We have put several offers in on houses we would love to call home & with any luck one will get accepted. The market in Placer County is so booming that most houses have 4 or 5 offers that we have to compete with. We definately were not expecting that!

This past weekend, Mike & I got to take a little mini-vacay from all the nuttiness of our move & we travelled to San Diego for Amy & Alberto's wedding. It was my first full weekend away from the little man & I have to say I did much better being away from him than I thought I would. Although, I was sick with anticipation the entire drive home from the Sac airport - I just wanted to hold him so badly. MIz stayed with Grandma & had a fabulous time - he didn't even know I was gone! Our weekend in SD was busy but we had SOOOOOO much fun & San Diego was at it's best - clear skies & 80 degree temperatures. Ahhhh, why did we move again? Mike & I were both in the wedding party & had the best time getting to know Amy & Alberto's out of town friends & family. The rehersal dinner was on Halloween & we all dressed up for the event. Jay ,as Oscar the grouch, & Alberto Sr., as Tony Montano, definately got my vote for best costume. Mike was a sweaty gorilla (full gorilla suit & increased body temerature from shots of alcohol = stinky man in gorilla costume) & I was Wonder Woman. It was an awesome rehersal dinner that I will think of every time I hear the Jason Mraz sond Shann, Briggy & I played over & over again. As for the BIG day, I loved getting to be with Amy as she got ready. I was SO emotional as I observed the joy, peace & love that surrounded her. It really was a perfect wedding & Amy was one of the most beautiful brides I have ever seen. And, Alberto didn't look so bad himself ;) The newlyweds spent the entire evening together on the dance floor which I thought was a true testiment to their relationship. You could just see they had the best time! So, to our beloved friends - Congratulations! - & we are so jealous that you are chillax'n in Argentina as I type this! It was also wonderful to see our friends & family again since our move happened so fast. Being around everyone made me so OC-sick & I was again confronted with the fact that this move is so bittersweet. Oh, I am really going to miss everyone...:(

So, that is all for now! I will do my best to keep this thing updated at least weekly. And, please don't judge how well I will do with this blog by my use of Facebook or MySpace - I know, I suck. But, this will be different - just wait!