Happy Halloween!

Halloween is always a fun and exciting time for kids, but there are many hazards to look out for. Help keep the little ones in your life safe this year by following some simple safety tips!

1. Wear bright colored, easy to see clothing and costumes. If your little one is wearing a dark costume attach some reflective tape to it or have them wear glow sticks, bracelets, or necklaces. 

2. Do NOT trick or treat alone. Younger children should ALWAYS be with a trusted adult. For older children make sure they are with a group of friends. 

3. Do not accept homemade goods or unwrapped candy. 

4. Examine ALL candy for evidence of tampering.

5. Do not go inside a strangers house.. Duh. 

6. Always cross the street at corners or crosswalks. Look both ways before crossing!

7. Carry a flash light so others (especially drivers) can see you.  

8. Make sure your child's costume fits appropriately to avoid tripping and falling. This includes masks.

9. Go over your ground rules and expectations with your little monsters.

10. Use your common sense. Avoid situations that make you or your child feel uncomfortable.

Have fun and be safe!! 

Final Moving Update

This will be the last Moving Update for a while (yay!). Yesterday we found out we were approved for the apartment we wanted and today we put our deposit down! Yippee! Unfortunately we will have to wait until the beginning of December to move in, but it's worth it considering this is the place we both really wanted to live. December seems like such a long ways away right now, but it will be here before we know it. 

I will say it feels really great knowing we now will have a place of our own again soon! I miss having our fridge.. But I am very grateful that we both have awesome parents who are letting us store our things (and ourselves) at their houses until our place is ready. Yay parents, we owe you! 

Our animals are adjusting really well. Thomas is super stoked to be back on his "turf", seeing as this is the house he spent almost all of his life in. It is adorable seeing him in such a happy mood because he is "home again". I'm sure it helps that he has his window perches back to watch the birdies :) Tifa is also adjusting well. She LOVES having our families and all the new animal friends around. 

Overall things are good. The first days back in Oregon were very stressful, but I think we are finally over that now.. Especially since we found a place to live! My only complaint is the weather, I miss the warm, 75 degree days! But who wouldn't right? 

On the Road Again

As most of you know, last Saturday was the big moving day. Thankfully packing and loading the truck was a breeze this time! Our friends were really a huge help and made everything so much easier! Big thank you to you both!! It also helped that it was only 80 degrees on moving day, as opposed to 115 ;)

Once everything was packed up, I finished some last minute cleaning. We did our final walk through and we were on our way by 2:30 PM!

Within the first two hours of driving Tom and I decided we could drive right through and not stop at a hotel. Kind of crazy in hindsight, but we wanted to get it done. 

Our animals were AMAZING on the car ride! Tifa was a little angel! She played with her toys some, but she mostly just wanted to sit on your lap and snuggle :) Thomas was also an angel! For this car ride we decided to use Tifa's kennel for transporting. Best decision ever. Tifa's kennel is just a metal cage whereas Thomas' kennel is plastic and he really can't see out of it. He had plenty of room in Tifa's to stretch out and move around. The metal holes were large enough that we could stick our hands in and give him attention. He was so happy. He was purring for a lot of the trip. 

We drove through the whole night and at about 7:00 AM we decided to pull over for a nap. I couldn't fall back asleep so I took Tifa out for a much needed walk/run to get some energy out of her. Then the animals got some breakfast, I got some coffee, and we were on our way again. 

The morning and afternoon were very uneventful. We drove over The Siskiyous and stopped for some lunch near Crater Lake. While doing a quick trailer check (we were towing the car behind us) we noticed a bolt was missing. We decided to call Penske's Roadside Assistance just to make sure we were good to go which turned out to be the best decision we ever made.

Even though we called about a very minor thing, everything regarding the trailer hook up was wrong. The Penske worker who helped us at our pick up location offered to hook the trailer up for us so of course we said yes. After all, he works for the company and does this all the time right? He royally messed up. 

Honestly I do not want to get into the details, but let's just say the guy who hooked the trailer up messed up so bad it's a miracle nothing happened. This isn't even exaggerated. It's a miracle no one was hurt. We brought it to Penske's attention and supposedly they sent a regional manager out to the location we picked everything up from, but we intend to go as high as possible with this issue. We should have never been put in the situation we were in, and the guy who hooked us up should (obviously) not have been doing so because he wasn't trained properly. 

Rant over. 

Once everything was PROPERLY hooked up we kept on trucking. At this point we were about 4 hours away from home, and just wanted to be done. 

We finally pulled up to my parents house around 9:45 PM. We were welcomed with a home cooked meal, happy dogs, happy people, and best of all a shower. 

Since then we have had no time to rest. It has been go, go, go with no end in sight until this morning. We still have a few small things to take care of, but nothing crazy. We really just need to spend time with family, spend time with each other, and get some sleep. 

On that note I am going to make some breakfast and lounge around for a while. Have a great day everyone! :)

Saying Goodbye

As a warning before you dive into this post, this is me rambling. So sorry in advance for the rambling and random thoughts! 

I have been torn about if I should share this post or not. It has been sitting in my draft folder for about a week now. I continue to edit and revise everything only to chicken out and "save as a draft" yet again. But not this time!!

This move back to Oregon is bittersweet for me. I am very excited to see my Oregonian friends and family again, but sad to leave the Arizona ones behind. 

Honestly I fell in love with Arizona. It is different from what I grew up with, but it is still so beautiful. I loved the area we were living at, we were close to everything and as an added bonus our apartment complex was actually pretty nice! Of course anything is an upgrade from our apartment in California.. But I digress. 

I feel like I made lifelong friends while living there. That is so special to me. I will miss each one dearly and I look forward to seeing them again in the future. 

So thank you friends who made Arizona feel like home. I will always remember the past three months spent living down there. It was a wonderful treat, and I look forward to going back and visiting!! 

We made it to my parents house last night around 10:00 PM!! I will make a post shortly about our adventure here :) but for today we are apartment hunting and taking care of some business before we relax and spend time with friends!! 

Have a great day everyone!! :)

Weekend Moving Update

We are now SIX days away from moving day.. It is fast approaching. Scary.

Friday was kind of my calm before the storm. It was my day to relax for a couple hours and catch up on Vampire Diaries (don't judge, I love it) and to get a good chunk of packing done while I was home alone. 

I started in the "coat closet" which has just always been full of boxes. I got rid of a few more things, repacked the boxes, and added in some trinkets that were sitting around the house. Then I got everything out of the desk, and packed. 

I also packed up ALL my sewing and crafting gear! Boo!! That is probably the worst packing task for me! I dislike seeing my awesome supplies shoved in boxes and out of my reach. And I noticed the second I pack everything up is the second I want to use it!! Figures.. 

In the afternoon both Tom and I went and picked out the moving truck and trailer to tow the car behind us. Note to all future movers, Penske is way cheaper and their equipment is in way better condition than U-Haul. 

Later I spent some time figuring out a rough plan of what I am packing and when so I don't fall behind. Just the simple act of creating a checklist really calms me down. It makes me feel more organized and prepared for the days to come. 

Saturday I did very little as I was working at my job most of the day. I did however manage to watch Pocahontas Two with Tom.. Which, by the way, is pretty much the worst Disney sequel I have ever seen.

Today I spent the first half of my day at my job again, followed by a very drawn out and frustrating experience selling our entertainment center on Craigslist. But at least we have that big chunk of furniture gone! And we actually made money off of it, woot!! I am excited to pick a new one out when we get to our new place!! :D I also spent some time creating a wicked, awesome Disney music playlist for the drive!! Score!!

At this point I feel like most of the packing is done. The rest is everything that we use, but we are trying to keep it out as long as possible. Our closet and the kitchen is really the most daunting and time consuming things we have left! Better start washing some laundry.... ;) Then we just have to disassemble furniture. 

All in all I am not feeling too stressed about getting everything packed, but this week will definitely be busy!! Thanks for sticking around through all the crazy! :) For more frequent updates follow me on Twitter and Instagram. Have a great day!! 

Advice for Traveling with Kitty

When I first moved down to California to live with Tom we were lucky enough to have my parents drive down with us. Because of that we were able to make the trip without having to stop somewhere overnight. Unfortunately we do not have that option this time. Since it will just be the two of us driving home we have decided to stop overnight somewhere along the way.

The past few days I have been thinking a lot about our overnight stay and how this will be for Thomas the kitty. Honestly, I am a little concerned about it. Call me a paranoid cat mom or whatever, I just don't want him to be any more uncomfortable than he has to be. Let's face it, poor little guy has been through a lot of changes in the past three months: new sibling, new house, and now a super long car ride and another new house.

One thing that hasn't changed.. His strange obsession with this ONE box! 

This brings me to the point of this post: Has anyone ever traveled long distances with a kitty? Any tips for an overnight hotel stay? Is it better to leave him locked in the bathroom? Or to let him roam free and sleep on the bed like he normally does with us?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thomas and I thank you in advance! :)

Big Announcement!

Yesterday I announced on my Facebook page to keep your eyes peeled for a big announcement on the blog.. Well here it is! 

(again)

This is pretty BIG and exciting news for our little family, seeing as we have been wanting to move back to Oregon pretty much since we left. 

This past Friday we found out Tom was offered an engineering position with a company up in Oregon. I am over the moon happy and excited for him to start this next phase of his career! He is very smart, talented, and a complete professional; I know he is going to rock at this job. 

Thankfully, we have three weeks to move this time, as opposed to one! It feels so good to have the opportunity to try and sell or donate things we no loner need or use, as opposed to just throwing everything in boxes to get the heck out of dodge! 

Unfortunately this means I will probably be more scarce on the blog this month. I had every intent of having some Halloween tutorials up for you all, but moving comes first! Hopefully I can find some time to put something together, but I can't promise anything :( Lame I know...  I will however try to post little updates of our moving progress and adventures!

Until then readers! Have a great day! :) 

Good Ideas - 14 Pumpkin Recipes

When the fall season comes around, it seems like everyone goes on a Pumpkin craze. I can freely admit I am one of these people. I am a sucker for pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, and recently pumpkin cookies. So I have compiled 14 Amazing Pumpkin Recipes. I even threw in a pumpkin treat for your furry, four legged friends! ;) Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins via Recipes, Food and Cooking

Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cake via Picky Palate

Pumpkin Bars with Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting via Cooking Fancy

Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping via Bakingdom 

The Great Pumpkin Cake via A Merrier World

Soft Frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookies via The Baker Chick

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars via Chocolate Covered Katie

Pumpkin Pie Fudge via A Housewife

Pumpkin French Toast via Yummy Inspirations

Pumpkin Pancakes via {at home} with Bobi

Pumpkin Spice Syrup via Cook Like a Champion

Pumpkin Spice Latte via Farm Girl Gourmet

Pumpkin Juice via Craft Envy

Pumpkin and Flax Seed Good-Dog Treats via White on Rice Couple

Stay tuned for a BIG announcement coming soon! :)