tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39741712665016880022024-03-13T22:22:52.890-08:00Following The Foreman'sThe Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comBlogger192125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-66309884877293278072018-05-28T20:03:00.000-08:002018-05-28T20:03:55.010-08:00New Orders!<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As most everyone knows by now, we are due to transfer this year and Kolt received orders to Kodiak, Alaska. Not our first pick, but we aren't disappointed with it by any means. We are quite excited to get back to Alaska at least one more time and we look forward to new adventures in a new town on the other side of the state. And this time with THREE kids!!! We will be taking a loooonnnngggg road trip through Canada and up the ALCAN Highway into Alaska. So I'm jumping right back into the blog to give everyone the details on our trip. As of right now, we are busy busy busy with preparing to leave Florida. There's still so much to do in such a short amount of time. We will be traveling for a month so life will be interesting to say the least. But we are so excited for this new adventure. </span>The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-52402038599028232472016-11-16T18:54:00.002-09:002016-11-16T18:54:52.532-09:00Faith, Trust and Pixie DustEvery year since Brinleigh was born, I've wanted to make her Halloween costume myself. Pinterest really gave me all the confidence in the world that I could create some magical one of a kind ensemble that would surely make all the other neighborhood toddlers swoon over. But every year Halloween snuck up on me and next thing I know I'm racing around town to find all the matching pieces of a store bought bumblebee costume. Because if her costume is gonna be store bought, it's for damn sure gonna have all the matching pieces ::insert eye roll here::<br />
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So this year, being Easton's first Halloween, I of course turned to the Pinterest God's for ideas. I was mainly on the hunt for costumes to accommodate the Lilebaby carrier since I planned to wear him when we went trick-or-treating. This is where I found the idea for the Peter Pan theme. The blog that was linked was a tutorial for a DIY Peter Pan costume, which I could obviously master because, well... Anything Pinterest can do I can do betterš¤</div>
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If I was going to make Easton's costume then I had to make Brinleigh's too! I can't have her collecting candy in a generic store bought Tinkerbell costume while Easton was carried around in his glorious made by Mommy Peter Pan outfit. All the other moms would surely judge me for obviously loving one child more than the <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">other. ::eye roll::</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">So THREE months prior to Halloween, with all my Pincourage, I began my hunt for all the materials I would need to make not one but two magical and unique costumes for less than $20. (Because I'm also determined to save money.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Spoiler Alert: I was still running around a week before Halloween trying to gather all of my materials. (Let's just insert a side eye here to switch it up a bit.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Brinleigh's costume required a green crochet bandeau, 10 spools of ribbon and 2,397 yards of green tulle which was covered in about 15 pounds of glitter. Some canvas shoes from hobby lobby and two of the worlds largest white poms. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">The shoes were the easiest part of the costume. I painted them with Modge podge, covered them with green glitter and then sprayed them with a glitter sealer. After I let them sit for a few days, I sewed the poms onto the top of the shoes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">The Tinkerbell dress (I'm giving my biggest eye roll possible) made me scream, cry, throw things and say A LOT of really bad words. I assembled the dress to look just like a cute picture I found on Pinterest, put it on Brinleigh, realized she looked like a giant ball of green tulle, took the entire dress apart, and then spent 2 days trying to vacuum up glitter from the floor and the couches as well as Gunner's back, my legs & Easton's head. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Repeat this entire process 5 more times. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I finally got the dress to a point that was somewhat acceptable and I decided that was going to have to do. I ended up going back and trimming the tulle shorter 2 more times, the last time was two hours before trick or treating. I didn't make Brinleigh try it on again after the last trim and decided to just cross my fingers and hope for the best. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Easton's costume consisted of a green size 18mo polo shirt and some girls white size 18mo leggings from the kids consignment store and a yard of green felt. I had to cut off half the leggings and dye them green and then cut up the polo shirt. I hand stitched some pieces of felt together to make three different hats before I finally got one that was a decent size for his head. Halloween day I was putting together the outer piece for the front of the baby carrier and I decided that I didn't like how the polo looked. So during <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">his</span> afternoon nap I followed the DIY tutorial and stitched together some more felt to make his top as well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Just go ahead and roll your eyes now because Easton ended up staying in the carrier the entire time we were out trick-or-treating and nobody could even see his outfit. So really I could have just made the front piece for the carrier and his hat and called it a day. I didn't try everything on him before trick-or-treating and the carrier piece ended up being too big so I had to tuck it in a little bit and it worked fine. </span></div>
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Our plan was to dress up as a family. I was going to be Tiger Lily (because Wendy Darling was just too plain) and Kolt wanted to be Captain Hook. But shortly after this plan was discussed, his deployment schedule changed and he ended up being gone on Halloween. I decided I wasn't going to dress up since Kolt wasn't going to be with us and then the day before Halloween I changed my mind again. Shocker! Since it was so last minute I decided to just use what I had at home and wear something resembling Wendy. A blue shirt, some ballet flats and a ribbon in my hair. Done!<br />
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We went to our friends Kate and Coopers neighborhood and Kate went out Trick-or-Treating with us. Brinleigh was a little apprehensive at first but after the first couple houses, after realizing she just had to knock on a door and someone would appear and dish out handfuls of candy for her, she quickly adjusted. After every house she would ask if we could go to another one. She had a great time and we ended up walking for about an hour and a half. Her bucket got so full that she asked Kate to carry it for her, LOL. <br />
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Easton fell asleep in the baby carrier. </div>
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-10831044969282154392016-10-22T19:02:00.001-08:002016-11-05T09:43:07.200-08:00MilestonesWe've hit a major milestone in the Foreman house. Easton is now sleeping in his crib. In his room. Across the house from us. It wasn't exactly planned, it just kinda happened. And he took to it so quickly that I actually wasn't prepared for it. I didn't have a monitor for his room yet so I was putting him to sleep in his room, staying awake or sleeping on the couch with his bedroom door open and when he woke up around 1am I would nurse him and wait for him to fall back asleep in his crib and then have to take him from his room to my room to his rock n' play. And then he would usually wake up again and I would put him in the bed with me. Which is what I was trying to get away from. So after a few nights of realizing that apparently he liked sleeping in the crib, I had to order a monitor camera for his room. Thank you Amazon and same day delivery. Amazing! He is actually sleeping so much better now than he was before the crib. I think he was getting too cramped & he likes the space in his crib. And I've also realized he likes to sleep on his side, which he couldn't do in the swing or the rock n' play. So now he is going to bed between 8-9pm, sleeps until about 4am, I get up and change his diaper and nurse him and then he goes back to sleep in the crib until 7:30-8am when we wake up for the day. This is also where my amazing new rocking recliner comes into play. I wanted <div>a rocking chair so badly when Brinleigh was a baby but we didn't have anywhere to put one in the house in Sitka. So I made it a point to get one with Easton. Kolt, being the amazing husband that he is, took my pregnant ass to several furniture stores and walked around while I tried sitting in 50 different chairs until I found THE chair. And an amazing chair it is. So now when I wake up in the middle of the night/ early morning, I can nurse him and rock him without leaving his room. </div><div>I was extremely picky about the chair that I wanted. They are so expensive and pretty much the same price as nursery chairs, so I decided if we are gonna spend that kind of money, it's gonna be worth it. So I wanted a rocking chair and recliner that we could eventually move into the living room and use after Easton out grows it. </div><div>As far as Easton's baby monitor, we are still using the one we bought when Brinleigh was a baby. We still keep a camera in Brinleigh's room and the system we have allows us to add up to four cameras. So I just ordered an additional camera for Easton's room and the monitor scans back and forth between cameras every eight seconds. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-94dlwx_HmkI/WAwoQG0EGLI/AAAAAAAADgg/AfCyc6IeFQY/s640/blogger-image--1878930982.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-94dlwx_HmkI/WAwoQG0EGLI/AAAAAAAADgg/AfCyc6IeFQY/s640/blogger-image--1878930982.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Also, as you can see, he sits in the double stroller seats now without his infant car seat, which I've decided is now too heavy to carry him around in so it just stays locked into the base in my car all the time. Time to shop for new convertible car seats!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-60075646575067852712016-08-23T13:08:00.000-08:002016-08-24T14:44:21.213-08:00Back in Action<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As if I don't have enough going on in my life right now, I've decided to bring the blog back to life. Again. Mostly because it really is the easiest way to keep our family updated on what's going on in our life, across the country, wherever that may be. AND.... Well..... Easton has kinda gotten shafted with the info updates. Poor little man. So, even if it's a short quick post from my phone, I vow that starting today, Little Alaska Baby is back in action. But speaking of..... We need a new blog name. ( Item #729 on my To-Do List )</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just to get everyone up to speed though....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kolt left at the end of July for a five week deployment to Kodiak, Alaska. It's been me, a teething baby, an annoying dog, and an extremely sassy four year old for the last month. Brinleigh started VPK (Pre-K) at the beginning of August and she goes Monday-Friday from 9am-Noon. It's a Christian preschool located at a church about ten minutes from our house and we are all absolutely loving it so far. I have finally gotten back to working out again and it has been so nice. After I drop Brinleigh off at school in the mornings, Easton and I head to the Dunedin Causeway and walk/run our three miles for an hour before heading home for a snack, diaper change and a quick nursing session before going back out to pick up Brinleigh. It has really helped us to get more of a consistent daily routine down which is sure to get all screwed up as soon as Kolt comes home this weekend.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5rrYTjrHBzs/V74fjUlZrfI/AAAAAAAADfc/NDfWd6Eps_k/s640/blogger-image--472308396.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5rrYTjrHBzs/V74fjUlZrfI/AAAAAAAADfc/NDfWd6Eps_k/s640/blogger-image--472308396.jpg"></a></div><br></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have jumped back into my crafting but stepped it up a little and I am testing out some new projects and opened up and Etsy shop. It only has a few items in it so far, but I'm surprised at how many orders I have received without even promoting anything. Back to school chalkboards were my main items and I posted them for sale on the local moms facebook group and it ended up being very successful. I'm working on creating a Facebook page and an Instagram account for my shop, but this is all still very, very new and there are no guarantee's that it will work out or be a permanent thing. Mainly because I really have no room in our apartment but we are testing the waters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've also decided on Halloween costumes for this year and I'm finally taking on the challenge of making them myself! A goal that I have had every. single. year since Brinleigh was born, but this year..... It's on!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And..... Lastly... We have made the transition into cloth diapering! I'm in love and I wish so badly that I had done it with Brinleigh. Especially since we potty trained her so late. Our whole goal with this decision is completely finance based. We simply just want to save money and after adding all the figures and seeing the numbers, well it just made sense. So we (I) have quickly been trying to gather all the necessary items and while Kolt has been gone, I have gotten us almost 100% cloth diapered. I'm still working on a few more things that I need to order so as of now we are running off the bare minimum, but at least Easton is rocking a cute bottom now.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Zq7aI9_cgxA/V74flUx8LyI/AAAAAAAADfg/ev5yjMzkXpA/s640/blogger-image--154890881.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Zq7aI9_cgxA/V74flUx8LyI/AAAAAAAADfg/ev5yjMzkXpA/s640/blogger-image--154890881.jpg"></a></div><br></span></div>
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-52961610279474938482016-04-18T17:41:00.001-08:002016-08-24T14:42:48.529-08:00Welcome to the world Easton RyderEaston Ryder has finally arrived!!!! After being a week overdue and having to make a last minute decision to have a C-section due to his size, our little man was born on March 28, 2016 at 3:51pm weighing a whopping 9lbs 10oz & measuring 21.5 inches long. <div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AmJ5wv9yO0U/V1pXpxdz4nI/AAAAAAAADb4/TjX1k7QGC3Y/s640/blogger-image--230691859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AmJ5wv9yO0U/V1pXpxdz4nI/AAAAAAAADb4/TjX1k7QGC3Y/s640/blogger-image--230691859.jpg"></a></div><br><div><br></div><div>I had a doctors appointment on my due date, Monday- March 21, where the doctor checked my cervix & determined I was about 2 1/2 cm dilated. However, my cervix was still pretty far back making this whole process super painful. She wanted me to come back two days later on Wednesday for an ultrasound and also decided I should go ahead and schedule to be induced. I preferred to not be induced, but obviously with no signs of labor, we didn't have much of a choice. When I sat down with the lady who did the scheduling, I chose to be induced Thursday/ Friday that week. She insisted that the hospital was pretty adamant about not inducing before 41 weeks so we scheduled it for Sunday/ Monday. This meant I would be checking into the hospital Easter Sunday evening at 7pm and my pitocin would be administered Monday morning. Now that I was facing induction (and pitocin = more painful contractions) I was determined to get the labor train in motion. My mother-in-law came into town to help us out a few days prior so we were all set to get this baby out!</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uLBBSJaDMlg/V1pYZiqEvOI/AAAAAAAADdc/TsloW1zIIgA/s640/blogger-image--1033880023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uLBBSJaDMlg/V1pYZiqEvOI/AAAAAAAADdc/TsloW1zIIgA/s640/blogger-image--1033880023.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>On Wednesday I went into the doctors office for an ultrasound where they checked my fluid and umbilical cord placement to make sure it wasn't wrapped around the baby's Neck. They explained to me that they like fluid levels to be around 12, they worry if they're less than 5 but they can be as high as 20-25. Mine were at 19 and the umbilical cord was not wrapped. When I asked if she could tell how big the baby was (the doctors kept estimating he would be about 7 1/2 lbs since Brinleigh was 7lbs and I was guessing he would be about 8lbs) she prepared me by explaining that since I was full term the measurements were always bigger than the baby actually is. He was measuring at 9.9 lbs +/- 1.3 lbs but the ultrasound tech was estimating he would be more between 8-9 lbs. He was gonna be bigger than expected but we still had confidence I could deliver him vaginally as planned. She was able to get some 4D pics and they showed chubby cheeks and plump lips. I fell in love!</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fTv9OKp4kwI/V1pXtq2pBNI/AAAAAAAADcI/ov8_1Qby-c8/s640/blogger-image-836633925.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fTv9OKp4kwI/V1pXtq2pBNI/AAAAAAAADcI/ov8_1Qby-c8/s640/blogger-image-836633925.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>On Thursday the doctors office called me to ask if I could come into the office the next day. My doctor received the ultrasound notes and was concerned about my delivery plan and the size of the baby. They wanted to counsel me on alternate delivery options (i.e. C-section) and discuss their concerns. I lost my shit. </div><div><br></div><div>On Friday we went to the dr's office and met with the on-call dr who suggested we schedule a c-section. Even though the ultrasound measured the baby at 9.9 lbs, neither us or the doctor believed he was actually that big. However, in the chance that he was, there was concern of a broken clavicle or shoulder distocia and the complications they could cause for the baby. When the doctor explained the possible complications and health risks a vaginal delivery could have on the baby, I knew what had to be done. The doctor had to leave to go deliver a baby so we had about 3.5 minutes to make our final decision. We cancelled the induction and scheduled a c-section for Monday at 3pm. I cried. </div><div><br></div><div>I stuffed my face on Easter Sunday because I was instructed not to eat or drink after midnight that night. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CZ6zEmxLh_o/V1pX2rAcj7I/AAAAAAAADco/iV-JOF5kBKE/s640/blogger-image-2124155810.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CZ6zEmxLh_o/V1pX2rAcj7I/AAAAAAAADco/iV-JOF5kBKE/s640/blogger-image-2124155810.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Monday, March 28, I was able to sleep in a little bit before having to start getting ready. We had to check into the hospital at 12:30pm and my C-section was scheduled for 3pm. At about 11am I started feeling some contractions, although I didn't believe they were real due to all the false ones I had been having randomly throughout the week. But they got stronger.... And longer.... And closer together. When we left the house a little after noon I finally started timing them. They were strong enough that when walking into the hospital I had to stop during the contraction. We checked into the maternity floor and were instructed to sit in the waiting area. Me and my now very painful contractions, Kolt snapping pics of everything on his phone, and our 5 pillows and 7 bags. A nurse finally came out and got us and helped carry our bags to the room while I breathed hard through contractions. "Wow, you brought a lot with you" the nurse laughed...... My family doesn't call me the bag lady for nothing. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-atBJUAt6jhE/V1pXnTbL7PI/AAAAAAAADbw/5puwNmxemCM/s640/blogger-image-1809270644.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-atBJUAt6jhE/V1pXnTbL7PI/AAAAAAAADbw/5puwNmxemCM/s640/blogger-image-1809270644.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>The hospital room was really nice and very spacious with a table and chairs for all my bags and a couch that unfolded into a bed for Kolt to sleep on. My nurse instructed me to change into my hospital gown after I wiped my body down in a very specific way with large antibacterial wipes. After I had prepped myself, I emerged from the bathroom and found Kolt completely dressed head to toe in blue surgical scrubs. I climbed into my hospital bed to endure my now extremely painful contractions while nurses strapped me to machines and kept poking me over and over before finally getting my IV in correctly. My nurse, Lacey, (the only one who's name I can remember from that day) checked to see how far dilated I was and then went and got another nurse. The second nurse then also checked my dilation and as they both somewhat whispered to each other and looked at the clock, I started to worry. They never told me how far dilated I was and with my frequent, long and painful contractions, I didn't care to ask. What I do remember was that they reassured me that as long as the doctor wasn't running late (she was coming from the office) we would be fine. Well that was reassuring. Do not tell me that after a week overdue, a stressful weekend of accepting the emotional decision to have a c-section, and all of my research, that now my body might just push this baby out before I even get into the operating room! Deep breaths. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GNHvlqDQ_ao/V1pX4t3EaHI/AAAAAAAADcs/jywpi5t_B-c/s640/blogger-image--2031485127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GNHvlqDQ_ao/V1pX4t3EaHI/AAAAAAAADcs/jywpi5t_B-c/s640/blogger-image--2031485127.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d0ag2hhXAfs/V1pXzPg5BuI/AAAAAAAADcg/dxMiQTKYKHk/s640/blogger-image--121858885.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d0ag2hhXAfs/V1pXzPg5BuI/AAAAAAAADcg/dxMiQTKYKHk/s640/blogger-image--121858885.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GAVvrELzsfQ/V1pYXRQuUMI/AAAAAAAADdY/amHCAncSkmM/s640/blogger-image--1126629359.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GAVvrELzsfQ/V1pYXRQuUMI/AAAAAAAADdY/amHCAncSkmM/s640/blogger-image--1126629359.jpg"></a></div><br></div></div><div>At 3pm Nurse Lacey walked me with my iv pole and Kolt down to the operating room. We had to pause a few times for my contractions but slowly we made it and Kolt was instructed to wait in a chair in a little cubby area outside of the OR. It was like a little Daddy's C-section jump seat. Lacey opened the door to the OR and it was like walking through the gates of Heaven.... Bright lights everywhere. It was a huge room, kind of cold, full of machines and medical equipment of course. (Why do they make it look so small and dark on Greys Anatomy?) I had to climb up onto the operating table and sit and wait for my spinal block to be administered. I was nervous but strangely very at peace with the whole situation. I looked around nervously and made eye contact with Lacey, who reassured me she would be right there through the whole process. I was introduced to my team which was all females (I thought that was awesome) and my doctor came in and greeted me. She explained a little bit about the procedure and how everything was going to work. The anesthesiologist told me what she was going to do and the baby nurse came over to be my support person. (This was Kolt's job when I had my epidural with Brinleigh's delivery.) The baby nurse was an older lady who had an extremely calming auroa and made me feel very comfortable. As I sat on the side of the operating table, I held onto her as she instructed me to arch my back like a cat. She coached me through the entire strange feeling spinal block process with her angelic voice. I felt some stinging pokes of numbing medication in my back before the large needle was inserted. During the spinal I got the most painful shooting pains down my left leg (I didn't ask why) and they were so sudden I remember trying to stay as still as possible and not jerk from the unexpected pain. After the spinal was done the nurses helped to lay me down and continued to prep me for surgery. I had to stretch my arms out to the sides and a blood pressure cuff was put on my right arm. Both arms got strapped down and a drape was hung over my chest right in front of my face so that I couldn't see anything below. Then they put this air tunnel thing over my arms & chest that blew out warm air, I guess to help keep me comfortable in the cold room. The anesthesiologist was on the right side of my head with her machines that monitored me during the entire surgery and when the baby nurse checked on me I asked if my husband was still outside the OR. I felt like they had forgotten that Kolt was waiting in the hallway and I started to panic thinking he would miss the birth. She reassured me that he was still there and would be brought in before they started the surgery. I tried moving my toes and couldn't feel anything. Absolutely nothing. It was almost frustrating because I was telling myself to move my feet yet nothing was happening. Such a weird experience being completely paralyzed basically from the waist down. The doctor checked on me and the team started their briefing on the procedure, stating my name and pregnancy info and what exactly they were going to be doing. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2UyxfIh9VfQ/V1pX06FMBpI/AAAAAAAADck/Em_28iM1dSk/s640/blogger-image-429656829.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2UyxfIh9VfQ/V1pX06FMBpI/AAAAAAAADck/Em_28iM1dSk/s640/blogger-image-429656829.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W9KxHeMowfc/V1pX6tb9FUI/AAAAAAAADc0/TTwVHM1E0ZI/s640/blogger-image--476762907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W9KxHeMowfc/V1pX6tb9FUI/AAAAAAAADc0/TTwVHM1E0ZI/s640/blogger-image--476762907.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div></div>A nurse brought Kolt in and directed him to a seat next to my head on my left side. He stroked my head and talked to me through the procedure, keeping his head low by mine. He didn't want to see the surgery process and I think at this point he was more nervous than I was. The doctor started the procedure and would tell me when I was going to feel pressure or movement. All I could feel was my body being jerked from side to side, but no pain. The doctor told me there was going to be lots of pressure, the anesthesiologist asked Kolt if he wanted her to take pictures for us so he handed her his phone and then all of a sudden I heard tiny baby cries and I immediately broke down into tears. Kolt looked at me with tears in his eyes and said "he's here babe" as I looked at Kolt and cried "that's him!" With Easton's delivery I wasn't exhausted from pushing or in any pain from contractions, so I was more aware and in the moment when he arrived and the tears just flowed down my face. The doctor said "Oh yeah, He's a big boy!" While all the nurses agreed and I immediately felt relieved that we chose the c-section. The<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> anesthesiologist unstrapped my arms and they wrapped him in a blanket and placed him on my chest while</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> I continued to cry tears of joy. I fell in love. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WwJWdlo72Ww/V1pXlufeLEI/AAAAAAAADbo/OoMowZkghqk/s640/blogger-image-312183451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WwJWdlo72Ww/V1pXlufeLEI/AAAAAAAADbo/OoMowZkghqk/s640/blogger-image-312183451.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ggfDX04ItYc/V1pX-YL42lI/AAAAAAAADdA/FYIEjORLTSU/s640/blogger-image--2048505546.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ggfDX04ItYc/V1pX-YL42lI/AAAAAAAADdA/FYIEjORLTSU/s640/blogger-image--2048505546.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Kxs0aFau3ls/V1peK6EONxI/AAAAAAAADeE/dRu16BoONyU/s640/blogger-image-2083763585.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Kxs0aFau3ls/V1peK6EONxI/AAAAAAAADeE/dRu16BoONyU/s640/blogger-image-2083763585.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ah2F27d9f6A/V1pePyHyQ0I/AAAAAAAADeg/Qzei3EfNk4Q/s640/blogger-image-622604445.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ah2F27d9f6A/V1pePyHyQ0I/AAAAAAAADeg/Qzei3EfNk4Q/s640/blogger-image-622604445.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>They took Easton to clean him off and weigh him and Kolt cut his umbilical cord while the doctor finished my procedure and closed me up. At this point I was relaxed, relieved, joyous and just felt like going to sleep. After weighing him they told me 9lbs 10oz and 21 1/2 inches long. I was shocked! Completely surprised. I can't believe I was carrying such a big baby around in my belly. But he was beautiful and strong and he was ours. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tdwImlDviF4/V1pYAeRVQ-I/AAAAAAAADdI/vEKpg5i_W9A/s640/blogger-image-362911018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tdwImlDviF4/V1pYAeRVQ-I/AAAAAAAADdI/vEKpg5i_W9A/s640/blogger-image-362911018.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-G8i10XaK7kM/V1pXvudvLTI/AAAAAAAADcQ/ZsS06PbAcnk/s640/blogger-image-811962351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-G8i10XaK7kM/V1pXvudvLTI/AAAAAAAADcQ/ZsS06PbAcnk/s640/blogger-image-811962351.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eYuamoW0Zng/V1pYbnkG1-I/AAAAAAAADdk/amkhnqr_R0s/s640/blogger-image-1528361191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eYuamoW0Zng/V1pYbnkG1-I/AAAAAAAADdk/amkhnqr_R0s/s640/blogger-image-1528361191.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Once the procedure was done and I was stitched up they moved me from the operating table to my hospital bed which they had wheeled into the OR. They handed me my baby boy and wheeled us back to our hospital room where we would be in recovery for a couple hours. Probably the most peaceful couple of hours we had the entire hospital stay. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EODEslrro0M/V1pXxvgc66I/AAAAAAAADcU/pHeMYVsrIdI/s640/blogger-image--1078223048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EODEslrro0M/V1pXxvgc66I/AAAAAAAADcU/pHeMYVsrIdI/s640/blogger-image--1078223048.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7AyWprzSZO0/V1pYd0KbdkI/AAAAAAAADds/OYaq1QymoRY/s640/blogger-image--453727452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7AyWprzSZO0/V1pYd0KbdkI/AAAAAAAADds/OYaq1QymoRY/s640/blogger-image--453727452.jpg"></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a2vxjIrdyLU/V1peMuSIBkI/AAAAAAAADeQ/FxvqHeaYbWo/s640/blogger-image--1759220469.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a2vxjIrdyLU/V1peMuSIBkI/AAAAAAAADeQ/FxvqHeaYbWo/s640/blogger-image--1759220469.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OpR5aSBSUEk/V1pfwbtgEaI/AAAAAAAADe8/sALUp5Y_ZCE/s640/blogger-image--835288771.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OpR5aSBSUEk/V1pfwbtgEaI/AAAAAAAADe8/sALUp5Y_ZCE/s640/blogger-image--835288771.jpg"></a></div><br></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-saQsvt7zvaY/V1pXrxdUdLI/AAAAAAAADcA/PT7ThiZBpng/s640/blogger-image--1772378953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-saQsvt7zvaY/V1pXrxdUdLI/AAAAAAAADcA/PT7ThiZBpng/s640/blogger-image--1772378953.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Later that evening Kolt's mom brought Brinleigh to the hospital to meet her new baby brother. She was excited to see us and willing to hold him but absolutely would NOT give him kisses. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pxzW_es1Apo/V1peJCWRuDI/AAAAAAAADeA/LV7Aw31-yyc/s640/blogger-image--527348914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pxzW_es1Apo/V1peJCWRuDI/AAAAAAAADeA/LV7Aw31-yyc/s640/blogger-image--527348914.jpg"></a></div></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b87Ccg_TTkQ/V1peOKeC09I/AAAAAAAADeU/ZqwRtgnaD9c/s640/blogger-image--2076231627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b87Ccg_TTkQ/V1peOKeC09I/AAAAAAAADeU/ZqwRtgnaD9c/s640/blogger-image--2076231627.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kD360YbDkjY/V1peRgSTROI/AAAAAAAADek/yS_zcQWlFEA/s640/blogger-image--1909540350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kD360YbDkjY/V1peRgSTROI/AAAAAAAADek/yS_zcQWlFEA/s640/blogger-image--1909540350.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qGc40zla-ks/V1pfug2KniI/AAAAAAAADe0/83AYOVrN-P0/s640/blogger-image-80439868.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qGc40zla-ks/V1pfug2KniI/AAAAAAAADe0/83AYOVrN-P0/s640/blogger-image-80439868.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Welcome to the world, Easton! You have added so much more joy and love to our little family and we can't wait to experience life with you!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div>The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-27091403233483923172015-06-06T22:07:00.002-08:002015-06-06T22:07:47.920-08:00Our First Visitor<div style="text-align: center;">
This is a tad bit late but if you
haven't figured out by now, that's how I roll. So we had our first
visitor in Florida a couple months ago. Kolt's mom came to stay with us
for a week in April and we loved every minute of it. We took her
around exploring, experienced some new things that we've been wanting to
do since we moved here, and had a long overdue date night (our 2nd
since leaving Sitka!). Brinleigh absolutely loved bonding and having
special time with her "Geema" (Pronounced: Ghee- Maa).<br />
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We
spent a day at the Zoo and Brinleigh was such a trooper. Since she
loves animals, she was all about it and did surprisingly well for being
in the heat for several hours with a late nap. She got to feed a
giraffe and some goats but wanted nothing to do with even getting close
to the stingrays.<br />
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We went to the Sponge Docks right down the road from our house and had lunch at an amazing little Greek restaurant.<br />
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Spent
a day at Clearwater beach which was awesome. We paid $20 for parking
so we tried to make the most of our time there. We rented a cabana
which provided us with some shade in between the walks to the ocean to
fill up a bucket of water only for Brinleigh to dump it all out as soon
as we got back to our chairs. We had lunch at a great place called
Crabby's Bar and Grill which had delicious buffalo shrimp and this
alcohol concoction that was pure bliss. After lunch we did some
shopping in a surf shop that had <a href="https://flowrider.surfstyle.com/FlowRiderVideo.aspx">indoor surfing</a>
with glass windows all around so you could watch people. We walked
down the strip and checked out little shops and got some ice cream. It
was a great day!<br />
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On
the last day we went on a Dolphin sightseeing tour which Brinleigh
didn't seem to sure about until we actually saw Dolphins jumping in the
boat wake.<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/7mrpWxy8vUM">Watch the Video Here!</a><br />
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-90815764040033024292015-05-27T21:11:00.001-08:002015-05-27T21:11:44.434-08:00Deployments, Visitors, Swim Lessons, Oh-My!<div style="text-align: center;">
Please trust me when I say that a two month hiatus was completely unplanned and not intentional AT ALL. But... Life happens. Who knew that when we moved off the rock in Alaska to a city by the beach that life would get so much busier.</div>
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In the last two months we have survived a couple more deployments, had our first visitor in Florida, Brinleigh started swim lessons, I acquired an additional job and we have spent many, many hours at the splash park by our house.<br />
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We signed up at the YMCA so I'm starting to get back into my workouts that I was so dedicated to back in Sitka and thanks to a new friend, I have also found my new walking/running spot in replace of the O'Connel Bridge. Although, I do have to drive to it and can't just walk from my house like I could in Alaska. It's much hotter, Brinleigh and I have to apply sunblock before hand, the air isn't as fresh and the views are nowhere near as great, but it is right on the ocean, which is fun.<br />
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Our Mother's Day weekend was wonderful and relaxing. We found a petting farm that we decided to take Brinleigh to while we were out driving around. She absolutely LOVED it! and I think we kinda did too! Mother's day we went to church, and then tried out a new brewery restaurant for lunch before getting ice cream. My absolute favorite part of the day was the family nap time before I had to go to work later that night.<br />
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Brinleigh has officially fallen in love with swimming and we couldn't be more excited. Her swim school and instructors are absolutely amazing. She has gotten so comfortable with swimming that she will actually walk to the pool and jump in without Kolt or I being there to catch her. That's not nerve wracking AT ALL...... Now we have to be sure to keep an extra close eye on her around water. </div>
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-40946623298767912582015-03-12T19:31:00.000-08:002015-03-12T19:31:28.981-08:00Life in Florida....<div style="text-align: center;">
We've been in Florida for six months now and I think I can confidently say that things are finally calming down and falling into place. I am still working part-time at Target some evenings and Kolt has been on two different deployments now. We recently found a Church that we all love and it seems to be perfect for our family so far. Brinleigh loves going into her Sunday School class and playing with other kids while Kolt and I attend the adult service. We are loving the house we moved into and it is all coming together and almost completely decorated. I'm working on changing some of the decor around in some rooms and still debating on where to hang things, but once it's all finished I will post pictures.<br />
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I have been trying to get Brinleigh out of the house more to play and explore and meet other kids. I feel so bad that she doesn't have anyone her own age to play with since we still don't really know anyone here. We discovered an ah-mazing place called Kidz World of Play, which just so happens to be right down the road from our house. It's an indoor soft play center specifically for babies and kids up to age 9. The concept was set up in the UK and then brought over to the U.S. where they opened their first location here in Tarpon Springs this last December. To say Brinleigh loves it would be an understatement. She could run, play, climb, slide and talk to every other mom in the building all day long if I let her. But of course, I'm a mean Mommy because I choose to carry her out kicking and screaming usually after about two hours of playing so that she can go home and take a nap.</div>
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A few weeks ago we went to the Florida State Fair in Tampa. I went on a few rides with Brinleigh but there wasn't much for her to do since she was a couple inches short for most of the kids rides. However, she did get to feed a giraffe a bag of carrots and we went on the big slide three times which she seemed to enjoy a lot.</div>
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The weather is warming up here and so we are starting to spend more time outside and at the beach by our house. We don't get in the water yet, it's still too cold, but we play in the sand and at the park. We saw a small pod of dolphins swimming close to shore while we were out walking on the beach a couple weeks ago which was amazing. We also have manatee's that frequent the shallow waters in the bayou's by our house in the winter time, but we have yet to see any. <br />
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Brinleigh starts swim lessons for the first time next month and I am so excited to see how she does in the water and I'm hoping that she doesn't freak out to much. We also have Kolt's mom coming to visit for a week in the beginning of April and we are counting down the days. It will be so nice to have some family around and we can't wait to take her out exploring with us and showing her around our new town.<br />
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-50830399397602016472015-01-26T20:36:00.000-09:002015-01-27T08:59:39.163-09:002014 Recap<div style="text-align: center;">
Last January I decided to start a fun family tradition which I happened to come across on Pinterest. I bought an extra large mason jar and every time something good happened in our family, I wrote it on a piece of paper, folded it up and put it in the jar. The plan was to open the jar on New Year's Eve and read all the notes as a remembrance of the year we were saying good bye to. Since Kolt was on a deployment over New Year's, we opened our jar a little late, but it was still fun none the less. While at the dinner table one evening, Brinleigh pulled the notes out one at a time and Kolt read them. I can't wait until Brinleigh is old enough to understand and participate a little more. Or add her own random happy notes.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9Y9-2EBWuqI/VMfR56o4DyI/AAAAAAAADQo/CdpWwUPiMww/s640/blogger-image-1457982639.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9Y9-2EBWuqI/VMfR56o4DyI/AAAAAAAADQo/CdpWwUPiMww/s640/blogger-image-1457982639.jpg"></a></div><br></div>
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So, I figured I would share our families happy moments of 2014 for all of you... </div>
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~ Kolt received orders to Clearwater, Fl which was our #1 pick of duty stations! (January 2014)</div>
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~Kolt made flight mech! One of his top goals when he joined the Coast Guard. (February 2014)</div>
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~ Brinleigh got sick for the first time and passed it to Mommy and Daddy. The whole house was miserable for about three weeks. **Not necessarily a happy moment, but memorable none the less. (April 2014)</div>
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~ Lexi found an interest in working out and fell in love with Les Mills classes at re:fresh fitness studio. It helped to get me motivated to get healthy and in shape. I also started running. (May 2014)</div>
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~ Started to accomplish monthly goals: Reading to Brinleigh every night before she went to bed, brushing Brinleigh's teeth twice a day, waking up earlier and getting on a routine daily schedule. Eating meals at the same time every day and sitting down together at the dinner table.</div>
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~Lexi found a new hobby with crafting, especially for holidays. I also started to enjoy entertaining at our house and having people over for BBQ's, holidays and parties.</div>
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~We found out that Rayne and Kenny are pregnant!!! (July 2, 2014)</div>
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~ Took our first family road trip, with stops to see family and friends, while moving across the country from Alaska to Florida. On this trip we visited Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon for the first time. (Aug 2014)</div>
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~ Lexi got a job at Target. Yaaayyyyy for an employee discount!!! (November 2014)</div>
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~Kolt took the November service wide and was the #3 test!!!!! (November 2014)</div>
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~ We moved into a beautiful house, that we absolutely love! (December 2014) </div>
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Surely, there were many more happy moments over the year but these were the ones on paper in our jar.</div>
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And now... on to 2015. Our jar is already filling up quickly so we have a good feeling that this is going to be a great year for our family. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-VpjFXwRI4m8/VMfR-K3qLWI/AAAAAAAADQw/5BoO5z7qEhY/s640/blogger-image--9257735.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-VpjFXwRI4m8/VMfR-K3qLWI/AAAAAAAADQw/5BoO5z7qEhY/s640/blogger-image--9257735.jpg"></a></div><br></div>
The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-42914887578564343052015-01-14T21:16:00.000-09:002015-01-14T21:16:28.404-09:00Happy New Year<div style="text-align: center;">
Better late than never, right?</div>
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Well, we survived Kolt's first two week deployment. He left the day after Christmas for an Island in the Southern Bahamas. His schedule down there was duty, work, off & on the days he did work they were usually only half days. So he spent his time off spear fishing with some of the guys he was deployed with. He used some Christmas money to buy some new spear fishing stuff before he left and his plan was to eat a lot of fish while he was down there. They have to bring all of their own food so he thought this might cut down on cost and the amount of food he had to buy and pack. He speared a few lobsters and some mutten snapper, tiger grouper, and trigger fish. Any time he wasn't working or swimming in the ocean was spent in his "hooch" watching movies because the Mosquito's were so bad that it was absolutely miserable going outside. They all ran out of bug spray within the first week and Kolt said the island itself was really ugly and run down. He didn't have any cell phone service but they have wifi so he could only text (iMessage) people with iPhones and he could only call me through Skype <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">calling. A couple days before he came home he ended up getting sick and found out he had <a href="http://www.emedicinehealth.com/wilderness_ciguatera_toxin/article_em.htm">Ciguatera fish poisoning.</a> So now he is on light duty at work and can't fly at all and is supposed to be deploying to another island in the Bahamas at the end of the month. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Brinleigh and I stayed busy and the time flew by for us. When Kolt left there wasn't anything hung on the walls and none of the rooms were really decorated or fully put together. So I made it a goal to do at least one thing every single day to start decorating the new house. It is slowly coming along but it's taking me a lot longer because I've decided to really start learning about interior decorating and my style and taste has changed so I'm not so quick to just put things up right now. I'm kinda working room by room, scouring Pinterest and researching ideas and tips. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Other than trying to decorate the house, Brinleigh and I didn't do much else outside of our normal routine. The Ringling Brothers Circus came to Tampa the first week of January so I took Brinleigh to that. I hadn't been in years and it was a pretty good time. She seemed entertained during some parts and bored during others. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> Other exciting news in the Foreman household..... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">The cuts came out today for the November service wide test that Kolt took to promote to second class. He did excellent on the test, placing #3 on the list of all the AET3's that tested. So we have been crossing our fingers and hoping and praying that they would promote at least three of the AET3's. It's never guaranteed that they will promote a certain amount of people if any and each rate is different. We found out today that they promoted 11 AET's to second class, which means..... KOLT IS PROMOTING!!!!! This is a huge relief for us for several reasons. First and foremost, Kolt HAS to promote by a certain date in order to stay in the Coast Guard, so this promotion wasn't only wanted but he needed it to keep his job and he only had a couple more chances since they only test twice a year. And second, it's a big pay raise, which we really really need right now. So we were super excited when we got that news today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br />Less exciting news...<br />When I was hired at Target it was for a seasonal team member position and last week they asked me to stay on permanently. So I don't have to worry about getting let go anymore now that the holidays are over and I have a permanent part time job! My hours have been cut drastically but that works out perfect for me since I only want to work a couple days a week now anyways. </span></div>
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-54580792600128212282015-01-03T06:10:00.003-09:002015-01-03T06:10:36.584-09:00Christmas 2014<div style="text-align: center;">
Christmas this year was quick and easy and not a big production what so ever. It was actually kinda sad to be honest. My work hours increased every week as we got closer to Christmas and I work opposite hours from Kolt so we didn't get a lot of family time over the last month. Not to mention we moved into a new house the first week of December and in between my responsibilities at home and working at night, I haven't had time to do anything. I barely got any shopping done and most of it was done online. We weren't able to get family photos done or send out Christmas cards which I was super sad about, but maybe we can make up for it in the next few months.</div>
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We somehow managed to squeeze in a few holiday festivities before Christmas. We went to a Christmas street fair type event that our town had one night. They were playing the movie Frozen in a park area, they had carriage rides, food vendors and the stores were open. Throughout the streets there were little "snow" stations where bubbles fell as if it was snowing. They also had a boat parade in the bay that Brinleigh seemed fairly entertained by. The highlight of the night though was when a Dance company with a group of little girls, all dressed up as Minnie Mouse, performed in the street. Brinleigh absolutely loved it! Kolt put her on his shoulders so she could see and she was loving every minute of it. At one point Kolt put her down and she started to walk into the group of girls because she wanted to go dance with them.</div>
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The following morning we went to down town Tarpon Springs to watch the Christmas parade. These get more and more fun as Brinleigh gets older. She loves to people watch and it's so funny watching her excitement over things. However, I will say that I wasn't really impressed with the parade at all. It was the equivalent to a Sitka parade just a lot longer. What happened to making floats for parades? I feel like it's all about riding in cars now which is nowhere near as exciting. But it was still fun and the weather was a little cooler making it feel more like Christmas. </div>
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A few days before Christmas we went to the zoo for the "Winter Wonderland" event that they had going on throughout the month. It was basically all Christmas lights, some of the animals were out, they had little areas set up with Christmas displays that you could walk thru. Santa was there but we didn't want to wait in line and had already planned to go see him at the mall the following day. We rode the carousel and Brinleigh sat on her own animal that went up and down and she squealed with excitement the entire time. </div>
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We decided to go see Santa on a weekday hoping that we wouldn't have to wait in such a long line and I think it paid off. We went the day before Christmas Eve at about 11am and we stood in line for about 30 minutes I would say. We kinda took turns, Kolt stood in line while I took Brinleigh to the bathroom to change her diaper and then we got in line and Kolt took off to get a coffee and some munchkins from Dunkin Donuts. Brinleigh had a little doughnut snack and we cleaned her up just in time to visit with Santa. It was quick and painless and we were surprisingly pleased with how it went. We had tried for a couple weeks before Christmas to prepare Brinleigh to meet Santa. We would point him out any time that we saw him, read books and talked about how he brought presents. I think it worked fairly well and when it was our turn to visit with him she wasn't as hesitant.... at first. She waved to him and said hi and Kolt took her to sit on his lap while I stood behind the photographer waving and squealing like a crazy lady trying to get her attention and keep her distracted. As Kolt ran off to come stand next to me Brinleigh started to freak out a little, but once she saw where we were and we got her attention she calmed down and we got a really cute picture. Complete opposite from last years picture with Santa. </div>
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Christmas Eve day, Kolt had to run some errands to prepare for his deployment since he was leaving the day after Christmas and I went out and did some last minute shopping. We had a nice relaxing night in with lasagna for dinner, which has become our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. After Brinleigh went to bed we skyped with some of my family while they exchanged gifts at my Grandparents house, a Christmas Eve Tradition from the time I was a baby. At the end of the night, Kolt and I each exchanged a gift which has been something we have done with each other ever since we got married.</div>
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Christmas Day we slept in a little bit and then opened our stockings first thing after waking up. Brinleigh got some Minnie Mouse crayons and markers so she colored while Kolt cooked us breakfast. After we finished eating, we started opening Christmas presents. We are taking full advantage of these years before Brinleigh starts waking up at the crack of dawn to see what Santa brought by stretching our Christmas days out, especially since we don't have to go anywhere or visit any family. Just about everything that we bought Brinleigh was Minnie Mouse which I am thankful for now since all of her gifts from our family were Frozen themed. I think some of her favorite gifts were an Elsa doll from Kolt's Grandma Patti, Minnie Mouse Playdoh, and some little people Disney Princesses that sing their theme songs when she puts them into the Little People castle that she got for Christmas last year.<br />
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Later in the afternoon, our friends Kate and Cooper came over for dinner with Kate's mom who was in town visiting. We had ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, Chinese cole slaw, and marshmallow fruit salad and I made chocolate fudge and some white chocolate covered pretzels and Kate made an assortment of cookies. We exchanged gifts and stocking with each other, just like we did last year in Sitka. It was overall a very quiet and relaxing Holiday. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!<br />
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And of course, true to Foreman fashion, I completely spaced taking any pictures of Christmas dinner, to include family pictures. So late night selfies are gonna have to do for this year. (Note: 2015 New Years goal~ Take family pictures on Holidays!)<br />
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-82151772796940216542014-12-04T21:21:00.001-09:002014-12-04T21:21:44.985-09:00<div style="text-align: center;">
I'm so sad that I haven't been able to
keep up with my blog posts the last few months. I started working part
time nights and weekends at Target, which lets be honest.... it doesn't
bring in any extra income, all it does is help support my Target
shopping addiction. But so far I'm enjoying it and since I have worked
at Target before, it's not completely foreign to me and I'm actually
pretty good at what I do. I've also been busy with projects and crafts
for the house and I'm re-doing Brinleigh's bedroom as well. </div>
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So
we are currently moving into a new house..... SURPRISE! It was kinda
sudden and unplanned before last week. Long story short: Our house was
in foreclosure when we moved in but the landlord never told us that and
we just found out last week that the house was sold in auction and we
will be getting notified by the bank any day now that we need to vacate
the house. So over the last couple of weeks, in between Kolt and I both
working and the holiday weekend, we spent all of our free time house
hunting. We were trying to be as optimistic as possible about the
situation and believe that it's all God's plan and everything will work
out as He intends it to. Kolt ended up finding us the perfect house and
we both fell in love with it when we went to look at it. So now with
Christmas only 20 days away, we are moving, my Christmas decorating has
been put on hold and it's 85 degrees outside. Needless to say, I'm not
feeling very festive this year. Our focus now: Get moved into our new
house as quickly as possible and begin celebrating the holidays. </div>
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On
another note, I am playing around with the idea of opening my own Etsy
shop to sell some of the crafts that I make. My most recent project
seemed to be a hit amongst my friends and I think I could do fairly well
with my own craft shop. It's still just a thought and I haven't
pursued anything yet, but opinions and suggestions are welcomed. I
haven't written a post about it, but I made a picture of the state of
Alaska with a heart where Sitka is located, to represent where Brinleigh
was born. We are going to hang it in her bedroom so that she will
always have a piece of Alaska close to her. I am going to make an
Arizona one for Kolt & I to hang in our bedroom as well.</div>
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-18506910283925145892014-11-06T19:59:00.002-09:002014-11-06T19:59:50.142-09:00A Not So Quick Update!<div style="text-align: center;">
I promise I have not forgotten about my poor abandoned blog, just been a little busy getting settled here in FL. As I'm still working on posts about our travels, I have fallen behind on my normal updates. I'm working on trying to get caught up.</div>
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The house is finally all unpacked and just about everything is put away. I'm still working on some organization, re-decorating Brinleigh's bedroom, hanging pictures and sorting random things that we need to get rid of. All of which needs to be done sooner rather than later since I started working part time this week.<br />
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I had a couple of interviews at Best Buy and Target a couple weeks ago and was offered a seasonal position with both stores. Target seemed to be a better fit for our family since they were so willing to work around Kolt's duty and deployment schedules. I will be working in the evenings and some weekends until January and then I will find out if they want to keep me on as a permanent part time employee. So this will also be a trial period for us to see how it works with me working opposite shifts from Kolt.</div>
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Kolt got assigned to a deployment team and will be going on his first two week deployment in a couple of months. He makes extra money every time he deploys so he is going to try and go as often as he can. We did find out the results from the big test he took back in May to try and promote and unfortunately, they only decided to promote the top four scoring tests (for his rate). He took the last week and half off of work just to study and prepare to take the test again today. He will get his "raw" score in the next couple of weeks, but we never know how many people they will promote so we really won't find out anything for a few months.<br />
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After arriving in Florida, we decided that we aren't going to be using the trailer as much as we planned to. Our financial situation has also changed drastically with the PCS and leaving Alaska. So as of right now, we are desperately trying to sell the trailer, one less financial responsibility. So cross your fingers and pray that we can get rid of it ASAP.</div>
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My free time is being spent on some crafting projects to help organize our families daily life and routines and also redecorating Brinleigh's new bedroom. (I will post more about that later.) Kolt and I have also been working on our very first furniture re-purposing project. At some point while we were in Sitka, I decided that I wanted a new TV stand. Something taller so that Brinleigh couldn't touch the TV and preferably with cabinets or drawers. And then I came across a dresser re-purposing project on Pinterest and became obsessed. Of course, as soon as I saw the type of used dresser that I have been looking for posted for sale online, I jumped all over it and sent Kolt to pick it up. I was even more ecstatic about the project when Kolt got excited about helping me with it, but that might have been more about him being able to buy and use power tools. <br />
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Waiting for everything to dry is what took the longest. Kolt sanded everything down and then I proceeded to stain and then re-stain before applying several coats of polyurethane. We chose to leave the top middle drawer out and put down a piece of plywood to make a shelf for the blu ray player and cable box. Kolt drilled a hole in the back for all the cords to go through so we could plug everything in and then I replaced all the hardware on the drawers. We are pretty proud of how it all turned out since it was the first re-purposing project we have ever done. I have another dresser sitting on the back porch that I plan to start working on this weekend. It is long over due since I got the dresser when we were in Sitka, but I am going to make it a storage piece for all of my craft stuff.<br />
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Surprisingly, Brinleigh is still sleeping in her crib and so we decided to keep it that way as long as we possibly can. We are gathering all the necessities and prepping to start our potty training adventure soon, so wish us luck with that. I'm really <i>not</i> looking forward to the potty training, but I'm super excited about not changing diapers anymore. We recently taught her "Patty Cake" which has turned into one of her favorite activities and has got to be the cutest things ever. She is in love with squirrels and all things animals so we decided to go check out the Tampa Zoo next week. She is still growing like a weed and starting to talk more and more every day. She is such a happy little girl and so much fun to play with. I am so proud of how patient she has been with all the changes that have been happening in our lives and how well she has adapted.<br />
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-84606755021275718482014-11-02T19:56:00.001-09:002014-11-02T20:20:42.504-09:00Happy Halloween!<div style="text-align: center;">
It is finally starting to feel a little more like fall here in Florida with some cooler weather coming through. A couple weeks ago we went to check out a local pumpkin patch and it was so hot outside you would have thought we were in the middle of summer time. It was still fun nonetheless and we were pleasantly surprised with the normalcy of it all since we are accustomed to "Sitka standards". There was a petting zoo which Brinleigh enjoyed, a pumpkin patch where Brinleigh had a great time picking up handfuls of hay and throwing it in the air, and pony rides, which she absolutely loved!</div>
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We have several projects going on at the house right now and with still trying to get settled and me trying to get a job, I have not been the least bit motivated to get into the Halloween spirit. My decorations consisted of some window clings and a glitter sign on the front door and some pumpkins lined up on the bookcase. We didn't do any Halloween crafts or make any festive treats and we even forgot to carve our pumpkin in time. But hopefully we can start to get more into the holiday spirit around here after Thanksgiving.<br />
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Last weekend we went to our first Coast Guard event on base. They had a kids Halloween party and costume contest in the C-130 hangar. After Brinleigh's constant refusal to wear a witch hat for weeks prior, I finally changed her Halloween costume to a Bumble Bee and I was very happy with the outcome. She has got to be the cutest bumble bee EVER! Everyone who saw her thought so too. We walked around and checked stuff out, got some candy, decorated a cupcake and Brinleigh won "Cutest Costume" in the costume contest.<br />
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I bought Brinleigh's bee costume at a local Halloween store and it came with everything we needed. For some reason, even though it was a size 2T, the tights were so short that they looked like they were made for a one year old and Brinleigh refused to wear the headband with the bee antennas. I ordered some larger tights online and then I bought some yellow poms and glued them onto small black ponytail bands and put those on her pig tails. I had just bought the cutest little black dress shoes for her and they went perfectly with the costume. When we were shopping at Michaels craft store one day, I saw a little bumble bee bag that matched her costume and we used that as her treat bag. I had previously bought her a pink pumpkin bucket for her candy so we brought that just in case and she ended up carrying both of them. She had to have her "perce" (purse=bumble bee bag) and her pumpkin bucket, both with candy of course. </div>
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We decided to take Brinleigh trick-or-treating in downtown Dunedin. (The next town over from us.) We love the town and it's such a cute little are right on the ocean. They closed off the streets downtown and all the shops were handing out candy (just like Sitka does).There was a free movie in the park right in the middle of town and they played "Hotel Transylvania". Downtown ended up being a lot bigger than we thought and there were a lot more shops and stores than we were expecting. It was busy when we got there but once we started trick-or-treating it was getting packed full of people. We stayed for about an hour and a half and then decided to go get dinner and head home at a reasonable time. Brinleigh seemed to have a great time walking around and seeing all the other kids in costumes, but I think it was also a little overwhelming with how busy it was and all the older kids and tall people running around everywhere. We received numerous compliments from everyone we passed about how adorable Brinleigh was and people gushed over her cuteness.<br />
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Brinleigh's vocabulary is quickly expanding and she is starting to understand and comprehend things a lot more. Her most recent discovery is that ghosts say "BOO" and it's scary. This is the cutest thing ever!<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205391019964731&set=vb.1526264227&type=2&theater">Brinleigh's "BOO" Video</a></div>
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-47060827823965934172014-10-14T21:54:00.001-08:002014-10-14T21:54:44.128-08:00From One End of The US to The Other: Part 2<div style="text-align: center;">
Arriving in the lower 48 brought relief, excitement, stress, anxiety, annoyance and then..... a little bit of regret. </div>
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When we got off the ferry in Bellingham it was hot and we could smell all the pollution in the air and there was traffic everywhere. We weren't in Sitka anymore. What did we do? Can we turn around and go back? Maybe we should have chosen an air station more similar to the Sitka environment, like Astoria, before jumping right into the hot, humid, beach city that we were headed to.<br />
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As soon as we got off the ferry in Bellingham we decided to find a donut shop (there aren't any in Sitka) and then took the truck to get new tires before we started our road trip. The plan was to head to Seattle that afternoon to start looking for travel trailers, but Kolt found a couple in Bellingham to look at first and we ended up really liking the second trailer. The rest of Day 1 in Bellingham was spent driving an hour and a half to stay the night in a hotel near the bank that we had to go to first thing the next morning.<br />
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Day 2 in Bellingham started off with a trip to the bank and then an hour and a half drive back to where the trailer was. When we went to pick up the trailer, Kolt and the seller ended up having a really hard time switching out the hitches and had to make a parts run so Brinleigh and I got to hang out with the wife and their two kids for a couple of hours. Thankfully, they were awesome and super nice and it gave Brinleigh a chance to run around in the sunshine. Once we were finally able to get on our way, we only made it a few miles down the road before dropping Gunner off at Petsmart to get a de-shedding treatment while we went shopping at Walmart to stock up on food and other necessities for the trailer. After picking up Gunner it was dinner time and of course I insisted on a trip to Olive Garden. While at dinner I called every single rv resort/park and hotel within a 50 mile radius and not single one had any camp sites or rooms available. Are you kidding me? I finally found out that there was some kind of huge car show going on that weekend and was informed that I probably wouldn't find anywhere to stay anywhere in the western part of Washington. After debating on camping out in a Walmart parking lot, we weighed our options and decided to just drive until we figured out another plan. We eventually found a hotel that had one room left and we arrived at about 2am. At this point you can imagine how much we were missing Sitka.<br />
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We spent ALL of Day 3 driving and first thing that morning, we made sure to plan a stopping destination for the evening. We were successful at making a reservation at a KOA and we even arrived in the early evening so that we could unload the truck and set up everything in the trailer. The KOA was really nice and the weather was beautiful. We learned very quickly that the trailer was not exactly baby proofed and we had to get creative with how to accommodate a two-year old. <br />
The back bunk bed area was made into Brinleigh's "area". The top bunk folded up & we removed the mattress from the bottom bunk and stored it in the storage area underneath the bed area. Then we set up her pack n' play on the hard surface of the bottom bunk along with a Rubbermaid bin full of toys and a couple of plastic drawers for her clothes. She also had her own little closet cabinet. This worked out perfectly because in the evenings when we put her to bed, we could leave the bathroom door open and it blocked off the opening to her "area" making it dark and more separated.<br />
We put our small 19" flat screen on the wall above the dining area which helped to keep Brinleigh entertained, although she was more interested in climbing all over the dining room table, the couch, our bed and into her "area".<br />
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Since we found a trailer on the first day in Washington, we were ahead of schedule. We had called the RV park at Yellowstone to see if we could arrive a day early but there were no available RV sites. So we ended up driving as far as we could and stayed at a KOA about an hour from the entrance to the park.<br />
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To be continued......</div>
The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-29352294049692231142014-10-06T22:28:00.000-08:002014-10-06T22:36:30.659-08:00The Story of Lexi and The Lizard<div style="text-align: center;">
While I am still working on my novel of blog posts about our travels, I figured I would go ahead and start sharing some stories from our time in Florida so far.</div>
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You know how most states have squirrels or birds that you will usually see running or flying around outside? Well Florida has lizards. I am not over exaggerating one little bit when I say they are everywhere. EVERYWHERE! Especially at our house. I'm not so sure what it is about our neighborhood, or maybe its just specifically the location of our house, but at any given moment you can walk outside and see at least ten lizards scatter before you have even taken two steps.</div>
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With that being said......</div>
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One night I was going to the grocery store and since the weather was nice, I decided to go with no A/C and roll down all the windows. I started my car and opened my sunroof and out of nowhere, I see a lizard hit the cup holders in my center console and then jump onto the floor of the passenger seat and then scurry up into the bottom of my dash board. Is our lizard problem really that bad that they are making their way into my car? So of course, I did what anybody else would do and I immediately lost my shit. Now I'm not afraid of lizards, I'm just not used to seeing them everywhere and haven't fully accepted them yet as constant companions in my life. So I run into the house screaming about a lizard running around in my car while Kolt looks at me like I've lost my damn mind. He went out and searched my car and no lizard was to be found anywhere, but he also realized that the lizard was probably sitting on my sunroof and when I opened it, the lizard fell in. Kolt tells me not to worry, the lizard isn't going to come back out of the dash board and it's probably going to stay in there and die. He made sure to reassure me that lizards don't smell when they die so nobody will ever even know there is a dead lizard somewhere in my car. I still needed to go to the grocery store but all I could think about was driving down the road and this lizard either popping up on my steering wheel or my shoulder and scaring the shit out of me causing me to crash. I'm being serious about this vision. I braved the drive to and from the grocery store with absolutely no sighting of any lizards inside my car.</div>
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A few days later......</div>
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Brinleigh and I went to CVS so that I could cash in on a laundry detergent coupon deal and as I am loading my six bottles of laundry soap into the backseat of the car, I move something and what do I see???? That damn lizard sitting on the seat. I try to think fast about how to approach this thing to catch it and get it out of my car but I was too slow and it ran somewhere into the crack of the seats. Of course I immediately text Kolt telling him that damn lizard is STILL in my car! He thinks it's hilarious.<br />
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The following day, I went outside to clean out my car. As soon as I open the back door, there is my little lizard friend, chillin' on the side of the seat. Again, I was too slow and he ran somewhere behind Brinleigh's car seat. I went into the house to tell Kolt and he did a detailed sweep of the inside of my car, to include making me remove Brinleigh's car seat. No lizard. This thing is taunting me now. So I told Kolt to wait a few hours and then we will go check my car again and the lizard would probably be somewhere in sight.</div>
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A few hours later..... Kolt and I go out to the car, me with flashlight in hand and Kolt ready to pounce (he lives for this kind of stuff). Kolt doesn't see the lizard so I decide to look in the car and right away I see him sitting on the seat on the other side of Brinleigh's car seat. So I start jumping around and pointing to where he is, while Kolt plans his sneak attack. Kolt is a better lizard catcher than I am and he snatches it up on the first try. The lizard bit him and then peed on him, but Kolt let him go in the front yard.</div>
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So thanks to my husband, my car is officially lizard free again.</div>
The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-9363859479942503602014-09-28T21:59:00.000-08:002014-09-28T21:59:32.997-08:00From One End of the US to the Other: Part 1<div style="text-align: center;">
<u>Where it all began: The ferry ride</u></div>
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We left Sitka on the Columbia, the same ferry we arrived in Sitka on. It was a two day-three night trip and had it been any longer, I probably would have started pulling my hair out. It really wasn't all that bad, especially because we had our good friends, Kate and Cooper, with us. We only had a few short stops that were during the night or early morning. For the most part, our entertainment consisted of walking around the ship, hanging out on the back deck, and eating meals in the dining room. Throw in a few play sessions on a plastic kiddie slide which Brinleigh was obsessed with and watching a few movies in our cabin and that was our exciting boat ride. Each night, after we put Brinleigh to bed, we would take the baby monitor up to the bar or the cafeteria and play Uno with Kate and Cooper.</div>
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Brinleigh absolutely loved exploring and walking all over the ship and she would actually throw herself on the floor and have a full blown meltdown as soon as we would get to our cabin door. She despised being in our cabin for some reason but that's where the portable DVD player came into play.<br />
Let me also just say, the little monkey harness that we have for Brinleigh was a<i> lifesaver</i>! It didn't matter if we were going to eat or walk around, we put it on her every time we left our cabin. She loves her monkey harness and would get <i>soooo</i> excited when we would tell her to put it on. Mostly because she knew that meant we were leaving the room. Some people judge me, some people think it's brilliant, I felt like it was safe. There are lots of stairs and long hallways and not to mention a lot of other kids running around everywhere. But with the harness we could let her walk and stretch her legs but still keep her within reach, especially when we would go out on the deck. So people can judge me all they want, but my kid was safe!<br />
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Ketchikan was our last stop before the final homestretch to Bellingham and it was several hours long. Kolt and I decided to take full advantage of this and planned to explore another part of Alaska before we were out of the Last Frontier for good. There was a bus stop right outside the ferry terminal and we only had to wait a few minutes before hopping on one. We took about a 20 minute roller-coaster type ride to Downtown Ketchikan which Brinleigh seemed to enjoy. It was crowded and super busy since there were two huge cruise ships in that day. After a few minutes of walking, I went into freakout mode and had to figure out the bus schedule so that I knew what bus stop we needed to be at and what time the bus was coming to get back to the ferry terminal on time. According to the schedule, we had maybe one shot to get a bus back to the ferry on time and that wasn't even guaranteed. I decided to call the bus operator to ask what our best option would be and she did not help the situation at all. So of course, I immediately lose my shit. I mean, full on thought I was gonna have to pop a Xanax. I didn't think we could catch a cab because we didn't have a car seat for Brinleigh so I was fully prepared to run the entire way back to the ferry terminal. Thankfully, Kolt figured out a bus that we could get on that would hopefully get us back to the ship on time, however, that bus was on the south route and we needed to go north. Since we didn't want to chance being late, we opted for this bus. So we got to ride around Ketchikan for almost an hour before being dropped off at the ferry terminal. We made it onto the ship about 20 minutes before the ferry was scheduled to leave. Kolt and I were sweating bullets the entire bus ride, but my sweet husband didn't let me know that he was worried at all. He kept reassuring me that we would make it back on time and Thank God that he did because had I known that he was worried about missing the ferry, I would have had a panic attack. So there it is, our Ketchikan shit show.<br />
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I know some people are really curious about how the whole ferry thing works or what it's like and after arriving in Sitka, a lot of people asked questions about it so this time I decided to document everything. Well, almost everything. I didn't get any pictures of certain features inside the boat, such as: the dining room, cafeteria, movie room, gift shop, purser's office or viewing areas. Ooops!<br />
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<i><b>Getting on the Ferry:</b></i><br />
We drive over a small bridge to get onto the boat, this entire level is the parking garage. Once we are on the boat, we are directed as to where to park based on our end location. Cars will be getting on and off during the duration of our trip so vehicles have to be parked a specific way. Once we are parked, Kolt checked in at the purser's office and got our room key. He made several trips to get all of our luggage into the cabin and then we had to set up Gunner. We cleared out an area in the bed of the truck and set up his kennel. He then stayed in his kennel the entire trip except when we had port calls or garage calls where we could let the dogs out to feed them and let them run around.<i><b> </b></i><br />
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<i><b>On the Ferry:</b></i><br />
<i><b> </b></i>The ferry has cabins that you can reserve at an extra cost, 2-birth and 4-birth. The 2-birth has one set of bunk beds and the 4-birth has two sets of bunk beds. Passengers are not required to reserve a cabin and when you walk around the ship you will see people set up area's that they plan to stay in during their trip. At night a lot of the lights on the boat get turned off and you will see people sleeping on random benches, in corners of rooms on the floor, in the movie room, etc. There is also a designated area on the back deck for tents. You can pitch a tent and sleep under the stars and not have to pay for a cabin. There are also public bathrooms and showers on the ship for all the passengers who do not have a cabin.<br />
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<i><b>Getting off the ferry: </b></i><br />
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-54735258850088376792014-09-17T20:46:00.000-08:002014-09-17T20:49:32.980-08:00Quick Check-in<div style="text-align: center;">
I feel like I have so much to write about since leaving Alaska and I have not a clue where to begin. I really really wish that I had time during our travels to post updates but trust me when I say.... shit. was. cray.</div>
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We were really looking forward to arriving in Florida because we were going to be able to relax and get settled and it has been anything <i>BUT</i> relaxing. OMG.</div>
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Of course I have managed to squeeze in a few shopping trips to target to relax my nerves during the shit show that is our life currently. Let me just say that I cannot stop thinking about <a href="http://www.target.com/p/toddler-girl-s-cherokee-darcy-cowboy-boots-brown/-/A-15266974#prodSlot=large_2_2" target="_blank">these boots</a> for Brinleigh! I saw them and absolutely HAD to try them on her. They fit her perfectly and she loved them and wore them the entire time we were in the store. But Kolt doesn't think it's gonna get cool enough in Florida for her to wear them. I am crossing my fingers that it cools down before they go out of stock so I can run out and buy them for her. Because wouldn't they look absolutely A-dorable with <a href="http://www.target.com/p/infant-toddler-girls-lace-dress/-/A-15511164#prodSlot=medium_1_34" target="_blank">this dress</a>?!?!?! Don't worry, I'm completely aware of my addiction and I really am trying to work on it.</div>
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We have been trying to squeeze in family days here and there so that during all this chaos we can all get a little break. Our new favorite go-to for family fun is the beach. Brinleigh wasn't so sure about it at first, but now..... she loves it!</div>
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Our household goods were delivered on Tuesday and Kolt had to report to work on Wednesday so I get to spend the rest of the week unpacking the house. Which is super easy with my tiny toddler tornado wrecking shop every time I turn around.</div>
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I will be posting more about our travels, hopefully soon, and also pics of the new house! Stay tuned!</div>
The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-65222051911786005012014-08-21T22:57:00.002-08:002014-08-21T22:57:25.339-08:0024 Month Update<div style="text-align: center;">
Well, the time has finally come where we will stop using months for Brinleigh's age and move onto years. I can't believe our little Alaska baby is TWO years old!!!! Time is flying by way to quickly but we sure are having loads of fun watching her grow and helping her learn. But now that we moved into the actual toddler years, I won't be posting her monthly stats and updates anymore. Sad, I know, but hey, it leaves more time to blog about much more randomness in our life.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Height: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">33 3/4</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> inches</span><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">(50 percentile)</span><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Weight: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">30</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> lbs (85 percentile)</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Teeth: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">16! All of them except her very back molars.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Words she likes to say:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> She repeats everything these days, but for a solid 3-4 days all we heard was "No way". </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Favorite Toys:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Small plastic animal figurines, bracelets, and almost anything that a two year old shouldn't play with. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Favorite Foods:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Mac and cheese, pizza, fruit snacks, chocolate milk. I'm not even joking when I say that is about the extent of it. Getting her to eat a solid meal these days is like pulling teeth. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dislikes:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Eating anything with an ounce of nutrition. Being put into her stroller or a grocery cart when she knows she can walk. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Nicknames: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Brinleigh Boo, Brinleigh D</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Sleep Schedule:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> I thank the Lord that she is an excellent sleeper, because let's be honest, Mama likes her sleep. And if Mama ain't happy, well, Brinleigh doesn't really care if Mama is happy, who am I kidding? She sleeps a solid 11-12 hours at night with a 2-3 hour nap during the day. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Favorite Activities: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Exploring <i>EVERYTHING!</i> This includes but is not limited to: Running, touching, tasting, climbing and jumping.</span><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Favorite Song: </b>Depends on her mood, but if it has a beat and you can turn it up loud, she usually loves it. Her and Mama like to dance around to Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert's song "Somethin' Bad". </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Favorite Book: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">She still loves almost all books, especially if they are about animals. </span></div>
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-67384022640384880392014-07-28T01:45:00.003-08:002014-07-28T01:45:39.872-08:00Travel Plans<div style="text-align: center;">
A lot of our family and friends have been asking about our travel plans and even though I will be posting and updating on Facebook <i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">during</span></i> our traveling, I figured I would go ahead and let everyone know what our plans are before hand.</div>
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We leave Sitka on Tuesday- July 29 at 5:45pm. We will be getting on the ferry a couple hours prior to that. Our close friends, Kate and Cooper are also going to Clearwater and they will also be on the ferry with us, which will be nice. We have three nights and two days on the ferry and arrive in Bellingham, WA on Friday- August 1st at about 8am.<br />
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We will be spending the weekend in Washington, first in Bellingham and then driving to Seattle. We have to get new tires on the truck and we will be looking for a travel trailer to buy. We decided that it would be much more convenient for us to have a little house on wheels that we can pull behind the truck rather than staying in hotels. This way, we can leave all of our stuff set up, hop in the truck and drive, pull over for lunch and then find an RV park in the evenings to stay at. We can cook dinner and breakfast instead of eating out three times a day and we don't have to worry about trying to find hotels that allow dogs. I'm excited about not having to unload luggage into a hotel room to unpack only to spend one night there and turn around and pack it all back up and then load it into the truck again. Plus the reassurance of not having to worry about someone breaking into the truck and stealing all of our stuff.<br />
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After we get a trailer we will be heading to Yellowstone National Park where we will be staying for about three days. We are super excited about this since neither of us have ever been.<br />
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We will be taking a couple days to drive to the Grand Canyon but we don't plan on staying there very long. We just figured, we will be passing through anyways and it's kinda lame that Kolt and I are both from Arizona and neither of us have ever been there before.<br />
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We plan on arriving in Tucson on August 11 and will be staying for roughly ten days. There is a possibility that it could be a couple more.<br />
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From Tucson, we will take two days driving to Abilene, TX where we will spend a few days with Kolt's best friend from the Army, Dustin Zumwalt and his family. They have two little girls, one who is very close to Brinleigh's age and I can't wait to see them play together.<br />
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When we leave Abilene, we will take a couple days to drive to FL where we will stop in the panhandle for a day or two. My cousin Ryan and his wife, Amie just moved there with their two daughters and we will be passing right through the town that they live in. I've already scoped out some RV parks near their house and I am soooo excited because they are right on the beach. We can go to sleep and wake up to the sound of the ocean waves and seagulls.<br />
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From there, it will be about a seven hour drive into Clearwater, where I have no idea at this point where we will go. We do not have a house yet and we will stay in the trailer at an RV park somewhere but I haven't looked any up yet. Kolt reports on September 2 and will then get ten days of house hunting leave and we will begin looking at rentals. The plan is to find a rental to live in for about a year and while renting start looking for a house to buy. I will keep everyone posted on that though. <br />
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So that's our schedule in a nutshell. I plan on taking a TON of pictures, especially on our ferry ride back to the lower 48. Our cell phone service will be limited as we will be traveling through Canadian waters but we will check in during our port calls and a lot more once we arrive in Bellingham.<br />
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Our first stop on the list of places to eat when we are back in civilization: Olive Garden. <br /> </div>
The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-28716170769631746952014-07-28T01:26:00.000-08:002014-07-28T01:26:21.431-08:00A Week Later......<div style="text-align: center;">
Ay yi yi. Where do I begin?</div>
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The mover's called last Sunday evening to tell us that they were still working on another job and, therefore, wouldn't be at our house until noon on Monday <i>IF</i> they were able to make it at all. Otherwise they would be there Tuesday instead. "Don't worry, we will get you all packed and loaded by Wednesday." Monday was busy with errands, shipping my car, last minute packing of things that are going in the truck with us. The movers never showed.</div>
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Tuesday morning the movers arrived to start packing. OH! And to tell us that the previous job ended up being a lot bigger than anticipated and so they had to load an additional trailer. The trailer that was reserved for us. Another empty trailer wouldn't be available until it arrived on the barge Wednesday night at 10:30pm. So they said they would load us Thursday, which was my cleaning day.</div>
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After spending all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday packing and loading our house, we had only Thursday night to clean. We got it done, but with no time to spare. Friday morning we had our housing inspection at 10am and we were still loading things into the truck when they showed up.</div>
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Thankfully, the housing warrant was pretty impressed with the condition our unit was in, smeared paint from magic erasers and all. So, after the inspection we headed to base so that I could <i>finally</i> get a new ID. You can't even really see my picture so I'm sure they are going to make me get a new one in Clearwater. <i>But</i>, I have one and it's not expired, and that's what is most important. With the truck packed full, and I mean <i>FULL</i>, we went to get gas and then weigh the truck. We are carrying almost 2,200 lbs!!! After getting our weight ticket we dropped some stuff off at our hotel room and went to lunch. Oh and had to track down the movers to retrieve our cable box that they packed. I mean, in their defense, we <i>only</i> told them about five times <i>NOT</i> to pack it. After finding out it was gonna cost us $450, Kolt was not having it and made some calls. Thankfully, they were able to find the box and get it out for us. Brinleigh and I went back to the hotel room to take a nap and Kolt had to go back into work to do some more check-out paperwork.</div>
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Saturday we woke up and took our time getting ready and then we headed to the Coast Guard bar on base for a baby shower for some of our friends. Then we went to our lovely Boston/Quincy neighbors house for a homemade fried chicken dinner. It was amazing!</div>
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It has been an exhausting week to say the least. There have been so many emotions and headaches. At this point we are just trying to take it one stressful situation at a time. For my praying friends, please pray that we have patience. We really need it.</div>
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-70060207059751265052014-07-20T00:22:00.000-08:002014-07-20T00:22:37.107-08:00Quick Update!<div style="text-align: center;">
It's crunch time people! My house is complete chaos right now and the movers aren't even here yet! We have approximately ONE day left until the movers arrive to start packing up the house. I have been going non-stop, selling random items that I come across, organizing things the way I want them packed, packing our suitcases and separating things that need to go with us in the truck or that can be packed by the movers. My to-do list is a mile long and I swear I'm busy all day, yet I have nothing crossed off my list.</div>
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The movers will be packing our house on Monday and Tuesday and then loading up everything on Wednesday. On Monday I have to take my car to the barge lot to be shipped. Brinleigh has her two-year check-up on Tuesday. We check out of our house Friday morning and then Gunner has to go to the Vet's office Friday afternoon for his health certificate, which is required for him to get on the ferry. This will also be my last week of the GRIT workout program that I've been doing so I will be going to the fitness studio every evening for an hour. </div>
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As if I didn't have enough stress, I also realized a few weeks ago, <i>AFTER</i> our YN transferred out, that my military ID expired in May!!! The new YN doesn't have her Captains approval to make ID's yet, therefore, I can't get a new one until she gets approval. Cross your fingers that it happens this week, because I need a new ID before we leave Sitka.</div>
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With everything going on, Kolt and I have been super busy, however, we are both pretty emotional about leaving Sitka. The move to Alaska has been Amazing for us, as a couple, as individuals, and as a family. We are excited for the next adventure we are about the embark on, but we are also a little sad about leaving this one behind.</div>
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-85050574379960665732014-07-17T22:48:00.001-08:002014-07-17T22:48:54.243-08:00Brinleigh's 2nd Birthday Party<div style="text-align: center;">
This past weekend we had Brinleigh's Birthday Party / Our going away party, even though she doesn't turn 2 for another couple of weeks. But, we have A LOT going on these last two weeks in Sitka and we get on the ferry the day after her actual Birthday so we had to do it early. The same as last year, I have been planning this party for a few months and spent hours and hours making the decorations. And, as always, I went a tad bit overboard. I have really enjoyed planning her parties and being able to make everything myself these last two years so that they are very unique and authentic. I only hope that when we get to Florida I will still have the time to continue this tradition.</div>
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I went with a baby bird theme this year and of course used Pinterest to plan it all out. The weather hasn't been that great lately and it was cloudy and raining on and off the day of the party. So, Kolt spent the majority of the day putting up tarps in the backyard so that we had a large covered area for our guests.</div>
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Our wonderful friends, Kate and Cooper, came over early to help Kolt with the tarps and to help me decorate and get everything set up. Thank God for them!</div>
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A few of the decorations that I used were from Brinleigh's First Birthday party, like the wreath on the front door and the glitter "Happy Birthday Brinleigh" banner. I made all the little felt birds myself and had Kolt and Cooper collect the tree branches for me. I ordered the birdhouses from hobby lobby and then painted them and added some lace and pearl decals.</div>
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For treats, of course I <i>HAD</i> to make my white chocolate covered pretzels
and added some sprinkles. At Easter time I stocked up on peeps and also
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I made Brinleigh her own smash cake and then also a larger birthday cake for everyone else. Her smash cake was a three layer strawberry cake (boxed cake mix) with cream cheese frosting (from a can). I used a cookie cutter in the shape of a 2 and filled it with sprinkles on top of her cake and then I literally tossed handfuls of sprinkles all the way around the sides of the cake. Such a mess! The large cake was a confetti cake (boxed cake mix) with a butter cream frosting that I made from scratch and then dyed pink. I used the same "Happy Birthday" cake topper that I made for her first birthday party.</div>
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We grilled up hot dogs and some deer burgers and then fried up some fish the Kate and Cooper brought over. I found a delicious pasta salad recipe on pinterest and made that along with some baked beans and bought some potato salad. A lot of our guests brought side dishes as well so we had a ton of food.</div>
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Brinleigh got a few gift cards which will be spent on new clothes or fun water toys once we get to Florida and she also got a few cute summer outfits with two new pairs of sunglasses. </div>
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For most of the party, half the guests were outside and the other half inside, so when it came time to sing Happy Birthday to Brinleigh we had everyone pile into the house. Brinleigh just stared at all the people standing in front of her and she did not know what to think about it. After Kolt and I blew out her candles I stuck her hand into her cake and she immediately started crying. She was <i>not</i> happy at all about having cake all over her hands. Once I wiped them off and gave her a fork she was as happy as can be eating her strawberry cake. </div>
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Kolt and I were very happy with how the party went and Brinleigh had a great time running around with all the kids and playing. I love watching how excited she gets and hearing her squeal and laugh when she is playing with them.</div>
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Thank You to everyone who came to the BBQ to celebrate Brinleigh's 2nd Birthday and to hang out one last time before we are off this rock!</div>
The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-48510286938351545032014-07-10T01:04:00.001-08:002014-07-10T01:04:49.754-08:004th of July<div style="text-align: center;">
I'm only almost a week late on this post, but really, all of my days are running together right now and there are not enough hours in a day. But that's a whole other story.</div>
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Kolt had the day off on the 4th of July, so we woke up and decided to go out for breakfast. However, the restaurant was closed. In fact, <i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">all</span></i> of the restaurants in town, with the exception of McDonald's (Yuck!) were closed. So, we did the next best thing- Went to the grocery store to buy the essentials for breakfast burritos. <i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Oh</span></i> and a couple donuts for Brinleigh. (Don't worry, I was good and didn't eat any.) During this grocery shopping trip, we decided to let Brinleigh explore a little and stretch her legs and we had showed her the kids shopping carts and how to push them around the store. The first 5 minutes were a little chaotic because she realized that she had free reign of the store and she didn't understand how to turn the cart without tipping it over sideways. But once she got the hang of it, she was a shopping fool. She was grabbing bottles of water, snapple drinks, sausage, anything on her level that she could put into her cart. She loved it!</div>
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Brinleigh went down for an early nap and shortly after Kolt had to leave to go get ready and line up for the town parade. I was able to wake Brinleigh up and get her ready and out of the house in record speed (15 minutes) and we headed down town. Brinleigh ate her lunch in her stroller while we waited for the parade to start and she was fascinated by all the people and dogs lining the street. Technically, I have taken Brinleigh with me to the town's 4th of July parade every year since we have been in Sitka. The first year (2012) I was nine months pregnant with her. The second year (2013) she was just a few weeks away from her First Birthday and did very well with all the noise and commotion. You can really see the difference a year makes when you look back at the pictures from <a href="http://alexisforeman.blogspot.com/2013/07/happy-4th-of-july.html" target="_blank">last year's parade</a> and then at our pictures from this year.</div>
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Brinleigh absolutely <i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">LOVED</span></i> watching the parade! I had <i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">soooo</span></i> much fun watching her facial expressions and listening to her get so excited over everything that was going on in front of her. She had candy thrown to her and someone even walked over and handed her some snacks that they were throwing out to the crowd. Same as last year, she wasn't bothered by the loud noises of the sirens or the gun shots.</div>
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Usually, during this parade, the Coast Guard helo's do a fly over during the parade. Last year it was cancelled due to budget cuts or something, but this year.... It. Was. Awesome! The way it was coordinated and with where we were standing along the street, the helo's flew right over us at the same exact time that the Coast Guard Air Station members were walking right in front of us. I actually had to steal the helo fly by pic from another Coastie wife (Thanks Shannon!) because I was too busy taking other pictures and missed my opportunity. </div>
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As usual, the fireworks were the night before the 4th at about 11:45pm. Brinleigh slept right through them and Kolt and I hung out on the back porch watching them through the trees.</div>
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After the parade we went back home and headed over to the next door neighbors house for a BBQ. I made my delicious white chocolate covered pretzels with blue and red sprinkles and my newest addition to my recipe collection, ambrosia fruit salad. (I made this dish for the first time a few weeks ago for a wedding that we went to and Kolt loved it, so I made it again for the BBQ. I forgot to take a picture but one of these days I will get one and post that along with the recipe.) Brinleigh got to run around and play with other kids, Kolt hung out with the guys, and I didn't binge eat on nearly as much junk as I was expecting to. Which was a blessing, especially because I had to leave in the middle of the BBQ to go to my GRIT workout. (That's dedication right there, hahaha.)</div>
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With Sitka's traditional 4th of July downpour of rain, Brinleigh didn't get to wear the outfit I had bought for this day. Instead, she wore a blue onesie with an anchor on the front and some jeans. <i>BUT</i>, she did get to rock her new patriotic hair bow that I bought to go with the previous planned outfit. </div>
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Brinleigh & her friend, Mary.</div>
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The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974171266501688002.post-3895717953788238792014-07-05T23:06:00.002-08:002014-07-05T23:06:11.777-08:00SAR Case<div style="text-align: center;">
Last Monday night Kolt got a call from work asking if he could go in and stand duty. The crew that was already on duty had a SAR case in Ketchikan and would most likely be gone all night, so they needed another ready crew on base. The next morning, the crew that had gone out the night before came back and then Kolt's crew went back to finish the SAR case. It was an overdue party, an older couple, whose boat ran aground and started taking on water. They had an excellent float plan set in case of emergencies and were able to wade to nearby land. The couple had camped out overnight and were in good condition when located the next day by a Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad aircraft. Since the KVRS aircraft was unable to land the Coast Guard helo was sent to the location to pick up the stranded boaters. Kolt being the flight mech on the helo, guided them to the ground to land and then assisted the couple into the helo after the rescue swimmer on board made contact with them. One of the camera guys from the show Coast Guard Alaska was on board the helo and Kolt had his interview with them the following week. So, in about 6 months from now, one of the episodes of Coast Guard Alaska will be of this SAR case and will show Kolt's interview. Coast Guard Alaska posted a short video of Kolt guiding the helo down to land on their Facebook page and I re-posted it, so you can watch it on my FB page. </div>
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On another SAR note: Kolt was on a routine flight while on duty this week and they were diverted for a SAR case. They had to pick up a fisherman off a fishing vessel who had gotten a fish hook stuck in his eyeball. Kolt hoisted the rescue swimmer down and then the helo landed on close land and the swimmer brought the fisherman to land. There was a cameraman on board that flight as well and that should make one of the future Coast Guard Alaska episodes as well. </div>
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Brinleigh and I are so proud of our AET!!!! </div>
The Foreman Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07609953119238736985noreply@blogger.com